Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trust in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” John 3:16 (AMP)

There exists the spirit of division which seeks to magnify differences between people to thwart divine love. For God’s kind of love is the operative power of faith by which we are to operate or walk (2Co 5:7; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Further, the good fruit that we are to bear or give evidence of begins with love (Galatians 5:22-23). Love brings joy, and joy brings peace, and peace brings patience, and patience brings kindness, so forth and so on. To say it another way, no kindness sans patience, no patience sans peace, no peace sans joy, no joy sans love. The spirit of division is a destructive influence at the root of racism, and it isn’t “rocket science” to ascertain that such is from the thief who only comes to “steal and kill and destroy” John 10:10a; satan manipulates folk to do his dirty work while simultaneously robbing them. As one of my Study Bible succinctly relays, whatever traits African-Americans have are inherited factors from the first Adam/man. That skin color denotes a curse is not based in Scripture. Rather, such is yet another lie from the “father of lies” John 8:44. Skin color is based on the amount of melanin produced by melanocytes which all people have but darker skin people are able to produce more; it (melanin) is a natural skin pigment which helps to protect from UV rays and more.

By the Word of God, we may know that a man named Noah put the curse back on man at the onset of repopulating the earth after the flood. Why? Essentially, Noah got drunk and the youngest son named Ham saw his father past-out naked. Ham blabbed and his older brothers named Japheth and Shem walked-in backwards to cover their father’s nakedness. The other fact based in Scripture is that Noah didn’t curse Ham. Rather he cursed Ham’s son named Canaan (Genesis 9:18-25). Cush was another of Ham’s sons, and Nimrod was the son of Cush. The “ittes” (i.e., Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hivites, etc.) as well as the Philistines were all from the line of Ham. One of my Study Bible succinctly relays that Rahab of Jericho who hid the spies sent by Joshua was also of the line of Ham. Both Rahab and Ruth who was a Moabite are listed in the genealogy of YESHUA/JESUS (Matthew 1:2-6). The Sovereign Lord God Almighty is Omniscient, hence there was no “sneaking” into the lineage of God’s only begotten Son; and whomever is in His genealogy was surely approved by God. Therefore, the common denominator amongst the Family of God – His children, has nothing to do with skin color or culture; the commonality is trust (faith) in God and doing in keeping with His will.

 When the Apostles James and John asked the Lord Jesus if they should rain fire like the Prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:9-15) because the townspeople didn’t come out to welcome Him, Jesus the Living Word responded: “you don’t know what manner of spirit you are of” Luke 9:55 (NKJV). Regardless of what other people do or how other people act, you and I need to always keep at the forefront that the Spirit of the Lord lives within us. We may (free-will) know by the Holy Spirit’s Teaching as we read, study, meditate and mutter God’s Word, that man is a spirit who has a soul (i.e., intellect, will, emotions) and lives in a body. God’s Word refers to the distinct separation between the: spirit and soul (Hebrews 4:12), spirit and body (Matthew 26:41), soul and body (3 John 2). The spirit is eternal whereas the body is not. That is, the physical body in which the eternal spirit has residence is perishable until such time as we are changed in an instant according to God’s plan and His timeline (1Co 15:50-57). Therefore, according to God’s Word, those who’ve transitioned and to whom the saying may be ascribed: “absent from the body, present with LORD” (2Co 5:6,8) aren’t quietly asleep as before the resurrection of Christ Jesus. For it is written, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” 1Co 15:20-22 (KJ21).

 Speak the promise . . . Harriet