Then God said, “Let Us make man like Us and let him be head over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over everything that moves on the ground.” 27 And God made man in His own likeness. In the likeness of God He made him. He made both male and female. 28 And God wanted good to come to them, saying, “Give birth to many. Grow in number. Fill the earth and rule over it. Rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28 New Life Version

We ALL Bleed. We ALL Sin. We ALL Have A Human Condition That Jesus Bled Into, To Become The Christ In Us, The Hope Of Glory. Don’t look at anyone else, look within your heart. Know this: Jesus bled into each and every one of our heart wounds, by His stripes we are healed, made whole and valuable, given a future and a hope. The name of Jesus is higher than any name you have been stereotyped or prejudiced by, put your identity in His name and become wholly-holy His. Let Jesus bleed into your heart wounds and then no one can rock your world with their prejudice, you will not react with in kind, in reciprocal hate, you will respond with love, which speaks the truth in love, which turns the other cheek, just like Jesus. We ALL Bleed.

Pray It Up

Hate is not a respecter of persons and lawlessness is not either. We all have the propensity towards prejudicial bias, and violent lawlessness that kills, steals and destroys. We have to guard our hearts, listen up to God first, stay in followship with God first. Racism and prejudice is hurtful and when it raises its ugly head in the horrific devaluing of people, if followed by lawlessness, the voices of truth are drowned out. Peaceful protesting of injustice is such a good voice, but lawlessness steals its ability to speak and kills its effectiveness. Why do we wait for a tragedy to have a conversation about racial prejudices? In the heat of injustice when lawlessness raises its ugly head, it drowns out common sense, and the clarity of the voices of truth. We have to pray it up for hate, prejudice, lawlessness, violence, racism, deception to stand down. And we should act like people who have prayed for prejudicial hate to stand down and be found in Christ, living out of His nature, His character embedded in us and lived out through us. Christ in us, the hope of glory.

“G. Allport defines a prejudice as a negative thought about anyone without sufficient motives.

A Piece Of My Back Story

Everyone has a back story, every situation we find ourselves in is influenced by our back story. Here is a piece of my back story: I laid on the floor of my home as a teenager, my arms around my younger siblings, we heard gun shots being fired down our street. We were a family of civil servants; we grew up with the police squawk box (as my mother referred to it) going off in our home 24/7 because my dad was civil defense director of our city. We knew all the policemen, they were frequently in our home, my mom was always feeding them in between their shifts. All nationalities, all colors, we respected each other, we were friends. I laid there as the gunshots came closer, trembling, praying and hoping that the shooters would not come in our house. I wasn’t angry at them; I was sad with them. I knew why they were mad; I just didn’t understand why they were taking it out on us. I was scared for my father and my family of blue. My brother and I our best friend was black, he was also on my mind, I was so worried about him and whether this would hurt our friendship. Then over the “squawk box” comes a lot of chatter. My uncle was the Fire Marshal, I heard his voice. He said that the lumber yard was on fire, engulfed in flames and people were lined up in front of it with shot guns saying they would shoot the firemen if they tried to put it out. I heard my uncle say: We are being shot at. The policemen were dispatched, I heard that and then I heard my father’s voice: “Stand down! This building is already fully engulfed, we can’t fix that. It is not hurting anyone and I have been ensured by the Fire Marshall that it won’t spread, there is no danger to the community to let it burn. It is senseless to kill each over this.” He took the bullhorn and addressed the situation. He said: “When this fire is burned out, the firemen will put out the embers, we are not going to shoot each other tonight. We have not even had a discussion about this busing issue. We have not had a conversation yet. No one likes it, we are all angry. So put your guns down and go home. You know me, I have served this community for over 10 years, I am a man of my word, we will let it burn out, we won’t put it out. You made your point, there is no need for further violence. Put your guns down and go home, no one is dying tonight.”

I Embrace Your Nationality

That is part of my “back story” we all have them, if we took time to listen to each other, we would understand and know each other in a real way. We wouldn’t have to assume or speculate, we would know. My dad taught us to embrace the color, nationality and culture of all people. It was the opposite from what a lot of people said: be color blind. That to him was not the correct way. He said tear off any stereotype or label, like you would rip off a sticky note, because every nationality, every color, every creed, every person is made in the Image of God and they are good. Get to know them. Embrace the difference, respect their culture, honor their color. All races need to do this, be willing to cross over and get to know someone outside of their race. You don’t diminish your race by opening up your life to another, you actually increase its value. You realize that every race, nationality, creed and color is amazing and has purpose and there is room for us all to bloom where we were planted. Stand Down Labels And Stereotypes In The Name Of Jesus.

Immigration Back Story

My father was brought to this country as a 7 year old from Sicily, with his 12 year old brother. His father died, a few months after they arrived. His single mom and brother lived in Brooklyn. The Italians were branded as mobsters and wops, and they weren’t trusted or accepted. It was hard to work out of that stereotyping, because some of them were that. My dad endured many hardships because of this prejudice, but overcame them eventually as they moved to New Jersey and his family established a godly reputation there. In our home, as we grew up, no label or stereotype was settled for, all people were known, all were loved unconditionally. There was always a conversation going on, they didn’t always agree with each other, but they knew how to process and agree to disagree. People getting to know people over food, fellowship and friendship. Stand Down Conditional Love And Conditional Acceptance In The Name Of Jesus.

Personal Life Experiences

The human mind is fed by our personal life experiences and it has beliefs and thoughts that create attitudes and reaction ruts of conduct, fleshed out words towards social problems or social groups. We label each other by skin color and nationality and we have no clue about each other’s back stories, neither do we care to listen to them or think they are viable. It is all about our point of view, nothing else matters. Everything that does not fit into our established thought pattern is not explored, we stay within the comfort zone of our personal life experiences. We can become prejudiced by our point of view that forms our thoughts, words and actions. The only way to break this cycle of being comfortable with what we “think we know” is to begin seeking to know the mind and heart of God and living our lives through the passions of his heart, the thoughts of His mind. Stand Down Prejudice In The Name Of Jesus.

Mediatic Baiting

Why do people of all races continue to fall into the mediatic false frenzy trap of “race baiting”? It seems like every election cycle we go through this falsity. In this season of time, our main stream media has wreaked havoc with the meaning of racism or racist. If you don’t buy into what they are selling you, if you speak outside of the boundaries of their biased platform, then you are labeled a racist. They push the news cycle by what benefits their point of view the most. They are so good at making up “a story” without ever telling “the story”. One week they are in a full false mediatic frenzy about not gathering in large groups because of Covid 19 and the next week they are encouraging mass protests. We are being deceived and manipulated by the main stream media. When will we see it? Stand Down Falsity In The Name Of Jesus.

“People are being manipulated; a great deception is upon us. I am against deception; I believe we are being deceived. There are communities of marginalized people who are being manipulated, they are being played, their pain is being exploited for destructive purposes. I believe we need to wake up to this.” Pastor Kynan Bridges Listen Up:

Mediatic False Frenzy

The injustice of racial and prejudicial loss of life, unfortunately, is used by players of evil with bad intentions to advance their own causes. These are times when a lot of mediatic false frenzy happens, as a we are baited into people clashes with continual mediatic frenzy, full of assumptions and speculations. The main stream national media thinks they can know the motive of another person, they project upon all of us their collective bias by telling us what to see, think and hear. They spoon feed us out of their fake reality. They make up a narrative, and we take at face value what they say, even though we were not even there to witness their story, yet neither were they, but they think they know what they think they know. The media tells “A story” but they ignore “The Story” because they don’t wait for the reality of truth to play out, because they know it will not play out their way, so they get ahead of it with false narrative. Truth takes time. Truth is not going to come from our current main stream media, an unfortunate reputation they have gained by lying to us for over three years now about our President, who very obviously they don’t like, based on the fact that his news coverage is 98 percent negative. Stand Down False Narrative In The Name Of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2:11-13 After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his Spirit, the Spirit of God. 12 For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us. 13 And we articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We join together Spirit-revealed truths with Spirit-revealed words. TPT

Reality Of Truth

All people experience prejudice, no matter what your skin color is, there is prejudice of all kinds. Human beings are so good at stereotyping each other: Here are just a few of these stupid labels: If you are black you are a thug. If you are white you are a white nationalist, a white supremist. If you are Hispanic you are a gypsy-robber. If you are Italian you a mobster, a wop. If you are a woman you are gender devalued by sexism. If you are a teenager, you are a trouble maker up to no good and the list goes on and on. The reality of truth is over the years, lawlessness as a reaction to radical racism, has changed nothing. Racism, racist, these words have been so overused and misused by our main stream media in times such as these, that no one truly knows what the label racist means anymore, nor can we see through the mediatic frenzy with clarity, what the true extent of racism is. Racist and racism is applied to situations, where the main stream media decides that “they know” a person’s motive, thoughts, reasonings, when they don’t know, and they can’t truly know. Yet many times, they speak out a person’s motive as if it were the truth. If you don’t agree with the main stream media’s point of view, they label you a racist. If one cop is bad, all cops are bad, it is a systemic problem, this is what they are pushing today in their false narrative kind of way. We know the data on the ground in our community does not fit that narrative.

Wisdom’s Guidance~ Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. 6 Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Proverbs 3:5-6 The Passion Translation

The Systemic False Frenzy

The main stream media is pushing a narrative that the problem with police officers is systemic. You can see how powerful an influence they have over us as it filters throughout our conversations. We have to stop giving them a voice, it begins with us, turning them off. It begins with us not accepting anything short of the truth. We have to seek truth and not retort to anything until we can respond out of truth. Truth needs to be our priority and we should stop listening to the speculation and assumptions of others. Truth is not found in speculation or assumption, but prejudice and bias are. We don’t want to feed our mind with the likes of those two things straight out of the pit of hell. We don’t want to lean into our own understanding, we want to acknowledge God, the Lord of all knowing, the Spirit of Truth, our Navigator.

“As the wife of dang good officer, who sees law enforcement as a higher calling, to serve and protect any and all he comes in contact with…..the ugly I see from “friends” is hurtful. The shouts for harm to come his way are scary. The statement that “All Cops Are Bad” is an insult. The threats to our family are terrifying. From cover to cover, His Word is FILLED with love and humility. Hate doesn’t fix hate. Violence doesn’t change violence. Until a heart change is made, nothing else will change. Lies and false assumptions and accusations just further spread the enemy’s intent to “steal, kill, and destroy” Why are you aiding the enemy?” The enemy isn’t other people, races, or occupations….. the enemy is sin. Written By Jennifer – police officer’s wife

Truth Takes Time

Prejudice becomes so very ugly when we start making assumptions and speculations the basis of our opinion, it embitters our attitudes and emotions. The more false narrative we take in from the main stream media, who are more than happy to dish it out 24/7, the less reality of truth forms our thought patterns. False narratives taken in over long periods of time become fake realities. We don’t know what we “think we know”. We don’t respond by facts and truth, we react by emotions that are fed and stirred up by what we hear from others, not from truth, which takes time to work out into our reality. Assumption, speculation, theory, opinion are not truth. What is not truth is a lie. Stand Down False Narrative In The Name Of Jesus.

Philippians 2:4-8 Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. 5 And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. The Example of Jesus Christ~6 He existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize. 7 Instead he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! 8 He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!

A Victim Mentality

We are not open to someone else’s life viewpoint. This kind of compassionless living leans us into social injustice, a “victim” mentality, that daily feeds into our “rights”. We think we have right to things God did not privilege us with. We become “rights focused” instead of God focused, looking to God to be our Way-maker. When someone says: You are my problem, maybe we need to restart our relationship at a basic reality of truth: We ALL were created in God’s Image. We ALL bleed. We ALL Die. This makes us human beings, together, no matter what our race, culture, skin color, We ALL Bleed and this supersedes all false narrative stereotyping, it makes us together what we are, people, human beings with a human condition.

We ALL Bleed

Start here with this commonality we all have, take a good look at yourself and your neighbor and compassionately remember before you pick up a rock to throw at them: We ALL Bleed. We ALL Sin. We ALL Have A Human Condition That Jesus Bled Into, To Become The Christ In Us, The Hope Of Glory. Don’t look at anyone else, look within and know Jesus bled into each and every one of our heart wounds, by His stripes we are healed, made whole and valuable. The name of Jesus is higher than any name you have been stereotyped or prejudiced by, put your identity in His name and become wholly-holy His, let Him bleed into your heart wounds and then no one can rock your world with their prejudice. Positioned in Christ, you will not react with in kind reciprocal hate, you will respond with love, which speaks the truth in love, which turns the other cheek, just like Jesus. We ALL Bleed. Stand Down Division In The Name Of Jesus.

Labeled Because Of Your Skin Color?

Have you ever been labeled a White Nationalist because you are white? Have you ever been called a White Supremacist because you are white? Have you ever been told you are white privileged because you are white? I am not privileged or supremacist or a nationalist because I am white. I am not responsible for what my ancestors did, I am responsible for me, right now, today and I am acutely aware of Christ in me, His nature embedded in my spirit, His character working its way out through me. What I have today is not because of white privilege, it is because I worked hard for years, many times holding down three different jobs at once, to help meet the needs of our family. I did not live in white privilege when I grew up on government cheese and milk, sometimes only having cereal for dinner, and getting all my clothes from the Salvation Army. How privileged is that? All these labels, they never reflect our reality of truth, and that is why I despise them. I am not a racist because what you think and say is different, because my skin is different from yours.

Life Viewpoints Form Incorrect Perceptions

The way you perceive my say-so will be different, because your life point of view and mine are not the same. It is not a good thing when we major in the minor disagreements. Us not being able to agree on the minor things of life does not make me divisive. Those who label me don’t really know my motive or my directive for what I do and say, that is between me and God and the way He navigates me. I see people, not black or white folks. I don’t label people by their color. It is an assumption on your part to judge what I say, and to label me according to what you think you know about me. God wants us to see the reality of truth, labels lead relationships to racism which provokes lawlessness.

Isaiah 50: 10-11 “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. 11 Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks: Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—This you shall have from My hand: You shall lie down in torment. NLT

Violence Happens When We Flesh Out

The violence happens when the human condition of sin is given into, and we kindle a fire of our own making, and walk our way, by the light of a man-made fire that will flame out. When the self-kindled light goes out, this is where the enemy comes in like a flood and torments our emotions to the point of being berserk. The effect of the sin of racism, can sometimes lead us to horrific choices of evil. This time of violent lawlessness is not systemic racism, it is sin. Stand Down Deception In The Name Of Jesus.

Galatians 3:28 And we no longer see each other in our former state—Jew or non-Jew, rich or poor, male or female—because we’re all one through our union with Jesus Christ with no distinction between us. The Passion Translation

Acts Of Lawlessness

We can’t look at the color of the skin of the people in acts of lawlessness. We see white and black in acts of violence, God see’s people He made in His Image, God see’s the heart of mankind is desperately wicked. God is not labeling us by our skin color or our nationality. He is just grieving over such a horrific display of our human condition. He doesn’t care whether the person is white who injures a police office. He doesn’t care whether the person is black who beats a white woman to death. He doesn’t care if it is white people or black people who are destroying, killing, maiming and looting. He cares about our heart. He sees through our skin color to our heart. God does not judge or label any of us by skin color. Stand Down Violence In The Name Of Jesus.

The Consequences Of Our Human Condition

God wants us to see how lawlessness is bringing ALL people to a reactive violence that devalues ALL life. An impulsive reactive violence that steals, kills and destroys is unconfronted lawlessness. A volatile violence steals the right and voice of peaceful protestors and has becomes center stage in the maiming and killing of people, the destruction of neighborhoods of all colors, nationalities and races. It is not about casting the blame on “white folks” or “black folks” describing activities of this white person did this and this black person did that, it is about all of us, all people. I don’t see racism or police brutality as a systemic national problem. I do see the need to have a conversation with those who still encounter it. I do believe we should teach our children not to participate in racism and to always respect the authority of their community police department. How will they know if we don’t teach them in word and in deed? The consequence of the human condition, letting it flesh out without any self-control, common sense or wisdom from above is: We all bleed and we all will hurt until our nation stands down in its lawlessness. When you step outside of Rulership of God’s love and you cruelly flesh out, this doesn’t affect just one race; it affects all races and all people. Stand Down Lawlessness In The Name Of Jesus.

We Need Conversation

Disrespect for the life of another, this is not a one race, one culture, or one nationality problem. It is about all of us, together. I was born in an Italian family. Do you know about my nationality, the way I grew up, my back story? My father was a Civil Defense Director of my city where I grew up, also a police detective. This is my back story, it is different from yours, it shapes me. We need to have conversations where we listen to one another, so we can respect and learn to love each other’s differences. We were uniquely made, not made for division, made for unity, because we are better together. I do see color and I respect the nationality and culture of different skin colors. We have to make sure we are having this conversation with the generation beneath us, our children, our grandchildren. Let’s not wait until we are in a crisis situation, let’s talk, let’s have a constant conversation of the horrors of racism. My neighbor was not my nationality. Our skin colors were not the same. I got to know her, I listened to her, I supported her in her daily living, did neighborly things for her as much as I could. I knew her heart needs, I prayed for her. We knew true friendship. Even in the midst of tragic situations, you can make a difference with the truth you know, if you engage with your neighbors and those around you, passing on the right way, like Curtis M. Hayes Jr did:

“…we use ourselves as human shields to protect the other side while protecting ourselves because we understand that in those feet where we stand across from each other, that we are all human. And one reaction will cause more and multiple reactions that we do not need… I need everybody to understand there’s not a fight to take, but only one side, and that is to fight for equality of people everywhere in the world…if everyone can come together in solidarity and as a unit, then we will move forward so much better as a people…” Curtis M. Hayes Jr.

Not Our Media

The main stream media in this country, not all of it is our friend right now. Sadly so, we have a corrupted media pushing false narratives constantly baiting us, labeling us, dividing us and setting us against one another. Telling “A Story” not “The Story”. It is in our best interest to turn away from the main stream media and look for alternative sources of news. They are out there, ask God to show you, ask God to help navigate you to truth. He will. The best thing we can do is learn to go to God first, listen up to God, be directed by His Word, follow after Him. Let God lead. We were not created to take justice in our own hands, we were not created to navigate this life without Him, we need Him. We can’t rightfully judge another person’s heart or motive. Most of the time, we don’t know what we think we know. If you truly fact check your thoughts, you will find the majority of them are assumptions, speculations, presuppositions and theories of such. We have been stuck in the rut of mind sets that are false. Challenge your thoughts, challenge your mind-sets and weed out everything that is not truth. Stand Down Assumption In The Name Of Jesus.

Romans 12:2 Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes. The Passion Translation

Change It UP ~ Ask God First

Now is the time to change it up. We need to ask God to not let us step out on an assumption, or be emotionally led by a speculation. Ask God to help us, by the direction of His Holy Spirit, to change this up in us, to be a chaser of truth, to learn to wait on truth. Things may seem to be true from media video clips, but many times are clipped together to make their story believable. A good case in point is the Covington Catholic students who were wrongly accused by the main stream media, who only showed you a piece of a video and spun a web of deceit, telling “A story” to the public, not “The Story”, which thankfully came out and debunked the made up media story with the reality of truth. We really don’t know what we think we know. This is a fact we need to grasp close to us before we react. The spiritual habit we need to change up is our impulsive emotional reaction. Truth takes time. Go to God, who knows everything and ask Him for discernment, ask Him to lead you, navigate you through. Stand Down Mediatic False Narrative In The Name Of Jesus.

We Are Responsible For Our Actions Now

There is not a systemic problem with racism or police brutality in the United States. It happens, here and there, and that is why we need to address it, teach about it, talk about it before there is tragedy and upheaval. It is hard to have a conversation during these times, especially now that the main stream media is telling “A Story” and not “The Story” about this horrific situation with the rioting and lawlessness. We look at the past to learn from it, not to bring it into our present. Our ancestors had a bad past with racism, but our present is much improved, we have learned from the past and are still growing through. We are not responsible for what people did in the past, we are responsible for the actions of our now. Jesus doesn’t hold us responsible for the sins of others, yet the consequences of their sin, we live with. Racism is a sin. Over the years people are less ignorant about it, and more aware to fight for the rights of all people. Racism is still in effect through some people. We need to be compassionate, listen and grieve with those who still feel its hurt and its losses. We should be willing to understand and empathize with all people’s life point of view, but we personally should not be condemned because of their suffering. Jesus said there is no condemnation in Christ. The past is underneath His blood, we have no rights to it, He owns it. We should not have to pay for the sins of others, this is not biblical, this is critical theory, not biblical truth, but false guilt. We are responsible for our actions, right now. So lean in with the people God has put around you, listen to them, be interested in them and get to know them. Stand Down Irresponsibility In The Name Of Jesus.

Listen And Understand Others

I often wish I had a quieter home life when I grew up, but then I realize, I am who I am because it was so noisy, open and free. I listened and learned from the conversations that happened in my home. They shaped me. I am very open and honest; I listen and try to glean something new from people I meet. I know because of the way I was raised, that certain things trigger me and I have to work hard to listen to others who have different life experiences with racism and policemen. It is easier for me to stay with what I know. It is hard to open my comfort zone to a differing viewpoint. But that is where we have to begin the change, being willing to listen to the back story of others without letting it offend us because ours is different. I am, like so many of you, a work in progress because when people who have been hurt by policemen share anger over it, trying to say it is systemic, I have to be willing to hear their back story and understand them from their view point. That is hard, that is where God comes in, because without Him, I can’t do it, but with Him, I can. I will follow Him. Sometimes we have to tell our human condition to “stand down”!

I Believe In God ~ I Believe God

No matter what, I trust You, Jesus, I choose to believe in You, I choose to believe You at Your Word. I will follow you; my life will be lived out in followship of You. I will look to You first; I will listen up to You first. I will respond out of followship of You. I will become a person of less human conditioned reaction and more intentionally kingdom cultured response through Your nature, Christ in me, the hope of Glory.

Purchase The Bridegroom’s Voice

Thank you for stopping in The Bridegroom’s Café today. The meal served at the Prayer Mentor table today has a high protein count and will nourish your soul, strengthening your inner spiritual core. Make sure you share it with someone else by using your social media platform. Learning to lean into God every day and listen up to His Voice can become a Great God Adventure. You can experience this with a unique devotional book called: The Bridegroom’s Voice. Make sure you order it today and take that Journey with Jesus to a strong, vital-vertical relationship with Him. God bless you, KimberlyMac