racism

  • CALLED TO SPEAK UP

    Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. Psalm 31:8-9 NLT

    I’m grieved.

    Literally sick to my stomach with all that has taken place and what is taking place in our world.

    Covid-19 deaths and lockdown, racism, killing by those who are called on to protect, false, part-truth news reporting to cause division for profit or popularity, corrupt political and business leaders abusing their power, depression, anxiety, suicide, financial struggles, hunger, starvation, broken, hurting people acting out of their woundedness and division being spread in countries, cities and homes around the globe with much worse affects than the current plague.

    If we don’t see a change soon, I’m fearful of where this will take us given the current trajectory of events.

    Please read this post with the filter of love, a desire for unity and longing deep in my heart to break down dividing walls; not build them up.

    Answering The Call

    called to speak up

    This is just me, answering the call of Proverbs 31:8-9 to speak up for the crushed, poor, and helpless with hope they will receive justice. I pray you’ll answer the same call to speak righteousness, justice, and truth in love.

    Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Psalm 89:14 ESV

    GEORGE FLOYD—The Crushed

    On May 25, 2020 the world changed forever. George Floyd, an innocent man, lost his life because of a corrupt, racist group of police officers who abused their power and murdered him in front of a horrified audience. This one incident has brought to the surface a longstanding stronghold of racism towards black people that has been allowed to fester for centuries.

    I don’t believe there’s any going back and I hope we make a change for the better, quick before too many lives are lost. 

    THE COVID FLUSH

    I believe the isolation of Covid-19 Lockdown is bringing to the surface many old wounds that need to be healed, issues that were overdue to be dealt with and problems that have been ignored for much too long: globally, nationally, in our hearts and homes.

    God is allowing long-standing strongholds to surface, so they can be severed. 

    I pray we recognize this and begin to make the changes necessary because it seems all hell is breaking loose. Anarchy has ensued because there is a loss of confidence in the government to care, protect or have people’s best interest at heart but rather to dominate. I hope you do not see my words as condoning the looting or vandalism, I do not condone illegal behaviour, but I also don’t condone government officials or other evil-acting persons who abuse others, even taking a life. All life is precious.

    UNITY

    During Lockdown I’ve been trying to stay positive and see God at work in people’s lives, which I believe He is, I could see it while online attending another global prayer meeting with Unite714.  Praying for unity in this world. 

    UNITY: This is the heart of God.

    UNITY: This is the nature of God.

    God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; the triune God, three in one… complete unity, and that’s what He wants for His kids; the people of this world.  There’s not a one He doesn’t love.  Not a one He didn’t die to save. 

    SIGNS OF UNITY GROWING

    Favourite Photo & Video From The Protests

    Why? This picture gets me very emotional because the white police officer is holding this black woman like a son protecting his momma. She’s looking at him and has her arm around him, trusting him to protect. It’s the way it should be. It’s beautiful. I also love that this picture of a protest to show that American people believe black lives matter has only a few distinctively black protesters, most are white. #unityindiversity

    My Favourite Video. This police officer is one of many who are breaking down barriers of racism and bringing healing to his community. He and many other law enforcement officers are leading the way to reconciliation.

    I want to see the positive but I feel a shift in the atmosphere, the battle is raging and we need to pray. I can’t ignore how I see the enemy rearing his ugly head, having a heyday. 

    John 10:10 records Jesus saying:

    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
     I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
    John 10:10

    THE THIEF

    The thief Jesus is talking about here is the devil and his tactics haven’t changed over time.  The devil visits every age to steal, kill and destroy. On the contrary, Jesus comes to give live to the full. I see God at work in hearts and I also recognized the work of the enemy as I watch the news in the murder of George Floyd, the abusive, overhanded government response to protests, how evil-acting people have brought damage to bring on police brutality, the wrongful vandalism, looting and violence taking place. 

    Don’t you see the thief at work in all of this? If we keep trying to fight an enemy with skin on; instead of the real enemy, society is headed for complete disaster.

    You can be sure the enemy, the devil is behind the hatred, racism, abuse, injustice, corruption and all manner of godless behaviour you’re watching play out on your screens. Embracing hatred and placing your rights above another’s brings division, just what the enemy wants. Divide and conquer are his plans for all relationships.  We have to stop letting him win. Stop falling into his traps. Stop partnering with his plans.

    Don’t displace your anger, place it where it needs land… with the chief-thief.

    If you want peace, if you want love to rule, you have to recognize… this is a spiritual battle we’re all engaged in and you have to fight a spiritual war with spiritual weapons of prayer, fasting and declaring God’s purposes over the future. You cannot overcome hatred with hatred.

    Do not be conquered by evil,
    but conquer evil with good.
    Romans 12:1

    A PROPHETIC POST?

    In 2016, I wrote a post and shared about an article by Lecrae; the three-time Grammy Award winning Christian rapper, who shared how he just like George Floyd had a police officer put their knee to his neck… yes to the Christian rapper who was falsely being accused of having a gun… which he didn’t. There was one statement he made that rocked me to the core.1

    You can’t wipe away a 500-year trauma in 50 years.

    If you’ve ever had to deal with hurt in your past, I think you can understand this. The crazy part is that when I went searching through my blogs, I found this post was the one I wrote the night of the election where Donald Trump took the vote and became President. Penning it after being woken up by the Lord with a Phrase running through my head, “Looking for a David, not a Saul.”

    In the post, I wrote, “As this phrase kept waking me up, I thought of the difference between David and Saul as leaders of their nation. Both men were appointed by God in their position, both men started off well, but only one man finished well.” I believe how Donald Trump deals or doesn’t deal with this atrocity will decide if he has the heart of David or Saul.2

    I know we need to pray for him to govern as God wants. I’m praying Donald Trump will govern like a good father, firm but loving and accepting.

    THE DEVIL’S DESTRUCTIVE WAYS

    I’m heartsick when I hear about racism.

    I was appalled watching the murder of George Floyd and many other black people.  I’m horror-struck watching the news where I see police officers tasering teenagers until they’re incapacitated when they were just driving home in their car and didn’t know about the new curfew. Broken as I watch law enforcement beat people, throw tear gas, pepper-spray children and drive overtop of people. 

    If you don’t believe me check out Shaun King’s Podcast Episode Shown here and his Instagram account that is chronicling some of the police brutality. @shaunking Research for yourself in the links below, I’ve seriously been researching this for years.

    I was angered when I read an email from a girl who teaches online business as she shared her experience when driving home and facing a protest ahead had to hear her five-year-old daughter who had witnessed police brutality ask,

    Mommy, I am a little black. Will the police kill me when I grow up?

    No mother should ever have to be asked a question like that.  I’ve had countless black friends share over the years how they’ve experienced racism and the fear associated with police harassment, wrongful arrest and abuse.  “A 2015 study found that unarmed blacks were 3.49 times more likely to be shot by police than were unarmed whites.”3  This shouldn’t be.

    FURIOUS

    I’m furious and praying the other three police officers are charged for their part in the murder of George Floyd. We serve a God of justice and this injustice is not His ways.   

    My heart was broken as I read an article from the Harvard Public Health Review and other sites, detailing the disproportionate homicides to black people when police are involved.  I don’t want to post them but I will share links with you to do your own research and face the harsh reality that racism is rampant and it’s not just in the US. On Canadian soil there have been great injustices to minorities over the centuries so we can’t throw the proverbial first stone.  We need to clean up our backyard before we could ever look down with a condescending eye.

    SHAREABLE—BUT NO COMMENTS

    I have chosen to make this post shareable but not allow comments.

    In the past when I’ve shared anything remotely political or controversial, there have been comments written that twist my words to imply I’m saying something I did not mean. 

    REFRESHING & REAL

    I want to hear your thoughts, I just don’t want arguing, fighting, and hurtful words shared on a blog purposed to bring a refreshing word, backed with Scripture to help a hurting world walk through the difficult times. I know that’s what God’s Soul H2O Devotions to provide but I also know that sometimes there are bitter things in our water supply that must be cleared out in order for the fresh water to flow.

    That’s why I feel this post had to be written and shared.

    SEMANTICS

    I pray you hear my heart and if I have written anything with words that mean something different than I have intended them to mean and they offend you, please let me know.  I understand that I’m not a millennial. Sometimes words have changed meaning over the years and between different people groups.  Trigger words that conjure up hurtful feelings. If I have unknowingly used any of these, please share with me.  

    HOW TO RESPOND

    If you have questions or comments, PLEASE write, DM, or message me personally. I will respond to as many as I’m able but sometimes I just do not have the time to reply to all.  Know that I will do my best to read them all, pray and hopefully be able to respond. Depending on the response, I may have my team help me read through.  I care about your viewpoint and your heart.

    This is a call, for all Christians to pray.  Pray for unity, pray for healing of the black community for past atrocities, pray for racism of any kind to be removed from all our hearts, pray for corruption and abuse to end. Pray for the love of Christ to fill the earth!

    Much love,

    Sherry Stahl
    xoxo

    ENDNOTES
    1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/i-declare-black-lives-matter_b_5808be36e4b0dd54ce385412?fb_action_ids=10154658276416085&fb_action_types=og.comments
    2. https://www.sherrystahl.com/looking-for-a-david-not-a-saul/
    3. Ross, Cody T.; Hills, Peter James (5 November 2015). “A Multi-Level Bayesian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings at the County-Level in the United States, 2011–2014”. PLOS ONE. 10 (11): e0141854. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1041854R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141854. PMC 4634878. PMID 26540108.

    FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF–More Links

    Deaths in police custody in the United States: Research review

    Trends in US Deaths Due to Legal Intervention Among Black and White Men, Age 15-34 Years, by County Income Level: 1960-2010

     Ross, Cody T.; Hills, Peter James (5 November 2015). “A Multi-Level Bayesian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings at the County-Level in the United States, 2011–2014”. PLOS ONE. 10 (11): e0141854. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1041854R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141854. PMC 4634878. PMID 26540108.

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  • Looking for a David, Not a Saul

    I went to sleep last night not 100% sure, but assuming that I would wake up to the news that Donald Trump was the President Elect of the United States.  I was correct.  What I didn’t expect is that I’d be up at 4am-8am writing a post about it.  Somehow between midnight and 4am I woke up a few times with the phrase “Looking for a David, Not a Saul”.

    By 4am I couldn’t go back to sleep so, I decided to get up and check the election results.  If Hillary had won, then the phrase wouldn’t make sense since her campaign didn’t emphasize any religious beliefs whereas Donald Trump did choose to make his religious beliefs as a Christian a part of his politics.  When I saw that indeed my bedtime assumption was correct and Donald Trump did indeed win the electoral vote I began writing.

    To be honest I went to sleep with an uneasy feeling thinking that Donald Trump was going to be the President.  I don’t know where his heart is and that makes me nervous.  Many people are scared because they see him as not capable of managing the position of President since he doesn’t have political experience, but I think you shouldn’t underestimate a man who has been successful enough in life to fund his own presidential campaign and gain the vote.

    Just like Trump, I’m not the right person to be writing about the US elections. To start off.  I’m Canadian.  I’m not a political analyst.  I’m an author, speaker and Soul H2O blogger of devotions.  Not quite the credentials of a political writer but, I’m not writing to analyze the elections. I am writing to awaken the conscience of the continent of North America and somehow the conscience of Donald Trump to understand how pivotal his role as leader of our Continent is in this time.

    I thought Trump’s campaign slogan “make America great again” was compelling.  Many have understood this to mean how America was during his childhood.  Although it was a more financially sound America, although a more church-going nation then, it was not the best America back then and is not the America needed today.  The thoughts of going back to an America of yesteryear brings fear in many people.

    I was saddened when I searched online to find the results of the election and watched a video clip of Van Jones titled “How Do I Explain This To My Children”.1   Jones describes the election as “a whitelash” and states his fear along with the fear of many Americans of Trump bringing America back to a time of racism.  I then read another piece about this same fear in a Huffington Post article.2

    Stories like these break my heart. As a Christian I know there is a better way.  You see,

    [tweetthis]Christ includes, not excludes. #USA #Election Results[/tweetthis]

    God is no respecter of persons4. EVERYONE is created in the image of God5.  God values us all the same.  Under His leadership, there is no racism.

    Recently, I made a comment under Lecrae’s Huffington Post article The Pains of Humanity Have Been Draining Me3 on the issue of racism and shared it on my personal Facebook page.  I began my comment with these words, “as a pasty white chick it breaks my heart to hear how unfair life is for people of other skin tones. It just shouldn’t be. I wish I could do more to change it”.  My role to help bring about change is formulated in my speaking and in my writing.  So this is why I write, even when I don’t have the credentials to do so.

    I recognized that I started getting sidetracked looking up articles on the election and then I stopped.  I didn’t get up at 4am to write an article on what people thought about Trump as President or the State of the Union.  I would be sleeping right now if I thought that is what the article should be about.  I am willing to lose sleep in order to write a post about the topic that woke me in the first place because:

    [tweetthis]In North America, we’re Looking for a David, Not a Saul. #USA #Election #Government [/tweetthis]

    As this phrase kept waking me up, I thought of the difference between David and Saul as leaders of their nation. Both men were appointed by God in their position.  Both men started off well.  Only one man finished well.  Only one man fulfilled the call of God on his life in leading the people as God intended.

    Acts 13:36 says that “David had served God’s purpose in his own generation”.

    In Old Testament times a nations leader was recognized by the Spirit of God on their life, oh how we need that today.

    1 Samuel 16:14 describes that “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul”

    when he was leader of the nation of Israel, and

    I Samuel 13:13-14 explains a little why, “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” NIV

    David led well because he was a man after God’s heart.  David wasn’t perfect, he didn’t do everything right by a longshot, but he did do what God had purposed for him to do in his generation because his heart was bent towards God’s heart.  It’s been a long time since a leader’s term would be written about as having completed what God wanted them to do.

    During the voting reports last night one of the panelists said that the Christian vote was the strongest it had been in a long time and commented how churches were showing videos encouraging voting.  Christians have made a loud statement to Washington.  They have given Donald Trump the mandate to lead their country and as a confessed Christian, to lead it under God’s direction.

    Acts 13:21-22 makes clear that God is in control of Governmental appointments.  God’s overall plan for mankind is at work, no matter who the leader is.  These verses also make it clear that it is the discretion of a leader to follow after God’s purpose for his life and leadership or to fall into the sin of Saul.

    “Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul… But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:21-22 NLT

    I’m praying that Donald Trump desires to leave a legacy of Godly leadership and truly “make America great”.  If he chooses to have the heart of David and rely on the Lord for guidance, America will be a great nation now, not again.

    I was impressed by Donald Trump’s victory speech.  It was the humblest of acceptance speeches that I remember from a leader of a nation.  He honored Hillary Clinton for her role in the election and her service to their country.  I hope it has quelled the fear of many that he is only the president for a select few.  I pray he lives up to his statements and includes as Christ would.

    I was shocked to see such a calm, humble Donald thanking so many for their part in the victory.  There was no air of pride in his words.  No sense of “I did this on my own, I deserve this”.  No heart of Saul.

    Mr. Trump, I pray for you.  I implore you, to fulfill the purpose of God for your life in your own generation.  I ask you to allow the truth of these verses to guide your heart, your life and your leadership as the President of the United States.

    May these scriptures guide you as you lead.

    Proverbs 17:19 NLT
    Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who trusts in high walls invites disaster.

    Proverbs 16:18 NIV
    Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

    Proverbs 18:12 NIV
    Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor.

    In His Grip,

    Sherry Stahl

    Footnotes

    1. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/11/09/van-jones-emotional-election-results-sot.cnn
    2. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ibram-x-kendi/would-a-president-trump-m_b_10135836.html
    3. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-declare-black-lives-matter_us_5808be36e4b0dd54ce385412?fb_action_ids=10154658276416085&fb_action_types=og.comments
    4. Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11
    5. Genesis 1:27

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