Some More Three Dog Night Please . . .

Once again, I will start out with the disclaimer that while I enjoy the sound of the music group Three Dog Night, their lifestyle is not necessarily one to be emulated by Christians, however the issues they raised in the early 70’s through their music still are issues we face today in America.  And (sigh) if I don’t state this disclaimer, someone out their will try to cancel me based upon the secular reference (double sigh).

There was a rock group in the early seventies known as Three Dog Night.  There name is derived from someone homeless on the street, knowing that it will be a cold night, he is in need of at least three dogs to keep him warm while he sleeps. One of their biggest hits was Black and White (a song about ending segregation to help work towards racial harmony).

A recent survey that has been making the rounds is:

https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/survey-black-americans-attend-church-and-pray-more-often

This does not surprise me in the least.  Too often American television likes to portray black families as living in the hood and being more agnostic than full of faith.  One of the things that has even bothered me about the Kendrick Brothers films is that the white Christians are the ones who always save the day for the black Christians.  Even in The War Room, about a black family and faith, they still attend a primarily white congregation with a white pastor.  When are we going to see the white Christians in need of being helped by their black brothers and sisters?  Even in their last film, Overcomer the white teacher saves the black family.  While I do not fully espouse the Black Lives Matters or the Woke Universe, it has opened my eyes to look at how culturally self-centered we as Christians can be at times.

Look on YouTube, and search white evangelical meltdown, and one can easily see how God forgot to speak to the black church about the election.  I stand by my previous comment that the white me too prophets looks like a bad 70’s television sit-com, with a token black character thrown in to prove diversity.  Yet the truth is, that the black community seems to take their faith far more serious than the white community.  And if so, then whom to you think was more in touch with the pulse of what God was trying to speak to America about the election?  I am reminded of this story from the Old Testament:

• 2 Chronicles 18:5 NASB – 5 Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give [it] into the hand of the king.”

But King Jehoshaphat was not convinced and asked for a second opinion:

• 2 Chronicles 18:8, 13-17 NASB – 8 Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah, Imla’s son.” … 13 But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” 14 When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” He said, “Go up and succeed, for they will be given into your hand.” 15 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” 16 So he said, “I saw all Israel Scattered on the mountains, Like sheep which have no shepherd; And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.'” 17 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

Now rephrase that event with, then President Trump assembled the prophets . . . Now comes one of the most bizarre twists in history:

• 2 Chronicles 18-21 NASB – 18 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left. 19 “The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 20 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ 21 “He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.‘ Then He said, ‘You are to entice [him] and prevail also. Go and do so.’

We like to remind ourselves that:

• Hebrews 13:8 NASB – 8 Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and today and forever.

If that is so, and God is willing to deceive his prophets to accomplish his will then, he can easily do so today.  The unspoken theology is that God would never set up events unless I am in the know.  God just happens to see things differently:

• Isaiah 45:9 NASB – 9 “Woe to [the one] who quarrels with his Maker– An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making [say,] ‘He has no hands’?
• Jeremiah 18:6 NASB – 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter [does?]” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
• Romans 9:21 NASB – 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

God does NOT need our permission to accomplish his will.  Some studies have suggested that white men in America will be a minority by 2043, and  that in the UK, white males make up 10% of higher education.  Other world wide studies show:

As a white male, I can safely state we overstate our role in the church, and when the majority of prophets who claim to speak on behalf of God are mostly white, then we have a major problem. If God so loved the world, then why do we continue to act and behave as if white western Christianity is the voice to the world? Yes, we have contributed to the world with thoughts and ideas, but the key thought is contributed . . . we have not authored anything, just playing a role in a chapter of it’s history.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee (no racial pun intended).  We are deceiving ourselves.  If ever there was a time we could use some more Three Dog Night in the church  to espouse such values as the song Black and White, it would be today. 

Love much my friends, for there is only one race in the world, the human race . . .