George W. Bush Is Now Not Only President, But God & SatanToo

I just returned from Atlanta today and I must say that it was a very enlightening trip. Unless one was stranded on a desert island with no access to TV, radio or news paper you, like me, have all been just about worn out by the round the clock coverage of the New Orleans flood. Although the New Orleans situation gave me reason to write this piece, my issue goes beyond the flood and devastation of a physical kind. It is a devastation of the spirit that I feel compelled to write about. It is the apparent apostasy of the Black community and especially the church.

While in Atlanta last week, I could not go anywhere without hearing the same story over and over again. “George Bush killed all of those people in New Orleans.” Or, that was all Bush’s fault, that “oil company pimp caused the death of all of those people. He blocked legislation that would have prevented the flooding.” I heard it on the Metro, at restaurants, when the cable guy came in to hook my sister in law up and finally, so I would get the full flavor, from the TSA agent frisking me as I was trying to board my plane and get out of Atlanta. All of this was enough to drive a man crazy, especially the lying and blatant ignorance of facts, but what really put me over the edge was something I read when I got home. I received an email from a dear sister telling me that her pastor had preached a sermon Sunday morning repeating the same falsehoods. This pastor went so far as to say he agreed with Kanye West, when he said that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." And if that were not enough, West went on to say that “We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!" West’s remarks were so over the top that NBC cut them from the west coast rebroadcast, and everyone associated with the supposed relief effort, including NBC sought to quickly distance themselves from the remarks. Where I come from we called this “showing your behind.”

For Kanye West or any entertainer to say something like this is understandable, and we have come to expect it, but not from those who are supposed to be devoted to truth and preaching hope and forgiveness. Never the less, this pastor of a large predominantly black church in western Los Angeles, agreed with West’s statement. It is also one thing when long disgraced pseudo preachers such as Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton talk this nonsense, no one really listens any more, but when people who have standing in the community and should know better begin talking such nonsense it is a scary and tragic thing. What this shows is a sorry state in the black community, and especially the church. This apostasy or turning away from God is reflected in the way we have so easily begun to accept lies at face value.

What is so grievous is the fact that we have taken the focus off of God and begun to look to man for everything. Whether good or bad, we seem to look to the arm of flesh as the bible calls it for everything. Scarcely, in all of the discussion in the black community, in the last week, have I heard God mentioned. It was all about what men or a specific man did or did not do. On one hand President Bush has been accorded the power of God, but according to these peoplehe uses it like Satan. If we were to take the talk literally we would have to assume that President Bush had the power to order a hurricane, have it target black people, then wait for them to die, and when that was not good enough he ordered the national Guard to kill them.

Just think about all of this for a moment. Where is the question of, what might God be saying and showing us through this? And where is the hope, the word that God is near those who are in need and call upon Him? Where is the faith? It appears that it is gone. Gone!

Maybe FEMA, OHS, the mayor, Governor and/or the President did mess up, but what good does pointing fingers and degrading people do for those who are hurting? Does it feed anyone or house anyone? All it can do is hinder the coming together in unity to save and to restore those who have suffered loss.

To whom are we looking to heal and restore anyway? If it is man we will be sorely disappointed, if it is God we will not. I have not and will never give up hope. I know that my redeemer lives and that His ear is not deaf, nor is His arm too short to reach those in need if they call. He answers the humble but resists the proud. Unfortunately those who should call upon Him are being encouraged rather to plant a seed of bitterness. That seed if it takes root will lead to evil and a double mindedness which God will not reward.

A word to those who sow discord in the nation, especially those who call themselves “men of God.” Beware! Beware, not of George W. Bush, but the one who made George W. Bush and set him in the place he now sits! Remember:

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
1 Peter 2:13-15