Race Matters

Race Matters

"Besides these revealed and indicated assignments of government over nations and groups of nations on the national level [during the Reign of Jesus Christ], there will be positions of great magnitude on the international level in the areas of scientific and social functions. And there are a few indications of what some of those operations will be, and the possible--if not probable--personnel.

Since Noah lived first, we now take a look at Noah. In Noah's day, the chief cause of the violence and chaos of world conditions was racial hatreds, interracial marriages, and racial violence caused by man's efforts toward integration and amalgamation of races, contrary to God's laws. God had set the boundary lines for the nations and the races at the beginning (Deut. 32:8-9; Acts 17:26). But men had refused to remain in the lands to which God had assigned them. That was the cause of the corruption and violence that ended that world. For 100 years Noah had preached God's ways to the people--but they didn't heed.

At that time, even as today, that world faced a population explosion. It was when "men began to multiply on the face of the earth" (Gen. 6:1). Jesus said, of our time, right now, "But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37)--or, as in Luke 17:26, "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." That is, the days just before Christ returns. Today race wars, race hatreds, race riots and race problems are among the world's greatest social troubles.

Noah merely preached to people in his human lifetime. But Noah, in the resurrection, immortal, in power and glory, will be given the power to enforce God's ways in regard to race.

It seems evident that the resurrected Noah will head a vast project of the relocation of the races and nations, within the boundaries God has set, for their own best good, happiness and richest blessings. This will be a tremendous operation. It will require great and vast organization, reinforced with power to move whole nations and races. This time, peoples and nations will move where God has planned for them, and no defiance will be tolerated.

What a paradox. People are going to be forced to be happy, to have peace, to find abundant and joyful living!"

Excerpt from Mystery of the Ages, written by Herbert W. Armstrong (emphasis mine).

As a firm believer in the plain truth of the Bible that Herbert W. Armstrong boldly taught, using it as my basis, I've defended our doctrines in many forums, and share this one example:

I'm sure you're aware that the Bible is an ethnocentric Book dealing with the Hebrew people, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and only mentions other nations insomuch as they come into contact with our Israelite people. Brit Am Israel reveals the modern identity of these peoples.

There is the NATION and there is the CHURCH. God's Israelite nations have the distinct Law of Moses that grants resident aliens/Gentiles various rights to be treated fairly, own property and such, but not the right to have any say or part in the exercise of the GOVERNMENT. The Voting Rights Act should be repealed and treated as a treacherous and leprous lapse in national judgment.

The Church is Israelite-based (the Root) but gladly includes many Gentiles (Branches) who have been grafted into the spiritual Family and have the same incredible human spiritual potential as Israelites: to be literally born again into the literal Kingdom-Family of God that transcends this flesh. The Church of God needs to clarify and make widely known the biblical position on race and grace.

The Bible is a Christocentric book.

WRONG. The Bible is an ethnocentric book that includes at the heart of its divine message Israel's King would save Israel and Gentiles, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). It would be politically-incorrect today to reach out to the Jews (representative of all Israelites) first and then to the Greeks (representative of all Gentiles). But it is biblical!

Romans 9:3-5

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Some would vainly argue against Paul for even taking note of the legitimate differences or making a distinction between his brethren, his countrymen, and all mankind.

The entire focus of the New Testament is breaking down the divisions between people on the basis of race, class, and status.

Again: There is the NATION and there is the CHURCH.

The same New Testament that breaks down divisions, obstacles in the way of our equal opportunity for entrance into the God Kingdom-Family, still preaches women shouldn't preach, that wives should be submissive to their loving husbands and children obedient to their patient parents and slaves to their masters (1 Corinthians 14:34, 1 Timothy 2:12). There is a biblical order to follow and unique roles for all to play whether in the Church, family or nation (Isaiah 19:25, 1 Corinthians 12:18).

Yet some folks would rather follow their fickle feelings, getting swayed by their emotions, and rebel against the Word and Will of God, refusing to submit, proud and stubborn, failing to see this isn't about their inferiority complexes or others' superiority complexes, but what is right and what is wrong as God has decreed! Men are men, women are women, Israelites are Israelites and Gentiles are Gentiles!

Spiritually we all have an equal opportunity, once called, for various administrative offices in the Kingdom-Family of God. Some former Gentiles and women will be greater than some former Israelites. It's what we do with what God has given us, and God has given us various roles and positions and boundaries to work with within this life of living and learning. Women shouldn't feel jealous of men, or Gentiles of Israelites, or Joseph of Judah or Judah of Joseph, or Israelites of Levites or Levites of Priests. Satan can use a bitter root of anger or resentment, jealousy, covetousness, to defile those who let their guard down. We all have our proper place whether within the Church, nation or our family of nations.

The division of a unified mankid was not a gift, it was punishment for a generation that was arrogant and decided that being unified they would build a tower to the Heavens.

It was both a blessing and a curse. Deuteronomy 32:8 and elsewhere reveals God had predetermined to divide the Earth, the land, with the Israelites uppermost in mind (knowing He would create them) as various inheritances regardless of sin, just as there are divisions within the Holy Land for the 12 Tribes of Israel that are not divisive (Ezekiel 47:21). And those representative Gentiles, who have adopted our ways, shall remain separate but equal (to a degree), given designated areas as an inheritance (Ezekiel 47:2).

Any warning against intermarriage was on the basis of keeping their religious practices pure, not keeping the race pure.

It appears to be both, as there is DUALITY in Scripture, something physical often representing something spiritual (Ezra 9:2). Genesis 30:34 and 35:2 reveals Laban's family were idol worshippers, including Rachel and Leah. Yet Jacob went out of his way to marry within his own kind, from his own kindred, just like Isaac did (Genesis 24:4, 28:1-2). Any intermarriage is the Bible is documented and is an exception to the rule, and the person follows the religion of Israel.

God did create the races and we do create a beautiful picture... IF... we intermingle. If I handed you a pallate of 100 colors of paint, and you kept those colors separate by huge white spaces on a canvas how beautiful and intricate could your painting be?

God didn't make a mistake in making us each beautiful but not wanting us to blur our own unique colors and characteristics. That is a form of adultery, adulterating, diluting our respective peoples and disrespecting our kinfolk. We're to stay within the bounds that God has set: kind after kind.

We are the body of Christ. One body, one spirit.

Again, that's the CHURCH. Regardless, women still can't preach and it's still "to the Jew first and then to the Greeks." There is an order that we must follow if we're to be faithful to the God of the Hebrews, our Great Creator God, the God of the Bible.

You seem to be implying that there is a racial root -- possibly with biblical origin -- to the poverty and immorality that led to the incident in Toledo.

I believe there is a spiritual root to all sin. We're all sinners and in need of grace. However, aren't you aware that God said He would punish Israelites and Jews with specific Gentiles who would act like animals, culminating in the Gentile confederation of kingdoms led by THE BEAST? Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall warns about this rising BEAST POWER IN EUROPE!

Is God racist? Were Isaiah and Daniel and others who referred to various Gentile countries and leaders as animals, racist? Or realist? Does this mean every Gentile is a wild animal? Definitely not! Just as every Israelite certainly isn't a pure lamb! Yet how can God refer to "the worst of the heathen" that HE would bring against our hypocritical Israelite nations if some people aren't worse than others, all things considered?

I don't know you well enough to classify you as a person so I will not do that, but the viewpoint you express here is racist.

I'll gladly be as "racist" as the Bible teaches me to be, however politically incorrect.

There is no question that the Jews are God's chosen people. But the Bible was not written to bring us closer to and to teach us more about the Jews.

The Jews are only a part of the TWELVE Tribes of Israel, as brought out in The United States and Britain in Prophecy, but you're wrong about the Bible isn't written to bring us closer to and teach us more about the Jews. Apparently you disagree with Yashua's statement that "salvation is of the Jews" and "we know who we worship," and how the Prophets reveal the whole world will soon go after the Jews to learn more about the biblical God and how Israel (all 12 Tribes) will be God's Servant Nation, His Light to all nations, when all nations come up to learn about the God of JACOB-ISRAEL (Zechariah 8:23, Isaiah 2:3).

Please don't be offended at God. God has ordained that the world will learn all about His Plan of Salvation, and His Son, through His People Israel, predominately through the Anglo-Saxons and Jews. It's our NATIONAL calling, based on race and grace (Romans 11:28-29).

Gentiles can and must learn and adopt as their own our God-given higher standard for living (1 Corinthians 12:2). It was revealed to us to share with the world!

You are insisting that somehow God does not know that a Caucasian women and an African man can make a beautiful caramel or tan-colored baby that is uniquely beautiful. The same is true of all other races that intermingle.

If God wanted that, He would have created it. Instead we have the three major races and those who have been diluted/adulterated through no fault of their own. Mind you one of my sisters is married to a nice Mexican man, and one of my other sisters is married to a white man, and the other yet unmarried only likes black gentlemen (not the ghetto type). And I love all my sisters and their spouses, even though they know I believe IDEALLY we should all stay within our own race, our own God-given natural division. Celebrate diversity! Don't destroy it. Our God-given differences don't have to divide us. Look at the Rainbow where each color remains separate and special!

I am saddened that you distinctly think that the body of Christ is a racial experience when spiritual beings are not bound by definitions like race and ethnicity.

I'm sorry you continue to be blind to the great differences between THE NATION and THE CHURCH. Spiritually minded people are still guided by God's law, trusting Father knows best, and it consistently says a woman can't preach and Gentiles aren't to rule over Israelites and every nation has its proper place.

When we're totally spiritual beings, we'll be members of God's Kingdom-Family, having been literally born again, transformed from human to divine, and we'll then transcend the flesh, becoming literal Spirit-Beings just like God the Father and Jesus Christ in character and composition!

David Ben-Ariel, a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, shares a special focus on the Middle East and great interest in Jerusalem, reflected in hard-hitting articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out Beyond Babylon.