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This week on Millennial Monday I am choosing to discuss an issue that has been weighing heavy on my heart for weeks. It is much more than just Charlottesville.  It’s the complete disregard for mankind, hate, bigotry, prejudice and satanic ideals of what a person should look like that burden me.

Following weeks of violence in Charlottesville, I can no longer skirt this subject. I have, of course, spoken out on these issues on personal social media accounts, but haven’t on my blog up until this point, for fear that nothing I could say would do justice to the sin that is so rampant in our world STILL after historic tragedies like the Holocaust, slavery and other forms of inhumanity.

But I can stay silent no longer. Daily I find myself in situations where I hear prejudice comments arise that are not met with rebuke or even labeled as shameful speech that should never leave the lips or even enter the mind of Christians, or anyone for that matter. But especially those who proclaim themselves as Christians.

Yesterday as I sat in church, one of our staff preachers said, “Don’t worry about what people think about you, worry about what people think about Christ because of you.” What about your life would reflect poorly on the kingdom and the work of God?

I ask myself this question as much as I ask you. I can reflect on many things I wish I could take back that were inappropriate or insensitive that I have either said or thought in my youth. I can also look back on moments when racist comments were made, and I said nothing. Can you do this as well? Now is the time that we stir the muddy waters and bring about the tides of change. You can’t force change in someone else, but you can start by BEING the change.

Praise the Lord that He doesn’t love us conditionally. Jesus doesn’t love one person more than the other; He didn’t die any more for one person than he died for the next. He loves all of His Creation regardless of where we come from or what we look like. We are beautiful in His sight.

John 13:34-35 says, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

That passage of scripture should be THE identification factor of all Christians. Others should know you are a Christ follower by how you love them.

The events and actions of the alt-right, white supremacist and other hate groups in Charlottesville aren’t anything but Satan in the flesh. To accept any form of hate or malice toward brothers and sisters of another race is to join those who spew their venom and hatred. To stand by idly and not say anything is just as bad as standing beside them. Have you been silent?

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said it best with these words:
“White supremacy does not merely attack our society (though it does) and the ideals of our nation (though it does); white supremacy attacks the image of Jesus Christ Himself. This sort of ethnic nationalism and racial superiority ought to matter to every Christian, regardless of national, ethnic or racial background. The church should call white supremacy what it is: terrorism, but more than terrorism. White supremacy is Satanism. Even worse, white supremacy is a devil-worship that often pretends that it is speaking for God.”

Have you been practicing your own form of Satanism in how you treat those of other races? We as Christians have a long road ahead of us when it comes to racial reconciliation. Our work won’t be easy, but if we pay attention to the atrocities we see that involve racism, rather than turning a blind eye, we’ve helped in a small way. We cannot tire of doing good. Doing good and seeking justice for the oppressed should be a part of who each of us are as Christians. It should be in our DNA.

Don’t stand for any form of racial superiority. Period. Don’t laugh at jokes at the expense of another race. Don’t allow others to talk down to anyone. Don’t contribute to the myth of racial superiority. Don’t stay quiet. DO speak love into situations full of hatred. DO seek justice for the oppressed. DO all of these things in love. Someone’s opinion of our Lord and Savior could depend on your actions, are you pointing others to Jesus or are you a part of the problem?