<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Peter Chung

The Steamboat Solution to Racism

Holy Father, our Father in God in Heaven, Father, we thank you that even in the midst of this momentous time that we could freely worship you in spirit and truth.

And Father, today, as you know me, every heart deed and action, my sinful erring self, a flawed man.

Father, I have been given the opportunity to share your word.

So Father, I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit, that in spite of myself, may I be a blessing, not a curse to people.

May this message be understood fully and may it bring healing and restoration to the church, Father.

For when the church is healed, we can do a great work to the world.

So Father, today, I ask that you use me as this humble, feeble, flawed instrument to do thy will.

1 of the defining moments of my life, especially in high school, was in April 29, 1992.

At that time, I was a sophomore in high school.

And at that time was a great civil unrest in my home city of Los Angeles, California.

And I already moved out of Los Angeles to another state at that time.

I was at a Adventist Academy in another state at that time.

And so this was the time when there was a police brutality case of a African-American man named Rodney King that was caught in grainy VHS videotape where 5 LAPD officers almost beat him to death.

And after that incident, the case went to trial and all the police officers were declared innocent.

And This led to 1 of the greatest civil unrests in the history of the United States, where 60 people were killed and almost half of Los Angeles was burnt down, all the way from Koreatown to South LA.

It was so bad that the United States military was mobilized to patrol the streets of South Central Los Angeles.

And I remember vividly the trauma of seeing my home city burnt down, seeing my Korean community businesses burnt down because of racial strife and racial tension as I was in a Adventist academy, where there were practically 15 minority students out of 250.

And it was sad to remember hearing racial epithets and words hurling around back in 1992.

And fast forward to 2020, civil unrest again.

This time, not only Los Angeles, but cities all around the United States is in discord and division and sad to see in the social media realm we see Seventh-day Adventists exhibiting the same spirit of division of that of the world manifested in social media.

But what does the Bible say regards to race?

Notice what the Bible says in Acts 17 26.

Notice the words of Paul, the Bible says this, and I have made of 1 blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and to determine the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.

We're 1 nation, We're 1 race by the blood of Jesus.

Our Adventist church is a worldwide movement of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

In fact, in the United States, Pew Research Institute has shown us that the Seventh Adventist Church is the most diverse church in the United States of America, praise God.

And so Jesus made, because of his blood that he spilled in Calvary, he made the human race into 1 race.

Our nationality, our race, is bonded by the blood of Jesus.

That is the race that God desires us to be, the human race.

In fact, notice what Inspiration says, notice what Second Selected Messages, page 343, paragraph 1 states.

In fact, I don't have that statement there, but she says that we should, by precept and example, demonstrate that there's no racism within the church, and that by precept and example, there should be no prejudice in the church, that we should be a demonstration to the world that we're something better, that we are the example, that we are the head and not the tail.

As there's racial strife outside the church walls, within the church, we have unity, We have peace, we have love among the brotherhood.

Now, there's some that believe that racism is a social justice issue, that racism is a liberal agenda far left issue, But what does the Bible say about racism?

Those are the Bible says in number chapter 12 verse 1 notice about a racist in the Bible and she was a sibling of a major patriarch notice the Bible says in numbers 12 1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

So Miriam and Aaron had a problem with Moses because Moses married an Ethiopian woman.

In other words, Miriam and Aaron were racist.

They discriminated against Moses because he married an Ethiopian woman.

But notice what it says in verse 9 and 10.

Notice how God responded to Miriam and Aaron's racism.

The Bible says this, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them.

And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle." In other words, the glory of God left the sanctuary in the most holy place because of the racism within the church of that time.

And behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow, and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

And so racism is not a social justice issue, it is a spiritual issue, just like abortion, just like thievery, just like rioting, just like fornication, it is a sin issue, and we as a church are called to deal with it.

In fact, notice what the Spirit of Prophecy says in Southern Word, page 13, paragraph 1.

Notice what Inspiration says, The heavenly intelligences rejoice to do the will of God in preaching the gospel to the poor in the announcement which the Savior made in the synagogue at Nazareth.

He put a stern rebuke upon those who attach so much importance to color or caste and refuse to be satisfied with such a type of Christianity as Christ accepts.

The same price was paid for the salvation of the colored man as for that of the white man.

And the slights put upon the colored people by many who claim to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and who therefore acknowledge themselves debtors to Christ misrepresent Jesus and reveal their selfishness, tradition, and prejudice pollute the soul.

They are not sanctified through the truth.

Those who slide up brother because of his color are sliding Christ.

You know, we as a Seventh-day Adventist church historically have a strong tradition of standing up for the oppressed.

This prophetic placard is from an Adventist lithograph in the 1850s.

Historian Kevin Burton just shared it this morning.

Notice, this represents the lamb-like beast in Revelation 13.

And notice how this image speaks as a dragon.

In other words, what made the lamb-like beast, peace I speak, as a dragon for our avidest pioneers was that of the institution of slavery and slavery was fueled by racism.

Notice what he said, We regard the two-horned beast, then as the symbol of a civil and religious power, differing in many respects from those which have preceded.

It is in appearance the mildest form of power that ever existed, but it is after having deceived the world with its wonder to exhibit all the tyranny of the first beast.

In other words, the lamb-like beast will have tyranny of that of the papacy.

Notice, and the pretensions of the power well-founded, let us examine if all men are born free and equal, why then does this power hold 3 millions of human beings in bondage of slavery?

Why is it that the Negro race is reduced to the rank of chattels bought and sold like broodbeasts?

Uriah Smith said this, We do not claim that the dragon voice is yet fully developed and the prophecy fully carried out in this respect, but enough has been heard to identify the beast and establish a precedent from which we are justified in expecting almost any result.

Saying the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and yet the same government that utters this sentiment in the very face of this Declaration will hold an abject servitude over 3, 200, 000 of human beings, rob them of those rights with which they acknowledge that all men are endowed by the Creator and write a base denial of all their professions in characters of blood.

In the institution of slavery is more especially manifested thus for the dragon spirit that dwell in the heart of the hypocritical nation.

Did you know that Joseph Bates, 1 of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was an abolitionist and he worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison, 1 of the national figures of the abolition movement?

Did you know that John Bington, the first president of the General Conference, and his brother Anson were part of the Underground Railroad, that they would have escaping slaves escape to Canada, breaking federal law, breaking the Fugitive Slave Act.

Did you know that Ellen White said in Volume 1 of the Testimonies, when the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, federal law that stated that an escaped slave that escapes to the north must return to the south, that she told the remnant church that we must defy federal law and we must allow slaves to escape.

We have a tradition of standing up for the oppressed.

And it's time to revive that in our end time church here today.

Now, I'm sad to see some of these posts in social media by Seventh-day Adventists.

I whited out their names, but these are Seventh-day Adventists that posted this in reaction to what has happened this past week.

In their banners, they have 3 angels' messages.

In their banners, they have, let's evangelize over division.

In their banners, they openly declare Seventh-day Adventists.

In their posts, they're supporting 1 political party over the other, demeaning others.

In their posts, they are stating these things on their posts.

How can these posts bring healing and restoration?

Whether it's true or not, what good does that do?

Is winning the argument better than winning the soul?

And it breaks my heart and I'm bitterly disappointed when people are in pain that Seventh-day Adventists are posting this type of material on social media.

And to be fair, I couldn't get a screenshot because I did not find 1 in my feed, but there are other Seventh-day Adventists in the opposite spectrum that are justifying rioting and looting.

And So both sides are posting certain things that are not acceptable.

Whatever side you are, we are Seventh-day Adventists, and how can we post political arguments and political agendas and none of your posts rarely have anything about the Bible and the spirit of prophecy, yet you have a 3 angels banner.

Back to Menu

The Steamboat Solution to Racism

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine