TO THE BLACK CHURCHES IN AMERICA…
WOO UNTO YOU…“I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings…” and beguilling my servants By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. ” Revelation 2:20-22
Responses from many black churches in America addressing the recent Roe vs. Wade decision have been alarming. Roe vs. Wade has impacted the African American Community on a diabolical scale since 1973 and black pastors don’t seem to have a problem with that fact. Some pastors remain silent, and most others are in bed with Jezebel—on the wrong side—blinded by darkness.
The Sunday following the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, I went to church hoping to be illuminated by the Word during such a sad time for our nation. Instead, I listened to a sermon about church protocol. I left the sanctuary curious about the Biblical view regarding abortion that didn’t bring with it scorn, judgment or shame. At home, I listened to a few pastors in my local community. I found many of them did not bother to address the subject. In all fairness to pastors, perhaps some viewed the topic of abortion as too risqué to discuss in the pulpit on a Sunday Morning. Or maybe they concluded the topic, “political” and therefore out of their spiritual jurisdiction. At least they have some excuse.
I was fascinated when to hear black, male pastors who took the time to give their opinions in support of Roe vs. Wade. Some well-known—others not so well known—pastors stood in the pulpit and proudly proclaimed their support for abortion rights. “It’s her body and her right to choose.” Pastors spewed these words as if The Holy Spirit had given them that revelation.
They grazed over scripture and left Jesus Christ out—almost entirely, as they regurgitated unsupported information by worldly sources like CNN and MSNBC. They presented perspectives that cover up facts and changes the subject. Countless pastors defended abortion rights based upon flawed liberal arguments, (e.g., overturning Roe vs. Wade will increase the number of deaths as a result of ectopic pregnancy). A talking point hailed by the likes of Democrats like, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. What is left out of this fake argument are additional facts. Most states allow for abortions in cases where the mother’s life is threatened, regardless of the Roe vs. Wade decision. In those states where abortions have been outlawed, there are still in place, federal provisions that trump state laws and allows for abortions in cases of incest, rape and in cases where the mother’s life is threatened.
Nothing was more baffling then watching a Mega-pastor, insulted by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade-a step to save babies--hold a baby dedication to condemn that decision. The hypocrisy is crisp. God is watching!
The Bible doesn’t support abortion-period. There are a number of scriptures I can give to demonstrate that fact. But what would be the point? That opens up criticism and classifications of self-righteousness. This is where terms like judging, and judgment are used to crush any Biblical view opposing a worldly perspective. Rather than point out the sin, one can gleam from scripture, the principle concerning the preservation of life.
Genesis Chapter 38 is the story of Judah and Tamar. This story is embedded between the stories of Joseph. Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob. He had been adored by his parents. Two dreams and a coat of many colors caused him to be despised and rejected by his brothers. Jealous, his brothers tossed him into in a cistern with the intent to kill him, but Judah suggested they sell him for twenty-pieces of silver.
Chapter 37 ends with Joseph being sold to the Egyptians. As God is about to bring forth the manifestation of his prophecy spoken to Abraham in Genesis 15:13,[1] and the protection of the Seed of the Messiah.
“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” ”
Chapter 38 opens with Judah descending into sin. Gen. 38:1 begins, “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers…” The story is simple. Judah left his family and traveled down to the Land of Canaan. While there, he married a Canaanite woman. Together they had three sons: Er, (firstborn), Onan (second) and Shelah (third). It came to pass that Judah selected a wife for Er his first born. Her name was Tamar. Er and Tamar had no children. Er was evil and for this God Killed him.
According to a Hebrew tradition, called Yibbum, if a married man dies before producing an offspring, his brother (or relative) should marry the widow, and their firstborn son becomes the heir of the deceased brother. I listened to a pastor who supported Roe v. Wade, mock this tradition before his congregation.
He poised this question to his congregation, “how many would like to marry their sister-in-law?” He equated this tradition to a Levitical Law and asked a follow-up question, “how many want to stop eating bacon (pork) for breakfast? He laughed along with his congregation. What they failed to realize is this tradition spoke to a group of people, during a particular dispensation of time. What may have been applicable according to their tradition, may not be something our cultural practices; however the principle, “be fruitful and multiply,” still applies. The right to abort a baby stands in conflict to that principle. Also, this Pastor’s slick swipe at a Levitical Ceremonial Law, (not to eat pork), a Law fulfilled in Christ, is his way of rejecting scripture and confirming a particular world view. Who has beguiled you, Sir?
However, the Yibbum was no laughing matter, the custom saved many young widows. Judah in keeping with this custom, gave Onan, his second son as a husband to Tamar.[2] Tamar agreed with this custom. She married Onan. I am sure Tamar, like most wives, wanted to be fruitful and multiple. But every time she made love with Onan; he spilled his seed. Disobedient, God struck Onan dead. Only the third son, Shelah remained.
Onan’s death brought Judah and Tamar to a crossroad. At the crossroad, to preserve his legacy, Judah could have followed tradition, given Shelah as husband to Tamar. But he shunned that road, thereby threatening his legacy. Instead he sent Tamar away with a promise he had no intent to keep. He tells her to go home, “live as a widow in your father’s house, until my son, Shelah grows up.”
Up until this point Tamar had remained in the background of this story. An obedient vessel. Her desires, unspoken. Clearly, she longed for a husband and children, but Onan’s death gave her a choice. Tamar didn’t have to comply with Judah’s instructions. She could have decided to find another husband and forge the life she desired. But she chose to return home and live a life of nothing. She had no social status, no identity and no legacy. All she had was hope Judah remained true to his word and belief in the principal of life. Years came and went and Tamar, draped in her widow’s garments, clung to hope. Shelah grew up, became a man Tamar still believed in that hope. Even after Judah’s wife died, Tamar held on and believed.
It took a long time, but eventually she realized Judah was not going to give her to Shelah. When she received word, that Judah was going to a place call Timnah to sheer his sheep, Tamar devised a plan. She removed her widow’s garment and replaced them with the garments of a prostitute. I imagine she took off a black dress and pearls and put on a red dress and gold hooped earrings. She covered her face with a veil and went to the street to offer her services. She understood she had in body all that was necessary and she knew exactly what road to take. She stood on the street in a place called Enaim, a street on the road to Timnah and she waited on Judah.
Judah arrived and Tamar caught his attention. He was blind. His eyes shrouded by the lusts of his flesh and his disobedience to God, he never recognized the woman beneath the veil. Drawn to her he came over and offered her a fair price to be serviced. A goat—the same price as a sin offering.[3] (Num. 29:4). Tamar obliged. She requested a pledge until delivery of the goat and Judah gave her his most valuable possessions, his signet, cord and his staff. Those things represented the very essence of who he had been. He handed them all over to who he thought was a prostitute. It was like handing over your black card, Bible and your car.
The service provided, Judah and Tamar both satisfied they went their separate ways. After a time, Judah sent his friend to pay off his debt and receive his pledge back, but when the man went to the road in Enaim, he found no prostitute. Tamar had put back on her black dress and pearls and she waited. I can imagine how she felt once four weeks passed and she discovered a cell had formed in her womb. Eight weeks later was met with morning sickness and a heartbeat, twelve weeks later came the pooch and revelation to her community. Tamar was pregnant.
When Judah received the news, that she had been guilty of prostitution and was with child, he forgot his sins and called for her. Without mercy, “Bring her out and have her burned to death.”
But for the Yibbum. That tradition, that later became a law protected, Tamar and her seed and at the same time solidified Judah’s legacy. Genesis 38:25, “As Tamar was brought out, she sent a message to Judah, “I am pregnant by the man who owns these…see if you recognize whose signet, cord and staff these are.” She handed over his black card, his Bible and his car.
It was then Judah, illuminated by the light confessed, “Tamar is more righteous than I.”
In the year 2019, 1,650 black men were killed by police in the US. In 2019 there were 629,898[4]reported lives loss to abortions in the US. According to the CDC African American woman accounted for 38% of those reported abortions. More than any other race. That’s approx. ~230,000 black lives loss. Without protest or outrage, and overwhelming support from the African American Community, including the church.
This is not just a topic to me. I know all too well what if feels like to be a young black girl pregnant. I understand those feeling of distress, they weigh heavy on the chest. It’s a sentence of death (one way or another) for the black girl that is young, poor and pregnant, without good counsel.
My mother had been an alcoholic. My father lived under a bridge. Crack ran rampant and employment was scarce. It had been during the summer before my first year of high school, that a learned I was pregnant from the guy that rode down my street on a moped. I remember the color of his bike—red; I don’t remember his name. One morning, my mother had caught me coming out of the bathroom. She grabbed my hand and glanced right at my stomach. She started to ask me the question, “are you pregnant?” But she looked away. I remember her face had been filled with horror—the same horror I felt inside. The decision didn’t come easy. I remember days where I walked in the long patch of grass that was in the middle of our street, agonizing. Thinking of a way to run a way and do it alone.
Eventually I found assurance. It came from the Pregnancy Support Team. They explained, there was no baby. There was only cell in my womb. A zygote. It was not yet, “a life.” I had stepped into darkness. This counsel turned off the light. What I had unconsciously known to be true, became a lie. Justified. I proceeded to have that abortion and a few years later, at sixteen I had another. Whenever conviction tried to enter my heart and mind, I reminded myself, “It was only a cell—a zygote.”
Somewhere in between those years I came to Christ. I was singing in the choir when I discovered I was pregnant again—a third time. My situation hadn’t changed a great deal other than I was out of high school and had been employed. I still lived with my mother and life had continued to be difficult. But I had came to a crossroad.
It was 1989 and I had to do the right thing. My sin had been illuminated by the light--I was forced to repent and choose. I had to choose wisely. At fourteen I had stepped into darkness, at twenty I saw the light. At a crossroad I had to make a choice. That choice shifted my life. I’ve seen the glory of the Hand of God. That one decision has extended my legacy five times. I must confess as I grow older, I wander what could have been, had I not believed the lie.
Back to the story of Judah and Tamar. This story is about preservation of the biological line of Jesus Christ. God made three moves to preserve this seed:
First, regardless of circumstances he brought Judah and Tamar together on a road for that particular encounter. Judah and Tamar conceived that one time and were never together again. Scripture says, “and he [Judah] knew her not again.”
Second God blessed Tamar because of her obedience. He gave her double for her trouble, “and it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold twins were in her womb.” Gen. 38:27
Lastly, God protected the seed—the twin boys. The younger, was Zerah. He tried to emerge first, but his brother, Perez burst through with Power. Perez, the progenitor to Christ, brought forth by Tamar.
It was a double blessing—for sure. Triple-blessing, certainly. One birth, two lives. A birth in and of itself is a blessing, it’s a sign that God Breaths. Chapter 38 ends with birth, Redemption has been birthed as Genesis Chapter 39 begins with Isreal descending into the Land of Egypt.
Here are my thoughts. No doubt, women are going to continue to have abortions. You can argue they should be provided adequate health care, to that I agree. The world is going to continue to tell their side of the story. Life begins at so many weeks and it’s a woman’s right to choose. Roe vs. Wade might one day be replaced with two other names and a very different Supreme Court. The world will do—as it does. Does that mean I condemn those that choose to have an abortion? Absolutely not. How can one that had been condemned, condemn another. My prayer is for Black Pastors to present the alternative to world views that offer no other hope—besides death. In the story of Judah and Tamar, God used His universal Truth about life and the preservation of life to teach us about Jesus.
I wish at the age of fourteen someone had presented an alternative to the world view I had accepted. But God uses our mistakes to work for our good. My experiences can produce light for another and for that I am grateful to God. I look at my mistakes as opportunities God used to save me and so he did. Because of Jesus Christ there is the forgiveness of sin and because of the Holy Spirit, there is repentance. When confronted with that very same dilemma as a result of irresponsible, lifestyle choices, I came to that crossroad. I had a choice I could’ve remained blind and in darkness. But when truth had been illuminated, I choose life.
Church pastors have a responsibility to speak truth that points to Christ and reveals the light. During these days of darkness, the church should not be silent, nor should they be vested in worldly views, in bed with Jezebel, as the world programs and influences the minds of believers, into believing blood is not spilled when you abort. Life is in the blood. The church needs to speak truth that shines bright in the midst of darkness. So when believers are confronted with the unexpected, the light illuminated by the Holy Spirit, gives them necessary tools not just to choose. CHOOSE WISELY
[1] God’s Prophecy to Abram, Genesis 15:12-16 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
[2] Although Genesis 38 is pre-Levitical Law the custom was practiced before the Law. The Law can be found in Deut. 25:5: Bible, Deut. 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.
[3] Numbers 29:4 During the Festival of Trumpets, “Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.”
[4] CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Abortion Surveillance – United Sates 2019; Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2019 | MMWR (cdc.gov)