“Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. [8] The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. [9] Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. [14] And JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD, and JUSTICE STANDETH AFAR OFF: for TRUTH IS FALLEN IN THE STREET, and EQUITY CANNOT ENTER. [15] Yea, truth faileth; and HE THAT DEPARTETH FROM EVIL MAKETH HIMSELF A PREY: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.” — Isaiah 59:7-9, 14-15 (KJV)
My contention against BLM is not political. I see this movement as a form of modern-day spiritualism. And if you are a Seventh-day Adventist and you’re involved in this movement, I would caution you to reconsider. While some may want to parse the good with the bad, I do not see any benefit to the cause of Adventism by working under the same “raised fist” banner which is deeply connected and stigmatized with the very name that defines the Black Lives Matter the organization; the organization that comes with plethora of disagreeable ideologies (dismantling of nucleus family, queer agenda, marxism/socialism/communism, etc. ) that underpins the movement. While I affirm the expression “black lives matter” as a stand alone proposition, for all lives matter, and I will gladly stand with those who are fighting the battle against racism, police brutality and the inequity that marginalizes the poor, etc. but I reject the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) slogan and its organization. I’m all for sympathizing with the “oppressed” but that shouldn’t necessarily make us operate under the same banner in conflating the gospel duty with the push towards an agenda that we as Christians should clearly disagree with and furthermore, a movement that is seeped in spiritualism.
Seeing how much of this movement has now devolved into domestic terrorism, following quotation seems like an apt portrayal of what is taking place; This was written over a hundred years ago describing the French Revolution of the 1780s. Amazing how history repeats itself and we think it’s progress.
“At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.
“Such are the influences to be met by the youth of today. To stand amidst such upheavals they are now to lay the foundations of character.” – {Ellen White, Education p. 228.3}
While some continue to look for common grounds to justify their involvement with the Black Lives Matter movement, I’d say, take extreme caution lest you become swept away by all the moralizing hysteria. “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” (Proverbs 18:12)
In the recent article entitled, Black Lives Matter and Domestic Terrorism from Fulcrum, it reads,
“It is time for the SDA Church to publicly repudiate Black Lives Matter.
But I do not expect this to happen. Unfortunately, many in our church’s administration seem to believe—just as corporate America and the professional sports leagues seem to believe—that by embracing Black Lives Matter, they will ingratiate the church to people of color without alienating others. They are mistaken and misled. Encouraging racial grievance in non-white members of the SDA Church will not strengthen their grip on the Advent message. At the same time, embracing BLM will alienate Adventists who do not loathe and despise the United States nor wish to see its form of government replaced by communism, and who see through BLM’s thin veneer of racial justice posturing to the revolutionary Leftism beneath. “ — David Read, August 6, 2020
I agree with the above sentiment and I find it sad that we now find ourselves in almost every so called social movements that on the surface appears to do good and yet are riddled with so many undesirable elements.
Here’s a related article on Susan Rosenberg (a terrorist who has ties with BLM): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1980s-far-left-female-led-domestic-terrorism-group-bombed-us-capitol-180973904/
In the video below, one of the BLM organizers incite more destruction and looting by stating, “looting is reparations” and to this date, the BLM organization is complicit and has yet to publicly denounce looting as a criminal behavior.
Below is a testimony we should take heed; The quote is in the context of the Sunday movement, but I think we should be able to see some parallels.
“Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as –>laboring to promote the highest interest of society<–; and those who refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. –>But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in favor of the error.<– WE MAY DISGUISE POISON BY MINGLING IT WITH WHOLESOME FOOD, BUT WE DO NOT CHANGE ITS NATURE. ON THE CONTRARY, IT IS RENDERED MORE DANGEROUS, AS IT IS MORE LIKELY TO BE TAKEN UNAWARES. It is one of Satan’s devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plausibility.” GC 587.
One might argue that Black Lives Matter’s fight against racism and other supposed worthy endeavors to relieve the oppressed, etc. are “laboring to promote the highest interest of society” and we as Christians should applaud the effort, but as the aforementioned quote intimates, the “bad” mingled with anything “wholesome” poisons the entire “food”. Furthermore, “IT IS RENDERED MORE DANGEROUS, AS IT IS MORE LIKELY TO BE TAKEN UNAWARES.” There are plenty of initiatives we can boldly stand on without smearing our efforts with the movement that is embroiled in so many controversies and disagreeable ideologies and all the while alienating others who clearly disapproves of the BLM. Can’t the Adventists come up with our own platform in addressing the “oppressed”? Why do we insist on having our efforts be mingled with the “Black Live Matter”?
Black Lives Matter movement is Spiritualism
Leviticus 19:31 “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 20:6 “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.”
Deuteronomy 18:10 “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
While BLM the organization purports to champion certain social values that unsuspecting participants can certainly sympathize with, note what the leaders of the BLM are saying. In one of the recent publications. We read:
“‘Uplifting the names of victims goes beyond creating hashtags, Cullors said.
“‘It is literally almost resurrecting a spirit so they can work through us to get the work that we need to get done,’ she said.
“Abdullah on Saturday said it took her almost a year before she realized Black Lives Matter was much more than a racial and social justice movement. ‘At its core, it’s a spiritual movement,’ she said.”
Below is an another article highlighting what Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of the BLM, says about movement:
“On June 2, 2020, Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles Chapter sponsored an action in front of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house, demanding reductions in the city’s funding of police. The action, what many would call a protest, began like a religious ceremony. Melina Abdullah, chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and co-founder of BLM-LA, opened the event explaining that while the movement is a social justice movement, it is first and foremost a spiritual movement.
She led the group in a ritual: the reciting of names of those taken by state violence before their time—ancestors now being called back to animate their own justice:
“George Floyd. Asé. Philandro Castille. Asé. Andrew Joseph. Asé. Michael Brown. Asé. Erika Garner. Asé. Harriet Tubman. Asé. Malcom X. Asé. Martin Luther King. Asé.”
As each name is recited, Dr. Abdullah poured libations on the ground as the group of over 100 chanted “Asé,” a Yoruba term often used by practitioners of Ifa, a faith and divination system that originated in West Africa, in return. This ritual, Dr. Abdullah explained, is a form of worship.”
Source: https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-fight-for-black-lives-is-a-spiritual-movement
Are you catching what is going on? Pouring “libation”? “divination”? This is clearly a ritual, “a form of worship” entrenched in spiritualism. Now, if you are not familiar with the warnings given of these activities in the Bible, you would think this is innocuous. What does Bible say about these things?
“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” —Deuteronomy 18:10
Take a look at this statement by Ellen White,
“LITTLE BY LITTLE he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the prophet: “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs; … they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Revelation 16:13, 14. Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.” {GC 561.2}
Are we not seeing how Satan is preparing the way, “little by little” of “deception in the development of spiritualism” through the Black Lives Matter movement?
This is what makes me wary…
“The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members LOVE WHAT THE WORLD LOVES and are READY TO JOIN WITH THEM, and Satan determines to unite them in ONE BODY and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping ALL INTO THE RANKS OF SPIRITUALISM. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also BE DELUDED. Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this UNION a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium.” – {GC 588.3}
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate
, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” 2Cor. 6:17
In the video below, Seventh-day Adventist pastor denounces the Black Lives Matter movement as spiritualism.
In the video below, BLM or Black Lives Matter organizer Dr. Melina Abdullah practices necromancy and summons spirits of African American leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X at Hollywood United Methodist Church.
Founders of Black Lives Matter are deeply entrenched in spiritualism.
In the video below, Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter movement performs “A Prayer for the Runner” wherein she invokes the spirits of the dead. After the performance, she interviews with Melina Abdullah, another co-founder of Black Lives Matter. In the interview, alluding to the performance, Abdullah says, (about 24:35)
“we say their names [names of blacks who have been killed/died]; we do that all the time that you kind of INVOKE THAT SPIRIT and then THOSE SPIRITS ACTUALLY BECOME PRESENT WITH YOU” Abdullah adds, (about 25:30) “we become intimate with the spirits that we call on –>REGULARLY<– right like EACH OF THEM SEEMS TO HAVE DIFFERENT PRESENCE AND PERSONALITY you know; I laugh a lot with Wakeisha you know? And I didn’t meet her in her body right? I’m [meeting] her through this work.”
Cullors, in one of her responses says, (about 27:27)
“it’s so important not just for us to be in direct relationship to our people whose past but also for them to know that we’ve remembered them. And I believe so many of them WORK THROUGH US.”
FYI, Abdullah says, “I laugh a lot with Wakeisha”. It appears that she “regularly” or frequently encounters these so called “spirits.” The encounter Abdullah is referring to is the supposed spirit of the deceased Wakeisha Wilson (but really a spirit of a demon). These leaders are mediums to these “familiar spirits” and practicing what the Bible defines as an abomination and yet many, even within Adventism, we are joining the efforts of these demonic spirit lead movement.
Wakeisha Wilson was a black woman who was found dead inside her cell, purportedly killed herself by hanging herself in her LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center cell on Sunday, March 27, 2016. She was arrested on suspicion of battery shortly before 1 a.m. March 26 and booked into an LAPD jail two hours later.
The investigation into Wilson’s death lasted ten months, and it triggered Black Lives Matter protests across Los Angeles. Wilson became a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles as her family and activists chanted her name at Police Commission meetings and demanded to know more about her death. They rejected the idea that Wilson died by suicide, and some said they believed some type of altercation with detention officers was to blame.
Something to consider about the movement when the very leaders believe that so many of the spirits of the dead are working through them.
“It is true that spiritualism is NOW CHANGING ITS FORM and, veiling some of its more objectionable features… But its utterances from the platform and the press have been before the public for many years, and in these its real character stands revealed. These teachings cannot be denied or hidden.” {GC 557.2}
“Even in its present form, so far from being more worthy of toleration than formerly, it is really a more dangerous, because a MORE SUBTLE, DECEPTION….”{GC 558.1}
“Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die.” “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4, 5. LITTLE BY LITTLE he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He has NOT YET reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the prophet: “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs; … THEY ARE THE SPIRITS OF DEVILS, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Revelation 16:13, 14. Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God. {GC 561.2}
FYI, the spirit of “Wakeisha” Abdullah is referring to is the spirit of the deceased Wakeisha Wilson, a woman who was found dead inside her cell, purportedly hung herself in her LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center cell on Sunday, March 27, 2016. She was arrested on suspicion of battery shortly before 1 a.m. March 26 and booked into an LAPD jail two hours later.
The investigation into Wilson’s death lasted ten months, and it triggered Black Lives Matter protests across Los Angeles. Wilson became a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles as her family and activists chanted her name at Police Commission meetings and demanded to know more about her death. They rejected the idea that Wilson died by suicide, and some said they believed some type of altercation with detention officers was to blame.
For those who may not be familiar, there are voices within Adventism that tries to equate the Adventists involvement with the Black Lives Movement being analogous to Adventist pioneers’ involvement with the Temperance movement of the 1800s. See the article, “Adventism & the Black Lives Matter” published on NAD Ministerial website.
As for equating the temperance movement, at least the group that started the temperance movement was a Christian organization and we actually had a common goal, which was prohibition.
But one should seriously ask, what is it that BLM is seeking to achieve? What common goal do we as Adventists have with the BLM the organization or the movement? I mean, you take away all the fist raised protests and all the hysteria about anti-racism, taking down “racist” statues, not to mention all the looting and the destruction aside, what specific goal we as Adventists have in common with BLM?
To relentlessly pursue some idealistic anti-racist utopia, in chasing after some invisible oppressor and to rigorously try to convert the entire nation (primarily the white people) to some kind of anti-racist moral awakening with the underpinning of socialism/communism (as what the Black Lives Matter movement appears to be doing), in my opinion is a futile exercise nor do I see that as in keeping with the gospel duty.
To me, these anti-racist sentiments, at least coming from the BLM organization is a mere smoke screen to their underlying progressive, Leftist, socialist, LGBT agenda with spiritualism underpinning the entire movement. Just within in 2 days in the wake of George Floyd’s incident, donations have poured in excess of $50 million dollars. Where are all the money going since the inception of their organization in 2013? Other than organizing protests when a black person gets killed by a white cop, I have yet heard anything BLM has done or is doing in the way of investing in the black community or anything specific to help alleviate the under-privileged blacks. If you know of one, let me know. All they have done is to destroy in their path to seeking injustice while most of their efforts have been to further their Leftist agenda. In fact the Black Lives Matter from the very beginning, has been more about LGBTQ lives-Two of three Black Lives Matter founders identify as queer and it seeks to normalize all things LGBTQ. See the article here: https://abcnews.go.com/US/start-black-lives-matter-lgbtq-lives/story?id=71320450
Seventh-day Adventists have existed for around 160 years and we need BLM’s partnership to set forth our gospel mandate? My contention is, we can do all that we ought to be doing without any ties to BLM.
Let’s take a look at some of the BLM’s mission statement.
What I see are the glaring hypocrisies.
“We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities.”
“respect and celebrate differences”? Hardly. They are an organization that is the most antagonistic towards any group or ideologies that they disagree with, especially the conservative variety. They only embrace “diversity” when it fits their narrative.
“We intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.”
It’s clearly intentional, but their idea of building and nurturing a “beloved community” (community of victims) is strengthening the identity politics and intersectionality based on Leftist’s version of victimology (systemic white oppression against blacks, systemic patriarchal oppression against women, systemic LGBTQ oppression by the heterosexuals majority-primarily the white males, etc.); it is a movement that celebrates and perpetuates victimhood.
Learn more about identity politics and intersectionality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc7VUoytoU4
“We are guided by the fact that all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location.”
While I find no objection as far as affirming all respective identity groups’ basic individual rights, BLM and the LGBTQ community doesn’t stop with the individual rights but goes beyond it to forcefully impose their values unto others and to infringe on other’s rights to maintain their individual values and beliefs. Case in point: Gay couple demanding their wedding cake be made and suing the christian baker for refusing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece_Cakeshop_v._Colorado_Civil_Rights_Commission
Here’s a more recent example of the BLM mob imposing their agenda and infringing on other’s rights. Click here for the article, “The BLM Mob Doesn’t Just Want You To Raise Your Fist, It Wants To Rule You,” published on The Federalist.
Also, I would argue that the kind of “women’s rights” BLM is seeking in the defense of women along with their LGBTQ agenda is to dismantle any fundamental differences between the sexes and to ultimately undermine the biblical patriarchal order. I think the below testimony is applicable here. While EGW is speaking more specifically regarding the dress reform the feminist group of her time is promoting, the underlying principle applies as far as their actions undermining the very concepts of how “The Scriptures are plain upon the relations and rights of men and women.”
“There is an increasing tendency to have women in their dress and appearance as near like the other sex as possible, and to fashion their dress very much like that of men, but God pronounces it abomination. ‘In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.’ 1 Timothy 2:9. {1T 457.2}
“Those who feel called out to join the movement in favor of woman’s rights and the so-called dress reform might as well sever all connection with the third angel’s message. The spirit which attends the one cannot be in harmony with the other. –>The Scriptures are plain upon the relations and rights of men and women.<– Spiritualists have, to quite an extent, adopted this singular mode of dress. Seventh-day Adventists, who believe in the restoration of the gifts, are often branded as spiritualists. Let them adopt this costume, and their influence is dead. The people would place them on a level with spiritualists and would refuse to listen to them. {1T 457.3}
If Ellen White was this forthright in denouncing against women’s rights movement that promoted women dressing like men, saying “to join the movement in favor of woman’s rights and the so-called dress reform might as well s
ever all connection with the third angel’s message,” how much more egregious it is to join a movement that champions the entire LGBTQ agenda, wherein queer, transvestite and transgender lifestyle is rigorously promoted and people undergoing actual sex changes and same sex marriage is defended as a social norm. Again BLM is an organization that seeks to forcefully undermine all that is fundamentally different between men and women. And she calls them abomination and “spiritualist”. Don’t have time to go into the history of feminism and gender issues, but its origin is riddled with spiritualism. See this video on feminism and gender issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weRvrv1J4Sg
As for defunding the Police… it is a proposal to completely overhaul the law enforcements as we know it and to “reimagine” the entire policing paradigm. It seeks to divest funds from the police and reinvesting in another other form. A more systemic approach sought by advocates is to re-direct dollars currently going to policing to social services like mental health, domestic abuse, and homelessness, and invest in professionals who could be first responders in those situations instead of police, as is the case in most U.S. precincts. Other proposals include making federal funding to local police departments contingent on making reforms, or shifting current police funds towards community mediation and violence prevention programs, etc. However many leading voices within the community are seeking complete abolition of police.
A Black Lives Matter Philadelphia representative outlined a five-year plan for the “complete abolition” of the city’s police department.
Activist YahNé Ndgo discussed her plan during a segment on Fox News Wednesday saying the police aren’t needed for communities to be safe; change is.
“One of the things that we are demanding over five years is the complete abolition. We don’t want to see any police in our community,” Ndgo told Fox News in an interview Tuesday. “Over the course of those five years, it gives time for the community to begin to build what is needed. We aren’t looking to leave any kind of vacancy around the issue of safety.”
Is this what we want? a society without any law enforcements? The irony here is that this is the same group who also wants to take away guns from the citizens. So, no police and no arms for the citizens to protect themselves? Do you think criminals will also comply? Furthermore, by conflating reforming the police with defunding the police, activists risk missing an opportunity to win public support and investment in much-needed reforms. While most would support the police reform of some kind, the radical approach by the movement to defund the police will inevitably alienate the very support they are seeking and needing.
Even for those who are willing to reimagine policing, public cries to “defund the police” could make it that much harder to get the dollars needed to invest in systemic reforms. For example, necessary changes in use-of-force procedures, such as requiring de-escalation and use-of-force continuums, advocated by groups like the #8Can’tWait campaign, require substantial investment for training and research. Likewise, crucial demands for increased accountability and transparency require substantial resources for accurate data collection and monitoring. moreover, long-term shifts from traditional to community policing approaches, like those undertaken by the widely-hailed Camden, New Jersey, police department, are made possible only via increased resources, with the Camden department actually increasing in size.
With all the BLM’s mission statements notwithstanding, and correct me if I’m wrong, I have yet to learn of any initiative put forth by BLM other than defunding the police. In their 7 years of existence, they have not put forth any initiative in the way of improving the lives of blacks whether through public policy, community intervention or petitions or bills we can vote on or get behind. Point being, when it comes to any real change, there is no specific initiative that I find in common with the BLM movement.
Here’s couple of more of the Black Lives Matter’s charter:
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
“We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).”
The BLM’s goal of disrupting or dismantling the “western-prescribed nuclear family structure” is the most reckless and glaring antithesis to them preaching about Black Lives Matter and is far and above the most counter-productive element to their supposed effort in helping the black community. It is a known fact that the breakdown of a nuclear family structure is the single most significant variable that leads to a host of negative outcome and can have a profound affect, especially to a young black man growing up without a father. I would also argue that the BLM’s goal to disrupt the “western-prescribed nuclear family structure” is not merely an attack on the heteronormative families but is more of an effort to “foster a queer-affirming” family structure and to normalize the LBGTQ agenda whereby the very sanctity of marriage is no longer between a man and a woman. I don’t see how any thinking Christian would want to associate with a movement that is promoting such ideologies.
Learn more about the impact of Father absence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuT-g9amfPw
