"BEN CARSON REFLECTS ON THE DEATH OF GEROGE FLOYD" - Tony Perkins / @tperkins / June 09, 2020 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/06/09/ben-carson-reflects-on-the-death-of-george-floyd/
Ask yourself, HUD Secretary Ben Carson says: “What is my sphere of influence?” Pictured: Carson listens to questions during testimony Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (Photo: Astrid Riecken/Pool/Getty Images)
If the protesters noticed the clouds, they didn’t care. Hundreds of them walked down D.C. streets in sheets of rain, almost oblivious to the nighttime thunderstorm. Soaked, some of them knelt at the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., quietly listening to his “I Have a Dream” speech in a kind of calm that’s eluded the city for days. For several minutes after midnight, that iconic voice seemed to float over the Tidal Basin, a call as clear as it was all of those years ago: “Now is the time to rise from the dark.”
As the city braced for the weekend, more people may have made their way to that spot to see the towering image of a man whose answer was peace. And maybe they saw his stony eyes, fixed out across the water, and heeded those words: “We cannot walk alone.” Brotherhood, King said on that hot August day, comes from faith. That’s what transforms us. Not bitterness. Not hatred. Not violence.
When King spoke those words, Dr. Ben Carson was just an 11-year-old boy. Young Ben knew what it was like to be treated a certain way because of the color of his skin. But over the course of his life, he came to realize that something far more important defined him: his relationship with God.
“[It] tells me I have to forgive everybody and not hold grudges and not let that hatred … grow,” Carson, now secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said. Honestly, he added, “I don’t want to sound like a preacher, but that’s the real solution–a change of heart of people. And unless you get that, it’s all cosmetic.”
"No one wants another senseless tragedy, but we have a unique chance," Carson said, to learn from it. “This is actually a golden opportunity for us to do something about some of the relationships that have broken down in our society,” he said. But we need to recognize that “the greatest civic change ever in this country was brought about by Dr. Martin Luther King [through] complete nonviolence,” Carson went on. “That’s what people need to take away from this. Forget about … always blaming somebody else for what’s going on. I always say, look in the mirror and ask yourself: Are you part of the problem, or are you part of solution?”
Right now, Carson said, shaking his head: " We’re in the place where we say, ‘Well, the president has to do this, or the government has to do this, or the mayor has to do this.’ No, you have to do it. You start right with yourself in your own home. … Are you helping your fellow man and facilitating his betterment? Or are you exacerbating the situation? If we all begin to think that way, it makes a big difference. We’ve all been led, either by the media or popular society, to point our fingers at someone else–the White House or the governor’s mansion–and insist, 'They need to solve this problem.' ”
But the reality is, it’s our country. We all have to take responsibility for what’s happening here. America is a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people. But if that’s going to work, then the people need to be involved.
At the end of the day, Bishop Vincent Mathews reminded us earlier last week, our skin, our Zip code, our status–it’s all superficial. “It’s the love of Christ that binds us,” he said. "And it’s that love that will impact society."But when you remove God as the center of your life, Carson warns, you have to replace it with something else. And that ‘something else’ is unlikely to be very good. It doesn’t permeate love. … It permeates hatred and resentment and revenge and all of those things that you see coming out. You look at the hatred that some of these people manifest toward the police. They’re willing to kill someone because they have a uniform on. [They] don’t know this person or have a relationship with them. … Where does that come from? Certainly [not] from any Judeo-Christian values that [formed] this country.
"But there is something, he urges, that we can all do. Maybe you feel hopeless in all of this pain and brokenness. Don’t. All of us can help model a way forward. Ask yourself," Carson said: “'What is my sphere of influence?'”
Start by being Christlike with those people–your friends, co-workers, all the people you associate with. “It builds out,” he promises. “It makes a huge difference in the way that they treat you and the ways they begin to treat other people. It’s a big mistake to think that we can’t change the world in our own homes. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important place to try."
[Originally published by Family Research Council’s Washington Update, which is written with the help of FRC staff.]
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
If the protesters noticed the clouds, they didn’t care. Hundreds of them walked down D.C. streets in sheets of rain, almost oblivious to the nighttime thunderstorm. Soaked, some of them knelt at the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., quietly listening to his “I Have a Dream” speech in a kind of calm that’s eluded the city for days. For several minutes after midnight, that iconic voice seemed to float over the Tidal Basin, a call as clear as it was all of those years ago: “Now is the time to rise from the dark.”
As the city braced for the weekend, more people may have made their way to that spot to see the towering image of a man whose answer was peace. And maybe they saw his stony eyes, fixed out across the water, and heeded those words: “We cannot walk alone.” Brotherhood, King said on that hot August day, comes from faith. That’s what transforms us. Not bitterness. Not hatred. Not violence.
When King spoke those words, Dr. Ben Carson was just an 11-year-old boy. Young Ben knew what it was like to be treated a certain way because of the color of his skin. But over the course of his life, he came to realize that something far more important defined him: his relationship with God.
“[It] tells me I have to forgive everybody and not hold grudges and not let that hatred … grow,” Carson, now secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said. Honestly, he added, “I don’t want to sound like a preacher, but that’s the real solution–a change of heart of people. And unless you get that, it’s all cosmetic.”
"No one wants another senseless tragedy, but we have a unique chance," Carson said, to learn from it. “This is actually a golden opportunity for us to do something about some of the relationships that have broken down in our society,” he said. But we need to recognize that “the greatest civic change ever in this country was brought about by Dr. Martin Luther King [through] complete nonviolence,” Carson went on. “That’s what people need to take away from this. Forget about … always blaming somebody else for what’s going on. I always say, look in the mirror and ask yourself: Are you part of the problem, or are you part of solution?”
Right now, Carson said, shaking his head: " We’re in the place where we say, ‘Well, the president has to do this, or the government has to do this, or the mayor has to do this.’ No, you have to do it. You start right with yourself in your own home. … Are you helping your fellow man and facilitating his betterment? Or are you exacerbating the situation? If we all begin to think that way, it makes a big difference. We’ve all been led, either by the media or popular society, to point our fingers at someone else–the White House or the governor’s mansion–and insist, 'They need to solve this problem.' ”
But the reality is, it’s our country. We all have to take responsibility for what’s happening here. America is a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people. But if that’s going to work, then the people need to be involved.
At the end of the day, Bishop Vincent Mathews reminded us earlier last week, our skin, our Zip code, our status–it’s all superficial. “It’s the love of Christ that binds us,” he said. "And it’s that love that will impact society."But when you remove God as the center of your life, Carson warns, you have to replace it with something else. And that ‘something else’ is unlikely to be very good. It doesn’t permeate love. … It permeates hatred and resentment and revenge and all of those things that you see coming out. You look at the hatred that some of these people manifest toward the police. They’re willing to kill someone because they have a uniform on. [They] don’t know this person or have a relationship with them. … Where does that come from? Certainly [not] from any Judeo-Christian values that [formed] this country.
"But there is something, he urges, that we can all do. Maybe you feel hopeless in all of this pain and brokenness. Don’t. All of us can help model a way forward. Ask yourself," Carson said: “'What is my sphere of influence?'”
Start by being Christlike with those people–your friends, co-workers, all the people you associate with. “It builds out,” he promises. “It makes a huge difference in the way that they treat you and the ways they begin to treat other people. It’s a big mistake to think that we can’t change the world in our own homes. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the most important place to try."
[Originally published by Family Research Council’s Washington Update, which is written with the help of FRC staff.]
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
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World-Wide Prayer Requests:
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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Technology ushers in a new wave of persecution in China. China’s use of a technologically advanced system of control and surveillance is on the rise. A recent report estimates there now 415 million surveillance cameras in the country. This impacts the church, as registered churches are required to allow cameras in services to monitor congregants. One state-anctioned church in Xinjiang is even known to require congregants to line up for facial recognition checks. China is also rolling out a country-wide Social Credit System (SCS) that will allow authorities to reward “good” citizenship and punish “bad.” Already, one community has reportedly decided to add penalties for those who “illegally spread Christianity.” It’s easy to see how surveillance technology could be used in tandem with the SCS to make everyday life very difficult for anyone the Chinese government deems insufficiently “Chinese”—including Christians.
June 11 - Pray tech advances wouldn’t be used to persecute Christians.
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
June 11 - Pray tech advances wouldn’t be used to persecute Christians.
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
