***
Psalms 10
Why, Adonai [Lord], do you stand at a distance?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
The wicked in their arrogance hunt down the poor,
who get caught in the schemes they think up.
For the wicked boasts about his lust;
he blesses greed and despises Adonai [Lord].
Every scheme of the wicked in his arrogance [says],
“There is no God, [so] it won’t be held against me.”
In his heart he thinks, “I will never be shaken;
I won’t meet trouble, not now or ever.”
His mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression;
under his tongue, mischief and injustice.
He waits near settlements in ambush and kills an innocent man in secret;
his eyes are on the hunt for the helpless.
Lurking unseen like a lion in his lair,
he lies in wait to pounce on the poor,
then seizes the poor and drags him off in his net.
Yes, he stoops, crouches down low;
and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches.
He says in his heart, “God forgets,
He hides His face, He will never see.”
***
The writer of Psalms 10 records the psychological wicked worldview and behaviors of people in positions of power and influence. It also speaks about the systemic ungodly schemes that are in place to take advantage of the helpless and those who are exploited throughout their lifetimes. More than anything else, this Psalms boldly proclaims to the reader, the extent by which the wicked despise God in their hearts, while taking out their hate and violence on those who are innocent and in need. Even though this Psalm was written centuries ago, it is so very clear that the contents in its writings clearly depicts what is happening in America.
The Devaluation of Human Lives
The time for bare-boned honest dialogue in regard of what is really happening on America’s soil is long over due. America; its policies, institutions, belief system and practices all have essentially failed “the everyday people.” Democracy has been replaced by plutocracy and oligarchy rule, as indicated by the vast economic divide of those who have to those who are without.
The truest measure of the greatness of any nation is reflected by how the power structure deal with the underclass; the poor, the undesirable and those who are disfranchised. America’s historic, shameful and on-going evil practice of inhumanity toward humanity, now and forever more, must be called into question by every American citizen and its institutions. The source of how we have devalued human life, can be easily found within the deep inner-chambers of of the human heart.
This matter of inhumanity to human life is now, a common-place reality within our lives, as we all see the constant aired public execution of human-beings by those in power. As a result of the spiritual laws of “sowing and reaping”, America is in trouble. The innocence and the blessings of our Creator, is lost by the spillage of blood into the American soil. We all will or have become “desensitized” by the organized cruel and senseless violence in our streets. The lives of many souls are crying out from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood from the hands of murderers.
America’s Original Sin
America’s original sin is the willful systemic and psychological destruction, enslavement and dehumanization of people of color. First and foremost, historians have chronicled this original sin of America, by recording the eradication of the American Indians, and the slave trade of the people of African decent. The multi-generational evil insemination of the false doctrine of White supremacy which has paved the way for white privileged, have been kept intact due to the institutionalization of this repulsive and evil racial ideology. Never before in American history has there been a clearer shift from the race-war paradigm to that of an all out class-war paradigm by two sub- groups, the plutocrats and the oligarchs. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/02/plutocrats-v-oligarchs/.
Another major historical shift that has been in effect for some decade or so is that people of color now are the majority in America. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/06/its-official-the-us-is-becoming-a-minority-majority-nation.
The underclass; the undesirable and those who are disfranchised in our formerly great republic, are crying out loud against those that are given charge to randomly kill human lives. The American soil which has received the blood of the million upon million murdered souls, are speaking to the powers to be, communicating that our spiritual blessings and covenanted promises of God all have been forfeited because America refuses to repent for the annihilation of the American Indians and the enslavement of the Africans in slavery.
A National Treatise for Teshuvah [Repentance]
America must willfully commit to a National Call for Repentance for the evil crime of the annihilation of the American Indians and the enslavement of the Africans in legalized slavery. This must first come from the White House in Washington D.C., and then every state capital in our nation. Furthermore, this event is to become an annual National celebration. The millions souls of people who’s blood was spilled into our soil, deserved to be avenged and acknowledged by our Nation in an effort to heal our land and repeal the wrath of God from this Nation. Below are the five components of this National Treatise for Teshuvah [Repentance].
Our National Capital and its state capitals must:
- Acknowledge God as sovereign and within His rule and authority thus human-beings are instructed by His Holy Word to learn what is evil and what is moral. This heavenly disclosed wisdom is to be first mastered by the individual and then practiced in the wider society. Human society without Godly morals and absolute truth are incapable to govern and rule human-beings with dignity and fairness.
- Publicly confess and acknowledge America’s willful participation and benefits for the legalization of slavery. Have on-going workshops, public town meetings and open discussion on the negative impact that slavery had and still has on the American psyche. http://gospeltranslations.org/wiki/Biblical_Repentance/The_Meaning_of_Repentance
- Demonstrate genuine remorse to the American Indians and the Africans and American born slaves while asking God to forgive all those past and present, who profited from killing and slavery on American soil. This remorse/repentance is to be two-fold, publicly and privately.
- Pay some form of financial restitution to both the Indian nation and American slaves. This is done via an institutional approach. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/world/europe/for-60th-year-germany-honors-duty-to-pay-holocaust-victims.html?_r=0 and see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reparations-black-americans-slavery_us_56c4dfa9e4b08ffac1276bd7
Biblical repentance includes an ethical imperative to seek social justice in the historical face of systemic injustice. Repentance grows out of a prophetic challenge. Prophets see unjust situations from God’s perspective, and then God commissions them to inspire others to see the “subversive” vision of divine love, truth and justice.
The prophetic call to repentance is always an act of protest. It is an observation and an objection that the way we live violates the Creators spiritual order. Since we all are made in His image and likeness, we are to love God with our whole being and love others as ourselves.
Grace and Peace
Dr. Alonzo E. Thornton