INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE: THE TRUTH
Pastor/Teacher, Maurice H. Sykes
You've heard it before, "whites should not marry Blacks, God said no race-mixing, you shouldn't marry outside your own kind." You have heard this time and again from those self-righteous, legalistic wise-guy Christians. It's all garbage. I call it The Public Lie! There are many enemies of the Cross (Christians and unbelievers) who ignorantly, purposely and deliberately use the word of God to advance their own agenda. They advance an erroneous conclusion which they have chosen to believe. Because of such ignorance, error and heresy 2 Timothy 2:15 is vital: "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of Truth." Therein is the problem. There are simply too many churches which do not and unfortunately cannot rightly divide the word of Truth. Life is in the accurate taught and received word. And since God's word is often being abused and applied for the hidden motives of enemies of the Cross, The Public Lie is always being advanced.
Exactly what is The Public Lie? It can be many erroneous teachings. It's human thinking devoid of God as a frame of reference. It's statements and beliefs that originate primarily from the kingdom of darkness. The Public Lie always is an attack against the righteousness of God and is an affront to His policy of GRACE. But the critical point that I want you to see and remember is that The Public Lie is often mixed and "hidden" by someone quoting scripture out of context. It is deliberately executed that way. It's meant to deceive. It comes from taking the pure word out of its proper context and adding a human viewpoint conclusion. It's dangerous and evil.
The Public Lie very subtly leads unsuspecting believers astray (away from true Bible doctrine, removed from Bible doctrine, separated from Bible doctrine). Without doctrine as our frame of reference it is very easy to be captured and led astray by any slick sounding sophism one hears. One yields to The Public Lie by simply not studying under their right pastor/teacher and refusing to complete available Bible-based studies. Babes in Christ are particularly vulnerable because they have not yet been rooted in the word and are open for anything which sounds religious. Their spiritual perception has not yet been perfected to the extent of having effective discernment and when they hear something that sounds good (even though it can be pure evil) they embrace the good feeling rather than to compare it with the word of God. Good feelings are not necessarily godly feelings.
Again, The Public Lie is evil and very destructive, and carefully note this: "The real danger and the power of the counterfeit is its similarity to the real" (partial quote from Lewis Sperry Chafer.) Error often sounds so good that even God's people are hood-winked...snared. The Christian needs to focus on that which is Truth---the word of God. When we focus on Truth, it becomes increasingly difficult for error (The Public Lie) to snare us. We have examples all around us as to just how potent a lie is when mixed with Truth. You have heard preachers and congregation members emphatically state that Blacks, as an example, should not be marrying whites, etc., and they validate it by assigning this to the teachings of God. This is called proof-texting: you first come to some man-made conclusion then search the scriptures for passages that give the appearance of backing your position. The character of the Lord Jesus Christ alone refutes all religious hate, bigotry, racism and anti-semitism. The love of God rejects evil separatism. The religious bigotry we see is nothing new but it still hurts none the less, especially when its openly promoted and accepted by the general public. And even though you may be a strong believer in the Lord, the words of evil still hurts. Thank God that with doctrine in the soul, the Christian disciple can respond wisely to the attack.
The Public Lie pertaining to interracial marriage actually came from essentially three passages of scripture: Exodus 34:12-16, Deuteronomy 7:24 and 1 Kings 11:2. I'll summarize (prior to you doing your own thorough study of the texts.) These passages are in complete harmony because they deal with one issue-----UNBELIEF! Rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. UNBELIEF! Not rejecting interracial marriage. God is dealing with UNBELIEF!
The para-phrased version of those passages is this: don't marry into foreign nations (meaning UNBELIEVERS). Do not allow your sons (who believe in Christ) to marry the enemies unbelieving daughters. Do not give your daughters, who are believers, to marry the enemies unbelieving sons. That is the basic standard that God has established, which has not changed according to 2 Corinthians 2:14-18 and Ephesians 5:5-8. Believers and the world have taken God's word out of it's proper context and mixed in their personal viewpoints. The result, The Public Lie. It's unfortunate that many Christians have deliberately mixed and corrupted the message of God and thereby turned it into a weapon of intimidation, bigotry and hate. The Bible teaches that God loved the world (the ignorant, the hopeless, the miserable individuals, families, tribes and nations) so much that He gave His uniquely born Son---the Lord Jesus Christ! That does not sound like separation of the races to me! The Public Lie about interracial marriage has one purpose---to instigate discord and separation, and is a direct attack upon the character of God. Your marriage is based on the foundation that the Lord Jesus Christ has laid: "marriage is honorable among all." Hebrews 13:4. We do have to recognize, however, that all people are not prepared for marriage. The word of God prepares us, not counseling.
So, I repeat, the passages of scripture (Exodus 34:12-16, Deuteronomy 7:24 and 1 Kings 11:2 does not mean that God prohibited interracial marriages. He commanded that believers were not to marry unbelievers. Why? Because unbelief has the power to influence people...unbelief can motivate godly behavior to accept ungodly behavior. You can not go into a smoke-filled room, spend time there and not come out without the stench of smoke in your clothing. Often, the life of the unbeliever looks attractive, until you experience the fruit of that life-style: you get influenced to live a life that is "foreign" to you. You take on the characteristics of that "foreign" life-style, and if you do not rebound and repent (change your way of thinking and return to Bible doctrine) you have thereby taken yourself out of The Way, the plan of God for your life.
The Public Lie can blind the believer from the standard that God set: "For they (the unbelievers) will turn away your son from following Me, that they may serve other gods," Deuteronomy 7:4. There it is! "For surely they (the unbelievers) will turn your heart after their gods," 1 Kings 11:2. There it is!! And Exodus 34:12 says "...because it (an alliance, a marriage with the unbelieving nations) will become a snare in your midst." Further evidence from the Supreme Court of Heaven, : "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we (believers in the Lord Jesus Christ) are the temple of the Living God. As God has said: I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from them (the unbelievers) and be separate (from the unbelievers) says the Lord, and stop touching the unclean thing; and I will receive you," 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. God has set the standard----do not form alliances with unbelievers, do not marry unbelievers! God has not said that we are to reject and isolate ourselves from unbelievers, we are not to take on their life-style nor feed into their beliefs. Love them with impersonal unconditional love, but do not "hook up" with them! God is dealing with UNBELIEF! Interracial marriage is not prohibited by God. By man, yes, but not by God. Do not believe that all Christians are right thinking and accept God's grace when it comes to interracial marriages. I have seen far to often, in the last 15 years, that many believers are zealous for the Lord until you bring in interracial relationships.
The Public Lie says, "God doesn't want any interracial relationships or marriage." But God/accuracy says "It was for freedom that Christ has set you free," Galatians 5:1. You make the call about your own life. Those who advance the cause of religious bigotry and racism are enemies of the Cross because they are in accord with The Public Lie and with the one who initiated that Lie---Satan.
But you, have the courage to so that which you believe is in keeping with the grace and freedom given to you by the Lord Jesus Christ. In your decisions about entering an interracial relationship, I can only advise that we think, and count the cost. What's the deal? There are hidden issues which must be confronted by the couple BEFORE they enter the interracial union of marriage. There is a cost to your desires even though God gives you grace to validate your relationship. As an example: one of the hidden factors which most interracial couples who marry have not thoroughly dealt with before the marriage is how to protect their children from the vicious and insidious attacks. With children, racial evil that attacks them hurts them, often to the extent that they do not recover from it until late in life. Racial attacks will be launched against your kids like a rushing mighty wind. Think about this so that you may determine to respond wisely before you have to confront the problem:
Many, many kids from interracial marriages simply do not know who they are. They do not know why they are labeled one race or the other. Deep down inside they do not know their true identity. They have no true understanding of the issues which impact how they will be treated nor do they clearly understand the hurts that they will surely receive. Their peers will often be very unkind and even vicious, and the kids will not know how to respond to these pressures. The parents must be prepared and must teach their children by exposing them to the word of God and how He views these issues. The prepared kids are victorious kids! The parents must inculcate the kids with the Word of God so that IT, HO LOGOS, THE WORD WILL BE THEIR INSULATION AGAINST THE CRUELTY THEY MUST FACE! The parents must count the cost, and once they are prepared, they must prepare their kids. It can be done, it's a worthy work.
Our loving Savior, Lord and our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted us in grace with all our flaws. He never rejected anyone---His word was the standard, and the word rejects enemies of the Cross. Those who refuse to learn His word/Bible doctrine injure themselves. God's truth about interracial marriage can be known. After all, interracial marriages do not stand or fall on your color or race. You will stand or fall based on what you believe, why you believe it and who your believe.
So then, here's the deal: The Public Lie will be received and promoted by ignorant believers as long as they refuse to become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they do not agree with God...when they do not speak as God would about interracial marriages it is because THEY HAVE NO DAWN IN THEM...THEY HAVE NO LIGHT IN THEM! THEY ARE BLINDED BY THEIR OWN DARK THOUGHTS.
Do not allow people to deter you from your sound Biblical beliefs. Do not allow people to discourage the marriage that you desire---in the Lord. After all, did they go to the Cross for you? Can they cleanse you from all sin? Can they resurrect you? Can they get you an audience with God? Be confident in Who you believe (God), What you believe (The Word/Bible doctrine) and Why you believe it (because it, the word of God is spirit and it is Life and Length-to-life.) That's the deal.
---mhs
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