Stopping Gun Violence in America Will Involve Changing More Minds, Not Passing More Laws

To Stop Gun Violence in America,

We Must Acquire “the Mind of Christ”

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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I could start by writing at length how sick and tired people have become of America's gun violence problem. I'm skipping all that. The news media is already filled with the opinions of those who, in the long run, matter little if at all. I'm skipping the psychoanalysis too. Don't hand me all the utterances of the do-nothings who spend their days pointing out problems without making any effort at coming up with any solutions. You all know the ones I'm talking about, and I don't mean everyone reading this, either – not by a long shot. I'm talking about all the TV and radio pundits who make their living by agitating and provoking people. I know the gunman in the Thousand Oaks, California mass shooting had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I suffer from PTSD myself, but the source of my disorder is from growing up in an abusive foster-care situation rather than from the battlefield. There are a lot of people who have PTSD, but none of the rest of us has arbitrarily decided to go out and mow down a dozen or more people. I can't imagine doing such a thing myself. I find the very thought revolting.

They can call whatever they do whatever they want. I call it 'violently anti-social behavior'. And yet the majority of these agitators on radio and TV are church goers. That's the part that drives me nuts – from the vantage point of the pulpit, that's what I'm seeing – that people today would rather fight each other than help each other. Soon after, the acquisition of such argumentative mindsets devolves into violence because intolerance devalues others to the point that simply killing a few is somehow OK. Taking a life – any life – just because one has deemed it to be necessary, is never OK. We have lost sight of the fact that life is sacred because it comes from sacred origins, whose name is the Almighty God.

The Bible does have some things to say about this. The apostle Paul wrote about this in his letters to the Corinthian churches, and I quote: “6) We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7) No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8) None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9) However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him' — 10) these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” (1^st Corinthians 2: 6-10)

The first thing we can derive from verse 6 is that we should not wait on the government to fix our problems because the government lacks the wisdom to fix anything as it currently stands. There it is, right there in the Bible. God holds the solutions we seek, not government. As for the rest of us, it's not so much that we lack the wisdom, it's that we can't seem to agree on how to go about ending gun violence in America. We cannot reach a consensus because many of us refuse to acknowledge the existence of a Higher Power. Never mind the Christian concepts of a risen Christ and an Almighty God for just a minute – and all my Christian brethren please bear with me for a moment, because I'm seriously going somewhere with this today. It is an indisputable fact that there are sources of Higher Power in the universe. A refusal to acknowledge or remain in touch with this Higher Power – the forces of Light that we call “God” – leaves a vacuum in the human heart that causes the forces of darkness to take its place. You are either from the Light, as I am, or from the Darkness, which is all that is negative. It is evil, which is the power of Darkness that never penetrates the Light unless it is allowed to, that is the motivator for America's gun violence problem.

But the evil I'm writing about isn't psychological, it's not mental illness, nor is it pathological at all. The source of this evil is spiritual. People who give in to evil and so carry out horrible evil such as this epidemic of mass shootings do so because they have made a conscious effort to put their Higher Power – just in case they profess disbelief in the existence of God – out of their lives. When you put the Light out of your life, the Darkness inevitably takes its place. Those who do not believe in Spiritual forces make themselves all the more vulnerable to it. “9) However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him' — 10) these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” The apostle Paul was quoting Isaiah 64: 4 as if to say, if only you will stick with God, his reward for you will be greater than anyone can imagine. Never give up on God, and He'll never give up on you. And even if you do give up, God sticks with us anyway because that's how much he loves each of us. Even if we're in sin, God will still stick with us – but only for so long, if you get my drift.

Paul clarified this still further further down in this same passage when he wrote: “13) This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14) The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15) The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16) for, 'Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ.” (1^st Corinthians 2: 13-16) Now I ask you, how can we continue to have the “mind of Christ” when we have our minds focused on who we can take vengeance upon and kill? Never mind whether we think they “deserve it” or not. I am simply trying to emulate Paul by “explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”

America's mass shooting epidemic is a symptom of a country that is turning to the forces of Darkness. If America was still attuned to the forces of the Light like she used to be, there would have been no more than a handful of these mass shootings before they would have been brought to an abrupt halt. Granted, when it comes to all these shootings, America's gun laws clearly need to be strengthened, that is true. But the ultimate responsibility lies with the individual, as Paul wrote, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments....” OK, so if any given person systematically rejects the things of God, or of their Higher Power, and/or refuses to recognize the authority thereof, then is it any wonder that such people wind up doing such ungodly things as mass murder? It should come as no surprise at all.

All right, so we can safely conclude that those who act out on violent impulses, or who cannot or will not keep their angry feelings in check, to the point where they cannot help but hurt or even kill others – long term incarceration is the only thing that will stop such people. And that's assuming they survive being arrested, and many choose not to. Let's not forget there are some who, as the novelist John Milton put it, “....would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven.” Actually for me, it's the other way around. Keeping in mind that I would rather serve forever in heaven than roast forever in hell is what keeps the forces of Darkness out of my heart, mind and soul. In effect, I and others like me “have the mind of Christ”. Not the person, you understand, but the mindset of the man, the Savior and Redeemer. Only Christ gave his life for you and for me – Jesus Christ the Son of God and no one else. Only the forces of the demonic take lives, they never give anything.

And so in closing, it is vitally important that we all take on “the mind of Christ”. No one can be just like our Lord and Savior because only Jesus lived a sinless life – none of us even comes close to that. But we can overcome our bad natures – especially the propensity to kill – by keeping the “mind of Christ” tucked inside our brains as we go about our daily routines, and as we meet and work with all kinds of people. Some of them are good, some are evil, and still more simply don't care. As long as they're getting their usual, that's all they worry about. They couldn't care less about anyone else but themselves. Although the killers are awful enough, and dangerous enough, it's the ones who don't care who do the most damage of all. That's because the only way evil can flourish is for cold and uncaring men and women to look the other way.

How much more violence is America supposed to take?

Our Leaders and Our Media

Keep Us in the Dark, Living in Fear

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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The mailing of pipe bombs to various persons in positions of leadership has been in the headlines all week. The one thing that all the recipients of those 'deadly' packages had in common is they were all vocally anti-Trump. If those 'bombs' were as deadly as the FBI claimed, at least one or two would have hit their mark. Days later, and with the alleged perpetrator now in custody, this event is beginning to look more like another FBI-engineered false flag operation. Granted, the perpetrator's fingerprint was found on one of the packages, but it's doubtful he acted alone. As skepticism mounts on the part of the American public, the Deep State operators inside the Beltway and the Lame Stream Media are finding their credibility evaporating before their very eyes. At long last, the operators behind the US military-industrial complex are being exposed. There is no place left for them to run for cover. The Deep State is reaping the consequences of all their false flag operations and clandestine activity.

We live in an extremely violent, and I would argue dangerous, society. Every day we hear or read about unarmed civilians being shot and killed by law enforcement. The overwhelming majority of these victims are Black, meaning America has still not come to terms with issues of racial equality and the elimination of hate from the American psyche. We live in a country that is the world leader in gun and ammunition manufacturing, the world leader in incarcerated individuals – the majority of whom are there for nonviolent drug offenses – and the world's leading producer of pornography. The American population is the world's largest consumers of opiate drugs and other dangerous street drugs like “meth” and crack cocaine. The ingredients for those opiate drugs come from the poppy fields of Afghanistan, which are conveniently being guarded by American troops. That's the real reason they're there.

We are bombarded with violence on every side – shootings in schools, workplaces, churches, bars and night clubs, and other random acts of violence that are without rhyme or reason. Children are kidnapped, not to be held for ransom, but to be sold as sex slaves or to have their organs harvested, sometimes while they are still alive. We have violence on TV, in the movies, and especially in many of the video games we play. And so, when violence happens in real life, it naturally startles many people. This is exactly what our government is counting on. A lot of the violence is home grown, of that there can be no doubt. But nearly as much of it is 'black-ops' type stuff orchestrated by the FBI, CIA, or other alphabet soup agencies. But the prophet Ezekiel wrote nearly 3,000 years ago: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel'! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord.'” (Ezek. 45: 9)

In Europe (particularly Great Britain) and the US, the public is being fed a pack of lies by politicians and the mainstream media about the situation in Syria, just as it has been with other military adventures over the past decades. The majority of westerners don’t have a clue about what is really happening. They are unaware that Syria forms part of the greater game in the region. They fail to see the links between Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, which are all part of a Washington-led wider geo-political strategy hell-bent on global domination and controlling the world’s mineral resources. This includes its pipeline routes, the revenues from which are crediting the accounts of western financiers and oil, armaments and logistics companies. Too many remain confused or ignorant thanks to duplicitous politicians and the compliant corporate media. To make matters worse, the lack of awareness of many is due to simple laziness on their part. It's up to them to fix that, and to work that out between themselves and the Lord.

The public cannot know the true scope of the reality. They will not be allowed to know, or at least for as long as the powers-that-be can get away with it. We are being treated like mushrooms, kept in fear and in the dark and fed nothing but crap. Too many allow themselves to be deceived by politicians and the media that churn out increasingly tired-sounding cliches about a 'war on terror' or a 'humanitarian crisis' to justify militarism's murderous brutality. And the result is that too many people accept the lie that rag-tag forces made up of vicious, faction-ridden fighters, illegally armed by NATO terror governments and unelected regimes in Saudi and Qatar, are fighting for freedom and democracy. Those forces and nations wouldn’t recognize freedom and democracy if they were hit in the face with it. The very idea of giving any power to the people is anathema to them. That’s why they seek to crush that out of existence as soon as it appears.

That applies whether it appears within the borders of the US, Britain or Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere in places that are of strategic importance to them. The US track record of crushing democratic governments is well documented by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges and historian William Blum. And look no further to see the attacks on Wiki Leaks, the Occupy, or Black Lives Matter Movements to see how democratic movements are treated at home. Look no further to see how democratic workers’ movements that took hundreds of years to build in Britain and elsewhere, and for the last 100 years here in the US, and in Europe are under sustained attack. Giving the people the opportunity to vote every four or five years, while in the meantime deceiving, misinforming and lying to them, has no more to do with democracy or freedom than what is happening in Syria right now.

If more ordinary folk were to turn their attention away from glossy sports events, cheap Sunday morning political debate, bogus reality shows, talent contests or all other forms of comatose infotainment on our TV's for one minute, they might well realize that the billionaire criminal elites that take their taxes and dictate national and foreign policy are in many cases a good deal worse than any number of the regimes they seek to demonize.

Gun Violence, Bad Economics, and Forgetting About God

The Violence That Rocks American Society:

How We Did It to Ourselves

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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To start off this week's commentary, I will spare you the cliche's about the constant presence of things that money simply can't buy. Hopefully everybody knows that, or if not you sure do now. We find ourselves living, however, in an unbelievably corrupt society that is governed in large part by criminals, although there are plenty of good people mixed in with that. We also live in an unbelievably violent society where we have mass shootings that occur with alarming regularity. I even got a passport last winter, just in case of possible civil war, another thing being disseminated on social media with similarly alarming regularity. If a 2^nd US civil war breaks out, or if martial law is ever declared, I'm leaving (for how long I can't say)! In between it all is the verbal machine gun fire of commercial after commercial. I got so sick of all that I terminated my cable TV subscription 6 years ago.

The Bible, our owner's manual provided by God, has plenty to say about violence, and how it will escalate here in these last days. Jesus himself prophesied: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' Anyone who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 10, verses 34-39) Now hold that thought for a minute.

Is it any surprise, then, that we find ourselves surrounded by so much violence? OK, now here's an important question – why are there so many violent people? Saying they are simply evil, or that they were abused themselves as children, are simplistic answers and therefore insufficient. There can be no question that we find ourselves in an epidemic of mental illness, but that is a topic I'd rather leave to trained mental health professionals. But I also think we are living in times of great deprivation that is being experienced by the vast majority of people. During these times of extreme inequality, a lot of people are feeling like they've been cheated, abused, disenfranchised and impoverished. That's because they have been subject to all of the above. So I am not at all surprised that some people snap under the pressure.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” When Jesus walked the earth he was called, among other things, “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9: 6). But that was 2,600 years ago. That was then, but those words of our Lord and Savior concerning the future are about to become spoken in the present tense. When Jesus returns, he will not come as the Lamb of God as he did before. He will come as a conqueror on a white horse (see Revelation 19: 11)! “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Those who pursue wealth, success and fame can achieve them all, but the price tag may turn out to be unbearable. Hollywood has countless such examples, as does the pop music scene. It all amounts to organized crime.

Wall Street itself operates as a criminal syndicate devoted to the theft of that to which it has no rightful claim. It then bribes politicians to shield the looters from taxes on their ill-gotten gains and to eliminate social programs that cushion the blow to those they have deprived of a secure and meaningful means of livelihood. In the big picture, the Wall Street one percent has divided society into a looter class that controls access to money and a producer class forced into perpetual debt slavery – an ancient institution that has allowed the few to rule the many for thousands of years. The immense burden imposed on the 99 percent by public debt, consumer debt, mortgage debt, and student loan debt is the outcome of the Wall Street assault on justice and democracy, while maintaining a system of enforced inequality. The resulting desperation and loss of social trust account for the many current symptoms of social disintegration and gun violence.

I grew up in America during a time when we took pride in being a middle-class society without extremes of wealth and poverty. In part, we were living an illusion. Large concentrations of private wealth were intact and systemic discrimination excluded large segments of the population —particularly people of color – from participation in the general prosperity. The underlying concept that the good society is an equitable society, however, was and still is valid. And from the 1950s to the 1970s the middle class expanded. But not any more. Extreme inequality as perpetuated by Capitalism, is both a source and an indicator of serious institutional failure and social pathology. Economic and social inequality are detrimental to human physical and mental health and happiness – even for the very rich.

Relatively equal societies are healthier on virtually every indicator of individual and social health and well-being. In highly unequal societies, the very rich are prone to seek affirmation of their personal worth through extravagant displays of excess. They easily lose sight of the true sources of human happiness, sacrifice authentic relationships, and deny their responsibility to the larger society at the expense of their essential humanity. At the other extreme, the desperate are prone to manipulation by political demagogues who offer oversimplified explanations and self-serving solutions that in the end further deepen their misery. Governing institutions lose legitimacy. Democracy becomes a charade. Moral standards decline. Civic responsibility gives way to extreme individualism and disregard for the rights and well-being of others, up to and including gun violence.

Within a political debate defined by the logic of living systems, such measures are simple common sense. Within a political debate defined by conventional financial logic, however, they are easily dismissed as dangerous and illogical threats to progress and prosperity. So long as money frames the debate, money is the winner and life is the loser. Wall Street interests would have us believe that the best way to save Earth’s ecosystems is to put a price on them and sell them to wealthy global investors to manage for a private return. Rather than concede the underlying frame to Wall Street and debate the price and terms of the sale, North American indigenous leaders, the Occupy and 99% Movements, and environmental groups drew on the ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples to challenge the underlying frame. They declared that as the source of life, Earth’s living systems are sacred and beyond price as a creation of Almighty God's. They issued a global call to recognize the rights of nature, which I view as a form of obedience to God.

In current practice we give corporate rights precedence over the property rights of individuals. We give property rights precedence over the human rights of those without property. And we give human rights precedence over the rights of nature when it should be the other way around. To put it bluntly, America's leadership and the financial “elite” who are running our country into the ground have their priorities backwards. Moreover, we – the 99% – will continue to pay a terrible price so long as we allow the deeply flawed logic of pure finance to define our values and frame the political debate. Therefore it is up to us, the 99%, to get these priorities put back in the correct order by any means necessary.

As of this writing, we Americans are still not doing enough about our plight to settle this peacefully. Hey, we haven't even learned to live peacefully with each other! After all, the only remaining alternatives are anarchy and revolution, and I have been convinced for many years that one of these will be the ultimate outcome. I'd much rather have the latter than the former. But, there is no magic bullet quick fix. We must re-frame the debate by bringing God back to the forefront and turning the prevailing wealth hierarchy on its head. The rights of nature must come first, because without nature, humans do not exist. As living beings, our rights are derivative of and ultimately subordinate to the rights of Earth’s living systems, all of which are God's creations. Human rights come before property rights, because property rights are a human creation. They have no existence without humans and no purpose other than to serve the human and natural interest. Corporations are a form of property and any rights we may choose to grant to them are derivative of individual property rights and therefore properly subordinate to them.

The step to a peaceful human future and a clean and balanced environment requires that we acknowledge life, not money, as our defining value, accept our responsibilities to God for one another and to nature, and bring to the forefront of its Creator. Replacing cultures and institutions that value money more than life with cultures and institutions that value life more than money is a daunting challenge. Fortunately, it is also an invigorating and hopeful challenge because it reconnects us with our true nature as living beings and offers a win-win alternative to the no-win status quo. The only two alternatives are revolution (when all other means are exhausted, and we are pretty much at that point now) or human extinction.

Las Vegas and the Bible: an Indictment of American Culture

Why We Have Guys Like Stephen Paddock and

Incidents Like the Las Vegas Shooting: a Spiritual Diagnosis

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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All week long, everyone has the same question, especially the police at the local, state and federal levels – why? Why did this man kill 58 people and wound or maim 500 more? What motivated this seemingly mindless mass slaughter? A shooter's reasons, however sick and twisted, usually become clear within a day or two. A suicide note, a manifesto, a series of social media rants, a phone call – even police reports and court dockets can provide insight into what drives a warped mind to commit such a violent act. Usually, someone close knows something or realizes, in retrospect, that they missed the warning signs. But 64-year-old Stephen C. Paddock flew low under the radar. He avoided interaction with many of the people around him, and his manner was direct and brusque by all accounts. He was known to stay up all night gambling, but it was as if he was the only reveler at his own party.

Clark County Nevada Under-sheriff Kevin C. McMahill seemed almost apologetic Friday afternoon when he told reporters that despite running down some 1,000 leads, investigators still haven't come up with "credible information" concerning Paddock's motive. Chasing down all those leads "helped create a better profile into the madness of this suspect," McMahill said, but "we still do not have a clear motive or reason why." The previous evening, Sheriff Joe Lombardo summed up the mystery man this way: Paddock "spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood." But I maintain that much of the mystery surrounding Mr. Paddock's can be cleared up. What Sheriff Lombardo was lacking, along with most, if not all, of the other investigators, was a Bible. Let me give you a few examples of what I mean.

“You shall not murder....” (Exodus 20: 13). That's the most obvious example, but there's more than just this alone. “The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery', 'Do not murder', 'Do not steal', 'Do not covet' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Lev. 19:18) Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13, verses 9-10) Based on these verses we can conclude that Mr. Paddock was either a person completely devoid of love, or he had completely suppressed all his capacity to love. Yet he had the presence of mind to get his lady friend out of the country with a cool 100 grand before carrying out this diabolical plot of his. I'm no psychiatrist, but it appears Mr. Paddock made a conscious effort to turn off that part of his brain. This is the same as selling one's soul to the devil, as it is written: “Jesus said to them, 'If God were your father you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own, but he has sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'” (John 8, verses 42-44)

The law enforcement folks, as I wrote at the beginning of this week's message, are still asking 'why?' everybody was so clueless about this mad assassin. The FBI reportedly has interviewed Mr. Paddock's girlfriend, who evidently flew back to the US from the Philippines at her own expense, or I should say Mr. Paddock's, since she undoubtedly had a credit or debit card from Mr. Paddock to defray her expenses, and she apparently knew nothing of her late boyfriend's intentions. But the words of our Lord and Savior are very clear: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.” Remember when the press and the police interviewed Mr. Paddock's brother? He said at least twice during the interview, “He had no affiliations of any kind, especially not churches, so I can't imagine what made Steven do this!” So we now get a clearer picture of this man. Though no one is born a murderer, this guy Mr. Paddock evidently turned himself into one gradually, over the years, until he became a cold-blooded killer. He did this to himself, and it appears he did it on purpose. It was a conscious effort on his part. Steven Paddock consciously turn himself into an atrocity so he could commit atrocities, and evidently for sport. In short, Mr. Paddock rented that Las Vegas hotel room because he was going on safari, and his game was human beings. I realize writing this the way I'm doing is not politically correct. I'm not trying to be politically correct. What I am doing is explaining the mass shooting in Las Vegas in Biblical terms.

This all started back in 1962 when the USA took prayer out of her public schools. Stephen Paddock would have been in the fifth grade at that time. Seven years later in 1966, America had its first mass shooting. On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman, a former U.S. Marine sharpshooter, took rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop the Main Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin, then opened fire on persons indiscriminately on the surrounding campus and streets. Over the next 96 minutes he shot and killed fifteen people (including one unborn child) and injured thirty-one others; another victim died in the hospital, and a final victim died in 2001 from the lingering effects of his wounds. The incident ended when police reached Whitman and shot him dead. Mr. Paddock would have in the 11^th grade at that time, and he was surely affected by this incident. It may have even planted the seeds in his mind for the Las Vegas mass shooting decades later. But the US Supreme Court banned public prayer in all government buildings – not just schools – due to the Constitutional separation of church and state. Unfortunately for America, this ban has been taken too far.

It was 27 years later, in 1999, when America suffered her first mass shooting in a school, Columbine High School in Colorado. That's what happens in just one generation when God and his Son, Jesus, together with the Holy Spirit, are forcibly removed from our nation's schools. You wind up with a bunch of godless, atheistic kids without a conscience – or who can willfully turn theirs off and back on again without remorse, since the end always justifies the means to such people. That's exactly what Stephen Paddock turned into, and in his case it was clearly voluntary. And why did this occur? There we are, back to the original question yet again. Yet the answer has been staring us right in the face the whole time. We kicked God out of our lives. The ban on prayer in schools back in 1962 was passed with the lobbying of Congress from just a few individuals from the O'Hare family of Pittsburgh, Pa., and later Austin, Texas, a mother (Madelyn) and her two sons. The rest of America sat back and let this happen. America's churches sat on their hands. Their pastors, bishops and elders railed against the prayer ban from their pulpits, but when the sermon was over, everyone went home to their black & white TV's. There was some public protesting of the 1962 prayer ban, but not nearly enough! Even back then, people would rather sit and watch television, voluntarily surrendering their brains to an electronic box. They then proceeded to shut off their consciences so that they wouldn't be bothered no matter how much violence they were looking at. These plastic religious people would rather be entertained than get out in the streets and protest against evil!

So, when you spend the last two generations removing all semblance of prayer or the mention of God, and especially of Jesus, from a society, that society immediately begins to drift away from God. When this was done in America's schools, we programmed an entire generation against the knowledge of God. We have been drifting morally as a nation for well over half a century at this point, and this is what you get, America! We have done this to ourselves, and we have no one but ourselves to blame. America has forgotten about God! Gun control is not the answer, although mandatory gun registration should be the law of the land. We have similar laws on the books today, but they have too many loopholes. But more than that, we have to put God back in America's schools if we want to remove the potential for violence. We must allow the love of Christ Jesus to return to our governing bodies and educational system. Otherwise, our 'society' will ultimately break down. Last but not least, we need to clean up the violence on America's TV and movie screens and from the video games you and your children are playing. Turn off your cable TV and stream Christian content on the Internet instead. Get a lot pickier about what you – and especially if there are kids in the house – watch on TV or what video games you're all playing. There's an encyclopedia of subliminal messaging contained in those TV shows, commercials and video games – even in movies – that's designed to program people's minds. That could be what happened to Mr. Paddock, but it's likely no one will ever know for sure.

Stephen Paddock, and his predecessors Dylan Klebold at Columbine High and Charles Whitman at UT Austin, were godless human beings, and godlessness leads people to commit atrocities (sorry, but the word 'tragedy' just isn't strong enough). Here in America, it happens most often with guns. In Europe and the Middle East, where gun control is very strict, bombings are the weapon of choice for those who have surrendered willingly to Satan to willfully commit mass murder. In all these cases, as best as I can tell, these individuals had willfully turned off their consciences in order to commit these crimes and atrocities. There is no other explanation. The solution is to address the source of the problem, which is our nation's schools and the way children are being educated right from Day One. Insert the Prince of Peace into our homes and schools and we will know peace. No Prince of Peace equals no peace.

Echoes of a Bygone Era in Charlottesville, Virginia

Racism and “White Nationalism” Have No Place

in 21^st Century America

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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I once saw a one-hour documentary on cable TV (back in the days when I still watched TV) that was all about neo-Nazi skinheads, their swastika tattoos and flags, and how they are organized into gangs that operate outside the law. The extreme racial hatred of these people was chronicled by this cable channel in raw detail. It showed how these organizations recruit new members over the Internet, and how they support themselves by selling drugs and guns. I clearly remember how appalled I was as I watched this documentary with all the hate and violence perpetrated by these racist organizations. It made me think about the first book of John in the New Testament and what it says about those who harbor racist hate.

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him.” (1st John 2, verses 9-11) Fast forward to the present, and we had a very public example this past week of politicized, racist behavior in connection with the riots in Charlottesville, Va. this past Friday and Saturday. So-called “white nationalists” put on this big public demonstration and parade, and all the while there were equally numerous anti-bigotry counter-protesters, resulting in an inevitable clash between the two that would up on global TV news outlets. The death toll from these incidents has just risen to 3 as I write this. Was it really worth 3 human lives just so hatred and intolerance could be better expressed? I think not!!

Ask people if they love God or not and the vast majority will say yes, excluding the atheists. (Atheists have themselves as their own gods, so they engage in what amounts to self-worship.) Yet how many of us harbor hate, intolerance and mistrust towards groups of people who are different from us for various reasons? Religion, race, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation and especially differences in economic status are some of the most common examples. We can't love God and at the same time hate that which He has created. This can range from laughing at a racial joke all the way up to mass murder in schools, churches or movie theaters. The underlying message implied by these things is that there are some people who think that they are somehow better than everybody else. “I think I'm better than you”, is the basis for their opinions, and that's wrong! God created us all and He sees us as equals, as it is written: “Rich and poor have this in common; the Lord is the Maker of them all.” (Proverbs 22: 2)

It is high time for these condescending, racist “white nationalist” people to begin seeing themselves as peers as God has commanded us to! Otherwise, things can go terribly wrong in a hurry, as we have already seen on TV. In this next quote the apostle John, the younger half-brother of Jesus, takes this a step further. “If anyone says,'I love God', yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1st John 4, verses 20-21)

If there is one thing we can say about this passage of Scripture, it is that John tells it like it really is. He minces no words with this last quote, “whoever loves God must also love his brother”. That was not just an idea or a suggestion. This is how we are to be conducting ourselves in everyday living. If we love God, then we are to love that which he has created. “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen”. It's hard to get any more blunt and direct than that. So, people who are racially prejudiced and hate-filled but still go to church, do so in vain! They are committing a gross injustice against people of color by their racism, which is why racism is an injustice in God's eyes! Does the Bible have anything else to say about injustice? In fact it has volumes of commentary and Godly commands that humankind is charged with the task of following. Isaiah 30, verse 18 says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”. Zechariah chapter 7, verse 9 says, “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.” Here is one Bible verse that I can truly say a certain Texas state trooper violated when he racially profiled Sandra Bland due to her broken tail-light and Black complexion back in 2015. That, combined with her out-of-state tag, made that officer indirectly responsible for her untimely demise. I wonder how he sleeps at night?

There are many varieties of bigotry, intolerance and prejudice. It can be racial. Do you hate black or white people? What about the Latino immigrants, who are in fact economic refugees from Mexico and Central America? It can be gender-based. Are you a guy who hates women or vice verse? There are people like that, more than one might think. Speaking of sex, do you hate gay people? We may not agree with their lifestyle, and many say they are in sin, but that doesn't give us the right to despise them. Although we believe the Bible says homosexuality is a sin as the majority of Christians do, that give us no license to hate the sinner. Just because they are different than you doesn't make them any worse or yourself any better. Sexual sin is still sexual sin, and questions about same-sex as opposed to opposite sex attraction are, to me, besides the point. The same goes for age discrimination. Ask any older worker who has been turned down for a job in favor of a younger candidate to describe that experience. I've walked a mile in those shoes myself. What about homeless people? Do you tend to not tolerate or fear the homeless? What about the mentally ill? Moreover, economic discrimination is the worst kind of prejudice because it affects the largest group of people, since 99% of America's wealth is squarely in the hands of the top 1% of the US population. What is the antidote for this social sickness? How do we overcome all the artificial barriers that constitute hate, intolerance and prejudice? How can we put forth fundamental change in these areas? For the answer to this pressing question, let's refer one last time to the apostle John.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us....There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.” (1st John 4; verses 7-12, 18-19)

Love is the perfect eraser for hate. Bigotry, intolerance and prejudice are based on fear – fear of what we don't understand – and hate, which itself is pure evil because it is derived from contempt. To overcome this, try volunteering in an inner city ministry where you live, or maybe at a food bank or in a homeless shelter, or at the church you attend. It will open your eyes to a whole different world. Hunger in America is real, near-panic over America's future is too, and they are ever-present. The middle class is disappearing because big multinational corporations have exported all the good middle class jobs for pennies on the dollar to emerging countries and economies worldwide. At this point, the only thing left that “we the people” can do about it is an outright revolt, but the violence in Charlottesville, Va. was not the way to go about it! Instead, our churches should be a very good places to start, whether it be for ministry, community outreach or even outright revolution (think “Black Robed Regiment” from the US Revolutionary war). But, if churches aren't your first choice, there are lots of other nonprofits out there such as Goodwill, the Veterans Association and so on. Better yet, start a movement of your own. By volunteering or being a missionary in the poorest parts of your city or town, that is just one way we can combat racism and poverty as an entire nation. From this kind of a ministry we can gain understanding, from understanding tolerance, from tolerance compassion, and from compassion empathy. These are the antidotes for racism, bigotry, prejudice and intolerance. This is how we as a nation can stop hate in its tracks. This is how we as a united American people can ensure there are no more Sandra Bland's (RIP kid sister, you are not forgotten) or Charlottesville, Virginia's. Hate is no longer OK, it isn't even tolerable for those with a strong sense of conscience and a deep desire for justice. You will be surprised at what a positive effect this can have on your outlook on life. It works for me! And the God of peace, a holy peace that is beyond normal human comprehension, will be with you all when you do so.

Violence in America and the root causes of it all

All Right Now, That's Enough!!

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

As I begin to compose this week's message, I find myself shaking my head as I struggle to find a comfortable place to start. I saw video of a white cop shooting a black man to death for selling CD's and resisting arrest. Yes I know, he was armed, but if you watch all the videos taken of the incident (which I admit are hard to look at), Alton Sterling's gun came out of his pocket during the scuffle, but he did not attempt to shoot at either of the officers. Alton Sterling was executed. The video of Philando Castille getting shot to death when he reached for his wallet – not his gun – is even harder to watch. Hearing his fiancee' plead with the police officer for her life, while asking the officer why he had just killed Mr. Castille in that calm, even voice of hers is truly unforgettable. That is one strong lady, and she has my heart-felt sympathy and especially my deepest respect.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. This past Friday 5 cops who were just doing their jobs were shot to death in the line of duty, and seven more were wounded. As of this writing I think there are 3 still in the hospital, and I pray fervently for a speedy recovery for them all. Now – let me be clear. Was it a miscarriage of justice that Mr. Sterling and Mr. Castille wound up dead for what amounts to petty stuff? Yes, absolutely, and I predict that one or more of those police officers will end up facing charges for their mishandling of the incidents. But under NO circumstances did that justify setting up a clever little sniper's nest down in Dallas the following day for the sole express purpose of picking off police officers in retaliation!! I am deeply, very deeply upset about the assassination of these cops and the wounding of seven more. This, my dear readers and social media followers, is not how Americans are to be settling their internal problems. I even saw a preposterous video posted on You-tube just last evening about people wanting to start a “race war”. Let me point something out to the people who want a “race war” in America: We've already been there, done that, and bought the stinkin' T-shirt! It was called the American Civil War of 1861-1865, and there were 620,000 American soldiers and civilians killed in that conflict. Understand now – the population of the United states at the end of that war in 1865 was approximately 32 million, slightly less than one tenth of America's population today. So if a second US civil war were to actually occur with the population being ten times greater than the first Civil War, then it is reasonable to conclude that the casualties from such a war would be ten times as much as the first, or 6.2 million people. Does anyone reading this seriously believe a 2^nd US civil war in which 6.2 million Americans died would be good for our country?? If so, then go ahead and fight your damned-to-hell civil war, but consider this before you proceed. When all the killing and the carnage is finished, the perpetrators of this 2^nd US civil war will be hunted down, rounded up, and sentenced to hang from the gallows. If there is none handy, Mr./Mrs./Ms. “race war” fighter, then we will build one immediately, just outside your jail cell. Then, maybe at long last, the rest of us can finally have some peace and quiet!

So what's the root cause of all these shootings? Is it because we have too many guns, or is this problem due to lax gun laws, as some people say? There can be no question that the gun control laws currently in place could be strengthened, and that background checks could be strengthened as well. But the right to own hand guns and long guns is clearly defined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, and the clear purpose of that particular amendment is to give the US populace a right to defend themselves against intruders for whatever reason, as well as to defend ourselves against the government, should things in Washington get out of control. And, when it comes to Washington being out of control, we're already there. So gun violence is a symptom, but it's not the problem. What about the police? Why are all these cops so trigger-happy? Is racism a part of it? This is unquestionably true, and racism – sad to say – remains deeply embedded in American culture. I also suspect there is some job frustration on the part of some police officers, but there is also a significant amount of racism as well. 

 

So, we've touched on the cops shooting civilians and on civilians assassinating cops, plus we've touched on race. All three of these played a major part in the recent wave of shootings, but they are not the sole cause. The root cause of all the violence that has wracked America is – to sum it up – poisoning. Some of this systematic poisoning is spiritual in nature – such as all the distasteful shows on TV and at the movies, the super-violent video games, the subliminal messages contained in popular music as well as TV, and particularly all the pornography, which America seems to be flooded with. Other sources of this spiritual poisoning can be found in certain churches that preach false doctrines, such as the “prosperity gospel” and the “pre-tribulation rapture”. Although I'm not going to expound at length on any of these topics for now, I have done so in the past in some of my other postings dating back to 2011 or so.

So, we know that part of this 'poisoning', as I call it, is spiritual, but it's equally important to know that the rest of this systemic poisoning is purely physical in nature. America has been fluoridating its water supply ever since the end of WW2. Consumption of fluoride was proven as far back as 50 years ago to be toxic to humans. Moreover, consumption of fluoride, even in small amounts such as toothpaste, has been proven to lower the IQ of any given human being by about 10 percentage points over the course of a 70-year human lifespan. So there we can see our water supply has been poisoned. Then there's humankind's air supply, which is bring polluted by “chem-trails” to humankind's detriment. These “chem-trails” are being sprayed from ordinary jet aircraft, and they contain mainly aluminum particulates that are designed to block out the sun and slow global warming. Unfortunately for folks like you and I, these aluminum particulates are carcinogenic to humans, but the government keeps paying subcontractors to do this “dirty work” anyway. Last but not least are vaccines – all of them, which have been linked to autism, ADD, hyperactivity in children and other behavioral abnormalities, all of which have lasting effects into adulthood.

With these facts staring us in the face, is it any wonder that people everywhere are simply starting to snap? If I load a program on my computer that has a virus, won't my PC workstation start acting crazy? The human brain is like a computer, but with a bio-electric-chemical compound interface. If we allow bad programming – violent TV and video games, pornography and the like – to get into our heads, or if we let our kids listen to all that junk on commercial radio, it won't be long and those individuals are going to sustain heavy psychological damage. Everybody the world over has sustained serious physiological damage from environmental pollution, fluoridated water, lead and mercury poisoning, etc. Add to that the inescapable fact that people nearly everywhere are in a life-and-death struggle with their finances – unless, of course, you're in the top 1% income bracket in America. Being under pressure from all sides financially, while imploding on the inside from a slow but systematic poisoning, leads to a personal meltdown! That's why people everywhere are exploding with rage! And if you're African-American, you are dealing with all of the above combined with being under a constant state of siege from the police. That is enough to drive anybody insane, even the very best of people and regardless of race!

Ladies and gentlemen, my dear readers whom I love so very much, the moment has arrived where we must come together collectively as a people and say, “no more”! Either we stop the violence or it will eventually consume us. But, in an effort to stop that from occurring, the government will undoubtedly step in at some point, “to restore order”. That, of course, will be the government's brand of order – the New World Order. Let's not go there, people, let's not allow ourselves to be enslaved so we can have so-called “security”. There is no such thing as real security except in the loving arms of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Other than that, we take a risk just by getting out of bed each morning. A tree could fall on us and crush us while we're in the bathroom, before we even make it out to the kitchen. We could step outside our door and get hit by a bolt of lightning, but we go anyway. As it is when we take charge of our lives and accept the risks involved, so it is when we have to physically step in and stop the violence, or when we stop others from doing so. It is up to each and every one of us to take responsibility and to take charge of our country, especially since those in charge are in power for all the wrong reasons. No wonder nothing significant ever gets done in Washington! It's time to collectively tell everybody inside the 'beltway', “You're fired”! It's time for “we the people” to retake control of our country. If we can't do this at the ballot box this fall, more drastic means will have to be employed. Do we want our country back, or do we want to be slaves? Time to go to 'red alert'.

America, we have a race problem

America, We Have A Problem

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

People of good conscience everywhere are still processing what happened in Charleston, South Carolina this past Wednesday. Much has been said and written about this already, so I will be careful to not be too redundant. What is not being emphasized anywhere nearly enough is the gravity, the scope and the depth of the massacre of the Charleston Nine. To call this a 'hate crime' only scratches the surface of what actually transpired this past week. Many of my African-American friends on and off the Web are accurately calling the events in Charleston an act of domestic terrorism. Dylann Roof and others like him are an offense, an embarrassment and a humiliation to every white/Caucasian American citizen and/or legally residing foreign national. I saw President Obama on the Internet yesterday talking about America's “gun problem”, but I do not share this view. If Congress or the president outlaws guns, those with evil intent who manage to get their hands on a firearm will be more emboldened than ever before. Outlawing guns will make America less peaceful, not more so as has been suggested. Besides, being the Constitutionalist that I am, I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. The issue isn't guns, it's race.

America's race problem dates back 400 years to before there was a United States of America. Slavery in the 'land of the free' was and always will be what some historians call “America's peculiar institution”. The ugly truth of the matter is that today's African Americans are the descendants of slaves who arrived here by being forcibly removed from their homeland. To put it in modern terms, these African slaves were victims of human trafficking. They are the descendants of kidnapping victims who had no way to call home. They had no phones, no internet, nothing at all! One day they are at home, wherever that was, and the next they're in chains on a ship bound for North America. After that, they were enslaved for 300 years and endured another 100 years of Jim Crow. And we wonder why some black folks mistrust white people to this very day, or why they're seemingly so “uppity” towards us. If my ancestors were enslaved, humiliated, terrorized and murdered for 400 years, I'd be mad as hell too! It's ultimately white people's fault that the state of race relations has gone backward instead of forward so far in the 21^st century. We brought the black folks over here to begin with. Even after slavery was abolished by Abraham Lincoln and the passage by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment in December of 1865, former slaves lacked the skills and the resources to build ships to return to their homeland. So, even after the emancipation of former slaves, the brutal reality is that they were all stuck here, stranded, and they've been here ever since. This, I am convinced, is the true source of white rage towards black folks – their rage exists to hide their inescapable guilt.

What did Jesus say about hatred between races? How many people know that the Bible has several things to say about racial hatred? The first example comes from Christ himself, who stated, “You have heard it said to the people of long ago, 'do not murder' and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, “Raca” is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew chapter 5, verses 21-22, NIV) “Raca” was an Aramaic word of contempt expressed towards those who were somehow deemed inferior, such as Samaritans. So Jesus was telling us that human equality is in fact ordained by God, and that there is no such thing as an inferior or defective human being. But then Jesus took it a step further when He said, “...anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Simply put, any human being who considers another to be worthless, unredeemable, inferior, useless, or who considers others as enemies based on pure bigotry, hatred, contemptuousness and condescension because of race, creed, nationality, heritage, or just plain conceit and maliciousness, could very well wind up in hell in the very place of those he or she condemns as being allegedly of lesser worth than themselves. Anyone who holds in contempt that which God has created holds their Creator in contempt as well. This is the exact reason that racial bigotry is so evil! Who do we think we are questioning God's motives or rationale, as if rationalization were even possible for the Lord to begin with!

The apostle John, the younger half brother of Jesus, summed hate up in one little sentence in 1^st John chapter three, verse 15 and I quote, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” Jesus once said, “It is written, 'You shall not commit adultery'. But I tell you that if you even so much as look at a married woman with lustful eyes, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart”. (Matthew 5, verse 27) As it is with adultery, so it is with hate in the eyes of the Lord your God. If anyone hates another without just cause, or hates because he/she holds a grudge or refuses to forgive someone, they have already committed murder in their heart. Morally, in God's sight, such a person is no better than an unrepentant death row inmate in a maximum security prison. The apostle John resounded this theme again later in chapter four when he wrote in verses 20 and 21, “If anyone says, 'I love God', and yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” My dear readers, it doesn't get any clearer than this, and as for me John's point here is well taken. You either love the One who made you or you don't. If you don't, then you despise God, meaning you ultimately despise yourself. If anyone reading this is wearing those kind of shoes, it's high time for a new pair of shoes.

Here in the early 21^st century there is simply no excuse for racial hatred towards any person by any other individual. Those who continue to harbor hatred, intolerance, bigotry and prejudice towards others who are allegedly inferior to themselves cause themselves to devolve into a lesser form of human being, one who has not yet developed an open mind, or who refuse to repent from being closed-minded, hateful individuals. Under no circumstances are these things any just cause to murder another human being, let alone nine of them. This kid Dylan Roof has put the spotlight on America's ongoing race problem. He has exposed racism for what it truly is – one group of people wanting to commit genocide against another based on skin color. I want all my black brothers and sisters to know that Dylan Roof, and all the others like him, are an offense, an embarrassment, and a humiliation to white people everywhere. Racism is deeply ingrained into American culture, but it has its roots in slavery. Although this has been going on for several hundred years, America could do away with its race problem in a single generation. How can we accomplish this noble task? There are two ways to approach this problem long term. The first is what every American needs – free higher education at the public college or university of their choice. Education is not a privilege, it's a basic human right. Knowledge is power, and no one has the right or the authority to deny that power to anyone no matter what the reason.

The other way to level the playing field for all people of color is already underway. To sum it up, it's computer and information technology. Even poor black kids have smart phones. Within 10-15 years we will see all minorities catching up to their white counterparts because of access to technology and the Internet. This in turn will be the trigger for an entirely new industry of space exploration, colonization and commerce, and that's just for starters. Of course, this is all well and good for the future, but what can we do right now? What's the least common denominator that all races, creeds and nationalities have in common? Remember what the apostle John said? “Any man who says, 'I love God', and yet hates his brother is a liar.” God is our least common denominator. We all bleed the same shade of red, and we all have five quarts of that same blood pumping through our veins and arteries 24/7, that is also true. But Almighty God made all of it, just as King David wrote in his psalms, “The earth is the Lord's and everything in it”. So, in solving America's race problem, what's the first step? Here is what I insist needs to be done. Next Sunday morning, I'd love to see an army of white people attend all-black churches somewhere – anywhere! A dozen here, ten more somewhere else, or just take your family down into the inner city, find a church and find a parking place. After all, the healing process must begin within ourselves, and the process of being able to forgive also must begin within ourselves. If they ask you what made you pick that particular church simply tell them, “I want to help heal the wounds of slavery we have inflicted on your people, and I'm/we're here to ask your forgiveness, and if you would mind if we came and worshiped with you this morning”. I'd actually be surprised if anyone turns you away, all you Caucasians. So go ahead – I challenge you to worship in a black church if you're white, or vice versa if you're black. Go ahead, what are you afraid of, all you well-to-do white folks? I think I know – it's acknowledging the sins of our ancestors. But it's got to be done. It's long past time for America to begin to heal from slavery, and the best place to start the healing process is at church on Sunday morning.