Haters Are Good for You!

Judges 3:1-2

These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars. He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war. (Judges 3:1, 2 MSG)

There is a generation of young people who did not grow up during the Civl Rights era. They didn't experience blatant racism, Ku Klux Klan burring crosses in their yards at night, hundreds of black men being lynched, or separate school systems, separate eating facilities for blacks and whites. there is a new generation who are surprised and outraged that a teen-aged black male can be gunned down with a bag of skittles and iced tea while his killer goes free.

Trayvon Martin's murder reminds us that racism still lurks beneath the surface of American life. We did not drive all of it out during the Civil Rights movement. It just went dormant and hid itself in public policy. Racism went dormant and hid itself in propaganda and began to be postulated on Fox News by its prophets Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Racism went dormant and popped up in Pulpits with conservative Christians praying for the President to die.

Why are all these haters still lingering in what some call a post-racial America? Because we have failed to keep the covenant with God as our parents did. We failed to live out the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We erected his Statue in Washington but buried his dreams and values for an America that was about Equality and not bound by racism. We've forgotten the sacrifices of those black and white who struggled, bled, and died trying to get a new generation to the Promised Land of Equality. we failed to drive the enemies of Equality out and some of these racist demons have dug in their heels. Whether it's the lack of justice in Trayvon being executed by a "wanna-be cop" or the self-hatred manifested in Black on Black crime in the inner cities of America. We have got to deal with the haters and the hatred that is ripping through America.

It's good for us to have to deal with these enemies of Equality. Haters are good for you and I will tell you why:

1. Haters put us to the Test! God left five enemy kings in the promised land to test the Israelites to see if they would keep the covenant he had made with their parents. This Trayvon Martin has awakened a younger generation that never had to march against dogs and fire hoses, to take the streets in search of social justice. This hatred has galvanized young blacks and whites to stand together. It's only a test!

2. Haters teach us to learn from our past. If you don't know your past you are doomed to repeat it. Malcolm X said, "out of all our studies History is our best teacher." Judges 3:1

3. Haters teach us the Art of War, especially for those who don't have any battle experience. Judges 3:2 The Art of War that our young people need to learn is the one taught by Dr. King it is Non-Violent resistance. We fight not against flesh and blood but against dark powers, and principalities in high places. We fight against "white priviledge" and dysfunctional pedagogy that causes blacks to hate other blacks. We fight against failing educational systems and enviornmental racism. We fight against unemployment and lop sided drug laws that fill prisons with black faces while putting money in white hands. We fight against unjust wars and increase our fight against poverty. Our fight is not against white people, brown people, yellow people, or black people. Our fight is against evil that can manifest itself in any color. It's time for us to Unite to fight against the real enemy...Hate.

Dear God,
Thank you for using the stubbornness of my haters to teach me how to fight in the Spirit and to kill them with love. Help us to learn from our history so we will not be doomed to repeat it. Strengthen us to follow you closer and to be more faithful

In Jesus name,
Amen