17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.
We just saw a video of police shooting a man walking away from them 7 times in the back. As a result there were protests that resulted in a lot of damaged property. This video of the man being shot in the back is certainly a “thing that will cause people to stumble”. I have no issue with you saying that they should not have responded by smashing windows. But they talked to a woman on the street and she said it very clearly, if you want people to stop destroying property stop shooting black men for no reason. That said, it turns out there was a reason to shoot him. A few months later in the trial it came out that this man had attacked police previously with a knife and he had a knife in this incident as well. There was a warrant out for his arrest at the time and he was violating a restraining order when the police were apprehending him and he was resisting arrest. Add to that there were three kids in the back seat of the car that could have become kidnap victims. So this rush to judgement by Lebron and the NBA was an example of this video causing people to stumble. It led to riots and looting.
2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.
The Lord will take into account the events that provoked the outrage. If you cause someone to stumble you will be guilty of that. Who caused them to stumble? Without a doubt the video being shown on the mainstream media without context, without background information was the most egregious. I don’t blame someone for videotaping the incident and posting it to a platform like Youtube. But journalists need to exercise responsibility in presenting a story like this. I think Lebron and the NBA should also share a little responsibility, not as much as the media because technically it isn’t their job to investigate, but if you are going to incite violent riots and looting then you should be sure you know what you are talking about first. How hard would it have been for Lebron who has agents and lawyers to ask one of them to look into this, talk to the police and get their side even if you agree to keep it off the record.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them;and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
This is a very tough word. Only Jesus is qualified to say this, I think anyone else would be ashamed to say this. The media needs to publicly repent, if they don’t they will simply continue this irresponsible behavior. Lebron and the NBA need to repent. The police need to publicly repent when they are at fault. The looters and rioters need to publicly repent. In the last year we had 2,000 blacks killed with handguns in the US, not by police but by criminals and gang violence. This man that sparked this incident, Jacob Blake, was not killed and shooting him may have actually saved lives. Therefore I think that the repentance by the Media and the NBA needs to include money paid to the police and inner cities to reduce this violence. After school programs and gang task forces.
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
What is the meaning of the protestors when they want to defund the police? They want this mulberry tree uprooted and planted in the sea. The thought that these protests are not having the desired effect and you need to become violent and destructive is a lack of faith. I heard someone say that they tried peaceful protests with Kaepernick, but they treated him like “excrement”. So let’s make sure we are clear on the facts. Kaepernick opted out of a contract that would have paid him $14 million, presumably because he felt he was worth more than that. There are very few people on this planet, much less the US, that would say a job offer of $14 million is an insult. Saying he was treated like excrement is only valid if there are actually people out there offering $14 million to pay for excrement. Instead of Kaepernick I would use Gandhi as the example of how faith like a mustard seed can see a mulberry tree uprooted and cast into the sea. He once was asked by the British “what exactly do you think is going to happen? Do you think we will just pack up and leave?” He said, “yes, that is exactly what will happen” and that is exactly what did happen. The response of many people seems to overwhelmingly support a just and equitable treatment of all by the police. You have complete and total popular support for justice and righteousness. However, claiming injustice exists when it doesn’t and ignoring injustice that does exist undermines any legitimacy this move has. I have heard that the BLM movement has received billions of dollars in donations. Yes, billions of dollars. Have they spent one dollar on the inner city? I and others have looked for evidence that they have and have not found any. If you care about justice one of the worst things that can happen is to have a phony movement raise billions of dollars that they scam off people. No one will trust them or any others after this.
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
People are upset that Kaepernick didn’t get hired by any other teams to play quarterback. I guess he was expecting a pat on the back and a thank you. If we are servants of righteousness then he was simply doing what he was supposed to do. At the judgement seat of Christ you will be very happy if you can say you were faithful to do your duty.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
This is the way it is today. The Lord has shown us the way of faith, how many receive this with thanksgiving? I also am quite disgusted by those who don’t return. Lebron was very vocal and prominent about condemning the police in the entire country as being racist after seeing the Jacob Blake shooting. Has he apologized? Has he returned to say he was wrong? What about the Milwaukee Basketball team, have they? What about the NBA, have they? The ratings of the NBA has tanked because of this. If they do not return, repent and apologize they will continue to appear leprous.
We just saw a video of police shooting a man walking away from them 7 times in the back. As a result there were protests that resulted in a lot of damaged property. This video of the man being shot in the back is certainly a “thing that will cause people to stumble”. I have no issue with you saying that they should not have responded by smashing windows. But they talked to a woman on the street and she said it very clearly, if you want people to stop destroying property stop shooting black men for no reason. That said, it turns out there was a reason to shoot him. A few months later in the trial it came out that this man had attacked police previously with a knife and he had a knife in this incident as well. There was a warrant out for his arrest at the time and he was violating a restraining order when the police were apprehending him and he was resisting arrest. Add to that there were three kids in the back seat of the car that could have become kidnap victims. So this rush to judgement by Lebron and the NBA was an example of this video causing people to stumble. It led to riots and looting.
2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves.
The Lord will take into account the events that provoked the outrage. If you cause someone to stumble you will be guilty of that. Who caused them to stumble? Without a doubt the video being shown on the mainstream media without context, without background information was the most egregious. I don’t blame someone for videotaping the incident and posting it to a platform like Youtube. But journalists need to exercise responsibility in presenting a story like this. I think Lebron and the NBA should also share a little responsibility, not as much as the media because technically it isn’t their job to investigate, but if you are going to incite violent riots and looting then you should be sure you know what you are talking about first. How hard would it have been for Lebron who has agents and lawyers to ask one of them to look into this, talk to the police and get their side even if you agree to keep it off the record.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them;and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
This is a very tough word. Only Jesus is qualified to say this, I think anyone else would be ashamed to say this. The media needs to publicly repent, if they don’t they will simply continue this irresponsible behavior. Lebron and the NBA need to repent. The police need to publicly repent when they are at fault. The looters and rioters need to publicly repent. In the last year we had 2,000 blacks killed with handguns in the US, not by police but by criminals and gang violence. This man that sparked this incident, Jacob Blake, was not killed and shooting him may have actually saved lives. Therefore I think that the repentance by the Media and the NBA needs to include money paid to the police and inner cities to reduce this violence. After school programs and gang task forces.
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
What is the meaning of the protestors when they want to defund the police? They want this mulberry tree uprooted and planted in the sea. The thought that these protests are not having the desired effect and you need to become violent and destructive is a lack of faith. I heard someone say that they tried peaceful protests with Kaepernick, but they treated him like “excrement”. So let’s make sure we are clear on the facts. Kaepernick opted out of a contract that would have paid him $14 million, presumably because he felt he was worth more than that. There are very few people on this planet, much less the US, that would say a job offer of $14 million is an insult. Saying he was treated like excrement is only valid if there are actually people out there offering $14 million to pay for excrement. Instead of Kaepernick I would use Gandhi as the example of how faith like a mustard seed can see a mulberry tree uprooted and cast into the sea. He once was asked by the British “what exactly do you think is going to happen? Do you think we will just pack up and leave?” He said, “yes, that is exactly what will happen” and that is exactly what did happen. The response of many people seems to overwhelmingly support a just and equitable treatment of all by the police. You have complete and total popular support for justice and righteousness. However, claiming injustice exists when it doesn’t and ignoring injustice that does exist undermines any legitimacy this move has. I have heard that the BLM movement has received billions of dollars in donations. Yes, billions of dollars. Have they spent one dollar on the inner city? I and others have looked for evidence that they have and have not found any. If you care about justice one of the worst things that can happen is to have a phony movement raise billions of dollars that they scam off people. No one will trust them or any others after this.
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
People are upset that Kaepernick didn’t get hired by any other teams to play quarterback. I guess he was expecting a pat on the back and a thank you. If we are servants of righteousness then he was simply doing what he was supposed to do. At the judgement seat of Christ you will be very happy if you can say you were faithful to do your duty.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
This is the way it is today. The Lord has shown us the way of faith, how many receive this with thanksgiving? I also am quite disgusted by those who don’t return. Lebron was very vocal and prominent about condemning the police in the entire country as being racist after seeing the Jacob Blake shooting. Has he apologized? Has he returned to say he was wrong? What about the Milwaukee Basketball team, have they? What about the NBA, have they? The ratings of the NBA has tanked because of this. If they do not return, repent and apologize they will continue to appear leprous.