Wrong Think III

it's been a long day so far I hope it'sbeen a blessing for everybody we've beentalking about sobering issues uh we'removing beyond the froth of theentertainment based World in which welive and we're considering some hardrealities that are facing ourworld I uh I want to thank uh ourgentlemen here who've been serving withour religious liberty committee fortheir care and their thoughtfulness andputting their presentation together andum I want to thank Todd up there withthe AV team for keeping us going throughtoday through theSabbath and we going to be talking abouta topic this afternoon which is uh canbe very emotive can be very difficult umbut it is part of the the mure in whichwe find ourselves today and I think itis important that we do address it umbecause sooner or later it's going toaffect us if it may not affect us nowbut certainly our children are beingmarinated in these kind of uh thinkingsthese kind of ideologies that around usthese days and so it's important that weunderstand um the the basics of what isbeing discussed and how do we respond toit from a Biblical basis uh because weare called to represent Jesus Christ wholoves all people who died that allpeople might be saved and who did notcome to divide this world but in orderthat all might be saved and so I'm goingto be talking this afternoon in our lasttalk it's called wrong think three umthis is definitely not in harmony withthe new thing think that is driving ourworld today but in wrong think three I'mgoing to be discussing the issue ofcritical race Theory you've probablyheard the phrase critical race theorybandied about I'm going to be discussingtoday um what are the basic tenets of acritical race Theory the basic beliefsum what are some of the criticisms ofcritical race Theory and uh some of thebiblical framework how do we respond tothis issue such as critical race Theoryit's important as well that as we talkabout these things that we're speakinghere from the perspective of the kingdomof God not from any partisan politicalperspective here today um when we talkabout losing socialmedia um this affectseverybody just because it affects oneside more than the other doesn't denythe reality that one day everybody Mayaffected by this uh we do not uh supportany kind of lawbreaking as Christians weare called to honor the laws of the landin which we live in so far as theyuphold and honor the law of God we areto called to obey God rather than manbut we also called to be the best potspossible citizens and so it is importantfor us to recognize that for instanceviolence in our streets over the lastyear we we utterly abhor including theviolence at the state capital just thislast week we do not stand by or applaudor secretly wink wink at people who seekto invade the the the capital buildingthose who seek to burn buildings to theground we want this to be a nation oflaw of law-abiding citizens where allpeople have an opportunity to flourishall people have equality before the lawand equal opportunity and all peoplehave the chance to live out their dreamsand so we're speaking uh during thisreligious liberty but Sabbath from theperspective of the kingdom of God andnot from any partisan politicalperspective and I hope it's notinterpreted in any other way so let'sbow our heads and ask for God's blessingupon us as we touch upon this difficulttopic dear heavenly father I want tothank you that you created the humanrace in your image that the uh uh theAsian and the African and the Europeanand the American and the the the Eskimoand uh every part of the wonderfulincredible diversity of the Human familyis every part of that is created in yourimage the father I thank you that we canlearn from each other more about you Ithank you Father that as we walk witheach other and share with each other andlearn from each other and pray with eachother and serve one another that we canmagnify the image of God in our ownlives Lord as I pray I pray Lord that asI share these thoughts today I pray thatyour spirit will lead me and guide methat you'll watch over every word thatcomes from my tongue I pray father forthose who are listening that they willhear not me but the spirit speak intotheir hearts father we thank you forthose watching at home online we prayyour blessing upon them and whereverthey are scattered around the world Iask Lord that as a result of thisreligious liberty Sabbath our witnessfor you will burn brighter our love foryou will be truer our faith will bedeeper and our walk will be stronger injesus' name we askamen all right so if I were to ask youwhat is the most important thing in yourlife what would itbe um good question uh some people wouldsay maybe it's my boat maybe it's my carand um I see Brooks raising his handback there I'm not sure what for you allright so yeah so the most importantthing for many people is theirchildren and we do anything for ourchildren our children are a gift fromGod and we are stewards of that giftfrom God prayerfully leading ourchildren into the kingdom of God and assuch their education is very importantto us how our children are educated whatthey hear in their education theideologies that surround their educationare very very important and make nomistake education has an underlyingideology education is never within avacuum Dr Andre luxen the president ofAndrews correctly stated it she said Ithink Adventist education is moreimportant than ever why becauseeducation is never in a vacuum there isalways underlying ideologies that drivewhat happens in a school or universityand I would agree with every word thatDr luxon says there there is always anunderlying ideology driving what happensuh beh behind the education of ourchildren and if we're concerned aboutour children's Eternal salvation we needto be concerned about the ideologiesthat impact theireducation and so as I as we go throughtoday I want to suggest that justbecause you are called to an AdventistSchool does not mean you are providingan Adventist education per se you mustexamine critically the underlyingideology to see where is this ideologycoming from and what is it saying so aswe talk about critical race Theory we'llstart out by saying well what exactly iscritical race Theory it's always good toget some definitions so we know whatwe're talking about critical race theorywas developed by um the first tenardafrican- American law professor atHarvard his name was Professor DerekBell Jr and he was he Ed as theoriginator of critical race Theory andhis ideas have evolved over the last 30years and now propagated by verywell-known individuals in the Americanliterary scene you've probably heard ofa writer called Robin D'Angelo who wrotea very famous book just recently calledWhite fragility why it's so hard forwhite people to talk about racism and ifyou haven't heard of Robin D'Angelo nowyou have then you have the revisionisthistory of the New York times's 1619project which argues that America begannot with the revolution but with thefirst African slave Coming to Americaand that Africa was essentially designedto perpetuate and propagate theenslavement of African peoples then youhave um the um Ibraham ibah X kendi whowrote a very very famous book He's aprofessor in Boston called how to be ananti-racist and that phrase anti-racistin the year 2020 took on a whole newmeaning we'll discuss that shortly thenyou have tesi coats who wrote a bookcalled between the world and me andgardo and stefanic who wrote a bookcalled critical race Theory andintroduction these are very very popularbooks today DeAngelo's book um whitefragility um passes through manyAdventist hands I've seen it I've seenit on people's shelves people recommendit to me um it's been on the New YorkTimes bestsellers list for months nowit's a very very common book that's kindof permeating through the AmericanConsciousness and the American thinkinguh population so according to brso there you are those are some of thekey critical race Theory writers thereaccording to britanica um an onlinedefinition or dictionary this isdefinition of critical race Theory nowthere are different definitions but Ithink this is about as workable adefinition as we could look for itcritical race theory is the view thatthe law and legal institutions areinherently racist and that race itselfinstead of being biologically groundedand natural is actually a sociallyconstructed concept that is used bywhite people to further their economicand political interests at the expenseof people of color that is critical raceTheory argues that um that race isactually a social construct rather thangrounded in any other reality accordingto critical race Theory racialinequality emerges from the socialeconomic and illegal differences thatwhite people create between races racesto maintain Elite white interests inlabor markets and politics giving riseto poverty and criminality in manyminority communities this then is a afunctional definition of critical racetheory that we're going to be basingtoday's discussion on now critical tounderstanding critical race theory isunderstanding the difference betweenequity and equality equity and criticalrace theory is the idea that Societyproduces policies that produce equaloutcomes for all ethnic groups such aseverybody lives the same period of timeeverybody has the same standard ofincome etc etc and that is opposed andin rejection of the liberal principle ofequalitysuch as equality before the law equalityof process equality of opportunity andand so forth and so whereas the theLiberals of the 1700s 1800s and 1900swould push forequality um that is now rejected asbeing intrinsically racist so some ofthe key tenants of critical race Theoryare as follows firstly uh critical raceTheory argues for the permanence ofsystemic racism that racism isentrenched in every social structurewithin the United States racism andcritical race theory is a Relentlessfact of life so entrenched and enmeshedin society that it appears ordinary topeople within that culture secondly umwhiteness is property whiteness issomething that you possess all whitesaccording to critical race di umtheorists are complicit in racist racismbecause they possess whiteness as apolitical cast and they benefit from thesystemic racism that maintains theirsocioeconomic dominance and so whitenessis property it's not just the color ofyour skin it's like a like a cast thatyou have Oprah Winfrey has givenextensive discussions on whiteness asproperty then counter storytelling thisis an important part of critical raceTheory what does it mean well criticalrace Theory challenges the experience ofwhite European Americans as being thenormative standard for society such as Ppunctuality being on time to work andsupporting one's nuclear family are nowviewed as being ideas of white supremacyand they are to be rejected in favor ofother ways of living critical raceTheory promotes storytelling byoppressed minorities to challenge thedominant white supremacy and the socialconstruction ofrace the fourth major tenant of criticalrace theory is a rejection of theEnlightenment according to delgardo avery famous critical race writercritical race the quote questions thevery foundations of the liberal orderincluding equality Theory legalreasoning Enlightenment rationalism andneutral principles of constitutional lawend quote critical race Theory thusrejects standardized testing in schoolsit rejects the concept of meritocracy itrejects color blindness it rejectsequality before the law it rejects theidea the government strives to giveeverybody equal opportunity it rejectsthe concept of legal reasoning orscience or rationality or mathematics orscience it rejects the neutrality ofconstitutional law all of which incritical race Theory allegedly maintainthis phenomenon known as white whitesupremacy now perhaps uh most mostinterestingly in this is the concept ofInterest convergence and uh this issomething that is particularlyapplicable to uh to white folks whoconsider them more on the liberal sideof the spectrum but this all of thisaffects all of us one way or anotherDerek Bell came up with what he calledthe interest convergence hypothesis nowthe interest convergence hypothesisargues that advances for black peopleonly happen when such advances are inthe interests of white peopledo you hear what I say there thatmeans that the massive progress in racerelations since the Civil Rightsmovements is therefore a myth he arguedthat white people who Champion theinterests of black people are not doingso because they are virtuous or goodwhite people who Champion the interestsof black people are only doing sobecause it perpetuates their own whitesupremacy and therefore no actions bywhite people to promote the interests orwell-being of black communities can everbe trusted for every white person isintrinsically and forever a racist thisis a very gloomy hypothesis the interestconvergence hypothesis when you firstallege that all white people are guiltyof all oppression in human history andthen you say that anytime a white personseeks to help someone in a marginalizedCommunity they're only doing so toenhance their own dominance in societyuh then you might as well have agenocide of white people because they'reintrinsically only evil they never canbe doing doing anything good criticalrace Theory promotes historicalrevisionism such as the New York Times1619 project the concept that Americabegan with the arrival of the firstAfrican slaves and America's originalpurpose was to maintain and exploitblack slavery the USA is thus incritical race Theory irredeemablystained systemically racist by theoriginal sin of slavery and racism andto perpet and to perpetuate the UnitedStates is to perpetuate systemic racismper se therefore the United States mustbe torn downthe United States must be torn down whenyou hear antifa chanting and this is oneof their chants no borders no walls noUSA at all you know exactly where thisis going it's the dissolution of ourcountry critical race Theory alsopromotes the concept ofintersectionality the very famous blackfeminist scholar kimbery krenshaw isbest known for the concept ofintersectionality and so in in herwritings I've just lost my place hererace gender sexuality and other identitymarkers are understood as culturalconstructs rather than absoluterealities yet oppression is experiencedalong all of those Dimensions that is itthere's an intersectional oppressiongoing on and in response in the writingsof kensaw race is to be the dominantfactor in all decisions acrossSociety critical race Theory furthermorerejects the biblical principle ofequality before the law the word of Godsays this in Leviticus 19:15 you shalldo no Injustice in judgment you shallnot be partial to the poor nor defer tothe great but you are to judge yourneighbor fairly god seeks for justicethat does not really look at how rich orpoor you are or or what background youhave that is the biblical ideal ofjustice and this foundational principlein the word of God is based on the truththat everybody is created in the imageof God and therefore all have equalintrinsic and moral value before God andthe state in its disposition of Justicemust recognize that intrinsic equalitythat intrin IC human dignity before Godand so the Bible explicitly condemnspartial treatment of one group overanother such as the rich over the poorin the legal Judicial System criticalrace theories focus on Equity that isequal outcomes for everybody regardlessof input energy Hard Work Talenteducation appetite for risk or familyculture it it rejects the biblicalprinciples of equality of opportunityand personalresponsibility if someone does not workneither shall he eat read 2Thessalonians 3:10 Galatians 6:7 do notbe deceived God is Not mocked for as aman Seth so shall he reap critical raceTheory also rejects the very concept oftruth truth in critical race Theorycapital T truth is now considered to bea Euro white construct that is to berejected as intrinsically racist thereis no objective truth in critical raceTheory to say that there is truth is nowa racist statement there is your truthand there is my truth but there's nolonger the truth the truth by definitionis a racist concept within critical raceTheory critical race Theory represents arejection of the biblical nuclear familybest exemplified in what black livesmatter published in their website wherethey called for the dissolution of thenuclear family and children to be raisedby a community uh part of this is of isum is critical theory you're looking atpower dynamics and in critical theory aparent raising child is an unequal PowerBalance because a parent has more powerthan a child and therefore we need toeliminate the parent power over thechild it's called parentis is somethingthat must be eliminated and so this isone of the calls that black lives mattermade on their website for thedestruction of the nuclearfamily and so we have within criticalrace Theory um we have some uh these aresome of the basic tenants of criticalrace Theory I want to address now somesome challenges to critical race Theoryuh firstly is the concept that ra racismis present in every aspect of life inevery relationship and in everyinteraction and I have no doubt and Iknow this is true but racism is aliveand present in the United States andfrust to deny it is simply wrong racismis present and if you don't believe thatspend some time with somebody of adifferent color to you and hear theirexperiences racism is present in Americaand it is to be condemned out of handperiod there is no justification for itbut we must ask ourselves what we Defineas racism because the goalposts keepshifting by the year almost we're goingto come to those shifting goalposts umshortly shortly um Hereafter criticalrace Theory teaches that because the USAhas unequal outcomes across racialgroups that means the Country Must Be bydefinition systemically racist no otherexplanation is even possible no otherexplanation is allowed to offer anyexplanation other than systemic racismfor in unequal outcomes in society is bydefinition racist woke individualstherefore look relentlessly for theracism that must be present in everyorganization in every institution and inevery relationship and looking for itwherever they can leading inevitably toBitter Division and infighting becausetolerating racism is racist and I wouldagree with that you must call out rejectand cancel whoever is guilty of allegedracism even if that individual is yourfamily member the principle of Interestconvergence as spoken en by um ProfessorBell it's a destructive construct ifanyone with what is called racialprivilege such as white or Asian OrHispanic or Indian or Arabic or anyother lighter skinned black person um ifthey become an an anti-racist activistthen the interest convergence hypothesisstates that they only do so to maintaintheir own racial privilege to flaunttheir social virtue and to avoid dealingwith their own racism so the interestconvergence hypothesis makes itliterally impossible for anyone withracial privilege to ever do the rightthing are you following me on this andit's interesting how we demonize certainraces the tragic events of Trevon Martinand Zimmerman um I'd never heard of thisbefore but during when CNN were talkingabout this they kept referring to Zimzimman as being a white hispanic doesanybody remember that I thought what isa white hispanic I'd never heard of awhite hispanic before but it as part ofthe demonization of whiteness that wecall him a white hispanic when he reallywas a gentleman of Hispanicheritage we then find that critical raceTheory rejects open and free societiessocieties that value individual libertyfreedom of conscience freedom ofexpression freedom of speech freedom ofAssociation freedom to gather freedom ofmovement and freedom of religion areallegedly organized to maintain whiteracist Supremacy or hegemony overmarginalized groups and they perpetuateinequities across racial groups and sothat is why critical race Theory reallyis dedicated to the destruction of therights that we enjoy as Americancitizens of all backgrounds such as thefreedom of speech and freedom ofAssociation and freedom of consciencecritical race Theory also rejects theindividual because it is Marxistideology and in Marxist ideology whatmatters is not the individual but thegroup and in Marxist ideology in everytime and generation certain groups areto be promoted and certain groups are tobe destroyed and if you look through thelast 120 years you will realize iiz thatin different times in differentsocieties Marxist ideology said thisgroup is bad and this group is good uhso for instance in The Killing Fields ofCambodia if you were a teacher you wereto be executed because you you you couldthink for yourself and the K Rougedidn't want people who could think forthemselves in the Soviet Union if youwere a small holder farmer uh as uhProfessor marovich was saying in in thecollectivization process in the 30s inUkraine the Soviet the Stalin decided hedidn't want small farmers they calledkulac and so he started on a process ofwhat he called dekulakization which iswe're going to wipe out the KulaMillions perished either slaughtered inthe Ukraine starved to death or deportedto Central Asia and critical race theoryhas the same attitude because it's aMarxist ideology that we do not treatyou as an individual on your own meritsbut we treat you based on the group intowhich you are a part and that group canchange by the minute if you believe insexual orientation fluidity and genderfluidity and all the rest of it beingfluid as well and so critical raceTheory rejects the group in favor of therights of theindividual and so um this is interestingbecause on Monday we celebrate MartinLuther King day do wenot and yet why do we celebrate MartinLuther King because Martin Luther Kingis antithetically opposed to everythingthat critical race Theory teachesperhaps his most famous teaching wasthat he longed for a day when in Americaa person would be judged by the contentof their character rather than the colorof their skin we've all heard that veryfamous St statement yes and I hope wecan all agree by it by God's grace weall agree that we can judge people bythe content of their character ratherthan the color of their skin but thatidea that your skin color does notmatter and you're judged by the contentof your character is antitheticallyopposed to critical race Theory whichsays the only thing that matters is thecolor of your skin and what you say ordo is immaterial as anindividual so we celebrate Martin LutherKing day even though he represents anunderstanding of racial issuesprofoundly opposed to critical raceTheory critical race theorists wouldnever accept Martin Luther King today ifwe were on the scene he would becondemned as being a whitesupremacist critical race Theory alsorejectsScience and Mathematics why becausethese are allegedly white ways ofknowing it prefers storytelling and thesubjective lived experience as beingblack ways of knowing and there actuallyis a place for both for storytelling andresearch but critical race Theoryrejects scientific research it rejectsthe scientific method it in it rejectslogic it rejects reason it rejectsdialogue it rejects um pretty mucheverything that all of us around theworld actually are familiar with interms of un growing understanding infavor of personal storytelling theprinciple of universality says itdoesn't matter who does an experiment orwhere it takes place the result willalways be the same but critical raceTheory rejects these principles such asprinciple of universality andobjectivity as being oppressive mythssince science and math encode andperpetuate systemic racism they are tobe rejected and the irony is we haveuniversities all across America whopreach critical race Theory and theykeep their math departments open andthey keep their engineering departmentsopen and they keep their chemistrydepartments open and they keep theirphilosophy departments open because theyshould all be closed down as beingexpressions of whitesupremacy critical race theory declaresthat any whodisagree areracists it rejects all Alternatives suchas color blindness as being racist theliberal ideals of an open Society MartinLuther King's ideal that we willcelebrate on Monday of judging a personby the content of their character ratherthan by the color of his or her skin ofworking for full equality before the lawand of seeking to give everybodyequality of opportunity are now rejectedas they allegedly ignore the systemicracism that requires the entire systemto be destroyed critical race theorydeclares that any who disagree with itare driven by racism you cannot have anhonestdisagreement critical race Theorypredetermines the lived experience ofevery racial group you are eitheroppressed or oppressor and it requiresevery member of every racial group toaffirm those ideological perspectivesand when an African-American man such askane west to had the courage to leavethe reservation and reject critical raceTheory ideology he was publiclycondemned and vilified across popularmedia in America as being crazy or arace trator or just Shear out bad ifyou're not following Kanye West then youknow at least look him up and understandwhat happened to him he is treated as apariah because he decided to think forhimself so to become black in Americanow is a political identity first andforemost rather than an ethnic identityand diversity is only skin deep foreverybody's worldview must be identicalin order to be acceptable to criticalrace Theory and critical race theory istotalitarian and it seeks absolutepower James Lindsay very famous writerin this area he argues that critical RACcannot be disagreed with especially byblack people themselves because itrejects all all Alternatives and itdenies all racial progress as a mirragedue to the interest convergencehypothesis because critical race Theoryrejects science it cannot be falsifiedor proven Wrong by evidence to thecontrary and because it assumes racismis present in every situation even theacceptance of critical race Theory mustsomehow also be racist thereforecritical race the is an insatiable Beastthat can never be satisfied and willtear apart anything that it comes intocontact with your marriage your homeyour church your institution yourbusiness your employer and your nationand what we're seeing on the streets ofAmerica over the last couple of years isthe is the fruit of this of our youngpeople across America being marinated inthis ideology uh for the last 10 15years does this affect adventism uh yesit does and uh I'm not going to gothrough all the stuff that I wasplanning to talk about our time ismoving on here but I will say this umbefore you send your children to anAdventist institution think verycarefully and examine their publicstatements and their their their um whatthey're teaching if you go to anAdventist School that commits to being asafe space as we saw earlier today asafe space is is is code for aninclusive environment and inclusion aswe saw in in wrong think to our sermonof earlier today it means that nothingcan be allowed to question a student'sself- Identity or journey in life if astudent goes to college and thinks thathe is he is she or she is he and uh hethinks he wants to engage in sexualactivity outside of revealed biblicalmorality that must now be affirmedwithin that college nothing can beallowed to deny it or question it oreven suggest that there's somethingwrong with it and the call to repentancemust certainly be closed down becausethat is hate speech it's amicroaggression because it says thatsomething in your life is not quiteright so I'm not going to go into anyfurther detail on that other than to saythat uh if your institution or yourbusiness declares itself a safe spaceplease understand the ideologicalimplications of this this is theadoption of marxist ideology at yourfacility it's the adoption of marxistteachings to marinate the young peoplein if you're University if you'rebusiness if you're employer and thisaffects many of us in America today ifyour business now um talks aboutunconscious bias and the implicitassociation test from Harvard uh whichcame out some years ago you need to bevery careful about this because in theimplicit association test this seeks toidentify which members you believe to beon an ingroup and who you believe to beon the outg group now three academics atHarvard developed the implicitassociation test and two of them havenow come out and said they actuallydisagree with its accuracy it doesn't dowhat it purports to do unconscious biastraining is rooted in the critical raceTheory dogma of inter sexuality and itis the concept that the west and much ofthe world is a deadly Matrix ofOppression for all except heterosexualwhite males and that Matrix ofOppression is forever shifting dependingon how your personal identity shifts howyour gender shifts how it's fluid howyour sexual orientation shifts by theday or month um your trans idology andthis leads nothing leads to nothing butbitter division as different groups VIfor the most oppressed groupstatus you may also have an employer oryou may work for an institution or yourbusiness that may declare itself to bean anti-racist institution and before2020 we would say amen and amen to thatbecause we all explicitly andintentionally and disavow racism in itsmany forms we'll come on to that in afew minutes but after 2020 the phraseanti-racist after the writings of ibramx kendi one of the best sellers of 2020now it has a technical meaning and wemust understand anti-racist within thethe context of ibrah X kend's writings avery very famous writer within Americawithin America today racism is beencontinually redefined and broadened tomeet the increasing demands for socialjustice it used to be when I was growingup that racism was understood to bePrejudice of one ethnic group againstanother that's what I thought racism tobe and that's what we were taught fromthe scriptures is fundamentally wrongand antithetical to the kingdom of Godthat you cannot display Prejudice orhostility from one ethnic group toanother you cannot say that one ethnicgroup is somehow better than anotherethnic group but the world has moved onthen it became that racism is Power PlusPrejudice that you only you don't justhave Prejudice but now you haveinstitutional power and because whiteshold the institutional power in Americathat means only whites can be racist andeverybody else can never be racist theycan be prejudiced but they can never beracist no matter what they do or saybecause they don't hold institutionalpower that was the definition even in2019 of racism that racism isinstitutional power plus Prejudice thatequals racism but the world has moved onsince then and I hope you're keeping upwith these everchanging definitions thelatest definition as it comes from ibramX kend's book um how to be anti-racistwell he further expands the definitionof racism and for kendi anti-racismmeans supporting and institutingpolicies that equalize all racialdisparities across all ethnic groupswhile racism consists of any policy oridea that results in racial inequity youare either racist or anti-racist merelynot being racist means that you arestill a racist you are not you are onlynot a racist if you become ananti-racist activist pushing for aMarxist super superstate that willeliminate all policies that mayinevitably or unintentionally createunequal outcomes to argue thatdisparities may have other contributingfactors within Society other than beingthe exclusive results of systemic whiteracism is now a racist position in andof itself you cannot question this kendiignores the fact in America today thatthere has never been any society thathas ever accomplished equal outcomesamong all groups it has never beenaccomplished on any continent to anypoint in human history in fact the onlyreal equality that was ever achieved inany society was in the concentrationcamps of Germany or the Soviet Unionwhere everybody could die equally welltogether the fact that in the UnitedStates there are many ethnic groups withvery significantly better sosocioeconomic outcomes than the whiteCommunity such as the indian-americansthe Philippino Americans the TaiwaneseAmericans the Nigerian Americans theJapanese Americans the Chinese AmericansPakistani Americans and the list goes onand on the fact that there are manygroups who have significantly higher Soosocioeconomic outcomes than the whitecommunity that cannot be allowed to bepart of thisconversation yet kendi still interpretsthe world through a rigid white racismblack victimization binary that bearslittle relation to the complexities ofAmerica today as a multiculturalmultiethnic and multifaithSociety it seems to me that any cultureor any subculture in the United Statesthat promotes education that values hardwork that promotes the concept ofsavings that respects women and thenuclear family and promotes the delayingof gratification for future reward thosegroups within Society will tend to gofurtherthan any group in society that does nothold those values yet as long as racialdifferentials exist critical race Theorysystematically blames systemic racismfor everything and justifies every andevery measure necessary to eliminatesuch differentials anyone whosequestions this approach is beingdeplatformed and socially destroyed bybeing labeled as a racist and beingcancelled and then you have the readinglists if you look at um the readinglists what's been promoted in theschools you can do this go and look aton the schools what the reading listsare look at what um a public school orAB the school it matters not look at thebooks that are being promoted take ahard look at those reading lists becausethat's the ideology that will fill yourchildren's minds and you'll send yourchildren to school as with a Christianor biblical worldview they'll come backand you kind of wonder what happened toyour child part of it is because ourchildren are being marinated in incritical race Theory and Marxistideology and it's incumbent upon us asparents to think very carefully aboutwhere we want our children to go andwhere we counsel them to go for theireducation look at the reading lists thatis a good indication of where thatschool isgoing so what do we say in response tothe challenge of racism as Christiansit's very important that we don't justcondemn or CR critique but we actuallyaffirm something that is positive thegood news of Salvation is clear thatwe're all created in the image of Godand every man woman and child on planetEarth that each one of us has sinned andfallen short of the glory of God Romans3:23 and God has made and I quote fromone blood every nation of male to dwellon all the face of the Earth acts17:26 we are all descended from oneoriginal family Adam and Eve and Godsent his son into the world thatwhosoever believes in Him should notperish but whosoever believes in himwill have eternal life regardless ofyour race we are all represented atCalvary by by the three representativesof Noah's family at the foot of thecross was Simon of sirene representingham or the the African side of the Humanfamily the Roman Centurion representedjapheth and the thief on the crossrepresented Shem or the Semitic group ofthe the Human family Shem ham and jathwere United at Calvary all in equal needof Salvation and all received salvationfrom JesusChrist and so no group has any priorclaim to Salvation no ethnic group hasprior priority access to to God and Godlongs to meet with the saved of theearth drawn from every nation tribelanguage and people on the day when allthings are made new again and so we mayconclude that to espouse or upholdracist beliefs defined as theunderstanding that one group is somehowinferior toanother is totally it is it is a denialof the gospel and an affront to ourcreator racism cannot be legislated outof existence despite the best intentionsof social um cancel culture and so forthit can can notot be suppressed throughsocial media campaigns it is a sin itresides within the human heart it may bedriven out of polite public discoursebut that cannot change the human heartand so as Christians we are called asindividuals and as a wider Society tolook in the mirror and to cry out withDavid have mercy upon me oh Godaccording to your steadfast love andaccording to your ever your abundantMercy blot out my transgressionsincluding the transgression of racismand wash me thoroughly from my iniquityand cleanse me from my sin Purge me withhisop hisp and I shall be clean creatingme a clean heart oh God and put a newand right Spirit within me search me ohGod and see if there be any test me knowmy thoughts and see if there be anywicked way in me and Lead Me in the wayEverlasting as Christians we are calledto ask ourselves how do we treat ourbrothers and our sisters do we treat ourbrothers and our sisters at God as Godwould have us treat them do we think ofour brothers and sisters thoughts thatwould bring honor and glory to ourHeavenly Father do we work for thewell-being of all aspects and all allparts of our wider Community or are wehappy to turn a blind eye when some fallbehind that is not a Christian responsewe are called to work for the well-beingof all parts of our community thatdoesn't mean you're a critical racetheorist it means you're a Christian andyou have a conscience and you recognizethat all people are created in God'simage so my final thoughts are these forparents carefully reflect where you sendyourchildren if those institutions arepromoting critical race Theory send themsomewhere else it's not popular but sendthem somewhere else for local membershere in this church here in village andaround the world with those who watchingonline pray that God will work upon thehearts of the leaders of our collegesand our schools all across the worldthat they will not drink of the falseGospel of critical race Theory but theywill Point J our children to the trueGospel of Jesus Christ and for the boardmembers of our institutional educationsyou're not called to be a board memberso that you can fill time in yourcalendar you have a sacredresponsibility to ensure that the shipdoes not steer off course take yourboard responsibilties seriously askquestions and insist that if aneducational institution is calledAdventist then it adheres to scripturerather than to atheist ideology and inall that we do let the truth be spokenin love for we are all sinners in needof God'sgrace I want to conclude there todaythis is a critical race theory is a is adifficult issue I've just kind of givenit a very brief summary here um I thinkthat as Christians we must be aware wemust listen to the cries of thecommunity around us we must respond inlove and we must work for the bettermentof every aspect of our community and wemust do that in a way that honors Godand God's image within our communityrather than um promotes atheist atheistcritical race Theory because that's notgoing to lead to anything good will justlead to further human degradation andsuffering so we come to the end today ofour religious liberty Sabbath it's 4:56we were going to finish by 5 and we arealmost there I'd like to say thank youto all of you who've been with us todayit's been a privilege sharing with youum thank you for coming out andsupporting for those of you watching athome we want to say thank you as wellfor all you have uh meant to us uh weknow we have a lot of comments coming inon social media I'll probably take aweek then I'll take a look at those butum we want to thank you for watchingonline as well I'd like to say thank youthis afternoon to um to our speakers toDr John marovich thank you sir forpreparing your presentation on theChinese Cultural Revolution and itsimplications for Christians we like tothank Pastor Michael Kama and um Troyhuk and Ron not for your presentation onsocial media thank you for taking thetime to prepare for that we' like tothank our village religious libertycommittee that's taken the time to thinkthrough these issues and to we'vereviewed this reviewed it back and forthand what are we going to talk aboutabout uh we meet quite regularly wethink what's going on in our world andI'd like to thank the members of thereligious liberty committee for helpingto put together our annual religiousliberty Sabbath every every year andBeyond this though this isn't just anevent in the annual calendar of TheVillage Church or the North AmericanDivision this is something that we alllive with day by day if you don't useyour rights you will lose yourrights so use your rights share thegospel while you may show God's love tosomebody that this week help somebodywho is hurting encourage someone who isdepressed give some of give someone aphone call who's feeling isolated useyour religious liberty and demonstratethe love of God in this coming week wedon't just talk about this on adefensive posture at one Sabbath a yearI want to encourage you to live the lifeof Jesus be the salt of the earth andthe light of the world in this comingweek that all men may know that Beyondthis trouble World there is a savior andthat he's coming again let's bow ourheads and we'll close with prayerso dear father we we thank you today forthe protection of your angels we thankyou Father for the freedom we yet enjoyhere in America for what has uh for thisIncredible Gift you've given us freedomof conscience and father I pray thatthis Liberty you've given us we will notuse it to tear each other apart but wewill use it for serving one another inlove as the Apostle Paul wrote I thankyou Father um for those who've beenwatching online and have come to churchhere today as we enter this coming weekfather I pray that you give each one ofus someone or a family or a neighbor ora community that is in need of help andfather may we respond with love in ourhearts recognizing that this is agod-given opportunity for the love ofGod to flow through us to those aroundus and Lord as we minister to others maywe not be so proud that we are not opento being ministered unto ourselves sofather give us Humble Hearts give us asense of self-awareness and in all we doMay the love of Jesus motivate us day byday thank you for hearing this prayer injesus' name we askamen and so as we come to the end oftoday want to remind you of socialdistancing by God's grace there has beenno covid outbreak at this church duringthe pandemic so please take this veryseriously um I think we may have adeacon at the back and ask you to UsherOut row by Row from the back one row ata time and you may Fellowship outside inthe Pagoda area but please maintain yoursocial distancing we have um hand andantiseptic wipe out in the for you maybewipe your hands down socially distancewear your masks if you're so convictedand we look forward to seeing you eitherin prayer meeting this week or nextSabbath when we come together to worshipso may God bless us and walk with you inthe coming week amen