released April 5, 2019

Spiritual Healing: The Game Plan to Unite America

2 Chronicles 7:14 King James Version (KJV)
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

It seems to me like the democrats and republicans in this country are living in two separate worlds. In order for the country to survive, there has to be a unification of consciousness between these two worlds. Both ends of the political spectrum are attempting to rally their bases but neither seems to be reaching out to the other side. The two groups are becoming increasingly insular and inbred, making them more grotesque to the other group. As in nature, we need more mixing of groups to create a stronger national community.

The concept of hybrid vigor or heterosis illlustrates this need well:
"Heterosis, also called hybrid vigour, [is] the increase in such characteristics as size, growth rate, fertility, and yield of a hybrid organism over those of its parents. Plant and animal breeders exploit heterosis by mating two different pure-bred lines that have certain desirable traits. The first-generation offspring generally show, in greater measure, the desired characteristics of both parents. This vigour may decrease, however, if the hybrids are mated together; so the parental lines must be maintained and crossed for each new crop or group desired." - Brittanica.com

Collaboration produces the best of both worlds.
In order for genetic lines to grow stronger, they need to mix with others that are different from themselves. Staying within the same group makes them weaker. In the same way, both democrats and republicans will get weaker if they do not mix with each other. Neither side has a monopoly on truth and we need peaceful but serious conversations across party lines. The green party must be included as well given the current climate change crisis.

First Play: Acknowledge God

God needs to be acknowledged first and foremost.
In Romans Chapter 1 we see that God gave the people over to a depraved mind when they ceased to acknowledge Him:
Romans 1 (KJV).
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
If Democrats cannot get on board with acknowledging God, there is no way they can even begin to reach out to red states. I have one white friend and what keeps us bonded is Christianity. We have differing views on abortion rights, but we can still maintain a relationship based on our need for God and Jesus.

Second Play: Pray

We need to pray in order to be mature. Church goers all know prayer meeting is the least popular event on the calendar. Prayer is an act of humility. We most likely do it less often than we should because it is difficult for us to admit that we cannot make it in our own strength.

Right now we have an immature president:

Isaiah 3:4-5 (KJV)
4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Many men and women in the U.S. are immature as well, operating with a sense of entitlement and becoming violent when their desires are not immediately fulfilled. For example, "Incels" feel entitled to sex and are killing women because of this. (How are you supposed to find a woman to marry if they're all dead?) The President also has not been held accountable for his sex scandals, which tells people there are no consequences for misbehavior. Consequences help to bring maturity.

We need to pray in order to be a mature nation, not so much publicly, but rather privately:

Matthew 6:5-8 King James Version (KJV)
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Third Play: Repent from Wicked Ways

Climate Change

Not acknowledging climate change is immoral, corrupt, and suicidal. Even walking the streets in Manhattan, I am shocked by how wildly the temperature has been fluctuating in a single day. One need not be a scientist to know climate change is happening. Humans are literally destroying the earth. This is the height of wickedness. God said if we repent from our wicked ways, He would heal the LAND.

Economic Injustice

We have an economic system that exploits the poor and does not hold corporations accountable enough for unethical business practices. This was seen in the bailouts of 2008. Wall St. geniuses make billions while working class geniuses struggle to make ends meet. Health and dental insurance companies exploit Americans of all colors. Whites and blacks have died for lack of health coverage. Creatives are exploited for the art that heals our souls.

Isaiah 3:15
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

A comedienne recently pointed out the absurdity of the storage industry. She reported that the storage industry is the fastest growing industry in America and that she is paying rent for her belongings.
Americans need less not more. People are suffering from diabetes (which can lead to kidney failure and dialysis treatment) because of overeating and stress. We have too much wealth and it is killing us.

Foreign Policy

I believe the cause of the migrant crisis is economic privation. Rich countries, like the United States, Germany, and France, must invest in the poor countries that these migrants are abandoning so that they have opportunities for advancement in their own land. Sure, we can say "America needs to worry about America first", but these people are coming whether we want them to or not. If we want a stable world, wealth must be distributed more evenly.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15 (KJV)
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

Maybe some people can get away with being rich, but in order for us to all survive (including the rich), people cannot be living in soul-killing, life-extinguishing poverty. There is enough to go around. If everyone has something to lose, it is more likely that we will behave well.

Sexual Sin

Before taking the speck out of my brother's eye, I must first take the log out of my own (Matthew 7:5). I confess that I have been struggling with pornography addiction for almost my entire life. I was born in the 80s after pornography became an established industry. I first saw pornography on cable television. When I was old enough I began buying VHS videos from corrupt adults who would sell them to me illegally. I knew better but I gave into my fleshly desires. I just watched pornography two nights ago. With the help of an internet filter called Qustodio, I believe I have finally been able to successfully block pornography on my computer. I slept well and wholesomely last night.

Isaiah 3:9
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Christians and the LGBT Community

I know homosexuality and LGBT issues are a sensitive topic, but I want to touch on it briefly (probably not the best way to say that). My moral authority is the Bible so I do not support homosexuality as a life choice but I am also against homophobia. Both are bad. I have been the recipient of compassion and support at the hands of people who were either openly or clearly gay (also probably not the best way to say that). I would mostly likely not have finished college without the support of a gay woman who spoke up for me. Recently, I purchased a violin from a gay (or at least unabashedly effeminate) sales associate, who was the only friendly associate in the store that day, and who actually tried to dissuade me from buying a poorly made violin (he never suggested a more expensive one). I then went on to play that same violin during Praise & Worship at my church. I discovered that the violin case had the shape of a heart impressed in the cloth lining. I honestly needed that love.

People who identify as gay have sometimes been nicer to me than I have been to them; not always, but sometimes, and not because they were hitting on me. I had a black male and gay professor at Harvard who was lenient with me despite my less-than-stellar academic performance in his course. But when I saw him later that summer in an outdoor park, I shunned him. That was wrong. Why would a gay person receive Jesus and repent of her or his sin, if so-called Christians treated that person with scorn and disdain? God himself does not want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Why then, would Christians want anyone to perish?
If Christians truly do not want members of the LGBT community to perish, we must love them and show them that the body of Christ is a community of true love. (But is it a community of true love? If Christians cannot love each other, how can we love members of the LGBT community?) True love however, does not mean unconditional approval. True love requires discipline, correction, and sometimes rejection. But this reproof and rejection is meant to discipline Christians, not those in the world.

1 Corinthians 5:9-12 (King James Version)
"9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

As Christians, we cannot ignore or water-down Romans Chapter 1 which clearly calls homosexuality an "error" and "unnatural" in various translations. There is no such thing as a homosexual Christian. Period. That is an oxymoron. It is not my job to discipline the LGBT community, but rather to discipline myself and my fellow believers.
I personally know some homosexual and/or effeminate men from churches who were molested as boys. I have compassion for these men.

To be completely honest, I have had some moments of gender-confusion and have been accused of being gay and androgynous. My response to myself is: "I still like females! I love females! Perhaps too much!" Whatever feelings I have must be checked and not acted upon immediately. Our feelings are not facts. The Bible and sober common sense are my ultimate authority when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that only light drives out darkness. As Christians we should not be hateful and judgmental, but rather we should be lights: full of love and positivity.

Abortion

Ruth 4:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son.

The history of women performing their own unsafe abortions shows us that making abortion illegal is impractical. Women who choose to have abortions must be allowed to safely and legally make that choice. But we all must acknowledge that abortion is an immoral form of birth-control. Democrats/liberals must acknowledge that abortion means the death of a life: the snuffing out of potential that nobody can forsee. Abortion can also cause great guilt and regret.

Republicans/conservatives must also acknowledge that we cannot be silent about sex. We must have pre-conception birth-control in order to avoid post-conception birth-control.

Condoms and sex-education must be available to young people to in order to prevent abortions!

To believe young people will never fornicate is self-deception. Instead of this, adults should confess their own sexual faults (in private settings) to each other and to younger people, while encouraging youths not make the same mistakes. Adults must also model healthy, happy marital relationships. If young people do not see happy marriages, why would any young person want to wait until marriage to enjoy sex?

Immigration

Isaiah 56:3
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people...

Whites in America who hate immigration must recognize that their ancestors came to North America as immigrants. White people are not the indigenous people of North America. The indigenous Americans were mostly killed in genocide and are suffering worse horrors arguably than any other ethnic group in the U.S.

The real issue people have with immigration is economic, but the truth is:

Poor whites are poor because they are being ripped off by rich whites.

Poor white people have to endure the contempt of rich whites who call middle-America "fly-over country." This phenomenon is documented well in the book "White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America" by professor Joan Williams.

The other fallacy that many who hate immigration believe is that immigrants are bad for America. I know many didn’t take President Trump seriously when he said Mexico would build the wall, but maybe he is right:

When is the last time you saw someone build a wall who wasn't Mexican?

I say that in jest but the point is that immigrants from all over the world do work that keeps our economy and our lives running relatively smoothly. During the daytime hours, black Caribbean women take care of white infants all over Manhattan. Immigrants wash the dishes behind the scenes in IHOP and in the kitchens of most of our local diners in America.

Immigrants do needed work that most American citizens WILL NOT DO.

We need to appreciate the work that immigrants do rather than maligning them for their humility.

Religion

The scripture that begins this document specifies that those who have been called according to his name must humble themselves and pray. I think that means Christians primarily. The healing of America has to start in the church, which means the body of Christ. There must be repentance from private and public sin, as well as submission to the authority of God within the Christian church before the United States of America can heal.

People of other faiths like Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, must be acknowledged, respected, heard, and cared for. Truthfully, many Christian churches have been doing a terrible job of representing Jesus Christ. I can hardly find a church that I feel comfortable attending. There is just too much ego and vanity in churches, plain and simple. Church is for worship of God, not ourselves.

Going to church should be effortless, like going to McDonalds, or the Public Library, but I have received more abuse, bullying, humiliation, and rejection from church people than any other group I have encountered! I have had to take refuge OUTSIDE of the walls of the church! Let us, through humility, gentleness, and real compassion, make churches healthy, rather than toxic, environments.

One way to bring more peace within the church is to employ the same hybrid vigor that is needed in the natural world. We need multi-ethnic churches, global-level diversity in music styles, and multi-generational prayer initiatives.

Ephesians 4 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Unity and maturity in the body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
‘When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.’
9 (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. 26 ‘In your anger do not sin’: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4 (KJV)
4 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Right now, in the wake of the bombing of Sri Lankan churches on Easter Sunday, the burning of black churches in the U.S., and the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, it seems that Christians may be in danger of persecution globally. If these are not the last days, perhaps God will relent from sending calamity as He did for Ninevah in the book of Jonah. We, however, must do our part.

God Bless you. Jesus Loves You.

Peace,

Richard Maye