John Perkins was born in
Mississippi in 1930, the child of poor sharecroppers. His mother died when he
was an infant and his father abandoned the family. Raised by extended relatives,
John was 17-years-old when his elder brother, a decorated World War II veteran,
was fatally shot by a policeman and died in his arms. Filled with rage and
grief, John left Mississippi for California, where he married, had children and
eventually was transformed by the Gospel of Christ.
In 1960 John felt the Lord
calling him to return to racially torn Mississippi to work in the church. So he
moved his family to Mendenhall, MS, a neighboring town to the one he was raised
in. There he established the Voice of Calvary Bible Institute.
In February 1970, Perkins
and two associates went to the local jail to post bail for a group of black
college students. He and his associates were surrounded by racist police
officers and arrested. Perkins was severely beaten and tortured simply for
being a black leader in the community. Witnesses incarcerated with Perkins thought
he might die as he lay unconscious on the floor of the jail cell.
As he reeled from that
beating, Perkins realized the white people in his community needed the Gospel
as much as those in the black community. Perkins vowed that if God would
deliver him out of that situation, he would keep doing good by preaching the
Gospel and seek racial reconciliation.
Amazingly, two local
doctors—one white and one black—oversaw his healing. At the same time, God was working
in Perkins’ soul, revealing more and more how the Gospel was the only thing
that freed people from evil, hatred and racism. John realized that Jesus had
suffered unjustly at the hands of hateful people, yet He still prayed that God
would forgive them. In time, God gave John Perkins the ability to forgive his
attackers and truly love them.
John Perkins became a
champion for healing broken communities across the country through the power of
the Gospel. In his incredible life he received fourteen honorary doctoral degrees
and wrote nearly a dozen books extolling the power of God’s love to overcome
evil with good.[1]
John Perkins
In the wake of the vicious
killing of George Floyd by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, an old
wound was reopened in America. We have all watched as protests and looting mobs
have ignited in numerous major cities. Burning the business of hard-working
citizens and stealing property will in no way exact justice for the heinous treachery
of suffocating an innocent man.
What our nation needs now
more than ever is to be reminded of the Gospel and how it’s radical message of
love and justice can heal these deep wounds. If John Perkins can overcome evil
with good, then so can we by understanding these basic Biblical truths.
1)
All people are created
equal because they bear the image of God. “So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis
1:27).” Simply put, all lives matter. Red, yellow, black and white, they are
precious in his sight.
2)
There is only one
race, the human race. All people are descended from Adam. “And he made from one
man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:24).
3)
We all have a
common problem; humanity is broken by sin. This means that “racism” is not a
skin problem, but a sin problem. We hate our fellow man because our hearts are broken
and depraved. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans
5:12).
4)
Christ died for
the whole world and God desires all people to be saved by the atoning death and
resurrection of His Son. “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God
our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:3-6).
5)
The Gospel of Christ
unites the redeemed through a common Savior and brings them into the church,
which is made up of people from every kingdom, tribe and tongue. “There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
Perhaps, Billy Graham said
it best, “The closer the people of all races get to Christ and His cross, the
closer they will get to one another.”[2]
-DM
[1]
David Jeremiah, Overcomer (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2018), 78-79.
[2] Donna
Lee Toney, Billy Graham in Quotes, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011),
286.
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