Racism, Religion and IHOP

Racism, Religion and the Fundamentals of IHOP-----OR: Endorsements, Alphabets, and Race:: Racism, sad to say, is alive and well in America. For years it seemed that racism was receeding as a force in American thinking, but it was not: people became “politically correct” and more cautious about expressing their opinions but now it seems they have returned to blatant language to reveal blatant thoughts, Maybe this is better, that bigotry is open and exposed and obvious, so we all can see it when it comes around, even in the mirror. What is really disturbing is blatant racism among those running for high office, coupled with the popularity and support for those people. Endorsements come and go, and it is true that a candidate has no control over who likes him or her. But it is one thing to get an endorsement you don't want, and quite another to accept an endorsement with open arms. Pastor Mike Bickle of IHOP (the International House of Prayer) has said that Adolph Hitler was doing God's work in driving the Jews back to Israel. If anyone cannot see how racist that is, let alone sacriligious, he himself is one. Good and evil exist. They are human constructs. I suppose that without evil we would not know what good is. But they are human, an aspect of our sense of morality, which in turn grew out of our need for society. Is a cat evil because it plays with its prey? Is arthritis evil because it hurts? If God did send Hitler to do his work, then that is a God to Whom I will not subscribe. That God would be as evil as the humans who created Him in their image. The God I would put my faith in would not be that cruel, to murder half a race in order to push the other half out of Europe. If God did indeed use Hitler to tame the Jews, it would be the same as saying God sent the white man to the New World to tame the native populations and steal their land. Anyone using God's name as an excuse for horrific human behavior casts an abomination on His name and shows a fundamental lack of understanding for what God is, or should be. Mike Bickle leads a small flock, but his reach is expanding. God TV, with a viewership worldwide of over 95 million, is planning to broadcast Bickle's sermons. And Ted Cruz, leading tea party candidate for President, proudly accepted Bickle's endorsement. Should we be worried? David Duke, former head of the kkk (as another writer observed, they don't deserve caps), says that Donald Trump articulates Duke's own views better than he can himself. Bickle and Duke are bigotry defined, yet the two leading GOP candidates embrace them. I'm white and of an age, but my rage is against the machinery, not the people who, like me, are affected by it. We have gone far toward equality in my lifetime, perhaps the biggest area of improvement to which I can call myself a witness. But we have far, far to go, and these people with their strange and misinformed ideas are holding us back. Worse, they want to reverse course. Yes, we should be very worried.