Testimony: Discriminatory & Ignorant

Dear DCL,

I have been spending the last week reading your site and I still am not done yet! Everytime I think I'm done, I'll find ANOTHER link. Very very exhaustive site. I absolutely love it.

I have my own experiences to share with you. I don't mind if you list my name, in fact, please do! If someone should read this and need to talk to someone who has been there, I would be happy to communicate.

Let me first preface this by saying that I am not a saved person right now. I have sin in my life that needs to be done away with first. I know that God will see me through this. It's just my reluctance to fully surender to His will that I am working through right now.

I was raised in a Christian home. My mom and dad were divorced when I was young. My dad used to be an alchoholic, and my mom refused to have that around her children. I have two half sisters and a half brother from my mom. My dad has always accepted them as his own, but he drank. My mom I do believe did the right thing, and now they are remarried to each other and both are Christian people. In fact, my father now feels led to open his own church.

God is using him mightily. He wil be 60 years old this year! God really doesn't care how old you are. He will use anyone who is open and willing to Him.

Now, my story. I went to an Apostolic-Pentecostal church school from the second grade to the ninth. Although I went to church when I was younger, It was an all-black Baptist church. We are white. It was never an issue with these wonderful people.

The Pentecostal school was to say the least, a shock for me. I had never been to a Pentecostal church before. Shortly after starting this school, my mom, myself, my brother and my youngest sister started to attend a home church run by some long time family friends who were Apostolic. Although the church and the school had different beliefs, there were some that both agreed on. These things, unfortunately, were not Biblically based. We were taught early on that we are not supposed to question this pastor or his wife.

My mom went along with that because she had been raised Pentecostal and thought that she was doing God's will. I don't fault her. She was doing the best she knew how to do. God bless her for that.

One thing that both agreed on, something very dangerous, deadly serious, was that black people were inferior to white people. The pastor of the church would give the story of Noah's drunkedness as the "scriptural" proof that Ham was cursed to be a slave to his brothers. He preached that Ham actually was turned into a black man and that was proof that black people were to be slaves and servants. I have read that story, no where does it say that Ham was turned black and that his decendants were to be slaves to white men. And besides, God didn't curse Ham, Noah did!

But this belief permeates the majority of Pentecostal churches today. Now, the school never openly preached this, but it was believed by almost everyone in that school. The only ones that didn't believe it were the black members, all 5 of them. While it wasn't preached, it was believed.

This actually happened. During PE class one day, the pe coach took us to the park to play football, you know, the Lord's game? It was on Martin Luther King day. My friend, Arte, who was black, wasn't there. He came back to school two days later and had been extremely sick. But I asked the coach if we had to play football without Arte, who was one of our best players. the coach, "Brother" Swift, said we didn't need him if he wasn't going to come to school on MLK day. I asked him what MLK day had to do with it. He said, and I will quote him because I remember his exact words," Blacks don't have to come to school or go to work on

this day because they can get off on it. It's just another day for those niggers to not have to do anything."

A "christian" man teaching children at a "christian" school actually said this to me.

That school is no longer open, but the church part of it has just expanded to a larger building. This man is still a part of the church. He is an elder in the church.

Soon I started to adopt that philosophy. My church and school turned me into a racist.

They also preached that it is an abomination to God to inter-mix the races. The Bible does not support this theory. The Bible is clear that you should not inter-mix the religions. It says nothing about the races.

I am pleased to report that today I and my mom and dad are free of this false belief. I cry for those who think that the only black people in Heaven are going to be carrying the bags.

Aren't they in for a surprise when they see Jesus and realize that He doesn't have blond hair and blue eyes!

I pray that God will forgive their ignorance and lead them out of that bondage. That kind of belief is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. It is impossible to be a Christian and hate someone. Read John 13:35, 1 Thess. 3:12, and 1 Peter 2:17 for the truth regarding this.

This is such a big deal to many Pentecostals and Apostolics. I am not saying that all of them are like this. But, I have been to about 15 different Pentecostal churches in my life, and every single one of them held this belief. It's sad that so-called Christians feel this way. I'm so glad that Jesus wasn't a "Christian". If He was, then none of us could be saved!

This is such a deadly teaching because it contradicts the Biblical message of love. I don't know how black people are black. I don't know how white people are white. God designed everything for a reason. One possible reason could be that God made different races because He is testing our love of Him. I'm careful not to speculate because the Bible doesn't give reason for it. We are simply to accept His creation. And besides, if you are truly living for God and filled with his love, you won't even wonder about it. You won't even care. It took me a long time to realize this. That's what is so great about Seventh-day Adventist churches.

No one judges you on what you look like.

I know that there are problems in every church. But the elitist, country-club mentality shouldn't be one of them. There are so many more things that I experienced at the school and at the church that I would like to share, but it's probably the same old, same old. Most of it has already been covered. I didn't see this listed so I decided to share it.

I hope someone who reads this might see the error of their ways and get God's forgivness. I hope God will bless you and continue His work through your website.

Sincerly,

Franklin Tyler

Lawton, Oklahoma

tyler@gothicity.com