Page 5 - The Black Church Is Dead:The Unpublicized And Evident Truth

(4)

Their deeds were confined to earth and had no
heavenly connection. They were impressing them-
selves by their intentional efforts to recruit the rich
and pride themselves in their outward show of nu-
merical, financial, or other forms of prosperity. The
Apostle James concluded that their works were
dead! The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ could
not grow in a way that pleased God when the
Jerusalem Christians failed in properly doing the
one thing that qualified them as followers or
disciples of Jesus. In John 13:35 Jesus stipulated
that, “By this all men shall know that you are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

While it is true that the same materialism that con-
taminated the Jerusalem Church contaminates the
Black Church today, there is a greater contaminant
that literally kills the Black Church each day. Just as
the Jerusalem Church were doing works related to
the Christian ministry, African-American Christians
are doing good works. We are singing, worshipping,
praying, and enormous things in the community.

So, why hasn’t the Black Church succeeded in
causing things to become better nationally for our