We Are Here Again

Today I had the pleasure of watching the National Day of Action for Voting Rights thanks to none other than Roland Martin Unfiltered. Today, our people converged on Selma, Alabama, again. During the benediction, the psalmist sang the late Richard Smallwood’s, ‘Total Praise’. As the congregation was dismissed, I found myself in a time of praise, worship, prayer and spiritual warfare and before I knew it, out of my spirit I heard myself say,

“We are here again.” 

Sixty-one years have passed since the first march and the men and women of God are still walking across the same bridge, yet again. As I thought about that, I cried, “Lord, please forgive us because we are here again. Please forgive those who did not vote,” when almost immediately the Holy Spirit responded and led me to Acts 13:46 which says,

‘Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” 

Though the Apostle Paul was speaking to the Jews about how they had deemed themselves unworthy of receiving the gospel, the Holy Spirit revealed the same truth applies to nonvoters in the sense that they have counted themselves unworthy.

Yes, my dear Black brothers and sisters in Christ, there are those among us who have counted themselves unworthy to vote. That unworthiness is often disguised as them telling us, “Voting doesn’t work”, or “My vote doesn’t matter.” But when we hear that we should know that no matter how big, bold and confident they may seem, inwardly, we are dealing with a person who sees themselves as unworthy.

It’s interesting because the Greek definition of unworthy is defined as not ‘deserving, no due reward, or not meet.’ ^[1] Merriam Webster’s defines it as, ‘lacking in excellence or value; poor; worthless; base; dishonorable; not meritorious; undeserving.’ ^[2] Therefore, there are those among us who:

1.     Deem themselves lacking in excellence or value.

2.     See themselves as poor, worthless, and baseless.

3.     Consider voting as a dishonorable or non-meritorious act, or…

4.     See themselves as undeserving of the right to vote.

With that being the case, by default that would also mean this is how they see those of us who do. Therefore, it is possible for nonvoters to see voters as:

1.     Lacking in excellence or value.

2.     See voters (and our votes) as poor, worthless, and baseless.

3.     Consider voting as a dishonorable or non-meritorious act. And they quite possibly…

4.     See us as undeserving of the right to vote.

Therefore, as Black people of faith…

It is our responsibility to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ that God would reveal their worth to them because it is not about how we see them but how He sees them.

Another question is this:  

Why did 88 million eligible voters not vote?

According to an article written by Robin Lederer and Dr. Andrea Barreiro, of those polled,

1. 35% say thinking their vote would not make a difference was a major reason why they did not vote.

2. 31% say that not liking politics was a major reason.

3. 18% say it was that they are not registered or not eligible to vote.

4. 17% say a major reason was that they did not care about the outcome.

5. 15% say voting was inconvenient.

6. 8% say a major reason was they forgot to vote. ^[3]

As you can see, 53% could be due in part to a sense of worth. Because if you don’t know whether you are eligible to vote or you feel as if your vote won’t make a difference, then both could be considered as a matter of self-worth.

However, for those of us who do vote…we are here again, on this National Day of Action for Voting Rights, trying to figure out how we got here…again.

If you were to poll Black America today, there would probably be an overwhelming consensus that the blame lies within this administration. The simple fact that they have:

1.     Gutted Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

2.     ‘Fired the highest-profile Black public officials in the government to include the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Librarian of Congress, an attorney who served on the National Labor Relations Board; a member of the Surface Transportation Board, a top-ranking official of the National Transportation Safety Board; the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics; head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.’ ^[4]

3.     ‘Targeted agencies that employed a high number of Blacks in addition to a current spike in Black unemployment with latest reports stating roughly 718,000 Black women are unemployed.’ ^[5]

4.     Rescinded the clause prohibiting Segregated Facilities. 

5.     Are no longer enforcing the Fair Housing Act.

6.     Weakened the Voting Rights Act.

Then it’s safe to say, this administration is the culprit. Even still, these issues lie at the foot of the body of Christ.     

The best way to describe it can be found in Genesis 3. For those don’t know, Eve was asked by the serpent about a command of God to which she responded and thereafter she and her  husband Adam, gave into temptation by eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. God is now calling upon Adam and asking, “Where are you?” To which Adam responds, “I heard Your voice…I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” It was in that moment that God then asks, “Who told you that you were naked? For the sake of our study, let’s ask: Who told you are unworthy to vote? Who told you that your vote doesn’t matter?  Who have you been listening to?

Your feed?

Your timeline?

The news?

YouTube?

Who told you, your vote doesn’t matter?

God then asks, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” The tree in question is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Who told you that you – registered voter – that you shouldn’t run for office? Who told you registered and nonregistered voter that you don’t have an individual part to play in government or within your respective community? Have you eaten from the tree whose fruits include unworthiness?

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” This is where we come into play because this is where both Adam and Eve should have repented, and on this day we should do the same. Instead, we inadvertently blame this serpentlike administration and believe that it is their fault that our rights have been stripped and that they are the ones to blame for the 88 million of us who did not exercise our God-given rights against the deception of enemy who is merely using this administration.

But let’s switch hats for a moment because it is here that we receive our answer to this national debate because it is here when God confronts the serpent (the current administration) when He says, “Because you have done this.” It is here that God begins to detail nine penalties that would come upon the serpent for his role in the fall of mankind and this is also where my white brothers and sisters in Christ come into play because…

Here you are again…some seventy-seven million of you trying to oppress Black people.  

Here you are again MAGA wanting to enslave God’s children.

Here you are again some sixty-one years later still wanting to usurp your flesh over mine.

I say flesh because it is the color of your skin that has led you to believe this is acceptable in the eyes of God.  

But to my Black brothers and sisters in Christ, you should know that God cannot grant race-based prayers or skin-driven petitions because if He did He would be honoring our FLESH.

As a people, it would behoove us not to continue to ask God to help other races recognize the contributions of OUR FLESH because we would then be asking them to pay attention and to deal with us (and us with them) in accordance to FLESH. Unbeknownst to us, God’s not going to do that because His Word clearly states in Romans 8:2-8,

² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful (Jewish colored) flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh (of his Jewish colored Son), ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the (color of our) flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the (color of someone else’s) flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded (constantly making decisions based upon flesh) is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh (paying attention do, doing business based upon, legislating in accordance to the color of their and other people’s flesh) cannot please God.

Therefore, it seems to me that the body of Christ as a whole has a SPIRIT problem, in that whether black or white, we have not learned how to judge one another in accordance to our SPIRITS.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is famously quoted as saying that we should “not be judged by the color of [our] skin but by the content of [our] character,” and with that I concur. But may I also submit to you that Jesus said,

¹⁵ You judge according to the (color of Jewish) flesh; I judge no one (according to the color of their flesh). ¹⁶ And yet if I do judge (you all in accordance to the color of your flesh), My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father (who is Spirit – John 4:24) who sent Me (by His Holy Spirit – Matthew 1:18).’ John 8:15,16

Therefore, we should judge according to the spirit inside each of us and not based upon the color of our skin. 1 Corinthians 2:11- 16 goes on to say,

¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.¹³ These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ¹⁶ For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Therefore, to my black and white brothers and sisters in Christ, could it be that as the body of Christ, we have a spirit problem? Perhaps, especially when so few of us are aware of spiritual things.

We know street codes.

We know Black codes.

We know Jim Crow.

We know penal codes.

We know genealogy.

We know Black history.

We know dog whistles.

We know racist tropes.

But many of us do not know spiritual things.

We know Bible trivia.

We know Bible history.

We know the transatlantic slave trade.

We know the markets.

We know how to make money.

We know how to invest and how to retire.

We know what men want.

We know what women need.

We do not know the Word which means we are void of spiritual things.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of THE FLESH, nor of the will of man, but of God.¹⁴ And the Word became flesh…(John 1:1,3,10-14)

Jesus became flesh but He too was born of the Spirit. Because some of God’s children are void of spiritual things we have been like spiritual ‘children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men (some of whom are in government), in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.’ 

To my Black brothers and sisters in Christ, you must know that as a people, we have been led to this moment. In the same way the Lord Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, we must meet the moment by doing exactly what the Lord did when He met His and that is with the Word.

Getting to know the Word of God for ourselves so that we are no longer tossed to and fro with every racial or ideological wind of doctrine.

Led.

To lead means ‘to guide on a way especially by going in advance; to direct on a course or in a direction; to go through.’^[6] Thus, a leader is one who ‘has commanding authority or influence; a member chosen by his party to manage party activities in a legislative body.’ ^[7] And while those definitions define what leadership is, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells us that,

“…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide [us] into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell [us] things to come.” – John 16:13

Guide is defined as ‘to show us the way’. He will ‘teach and guide’ us.’^[8] 

Therefore, in this moment, it would behoove us to pray and ask the Spirit of truth to show us the way…of truth.

Spiritual truths.

To teach us…the truth about ourselves, one another and this situation because there are some lessons we must learn collectively, while others must be learned individually.

Let us all remember that “…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in [Jesus’ name…will teach [us] all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that [Jesus has] said” but how will you know if you only attend Sunday and Midweek service, and not get into the Word for yourself? Therefore, our collective assignment should be to read our Bibles daily so that we can get to know the Word for Himself instead of the Word we quote.  

But again, we were all led to this moment…again…by the enemy of our souls by way of this (and other) administrations. He through them led us here, again. Because we were ignorant and not doers of the Word, he led us to a bridge that we attempted to cross on March 7 some sixty-one years ago. We were led back to the past when God’s Word clearly states that we are to forget ‘those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.’ We have been instructed to ‘press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 3:13,14) Yet here you are, my white brothers and sisters in Christ, trying to make America great…again.

Here we all are again, on a bridge where THE ONLY WAY OUT of what we are facing is to work together. Not we as in my White, Black, Latino, Asian, and all other color brothers and sisters in Christ but we, as in the body of Christ, must work together with this understanding.

There are those among us who are not for us.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. – Jude 4

Jesus even said,

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Therefore, as we come together, just know there are those who profess to be Christians but proclaim anything other than the Word of God.  

In conclusion, may I submit to you that as the body of Christ, no matter the color of your flesh, to repent for having been led to this moment in time…yet again.

My please is that you would repent to God because we - you and me - are here again. And you might be thinking you have been doing the work. You do vote. You are active in your respective community and to you I commend. Yet you are still apart of the collective we.

We (black folks) either did or did not vote.

We (white folks) allowed the hatred of our ancestors to poison our present.

We (black and white) have not accurately taught repentance repeatedly.

We (black folks) are still expecting our skin folks to support us no matter what.

We (white folks) are still judging others based upon the color of their flesh.

We (black folks) continue to judge those who judge us according to our flesh.

We (white folks) continue to believe our flesh is far superior than any other flesh.

We (white folks) continue to believe that God only gave intelligence and wealth to us only.

Again, all of us we’s are wrong which means all of us are in trouble with the Lord.

The good news is that Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” And Psalms 91:16 says, ‘He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”

In the words of the late, great John Lewis, ‘civil rights activist and United States congressman’ ^[9] 

“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble,and redeem the soul of America.” [10]

We all are in trouble with God because we all have violated the royal law which is

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (James 2:8)

We were all commanded “love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and to pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.” (Matthew 5:44) Yet we are all judging or prejudging one another.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.’ 

Matthew 7:1,2

You can take this with a grain of salt, or you can believe that within these words contains solutions to centuries-old questions. If you’ll only believe, pray and seek God, God will begin to the process of healing, protecting, delivering, increasing, edifying, directing, strengthening, prospering, correcting, rebuking, instructing, inspiring, cleansing, purifying, give us answers, clarity and cause us to thrive collectively and individually because this is not an us versus them.

This is us against the kingdom of darkness against the kingdom of God.

SOURCES

 1 - “G514 - axios - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 16 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g514/kjv/tr/0-1/>.

2 - “Unworthy.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Ninth New Collegiate Merriam-Webster. 1984.

3- Lederer, Robin, and Andrea Barreiro. “The Silent Electorate: 88 Million Eligible Americans Missed the November 2024 Election.” Voting: Use It or Lose It, 23 Dec. 2025,

4,5- Maddow, Rachel. “The Trump Administration Is Waging a War on Black Americans.” MS NOW, 1 week ago, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-trump-administration-is-waging-a-war-on-black-americans/ar-AA22sSfl.

6- “Lead.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Ninth New Collegiate Merriam-Webster. 1984.

7- “Leader.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Ninth New Collegiate Merriam-Webster. 1984.

8- “G3594 - hodēgeō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 16 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3594/kjv/tr/0-1/>.

9- Wikipedia contributors. “John Lewis: Good Trouble.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 8 Apr. 2026. Web. 16 May. 2026.

10-Ray, Rashawn. “Five Things John Lewis Taught Us about Getting in ‘Good Trouble’.” Brookings, 23 July 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/five-things-john-lewis-taught-us-about-getting-in-good-trouble/.