A Message From The Publisher
The Suffering Servant
…He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. … Isaiah 53:1-12
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
America is in a christless crisis. Not because the Christ of scripture has failed us, but because too many have abandoned Him in favor of the counterfeit christs of the state and of government.
The Christ of scripture is the Christ of wisdom, truth, knowledge, and understanding. He is the one who accepts all—rich and poor, strong, and broken, black, white, brown, the incarcerated and the “free” and everything in between. He embraces the homeless man under the bridge and the weary mother with too many bills and too little food.
Christ offers dignity, belonging, and unconditional love.
But the christ of the state and government is another figure altogether. He is the banner waved at rallies to divide, the symbol wrapped around laws that exclude, and the excuse for elitism. This counterfeit christ does not open his arms to the poor, the downtrodden, or the oppressed. Instead, he props up privilege, feeds nationalism, and cloaks injustice in holy language. He is less about compassion and more about control.
When religion bends to serve politics, it ceases to heal and begins to wound. It fosters an arrogance that says some are closer to God simply because of their bank account, skin color, or political affiliation. It tells the immigrant that they don’t belong, the protester that they don’t matter, and the poor that their poverty is their punishment. That is not the Christ of scripture—that is the christ of power.
And so, we live in a christless crisis. Churches split, neighbors distrust, and whole communities are told they are outside of God’s grace, not because scripture says so, but because government-christ and state-christ say so.
The truth is this: until we return to the Christ who broke bread with the outcast, healed the blind, defended the oppressed, and challenged the corrupt, America will remain divided. Religion should be the balm for the nation’s wounds, not the blade that deepens them.
It is time to choose—the Christ of scripture who uplifts, or the false christs who divides. For the soul of this nation, the choice is urgent.
