BLOG: Hello, brothers and sisters and friends. As with all my writings, please feel free to forward this to your friends and networks, and post it on your website.  I give my time and creations away for free, as I continue to fight, with God’s blessings my late stage cancer.

Doug Gentile

James 2 Association

703-582-1025

Visit s-g-ministries.org for samples of my previous Christian racial reconciliation broadcasts on AM/FM radio with award winning Gospel singer Tom Sligh.

Blog, September 18, 2023: Seven Spiritual Disciplines

Hello, Saints and Saints-To-Be.  Last week I shared with you all seven trends outside Biblical teachings that I believe places professed Christians in spiritual danger if they practice one or more of these un-Biblical tends.  Those observations were presented with the understanding that, while we can judge behavior patterns and doctrine, we cannot judge the heart or salvation of any particular person.  That is between God and the person.  This e-mail flips the script toward the positive, and suggests seven spiritual disciplines that I believe will unleash God's power and increase the chance of many blessings in the Christian's life.

For me, spiritual disciplines ranks at the top of the priority list of life's activities.  The Second Commandment and other Scriptures command us to place God and Jesus above everything else, especially potential idols.  Although I am a sinner and very broken in many ways--with God's help, including amazing miracles via cancer, I strive to order the priorities in my life in the following way:

1.  Spiritual Disciplines--highlighted below.

2.  Health mitigation. That includes all medical followup issues plus healthy diet and exercise.

3.  Family. That means quality time with my 2 sons, 2 grandsons, siblings (periodically as they are far away) and extended family.

4.  Ministry calling.  Unless God changes my calling, that includes bridging the racial divide in the Christian churches; education of the Biblical foundations for race relations; multi-ethnic Evangelism locally via mainly young adult outreach, and nationally via partnering with other Christian Evangelism organizations for Gospel saturation in different geographical areas; and Evangelism via free distribution of my Christian suspense novels.  Ministry also includes advocacy on other important Biblically-supported issues, such as fighting modern slavery, standing for the human rights of unborn children, and protecting the rights and liberties of Christians from persecution by the secular sexual revolution movements.  Those of us called in the racial reconciliation and justice movement need to support those Christians who emphasize the Biblical cultural issues.  On the flip side, those fighting mainly for pro-life and religious liberty issues need to stand with multi-racial Christians on Biblical teachings for racial reconciliation, justice and unity.  Often that is not happening, and that neglect or even misguided hostility to Biblical racial reconciliation and justice from sections of the "religious right" continues to weaken and divide the Christian church across the USA.

5.  After that I find time for leisure and relaxing activities that could include reading, creative exercises, enjoying sporting activities, etc.

The seven spiritual disciplines that I believe the Bible calls us to follow are:

1.  Bible reading every day.  For me, I try to make it a priority early in the day, to demonstrate before God that I consider His Word more important than other life's activities and distractions.  I try to close with Bible reading before I go to bed to highlight the importance of God, Jesus and Biblical truth while I spent several hours in bed (sometimes sleeping, oftentimes praying and listening to Christian radio because of frequent sleep disruptions as a cancer-related side effect).

2.  Prayer.  For me, that is not just some 5-10 minute obligation, so I can "check the box".  Yes, I will pray early after I wake up.  But then, during the day I will talk to God at different times even as I am doing other activities, because 1 Thessalonians 5 commands us to pray without ceasing.

3.  Fellowship.  Hebrews 10 commands us to be in close fellowship and friendship with other Christians.  That is accomplished via the local church and followup activities, in smaller social connections and practicing other spiritual disciplines together.  We need people for our emotional and spiritual health.  Lone ranger Christians are ripe for Satanic attacks, often in the form of planting lies in our head and weakening our self esteem.

4.  Praise and Worship.  Why do so many Christians equate worship with music?  Music is music, and just one aspect of worship.  Praise and worship is singing, but also just thanking God and lifting Him up with the joy He has given us.

5.  Mentoring and continuing learning.  God expects us to be open to opportunities to disciple, encourage and equip in the faith other Christians.  This is especially true for new Christians.  Those new to the faith should be open to instruction and eagerly seek Biblical counsel to better serve Jesus in different activities.  All Christians need to be open to learning Biblical tips and testimonies of each other to grow in the faith and the ability to serve God more effectively--and to avoid spiritual arrogance.  Proverbs 27 references the importance of iron sharpening iron.

6.  Evangelism.  Matthew 28 commands us to share the Christian Gospel with people of all backgrounds to save the lost from eternal separation from God, expand God's kingdom and help transform societies for the better.  Evangelism can be face to face or via tracts of written documents or public testimonies.  We need to look for opportunities to share our faith--and the Holy Spirit has vividly reminded me when I have missed opportunities to share the Gospel.  Almost all of us have friends, relatives, associates and neighbors (FRAN), and there are certainly some opportunities to convey this marvelous Biblical truth in love with our closest personal contacts.  Also, social media should be used for Evangelism--not for gossip, narcissism or riding the wave of some secular movement.

7.  Service.  There are countless Scriptures about taking positive actions--including prayer but also concrete actions--in response to people in need whether they be victims of injustice, or dealing with poverty or other personal hardships and trials.  This is not some "extra-curricular activity", a stepchild add-on; rather it is a core spiritual discipline, I believe.  If we lack the time, money or health to actively serve, in most cases there are small opportunities to love and serve people.  Forget Edison, et. al.; it was God who invented the telephone, the e-mail, Zoom, text messages and the computer with its many modes of communication--as alternatives if we cannot be more active due to our limiting circumstances.

I hope and pray that this e-mail provides a few nuggets of encouragement to each of you, as we minister to people--all people of any race, ethnicity or nationality.  I wish each of you blessings, and that autumn will be bring health, spiritual blessings and fun for all of you.  Fun does not have to be sinful, and we need fun and laugher in our lives.

Peace and out.

Doug Gentile

James 2 Association                   (Download PRINT version)

Blog, July 27, 2023: Multi-Ethnic Ministry Update

Hello, saints and saints-to-be.  As I consider the variety of projects that God has given me, I remain grateful about God continuing to do miracles in my life to keep me strong via late-stage cancer with ongoing treatments and 5 disabilities (eating, sleeping, mobility, reproduction, cardiovascular).  The racial reconciliation ministry often brings about resistance and rejection, and Satan has been hammering me on this weakness, hitting me with thoughts such as "Doug, You cannot do this"; "Just walk away"; "You are too old and too sick."  I immediately give those temptation thoughts to God, and He immediately renews me with peace and power, and a blueprint for the racial reconciliation and unity ministry.  Given my natural frailties and limited talents, I shudder to think of the condition I would be in absent a personal relationship with Jesus Christ—2 Corinthians 4, v. 7.

My local ministry consists mostly of young adult outreach, especially on college campuses, and I look forward to working behind the scenes with CRU again this autumn semester.  There are some racial reconciliation and partnerships across racial lines situations that need to be addressed here in the DVM and NOVA.  Matthew 25 vs. 31-46 is a reminder to participate in multi-ethnic charity activities, where I focus on serving immigrant families and helping to address the sad pandemic of food insecurity impacting millions, including working people.

In the national ministry, there are occasional side desegregation projects.  Yet I sense God calling me toward two major exciting initiatives.  One is working behind the scenes with The Table Coalition and their ministry partners on multi-ethnic Evangelism, to light a fire for Jesus across various locations--urban areas and entire States.  This ongoing campaign is a key component of Christian Revival efforts, together with publicly advocating for the complete Gospel:  Preaching the Christian Gospel while living it out in love across racial lines for everyone, with a special attention to those people with special needs.  The second exciting long-range project is supporting the leadership of Derek Grier and the Unity Weekend—that has become a national Movement.  This is God's heart on steroids, focusing on Biblical commands on racial reconciliation and unity in the Name of Jesus Christ.  The Unity Weekend Movement mirrors exactly the calling of James 2 Association, so we enthusiastically support it and look forward to how God will expand this Movement.  The Unity Weekend Movement and James 2 Association are locked in re: focusing on Biblical teachings about race relations, to counter secular corruption on race relations.

I am confident that I can speak for both Derek Grier and James 2 Association, by saying that our racial reconciliation advocacy also comes from a strong Biblical foundation for the sanctity of human life, sexuality, marriage and gender.  As a former Title IX Officer and a former national representative for Federal Title IX Officers across the USA, I have been especially outspoken about the unfairness and Civil Rights/Title IX violation of forcing biological females to compete against biological males in Federally funded sports.

I personally stand for a strong Biblical public policy axis of loving and Biblical racial reconciliation; protecting the human rights of unborn children; and religious liberty.  That powerful axis that can benefit and help revive America is being shattered by people aggressively worshipping idols of political party and ideology to the detriment of Christian unity—and ultimately to a strong church to fight off Satanic cultural influences.

To counter the sinful and un-Biblical influences of the White rage anti-CRT movement—where they continue to censor discussions of racial injustice and aspects of racial history in public schools—and cancel diversity offices even those with no stated preference for any racial/ethnic group—all while saying nothing about continued racism, racial injustices and inequities grandfathered in from generations of racial horrors—James 2 Association is taking supplemental actions in addition to just stating our Biblical objections in communications outlets.  We are reposting our Master Syllabus on Racial Reconciliation and Justice from a Christian perspective as a PDF below.  This is both a college level course and an advanced high school course.  We are making it available to any Christian group that feels called to take this course into a public school system as an "after school" course to supplement teachings on corrupted race related courses offered by an official school district.  High school students who are interested in this after school course and complete it will not only learn solid concepts on race relations from a Christian perspective—including honest depictions of racial history—but can also put the course on their resume and college application form.  Secondly, James 2 Association will be consulting with legal advocacy groups on the Constitutionality of the vile "comfort" State laws that say when a student or student feels "uncomfortable" discussing racial history or race relations (discomfort mostly for White people), they can censor the discussion in the classroom and prevent other students from learning about the subject.  To us, these laws are not only morally wrong given America's racial history and positive work still needed to be done in the direction of racial reconciliation and justice—but are a clear violation of the First Amendment.  The actions of the White grievance anti-CRT movement are undermining public education in the USA as an alarming number of teachers are leaving the profession rather than enduring retaliation and threats to their jobs for standing up for the needed racial history and racial justice teachings.

To be fair, there are objectionable aspects of CRT, and White people can be mistreated.  But I believe the Holy Spirit compels Christians to be just a vigilant speaking out against racism and racial injustices impacting people of color.  As we are commanded to love people who disagree with us, let us pray for those in the White grievance anti-CRT movement, and wish for both blessings for them and repentance for their errors.

Finally, on the subject of Christian desegregation projects, the K-LOVE 2024 cruise with the racially exclusionary musical lineup remains unresolved after several months of encouragement and advocacy from several people.  James 2 Association is not at war with K-LOVE as we have extended a loving olive branch offering to have a positive discussion with them during our racial inclusion advocacy communications.  I even had very positive interactions with 2 K-LOVE DJs and nice staff people recently here in NOVA.  But K-LOVE seems to be at war with dozens of Biblical teachings on racial reconciliation; the compelling need for Christians to take the lead on positive race relations given America's racial history and lingering racial issues; and the need to reach especially justice focused young adults for Jesus Christ by showing love to all people across racial lines.  K-LOVE seems to be mired in some stronghold where they do not see how a public display of Christian racial segregation by the largest and most visible Christian communications company in America is a glaring racial eyesore and a barrier to Evangelism.  They seem oblivious to the offense in the Name of Jesus Christ can bring to a predominantly Black nation by showing no cultural sensitivity with not 1 Black person on their publicized cruise program, and, according to their Website, no plans to reach out to communities to serve and love the people of Nassau; just a White "party fest" in the Name of Jesus.

We have maintained a posture of merciful engagement toward K-LOVE all along.  Now we are praying about next steps to address this festering sore in the Body of Christ. There are countless nice people and Godly people at K-LOVE, as evidenced by recently friendly interactions in McLean, Virginia.  Yet there is some dark spirit at K-LOVE, given that they defiantly added a 12th White person to their cruise agenda in response to our advocacy efforts, and given that K-LOVE management has refused to acknowledge the existence of those of us advocating for Biblical racial inclusion on their 2024 cruise.

Some kind of followup action is required, as we cannot allow unrepentant sin to be unaddressed, especially coming from such a large, powerful and visible entity in the Body of Christ.  One of the main reasons for the weakness of the Christian church is that we tolerate silently unrepentant sin, and do not speak out against un-Biblical influences.  If we do nothing in response to K-LOVE's racial eyesore on its cruise, we contribute to the continuing tearing down of the church's effectiveness and unity.  As I said to some friends in a separate e-mail, apathy is a 4 letter word in the Body of Christ.  Let us not succumb to it.

I do not have the answers.  Please e-mail me suggestions on what actions we should undertake to help bring K-LOVE into the Biblical world view on race relations re: their 2024 cruise.

Let me close with a positive note on God's mercy and grace whenever we face life's challenges.  Please read Hebrews 12, vs. 22-24, about what God promises for us for our faith, no matter what.

Many blessings to each of you.  (Download PRINT version)

Blog, June 19, 2022: Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a Federal holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States.  Many people associate the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln as the official action freeing the American slaves.  In reality, the slaves were not freed by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation because the Civil War was still being waged, so the Southern Confederacy ignored President Lincoln’s Order and held onto the millions of slaves.  Ironically, the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to the Confederate States, and there were 2 Union border States, Kentucky and Delaware, that allowed some slavery.  Juneteenth addressed this reality and freed these slaves, too, as the Emancipation Proclamation could not do so.

The official freeing of the last slaves occurred after the US had defeated the Confederacy.  US/Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1965, to take control of the former Confederate State of Texas and ensure that all of the slaves there were freed.

Two months before June 19, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his command in Virginia.  That act officially ended the Confederacy, but the word did not immediately get down to Texas.  Thus, the slaves in Texas remained enslaved for a brief period after Robert E. Lee’s surrender.  Two months later, US General Gordon Granger arrived in Texas and read General Orders Number 3:  “The people in Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

A lull in the fighting of the Civil War in Texas helped allow slavery to flourish in Texas.  As the US forces gained military victories in other Southern States, many of these Southern slaveowners fled to Texas where they found a safe haven until the Juneteenth proclamation.

Juneteenth celebrations began in 1866, led by Christian churches that had heroically resisted slavery and later resisted Jim Crow segregation.  The first known Juneteenth celebration occurred in Texas—that became the first State to recognize Juneteenth by proclamation in 1938.  Juneteenth was celebrated throughout the South, mostly by Black people, in the decades following the Civil War.  Black people started to flee the South, termed The Great Migration, because of the Southern States’ harsh imposition of Jim Crow racial segregation laws complete with voting restrictions, separate but unequal facilities, mass murders via lynchings and other acts of violence, other human rights violations, and peonage.  The millions of Blacks fleeing these atrocious conditions in the South brought Juneteenth celebrations more prominently to the Northern States.

A huge Juneteenth celebration drawing seventy thousand people occurred in 1951.  A few years after that, the Christian-led US Civil Rights Movement increased momentum for Juneteenth recognition.  The Reverend Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference especially advocated for Juneteenth, and linked it to both racial justice efforts and a national movement to mitigate poverty.  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also spurred on these Juneteenth awareness efforts, by joining with other Christians—Black, White and other racial/ethnic groups--by pointing out clear Biblical teachings on liberation, unity, love, concern for the marginalized and mistreated, racial equality, ending oppression, and justice.

Texas became the first State to make Juneteenth an official State holiday, effective January 1, 1980.  Other States followed Texas by making Juneteenth a State holiday.  Juneteenth became a Federal holiday on June 17, 2021.

Juneteenth has gained International recognition as well, especially in Mexico.  Juneteenth is about unity and equality, and is a powerful reminder in the USA as a great nation to be vigilant about fighting remaining racism and racial injustice.  Juneteenth, due to its celebration of ending slavery, is also a reminder for the civilized world to take a strong stand against the tens of millions of slaves in the world tied to human trafficking.   (Download PRINT version)

Previous Christian Social Justice Blog Entries: click on the titles to read the PDF files.

40 Million Slaves – August 2019

Christian Stiff-neckedness – November 2019