Shane Idleman, alongside Pastor Abram Thomas, addresses the pressing issues of racism and unity in America, particularly in light of recent events surrounding George Floyd's death. They emphasize the importance of understanding different perspectives and the need for believers to come together in love and truth, rather than allowing division to take root. The discussion highlights the reality of racism as a sin issue rather than a skin issue, urging Christians to reflect on their hearts and actions. They call for repentance and a commitment to fostering unity within the church and society, recognizing that true change comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hello everyone, I want to just welcome you to a special edition here from Westside Christian Fellowship. I've asked our associate pastor, Pastor Abram Thomas, to kind of come and shed some light on what's going on in our nation. And we haven't rehearsed this, we just talked a few minutes just now, and I know his heart, he knows my heart. We just want to kind of share maybe what's going on in America, hear from a black man, hear from a white perspective. Not that that really matters, but I think when people can understand what's going on and why it's going on and how can we as believers, I mean that's mainly who we're talking to is believers because the unbelievers are going to act the way they act. So we wanted to focus on unity in uncertain times, kind of that's the topic this evening. And I am going to be looking at my phone a little bit because we've got some questions coming in. So if you're on Facebook Live, our page, our personal page, my page, the church page, I'm going to go back and forth a little bit and try to find some of these questions. And I don't really even know where to start other than Floyd that was killed recently in Minneapolis. It's just, like I told you, I couldn't even watch the video really. My wife, I mean we're in shock. I think that's what, and a lot of people I think confuse, you know, some of the questions are like why aren't white pastors saying anything? And so I think we're trying to just process what just happened. And I like what Will Smith said, it's not that racism is increasing in America, because I don't think it is. I think it was really bad, you know, a hundred and a half years ago, he said, but now it's being filmed and now we're seeing it. So yeah, thoughts on your end? Well, first of all, I want to say I'm praying for George Floyd's family. And we send our condolences to you. Our heart goes out to you and your family. This is, like Pastor said, this is just shocking, even though it seems like it's happening, you know, pretty much frequently in our country right now. And yeah, there are outrage on both ends of this. A lot of people who are, who are not really vocal about the injustice in our country in these types of situations. It is very telling. It's very telling within the church. A lot of leaders have been more vocal about the protest than the loss of a life, the loss of an innocent life. Oh, that's true. And that's kind of telling. You know, as a black man, you know, growing up in this country and experiencing racism at times and within the church too. It's very telling. You know, the silence of many on both sides, you know, is deafening. So like you said, we're in shock. I don't have the answer. I don't know what, how we move forward from this. How do we, we see change in our culture? And we're not on a timeframe, so just, you know, speak your heart. But I think a couple things that came in, people are asking what exactly is white privilege? Because I think that's being thrown out there a lot. And I think of white privilege is, you know, if you look across the board overall in America, a white man and a black man, the white man overall is going to be favored, maybe in a certain position, a certain job. But then when I look at it, you know my background, coming up in construction, had to work my tail off, learning disabilities, didn't get through college. So I had a lot of disadvantages and working hard was really paying off. And people throw that out, oh, it's just white privilege. So that can be offensive too, I think, to some of us. But on the other hand, I see what people are saying because overall, black people have had a harder chance of getting hired, maintaining jobs. And then I went to 24-hour fitness center and I just look for good sales reps. Some of the best three sales reps I had were black guys, black friends, wanted to promote them. I actually wanted to promote them more because of all this. And so I think that's what's hard is we're all thrown into this, you know, well, you're white, you just have white privilege. So yeah, help us maybe unpack that term. Well, it's not a blanket thing. White privilege is, I think, a reality in our country, you know, of course, after 400 years of slavery, and by and large, in part, those who are in authority, a lot of companies, governmental leaders, you know, that happen to be white. And, you know, I think with that being said, with the historic just, you know, position of power in our nation, the way that things have been for a while there, it has been set up in a way, in some instances, for white people to have... Have more prosperity. Exactly, have an advantage in some cases. Now, I do believe that this is still the greatest country in the world. And if you work hard here, if you have a good attitude, if you have a work ethic, if you, of course, honor God, that no one can keep you down. You know, I don't feel, I feel like a lot of times in our country, political figures, you know, other figures use racism, which is real, don't get me wrong, but they use that oppression to keep us down, to keep us in that victim mentality. And, you know, I read my Bible and my Bible says, if God be for us, who really can be against us? That's a great point. You know, and if God is for us, I believe that we can be victorious, even in a system that is broken. It's been broken since Adam and Eve. You know, racism is nothing new. And it's not a black-white thing, really. It's a sin issue. It's a sin issue. It's not a skin issue. It's a sin issue. Yeah, the heart of man. And so I have a choice as a black man. I have people in my family who are very vocal about being racist against white. So it runs both ways. Both ways. And to the extent, you know, where, you know, they can't even have any friends of, you know, that are white. And so I see it on both ends. But historically, of course, in America, the white, not only say race, but have power. Yeah, that's true. And so that white privilege, I think there's some, there's a lot of truth there. But at the same time, I do believe that God is able to supersede any of that. Because who's going to stop God if God's, look what he's doing in your life. Exactly. I mean, many, you know, we just talked about Darrell Doris, our city councilman here, who we elected. We hope to elect him here. And, you know, he's so I totally agree. There is something to that, for sure. I just think when it's a blanket statement applying to all, like you only got where you got because you're white, you know, it takes away from, you know, the hard work and the discipline. And we probably should clarify, too, I don't know how many people know this, but when the Pilgrims came over in the 16, 1620, 1630, slavery was not an issue at all. It was brought over from Great Britain and the Great Britain brought slavery over into the colonies. And then if you want, you can if you download my book, One Nation Above God for free in the back, it talks about all the founding fathers who were actually against slavery, fought against slavery. And you have Ulysses S. Grant, you have Abraham Lincoln, you have hundreds of thousands who died. So I think that's that's kind of what I think hurts some white people sometimes is is this whole white people thing, slavery in America, America's bad. Actually, America and the whole foundation wasn't bad. It was certain people in positions of leadership and racist in the southern states. And actually, it's came in a few times, you know, about the I don't remember it was a three fifth clause where a black person was only three fifths. Many people don't realize it was actually an anti-slavery legislation giving the southern states less power to vote. Wow. That was the whole reason behind it. It wasn't to minimize people. It said, OK, the southern states, they were losing their authority to vote. And when the north was you can anyone can research that. That's exactly why it was was initiated. And then also, what about how some people are justifying the rioting, the looting and, you know, displaced anger, maybe it's displaced anger when you feel powerless, when you feel like you can't do anything. A lot of time that that emotion charges you up to do things that are not right. And it's not justified, I would say, to lash out in that way. But when when people are hurt, it's to be expected to a certain extent. Now, there are those who are opportunists who are waiting for opportunities like this to go out and and to cause havoc and to lose and to to take advantage of the situation. And we see that often on both ends. But in no way, shape or form does this type of rioting reflect how God would want us to handle that or reflect the black people. I know, you know, most African-American people. Yeah. We you know, you know, I grew up learning about Martin Luther King, you know, and and those who stood for equality, those who fought and not, you know, nonviolent, you know, who stood for what was right, who spoke up against injustice and did so with dignity, with class. I gave you that 800 page bio. Yeah. So that's those those when you he did it the right way, did the right way. When you you you only overcome hate with love. Yeah. You only you cannot give evil for evil. The Bible is very clear for that. And God ultimately is the one who gets vengeance. Yes. So, you know, before I'm even a black man, I identify as a Christ follower. So everything in my life is filtered through that relationship and what he says about things and how he would have handled that. But when you see our Lord, he he gave his life willingly. He sacrificed and he he did not speak against that. And so I'm not saying we should not speak up against this injustice. I'm not saying we should just stand, stay in our homes and be silent. You know, for many years I've done that and I regret that to a certain extent. We as spiritual leaders in our our nation need to speak up. We need to speak up against many of the social injustices we see in our culture. Things like abortion, things like racism, things like, you know, the many different social. So that could lead right into the next. Well, to answer that question for those out there, we see why they're looting and rioting, even though we don't think it's the right response. We understand why they're doing it and the enemy is trying to divide us even right now. He's trying to divide our nation. So those listening Christians and primarily we need to just be humble, broken, like Pastor Abrams said, you know, do something about it. And that leads right into the next question. Take action. What what would that look like? Because, you know, I've had people chime in that white pastors don't speak on racism very much. And there's there's a lot of truth to that. And I was trying to think about that all day today. Like, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we had Daryl Doris in the unity conference a year ago. Every time I'm in Ephesians or somewhere or, you know, if it's in the text, I'll talk about the hardness of the heart, racism, division, hardheartedness, pornography, you know. But I have noticed that, you know, it's not I don't really talk about it. But to me, it's not a conscious effort. OK, I'm not going to talk about racism. It's more of maybe because we don't experience it as much. It's not. So it's not a sensitive point. It's not a sensitive point. But on the other hand, and you being a pastor speaking truth, you know this. I don't feel this from police, but I feel the same type of pressure from from the world, from governing authorities about the message I give. So I live in a state of, you know, it's a difference. It's not just navigating landmines, but it's like, yeah, it's like I feel the same pressure not being black or white because you have policemen again, you know, some policemen are against those and those in authority. But preachers of truth right now in California, you know, they're not they're not looked upon very favorably. And you get the nasty emails, you get the death threats, you get, you know, so it's kind of, you know, we can't relate to what it is being a black person. But I think a lot of people can't relate on what it is being a pastor preaching truth in a society that would rather have you dead. Exactly. You know, I know. Oh, yeah. So what was how could we be more active? So from the pulpit more when we're when we're talking about the wretchedness of man and call out racism? I think so. I think, OK, I think you've been intentional to do that. And I was I could do more, though. I thought about Mike. Yeah, I guess I don't do it much. I'll do more on both sides. But I was here last year when we did that with Daryl Doris. And yeah, and that was the first time I'd ever in a church, you know, setting ever seen a whole night kind of dedicated to addressing these issues. So I want to commend you for that. But I would say in my experience, a lot of my mentors, you know, a lot of times I would see them be very vocal about men like Colin Kaepernick. And oh, yeah. And I mean, preach go on these rants about how he's kneeling during the national anthem, you know, and I don't necessarily agree with all his methods and what he stands for. But trying to be that voice, he's willing to to to take a stand for what he believed in. But on the other end, there would be deafening silence from those leaders when it comes to situations like with George Floyd. And I've seen that to be true just over the last few days. Those same men who were very vocal about other issues and, you know, in Hollywood, other things that weren't as controversial, they've been pretty silent on this as well. And so I begin to, you know, see that trend. And and and, you know, it's it's, you know, it's frustrating and maybe this will help to a little bit. The main the main beef right now or the main not believers, but unbelievers, black unbelievers is really hating police officers. So I think that's hard, too, because we know and you know, so many that attend our church. I don't know of any that are racist. Of course there are. I mean, there's bad out there's bad pastors, there's bad policemen. So I think policemen are fearful because now they're thrown into this whole lump and preaching from the pulpit. I don't know of any racist in here in the whole church. I don't think they'd be coming here, honestly, if they were. But there is a way to call out racism of a heart. And to me, it's calling out the sinful heart. So if a person is a racist, I don't know how they could be a Christian. I mean, if they truly hate another color, I'd really have them question their faith. Honestly, I agree. And how do people keep linking this to Trump? I don't know. That's a far reach. I just think a lot of people just hate Trump. OK, and so they're going to look in any way they can link this to him. And a lot of times we live in a culture where we if someone has a different view than you politically, then then they're a bigot or they're a racist. And we're very emotionally charged today in our culture where we're quick to label other people are racist or whatever it may be. And I think that's a far reach to to to put that on our president. I pray for our president because I know he's constantly under these attacks. But I feel like the answer, like you talked about earlier, is it's a sin. Like you said, it's a sin issue. And like you said, I don't believe a person who truly has been given a new heart in Christ can truly be a racist and can just hate people, you know. And that's an indictment in a lot of churches today. Someone said the most segregated hour of the week is Sunday morning, you know, churches on both ends. I'm not saying white churches, but black churches, too. We should actually springboard off of that because I've been thinking a lot about that over the last few years. And do you think a lot of that is also preference? Yeah, it's preference. Because there's like the church is so racist. Well, preference, music style. Yeah. Some people like, you know, they just every prefer a certain like in the black church has a long history of powerful praise and worship, emotional. I mean, it's engaging. It's really incredible to go to an all black church. I've been to I've been a few in my and it's like, but I can't really dance, you know, but they're praising God. They're on fire. And a lot of those church, I think, was the AME church. A lot of those came out of slavery in our country. So there's a deep, passionate worship of God. And and many times the white churches don't have that. So the black people gravitate towards that atmosphere. So it's not really I don't think it's a lot. It's cultural. Yeah. So I think I think the church is there is racism in the church, but I don't think it's what people are, you know, because people can walk into this church where, you know, we've we've invite we don't even care as long as you're a believer. And we don't have a high percentage of black people. Right. And a lot of it is your community. Or Hispanic. Yeah. A lot of it is where you are. Yeah, exactly. I would say a red flag would be if you're in, you know, Englewood, California, you know, your church is probably going to be, you know, primarily black and Hispanic, you know. But, you know, if you're in, let's say, a city metro like that, but your church doesn't reflect anything of your surroundings, it could be an indicator that you're only trying to target certain people. Absolutely. So, yeah, I agree. A lot of it is cultural. A lot of it is preference. But a lot of it, I mean, in some cases, I believe there there is. Yeah, there is there is for sure. And what about was it Arbery? Right. That kid that got shot. And that's I mean, all these are coming out. Isn't interesting. That happened in February. Yeah. And then so they just released the video a couple of weeks ago. And the big what my my question was, why are releasing it so late? But also these guys didn't get in trouble until it was released. Yeah. I mean, so we clearly have a problem with with with race issues and racism. And I think it's important for people to know that we recognize that we don't try to hide it under the we don't brush it under the doormat. We just are sometimes in shock. And let's speak out. And I talked to I've talked to at least a dozen police officers in the last year who go here and wanting to see where their hearts are at, wanting to make sure. And so we're going directly to these officers. We had one officer here. I don't I don't think you're here at this time. He actually pulled over on the one to one freeway and gave a black woman overdosing CPR, restored her. But you don't hear about that. You don't hear about the policeman bringing food to underprivileged families and all these things because the enemy is trying to divide our nation. And there are some horrific things going on. I'm not dismissing it, but I think as believers, we can't get caught up on the one extreme or the other. It's like this is terrible. These guys need to be charged. I'm pretty sure he's going to get manslaughter and he's not going to do well in prison. I mean, this is he's this is not good. But at the other hand, you know, vandalizing police cars and all policemen are bad. What would you do without policemen? Any any color, any color would you want? No policeman. I want policemen when someone's breaking it. You know, I want to be able to call someone's going to come in a car accident, you know, so. But you but being black, there's a different upbringing. There's a truth to where, you know, the police overall, I think it's it's it's a double edged sword because being black, it's harder, there's more profiling, the police are going to be different. Yeah. But then the police now see this and all these Hollywood stars saying we need to retaliate, we need to get back at the police. And so it's almost a cycle of fear that keeps, you know, now the police are fearful for their lives. Dallas, Texas, remember, was it a gunman that shot down five police officers from a and maybe it was it's because it's it's we deserve it. And I don't say white, but but I didn't hear too many people speaking out about that. It was almost like, yeah, you know, so I just see this just never ending cycle. We it's imbalanced. It's it's it's like you said, it's fear. Our media, a large in part, they operate on, you know, perpetuating fear. Right. And putting people on these emotional roller coasters. And, you know, right now this is fresh and it's a fresh woman. A lot of people are posting and angry and protesting and doing all these things. But in a few days, you know, when a few news cycles goes back, you know, things will, you know, settle down to some extent and and people return back to their lives. Now, I feel like we need to, you know, as as pastors, what we need to do is to is to preach against sin, preach, preach against pride, to to continually allow God to use us to come against these social injustices, but not be focused on one and to the point of imbalance. Right. For sure. And that's the way the way that our country is going to change. We know it is not political. It's not programs. It's not some type of, you know, change in law enforcement. It's going to happen one change heart at a time by the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see the church where we've dropped the ball is if we we haven't been salt and light in our community, we haven't reached our our our neighbors for that fact. And so so there's a lot of people who are lost and lost. People are going to do things like what we saw happen to George Floyd this week. And so I think like like you said, it's a sin problems, not necessarily a skin problem. And the policeman was probably lost. I'm a believer. So, yeah, you know. And so we we've got to we got to pray for him. We got to pray for many others who who are who are without Christ. And how do we expect them to act? Yeah. You know, and so and I scrolled through some black pastors I know who seem to be, you know, very Martin Luther King. But also you could see there's a definite disdain towards law enforcement in general. I don't know if that's healthy, but they there was a theme I kept seeing of, you know, now it's our time to not get back. But now it's so what what would that look like? Because you're right. You can't how do you change an entire police force? I mean, number one, you don't you have to stand up and say this. This is not acceptable anymore. You need to let officers know that, guys, this is not this is not going to happen anymore. And changing the heart, changing our nation. But people are getting frustrated because you're not speaking out, Shane, or we're not doing more like what I guess that's a frustration is we don't know. We don't know. You know, first to tell you, but other than go to your local authorities and just make yourself known, pastors need to be at the the precinct, you know, you know, cooking up hot dogs and hamburgers, getting to know those officers, trying to win them to Jesus. You know, my neighbor, he's a young man and he's a he's a sheriff deputy. And we've we've we've bonded, you know, and I go to every one of his kids birthday party by him over, you know, we've been each other's homes, you know, we help each other. And and I'm building that relationship because I want to win him to Jesus Christ. Yeah. And and so I the answer answer is always Jesus. So I understand that hurt. I understand that pain. I've been profiled. I've been in the back of cars. You know, I remember at 13 years old being held gunpoint because I fit the description of my mother on the balcony screaming, I guess my son, you know, it's my baby. I have these vivid encounters and I understand what, you know, many are are crying out about. But at the same time, like I mentioned before, you know, I'm a Christ follower, so I can't allow my emotions to be my compass. I have to follow his word and his spirit and what he says to do in these situations. And I believe that we are to be as pastors, the voice for those who don't have a voice. We ought to use the platform that God has given us to to point out that in in people's lives and to come against that in Jesus name. So I don't have the answer, you know, long term. But I think the answer may be not lumping us all together. No, do not lump, you know, all policemen. I'll tell you some of the best people in our church, some of the best people in my life, you know, law enforcement, white, you know, I my mother raised us not to see color. I'm so thankful for that. She raised me to see people for the content of their characters. And some of the most influential people in my life have been white people. So we cannot put the blanket statement over law enforcement, over white people and vice versa, you know. And so I think that's what fuels racism a lot is, you know, every young black man is, you know, he's violent and no, sir. But think of thousands of churches did what we're doing, black and white pastors talking on Facebook, putting out there that would calm the fires because we're reminding people, hey, listen, we don't agree with what happened. We're heartbroken what happened. We're going to get through this together. We're going to love each other. But the anger and retaliation is not a healthy response whatsoever. It's not. It will not bring the change. It will just confirm a lot of what, you know, people who who profile and who have prejudice towards whatever race, it will just confirm a lot of that. You know, they're just angry and violent. And I don't that's not the way that we should handle this. But I understand the hurt. I at the same time, I don't want to hurt. Yeah, I don't want to minimize what what they're feeling because I know what that feels like. Yeah, let me see if any other ones came in on. Do you have any other questions on your end, you know, about this whole the Arbery? Yeah, that was, you know, that's another situation which, you know, I questioned the timing of the release, you know, of that video. Who do you think released it? Like I probably said now that no charges are being filed, let's somebody had to maybe they felt guilty. They had the video. That's true. You know, but, you know, it's just I think, you know, the media. They play a big role in this and the tensions that we see in our country, I believe that Satan's behind it, I believe he's behind this and trying to divide our country at this this this season where we're already going through a lot. I don't think that the timing was a coincidence. I think it's just people are already on eggshells. People are already nervous about and worried about a lot of things. And then then to add this fuel to the fire now, it's terrible, it's wrong. But I believe, you know, those men, there's justice to be served in that situation. Now, if it's not, then you can see another step being taken. But I think people are it's kind of like they're already giving a verdict. They're already I mean, they are guilty, but they're already they're already assuming that justice is not going to be served. So be interesting to see how this plays out for sure. But those listening need to understand something. White, black, green, red, blue. We're we don't we don't condone it. I think it was a terrible act. These things we're seeing on the media are just so shocking. But you have to remember, there's millions and millions of good people. These are just these are just look what the enemy is doing. It just pulls us out and then divides a nation, divides it. Christians, Facebook posts. Yes. You know, and law enforcement can be a very good tool as far as deterring evil. And so the enemy is just, you know, wanting to highlight this and really, you know, trying to knock us off course with disunity. Yes, because disunity is is a playground for the devil. Yeah, he's he's so discordant. And you're right. Law enforcement is God given. You know, God, you know, has put law enforcement into place to protect the innocent. Right. You know, to to to keep order. And so the answer isn't to throw away law enforcement as a whole. Or the answer isn't to demonize law enforcement as a whole. We you know, we need law enforcement. Yeah. But yeah, it's just it's just really who do you think we should be? What should we be looking for in our next presidential candidate? Someone who's going to be pro law enforcement, someone who's not going to take the bait and try to use the pain and hurt of many in this country who who have experienced, you know, racism. What about when they say Trump is a racist? That's not true. I believe that's projecting. I believe that's something that people project. Tell me, you know, there's any proof. Is there proof? You know, I would say that, you know, where's the proof? You know, I feel like when now in arguments in our culture, if you cannot prove something, you just get louder and say you're a racist. You're a bigot. You're you know, you're a homophobe. You know, us up here preaching about what the Bible says about certain lifestyles. We're labeled these things when really we're speaking the truth in love. No, I love you enough to tell you the truth. And so I believe a lot of people in our culture are falling into that that pattern. You know, I don't believe Trump is a racist. You know, I've you know, I've been vocal about that with my family. You know, they are happy with that. I've been vocal, you know, at the barbershop, you know, saying that we dodge bullets if other candidates from other parties would be in the office right now. We'd probably be a lot worse than we are right now. Yeah. You know, I support President Trump and his stance for liberties in this country from for, you know, some of the decisions he's made, you know, globally, like Israel being, you know, named, you know, he just needs to run his Twitter account through. That's it. You know, I pray for him. Yeah, he he's not always the most humble with his tweets. Yeah, I pray for that. But yeah, I feel like that's what's taking place. A lot of people label, you know, when they don't have really the facts to back it up. That's true. Do you have anything else on the race issue? No, something that we've got to be. We have to be intentional to to preach about when it comes up inscription to to teach our children, disciple our children. You know, I I don't my kids don't know race. Yeah. You know, they know people. That's true. And everyone's their friends. You know, I think racism is something that's taught. Yeah. You know, it's something that parents and other, you know, influential people teach to their their families. So yeah, they probably wouldn't know it if it didn't. If you don't teach your kids, they don't know the difference. No, my kids don't know. They don't they don't. You know, my son the other day, you know, he said, Dad, why are you dark brown? And I'm light brown. You know, just a junior. Yeah. He's asking me these questions like, and grandma, she you know, my wife, of course, is Mexican and black. I'm like, it's like and grandma, she's she's her skin is white, you know, and and so he's just asking me questions about, you know, skin color. And I said, you know, God, he's a God of diversity. Just look at creation. Look at all these flowers and look at all these plants. Look at his the beautiful colors all throughout nature. God made us diverse, you know, but we're all made in his image. We're all equal, son. There's no one who is better than you. There's no one who, you know, you need to look down to and there's no one that you should look down upon. Yeah. And that's what I've been putting into my children. You know, I'm glad you said this because I've been feeling it for a while that racism can run two ways. And I really can't say that because then I'm, you know, it goes both ways. I have people in my family and oh, yeah, in my family who who are very staunch racists. They believe that white people come from a different species. Yeah, I'm not kidding you. They believe that the homo sapiens or are the cavemen. Yeah, yeah. Those that that that white and Jesus is black. I was at the park the other day, you know, not social distancing, playing basketball, you know, there's like an edit that part out. Hit that. And there's a black man, he's a he's a African Hebrew Israelite, you know, and interesting beliefs. And he's you know, I start talking to him about God. He's like, you know, yeah, he lights up. But then he starts to talk about how the Bible's been changed and that we are the you know, we're Israel and we're the Hebrews. And I said, you know, I don't necessarily I don't agree with that. And so it's racism on both sides. Racism is not just coming from one side. Well, let me tell you something that really stands out. We are at what would be my wife was at what would be considered a black church. And they are, I would say. They're close to that line of a black church only, you know, and her purse was actually stolen out of her car and the credit cards, it was a nightmare in their parking lot. And they wouldn't even call the police back to give the information. So we felt from the get go, they were already working against us and like, oh, well, poor white person got their purse stolen out of the parking lot and they didn't return police phone. They didn't turn their calls. No, they wouldn't release any footage, you know. So I felt I felt like it was definitely definitely racism at that. Now, I don't know. Maybe it wasn't, but they were they were they were angry at me and my wife for being white and they weren't going to give the police and her purse was stolen in their park, stolen in their parking lot. You know, so it is just sad. But I think like you said, if we can change the heart of pastors come together, we've got to be that voice of truth. We've got to be that voice of unity and then just keep fighting against this and be and maybe like you said, speak out a little bit more on but being slow to speak, quick to listen and just having love in our tones and different things. That's what it is. Speak the truth and love. You know, you need to be known for our love first and have relationships with people so that we can talk about these issues, that we can constructively work through this together. And like I said, racism isn't isn't not a one way street. It's true. It's an all no matter what ethnicity you are. It is. And it's wrong, whatever angle it comes from. And we got to speak up against it. Amen. Amen. Do you want to close in prayer? Let me let me throw this out there, though, those listening, if you do have if you are racist in your heart, whether it's towards me or Pastor Abram or skin color, I just want to encourage you to repent of that. It's a sin that is not pleasing in God's sight. And if your heart is towards hatred towards others, you really have to question your heart. You don't know. You might not know Jesus Christ because he changes your heart. And I used to work in construction with people who call themselves Christians and they were very racist and they were not Christians. So I think, you know, and a lot of the southern states, you know, use the Bible. And, you know, you just have to really check your heart here. If there's a hatred for other men, you don't have the love of the father in you. And this should be a time of deep repentance and humility and coming back to God. So I'll just let you close this out if you could. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we come to you and we know that you are the way, the truth and the life and that no man comes to the father except through you. And I just pray most of all that those who would look at this video, that they would be saved, Lord, that they would come to know you as Lord. And when I pray for our country, I pray that you would revive our countries to start at your house church. Lord, help us to be a lighthouse once again for your truth, for your love, for your grace. Lord, change our hearts. May there not be within the ranks of churches, any racist, any racism, any prejudice, any type of injustice. Lord, I pray that you would just radically change us from the inside out, Lord. And I ask that you would just be with George Floyd's family, Lord, and just give grace there, Lord, and give wisdom to our president and others in leadership in Minnesota right now and just all that we're navigating through in our country. We ask that you would work, Lord Jesus. We love you. We trust you. Thank you for this time we've had to come and just address these issues. We ask in Jesus name that you would bless. Amen. Amen. Amen.