Building a Bridge

Christianity vs. Christ Followers

Nov 04, 2025

Darkness is crouching at the door. On top of the racialized political policies and violence imposed in the streets by militarized agents without due process, our government has once again failed children. On November 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paused all November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

A few hours ago, due to a lawsuit led by the likes of NC Attorney General, Jeff Jackson, a federal court ruled that the Agriculture Department acted unlawfully by refusing SNAP payments, and as a result, the administration has decided to provide half of the benefits through the program’s contingency fund. SNAP recipients under the age of 18 are approximately 39%, with approximately 11% of those children being under the age of 5. In a country that boasts about being amongst the richest in the world, these things should not be.

From a regime that claims Christianity with the continuing and alarming support of mostly white Christian evangelicals, these actions are contrary, not simply to the teachings of the Bible. They are contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to see the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).

Jesus Christ’s ministry has spiritual and physical manifestations. This is the reason that Jesus walked around physically healing sick people, raising the dead, and giving food to the famished. The faith of true disciples, Christ followers, includes physical acts that align with the practices, principles, and actions of Jesus. To respond otherwise is “goat behavior” (Reference: Matthew 25:31-46), to which Jesus will call people into account for their actions.

This past weekend on November 1, I had the good fortune of hearing Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings speak twice. This was not my first time hearing him speak, and I read a couple of his books in my doctorate program, so I am acquainted with his work and kingdom contribution. But on this morning, he spoke on the topic “Christianity vs. Christ followers” and gleaned from this book, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. I’m sharing some highlights and reflections for consideration.

Dr. Jennings shared history about the purpose of education in the United States of America.

Who was education for? The master’s son

What was the purpose of education? The master’s son was trained to understand his self-sufficiency as a white man.

What was the end state or goal of this education? For the master’s son to learn how to make his world and then to own it

This was the reality of the education of whiteness as it was formed in the womb of colonial Christianity, and this education was deeply rooted in a theological imagination. Once the world is made and owned by the white master’s sons, and they start reaping the benefits of mastery and ownership, then that brand of Christianity and success is viewed as God’s providence.

So, instead of viewing themselves as an affront to God’s mastery and ownership, they view themselves as favored by God. Therefore, any threats to their faith, their brand of “Christianity” is also a threat to what God is doing in the world.

It is critically important that we study to show ourselves approved, not just the Holy Bible, but also history. If we study history, then we would know that much of the propaganda, the misinformation, and disinformation that we are witnessing in the nation right now has been perpetrated before. This is not the first time that one of our presidents has broken the law or that politicians have fed themselves and left their constituents hungry. This is not the first time that laws have been written or ignored because of racialized agendas. This is not the first time that government agents have used violence against people in the streets without being provoked or without due process.

Now, I am not saying that we have seen “this type” of lawlessness before, for we have not seen a twice impeached and convicted President have control of the House and the Senate, and the support of the majority within the Supreme Court. The lack of checks and balances and this level of impunity is unprecedented. Only a few weeks ago, I sat in a room at a conference in Atlanta, GA to listen to Rev. Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, when she emphatically warned us that we have not seen this type of lawlessness before. So, there is cause for great concern when injustice is emboldened and empowered and then wrapped in a cloak of Christianity. Living in that world is dangerous because the master and his willing sons will literally kill others to maintain the deception and illusion of the lie that they are the masters and owners of the world. They leave no room for God.

It is with this historical and theological backdrop that Dr. Jennings presented responses to this type of Christianity.

1. Some people understand that this “Christianity” is bad, so they reject it. The people who fall into this category have been presented with this “Christianity,” and they decide that they want no parts of it.

2. Other people decide that this “Christianity” is bad, but they accept it anyway. Maybe they are threatened or afraid, so they may accept this “Christianity” in the day light, while they practice something else or nothing at all when night comes.

3. Then there are the last two groups of people who either accept this version of “Christianity” as their own and allow the narrative that the master has spoken over their lives to control their lives. It is the master’s world after all.

But then there is a last group who looks beyond the master’s tools and the master’s ways, to see with their spiritual eyes that there is something to “Christianity” or someone beyond the veil of what the master has spoken over their lives, so they accept the faith and rework it from the ground because they have spiritually experienced something that is beyond them. So, they learn through their suffering how to rework their faith.

It is this latter group that comes to see Jesus as master, owner, creator of all things in Heaven and on earth. This latter group becomes followers of Christ. They are the sheep who hear the shepherd’s voice and only respond to his voice. This group learns the straight and narrow way, and they walk in it. They learn how to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8) in the dark as agents of the one true master and owner.

They build bridges, communities, churches, schools, and they cultivate a shared world. In their faithfulness, perhaps, the one sheep who has wondered off will return to the master, and the goats can become sheep.

Will you continue to build bridges with me?

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