Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 18, 1986, edition 1 / Page 2
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ibitorialg - _ Gifts K - ~ f “Now when Jesus was born in Bethle hem of Judaea...behold, there came wise men from the east...(and when) they saw the young child with Mary his mother...and worshipped him...they presented him gifts; gpld, frankincense and myrrh." Matt.2:1, U ; For Christmas, the Joy of Christmas is noted in the birth of Jesus Christ And the mysterious spirit of generosity - gift-giving 4 which possesses us at Christmas time is the afterglow of Christ's wonderful birth, .v Yet,- as we exchange material gifts, we too often forget that they should by symbolic of the unmatchlng gift of God’s love for each of us. Little gifts then, that are expressions of our love and devotion to the recipients are in reality symbolic of God's spiritual gifts to us. Undoubtedly, the greatest of these is that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ." (Rom. 6:23) ._ In Managing God’s Gift Dolson and Davis note that “the Bible mentions some 30 gifts of the Spirit..." In I Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul names in an ascending order of value seven of the gifts of the Spirit: tongues,r prophecy, the understanding of mys teries, knowledge, faith, total sacrifice of goods and martyrdom. In fact Dolson and Davis remind us that “every human being is a ‘spiritual gifts manager' for each of us receives at least one spi ritual gift (I Cor. 12:7), and most Christians receive several.” I Corinthians 13 - the love chapter - Paul reminds- us that without love these spiritual gifts profit,us nothing. “As faithful managers and stewards of the gifts God has given us," Dolson and Davis add, “we can accomplish a lot with What we have if we use these gifts in an unselfish, loving way to bless those about us.” This is truly what Christinas fs all about; indeed this should be the essence of daily livitg. Thus, if . Christmas is true and real in your heart, you should give little gifts of love each day, even to those who may despise you. “Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink.” (Rom. 12:20) Dolson and Davis tell us too that in this Christmas, and more importantly each day, that there is a "...need for Christians to become serious about using the gifts God has given them - all of them. Not Just money, but time, the tongue, influence - in short, every aspect of life.” Thus, as we move about in this Christmas season, let us not get parallzed by the materialism of commercial gift-giving because someone has given us something, or get angry because no one reciprocated in turn giving us a gift or placing a heavy financial burden on yourself to purchase an “impressive” gift. Love would be no part of —such giving or receiving. "Spiritual gifts,” John Freeman writes, “is a theological term meaning any endowment that comes through the grace of God.” (Rom. l:ii). They make possible good works (Eph. 2:10). They are found in ability to speak an unlearned tongue (I Cor. 14:1-33); power to drive out evil spirits (Matt. 8:16; Acts 13:7-12); pro phecy (Rom. 12:6); keenness of discern ment (wisdom ) and knowledge (I Cor. 12:4-8). These gifts are to be sought diligently (I Cor. 12:9), but never at the risk of neglecting the more excellent way of pursuing faith, hope, and love, of which love is the greatest gift (I Cor. 13:1377Finally, everyone is accountable for any and all gifts bestowed upon them (I Peter 4:10; I Cor. 4:7). Thus, let’s put back or keep in place the . real meaning of Christmas by disbursing true gifts of the Spirit - the gift of God’s everlasting love to all who we may know or have contact with in this Christinas season. ' ‘'♦sag-.r fx^arC.iy.- H'Sf'v ‘ \\ • ‘TS/ran**'' 'i: • - . 7 ?“>,/• • V! In Denying One, You Deny Yourself Recent actions by the Botha government of South Africa to place total censorship on the news media is a painful reminder of the major impact of slavery followed by racial segregation upon the American southland and upon i^peoplfvntd^^e^y^s 25 it wasliecessaryW- thenfto"deny th££ selves too. This resulted from the need of whites to be preoccupied with laws, duplicated facilities, a rejection of a large percent of the potentially skilled labor force and a misrepresents ted form of govern ment. In very blunt terms, for whites to keep blacks in the gutter of denial they had to stay in that same gutter. Thus, as the P.W. Botha’s government seeks to continue to oppress and deny black South Africans their birth right in the most ' humane W*ys, be is mounting increasing denials upon, the white peopled «Ms supposedly protecttig from the blacks. While South Africa is certainly not the ; only nation in the world, or even on the African continent, without a free press, they have always led the outside world to believe that they strongly favor democracy, black suppression notwithstanding. • Just a glance back at American history and Botha would realize the tragic con sequence of his bad decision. If l funJUmcrrlJ...^ . Bring In The Clowns By Gerald O. Johnson Special To The Poet For well over a month the Bob Walton story has con sumed Charlotte’s every wakening hour. Hardly a day passes without some mention of Bob or the situation sur rounding him these days. The black community is tearing at the seams over the whole thing. I have heard many reasons for supporting his resigning as well as reasons for not supporting it. But when you filter through hat’s- being said, most sopje fall to varying into two categories, are those who feel ition has been blown out of proportion and though they don’t condone his actions, they do support his achievements and contribu tions on behalf of the black community. These indivi duals I shall refer to as Black Priders. Then we have those individuals whd$tand simply on principle. Right Is right, wrong is wrong. They feel Bob was wrong and that's that. These individuals we shall refer to as Black Principlers. The Priders and the Principlers will never come -— -.-’— PuMlihid Second Clat* Poetase Paid At Charlotte UeMieMaeM DiahMskSM* i NorthCaroHM^ AMOdltlM Miller a9 _ By Sherman N. Miller Special To The Poet In aueesing their chances of winning political office candidates are forced to answer the proverbial ques tion, “Where will I find 80 percent plus 1 vote?" A brief look at the 1968 United States senatorial campaign In the State of Louisiana reveals that the Republican Party strategists can no longer afford to ignore the black vote in their pursuit of victories. The percentage of the Louisiana black voting age population that is registered to vote doubled (81.1 to 88.8 percent) between 1960-84. Further, blacks made up a healthy 88 percent of all registered Louisiana voters in 1964. There is no doubt that the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid ignited the political spirit of the black community. Louisiana’s huge regis tered black vote is a poten tial nightmare for political strategists unless they learn how tomtttfte it or to neu tralise it The Republican Party’s low showing in the black community left them but one option, which was to find an honorable endeavor to mask an attack on Louisiana’s huge black vote. A Republican National Committee (RNC) report entitled “The Truth About The Republican Party’s Ballot Integrity Program" offers credence to my assertion: iff’.—i -- - - “In the left decade, in Louisiana, one U.S. con gressman was forced to resign from office (and ended up In prison) when the courts found his campaign guilty of using voter fraud to win the election, ahd another lost his re-election bid when 35 Democrat election offi cials in his congressional district were convicted of fraud.” The Republican strategists seized upon this golden opportunity to exploit the issue of voter fraud to diminish the impact of an adverse voter segment in Louisiana. They sent out 350, 000 pieces of mail to see how many returns they would get back. These letters were sent out, according to the RNC, “In 53 parishes... to Republicans and white Inde pendents only ... In the re maining 11 parishes...it was mailed to black Indepen ' i dents and black Democrats.” The question becomes, “How did Republicans know which voters were black?” The RNC contends, “As unbelievable as it sounds, in Louisiana, a statei long controlled by Demo crats, the voter is identified by race on the state regis tration roles.’ Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., chairman of the RNC, had . also sent letters to Charles T. Manhatt, former chairman;, of the National Democratic Committees, and Paul Kirk, i chairman of DNC, in 1984 and .' 1986, respectively, attempt ing to make vote fraud a bi-partisan issue. He chided Kirk by writing, “Instead of participating in our effort to root out fraud, the Democra tic National Committee pre fers political grandstanding by accusing Republicans of disenfranchising minority voters.” I recall reading numerous editorials critical of the Republican Party’s Ballot Integrity Program in the Shreveport Sun, an old and established black Louisiana newspaper. I kneto then that Republican U S. senatorial candidate Henson Moore was in serious trouble. I spoke with the Sun’s Publisher, Sonya Landry, on her perception of the RNC’s Ballot Integrity Program. She readily agreed that the Republicans were legally correct but she found it very difficult to support an acti vity that was tainted with the stench of disenfranchising black voters. Landry also gave me an estimate of how Louisiana’s black and whits communities cast their ballots in the November election. She says that U.S. Senator-ELect John Breaux (Democrat) got only 39 percent of the white vote and 85 percent of the black vote. Her comments offer another adage to better sum up the impact of RNC Ballot Intejpity Program: “The operation was a suc cess but the patient died.” Christmas Bureau vr; Begins Distributing Food, Toys i The Christmas Burssu, a city-wide cooperative project which tries to help needy families at Christmas la located at 31S0 Wilkin son Blvd. Pood and toys will ba distributed December ISIS for pre raflsterad families and December n-M tor non-ragletered ellente - •:» e.m. to 4:30 p.m Applicants should bring their Social Security number, driver’s llcenee, or other possible Identifi cation with them and an envelope bearing their current mailing address, and verification of Income. Anyone interested or groups may help by donating canned foods, new or nearly new toys for children agee six months to IS years, or money. Mak« checks payable to the (mrlstmas Bureau and mail to United Way, 301 South Brevard St., Clmrlotte, NC 38301 About 400 volunteers ere needed to operate the Bureau. Volunteers or those persons ^blng more Information may call • r;.?" if*'‘ /*$■« • • ‘ to terms on this issue be cause they view from com pletely different perspectives. The Priderfe feel somewhat threatened when the black community is portrayed in a hegative light. They will without a doubt circle the wagons when out siders start painting a nega tive picture of the com munity or any of its members.; The Principlers could care less about circling the wagons on negative publici ty, unless the publicity was in error. Moreover, they have represent those principles who betray those principles. This community split was predictable. The only way to avoid it would have been for Bob to resign. He has not and he may not. But the whole situation has created some personal, deep concerns. They center on the skewed perspectives of both the Priders and the Principlers. The Priders in their zest to rally behind bfyck causes (right or wrong) have on occasion foregone any prin ciples. They have forgotten that to be able to get a sound following, they must stand behind more than just pride If you don’t, then no one will take you seriously. Pride without" principle will leave you wandering without purpose. r'pmwmmr their aetlio itradrai toothing have toned thel naaelve gg «“v demands. for *«**]»*to a** through their andtteir arrasra®: SssSSSl^ ip|^ whole lltUAtiCH) is reminiscent or these words to wSfiaftoZc^wSI maybe they are lift* Deadline ^
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 18, 1986, edition 1
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