Page 42 - Evidence of Things Unseen

black men from Nigeria declared that they would like to do so.
I went with this assistant pastor to pick up these students a couple of times, and then
he asked me if I would do so by myself, saying that he had some other things he must do.
I remember the first time I pulled into the church parking lot at this white Baptist church,
and got out of my car with these two young men. Other church members stared at us, and
some even pointed. I did not understand why they were doing so. During the church service
I sat on a pew with these two men, and nobody else in the church would sit with us.
I did not realize that there was a reason for this the first time it happened. When it
happened again the next Sunday understanding began to dawn upon me. The pew we were
sitting in was right in the middle of the sanctuary, and the pews all around us were filled,
but here we were sitting on one end of our pew, taking up perhaps one fifth of its space, and
the other four fifths were vacant. Only then did the thought come to me that there were
some in this church who did not like the fact that there were blacks present. My eyes were
opened to the fact that professing Christians could be just as prejudiced as those outside the
church.
What a shame this seemed to me, for I truly enjoyed fellowship with these young men
I was bringing to church. They seemed to have a real sincere love for the Lord. I saw no
basis for a child of God to be entertaining any thoughts of racial prejudice. It seemed to me
to be absolutely absurd. One might just as well reject another man based upon their shoe
size as their skin color.
That such prejudices exist in the church strikes me as one of the greatest failings in
this hour of apostasy. It was many years later when I met Leon Nelson, and I was
immediately challenged by this man’s zeal for the Lord, and in my spirit I felt a kinship. His
Sunday evening messages were something I looked forward to greatly. I am convinced that
God brought Leon to this church to step into the role vacated by Mac Goddard. Mac had
taught the church a message of grace that led them from the bondage of Egypt into the
wilderness, and Leon was God’s chosen servant to lead them through the wilderness and
into the land of their inheritance.
Leon lived a life of faith, and faith is necessary to enter into one’s inheritance in Christ.
Without faith the saints will perish in desert places. The church searched and searched for
a replacement minister, and all the time God had placed him right under their noses. No
one could be found to step into this role, and they would not ask Leon to do it. Leon was
allowed to preach on Sunday nights, but it was as if there was some unwritten code that
prevented him from being asked to preach during the morning service.
To be sure, Leon’s race was not the only thing that kept him from being considered for
the role of pastor for this body. His message of faith, and his sober words calling the saints
to walk with integrity before God, hearing from the Spirit and doing exactly what the Spirit
commanded, were intimidating to many in the congregation. There were many among this
body who simply recoiled at the thought of following God wherever He would lead them.
Like the Israelites who were daunted by the giants in the land, by the walled cities and the
many strongholds, so too did many in this body shrink back from the command to go in and
take possession of the land.

I Corinthians 10:1-6
For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the
cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud
and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual