Isaac Crockett: Hello and thank you for listening to our program today. Happy Monday, I guess I could say. As if this Monday wasn’t already happy enough, it’s even tax day today too, so we get to make sure that our taxes have been paid to the government. But I’m glad you’re listening to us actually. We are very thankful for all of you who listen to our program.
Isaac Crockett: I’m Isaac Crockett and the other co-host that you normally have with you, Sam and Dave and Gary, they are all away at other ministry events going on right now, so they’re not able to join us today. But I do have a special guest who I’ll be introducing in just a few moments here.
Isaac Crockett: But, I would like to thank you for being a part of the American Pastors Network, for being a part of In the Gap Today, just even by listening. If you are a one of our partners out there praying for us, we are especially thankful. We need prayer and we need your praying and listening to us to keep this ministry going in.
Isaac Crockett: Then, also very thankful for those of you who give to us financially, that helps keep us on air, so thank you so much for that. As we think about giving and we think about taxes, I think of the statement that some of our American forefathers made when Britain was taxing them and they said, “No taxation without representation.”
Isaac Crockett: Yet, today we’re going to be talking about a group of people who for a long time they were not represented. In fact, they were slaves, brought here from the African continent, brought across the Atlantic Ocean and forced into servitude. We’ll be talking with our special guest about that today.
Isaac Crockett: In fact, I’d like to introduce Dr. Joseph Green. He’s is the pastor of Antioch Fellowship in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He’s been a good friend to Sam Rohrer, the president APN and an integral part really of the American Pastors Network for a long time here. Joe is also the founder of the 2019 Movement, which we’ll talk about. So Joe, thank you so much for making the time to be on with us today.
Joe Green: Thank you for having me, Isaac. It’s always a pleasure to be here with you guys and Stand in the Gap. Unfortunately, Sam and Gary’s not here, but it’s always a pleasure to be with you, Isaac, always.
Isaac Crockett: For those you listening, Joe, Dr. Joseph Green is also on several of our different initiatives, but one of the ones that I work with him through the American Pastors Network is we have the program here Stand in the Gap Today, but we also have an initiative called Bridging the Gap and it’s working to get pastors and churches together, sometimes working around the ethnic divides or age gaps, different millennials working with baby boomers and different things like that.
Isaac Crockett: So we’ve got to know each other through that, but one of the things you’ve talked about on the television with us. In fact, if you’re listening to us on radio and you would like to listen to other interviews we’ve had with Joe, you can go back to our archives online.
Isaac Crockett: You can get our Stand in the Gap app and you can find archives on there as well and you can also- The TV clips. So, Dr. Joseph Green has been on the TV with us. You could watch the videos and in that, you talk about the 2019 movement.
Isaac Crockett: Now, I think, that was actually back in 2018, when we were on TV with you. You are talking about the year coming up 2019, so Joe, could you maybe let our listeners in a nutshell, what is the 2019 movement and why is this year so important for us?
Joe Green: Yeah, absolutely. Being a pastor, working in the inner cities, and working with multicultural and multiethnic groups, we do see in the last few years there has been an uprising or stirring of like divisiveness across racial and cultural boundaries. As I begin to pray into it, because as a pastor, you always-
Joe Green: It bothers you or it troubles you when you see that. I really felt like the Lord says you have to look deeper beyond the surface because we know there’s always a pattern. God has patterns of how he deals with us and the enemy always has patterns.
Joe Green: So, as you begin to look at the patterns of what was going on now, how does that line up to biblical historical perspective. There’s a 400 year pattern that I saw throughout the Bible. It was during the time of the Exodus. God had told Abraham that his people would be in Egypt for 400 years.
Joe Green: Then, he was going to deliver them from oppression and he was going to bless them basically. It says, “with great substance,” which, I take that as economic empowerment. So, at the time that that happened, through Moses, it was a breakdown of the family. There was a breakdown of attack on the males, attack on the babies. There was economic oppression.
Joe Green: Then, I saw another 400 year pattern. That 400 year pattern was from the Old to the New Testament. They call it The Silent Years. God, again, is sending deliverance. He’s sending his spirit into- His prophetic time is being released through Jesus, the Messiah. There was an attack on the males, an attack on the babies, a breakdown of the family and the economic oppression.
Joe Green: Herod said, “Kill all the male babies,” below a certain age. Then, I start to look at the black community in America and what do we see? We see an attack on the males, an attack on the babies, a breakdown of the family and economic oppression.
Joe Green: I felt like the Lord was saying that this pattern that we have here happens, and it’s really accelerated right before a great move of God, because God’s desire is for every nation, every tribe, and every tongue to come together. As I began to look at it, I realized that 1619 was the year that the first African slaves came to the British colonies of what became United States.
Joe Green: Again, when we look at abortion that has a higher percentage of African-American babies aborted than any other race. We see a breakdown of the family and we’ll probably talk about that during this time together, but I saw all those patterns and I believe that when God brings that to the surface, it’s because he’s bringing forth his reconciliation, his unity, his restoration and all those great things, which is why we started the 2019 Movement.
Joe Green: We started is in 2016, and, of course, we are now in the year 2019. I do see a lot of things moving in the right direction, based on my experience and where God has taken us around the country.
Isaac Crockett: Joe, that is great and it’s so great to look historically what’s happening. We have about a minute before our first break. Could you just introduce into something similar, but it’s the 400 Year African History Commission. Could you just briefly tell us what that is and we’ll get that into more in the next segment.
Joe Green: Absolutely. So, in January 2018, House Bill HR 1242 had passed through both branches of Congress. It was signed into law by President Trump and it created the 400 Year African-American History Commission. By the grace of God, not only was I federally, excuse me, congressionally appointed to that, but I was also elected as the Chairman of that Commission, which to me, is just another confirmation that we are in a very prophetic time and that God is about to do something amazing for our country and for our culture.
Isaac Crockett: That is exciting and as you have pointed out, we can look at history and we can learn from history. We can look at the Bible. We can learn what’s going on. The Bible tells us that Satan is a roaring lion, seeking to devour anyone he can.
Isaac Crockett: He wants to throw Christians off the track so that they don’t have a good testimony. He wants to keep the unsaved from believing. He will stop at nothing to try to destroy us and yet, God comes to offer us life, abundant life.
Isaac Crockett: He calls us to follow him. He is the light of the world and we can follow him as children of light. In fact, Paul talks to the church at Ephesus about redeeming the time because the days are evil. What a better way to do that than to redeem the time.
Isaac Crockett: When we come back from this short break, with a little timeout here for some commercials, we’re going to come back and we’re going to talk more about this movement, the 2019 Movement, and about the 400 Year African History Commission and seeing biblically what we can do to unite as a nation and what we can do when people try to divide us, how we can stick together, as one nation, under God.
Isaac Crockett: Welcome back to our program. Today, we are talking with Dr. Joseph Green. He’s the pastor of Antioch Assembly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Now, if you were listening earlier, I think I said it a little bit different. It’s actually Antioch Assembly. There’s another church in that area that’s a little bit different name, and I switched the two. So, if you’re looking for him, it’s at Antioch Assembly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Isaac Crockett: But, we’ve been talking about the things going on this year, 2019, 400 years since the first American slave ship from Africa set sail for America. We are talking with Joe here about the 2019 Movement that he is the founder of and we’re also talking about a Commission that was passed by Congress, signed into law by President Trump, and it is the 400 Year African History Commission.
Isaac Crockett: As Joe said, by God’s providence, he is not only on that Commission, but he’s the Chairman of that Commission. So Joe, this is so cool. It’s fascinating to see how this is working, but in our last segment, you were telling us some about this Commission and that you’ve been appointed on it.
Isaac Crockett: What has it been like working with these folks on this Commission and has there been any push back since it was signed into law by President Trump? I mean, currently there are a lot of people in the media and even on social media who label him as a racist. Has there been any pressure that way with you, working on this Commission?
Joe Green: Not at all. They’ve given us a lot of liberty in what we can do. It’s a federal law, so we have certain stipulations and certain guidelines we have to follow through, but we have a lot of liberty in order to promote what we’re doing. Because when you talk about the 400 year commemoration , it’s not just about slavery, but it’s about the contributions of African-Americans, the resiliency of our community, and the positive contributions we’ve made.
Joe Green: We’ve come a long way in 400 years. We still have things that we have to work on, but we’ve come a long way. But, what I’ve seen, is I haven’t seen, and I’ve talked to people close to President Trump and even some of his colleagues, and I think that’s a false narrative.
Joe Green: I haven’t seen racism from President Trump. I’ve seen him being very supportive of things pertaining to the African American history and African American community, and like we talked about, he actually signed the bill into law.
Joe Green: It went through both branches of Congress as a bipartisan bill, but he signed it into law. He’s also been working with prison reform or criminal justice reform and those things that really have had a negative impact on our community. He’s actually working to better those conditions and situations.
Joe Green: Now, I do get some pushback because what I see is, there’s a lot of people in DC especially, there’s a lot of partisan politics. A lot of times, the Democrats don’t want to work with the Republicans and the Republicans may be successful in a certain area and vice versa. I don’t see the support for this bill and in the media that I would like to see because this is a tremendous thing. We’re talking about 400 years of African American history here in the country.
Joe Green: In lieu of all the negative images and negative stories we’ve seen over the last several years, you would think people that would like to see healing and reconciliation really push and promote this Commission and what we’re called to do to a greater extent, and I don’t see the type of support that we really would like to see in order to make this successful.
Isaac Crockett: It’s interesting that you talk about people making up their own narratives and trying to label us or anyone who maybe they disagree with. As we look at that, it’s sad that, that would be something there, but people are all about their own personal progressing and political power instead of biblical principles.
Isaac Crockett: What kind of response have you mentioned being there in DC with the different powers, the different political parties and things. What kind of response have you gotten, for example, from the Congressional black caucus or maybe other African American leadership in Congress with this important opportunity for unity?
Joe Green: We had a couple of receptions down in DC. We had one at the Museum of the Bible. The Museum of the Bible, they have an exhibit down there, if you get a chance, Isaac, I think it’s still on until April. It was called the Slave Bible, where they had a Bible during the time of slavery where they actually changed scriptures in order to perpetuate slavery.
Joe Green: We had a reception there with that exhibit there. We invited the Congressional black caucus and some of the other leaders and sadly enough, they really didn’t show any support for it. We also had one at the African American History Museum of the Smithsonian, which was a big deal, as well.
Joe Green: Like I said, it seems as though there’s so much partisan politics that the people that I would think and hope would really help to push this from a place of healing and reconciliation, they’ve been MIA. We haven’t gotten a lot of response. We haven’t really gotten funding even.
Joe Green: We’re tasked to go get our own funding, even though there’s millions-and-millions of dollars that the federal government has access to, but we’re really fighting for that. I think it’s a sad thing because some people don’t want to get involved because it seems controversial what we’re talking about when we talk about the history, which we know we have to have open and honest dialogue in order for us to move forward and to heal as a nation or as a community.
Joe Green: We’re fighting that fight on one end. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it. A lot of people are afraid to get involved in the conversation because they may not know which angle to come from. It’s been sad. It’s sad that we don’t have more support.
Joe Green: I am very hopeful and optimistic that as we progress through this year, because I’m doing all I can do and all the other commissioners, there’s 15 of us, are doing all we can do to get it out in the public and get support and get people to sell into this.
Joe Green: But, I haven’t had the kind of response you would think that you would get, especially from black leaders, who are the Congressional black caucus, who is tasked with the job to help to fight for causes that help, that are important to the black community.
Isaac Crockett: Hopefully, our listeners today can all hear about this and again, this is stuff we’re not hearing about in the news. We’re not seeing this, I think because you’re doing something that’s good. Something that you want to unify the country. It’s not making the news. If you’re listening today, maybe you can talk to your Congress member about this.
Isaac Crockett: I just read one paragraph from a statement, official statement that you made as the Chairman of the 400 Year African-American History Commission. You say this, Joe, in that statement, you write, “We want to celebrate unity and diversity, the great tapestry of diverse colors, ethnicities, and cultures that makes humanity so beautiful. God’s vision of heaven is every tribe and nation, gathering together, in the spirit of unity and the bond of peace. We have the opportunity and fortitude to bring that forth, here and now, as we prepare in this moment.”
Isaac Crockett: Again, I can’t think of anybody that would want to disagree with that and there’s more to that very well-written statement, but in this statement, you make it clear that the goal is unity and not division.
Isaac Crockett: Where are you finding maybe supporters and it’s unfortunate to hear that you’re hearing people that aren’t really getting behind you. But, are you finding support, for example, in churches or from Christian groups? I’d just be curious to find out where you’re getting that from.
Joe Green: It’s amazing. The other people and other cultures that have come alongside of us. A lot of the churches are supportive, not as many as I’d like. We actually had a celebration or commemoration in the State Capitol in Pennsylvania in February. We had Native American people coming with all tribes, DC. We had people from the Asian community. We had the Jewish community and the white community.
Joe Green: They came to celebrate and to honor us as African Americans here, because it’s in all of our best interests, for us, for every culture to succeed, especially as the Body of Christ. One of the things that I always share is that African Americans have fought in every single war that this country has been a part of since the Revolutionary War.
Joe Green: Historically, the first person killed in the Revolutionary War was Crispus Attucks, who was a black person. We fought for the freedom of this country, even in times where we didn’t have the same freedom as a community. We are fully vested in this country.
Joe Green: It’s in everybody’s best interests because we are our brother’s keeper, but ultimately, what happens to any part of our country, affects every single part of our country, whether you’re in a part of the black community or not. It’s in all of our best interest that every person, every tribe, and every tongue, is successful.
Joe Green: When you don’t have that, that’s when you have certain segments of our society that are effecting the others in a negative way. Whether it’s through violence, whether it’s through protest, whether it’s through the criminal justice system, or the welfare system, when you have people that don’t have any hope and are disenfranchised, you’re going to have a lot of negative side effects and those negative side effects spill over into every other culture and community.
Joe Green: I think it’s important, especially- And, one of the things I say, Isaac, is I’m fighting for the memory of my ancestors, those who bled, sweat and died in order to make this country a great country, and I still believe that American is the greatest country on the Earth. We have some challenges and some issues. We’re further along than we were, but we still have some ways that we have to work together to make this place, this country, the best it could be.
Joe Green: That’s my goal and my desire, not only for the 2019 Movement, but especially this Commission, which why I’m so grateful that God has chosen me for this moment, to be the Chairman of this Commission.
Isaac Crockett: Joe, real, real fast, in under a minute. This is an American issue, not just African American, but could you talk, just real briefly and we’ll get into it later, but what are some of the issues that are deeper than racism at stake here in these issues?
Joe Green: Well, we talk about abortion, which is eugenics. It was actually created by the eugenics, but it diminishes the humanity of certain groups of people. When we think about the criminal justice system, the criminal justice system, the Department of Justice has demonstrated how blacks were disproportionately sentenced and targeted for certain crimes, so we have to deal with that.
Joe Green: Schools in the inner cities, a lot of schools, like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where I live at, the inner city of Harrisburg, which is predominantly black and Hispanic, has a 38% graduation rate. When you have a society that has low income and you have lack of educational performance and all those other things, you’re going to have high levels of violence and mass incarceration and drugs and all those other things.
Joe Green: Those things are deeper than black-and-white, even though certain groups are disproportionately targeted and disproportionately effected by those things. If we don’t care, we are our brother’s keeper, if we don’t care about the least of these, like Jesus says, then we’re in big trouble.
Isaac Crockett: Thank you.
Joe Green: I can’t think of anything more vulnerable than an unborn baby.
Isaac Crockett: You’re exactly right. We’re going to come right back and we’re going to talk more about some of these important points that you’ve made. In fact, you’ve written a manifesto to help bring peace and unity to our nation at this time.
Isaac Crockett: Welcome back to our program. Stand in the Gap Today. I’m Isaac Crockett and our regular three musketeers, Sam and Dave and Gary are not with us today. They’re off on other ministry opportunities, other ministry events, but we have a very good friend, who the American Pastors Network, and someone who’s been on this program several times, as well as on our TV program, and that’s Dr. Joseph Green. He’s the pastor at Antioch Assembly Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, also the founder of the 2019 Movement.
Isaac Crockett: Something that is probably news to most of you, I mean, if you were listening last segment, you heard about it then, but before that, was probably something you had not heard in the mainstream media and probably will not hear about and that is that last year, a bill was passed to commemorate the 400 years since the first American slave ship, the 2019 Movement that Joe is part of.
Isaac Crockett: Also, there is this Movement now, or a Commission to the 400 year African American Commission here. It’s headed and chaired by our good friend, right here with us today, Dr. Joseph Green. If you read his statement, he is all about a biblical worldview and trying to bring unity to our country through this issue that it’s been a divisive issue and he’s trying to find unity and peace.
Isaac Crockett: Pointing to the biblical statement that we are going to be worshiping God together in heaven, and yet, that does not seem real popular unfortunately with many groups. It doesn’t seem like something the media wants to cover. Unfortunately, even many people in Congress, even the Congressional black caucus and things like that, have largely given them the cold shoulder.
Isaac Crockett: We want to have Joe tell us, in just a minute, a little bit more about it and ways that you can connect with them and see more about it yourselves. Let’s go back to this significance of the 400 years since the first African slaves were brought to America. We’re talking to our special guest, Dr. Joseph Green.
Isaac Crockett: Joe, before we go any further, with the questions, as we investigate this, could you maybe give us some maybe websites or information on how we can find out more where we can find your statement or find out about your movement. Maybe there would even be people who would be interested in helping finance some things for this Movement and getting a part of this and really becoming a supporter of what you’re doing.
Joe Green: Absolutely. Of course, we have the website, which is www.the2019movement.org. That’s the2019movement.org. 2019 is the number 2019. You can also find us on Facebook and I have a YouTube channel, which is josephlgreenjr. I have a lot of the teaching the various videos that I produce regarding this movement.
Joe Green: Also, my email address, if you want to send something directly. Sometimes, I go on the website and people say, “I tried to connect with you guys on the website and I couldn’t get through, so my email address is jgministries@gmail.com. jgministries@gmail.com. I’ll be more than happy to field any more questions or provide any more information for anyone who would like to know more about what we’re doing and to come along and support us.
Isaac Crockett: All right, Joe. Thank you for that information. You are an author. You are a writer. So, it was interesting and I think very appropriate that as part of this 2019 Movement that you’ve started, you have written a manifesto. Could you maybe explain to us why you call it a manifesto and what the purpose of this writing was that you did for this 2019 Movement?
Joe Green: Absolutely. Like with anything, when we identify problems and a lot of people are very good at identifying problems. When we identify problems and we show that there’s a need for solutions or to move in a certain way, that’s why it’s called the Movement. It’s not just bringing awareness, but a Movement to restore and reconcile and all those other things.
Joe Green: You have to have an action plan. You have to have certain principles that we can agree on as groups or individuals in order for us to move together collectively to that place of wholeness and healing. So, a manifesto is basically a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives or views of the issuer.
Joe Green: The 2019 Movement manifesto is a directed, proactive, guiding document that outlines and guides the Movement’s goals. It’s our desire to cross racial and cultural barriers to unify and to build a great nation. This is an action plan that’s laid out very clearly and concisely. It’s based on biblical principles and how we can move towards our described goals, which is unity and reconciliation and restoration.
Isaac Crockett: Can you maybe in a nutshell just give us some of those main points of the manifesto, some of those goals of the manifesto that you’ve laid out?
Joe Green: Yeah. Just a couple of the points. One is, it’s pro-God, because we believe that God is the creator is the one that not only created humanity and created it as diverse, but it’s his desire to bring us together. We are promoting and protecting the very image and the nature of God and the Earth.
Joe Green: It’s about unity, which is God’s desire and purpose. We also talk about our interaction with political leaders because it was the political system that upheld the institutions of slavery and racism. In order for us to reconcile and restore, we have to get to a place where we are actually holding political leaders accountable and partnering with those who can help us to move into the place where we need to go to.
Joe Green: Very much of it is pro-family and pro-economics, so building up economics in the community is important. Businesses and different things of that nature, education. Promoting a strong educational system for our young people.
Joe Green: The core of all that, Isaac, is the family, because it’s the foundation of the family that helps to solidify and restore every culture and every community and those that have a weak family structure are not only doomed for failure, but they are very easily controlled and manipulated by outside forces that may not be very much trying to promote positive change in that environment, in that community.
Isaac Crockett: I appreciate what you’ve written there, that manifesto, so much. You look at it and it’s very balanced. As you say, it’s biblical. First-and-foremost, it’s established in biblical principles, but it’s showing appreciation and even God’s hand of providence in using this country, America. You can say patriotic. It’s biblical.
Isaac Crockett: It’s principled, but as you keep saying, the problems that are facing our nation, and the African American community as we specifically look at it, but are all geared at the family.
Isaac Crockett: You’ve pointed out, about in the African American community, the unwed pregnancies, the lower economic rates, the high incarceration rates, the huge abortion rates, the lowest life expectancy of the folks in America. All of these things go back though towards families, having strong families, and focusing on those issues.
Isaac Crockett: You do put a lot of focus on that. Why are those family values so important and why is that the strategy for fixing these problems and for bringing peace and unity into our urban neighborhoods and throughout our nation?
Joe Green: Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear the last part. Could you repeat the last part of the question?
Isaac Crockett: Why are these family values so important for being able to restore, to bring our nation back together, and restore and bring peace and prosperity to our urban neighborhoods and really throughout our country?
Joe Green: It’s the family structure. Of course, God is the one who created the family structure. It’s the family structure that creates whole people, people that are emotionally balanced. People that have a positive outlook in life. In order for us to really strengthen a community, we have to have a strong family.
Joe Green: When you have weak family structures and you don’t have fathers in the household to help teach and train the children, you have an imbalance. So, you have males that are being raised up by women. This is not knock on the women, but they’re not learning how to be a man and they’re not learning how to interact as a man interacts.
Joe Green: You have mothers, single mothers, who are really struggling to raise young men. You see the criminal justice system that’s filled. I think that 70% of repeat offenders are young men who grew up in a household where they didn’t have a father around. When you understand young women, and I think Freud said it many years ago, that the first young woman that-
Joe Green: I mean, the man that the young woman falls in love with, is her father. So, when father’s not around or he’s not a positive influence, then, of course, it perpetuates the cycle of not having good males that are raising children and helping provide for their family.
Joe Green: When that happens, then you have this repeated cycle of people that are dependent upon social programs and welfare programs. They don’t have a positive outlook in life. When you go in these inner cities, the percentages have shifted, so in the 1960s, you had 70- I’m sorry.
Joe Green: 78% of babies in the black community born with a mother and father in the household. Now, that’s shifted, so you have 74% in the black community that are born out-of-wedlock, so that’s a weak family structure. It trickles down into poor academic performance. It trickles down into violence and drugs and mass incarceration and those types of things. In order for you to-
Isaac Crockett: We have to take a take quick break. We have to take a quick break. We’re going to come to that. Right after this last break here, we’re going to come back to our last segment. We’re going to wrap things up.
Isaac Crockett: Welcome back to the last part of our program. I’m Isaac Crockett and I’ve been talking with our good friend, Dr. Joseph Green, about the 2019 Movement and about his involvement as the Chairman of a national, a federal Commission. Looking at the 400 years since the first African slaves were brought over here.
Isaac Crockett: Unfortunately, seeing that even in that Commission, the African American History Commission, 400 years of African American History Commission, but even in that, there are people who you would expect to want to be involved with finding unity and looking at these things.
Isaac Crockett: When Dr. Green and others invited them to the Museum of the Bible, and other museums in Washington, DC for some events they were doing, some of these people wouldn’t even respond and gave them the cold shoulder. Yet, you can go right online to the 2019 Movement and see this manifesto that Joe has written. It’s so well-written. It’s so biblical.
Isaac Crockett: In it, it points to family values. It points to biblical worldview. Joe, you were talking about so many things in the family have switched in the last few decades and a lot of it goes back to having both parents biblically and correctly involved in the life of their children. Maybe you could just go back to that for us before we move onto our next question.
Joe Green: Absolutely. One of the things that we see, even in the Bible, in Genesis 18. One of the things that God said to Abraham, is, “You’re going to be a great nation because you’re doing to diligently teach your children the way of the Lord.” We see in households where fathers are there, spiritual fathers, to help teach their children, you have multi-generational prosperity and success.
Joe Green: After slavery, you had Jim Crow and segregatory laws. The black community and the black family was one of the strongest out of all cultures. After that, in the ’60s, you had, what they called the War on Poverty, with LBJ.
Joe Green: Really, what happened is through the social programs and the welfare programs, and many of them were actually targeting black communities, which is what LBJ did, it weakened the family structure to the place where now you have multi-generational families that are on welfare or unwed pregnancies or those types of things.
Joe Green: Of course, there’s an accountability aspect of it, but when you understand psychologically what that does to a community. In order for us to overcome that, we have to go back and restore family values.
Joe Green: Because when dad’s not in the household teaching and training the children the right way, the ways of the Lord, you have this corrupted culture where now these young men aspire to be gangsters. You see popular culture with hip hop. Gangsters, drug dealers, the women are over-sexualized and all those things.
Joe Green: All those are destructive policies and principles that help to perpetuate an oppressive system where you don’t have to be oppressed by forces from the outside. You actually end up oppressing yourselves through this corrupted culture that we see very prevalent in many of these inner city communities.
Isaac Crockett: Joe, thank you. This is such important information. Unfortunately, we keep saying this, but you don’t hear this most places. You don’t hear this in most of the media. You don’t hear about these forces that are corrupting from the inside. It’s sad.
Isaac Crockett: President Obama has come out in the last few months and said some things about how rap music and hip hop artists aren’t people who we should really imitate or something, but yet, when he was in Office, he would have some of those same people come to the White House and make a big deal out of it.
Isaac Crockett: It has been said that these things have been propagated over the last several decades. It’s neat to see you coming up with clear biblical pathways to help us as a nation come up with real biblical unity and real peace. As we know, that to find real peace, we need Jesus Christ. We need our sins to be forgiven. We need him as our Lord and Savior.
Isaac Crockett: You talk about prayer of forgiveness and prayer really is the answer to all of these things. Could you just let our listeners know here in the last few minutes that we have about what you talk about there with this prayer of forgiveness.
Joe Green: Absolutely. So, trauma through slavery and segregatory laws and some of the other things that have happened, it causes trauma in a community, in a group of people. The Bible talks about, I will visit the iniquities of the father through three and four generations. There’s a scientific study that shows that trauma is passed down through DNA.
Joe Green: The only way to overcome trauma, I’ve found, is by putting yourself in a position to overcome trauma and forgiveness is a key. It’s a key principle biblically. It’s also emotionally and spiritually a key principle. So, what I’ve seen is there’s a lot of trauma that’s still resonating in the black community that hasn’t been dealt with.
Joe Green: You have young people that are angry and mad and rebellious and they don’t know why. They don’t understand the full scope of that. So, what we did, is we developed what’s called the prayer of forgiveness. What that’s supposed to do or meant to do, is close these spiritual portals that trauma has caused that allows us to grow and to reconcile and to move into peace.
Joe Green: Because until a person has closed those spiritual doorways and pathways, they can be re-victimized and re-traumatized and it hinders the ability to connect with people outside.
Joe Green: I’ll just share a little bit of this prayer of forgiveness. I’ve had the opportunity to go to various places and to share it. It’s all about healing and reconciliation.
Joe Green: We know, Isaac, that forgiveness, based on the biblical principle of forgiveness, it doesn’t mean that the person didn’t wrong you, it just means that you empower yourself above those traumatic, oppressive forces that will try to stifle your growth and hinder you from moving into the fullness of what God has.
Joe Green: The prayer goes, now that we’re in the 400 year anniversary of the African American immigrants that were brought to America at the start of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, we would like to enter into a season of forgiveness. We acknowledge that slavery was horrible, an inexcusable institution that was perpetrated on people of color.
Joe Green: We also acknowledge that after slavery was abolished, there were years of discriminatory laws that also targeted people of color. Families were destroyed. Communities were devastated and people were mistreated because of the color of their skin.
Joe Green: These atrocities were perpetrated with the protection of laws and institution and allowed to exist through the inactions of others. However, in this season, we choose to forgive. God is the God of Justice and injustice shall be executed by God. Vengeance is the Lord’s.
Joe Green: In this season, we choose to forgive. On behalf of those who were directly affected by racism, prejudice and bias, we choose to forgive. Father, we stand in proxy for a people. Thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Your only son loved me enough to come to Earth and experience the worst pain imaginable so I could be forgiven.
Joe Green: Your mercy flows to me despite my faults and my failures. Your word says to clothe ourselves with love, which binds us altogether in perfect harmony. Help me demonstrate unconditionally love today, even to those that hurt me.
Joe Green: So, Father, in the name of Jesus, and under the power of the authority of the Holy Spirit, we break this spirit of anger and bitterness and unforgiveness. Where there is pain, we speak joy. Where there is hate, we speak unity. Where there is fear, we speak love. We curse the bitterroot of any negative emotions that have stemmed from racial injustice, prejudice, and bias.
Joe Green: We no longer give these spirits power in our lives, as individuals, as families, and as a people, but more importantly, as children of God, made in your image and created in your likeness. We choose to forgive and we break the power of the enemy in our lives this day and forever. This day, we choose to forgive in Jesus’ name.
Joe Green: And that’s a part of the prayer. There were some segments I left out, but that gives you the gist of it. I think that this is a season that we can move forward as individual racial groups to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and the bond of peace.
Joe Green: We are making a choice to forgive and to see our oppressor through the eyes of our Savior.
Isaac Crockett: That is very good. That’s so helpful. Could you give our listeners again the website where they can go to your Movement and any other information that you would like them to have here in our last few moments before the end of our show?
Joe Green: Absolutely. So, the website is www.the2019movement.org. Of course, again, you can go to Facebook. There’s a 2019 Movement Facebook page. My email address is jgministries@gmail.com. jgministries@gmail.com. You can find us also on YouTube and some other places, but, Isaac, I thank you for the opportunity and we love to hear from your listeners.
Joe Green: I believe that this is such an important, strategic, prophetic time because it means not only that the restoration of African Americans, but God says I’m also going to judge the nation based on how they treated my people. So, it’s important for all of us that we move together to fulfill God’s great commandment and reflect on heaven would look like. It tells us in the back of the book, right, Isaac?
Isaac Crockett: That’s right. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Joseph Green, for being on with us.
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