Becoming Victors Instead of Victims by RoseAnn Salanitri

I have a very treasured friend who is a pastor in the inner city of Newark. I met her a number of years ago when I was interviewing her for the NJ Family Policy Council’s annual magazine. I specifically asked if the Board of the NJFPC could connect me with an inner city pastor who would be willing to offer his or her viewpoint on voting our values. And so it was that I met the incredible Dr. Gloria Harris, a mighty woman of God, whose friendship I value beyond words.

In the interview I discovered that this remarkable woman pastored an inner city church where she estimated only 10 percent of her congregants were on government assistance. Since then I learned that this included a forensic chemist, an aspiring doctor, a talented rapper, and a number of accomplished citizens. Immediately I asked if she would share the success she had with the rest of our readership. I’ll never forget her response. She said that she taught her congregants to be victors instead of victims. And therein is a good lesson for the rest of us Christians, and especially the pastors in rogue cities where rage rules.

So, where are the pastors who are preaching that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us? Where are the Christians who understand that with God all things are possible? Instead they preach victimization to the fatherless who harbor inexplicable hurt deep within their souls, fanning the flames of anger within them. This anger can be witnessed venting on street corners and throwing bricks that have been provided by our modern day carpetbaggers, who turn them into useful idiots. These unfortunate souls are unaware that they are facilitating their own demise. If their pastors were preaching the Gospel, they would be preaching freedom from the past whereby they can become new creatures in Christ – free from the chains of the past. Instead they are willingly enslaved by shackles others have forged – others whom they never met, and others whose names have been long forgotten in history.

And as for the rest of us – while we lament over the biases in the mainstream media – or perhaps I should say “the propaganda machine of the closet Marxists” – we would do well to start realizing that neither are we helpless victims doomed to lose the freedoms we have been blessed to enjoy. That realization can begin with the appreciation of our history, and in this case, learning from the past. You see, back in 1776, our Founders did not enjoy the support of their media. The media of their day supported the Crown and an overwhelming majority of their citizens believed what the media told them to believe. So what did they do? Well, they didn’t roll up into a ball and cry that their version of FaceBook, Twitter and the like refused to print their side of the story. Their pastors roared from the pulpits and they went out and established their own means of communication, which they called “Committees of Correspondence,” COMCORS for short. And they did it without the availability of any social media entities, or cell phones. They didn’t even have the luxury of a well developed postal route. Through sheer innovation and strong commitment they established networks of communications where they shared what needed to be shared within their own spheres of influence. With so much more at our disposal, why do we weep like children that our social media entities censor and restrict our communications? We must take this bull by the horns and become our own media. We must form our own networks of communication and share what needs to be shared. But we have become content and too lazy to lift a finger to fight the good fight, so we get what sluggards deserve.

While many fear the onset of persecution, the truth is we may become such victims because we’ve begun to act like victims. Somehow we’ve forgotten that the tyrants parading in the halls of Congress are supposed to serve at our pleasure – not the other way around. Our trust in them has built them an ivory tower where they are cocooned and insulated from the laws they subject the rest of us to. Well, my friends, it’s about time we start to tear down that tower brick by brick. And if our pastors won’t preach freedom, we must; and if our social media outlets won’t publish and share truth, we must; and if our schools won’t teach our children our history and biblical principles, we must. For we must remember and embrace that within every Christian resides the Spirit of our most Holy God, and His Word tells us that we overcome – not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit. It is time we stop fighting this spiritual war as victims and put on the full armor of God and slay the giants before us. For we are more than conquerors, we are victors with limitless power. Let the giants come, we have the mighty stones of David in our arsenal. Please share this work and begin to establish your own network of communications, for with God, all things are possible. With God, we can once again become great in His eyes and live peaceful lives. For greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.