It’s 2025! Are You Awake ‘Sardis?’ Are You ‘Woke?’

The church at Sardis, capital of the Lydian Kingdom in Turkey formerly known as Anatolia or the Ottoman Empire (Photo credit Shef-Time)

*“The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and our age a significant development…The great challenge facing every individual…today is to remain awake through this social revolution…” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Recently I heard a well-known White televangelist preaching on the ills of the present-day “wokeness agenda” and on being “woke.” His train of thought took him down the path of President Thomas Jefferson’s misinterpreted “wall of separation between church and state,” and how it ultimately created the apathy of the church toward politics.

While describing what politics was meant to be in the order of the three God-ordained institutions of family, government, and the church, the preacher asserted that the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect politician. Jesus announced when He came on the scene: “If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but to save the world” (John 12:47 AMP). Jesus fulfilled His purpose to serve humanity; not to glorify Himself as some politicians do today.

The preacher then directed our attention to Revelation 3:1-2 regarding the church at Sardis which says, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up!” (NIV).

According to online sources, the term “wokeness” entered the American lexicon when social activist Marcus Garvey wrote in 1923, “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!” as the ideology for Black political awareness in America. In his 1938 recording of “Scottsboro Boys” Black singer/songwriter Lead Belly sang “Stay woke” – a warning narrative much like “the talk” Black parents have today with their children when stopped by police – in the story of the nine young Black men who were falsely accused of raping two White women in Alabama. Lead Belly was quoted saying, “I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go through [Scottsboro] – best stay woke, keep their eyes open.” This bespeaks the past and present dangers of “Jim Crow” racism in America.

Televangelist Criticizes 'Wokeness Agenda,' Misreads Jefferson // Sardis
Sardis

Hatred is hatred whether it be about skin color, sexism, or homophobia. Now, I don’t agree with extremisms like unisex public restrooms, or biological males competing in female sports activities; but I also don’t agree with the double standards afforded to White Americans. There’s no way in the world Donald Trump should have been re-elected as president. How could an adjudicated rapist/felon even be on the ballot, or be granted a top security clearance as Commander-In-Chief, when felons are disqualified to join our own military rank ‘n’ file?

How did Trump lie his way to another term? Call it what it is; White supremacy. I’ve changed DEI (Diversity/Equity/Inclusion) to mean Donald Engineered Insurrection. He should have been arrested for his actions (or inactions) on the evening of January 6, 2021. Note for those who still have election anxiety: I just saw an interview with author Mel Robbins discussing her best-seller “The LET THEM Theory.” I was reminded to breathe again; to let “them” do what they do; and let “me” remember that I am a highly favored child of God, and no weapon formed against me shall prosper.

Yes, I’m aware of what people are saying about Black Lives Matter (BLM) and District Attorney Fani Willis, etc.; and yes, they should have/could have done things differently – to that I humbly ask our celebrated Black brothers and sisters living in a glass house to stop thinking they have arrived and can do as they want to like our White counterparts. In America, no matter how high you go in fortune and fame, the spirit of White supremacy will always look down on you as less than. Don’t be fooled nor foolish!

In 1965, two years after his “I Have A Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the commencement address at Oberlin College titled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” In it he said, “There are all too many people who, in some great period of social change, fail to achieve the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in our world today. It is a social revolution, sweeping away the old order… The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and age a significant development. … The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution…” (Online source: Andrew Belonsky).

It’s 2025! Are you now awake “Sardis?” Are you now, at last, “Woke?”

larry buford-elbow
Larry Buford

Larry Buford is a contributing writer. Author of “Things Are Gettin’ Outta Hand” and “Book To The Future” (Amazon). Email: [email protected]

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