Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW019213S
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00:20 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written.
00:21 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me. 00:23 The prophet Jeremiah was called by God 00:26 to give an unpopular message to Judah, which he did. 00:30 Now, as a result, he was accused of treason, 00:33 and there were calls that Jeremiah be executed. 00:37 Jeremiah was imprisoned, placed in the bottom of a cistern 00:41 from which the water had been drained. 00:43 He was lowered down into the mud and the muck 00:46 that had accumulated in the bottom of that cistern. 00:49 Jeremiah 38, verse 6 says, "Jeremiah sank in the mud." 00:55 He was left there to die. 00:57 But a man named Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian, 01:00 approached the king, Zedekiah, and interceded for Jeremiah, 01:04 which was bold. 01:06 It could easily have cost Ebed-Melech his life. 01:09 He said to the king, essentially, 01:10 "What has been done to Jeremiah is not right, 01:13 and he will die in that cistern." 01:15 So the king gave order to get Jeremiah out of that filth. 01:18 "Take...thirty men," Zedekiah said, 01:21 and get Jeremiah out of there "before he dies." 01:25 And they did. 01:27 Jeremiah was doing the will of God, 01:29 and he met with bitter opposition. 01:32 He would have died in a dungeon 01:34 unless somebody stepped forward to help. 01:38 Ebed-Melech realized injustice was taking place, 01:42 and that injustice wouldn't allow him to remain inactive. 01:47 He realized something had to be done. 01:50 This is Selma, Alabama. 01:53 ♪[soft dramatic music]♪ 01:58 In the 1960s, people came here from around the United States 02:02 because, in the face of bitter injustice, 02:06 something had to be done. 02:10 What happened in Selma reminds us of what happened 02:12 2,000 years ago when Someone came to this earth to help. 02:17 ♪[harmonica music]♪ 02:18 It was a very different America in the 1960s, 02:22 and those differences were seen vividly in the South. 02:26 In 1965, there were 12,000 African-Americans living here 02:31 in Lowndes County. 02:33 And in spite of a constitutional guarantee that American citizens 02:37 had the right to vote, precious few of those 12,000 02:41 African-Americans were registered to do so. 02:47 >>Joanne Bland: We only had about 250 out of a possible 02:51 15,000 African-Americans on the roll, 02:54 and it wasn't just that the African-Americans didn't go 02:58 and try to register. 02:59 They had to jump through hoops. 03:01 You had a test before the literacy test-- 03:04 um, such as "How many jelly beans in a jar?" 03:08 You know, "How many gallons of water in the Alabama River?" 03:12 And--uh, yeah. 03:14 Um, and there was no way you could pass these things. 03:18 ♪[sad music]♪ 03:19 Even if you got that far, 03:21 someone who was white had to come and say, 03:24 "That's a good Negro. Let them register." 03:27 Meaning that, "I can tell them how to vote, 03:30 and they'll vote the way I want them to vote." 03:33 >>John: Understandably, African-Americans protested. 03:37 About 30 miles from here in Marion, Alabama, 03:40 late February of 1965, a 26-year-old Vietnam veteran 03:45 named Jimmie Lee Jackson, 03:47 after participating in a peaceful voting rights march, 03:49 he and scores of others fled 03:52 when the marchers were beaten by police. 03:56 Then along with his mother and grandfather, 03:58 he sought refuge inside Mack's Café. 04:02 Jackson was shot-- twice--by a policeman. 04:07 He later died. 04:10 It was in response to the shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson 04:13 that the now-famous march from Selma to Montgomery happened. 04:17 Or rather, didn't happen. 04:20 On that day, hundreds of people 04:22 left the Brown Chapel AME Church, 04:25 on what's now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 04:28 bound for Alabama's capital city. 04:31 They made it 7/10th of a mile. 04:34 They got to the bridge when... 04:36 >>Joanne: I saw policemen lined all the way across 04:38 all four lanes, when suddenly I hear gunshots and screams. 04:42 I think they're killing the people down front. 04:44 Before we could turn around, it was too late. 04:46 They came in from both sides, the front and the back. 04:49 And they were just beating people. 04:52 You know what I remember the most? 04:53 The screams. 04:55 People were screaming and screaming and screaming. 04:59 People everywhere bleeding, 05:01 not moving, as if they were dead, 05:03 and you couldn't stop to help them, 05:05 or you'd be beaten too. 05:08 The gunshots I heard? 05:09 Nobody was shooting bullets on that bridge that day. 05:12 They were the teargas canisters being shot into the crowd. 05:16 Teargas burns your eyes, gets in your lungs. 05:19 You can't breathe. You can't see. You panic. 05:21 All the time you were running right back to the same people 05:24 you were running from. 05:25 It seemed like it lasted an eternity. 05:28 >>John: After the march to Montgomery ended in beatings 05:31 and blood, Dr. King issued a call to clergymen 05:35 to come to Selma and show their support for African-Americans 05:39 in their fight for voting rights. 05:42 The injustice of what was taking place in the American South 05:46 was clear for everyone to see. 05:48 There were people who came to Selma to help. 05:51 Some of them paid a very high price. 05:55 The death of one man in particular 05:58 attracted the attention of the nation. 06:01 I'll be right back. 06:02 ♪[music]♪ 06:10 >>Announcer 1: As we look around the world, 06:12 it appears this planet is spinning wildly out of control. 06:16 The world now is a far cry 06:18 from the world of even just a few years ago, 06:21 leaving many people wondering if there's hope. 06:23 Our free offer today is "Hope for a Planet in Crisis." 06:27 To receive this free guide, 06:29 call 800-253-3000 06:32 or go online at iiwoffer.com. 06:36 Get "Hope for a Planet in Crisis." 06:41 ♪[upbeat music]♪ 06:43 >>Announcer 2: Planning for your financial future 06:45 is a vital aspect of Christian stewardship. 06:49 For this reason, It Is Written is pleased to offer 06:51 free planned giving and estate services. 06:54 For information on how we can help you, 06:57 please call 800-992-2219. 07:01 Call today 07:02 or visit our website: hislegacy.com. 07:06 Call 800-992-2219. 07:11 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written. 07:14 In response to the invitation 07:16 issued by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 07:18 ministers of the gospel came here to Selma 07:21 from all around the country. 07:23 Their presence alone was a help. 07:25 They wanted to do what they could to show support 07:28 for African-Americans who were dealing with injustice 07:32 and oppression. 07:33 The message was, "We care. 07:35 There are people outside of this place who really do care 07:39 about what's going on here." 07:41 Although the tide was slowly turning in favor 07:45 of civil rights, 07:47 there was still an enormous amount that was wrong. 07:51 Things could have seemed hopeless. 07:54 The governor of Alabama at the time was George Wallace, 07:58 famous for his cry... 08:00 >>George Wallace: And I say segregation now, 08:02 segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. 08:06 [crowd cheers and applauds] 08:09 >>John: It was Wallace who two years before 08:11 stood in the doorway of the Foster Auditorium 08:14 at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block the entry 08:18 of two African-American students. 08:21 ♪[soft sad music]♪ 08:22 The battle for equality, the battle for justice, 08:26 the battle for civil rights was real, 08:28 and it was necessary. 08:30 Denying someone their basic civil rights 08:33 based on their race, 08:35 denying someone their constitutionally guaranteed 08:38 civil rights on the basis of their race, 08:40 indiscriminate killings sponsored by a system 08:43 that steadfastly refused to bring the guilty to justice-- 08:48 this was raw racism. 08:50 This was bitter hatred. 08:52 And one man who decided that he had to do something about it 08:55 was James Reeb. 08:57 Reeb was a Unitarian minister working on low-income 09:01 housing issues in Boston, Massachusetts. 09:05 He was watching television in his home when he heard 09:08 Dr. King invite gospel ministers to travel to Alabama. 09:12 He left Boston that night. 09:15 He felt that he had to help. 09:17 The following evening Jim Reeb and two associates ate 09:22 at a café right there, 09:24 a café that admitted both black and white customers. 09:28 After eating, they left to go and hear Dr. King speak 09:32 at Brown Chapel. 09:34 But they didn't make it very far. 09:36 It was when they got to the corner, 09:38 just up the street from where they had eaten, 09:41 that they were approached by four men, four white men. 09:46 Frances Bowden was there that night and witnessed the beating 09:50 of James Reeb and his friends. 09:52 >>Frances Bowden: And they followed them 09:54 around the building, and that's when they started hitting them. 09:56 They went up behind him and hit him on the back of the head 09:58 with a club. 10:00 Then, once they knocked him down, 10:01 they just kept hitting and kicking. 10:03 Then the ambulance come and took him to Good Samaritan Hospital, 10:07 and they sent him on to Birmingham. 10:09 And, um, he died, I guess, the next day; 10:13 I think it was the next day that he died. 10:16 >>John: The night that, uh, James Reeb died, 10:20 it was clear that there was something big going on in Selma. 10:22 People had come from around the country. 10:24 >>Frances: Oh yeah. 10:25 >>John: Did you or people like you have a sense that, 10:27 boy, this could be trouble, or this could be a difficult time? 10:29 >>Frances: Yeah, we all knew it was going to be trouble. 10:31 Sure did. 10:33 Any time any bus come in and dropped off a bunch of them, 10:35 there's always going to be trouble, always. 10:39 Because they just, the ones that lived here 10:41 were the worst trouble of all. 10:43 They're going to start it and show you how big I am. 10:47 So...but you didn't have to guess at that. 10:50 You already knew it. 10:52 >>John: So when Reeb died, or was killed, 10:57 really that wouldn't have been a big surprise 10:59 that something like that could have happened here? 11:01 >>Frances: Nope, sure wouldn't. 11:03 They expected more than that. They really did. 11:06 They expected more to be killed than what was killed, 11:09 because they all were toting guns. 11:10 I mean, they go home every day and put the gun in their car 11:13 or their truck, sure did, and bring it to town with them. 11:16 I don't care if you going to the grocery store-- 11:17 you bring your gun. 11:19 >>John: Now, nobody was ever brought to justice. 11:23 There was a trial; the three men were acquitted. 11:27 Did other people around the town know that it was these men 11:29 who'd done the crime? 11:30 >>Frances: They knew it was Doug, Stanley, and Elmer, 11:32 but they didn't know who the fourth man was. 11:34 I was the only one that knew the fourth man. 11:37 But like I said, 11:38 I stand there looking out the window at them, so. 11:40 >>John: If a number of people knew who at least 11:43 three of the men were who committed the crime, 11:46 explain to me what it was about the time where people 11:48 were prepared to say nothing 11:49 where they might have said something. 11:52 >>Frances: Well, they could have said something all the time, 11:53 baby, but they wouldn't do it. 11:55 >>John: Yeah, why was that? 11:56 >>Frances: They stuck together. They stuck together. 11:59 And that was a different race of people. 12:02 What you got to what you deserved, 12:04 you deserved it, or you wouldn't have got it. 12:06 That's the way they felt. 12:09 And I know that was the wrong way to feel, 12:12 but I couldn't do nothing about it then. 12:13 But I did about myself. 12:15 >>John: Would people around the town be more inclined to say 12:17 something today than they were back then? 12:19 >>Frances: I think they would. I really do. 12:21 ♪[sad music]♪ 12:23 >>John: Three men come to Selma to help, 12:25 and they're brutally attacked. 12:27 They're punched and kicked and beaten with a club. 12:31 James Reeb was taken to a local clinic before being transferred 12:35 to a hospital in Montgomery, where he died two days later. 12:39 Martin Luther King spoke at a memorial service for Reeb 12:43 held at Brown Chapel. 12:45 The four men who murdered him--right there-- 12:50 were never brought to justice. 12:54 Ebed-Melech could have simply said nothing. 12:58 He risked a lot when he spoke to King Zedekiah and interceded 13:02 for a man that the ruling classes thought was a traitor. 13:07 James Reeb risked a lot when he came to Selma. 13:10 Of course, he couldn't possibly have known that this was going 13:12 to cost him his life. 13:14 Didn't know that the last time he would ever see his wife 13:16 and his four children was that night he left Boston 13:19 to come down here to Alabama. 13:22 James Reeb was simply committed to doing the right thing. 13:26 And that commitment to doing what he believed was right 13:29 ended with his life being viciously taken away 13:34 here on Washington Street. 13:39 The Bible calls Jesus "the Lamb slain from the foundation 13:42 of the world." 13:43 That's Revelation 13, verse 8. 13:45 So, did Jesus know ahead of time what He would be faced with 13:50 when He came to this earth? 13:51 Well, yes, He absolutely did. 13:53 The prophet Isaiah wrote about Jesus' ministry in great detail 13:57 in the 8th century B.C. 14:00 He wrote in the 53rd chapter of his book, 14:03 "He is despised and rejected of men; 14:06 a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: 14:10 and we hid as it were our faces from Him; 14:13 He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." 14:15 Jesus knew what He was walking into. 14:19 Isaiah goes on: "Surely He hath borne our griefs, 14:23 and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, 14:27 smitten of God, and afflicted. 14:31 But He was wounded for our transgressions, 14:34 He was bruised for our iniquities: 14:36 the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; 14:40 and with His stripes we are healed. 14:43 All we [who] like sheep have gone astray; 14:46 we have turned every one to his own way; 14:49 and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 14:54 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, 14:57 yet He opened not His mouth: 14:59 He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, 15:02 and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 15:05 so He openeth not His mouth." 15:07 There's a time when people need to stand up, 15:10 when people need to speak up. 15:13 Isaiah wrote in Isaiah chapter 59, the next chapter, 15:17 and said this: 15:18 "None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: 15:23 they trust in vanity, and speak lies; 15:26 they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity." 15:30 He wrote, "And judgment is turned away backward, 15:33 and justice standeth afar off: 15:36 for truth is fallen in the street, 15:39 and equity cannot enter." 15:44 It's hard to imagine God didn't have 1965 in mind 15:49 when He inspired the writing of those words. 15:52 More often than not, justice never came in cases like these. 15:56 In fact, it's more accurate to say 15:57 that justice was very rarely served. 16:00 Four little girls were killed in the bombing of a church 16:03 60 miles from here, and no one was prosecuted for 12 years. 16:07 One of the murderers wouldn't be prosecuted 16:09 for nearly four decades. 16:11 The man who killed Jimmie Lee Jackson wasn't convicted 16:13 until 45 years later, 16:16 and then served just six months in prison. 16:18 This was a decades-long, carefully orchestrated campaign 16:22 of domestic terror waged openly, 16:26 a campaign in which justice only made brief appearances. 16:30 That's also true in the plan of salvation. 16:33 The cross on which Jesus died 16:35 was a carefully designed instrument of torture. 16:38 It was engineered to cause maximum pain and suffering. 16:43 And yet because of the cross, the tide would turn, 16:47 not only in Selma, not only in the United States, 16:50 not only for African-Americans, but for the world. 16:55 I'll have more in just a moment. 16:57 ♪[solemn music]♪ 17:00 ♪[music]♪ 17:09 ♪[soft piano music]♪ 17:13 >>Man 1: What does the Bible say about astrology? 17:20 >>Man 2: Why do bad things happen to good people? 17:29 >>Girl: What color is Jesus? 17:31 >>John Bradshaw: If you have a question, 17:32 we'd love to find an answer 17:34 for you from the Bible. 17:35 Line Upon Line 17:36 from It Is Written TV. 17:39 >>John: It was like a ticking time bomb 17:41 just waiting to explode. 17:43 And when it did, a city was plunged into chaos, 17:46 a town was completely destroyed, 17:49 more than 300 people were left dead, 17:52 and thousands left homeless. 17:54 It remains one of the nation's least-known atrocities, 17:58 yet it was one of the most destructive race riots 18:00 in United States history. 18:02 ♪[harmonica music]♪ 18:03 Join It Is Written on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 18:07 for "Black Wall Street," 18:09 as we look at the problem of evil. 18:12 We'll investigate the destruction of a community 18:14 and ask some searching questions: 18:16 ♪[ominous music]♪ How can this happen? 18:18 And who would do such a thing? 18:20 How do "good people" commit truly wicked acts? 18:24 "Black Wall Street" will take you there, 18:26 to the very streets where evil reared its ugly head 18:29 in a way not often seen. 18:31 Don't miss "Black Wall Street" on It Is Written TV. 18:39 >>John Bradshaw: In the year 2000, 18:41 Selma, Alabama, elected its first black mayor. 18:45 Within 12 months, a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest 18:50 was erected in downtown Selma, 18:53 before being relocated here at Selma's Old Live Oak Cemetery. 18:59 The timing and symbolism cannot sensibly be thought of 19:04 as a coincidence. 19:07 Forrest was a general in the Civil War. 19:09 Many historians hold him responsible for the massacre 19:11 of almost 300 black soldiers 19:14 at Fort Pillow during the Civil War. 19:17 He then became the first grand wizard of the newly formed 19:22 Ku Klux Klan. 19:23 In fact, Edmund Pettus, after whom the bridge was named, 19:28 was a grand dragon in the same terror organization. 19:33 ♪[sad music]♪ 19:35 James Reeb was, in all honesty, 19:37 only a minor actor in this national drama. 19:40 He wasn't Rosa Parks, he wasn't Martin Luther King Jr., 19:45 he wasn't John Lewis, he wasn't James Farmer, 19:49 but he did what he could. 19:53 There are only ever so many luminaries, as well as leaders. 19:57 Movements need people who are motivated to help 20:01 in whatever way they can. 20:03 Sometimes it means walking instead of riding the bus. 20:06 Thousands did that. 20:08 Sometimes it means participating in a march. 20:11 Sometimes it means coming to Selma to show your support. 20:16 James Reeb did that. 20:18 History saw to it that his small deed was transformed 20:22 into a great deal more. 20:24 ♪[soft music]♪ 20:28 Jesus came to this earth 20:29 because He knew it was in desperate need. 20:32 Truth had fallen in the streets. 20:35 The leaders of the church at the time had a warped conception 20:38 of the character of God, and people both then and now 20:41 needed to see what God was really like. 20:44 In order to represent God to the world, 20:46 Jesus would have to come to the world, 20:48 live as a nonconformist, 20:50 find Himself on the wrong side of public opinion, 20:53 and ultimately give His life in a brutal, painful way. 20:57 But if He hadn't done that, what then? 21:00 Can you imagine this world if God had simply allowed evil 21:03 to run its course? 21:05 Can you imagine evil unrestrained? 21:08 I really don't think you can. I don't think anyone can. 21:12 The civil rights movement wasn't just about Dr. King 21:15 or Rosa Parks--all leaders and no followers. 21:19 And modern Christianity isn't just about Jesus. 21:22 Here's what I mean. 21:23 All Jesus and no followers, and what do you have then? 21:27 Jesus said to His disciples, 21:29 "You are the light of the world." 21:31 "You are the salt of the earth." 21:33 God said through Isaiah, "You are my witnesses." 21:36 When Moses came back from being with God on the mountain, 21:39 his face glowed. 21:41 God is looking for someone to glow because they've been 21:44 in His presence, 21:45 so other people can see Jesus in that person 21:48 and be drawn to the God who's at work in that life. 21:51 Missionaries have been sharing the gospel 21:53 and paying with their lives for millennia. 21:56 And while you don't have to go to another continent 21:58 or to a remote island in order to be a missionary, 22:01 God is asking every one of His children to be a missionary 22:05 to someone somewhere. 22:10 The world is drowning in sin. 22:13 God is being crowded out of society. 22:16 What does that society look like 22:18 if someone doesn't do something to help? 22:22 There's someone in your circle of influence 22:24 who needs to hear the gospel. 22:25 There's someone you're going to bump into who needs to know 22:28 something about the love of God. 22:30 Society today commonly depicts God as aloof, 22:34 as out of touch, judgmental, irrelevant. 22:37 Well, He's not. 22:39 But unless people see evidence of that in the life of someone, 22:43 they might never believe otherwise. 22:45 ♪[soft piano music]♪ 22:49 Ebed-Melech was moved to do something, 22:51 and he saved the life of the prophet. 22:54 James Reeb was moved to do something, 22:57 and five months after his death, 22:59 the Voting Rights Act was passed. 23:02 Now, I'm not saying the Voting Rights Act was passed 23:03 simply because of James Reeb. 23:06 A lot of things happened, especially here in Selma. 23:09 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached here; 23:12 he was jailed here. 23:13 The Bloody Sunday march took place right there 23:16 on the Edmund Pettus Bridge behind me. 23:19 But it was what happened here in Selma, Alabama, 23:23 that moved the government of this country to act, 23:26 to finally act. 23:29 Something you do or say or demonstrate in your life can be 23:33 used by God to move someone to surrender their life to Jesus. 23:37 Of course, you want to be careful in how 23:39 you represent Jesus, be careful in the method that you employ, 23:43 but make sure you do represent Jesus, 23:46 because the world is looking for a demonstration 23:49 of what Jesus is really like, 23:51 of what God can do in a person's life. 23:54 According to the book of Revelation, 23:56 before this thing is over, 23:58 the world is going to be lit up with a manifestation 24:01 of the character of God in God's people. 24:04 If you'll let it be so, then that will happen in you. 24:09 >>Announcer 1: As we look around the world, 24:10 it appears this planet is spinning wildly out of control. 24:14 The world now is a far cry 24:16 from the world of even just a few years ago, 24:19 leaving many people wondering if there's hope. 24:22 Our free offer today is "Hope for a Planet in Crisis." 24:25 To receive this free guide, 24:27 call 800-253-3000 24:31 or go online at iiwoffer.com. 24:35 Get "Hope for a Planet in Crisis." 24:39 >>John Bradshaw: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written 24:41 exists because of the kindness of people just like you. 24:44 To support this international life-changing ministry, 24:48 please call us now at 800-253-3000. 24:52 You can send your tax-deductible gift 24:53 to the address on your screen, 24:55 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 24:59 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support. 25:02 Our number again is 800-253-3000, 25:06 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 25:10 >>John Bradshaw: God is looking to you, 25:13 and if you'll let Him, if you'll make yourself available to Him, 25:16 God will use you to bring salvation, 25:19 to bring freedom to somebody else. 25:23 And it'll be worth it, because when Jesus comes back, 25:26 we are going to say together, 25:28 "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, 25:34 we are free at last." 25:37 Let's pray together now. 25:38 Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the hope 25:40 that we have in Jesus, 25:42 for the freedom that we have through Jesus. 25:46 We thank You that when He returns, 25:49 the injustices and the hardship and the sin of this world 25:52 will all be gone forever, 25:54 and that we're going to enter into a kingdom, 25:56 an eternal kingdom, where everything has been made new. 26:00 Friend, as God speaks to your heart, 26:03 will you experience the freedom that He offers now? 26:05 If you would, open your heart to Him now, 26:08 invite Him in, and tell Him, "Lord, I choose Jesus. 26:12 Give me a new heart, a new life, eternal life." 26:16 We thank You for it today. 26:18 We pray gratefully in Jesus' name. 26:22 Amen. 26:24 Thanks so much for joining me. 26:25 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time. 26:27 Until then, remember: 26:29 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 26:33 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 26:39 ♪[solemn music]♪ |
Revised 2020-02-05