It’s true that Bix Beiderbecke, king of the cornet, was gone at 28, Charlie Parker at 34, Dinah Washington at 39, John Coltrane at 40. Billie Holiday made it to 44 — not young, but an age that should have been before her time.

Some musicians, classical and rock, as well as jazz, reach especially advanced ages. The music stimulates their mind, connects them with others and lowers stress. Importantly, performing is also a physical workout. Watch the virtuosi sweat.

Tony Bennett passed at 96, having sung only 23 months earlier (with Lady Gaga). Though the performances were billed as “One Last Time,” Bennett seemed in fine form.

The early deaths were usually tied to addictions. Biedernecke was an alcoholic. Washington was cut down by abuse of prescription drugs. Parker, Coltrane and Holiday suffered multiple addictions.

How did Walter Theodore Rollins escape? Born in Harlem, Rollins took some wrong turns. At 21, he helped rob a tobacco store and did time in jail. And he got hooked on heroin. But at around age 24, Rollins put himself into the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, and broke the habit.

Also called the Lexington Narcotic Farm, the facility was both a prison and hospital for addicts. Numerous musicians and artists passed through. Relapses were common, but Rollins was not among them.

From then on, Rollins committed himself to staying sober and healthy, spiritually and physically. He got into yoga and meditation, which he practiced religiously. Many a recovering alcoholic know their power.

It is a falsehood, as Rollins demonstrated, that getting high feeds creativity. A year after leaving “Lexington,” as musicians called the hospital, Rollins recorded his seminal album, “Saxophone Colossus.” From there he built his legacy as an improvisational genius.

Rollins was not alone among other jazz greats who lived well into their 90s. They include Eubie Blake (96), Marian McPartland and Benny Carter (95), Lionel Hampton and Bucky Pizzarelli (94).

The list of rock musicians perishing in their 20s and 30s from drug abuse is voluminous: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse all died at 27. Sid Vicious didn’t make it past 21. But Mick Jagger still performs at 82.

Let’s not overstate the extent to which mind-altering substances spur creativity by relaxing the brain and freeing up associations. Researchers find that novel thoughts do not necessarily lead to good art.

I recall attending a memorial service for Horace Silver, the master of hard bop, who had died at the respectably ripe age of 85. The son of a Cape Verdean immigrant, Silver started life with scoliosis among other physical burdens. But he used those challenges to pursue a life dedicated to family, spirit and healthy eating. He had cut down touring to spend more time with his wife and son. It’s all there in his autobiography, “Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty.”

When the service ended, young jazz musicians filled the church with Silver’s gospel-flavored, Brazilian-inspired sounds. (Steely Dan borrowed heavily from Silver for their opening of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”)

Like Rollins, Silver lacked nothing in creativity and didn’t regard self-destruction as the price for producing original sounds. Starting in 1959, Rollins “disappeared” for a while to work on his art. He would practice for hours on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge.

He emerged three years later with an album called “The Bridge.” And as a bonus, he had 64 years left to make more music. Rollins knew that great artists didn’t have to die young.

Written by Froma Harrop

Official website; https://twitter.com/FromaHarrop

Loser: The American People

Americans were unhappy prior to the Israeli-US War on Iran. They had witnessed unbelievable chaos, confusion, distrust, alienation and divisiveness within the nation. Still, they viewed their nation as a friendly nation and not a bully.

After the war started, sitting in their cars paying almost double for gas to go shopping for significantly increased groceries did not make them any happier. Americans’ confidence in their government, other institutions, and the economy is at an all-time low. For many Americans they look around and no longer see the nation of their youth.

Winner: The Current Occupant of the Oval Office

The current occupant of the Oval Office has no principals. No beliefs, dogma, tenets nor allegiances beyond his self-preservation and well-being. He does have an insatiable desire for attention. The greater the attention, the happier he is. The Israeli-US War on Iran placed him front and center on the world stage. He gave the performance for the ages, at least in his mind.

Loser: The Epstein Files

It took a war, the Israeli-US War on Iran, to remove the Epstein Files as front-page news. The war did what the Department of Juveniles was unable to do. Whatever hope of justice the victims had is probably now just blowing in the wind.

Winner: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been unsuccessful in prodding earlier US presidents to attack Iran. However, the current occupant of the Oval Office decided that the first duty of the American government is to protect the citizens of Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is not interested in anything less than the complete destruction of the nation of Iran. The only thing which might prevent all-out war is the price of oil reaching levels so high that American and other consumers finally tell Netanyahu ”enough is enough.”

Loser: State of Israel

At the close of the Second World War, people around the world were confronted with images, horrific and shocking images, of the dead bodies of Jews, six million of them. They had been systematically and barbarically murdered during what became known as the Holocaust. The images were unbelievable but unfortunately so very real. Images that showed the depths of the brutality, inhumanity, savagery, hatred and just pure evil that men and women were capable of doing to other men, women and children.

Those images and the ugly history behind the images, compelled governments and people around the world to justify the survivors of the Holocaust and Jews throughout the world have their own nation. To have a place in which they could sit under their own fig tree and not be afraid.

Fast forward roughly 80 years after the State of Israel was established. People throughout the world have been horrified and shocked at the images coming out of Gaza and Lebanon of men, women and children experiencing a present-day holocaust. Have those images as well as the Israeli and US War on Iran served to eradicate the support the State of Israel had been given unconditionally?

Winner: Iran

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. We have oil and you have needs. Iran was forced to take on Israel and the US. Two against one. Iran suffered damage but, in the end, not only did it remain standing it came out of the war stronger than before. David had once again beaten an evil two-headed Goliath. Many inside and outside of Iran are compelled to ask if Israel and the US have nuclear weapons, why shouldn’t Iran? Iranian government hardliners are now stronger and have increased their control of Iranian society.

Loser: The Moral Authority of the US

The current occupant of the Oval Office in one of his many late-night rants stated that if Iran did not surrender to the demands of Israel and the US that he was prepared to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age. Iran dismissed his paper tiger threats. In the end, billions of people and governments throughout the world saw that it was the moral authority of the US that sadly had been ushered back to the Stone Age. A moral authority which had taken decades to establish now wiped away overnight. It might take forever for the US to be viewed as having moral authority by nations and people throughout the world .

Winner: MAGA

The political philosophy of the MAGA movement is quite simple. There is none. It stands for nothing other than being opposed to everything. It feeds on chaos, confusion, division, contempt, pain and suffering of others. It is a movement made up of unhappy, angry people. Their satisfaction is spreading their misery to others.

The Israeli-US War on Iran with its chaos, confusion, destruction, pain, suffering and death was sweet music to the MAGA faithful.

Winner: Islamic and Arabic Militancy

The Israeli-US attacks in the Middle East have killed thousands of men, women and children. For each father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle and aunt killed conceivably there will be three, four, five or more who feel compelled, feel a duty to seek revenge. If nothing else, the Israeli-US attacks in the Middle East will serve to ensure that there will be a new generation of Islamic and Arab soldiers, warriors and martyrs.

Winner: China

Even before the Israeli-US War on Iran, the current Oval Office occupant’s obsession with trade wars, nations around the world began to see China as a more favorable and reliable trade partner than the US. They also see it as more stable and mature. The Israeli-US War on Iran has only served to cement those notions.

China, a once pariah nation, is now viewed as the reasonable, responsible adult in the room. As for the pariah nation designation, the US and Israel have replaced China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Winner: European Nations

Longtime European allies were caught off guard by the attack on Iran. They had not been consulted prior to the attack. Over the last year and a half the current occupant of the Oval Office berated and mocked longtime European allies of the US over tariffs and other issues. When the current occupant of the Oval Office realized his war was not turning out how he thought he reached out in desperation to longtime European allies. The same longtime European allies he had earlier mocked and berated. Longtime European allies decided to let motor mouth handle his problem all by himself.

Since the Second World War, European nations looked to and relied on the US for their security concerns. Distrustful of the US, European nations are now moving away and developing their own security arrangements. Europe will emerge stronger with greater solidarity, independence and confidence.

No Decision: Arab Nations

Arab nations closest in proximity to Iran have viewed Iran worryingly. The US did not confer with these nations prior to launching its attack with Israel against Iran. It also was not able to protect those nations from attacks from Iran. The war may compel Arab nations to rethink their strategic relationships.

It also remains to be seen if the citizens of those Arab nations are willing to support governments that sided with Israel and the US against a fellow Islamic and Arab nation.

No Decision: Democratic Members of Congress

Democratic Congressional members and candidates should be in a state of rapture unable to wait until their blue tsunami sweeps Republicans from control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate. But the Democrats being Democrats will probably find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Beyond being against the current occupant in the Oval Office what if anything do Democrats stand for?

No Decision: Republican Members of Congress

It would be understandable if Republican Congressional members and candidates would be out looking for boxes to move their belongings from their more spacious offices to those set aside for minority party members. But not so fast. They are highly successful in hoodwinking and bamboozling voters. In 2024, Republicans were able to convince enough voters that immigrants and transgender people were the number one threats to their life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Will Republicans invent a new mythical monster or monsters to feed voters and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

Staff Writer; Al Alatunji

Question or comment regarding this article? Feel free to send a message to: Alatunji@ThyBlackMan.com.

And somehow, too many Americans are shrugging.

Perhaps that shrug is less agreement than exhaustion. Americans are tired — tired of the scandals, the outrage cycles, the endless circus where every day produces another ethical breach, another fundraising scheme, another spectacle competing for attention. People are struggling with rent, groceries, healthcare, caregiving, and retirement. Corruption fatigue has become part of our political culture, and that exhaustion is dangerous because corruption flourishes when people become too weary to resist it.

Donald Trump did not invent corruption. He simply removed the curtains. Previous presidents at least understood that public office required the appearance of restraint. Trump has transformed the presidency into something between a branding opportunity, a grievance machine, and a family business.

Campaign fundraising, cryptocurrency ventures, donor cultivation, luxury branding, political memorabilia, legal defense funds, and influence-peddling now swirl together into one giant transactional enterprise where political power and private wealth are increasingly difficult to separate. The presidency is no longer merely an office; it is becoming a monetization platform.

Trump’s defenders often say, “Well, he was rich before politics.” That misses the point entirely. The issue is not whether Trump entered office wealthy. The issue is whether political power is now being openly leveraged for personal financial gain while ethical guardrails collapse around us.

Reports estimate Trump-linked crypto ventures alone have generated staggering sums for Trump-affiliated entities while the administration influences the regulatory environment surrounding those same markets. In another era, such conflicts would have triggered bipartisan outrage. Today, many Americans barely react before the next scandal arrives.

Corruption survives when exhaustion sets in and citizens begin believing that everybody is dirty anyway, although everybody is clearly not dirty in the same way.

Poor people are investigated for survival. Working people are lectured about personal responsibility. Black families are criminalized for minor infractions. Yet wealthy elites convert influence into wealth and are celebrated as savvy businessmen.

A poor woman receiving excess food stamps is treated like a criminal mastermind. Billionaires gaming the tax code are called “smart.”

America still punishes poverty more aggressively than it punishes corruption.

That is why the debate over IRS enforcement matters so much. Efforts to strengthen tax enforcement against wealthy tax evasion provoke immediate political backlash. Politicians rage about “government overreach” when auditors examine millionaires, but remain silent while ordinary taxpayers face penalties and garnishments over comparatively tiny sums.

There are effectively two tax systems in America — one for people with lawyers and one for people without them.

Trump did not create that system. He understands it instinctively because he has benefited from it for decades. But his presidency has accelerated something even more corrosive: the collapse of ethical expectations altogether.

Conflicts of interest barely register anymore. Foreign money moves through luxury properties and investment vehicles. Campaign funds circulate through politically connected businesses. Political branding and family enrichment now operate side by side with governance itself, and Americans are increasingly expected to accept all this as normal.

This is neither normal nor harmless; it is dangerous.

A democracy cannot function when citizens conclude that public office is simply another avenue for private enrichment. Once people stop believing government serves any public purpose, cynicism replaces citizenship. Voters disengage. Institutions weaken. Democracy itself becomes transactional, and transactions always favor the wealthy.

What worries me most is not merely Trump himself, but the national adjustment surrounding him. Americans are not embracing the circus so much as surrendering to it. The daily chaos creates a numbing effect. Every scandal competes with five others. Every outrage is replaced before citizens can fully absorb its implications.

Exhaustion itself becomes a political strategy, because if the public remains overwhelmed long enough, accountability begins to erode. People stop asking, “Is this acceptable?” and begin asking only, “What happened today?”

That shift in public consciousness is profoundly dangerous.

History teaches us that republics rarely collapse in one dramatic moment. More often, they are hollowed out gradually — one indulgence, one rationalization, one ethical compromise at a time.

The presidency is not supposed to be a family inheritance project, a licensing operation, or a speculative investment vehicle. Public office is supposed to involve public trust.

Yet public trust is eroding rapidly.

The grift matters. But the greater danger is the national numbness surrounding it.

History will not judge us solely by the corruption we tolerated. It will judge us by how quickly we became accustomed to it.

Written by Julianne Malveaux

Official website; https://www.juliannemalveaux.com

Everyone with even just a little bit of money set aside — not just the California billionaires targeted by the wealth tax — should understand what these two measures represent.

Start with the Billionaire Tax Act. The gap between what it promises and what it would deliver is stark. Joshua Rauh of Stanford University has run the numbers with his Hoover Institution colleagues, and the results cast doubt on the prospect of any revenue gain whatsoever.

Proponents claim the tax would raise $100 billion. Rauh’s team found that billionaires have already been voting with their feet: Larry Ellison left California in 2020, and six others, including Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, departed between the proposal’s announcement and Dec. 31, 2025 — the day before the liability would take effect.

These departures alone reduce the measure’s supposed tax revenue by nearly 40% before a single dollar is collected. Once migration patterns uncovered in the academic literature are applied to quieter departures, expected revenue falls to only $40 billion.

Now, factor in the normal state taxes that will no longer be collected from departing billionaires. Rauh’s team calculates that by shrinking the existing tax base, the measure’s “net present value” is at least a $25 billion loss for California.

Then there is the retroactivity problem. The proposal aims to tax billionaires based on residency and conduct that reaches back to Jan. 1, long before any vote was cast. Individuals who believe they lawfully established residency elsewhere might have to fight California in court for years (at the expense of the remaining taxpayers), based on details as arbitrary as where these billionaires kept their pets or held club memberships.

The “onetime” framing of the tax deserves equal skepticism. As Rauh points out, the measure includes a constitutional authorization to lift California’s cap on taxation of intangible personal property. Once that legal infrastructure exists, future wealth taxes can be imposed at any rate, at any threshold, at any time. It is, in other words, a permanent new power for the state.

The Billionaire Tax Act is so erratic and its precedent so problematic that it practically begs Californians to pay attention to the second ballot measure. All Americans’ savings should be safe from such confiscation based on three clear principles.

First, fairness: When a worker sets aside after-tax income to invest for retirement, the resulting balance is not untapped revenue. To treat this savings as a fresh tax base is to tax the same dollar twice.

Second, stability: A tax system that reaches into asset values rather than income flows is inherently volatile. A founder whose stock drops 40% in a downturn still owes wealth tax on last year’s greater valuation. An ordinary saver whose 401(k) is taxed would face the same absurdity.

Third, and most urgent, is California’s own track record. According to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, state spending is poised to grow by nearly 70% between 2019 and the coming fiscal year, drastically outpacing a significant revenue hike over the period. The result is a cumulative deficit exceeding $50 billion over the next two years, a hole entirely of Sacramento’s own making, unrelated to Washington. Trusting politicians with that spending record to stop at taxing billionaires is reckless and naive.

When the wealth tax inevitably fails to deliver, the state will look for the next available pool of assets. Nonbillionaires who remain after California’s billionaires depart will be the likely targets, and their retirement savings could be the new tax base. As Rauh wrote earlier this month in his ongoing exploration of the proposals, “While approximately 0.001% of California households are billionaires, approximately 62% have retirement accounts.”

If this prediction sounds farfetched due to federal protections — or if you think billionaires will always be treated differently than normal savers who fill retirement accounts over a lifetime — consider what California already does to health savings accounts.

Federal law treats HSA contributions and earnings as tax-exempt. But under California’s tax engineering, the interest, dividends and capital gains are treated as ordinary income, affecting roughly 4.5 million residents. These people are not billionaires or millionaires. Politicians simply decided this was revenue the state was entitled to tax. Doing the same with 401(k)s and IRAs would not require new principles, just the same willingness.

A wealth tax on billionaires is the first step, and it puts the retirement savings of ordinary Californians at risk. The HSA precedent suggests that the threat is real. The Retirement and Personal Savings Protection Act would erect constitutional barriers against exactly that kind of expansion.

Written by Veronique de Rugy

Official website; http://twitter.com/veroderugy

In 1861, as the second highest ranking official in the Confederate government, he used his position and platform to make very clear his belief in racial superiority and dominance of the White race. He actually called it the “great truth”. His words were validation to those who shared the same shameful beliefs. While the Confederate government lost the war, this belief still remained in the hearts and minds of Confederate sympathizers for decades and centuries. In 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is also proving to be a very dangerous man. In his high-ranking position within the Trump administration, Hegseth uses his platform to set governmental policies that are aligned with and consistent with the cultural beliefs of Alexander Stephens.

In his recent commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Hegseth harshly criticized diversity, equity and inclusion programs and blasted former military leadership for prioritizing correctness over combat readiness. He argued that previous “foolish and feckless” military leaders had “embraced the DEI craze and tried to introduce diversity and inclusion studies,” which he blamed for endangering soldiers. Addressing the graduates directly, Hegseth pushed back against the recent cultural shifts within the armed forces, including the removal of Confederate monuments from military grounds.

He told the graduating cadets, “Many of you, even in your short time in uniform, have endured what I called the slow slide of the U.S. Army. You’ve seen standards lowered, you’ve seen an obsession with race and gender, you’ve seen the watering down of discipline, codes weakened, and traditions tossed aside in the name of political correctness, statues taken down, painting placed in the basement”. As people of color, we are not fooled. When we hear Hegseth’s polarizing and misleading remarks, we see and hear Alexander Stephens under the cover. When we see Hegseth defending military bases and monuments that honor Confederate generals who led the rebellion against the Union, we see and hear the rise of the modern-day Confederacy.

Hegseth is correct. As people of color, we want to toss aside the traditions and legacies that support the untrue notion that the “negro is not equal to the white man”. Yes, we are obsessed with race and gender because we want our current and future military leaders to be strong men and women of character and integrity; leaders who treat people of all cultural backgrounds with fairness while giving them the respect they rightfully deserve. This represents the mark of true leadership which should serve as the example for all graduating cadets. And yes, we challenge any reframing of DEI which supports the idea that maintaining diversity and inclusion means the weakening of standards and the lowering combat readiness. The need for a strong pushback will always exist.

There will always be men and women in powerful positions who will be resistant to any form of progressive change, equality for people of color and the rightful sharing of political power. The deep disrespect will never go away. Hegseth is not alone in perpetuating the foundational beliefs of the Confederacy. There needs to be a moral pushback to what is happening under the direction of Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and Chief Justice John Roberts. Their efforts are organized and strategic. The pushback must be as well.

The “Memphis boycott” refers to the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. Black sanitation workers utilized labor strikes and community boycotts to demand better wages, safe working conditions and union recognition. What stood out with Memphis pushback is how organizers developed the “I AM A MAN” slogan to directly confront the dehumanizing social and economic conditions faced by Black laborers. It was a powerful statement to white individuals during the Jim Crow era who systematically used the term “boy” to address adult Black men. The statement by Blacks demanded that white individuals recognize their adulthood and equality. Rev. James Lawson, a key architect of the strike, galvanized the sanitation workers by stating, “At the heart of racism is the idea that a man is not a man….You are human beings. You are men.”

The NAACP’s new “Out of Bounds” campaign is the latest campaign in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. This pushback calls for Black athletes, families, fans, alumni and consumers to withhold athletic commitments and financial support from public universities in states where Black voting power will be severely eroded. The targeted states include Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia. These are states where legislatures are pursing maps to reduce Black political representation and whose flagship programs rely heavily on top-tier Black athletes in football and basketball. Today, top-tier Black athletes can earn substantial income through Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) agreements, with top earners commanding million-dollar deals.

This is a game changer for top high school recruits. If this boycott effort is to have any long-term impact, we have to remind all generations concerning the “why”. Remind them of the words of Alexander Stephens, Pete Hegseth, and Rev. James Lawson. Remind them of the moral reasons behind the “I AM A MAN” slogan. Remind them that in 2026 their friends, family and neighbors are suffering from increased racial hostility on multiple fronts resulting from anti-DEI agendas being carried out. Once the “why” is presented, let their conscience take over.

Written by David W. Marshall

Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/

One may purchase his book, which is titled; God Bless Our Divided America: Unity, Politics and History from a Biblical Perspective.

Hebrews 2:17 – Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God,

The purpose of this study is to bring to light the goodness of God and his compassion toward us, not only for the forgiveness of sin but toward the sick to be healed.

W.E. Vines dictionary says compassion is to be moved as to one’s inwards (splanchna), to be moved with compassion, to yearn with compassion,” is frequently recorded of Christ towards the multitude and towards individual sufferers, – to suffer with another (sun, ‘with,’ pascho, ‘to suffer’), to be affected similarly, – to have mercy (eleos, “mercy”), to show kindness, by beneficence, or assistance.

In many scriptures throughout the New Testament and throughout the Bible, the words compassion and mercy have the same or similar meaning.

Psalms 145:8 – The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.

This shows the very nature and heart of our Father towards us. This is an aspect that inspires faith for healing as none other. This shows that God is willing, not only able, for his children to have divine health.

We need to recognize God’s willingness to show mercy toward us, and not just seek the power of God, but to seek his mercy, and in that, the power of God will be manifested. Faith in God’s will and God’s love secures blessings, not faith in God’s power.

I think most of us agree that God is all powerful, but the church body as a whole doesn’t know that God’s will is to demonstrate that power in His love toward us. We must know that our Lord is willing as well as able before we can receive our healing by faith, for faith begins where knowledge of God’s Word is known. God’s Word shows us over and over that God is willing and as well as able and He is wanting us to reach out by faith and receive it.

Micah 7:18 – Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.

Micah is saying that God delights in mercy, if we could just get a revelation of that awesome fact, God wants us cleansed and whole.

I believe God is aggressive in His love toward us, and is always looking for opportunities to show His love toward us, but is very difficult for God to bless us when we won’t even acknowledge that He is willing. We know He is able, we must know He is very willing as well. Have you ever stopped to consider what it would be like to see your children hurting and you want to take care of them, you have the ability to help them, but they won’t acknowledge that you even want to help them, much less receive the help you have for them. How this must grieve the heart of the Father, for he delights in mercy.

Ephesians 3:20 – Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

It would seem that God would almost rather have us doubt His ability than His willingness. This shows that we know God can, but that He doesn’t care enough for us to even lift a finger to help, — you know, that’s for some one else, I never get healed. If you are talking like that, you are saying the opposite of what God is saying, in other words you are saying God won’t and that kind of confession has to change in order for you to receive. You can’t say God is unwilling and then expect to receive healing from Him, you see that’s exactly what you are doing if you are not lining your words with His words. You have to acknowledge the truth in order to receive it, and you must know the truth first in order to acknowledge it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a gentlemen and He never forces His will on anybody! God is able but He is also willing to show us and give us His best.

Psalms 145:9 – The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.
Healing is one of His works,

Healing is part of the redemptive plan of God, that was fulfilled in the completed work of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can God be a respecter of persons, and just bless a few special people? The answer to that is He can’t. The scripture we just quoted reads the Lord is good to all! Not just some but all, praise God. That means the wicked as well as the saints. How then, can we the children of God think that God will withhold the covenant blessing of healing from us, while he extends His tender mercies to all the wicked of the earth. We should realize that if God is willing to show His mercy to all the wicked of the earth, how much more is He willing to show the mercy of healing toward His own.

Psalms 25:10. – All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Since this is true, then the Christian that has been afflicted can say along with Solomon in —
2 Chron. 6:14. – “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

As we read before Jesus was moved with compassion toward the sick during His earthly ministry.

In Mk.1:40-41 – a leper came to Jesus and said, 40. If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
42. As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

We see 2 important truths in this passage of Scripture, Jesus was moved with compassion, and the result of that compassion was God’s will was manifest, and the man was instantly cleansed. Jesus not only had the ability but was very willing for the man to be made whole.

Hebrews 13:8. – States that, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This can only mean that since Jesus was compassionate toward the sick, and was willing to heal them then in His earthly ministry, that He is still compassionate toward the sick and is willing to heal them today.

Hebrews 8:6. – Says, But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, in as much as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

Now, since we have a better covenant, built on better promises, and Jesus has a more excellent ministry, how much more should we be able to receive healing in this age of grace than in the Old Covenant where we saw that God wanted to show his mercy to all!

Hebrews 2:17. – Says, Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

As I defined mercy at the beginning of this study, W.E. Vines dictionary defines mercy,
and another definition says, — not simply possessed of pity but actively compassionate.

This is used of Christ in His role as High priest. This verse of Scripture has no reference to Christ compassion as it was manifested during His earthly ministry, it is referring to His ministry from heaven, and his purpose for His incarnation in the earth, was for this end, that He might show compassion as our High Priest. Jesus went away to be with the Father, but He continually makes intercession for the saints, let us realize that His compassions is the same today as it was yesterday, and He yearns to help us!

He never changes, He’s the same yesterday today and forever. His attitude towards the sick has not changed one bit.

So many Christians today are in the dark in this area, and it never occurs to them that God’s compassion for the sick is the same as it is for the forgiveness of sins.

Psalms 103:2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
3. Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,

Forgiveness and healing go hand in hand, as the psalm says all His benefits, healing and forgiveness.

During Jesus entire earthly ministry he healed all that came to Him. The needs of the sick today are no different than in Jesus time, they needed healing then and they need healing now. Let me ask you a question, did Jesus withdraw His compassion, has he changed in some way and is no longer compassionate, or is he the same as the Word declares?

Praise God, He is the same as when He ministered bodily healing upon the earth, where bodily healing was bestowed upon all who sought it! Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever! Psalm 103 goes on to say;

Psalms 103:4. – Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5. Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6. The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.
7. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

He forgives our iniquities He heals our diseases, He redeems our life from destruction, He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies, He satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles, our Lord is merciful and gracious, and He abounds in mercy.

That’s the picture of an actively compassionate God who is willing to show His mercy to all who are oppressed. God is willing, as well as able to deliver us in our time of need. Thank God we don’t serve a God made out of wood or stone, we serve the one true God who is alive and executes righteous judgments for all who are oppressed. We have a part to play in our own redemption whether spiritual or physical, we have to acknowledge Him, as our redeemer, that’s the one thing He won’t do for us. Quoting from the new International Version of the Bible the 91st Psalm starting with verse 14. says, Because he loves me “says the Lord. “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15. He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him, 16. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

We have to love him, we have to acknowledge his name, we have to call upon him. Then he will rescue us, then he will protect us, then he will be with us in trouble, then he will deliver us and honor us, then with long life will he satisfy us and show us His salvation. If we do these things He will do what He said He will do. For God is not a man that can lie, and His Word never returns void, but accomplishes that which it was sent to do.

If you don’t know Jesus as savior and lord I would like to invite you meet Him, by praying the following prayer.
Also if you don’t know Jesus as your healer I would like to invite you to meet him as your healer, and acknowledge Him as healer as well as savior. As the 103 psalm says; forget not all His benefits:

Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; put him to the test, and receive both His forgiveness and His healing, I learned this as a young man and He has never let me down, I’m so grateful for all His benefits.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come to you in the name of Jesus.
Your word says, “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn.6:37),
So I know You won’t cast me out, but You take me in,
And I thank you for it.
You said in your Word, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ro. 10:13).
I am calling on Your name,
So I know You have saved me now,
You also said, “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Ro.10:9,10).
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I believe He was raised from the dead for my justification.
And I confess Him now as my Lord,
Because Your Word says, “… with the heart man believeth unto righteousness…” and I do believe with my heart,
I have now become the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21),
And I am saved! Thank You, Lord!
I can now truthfully say, I see myself as a born again child of God!
Glory to God!!!!

Staff Writer; Mark B.

This Devoted ‘Christian‘ can be found at; MarkB@ThyBlackMan.com.

Staff Writer; Jamar Jackson

This brother writes with a love for poetry, music, and real conversations that reflect everyday life in the Black community… Much of his inspiration comes from old records, spoken word, and the kind of stories people carry with them for years… One may contact him at; JJackson@ThyBlackMan.com.

The enemy often chooses somebody who looks like us to make their point. Well, in the case at hand, since this is the political season, somebody who looks like us chose somebody whose family was often a friend. His father once led the political party to which many of us belong and more often than not, worked in our best interest. Before he was out of office he often did what he thought was in our best interest. You’ll know who I’m talking about by saying he appointed one of us to run for the office to replace him in 2024.

That’s fair, but, as for me, I wondered why he didn’t just resign from office when he decided not to run again, and allow the woman who would have become President when he resigned before his term was up. Of course, you know I am talking about former President Joe Biden who could have given us the First Black Female President—Kamala Harris. That would have allowed her to run as the incumbent President. That would have put another note in the annals of Black History (and women’s history) while others who don’t look like us were making every effort to erase the great positive history we’ve already made –against great odds.

So much for that disappointment, but we shouldn’t have expected too much as Dinah Washington once sang “How Can You Be Disappointed When You Are Disappointed All The Time?”

By now, you know what I was leading up to. Why was Hunter Biden sitting down with Candace Owens making a clown of himself? Did he know her history? Did Hunter think she was a friend to the Black people who took the lead in electing Hunter’s father to be President of the United States—providing him with privileges he personally screwed up?

We, Black people, stood by his father to the end—but Hunter still did an interview with Candace Owens who is known not to be a friend of Black people. Didn’t he know  that? Through his and his Dad’s tough times, who stood by them?  Didn’t he know that in good times and bad times, Black people stand by and support our friends? He didn’t do himself any favors by interviewing with Ms. Owens. Instead of presenting himself as one who was moving toward recovery, Hunter just gave his enemies more reasons for blocking his healing from the mistakes he made that hurt his father’s chances of becoming President for a second term. That would have been far better than what we are dealing with today!

My advice to Hunter and to others is to watch out for everything because there’re many out there doing all they can to betray us while pretending to help us. It’s time for us not to be led into mistakes by not knowing with whom we are talking and what the intentions of their conversations are! Hunter hasn’t helped our causes or his. We could have lived without the things he was led to discuss. Ms. Owens saying Democrats want Black people to fail is something that was true at another time, but if she wants to help us, she needs to update her position on who is working to make us fail now!

Written By Dr. E. Faye Williams

Official website; https://x.com/DrEFayeWilliams