Chicago, Chicago

Chicago, Chicago

     With the controversy between the black lives matter protestors and the police in this country, it got me to thinking about some things.  First let me make very clear black lives do matter.  Equally, so do all other lives.  If you use God’s measuring instruments (which is what we should do since He is infinitely more wise than we are) each and every person is equal in value.

     The very well-known verse from John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  It doesn’t say that He loved the white persons of the world, or that He loved the black persons of the world.  He loved all from black to white and every shade in between.  And He purchased them all and gave them all opportunity to have a relationship with Him.

     In the midst of this current controversy, one of the things that people keep bringing up, or should I say they keep trying to bring up, but are finding that it gets no traction is the problem of black on black crime. Young black men killing other young black men.  Do young black men’s lives only matter if they are destroyed by a white person?  Nonsense!  I have to question why is this sad loss of life not being treated as though those black lives matter? They do matter. They matter to God. They should matter to us. Why are there not people marching in the streets in defense of these young lives lost?  What a waste.  What could their contributions to the world have been?

    When I start thinking about things it is interesting (to me) the different things that connect together in that dancing jumble of thoughts in my head.

     The next thought that comes is a passage of scripture from Jonah.  It says: Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

     Then from somewhere in my memory another thought comes pirouetting into view, the memory of a man named Billy Sunday. 

     Billy Sunday was born in 1862 in Iowa and died in 1935.  He was a professional baseball player in the National League.  Billy “got saved” in 1886. 

     To anyone who may not be familiar with that phrase “got saved” it means to enter into a relationship with God by claiming the blood of Christ as that which cleanses a person to become worthy to enter into a relationship with a holy God.  Christ sacrificed his life as atonement for mankind.  When this atonement is accepted, one is “saved” from the consequences of his own sinfulness. 

     In 1896 Billy became an evangelist.  He had a passion to see people come out of darkness and sin and worldly vises and enter into relationship with God and find wholeness and light.  We could use a few Billy Sundays in our world today.

     There are some interesting quotes attributed to Billy Sunday such as:

 “Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.

They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good.”

     I think the reason thoughts of Billy Sunday came prancing into this particular thought process is because I think somewhere in his spirit Billy heard words similar to those that Jonah heard.  I think he felt God calling to him:  “Arise, go to that great city of Chicago and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

     Billy Sunday arose and went and cried out against the wickedness in the city of Chicago but his efforts did not have the same outcome as Jonah’s.

     The city of Chicago wanted no part of Billy Sunday’s God.  In fact a song was written mocking him.  It was recorded and sung by Frank Sinatra. Some of the words go like this:

Chicago, Chicago that toddling town
Chicago, Chicago I will show you around - I love it
Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago
The town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down.

     Back to my original thought, the lost black lives taken by other black people:  Chicago is the main city from which statistics are used to bring awareness of this very sad problem.  Chicago is a city that should hang its head in shame for the opportunity they had and missed.

     According to Wikipedia, Chicago is a city with a very tarnished reputation because of its long history of corruption of its public officials.  These officials have kept federal law enforcement and prosecutors very busy.  It seems that Chicago’s politicians, (predominantly democrats for over 50 years) had a well-known reputation as a “political machine”. 

     In the 1980s, FBI Operation “Greylord” uncovered within Chicago’s judicial system massive and systemic corruption.  It was the longest and most successful undercover operation in the FBI’s history.   This investigation resulted in 92 federal indictments, which included 17 judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 court officials, and one state legislator. Nearly all were convicted on a variety of charges including bribery, kickbacks, fraud, vote buying, racketeering and drug trafficking.

A quote from Wikipedia:

     “A 2015 report released by the University of Illinois at Chicago's political science department declared Chicago the "corruption capital of America", citing that the Chicago-based Federal Judicial District for Northern Illinois reported 45 public corruption convictions for 2013 and a total of 1,642 convictions for the 38 years since 1976 when the U.S. Department of Justice began compiling the statistics.  UIC Professor and former Chicago Alderman Dick Simpson noted in the report that "To end corruption, society needs to do more than convict the guys that get caught.  A comprehensive anti-corruption strategy must be forged and carried out over at least a decade. A new political culture in which public corruption is no longer tolerated must be created".

Examples of other high profile Chicago political figures convicted on corruption related charges include Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Isaac Carothers, Arenda Troutman, Edward Vrdolyak, Otto Kerner, Jr., Constance Howard, Fred Roti and Dan Rostenkowski.”

     What a sad commentary for a city, but that’s not the total of Chicago’s sad story.  Street crime statistics show that Chicago is considered the most gang infested city in the whole US.  There were close to 500 homicides in Chicago in 2015.

     I guess the real thought in my head that all this mental dancing culminates in is this: How might things have been different if Chicago had welcomed and embraced the Truth that Billy Sunday brought? 

     My conclusion is this: If God blesses you with the opportunity to hear the Gospel, to hear Truth, don’t turn away.  Open your ears, your mind and your heart.

     Those verses I quoted early are indeed encouraging, the ones that say that God so loved us that He sent His Son to save us, but just a few verses later, John 3: 19-20 says: And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

     Maybe your town and my town and Chicago town all need another visit from a Billy Sunday.