Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on Tearing Down Strongholds. In this first installment, writer Michelle Melchor examines strongholds that perpetuate injustice among entire people groups. In Part 2, we will explore ideas on how believers can create a more just society.
Have you ever found yourself doing the same thing the same way, even when it's counterproductive to what you're trying to accomplish? Maybe, you go to the same grocery store even though there's a new one closer with the same products. Or you do a task the hard way simply because you haven't thought about doing it a different, easier way.
In Georgia, car license tags have to be renewed every year on the driver's birthday. For years that meant going to the tag office and standing in line sometimes for an hour or more to get a renewal. Some years ago, the state made it possible to renew your tag online. But I kept schlepping to the tag office and waiting in line to get my renewal. It had become a bastion in my brain that this was the way for me to do this task — a stronghold that resisted and defended against any other way of doing it.
In 2 Corinthians 10 Paul tells us, "We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, New Living Translation, emphasis mine).
A stronghold is a fortress, castle or citadel that has been fortified to defend against attack. In our minds, hearts and culture a stronghold is a mindset, value system or thought process that hinders our growth. It determines how we think, act and treat each other.
As the Corinthians passage says, there is a constant battle in our spiritual lives to "knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments." In the garden of Eden, Eve's human reasoning accepted the false argument Satan offered that God was not really good and was withholding something from her. Eric Mason, pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, describes it as "Satan supplanting God's truth in our minds with his lies." David Wilkerson, evangelist and founder of Teen Challenge, says, "Satan… implants lies and deceptions in your mind, especially about the character of God."
In America today there is a pitched battle over the history of our nation concerning poverty and race, and how they affect our culture. Much of this conflict is based on strongholds, long-held ideas about people in poverty and people of color based on half truths and myths that are so ingrained in our psyche that we believe them to be true — and we treat our fellow Americans accordingly. Many of us are not even conscious that we believe some of these ideas. Let me give you a few examples:
| Poverty indicates a character flaw — lazy, stupid, immoral. Poverty is the God-given lot of people of color. Many Christians have misused what's called the Hamitic curse to justify the enslavement of African people. The curse was not on Ham or on Africans but on the descendants of Canaan. (Read the story in Genesis 9:20-24.) "I made it, why can't you?" "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" |
Assuming that skin color or ethnic origin determines a person's character denies the imago dei (image of God) of every person. Each of us was specifically designed by God to reflect His image.
Most of us would deny we think this way, not realizing it minimizes and reduces others to just a physical trait. Yet, unconsciously, many of us still believe that Asian Americans are smarter, Hispanic Americans are illegal immigrants and African Americans have inferior intelligence. Where did we get such ideas?!
Many of these myths/lies came about to rationalize the unjust treatment of vulnerable, minority communities. White slave owners declared that enslaved Africans were lacking in intelligence so they needed to be taken care of by their enslavers. And to prove it, enslaved Black people were forbidden to learn to read on pain of severe physical punishment, even being blinded. So the idea that Black people were less intelligent became a self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating prophecy. To this day, many African Americans still have to deal with poorly equipped schools and outdated textbooks.
Some Americans can't understand why impoverished people can't just "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" like they did. First, one has to have boots to have bootstraps. Second, this denies the fact there are societal and governmental factors involved in generational poverty. As much as we deny it, there are still deeply held ideas in our society — one group of people is better than, superior to or inherently worthy of more advantage than another — whether it's based on skin color, physical appearance, national origin, ethnicity or religious beliefs. These ideas have existed and persisted since the earliest European settlers came to America.
| ‘In our minds, hearts and culture a stronghold is a mindset, value system or thought process that hinders our growth.’ | While the federal government has often been the champion of equality and justice, it has also endorsed and enforced practices that perpetuate both racial and economic discrimination and segregation — a classic case of giving with one hand and taking it back with the other. |
For instance, the housing boom of the post-World War II period was a time of great opportunity, but not for Black Americans. Through the government practice of redlining — deciding which neighborhoods were a good financial risk for mortgage lending — Black communities were outlined and colored in red, indicating they were the highest risk and a bad investment. The government directed banks not to make loans for these communities. At the same time, the federal government was subsidizing new suburban housing in many states for white Americans and demolishing Black communities to build interstate highways out to the new neighborhoods.
Developers and residents of the suburban neighborhoods signed covenants stating they would not sell or rent to any person of color. So African, Hispanic and Asian Americans were effectively excluded from home ownership, one of the best ways to build financial security and generational wealth. Instead, they were crowded into decaying and under-resourced urban and inner-city neighborhoods. Earlier in our history, Native Americans faced similar discriminatory moves by being forced onto reservations.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed in response to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, unfair and unjust housing practices persisted. Many Black veterans of WWII were refused the benefits of the GI Bill for education and housing.
Federal programs such as the New Deal, the War on Poverty and The Great Society were meant to counteract the effects of racism and discrimination. We all are familiar with the welfare program, meant to be a safety net for those who had fallen on hard times. Despite the good intentions of its creators, instead of a safety net it became a pit of quicksand with rules prying and pushing into the most private and intimate parts of the recipients' lives. Husbands and wives were separated in a misguided attempt to prove that the mother was without help. People had to give up hard-earned accessories like TVs to prove their destitution.
In fairness, there were families who managed to get back on their feet and "get off welfare" with the government assistance. There is still a tremendous stigma attached to "being on welfare" with the stereotype of laziness and taking advantage of taxpayers. Even though the majority of people on welfare are white, the stereotype is still the Black single mother.
In the late '90s, the term Compassionate Conservatism emerged as a policy stating one can hold conservative values and still show compassion for people in need. To that end, the government sought to forge partnerships with churches to meet practical needs in underserved communities. But in order to preserve a separation between church and state, some municipalities required churches to remove all religious symbols and not to teach Christianity in order to receive the funding. Most churches refused the partnership.
Throughout the history of this country, followers of Christ, whether few or many, have taken a stand against injustice. Many white Christians from the northern states joined Black Abolitionists against slavery. Young, white Christians marched and died alongside Black Christians in the civil rights movement. They may not have been the majority but they made a powerful statement about God's heart for justice and equality.
Today many disciples of Christ are involved in the modern antislavery effort while others are praying and working to heal the wounds of racial division in the church. Even though the federal government's efforts were often about maintaining the status quo, still many individuals and families were rescued from certain disaster because government assistance was made available to them.
It's important to note that discrimination and exclusion leading to poverty affect many different groups of people, not just ethnic or racial groups. People with disabilities, chronic illness, mental illness and others are often shut out from America's opportunities because of circumstances beyond their control.
Tearing down the twin strongholds of poverty and racism is no small endeavor. It starts with our own heart attitudes toward people from different backgrounds or socioeconomic status. Seeing Christ "in the distressing guise of the poor," as Mother Theresa said, can be difficult because we don't want Him to look, sound or smell like that. Accepting Jesus in a different cultural, racial or ethnic personna is challenging because "their music is strange" and "they don't cook the way I'm used to." Jesus came to bring justice to the oppressed and to make one church of people "from every tribe and language and people and nation." (It's interesting that neither skin color nor any other physical characteristic is mentioned in that passage from Revelation 5:9.)
Ephesians 4:23 tells us to let the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes. Romans 12:2 says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" (NLT).
It takes a concerted effort to expose and tear down strongholds in our minds, whether they are about how to renew a car tag or attitudes about our fellow Americans. It takes spiritual weapons — the power of the Holy Spirit, God's Word and prayer — to acquire the mind of Christ on these things.
The best way to negate a lie is to know and tell the truth from God's Word. We are all created by God, in His image, therefore deserving of all the blessings He has bestowed on this nation.
• Photo of ruins by Mohamad Rajab Zade/Unsplash.
• Maps courtesy of Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al.,
“Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers,
accessed June 13, 2022, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/[YOUR VIEW].
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Michelle A. Melchor is team leader for Cru Inner City Atlanta. She has served the ministry for 47 years.
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