December 6. John Perkins. John was born on a Southern plantation, with no father and a mother who died when he was seven months old. She died of malnutrition—in 1930—in the United States. John went on to become janitor, welder, equipment designer, Bible teacher, civil-rights activist, and community developer, and he has written fifteen books. On this date in 2006, John published Let Justice Roll Down.
He has spent 50 years leading demonstrations and filing lawsuits on behalf of Black Americans regarding equal pay, hiring practices, poor treatment of inmates, and voting rights, and he always champions forgiveness.
At the time of this writing, John is 89 years old and still fighting against racism and for justice and forgiveness. About continued racism in the US, John wrote: “This is a God-sized problem. It is one that only the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can heal. It requires the quality of love that only our Savior can provide.”
Out-love the people who live to hate.
In the early seventies in the deep south—long after slavery had ended—bigotry and segregation persisted vigorously. But John Perkins and his supporters had made up their minds to change that.
After some supporters attended a peaceful civil-rights protest in the streets of Brenden, Mississippi, they got into their cars and headed home. Suddenly the sound of police sirens broke their laughter. They pulled to the curb, lights flashed behind them, and officers approached their vehicle.
One by one, the protesters were escorted from the car, arrested—and beaten without cause. The police stuffed the men into patrol cars and drove them to the county jail.
Perkins, a local leader who had organized the protest, got word of what had happened, and raced to the jail to get his innocent friends out.
But the Sheriff of Brenden was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and not at all happy about the uprising Perkins had started. So, when Perkins arrived at the jail, he met the fury of the local police force and was brutally attacked. The corrupt policemen dragged Perkins into the jailhouse.
From the cold, concrete floor of the jail cell, Perkins cried out for mercy, as round-after-round of feet, fists, and clubs landed on his head, ribs, and groin. Perkins realized the same hate was rising in him, too. “I discovered that I hated them back, and I hated them as much as they hated me. I saw that I was a bigot, too.”
Perkins told God that if He got him out of that jail alive, he would dedicate his life to preaching the Gospel. The Gospel would overcome the hate that he saw in them, and in himself.
Days later, in his hospital room, Perkins was surrounded by the steady beep of a heart monitor, the chatter of nurses in the hall—and a staff of kind, white people. But he wanted nothing to do with them.
“One of my Doctors was white. He would come and sit with me every night at the hospital until I’d go to sleep … I was out-loved by those people I needed to hate,” Perkins said.
Through this first-hand experience with the power of hatred, Perkins had come to see its root—not as a racial problem—but as a spiritual problem.
He realized we all need the Savior. We all need to be healed. Miraculously, Perkins was transformed by the Spirit of God and was able to sincerely forgive. He returned good for evil, and God filled him with a love for his enemies.
“How satisfied you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you” (Matthew 5:7 TPT).
Is there an injustice you’ve encountered that could be overcome with God’s love? Out-love the people who live to hate.
“Improving Race Relations: An interview with John Perkins.” Accessed August 16, 2020. https://youtu.be/fG5YNduwF-Y .
Perkins, John M. Let Justice Roll Down. Ada, Michigan: Baker Books, 2012.
Story read by Nathan Walker
Story written by Shelli Mandeville, https://worthy.life/