Does Alveda King’s Prophetic Dream Hold Answer for America?
Several years ago I wrote an article, “The Church Can Turn The Tide” (see below). Well, the tide is turning, people are longing for revival. America is over 50 percent pro-life. We are looking to God for solutions, rather than the works of humankind. Let us pray more and seek the face of God for solutions to the pressing challenges we are facing.
The Church Can Turn The Tide
If one were to follow the current stream of events, we could only wonder where God is in all of this. Is Jesus still Lord? Is God still on the throne? Is the Holy Spirit still moving across the waters? The answer to all of this is an unequivocal and emphatic “Yes!” And yet, we must also wonder how did we end up in the mess that we are in? The American economic system is crashing. Wars and rumors of wars are covering the globe. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is sweeping the continents. Yet, people are turning on their televisions rather than falling on their knees. Has God failed America? No. Christians have failed America, and Christians are grieving the Spirit of the Living God.
Many would have us believe that we are embroiled in a political battle and faced with an impending global crisis. For many Americans, the answers lie in one political party or the other. Hundreds of books and millions of cyber-space postings blast one candidate while proclaiming another as the answer to all of life’s problems. In the presence of all the hype, one factor is noticeably absent: God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican!
The Christian church is passing the buck on finding solutions to the moral crises that are spilling over into the lives of America’s families. Christians are spending so much time arguing about whom to vote for, that they are forgetting whom to pray for. Christians spend so much time looking at television that they forget to read their Bibles. As one election cycle draws to a close, people are already gearing up for the next, forgetting all about mounting the next revival crusade that could lead millions to Jesus Christ and change the course of disaster we are currently experiencing.
The Christian church can turn the tide, but only if we are willing to pray. As it is written in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” We need to pray and see God’s solutions prevail.
In October 2008, I had a dream. It was early in the morning. I was away on a spiritual retreat. While sleeping, I dreamed of two converging streams. One stream was the economy, the other stream was a deep, dark, stream with a powerful current. This stream was the spirit, whether of God or man, I could not see. This stream was a mystery. As I woke up, I realized that the streams represented today’s dilemmas, the economy being the problem, the spirit the solution.
The economy stream was heading toward a huge vortex, where other streams were converging: broken marriages, drug abuse, AIDS/STD, failing school systems, sexual abuse and sexual dysfunctions, houses, businesses. I looked for abortion, knowing it had to be somewhere in the mix, but it was hidden. Major institutions were whirling in the vortex too: Wall Street, Planned Parenthood, banking systems, political systems, and sadly, what appeared to be religious institutions. I looked for the body of Christ, and found her in the spirit stream. Marriage, Life and Family are in the spirit stream, guided and guarded by Love.
I have a dream; it is in my genes. My Uncle Martin, my grandfather Daddy King had dreams too. Martin’s dream was for the nations. One of Granddaddy’s dreams saved me from abortion; another saved my son from the same fate.
This particular dream about the streams comes in the wake of a growing discontent in my heart with our present times. The body of Christ is in the spirit stream. The spirit stream is more powerful than the vortex, yet it is dark and mysterious, and most people don’t trust what they can’t see. Yet, those who are investing their prayers and yes, their money into the spirit are seeing something amazing—their efforts are staying afloat, not sinking, not converging into the vortex. The spirit stream converges somewhere too; it flows steadily into a river. There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holy habitation of Elyon (Psalm 46:4).
So, this is a time to trust the Spirit of the Living God, to communicate with God in spirit and in truth. Our spirits can converge with His, if we are prayerful and wise. This could be a time to invest in the spirit and not in the flesh and material things. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33). End of the dream.
By building on things that are eternal, we can find hope in this present time of trouble. The thing is, we must not lose sight of moral priorities in the face of economic stress. Yes, these are troubled times, times of trouble. We need to anchor our faith in Jesus, through His love, so we remember what’s important. What the current economic meltdown should teach us is that our hope is not in the things of this Earth but in God. If financial pressures cause us to stop loving our neighbors, to think only of ourselves, we will lose much more than money. If we stop giving to charity, cease donating our time to help others, or, in the extreme, abort a baby for financial reasons, we literally sacrifice the eternal for the temporary.
Ultimately, what brings us the greatest rewards or the worst scars are the choices we make that have spiritual consequences. In the end, we don’t look back at our lives and think of refinanced mortgages or stock trades, but of those we loved. Let us trust God and love Him by loving others in good times and bad. As my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
If we are to do what is right, we must constantly pray and then act on what God reveals into our hearts. This revelation comes from relationship with God, spending time in prayer and in His Word. To squabble about political parties is a waste of precious time.
While it is true that the Republican Party paid a price in helping to free the slaves, that same party also has a history of erring on the side of caution in involving African-Americans in major policy procedures. Oh, there have been some major African-American political appointments, but historically, the Republican Party does not back African-Americans for state and federal races. The rationale is that the “unpredictable black vote” is better left undisturbed. A communication gap may be the major disconnect with blacks and the Republican Party. Case in point, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower did much to advance the civil rights of “Negroes” in America. He appointed the first black, E. Frederick Morrow, to a White House post. Yet when Eisenhower died, the GOP did little to include blacks in the three days of funeral and memorial events. Little to nothing was said of Eisenhower’s historic role in the Little Rock school crisis. Decades later, yours truly was locked out of the RNC headquarters during a visit to the site for a prayer vigil.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party, the party secretly infiltrated by the Ku Klux Klan, also champion of the crippling welfare system and the abortion and anti-marriage culture, is considered to be the champion of black Americans. More blacks have been elected to public office as Democrats than in any other party. Many blacks secretly lauded Bill Clinton as “the first black president.”
Obviously, both political parties, products of human government, have serious flaws. The Christian church must rise above political machinations and lead the way to spiritual reform through prayer. Morality cannot be legislated. The human heart must be changed by a Divine touch, and the church has the key, the responsibility of leading the way. Has the church fallen short? The answer is yes, and yet it is never too late to return to God.
Alveda C. King is the daughter of the late civil-rights activist, the Rev. A.D. King, and niece of Martin Luther King Jr. She is also a civil-rights and pro-life activist, as well as director of the African-American outreach for Priests for Life. Click here to visit her blog.
