Overcoming Injustice with a New Attitude

ZERO VICTIM MENTALITY

James grew up on the south side of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Black people lived. He attended a Black church and Black school until the third grade. In 1983, the school system began to integrate and he was transferred to a White school on the north side of town. The school itself was considerably nicer than his previous one, with fresh paint and new carpet. His teacher, a Black woman named Mrs. Pitts, was one of the most elegant women James had ever seen. She had perfect posture, was articulate, professional, and a good friend of James’ grandmother. “She encouraged me as a student, but seemed to hold me to a higher standard than my white peers,” he recalls.

She also encouraged James to take part in extra-curricular activities, like student patrol and math team, and even provided transportation when needed. Mrs. Pitts celebrated the best in people and wrote the names of kids on the board each week who were doing well in their school work and behavior. One day James thought, “I am as smart as any other student in the classroom, boy or girl, Black or white,” and his mentality changed from that point on. James realized the color of his skin and growing up on the Black side of town held no connection with his ability to succeed in school or in life. “I was able to process what it meant to succeed among white students who were obviously more privileged than me, and had access to more resources than I did.” 

That third grade experience became the basis for James’ zero victim teaching today. “By learning to successfully control your mentality, the way you see and experience life will change. You sit in the driver’s seat. It is time to realize your life will not change until you decide to change it.” As a Black man, James agrees there are important lessons to be learned from the past, but rehearsing the pain of the past will never help you step into the purpose of your glorious future.

In the summer of 2020, James’ zero victim message came to national prominence. Jacob Blake, Jr., the son of a long-time member of James’ church, Julia Jackson, had been shot seven times in the back by the Kenosha, Wisconsin police. Julia asked James to open the family press conference with words of faith, some of which were:  

“Three kinds of law that govern a nation: spiritual law, moral law, and civil law. Most are only familiar with civil law and unfamiliar with the ramifications of spiritual and moral law. When these spiritual and moral foundations are destroyed, societies implode, people hurt each other. So, we’re calling our nation back to faith in God. Despite our differences, every citizen of America can agree that we indeed have a monumental problem in our nation, a problem that people created, but people are incapable of solving. And often, as we tell our church, we have a sin problem and not just a skin problem.” 

A few days later, James received a call from President Trump, inviting him and Sharon to participate in the Presidential Roundtable discussion in Kenosha. Since then, the Wards have been featured on national and international media, proclaiming their message of prayer, racial healing, reconciliation, and transformative revival in America. As for Jacob, he survived the shooting, is doing well, and rededicated his life to the Lord.

A NEW IDEOLOGY 

James believes that some of the beliefs of 19th-century philosopher Karl Marx have re-emerged in our day in new clothing, now termed cultural Marxism. “It includes everything from CRT (critical race theory) to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion),” he says, “and results in racial division and a threat to our democracy.” The Heritage Foundation summarizes cultural Marxism this way:

“The United States has successfully confronted Marxist attempts to derail it from its historic path of liberty and order. The multifaceted effort to defeat the enemy, generally referred to as the Cold War, concentrated many of the best minds in the country. In 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved, many Americans and others around the globe justifiably believed that communism had been defeated. However, American Marxists, making use of the complacency that victory often produces, have gained more influence than ever before. Cloaking their goals under the pretense of social justice, they now seek to dismantle the foundations of the American republic by rewriting history; reintroducing racism; creating privileged classes; and determining what can be said in public discourse, the military, and houses of worship. Unless Marxist thought is defeated again, today’s cultural Marxists will achieve what the Soviet Union never could: the subjugation of the United States to a totalitarian, soul-destroying ideology.”

Aligning with those ideas, James says that cultural Marxism pits the oppressed against the oppressor, seeking what is thought to be social justice rather than biblical justice. The former, he says, comes from a human perspective and subjective judgment as to what’s right and fair. The latter, of course, derives from God Himself, the source and author of divine justice. What’s needed, James believes, is for the Church to be educated on a right, biblical perspective of true justice, and for families to “raise their children like Daniel and his friends,” i.e. to be in Babylon, without Babylon being in them.”

To purchase James Ward Jr.'s book, Zero Victim, please visit James' website: www.JamesEWardJr.com. You can also watch Insight with Pastor Ward at: www.TLNMedia.com.