The 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination

Get the Point!

Today, April 4th, marks the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. In the picture below, the Kings gaze upon the good Reverend's mortal remains for the final time at Sister's Chapel on the campus of Spelman College.

This year's MLK commemoration happens to fall on Easter Week, which provides a perfect backdrop to draw a few important comparisons.

Contemporary Art depiction of Jesus Christ being mourned by his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, and his disciple John. Below, a similar rendition of Jesus emerging from the tomb on Easter Sunday…

Both Jesus Christ and Dr. King were revolutionary men who died early in their Earthly lives; Jesus at 33 and King at 39.

Both men notably spoke out against spiritual wickedness in high places; Jesus routinely blasted the Roman Imperial government for oppressing Jews in Judea, while Dr. King routinely blasted the Southern states and Federal government for oppressing, or doing little to ease the oppression, of Jim Crow laws that plagued Black people from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 all the way to 1965, when Civil and Voting Rights Acts were signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Real time photos of the infamous events on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee…

Both Jesus Christ and Dr. King ultimately were executed because of their unyielding passion for justice! Jesus, refusing to dial back his claims of being the Messiah or “anointed one,” was handed over to the Roman government by the Sanhedrin to be executed as an alleged blasphemer who would inspire insurrection against Caesar.

King, branded a communist, homosexual harboring, whore-mongering degenerate by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, was harassed, beaten, jailed, and intimidated by State and Federal government actors until finally, when he refused to dial back criticism of the Vietnam War, he just "happened" to be killed—allegedly by James Earl Ray...

33 years Earthly years for Jesus...

39 years for Dr. King…

Short lives, but lives that inspired revolutionary changes through their passionate living—and brutal deaths from public executions.

Thankfully for Dr. King—and all of us who believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ—his Earthly life was merely a portal through which his soul—and ours—will have life everlasting!

Lest we forget during this Easter week…