King: The Man and The Prophet

King: The Man and the Prophet

The date is August 28, 1963, and a mixed crowd of over 250,000 civil-rights supporters attending the March on Washington are assembled in the vicinity of the tallest monument in the District of Columbia, commonly known as Washington D.C. The Washington Monument is the name of the historical landmark located in the nation's capital. Segregation has drawn a line of deep ethnical division throughout the country, and the March on Washington has been organized to urge support for pending civil-rights legislation. The crowd seems anxious, as if they have foreseen the momentous moment that is about to occur.

A powerful leader and speaker has just been introduced to the energized crowd that is full of anticipation. The man of the moment is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he is about to share his dream with America and the entire world. Dr. Martin Luther King's policy of nonviolent protest is considered by many to be the dominating force behind the civil rights movement of 1957 to 1968, even though his God given destiny as a prophet is often overlooked.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1.4). On January 15, 1929, Michael Luther King Jr., later named Martin, was born to schoolteacher named Alberta King and Baptist minister named Michael Luther Sr. The exceptional intelligence level of young Martin became obvious in the Fall of 1944 when he left Booker T. Washington High School before graduation due to his early admission in Atlanta's Morehouse College program for advanced placement at the age of 15.

In August of 1946, King began to exhibit his opposition to segregation with a letter that he wrote entitled Kick Up Dust. In the letter, King states that black people "are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens" (King, 1946, 2). The letter was written to the editor of a local newspaper named the Atlanta Constitution. The editor was so impressed that he had the letter published, and King received many favorable comments. King goes on to solidify his leadership and ministry credentials by graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary with a bachelor of divinity degree and delivered the Valedictory Address at commencement. By September King began his graduate studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University. In June of 1953, King married his soul mate, Coretta Scott.

On February 28, 1954, King officially kicked off a career of riveting sermons and speeches with a sermon he delivered at the Second Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. The title of his sermon was Rediscovering Lost Values. With this sermon King sounded an alarm to America and the world that "if we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values: that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control" (King, 1954, 40). In essence King was expressing