“God Is,” written by Robert Fryson from Raleigh, N. C., and recorded by James Cleveland and SCCC, was so popular when I was a young radio announcer in Durham, N. C. that some began referring to it as the new Black National Anthem! It was requested so much that I—if I may be honest, got tired of playing it. But last Sunday when the praise team at GMCHC sang it so beautifully, I was reminded of something that happened some years back. Please read on…

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1:8 NIV).

“Let God be Is!”

Professor George Nixon, now deceased, was a captivating and entertaining history professor at NCCU in the 1970s. Nixon did not deny the existence of God. But he tried to challenge my faith and ideas about who God is. “I am a deist,” he said. He explained, “I believe God created the universe and then left it alone. He had nothing more to do with it nor with our existence in the world.” In other words, Professor Nixon believed God was, in the beginning when the universe was created, but no longer is relevant.

The affable Professor Nixon displayed brilliance and intellectual prowess as a teacher of Russian history. I hung onto his every word about Rasputin, Nicolas II, Catherine the Great, etc., but paid no attention to his efforts to contradict my beliefs about God. Before I left home for college, God had spoken to me through Proverbs 3:6 and assured me that He would direct my paths if I acknowledged Him. So, I was not at all dissuaded from my faith.

Then it happened! What I alluded to above, that is. One Sunday morning, years later, when I had completed undergraduate school and was working as a gospel radio announcer, at WDUR in Durham, I received a call from a gentleman with a familiar voice who addressed me as “Bruh Sumner!”  When I inquired as to who was calling, he responded, “This is Nixon.”  “Professor Nixon?” I asked. “Yes,” he responded, “I just wanted to tell you, that song you just played, ‘God Is,’ really touched me.” I was shocked to say the least! The next Sunday, he called and requested that I play it for him again. When he called with the same request the following Sunday, he added, “I tell you what, Bruh Sumner, so I don’t have to keep calling; every Sunday morning, why don’t you just let God be is!”  The humorous way of speaking was classic George Nixon! But the conversation was different.

The professor who had espoused deism, claiming that God only was, had changed his tune. I do not know what led to his spiritual transformation. He did share with me that his wife, who had been my psychology professor at NCCU, had contracted cancer and passed away. God had gotten his attention, and he had come to appreciate that God, not only was but is! And “Behold He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7 NKJV).

I encourage my ministry colleagues to tell everybody this! Don’t ever be deceived into thinking that God is no longer relevant. Regardless of what or who comes and goes, always 

“Let God be is!”