Not focused on what is true...(idol worship)

I was basking in the awesome word that Pastor Ben Gibert gave today on “faithfulness” (Hebrews 11:8-12 if anyone desires to read it). As I then went online to do my daily reading I came across this article:

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20090329/NEWS06/903290416

 

 

Wicca, witchcraft, mother earth, call it what you want to, it is WRONG. If you worship anything but the one true and living GOD, you are an idolater. I guess I could be finished with this meditation, but I have to give some basis, or most of you will think I am some nut case that will be on television soon begging for money. (That was a joke).

 

The WORD of GOD tells us first in Exodus 20 verses 4 and 5:

 

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;

 

The children of Israel were at a place where they felt that “anything goes.” They figured, “Since we are out here in the wilderness we can do anything that we want.” Does this sound familiar? Human beings have been wise enough to figure out that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Wise words indeed, however, here we are in 2009 men trying to marry men, women trying to marry women, virginity is looked upon as a disease, underage drinking, adults contributing to the delinquency of minors, adults having sex with minors. Sounds like some cities in the Bible, Sodom, Gomorrah, and Nineveh. Let’s look at Nineveh, this was a great city, so we can presume that it was a booming metropolis the population was approximately 150,000. In fact, it was the Assyrian capital located near what is modern day city of Mosul, Iraq. Now I am of the opinion that this city was doomed from the start. Why? Well first and foremost, it is named from the fish goddess of Babylon. Now the wickedness that was going on in the city had come up before GOD. So if you can imagine this, GOD is in heaven doing things that are GODLY and the exceeding wicked signal goes off. HE looks at it and says to HIMSELF, “They have just about gotten completely out of hand. I remember about 700 human years ago I took care of Sodom and Gomorrah, I guess I am going to have to do the same thing here, wait, I can send Jonah…” and we know the rest of the story, the people of Nineveh went on a fast and put on sackcloth (black goat’s hair garments used primarily for mourning) and GOD spared the city.

 

In relation to the topic of idol worship, in Jonah 1:5 the sailors cried to their own gods and nothing happened. If something would have happened they would not have called for Jonah to come up and pray to his GOD. Once Jonah made the connection, he knew what needed to be done. When Jonah told them, “that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD,” (verse 10, NASB). The sailors immediately began to pray to GOD saying, “We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as You have pleased. So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. (Chapter 1:14-15 NASB)

 

Isn’t it strange how people will abandon the fake, when they really need the REAL?

 

If you observe the news article, it states that the owner of the store was raised Methodist, yet was kicked out of Sunday school when she asked too many questions. My brothers and sisters we must be rooted in the WORD. There will be those who need us to be able to fill in the blanks of their lives, we are ordered to be prepared. II Timothy 2:15 tells us to “study to shew thyself approved unto GOD, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” GOD’s WORD is truth no excuses. You cannot tell me for a minute that the emperor and creator of the universe has the characteristic of lying and deceit. It is neither Biblical nor logical. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the light, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (John 14:6 KJV) We know not the time when we will be called upon to be a witness to someone. We never know when it can make the difference between life and death. Idol worship is sin and “the wages of sin is death...” Let’s be ready for the coming week to live like we have a GOD who loves us and cares for us enough to send HIS only begotten Son to die for us.

 

The meditations for the week:

 

1.                  There is one true GOD

2.                    People who worship things are idolaters (it can be earth, money, television even a person).

3.                    Exercise the discipline of studying the WORD

 

 

Be Blessed!

 

Hip Hop

I recently saw a video by exministries.com (G. Craige Lewis) concerning "Holy Hip Hop". It was very thought provoking to say the least. After taking a couple of hours and really mulling over it I have come to a couple of conclusions well, more like one definite conclusion:

Whomever represents you "first," puts your industry in a position to either succeed or fail.

Basically it all boils down to who is the first person who is spoken to. We as human beings do not really desire to seek after knowledge as the WORD tells us to (Proverbs 4:5, 7) We tend to be lazy and not investigate for ourselves. I compare it to movies, some people like to have the plot and storyline fed to them. These are the people who think that Quentin Tarrantino movies are the worst things ever created, because Tarrantino makes you figure out what's going on. You actually have to think about it and even watch the movie a second or third time to really catch it. I believe that this is the attitude that we should apply to real life situations. We need to dig deeper and get some wisdom on things. I am guilty of this as well, so please do not think I am perfect. Just being transparent.

So here is G. Craige Lewis alleging the spiritual shortcommings of rappers who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ,  and they do it differently. Where these young men go wrong is that they have not let go of the world first. The Bible says,

"Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) 

So these rappers have already set back the institute of "holy hip hop". By simply proclaiming their "love" for rappers like Jay Z and 50Cent. I do not know what they were thinking about but they obviously were not thinking at all. It is so imperative that we as Christians get in the WORD and thus allow the WORD to get into us. We will not need a swagger if the WORD is in us, because we will be different. Matthew 5: 13:

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

When we season our food, it can be seen. It stands out amongst the colors of the food that it rests on. That is how we should be as Christians. We should not have to force ourselves on the world, they will know that we are different and they will draw to us, then is when we become a testimonial witness to the world.

The interview points out that most of the rappers were raised without fathers. This is a gross generalization that damages the triumphs that these young people have experienced and it insults the intelligence of those who exministires.com is attempting to reach. Saying that holy rap is a "fatherless" genre of music is like saying that every two parent household produces honest members of society who do not commit crimes. This, in and of itself, is utterly ridiculous!

So where do I stand on the matter? I stand on the WORD. I would suggest that G Craige Lewis talk to some more of the rap community before condemming the thing as a whole. I personally appreciate some of the things that they say because it is reaching the teenagers in a language that they speak. I base this on the WORD of GOD as stated in Colossians 4:6:

Let your speech [be] alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. 

Be Blessed!

Here is the link so you can see what I am talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJPtCNHHLCk

post script: I am not speaking out against G Craige Lewis, I just feel that he needs to do some more research before making generalizations.

Biblical Treatment of Women

The logical side of me really feels compelled to touch on a subject that has been prominent throughout the news lately. Abuse is just stupid. I sincerely feel that it is stupid all the way around. The abuser is stupid, the individual abused is stupid (if they stay or take them back), and I do have some precedence for what I am saying. Check it:

 

As many of you know, I was not always a straight up believer as I am now. Well in the sense of being completely transparent, I was one of the stupid people. I was not a “come home get loaded and beat the hot snot” out of my significant other, but on three occasions over the course of nine years, it happened. I admit to that and I have since asked GOD and my ex to forgive me (that was many years ago, in case you were wondering).

 

Sometimes I sit and think about the situations that surrounded the incidents and wonder, “Was that really necessary?” “Could I have handled the situation differently?” “What would I do differently if a similar situation happened with my true love (Michelle)?”

These things pass through my mind briefly, and then I think to myself, “If you got that stupid with Michelle, she would probably remove my spleen via my posterior with her rings on (OUCH!)

 

Let me start with the obvious, CHRIS BROWN is an idiot, and he is surrounding himself with idiots. I know that that sounds harsh and grace and mercy are available to him and GOD is faithful and just to forgive him, however, I would just like to bring things into perspective and let me tell you, this perspective changed my life!

 

I was doing some precious metals and stones research (I do that from time to time because I’m kind of different.)  Well anyway, through some study I found that the unit of measure for gems is the carat. While I am sure you all are aware of this, here is the trip: A carat is 1/7000 of an ounce! Wrap your mind around that for a moment. That means that it would take seven thousand one carat diamonds to equal ONE OUNCE of weight.

 

So being the numbers person that I am I started running the mathematics and what I found was staggering: if a gem was worth around $2000 a carat, multiply that times 7000. That would give you $14 million dollars for one ounce, if we then multiply this by the number of ounces in a pound (16) we come up with $224 million, then if one multiplies this by say, 150? You can see that this ends up being a WHOLE LOT!

 

Well (you probably knew this was coming) Proverbs 31: 10 asks a question and makes a profound statement. It says “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price [is] far above rubies.” Now I figure that a 150 lb virtuous woman is worth approximately $33 and a half trillion dollars! Now while one may find that humorous the weight does not matter. There is no price tag on what women can do.

 

I watched my mother toil most of her adult life, to raise her three children, and then her first four grandchildren. While my father, who is a mighty man of GOD, was tending to the spiritual needs of his church, and running multiple businesses, mom was holding our home down. She served as cab driver, dietitian, doctor/nurse, counselor/advisor, teacher, acting coach, with statements like, “you better ACT like you have some sense while we are out here at the store.” She was also a disciplinarian and a tutor. Most of all she just loved all of us. She gave everything to make sure we were going to be alright. Now while she is in the sunset of her life, I have grown to understand the points she was trying to make. I thank her for it and I truly love her.

 

How much does GOD’s favor cost? What if I told you that you could have $1 trillion dollars AND GOD’s favor? What kind of combination is that? I would think that it is a setup of some sort. However, most of us live beneath that privilege. Those of us who are married tend to forget that. Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good [thing], and obtaineth favour of the LORD.” This is GOD’s bonus plan. When marriage occurs the way GOD intended, then we get the favor and the $33 trillion! Even when we do not accomplish it quite the way GOD desires it, he still shows HIS divine favor upon it, as long as we are upright before HIM (Proverbs 12:2).

  

The theoretical fact of the matter is: an upright woman is worth more than the musical empire of Chris Brown, Rihanna (sp) or even Michael Jackson. Once again, people are perishing for a lack of knowledge. Do you honestly think that if the masses had and accepted this instruction how much better off this world would be? How many young girls would value themselves and not fall for any line that a guy just drops on them just to get them into bed. How many young people’s self esteem would be elevated? Thousands.

 

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

 

We wonder what happened to our youth, we wonder why they want to wear their clothes in ways that they were not designed, why do they think that they are in love or even ready for a concept so deep, it is simple in my estimation. Since “mommy” is 21, grandma is 36 and great grandma is 51, no knowledge has been passed and since the most critical of knowledge had been rejected, GOD has forgotten them. Do you disagree? Well let’s look at the same passage, verse 7:

 

The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. (NASB)

 

‘Nuff said.

 

Which leads me back to young Mr. Brown, you see while his behavior was and is deplorable and illegal by societal standards, I do not ostracize his behavior because of that per se. I speak down about his actions and who he surrounds himself with because he obviously has no GODLY counsel anywhere near him. I am hopeful that someone in his camp has some knowledge of GOD. Otherwise he will be forgotten by GOD. The truth will come out in the coming months.

 

This much I do know, I have no desire to have my children forgotten by GOD, nor do I desire to be forgotten by the ALMIGHTY. Teach your children, nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors, whomever. Let’s not lose another generation.

 

Be Blessed!

 

Death

I remember the days when I would want to wear clothing and the clothing would not be a good representation of who I am, or I would listen to music that was kind of out there (back in my day it was “Too Live Crew”) and I would not care. Yet at that point, what I was putting in to my soulish man was taking root and setting itself up to manifest in years to come. (That is another thought for discussion at another time).The point I am getting at is the infatuation with the skull imagery. I was in the store the other day and I observed a wall full of clothing with skulls on them. I began to get a bit disturbed by this open display of death. Now, I must admit, I used to think about getting a tattoo of the grim reaper holding a sickle and a 12 gauge Mossberg on my back (whew, glad I rethought that). I wanted to get this symbol as a sign that I was not one to be messed with. Well in retrospect, I am still not one to be messed with and it is because of what is inside, not because of what someone drew on me. Back to the skull thing, this simply tells me that, once again, the enemy (society) has got humanity all twisted up. I guess you can call me the “society” police (lol). What is the infatuation with death? Why is it being celebrated? Let’s take a look at this from a different viewpoint:Hebrews 9:27 tell us that, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”This tells us that death is not the end, but a stage of transition. We as believers in Christ know that we look forward to this moment when we will hear our Lord tell us, “Well done thy good and faithful servant…” However, society would have you believe that you die and then that is it, so why not live it up? Why not do what you want to do? Look at death in the scripture, “it is appointed unto men once to die…” When an individual reaches death, they are actually in the highest court. You see, in actuality the life we live is a preparation for a trial. Every move we make are “exhibits a, b, c” and so forth. Any improper motive we have will be brought up on the day of our trial. We will be judged. I feel the need to say it again,“We will be judged.” The next step after death is “the judgment.”For what? Why? Well it goes something like this. We are the only creatures in GOD’S creation that have a choice. That is why there is grace and mercy, because of the choices that we make. If we always made the right choices there would be no need for forgiveness. That is why GOD is faithful and just to forgive us. (1 John 1:9) It also says that we must “confess our sins” so there is a need for forgiveness because there is wrongdoing.No matter what you do, no matter whom you do it with, no matter what area code, zip code, country code, whatever. It will be brought to light and you will be judged according to Ecclesiastes 12:14 (refer back to the Laws and Principles note). There is no exception. So here we are, still celebrating death when death is a serious matter. How serious? It is serious enough to be mentioned 342 times in the Bible. (KJV)However, I ask again, why celebrate death? We only go through death one time and the gravity of it is very serious. Why don’t we celebrate life? Instead of wearing something negative, wear something positive. Choose to celebrate the life you were given. Choose to celebrate the gifts that GOD has given. Celebrate the love that you have for your spouse, parents, siblings and children. Most important, choose to celebrate the ultimate sacrifice that was made for you when Christ gave up HIS life so that we may have eternal life and remember: Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. Judgment is inevitable, what will the judgment be on your behalf?

Laws and Principles

Society has really got it twisted. Now let me tell you a little something about me, I am by no means an innocent man, and to be quite honest, I have forgotten more of the stupid things that I have done then I can remember, that and the statute of limitations has not run out on some of them, so I will take those to the grave. Why do I say this? So that it qualifies me to minister to those of you who are out doing whatever you want to because you think that anything goes. Well let me tell you that it does not."Why?" You ask? Well I will break it down for you, be forewarned if the truth hurts, prepare for a beating.

When God created the heavens and the earth, HIS supreme intellect shows itself through HIS creation of laws and principles. Here is where we as humans get it twisted, we mistake principles for laws. Let me say that again,

We mistake priciples for laws.

What do you mean? One may ask, well when I was in my twenties, I used to think that, "I am my own person" and "I do what I want to do" and "I don't care what anyone thinks." The problem with this way of thinking is that it goes against GOD'S LAWS. You see, in HIS SUPREME intelligence GOD thought about it and said to HIMSELF, "I will make 2 sets of laws. Undeniable ones such as gravity and motion" These are ones that you do not need to believe per se. They just are. If you jump off of the Ren Cen or the Sears Tower, you will not only come down and prove the law of gravity, you will come down at such a high velocity, you will probably be unidentifiable when you come to the sudden stop at the end, thus the law of motion. These laws GOD put into place because they are needed for HIS creation to exist, there are many others and without getting too scientific they keep the other aspects of the world that we live in functioning.Now here's the interesting part. GOD also put into play some laws which take faith to see. How are these laws to be seen? Through GOD's Word. When I was explaining my theories about myself a few minutes ago, that is society's thought process or to be quite frank, the enemy's injection.The Bible states that,

"A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold." Proverbs 22:1

This is a common passage, but let's take it a little bit further. Ecclesiates 7:1 states,
"A good name [is] better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."

So I think that it is safe to say, that this is a law that is in place, yet highly ignored.

The reason I am on this topic is because of the behavior that I am witnessing in my community, on youtube, on facebook, on television (when I watch it because I really don't watch much any more) in the restaurants....etcThose of you that are engaging in behavior that is contradictory to the WORD of GOD, there is a law for you too:the law of sowing and reaping.You see a lot of people who think of sowing and reaping think of people like Mike Murdoch and Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen and other mega ministers and think that this is the way that they get your money. However, here is your warning: this applies to every facet of YOUR life. Period no exceptions. The reason that you don't believe it is that you cannot always see it. I will say it again:

The reason that you do not believe it is that you do not see it.

The world likes to refer to this as cause and effect, yin and yang etc. The simple fact of the matter is "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7.If you sow (plant) seeds of wrongdoing, best believe you will reap (harvest) the fruit of wrongdoing. Tell a lie and never be trusted. Hold a grudge and never be forgiven when you want it most. I could go on and on in the areas of alcohol, sexual misconduct, drug abuse...basically destructive actions to the body.To sum it up, you have a choice, believe it or not. Trust GOD or not, abide by HIS laws or do not. The summarization of everything that you say behind closed doors, every little thing that you do in the dark, things that you think no one will ever know, the TRUTH is found in

Ecclesiastes chapter twelve verses thirteen and fourteen:

13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.Be Blessed!

(So I guess that since you got a sermon I should collect an offering. Well consider this me, sowing into your lives as my friends)