Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder

What YOU see is what beauty is...NOT what someone else sees

Every year, women spend billions of dollars on "beauty" products.  Our favorite celebrities are often used to pitch products to us as we sit in our living rooms and watch the boob tube.  Queen Latifah, Drew Barrymore, Beyonce and others sport the latest in make-up technology and tell us that we should wear the same stuff to make us "beautiful" just like them.  Has anyone ever stopped to think about how weird it is for you to listen to someone else regarding YOUR beauty, ladies?  The only thing that should tell you how beautiful you are is the mirror that is in front of you.  You are constantly bombarded with images that do not look anything like you that tell you "this is true beauty", "this is how you should look", "this is the perfect weight for you".


Who told you that you weren't beautiful enough already?  What do external adornments do for your self-esteem?  Absolutely nothing!  They are nothing more than fillers to fill a temporary hole in your mind.  "Make-up" only covers up your real beauty ladies.  It cannot change who you are.  WebMD published an article about cosmetics and this is what it says: "From the copper and lead ore that the ancient Egyptians used to create the world's first cosmetics to the scientifically advanced products of today that can do everything from hide pores, smooth complexions, and turn the pale green of your eyes a vivid shade of emerald, makeup has been an integral part of humankind for thousands of years. Over the centuries, women used burnt matches to darken their eyes, berries to stain their lips and young boys' urine to fade their freckles. They even swallowed ox blood in some misguided attempt to improve their complexions."  

While the ingredients may be safer now, the concept behind women  "making up" their faces is still the same.  Women feel that they must make themselves attractive either for the world around them, for a man that they are trying to get or simply because they feel that they cannot leave the house looking any old kinda way.  The truth is, true beauty comes from the inside and never from the outside.  Anyone superficial enough to believe that what's on the outside is what counts will only attract someone that feels the same way.  God set the precedent for this by judging the hearts of men rather than the external actions of men (1 Samuel 16:7, Luke 16:15, John 8:15, Proverbs 15:11).

There is biblical precedence for modesty in women's adornment.  Don't take this as me saying that men do not have to be humble as well.  There is a mandate from God for ALL Christians to be humble.  1 Peter 3:1-4 reads as follows:

In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 

Listen closely to the Apostle Peter. He is not saying that there is anything wrong with outer adornment, but don't let the outer adornment be what defines you rather let your adornment be hidden in the person of the heart. Let your beauty be from the inside out. Paul also talked about women dressing moderately and with decency. Paul and Peter would be appalled if he were to walk in many of our churches on Sunday. Men looking like pimps with multi-colored suits, pinky-rings and alligator shoes and women that look like they belong to a pimp with short dresses, maximum cleavage and enough foundation and rouge to choke a horse. What ends up happening is the church becomes a place for hidden sensuality or sometimes even open sensuality. Men and women are coming into the place where we corporately worship God with worship being the furthest thing from their minds. Women sauntering up to drop their envelopes off in the offering tray become eye-candy and fantasies for the men watching them. It can easily be said that the men shouldn't look but before the man looked, the woman looked in the mirror on the way out of the door.




Beauty that is only skin deep is really not beauty at all. God created us in his image. Our attempts to accentuate that image often end up doing more harm than good. Breast implants, butt implants, cheek implants, gobs of make-up and other "beautification" methods are not necessary. You are beautiful just the way that you are. Vanity often leads us to question that but vanity is fleeting, like a mist in the morning. Remember ladies, your beauty begins on the inside and radiates outwardly. Notice that Peter also says that your humility and gentleness also affects your mates. It contributes to them to being won over for the Lord. God bless you sisters and remember that you are beautiful, no matter what anyone says. 

Late Term Abortion

I posted an article before dealing with the right-wing's argument against abortion (Right Wing Anti-Abortion Movement) and while continuing to look into the Trayvon Martin case and those that are defending Zimmerman, mainly on the right, I had a thought.  Isn't what Zimmerman did to a defenseless, innocent young man the same thing that the right-wing abhors when it happens to the unborn?  The emphasis on the inability of the fetus to defend itself, the innocence of the fetus and the cruelty of the doctor that performs said procedure has been the mantra for the right wing's anti-abortion campaign for years.  Well, I submit that Trayvon Martin was innocent and defenseless.  Zimmerman had a 9mm, Martin had a bag of skittles.

ANYONE on the "right" that is NOT outraged at this murder  "late term abortion" better not EVER say another word about abortion, ever.  That's exactly what this is equivalent to, a late term abortion performed by George Zimmerman.  He extinguished a life that had so much potential but, to use the right's argument, because he killed Trayvon Martin, we will never know what that potential would have been.  That's their new argument against abortion, the potential of the unborn to do whatever it is that they would do had they lived.  Zimmerman aborted the life of Trayvon Martin and we may never know what Mr. Martin could have accomplished had he lived.  He could have been our next president, he could have been the person that developed the cure for cancer, he could have been the next great African-American writer or poet- we will never know thanks to Zimmerman. 

I say this in response to Fox News and the Blaze that have tried to paint Zimmerman as the victim in this case.  Zimmerman is in an indefensible position and anyone that seeks to defend him by assassinating the character of Trayvon Martin is just as sick as Zimmerman is.

A Watershed Moment

The Trayvon Martin case is tragic.  How is it that this young man has been gunned down in cold blood and his killer still roams free?  The police in Sanford Florida blew it.  The chief blew it.  The legislature blew it when they passed the "stand your ground" law.  What is this, the OK Corral?  This one can be laid in the NRA's lap and they have to accept it.  It was their lobbying for this controversial policy that probably got the initial "Castle doctrine" upgraded to where it is now (Stand Your Ground). 

I am very angry that the killer is still free.  There are reports out now that are trying to paint Trayvon Martin as a trouble maker (The Blaze, The Hoodie)!  The Blaze's article tries to call Trayvon Martin the villain and Geraldo Rivera (an ethnic minority by the way) says that martin's hoodie made him a target.  Where else in the world does the victim become the villain except for in racist America?  Let me see, if I wear a hoodie, does that give anyone with a gun that is afraid of me the right to shoot me and "stand their ground"?  How can anyone fix their mouth to defend Zimmerman?  Why don't these cowards have the guts to call this what it is, murder.  Not even on another planet can you develop a scenario that includes a bag of skittles, an iced tea and an unarmed teen running from an armed adult where the adult would be justified in taking the teen's life.  What do so-called questions about the charater of Trayvon Martin have to do with him losing his life for nothing?  How asinine is that? If God judged us based on our past deeds, we would ALL be sentenced to an eternity in hell, no questions asked. The Scripture in Romans 8:1 speaks volumes when it says, there is therefore NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Christian right wingers (Mormons too- Beck is a Mormom and developed the site, the Blaze) have no business saying such things at all!  This is an example of racist media outlets propagating racism and racist stereotypes and an attempt to perpetuate said stereotypes so that future self-defense cases MURDERS will not be tried in court!  

They brought up the fact that he had been suspended to make a point that he was a bad kid.  My question is this, what exactly does him getting suspended have to do with Zimmerman pulling the trigger.  This moment in time had nothing to do with the character of Trayvon Martin.  It was a senseless act of paranoia and racism.  Zimmerman was acting on a stereotype, nothing else.  He had ZERO information about Mr. Martin and made a stupid assumption that cost this young man his life.  The fact that he didn't stand down when the cops were telling him to on the phone amounts to resisting arrest or at least failure to obey an officer of the law, doesn't it?  I mean, if the cops were there and told him to drop his weapon and he didn't, they could have shot him- but they probably wouldn't have.  IF Trayvon Martin was the one holding the gun however, he would have been riddled with bullets!

Here is my main point in writing this message.  This is a watershed moment in the history of this country.  We are all angry that Trayvon Martin is dead.  We are all upset that he was killed in cold blood and nothing has been done about it.  Let's take this energy and translate it into action.  Everyday, this happens in the inner cities of America.  Young, African-American males are gunned down in cold blood every day in our urban areas.  The murder rate in cities like New Orleans and Philadelphia is astronomical and continues to increase.  The only difference is that the shooters are, oftentimes the same color as the victim!  Where is the outrage?  I'm sure that your anger simmers whenever you watch the news.  I am always incensed when I see one young black man destroy the life of another and in the process destroy his own life as well. Rarely do we do anything about it though.  We just shake our heads and flip the channel to Martin or some re-run of Sanford and Son.  We can use this moment, as a race of people, to show the insanity and senselessness of black on black crime!  If brothers and sisters, regardless of socioeconomic background, are outraged that a "white" man committed this murder, we should be doubly outraged when the triggerman is another black man.  Why don't we channel this outrage into a peace treaty between every gang in this country.  Why don't we use this to stop selling death and destruction to each other on street corners around the nation?  I'm tired of seeing young black men put into body bags over senseless quarrels, turf battles or stepping on the wrong person's shoes.  We need to see Trayvon Martin's face every time we think about pulling the trigger on another brother!  What happened to Trayvon Martin in his father's neighborhood could have easily happened to him in Miami in the Pork-n-Beans district. 

It's time to wake up and smell the coffee black America.  Every death of a young black man should be met with this same outrage.  Not fear and quivering, not a "no-snitching" code but a vehement demand for justice!  Imagine if the neighbors acted on the no-snitching code, Zimmerman may not even be a suspect.  Yes he's still a free man, but I have a strong feeling that he won't be free for long as the evidence is beginning to pile up against him.  Don't let this tragedy slip past and not learn something from it.  As sens less and maddening as it is to see Zimmerman walk, it is just as senseless and maddening to see brothers killing brothers everyday and ending up in the pen for 20 years to life.  Let's take something away from this that will help all of us.  Those of us that are already sounding the alarm that black on black crime is out of control, this is a great moment to reiterate the call to stop the violence.  If you are a one that's considered a "gangster", you are gunning down Trayvon Martin every time you point your gun at your brother or sister.  Wake up!

Where are Tavis and Cornell?

Since the Trayvon Martin case broke, there has been an eerie silence from two of our most famous and vociferous talkers.  I've seen Sharpton, he's actually in Orlando with the Martin family although his mother passed away this morning.  You already know Jesse is going to show up.  Joe Madison, of XM Radio's the Power is down there for the rally tonight in Sanford, FL.  Many luminaries are probably going to show up tonight.

In the build-up around the case, there are two voices that I have yet to hear.  Where the heck is Tavis Smiley?  Where is Rev. Cornell West?  Is this issue beneath them because the young man's father lives in a gated community and not in "poverty"?  Will they pull up in the "poverty" bus?  Does anyone else find it interesting that they criss-cross the country on a luxury bus while talking about poverty?

They have been silent.  They may rattle their cages if the Obama administration doesn't send Eric Holder down there to totally violate federal jurisdiction...which would create a severe problem, according to Melissa Harris Perry, in terms of voting and perception among southern voters that already despise "big government".

Tavis, Cornell...where are you guys?  Maybe this will be a topic at another one of the talk-a-thons forums that offer more criticism than solutions.  I'm just wondering where they are and if they have as much to say about this as they do about the President.

Kirk Cameron and the Pilgrims...Whitewashing History?

I heard a commercial the other night where Kirk Cameron (Way of the Master guru and former actor) is now telling Christians to study the Pilgrims.  He wants to study their epic journey from their homeland to the Americas and their puritan ideals.  In his own words, studying their morality will make us better Christians.  He has a new movie, "Monumental" coming out about the great, pure and Christian ways of the Pilgrims.

Pardon me for rocking the boat, but didn't the Pilgrims, or at least some of them, massacre the Native Americans when they got here?  Did they not look at them as savages?  Were they justified in the killing of Native Americans because the Native Americans were not Christians?  Would they have been better served to learn (not assimilate) the culture and find an entry point whereby Christ could be introduced?  For Paul, it was the monument to "an unknown god" on Mars Hill that he used to proclaim the gospel to the Athenians...for the Native Americans it could have been their penchant for worshipping nature that could have been used to let them know that even nature has a Creator that is supreme above all.  Instead, the Native Americans were seen as inferior and killed/stolen from.  Around the same tie that the Pilgrims were establishing Plymouth, Peter Minuit was "buying" Manhattan Island a bit further north.  Manhattan Island in New York was bought for a pittance!  Roughly $24 of goods to be exact.  It may be said that some of the goods traded were high end technology but I'd take the land and my primitive technology, which worked pretty well before we made the deal by the way, over any axe or agricultural tool.  It was a one-sided trade in every sense of the word.

Was the first Thanksgiving actually a cultural melting pot where Native Americans sat quietly with the pilgrims and ate roasted turkey?  I'd venture to say that the history books got that one wrong.  One incident that occurred when the Pilgrims arrived was an expedition that set out from the Mayflower that stole corn from a Native American burial ground and got into a battle with Native Americans indigenous to the land.  That led to fear and a move south to Plymouth Port from Provincetown.   

While their intentions as separatists were noble: to break away from the mother church that they didn't agree with, we cannot look at that as their most sterling achievement.  Nor can we say that their separatism was totally dedicated to the glory of God.  There were separate groups within the separatists but the bible says that in Christ we are all one.  The Klan is also a separatist group.  So are the NeoNazis.  If the love of Christ was truly in their hearts, there is no way that they would kill the Native Americans, rob them of their possessions or enslave them.  That is not moral or Christian, no matter what kind of spin you put on it.

Susan Bates writes the following in her "The Real Story of Thanksgiving":

For three days the Wampanoags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two very different groups of people. A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.

It would be very good to say that this friendship lasted a long time; but, unfortunately, that was not to be. More English people came to America, and they were not in need of help from the Indians as were the original Pilgrims. Many of the newcomers forgot the help the Indians had given them. Mistrust started to grow and the friendship weakened. The Pilgrims started telling their Indian neighbors that their Indian religion and Indian customs were wrong. The Pilgrims displayed an intolerance toward the Indian religion similar to the intolerance displayed toward the less popular religions in Europe. The relationship deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another in what came to be called King Phillip's War.

Kirk Cameron might want to rethink this considering that the Pilgrims do not have a spotless history.  Using folklore as history is dangerous.  Whitwashing history is even more dangerous.  He might want to pay homage to the fact that everything that went on in the New Word was not sweet and cuddly.  I haven't seen the film and maybe he does address this.  It is crucial that it is addressed.  We don't need revisionist history, we need accurate history!  Atheists use things like this to discredit Christians all the time.  Whether it's Plymouth or the Crusades, we have to start answering the hard questions and not look disingenuous while doing it.  Rather than looking to the Pilgrims as the model for culture and morality, how about looking to Christ?  He set the model in the first place.

The Trojan Horse called "No Child Left Behind"

President George W. Bush was not a very effective president.  I don't really know of any of his policies that I agreed with.  From the Patriot Act to the Iraq War, he was a president that I could never fully support.  Not to mention, his credentials were less than stellar.  He dodged his military duties, his college career was based more on his family's influence than his intellectual acumen, he was a professed alcoholic, he used cocaine and he just was not "real" in my opinion.  Everything that he did was contrived and staged.  Think, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" and then look at the body bags that are still piling up to this day, almost 9 years later.  He projected a Rovian (Karl Rove developed) image that deceived the masses and led many to believe multiple lies.  Then there is the issue of voter fraud, Diebold and other suspicious activities that took place during both of the elections that he was involved in.   Suffice it to say that this was not a president that I supported nor believed in.

His legacy, the war notwithstanding, can still be felt in the economy, in the environment and in society.  One of his most damaging policies, in my opinion, came in the form of a Trojan horse.  In Greek mythology, the story of the Trojan horse is legendary.  The Greeks presented the Trojans with a gift during the Trojan war.  A huge horse that some of the Trojans thought to be symbolic of peace and others a tribute to Athena, was rolled up to the gates of the city of Troy.  Some Trojans thought that the horse should be burned and that it was some sort of trap.  In actuality, the horse was hollowed out on the inside and contained scores of Greek soldiers that, otherwise, would not have had access to the heavily fortified city of Troy.  As the story goes, the Trojans accepted the gift and were destroyed from the inside out because they allowed the enemy to infiltrate their ranks.  The Trojan horse has become synonymous with subversive activities that are done under the guise of sincerity and good intentions.

I submit to you that the No Child Left Behind program is a Trojan horse.  On the surface, we see educational funding and support for public schools but this program is actually designed for the systematic destruction of the educational system as we know it.  This was crystallized for me this morning as I dropped my children off at school.  I noticed a sign up that was commemorative of Down Syndrome Day.  This is in no way an indictment of people with Down's Syndrome.  I actually think it is great that people with Down's Syndrome have been destigmatized over the years and we should not look at them any differently than anyone.  But it hit me that within the same classroom that "gifted" children (i.e. children that have taken an exam and showed exceptional proficiency in some area) are located, there are also children with Down's Syndrome that we know are limited in their intellectual abilities.  When I was in school, they had Special Education for students with special needs and they were instructed from a curriculum that was different than the curriculum that I followed.  What No Child Left Behind has done is place those special needs children in a no-win situation by holding them to the same academic standards that children with uncompromised cognitive abilities are held to. 

Speaking with a teacher, she was totally frustrated in that she was "preparing her children for a test that they are unable to pass."  Here is the problem with NCLB, if the special needs students are not performing, the entire school is seen as underperforming.  A larger issue stemming from that problem is this, schools that do not meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) are defunded.  So, the mad scramble to make AYP and maintain funding has caused schools to falsify test scores and do other things to "prove" to the government that they deserve the few dollars in educational funds that they do receive.  This Trojan horse called NCLB has caused the prevailing sentiment in America to be that all schools are failures.  If the test scores were separated, as they should be, then we wouldn't be having this discussion.  NCLB has been a colossal failure and it has failed our children as well.  They are taught to a test and not taught to think critically.  Thank God that book companies  and educational supply companies are now beginning to realize this and produce material that encourages critical thinking.  I sit on a textbook adoption committee and the two math books that we have reviewed so far are very innovative and challenging to students.  This is critical considering the fact that we are preparing tomorrow's leaders that must compete in a global marketplace as opposed to their small town or against only those students that were educated in American school systems.

This is where we are today.  We are given a bleak picture of our schools.  The Trojan horse of NCLB has painted our teachers as pathetic (albeit some are), our students as if they are on a sinking ship and our educational system as if it is the worst in the world.  There are flaws for sure, but nothing that cannot be fixed.  But the job of NCLB was not to fix the schools in the first place.  It was cleverly designed to cause dysfunctionality in the schools in such a way that the people become disgruntled with public education and it eventually becomes obsolete.  The Trojan horse concept is this: if the schools fail badly enough, according to the test scores, then we will eventually eradicate them altogether in favor or private pay education.  By design, the standards set by NCLB would never be met because the evaluation of the schools would be based on skewed data; data that includes the scores of special needs children and the general student population both taking the same tests.  Since Americans love data and numbers, these data would then be used to justify abandoning public education.  A secondary outcome of NCLB would be the creation of a permanent underclass of intellectually dull, imperceptive simpletons that would not question the government or its practices.  I am personally fighting this outcome by teaching my children to think outside the box and exposing them to reality.  I suggest that you do the same if you have children.  Don't hide the truth from them and teach them to think.

Thank God that now schools have the ability to opt-out of the NCLB policies.  They made no sense then and they make no sense now.  That whole program needs to be scrapped.  Judging from the product, my students that I encounter every day, it has not worked.  There is an entire generation of students that was handouts for grades, promotions just because and that do NOT want to work for anything.  The limited intellectual ability can be heard in the music that they listen to, the disdain for any thing that makes them think outside of the box and the constant requests for exams that are watered down and verbatim from the lectures.  I am in agreement with the Trojan seer Laokoon that told king Priam not to accept that horse into the gates and the other citizens of Troy that wanted to burn the horse where it stood outside the gate.  NCLB should never have been allowed to be thrown onto our children.  It should have been burned where it stood.

"I'm Not There Yet..."

Oftentimes in the Christian church, we hear this familiar saying. When you talk to people and they are sort of straddling the fence, they will utter this phrase to let you know their spiritual standing. We hear it a lot and I really never understood what it meant until last night. The phrase is "I'm not there yet" and is is used by many to explain where they are in their Christian walk. Honestly, it is really more of a rationalization as to why we cannot fully follow Christ and to explain away certain behaviors that are not befitting of the Christian.

In Luke 9, Jesus talked to three men with regards to following Him and two of the three gave an excuse for why they could not follow Him. In verses 57-62, Jesus laid out the cost of discipleship. Discipleship is all or nothing. Read it here:

57As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Jesus said to the first man that wanted to follow him, I don't have anywhere to lay my head...just to let you know. What he was saying is this, if you follow me, do not expect an easy road and don't think that this will be a cakewalk. Notice, he ASKED the next one to follow Him and that one, probably after hearing that there was nowhere for the Son of Man to lay His head gave an excuse. He said, in so many words, "I'm not there yet..." Jesus's reply was simple, do not let anything stop you from following me...let the dead bury their own dead. The next one said, "I'll follow BUT, let me go tell my folks goodbye". Then, Jesus said that you should not look back after putting your hand to the plowshare- otherwise you are not fit for the kingdom of God. This would disqualify ALL believers because we have all looked back at some point. However, the tense of the verb "looking" is present/active which indicates that while you are plowing, you are actively looking back at the same time. You cannot plow a straight line with your head actively turned backwards looking at where you came from! How can you be fit for the kingdom of God if you are still concerned with the kingdom of the air?

That's why many give the excuse, "I'm not there yet...". Many of us are actively looking back at the old kingdom. We have parts of us that we do not want to let go of. Holding on to those things hinders us from moving forward in the kingdom of God. We have traits that we see as being definitive of us and we want to hold on to that old identity because if we let go of it, we are no longer who we used to be. THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO-- LET IT GO! That is the precise reason for being born again, so that our old nature can die and give way to our new nature created in Christ Jesus! So, the flesh will always tell us that we are not there yet to keep us in bondage and to stagnate our growth in Christ! As long as we hold on to the thought that we are not "there" we will never get "there". Paul said that we are to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) in order that we may live by the Spirit of God!

"There" is a place that NONE of us are. We are striving to get "there" but we won't reach "there" i.e. perfection until Christ comes or until we die. Even the most devout Christians are not "there" because we will always struggle with something and we will remain "sinful" until the corruptible is replaced by the incorruptible. However, the difference between those that claim not to be "there" and those that understand that they will never get "there" while in this life is this- there is a concious effort by the latter to actually submit to the Spirit of God, to live according to the word of God and to be renewed in the spirit of their minds. The former are content to rationalize away sin by telling continually themselves, "I'm not there yet...".

I submit to you my brothers and sisters that we must remove that phrase from our Christian vocabulary and focus on the journey, never on the pitstops or the bumps in the road. The Christian walk is a marathon not a sprint and the race is not given to the swift or the strong but to the one that endures until the end. In order to get "there" we must first get on our way. That may involve several sacrifices along the way but the rewards are so much greater that the sacrifices pale in comparison to them! Let's all understand that while we are not "there" and will never get "there" in this lifetime, we should stay on the path to "there" and never use not being "there" to rationalize away our misdeeds and our fleshly desires. God bless you and hopefully, one day we will see each other..."there".

Crickets...

So, I recently heard about a case in Florida in which a young African-American man was gunned down by an overzealous neighborhood watch president for "looking suspicious" (Trayvon Martin Murdered in cold blood).  According to reports, the young man went to the store to get candy and upon returning to the gated community where his father was a resident, he was followed, accosted and eventually shot by the neighborhood watch president.  Here was a young man minding his own business, simply walking down the street and he's now six feet in the ground.

What was the result of the shooting?  Crickets.  Chirping crickets, like the ones that you hear in the still of the night when NOTHING is going on.  Law enforcement did not even arrest the man that did the shooting.  He murdered a young man in cold blood and he's free.  Where does this happen?   Oh yeah, in a "post-racial" America.  Yes, I just played the race card because why else would the neighborhood watch follow a man walking down the street with candy and soda, scuffle with him and finally...shoot him in cold blood?

So, the white sheets have been stored away in favor of neighborhood watch badges.  Only in America can the police kill African-American men for no reason, regular citizens can draw down on anyone they feel is a threat because of their second amendment right and if you claim "self defense" in an altercation that you provoked, if you're the right color...you walk.  This is the same America that ducks and hides when the issue of racism, racial prejudice or any issue regarding race comes up.  It's time to stop playing games and tell the truth.  This country's economic system got a 246 year head start with free labor from slavery and the specter of slavery, the residue of slavery and the mentality of slavery (on both sides) still exists.  Every time I see someone call the Confederate flag history and heritage but get angry at the celebration of Black History Month...there's a problem there.  The values of our "Christian" nation allowed slaves and Black people in general to be treated as property, beaten, lynched, burned at the stake, falsely accused and abused for hundreds of years and no one thought twice about it.  The biblical perspective of slavery is totally different that the view of slavery that our "forefathers" had.  The biblical principle/COMMAND of love your neighbor as you love yourself does not restrict a person to loving only a certain race, but extends to ALL races and even your enemies.  In Christ Jesus we are all one...that's what the Bible says.  But what's funny is that the same men that kept the Bible from slaves were themselves slaves to their own sinful desires and lusts- and they twisted the bible to suit their own evil, selfish lust for power and money.  Their prideful attitudes regarding equality among the races led to the Klan being formed to harass black voters, grandfather clauses, separate water fountains and restrooms and have laid the foundation that the current racial landscape of the country rests on.  Christians that had the bible and didn't properly apply it cannot call themselves Christians at all- but we were labeled as the barbarians.  This is not an indictment of all white people, it is simply the truth.  Thank God that although I wrote the previous statements in general terms, they don't apply to all white people.  Thank God that there are white people that are not hampered by racial prejudices but love as Christ commanded us to.  Now is also an opportune time for me to say that I judge every person based on the deeds, not based on the deeds of their ancestors or their peers.  I don't care what color you are, if you give respect, you will  get respect in return from me.  Let me also say that there are some black people that make you wonder if slavery ever ended, but that's another post for another day.

The negative racial stereotypes that haunt African-Americans and are used many times to define us, have been in existence for hundreds of years.  From the movie "Birth of a Nation" all the way to the jigaboo, buckdancing "slaves" that embarrass us daily on the airwaves on BET, MTV and other places where OUR OWN folks sell us out and sell our young people images designed to keep us in bondage, we catch it from every angle.   They call it art, I call it modern day slavery.  Honestly, there are some that live to perpetuate the stereotypes that exist- but this case has absolutely nothing to do with that.  This case was simply a racist, self-hating man (he is actually Latino- editied 3/21/12), in his zeal and his manifest destiny mindset, taking the life of a young man that he felt did not belong in his neighborhood.  Why he even approached the young man is beyond me but I would venture to say that his attitude as influenced by some stereotype that he harbored.

But all that was heard after the gunshot was crickets, chirping crickets.  The Florida State Attorney's office has finally begun to investigate the case and the cops that responded to the scene and the police department have been less than cooperative.  I will be waiting to see when the silence will break and the facts will come forth.  For now, I expect a lot of anger, disgust and bewilderment at how this could have happened.  I pray for this boy's parents and for his family.  This is a tragic and senseless crime, a murder, that, contrary to the stereotype that exists, did not happen at the hands of another black young man.  This was cold blooded and I pray that justice prevails.  Don't let the crickets continue to chirp...make some noise and also, be in prayer that justice prevails

Politicians Make Me SICK!

OK, so the purpose of this post is simply to vent my frustrations with the current political landscape and the politicians that are on display running for President of the United States.  I'm watching New Gingrich on television talking about driving gas below $2.50 per gallon.  ALL of the problems that we have in this country, ALL of the unemployment, ALL of the poverty and you get up and talk about gasoline?  How much more contrived can you be.  Looking at this staged event with one asian, one black, one hispanic standing behind him- Gingrich has all the marks of a politician in an election year.  These men make promises that they KNOW they cannot keep- and we swallow it hook, line and sinker...every 4-8 years.  He got up and talked about never bowing to a Saudi king again- yet he spent several years in the House of Representatives and NEVER once thought twice about bowing to a Saudi king...as a matter of fact, he didn't say much of anything of substance while he was taking kickbacks and getting consulting fees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I am so tired of politics.  It is now a sport and a popularity contest.  If you look presidential, you can be president.  Republicans have it bad because they are so image concious.  You can be an axe murder, racist, druggie totally devoid of character but once you put on that solid blue suit, white shirt and a solid a metallic colored tie and have a nice haircut and they will be all over you.  How else can the core group of Republicans still worship Ronald Reagan when he served the final time in his second term with Alzheimer's disease?  He is just an image, and they worship him for what?  Because he's the "gipper"?  Where is the substance?  Gingrich certainly leaves a lot to be desired and yet he's still in the race.  All you have to do is look polished and say that you are against abortion and they will vote for you.  None of the Republican candidates offer very many solutions.  Honestly, President Obama is beginning to look more like a politician and less like the grass roots organizer that campaigned in 2008.  Politics is sickening as it is always a game of oneupsmanship and never an effort to do what is best for the people.  What's more sickening is that many of the people that are in office call themselves Christians.  What happens in Washington is so far removed Christianity that it is laughable for anyone there to claim to be Christian with some of the funny business that occurs there.

OK, I've vented.  I'm still frustrated that these candidates present fluff and try to tell us that they aren't lying.  What I've discovered is that in order to solve problems, everyone has to play ball.  Businesses, politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle, the sharks on Wall Street and the people- we have to voice displeasure when those that we elect don't meet our expectations.  There are no magic bullets when it comes to social issues, economic issues or any of the myriad of problems that we face in this country.  When will someone have the courage to say, "hey, this is a very complex issue and there is no black or white answer for it."?  Everyone gets up like they have all the answers when in actuality, they only have opinions that may or may not work.  Please be in prayer that the hearts of the men and women that claim to represent us will be turned in such a way that these people do their jobs with us in mind.

A Closed Bible

I always find it quite strange that the later it is in the evening, the more shady the preaching gets on TV.  I was flipping through the religious section of DirecTV and fell on Huie Rogers.  His sermon was so erratic, I had to turn.  He was going crazy talking about being crazy...the insanity of Christianity to be exact.  As I was flipping, I always like to stop by the Praise-A-Thon to see who TBN has summoned up from the doldrums of "Christian" hypocrisy to beg for more cash so that they can air more foolishness.  Tonight, one of their favorite sons was on there, and he was tearing it up!

Jesse Duplantis is a stalwart of TBN.  He's a major proponent of the prosperity gospel and one of the worst preachers that I've ever listened to.  As he strutted around the stage like a peacock touting the 100 fold principle- saying how he gave $100,000 and got a million back- I couldn't help but notice that he never touched his Bible to back up what he was saying.  As a matter of fact, his Bible was...closed.  It was nothing more than a prop on his plexiglass pulpit.  Isn't it odd that many preachers use the Bible simply to give the air of authority but they rarely use it to preach from?  Why is it that the Bible has become a prop and church has become theater?

Duplantis "preached" for a while and I never once saw him even look towards his Bible.  It just sat there, closed and still.  He kept telling funny stories...but he never opened his Bible.  He used his ebonics to get to the emotions of the African-American parishioners that TBN loves to fleece...but he never opened his Bible.  He talked, and talked, and talked...but he NEVER opened his Bible.  Can you say...disgraceful?

The Bible, the Word of God is living and active.  2 Tim 3:16 says that the ALL scripture is inspired by God (God breathed) and is USEFUL for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness.  Here is the practical side, verse 17 says that the Word of God is used to EQUIP the man of God for every good work.  As a pastor, what Jesse's job is along with ALL other pastors is spelled out explicitly in Ephesians 4:11-16:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the EQUIPPING of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 

Without preaching this text, let's see what the ministry is supposed to be doing:  1. Equipping the saints for works of service 2. Building up the body of Christ (and through  equipping the saints, causing them to build up the Body of Christ).  NOW, how long is the ministry of the Church supposed to continue this work?  1. For the duration of the time here on earth (until we all attain unity of the faith- which will probably not happen until Christ returns) 2. Until we all attain unity of the knowledge of the Son of God to A MATURE MAN (i.e. until we all grow up in the Faith [Christianity]).  What is the result of this ministry that we like to refer to as the 5-fold ministry?  Christians that are mature, equipped and NOT prone to error by being blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine that blows by!

Which brings me to the question...why is any "preacher" preaching with a closed bible?  If we KNOW that the Word of God is useful for teaching, correction, reproof and training in righteousness, if we know that the Word of God convicts and is sharper than any two edged sword, if we know that the Word of God is eternal...shouldn't we be USING it to equip the saints?  Well, if your job is to deceive the saints rather than equipping them...the answer is NO.  If your job is to BE the wind of doctrine that blows the saints off course, then you would definitely not use the Bible to preach to them.  If your job is to be the teacher that tickles itching ears...then the Bible is your worst enemy!  So, a closed Bible and a sermon on absolutely nothing related to scripture must only have one intention...to deceive.

The arrogance of some that place their own words over God's word is amazing.  In the book of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 8), when Ezra got up to read the Law (i.e. to preach, in modern vernacular) and he stood at a wooden podium (pulpit)- he actually read from the Law.  He didn't get up and tell funny stories and strut around like a gamecock.  He taught from God's Word and the people were convicted and confessed their sins!  When Jesus began his ministry, he did so by reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the Synagogue (Luke 4:18).  If the Word was good enough for Jesus, it should STILL be good enough.  The Bible says that heaven and earth will pass away but God's Word stands forever.  The nerve of some of these preachers.  It is borderline disgusting.  What's more disturbing is the fact that the places where these folks are "preaching" are packed out with smiling faces, black and white, that have no clue that they are being taken for a ride!

It's past time for us to wake up and think for ourselves.  If the pastor doesn't crack the bible open even once...it might be time to move on.  Technology has given us access to electronic Bibles on our tablets, etc, but I am talking about a preacher that does not even reference scripture at all.  Are there men/women that are repositories of scripture and can quote scripture verbatim?  Sure there are, but the Bible assures me that what they are saying is true because I can check it for myself.  I can't vet statements pulled out of thin air.  Especially when these "preachers" go to great lengths to sensationalize and emotionalize their audience before whacking them over the head with a brick with "Holy Bible" stamped on it in gold letters.  Take your own bible to church and don't take anyone's word for anything- read it for yourself.  You should be leaving church with, at least, some scriptures written down for further study- not an emotional message rooted in some person's imagination about what God said.  A closed bible on a pulpit is a dangerous thing.  The Bible is like a Christmas gift...you will never know what's in it unless you open it up.

Do You Sit Under Moses or Aaron?

Exodus 32:1-6:

1Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Here, Aaron was "filling in" for Moses while Moses went up onto the mountain to speak with God and to receive the two tablets of the testimony.  Aaron, while he was Moses' spokesperson, he was not Moses.  Here is the problem, Aaron gave the people what they wanted rather than what they needed.  The people, who grew impatient waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, asked Aaron to MAKE THEM A GOD!  How ironic is it that they totally forgot that the LORD had just delivered them out of Egypt.  Notice, in the above text they said that it was Moses "the man" that brought them out of Egypt. 

The ultimate mistake by Aaron was a multi-level one: a. Rather than rebuke the people, explain to them that it was God and not Moses that brought them out of Egypt and b. tell them that there was but ONE God...c. he caved in to the demands of the people.  He had them to bring their gold to him and he gave them what THEY wanted.  Why would a so called man of God give the people anything other than what God says?  Was he afraid of what the people would think?  Did he fear harm from them?  Did he fear God?  Obviously, the answer to the last question is no, simply because as closely as Aaron was connected to Moses, he had to know how God frowned on idolatry.   Yet he disregarded this to please the people.  As a pastor of people, you cannot forsake the Word of God for the feelings of the people.  The feelings/emotions cause people to run after every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), to collect teachers to tickle their itching ears (2 Tim 4:3) and to exchange the truth for lies (Rom 1:25).  If anyone has to stand up for God, it's the one that He's called to be his mouthpiece.  There is no room for error as it pertains to delivering God's word God's way.  A weak, spineless pastor gives the people what they want.  A pastor with a heart after God's heart gives the people what they need in spite of their grumblings.

Aaron's weak excuse was in verse 22-24:

"Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23“For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24“I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” "

So the people were prone to evil, the people "said" to you to make them a god and your answer was "give me some gold" to throw into the fire.  Aaron's lies were evident as the calf did not simply jump out of the fire...he fashioned it with his own hands and with a graving tool (verse 4).  Fashioning that golden calf kindled the anger of God and Moses had to plead on behalf of the people to avert their destruction.  God's plan was to destroy everything except for a very small remnant of people.  God relented, but Moses ended up  having most of the idolaters killed anyway.  Aaron could have prevent that by simply instructing the people in the ways of God and telling them the truth.

Today, we live in a culture of "tolerance and acceptance" where God's word is continually watered down to fit the "needs" of the people and the need for God is continually diminished.  As long as there are Aarons in pulpits across America, it will only get worse.  God's Word has absolutely nothing to do with how we feel.  We cannot preach a gospel to fit the people, rather we must preach such that the lives of the people are reprioritized and realigned to fit the gospel.  Anything less is doing the parishioners a disservice.   

Both Moses and Aaron had their shortcomings.  Moses had anger issues.  Aaron bent his his will to the will of the people.  Both of them point to the inadequacy of man and the sufficiency of Christ.  Christ came to fulfill what the priests, kings and prophets could not do.  He did it all and fulfilled everything that God required of man.  Christ is the standard for any preacher and He is the standard for ALL of those that name His name.  Jesus preached the truth when He walked this earth and he set the standard for anyone proclaiming the Word of God to preach the truth.  If the one that you sit under does not have a Christological, Christ/bible centered theology, their message will be to please you and not to push you.  If anyone is reading this and you don't like it...I take that as a compliment.  I'm not a palate tickler and I pray that God would keep it that way.