JUANITA BYNUM SPOKE A WORD HERE…

If ever I agree with someone I must say that I certainly agree here.

Yes, it has gone much too too too too far the way that many of the women who called themselves ‘saved’ and are a part of the gospel music world of today.

When you see Shirley Caesar dressing like a fool then you truly know something is wrong.   She was a staple… a solid rock…  a rock … a torch bearer.   But it appears that she too is becoming carried away with the style and attitudes of the world.  And it is very sad.

I have been trying to find that first dress I saw on Yolanda Adams where.  It was utterly ridiculous that I wondered how in the world she had put it without realizing that THAT DRESS was certainly going to start a stir in the black Christian world.   And it must truly have done so… because it is nowhere to be found on the internet.

For years now we have known that a vast majority our gospel singers were interested in crossing over into the secular world.  They looked over and saw the money… the cars… the houses etc… etc… etc.   But if the truth be told the gospel artist who are on top make plenty of money some demanding more than $20,000 a show.

I have paid $4,000 for an act to come in to do a prayer breakfast.  Well, almost we haven’t seal the deal.  I expanded it into doing a concert later that evening.   Because I just could not see myself paying anyone $4,000 just to show up at our prayer breakfast… and then have to fly them in and put them up in a hotel too without getting the full benefit from my investment.

But gospel artist demand a lot of money.   I once over heard my past mumbling after having brought a certain, used to be a bit heavier and fuller breast, gospel singer in.  She demanded a limousine and to stay in a 5 star hotel.

They want to be treated like rock stars… super stars.   Oh, they bring the anointing… 

Well, some of them.   But are they really worth the big ticket many of them want to demand.   I think not.

But it is not a matter of the money which this blog is about… but about their matter of dress.   And it speaks volumes.

The Bible tells us to ‘come out from among them.’   And ‘to be ye transformed.’ 

Then why are some many of our gospel artist negating ‘the word’ to want to become more and more like the world?

It is hard to believe that today we see many gospel female artists who want to dress like Lil’ Kim or Nicki Minaj.

What happen to dressing in a way becoming to a woman… not like a woman trying to sing and sell her wares too?   Because that is very much what it looks like.

They are exposing their breast…  their shoulders… thighs…   legs…. and everything else.

They are getting implants… breast implants… hip and thigh implants  etc.   all designed to make them look more voluptuous.   But didn’t the Bible say that a woman should be modestly dress, as not to draw attention to her body?

But the flesh is alive and well sadly in the gospel world.  And it appears that the more these women show of it the happier they are about it.

SMH…

I didn’t think it was robbery how Mahalia Jackson used to dress… or any of those old gospel women groups.   Even Shirley Caesar… somebody I would have never believed would be trying to follow the ways of this world… is getting into the act, and looking like she enjoys it.

But if the truth be told this trend is showing up in their music too.   Most the music that comes out today is just plain garbage.   And I don’t know who told these so-called song writers that pulling a few words of scripture from Psalms and singing over and over and over and over and over… is really a song or song writing.

What Rev. Timothy Wright’s wife did with ‘Jesus Jesus Jesus’ cannot be duplicated.   And we are told in scripture that there is nothing like the name of Jesus, and this song certainly proved that because I never have to think about the tone or key to sing it… and I feel the power in that song whenever I hear it.

But this other mess or repetitive words is just plain junk for the most part.   It has no power and touches nothing down deep inside you.  It is a key change after key change without any real meaning or significance… not really worth singing and definitely not much worth hearing.   Because there is usually nothing to these songs at all but a waste of time.

I am sorry to see our real song writing in the gospel music world take a decline… and a back seat to this junk of repetitive words which have no anointing whatsoever… outside of Rev.  Timothy’s Wright’s wife song.   It is kind of odd that not much after she had written this song that that fatal accident coming from A.I.M, a Church of God in Christ convention held that year in Detroit… took place in which God took her and a grandson… and not long after her He took the Right Reverend Wright too.   But what a song… and songs they left us with.   And also a firm belief in God… and a knowledge that they were ‘real religious people of God’... not like many of these perpetrating gospel singers ‘wanna be’ secular people of today.

Well, God bless….    Well, it is wet here but my cousin tells me that they are in for snow today.   But it is spring and we are just a couple of weeks away from Easter.

So, let me be the first to wish you a happy and safe Easter.   What a grand time it is as we move forward to celebrating the purpose our Lord and Savor and… to lay down his life that he would rise again… so that we all may have a right to life over death.

Thank for reading…

Well, I hope you  tell your friends, co-workers and family… everybody even the man down the street and … “pass it on… ” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2017

 

Add a comment April 6, 2017

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD… THE SECULAR TAKING OVER THE CHRISTIAN WORLD… SHIRLEY CAESAR’S DRESS AT THE GRAMMYS…

Yeah, I remember the days when you could not sit in a black church with your skirt riding all the way up to your hips… not even while sitting in the back row.

But sadly those days are gone.   And back in the day it didn’t matter what you were wearing in our church they trained you that you could not sit like some man in a cowboy movie…  or anywhere else, and I do mean anywhere.   They trained us to be ladies… and to sit like ladies.

I just recently saw a picture of 1 of our general board bishop’s wife who was sitting with her legs wide open.

And it did not matter what you had on… since in our church you were never suppose to have on pants anyway.   Nor did it matter where you were.   Agains, they trained us to be ladies and to always sit with our legs closed.

Sitting with your legs wide open was just not tolerated.  It was not an option …nor our clothes pulled all the up on us so people could see everything we had either.

But today is a different story.

Even these preachers… young and old… are marrying worldly women who have never had any type or form of church training.   Then how are they …these women to know how to train any women in the churches they are becoming the first lady of how they should carry and hold themselves… if the first lady does not know?

Oh, I see where they all have start to carry large handkerchiefs to throw across their legs now.  But that can’t hide what is going on above …in the exposing of their breasts.

Everybody it seems want to be naked.    I take that saying from my father… who called any woman not dressed appropriately ‘naked.’  And I guess daddy was right… because the more and more as time has progressed
the more ‘naked’ they have become.

Take long time gospel music queen Shirley Caesar at this past Grammy’s and what she was wearing.  But if the truth be told Shirley’s shoulder lines have been dropping for a while.

It is 1 thing for the hot little floozies on the corner to be dressed in nothing, but to see gospel legends to begin to strut their stuff is a bit too too too much.   Particularly when they are old women and women who had been highly respected in the
gospel world for years, such as Mother and Pastor Shirley Caesar.

And you have these pastors who are marrying women who they are proud to flaunt on their arm and during church services, women who look like they could be in the local club or bar… sitting on a bar stool and inviting any old body to come and taste some of their cheap goods.

I was trying to find this dress I had seen Yolanda Adams wear some years ago.   It made me wonder as to whether or not she too had decided to leave the gospel world for secular music fairyland?

It is one thing when you watch the Oscars or whatever and see these women who are not saved… but when the unsaved seem to display more discretion in their dress than some of these gospel divas… then there is a problem.

How could anyone forsake such a standard and code of the church as to the proper dress of a religious or church woman.   Are not these things spoken of in the Bible as to what is or is not acceptable?

So, then why would Shirley Caesar after years of covering up properly while in public stoop to what she put on for the Grammys this year.   When she saw it she had to known, (1) that that dress was not first of all age appropriate for her, and (2) that it was certainly not something she should have put on…exposing her breast as it did.

For years Shirley Caesar had held up the standard for women in the gospel world.   A standard she was taught by those who had come before her… and had undoubtedly been in  the church in which she grew up in… as many of us had been trained and nurtured.   To wear our clothes as to not intrigue anybody.  Nothing hanging off your shoulders, no slits up the side, especially nothing too short or anywhere above the knee… and certainly nothing exposing our breasts.

To this very day I find it hard for me to want to walk into a church… any church with a pair of pants on.   Though I only wear pants occasionally… more or less sweat pants when I do.  But my training was women did not wear pants.

I was also trained that you just did not walk across the pulpit… for it was holy ground.   Even if I am summon to come into the pulpit I go reluctantly… and if I am asked to say something or to speak… I prefer to do from the floor and not in the pulpit.   It is not that I am not saved… but God declared certain areas in his sanctuary to be holy
or holy… where only the high priest was allowed enter.   Since we no longer have those inter chambers that only the high priest could enter into… we do still have His pulpit.   And it is holy.

So, when I see this trend where not only are gospel singers moving towards the secular world… just as R&B singers went towards becoming crossover artists… or better known to become pop artists.   The gospel artist today are also forsaking not only their roots …their music and their original audience, which fed and celebrated them for years… and now they are casting them aside and their clothes to go half naked before the world… just like the world.

We have cast off following God… to chase mammon and all his friends.

Well, see how much music Shirley will continue sell.   I don’t think it will come anywhere near what she used to do… for she has forgotten the Lord her God.   And we all know how He handles things like that….

I personally do not see what is wrong with representing the Lord and/or the Kingdom of God as we should… because we honor Him.   If we love Him and not the world… then why would you want to follow the ways of the world?

“Choose ye whom ye will serve.”

Well, God bless….    We’re back into cold weather now.   But then it is March so it would be no surprise if between now and some time in April we get dumped with a ton of snow.

So,  tell your friends, co-workers and family… everybody even the man down the street and … “pass it on… ” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2017

 

 

Add a comment March 6, 2017

KIM BURRELL IN AN UPROAR….

I saw the video that Kim says someone took of her during a service some night at her
church, when Kim Burrell goes off the chain proclaiming her dislike of gay people… with particular reference to those in the church.

I also saw the video that Kim made backing or attempting to back away from much of what she said in that video, of her ranting about gay people.  My thing in watching this video was this.

‘Kim if you really feel about gay people as you said while standing in the pulpit.  Then why back down from it… if you feel that what you had said was right?’

Cause you see if I say something that I think is right… then I am not going to back down from it.  Oh, I can change my mind… yes, regarding my thinking.   But if I feel that I am correct in my thinking then I am not going back away from what I believe.  And I don’t care who may not like it.  Unless… again… if I think about it and later begin to regret what I said… or how I said it.   Or I might even discover that I was wrong… because that does happen too.   And has happened to me.

I mean I would be lying if I said I never regretted saying something.   It happens all the time to many of us.  We spoke too fast.   Or mis-spoke…

But the way Kim was going on and on in that pulpit… I would have to say that she was really versing her sentiments quite definitely.  And if what I heard in another video was correct… in that what that person said about her husband, whom Kim is now either divorced from or separated from for some years now… was that he was gay.

I would say that might cause a woman to go on and on about hating gays.  That woman who used to sell orange juice years ago… I forget her name.   She had been an ex-Miss America when she came out strongly against gay people back in the latter 70’s or 80’s… and boy did they slam her.   She lost all kind of contracts behind that… and the orange juice industry was quick to get rid of her.  But what a price that industry paid in revenue losses when gay people boycotted orange juice… and boycott it they did.   And they won.

With regards to Kim Burrell… whom I often have found to be sharp with her tongue… I find it hard to believe that she did not think about her wardrobe person, or  her make-up person, or her hair stylist or everybody else who may possibly be on her team, when she is preparing to get up to perform… because most of them are gay.   But I am sure that hit home shortly after she realized that that video got out… had been uploaded on youtube, and the calls started coming in to her.

This is America and, of course, Kim Burrell like everybody else in
America has a right to an opinion on whatever she wants to have an opinion on… whether I may or may not agree with her on it.

But where I thought Kim Burrell went too far …was for her to be standing in the pulpit and talking about certain things… like men having ‘p___nis’ in their mouths.   Or women with their breasts shaking in front of another woman.  It was a bit too much.

Kim went overboard and that is what more than anything I believed killed her… and took away from anything that she was trying to say.    She was not preaching… nor was she teaching.    But Kim was spouting out vicious remarks of feelings, that maybe she had been harboring for some time and just felt it was okay… for some reason or other… to release those sentiments into the atmosphere at that time… in that church service.

I am a firm believer that the pulpit is not for all types of conversations.  Nor is it a place for where we should be standing in it believing that it is okay to just say whatever comes into our narrow minds.  The sanctuary and …certainly the pulpit is ‘holy.’    It is holy ground and it is not meant to be a place where we preach hate or condemnation.‘

Who are we to condemn people as though we too were not once lost in sin?

This is the problem I have with many people in the church.  They act as though they were never once sinners.

And I really get tired of hearing those people who say, ‘I’ve been saved since I was 3.’

Are you really trying to tell me that since you were a child… and supposedly became saved that you never once sinned?

I will bet that you sinned more than once.   And probably did things I never thought to do.

So, the devil is a liar.   And those people need to stop telling that ‘I’ve been saved since’ lie.

Why do people want to pretend that they are so holy and righteous …when they are filled with such ‘high looks,’   bigotry and animosity against not just gay people… though gay people always seem to be at the top of everyone’s list… but against everybody but fornicators… adulterers… liars etc….etc…etc..  Because THAT list certainly goes further than just being gay.

Some of these same people voted Donald Trump into office and saw no sin in him.   I would not have believed that either… had I not heard and seen them at our national convocation in St. Louis.   It was quite disturbing to me.  And a couple of them… bishops even… I had to set straight.

Speaking of bishops.  Some of these very people are ‘the corrupters.’   Stealing away the lives of many of these young boys, by feasting on them sexually …while proclaiming something else in the pulpit and making jokes about ‘limp wrist.’

This thing is sad.   And there are a bunch of hypocrites in the church… in the black church and white church… and everything in between.

Yeah, they can proclaim they hate them… but they lead the choir… play the instruments… sing the sermonic solo.

So, stop playing with yourself… and trying to preach hate,  when their is a cleansing that needs to take place.   And it is in the hearts of each and every one of us because we have been commanded to love… not condemn or chastise folk because we act like we can’t stomach their sin.

It is not for you to stomach.   God who is the creator and is also the finisher.   And you don’t know who he is going to clean up and place over you.

He can turn everybody around.  Did He not turn you around?

Oh, I forgot.   He is still working on you, Kim and everyone else who thinks like her.

I was at the convocation 2 years ago when that guy came out and started proclaiming, ‘I
ain’t gay no more.’

That whole service was like being in the midst of a comedy show.   That guy from Orlando who was suppose to preach… was beside himself …just like Kim.   And practically the whole area was eating it up… they were rolling over in laugher of this guys homophobic tyrants.

It was so good to them that the video department sold out of that dvd that night… and could not keep up  with the demand for it.  This I know not because I tried to buy it… but because the next day while waiting on my ride back to my hotel a bunch of people were still laughing over that mockery of a church service.  I sat through it, yes… but it was all I could do not to get up and walk out on that guy that night.  And I would have had I thought my courtesy driver was outside to take me back to my hotel.

We should stop all this ‘gay mess.’   It is not the only sin… need you think of what you are doing that God may be angry at.  Because at the end of the day… that is what really should concern you more than anything else.  Because when you shut your eyes… it won’t be that gay man in the choir or up the street whom you will have answer for.   But your behavior towards them will surely be an issue before God.

I think we all need to read the Bible more.   Because somewhere along the line you are all missing something when you attack anyone who is lost in sin.

And I think that any pastor or anyone who calls him or her self a pastor …or whatever who
invites someone to come and preach at their church and says, ‘You can come to preach but don’t mess with my sissies.’  

I think that person needs to remove themselves or the church remove him or her… because they are users.   But not Godly.   They rather see people not hear the truth… and I am not talking about a bunch of harsh and hard words of condemnation… but ‘the truth’ as to what the Bible says because they desire that everybody in their church or under them know what God desires in order for us to sincerely get into heaven…

Let us not chase people out of the church.  But let us work on trying to allow God to do His perfect work in them.   The Bible says, ‘faith comes through hearing the word of God.’   They must be allow in the church… so that they do not go to ‘gay churches’ and sit up in there believing that everything is alright… and while they play church that they can make into heaven.

Let us not be that mean …or selfish.    Thank God the doors of the church were open for us… or we too would still be out there doing whatever it was that we used to do.   And many of you still do… if the truth be told….

Well, God bless…     Well, I finally got my chance to say what has been on my mind concerning this subject.   I just hope that people will come to love and respect one another and all of our differences.   I hate sin and it hurts for me to see people languishing in it.  I have many gay friends … and even some family members whom I know will be lost if they fail to change.   But I pray that God call them out as He was so kind and gracious enough to do me.   And that they have an ear to hear… and God gives them a desire to come out… and stay out.

Well, God bless… I’m out. Thanks for reading my blogs. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2016

 

 

 

 

Add a comment January 9, 2017

JUANITA AT IT AGAIN…

I just happened to be on youtube when I saw this video and decided to click on it to see what Juanita was preaching about… only to be a bit surprised by her new look… and since the video was just uploaded a few days ago it is very much a ‘new look’ for her.   A bit too much plastic surgery for sure… and the make-up does not help.  It only makes her look worst …and again like she is in some kind of spiritual trouble.

I suspect after somewhat watching her transition into this ‘new Juanita’… the 1 before this… it is not hard to see that she has had this thing about how she looked.  It appeared to be some kind of self-hate… or maybe that is too extreme.  Let me say a  dislike for her natural facial features.

Yes, that sounds better.

Looking at the photographs displayed at the beginning of her video… her program intro as this seems to be a new undertaking for Juanita…with  her in a cap and jeans… Juanita seems be trying to recapture her youth… or some kind of teen to 21 hip look or something.

In listening to her video below it appears to me she is trying to join the ranks of Yolanda Adams… Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Dorinda Clark and that marymary sister, Erica Campbell… on the radio air-waves with a syndicated national radio broadcast.

But being Juanita… she appears to not only be happy being on the radio air-waves… but also wants to have video live-streaming while she broadcasts her radio show.   And this show… or broadcast… or this video take of it was evidently recorded with a very bad camera with terrible audio… and doesn’t appear to really be a live radio show but a pretense of doing it live in her home.  Nor does it appears to be anything like the Juanita Bynum I have come to know via my observation of her.  She has always been on top of her sound.

If nobody else on the podium sounds good… you can beat she is going to sound great because she leaves nothing to chance when its come the quality of her sound… which is, of course, her money maker.   But no so in these videos.

Now, many thousands of people no longer go into a read radio radio to broadcast their radio shows because technology today has made it so easy to do it that way… if you have
good quality professional or semi-professional equipment… and have someone close to being a professional set it up for you.  You can broadcast from anywhere in the world… even in your bathroom or a cave…  and nobody will know whether it was in or out of a professional broadcasting studio.

But clearly, we can tell that this video tape was done with professional equipment …or some high level recording equipment… camera with a good mic or a mic tied in.

But it is not the technical problems with Juanita’s video … but the evident continued plastic surgery which it appears she is continuing to engage in… and her new hair that she is so busy flinging all over the place… and her body language …and total look of glee that makes you wonder… is she back on drugs?

How could Juanita possible be so happy with her new look… in looking so overjoyed while recording this video.  In which in my opinion she looks far less than her normal self.

Just with all the batting of her eyes so continuously.  And all her what appears continuous movements… and such personal internal glee within herself … you can’t help but wonder is Juanita herself under the spell of drug addiction which she preaches about in the first video. 

After Pastor Zackary Timms being found in a New York hotel dead from a drug overdose… we should all be on the lookout for who else may be in trouble.  We are so busy just listening to these folks and fail to recognize that some of our pastors, evangelists etc. are in trouble.

There were definite signs that Pastor Timms was in trouble.  I can clearly say that.   I will never forget seeing him 1 day leap up on his podium like he was Batman or Superman.  And I recalled thinking where was the reverence to God’s altar in what he had done?

Listen how fast Juanita is talking in her video… all that hyper energy that is clearly displayed.
I once was having a conversation with someone who was talking to me about possible employment.  While speaking with this person someone else was standing nearby observing this conversation.  When we had finished talking and the person had left… the person who had been observing said to me, ‘Did you see how she was moving?   How she never stopped moving?   And how she was talking?’

I said, ‘No.’

I know nothing about addiction.   Or people under addiction.  But the women who had been standing watching that conversation knew plenty about it.  And she began to educate me.

She started saying, ‘Didn’t you notice that she used to be a junkie?  How she rushed through their words while speaking, how her eyes move?  How she could not stand still or sit still

No, I had not noticed… nor did I know how to pick up on those type of things.  I knew nothing about how people show signs of things of addition or past addiction… actions that are not natural for folk normally.  That is exactly what I hear and see in this video of Juanita.  

Juanita is not acting as she normally acts. Her actions and language are out of sync with the Juanita we see displayed in most of her videos… while delivering the word or trying to share thoughts on tv or in her other videos.

No, this is an irrational fidgety Juanita… with eyes that keep rolling and batting uncontrollably… racing through what she is speaking about.  Look at her eyes.  Listen to what she is saying.

Clearly, Juanita is either drunk or high… or maybe both.    All that flinging of hair… particular articulation of certain words… treats of hitting somebody… fast un-expected  jerky erratic movements… and just a pattern of irrational behavior for Juanita … it all clearly says Juanita is very much out of character.  And her in the photo shots in her show intro at the beginning and end of her video …of her in pants and
cap looking very much like Beyonce speaks volumes also.

I am not certain that Juanita has not taken money to promote the music of the artists that she is featuring in her video shows.  But she gives each song’s date when it will be able for purchase, so that might be a hint.

Okay, I’m waiting on a very important telephone call now.  So, I must stop here.  And I am suppose to be editing… so much for that.   But I must go but you enjoy the rest of the week, and have a good weekend.   At some point I hope to find time to talk about Donald Trump… what a mess this whole political cycle has become… 1 big joke if it weren’t so serious.

Well, God bless… and thank you for reading this blog…and my others. Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©201

UPDATE:  September 27, 2016… Truly speaking Juanita Bynum is getting weirder and weirder with each and every 1 of these videos she does.  Note how she grabs hold of her nose as she just finished taking a snort of cocaine or something.

This is a woman who is usually so up on the quality of everything she puts out.  But all these latest videos released by her doing this ‘new thing’ lack her usual attention to detail … particularly when it comes to the audio of these videos.

In the video I just posted below she has a leg up with her legs wide open.  I know …. I’m old school.  But isn’t she representing the Kingdom… is there not proper protocol regarding women and how we sit when in public?  And I really do not understand the new look with regard to her hair.

It really does appear to me that maybe Juanita may be on her way to a crash.  She seems to be slipping… and long ago lost focus.

 

 

Add a comment September 15, 2016

BISHOP LARRY TROTTER and child in a bathtub…

I often check my blog to see exactly what people are referencing my blog to read.  It often signifies a hot topic or that some event has just happened.  And so was the case this morning when I logged in to check my blog and happened to noticed that I had gotten a lot of hits concerning Bishop Larry Trotter, of Chicago, IL., and a little girl… supposedly a 4-year-old grand-daughter of his in the bathtub together.

Immediately, I Googled the story and lo and behold there it was a picture of Bishop Trotter, and what is reported to be 1 of his young grand-daughters… and both appear naked in the bathtub together.

http://jezebel.com/5976966/bishop-takes-a-bath-photo-with-his-young-granddaughter-makes-a-lot-of-people-uncomfortable

All I can say is who takes a bath with their children?

Or their grand-daughter????

I remember my father in the bathroom… there were times that we would pass the bathroom and would see that he was shaving or brushing his teeth, but by the time he was taking off any clothes we never saw him.  There were times when he got into the shower and needed something and called for 1 of us… but he was always safely in the shower careful to keep himself out of our view.

For that matter my mother was pretty much the same.  We never saw her in the tub or in the shower either.

They did not allow us into the bathroom with them while they were naked.

Years later, however, while growing up we… me and my sisters from time to time had gotten dressed in the same room or area as our mother when we had to… you know like while visiting a relative’s house or in some hotel etc.  But outside of that no.

Bishop Larry Trotter Attempts To Explain Photo Bathing With Granddaughter… [AUDIO]

During a radio interview  Bishop Trotter attempted to explain away the incident. But  Bishop Trotter stated that he saw nothing wrong in getting into the tub with his very young grand-daughter.  And he added that he had gotten into the tub with all of his children.

In that interview also, Bishop Trotter recalls his growing up, when he and his sisters and brothers bathed together.  I would believe that most people who have or have had siblings may have also experienced this.  But beyond a point it ceased to happen.  None of us went into adulthood… or grew up as teenagers jumping in and out of a bathtub or shower with his or her sister and/or brother.  That is to say… not unless something was going on.  And I never grew up in that kind of family where those type of things went on.  Least ways… I don’t think so… and never heard of any such thing in our family.

However, many people will tell you that they were sexually molested.. abused or raped by a close family member.  Oprah, for 1,  herself speaks of an uncle that sexually abused her.  I even think Donnie McClurkin speaks of an uncle who abused him for years.

I have heard people testify about things that even their father had done to them sexually.  So, these kinds of things do happen… and sad to say they happen more often than we all really care to talk about.

For years the DeBarge family carried around their ‘dirty little’ secret about what their had father had done to all of them while growing up in their mother’s house.  So, this thing is not new.

So, yes eyebrows would go up upon seeing such a picture.  Or when they hear of such a thing as this picture.  And to say that you both had on ‘swimming trunks’…   Well, it simply does not wash.

Who takes a bath with swimming trunks on?

Another question…

If it happened as Bishop Trotter says it did, then why was he taking a bath with the bathroom door open so that just anybody could walk in on him… much less a little child?

In fact, Bishop Trotter’s explanation for how the picture came about… the events surrounding it… and how he and his grand-daughter ended up in the same bathtub together in what looks like they are both naked… really opens the door to a whole lot of other questions?

In fact, if you really listen to that radio interview Bishop Trotter actually states that there was no reason for his little FOUR YEAR OLD GRAND-DAUGHTER to not be able to take a bath with her ‘pa-pa’ if she wanted to.   WHAT???   And evidently, the little girl at 4 years old must have been down on her knees or something while on his lap in that water.  Because at 4 she would be taller than we can actually make out in that picture.

I recall the first time I ever saw Bishop Trotter… he at the time was part of Full Gospel under Bishop Paul Morton.  And I think that was about the same time that I first saw and heard Bishop Eddie Long too.  Shortly, after that Full Gospel conference  both Bishop Trotter and Bishop Long broke from the Full Gospel Baptist organization, and decided to pursue their own separate church organizations, New Birth and Sweet Holy Spirit.

A few years ago Bishop Long fell into his own share of troubles by the way of 4 or 5 young men who had been a part of his New Birth organization.  To which Bishop Long later settled out of Court with, for a few million dollars against allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.

The moment I read the story and saw the picture of Bishop Trotter, I must say that it brought back memories of Michael Jackson… and all the controversies of Michael with little kids.  Namely little boys…

And just like Michael, Bishop Trotter in his radio interview clearly states that he found nothing to be inappropriate about him being in a bathtub naked with a little child… much less a little girl.  With Michael it was that he found nothing wrong with being in bed with little boys.  And like Bishop Trotter, Michael said that he did it all the time.

Bishop Trotter stated in his radio interview that ‘he used to jump into the bathtub all the time with his son, and their army men.’  Then added ‘I guess the times have changed.’

It really has nothing to do with how times have changed… which is what Bishop Trotter was trying to pass off as an accuse for the uproar over the picture.  Because when you get right down to it… it is not about times changing at all.  It is about putting yourself in a situation where something could happen… or bringing a small child into something they are not supposed to be exposed to.

I recall how when we were small my mother used to take us to this wading pool in our neighborhood.  All the kids loved for summer to come around… and so didn’t we.  During the summer our mother always took us swimming when it got too hot.  There were times when she would pack us up and drove us to the beach… or to the pond where we could feed the ducks… or to that small wading pool, that was not too far from where we used to live.

The pool wasn’t very deep… but got deeper as you stepped closer and closer to the center of the pool.  In the center of the pool you could float or try to swim and then put your feet down, and stand up any time you liked.  So, we had fun playing in it… splashing… and sometimes running through it.

But then there came a time when our little pool became invaded.  An occasional Spanish man or 2 would get into the pool playing around with the children.  They mostly hug out near the center  of that small wading pool so you could not see below their waste.  Therefore, anyone sitting along the far outside edges of the pool could see the children in the water… but nothing too much under the water that may have been going on.  And of course, the pool always had lots of kids into and out or the pool or running in the water… or splashing about further obstructing any parent’s watchful eye.

But 1 day I came to find out why they… those men liked being in the pool with us…    I saw something… and I never liked going back to that pool again.

Pulled this off from over the internet…someone had writen a comment about having attended a conference where Bishop Trotter spoke here is what she said:

I went to a convention where he was at in Virginia.

He was promoting his newest series “My Wife, My Mistress, My Bitch or My Whore”.

The whole church gasp, he said don’t be in shock, don’t judge,get the CD and then you will understand. For a Bishop I thought he was out of order for that.

I had come across where Bishop Trotter had written that book a while back.  The title was curious to me also… and like the person who wrote that comment over the internet… I too thought it very inappropriate.  Especially, since Bishop Trotter had written that book about his wife… who was… is … and had been the mother of his children… and I guess at some point the First Lady of his church.

Inappropriate is a very good word here. And I guess we can all say the same thing about him climbing into a tub… or allowing a little child to climb into a bathtub with him while he bathed.

God bless…hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  The weather has broke here.  We are now experiencing mild weather today… but for past couple of days it was freezing cold.

Remember that Monday… this coming Monday is both President Barack Obama’s second inaugural… AND Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.’s birthday celebration.  Enjoy them both… and I am hoping to see you in D.C for the festivities.  But if not please enjoy it for me too.

I am so happy about it.  Truly a time to remember…   And if you can be part of it don’t let the opportunity go by… by not being so.

And again…happy belated birthday FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA… can’t close without saying that.   Love you…   In fact, I love you both….  And 49 is still a great year…  A very special year in fact…

Serena Williams on the bike champion Lance Armstrong finally admitting that he cheated…

“Serena Williams said Armstrong let all athletes down by doping and lying about it for so long, while No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka says the disgraced cyclist “deserves everything he gets.”

“I think a lot of people now look and are like, `OK, if somebody (is) that great, what about everyone else in every other sport?” Williams said.

“As an athlete, as someone that works really, really hard since I was 4 or 3, I think it’s a sad day for all athletes in general. Overall, it’s even more disappointing for the people that were adversely affected through everything. You can only just hope for the best for them.”

For years Armstrong had denied that he ever used any drugs to enhance his ability to become the top ranking bike cyclist in the world.  And recently sat down with Oprah and confessed that he had lied.

And I hope that you are checking for a picture of me in these blogs…  Who knows I might even think of doing something real special.  Just keep looking out for me… in my blogs.

5 comments January 19, 2013

HAS GOSPEL MUSIC GONE SECULAR…the Gospel… and Changes in People Preaching the Word

You might not believe this but I actually completed this blog the night before Martin L. King’s birthday weekend.  But I’m just now getting back to it now… nearly how many months later??  But I hope that you still find it to be a good read.

Interesting…

Recently, I got an interview request from someone who wanted to discuss with me some of my comments and opinions… or rather some singular statements that I  voiced here on my blog site. Statements regarding a shift in gospel music.  In particular they wanted to talk to me regarding my blog entitled… ‘KIM BURRELL…secular music wanna be.’

In that blog I stated my opinions on gospel artists attempting to move away from their musical base…or roots if you will… to chase after what appears to them to be ‘greener grounds’ on the other side.  They want larger crowds… bigger audiences… and when you get right down to it… it’s all about “moe money”… “moe fame”… “more of the roar of the crowd”… and “moe money.”

Wonder who told them getting it would be “all of dat…then some?”

Do I feel that Kim Burrell’s decision to try to follow a secular career in music is based upon money?

Yes, I do.

Kim saying that it is about souls…really contradicts Biblical text which says ‘come out from among them’ …not become like them so you can bring them in.

So, when I hear an gospel artist say that they have hipped up their music and performance to reach the masses or the younger generation… it really does not equate.  Least ways… not for me.

What it really amounts to is nothing more than not wanting to be labelled as an ‘gospel artist‘ any longer… which Kim Burrell has publically stated.

So, Kim has this burning desire  to not just do ‘gospel music’  any more ….or to be labelled as a ‘gospel music artist’ any longer…but something wider…and broader than that.  Might as well just come out and say… something more worldly.

You can tell something about Kim Burrell if you have ever watched that show, Sunday’s Best…which I never did.  But it was all over the internet …including a youtube upload of the segment that I am refering to… where Kim told someone to get rid of  “that gospel sound” … saying, “You’re sounding too churchie.”

Too “CHURCHIE???”

Has Kim not heard of Aretha Franklin?

Sounding ‘churchie’ never hurt Aretha 1 little bit.

Po’ Kimberly.

Well, this kind of thinking may or may not have stemmed from Kim having grown up in her family’s church, singing gospel music most of her life.  Until… I guess… maybe  all of her life until now.

So, now  Kim Burrell wants a secular career.  She wants to cross over to do R&B … or SOUL music or Pop Music… or whatever they call it today.   And I say that because today all ‘our’ musical forms are under attack… though Pop is not  ours.  But our music is under attack.  Is under the threat of  seriously totally disappearing before our very eyes.  It is all being re-catagorized into something else.

Coming from the music industry from way back… I can make certain assessments and statements from a point of knowledge that most cannot.  Because of my history of being many years in the record industry …namely by way of  radio…I do therefore come with some degree of insider  knowledge based upon my observations over the years… and they are merely my observations.  I have been watching certain changes and themes going on in the music industry since I guess I started listening to music… because it has always been there.  And namely because we do not control it… other people do.

Who would have ever thought that there would come a day when black folk would not want to sound black?

We all have heard of Elvis and other white recording artists covering black folks music and trying their best to sound like us.  There were those that emulated our keyboard playing… guitar playing… singing …and even dancing.  But now there has been a shift… now we’re the ones trying to do the emulating.   This is sad.  We are now doing what they used to do… and it is especially so in the gospel industry.  And particularly among some of the upper tier gospel artists who want to get air time on Christian radio stations.

It used to be that black gospel singers just wanted a contract… get some radio exposure… do concerts …and praise the Lord, while showing forth their praises to Him for the marvelous gifts He had endowed them with.  But not today.  The atmosphere has changed… and it is not about God.   Well, for many it is not… but all about money.

Guess gospel radio stations are about to bite the dust as far as some of today’s gospel artists are concerned… and they are disappearing.   Our artist could care less about those small little black owned radio stations that they used to leap at for a chance to get an interview on so they could talk up their latest projects.

In regards to my thoughts on what some so-called gospel artists are currently calling urban gospel music… I really think that it is a shamme.   It is truly a shame and disgrace how readily we are so quick to forsake those things which are so uniquely us.   And we do it all for nothing more than the sank of  a few almighty dollars…that only last for a little while.

And they do it without any consideration to our history and our future legacies.

We just throw it all to the wind…and then other people come in… and they begin to lay claim to it… calling it theirs.

Have you not seen that?

There was once a time when there had been more than just a hand full of black owned businesses in America… and they were large booming corporations.  But during the latter 70’s into the mid-80’s there was a big sale off of most of those black owned companies… and mostly they were sold off to companies controlled by non-African Americans.  Thoes African American companies were companies that produced products directly for us and by us… and had been birthed primarily because other corporations did not care about us… or what our specific needs were.

There was a time when all the make-up and hair products in the stores were basically geared towards white women and men.  But the difference you see in stores today is not there because of anyone outside of ourselves.  We began to produce black hair products and make-up etc. for us… to fit our needs… or skin tones… and hair textures etc.

But those African American companies…for the most part were really the beginning of the big sell off.  The big money makers like the black hair care and make-up companies followed by publications and radio stations etc. were the first things bought out by white corporations.  Today you see that almost all our so-called black radio stations are owned by 1 corporation, Clear Channel.  Clear Channel owns almost everything media…black, white, hispanic and etc.

The first cab company here in our town was even started by a black woman… and even that  too was sold off.

So, what am I saying?

I am saying that we are good historically at creating then selling off and out everything that we own… and have created… selling out our goods, talents, gifts etc… to other groups of people who almost always end up capitalizing far more off them… than we ever did.   And we usually have done so to our own detriment…as a group of people… and to the lack of consideration for our future generations, who have no knowledge of what was… and no vision for what can be for them.

We have lost so much in  all of those sell-off transactions.  And one of the greatest things we have sold off  is our ability to control and determine our own destines…through any sustainable period of time.

This same trend for years has been spreading across the board into everything  we have either created or  have produced… not just our hair care products and cosmetics, but also in our art and various other art forms such as dance etc.  This is not good… and has been a huge determent to our children’s future and their entrepreneurial spirit.  Which many of them have none at all.

It is definitely not good for  us to forsake our cultural gifts… our diversity and own creativity… and particularly to forsake those things which are uniquely us… such as our music and our other cultural forms of art.

If we don’t preserve them …who will?

If we don’t treasure them …who will?

Today’s artists are greedy.  They want more money… and they are just not satisfied with more money… they want LOTS of it.  Which, of course, has to mean more sales… wider variety of awards… and all of this translates into creating a wider market.

So, today’s gospel artists do not mind forsaking their old fan base who loved and supported them during their meager beginning… who bought their music before the big switch to sounding like somebody else… somebody non-black… somebody undefined…somebody non-negro …because it is a race thang… or un-black. And many gospel promoters can’t even touch them… because they are priced outside of our reach.

It all has to be a new form of self-hate.  And I thought we had gotten way past that.

Our children walk around believing we have nothing… have done nothing… and that they will be nothing… because we have forsaken so much.  We have just thrown it all away… all  to the wind.  Even our own self-respect.

There are just some things too valuable to place a price on… things that are truly worth holding on to no matter what.  If we do not… we all loose.  There are so few black businesses today. 

A few gospel labels are still trying to hold on… like Malaco, Tyscot, JDI, and some smaller record labels and those yet under-ground… companies that we all should be trying to support because they still maintain their integrity by staying close to our gospel core… providing good gospel music while other companies… the larger gospel labels out weigh them with the stellar gospel stars and much much much larger budgets.

The thing that hurts the most … and I can say even worst… is that our children will loose… and loose big for every generations to come.  Clearly, they are already suffering when you look and hear what they are pumping out.  It neither sounds like us… or looks like us.  They have gone ga-ga..

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/evangelisttonyaglive/2011/12/03/ngm-presents-talk-show

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf

During the course of my career there has come my way many times that I got up and walked off  away from the table… because I was made offers.   But money has never wowed me like that.  Me… myself… and I…  WE ARE NOT FOR SALE… and have never been.

So, even as a sinner… way back then… I got up and turned my back on a lot of things that could have gotten me lots of money… but I chose to say, ‘no’… as I have never elected to do anything that would disgrace me or my family… or my people… or my core beliefs.

So, I have never been a sell-out.

Nor have I ever sold myself out.  And as good as God has been to me… I definitely have no intentions of ever considering ‘going for the money’ now.

No, way… I love Him too much.  And all our gifts are for his glory.

Money is not worth selling off that part of you that you will never be able to buy back.

How do you sell off your soul?

I have always been called an artists.  Most of the time I made a lot of decisions based upon my art… and not necessarily in consideration of my pocketbook.  So, I have been in the dark many a times.

Yes, I have had the electricity shut off…more than a few times…. cars repossessed… and bill collectors up the yah-zoo.  But I never did anything that went against me…   Well, almost once.  But it didn’t work out… thank goodness for God.  He stepped in.

I do believe some gospel artists are choosing to go against whatever moral standings they may have had… if some of them had any at all.  Or maybe it is just that they are not really saved or sanctified in the first place.  I have heard comments concerning people we have long held in high regard as truly being people of God… who behind the scene cuss… fuss, use drugs, drink …and show off a side to be anything but holy.

But truly here are some things that we have to take seriously…  and very seriously indeed.  Putting God up for sale.. or whether we should… or  would want to is one of them.  And trying to sell it off as a means of winning souls to Christ is another.

Confess and tell the truth.

Today the music industry is going through another re-defining, repositioning, and a transitional period.   It is something that the industry goes through periodically.  It ususally comes about when they realize that there is more money to be made if we…do this.  So, by dangling sparkling trinkets before the eyes of certain artist who may be hot… or have the talent to be very hot.  So, these companies feed them a song and dance about how they can make more money if they would…  Sell out… because that is what it comes down to. 

It happened with Michael Jackson when he was stolen away from Motown and his family group, the Jackson 5.  You remember when Michael emerged as the King of Pop… that was the new thing then… a new musical catagory called Pop Music.

This re-catagorization or creation of new music sub-divisions are for the purpose of openning artists up to larger audiences …by making them more acceptable to ‘other people’ in order to rake in more capital.  And it has  meant the lost of  such music catagories as… R&B… and Soul Music… which were converted into catagories called ‘urban‘ and this new junk call ‘neo-soul’ today.  And most of the black radio stations became urban radio stations.

When gospel artist decide that they are going to ‘go for the money’ then they should say that… if that is what they are going for.

They really should just say, “I’m going for the money.”

But no… they want to make statements like-

“God told me I needed to go out there to the unsaved.  And in order to do that I have do what will appeal to them.  That means creating music that speaks to them and will intrigue-  Ooops…excuse me. I mean to say help bring  them in.”

Such statements speak in direct contradiction to Biblical text… and can never justify anyone going out there trying to cross-over their music in order to reach ‘a wider’ audience outside of the gospel world.   And when you think about it… was not gospel music created for the saved… not the un-saved?

They already have their music.

In the mid-80’s came this thing called “POP MUSIC.”  It was the beginning of a marketing plan to make black artist… or African American talent more acceptable to white audiences.  And it was all about making more money for those artist who wanted to do this thing called ‘cross-over.’ And was the beginning of ridding the music world of anything sounding …or looking like us.

In many cases of  the artist’s who wanted to go Pop their whole sound changed… just as we are hearing today in the gospel music industry.  The artist moved away from making music or writing songs that brought them to the attention of those who began chasing them, offering more money and bigger contracts.

Those people came up with a plan to do away with certain groups  of music… music you hardly hear any more because they set about graying the lines between the music to make it more acceptable to all…  Well, almost all.

One of the first types of music that was aimed to hit the bricks was jazz.  This began just about the time that many of the real jazz masters started departing this earth… jazz greats such as Miles, Coltrane, Armstrong, Thelonious Monk etc…etc…etc…   And if it had not been for die hard jazz lovers who strongly resisted the lost of this musical genre by (1) rebuilding a core of new real jazz music lovers, (2) the emergence of  jazz radio station programming it … usually on mostly public radio and/or educational stations where subscribers  supported this type of programming, and (3) the creation of smooth jazz radio stations programming a softer more acceptable jazz, 24 hours a day everyday of the week.  Though smooth jazz is considerably different from the type of  jazz that had been created by the masters  like Miles Davis… it did, however, find its nitch.

Now, while half watching… get this… the Soul Train Music Awards show… I noticed a drastic change  has happened to Soul Music.  While watching it all I could think was… if Don Cornelius was alive (and he was at the time…I just didn’t know it until he committed suicide).    During that show I heard terms  like ‘urban soul’… and that mess they called ‘neo-soul.’   All mostly foreign to me… as of course do not listen to such mess.

I equate ‘neo-soul’  to the new direction we see gospel music headed in… and it is very sad.

While putting together a gospel music video program… I included a music video by the gospel duo of sisters called MaryMary.  What stuck out to me as I was typing in the data for their video… I noticed that it was classified as being ‘urban.’ 

I realized then that MaryMary did not desire to be pigeoned hold as simply being  ‘gospel’ artists… but something more acceptable to a wider audience… which would also mean wider radio and television programming… and/or exposure for their music

Okay…

I guess if that is what you want to do.  But the argument on the side of  MaryMary can still be made that they have never really totally sold out… they are not afraid to speak ‘Jesus’ or ‘God’ in their music… nor does it appear that they are willing to expose much of their bodies ‘for profit.’  And the focus of  their music still seems to be not as far out there as I see where some others have gone lately.

In order to reach the acclaim and match the money that MaryMary has managed to reap… it appears that others have decided to follow MaryMary’s lead… but they have decided to go that additional mile.   They have decided to reach further out into the deep waters… by what seems to me to be a casting off  of any semblance of  anything that remotely sounds like ‘gospel’ music… and/or looks ‘holy.’   They  desire to be more like what is being called ‘Christian’ music artists.  Which is very much more like rock music… and will drive you crazy if you sat listening to it all day.

In almost all of the music on the so-called Christian radio stations… you have to  listen real hard to even be able to deciper that itit is a Christian song… because Christian radio stations do not play gospel song.

So, in order to be heard over Christian radio stations…which are growing while our smaller less popular gospel radio stations are fading, barely able to stay afloat… since many black people are now tuning in to Christian radio stations too., which give them greater Arbitron numbers which means more advertising dollars going to them.  So, many of our artists have lost that black sound… or the ethnic sound in order to blend in.

Oh, I know that rock music has it roots in our music… going all the way back to such people  like Little Richard and Jimmy Hendrix.  But that is not what I am talking about.

What I am talking about is this…

Christian radio station is a misnomer… because it sounds like for the most just like another rock station.  It is just positioning itself as something else… and that something else is working.

I do not care what they call it… those radio stations  pump rock music… and they are rock & roll radio stations at their core, and they are hurting our radio stations.  It really doesn’t matter what type of lyrics their songs may or may not have… the basic overall sound of it is still the same as that of rock and roll.

When urban radio stations began playing music like Donnie McClurkin’s ‘We Fall Down’  …or going all the way back to Walter Hawkins,’ Oh, Happy Day’…it did not make those stations become gospel radio stations.  Nor did playing Donnie’s song or the Clark Sister’s ‘You Bring the Sunshine’ dictate an overall change in their basic programming format.  Their focus was and still is… is on playing supposed urban music… or today  mostly that neo-soul mess.

Therein, this leads me to further  make my case,  urban radio stations used to be soul radio stations… or R&B radio stations… but in the mid-90’s there came about a change.  A re-classification change… many R&B artists wanted to follow the king of Pop…Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie and others come from under the rock called  ‘black music artist’ tag.  They wanted to lean toward another word just beginning to circulate… first ‘urban’…and then it became ‘pop.’

All of it was aimed at reaching beyond the boundaries of  our own neighborhoods… from the urban areas to a much wider and broader audiences.  Also it was to bring about something which was being whispered at that time… the doing away of the R&B/Soul music categories.  And none of  this was being done by us.

No,  but it was by those who whispered into the ears of the so-called up and coming artists and rappers of  today.

It was done by the people who own the labels… the chart books… and who had influence to get things heard and played over the radio.  And those people are a lot like the penthouse drug kingpins…and might be some.

You know those guys… the drug lords who never touch the street but reap the bigger benefits… because the drug market is really theirs… and to a large degree it intertwines with the music business.  Though this is never spoken of.

Yeah, it is like that.  The drug business and the music business are constructed very much the same.  Little wonder why drugs are so easily and readily obtainable in the music industry…  the sports industry… and wherever else where there are lots of dollars to be made.  Anything that makes money is usually owned and operated by the same people when you get right down to it.

When a new radio station signed on in New York City I was looking forward to it.  I had read that it was going to be a Christian radio station… in a place that was pumbing everything else but any daily gospel music.  But from the moment it began airing I realized that there was something wrong.  It sounded more like Z-100 ‘the Zoo’… a  local New York City rock music radio station.

The whole thing is really a gimmick to entice hardcore rock listeners to tune into something else which is being passed off as Christian music …but is still very much  and sounds just like the music that they love and crave for so very dearly… rock.   They have not been transformed.

Thus, were the Christian radio stations birthed.    They became a quick sell buying into every market and opening the doors for many of their artists… caucasian singers and musicans to become more widely known and accepted in the Christian/Gospel music market… and more importantly the  award shows.

In a very large metro areas such as New York City… which up until the Christian radio station began air… it had no 24 hour …or daytime radio station programming any gospel or Christian music at all at that time… it was seen by many Christian people as a welcomed  and long overdue arrival.

But this welcomed arrival… soon became a big game changer too.  And they were on the FM dial… which everybody knows sounds a lot better than a low signal AM station any time.

Thus was a desire kindled by some gospel artists to create material which could become acceptable to this new outlet called ‘Christian Radio.’   A large part of  this transformation called for those artists wishing to cross over… to first  lose their ‘black’… or ‘gospel-ee’ sound.   And that is exactlyy what they have done… much like Beyoncé sounding less ‘black’… like almost that whole ‘neo-soul’ movement in what used to be known as the Black Music Division yesterday… to the Urban Music Division a few years ago… and now Neo-Soul.  And there is nothing soul in it… or about it …outside of  the color of the skin of  those who call themselves performing it.

This change you can especially  be heard in  Tye Tribbitts latest cd… also in much of the Kirk Franklin’s material… as well as in many others who want to jump onto that band wagon.   You can say that they have sold out …and it is not for Christ’s sake.   But for that all mighty thing called in the Biblical text  ‘filthy luka.’

Kim Burrell in her latest cd release has attempted to do the same thing… as well as,  Kierra Shear… and Trinity 5:7… and the list goes on… and on.

When I saw Kim baring her shoulder and trying to appear as a sex vixen in a music video produced from a song on her latest cd… it seemed sad to me.  I thought… she has eyes but can not see.   The video was anything but sexy… nor was it appealing.

Then I saw where someone had posted over the internet  a note about the Trinity 5:7’s latest  video… saying that she  was shocked at their display… asking if it was just her…. or whether or not the video appeared to be leaning towards anything gospel… religious… or  Christian at all???

So, I checked out the video.  And my answer was…‘NAY.’ ‘NAY.’ ‘NAY.’

One could say that many of  todays new brand of  gospel music producers and performers are pimping that gift that God has so freely endowed them with … which is supposed to be for His glory… by subverting it for their own benefit… and worldly profit.

Yeah, the kids like it… I guess…must be… for the most part.  And don’t get me wrong… not all of it is totally bad.  There are a lot of songs that I like by Kirk… and at least 1 by Tye.

I know my son loves Kierra’s latest cd.  But when I first heard it I didn’t have a clue as to who it was singing.  It was not until sometime later that he told me it was Kierra, Karen Clark Shears daughter.

Kierra’s cd does get there but after a while… but still you can see the direction that Kierra chose to take in an effort to land on Christian radio stations… as opposed to catering to the gospel music brand of  those she follows so closely in the footsteps of… namely her mother, Karen… and her aunts… the other Clark Sisters.  And of course her grandmother… Dr. Mattie Moss Clark.

Thank goodness most of the gospel artists and especially the gospel quartets have remained true and strong their art form.  Chosing to preserve the traditions of an art form that still moves many of us to tears with moving touching lyrics… or foot stomping songs… and hand clapping music that still  brings many of  us to our feet.  Music created in the muke and miry clay of  the fields during slavery times… and on up through the years of  our history here in America.

Maybe, I should have waited to write this during Black History Month… or Gospel Music Month.  Is there such a thing as… Gospel Music Month?

Is there a Gospel Music Month?

If  not then there should be.  Because our music is the only real American music… as Soul Food is the only real American cuisine.  Because it is the only food in which its roots were started here in America.  Almost every other food we eat came from some other  country… rooted in other cultures and brought here as the immigrants began to flow into this country.  But our circumstances being different… forced us to create ‘a new’ everything we eat… said… and did.

Earlier this evening while working on this blog… I had my computer on the Word Network listening to this preacher named Dr. Chris Hill, a pastor of a T.D. Jakes church in Dever, Colorado.  I had heard him before and have occasionally watched his broadcast… but to tell you the truth I can only take a little bit of the guy.  But tonight as I typed I would occasionally glance over to his broadcast …and it dawned on me as to what it was I found so irritating about him.

For the first thing… it came across my mind that each time I have happened to catch a piece of his broadcast… that the man appeared to be on drugs.

And for the  2nd  thing that I noticed was… the guy likes to holler.  I have nothing against hollering …preachers holler.  So, growing up in the Church… and particular the black Church… I have learned to accept hollering by preachers as being part of their technique.

In the Pentecostal Church whenever the Pastor or whomever is preaching  when they  got excited they automatically began to holler… or  in other words speak very fervently.   But this guy… Dr. Chris Hill hollers at numerous places throughout his sermon at varying times… and most of the time as it appears to me… he does it for no other reason outside of  him just wanting to do so… or to grab a laugh.

As I occasionally would glance back and forth at him tonight… he reminded me of a stand-up comedian.   Appearing comedic appears to be very much Dr. Hill’s forte… or so he believes.

But tonight I felt I have really put my hand on it finally.   That is to say… put my hand on exactly what it was that I had been trying to put my hands on about him.  And this is it…he appears more like ‘Stepin Fetchit.’

Now, I am really not trying to crack on Dr. Hill.  No, I am not.  Truly, I am not trying to do that.  But he gives me the impression of someone who is more playing with his audience… which is made up of a large number of  white church goers.  Rather than just delivering a sermon to them. He likes to play with the sermon and them a lot.  And he seems to love to do what he thinks will prompt them to laugh.

I don’t know… perhaps I am just toooooo old school… or maybe I’m just being ‘too’ black… first the gospel music… and now this????

Will the church become full of preachers who want to do stand-up comedy rather than preach the word?

I don’t mind humor.  I know that humor is good.  But the entire sermon turned into a joke…  I don’t know????

Or maybe it is that this is the Chris Hill way of preaching.  Is the way of a new group of preachers coming up today… to slay them with laughter?

We’ll see.

But there does seem to me to be such an urgency today that wasn’t there yesterday.  And that is we are getting closer and closer to the end times… far closer than we were yesterday.  And though I definitely know and agree that laugher is good… but preaching salvation and deliverance is of a greater need.  And I’m not saying that humor cannot be mixed with it… if you can do it without shading the overall message too much.

So, do not get me wrong.  Yes, I believe in laugher.  In fact, I hired some comedians recently and brought a night of comedy here… but for everything there is a time and a season.  Standing up and humoring a bunch of  folk straight through what should be your sermon does not seem to me to be ministering to the whole man… when you are working the crowd like a stand-up comedian rather than a man of God operating in his formal capacity.

It was Jesus who said… “Feed my sheep.”

As of New Year’s Eve Pastor Paula White became the new senior Pastor over New Destiny Christian Church… following the sudden death of their founder and leader Pastor Zackery Tims.

In reading the story… namely the ill feelings between the Broads of Regents over the Church and Riva Tims… the ex-Mrs. Zackery Tims, who filed papers against the Church claiming that she should have been named the senior Pastor since she and her then husband, Pastor Tims, were the founders of New Destiny.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/zachery-tims-fla-church-denies-riva-tims-claim-to-leadership-66085/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/zachery-tims-death-fla-ministers-ex-wife-comments-on-leading-megachurch-56660/

I found it interesting that Paula like Sheryl Brandy just decided to up and leave her church behind.  Well, Paula not quite…as it seems that Paula is still in control over her own church still,  the church Without Walls International, in Tampa, FL … which Paula founded along with her then husband, Randy White… whom we do not hear much of anything from or about rany more.

As you many may or may not have noticed …but over the course of the last few years Paula has shifted in terms of her theology… it has swung to prosperity.  This is extremely evident in her daily television show segments which she broadcasts over the Word Network… and other channels as well.   One thing in particular that stands out is Paula’s show’s guest list … featuring a bunch of false prophets and supposed evangelist… and I guess even some so-called Pastors all soliciting sowers on the behalf of Paula  White.

It will be interesting to see or read about New Destiny since the passing of Pastor Zackery Tims, who had built up such a vast media following.  I can only imagine how greatly vested he was in media equipment and facilities as he had a large television ministry.   His vast media possibilities have now availed themselves to Paula White since she has been chosen the new Pastor at New Destiny.

The question in all of this is whether of not Paula White can carry it …or what will she do with it?

Well, tomorrow is Dr. Martin L. King’s birthday.    Meaning we all have a day off… and an opportunity to reflect upon the history and legacy of  Dr. King.  With some states chosing it to initiate state issued Voter ID cards… a trend that can only be seen as a drive by Republicans to lessen minority votes…as well as,  to try and weaken worker’s rights, benefits and compensation, medical plans, and unions busting… also changes in Women Rights to abortion etc… as it is all tied in with the power to vote.

This holiday we have much to reflect upon.

Let us not allow the hands of time to be turned back.

It is interesting to think that forty years after the death of  Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. we have an African American man  in the White House, as President of the United States of  America.  And I love it.

But the other side of that coin is the number of  death threats per day that President Obama receives, more than 8 per day… it is the highest number ever in the history of American Presidents.  And the number of  insults hurled at him publicly by Republican members of both the Senate and Congress… inclusive of being called ‘liar’ loudly during a State of the Nation broadcast… can be surmised as nothing more than pure out and out racism.

Miss Daisy said it best… an elderly woman of over 100 years of age… who said to me 1 day angrily-

“Do you see what they are doing to Obama?”

And man… was Miss Daisy mad when she said it.

Unlike the kids… she saw… lived …and remembered what it had been like years before laws were created to force the change in things… as to how we live… our basic everyday rights… and privileges that were never extended to us before.  But Dr. King marched…went to jail and fought that we might be able stand like everybody else in this country… with our back up straight and tall.   So, we could stand on the law… and in our case ‘the laws’… there were many and they were long in coming.

Enjoy Dr. King’s day.

Got a little snow the other night… didn’t amount to much and I am glad about that after all the snow we got last year.

But it has been very very very cold these last few days… then 1 day would get mild… and by night fall which to come very early this year… it turns soooo cold all over again.  But then it is winter… and I would rather the cold over the snow… or cold and snow.

Well, God bless… and enjoy your week.  Just noticing… this is my first blog for this year….2012.  Time is truly flying by.

Well, it would have been… had I finished it before now.  LOL….

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2012

Add a comment July 31, 2012