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

BEYISM… BEYONCE’S CULT FOLLOWING… MARYMARY CURSING… GAY IN THE CHURCH…

Personally I have never quite understood the hype over Beyonce.  I have seen a million and 1 sisters who can look or do look just like her… including 1 of my nieces.

Okay, then you want to say it is the way she can dance.

Please…   What is she doing?

Nothing… that she has not copied from some Jamaican gals who have been jingling and shaking their stuff for quite some time now.  And on Labor Day in Brooklyn you can catch as many as your eyes can see walking up Empire Blvd doing just that during the Jamaican Liberation Parade.

Empire Blvd becomes a haven of men with their eye bungling out of their heads at a bunch of young and old Jamaican women making their way up the Blvd in a parade shaking every piece of flab they’ve got… and a lot of it you don’t want to see.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/jewish-center-shootings/jewish-center-shootings-were-hate-crimes-authorities-say-n80081

Going back to Beyonce… it appears her following has developed into some worshipers… calling Beyonce a ‘deity.’  And they have developed their own church down in Atlanta, called THE NATIONAL CHURCH OF BEY.

If nothing else it should be crystal clear to you by this time that we are truly living in last days and times.   And the evolution of Beyonce into a ‘god’ or ‘goddess’ can certainly be looked upon as a clear sign that Satan is busier than ever… and that there are some crazy folks out there.

“We are very disappointed in the failure of the public to recognize the existence of a divine Deity walking among them,” said the church’s founder Pauline John Andrews.  This woman must be the supreme witch of the group as she is the founder of such a ludicrous religious start-up group of the Beyonce worshipers.  I have heard of die hard fans… but this?

Come on…    Why would some woman want to worship any other woman in the way that makes a religious goddess out of her?

Something is definitely wrong with that woman.  And undoubtedly Beyonce is getting a charge out of… meaning she is loving it.

http://www.blacknews.com/news/does-beyonce-really-have-her-own-church-it-appears-so-well-sort-of101.html#.U0xPuuZdUmU

How do you become so taken with someone that you want to worship them?

Though I have heard of loving people to death.  But this is beyond loving someone… even to that length.  To death.  Here the woman loves her unto heaven.

Now, how stupid is that?

And from what I hear Beyonce and her hubby are in their own diverse religion… that illuminati mess.  Jay-z says he believes in 1 God… but not in hell.  He does not believe in Christianity… meaning he does not believe in Jesus.  That should speak volumes in of itself to many of you.

But going back to Beyonce…  Oh, I have heard it said in movies… when men or women desire someone so much sexually that they will tell someone anything… even that they want to worship them.  But before the end of the movie… the worship is all over and so wasn’t all that hot and heavy sexual desire that inspired those words.

I have heard too that Atlanta has a lot of strange things… and things Satanic going on.  It can’t be that far behind New York City then… because I know for sure that New York has all kinds of crazy things going on.

I was very surprised 1 night when a very attractive black woman, well attired, very professional looking… walked into Salsa-Soul Sisters and began talking to us about S&M.  It wasn’t until she pointed it out that I even noticed that she was dressed in all leather…black all leather… or maybe it was gray.  But it was all leather.  She called herself  ‘1 of the leather people.’

I never knew much about S&M but that night I got a very in-depth lesson of what was supposed to be the ‘joys of being involved in S&M.’   Now, if you can get to that you might be a better person than me.   No, a bigger fool than me… because can’t nobody tell me somebody standing over me  while I am all handcuffed and tied up…being whipped by that person standing over me… with a whip or beating me with a belt buckle… can give me any joy.  No, that you cannot tell me.  I know much better than that.  And I also knew something that I do not believe that woman ever recognized if she is still alive.  And that is… that at any moment 1 of those fools could be subject to torture her to death… but even that thought might have been pleasurious to her.

Evidently, that woman had not processed that thought.  For the woman claimed that she got pleasure out of what those S&M people had taught her and done to her.  And she said she got mad at her friends because they had waited until she was 50 years old to introduce her to that lifestyle… and it is very much a lifestyle.

That woman also shared with us that night at Salsa-Soul Sisters that there was a restaurant in Manhattan that at a certain time of night shut it doors and locked them… and then the fun (if you care to call it that) began.

I was horrified when she told us that.  Who would have ever had thought such a thing.

A restaurant??????

Full of people who were all into S&M?????

And all waiting on the clock to tick until they all got started on 1 another.

Insane.

That woman also picked up what looked to me like a notebook jacket… and she pointed out that it bared the S&M flag.  They had their own flag… a nation of people unto themselves.  Who would have thought it.

It makes you wonder how large could that thing be?

Large as it may be… it was not going to get me.  And I appeared to be the only person at Salsa that night who totally rejected anything that woman had said.

I found no part of it interesting or tempting.  But some of my fellow Salsa-Soul Sisters did… and I could tell.  Some time later… the 1 who had appeared the most interested in it that night… I came across a few years later.  She was all dressed up in leather… I knew what course she had chosen.

Then there was another Salsa-Soul Sister who had become part of a religious group in New York called Isis.  In fact, a few of the gay sisters I knew got involved in that religion.  I recall 1 night this particular sister had given this party over at her home down in Riverside.  She was dressed all in white, and as I came in her house I started to reach over to embrace her in greeting her… and she backed away keeping me at a distance without really touching me …talking about she had not yet gone over.

Gone over????

Gone over what???

Later a friend told me that the woman… our Salsa-Soul Sister had gotten involved in this Isis religion and that she was going through some type of purification ritual.  Why this woman became involved in that Isis stuff was a mystery to me as she always seem so afro-centric…  and also smart.   Needless to say I soon began to think of her as anything but smart.  She became odd and started acting funny… weird.  

This guy… obviously gay… and as gay as he could be… moved into an upstairs apartment in her home.  While at work… we later found out… her girlfriend would go upstairs to him.  At the party it was pretty obvious that there was something going on between them.  She kept dancing all up on him like she was crazy.  And later on the woman ran off with this obviously gay man… who was the head of their religious cult.

In looking up that Isis mess… just now… it says that Isis was a goddess of Ancient Egypt and the religion spread through Greco-Rome.

Then not too long ago while listening to the news, I believe, I heard of this church where the congregation went to church nude… totally nude.  They worshiped in their church naked.  And I had seen on 20/20 or something a while back about some church where they were snake worshipers.  They dance and pranced around their church twirling snakes.

While in the library 1 day a young woman came and sat down beside me at a computer.  After a small amount of time I noticed that the woman was wiping tears from her eyes.  Shortly thereafter I decided I should speak to her to see if I could help.  That is when she told me she was running for her life from some religious cult she had fallen into while living in Atlanta.  She was all messed up.  Jumping at her own shadow… because she was full of fear… saying the cult people wanted to kill her because she wanted out.

So, my point here is this… there are lots of crazy people around the world seeking to worship all kinds of things if somebody is crazy enough to come up with it.  And the group of people deciding that Beyonce is holy and should be worshiped is about as crazy as any of them can come… maybe worst.   And certainly to me… is as insane as anyone can get who joins them.

And there is 1 thing for sure… somebody may get mad at me for saying it.  Because people like to say that we should not condemn others.  I do not believe in condemning anyone… and it is not condemning if you speak the truth, particularly if you are attempting to warn them… better yet show them the errors of their ways.   However, there are many people who have no problem in condemning themselves to hell… and somebody needs to tell them so.

Therefore, people involved in S&M, Isis, Beyism, Muslim-ism, Buddhism, Hinduism… or any other kind of  -ism and everything and anything else that is not like Jesus and God… nor of His doing.   They will go straight to hell… and I did not condemn them there… but their acts did.

However, it is not the desire of God that any of us should be lost.  But due to foolishness most people will be lost.  I pray you won’t … or me.  But how are you going to turn a woman into a god and become a worshiper of her… and not think that something is wrong with you… is my question?

Beyonce cannot do anything for anyone… like heal someone… save someone from hurt… harm or danger… illness… disease… or any kind of enemy including the devil.   In fact, she is in as much of a need God as we all are.  And I hope she and her worshipers find Him before it is too late.

My Lord… have mercy.

Then I happened to catch a video segment from the MaryMary reality TV show where the 2 sisters, Erica and Tina… are having a ‘for real’ conversation.  Somebody should have called for the cameras to be cut off.  Because the words started flying  ‘God-Dang’ world???    Erica got beeped… who knows what she said.  And I am not trying to  figured it out… or even read lips.

We have all heard that the gospel world is not what we all thought or think that it should be when it comes to the language and behavior of some of the people walking around saying they love the Lord… singing gospel music… and that live lives that speak something totally else.

One of the worst things that could have happened to some of these people is reality TV.   They don’t know how to stay off of it.  Stuff slips… and everybody sees or hears something that wasn’t supposed to be seen… or heard… or hinted at.  Then again drama sells… and keeps the ratings coming.

One of the biggest disasters is that boy… Deitrick Haddon.  Nobody can tell me he is really saved.  Somebody is going to be mad cause I called him a ‘boy.’   Don’t send me any more comments professing to me about how cruel and ungodly I am… and how much of a man of God Deitrick is.

That boy is not saved and not trying to be.  If I wasn’t much of a lady I would post a picture of his lower half which evidently he is very proud of.  The internet is loaded with pictures of the boy’s penis… and he didn’t release that picture or those pictures some 10 or 20 years ago.  No, it was while he was supposed to be ‘Saved’… while he was a recognized gospel artist… while he was still married to 1 woman while showing his stuff to another …or who knows how many others.   And all this I guess while he had taken over the leadership of his father’s church upon the passing of his father.  I suspect those people must have put him out… and he deserved it.

We are living in a time when some folks have figured out how to get more exposure… any kind and any way they can.  They make sex tapes… send out instagrams of pictures they claim they didn’t send… or this they get arrested or shoplifting or while driving drunk etc..  It worked for Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Brandy’s little brother, Lil’ Kim, R. Kelly, Puff Daddy and the list goes on and on…

You cannot tell me that if you are a recording artist or a movie star or a wanna-be that you have not figured out that sending pictures of your naked sexual organs or videotaping yourself involved in some sexual act… that you don’t know it won’t find its way to the public eye.  It has happened far to many times for anybody to do it… and not do it with the intention that it is going to viral… where everybody and their brother and mother is going to see it.

Some do it to revive a fading career.  Others to jump start a career in the spotlight… news… or gain a reality show etc…

Unfortunate Video of Gospel Singer Kevin Terry Leaks Online

When my son told me this story I was on my way to St. Louis… and he mentioned to me how this gospel singer by the name of Kevin Terry had a videotape leaked with him down on his knees… and he wasn’t praying.  But giving some man a blow job.  I never saw the video but while in St. Louis I mentioned it a couple of times… and I know for sure that others saw it.

This Kevin had ties with our boy Deitrick whom I do believe has some issues in the same department.  I often realize something that goes over the top of the heads of most other people.

What I have realized is this… that a lot of time you will find men on the down-low who appear to be crazy about women.  That is because that is what they want you to believe.  They act like they want to sex down everything but the tree when it comes to women… while all the while hiding what they really like and with who.  It is a game that they play to throw people off from thinking that they are really gay.

I know I’m going to get some comments about this… but so be it.  I really do get tired of these so-called gospel ‘I love Jesus’ artists… who are more sinful that Joe Small out on the street corner selling drugs… or pimping girls or whatever.  They have a semblance of holiness… but they are not holy.  And I don’t care how many gospel songs they write …or sing.

And I get tired of people trying to make saints out Steve Harvey and Tyler Perry.  Come on now…

Have you heard how Steve curses?

There has got to be a line… some kind of a line somewhere.

Why does everyone want to make people holy just cause they like them… or they find them to be funny… or they write Jesus into their plays… or tell church jokes from time to time?

I do not hate either Steve or Tyler.  And I would never be jealous of anyone’s success… but in the same token success does not mean ‘godly’ just because they are successful… and happen to utter the word ‘God’ once or twice.

I have a cousin who totally blew me off when I told her I was not really a fan of Tyler Perry’s plays or movies etc.   They were something I just was not interested in.  Boy, did she call me everything but a child of God.  She said I was bourgeoisie… I was a hater… and I was this… and I was that.

Man, what did I do?

I am sure that I have work that Tyler won’t like either.  But it would not mean he hated me.  Needless to say I have not talked to that cousin since.  Not because she said all of what she said regarding Tyler… but because she called me ‘light.’  I don’t want or like people to call me ‘light.’  I hate it… and I am not really ‘light’… I am brown… black through and through.  But let me go back to my blog topic….

The Bible tells us that we have to ‘put off the old man.’   We become brand new.  Our language is new… how we dress is new… how we walk and talk is new…. how we think and behave is new.   Many of these so-called people… many pastors and bishops… evangelists etc. included they have not lost that old man… he’s in the closet and peers out when the coast is clear.  And they do what they do… believing nobody is going to find out… until somebody lets the cat out of the bag.

You can’t condemn someone who condemns them-self.  The Bible tells us to judge them by their fruits.  I would not believe that would be in the Bible if we are to be blind by the ways and the wills… and ways of people.

I am not gay bashing as that would be ridiculous for me to do… having come out of ‘the life’ myself.  Though I hear we can be some of the biggest critics of it.  But I would not do that.   Least way I hope that I would not… even if I hadn’t come out of ‘the life.’

But I really think that my thoughts today come out of me recently coming in contact with someone who supposedly is in the church but living or trying to live his life as a woman.

Yes, I did say… trying to live his life as a woman in the church.  The guy looks some what like a woman to most people I guess.  But I noticed right off that something was out of sync about him.  No matter how much they try whether it be the arms… the adam’s apple or their legs… body structure or something else…   No one can truly wipe away totally who they really are.

And let me just say here and now before I forget it… our God does not make mistakes.

Evidently, this guy had taken the pills…not the 1 in this picture but the 1 that I am talking about having just met.  His voice sounds very much like a woman and if you didn’t notice certain things about him… he could easily past as woman to most people hands down.  But I came out of  ‘the life’ so I would be subject to pick up on certain things that most people simply do not catch… as I had come to know a lot of gay guys… many of whom were my friends.  I know them for the most part to be highly fantastic people… highly creative… kind and giving… so not so kind… but many of them loving the Lord.

What I do not like though is this… it is about the kind of people who move far away from home so people won’t know who they are and can’t recognize them as being so-and so’s  son or daughter.  They assume another life  and identity as whatever role they are playing… be it either a man or a woman… walking around tricking …or a better word ‘fooling’ people.  Or attempting to fool people.    No, I do not like this kind of people… at all.

They have eaten up all these pills to either make themselves look and sound like either a man or a woman.  And some of them have gone the distance and gotten the operation… removing their breast or male gentiles… growing breast or facial hair etc….

What also disturbs me about this… and perhaps the most.  It is this…  the fact that it is all a lie.  It also undermines God perfect order.  And it is highly deceitful when people walk around pretending to be something that they know they are really not… but look and sound every bit like it to unsuspecting people whom they charm into their lives …and never inform the truth… unless somehow forced to.

I foresee a time when many will be marrying such people unaware.  There have past cases where someone found out that either their husband or wife was not really a man… or a woman.  I even read not long ago of a case where a woman found out that her husband had really been her father.   The world truly has gone crazy.  And everything is turning upside down.

I recently was hired for a job… and from the jump I recognized immediately that the person introduced to me as a woman… was not a woman.  It is from that moment I think I was going to write this blog regarding this subject.  Because it bothered me.

I cannot lie and call someone a woman when I know that they are a man.  I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.   But to tell you the truth I would rather not come in contact with them.

Yes, back in the day I used to do it.   I used to say ‘hey, girl’…when I was hanging out to the gay guys… and play that game with them.   But I’m not that person today… or any more.    I don’t want to play that game.  And I just don’t want to lie… or aid or abet them in that lifestyle.

A lot of people do it.  They grin and smile all up in their faces (meaning the gay guys faces) …while ripping them apart when they are among their other friends… laughing and making jokes about them.  I have seen it.  And I might have done that myself… I think.

But these people (and I do not say ‘these people’ to demean anyone)… who live these kind of lives trying to fool people are truly ‘double-minded.’  Their mind is split… they are biologically whatever they were born… and then they are whatever they are pretending to be.  Over a period time yes… much because natural but still the core of who they really are cannot be removed by doctor… by pills… by surgery… or anything… unless God does it.  And we all know that He is not.

But what bothered me most about my meeting and supposedly working with this person… was that I knew them to be a liar from the very beginning.  You cannot be passing yourself off as something you know that you are not… and not be a liar.  If you would lie to me about a core thing such as who you were born to be… then how can I trust you regarding anything else?

And that was the dilemma I was thrown into.

And I just could not do it… because I knew the person could not be trusted… because he was definitely not a woman.

You cannot trust anyone who would introduce himself to men as a woman… with all the parts…having gone through the surgery… as though they were born that way.

I am not going to go to hell aiding someone in their lying by holding up their lie pretending like it is the truth.  No, I cannot do it.  But the people who brought us together… church folk… were and did do just that.  And I really could not understand it.

If there is 1 thing that I clearly understand… I understand that homosexuality is a spirit.  Now, I know many would disagree… and that is alright.  I will not argue the point.  But homosexuality is as much a spirit as lying can be on some people who will tell you a lie even when there is nothing to lie about.  Or as the spirit of drinking strong drink… or taking drugs.  The measure of a spirit is this… how they talk… walk… act out.

All people under the influence of alcohol slur… walk drifting from side to side or show some sign of being unstable on their legs… and can be funnier than usual or more argumentative or mean depending upon the spirit that has a hold of them.  The same is true with the spirit of homosexuality… their is a likeness in their mannerisms… hand movements… the way they talk etc.  Even with the women they take on similar characteristics…looks… mannerisms etc…. these traits are a mark of the spirit that is within them.   Some may say ‘I don’t have any gay mannerisms.’  Oh, yes they do… but they are not readily picked up by all people who don’t know what they are.  Because there are many gay people who pride themselves on being ‘invisible’... meaning they think nobody can tell that they are gay.

So, all sins are a spirit of 1 sort or another.  And if I were to hold up 1 sin or another I would be as bad as the people who doing that sin.

So, there are things I prefer not to become involved in… or with.  I can’t hold up a lie no matter how much I like you or may love you.  I would be contributing to the sin if I did… and I cannot do that.  That would make me a liar.  And lying is definitely as sin.  Should I lose my soul for the sank of holding up someone else’s sin by playing their game and introducing them as a woman when I know they are a man?

No, I cannot do that.  It does not mean I hate them.  It just means I can’t play the devil’s game.  And I will not be drawn into it… whether I like you or not.

It amazes me all the tricks the devil will play upon us.  The people who go through that thing they call ‘transitioning’ can get driver’s licenses that say whatever they change their new sex to.  Further evidence of a highly deceitful game.  And it is a game.

I feel sorry for anyone who believes that they were born the wrong sex.  I know that they are confused.  But they do not realize who has confused them.  Then others support that confusion by calling them ‘girl’ or ‘boy.’ 

I know devil to be a liar… and I am well aware of the tricks he can play on the mind… and it is a head game.  But I know someone who can remove the confusion and turn everything around… and make it right side up again.  His name is Jesus.

And I am not preaching… because preaching to the lost does them no good.  They are lost.  They have eyes but they cannot see… and ears but they cannot hear.  Until God removes the blinders and they step into his marvelous light… then they will come to see and understand how they were deceived.  It happened to me.  I know first-hand.  And I thank the Lord for Saving me… but it might not have happened if the church where God lead me had realized who I was at the time and what kind of spirit had a hold of me.

The problem is many churches… particularly African American churches chase out gay people… when God has called them in.  The Bible says that faith comes through hearing… and then it says ‘with love and kindness have I drawn thee.’  We must show love and compassion in our churches… and stop acting like none of us were ever in sin, or may still be as the case usually is.

Most church people won’t even testify about what God Saved them from.  But God did not give us a testimony for us to keep it to ourselves.   It is of none effect if we keep what God has done for us to ourselves.  It is to us His glory for us to share it.

I am thankful that God brought me out of lesbianism… and I will share it everywhere I go… along with all of His other goodness to me.  I am not shame that God lifted me up… and now I walk in liberty.

Well, God bless…. I’ve got to get busy now and do what I really came into this computer lab to do.  I said a bit more in this blog than I intended to.  Hope it is a blessing to you…

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  ©2014

37 comments April 15, 2014

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