RELIGION.....Past and Present

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me........

Considering the lack of peace in the world today its almost ridicules to believe that " modern day preachers, divines, priests, ministers, what-have-you " truly honor and worship God. The effectual fervent pray of a righteous man availeth  much. Righteous thoughts, deeds, and actions breed righteousness into the atmosphere. Righteousness is the main element of peace. Therefore, it is vain for men to think that peace can be achieved if there is no effort to change their evil ways. Its absurd to constantly preach peace without any righteous deeds to manifest it.

Thank God for real men who would rather die on their feet than to keep living on their knees. Members of The Clergy....... many are called..... but only a few are chosen.

Fredrick Douglass,

 may have said it best when he said many, many, many years ago that,
                                                                        
 "The church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love, and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness.

 A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the homeless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy is a curse, not a blessing to mankind.

The Bible addresses all such persons as "scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of  the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.

But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. Many of its most eloquent Divines, who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system.

 They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped slave to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.

For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by these Divines.

These ministers make religion a cold and filthy-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action nor bowels of compassion.
                                                               
They strip the love of God of its beauty and leave the throne of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form.

 It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs.

 A religion which favors the rich against the poor, which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man.

" Members of the clergy, if this doesn't describe you; then I'm not talking about you, however, if this is you, then I'm taking directly to you"

Marvel not; ye must be born again!!!!!
                                                                 TG4RG
                                                                         

                                                                                                                                   

Wake Up Everybody......Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes featuring Teddy Pendergrass.......1975 

A SINNERS PRAYER

Merriam Webster, the voice of linguistic authority, defines the word insane as follows: not sane, mentally ill, deranged, demented, very foolish, or senseless.

Jesus the Christ was considered insane by many because of the new teachings he brought into the world. The Spirit within compelled him to deliver direct ordinances from God . Christ came demonstrating the power of God manifested in flesh. His revolutionary teachings were empowering the masses who were helpless and hopeless until Christ came with the sword of truth. The Spirit of God mandated and ushered in a New Day, A New Covenant. The New Covenant required repentance and conversion - a true born again experience - followed by instruction in righteousness and oneness with the Creator. Empowerment was guaranteed because truth was the quest. Truth of self and truth of others.

The beautiful and dramatic story of Christ, the pioneer perfecter of our faith, begins with a Galilean Jew, a Hebrew, from Nazareth. He spoke Aramaic, frequented the synagogues of Galilee and Judea and was well acquainted with Jewish Law.

The story takes place in what was originally called Far East Africa.

How disturbing it is to know that  much of the bible, as we know it, was put together and re-interpreted during the Middle Ages by the Catholic Church, almost a generation after the death of Christ. The re-interpretation was orchestrated and structured, to instill fear in the masses of uneducated peasants so they would not revolt or turn their focus on the spiritual wickedness and moral illness within the Catholic Church. The bible was, and some would say, is currently being used to instill fear and demand obedience from people of color, those still in,  as well as those stolen from, the continent of Africa.

How ironic it is that over 2000 years since Christ appeared manifested in human flesh, that many of us, some because of deception, and some because of ignorance, have not seen the senselessness of following the status quo.

Good-ole-boy politics is not the solution to the problems that plague our communities, our cities, and our world. Neither is coerced or compelled situational justice,  marginal temporary employment opportunities, government programs and set-asides,  emotional religious entertainment revivals, or misguided, random acts of violence and mayhem.

We've already either had or tried all of the aforementioned solutions to the madness that is plaguing our society. We've tried them all, over and over again. We continue to do the same things and expect a different result - that's  insanity.

                                                           "Breaking News Flash"

"The system doesn't work, frankly, it was never intended to work for the masses."

"Our problems stem from our lack of knowledge and our separation from God."

"You cant solve spiritual problems with carnal solutions."

"God's people are in trouble. We don't need band-aids, we need major surgery."

"You cant have peace without justice and you cant have justice without truth."
                                                                             

The Sinners Prayer is an evangelical term referring to a prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who feel convicted of the presence of sin in their lives and desire to establish a personal relationship with God through Christ. It is a popular phenomenon in Protestant circles, and has been called "a hallmark of evangelical conversionism". It is intended to be an act of initial conversion to Christianity, and the only way to receive salvation. During a worship service, a minister or other worship leader, will have those who are  truly, and godly sorry, for their disobedience to God, repeat the words of some form of a sinner's prayer.  Christ said ye must be born again, be taught and then - be ye separate.

  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. That's my prayer.  

                                                                       TG4RG 

                                                                           

                          They Don't Really Care About Us.............Michael Jackson


        

  

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

American history documents that in 1705 the Virginia General Assembly issued a declaration stating that "All servants imported and brought into the country...who were not Christians in their native country...shall be held to be real estate.  If any slave resists his master...correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction...the master shall be free of all punishment...as if such accident never happened."

How ironic it is that the more things change the more they stay the same.

According to Christian theology, the current world is flawed by original sin.  So when the Christ returns He will usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease.  The Advent of Christ shall be a sigh for the coming of the hour of Judgment of God.

The question for the masses is, "How will we know it's Him?....."What will He look like?"
"What will He be shepherding  us to do?"

Statistics indicate that there are over 2.18 billion professing Christians in the world.

 Accordingly, 253 million of them reside in America.  With that many people professing to know the Christ, why is the world in the shape that it's in? 

Why has America been on a continuious downward spiral for over 400 hundred years instead of an upward progression toward righteousness, freedom, equality, justice and truth for all mankind?

Why is it that 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in the country?

How is it possible to verbally adore a God that we have never seen and yet hate our fellow man that we see on a daily basis?

Scripture describes people that say one thing and do another as hypocrites.

People that acknowledge God with their mouth but their heart is far from Him.
People that are also guilty of practicing  polytheism - making a God beside God.
People that attempt to make God be about money and power - about titles and possessions.
People that believe that God is fleshy and not Spiritual - proclaiming that God is a respecter of persons, skin tones, or hues.

Many of us are waiting for the Second Coming of Christ and wandering when the kingdom of God shall appear.

Stop waiting....you must be the change you want to see in the earth.

Have we forgotten, that Christ said," for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

REPENT!!!!!!!!!!!

"Except a man be born again, He cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God."

                                                                    TG4RG

                                                   Five Blind Boys of Mississippi                  

YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Scripture states that Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee, a leading member of the Sanhedrin Council, as well as a popular, intelligent and wealthy man, came to question Jesus the Christ - under the cover of night -  concerning his desire to understand what is required for salvation?

Christ answered the scholar with these words, "Except  a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

How ironic it is that today, over 2000 years since God described, plainly, what is necessary to be a partaker of His plan of salvation, many and most intellectual and theological scholars still don't have a clue concerning the requirement to be saved. 

First, you must repent!!! You must become godly sorry for all past thoughts, deeds, and actions.
You must become so humbled and broken up about your rebellion against the living, holy God that you turn to Him in real sorrow and "plead" for His mercy and forgiveness. To repent means to "cry out" for His mercy, and help, to overcome our evil natures and to develop His righteous character.

The desire and the humbleness required to plead and cry out to God for His mercy and forgiveness must come from God. Only the Spirit of God can draw us into obedience to Him.  God's man can put us on the path to salvation but only the Holy Spirit can save fallen humanity.
                                                                         

Second, after the new birth, there must be an outward display of what happened inwardly.  Baptism is the outward demonstration of the inward rejuvenation of the heart. Complete immersion in water to symbolize the total death and washing away of sin, and the resurrection into new life.

Last, and not least, born again converts must be taught how to develop the mind of God and to incorporate the principles and practices of righteousness into their daily living.

True repentance is of the heart.     

Receiving Gods mercy is the only way to obtain the unmerited pardon of sins.
                                                                               

"Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

TG4RG

                                       Because He Lives

CONSPIRACY 101

The Bible document's that the followers of Jesus of Galilee were vigorously persued to answer questions pertaining to the charge of conspiracy for promoting revolution and treason against the government of Rome. To avoid prosecution one of the apostles -- Peter-- denied three times that he was part of the spiritual revolution of Christ.

"Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man."

To be charged with conspiracy the prosecution doesnt have to prove a defendant's involvement in an perceived affair. On many occasions individuals have been incarcerated for simply taking a photograph with someone deemed "suspect" by the authorities.

How fortunate for Peter that he was able to avoid the charge against him -- temporarily at least.  Why! Because it was Peter's word against his accusers -- no one had a photograph of him with the man referred to as Jesus.

Today, it's amazing how freely we put our images, information, life-styles, thoughts, feelings, habits, passions and desires on these social media outlets. If your behavior is Christ-like then I can understand why you have no fear, but if your behavior is satanic, outside of what God requires of His children, I would be very, very, afraid. 

Why? Because big brother a.k.a., Uncle Sam is watching, and guess what, so is the Creator.

What if, one day all the disenfranchised people decided that we were going to be free. 

The establishment would do everything in its power to thwart a potential movement of this genre. But they wouldn't have much trouble locating us are our friends and associates. Neither would it be a challenge for them to determine our thought patterns  -- what we think about -- because we so freely display our sentiments -- be it good or bad,

Considering some of the past practices of this country against groups and individuals deemed "anti-establishment or outcast from society"  we should be more conscience of the character we display on these social media outlets.

As recently as 1985, following orders from a collaboration of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, a bomb was dropped from a helicopter on a house occupied by the MOVE organization.  Move is a Philadelphia-based black liberation group.

The explosion ignited a fire in which 11 people died, including 5 children.  In addition 60 homes were destroyed.  To this day Philadelphia is known to many as "The City That Bombed Itself".

In 1969, Fred Hampton an African American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party(BPP) was killed, as he slept, in a raid by a collaboration of federal, sate, and local law enforcement agencies. Hampton was deemed "a threat to society" perhaps because of his brokering of a nonaggression pact between Chicago's most powerful street gangs.

In response to the death of Fred Hampton, "The Weather Underground Organization" (WUO) a predominately all white clandestine revolutionary party for the violent overthrow of the US government issued a "Declaration of War" against the United States.

The WOU believed that, "doing nothing in a period of repressive violence is itself a form of violence. 

If you sit in your house, live your white life and go to your white job, and allow the country that you live in to murder people and commit genocide, and do nothing about it, that's violence."

"Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man."

That's what Peter said, well I sure do know the man, and more than that I'm glad that He knows me. I'll even take it a step further;  I'm in a conspiracy with Him to seek and to save that which is lost. Who are you in a conspiracy with?

Marvel not; ye must be born again!!!!

                                                                             TG4RG

                                                              Search Me Lord...........          

                                                           

                                                                     

THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  For the time is come that judgement must begin in the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Daily we are bombarded by news stories concerning clergyman gone bad.  Sadly, many appear to be of African descent. Apparently, they are following in the foot steps of many Catholic Church priests which have suppressed pedophilia within its ranks for decades.

Black people, habitually, follow their leaders.

 So is it any wonder why sexual sadism and perversion is running rampant within the black church? 

It appears that we have become a religious community where the blind are truly leading the blind.

Mega Church leaders and have gotten completely away from preaching "fire and brimstone" and have instead resorted to selling the masses "prosperity ministries".  Most, if not all, of these chameleons preach that God wants you to be rich instead of preaching that there are consequences for disobedience and unrighteousness. 

Many of the so-called, or self proclaimed leaders are leading the masses into darkness and many think it's the light because they have a vast following. 

If there ever was a time when Gods people were in need of an awakening, the time is now.

God works through people and he directed one man to teach this: 

October 5, 1703, God created Jonathan Edwards, and gave him the wisdom and knowledge to become a preacher, theologian, and missionary. Edwards is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian, and one of America's greatest intellectuals. 

Edwards played a very critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening.  

The First Great Awakening (or The Great Awakening) was a religious revitalization movement that swept the Atlantic world and especially the American colonies in the 1730's and 1740's, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and commitment to a new standard or personal morality.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", is a typical sermon of the Great Awakening, emphasizing the widely held belief that Hell is a real and functional place.

Edwards was intent on making the underlying point that God has given humanity a chance to rectify their sins.  Edwards believed that it is the "will of God" that keeps wicked men and women from the depths of Hell.  This act of restraint has given humanity a chance to mend their ways and return to Christ.  

Unlike the Second Great Awakening, (a future article) which reached out to the unchurched, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members. 

Listen up, already church members, the time has come that judgement must begin in the house of God.

Righteousness is not what we profess; it's what we practice.

Ye must be born again!!!!!!

                                                  TG4RG

                                      Cried My Last Cry....Yesterday........Mary...Mary

                                    

DETAINMENT AND INTERNMENT

"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare.  For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"

Recently, a six-year old Indiana boy was arrested after kicking his principal in the leg and threatening to kill him.  The child, who had been suspended before for kicking and biting, was taken to a local police station and charged with battery and intimidation. 

Instead of calling the child's parents when he began to act out, school officials called the police, claiming that putting him in the system was the best option.

Unfortunately, for some students - especially males of color - their "acting out is often judged more harshly than their peers and they are not only suspended at higher rates (for the same offensives), but they are also incarcerated at higher rates as well.

To those of us still living with our heads stuck in the sand this phenomena is something new, however, the seasoned among us, realize that detaining and confining people of color is a practice that this country has always excelled in.

Some might remember that in 1942, the United States government herded thousands of Japanese Americans into "War Relocation Camps".  Law abiding, tax paying, American citizens were removed from their homes and sources of livelihood into segregated internment (prison) camps.

Decades later Congress issued legislation that said the government's actions were based solely on 'race prejudice and a failure of political leadership". 

President Ronald Reagan apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government and eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs.

Makes one wonder what happened to reparations for African Americans who had been subjected to slavery and their heirs?

Still, a few others may re-call that in 1984, Readiness Exercise 1984 (Rex 84) was written by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North.  While working in his capacity as National Security Council White House Aide and (FEMA) liaison, the United States Government developed a plan to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, and to detain up to 21 million, law abiding, and tax paying American Negroes.

And last, but certainly not least, is the King Alfred Plan, a plan thought to be, a CIA-led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent.

Specifically, it defined how to deal with the treat of a black uprising in the United States by cordoning off black people into concentration camps in the event of a major racial incident.

A major racial incident might be something similar to an incident fueled by an innocent verdict for the murderer of Trayvon Martin.

Needless to say, our children are under siege.  Satan and his imps are busy. The sad part about the war on our children is that while
contingency planning readiness exercises and programs are being implemented across the country, we that claim to know God are sitting idly by waiting, I imagine, for a savior to come floating out of the sky to rescue us from the mayhem that is sure to  come.

God works through people.

People that are not afraid to act like Christ and stand up for righteousness and justice.

Marvel not; ye must be born again.

                                            TG4RG

                             Choice of Colors.......Curtis Mayfield