Monday, April 24, 2006

Resurrección


(Muchas gracias a mi amiga y hermana en Christo, Jenny Jimenez de Peru para la translaciones en Espanol
Visitar ella a http://www.evangeliodevida.blogspot.com/)










Resurrección


Si UD, sigue el combate, UD sabe que ellos pelearán de noche. Los luchadores se baten en el Rin después que el sol oscurece. Eso es usual cuando tenemos nuestra grandes batallas de la conciencia humana, también, durante la noche, cuando las luces se apagan y la quietud empieza a reinar, algunos individuos guardan ese momento permaneciendo ocupados con la TV, el cine, conversando en el teléfono, O entreteniéndose con drogas o alcohol.,jugando video juegos o en la Internet. Permanecer ocupado, con algo de música alrededor para que no se sientan solos con su conciencia en la tranquilidad.

Si UD, esta muerto de miedo, de permanecer en un cuarto solo, entonces UD , necesita orar más.

1 Timoteo 1:7 (KJV) “Porque Dios no nos ha dado un espíritu de temor sino d poder y amor y dominio propio”.

Porque es en esos momentos d e quietud, que la voz del Señor es más clara en nuestro corazón. Confía en Mí .Tu podrás preferir conversar con el en un lugar tranquilo, que escucharlo y hacer silencio de todas las cosas que son importantes en tu mundo .Eso podría ser una cosa atemorizante que podrías conocer tu vida pasar mas rápido delante de tus ojos. Tu no querrás eso.

Entonces, tómate un tiempo y luego escucha .No TV, no Radio, No puertas abiertas ventanas cerradas ,apaga el teléfono ,silencio.

Algunas personas no quieren hace resto, porque ellos temen lo que les va a decir .Especialmente a aquellos a quienes Dios ya les esta hablando pero ellos actúan como si no oyeran.

Te digo, hombre, que tu vas a escuchar y poner atención a Dios. Porque si tu sabes que eres uno d e sus hijos, entonces necesitas obedecer su Palabra.

El problema es que nosotros tenemos la cabeza tan ocupada y actuamos como si no le oyéramos .y seguimos haciendo nuestros quehaceres .No queremos reglas, regulaciones .leyes o nada que diga que nos prohibía hacer lo que queremos.

No te estoy contando algo que escuche. Te estoy diciendo a ti algo que se que es de primera mano o experiencia personal .he sido testigo.

Y cada vez que vengas al conocimiento de Jesucristo ,como tu Señor y Salvador, te darás cuenta que tu salvación no fue libre de un precio que pagar.

Nosotros fuimos comprados con un precio. Somos salvados por el inmensos acto d e amor y obediencia.

Hay mucha gente de color aquí, en el sureste de Houston, quienes no votan, en los últimos comicios electorales. Lo siento, pero yo tengo problemas con cualquier persona d e color que no ejercita su derecho al voto. Porque no importa cuan sofisticado tu pienses que George Bush tenga el sistema de sufragio, nuestro privilegio para votar como un ciudadano norteamericano, no viene gratis. Fue comprado con el precio d e mucho trabajo ,derramamiento de sangre y dolor infringido de nuestros ancestros.(lea: Nacido con un Grip )

Entonces, cuando piensas en toda la gente que marchó y peleó y murió defendiendo la causa para los negros a ser considerados seres humanaos por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, se hace más claro todavía-VOTAR no e s una opción para la gente d e color. Nosotros necesitamos a hacerlo .Punto .No hay excusa!! Muchos de nuestros antepasados ,murieron luchando por nuestro derecho al voto.

Cristo fue crucificado luchando por nuestro derecho a vivir, aún el no abrió sus labios . Y si tu te llamas “un hijo de Dios”, no hay excusa para no celebrar el día más importante en la historia de la humanidad.

El promedio (y muchas d e la gente religiosa) lo llama Easter..Pero yo soy un poco más escolar que eso.

Cuando yo pienso en lo que pasó ese domingo en la mañana, el prime día después de la muerte, yo no pienso en Easter yo pienso en RESURRECCIÖN.

Por supuesto, si tu te fijas en Hechos 12:4 en muchas Biblia, verás la palabra “Easter” pero e s una Biblia que tiene comentarios ,t e dice que el texto original no tiene tal palabra. En vez d e so aparece la palabra” Pasión “”pascha”. Cristo fue crucificado inmediatamente antes del tiempo de pascua .El t iempo d e la muerte fue una celebración tradicional Judía conmemorativa cuando el angel d e la muerte anunció prever el consumir a todo los niños de las casas de israel marcados con sangre. Ese es un tiempo d e celebrar el amor de Dios en la nación judía.

Uno de los aspectos de la celebración era sacrificar un carnero eld ia de la preparación que era presentado antes el Rabat.Tu no podías usar un carnero enfermo o moribundo ,tenias que dar el mejor , y debia ser sacrificado en un estilo apropiado. Ahora lo triste es , que hay mucha gente que va a la iglesia regularmente. Ellos podrían ir en sus mejores galas o vestimentas con sombreros nuevos par ala ocasión de pascua .cargando canastos y bienparecidos sin una Biblia en sus manos y sin la menor idea de lo que realmente es la pascua. Algunos piensan estar pasando no mas un día más-

Hay muchas agendas circulando alrededor del medio. Hoy en d ia se esta constantemente asaltando el evangelios de Cristo. Tu encuentras cinéticos encontrando “ el eslabón perdido” de fósiles, declarando que el hombre evolucionó de esa criaturas. Hay libros y películas que rechazan a Jesús en formas diferentes de lo que la Biblia declaran muchos “ evangelios perdidos” siendo presentados que están causando más y más que las personas duden de la autoridad de los 66 libros canónicos de la Biblia.

No piense que todo esto es coincidencia.

Hay una adversario que induce a la gente a rechazar a Jesucristo como señor. Solo el Señor puede vencer la muerte.

Hay otros personajes bíblicos que fueron revividos de la muerte, como Lázaro, y la hija de jairo, pero toda esta gente continuaron y murieron y fueron nuevamente sepultados un día. Cristo fue resucitado, nunca para morir nuevamente. Alguna gente esta a la iglesia pero la iglesia no esta en ellos porque ellos no creen verdaderamente en la resurrección de Cristo. Ellos solo van a la iglesia porque es “lindo” o es una forma diplomática de hacer lo correcto. Tal ves a ellos els gusta las canciones, algunso e stan tratando d e conseguir bendiciones. Ellos desean prestarse dinero de sus abuelos entonces ellos van ala iglesia con ellos para caerles en “gracia”.

Deja que me va y y te digo que todo esta bien ahora, Si Jesucristo no resucito de esa tumba con todo el poder y autoridad a sus manos, Si Jesucristo no fue resucitado, entonces en vano vamos ala iglesia, estamos perdiendo el tiempo.

Porque una vez que Jesús fue resucitado el cristianismo trascendió todas las filosofías y religiones.

Los ateos y agnósticos, declaran todas las formas que la humanidad trata de alcanzar a Dios como “religión”.

Pero el cristianismo no e s una religión. porque Cristo e s un Dios que busca alcanzar al hombre.
Hay muchos todavía que deban mirar bien el cuadro. Ellos visualizan tales debates, como la evolución y creación como inocuo. Pero el problema es que con el mono a la teoría humana o de la teoría molecular a la evolucionista es que no explica el hecho que Dios hizo un hombre para toda la humanidad a partir de : Adán.

Noe s tampoco una pequeñez , porque la Biblia ilustra que a través de Adán todos fuimos concebidos (hombres y mujeres) en pecado. Ese bebe recién nacido, no ha hecho anda malo.(aun ) pero el tiene esa naturaleza pecaminosa que es imperfecta. Y así como e l pecado entró a la humanidad a través d e un hombre(Adán ) las consecuencias del pecado (muerte) fueron pagadas por un hombre : Jesús. El cordero inmolado que fue sacrificado. Eso fue un regalo de Dios. Jesús es Dios con nosotros.

Jesús es Dios en la forma de hombre, carne y sangre. El rió, él lloró, el comió, el bebió. Jesús caminó la tierra como un hombre. Eso es lo que la Biblia nos enseña.

Entonces, cuando tu tienes en frente estos libros y “evangelios perdido” aparecer alguna gente se confunde y usa esto como una razón del porque ellos no creen en Jesús, porque ellos no pueden creer la Biblia sea la Palabra de Dios, porque ellos piensas en errores en la transmisión y /o traducción.

Es esto correcto!! ¡Como pueden Dios hacer TODO en 6 días???

Yo no se como lo hizo, yo sólo se que Dios puede de la NADA hacer TODO. Solo Dios.

Yo escuche que el mar rojo no era nada como un pequeño rio cuando moisés y los israelitas pasaron través de el. Ni si era eso como un gran mar o rio!??

No se pero aun si fuese como una gran corriente o no, porque no puedes ver el milagro de la armada del faraón siendo avasallada atrás??

Cuando los padres de la iglesia primitiva se reunieron al conocimiento del canon de la palabra d Dios hubieron muchos diferentes “evangelios” circulando alrededor del mundo. Presentados como “sagradas escrituras”, cuando en realidad muchos eran evangelios adulterados escritos por agnósticos paganos y hombres en busca d e fama y poder. El canon del antiguo testamento(39 libros) fue ya establecido durante los tiempos de Jesús en la tierra , entonces estamos hablando del nuevo testamento (27 libros) ,los evangelios y las epístolas (cartas).
Entonces hubieron 3 principales criterios para usar el conocimiento de que las escrituras eran “inspiración de Dios” *:

  • El escrito tenia de tener un profeta reconocido o apóstol como su autor (o uno asociado con ellos, como en el caso de marcos, Lucas, hebreos, santiago y Judas)

  • El escrito no podía estar en desacuerdo o contradicción con la escritura previa (el cual profetiza el nacimiento, vida, crucifixión y resurrección del Mesías. empezando en génesis.

  • El escrito tenia que tener un consenso general por la iglesia como un escrito inspirado.

(* John Mac Arthur, estudios biblicos)

El evangelios de Judas no e s “cosa nueva” tampoco lo es el evangelio de Barnabas, los 14 libros apócrifos o aulquiera de los muchos libros agnósticos o escritos rústicos que tratan de “infiltrarse”n en el canon bíblico durante el primer centenarios e nuestra era.
Por supuesto, el promedio d e las personas no estudia sus biblias. En vez de eso, le dedica mas tiempo ala adversario, leyendo literatura no cristiana. Cualquier cosa que tu estas leyendo o mirando te esta diciendo que Jesús no hizo lo que la Palabra declara que el hizo.,es maligno. Y uno de los grandes trucos que satanas usa es hacer que la gente piense que el realmente no e xistio. Ele s el padre de la mentira. y la verdad no esta en el. Y d e todas las cosas que satanas pondrá tratara de que te lejes del c amino d e la luz. Tu debes saber que Dios es un Dios cuidador de todos los que buscan diligentemente de El. No puedes apartarte de El si estas en El. Tu has pensado un tiempo en silencio, estudiado de la Biblia por tu cuenta, meditado y orado. La Biblia es la única arma ofensiva que tenemos nuestra completa armadura (ver soldado en la milicia).Todo es defensa. Y si tu no tienes ese nivel d e fe. para desviar esos dardos de fuego que están siendo bombardeados todos los vida, no vas a estar completamente preparado par a esta batalla que esta luchando tu alma.

Los dardos que esta tratando hacer que tu dudes y discrepes la resurrección de Jesucristo.
Porque si tienes dudas y si tu no crees en tu corazón que Jesús salió d e la tumba, entonces tu no e res creyente. No te engañes a ti mismo .Yo s e que la resurrección es duro de asimilar para algunas personas, porque el mundo nos ah condicionado hacia la incredulidad. Tenemos tiempos difíciles avanzando en nuestra fe porque todos lo que el mal ha hecho al hombre. Nosotros estamos tratando de meternos en la cabeza y tratando de convencernos peor sin fe.
Pero hay una convicción errada que sale a la luz a través d e un estudio bíblico diligente profundo con oración f ferviente y el poder del espíritu santo.

Dios abrirá tus ojos y tu corazón a la verdad. La pregunta que tienes que hacerte es “¡puedo yo hacer llevadera esta Verdad?? O estas tu solo mirando por una buena religión que te permita hacer todo lo que tu querías???

Cristo es “la razón de nuestra esperanza”. Si Cristo no se levanto d e la tumba ,no tenemos esperanza ni esta vida ni en la venidera

Friday, April 21, 2006

Migration

One of the main things I’ve learned from almost 3 years of being an ‘out of the closet’ writer, is that no matter what you push out on ink, everybody ain’t go like it.

And once I got over the fact that some folks are going to think my style is wack, then I had to break through the tendency of playing up to the crowd.

I had to restrain myself from falling into the rut of writing what the masses are fiending to read.

“We want more jokes!!”

“Keep it real D. Wash!!”

“Whatever happened to Rev. Janky??!! That n’ga was funny!!!!”

It’s easy to fall into that trap, cuz everybody is susceptible to applause. It’ll make you want to start grinding harder to get some more hand claps.

But one of the key pieces of advice I got early on in the game, was from my Aunt C. From her days of singing in a church choir, to being one of Ray Charles original backup singers, to performing on the 'chitlin circuit' jazz clubs, she’s been in the public eye for over 30 years now. So of course I had my ear tuned in to listen to the words of advice she had for me because I respect her journey.



“I’ll tell you like a guy told me when I first started out nephew…don’t buy the pig.”

“What??? What the hell does that mean??”

“It means, once you start getting some good press clippings and reviews, don’t buy into it. Because that will make you complacent and it will make you a slave to what the masses want to hear. You have to be in tune to the inner you with the art that you are creating. Don’t ever let others dictate that..YOU control that.”

It took me awhile to really figure out what that meant. There are some pieces I have written which have been widely well received, like Hittin Licks and there are others which made me feel like ducking for cover from all the salvos that got thrown my way, like the On the Down Low Book Review.

But through it all, I know that I’ve stayed true to my God and true to my native land, just like the last verse of the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Some folks get a bit disgruntled when you bring up the ‘Negro’ National Anthem.

“Why do black folks have to have a separate anthem?? How come they just can’t have the AMERICAN anthem like everybody else???”

Of course, when I remind them that when the American anthem was written, black folks weren’t even considered American citizens!! Even though African slave descendants had been here for generations, we still couldn’t vote. So why would you expect someone who is counted less than a human by the United States government , to stand up and sing, ‘for the land of the free??’

That’s when a lot of them cock their heads sideways at me and mumble something about me being one of them ‘uppity’ Negroes. You damn skippy.

So now one of the hot topics of the day are theUnited States immigration laws. People (mostly Latinos) are protesting and having marches, walking out of school and work, raising noise because they don’t like the proposed changes.

On the other hand you have people (mostly white folks) adamant against letting more illegal immigrants into the country and intent on punishing the ones that are already here.

This topic poses an interesting situation to the Arican-American slave descendent. Because no matter the issue, the first thing to look at is what side of the coin you live on in the debate. Those who are illegal immigrants or who are descendants of illegal immigrants ain’t trying to hear no sh’t about being fined, charged with a crime or deported back to their country of origin.

White folks (who’s ancestors immigrated at some point in time, but their argument is that they did it LEGALLY, filling out the required paperwork) are ready to punish all the ‘law breakers.’

People who pay taxes realize that illegal immigration is overflooding our school, law enforcement and healthcare system. Hospitals can’t turn hurting people away from their emergency rooms.

So when you think about it, the only people who didn’t ‘voluntarily’ immigrate to America are Native Americans and African slave descendants (i.e. Black folks).

I sent out an email a couple of weeks ago to a few people in my close-knit circle of friends. It had this quote from Teddy Roosevelt regarding immigration, from back in the early 1900's.

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.



"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." - Theodore Roosevelt 1907


I really don’t think that the person who sent ME the email realized that I wasn’t white, but I passed it along to some of my fellow African slave descendants, just to give them a better understanding of how vehemently the ‘in’ crowd feels about this immigration thing.

Unbeknowest to me, one of these same podnas forwarded the email to his entire distribution list and I ended up getting a couple of emails from Latinos who were a bit pissed off to even receive it (even though I wasn’t the one who sent it to them!)

But the whole deal made me realize that the immigration issue is a very volatile subject.

Everyone wants to have pride for their heritage. That’s why you have whole communities in major American cities like Little Italy, Germantown, Chinatown and the like. But it seems that that’s only okay if you’ve already been here for a few generations. Because as soon as someone raises up a Mexican flag, then all of a sudden they need to take their wetback az back to Mexico!!!

That ain’t fair.

Now of course, Teddy brought up a good point concerning the language barrier. It’s different when you come here and commit yourself to learning the language and assimilating into the American culture. It’s completely different when you show up and just say ‘fkit..I can’t speak English and I ain’t trying to learn, so ya’ll gotta get my kids a Spanish speaking teacher and I want all the government services available in Spanish!!”

No es correcto.

Of course, the immigration issue isn’t just about Mexico, it’s about ALL the incoming illegal immigrants into this country. But it’s funny how most Europeans have such an easy time getting in, but darker skinned people, like Haitians, Mexicans and Africans are shipped back by the boatload.

It all comes down to paperwork, time and money.

Those who take the time to fill out the paperwork and go through the process are usually the ones who already have resources. But those who are dead broke without a pot to piss in and they’re coming here trying to make something in life are going to do it by any means necessary. Risking life and limb crossing hot deserts, swimming across shark infested waters, being locked up in smuggler trailers for days at a time. As much as the world talks down about America EVERYBODY is trying to get here!!!

So what do we do?

I don’t know the answer to that question.

This nation was founded as a haven for people who were seeking a better way of life. But now that those people are here and in place and in control of the laws, the game done changed homey.

The Pilgrims didn’t have any immigration paperwork to fill out, they just showed up and set up camp. Get in where you fit in fool.

But now the game has flipped, where you have to consider the responsibilities the American taxpayers have to our healthcare, welfare, criminal and education system. We’re at the point where all four are jacked up, overcrowded and almost bankrupt and a lot of that is due to the increased burden caused by illegal immigrants who don’t pay any taxes.

No matter what solution I might come up with, I know I would feel differently if either myself or a close family member was an illegal immigrant. That’s as real as I can be.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Resurrection

If you follow the fight game at all, you know that they fight at night. Fighters mix it up in the ring after the sun goes down.

That’s usually when we have our biggest battles of the human conscience too..at night. When the lights are off and the quiet starts to creep in.

Some folks ward this off as much as possible by staying occupied with TV, movies, talking on the phone, keeping a numbing buzz with drugs or alcohol, playing video games or on the internet. Staying busy, keeping some background noise going on so that they won’t ever have to be alone with their conscience in the quiet.

If you’re deathly afraid of being alone in a quiet room, then you need to become more prayerful.

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – I Timothy 1:7 KJV

Because it is in those quiet times that the Lord’s voice is the most clear in our heart.

Trust me, you’d much rather have Him speak to you in the quiet, than for Him to have to raise His voice and silence everything else that you think is more important in your world. That’s some scary kinda stuff that’ll make your whole life flash before your eyes..you don’t want that there.

So take some time out for solitude and just listen.

No TV. No radio. No doors open. Windows closed. Turn your phone off. Quiet.

Some folks don’t want to do that, because they’re afraid of what He’s going to tell them. Especially those that He has already been speaking to but they’re acting like they don’t hear Him.

I’m telling ya mane, you gotta listen and pay attention to God. Because if you know that you’re one of His children, then you need to obey His Word.

The problem is, we get too hard headed and act like we don’t hear Him and go on doing our thang. We don’t want any rules, regulations, laws or anybody telling us to do stuff that we don’t wanna do.

I’m not telling you something that I heard about, I’m telling you something that I know from firsthand experience. I am a living witness.

And once you bow down and acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you realize that your salvation was not free of charge.

We were bought with a price.

We are saved by an immeasurable act of love and obedience.

There are a lot of (black) folks here on the Southside of Houston who didn’t vote in the last election. I’m sorry, but I have a problem with ANY black person who does not exercise their right to vote. Because it doesn’t matter how rigged up you think George Bush has the voting system, our privilege to vote as a United States citizen did not come freely. It was bought with the price of a lot of hard work, bloodshed and pain inflicted on our ancestors (read Born With a Grip).



So when you think of all the people who marched and fought and died pressing the issue, pleading the cause for blacks to be considered as human beings by the United States government, it becomes very clear. Voting is NOT AN OPTION for black folks. We just need to do it. Period. There is no excuse.

Many of our ancestors died fighting for our right to vote.

Christ was crucified fighting for our right to live, yet He opened not His mouth.

And if you ‘call yourself’ a child a God, there is no excuse for not celebrating the most important day in the history of mankind.

The media (and a lot of church folks) call it Easter..but I’m a bit more old school than that.

When I think of what happened early that Sunday morning, the first day after the Passover, I don’t think Easter, I think Resurrection.

Of course, if you go to Acts 12:4 in a lot of Bibles, you’ll even see the word, ‘Easter’.

But if it’s a Bible that has a strong commentary, it will tell you that the original text did not have that word. Instead it had Pascha or Passover. Christ was crucified right before the Passover. The Feast of the Passover was a traditional Jewish celebration commemorating when the death angel ‘passed over’ all of the children of Israel’s houses marked with blood. It was a time to celebrate God’s deliverance of the Jewish nation.

One of the aspects of the feast was to sacrifice a spotless male lamb on the Day of Preparation, which was right before the Sabbath. You couldn’t use a sick or crippled lamb, you had to get the best one and it had to be slaughtered and bled kosher style.

Now, the sad thing is, is that there are a lot of people who go to church regularly, they might have even gone in their new Easter suit or dress with their brand new Easter hat. Carrying Easter baskets and looking cute, without a Bible in their hand and they have no clue what the Passover is about. Some people be TRIPPING.

There are a lot of agendas circulating around in the media today that are constantly assaulting the gospel of Christ.

You have scientists finding ‘missing link’ fossils declaring that man evolved from other creatures.

There are books and movies out depicting Jesus in a much different light than what the Bible states.

There are ‘lost’ gospels being presented which are causing more and more people to doubt the authority of the 66 canonical books of the Bible.

Don’t think all of this is just a coincidence.

There is an adversary who is hell bent on getting people to denounce Jesus Christ as Lord.

Only the Lord can defeat death.

There are other Biblical characters that were revived from the dead, like Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter, but all of these folks went on to die and be buried again one day. Christ was resurrected never to taste death again.

Some people are in church, but the church is not in them, because they don’t truly believe in the Resurrection of Christ. They just go to church cuz its ‘kinda cool’ or it’s a politically correct thing to do. Maybe they like the songs, or they’re just trying to get a blessing. They want to borrow some money from their grandma so they go to church with her to get on her good side.

Let me gone and tell ya’ll right now, if Jesus Christ didn’t come up out of that grave with all power and authority in His hands. If Jesus Christ was not resurrected. Then we shouldn’t even waste our time GOING to church.

Because once Jesus was resurrected, Christianity transcended all philosophies and religions.

Atheists and agnostics denounce all the ways mankind tries to reach up to God as ‘religion’.

But Christianity is not a religion, because Christ is God reaching down to man.

There are those who have yet to look at the big picture. And instead they see such debates like evolution vs. creation as harmless. But the problem with the monkey to man theory or even the molecule to man theory, is that it bypasses the fact that God made one man to start this whole thing off..Adam.

It’s not a small thing either. Because the Bible illustrates that through Adam, everyone who is conceived of a man and woman inherits a sin nature. That newborn baby hasn’t done anything wrong (yet), but he has that sin nature that is imperfect. And as sin entered mankind through one man (Adam), the wages of sin (death) are paid through one man, Jesus. The spotless Lamb that was sacrificed. It is God’s gift to us. Jesus is God with us..

Jesus is God in the form of a man. Flesh and blood. He laughed, He cried, He ate, He drank..Jesus walked the earth as a man.

That is what the Bible teaches us.

So when you have these weird books and ‘lost’ gospels show up, some people get confused and use this as a reason of why they don’t believe in Jesus, because they can’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word, because they perceive errors in transmission and/or translation.

This can’t be right! How can God make EVERYTHING in 6 days??

I don’t know how He did it, I just know only God can take nothing and make something..only God.



I heard the Red Sea wasn’t nothing but a shallow little stream when Moses and the Israelites were passing through it anyway..it wasn’t like it was a biggo river!!

I dunno about that..but even if it was a shallow stream, why can’t you see the miracle in Pharaoh’s army being drowned in it?


When the early church fathers got together to acknowledge the canon of God’s Word, there were a lot of different ‘gospels’ circulating around the world. Presented as ‘holy scripture’ when in fact there were spurious gospels written by agnostics, pagans and greedy men seeking power. The Old Testament (39 books) canon was already established during Jesus’ time on earth, so then we’re talking about the New Testament (27 books), the gospels and epistles (letters).

So there were 3 main criteria used to acknowledge ‘God inspired’ scripture. *

  • The writing had to have a recognized prophet or apostle as its author (or one associated with them, as in the case of Mark, Luke, Hebrews, James, and Jude).

  • The writing could not disagree with or contradict previous Scripture. (which prophesies of the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah starting with Genesis)

  • The writing had to have general consensus by the church as an inspired writing.

(*John MacArthur Study Bible)

The gospel of Judas is not a ‘new’ thing. Neither is the gospel of Barnabas, the 14 books of the Apocrypha or any other of the countless Gnostic or rogue writings that tried to get ‘in’ to the Biblical canon during the 1st century.

Of course, the average person doesn’t study their Bible. Instead they give more time to the adversary, reading anti-Christian literature. Anything that you’re reading or watching that is trying to tell you that Jesus didn’t do what the Word says He did is from the evil one. And one of the biggest tricks the devil uses is making people think he doesn’t even really exist. He is the father of lies and the truth is not in him.

And of all the things that Satan will pull, trying to keep you away from walking toward the Light, you’ve got to know that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek after Him. You can’t stand still. You’ve got to spend some quiet time, studying the Bible for yourself. Meditating and praying. The Bible is the only offensive weapon we have in our full armor of God. (see Soldiers in the Hood). Everything else is defense. And if you don’t have that shield of faith, to deflect those fiery darts that are being thrown at us everyday all day, you’re not going to be fully prepared for this battle that is raging for your soul.

Darts that are trying to make you doubt and/or discredit the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because if you have doubts and you don’t believe in your heart that Jesus rose from the grave, then you’re not a Believer.

Don’t fool yourself.

I know the Resurrection is hard to grasp for a lot of people, because the world has conditioned us toward disbelief. We have a hard time going out on faith because of all the evil that men do. We’re wary of anyone peeing on our head and trying to convince us that it’s raining.

But there is an unmistakable conviction awarded through diligent Bible study, fervent prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit. God will open your eyes and your heart to the Truth. The question you have to ask yourself is, “Can you handle the Truth?” or are you just looking for a feel good religion that will let you do everything you want to do?

Christ is The Reason for Our Hope. If Christ did not get up out of that grave, we have no hope in this life or the next

Copyright 2006 Servinemup Ink

All Rights Reserved

www.servinemup.com

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Proper Position

You’ve been mighty quiet lately D..what’s been up?

Do you remember how it was back in high school?

What do you mean?

You know how everybody can be sitting in class and then all of a sudden the PA system comes on and the secretary calls out a list of names or maybe just one name, “Will the following students please report to the principal’s office.”

(smiling) Yeah..I’ve had to make that walk before.

Well, I guess you can say that I’ve been called into the principal’s office.

You got in trouble??

I don’t know if you would call it trouble, but there has been a contingency of Believers: ministers, pastors, teachers, deacons who have pulled me aside to talk to me about the work that I do.

What’s the problem? I thought everybody could see that you’re serving??



Yeah, they see me serving, but when they read Intent to Distribute, some of them had questions about who I was serving.

You mean they don’t approve of your work?

No..some of them see my work as highly controversial and contrary to the core Christian message.

Why?

Different reasons. Some folks get saved and they never look back. They stop drinking, smoking, cursing, killing, drugging, lying, whatever it was they used to do, it’s like a light switch that goes off and they walk away from it all and they expect everyone else to do the same.They stop watching secular TV, they stop listening to ‘worldly’ music, they completely separate themselves from the ‘unsaved’ world. So when they see my work, they think my dialect and vehicle of delivery reminds them too much of their life before they got saved.

That’s wild. I don’t go to church too much, but every time I read your work, it gives me a better understanding of why I should go.

Hmph. What’s even wilder, is that they have no clue how much of my work I actually edited and ‘toned down’ a bit before I put it out for public display.

So you got all those busybody church folks giving you grief huh?

Naww, I don’t consider it grief, I actually consider it a blessing. Iron sharpens iron, they’re getting me ready for deeper waters. Because the Scripture says that if you see somebody coming out claiming to be down for Christ, then you should check him to see where his heart is at. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” – I John 4:1 KJV. So this whole experience has made me sit back and be more real with myself. I had to regroup and pray, meditate on the Word, fast and ask God for confirmation. I don’t want to be that n’ga that’s living outside of God’s will for my life.

Soo..did you get it?

Did I get what?

Confirmation..did God speak to you?

God speaks to me just like He speaks to everybody else who humbles themselves and bows down before Him, God speaks through His Word. And there is a Scripture that first got me ‘turned on’ to what a Believers work should be here on earth that I kept coming back to.
“He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” Luke 11:23 KJV

Uhhh...what does that mean?

It means that either you’re doing what you can to share the gospel of Christ into the world or you’re against Him..there is no middle ground. And if you’re riding with Him, you’re going to do what He puts on your heart to get in with the Great Commission.

The Great Commission? That sounds like some kind of gang.

It is..it’s the realest gang there is. It’s what I was talking about when I wrote Soldiers in the Hood. It’s the gang of Believers that’s going out into the world and teaching all nations about Jesus. Everybody is supposed to serve in the manner in which they are called. Some preach, some teach, some sing, some write, some evangelize, some heal, the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.

Well..I can’t do none of that!! Does that mean that God doesn’t want me in the group?

No, that just means you haven’t discovered your talent yet. What you have to do is put yourself in position to receive it.

Position?? What kinda position?

It’s like this minister from Port Arthur preached at our church a couple of months ago. He said that when he tried out for his high school basketball team, it came down to the final scrimmage game where all the players trying out where in a game. And throughout the game he never got a chance to score, because they never passed him the ball. Afterwards, when the cuts came out and he didn’t make the team, he was a bit down. But one of the players that did make the team came up to him and apologized for not passing him the ball. “I would have passed it to you man, but you never put yourself in position to receive it.”

Soo..what does that have to do with God?

If you never put yourself in position to be blessed and to receive your anointing, He ain’t go pass you the Rock. You can’t just keep doing all the same things you’ve been doing and expecting different results. You’ve got to move around and put yourself in position. You’ve got to be more prayerful, you’ve got to study your Bible, you need to join into and be a part of a fellowship of other Believers. You’ve got to get IN the game if you’re real.

See, I hear ya..but its easy for you to say that because God has already given you your talents. Everybody ain’t got it like that.

Everybody ain’t got down on their knees and asked God to guide them either. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. When’s the last time you went into a dark closet and got down on your knees and called on the name of the Lord??

What?? What are you talking about??

I’m talking about earnest prayer.

I pray to God everyday.

I’m not talking about that quick ‘God is great’ prayer you say with a mouthful of French fries..I’m talking about spending some time with Him, just you and Him, no distractions.

C’mon now..I didn’t say I was trying to be a monk or a priest!!

That’s not something only monks or priests should do, that’s something that all who are called by His name should do. It’s a crucial position to get into if you’re to be attentive to His voice.

Well..sometimes when I pray, I wonder if I’m just talking to myself in my head..ya know? I mean, sometimes I really wonder if God is even listening to me.

Yeah..I think we all have faced that doubt before. But the more you pray and the more you study the Word to show yourself approved, the more God will speak to you and give you confirmation that He is right there with you. He will let you know time and time again that He will never leave you or forsake you. Since I’ve been writing, I’ve had readers who didn’t go to church or even bow down and acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but they’ve changed their position and moved around and now they’re IN the church and striving to strengthen their relationship. And several of them have told me that my work definitely helped them get to that point.

Maybe that’s my problem, I haven’t gotten any solid confirmation like that. So I guess He showed you some things huh?

Yeah..He has. A lot of die hard church folks don’t like my style and a lot of folks who deny the deity of Christ don’t like my material, but I still gotta do what I know God put on my heart to do.

What’s that?

Let these fools know that Jesus is real. With my background, family and upbringing, God knows that I can speak the language that n’gaz can understand. And after that, I have to prepare myself to go out into even deeper waters, cuz I can speak the college educated tongue, sports tongue, technical jargon tongue, golf tongue..I know how to speak to different kinda folks.

Well I’m glad to hear that D. Cuz I can honestly say that I enjoy your work..reading http://www.servinemup.com/ has made me feel more comfortable knowing that God can save crazy n’gaz too!! (laughing)

Amen!!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

A Word from the Publisher

Greetings earthlings. My name is D.E. Washington and I am an ambassador visiting this planet for a little while. Planet earth is not my home, I'm just passing through. I am a saved citizen of Heaven that is operating down here in this body during this time.

Personally, I've never been to Heaven, but God has unveiled to me feats of love and a wonderful peace through Jesus Christ that made me sign up and join the Christian army.

Onward Christian soldiers, marching on to war.

That's a song, but it's still real. We are engaged in a spiritual warfare and the battle is the Lord's.

Satan's on one side trying to entice, seduce, steer as many people toward hell as he can, just cuz he's a hater like that, that's what makes him the devil.

Jesus on the other hand, is trying to save as many souls as He can. He's offering ALL of us eternal life.

Whosoever will? Let him come..

But the problem is all the demons, devils and haters that are attempting to destroy, distort and discredit the Word.

"We found the lost tomb of Jesus and he was married and had kids!!"

"They didn't even put ALL of the Bible into the Bible!! God had something else to say too!!"

So that's where it starts for me. It's not my spaceship, it's Jesus' that is ready to whisk whosoever away from sin into safety.

But whenever I try to tell people that, they call ME crazy.

Then I just reached a point where I just didn't give a damn what people thought about me.

I mean, Yeah..maybe I AM crazy!! But that doesn't mean I don't have enough sense to know that Jesus is the ONLY Way out of this world. If you ain't riding with Christ, you DIE!

Ride or die.

You can avoid it for as long as you want to, but I've learned that until you make a decision in your life about Jesus Christ, you're going to be stuck in the wilderness.

So then I get the question, "So what exactly do you DO??"

I serve ink on the block.

Servinemup Ink

I also teach Sunday School at a small Baptist church on the Southside of Houston. I teach the 12-14 year old kids, mostly boys. Hard head Southside boys if you will. Of all my students, my son is one of the few that has a daily father figure present in his life.

I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be and I know I'm doing what God wants me to do. Because I know that the dying black family that we have in our hood is rooted in our husbands and fathers and young men straying away from the Word. And the more Word you can infuse into the hood, the better our families are going to be.

I didn't teach my class of 6 this morning about any Easter bunny, Easter egg, or Easter candy. As a matter of fact, I told them that although the word 'Easter' can be found in a lot of Bible versions in Acts 12:4, the original text used Pascha, 'Passover'. And we started our lesson in Exodus 12 and read up on God's 1st institution of the Passover.

Then we flipped over into the Gospel of John 19th and 20th chapters and we read about the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you really want to know about the fulfillment of the Law, then you need to know about the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the plagues, the requirement of a spotless lamb or goat for the blood sacrifice, the Death Angel and God's deliverance of His people from slavery.

There are a lot of preachers arguing over what day Christ was crucified. My thing is that it really doesn't matter what day He got up on the cross. The power didn't come until He came out of that borrowed tomb.

Naysayers throw out everything they can think of to discredit Christ's atoning work, but they can never knock His hustle. Jesus was all about love, there was no fault found in Him. And He opened not His mouth through all of His persecutions.

So now we're here. And the money-changers and dove-flippers in the temple of big business is trying to sell everybody the Easter Bunny and everything that goes along with it.

My thing is, if you're going to tell it, tell the truth. Be real about it. Why lie to the kids about some colored eggs??

The most important day in human history was not Christmas in my opinion. The most powerful and important day in history (in my opinion) is Resurrection Day. If you'd prefer it in Espanol, it's Resurrecion.

Some may think I've fallen off from my earlier publishing days, but quite the contrary, the ink I'm serving up is shining brighter than ever.

Happy Resurrection Day everybody!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Malachi 3:3

Malachi 3:3a says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at the next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."


If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Pass this on to everyone you know. Right now, this very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them. And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end.

"Life is a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you can only spend it once."