William Lynch: 300 years+
•Who does she think she is? She’s not pretty just because she has long hair.
•You are pretty to be a dark skin woman.
•I’m not dating anymore dark skin women because I don’t want to have any more dark skin children.
•I don’t like my hair it’s so nappy I need a relaxer, my hair is like Africa.
•Give me a red bone any day and I will take care.
•You are blacker than me.
•These old head don’t know anything; they don’t understand what we are going through.
•Shut up old woman and mind your business.
These are all things that I have heard said to myself personally, I’ve over heard someone say or read somewhere that it was said.
“Talking about good and bad hair; Whether you’re dark or you’re fair; “ (Lyrics from a song in School Dayz a movie that showed the issues between dark skin and light skin “black” folk)
“Cuz they made us hate ourselves and love their wealth, that’s why shorty hollering where the ballers at” (All Falls Down, Kanye West)
“Now -- Lauryn is only human
Don't think I haven't been through the same predicament
Let it sit inside your head like a million women in Philly been
It's silly when girls sell their souls because it's in
Look at what you be in, hair weaves like Europeans
Fake nails up out Koreans” (That Thing, Lauryn Hill)
What does all of this have to do with William Lynch? Riding the train Tuesday morning I was speaking to a good friend about Trayvon Martin. She then spoke of a movie ‘Animal’ that she watched and how they mentioned William Lynch. That sparked her to google William Lynch to learn more about him. That conversation sparked this blog. I’ve heard about William Lynch but never took the time to learn more information about him.
So…..William’s Lynch bright idea: “violent method of handling unruly slaves – lynching, though the term is not used – is inefficient and counterproductive. Instead, he suggests that they adopt his method, which consists of exploiting differences such as age and skin color in order to pit slaves against each other. This method, he assures his hosts, will "...control the slaves for at least 300 years."
We must, must, MUST, as a people learn to support one another, love one another and look beyond skin color, age and respect one another. We lack regard for each other, many of us have a me and mine mentality and it stops there. Hearing about violence, crime, or injustice to another of our own causes us to shake our heads and say that is a shame. The fact of the matter is, we were bred to hate ourselves and hate each other.
“….exploiting differences such as age and skin color in order to pit slaves against each other….” William Lynch
Exploit differences such as age and skin color. Age, Americans in general have no respect and regard for the elderly. Our way of taking care of our ancestors, forefathers is to usually put them in a nursing home or elderly facility and rarely visit or check on them. It’s as if they are in a mini prison old and washed up, of no use or value so we cast them away. We being Americans, in most other cultures elderly are respected and revered especially Asian cultures. We as African Americans have lost our culture many, many years ago, that doesn’t mean that it is too late to find it, reclaim it and stop adopting to values and customs that go against Yahweh and our own inner voices that tell us right from wrong. We as a people for the most part have accepted Western culture as our own. Partly because our culture, history and heritage was stolen from us, however, as the saying goes when we know better we should do better.
Skin color, skin color is something visible that we see that can’t be dismissed. Growing up, I told my mom I was black, she was brown, and my sister was white because that is what I saw. A recent episode of the TI and Tiny Show, their son King thought he was white. Now his maternal grandmother is white but his maternal grandfather and his father are black. TI made it perfectly clear to King that he is black and will one day be a black man. So color is something that some children think about simply because there is an array of skin tones and races that are seen on television, in schools, and just being out in the world, but….
Why is there still a belief that light skin makes one pretty, when referring to women, and dark skin women are ugly? I have heard too many times “you are pretty to be dark”. I have asked numerous men that told me that, what in the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that supposed to be a compliment? I don’t know how to take that when it comes to other dark skin women. Beauty is definitely only skin deep. Now what is attractive to one may not be attractive to another and that is ok but to say that dark skin women generally aren’t attractive is a bit much. Every time I take offense to it and let the man know that it is offensive.
I think about how L’Oreal has lightened Beyonce’s skin tone on their campaigns, I think about the lack of representation of African American women period in high fashion and the modeling industry, the lack of representation of us on main stream television and media in general. We are conditioned to hate ourselves. Even our hair texture, we all want and desire for the most part “straight, good hair”. Who the heck said that straight hair is good hair? Last time I checked Caucasians have to wash their hair every day or it will begin to stink and look bad. How the heck is that “good hair” and what constitutes “bad hair” anything with a little “nap?” The words that we use to describe ourselves and others is counterproductive to our own personal growth and upliftment.
My people we have to do better. Growing up, the only reason I wanted a relaxer is because I wanted to get a wrap hair style. I never looked at my hair as being bad. My mom used to straighten my hair and I will never forget I went to the beauty salon and told my beautician not to straighten it. My hair is naturally curly, when you wash it, it curls. So to most, I have “good hair”, again whatever that means. I walked home, my mom looked at me and said what in the world am I supposed to do with that. It wasn’t until college that I began wearing my hair in its natural state again. While I still get my hair straightened from time to time its simply because I desire a different look, not because nap, curl, kink or whatever it is bothers me. Not because I feel like I need to look like what I see in mainstream media. I can truly say I love everything about me just the way I was created. My feet could be a little smaller but anyway…
Not only have I been told I’m pretty to be a dark skin woman, the next question is usually is that your real hair? Once I confirm it is, the next question I’m asked is what are you mixed with? This ticks me off. WE ARE ALL MIXED WITH SOMETHING, BETTER YET, LIFE WAS CREATED IN AFRICA SO ALL RACES ARE A REPRESENTATION OF US IN SOME WAY.
Again, I am asked those questions because of the perception of our people that if you have “good hair”, are lighter skinned or have any qualities that resemble the Caucasian race you must be mixed. As if it is impossible for someone of African descent to be lighter or darker skin, have light eyes or “good hair.”
My own son learned about race relations by watching Everybody Hates Chris. He used to say things like white people get everything, or why is that white person on our block they shouldn’t live over here. I corrected him gently and we speak about different colors and races and more importantly, we were ALL created in the image and the likeness of Yahweh. Your skin color, hair, fake nails, arched brows, fake lashes, booty injections, and skin lightening creams are not going to get you any closer to heaven. More importantly if you don’t love yourself from the inside out, none of those outside factors matter.
Looks like we have William Lynch and others from slave days to thank for all of this foolery but the question is how do we rise above it? I was raised and told that I was beautiful and to love my dark skin and I 100% do. Unfortunately, there were people raised to hate their dark skin. Any one darker than a brown paper bag is simply too dark. Oh and make sure you relax your hair or get a weave to “fit in” with the rest of society. How do we reach those who want to bleach or lighten their skin to fit in, those that want to straighten their hair to fit in, those who despise the color of their because they’ve been called darkie, little Africa, black as he!!? How do we teach our children to love themselves just the way Yahweh made them?
Imagine how the world would be if we look at people through the eyes of our hearts to theirs down to their very souls! More importantly how can we as “African Americans” overcome the many stigmas placed on us through society? One great way, are you ready for this……..THROW AWAY YOUR TELEVISION! We are under and misrepresented on TV to a point that if you don’t truly know who you are the TV will define you as just about nothing. Not only that television were not named idiot boxes for no reason and they also use programming as a form of mind control but that is an entirely different subject.
Next, educate ourselves and our children, buy books and teach them about a wealth of things starting with African and other brown nations that exist and our people that have had an impact on our history outside of Malcolm, Martin, and Rosa and also about those in their own family. Our children’s role models should live in their home and or be related to them!!!!!!
There are bigger issues in the world then to be concerned with who’s lightest or darkest, who’s hair is the longest, whether or not to respect someone based on age. However, because these things were engrained in our forefathers and unknowingly passed down and sometimes knowingly and have in many ways become generational curses, we are still bond by a slave mentality.
I will end with a song by Nas, ‘Black Zombies’ (these lyrics do contain profanity):
"Black Zombie"
Uhh
[Nas]
Yo, you believe when they say we ain't shit, we can't grow?
All we are is dope dealers, and gangstas and hoes?
And you believe when they be tellin you lie, all on the media?
They make the world look crazy to keep you inside?
Why you listen when the teachers at school
know you a young single parent out strugglin, they think you a fool
Give your kids bad grades and put 'em in dumber classes
Killin shorty future, I wonder how do we last it
Underground in they casket? Ancestors turnin
I'm learnin somethin every day, there is no Lazareth
Words like God is Greek or Latin
So if you study Egypt, you'll see the truth written by the masters
My niggaz is chillin, gettin high, relaxin
Envisionin, ownin shit, yo it can happen
What do we own? Not enough land, not enough homes
Not enough banks, to give a brother a loan
What do we own? The skin on our backs, we run and we ask
for reperations, then they hit us with tax
And insurance if we live to be old, what about now?
So stop bein controlled, we black zombies
[Chorus: (sung)]
Walkin talkin dead, though we think we're livin (black zombies)
We just copy-cat, followin the system (black zombies)
Walkin talkin dead, though we think we're livin (black zombies)
We just copy-cat, followin the system (black zombies)
[Nas]
Aiyyo we trapped in our own brain, fuck behind bars
We've already gone insane
They've already gave up, cut our own heads offs
Stab our own backs and dream too much
without fulfillin reality; too greedy and
can't have one or two chains, we need three of dem
Can't have one or two guns without squeezin 'em
on our own people and, fuck black leaders
cause whites ain't got none leadin them, the rhythm is cosmic
Nas is divinity, the deity's prophetless
All get down and get up
Victims walkin 'round with Down's Syndrome, all stuck
Faintin, shoutin, catchin Holy Ghost in church
Scared to do it for ourselves 'less we see somebody doin it first
We begged, we prayed, petitioned and demostrated
Just to make another generation - black zombies
[Chorus]
[Nas]
You scared to be yourself, cause you in a trance
Feel free, hear the music and dance
If you cared what they think, why wear what they wear, just for you
Dumb niggaz with long beards like they Arabs or Jews
or from Israel, (?)bish'meal Allah, el-rachman, el-Rahim (?)
Islam's a beautiful thing
And Christian and Rastafari, helps us to bring
peace against the darkness, which is unGodly
So what's the black man's true religion, who should we follow?
Use your own intuition, you are tommorrow
[roaring] .. that's the sound of the beast
I'm a Columbia record slave, so get paid
Control your own destiny, you are a genius
Don't let it happen to you like it did to me, I was a black zombie
[Chorus]
[Nas]
Wake up! Black zombies in a spell for more than fo'-hundred years
Ghetto niggaz won't have it no mo', can I get a witness?
Why listen to somebody else tell you how to do it
when you can do it yourself; it's all in you, do it, do it
Do it niggaz..
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
http://epiphanyessentials.blogspot.com
A blog created to E-nspire, E-ncourage, E-ngage, E-nform, and E-mpower!
Monday, March 26, 2012
WOMEN DON'T NEED MEN!
WOMEN DON’T NEED A MAN!
As I am going through the process of purchasing a home for my son and I, the thought came across my mind, what do I need a man for? If I am buying property, working, taking care of myself and son, managing my finances and bills, what do I need a man for?
I need a man because the way that I am currently living is not Yahweh’s design for my life. I am all for the progressive woman as I am educated, I work, I take care of myself 99.9% of the time I rarely need anyone for anything. However, again that is not Yahweh’s design.
Yahweh created us after he placed everything in the world that we needed and that includes man. Woman was created because it is not right for man to be alone, to be a helpmate for the man. Yes we have other purposes however; we have to go back to the original reason that we were created. However somewhere down the line we were removed from our created purpose. To a large extent I blame modern Western culture, which I touched on a bit in my blog from Friday.
I blame modern Western culture, as it in many ways teaches a woman to go out become educated, get a career, then think about a man and starting a family. Western culture has many women thinking that if they make more than the man, they (woman) run the household. Western culture just simply has some women thinking they are not going to submit to or obey any man although that is what the Good Book says.
When anything is used outside of its original purpose that takes away from the creation itself. The family is the cornerstone of society; it is the cornerstone of our faith. Yahweh instructed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Let’s be clear I am prochoice and an advocate for birth control. Nevertheless, the way Yahweh designed is for the home to look like this:
1.Yahweh
2.Jesus
3.Man
4.Woman
5.Children
Unmarried women should be under the protection of their father until they are married. Simply put women should be under the protection of a man who is under the protection of Yahweh. If there father happens to pass away then an uncle, grandfather and so on should fill in the gap and protect that woman. Yes, I 100% believe this is what Yahweh’s intent was for women. I believe in the nuclear family although I am a single mother, I believe in what the nuclear family represents and how it is vital for the building of Yahweh’s kingdom.
However again, somewhere in Western culture and in the move for women’s rights I think things got a little too far out of hand. Do I necessarily believe everyone’s goal in life should be to get married and have children, no? I do however recognize that more women are having babies than women that get married and there is a problem there.
A male mentioned how the welfare system has created a cushion for women to be able to have babies out of wedlock and depend on the system and not need a man in the home to help them because the government is providing for them. I had never thought about that but his point makes a lot of sense. I think of women with 4 or 5 children, not all are on welfare or receiving public assistance, but for those that are, they are living off a system and often times the man they are laying up with at the moment is living off of the system too.
I have heard men speak of loving to date women on Section 8 with food stamps because as a man they don’t have to do anything for the woman except maybe get their hair and nails done and buy them some shoes.
So when we look at the current state of the African American community, all of these things play a factor but I think one of the biggest issues is women feeling like they don’t need a man either because their father was not in the home or simply because they are a new age progressive independent woman. There are benefits and drawbacks to being an independent woman and its ok to be independent but it is important to remember that we need interdependency between a man and a woman for the sake of the family, our community, and the Kingdom of Yahweh.
Truth is there are a lot of men that feel like they don’t need a woman. Especially when you have new age women that don’t cook, clean, can’t sew a button or a hem, barely want to wash a dish, or do anything domestic because they don’t know how or don’t want to.
So this blog on not needing a man was simply sparked by a thought that entered my mind this morning and is in no way an all-encompassing synopsis of what is wrong with the African American community but as I said Friday, we have lost our culture and we need to find it.
I would love to hear your thoughts?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
As I am going through the process of purchasing a home for my son and I, the thought came across my mind, what do I need a man for? If I am buying property, working, taking care of myself and son, managing my finances and bills, what do I need a man for?
I need a man because the way that I am currently living is not Yahweh’s design for my life. I am all for the progressive woman as I am educated, I work, I take care of myself 99.9% of the time I rarely need anyone for anything. However, again that is not Yahweh’s design.
Yahweh created us after he placed everything in the world that we needed and that includes man. Woman was created because it is not right for man to be alone, to be a helpmate for the man. Yes we have other purposes however; we have to go back to the original reason that we were created. However somewhere down the line we were removed from our created purpose. To a large extent I blame modern Western culture, which I touched on a bit in my blog from Friday.
I blame modern Western culture, as it in many ways teaches a woman to go out become educated, get a career, then think about a man and starting a family. Western culture has many women thinking that if they make more than the man, they (woman) run the household. Western culture just simply has some women thinking they are not going to submit to or obey any man although that is what the Good Book says.
When anything is used outside of its original purpose that takes away from the creation itself. The family is the cornerstone of society; it is the cornerstone of our faith. Yahweh instructed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Let’s be clear I am prochoice and an advocate for birth control. Nevertheless, the way Yahweh designed is for the home to look like this:
1.Yahweh
2.Jesus
3.Man
4.Woman
5.Children
Unmarried women should be under the protection of their father until they are married. Simply put women should be under the protection of a man who is under the protection of Yahweh. If there father happens to pass away then an uncle, grandfather and so on should fill in the gap and protect that woman. Yes, I 100% believe this is what Yahweh’s intent was for women. I believe in the nuclear family although I am a single mother, I believe in what the nuclear family represents and how it is vital for the building of Yahweh’s kingdom.
However again, somewhere in Western culture and in the move for women’s rights I think things got a little too far out of hand. Do I necessarily believe everyone’s goal in life should be to get married and have children, no? I do however recognize that more women are having babies than women that get married and there is a problem there.
A male mentioned how the welfare system has created a cushion for women to be able to have babies out of wedlock and depend on the system and not need a man in the home to help them because the government is providing for them. I had never thought about that but his point makes a lot of sense. I think of women with 4 or 5 children, not all are on welfare or receiving public assistance, but for those that are, they are living off a system and often times the man they are laying up with at the moment is living off of the system too.
I have heard men speak of loving to date women on Section 8 with food stamps because as a man they don’t have to do anything for the woman except maybe get their hair and nails done and buy them some shoes.
So when we look at the current state of the African American community, all of these things play a factor but I think one of the biggest issues is women feeling like they don’t need a man either because their father was not in the home or simply because they are a new age progressive independent woman. There are benefits and drawbacks to being an independent woman and its ok to be independent but it is important to remember that we need interdependency between a man and a woman for the sake of the family, our community, and the Kingdom of Yahweh.
Truth is there are a lot of men that feel like they don’t need a woman. Especially when you have new age women that don’t cook, clean, can’t sew a button or a hem, barely want to wash a dish, or do anything domestic because they don’t know how or don’t want to.
So this blog on not needing a man was simply sparked by a thought that entered my mind this morning and is in no way an all-encompassing synopsis of what is wrong with the African American community but as I said Friday, we have lost our culture and we need to find it.
I would love to hear your thoughts?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Thursday, March 22, 2012
TRAYVON MARTIN: HE COULD BE ANY OF OUR SONS
I know people who have been tweeting and updating their FaceBook statuses about Trayvon Martin. However I just took the time yesterday to actually read about what happened. My heart is heavy and I am saddened by the fact that a 17 year old boy was shot down while walking home from the store because someone in the neighborhood watch thought he looked suspicious. As a mother raising a child that will become a black man I have to stay in faith and prayed up for my child because the world that we live in has some sick, twisted people that have no regard for all life. I have to continue to declare Yahweh's hedge of protection over my son and send him out covered in the blood for Yahweh's protection is the only protection I know to lean on.
Trayvon Martin's killer is not in jail right now under the guise that he acted in self-defense. Supposedly the only witnesses to the crime are Trayvon and the shooter. So what does that mean? Right now that means that his killer is at home living life as normal as if he did not kill an innocent teenage boy. Now whether or not the killer has trouble sleeping at night, we may never know but he still has the ability to see, touch, smell, feel, and hear his family.
Have we as a community become so immune to the killings of our young or our people in general that we don’t stand up and come together to speak against injustices like this. I know that the color of change is working on helping the family, they are the same group that was helping with the Troy Davis case.
What saddens me the most is that there seems to be no regard for the life of black people especially black men. As if nothing has changed since slavery. Sure many of us walk around happy go lucky and free but if something happens to one of us, we should all feel the effects of it. Again that age old question what is that we do. Sign the petition, write a letter, support a cause that you feel is worthy. Do your best to stay informed, do something.
I’m glad that the FBI is now involved in the case, I simply pray that justice prevails for Trayvon Martin and that his killer receives a punishment fitting for his crime. In my opinion this was out right murder, this was in no way a justified killing. The police clearly told the killer to stay in his vehicle, they were on the way, he chose to do otherwise then wants to cry self-defense. If he felt that threatened he should have stayed in his car!
Here are some links:
http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-florida-teen-neighborhood-watch-20120319,0,7016674.story?track=rss
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/19/trayvon-martins-murder-was-the-motive-self-defense-or-racism/
What are your thoughts?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
I know people who have been tweeting and updating their FaceBook statuses about Trayvon Martin. However I just took the time yesterday to actually read about what happened. My heart is heavy and I am saddened by the fact that a 17 year old boy was shot down while walking home from the store because someone in the neighborhood watch thought he looked suspicious. As a mother raising a child that will become a black man I have to stay in faith and prayed up for my child because the world that we live in has some sick, twisted people that have no regard for all life. I have to continue to declare Yahweh's hedge of protection over my son and send him out covered in the blood for Yahweh's protection is the only protection I know to lean on.
Trayvon Martin's killer is not in jail right now under the guise that he acted in self-defense. Supposedly the only witnesses to the crime are Trayvon and the shooter. So what does that mean? Right now that means that his killer is at home living life as normal as if he did not kill an innocent teenage boy. Now whether or not the killer has trouble sleeping at night, we may never know but he still has the ability to see, touch, smell, feel, and hear his family.
Have we as a community become so immune to the killings of our young or our people in general that we don’t stand up and come together to speak against injustices like this. I know that the color of change is working on helping the family, they are the same group that was helping with the Troy Davis case.
What saddens me the most is that there seems to be no regard for the life of black people especially black men. As if nothing has changed since slavery. Sure many of us walk around happy go lucky and free but if something happens to one of us, we should all feel the effects of it. Again that age old question what is that we do. Sign the petition, write a letter, support a cause that you feel is worthy. Do your best to stay informed, do something.
I’m glad that the FBI is now involved in the case, I simply pray that justice prevails for Trayvon Martin and that his killer receives a punishment fitting for his crime. In my opinion this was out right murder, this was in no way a justified killing. The police clearly told the killer to stay in his vehicle, they were on the way, he chose to do otherwise then wants to cry self-defense. If he felt that threatened he should have stayed in his car!
Here are some links:
http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-florida-teen-neighborhood-watch-20120319,0,7016674.story?track=rss
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/19/trayvon-martins-murder-was-the-motive-self-defense-or-racism/
What are your thoughts?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
SPEAK VISION
Speak Vision!
Joel Osteen blessed my soul on Sunday speaking about Vision. Vision is defined as the state of being able to see. The question is what do we see? When you see a small child playing and using their imagination is that all you see or do you see a future inventor, sculptor or painter or do you simply see a child active at play? When you encounter a student that only gets D’s and F’s on their report card do you see someone without a future? Or do you see someone that has the possibility of becoming the next Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X? Then what do you say based on what you see?
Now remember scripture tells us to call those things that be not as though they were. Scripture also tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is important that we speak vision into others that we come in contact with when we can. As Joel said sometimes we see things in people that they do not yet see in themselves.
He spoke of how his wife used to tell him well before his father’s passing that he would be a great pastor and a great speaker. At the time he thought his wife was out of her mind but she had vision and she spoke it into his life.
Joel also told a great story about an experiment done in a high school. The principal called 3 teachers in and told them they were the top teachers in the school and that the school was selecting the top students for them to teach advance level classes too. Once the semester was over, all the students had performed well in their classes, meeting and even exceeding the expectations placed on them. Shortly thereafter, the principal called the teachers in and told them it was an experiment, they didn’t have the top students in the school, the students had been randomly selected. The teachers began to pat themselves on the back, then the principal told them they weren’t the top teachers either, they’d been randomly selected as well. The lesson: People rise to the level of your expectation so set the bar as high as you can.
It’s amazing at what words can do to people. Words become planted in people’s hearts and take root. So why you think you are speaking truth based on what is, remember you should be speaking Yahweh’s truth declaring all is well. I think of the parents that say my child isn’t good at this or that, my child can’t do this or that and they say it in front of the child and to other people. Then they feel safe in saying see I knew it, no you said it, that was the vision you spoke, that was the prophecy you said over your child and that what is what continued to be fulfilled.
I remember a message by Joel where a parent had a wayward child but when she received a phone call asking about her child, she said all is well, my child is blessed and prospering. Now some may say the mother was lying but what the mother was doing was speaking into existence what she knew as in store for her child. See faith is in the right now. Faith is not later. We receive things in faith immediately all we wait on is the manifestation and in the meantime we believe.
It is time for us to see the vision and speak vision over our lives, our children, our family, our communities, friends, neighborhoods, city, state, nation, and the world. No matter how you feel about someone and their actions, speak vision. Speak Yahweh’s best into their lives, pray for them, uplift them, stand in the gap for them. Do it because you should and do it because someone somewhere did it for you.
Our challenge for this week, month, year and our lives: Think before we speak, only speak words of Faith and Life, believe in what we speak, do unto others as we would have them to do unto us.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Joel Osteen blessed my soul on Sunday speaking about Vision. Vision is defined as the state of being able to see. The question is what do we see? When you see a small child playing and using their imagination is that all you see or do you see a future inventor, sculptor or painter or do you simply see a child active at play? When you encounter a student that only gets D’s and F’s on their report card do you see someone without a future? Or do you see someone that has the possibility of becoming the next Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X? Then what do you say based on what you see?
Now remember scripture tells us to call those things that be not as though they were. Scripture also tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is important that we speak vision into others that we come in contact with when we can. As Joel said sometimes we see things in people that they do not yet see in themselves.
He spoke of how his wife used to tell him well before his father’s passing that he would be a great pastor and a great speaker. At the time he thought his wife was out of her mind but she had vision and she spoke it into his life.
Joel also told a great story about an experiment done in a high school. The principal called 3 teachers in and told them they were the top teachers in the school and that the school was selecting the top students for them to teach advance level classes too. Once the semester was over, all the students had performed well in their classes, meeting and even exceeding the expectations placed on them. Shortly thereafter, the principal called the teachers in and told them it was an experiment, they didn’t have the top students in the school, the students had been randomly selected. The teachers began to pat themselves on the back, then the principal told them they weren’t the top teachers either, they’d been randomly selected as well. The lesson: People rise to the level of your expectation so set the bar as high as you can.
It’s amazing at what words can do to people. Words become planted in people’s hearts and take root. So why you think you are speaking truth based on what is, remember you should be speaking Yahweh’s truth declaring all is well. I think of the parents that say my child isn’t good at this or that, my child can’t do this or that and they say it in front of the child and to other people. Then they feel safe in saying see I knew it, no you said it, that was the vision you spoke, that was the prophecy you said over your child and that what is what continued to be fulfilled.
I remember a message by Joel where a parent had a wayward child but when she received a phone call asking about her child, she said all is well, my child is blessed and prospering. Now some may say the mother was lying but what the mother was doing was speaking into existence what she knew as in store for her child. See faith is in the right now. Faith is not later. We receive things in faith immediately all we wait on is the manifestation and in the meantime we believe.
It is time for us to see the vision and speak vision over our lives, our children, our family, our communities, friends, neighborhoods, city, state, nation, and the world. No matter how you feel about someone and their actions, speak vision. Speak Yahweh’s best into their lives, pray for them, uplift them, stand in the gap for them. Do it because you should and do it because someone somewhere did it for you.
Our challenge for this week, month, year and our lives: Think before we speak, only speak words of Faith and Life, believe in what we speak, do unto others as we would have them to do unto us.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
ARE YOU ABOUT THAT LIFE?
Here in Chicago that is a slang term that is used, I guess it means are you down, is this truly what you are about. Unfortunately, Chicago has a not so good reputation when it comes to violence especially once the snow melts and the temperature rise. One year either 2011 or 2010 the 1stwarm day 36 people were shot, 36! Over the weekend when I woke up to my tweets I read that 18 people had been shot in Chicago overnight, 18! Disturbing to many was the fact that a 6 year old girl was murdered on her first porch.
I saw many tweets about stop the violence and how the stop snitching or no snitching code on the street is stupid and for someone to come forth and identify the murderers of the innocent girl. This morning however, I read in the Red Eye that the girl was sitting on her porch with her mother, younger sister, and a male. Ok so who is the male? What is his relation to the family? Why is it we don’t have more details about said male? Then I read that the family was gang affiliated.
See initially I thought this was a random drive by shooting and an innocent little girl lost her life. This is where the are you about that life part comes in. So many people are out here living the street life, claiming to be “about that life” but aren’t ready to face the consequences that come with the life. Many of these people about that life fail to realize that they are not the only ones affected by their choices.
That goes for each and every one of us. Yes we are grown and we have the right to decide but our decisions can have an effect on our family, friends, loved ones, coworkers, those around us. Everything that we do, EVERYTHING has an impact on someone else other than ourselves. Be it in the immediate or in the long run. But, back to being about that life:
Nowadays it seems there is more violence in Chicago but that could just be because more is reported on the news. As violence has been a part of this city for quite sometime. It’s crazy many of the people out here in gangs, doing dirt, shooting, robbing and beating people up aren’t even leaving their neighborhoods. What does that mean? It means they aren’t hard to find, someone probably knows their entire family and has no problem letting bullets at will when they choose even if on their front porch steps with children, mothers, grandmothers and so forth present.
Does this make it right? Absolutely not but I believe the good book says if you live by the sword you die by the sword. It also says that “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those wholoveMe and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6) So even the sins of a father can effect his children’s children down to the fourth generations.
Be mindful whom you hang around and associate with for their blessings as well as their curses can affect your life. Its like that old saying goes guilty by association. Your mere association with certain people and groups, coupled with being in the wrong place at the wrong time can prove to be deadly or detrimental. We have to choose wisely.
Now I understand sometimes you are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and completely an innocent bystander that has been caught up in senseless violence. However, if you are ok with and affiliated with those that are about that life, don’t cry victim or foul when their demons show up at your door looking for you.
Sadly most of these kids nowadays in gangs are misled, under educated, lack guidance and strong foundations and they aren’t truly about that life either. However, in many respects they don’t know what to do or they’ve gotten involved and now feel there is no way out. As people what can we do, start at home teaching our children how to think for themselves and make good decisions. We do that by being examples then we reach out and mentor someone else in our community, place of worship, a shelter.
For it is not enough to talk about it or blog about it we have to do something again starting in our own homes but then reaching out to someone else in some kind of way. Even if your choice is to pray, do that, if your choice is to praise, do that. For the prayers of the righteous availeth much and praise confuses the enemy. Whatever your choice, do something!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
I saw many tweets about stop the violence and how the stop snitching or no snitching code on the street is stupid and for someone to come forth and identify the murderers of the innocent girl. This morning however, I read in the Red Eye that the girl was sitting on her porch with her mother, younger sister, and a male. Ok so who is the male? What is his relation to the family? Why is it we don’t have more details about said male? Then I read that the family was gang affiliated.
See initially I thought this was a random drive by shooting and an innocent little girl lost her life. This is where the are you about that life part comes in. So many people are out here living the street life, claiming to be “about that life” but aren’t ready to face the consequences that come with the life. Many of these people about that life fail to realize that they are not the only ones affected by their choices.
That goes for each and every one of us. Yes we are grown and we have the right to decide but our decisions can have an effect on our family, friends, loved ones, coworkers, those around us. Everything that we do, EVERYTHING has an impact on someone else other than ourselves. Be it in the immediate or in the long run. But, back to being about that life:
Nowadays it seems there is more violence in Chicago but that could just be because more is reported on the news. As violence has been a part of this city for quite sometime. It’s crazy many of the people out here in gangs, doing dirt, shooting, robbing and beating people up aren’t even leaving their neighborhoods. What does that mean? It means they aren’t hard to find, someone probably knows their entire family and has no problem letting bullets at will when they choose even if on their front porch steps with children, mothers, grandmothers and so forth present.
Does this make it right? Absolutely not but I believe the good book says if you live by the sword you die by the sword. It also says that “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those wholoveMe and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6) So even the sins of a father can effect his children’s children down to the fourth generations.
Be mindful whom you hang around and associate with for their blessings as well as their curses can affect your life. Its like that old saying goes guilty by association. Your mere association with certain people and groups, coupled with being in the wrong place at the wrong time can prove to be deadly or detrimental. We have to choose wisely.
Now I understand sometimes you are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and completely an innocent bystander that has been caught up in senseless violence. However, if you are ok with and affiliated with those that are about that life, don’t cry victim or foul when their demons show up at your door looking for you.
Sadly most of these kids nowadays in gangs are misled, under educated, lack guidance and strong foundations and they aren’t truly about that life either. However, in many respects they don’t know what to do or they’ve gotten involved and now feel there is no way out. As people what can we do, start at home teaching our children how to think for themselves and make good decisions. We do that by being examples then we reach out and mentor someone else in our community, place of worship, a shelter.
For it is not enough to talk about it or blog about it we have to do something again starting in our own homes but then reaching out to someone else in some kind of way. Even if your choice is to pray, do that, if your choice is to praise, do that. For the prayers of the righteous availeth much and praise confuses the enemy. Whatever your choice, do something!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Monday, March 19, 2012
FEAR IS FAITH IN THE ENEMY!
FEAR IS FAITH IN THE ENEMY
Fear is paralyzing! It is paralyzing because it keeps people from doing things that we need and want to do. However, fear is faith in the enemy. As many of us have heard fear stands for, false evidence appearing real. Let me repeat this for those who didn’t catch that FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL! Watching Bill Winston, he discussed 4 main fears:
• Death
• Uncertainty
• Change
• Poverty
Although scripture tells us Yahweh did not give us a spirit of fear, we somehow believe that our fears are valid or normal. If one feels that faith in the devils is normal then continue to fear because that is what it is.
Death, why is that so many people are afraid of death. The biggest answer is because death is unknown (uncertainty) to us we don’t know what to expect in death. However, if you are a faith believer you should believe that when you die you are going to heaven, purgatory, or you will live in paradise (whatever your faith/beliefs says). So why the fear and how does it manifest? I had a huge fear of motorcycles. My thought was I need full protection while on the road. Well I was watching Bill Winston again and he threw the fear of motorcycles in the same boat with a fear of flying, in a nutshell the real fear is death.
When I think about it, what is there to fear about motorcycles. One thing is me falling off and scraping myself or badly damaging my cranium however, that brings in another fear, uncertainty. That is the same fear those who are afraid of flying experience. They don’t want to get on a plane because of plane crashes, you can’t just decide to get off you have to wait until the plane lands, what if the plane lands in water, what if this or what if that. All things that point to uncertainty and the fear that you may get on the plane alive but leave on a stretcher dead.
How did these fears manifest? I knew someone personally who was in a bad motorcycle accident and I hear about deaths due to motorcycles all the time. People hear about plane crashes on the news. I had a cousin who lived in Atlanta that was afraid to come to Chicago because when she saw news about the city it was usually about some sort of violent crime that had taken place. Our parents, media, and things we see in our everyday lives place fears in us. Sometimes this fear is created out of “love” but really fear isn’t a good thing unless it is the fear you have for Yahweh, and that is a reverent fear.
How do we conquer these fears? Well for me, my cousin came over one day on his motorcycle and I told him to take me around the block. I hopped on, squeezed him tightly, but I am still here to tell the story! You conquer your fears by facing them. If you are afraid of flying book a flight no more than an hour or 2 to start with say a prayer, get on the plane and keep it moving. Whatever it is you are afraid of doing, put it on the top of your priority list and just do it!
Let me be clear fear is a learned behavior. I have read stories of people that have never stepped foot on a plane, heck there are people who have never truly left their neighborhoods. It is saddening because you miss out on so much of your own city, state, country and the world for fear of death, uncertainty, and change.
Change, I think about the lyrics to a song, “everything must change, nothing stays the same.” Our children grow up and leave our homes, we grow older, jobs change, friends change, family members move to different cities and states, our weight fluctuates etc. Change is inevitable and a necessary part of life for growth yet so many fear it and resist it at all cost. Some parents don’t want their children to leave the state they live in to attend a college or university. Other parents are all for it. Some people don’t want to leave the state they live in for fear of starting over and not knowing anyone where they move to. I always think to myself, what is the worst that will happen?
I have heard people say that when some know they are dying or on their death bed, they rarely regret the things that they did more so than the things they didn’t do. The last thing you want to do is die with regrets because fear kept you paralyzed and unable to do something you wanted to do.
Poverty, even those that are living check to check fear poverty! More realistically the fear of poverty is a fear of not having enough. Some people fear not having enough to the point where they refuse to share because they feel if they give they will have less. However, you must give in order to receive. A lot of us don’t realize how blessed we are, we don’t realize that we are rich beyond measure and I’m not just speaking of money. As I’ve said in a previous blog Creflo Dollar calls poverty lack in any area of your life. While it is important to be wise and a good steward over your finances, too many people place emphasis on money. Yes I know the saying money makes the world go round but if you are a believer in the Most High you know that everything belongs to Him and you have full access to it, and He keeps the world going. His word says that He supplies all of our needs and that He is our shepherd and we shall not want.
So why is it that we fear? Again because it is a learned behavior that we have accepted. So how do we change it? We learn/teach ourselves a new behavior my looking fear in the face, grabbing it by the horns and facing it.
I’m sure you don’t want to end up here: “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part'shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8
Finally a few quotes to help stir you up ;-)
"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free." Jim Morrison
"Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasure." Rainier Maria Rilke
"If you let it, life can become a simple pattern of staying in your comfort zone and never wandering out into the unknown to see what lies on the other side of its horizon. Today is Monday, the first day of the week; change your patterns, even slightly today, so that a new world can find you. Do ONE thing that scares you today, ONE thing that makes you a little nervous, ONE thing that you never thought you would do. If you do ONE thing every day you will have done 365 NEW THINGS in a year! Today, don't try to tackle everything, but please do ONE thing!" Jackson Kiddard
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Fear is paralyzing! It is paralyzing because it keeps people from doing things that we need and want to do. However, fear is faith in the enemy. As many of us have heard fear stands for, false evidence appearing real. Let me repeat this for those who didn’t catch that FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL! Watching Bill Winston, he discussed 4 main fears:
• Death
• Uncertainty
• Change
• Poverty
Although scripture tells us Yahweh did not give us a spirit of fear, we somehow believe that our fears are valid or normal. If one feels that faith in the devils is normal then continue to fear because that is what it is.
Death, why is that so many people are afraid of death. The biggest answer is because death is unknown (uncertainty) to us we don’t know what to expect in death. However, if you are a faith believer you should believe that when you die you are going to heaven, purgatory, or you will live in paradise (whatever your faith/beliefs says). So why the fear and how does it manifest? I had a huge fear of motorcycles. My thought was I need full protection while on the road. Well I was watching Bill Winston again and he threw the fear of motorcycles in the same boat with a fear of flying, in a nutshell the real fear is death.
When I think about it, what is there to fear about motorcycles. One thing is me falling off and scraping myself or badly damaging my cranium however, that brings in another fear, uncertainty. That is the same fear those who are afraid of flying experience. They don’t want to get on a plane because of plane crashes, you can’t just decide to get off you have to wait until the plane lands, what if the plane lands in water, what if this or what if that. All things that point to uncertainty and the fear that you may get on the plane alive but leave on a stretcher dead.
How did these fears manifest? I knew someone personally who was in a bad motorcycle accident and I hear about deaths due to motorcycles all the time. People hear about plane crashes on the news. I had a cousin who lived in Atlanta that was afraid to come to Chicago because when she saw news about the city it was usually about some sort of violent crime that had taken place. Our parents, media, and things we see in our everyday lives place fears in us. Sometimes this fear is created out of “love” but really fear isn’t a good thing unless it is the fear you have for Yahweh, and that is a reverent fear.
How do we conquer these fears? Well for me, my cousin came over one day on his motorcycle and I told him to take me around the block. I hopped on, squeezed him tightly, but I am still here to tell the story! You conquer your fears by facing them. If you are afraid of flying book a flight no more than an hour or 2 to start with say a prayer, get on the plane and keep it moving. Whatever it is you are afraid of doing, put it on the top of your priority list and just do it!
Let me be clear fear is a learned behavior. I have read stories of people that have never stepped foot on a plane, heck there are people who have never truly left their neighborhoods. It is saddening because you miss out on so much of your own city, state, country and the world for fear of death, uncertainty, and change.
Change, I think about the lyrics to a song, “everything must change, nothing stays the same.” Our children grow up and leave our homes, we grow older, jobs change, friends change, family members move to different cities and states, our weight fluctuates etc. Change is inevitable and a necessary part of life for growth yet so many fear it and resist it at all cost. Some parents don’t want their children to leave the state they live in to attend a college or university. Other parents are all for it. Some people don’t want to leave the state they live in for fear of starting over and not knowing anyone where they move to. I always think to myself, what is the worst that will happen?
I have heard people say that when some know they are dying or on their death bed, they rarely regret the things that they did more so than the things they didn’t do. The last thing you want to do is die with regrets because fear kept you paralyzed and unable to do something you wanted to do.
Poverty, even those that are living check to check fear poverty! More realistically the fear of poverty is a fear of not having enough. Some people fear not having enough to the point where they refuse to share because they feel if they give they will have less. However, you must give in order to receive. A lot of us don’t realize how blessed we are, we don’t realize that we are rich beyond measure and I’m not just speaking of money. As I’ve said in a previous blog Creflo Dollar calls poverty lack in any area of your life. While it is important to be wise and a good steward over your finances, too many people place emphasis on money. Yes I know the saying money makes the world go round but if you are a believer in the Most High you know that everything belongs to Him and you have full access to it, and He keeps the world going. His word says that He supplies all of our needs and that He is our shepherd and we shall not want.
So why is it that we fear? Again because it is a learned behavior that we have accepted. So how do we change it? We learn/teach ourselves a new behavior my looking fear in the face, grabbing it by the horns and facing it.
I’m sure you don’t want to end up here: “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part'shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8
Finally a few quotes to help stir you up ;-)
"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free." Jim Morrison
"Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasure." Rainier Maria Rilke
"If you let it, life can become a simple pattern of staying in your comfort zone and never wandering out into the unknown to see what lies on the other side of its horizon. Today is Monday, the first day of the week; change your patterns, even slightly today, so that a new world can find you. Do ONE thing that scares you today, ONE thing that makes you a little nervous, ONE thing that you never thought you would do. If you do ONE thing every day you will have done 365 NEW THINGS in a year! Today, don't try to tackle everything, but please do ONE thing!" Jackson Kiddard
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
CAN YOU HAVE FAITH WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Can You Have Faith without the Holy Spirit?
This is a comment in response to my post from yesterday Faith & "Church":
"Your blog was a very good read today, question do you really believe that you can have faith speak these things as if they were, if you do not have the Holy Spirit living in you to do so?
We also know for our selves that the Holy Spirit is the "Power" and you possess the Holy Spirit by living a TOTALLY obedience life to Christ,don't get me wrong we all fall short daily! Just something to think about! Your honest opinion"
Now my initial response to this comment was NO. I generally write my blogs from the perspective of a believer in Christ to other believers. As I went through the rest of my day yesterday and even thought about this last night I was reminded of a conversation me and my mother would always have. She would say she cannot believe that people who have been good people, kind and loving to others will end up in hell because they have not accepted Christ. I also think about people like Gandhi who sacrificed, took a vow of poverty and cared about others and just gave and gave. I don't believe he was a Christian but I also cannot say he went to hell. Yes I know the Good Book says that Jesus is the way to the Father. The Good Book also says that Yahweh can show mercy on whom he chooses and that He can graft the Jews back into the tree for they are the original branches. (Romans 11:11-24)
Do I believe that there is 100% unequivocally only one way to the Most High and only one way to live right and pleasing to Him? I really can't say. Now I do believe that a person must be spiritual and accept the fact that there is something bigger than them, outside of themselves that is a driving force for them to be able to understand many things. They have to believe in a Higher Power be it Yahweh, God, Allah, Buddha etc. I do know that the only thing that separates Christianity from other religions is that Jesus died and rose from the grave. This is also what gives Christians a superior attitude to other religions (that is to say Christian’s in general not specifically individual people). In the Qur’an Jesus is accepted as a prophet, and the Qur’an says the Jews did not kill Jesus; however, the Qur’an doesn't accept or claim Jesus to be the Messiah. At the same time Muslim, Jewish, and Christianity all have Abraham in common as they are Abrahamic scriptures. I also think about Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the other religions/spiritual practices of the world and it is sad how many of these religions fight over who is right and who is wrong.
The truth is Yahweh is All Knowing, All Seeing, and All Powerful and He says that He will have mercy and compassion on whom he pleases (Romans 9:15).
What I do know is this is a touchy subject, as we have amongst Christians - Catholics, Baptist, Jehovah Witnesses, Sanctified, COGIC, Latter Day Saints, and Hebrew Israelites etc. The Muslims have - Sunnis, Sufis, Shiites, and Wahhabi. All of these sets and denominations under One God and One Faith that fight over who is right and is doing it the right way.
The most important thing for me is are people walking in love by faith, showing compassion and mercy toward one another. Is Jesus the only way to learn how to do these things? Probably not. Who is right, who's wrong, what's right and what's wrong? Who know we can't really say. We as individuals have to rely on our personal beliefs and faith and trust that we are doing the right thing and believe wholeheartedly we shall in end up paradise/heaven wherever place we feel our spirits will go once it departs our shells we call bodies.
I personally believe that we will be judged according to our beliefs based on what we've been taught and what has been placed on our hearts. I think we will be judged by our love, faith, and deeds. If there is a judgment at all.
I will leave this at that as I don't have the answers, I don't believe anyone has the answer to who's right and who's wrong. The most we can do is try our best to live right and do unto others.
Be a blessing and be a blessing,
Epiphany Essential
This is a comment in response to my post from yesterday Faith & "Church":
"Your blog was a very good read today, question do you really believe that you can have faith speak these things as if they were, if you do not have the Holy Spirit living in you to do so?
We also know for our selves that the Holy Spirit is the "Power" and you possess the Holy Spirit by living a TOTALLY obedience life to Christ,don't get me wrong we all fall short daily! Just something to think about! Your honest opinion"
Now my initial response to this comment was NO. I generally write my blogs from the perspective of a believer in Christ to other believers. As I went through the rest of my day yesterday and even thought about this last night I was reminded of a conversation me and my mother would always have. She would say she cannot believe that people who have been good people, kind and loving to others will end up in hell because they have not accepted Christ. I also think about people like Gandhi who sacrificed, took a vow of poverty and cared about others and just gave and gave. I don't believe he was a Christian but I also cannot say he went to hell. Yes I know the Good Book says that Jesus is the way to the Father. The Good Book also says that Yahweh can show mercy on whom he chooses and that He can graft the Jews back into the tree for they are the original branches. (Romans 11:11-24)
Do I believe that there is 100% unequivocally only one way to the Most High and only one way to live right and pleasing to Him? I really can't say. Now I do believe that a person must be spiritual and accept the fact that there is something bigger than them, outside of themselves that is a driving force for them to be able to understand many things. They have to believe in a Higher Power be it Yahweh, God, Allah, Buddha etc. I do know that the only thing that separates Christianity from other religions is that Jesus died and rose from the grave. This is also what gives Christians a superior attitude to other religions (that is to say Christian’s in general not specifically individual people). In the Qur’an Jesus is accepted as a prophet, and the Qur’an says the Jews did not kill Jesus; however, the Qur’an doesn't accept or claim Jesus to be the Messiah. At the same time Muslim, Jewish, and Christianity all have Abraham in common as they are Abrahamic scriptures. I also think about Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the other religions/spiritual practices of the world and it is sad how many of these religions fight over who is right and who is wrong.
The truth is Yahweh is All Knowing, All Seeing, and All Powerful and He says that He will have mercy and compassion on whom he pleases (Romans 9:15).
What I do know is this is a touchy subject, as we have amongst Christians - Catholics, Baptist, Jehovah Witnesses, Sanctified, COGIC, Latter Day Saints, and Hebrew Israelites etc. The Muslims have - Sunnis, Sufis, Shiites, and Wahhabi. All of these sets and denominations under One God and One Faith that fight over who is right and is doing it the right way.
The most important thing for me is are people walking in love by faith, showing compassion and mercy toward one another. Is Jesus the only way to learn how to do these things? Probably not. Who is right, who's wrong, what's right and what's wrong? Who know we can't really say. We as individuals have to rely on our personal beliefs and faith and trust that we are doing the right thing and believe wholeheartedly we shall in end up paradise/heaven wherever place we feel our spirits will go once it departs our shells we call bodies.
I personally believe that we will be judged according to our beliefs based on what we've been taught and what has been placed on our hearts. I think we will be judged by our love, faith, and deeds. If there is a judgment at all.
I will leave this at that as I don't have the answers, I don't believe anyone has the answer to who's right and who's wrong. The most we can do is try our best to live right and do unto others.
Be a blessing and be a blessing,
Epiphany Essential
Monday, March 12, 2012
FAITH & "CHURCH"
FAITH & "CHURCH"
Read these scriptures a couple of times before reading my blog. This blog may cause some controversy for some, may make some think I’m a bit confused and every is entitled to their opinions nevertheless, I shall write from my heart what inspires me based on the Word. Again read these scriptures a couple of times and think about them and meditate on them.
Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ”
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Luke 17:6 “He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.”
Matthew 13:3b – 9 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
I’m not even sure how to write this. I haven’t been to an actual fellowship meeting in a while. I refrain from calling it “church” for I am the “church”, we each are the “church”, we don’t go to “church” we are the “church”. We don’t go to fellowship meetings looking for Yahweh, we don’t have to He is already within us. The Word does instruct us not to neglect meeting and fellowshipping with other like believers on a regular basis. Nevertheless it has been widely accepted to call some places of worship “church”. We as Christian have accepted a lot of things and adapted them into practice that we shouldn’t but that is neither here nor there no room for that in this blog.
So someone told me that my son needs to be raised in “church”. I was speaking to someone else about someone who is going through something and they asked, “are they still going to “church”?” In both instances, to a large extent I understand what they were trying to tell me, however, to a large extent I disagree as well. There are plenty of people raised in the “church” that have never actually picked up a bible and read it let alone studied it. There are people raised in “church”(es) that don’t know basic things/concepts that are in the bible. There are people raised in “church” that don’t know that we don’t know the name for the Most High for it was so holy that it was not spoken or written. More importantly for the sake of this blog, there are people that grow up in “church”, attend “church” until the day that they go to sleep for the final time, we don’t die!, that lack FAITH.
There is a saying that if your faith doesn’t have proof it’s a fake. My goal is to grow and increase in faith daily. Trust me my flesh and spirit are having some serious battles right now. My thoughts, oh my thoughts are sometimes not what they should be, however, I think before I speak and I choose to speak faith, life filled words. Why? Because the Word is powerful enough to bring itself to pass. The Word is powerful enough to transform me, if I let it do so. That can only happen by me speaking and believing it.
This morning Pastor Winston spoke on self-sabotage. How it is not always the devil that holds us back but our own image that has been engrained in our self-conscious that keeps us from our breakthroughs. Instead of looking at the situation and taking ownership of our situation, we will say oh the devil is at it again. No, you are at it again, you spoke words last week, last year, yesterday that are manifesting in your life right now. More importantly, you lack faith in the situation, you have taken your eyes off Yahweh and placed your eyes on your circumstances. You are listening to the media, news reports, doubts of others, your own fears instead of believing in Yahweh. Nothing is impossible for Yahweh, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YAHWEH!!!!! It is time we all started believing that, walking in it, and living it.
Think of the people that say I don’t have the money to do this or that. I don’t have enough time to do this or that. I never get any good breaks, bad things always happen to me when I am on vacation. Words are energy that send vibrations out into the earth and return those same vibrations back to you. If you don’t want to see it in your life don’t speak it at all period, not even in joking. If you want to increase your faith and you want your words to always have power and meaning you must only speak the Word. That is how you train your spirit and activate your angels on your behalf. A lot of people that speak this language attend “church” regularly, listen to the Word regularly, listen to gospel music and all types of things. So what is the problem? That is all they are doing is listening and hearing and nothing else.
Scripture says without faith it is impossible to please Yahweh. To my knowledge there isn’t a scripture that says if you don’t go to “church” you won’t please Yahweh. Do I personally have anything against ““church”” absolutely not, I do feel that more people place more value on going to ““church”” attending ““church”” services than they do on living and walking by faith. Now in Romans 12:3 scripture says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” We have all been given the same measure of faith, so we all start out with the same amount of faith. With that said, Romans 10 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” So in order to maintain and increase in faith you must hear the Word of God. You can hear the Word by attending a fellowship meeting, reading the Word aloud, listening to a CD or watching a DVD, or simply reciting aloud to yourself.
BUT……. James tells us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” It is not enough to listen/hear the Word, attend “church” we must do it. Scripture also tells us that faith without works is dead. So pretty much faith comes by hearing the Word, once you hear it you must do it, or your faith dies. As believers we should be using our faith daily for scripture says, the just shall LIVE by faith.
We as people however, cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that hearing the Word is doing something for us. That is where “church” comes in again, too many people feel they are doing what is right because they go to “church” regularly and hear the Word. Well Jesus had something to say about that too in Matthew 13:3-9:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
We have all in our lifetime been or had seed that was ate by a bird, scorched and withered, choked, and those that produced crop. What if we got so into Yahweh that all of our seed produced crop? That is the type of life that we should be living for and leaning towards. Many of us hear a Word that we immediately reject, to me that is the seed that fell along the path, others of us hear the Word, we know how it applies to someone else and is a need for them and we can’t wait to tell them, for me that is the soil that was shallow, what the person failed to realize is that they needed the word more so as quick as they were excited it died out because it didn’t apply to them, or at least they thought. Then you have those people who are just negative, they feel like they’ve tried faith, they tried positivity, they’ve tried it all and it didn’t work, they are the thorns. Then there are those few people that hear the Word, they go home and pray and say, they meditate, they re-read the word and they recite the Word, and the Word goes to work for them and produces crops.
Scripture tells us you will know a tree by the fruit it produces. I don’t know about you but I am ready to see some beautiful, juicy, delicious fruit on my tree. I want to experience abundance in every area of my life, my health, finances, relationships, career, business, EVERY area. For lack in any area as Pastor Creflo explained means I am living in poverty or lack. It is not enough to have abundance in your finances and your health, career, business lacks and so on and so forth. Just because you are better off than your neighbor doesn’t mean you are living a blessed, favored, prosperous life.
In closing, I have no issue with attending large or small fellowship services to be with like-minded individuals in the spirit. I actually plan on attending this Sunday just to be in that atmosphere. There is also a women’s fellowship that I would like to attend happening soon. I am going solely to be fed for I know a word will be spoken that shall touch my heart. I am not going because that is what I am supposed to or have to do. Or because I don’t want someone calling me asking me where have I been. Nor because I feel like it means if I don’t go I am not in right relationship with Yahweh. Going to “church” for those reasons makes it a religious practice and not a spiritual experience. However, do I feel it is vital for my praise and worship experience? No. If I attend services Sunday after Sunday, year after year, and lack faith in any area I need to examine myself. The Pastor can’t give it to me, none of the other members can increase it for me, I have to have it for myself. I have to choose to start living the Word in order for my faith to increase. I have to start living the Word to see increase in my life. I have to step out of my comfort zone and what I think I can have and realize that my Father, the Creator, owns everything in this earth and the fullness there of and it already belongs to me and start possessing it.
So what is my hope, my hope is that we start placing more emphasis on knowing the Father than going to “church”. My hope is that less people try to condemn others for not attending “church” and start living a life so worthy of the calling that it draws people to want to come and fellowship and worship with them wherever they are. I don’t believe that what is missing in people’s lives is “church” I believe what is missing is Faith in Yahweh to be able to do the IMPOSSIBLE and make the INVISIBLE VISIBLE although HE does it time and time again. I believe that people need to find Yahweh in their hearts, minds, and spirit before they can find him anywhere else. But hey this is just my opinion!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Read these scriptures a couple of times before reading my blog. This blog may cause some controversy for some, may make some think I’m a bit confused and every is entitled to their opinions nevertheless, I shall write from my heart what inspires me based on the Word. Again read these scriptures a couple of times and think about them and meditate on them.
Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ”
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Luke 17:6 “He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.”
Matthew 13:3b – 9 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
I’m not even sure how to write this. I haven’t been to an actual fellowship meeting in a while. I refrain from calling it “church” for I am the “church”, we each are the “church”, we don’t go to “church” we are the “church”. We don’t go to fellowship meetings looking for Yahweh, we don’t have to He is already within us. The Word does instruct us not to neglect meeting and fellowshipping with other like believers on a regular basis. Nevertheless it has been widely accepted to call some places of worship “church”. We as Christian have accepted a lot of things and adapted them into practice that we shouldn’t but that is neither here nor there no room for that in this blog.
So someone told me that my son needs to be raised in “church”. I was speaking to someone else about someone who is going through something and they asked, “are they still going to “church”?” In both instances, to a large extent I understand what they were trying to tell me, however, to a large extent I disagree as well. There are plenty of people raised in the “church” that have never actually picked up a bible and read it let alone studied it. There are people raised in “church”(es) that don’t know basic things/concepts that are in the bible. There are people raised in “church” that don’t know that we don’t know the name for the Most High for it was so holy that it was not spoken or written. More importantly for the sake of this blog, there are people that grow up in “church”, attend “church” until the day that they go to sleep for the final time, we don’t die!, that lack FAITH.
There is a saying that if your faith doesn’t have proof it’s a fake. My goal is to grow and increase in faith daily. Trust me my flesh and spirit are having some serious battles right now. My thoughts, oh my thoughts are sometimes not what they should be, however, I think before I speak and I choose to speak faith, life filled words. Why? Because the Word is powerful enough to bring itself to pass. The Word is powerful enough to transform me, if I let it do so. That can only happen by me speaking and believing it.
This morning Pastor Winston spoke on self-sabotage. How it is not always the devil that holds us back but our own image that has been engrained in our self-conscious that keeps us from our breakthroughs. Instead of looking at the situation and taking ownership of our situation, we will say oh the devil is at it again. No, you are at it again, you spoke words last week, last year, yesterday that are manifesting in your life right now. More importantly, you lack faith in the situation, you have taken your eyes off Yahweh and placed your eyes on your circumstances. You are listening to the media, news reports, doubts of others, your own fears instead of believing in Yahweh. Nothing is impossible for Yahweh, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YAHWEH!!!!! It is time we all started believing that, walking in it, and living it.
Think of the people that say I don’t have the money to do this or that. I don’t have enough time to do this or that. I never get any good breaks, bad things always happen to me when I am on vacation. Words are energy that send vibrations out into the earth and return those same vibrations back to you. If you don’t want to see it in your life don’t speak it at all period, not even in joking. If you want to increase your faith and you want your words to always have power and meaning you must only speak the Word. That is how you train your spirit and activate your angels on your behalf. A lot of people that speak this language attend “church” regularly, listen to the Word regularly, listen to gospel music and all types of things. So what is the problem? That is all they are doing is listening and hearing and nothing else.
Scripture says without faith it is impossible to please Yahweh. To my knowledge there isn’t a scripture that says if you don’t go to “church” you won’t please Yahweh. Do I personally have anything against ““church”” absolutely not, I do feel that more people place more value on going to ““church”” attending ““church”” services than they do on living and walking by faith. Now in Romans 12:3 scripture says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” We have all been given the same measure of faith, so we all start out with the same amount of faith. With that said, Romans 10 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” So in order to maintain and increase in faith you must hear the Word of God. You can hear the Word by attending a fellowship meeting, reading the Word aloud, listening to a CD or watching a DVD, or simply reciting aloud to yourself.
BUT……. James tells us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” It is not enough to listen/hear the Word, attend “church” we must do it. Scripture also tells us that faith without works is dead. So pretty much faith comes by hearing the Word, once you hear it you must do it, or your faith dies. As believers we should be using our faith daily for scripture says, the just shall LIVE by faith.
We as people however, cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that hearing the Word is doing something for us. That is where “church” comes in again, too many people feel they are doing what is right because they go to “church” regularly and hear the Word. Well Jesus had something to say about that too in Matthew 13:3-9:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
We have all in our lifetime been or had seed that was ate by a bird, scorched and withered, choked, and those that produced crop. What if we got so into Yahweh that all of our seed produced crop? That is the type of life that we should be living for and leaning towards. Many of us hear a Word that we immediately reject, to me that is the seed that fell along the path, others of us hear the Word, we know how it applies to someone else and is a need for them and we can’t wait to tell them, for me that is the soil that was shallow, what the person failed to realize is that they needed the word more so as quick as they were excited it died out because it didn’t apply to them, or at least they thought. Then you have those people who are just negative, they feel like they’ve tried faith, they tried positivity, they’ve tried it all and it didn’t work, they are the thorns. Then there are those few people that hear the Word, they go home and pray and say, they meditate, they re-read the word and they recite the Word, and the Word goes to work for them and produces crops.
Scripture tells us you will know a tree by the fruit it produces. I don’t know about you but I am ready to see some beautiful, juicy, delicious fruit on my tree. I want to experience abundance in every area of my life, my health, finances, relationships, career, business, EVERY area. For lack in any area as Pastor Creflo explained means I am living in poverty or lack. It is not enough to have abundance in your finances and your health, career, business lacks and so on and so forth. Just because you are better off than your neighbor doesn’t mean you are living a blessed, favored, prosperous life.
In closing, I have no issue with attending large or small fellowship services to be with like-minded individuals in the spirit. I actually plan on attending this Sunday just to be in that atmosphere. There is also a women’s fellowship that I would like to attend happening soon. I am going solely to be fed for I know a word will be spoken that shall touch my heart. I am not going because that is what I am supposed to or have to do. Or because I don’t want someone calling me asking me where have I been. Nor because I feel like it means if I don’t go I am not in right relationship with Yahweh. Going to “church” for those reasons makes it a religious practice and not a spiritual experience. However, do I feel it is vital for my praise and worship experience? No. If I attend services Sunday after Sunday, year after year, and lack faith in any area I need to examine myself. The Pastor can’t give it to me, none of the other members can increase it for me, I have to have it for myself. I have to choose to start living the Word in order for my faith to increase. I have to start living the Word to see increase in my life. I have to step out of my comfort zone and what I think I can have and realize that my Father, the Creator, owns everything in this earth and the fullness there of and it already belongs to me and start possessing it.
So what is my hope, my hope is that we start placing more emphasis on knowing the Father than going to “church”. My hope is that less people try to condemn others for not attending “church” and start living a life so worthy of the calling that it draws people to want to come and fellowship and worship with them wherever they are. I don’t believe that what is missing in people’s lives is “church” I believe what is missing is Faith in Yahweh to be able to do the IMPOSSIBLE and make the INVISIBLE VISIBLE although HE does it time and time again. I believe that people need to find Yahweh in their hearts, minds, and spirit before they can find him anywhere else. But hey this is just my opinion!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Friday, March 9, 2012
HIGHER EDUCATION
HIGHER EDUCATION
For those who don’t know me I have been educated well, maybe not as well as most but fairly well. I attended a Classical Chicago Public School, a private high school, one of the top universities for my field in the nation at the time they were #3, and I also have a Master’s Degree. The adage of go to school, get a good education, and get a job is somewhat misleading.
Do I believe in higher education? To a certain degree, why? Because there are many things about it I don’t understand. For example, if I know I want to be an accountant why do I need to take history classes? Why not allow me to focus in on my major classes early on and allow me to choose elective classes that may spark my interest? Focus on my want to be an accountant and allow me to focus my complete energy to that craft and study as much as I can without having to worry about other classes that once I graduate I may not care anything about.
If someone knows they want to be an accountant, go into finance, become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, nurse, by all means pursue higher education. If you are unsure of what you want to do or what you want to be I would say hold off from going to college or a university. Why waste the money. It would be better for a parent to save the money they would be spending on classes for their child. The child may decide they want to go into business, use the money saved as seed money and then take classes specific to what they want to do.
One huge, major, uberly important benefit of higher education is relationships and networking but many students, I myself, as well miss the boat on that. When pursuing higher education, make friends and get to know people in different majors and across all nationalities. Join clubs and groups outside of what you are doing but that may benefit you in the long run for there is one adage that holds true, it’s not what you know but who you know and that your network determines your net worth.
So for networking purposes and having a specific mission in mind I am all for higher education but I do not see how taking history and quite a few other classes helped me in the here and now. Sure they say you need to be a well-rounded person but let’s be real, they are only teaching us what they want us to know. Let me decide how I want to be rounded and what I want to know, don’t force it on me. If students were able to take their major classes and some choice electives college would only take about 2 years not only that it would save families a lot of money and students a lot in student loans if they have to take them.
Getting student loans, going to college, and graduating with a degree with or without a job but in 6 months or less knowing you already have a bill more importantly graduating in debt is entering the work force half backwards in my opinion. But hey, this country has thrived off of debt and consumerism and that methodology is slowing unraveling and showing itself to be extremely flawed. We have to make sure we are informed and not going along with the status quo when it comes to everything from education to finances.
So my thoughts are go to school, network, get an education, and start your own business/practice. Also make sure you are out there on the golf/tennis course as that is where a lot of business deals are made.
I would love to hear your thoughts, in most of these posts I just give bits and pieces to introduce an idea. I hope you all enjoy them J.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
For those who don’t know me I have been educated well, maybe not as well as most but fairly well. I attended a Classical Chicago Public School, a private high school, one of the top universities for my field in the nation at the time they were #3, and I also have a Master’s Degree. The adage of go to school, get a good education, and get a job is somewhat misleading.
Do I believe in higher education? To a certain degree, why? Because there are many things about it I don’t understand. For example, if I know I want to be an accountant why do I need to take history classes? Why not allow me to focus in on my major classes early on and allow me to choose elective classes that may spark my interest? Focus on my want to be an accountant and allow me to focus my complete energy to that craft and study as much as I can without having to worry about other classes that once I graduate I may not care anything about.
If someone knows they want to be an accountant, go into finance, become a doctor, engineer, lawyer, nurse, by all means pursue higher education. If you are unsure of what you want to do or what you want to be I would say hold off from going to college or a university. Why waste the money. It would be better for a parent to save the money they would be spending on classes for their child. The child may decide they want to go into business, use the money saved as seed money and then take classes specific to what they want to do.
One huge, major, uberly important benefit of higher education is relationships and networking but many students, I myself, as well miss the boat on that. When pursuing higher education, make friends and get to know people in different majors and across all nationalities. Join clubs and groups outside of what you are doing but that may benefit you in the long run for there is one adage that holds true, it’s not what you know but who you know and that your network determines your net worth.
So for networking purposes and having a specific mission in mind I am all for higher education but I do not see how taking history and quite a few other classes helped me in the here and now. Sure they say you need to be a well-rounded person but let’s be real, they are only teaching us what they want us to know. Let me decide how I want to be rounded and what I want to know, don’t force it on me. If students were able to take their major classes and some choice electives college would only take about 2 years not only that it would save families a lot of money and students a lot in student loans if they have to take them.
Getting student loans, going to college, and graduating with a degree with or without a job but in 6 months or less knowing you already have a bill more importantly graduating in debt is entering the work force half backwards in my opinion. But hey, this country has thrived off of debt and consumerism and that methodology is slowing unraveling and showing itself to be extremely flawed. We have to make sure we are informed and not going along with the status quo when it comes to everything from education to finances.
So my thoughts are go to school, network, get an education, and start your own business/practice. Also make sure you are out there on the golf/tennis course as that is where a lot of business deals are made.
I would love to hear your thoughts, in most of these posts I just give bits and pieces to introduce an idea. I hope you all enjoy them J.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Thursday, March 8, 2012
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS
Monday night, I watched the TI show well actually it was more like 2:30A this morning but anyway. Their son Major whom I believe is 3 said "daddy can I have $50". TI asked his son why he thought he had $50, the son replied because you are out of jail. TI and his wife, Tiny, then start talking about the boys being able to make their own money. Their son King, 7, left out of the room and came back with a duffle bag full of cash. Since TI and Tiny were headed to LA with their oldest daughter due to a record deal the group she's in, OMG Girlz, were going to sign they decided to take the boys and see if they could get into acting.
At work, often times we talk about reality TV shows. One of my coworkers who is a mother said the talk about money and the boys working, earning their own money when they are only 3 and 7 rubbed her the wrong way. She felt the family was materialistic and that is what they were stressing to their children. My take on it was totally different. I realize that there are other child stars, I referenced Will and Jada Smith's children, as well as countless others. So the thought of a child acting and making money isn't something new. If that makes TI and Tiny materialistic and money focused what does that say about other families?
TI and Tiny don't need the money they are independently wealthy nevertheless they have resources and connections that could help start a career for their children. And I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think about a young black girl I read about who was in grammar school that wanted to take her grandmother's recipe for hair care products, if I'm not mistaken, and start her own business. Her father a business executive was all for it, he quit his job to work for his young daughter.
I recently read an article that stated as soon as a child knows how to ask for money is the time to teach them about money. My co-workers stance is her children don't know about such things and TI's children shouldn't either. Back in the day children didn't know whether they were poor or not. This is a new time and a new day and age. If you have a parent that has large sums of money in the home, you see them on TV, you are now on TV, and you definitely need to be taught about money the right way so that you don't think it grows on trees. On top of that, you definitely should learn how to not only make but manage money. I think of the scripture that says train a child in the way that they shall go and when they are older they won't part from it. So if we are to be training our children, when do we teach them about money and other things? Immediately, straight away but that is just my opinion.
I didn't get the sense from TI and Tiny that they were teaching their children materialism as I watch the show often, TI does his best to teach his children lessons about life in general. Let's be real, they have wealthy parents that drive Bentley's, Mercedes Benz's etc. and they are not sheltered from the real world. When they drive around they see the differences in houses and cars. Now to even think about my co-workers statement poor people back in the day didn't know they were poor because they were surrounded by other poor people!!!!!
Another of my co-workers and I were talking and she spoke about her father being a business executive and her mother being a teacher. She said her parents were financially sound and still are yet, they never taught her about money, saving or credit. It's safe to assume that her parents know about all of those things and manage their finances well yet they didn't teach their children. Our children, “African American”, are at a disadvantage because we don't teach them about money, currency, saving and credit and unless they take finance or accounting class in school or on their own chances are they won't learn.
I think about the children with lemonade stands that are earning money. I think about the Cosby episode where Rudy wanted a new sweater I think it cost $9 and Cliff made her work around the house to earn the money for the sweater. I also think about the fact that Rudy bought the sweater and then it didn't work. I think at the time Rudy was about 10 maybe 12. No matter what age, children can learn about money and earn. Even with my son, he gets an allowance but he earns it by doing the things he is supposed to do without me having to remind him or tell him to do them. When he ask for certain things I make him spend his own money against his will most times. Sometimes he spends his money quickly and then ask for something and I ask him where is his money and that is how I introduced saving for a rainy day. More importantly teaching him don’t spend all of your money at one time you never know what else you may want!
We have to teach our kids about saving, investing, checking accounts, CD, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, futures, IRA, 403Bs, and more importantly we need to educate ourselves, we cannot be afraid to learn or shy away from something because we don’t know anything about. In order to bridge the gap we must educate ourselves, we cannot depend on the school system or anyone else to do it, we must seek out the information and the people that are in the know.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Monday night, I watched the TI show well actually it was more like 2:30A this morning but anyway. Their son Major whom I believe is 3 said "daddy can I have $50". TI asked his son why he thought he had $50, the son replied because you are out of jail. TI and his wife, Tiny, then start talking about the boys being able to make their own money. Their son King, 7, left out of the room and came back with a duffle bag full of cash. Since TI and Tiny were headed to LA with their oldest daughter due to a record deal the group she's in, OMG Girlz, were going to sign they decided to take the boys and see if they could get into acting.
At work, often times we talk about reality TV shows. One of my coworkers who is a mother said the talk about money and the boys working, earning their own money when they are only 3 and 7 rubbed her the wrong way. She felt the family was materialistic and that is what they were stressing to their children. My take on it was totally different. I realize that there are other child stars, I referenced Will and Jada Smith's children, as well as countless others. So the thought of a child acting and making money isn't something new. If that makes TI and Tiny materialistic and money focused what does that say about other families?
TI and Tiny don't need the money they are independently wealthy nevertheless they have resources and connections that could help start a career for their children. And I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think about a young black girl I read about who was in grammar school that wanted to take her grandmother's recipe for hair care products, if I'm not mistaken, and start her own business. Her father a business executive was all for it, he quit his job to work for his young daughter.
I recently read an article that stated as soon as a child knows how to ask for money is the time to teach them about money. My co-workers stance is her children don't know about such things and TI's children shouldn't either. Back in the day children didn't know whether they were poor or not. This is a new time and a new day and age. If you have a parent that has large sums of money in the home, you see them on TV, you are now on TV, and you definitely need to be taught about money the right way so that you don't think it grows on trees. On top of that, you definitely should learn how to not only make but manage money. I think of the scripture that says train a child in the way that they shall go and when they are older they won't part from it. So if we are to be training our children, when do we teach them about money and other things? Immediately, straight away but that is just my opinion.
I didn't get the sense from TI and Tiny that they were teaching their children materialism as I watch the show often, TI does his best to teach his children lessons about life in general. Let's be real, they have wealthy parents that drive Bentley's, Mercedes Benz's etc. and they are not sheltered from the real world. When they drive around they see the differences in houses and cars. Now to even think about my co-workers statement poor people back in the day didn't know they were poor because they were surrounded by other poor people!!!!!
Another of my co-workers and I were talking and she spoke about her father being a business executive and her mother being a teacher. She said her parents were financially sound and still are yet, they never taught her about money, saving or credit. It's safe to assume that her parents know about all of those things and manage their finances well yet they didn't teach their children. Our children, “African American”, are at a disadvantage because we don't teach them about money, currency, saving and credit and unless they take finance or accounting class in school or on their own chances are they won't learn.
I think about the children with lemonade stands that are earning money. I think about the Cosby episode where Rudy wanted a new sweater I think it cost $9 and Cliff made her work around the house to earn the money for the sweater. I also think about the fact that Rudy bought the sweater and then it didn't work. I think at the time Rudy was about 10 maybe 12. No matter what age, children can learn about money and earn. Even with my son, he gets an allowance but he earns it by doing the things he is supposed to do without me having to remind him or tell him to do them. When he ask for certain things I make him spend his own money against his will most times. Sometimes he spends his money quickly and then ask for something and I ask him where is his money and that is how I introduced saving for a rainy day. More importantly teaching him don’t spend all of your money at one time you never know what else you may want!
We have to teach our kids about saving, investing, checking accounts, CD, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, futures, IRA, 403Bs, and more importantly we need to educate ourselves, we cannot be afraid to learn or shy away from something because we don’t know anything about. In order to bridge the gap we must educate ourselves, we cannot depend on the school system or anyone else to do it, we must seek out the information and the people that are in the know.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
SINGLE PARENTHOOD: CHILD ABUSE?
SINGLE PARENTHOOD: CHILD ABUSE?
“Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Senator proposes law that declares single parenthood child abuse. He is also an admitted opponent of the social welfare system and believes it encourages women to have children out of wedlock.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/glenn-grothman-wisconsin-law-single-parenthood-child-abuse_n_1316834.html)
Women have been getting pregnant since the beginning of days. When speaking to the family gynecologist, he told my mother that pregnancy is just a thing that happens to a large extent. Women young and old, married/unmarried gets pregnant sometimes out of choice and sometimes unexpectedly. They either choose to keep their children or terminate the pregnancy. While every child deserves a mother and father, the choice to keep or terminate a pregnancy is largely solely the woman’s choice. Yes, absolutely this can make it unfair for a man that might not want any children. Nevertheless, there is an easy remedy for that problem, protect yourself with condoms or get a vasectomy if you don’t want children. This goes for men and women the same.
This made me think of something I saw on MSNBC Sunday that disturbed me. They equated a woman losing her right to choose with a homeless mother that is going to jail for 12 years on drug charges and using a false address to put her child in a better school. The reporter on MSNBC said something to the extent that more of that would happen if a woman’s right to choose was taken completely away. I was highly, HIGHLY offended by that comment. As in the course of life, things happen, people lose jobs, family members pass away, every homeless person didn’t make bad decisions per se they may have just had a course of bad experiences they have yet to bounce back from.
Oddly I went to see Good Deeds this weekend (IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND PLAN ON SEEING IT STOP READING THIS BLOG NOW). Thandie’s role was that of a single mother. We are introduced to her with the property manager knocking on her door telling her the rent is due. She then checks her mattress to count the rent money she’d been saving, grabs her daughter and goes to her place of employment to get her check early. The check was only for $112. She was distraught as she’d worked 80 hours only to learn that the IRS was garnishing her wages. At first only working a day shift, she had to pick up a night shift but had no day care or help for her child. She then takes her daughter to school where the Principal informs Thandie that her daughter’s teacher has been complaining that she comes to school late and picks her up late. She leaves the school, returns back to her apartment only to find that her things had been set out by the landlord and the money she had in her mattress to pay her rent was gone! Now she and her daughter were homeless.
Is this the ideal life for a child, absolutely not, did Thandie love her daughter and do the best she could absolutely. There was no drug or alcohol abuse involved. Later we find out that Thandie was married, in nursing school, her husband was in the war, died and everything fell on her. One thing after another happened, she had no family to help her and she was doing the best that she could to keep it all together but things just fell apart.
So what about the single mothers that become that way through the death of a husband or father? What about single fathers who become that way because a mother dies on the child birthing table? Will there be separate rules for unwed single mothers and wed mothers who become single by way of divorce or death?
I feel like it is a thin dangerous line to compare single parenting to child abuse. There are plenty of successful people that came from single parent homes as well as a traditional nuclear family, just as there are plenty of non-successful people that came from both types of homes as well. There is never one contributing factor to the well-being of child. A child could be in an abusive 2 parent home just as they could be in an abusive single family home.
What are your thoughts? Should single parenting be considered child abuse? As a single mother, I say no of course :-)
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
“Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Senator proposes law that declares single parenthood child abuse. He is also an admitted opponent of the social welfare system and believes it encourages women to have children out of wedlock.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/glenn-grothman-wisconsin-law-single-parenthood-child-abuse_n_1316834.html)
Women have been getting pregnant since the beginning of days. When speaking to the family gynecologist, he told my mother that pregnancy is just a thing that happens to a large extent. Women young and old, married/unmarried gets pregnant sometimes out of choice and sometimes unexpectedly. They either choose to keep their children or terminate the pregnancy. While every child deserves a mother and father, the choice to keep or terminate a pregnancy is largely solely the woman’s choice. Yes, absolutely this can make it unfair for a man that might not want any children. Nevertheless, there is an easy remedy for that problem, protect yourself with condoms or get a vasectomy if you don’t want children. This goes for men and women the same.
This made me think of something I saw on MSNBC Sunday that disturbed me. They equated a woman losing her right to choose with a homeless mother that is going to jail for 12 years on drug charges and using a false address to put her child in a better school. The reporter on MSNBC said something to the extent that more of that would happen if a woman’s right to choose was taken completely away. I was highly, HIGHLY offended by that comment. As in the course of life, things happen, people lose jobs, family members pass away, every homeless person didn’t make bad decisions per se they may have just had a course of bad experiences they have yet to bounce back from.
Oddly I went to see Good Deeds this weekend (IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND PLAN ON SEEING IT STOP READING THIS BLOG NOW). Thandie’s role was that of a single mother. We are introduced to her with the property manager knocking on her door telling her the rent is due. She then checks her mattress to count the rent money she’d been saving, grabs her daughter and goes to her place of employment to get her check early. The check was only for $112. She was distraught as she’d worked 80 hours only to learn that the IRS was garnishing her wages. At first only working a day shift, she had to pick up a night shift but had no day care or help for her child. She then takes her daughter to school where the Principal informs Thandie that her daughter’s teacher has been complaining that she comes to school late and picks her up late. She leaves the school, returns back to her apartment only to find that her things had been set out by the landlord and the money she had in her mattress to pay her rent was gone! Now she and her daughter were homeless.
Is this the ideal life for a child, absolutely not, did Thandie love her daughter and do the best she could absolutely. There was no drug or alcohol abuse involved. Later we find out that Thandie was married, in nursing school, her husband was in the war, died and everything fell on her. One thing after another happened, she had no family to help her and she was doing the best that she could to keep it all together but things just fell apart.
So what about the single mothers that become that way through the death of a husband or father? What about single fathers who become that way because a mother dies on the child birthing table? Will there be separate rules for unwed single mothers and wed mothers who become single by way of divorce or death?
I feel like it is a thin dangerous line to compare single parenting to child abuse. There are plenty of successful people that came from single parent homes as well as a traditional nuclear family, just as there are plenty of non-successful people that came from both types of homes as well. There is never one contributing factor to the well-being of child. A child could be in an abusive 2 parent home just as they could be in an abusive single family home.
What are your thoughts? Should single parenting be considered child abuse? As a single mother, I say no of course :-)
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
THE PLACEBO EFFECT
Editors Note: Yahweh is the name G-d gave Moses when he asked Him whom shall I say sent me in the bible the response was YHWH or Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM. I have learned that because the Most Highs name was so holy people did not speak it or write it. So the Most Highs “real name” may never truly be known. I have come to shy away from calling Him God, for the word God was a pagan word adapted by people of Yahweh. For complete understand Yahweh is the Great I AM and his son is Yeshua many of us use the word Jesus. They are one but separate at the same time.
The Placebo Effect
This Sunday I was blessed by Joel Osteen, I must say every time I hear the Word from mighty men and women of Yahweh I am blessed. Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Yahweh, each time I hear the Word my faith increases and is confirmed. Why? Because I keep hearing the same thing over and over again, and my belief is constantly fueled, like adding more gasoline to an already burning fire! It helps my vision of what I know my life shall be and what the life of my child shall be and I keep hope alive.
Too many people are limited because their vision is limited. Your vision of yourself is your image of yourself. The Words you speak over yourself are based on your vision and your image of yourself. Since we are created in the image and the likeness of Yahweh, anything negative we speak of ourselves is not of Yahweh or from Yahweh. So what is your vision, image of yourself? Before you answer ask yourself where you are in life right now. You may be waiting on some of your vision to be manifested but are you speaking for it and believing for it or speaking against it and cancelling it out?
Joel mentioned how patients went in for knee surgery, the doctor performed the surgery on some of the patients but there were patients that the doctor gave anesthesia too and made the same incisions on their knees and the real surgery patients but he didn’t perform the surgery. A year or so later, the doctor followed up with all of the patients and they all felt improvement in their knee. He examined all the patients by x-ray and sure enough they all had become better. Why is it that the placebo patients who didn’t receive the knee surgery got better just like the patients that had received surgery? Their vision of themselves changed!
Doctors have used the placebo effect for years. Often times when patients receive placebo it is a double blind study, the doctors are unaware of who received the placebo or the real thing for the studies validity and so that the doctor doesn’t bias the results. What is going on with the placebo effect? Someone has a pain, ache or mental illness so they go to the doctor and they are prescribed a drug that helps alleviate whatever their problem is. They start taking their medicine and often times they get well and become better.
Ironically though, some of the patients are only receiving sugar pills that do nothing yet they become better. Again why? Because they believe, they have a vision in their mind that the medicine they are taking is healing them. What they really don’t understand is simply their belief in the pill, their belief that they were getting better and improving, sent signals to their brains and the brain sent signals to the body that created the atmosphere of healing. In the people’s mind, their vision told them that they were getting better.
So many of us believe that we need something outside of ourselves in order to get better, do better, or be better. Well scripture tells us without vision the people perish. Lack of vision is the cause of destruction, not lack of money, doctors, prescription or over the counter medicine. A lack of vision causes us to perish.
We’ve heard it time and time again as a man thinks so is he. So why is it that we don’t believe? Before I get those who say that we do need something outside of ourselves, no we don’t. The Kingdom of Yahweh is within you, if you were baptized the holy spirit is already within you. Now there are angels watching over you waiting to go to work on your behalf but they are activated by your thoughts manifesting into you speaking the Word of Yahweh so that the angels can go to work, so, EVERYTHING you need is already within you.
For those who maybe giving the side eye saying the placebo effect don’t always work, let’s get more biblical. We believe in Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals, how many people when faced with illness or sickness in their lives or someone close to them simply thanks Yahweh for their healing, confesses that by his stripes they are healed and then believes for that healing? I pray all of us, our beliefs have the POWER to draw the appropriate energy to us and others and the Word has the POWER once spoken to bring itself to pass!!!!!!!!
So what is your image, vision for yourself and your family? Is that what you are speaking? Is that what is engrained in your subconscious? Are your thoughts, actions, and words aligned to see your vision/image of yourself come to pass? I like the way Bill Winston puts it we have to get to the point where the only factor in our life is the God-factor. How can you say with Yahweh all things are possible but then you speak of impossibilities?
"When you want to do a big thing, get the mental pattern, make it perfect, know just what it means, enlarge your thought, keep it to yourself, pass it over to the creative power behind all things, wait and listen, and when the impression comes, follow it with assurance. Don't talk to anyone about it. Never listen to negative talk or pay attention to it and you will success where all others fail." Ernest Holmes
Instead of looking at what others have and have not been able to do in the natural consider Yahweh at all times, the God-factor! Consider Yahweh only. "The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." Orison Swett Marden
STOP TALKING TO PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT WALKING AND SPEAKING FAITH AT ALL TIMES, I SAID THIS IN A PREVIOUS BLOG I DON’T CARE IF IT’S YOUR MOTHER, FATHER, PASTOR, FRIENDS, COUSINS, STOP STOP STOP……GET AROUND PEOPLE THAT ARE VISIONARIES AND DREAMERS THAT WILL SAY WITH YAHWEH ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE, IF YOU CAN DREAM IT AND SEE IT YOU CAN POSSESS IT AND HAVE IT, ALL IS WELL ALL WILL WORK OUT.
My coworker and I were speaking Friday about an invention, and then he mentioned and idea to me, so I quickly said go for it. He then said but I want the items to be fresh and hot. I told him if we can send people to the moon, build hotels on the moon I am sure an invention can be created to do what he wants it to do. I told him I am at a point where there is NOTHING that is impossible, the method to get it done or make it happen just hasn’t been invented yet but it can be. His final response to me was you’re right!
Finally, EVERYDAY, EVERY CHANCE YOU GET, SPEAK YOUR VISION, WHILE IN THE SHOWER, ON THE TOILET, IN YOUR CAR, ON YOUR WAY TO WORK, WHEREVER YOU ARE, SPEAK YOUR VISION. THE WORD IS SO POWERFUL YOU CAN UTTER IT UNDER YOUR BREATH AS LONG AS YOU SPEAK IT, IT CAN BE AN AUDIBLE WHISPER, THE WORD WILL NOT, I REPEAT WILL NOT RETURN VOID.
LET’S WORK ON OUR IMAGES TOGETHER AND HOLD EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE. IF YOU EVER NEED MOTIVATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, OR A CHEERLEADER FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US EPIPHANYESSENTIALS@YAHOO.COM.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
The Placebo Effect
This Sunday I was blessed by Joel Osteen, I must say every time I hear the Word from mighty men and women of Yahweh I am blessed. Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Yahweh, each time I hear the Word my faith increases and is confirmed. Why? Because I keep hearing the same thing over and over again, and my belief is constantly fueled, like adding more gasoline to an already burning fire! It helps my vision of what I know my life shall be and what the life of my child shall be and I keep hope alive.
Too many people are limited because their vision is limited. Your vision of yourself is your image of yourself. The Words you speak over yourself are based on your vision and your image of yourself. Since we are created in the image and the likeness of Yahweh, anything negative we speak of ourselves is not of Yahweh or from Yahweh. So what is your vision, image of yourself? Before you answer ask yourself where you are in life right now. You may be waiting on some of your vision to be manifested but are you speaking for it and believing for it or speaking against it and cancelling it out?
Joel mentioned how patients went in for knee surgery, the doctor performed the surgery on some of the patients but there were patients that the doctor gave anesthesia too and made the same incisions on their knees and the real surgery patients but he didn’t perform the surgery. A year or so later, the doctor followed up with all of the patients and they all felt improvement in their knee. He examined all the patients by x-ray and sure enough they all had become better. Why is it that the placebo patients who didn’t receive the knee surgery got better just like the patients that had received surgery? Their vision of themselves changed!
Doctors have used the placebo effect for years. Often times when patients receive placebo it is a double blind study, the doctors are unaware of who received the placebo or the real thing for the studies validity and so that the doctor doesn’t bias the results. What is going on with the placebo effect? Someone has a pain, ache or mental illness so they go to the doctor and they are prescribed a drug that helps alleviate whatever their problem is. They start taking their medicine and often times they get well and become better.
Ironically though, some of the patients are only receiving sugar pills that do nothing yet they become better. Again why? Because they believe, they have a vision in their mind that the medicine they are taking is healing them. What they really don’t understand is simply their belief in the pill, their belief that they were getting better and improving, sent signals to their brains and the brain sent signals to the body that created the atmosphere of healing. In the people’s mind, their vision told them that they were getting better.
So many of us believe that we need something outside of ourselves in order to get better, do better, or be better. Well scripture tells us without vision the people perish. Lack of vision is the cause of destruction, not lack of money, doctors, prescription or over the counter medicine. A lack of vision causes us to perish.
We’ve heard it time and time again as a man thinks so is he. So why is it that we don’t believe? Before I get those who say that we do need something outside of ourselves, no we don’t. The Kingdom of Yahweh is within you, if you were baptized the holy spirit is already within you. Now there are angels watching over you waiting to go to work on your behalf but they are activated by your thoughts manifesting into you speaking the Word of Yahweh so that the angels can go to work, so, EVERYTHING you need is already within you.
For those who maybe giving the side eye saying the placebo effect don’t always work, let’s get more biblical. We believe in Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals, how many people when faced with illness or sickness in their lives or someone close to them simply thanks Yahweh for their healing, confesses that by his stripes they are healed and then believes for that healing? I pray all of us, our beliefs have the POWER to draw the appropriate energy to us and others and the Word has the POWER once spoken to bring itself to pass!!!!!!!!
So what is your image, vision for yourself and your family? Is that what you are speaking? Is that what is engrained in your subconscious? Are your thoughts, actions, and words aligned to see your vision/image of yourself come to pass? I like the way Bill Winston puts it we have to get to the point where the only factor in our life is the God-factor. How can you say with Yahweh all things are possible but then you speak of impossibilities?
"When you want to do a big thing, get the mental pattern, make it perfect, know just what it means, enlarge your thought, keep it to yourself, pass it over to the creative power behind all things, wait and listen, and when the impression comes, follow it with assurance. Don't talk to anyone about it. Never listen to negative talk or pay attention to it and you will success where all others fail." Ernest Holmes
Instead of looking at what others have and have not been able to do in the natural consider Yahweh at all times, the God-factor! Consider Yahweh only. "The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." Orison Swett Marden
STOP TALKING TO PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT WALKING AND SPEAKING FAITH AT ALL TIMES, I SAID THIS IN A PREVIOUS BLOG I DON’T CARE IF IT’S YOUR MOTHER, FATHER, PASTOR, FRIENDS, COUSINS, STOP STOP STOP……GET AROUND PEOPLE THAT ARE VISIONARIES AND DREAMERS THAT WILL SAY WITH YAHWEH ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE, IF YOU CAN DREAM IT AND SEE IT YOU CAN POSSESS IT AND HAVE IT, ALL IS WELL ALL WILL WORK OUT.
My coworker and I were speaking Friday about an invention, and then he mentioned and idea to me, so I quickly said go for it. He then said but I want the items to be fresh and hot. I told him if we can send people to the moon, build hotels on the moon I am sure an invention can be created to do what he wants it to do. I told him I am at a point where there is NOTHING that is impossible, the method to get it done or make it happen just hasn’t been invented yet but it can be. His final response to me was you’re right!
Finally, EVERYDAY, EVERY CHANCE YOU GET, SPEAK YOUR VISION, WHILE IN THE SHOWER, ON THE TOILET, IN YOUR CAR, ON YOUR WAY TO WORK, WHEREVER YOU ARE, SPEAK YOUR VISION. THE WORD IS SO POWERFUL YOU CAN UTTER IT UNDER YOUR BREATH AS LONG AS YOU SPEAK IT, IT CAN BE AN AUDIBLE WHISPER, THE WORD WILL NOT, I REPEAT WILL NOT RETURN VOID.
LET’S WORK ON OUR IMAGES TOGETHER AND HOLD EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE. IF YOU EVER NEED MOTIVATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, OR A CHEERLEADER FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US EPIPHANYESSENTIALS@YAHOO.COM.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Monday, March 5, 2012
EDUCATION REFORM
Education Reform
This past Friday morning, MSNBC had a panel of government and school officials talking about government reform. Two things were said that struck me and stuck out to me.
1. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, said “we need to better educate, to have better workers that pay taxes”.
2.Governor Dannel Malloy said “We have the model of what works, we just don’t replicate it!”
As a mother and as a product of the Chicago Public School system I agree with Governor Malloy 1000%. There is a model of what works and it is not replicated and it should be. I will start with the present day. My son is in the 1stgrade and he is in his 4thschool. His first Kindergarten, CPS Charter School, he was in the school for about 6 weeks, no homework. His 2ndKindergarten, CPS Charter School, he had homework every night, including weekends, and Christmas break, he also had spelling tests, and other tests to assess his progress and chances of advancing to 1stgrade. His 3rdKindergarten, a catholic/private school, barely any homework, no test. He stayed in the catholic/private school for the start of 1stgrade and the homework he received was less challenging than the homework he was getting in the 2ndKindergarten. He also wasn’t receiving math homework so I went to the trusty $1 aisle in Target and purchased some math workbooks. As a parent I could complain or I could fill in the gap! Now for his 2nd1stgrade class, in a regular CPS school, sometimes he gets homework sometimes he doesn’t, he has spelling tests but no real work is sent home for the me to help him study. He doesn’t have an assignment notebook nor is it clear to me as a parent what he has for homework. His teacher says, “they know what they are supposed to do I don’t write their homework done.” Excuse me! We are talking about 1stgraders. I had an assignment notebook until I graduated from high school that was provided by my school.
What is going on? There are different expectations and demands placed on our children depending on where they attend school. There is no reason why my child can get straight A’s at a school with homework every night and tests and then get C’s on his report card at a school that barely gives homework. Oh yes there is, the teacher doesn’t care whether he does his homework or not. The school he attended with straight A’s, we received a homework packet each week so the parents were aware of the homework and what the spelling words were for the upcoming test, I worked with him and he excelled. As a parent I have no problem doing my part, I need the school to do their part as well.
Admittedly the only reason why my son is in a regular CPS school is because of his behavior. That will soon be nipped in the bud through faith and reaching out to the proper support channels and come 3rdgrade he is out of there. It is the school in our neighborhood, my mother didn’t send my sister nor I there because frankly the education is subpar. A child’s ability to learn has nothing to do with their zip code or income level, it has everything to do with the expectations and demands that are placed on a child. Children are little sponges, fill them up with as much as you can and they just keep absorbing.
So what is my remedy for school reform? Gov. Malloy said it best, we have a system that works, replicate it. The students that attend the failing public schools are the same students attending thriving public, charter, and private schools. They are the same children. There is a saying about rising to the occasion, the majority of children no matter where they are placed will rise to the occasion and meet the expectations placed on them. Well let me be clear, most people are going to come right below your expectation or barely meet it. With that said and known the bar should be set as high as possible. Wherever the bar is set few will reach the bar, most will fall below so why set the bar at a subpar level to begin with?
Have the same resources, facilities, books, and educational experiences available to all children across the US despite their racial and/or socio economic background. We have high schools in Chicago with observatory and lap top computers for all students, and high schools with barely working computer labs. There is the problem right there.
I’m tired of the debates, meetings, and forums, first start with evening the playing field and exposing all children to the same things and see what happens. No every child isn’t going to excel but at least given the chance that everyone else has there is less of an opportunity to point the blame on the school, teachers, or administrators. Again this isn’t done, why is this not done?
Arne Duncan said it best, “we need to better educate, to have better workers that pay taxes”. Workers pay taxes, wealthy business owners figured out ways not to pay taxes. Whether they use write-offs or move their companies overseas anything to avoid Uncle Sam. Taxes are a huge debate/issue right now in America, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share. There is no reason that the working class pays more in taxes than the wealthy based on their income and percentages. No reason at all but the reason is, as my blog from Friday stated, create robots to pay taxes and work for those who do not.
So do I believe in Education Reform, NO! Why? As Gov. Malloy said its simple replicate the model, they aren’t replicating it because they don’t want to. The goal is not to educate everyone equally. The goal is to send some to prison, to create criminals, to keep the justice system going and people employed. The goal is to create employees that think inside the box, that think that getting a job is the only way to generate an income. Do I believe in educating my own child? Yes! Do I sympathize with those who don’t know nor have the desire to educate their children at home and depend on the system? Absolutely! Am I working on something to help the have nots? Yes! What do I need to do to make it happen? Start networking and rubbing elbows with the right people.
What is your take on Education Reform?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
This past Friday morning, MSNBC had a panel of government and school officials talking about government reform. Two things were said that struck me and stuck out to me.
1. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, said “we need to better educate, to have better workers that pay taxes”.
2.Governor Dannel Malloy said “We have the model of what works, we just don’t replicate it!”
As a mother and as a product of the Chicago Public School system I agree with Governor Malloy 1000%. There is a model of what works and it is not replicated and it should be. I will start with the present day. My son is in the 1stgrade and he is in his 4thschool. His first Kindergarten, CPS Charter School, he was in the school for about 6 weeks, no homework. His 2ndKindergarten, CPS Charter School, he had homework every night, including weekends, and Christmas break, he also had spelling tests, and other tests to assess his progress and chances of advancing to 1stgrade. His 3rdKindergarten, a catholic/private school, barely any homework, no test. He stayed in the catholic/private school for the start of 1stgrade and the homework he received was less challenging than the homework he was getting in the 2ndKindergarten. He also wasn’t receiving math homework so I went to the trusty $1 aisle in Target and purchased some math workbooks. As a parent I could complain or I could fill in the gap! Now for his 2nd1stgrade class, in a regular CPS school, sometimes he gets homework sometimes he doesn’t, he has spelling tests but no real work is sent home for the me to help him study. He doesn’t have an assignment notebook nor is it clear to me as a parent what he has for homework. His teacher says, “they know what they are supposed to do I don’t write their homework done.” Excuse me! We are talking about 1stgraders. I had an assignment notebook until I graduated from high school that was provided by my school.
What is going on? There are different expectations and demands placed on our children depending on where they attend school. There is no reason why my child can get straight A’s at a school with homework every night and tests and then get C’s on his report card at a school that barely gives homework. Oh yes there is, the teacher doesn’t care whether he does his homework or not. The school he attended with straight A’s, we received a homework packet each week so the parents were aware of the homework and what the spelling words were for the upcoming test, I worked with him and he excelled. As a parent I have no problem doing my part, I need the school to do their part as well.
Admittedly the only reason why my son is in a regular CPS school is because of his behavior. That will soon be nipped in the bud through faith and reaching out to the proper support channels and come 3rdgrade he is out of there. It is the school in our neighborhood, my mother didn’t send my sister nor I there because frankly the education is subpar. A child’s ability to learn has nothing to do with their zip code or income level, it has everything to do with the expectations and demands that are placed on a child. Children are little sponges, fill them up with as much as you can and they just keep absorbing.
So what is my remedy for school reform? Gov. Malloy said it best, we have a system that works, replicate it. The students that attend the failing public schools are the same students attending thriving public, charter, and private schools. They are the same children. There is a saying about rising to the occasion, the majority of children no matter where they are placed will rise to the occasion and meet the expectations placed on them. Well let me be clear, most people are going to come right below your expectation or barely meet it. With that said and known the bar should be set as high as possible. Wherever the bar is set few will reach the bar, most will fall below so why set the bar at a subpar level to begin with?
Have the same resources, facilities, books, and educational experiences available to all children across the US despite their racial and/or socio economic background. We have high schools in Chicago with observatory and lap top computers for all students, and high schools with barely working computer labs. There is the problem right there.
I’m tired of the debates, meetings, and forums, first start with evening the playing field and exposing all children to the same things and see what happens. No every child isn’t going to excel but at least given the chance that everyone else has there is less of an opportunity to point the blame on the school, teachers, or administrators. Again this isn’t done, why is this not done?
Arne Duncan said it best, “we need to better educate, to have better workers that pay taxes”. Workers pay taxes, wealthy business owners figured out ways not to pay taxes. Whether they use write-offs or move their companies overseas anything to avoid Uncle Sam. Taxes are a huge debate/issue right now in America, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share. There is no reason that the working class pays more in taxes than the wealthy based on their income and percentages. No reason at all but the reason is, as my blog from Friday stated, create robots to pay taxes and work for those who do not.
So do I believe in Education Reform, NO! Why? As Gov. Malloy said its simple replicate the model, they aren’t replicating it because they don’t want to. The goal is not to educate everyone equally. The goal is to send some to prison, to create criminals, to keep the justice system going and people employed. The goal is to create employees that think inside the box, that think that getting a job is the only way to generate an income. Do I believe in educating my own child? Yes! Do I sympathize with those who don’t know nor have the desire to educate their children at home and depend on the system? Absolutely! Am I working on something to help the have nots? Yes! What do I need to do to make it happen? Start networking and rubbing elbows with the right people.
What is your take on Education Reform?
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Friday, March 2, 2012
FAITH INSPITE OF
Do you ever feel like all is going well but there is just one person or one thing that always seems to oppose you and cause you to second guess yourself? If you don’t, I do and I am having one of those moments right now, well sort of.
The funny thing about Yahweh is I swear he has a sense of humor. This morning I turned on Bill Winston and I received a faith refresher. No matter what you are going through, faced with, no matter what you see in the natural, have faith in Yahweh. I must admit there are a lot of people that I know that attend church regularly yet they lack faith and they sometimes try to rub their lack of faith on me. I’m here to say I want no parts of it. The scripture says:
•the just shall live by Faith
•walk by faith and not by sight
•without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Yahweh
•faith without works is dead.
What is faith? Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN! Faith will cause other people to think that you are absolutely crazy out of your mind. You could be sitting in a one room apartment declaring and professing that you are a millionaire. Those around you will think, no you’re not you are barely getting by in a one room apartment. Again, faith is SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN! You have to believe it, walk in it, and have faith in it in order for it to manifest and been seen in your life.
Some of the works that we must do to put our faith into action starts with our mouths. Speak the Word and speak the Word only. Yahweh’s Word is so powerful that once it is spoken it goes forth and brings itself to pass. Why because Yahweh is the Word and He cannot lie nor fail. So, if you are speaking the Word and the Word only, you are speaking Yahweh, therefore EVERYTHING that you speak of the Word is the truth.
So I am here to tell you that my faith and my words are being tested. I think about my blog post this week about balance and turning the other cheek. I had a turn the other cheek moment last night. Admittedly some of the words spoken to me are still lingering in my mind. My thoughts got highly impure last night and this morning but when I spoke this morning the first thing out of my mouth was praise to Yahweh. I then asked Him to create in me a clean heart and renew in me a steadfast spirit. I then had to remind myself that He will keep in perfect peace all who’s minds are stayed on Him.
Then I started reciting the words to Donald Lawrence’s song ‘Righteous Mind’. For while scripture says are thoughts and ways are not like His I want mine to align with His more and more. Admittedly I am still working on my thoughts but I am training myself to speak the Word. As I stated in the blog yesterday, it is easier said than done, we are works in progress but I am out to create an image that says, that is a woman of Yahweh, who walks by faith, lives by faith, and her words are faith filled.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
The funny thing about Yahweh is I swear he has a sense of humor. This morning I turned on Bill Winston and I received a faith refresher. No matter what you are going through, faced with, no matter what you see in the natural, have faith in Yahweh. I must admit there are a lot of people that I know that attend church regularly yet they lack faith and they sometimes try to rub their lack of faith on me. I’m here to say I want no parts of it. The scripture says:
•the just shall live by Faith
•walk by faith and not by sight
•without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please Yahweh
•faith without works is dead.
What is faith? Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN! Faith will cause other people to think that you are absolutely crazy out of your mind. You could be sitting in a one room apartment declaring and professing that you are a millionaire. Those around you will think, no you’re not you are barely getting by in a one room apartment. Again, faith is SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN! You have to believe it, walk in it, and have faith in it in order for it to manifest and been seen in your life.
Some of the works that we must do to put our faith into action starts with our mouths. Speak the Word and speak the Word only. Yahweh’s Word is so powerful that once it is spoken it goes forth and brings itself to pass. Why because Yahweh is the Word and He cannot lie nor fail. So, if you are speaking the Word and the Word only, you are speaking Yahweh, therefore EVERYTHING that you speak of the Word is the truth.
So I am here to tell you that my faith and my words are being tested. I think about my blog post this week about balance and turning the other cheek. I had a turn the other cheek moment last night. Admittedly some of the words spoken to me are still lingering in my mind. My thoughts got highly impure last night and this morning but when I spoke this morning the first thing out of my mouth was praise to Yahweh. I then asked Him to create in me a clean heart and renew in me a steadfast spirit. I then had to remind myself that He will keep in perfect peace all who’s minds are stayed on Him.
Then I started reciting the words to Donald Lawrence’s song ‘Righteous Mind’. For while scripture says are thoughts and ways are not like His I want mine to align with His more and more. Admittedly I am still working on my thoughts but I am training myself to speak the Word. As I stated in the blog yesterday, it is easier said than done, we are works in progress but I am out to create an image that says, that is a woman of Yahweh, who walks by faith, lives by faith, and her words are faith filled.
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
Thursday, March 1, 2012
TURN THE OTHER CHEEK: FOR YOUR IMAGE
Turn the Other Cheek: For Your Image
An eye for an eye! If we lived by this motto the entire world would be eyeless and blind. Sometimes we have to be like Martin and turn the other cheek. Sometimes we have to be like Malcolm and fight back. The key is to know when and where to do which.
When Jesus was arrested, Peter cut off the ear of Malchus. Jesus’ scolded Peter for that was the inappropriate reaction to the situation. Jesus knew what is destiny was and knew that the time had come for him to be arrested for it was almost time for him to die. In this situation, I believe Peter’s natural reaction was to protect his savior and his instinct kicked in. There are definitely times when instincts have saved lives, maybe even your own. However, there are times when reacting out of an emotional state does not end well.
With that said, I know I am not the only person that has dealt with someone that pushed their buttons to the point that you wanted to cuss them out, maybe even lay hands on them. Like myself there may have been times when you did just that. Was it justifiable, maybe in your mind for the moment, but was it worth it?
Ironically, I wrote this last night and this morning Bill Winston spoke on how he was trying to slow down on fussing. He said that when we fuss, cuss, and let people take us out of character, we are tarnishing our image. Things that make you go hmmm. You are filled with the spirit, faith filled, positive, loving all of that. However someone ticks you off in the grocery store and you give them a piece of your mind. What image are you displaying to those around you? Are they seeing Yahweh and Jesus or are they seeing the enemy/devil?
I never thought about my image when I choose to cuss someone out, tell them off, or give them a piece of my mind. If I am supposed to be the salt of the earth and let my light shine, in those moments I am actually being the darkness. How then can I turn around and try and tell that same person the goodness of Yahweh. Keep in mind yes we are not perfect and are works in progress but there comes a point when that is simply an excuse or crutch used to justify ungodly behavior.
I learned that demons have studied us since our birth. They know what gets to us, what grinds our gears, what will send us over the edge and they use people to take us there. We have to remember it is not the person that we are fighting against; we are only to fight the good fight of faith. We are dealing with spiritual forces and principalities. At the time though all we see is a flesh and bone spiritual being and we won’t to go off on them, when really it’s not them but the demon inside of them. As is the demon in us that is making us cuss, fuss, and go off!
I don’t know if you noticed but often times it’s the same person that pushes your buttons. Or there may be a few people that no matter what kind of state you are in they can take you out of it. Well, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So if every time a particular person or people tick you off you go off on them, you are only perpetuating negative energy and simply you are insane. There comes a time when you can no longer blame the other person. We only have control over ourselves and our reactions.
Only love conquers hate, only good conquers evil, only light can separate darkness. You cannot fight fire with fire unless you are willing to get burned in the process as well. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11 Often times it’s not what you say but how you say it and your word choice that cause the negative response you receive. To be real sometimes you say things in a manner to invoke a negative response from the other person.
So what am I saying, in most, no in the majority instances you must learn to turn the other cheek. However, if you feel that you must defend or speak up for you ask yourself if your words are being used to edify and build or tear down. Why? Because we are going to have to answer to Yahweh for every idle word that we have spoken, EVERY! (Matthew 12:36)
The power of life and death lies in the tongue so be aware and careful what you say to and about others for you don’t know what they are prayers are, while speaking ill of them you may just be cursing yourself!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
An eye for an eye! If we lived by this motto the entire world would be eyeless and blind. Sometimes we have to be like Martin and turn the other cheek. Sometimes we have to be like Malcolm and fight back. The key is to know when and where to do which.
When Jesus was arrested, Peter cut off the ear of Malchus. Jesus’ scolded Peter for that was the inappropriate reaction to the situation. Jesus knew what is destiny was and knew that the time had come for him to be arrested for it was almost time for him to die. In this situation, I believe Peter’s natural reaction was to protect his savior and his instinct kicked in. There are definitely times when instincts have saved lives, maybe even your own. However, there are times when reacting out of an emotional state does not end well.
With that said, I know I am not the only person that has dealt with someone that pushed their buttons to the point that you wanted to cuss them out, maybe even lay hands on them. Like myself there may have been times when you did just that. Was it justifiable, maybe in your mind for the moment, but was it worth it?
Ironically, I wrote this last night and this morning Bill Winston spoke on how he was trying to slow down on fussing. He said that when we fuss, cuss, and let people take us out of character, we are tarnishing our image. Things that make you go hmmm. You are filled with the spirit, faith filled, positive, loving all of that. However someone ticks you off in the grocery store and you give them a piece of your mind. What image are you displaying to those around you? Are they seeing Yahweh and Jesus or are they seeing the enemy/devil?
I never thought about my image when I choose to cuss someone out, tell them off, or give them a piece of my mind. If I am supposed to be the salt of the earth and let my light shine, in those moments I am actually being the darkness. How then can I turn around and try and tell that same person the goodness of Yahweh. Keep in mind yes we are not perfect and are works in progress but there comes a point when that is simply an excuse or crutch used to justify ungodly behavior.
I learned that demons have studied us since our birth. They know what gets to us, what grinds our gears, what will send us over the edge and they use people to take us there. We have to remember it is not the person that we are fighting against; we are only to fight the good fight of faith. We are dealing with spiritual forces and principalities. At the time though all we see is a flesh and bone spiritual being and we won’t to go off on them, when really it’s not them but the demon inside of them. As is the demon in us that is making us cuss, fuss, and go off!
I don’t know if you noticed but often times it’s the same person that pushes your buttons. Or there may be a few people that no matter what kind of state you are in they can take you out of it. Well, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So if every time a particular person or people tick you off you go off on them, you are only perpetuating negative energy and simply you are insane. There comes a time when you can no longer blame the other person. We only have control over ourselves and our reactions.
Only love conquers hate, only good conquers evil, only light can separate darkness. You cannot fight fire with fire unless you are willing to get burned in the process as well. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11 Often times it’s not what you say but how you say it and your word choice that cause the negative response you receive. To be real sometimes you say things in a manner to invoke a negative response from the other person.
So what am I saying, in most, no in the majority instances you must learn to turn the other cheek. However, if you feel that you must defend or speak up for you ask yourself if your words are being used to edify and build or tear down. Why? Because we are going to have to answer to Yahweh for every idle word that we have spoken, EVERY! (Matthew 12:36)
The power of life and death lies in the tongue so be aware and careful what you say to and about others for you don’t know what they are prayers are, while speaking ill of them you may just be cursing yourself!
Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials
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