Psalm 86

Hear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant who trusts you.
Have mercy on me, O Lord
for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant,
for to you, O Lord.
I lift up my soul.
You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
Theach me your way, O Lord and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart
I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
The arrogant are attacking me, O God;
men without regard for you.
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and have mercy on me;
grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame.,
for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

African-American Church Pulpit

"Revelations Of Those On The Outside Looking In."

The eyes of the LORD are on church leaders. What can be seen is that these holy grounds are treated like personal prizes and not God's House. I had a revelation that God wouldn't close HIS HOUSE when people are homeless! The church as sanctuary seems to be just rhetoric from man and not what GOD intended. During this revelation I could clearly see so-called pastors, preachers, bishops and most sadly those calling themselves reverend (thought that GOD said this is My Name and no other man shall have it?) All these church leaders do is use community problems for pulpit subject matter! What they should be doing is getting in the highways and byways like Jesus when he walked among the poor and afflicted. I knew they would label me a sin for speaking from what's within my revelation. These HOUSES of GOD have become raped with mans' self-aggrandizement with GOD fearing members being "baptized in dirty water." The rape of the African-American Church is occurring because when it comes to materialism, one can be poor and still be guilty (thou hath not yet paid for what thou hast). What happened to the idea that the most important thing if filling the pews with pastoral and muscial emotionalism. Anyone who's been in enough of these churches has seen at least two or three different styles of playing on guilt and emotion. Praising God is secondary to everything in the church, even the color scheme of the sanctuary. If restaurants can be open 24 hours, why can't churches be refuges for those who are looking, whether or not they have money for the church cup? The rape of Martins' dream is occurring because of the fragmented thinking of a population that refuses to vote two-legged beasts out of office. It's based upon the fact that neighbors don't speak to one another because they fear that they might actually like one another despite their differences. The African-American Dream is dying because the neighborhood is dying. If neighborhoods of African-Americans die then the "dream" dies! When neighborhoods die then the church membership dwindles. When membership dwindles pulpit subject matter is about those on the outside looking in. What should be done is to go out there in the highways and byways and minister to them about using GODS' HOUSE as a spiritual as well as a physical sanctuary and shelter as if they were HIS WINGS! We've gotten away from sermons that brought comfort, condolence, encouragement and sympathy. Instead of egos we need to hear church leaders as "wounded healers," ones who heal in spite of his or her own infirmity. Church leaders need to get into the highways and byways next to their Sunday subject matter instead of standing up there pointing out the specks in poor peoples eyes! This atmosphere of consolation echoes the words of the prophet Ezekiel, who went to the exiles by the Chebar and exclaimed, "I sat among them" (Ezek. 3:15). When was the last time these African-American church leaders stood for something or someone other than themselves? What can be seen is them hanging around the white power structure downtown rubbing elbows at city halls across America. Stay tuned for: "Uncle Toms in the Pulpit"

Epoch of the Black Scorpion Phoenix '05

African Love Map

Captured by the beauty of Lillian.
I think of her on the coast of Durban.
With her is where I want to be.
So beautiful she could be a Wodaabe.
There's no way to assign a worth,
indeed the most beautiful person on earth.
Being near her could lift m from the Diaspora.
We could make a start in Liberia.
For her hand I would ask her ma ma,
permission to marry her in Ghana.
We're not moving too fast too soon
There's a home waiting for us on the coast of Cameroon.
There's no place I'd fail to go,
Yes even to Bembe in the Congo.
We could lie on our backs admiring God's moon,
sharing kisses in the meadows of Gabon.
Please don't say no and bring my eyes to shed a tear.
My friends would have to console me on the streets of Zaire.
I would remain faithful in Tanzania, celebrate her beauty in Kenya.
For love I would carry her cross in Askum, Ethiopia.
My love for her would not wonder,
it could stop the the hate and civil war in Rwanda.
What God has joined together let no man put asunder.
For her I'm a one woman man.
I will breakt he multi-wife customs of Swaziland.
Our love stays strong and so I continue to pray,
we could start a farm in Great Zimbabwe.
For Lillian I'd leave America,
and hold onto to her all the wayt to South Africa

Freedom of Religion

Freedom of Religion, right of a person to form personal religious beliefs according to his or her own conscience and to give public expression to these beliefs in worship and teaching, restricted only by the requirements of public order. Religious liberty differs from toleration in that toleration presupposes preferential treatment of a particular creed by the state because it is an established church or, in some cases, is the predominant religion of the population. The United States was the first, and for some time the only, nation to include the principle of religious liberty in its basic laws. The nations of antiquity permitted torlerance to individuals of minority religions, provided they took part in the public worship of the national gods. Soon after Christianity became established as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, heresy and heterodoxy became equivalent to treason. After the Reformation this condemnation of atypical religious beliefs was continued by nations with established reformed churches, and those who disagreed with the established church were punished. The colonists immigrating to the New World brought with them the same doctrine of religious intolerance, and in many of the American colonies dissent from the established order of worship was regarded as sedition. The charter of Rhode Island, granted in 1663, is notable for being the first to include a declaration of teh right to religious liberty. This doctrine gradually spread to the other colonies, and at the time of the American Revolution the principle of religious liberty was explicitly adopted in various state constitutions. The process culminated in the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, which in Article VI forbids the establishment of any religious test as a qualification for federal office, and in the 1st Amendment forbids the passage of laws "respecting the establishment of religion ofr prohibiting the free exercise thereof."