I posted this outstanding article on my Christian website but no one has come back here to comment. Show our sister some love, ya’ll. She has worked hard to write this article for us. 

The Lusts of this world

by Sister Yvette of HickTownPress.com 

Luke 4 is a great reference for how the devil tempts us. I want to particularly point out versus 5-7.

5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Just a rewording of the lie satan told Adam and Eve. This is in essence what these wolves in sheep’s clothing are saying or should I say Armani Suits, tell the people sitting in the pews or padded seats with padded seats. They promise that if you do what they say then all the things of this world will be yours. They say ‘didn’t the bible say you shall be the head and not the tail?’ They say ‘the kingdom of god is at hand’. Which kingdom are they talking about when they teach people to desire riches?

People have become ignorant of the devices of satan. They have a hard time believing that perhaps the person in the pulpit was called by the kingdom of evil. That God would never allow such a person to preach the word. They forget that it was Satan who tried to use the word against Jesus.  

In spite of popular belief, Jesus did not come to earth to live a holy life, suffer for us, die on the cross, then rose just so we can be rich.

Luke 4:18-19 

 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord

Many have replaced the real promises of God with the lusts of their own hearts. These preachers have willfully chosen to seek after the god of this world which has given them an insatiable desire for fame, money and control. I do not argue if some of these people were called to preach. The problem is that many have done so in the last 30 years in hopes of gaining fame and fortune.

Jeremiah 6:13

13For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 

Covetousness:

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

covetousness

     n 1: an envious eagerness to possess something

     2: extreme greed for material wealth [syn: avarice, avariciousness,

         cupidity]

     3: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth

        (personified as one of the deadly sins) [syn: avarice, greed,

         rapacity, avaritia] 

Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Covetousness n.

   1. Strong desire. [R.] 

            When workmen strive to do better than well, They do

            confound their skill in covetousness. –Shak. 

   2. A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing

      some supposed good; excessive desire for riches or money;

      — in a bad sense. 

            Covetousness, by a greed of getting more, deprivess

            itself of the true end of getting.    –Sprat. 

   Syn: Avarice; cupidity; eagerness.

Source: Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary

Covetousness

   a strong desire after the possession of worldly things (Col.

   3:5; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Matt. 6:20). It

   assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is

   the mark of cold-hearted worldliness.

Psalm 81:11-13 (King James Version)

 11But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

 12So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

 13Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

Do not think for a moment that these preachers are ignorant of what they do.

These people have willfully chosen to follow their own hearts God will and has given them over to their own lusts and desires. Now I am not talking about sexual sin but the sin of rejecting the word of God because it did not suit their agenda. I can’t emphasis enough these wolves know exactly what they are doing. They know goodness well that the God of the bible does not glorify the rich because they are rich, and neither does he punish the poor because they are poor. Generational curses are an entirely different matter and that’s not what I’m talking about here. Let’s look at Romans 1:20-32. I particularly want to point out a couple of verses in this section:

20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient

They chose to be deceived the moment they accepted the lies and then repeated them as fact. The moment they started preaching a gospel I call ‘I’m richer than you are because I give more than you do to the church’, better known as Word of Faith to those who practice it but it should probably be called ‘Word of Lying Fakes’ (WOLF). The accepted the lies the moment they believed that the only way to prove how close you were to God was by how much stuff (favor) they had. These ‘pastors’ no longer look at people as souls that need saving, to make disciple not blind sheep. I don’t know if any of you have noticed but in one of these churches in this town during the service there is someone going up and down the aisles looking and you can a hear a clicking. He/she has a counter in their hand and they are counting the people. The only purpose is so they can calculate how much money they can estimate is coming in. I know the local TBN here will not allow you on their station unless you can prove you have at least 800 members.  

The people have failed to ask God for understanding, that their eyes may be opened to see the deception so they can flee it.

Revelation 3:18-20 (King James Version)

14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

 17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Instead of seeing the falling preachers as God waking up the body and cleansing the church, most people think that the devil is doing this to innocent people. Read Job 1:6-12. That’s a long story alone. There is complacency in the church that is stealing people’s souls. It is stealing their ability to rightly judge (discern) right from wrong. I love the way it is described in Galatians 3:1 
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 

It is sad where preachers will justify people who openly sin, even their own sins. And if you correct them according the Bible they are quick to say ‘well, god knows my/their heart’. I put god in lowercase because the god they are speaking of is not the God of the bible. People have forgotten that which they first learned and turned away to things that pleased their flesh. Sure every once in a while the superstar ‘preachers’ will mention about sin, but they do so in a nod, nod, wink, wink kind of manner. As if to say, ’Who am I to judge?’  Today’s preachers are the new pharasees and Sadducees of our day.

The Jesus I know says ‘go and sin no more’:

John 8:11 
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (There is more time talking about what Jesus might have written in the dirt than about the fact that in John 8:11 He told her to sin no more.)

John 5:14 
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Everyone loves to talk about the blessings of God but no one wants to talk about the curses that are promised if we willfully (as an individual and as a nation) choose to disobey and sin. And I’m not talking about whether or not tithe is required now, which people have elevated to a requirement for salvation. But Leviticus 26:14-46 is a good example of the curses that are come upon the people and the nations who turn their backs. Very few churches dare to preach the true word of God anymore. No money in it. Instead they preach about self improvement, how to have your best life now. They preach about having a fulfilling sex life even to singles and children. People no longer come to church seeking understanding and growth.  Instead they are told that whatever they desire as long as they tithe and give offerings before they pay their bills god will do it for them. They never hear anything that convicts them of sin. They might as well have Oprah or Tyra as their ‘preacher’, they spit out the same venom.

1 John 4

 1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 

People have taken to acting like you can’t question the ‘preacher’ or what every title the person is called. There is nowhere that there is a curse for questioning. If we never ask questions we never learn.

John 14:26 
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

People love to use Malachi 3:8-10 as a means of causing an undue burden on the poor. But if we go back one chapter to Malachi 2: 9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law. Actually the entire book of Malachi is an indictment against the preachers who have turned away and speak a falsehood.  

Just as these preachers have willfully turned their backs on Jesus so have those who choose to follow them without question because it satisfies their own flesh. So while it is easy to just blame the ‘preachers’, if they had no one who was willing to sacrifice their own salvation for lust of the flesh they wouldn’t have as much influence as they have now.

One popular sermon I have heard is how they twist the story of the woman with the alabaster jar in Matthew 26:7, Mark 14:3, and Luke 7:37. They use this story to justify why people should empty out their bank accounts to ‘bless’ the mand of gawd. But the questions I have are; how is this helping the body of Christ if the money is used to buy new private Jets? How are the hungry being fed by building a bigger ‘sanctuary’? Why are there now ATM machines in churches that they now call ‘Automatic Tithing Machines’? Think about it, Katrina and Rita were the perfect opportunity for these mega churches to reach out and help. The economy was still ok then in most of the country; many could have easily paid housing. No, that was done by the smaller churches with far less resources who were reaching out. Both Creflo and TD are in real estate. If Creflo can demand your income tax information before you can be a full member, it doesn’t take a genius to realize this is not right.  No, instead I hear many of these same preachers who are under investigation by the government and many others say they are like Moses leading the people. Perhaps they are.  

Moses led the people around a dry desert for 40 years, many of whom never entered into the kingdomland.  Many of the people never let go of Egypt (the world). Many have been led to believe they can have Jesus and their sin too.  Many people want to be entertained every Sunday and if they are not they hunt for other places where they can get their ‘party’ on. Jesus did not call us so we can have our ‘Best life yet’ Mr. Olsteen. Jesus did not call us so we can call ourselves gods with a little g Mr. Grouch, Mr. Hinn and Mr. Copeland. He called us to equip us for this spiritual war that we are in and for those who won’t believe that you are going to continue to be the victim and wonder why you are repeating the sins of your father and father’s father and so forth. They are not teaching you how to fight the darkness of this age.

Since when has it been the responsibility of schools to issue birth control to children? Half these pathetic schools out here cannot even teach children to read, write, and work basic math or science problems.

School officials on Thursday defended a decision to allow children as young as 11 to obtain birth-control pills at a middle-school health center, saying the new policy is aimed at a tiny number of sexually active students.

King Middle School will become the first middle school in Maine, and apparently one of only a few in the nation, to make a full range of contraception available, including birth-control pills and patches.

Students would need parental permission to use the city-run health center in the school, but they wouldn’t have to tell them they were seeking birth control. source

Don’t tell me that the world is not falling apart. Birth control pills are a medication. Schools can medicate our children without parental permission BUT cannot issue an aspirin if a child has a headache?

There is a direct link between birth control pills and strokes

Birth control pills and heart attacks

To push birth control pills off on people’s children is also a morality issue. If children want to sneak off and have sex, that’s on them. But it’s not the school’s job to give them tools to help them sin.

I see some lawsuits coming on and I hope they come soon.

Sex is not a child’s activity. It is an adult activity. Sex can lead to soooo many diseases such as herpes, Aids, HPV and on and on. Americans need to stop being so quick to allow further breakdowns on our family structure. Sex is not the schools’ business. Teaching academics is their business. And most can’t even get that right.

  Aren’t they adorable?!

The crisis? Young American men who are African American and born into poor and working class households. These young boys are not making it. According to figures developed by the Schott Foundation, in an economy that requires more and more education, only 42 percent who enter ninth grade graduate from high school. The old blue-collar jobs that used to provide a family income, secure employment, health care and pensions are disappearing.

These are children increasingly raised by a single parent. Too often they are starved from the start — of adequate nutrition, adequate health care, adequate learning stimulants that are vital for young minds. They go to overcrowded schools stocked with inexperienced teachers. In school, they face discrimination in discipline and in being slated for special-ed courses. They are underrepresented in advanced-placement courses that are key for college. Some will overcome these odds and make it out. Most will not. They are headed toward jail, not toward Yale. Source

We know the problem. Now we need to work towards a solution. By hook or by crook, there must be a reversal of the out-of-wedlock pregnancies. No matter how you look at it, children, and especially male children, need a father. Yes, I understand that many males who grow up minus a father turn out well. But I also know that the vast majority of males who grow up without fathers end up dropping out of school, getting involved in criminal activities, and/or ultimately they go to jail.

In fact, places like California continues to build more jails to house black males. They claim to have financial issues and won’t fix their failing school system, but they are able to find enough funds to continue their jail industry.

Black boys appear to receive the worst end of the stick even during their preschool years:

Pre-kindergarten students are getting kicked out of school at a rate more than three times that of children in grades K-12, and a large percent of those expelled are black boys, according to a recent study by Yale University researchers.

The study by Walter Gilliam of the Yale University Child Study Center showed that blacks attending state-funded pre-kindergartens were twice as likely to be expelled as Latino and Caucasian children and over five times as likely to be expelled as Asian-American children.

The study also said that when child care providers had resources available to help manage behavior intervention, the number of expulsions for all preschoolers was cut in half.

“When a child is an African-American and a boy, it was a double whammy,” Gilliam told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Source

Philip Jackson offered the following positive solutions to the problem with black male failure:

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:

Short term
1) Teach all black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education.
2) Provide positive role models for black boys.
3) Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.
4) Ensure that black boys have a strong spiritual base.
5) Control the negative media influences on black boys.
6) Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.

Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.
2) Help connect black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.
3) Create high expectations and help black boys live into those high expectations.
4) Build a positive peer culture for black boys.
5) Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.
6) Teach black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning.

Source

I’ll add one more. Encourage black women to wait until after marriage to have children. Use birth control. The statistics are stacked against black males born into single family, woman run homes. God KNEW what He was doing. Boys need fathers.

While there is an ominous “movement” afoot that started here in the world of the internet to have black women deal with the black male problem by marrying white men, I have a more realistic option.

Don’t run away from the problem. Face it so that it won’t come back to bite. Black boys are human beings. They are under attack from day one—even while in preschool. Let’s not label them as “damaged beyond repair”.  Let’s do our own part to try to help in any small way we can!

The Montgomery County Schools are eliminating a lesson plan designed to prepare students to read Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird, saying that it offends parents by using a racial slur — the N-word — in order to prepare students to read the book, which contains the word. The elimination reflects the growing national movement to ban the N-word.

I’ll be the first to say that I am happy that there has been a nationwide assault and confrontation of those who use the word, nigger to insult others or as a greeting or even as an endearment. Given the etiology of the word, it needs to be put in the same category as an offensive curse word.
Having said that, there are definitely certain contexts in which the word would not offend me. For example, in a period piece such as the movie, Roots, I would expect to hear that word. Likewise, I would expect to read it in context in certain books. The word has its place. My only argument is that people should not run around calling each other a nigger. It’s degrading.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the greatest books ever written. Its author, Harper Lee, is still alive as of this writing but many people don’t know that because she wrote that one book and stopped. What Ms. Lee realized is that when you write such flawless book—a timeless classic, there is no way you will ever top that so you may as well stop while you are ahead. She told Oprah Winfrey that she had said all she had to say in that book and that there was no reason to ever write another one. I agree with her. That book is a masterpiece, straight from heaven.

Within that book, one will find the word nigger. The word is used in context, given the topic and the period of time that the book covers. In fact, had the word never been mentioned, the book would have been less authentic.

I was really disturbed recently to discover that some parents in Montgomery County [Maryland] schools have taken issue with a lesson plan that prepares students to read the book. The lesson plan contains the word, nigger, but given the context of the book, that is realistic. Those parents need to find a different axe to grind because they are potentially depriving their children a piece of literary work that will educate them, open their minds, and stay with them forever. Mockingbird is not the type of book that one ever forgets. In a land of “political correctness” I say that such correctness has gone too far when it’s shutting down the classic pieces of literature. And where will it end? Education has been dumbed down enough.I would submit to the parents of Montgomery County schools that their concentration should be on telling their children to stop calling each other nigger in the hallways, on the telephone and at the local malls. That’s where their priorities should be. The book will not harm them. It’s their own use of the word to one another that will degrade them.

By Lynn Green 

     It looks like karma is finally catching up with Gallaudet

The university, long considered a center of deaf culture, has struggled to maintain its enrollment as more deaf children choose mainstream schools or get implants that allow them to hear. Gallaudet’s enrollment has also dropped since months of bitter protests last year over appointment of a president that students thought lacked sufficient leadership skills. The appointment was revoked.Link 

     You will notice that I placed the line, “students thought lacked sufficient leadership skills” in bold red. I did that because that line is false. The real reason that  Jane Fernandes was bitterly—and with hatred, ejected from the school was because, quite frankly, the students did not deem her “deaf enough” and as such, she was written off as not worthy of being their leader. Furthermore, she dared to suggest some changes in the culture of the school. Namely, she wanted to be more inclusive, less rigid. The students are determined to have American Sign Language (ASL) be their only mode of acceptable communication. Ms. Fernandes wanted them to at least open up to the possibility that other forms of communication is also okay for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. In response, there were militant bomb threats and Ms. Fernandes’ life was threatened:

The incoming president said that in the midst of the the [sic] conflict she has recieved [sic] death threats and other personal attacks.

Link

   For some strange reason—apparently the fact that Americans are not comfortable confronting people whom they perceive as having any disability—there has never been a thorough confrontation of the students of Gallaudet regarding their obvious prejudice (they choose to call it “deaf culture”), distrust, and rage against the following types of people:

1. Hearing people
2. Hard of hearing people (they aren’t deaf enough!)
3. Non-users of American Sign Language (ASL)
4. Recipients of Cochlear implants

Fernandes, who learned American Sign Language at 23, has been criticized for her signing skills, which some here say are not fluent, for tolerating a campus where not all faculty, staff and security officers are fluent in ASL, and for being too close to technology vendors and researchers who want to end deafness.  “We thought she wasn’t deaf enough,” says freshman Stefano Scarna, 19. “She’s very oral in her communication style, and we’re American Sign Language oriented.”Link

   They thought she wasn’t deaf enough? Isn’t that equal to someone accusing a person of not being black enough?  Also, they believed she was “too close” to technology vendors who want to put an end to deafness.  That relates back to their resentment of people who choose to have Cochlear implants. They have convinced themselves that to opt to have hearing is to “sell out”.

   Fernandes’ personal beliefs were enough to get her fired before she even had the opportunity to prove herself in the position.  No wonder the University has lost its accreditation, is on probation, and is going downhill fast. And with its violent—even militant stance against all things outside of the ASL, completely deaf box, I don’t foresee any light at the end of the tunnel.