WARNING: Content Questionable

I am licensed to kill! I am licensed to drive! I am permitted to do these things. Licensing gives permission. To use something of someone else’s legally you have to have permission which gives them license to use it. Like songs to promote products a license is required. The ethics behind licensing is directed at money. Why is this so hard to comprehend? To make millions by using your song to promote a product is selling-out? What’s the big deal? My question is what was the original content of the music to begin with and how and what are they using it to promote now? Content should be the issue. I have permission by God, by Him I have been given a choice, a license so to speak, to do whatever I think is right. He does not recommend it and neither do I but you have that option. For there is a way that seems right unto a man but leads to death. Proverbs 14:12.Yes, we are concerned with content. The content of your character. What is it made of? The contents of your mind and heart. What fills them? If the collection of money is the issue and is what everyone uses as a mark against true artistry then the rest of their practices need to be examined as well. We like to pick and choose what we think is right and wrong. We apply many shades of grey with no absolutes.

The truth is everyone loves money to some degree but the root of all kinds of evil is the LOVE of money not the money itself. 1 Timothy 6:10. Why would this be the root of all evil? There is enough abundance on earth to supply every need and want but because of greed people are in lack. Literally starving and dying because of greed. This is not the heart of God in case your wondering about the contents of His heart. He says to us “Let it be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10. What does Heaven look like? Everyone has an abundance, nothing lacking, nothing broken, and we are serving one another in love. That’s what God’s idea of work looks like. All of our needs are met by us serving in kindness with generosity, one to another. What does the contents of your heart and mind look like? Does it look anything like God’s or are you filled with greed and lust? With all of the natural disasters taking place we might want to reexamine our priorities. Maybe it is making you think twice about what is really important. That loving God and others is the most important thing.

Does money come before God therefore it has become your God? What does your idols look like? To get back to Heaven’s agenda, which is love, requires a renewed mind. To do this you need God content. If you fix your heart and mind on the things of God and not this world you will see a change.A change that can affect the world around you because of God’s love. The inward content will be outwardly expressed. But it has to begin with you.You have been given permission to choose, now with that choice what will you do? Just because you can do something doesn’t make it right and the question you need to ask is this beneficial for myself and others. Heaven is not a garbage can or sewer and if it was no one would want to go there. So the importance of content is understood. Then if the opposite is true for Hell why do we want to go there? Start promoting the things of God and make Heaven happen for yourself and somebody else today.

You Have Been Weighed and Measured and Found Wanting

Today I saw Lindsay Lohan on the cover of a magazine supposedly wasted again. This has become normal for Miss Lohan and they are not portraying it favorably. I would have to interject with if it was Lady Gaga she would receive an award. Whats the difference? Charlie Sheen is committing adultery and using pornography. He’s rich and seemingly has it all. Is this acceptable because of his money and status? Tiger Woods is another figure who has fallen into adultery with the use of pornography. Why is it better for Charlie Sheen than Tiger Woods? Mr. Woods has received much more negative publicity while Mr. Sheen’s behavior has been sensationalized in a positive manner. We see these contrasts and they are inaccurate. It is okay for one but for another it is not? One has to wonder who set that standard.
In the music industry drugs are an accepted norm what ever the reason may be. For the most part it is considered a positive, a way to supposedly enhance artistic ability. But not so for gangsta rappers. Drugs and gangsta rap are a negative? Could someone please explain this to me. When has illicit sex or drug use ever been a positive? How can we deem it cool for some but uncool for others? Where did that thinking come from and when did these subtle’s become accepted. Are these opinions right? Do you see the discrepancies in what has become “accepted norm’s”?

An accepted norm is a prevalent attitude concerning something. Can you think of something you believe to be true but maybe isn’t but because everyone accepts it to be true you believe it. There is an attitude concerning the things of God that have become accepted norms that as an American I cannot accept. For instance, we are not to speak of God in public when by our own government Evolution is classified under religion because it is a belief system yet it is taught in the public schools. I thought “religion” was not allowed? Who told us that and why do we accept it as truth?

The number one fallacy of the day is the separation of church and state. If you do some research you will find that clause was put there to protect the church and its believers from the state interfering with their right to assemble or worship. Many of our forefathers came to America seeking freedom from religious persecution. They wanted to prevent that from happening but it is happening before our very eyes. Today we can talk about anything but the God of the Bible. That kind of God talk is censored!

The discrimination is heavy and some say the Christian religion has been reduced to a theory. If it is theory then it has a place in our schools next to the evolutionary theory that is taught as truth when in fact it is but a theory. I say it has been reduced further than that to an unmentionable. The one’s preaching tolerance seem to have none for the Christian God. They are trying to push God out of everything. Why is okay for some to talk about their belief systems and not others? A belief system is just something you “believe” to be true. Our government at least got that one right. As an American, who has freedom of speech and religion, I refuse to be silent because of an incorrect accepted norm. I believe in Jesus Christ and have the right to speak openly about it. It is what I believe.

America was known as the great melting pot by the 1780‘s. In 1970 we became known as the great salad bowl. No, we do not all look alike or sound alike, this is America and that is why I agree with the salad bowl metaphor. As for the idea of the melting pot that could be applied to the tolerance message of today. That no matter what you believe to be true it is your right as an American. The only time I draw an intolerant line is in regards to children. That is another discussion altogether but a discussion about rights as well. Slavery has been abolished and to that I say amen. Let tolerance be what we now embrace as long as the same courtesy is given to all.

The Truth Because It Simply Is

What images does the word slavery invoke? Does that one word have the power to incite a riot? Does it stir feelings of hatred and oppression because slavery may be over but it is not forgotten? There are many issues in our world still today. A mark on American history is that ugly word slavery. But it was not only America who practiced the cruelty of slavery but the entire world. America should be celebrated for the war on abolishing slavery and overcoming such a detestable pratice. It will never be forgotten but it should be a reminder of the debasement of mankind and why we can never go there again.
The idea of a free world where all men are created equal and have inalienable rights such as the pursuit of happiness really is the American dream. In this "free" world not only are people not owned but they have a right to believe and say what they want. We have the birth of religious freedom and speech. Evereyday on this earth people die trying to come to what is known as "free" America. There are many blacks who contributed to this freedom we have today and Isabella Baumfree born in 1797, was one of them. She was born a slave but died a free woman in 1883. A political activist against slavery, she was the first black woman to ever take a white man to court and win. She aided in raising black troops during the Civil War. You may know her by her adopted name she took in 1843 as Sojourner Truth. She changed her name as she claimed by the instruction of the Holy Spirit after she became a Methodist and got saved. She announced, "The spirit calls, me I must go." And go she did to preach about God and abolitioning slavery. She also spoke publicly about women's rights and religious tolerance.
Her story as a slave was not an uncommon one. But once Sojourner Truth received the love of God it changed her whole life. What love would an abused slave feel? How could she even believe that God is a God of love after experiencing and witnessing all she had? I have lived not as a slave but I have lived in my life without love. I did not know the meaning of true love nor did I have it in my life. Until I came to God and received his love I was lost and hopeless. As a child and young adult I was physically and verbally abused. As a woman I have experienced the violent act of rape. All of which Miss Truth suffered quite more extensively than I. I know that it is difficult to look around this broken world and think there is a God who cares. I have been there. But what I will be comemerating this Easter is an act of love that supercedes all I can think or imagine.The crucifixation and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We do not have to be genius to see the effect of choosing hate instead of love on mankind. The acts that we committ are so hurtful. To treat other human beings with such ill regard and no value is exactly what our constitution was formed to prevent. The constituiton did not lead me to God's love but it allows the free expression of it. And for that I am so thankful. I have always found it to be fascinating that slaves in chains would be praising God! How amazing is that? There are many remembered slave hymns that were sung by those beautiful people in chains. A former slave trader himself was saved and responsible for writng one of the most famous hymns of all time. That would be Amazing Grace.
The slaves could receive God's love because they knew it was not God's will for men to choose the evil that they were doing. It is all about choices. You can choose. That is not only the beauty of God but the beauty of America. I get to freely worship my "choice" of God and speak openly about it. This is not true in many countries around the world. Sojourner Truth went to proclaim the truth about God's love and real freedom. She impacted the lives of all around her because she became more than physically free she became spiritually free in her heart that only a realtionship with God can provide and that my friends is true freedom.