Category Archives: Celebrities

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Sacrifice Ain’t Cheap…Romero’s Story

Hello World!!!

I hope all y’all are doing well…I’m not soo bad although from some of my posts, you may think that I’m a tortured soul ruminating on the deeper questions of life twice a week on this blog…uhh not really…I am blessed and lead a somewhat comfortable life…I am healthy…I have a supportive family that I see several times a week…I am employed in the profession that I was trained for in college…I have a vast network of eclectic friends that keep my social calendar pretty full…I am involved in organizations that bring meaning to my life…I could go on…but most importantly, I know that God is leading me and loving me although I am soo not worthy…(Good gracious, thank goodness I don’t always reap the consequences of my actions…His mercy endureth forever…)

So here I am counting my blessings and what not until I go to Bible Study last Wednesday…We watched a movie, “Romero,” which our Bible study leader explained to us is a good example of the type of climate that could have led to the writing of Revelation. The book of Revelation was written when “Christian churches, particularly those in the province of Asia, were going through a difficult time of social and economic pressure and even of persecution.” In Revelation, John recounts a series of visions he experienced designed to give comfort to the churches even as they were suffering for their faith…(I’m such a good Bible study student…) Our Bible study leader also explained that the movie was an example of liberation theology. Justo L. Gonzalez, who wrote the guide that we used to study Revelation, is a champion of liberation theology.

As I watched the movie, I was reminded of the famous quote, “When all is said and done, more is said than done.” Ain’t that the truth?! Thankfully, we in America are not called to sacrifice our lives in support of our faith or even our moral ideals very often…But in other countries, if you call yourself a Christian and are truly committed to the principles in the Bible, you may be subject to death. Here in this country, we go to church on Sunday, praise the Lord, drive home and eat our Sunday dinner with nary a thought of anyone “calling us on the carpet” for our beliefs. Shoot, we may even hook up a few business contacts at church…It just doesn’t have to be that serious…

In the movie, Archbishop Oscar Romero lived a somewhat comfortable life as a top bishop in El Salvador in the late ’70s. He was admired and revered, but he was also seen as a non-threat to the powers that be in El Savador at that time. During this time, the country was engaging in a civil war, and the government was against poor groups of people organizing and working to attain civil and other rights for themselves…sounds vaguely familiar, huh?

Other priests were actually disappointed that Romero was appointed to the position because they did not feel he would be involved in the plight of the poor. And at first in the movie, that is what happened. When he wasn’t conducting Mass and blessing babies, he was hobknobbing with the rich and powerful. When priests tried to tell him the government was sanctioning the murder of innocent poor people, he dismissed them. However, when one priest, Rutilio Grande, Romero’s friend, was killed, he realized that what he dismissed was true. He could no longer ignore the terrorism of the poor.

During the course of the movie, Romero witnessed the torture of other priests and was even ridiculed and jailed himself. He saw scores of people getting slaughtered and realized that many were forced to live in deplorable and inhumane conditions. And in the final scene of the movie, Romero, himself, was assassinated while he conducted mass – a true martyr for Christ. So here is a question I have for you and me too: Is faith worth sacrificing your life for? Right now, I say yes, but it has never been demanded of me either…And I pray to God it never will…

Any thoughts?

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Of Drugs and Light-Skinned Boys…

Hello World,

Picture it…The year was circa 1983 (Shout out to Sophia Petrillo of “The Golden Girls!” You know you watched it!) I was in the fourth grade and a proud member of The MJ Club. Of course, I am referring to Michael Jackson. I had the poster with MJ wearing the yellow sweater with the oh-so-sexy single Jheri curl cascading down his forehead…It was taped to the back of my bedroom door. MJ, wearing a white suit and black shirt, was lying on his side looking all innocent and fresh faced  on another poster on one of my walls…you know the “Thriller” album cover. I wanted to hang the infamous Prince poster on another wall…you know the one with him in some black underwear…I think he was in the shower. Sexy, sexy! I would have settled with the poster with Prince on his motorcycle…you know the “Purple Rain” poster. But my parents were still plugged into popular music back then and weren’t having Prince on my wall. I sported a plastic bag with Michael Jackson’s name inscribed on it. My shirts were covered with Michael Jackson buttons. That Christmas I unsuccessfully begged my parents for an MJ leather jacket with the zippers all over it.  I was definitely one of his top fans under 13 years old.

But somehow during that year, a light-skinned guy with a ridiculously high-pitched voice managed to test my allegiance to MJ. That guy was none other than El “I Like It” DeBarge. In my mind, I was like Michael is cute and all with his Jheri curl and butter voice, but El had that naturally good hair plus he was light-skindeded too…Ha,ha…And his whole family was soo pretty…Around that time, the movie, “The Last Dragon,” came out and quickly became of one my favorite movies at the time. DeBarge’s song, “Rhythm of the Night” was on the soundtrack for that movie and so I became a huge fan of DeBarge.

DeBarge had so many hits…”All This Love,” “Time Will Reveal,” “Love Me in a Special Way,” “Who’s Holding Donna Now,” “You Wear It Well”  They were almost a modern day “The Jackson 5” only there were four brothers and their sister, Bunny…And dudes loved them some Bunny too…And almost as quickly as they appeared on the scene, they exited stage left into near obscurity. I heard rumors that many of the brothers were on drugs, somebody had gone to jail, etc. But I never knew what conclusively happened to them until I watched TV One show “Unsung.”  DeBarge was featured on its first episode. First of all, I had no idea that their father was white and their mother was dark skinned. The children suffered relentless abuse from their father and their mother was unable to protect them from the abuse.  The two elder DeBarge brothers were a part of the group Switch and were responsible for the hit, “There’ll Never Be.” (Love that song!) Drug abuse and infighting ultimately led to the demise of Switch and DeBarge. But one quote from Bunny haunted me after the show ended. She said she hoped the next generation of the DeBarge family would escape the generational curse of drug abuse in their family.

And so this is a looong intro to the topic of generational curses. My favorite author Catherine Marshall has a chapter on the topic in her book, “Something More.” In the chapter, she quotes Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” Marshall also said, “It soon became apparent that just as we can inherit either a fortune or debts, so in the spiritual realm we can inherit either spiritual blessings or those liabilities (unabashedly called ‘sins’ in Scripture) that hinder our development into mature persons. These blessings or liabilities do not come to us solely by heredity. Obviously, they are passed on by example and by teaching – conscious and unconscious.”

For instance, my grandfather was a pastor. My father is a pastor. I have uncles who are pastors. I aspire to be a Christian author. Faith is definitely something that was passed down in my family. According to my dad, so is obsessive thinking…Goodness gracious, sometimes I am terrorized by how fast my mind spins with obsessive, anxious sometimes crazy thoughts. I revealed this unsettling behavior to my dad once and he told me it happens to him too…I wonder who passed it down to him…

If you think of behaviors – good and bad – that were passed down in your family from generation to generation, it seems almost impossible to escape them. However, Marshall describes her method for breaking these generational behaviors. Of course, it starts with praying and meditating on God’s Word. Marshall said, “‘The generations can start to assume their creative function at any point. Even if most of one’s life is in the past and certain children and grandchildren are acute problem cases, yes, even then God can turn this curse that goes down through the generations into a blessing…For each of us-no matter what our situation or how we feel we have failed -there is hope.”

So what do you think about generational blessings and curses? Do they exist? What has been your experience with them? chris brown

Any thoughts?

P.S. These pics are of a few of my fave light-skinned singers…I struggled whether to include Chris Brown’s photo…but when I thought about it, what is happening with him and Rihanna may be a perfect example of generational dysfunction. From what I’ve read, Brown watched his stepfather abuse his mother and now it seems Brown has become the abuser…let’s pray that Chris Brown deal with his problem and be the person that God created him to be…

Below is a DeBarge video…

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Like a pimp…part deux

Hello World!!!

Although it is a tad chilly here in the A, Spring has still sprung as of last Friday…Before you know it, it will be Easter – the most victorious time of the year for Christians! But I digress, today’s post won’t be long. I just wanted to hear your thoughts about a topic that is frequently discussed on The Michael Baisden Show, a popular radio program that I listen to almost daily.

His series, “Pimps in the Pulpit,” which is mentioned in the bio on his Web site, is always guaranteed to incite excitement! In this series, Baisden discusses his distrust of church leaders for a variety of reasons including some well-known scandals including pastors and the lavish lifestyles that some pastors lead. It seems to me his distrust is one of the reasons that he has shied away from Christianity and organized religion in general.

Apparently, Baisden isn’t the only one that feels that way. One of my Facebook friends posted an interesting link last week about a new book that is on the market. In “Clever Lives and Assumptions from the Pulpit to the Pews,” by Pastor F.L. Anderson, the pastor states that many men stay away from church  because “the lavish lifestyles of some pastors are a stumbling block that keeps many of them away from the Church.”

“Too often we are presented with and are fond of church leaders with the persona and the charisma of the neighborhood, hoods, the used car salesman, or the cunning telemarketer on the other end of the phone. Too many have decided to be mirror images of the neighborhood gangsters and pimps of the ’60s and ’70s who flaunt their money, wear the flashiest clothes and drive the fanciest cars.”

Umm, umm, I didn’t say that…the pastor said that… What do you think?

Pastor Anderson goes on to say that, “In the book of Philippians, Paul gives us insight to the character of Christ. Paul tells us that Jesus made himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant. In other words, Jesus didn’t make it a point to draw attention to Himself. Though He was and is the King, His lifestyle was a modest one, unlike the lifestyle of then and today. I have come to believe that many love the Pharisees’ lifestyle because the Church is the only organization where the servant lives a lavish lifestyle.”

“Paul backs up the importance of the lifestyle that Jesus lived when he said, ‘Let your moderation be known to all men.’ (Philippians 4:5) He said moderation meaning ‘avoiding extremes, temperate, not flashy, expensive or excessive. Here is one meaning of moderation that Church leaders should pay attention to: moderate indulgence of appetite or desire.”

Other topics discussed in Anderson’s book include: “Why is Your Church in Financial Debt,” “Controlling Ministries and Spiritual Abuse,” Giving Under Grace Not Under Pressure – New Testament Giving vs. Old Testament Tithing” and “The Truth Behind Spiritual Coverings.”

Y’all know this is some explosive stuff for a pastor to get into…

I have my own opinions, but I want to know what you think? I will say this…anyone who wears a pinky ring is trying to be a pimp…so not attractive, ha, ha

Any thoughts?

P.S. In honor of Spring, I have decided to post one of my favorite songs – Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Classic. Enjoy.