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From Righteous to Ratchet – Your Christian News Roundup…

Hello World,  meeks

Every once in a while so many Christian news stories cross my path that I cannot devote a singular blog post to any of them…I MUST include them ALL…What you will read next ranges from righteous to ratchet…Some of the stories may inspire you and some may just cause you to shake your head…All of them are worthy of perusal to read on…

1. Jeremy R. Meeks aka Fine Felon aka #FelonBae aka Dreamy McMug Shot has been blowin’ up the Innanet since the Stockton, California Police Department posted a mugshot of the 30-year-old felon on its Facebook page on Wednesday. The picture of Meeks, who was arrested for felony weapon charges, was posted as a part of the department’s Operation Ceasefire enforcement mission. Little did the department know this post would have fired up a viral storm of women from all over the world declaring their “admiration” for the blue-eyed, gun-toting, practicing Christian of seven years…At least, that’s what his sister said…Yes, the fine felon is also saved… Hallelujah! Say Amen! LOL…Read more at The Christian Post…

EphrenTaylor2. There is almost nothing more unsettling than a Christian crook…especially one that that uses the church to steal money…And then again, the first treasurer of the church, Judas, was a Christian crook and stole money…Thankfully, there is one less Christian crook stealin’ folks money through the church…It was announced last Tuesday that Efren Taylor II was arrested on a federal indictment…According to an article on ABC News, “some congregants from some of the most prominent mega-churches, including Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Texas, turned over their life savings to Taylor. The DOJ claims that more than 80 people from Georgia alone lost more than $2 million because of Taylor’s scheme.” I don’t want to judge, but I have to wonder did the Holy Spirit tip any of these Christians that this man was a thief…What about the gift of discernment?

3. While Actress Meagan Good was promoting the movie “Think Like a Man Too,” which came out this weekend, she also discussed her forthcoming book with husband DeVon Franklin, a minister and vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, entitled “The Wait” on Jimmy Kimmel…Good and Franklin waited until they were married to have sex…Simultaneously, Good has been criticized for her sexy attire and belief that Christians can be sexy…Rolling Out has a new interview with Good in which she fleshes out her belief…Do you think that Good can promote being sexy yet advocate being celibate unless married at the same time?

book4. Apparently, Frank Schaeffer, son of famous American evangelicals Francis and Edith Schaeffer who founded Switzerland’s L’Abri, is now an atheist who believes in God according to his new book “Why I aAm an Atheist Who Believes in God,”…I actually enjoyed Schaeffer’s book “Crazy For God” in which which he reveals his conflicted views about the church…but now he is saying he is an atheist?! That’s just asinine…Read more at The Huffington Post… 

5. In other atheist news, “Tim Lambesis, lead singer and founder of Christian metalcore band As I Lay Dying, recently confessed that he and other members of his band had become atheists but kept claiming to be Christians so they could keep making money selling records to Christians,” according to an article on The Christian Post…Lambesis, who was recently sentenced to prison for attempting to order a hit on his estranged wife (Yes, I actually typed that), said that most Christian bands he met had similar beliefs!!! Again, I’ma need my fellow Christians to pray for more discernment…Tim-Lambesis1

church6. In positive Christian news, have you ever heard of the new GSN dating show “It Takes a Church” The show, hosted by Natalie Grant, debuted earlier this month…Here is the description from the website : Each week, IT TAKES A CHURCH visits a congregation from across the country to surprise one unsuspecting single with the news that they’re about to be saved from the dating world. The church’s Pastor will task their congregation of cupids, to find the best possible matches for the dater, but in the end, our single will decide which suitor to put their faith in. The congregant who brought the chosen suitor will make a difference to their church by winning a donation on its behalf. The new show already has a lot of fans including Gospel Artist Donnie McClurkin…Here is Elev8’s article about the new show…

7. President Obama showed up in the most unlikely way at the The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference on Friday…According to TIME Magazine, “small figurines of Obama’s head, first spotted by the Huffington Post‘s Igor Bobic, were placed inside the urinals in the mens’ restroom outside the conference hall.” One has to wonder what faith these attendees have if they allowed such a filthy and degrading depiction of our nation’s president to be a part of the conference? urinal

 

 

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

 

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The Stones That Built Me Strong – New Book Alert!!!

Hello World, stonescover

As I’ve said before in previous posts, summertime is the best time to catch up on your reading…Over the past few weeks, I’ve featured fiction books so today I thought I would feature a non fiction selection…Presenting The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! by Alissa R. Jones…

Are you holding on to something you need to let go of?

Have you ever felt like all the odds are against you to succeed?

Have you ever felt like you fell in love with the wrong person?

I came up against these questions at life’s most trying moments. For many years, I was silenced by fear and suppressed the bad memories of my childhood.  At the age of 11, I was abused by a man my mother let rent a room in our home. I discovered my dad I’ve known for 13 years wasn’t my dad biologically. I looked for love in the wrong places, trying to fill the void of all the things important to me being taken and leaving me hopeless.

When we don’t deal with our past it can’t be healed. I made a choice to marry a man for the wrong reasons. In hopes of holding on to him, I continued to lose myself in the process and deal with situations I should not have.

With each stone thrown at me, I have come to know peace, understanding and forgiveness through turning to God. After turning to God, I learned that what was once a negative and a hurtful stone can turn into a positive one. I realized sometimes God places these obstacles and trials before us to humble us, and prepare us for what He truly has in store for us.

The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! is available on Amazon.

About The Author:alissa

Alissa R. Jones is an author, motivational speaker, project director, woman of God and the list goes on…But most of all, she is a survivor. She is the Founder and Director of S.W.V., Survivors with Voices Foundation with a mission to help survivors embrace seen and unseen scars, find a voice, and heal. S.W.V. provides an outlet in which their voices may be heard. Alissa R. Jones was born and raised out of Springfield, Ohio. She currently resides in Houston, Texas with her husband Robbin A. Jones and their children. For more information, visit the author online at survivorswithvoices.com.

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The Giving Away of a Daughter – A Father’s Day Meditation…

Hello World,father

As you hopefully realize, today is Father’s Day! Last month, it seemed the world over celebrated their mothers for Mother’s Day with unabashed praise and adoration, but for many, Father’s Day is decidedly less shiny…If Mother’s Day is a sun high up in the sky, brilliant day. Father’s Day is a sun behind the clouds day, a day that could go either way…Maybe it’s because Father’s Day dredges up painful remembrances of fathers that did not live up expectations for some…(Hallmark has even created a Father’s Day card for black women 🙁 )Or maybe Father’s Day is not as shiny a day as Mother’s Day because although children are created by mothers and fathers, mothers literally bear a more tangible connection to their children…

Thankfully, I cherish my mother as much as I do my father…I have written about my father in “Color Him Father, Color Him Love (An oldie but goodie…)” and “Reflections on being a Preacher’s Daughter Without the Reality Show…” and now I have a new memory to share…As I was preparing to get married a year ago, I was not only aware that I was taking Robert’s hand to walk with him for the rest of our days, I was also keenly aware that I was letting go of the hand of the man that had loved me best…My Dear Ole Daddy :)…And it made me sad even in the midst of my joy…And I was nervous too…Although I had been living on my own for many years, I always felt that my Dad was watching out for me…While we did not expressly talk about all of this, I think he was processing his own set of feelings too…Sometimes I would catch him looking at me. And though his eyes were directed toward me, but they would be focused on something or maybe some place else…

dadandmeWhen it was time to actually plan the events of the reception, I waffled about asking him to dance with me at the reception…After all, this was the same man who showed up at one of my high school dances wearing his pajamas and a trench coat to drag me out of there…But my mom suggested I ask him anyway…I was surprised when he said, “yes.” Our Father-Daughter Dance was kind of awkward, but I think it illuminated what was going on in our hearts…I imagine it’s incredibly awkward to give a daughter away after you remember when your daughter was just a thought and then that thought became a tiny human being that you watched grow into a woman…And as much I looked forward to moving forward with Robert, it was awkward to realize another man would be the keeper of the treasure trove of my heart…

And although that transition is taking shape every day that passes by, I’m glad I’ve (or rather God) chosen a man that possesses the kindness of my father…My father makes the effort to be kind to all living creatures from animals to human beings…I remember when I was in fifth grade, I had a fluffy black dog named Buffy and she would follow my father and I as we walked to my bus stop each morning. One morning, after I was picked up from the bus stop, a car hit Buffy and she died. My father carried my bleeding, dead dog all the way from the bus stop down a hill to the back yard of our home where he buried her…I see that same kindness in my husband when I feel like I’m about to unleash hell with my mouth until I look at Robert…He doesn’t even have to say anything. With his eyes, he tells that he doesn’t want to fight…And nothing makes you feel more savage than picking a fight with someone who refuses to do so…

According to the June 12 The Atlantic article “Masters of Love,” research has demonstrated that “kindness (along with emotional stability) is the most important predictor of satisfaction and stability in a marriage. Kindness makes each partner feel cared for, understood, and validated—feel loved.” I’m so grateful that I have a kind father and now I have a kind husband…

Wedding planning for a woman, like no other event, forces you to reflect on the relationship you have or don’t have with your father…And now that I have planned a wedding, I’m drawn to wedding planning…I’ve been watching the wedding planning of Real Housewives of Atlanta star star Kandi Burruss to Todd Tucker…In last week’s episode, Kandi and her father discussed their troubled relationship which included him being absent from her life for a year at a time sometimes…Still, she asked her father, who is now a pastor and presumably a changed man, to officiate at her wedding…See the exchange below…

 

Tonight’s episode ( Bravo, 8 pm EST)  promises to be just as if not more dramatic as Mama Joyce, Kandi’s mother, has a showdown with Todd Tucker’s mom…You remember that I wrote about Mama Joyce and her now legendary disapproval of her fiance’ in “Mama Joyce Gets Us Straight…And Steps Back…And Keeps Stepping…(MY INTERVIEW).”

So to all of the fathers, I wish you “Happy Father’s Day.”

Any thoughts?