Socialism in America SEE Huntsville, Alabama

It is amazing when I listen and read all the rhetoric about “socialism” and all the fear of it when it is characterized as something President Obama wants to do to us. It is as if Socialism is new and if we let the President does this or that then this country will dive headlong into the point of no return and be “Socialist”. I can’t help but laugh, the “boogie man”, the fear mongering, and the wild delusions BUT let’s look at the REALITY of how socialism is ALREADY at work in America and has been at work BEFORE 2008.
Socialism
• Compare capitalism an economic theory or system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state. It is characterized by production for use rather than
• profit, by equality of individual wealth, by the absence of competitive economic activity, and, usually, by government
• determination of investment, prices, and production levels
• profit, by equality of individual wealth, by the absence of competitive economic activity, and, usually, by government
• determination of investment, prices, and production levels
Now let’s look at the FACTS about Huntsville, Alabama
Redstone Arsenal gets $120 Billion in funds annually (you do realize that it is the government providing jobs and resources, the state right, the absence of competitive economic activity). NASA gets another $3 Billion of Annual federal funds from the STATE, PLUS an additional 20 Billion comes in annually from other federal investment and wages each year. Yet we will start a civil war if welfare to the poor is increased in this country. There are firms like Logicore who got awarded another $100 million dollar contract from the government/state. The Mayor of Huntsville says the city would be in dire straits if the federal support dried up because the city does not have any other industry outside of defense and aerospace. Huntsville, Alabama a city I grew up in and went to college in is a classic example of socialism at work. Ironically Huntsville is republican territory like the state of Alabama and shuns anything “liberal” like socialist policies YET if the defense industry dried up and took all the STATE funds out of the city, Huntsville would look like Detroit or Cleveland. Just like welfare for the poor these cities who get awarded these federal funds can create a guaranteed standard of living outside of the “eat what you can kill” arena of pure capitalism. There is no competitor to NASA or Red Stone Arsenal, what you have us a fully subsidized government economy no different than the housing projects accept at a FAR LESS standard of living. No doubt the population of Huntsville is highly skilled and educated with 16% of the workforce working in either technological or scientific fields BUT the government was responsible for bringing 4700 jobs to the city. This was not capitalism but the STATE giving Huntsville 4700 jobs, YET when President Obama tries to create a jobs Act or brings in a stimulus package to states political pundits and hypocrites decry it as SOCIALSIM and tell its citizens we shun it. REALLY? Am I endorsing socialism as the answer? No of course not, I am merely exposing the deeply conflicted culture and political climate we live in today. When President Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 the citizens hated it because it was the STATE funding the private sector and we can’t have that because it is SOCIALISM. REALLY? We do realize most of the private contractors in Huntsville like Lockheed- Martin, Boeing etc these private companies are fully subsidized by government contracts. If these companies don’t get federal funding they would go out of business. Huntsville Alabama is not an anomaly but more the norm; it takes the private sector partnered with government in order the economy to turn around. When Standard Oil and the Railroad companies help build this country during the Industrial age was done with government assistance and intervention. Has President Obama done everything right, of course not his obsession with taxes is counterproductive and baffling to me but his attempts to inject federal dollars into the private sector is nothing new or a new kind of “socialism”, it is just people are now paying attention to it, like when a black family moves into an all-white neighborhood for the first time. Everything that black family does is under scrutiny and analyzed out fear and social bias warranted or unwarranted.

Is President Obama better than the Alternative?

I am just thinking out loud, talking like it is just you and me as a person who voted for President Obama in 2008 I want pull back to a WIDE ANGLE SHOT to see what is really going on in the scene. Now in a nutshell everybody who is "down with Obama" says if I am hearing correctly from so many Obama Apologist and friends of President Obama is that the President cannot do anything for Black people because White folks would turn on him and he would not get elected again if he dealt with black issues. We cannot expect him to do anything specific for Black folks that would be absurd. Ok and I am not saying he should BUT many people voted for him thinking he would address some issues that Americans face and especially African Americans. So Lets DEBUNK these TALKING POINTS that the President can't do anything:

Imagine hypothetically if President Obama was POTUS during slavery would he have as president issued The Emancipation Proclamation an executive order issued by the President on January 1, 1863? (Nope not using today's logic, white folks would not let him nor would he even suggest it, so would it have benefited us to have him as President in 1863? I guess we should stay slaves and quit "complaining"

Let's go further, would President Obama pass the Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act (1890) - Required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's Historically Black colleges and universities. - Wikipedia

This was a SPECIFIC piece of legislation for BLACK PEOPLE.

President Obama 1890 scenario "well the President cannot pass something like that Land Grant Act because White folks would turn on him etc etc

So I guess we should accept limited education opportunities and "stop complaining"

REALITY CHECK:

We can look throughout history and see The White House with White Presidents addressing the needs of people of with specific ethnic based issues, YET we can't ask President Obama to do this (insert Scooby Doo confused sound effect). It is suggested through talking points that it would be absurd for the President to even wear black let alone address any black issues, yet we need to vote for him because he would be better than a non-black? REALLY?
History says otherwise.

The Civil Rights Acts of 1957 was targeted towards Black people yet non-black Dwight Eisenhower served the best interest of his country by dealing with the issue.

I believe that the United States must make certain that every citizen who is entitled to vote under the Constitution is given actually that right. I believe also that in sustaining that right we must sustain the power of the Federal judges in whose hands such cases would fall.
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, July 31, 1957, News Conference

Then we have:

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, enacted July 2, 1964) was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public ("public accommodations"). -Wikipedia

If President Obama was POTUS in 57' and 64' he may not have even attempted to speak on these matters because they were too race specific to black folks and thus we still would not be able to Vote and thus:

"keep marching and stop complaining even though you cannot vote"

What else we got? Oh this one:

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-6)[1] is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.[2]-Wikipedia

Do you see my point? The fate of Black people does not REST in the hands of black faces in high places (I did a Jesse Jackson); Our fate never has and never will. Policy is the key to determine what is best for a community and NOT skin color. African Americans must ask themselves is President Obama good for America and Blacks in 2012 and not stand by color but by policy. People are not asking questions out of fear but FEAR is when you are afraid of the alternative that does not look like you, when you are suppose to be a people of FAITH. History has shown GOD clearly can operate through ANYBODY to serve justice to any people in need from Pharaoh to Nebuchadnezzar to Eisenhower.

Thus the question we must ask is WHERE is our faith? Is it in MAN or GOD!!! In 2012 your faith will be tested and vote if you do vote according to your FAITH.

TROY DAVIS: THE JUSTICE WE VOTED FOR

In America, where we get the justice that we VOTED for. Sadly, in GA where Troy Davis is to be executed the parole board, was created in February 1943 by statute law, and in August 1943 Georgia voters ratified an amendment setting forth the Board's authority in the State Constitution. The voters need to be aware of what is going on instead being reactive in this case we need to be proactive and spend this type of energy to vote in the JUSTICE we want. There are 5 members on the parole board appointed by the Governor that voters voted for, when we don't vote or are unaware of the issues at stake we get these type of situations like Troy Davis. The chairman of the parole board Garland R. Hunt, Esq. is Black and co-pastor of The Father's House in Norcross, Georgia. Two of the five members on the parole board are black ( Garfield Hammonds, Jr.), they have the sole power to grant clemency and should be held responsible. Thus when all we do is get outraged and protest and don't follow up with say mobilizing voters aligned with politicians sympathetic to the cause, this will continue to happen. The outraged protesters in GA should propose an amendment to the law that allows 5 people to have this type of authority. We have to be strategic and not reactionary in order to be effective, otherwise there is nothing to prevent this from happening again and again and again.

Is this another chapter in THE AFRICAN AMERICAN TRAGEDY? I say Don't be OUTRAGED about Troy Davis be PROACTIVE, mentor a Troy Davis, we got a cradle to prison industrial complex being expanded while we are DISTRACTED, get involved with our youth in the community, Our children are less likely to be in a two parent home in 2011 than in 1870 (slavery) we can MOBILIZE for the Essence Festival but we can't mobilize and be PROACTIVE to vote against bad legislation before it passes and becomes Law, we must translate the outrage into a PAC (Political Action Committee). Be less emotional and more STRATEGIC and PROACTIVE.

President Obama – The Utopian Opus

Experience in life has a way of “curbing your enthusiasm” and instilling pragmatism. When we lack experience we often can have a distorted view of reality, we can have unrealistic expectations. When we look at marriage in America which has a 50% divorce rate what is evident is that the blissful utopia that one thought marriage would be when they said “I do” is not reality. This brings us to our bright President who in 4 years has seemed to mirror marriage in America, the rapturous dating stage, the extravagant nuptials, the amazing honeymoon phase and then REALITY sinks in. The “expectations” do not mirror the day to day reality. When I think back to what we were sold during President Obama’s campaign run back in 2008, it reminded me of a Babyface tune entitled “Soon as I Get Home”:

I give good love
I'll buy your clothes
I'll cook your dinner too
Soon as I get home from work
I'll pay your rent
Your faithful lover
Soon as I get home, soon as I get home from work
Girl, I'll treat you right
And I'll never lie
For all that it's worth
I give good love (good love, good love, good love, good love)

Is this NOT what we got from President Obama? I mean Babyface promised all this stuff that sounds GREAT, who would NOT want somebody to do all this BUT for real who can do all this? We didn’t ask Babyface “how is he going to do all this as soon as he gets home”, we didn't consider the realism of it BUT we yet clamor to expect it.

Utopian (noun) -
4. An inhabitant of Utopia.
5. An ardent but impractical political or social reformer; visionary; idealist.

How can you be concerned with Healthcare when you don’t have a JOB? It sounds good Healthcare for everybody, ok BUT we did not ask for that. It was not our priority but it was the "ideal" of our partner in "Change". How many times in a relationship has a man tried to give things to his woman that she did not ask for and failed miserably? Finding Osama Bin Laden and bringing down Gaddafi are things that nobody asked for, it is the "hello honey surprise", that gets *blank stares*. Folks on mainstreet were looking for relief from “bad loans” that are causing foreclosures, not crossing names off America's Most Wanted list. What good is passing legislation to get folks to eat healthy when some folks are not able to eat at all? Why try and make our schools resemble South Korea where children go to regular school and then to Hagwon (cram schools) after school that end at 10pm, causing children to get 6 hours a sleep a night, when our schools don’t have enough resources? Sadly the critics of this President said he sorely lacked experience and it looks that way, it seems he has no sense of reality outside of the Utopian bubble he has grown up in. The “its easy I did it”, I came from nothing to Senator and 2 years later from senator I am in the White House, "YES WE CAN", we can do it too attitude. This type of rapid success can set a bad precedent, kind of like a couple who for their first vacation go to Hawaii versus someone who has been married 20 years who finally go. Who do you think will appreciate that trip more? Who will understand that these types of trips are not common place, who will take it for granted. Accelerated success can cause an absence of realism and produce utopian thinking like Lebron James proclaiming to win 7 championships when he had not even won one yet. As we continue through the President Obama Opus I am reminded of another tune by After 7 entitled “Ready or Not”:

I'll give you the sun
The Rain
The Moon
The Stars and The Mountains
I'll give you the world
And all that you wish for
And even more

When do we ask “How are you going to get to the moon to give it to me?”, “How will you grasp the sun without getting burned?” The oratory wizardry may be music to the ears but where is the substance to the style? How do we quantify what is being said, what is the realization of success? Until we push past nebulous campaign slogans like “Hope” and “change” and demand to see the details and fine print, we will be like most church goers. Where on Sunday we can hear a “good word” and feel good for the moment but when the “feeling” wears off we are back to feeling like we were before the organ started playing. I believe this President is sincere but his since of reality is strictly utopian. In a utopia we can tax the rich and create obstacles for Corporate America and STILL expect them to provide jobs and stimulate the economy. We can bailout the banks and trust them to pass the savings and goodwill on to the consumers in a utopia. We can expect the first African America president in history of a country with 400 years of slavery to just waltz in and get cooperation from the opposition party. I believe the impossibility of an African American president getting elected created unlimited possibilities YET many did not realize the construct of the American social-political system did not change. I don’t know if this President will listen to the people or not, or will he keep trying to project his audacity of hope into the atmosphere but sadly I think the last song in this set will be an oldie but a goodie. Will the President be singing The Temptations “It was Just my Imagination” as he leaves office realizing that the girl named "utopia" was just a figment of his imagination.

Just my imagination -- once again --
running away with me.
Tell you it was just my imagination
running away with me.
I never met her, but I can't forget her.
Just my imagination..
-- ooh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah --
running away with me

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CONFUSED: Is it the Church House or the Dope House?

This article is not about characterizing all churches or ministries but it is about questioning the paradigm shift from preaching and defending the “common salvation” (Jude 1:3) to being “Relevant”. There are many good houses of prayer that are feeding the sheep. Sadly we have others who are getting all the focus as the become popular with their new relevant gospel message. When you listen closley they actually "put down" the more traditional, smaller faithful churches for their clinging to the old tried and true common salvation message.

Jud 1:3 ¶ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Today we have pastors like R.A. Vernon (the F-U) preacher who says “You can’t be a DVD ministry with an 8 track mentality”. Look at his statement, this well meaning pastor has crystallized the paradigm shift that I see happening. Pastor Vernon says DVD ministry, well we know inherently DVD’s are BOUGHT and SOLD and to be SOLD it MUST have some “entertainment value”, be catchy, have a hook, be RELEVANT. Is he suggesting the focus be on merchandising, monetizing and packaging the gospel as “product” in order to appeal to people (customers)? Did Jesus die for this “new Church”; is this something he would be pleased with?

Mat 21:12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

Mat 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus was not “feeling” the new church house mentality of his day, the Business of the Gospel mentality, on the contrary he was so zealous that HE beat them and put them out and declared “this is a house of prayer”. Prayer is simple, you can’t SELL IT, and prayers don’t get upgraded or come out with new releases. Prayer is a pillar to the “common salvation” that was given to us.

Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.

See it is simple and common, anybody can do it, and anybody can have access to it. What this paradigm shift is about, the DVD Ministry Mentality, it is about trying to “help God out”, it is saying Jesus your message is obsolete, it will not work today, we mere mortal men need to help you reach people, we need to add FLESH to the Spiritual process of SALVATION. These men forget the Kingdom of Heaven is NOT something in the Natural it is SPIRITUAL . When a man tried to get Jesus to show him the Kingdom of Heaven in some relevant way Christ said:

Jhn 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jhn 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Sadly we have men trying to make the Kingdom of God Flesh, they disregard the Spirit because they want to glorify flesh and YET still call it “Kingdom preaching”, when it is NOT. Therefore they have a popular message and have a popular ministry but Christ said those characteristics are not fruit of HIS Kingdom. Yet like blind guides they continue to be diametrically opposed to what Christ actually said.

1Cr 1:18 ¶For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

See from the onset preaching the CROSS is going to be FOOLISH to the world and those who are not saved YET the paradigm shift says let’s make it RELEVANT.

Definition of relevant - bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent

Christ already said the message of the cross was “foolishness” so how can it be pertinent, important to those who are not in the Spirit? Why are we going AGAINST Christ and the Kingdom and trying to make the gospel connect to the matter at hand? We know the things that matter to the world are not important to God; he does not consider the world’s wisdom.

1Cr 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1Cr 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

What we are seeing in this new dispensation of preaching whether it is R.A. Vernon or Pastor Jamaal Bryant or Creflo Dollar is an attempt to put the WORD in the form of FLESH that can be acceptable to the world that they may win some. We know the world receives its own and it DID NOT receive the WORD when it came as Christ.

Jhn 15:19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

This new paradigm thinks their “success” is justified by their numbers because their DVD ministry is popular versus the small numbers of the 8 track ministries BUT that is NOT what Christ said, Christ said the VERY opposite, that the fact that you have LARGE numbers shows you could be on the WRONG path.

Mat 7:13 "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

Mat 7:14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

Mat 7:16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

If the message of the cross is foolish and it is as Christ said then how is it going to be relevant and attract large crowds unless it is not actually the gospel message, the common salvation, the message of repentance of the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus said few would find it yet we got pastors bragging about how many members they got? Did I miss something, it is not the efforts and clever marketing of man that wins men into the Kingdom, NO it has always been the simple message of the cross when preached correctly then GOD draws them in without “sound effects”, “theatrics” , “pyrotechnics” and celebrity endorsements. The DVD ministry, mega church mentality makes the message be subservient to the messenger; it makes the personality on the DVD cover more important than the power of God and charisma esteemed more than Christ. Sadly if we continue to adopt the ways of this new paradigm we will no longer be HIS CHURCH and HIS BRIDE but a HARLOT.

1Cr 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

1Cr 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

1Cr 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

1Cr 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, [you are] God's building.

We are God’s building, YET the new relevant church makes the building on the campus of (blank) ministry the focus. Since we are talking about buildings it brings me to my analogy and comparison of the relevant Church House to the Dope House. If you look at the attached picture to this article you will sadly see a lot of the same words and themes that you can associate with a crack house, they also can be attributed to SOME church houses. This article is to get you to think and see if you are in one of these spiritual dope houses. See if it is about being RELEVANT then everybody on the streets will tell you the Dope Game is what matters, from the music to even wars that are fought i.e. Afghanistan, are fought to control the flow of dope. The music of society defines the society and Dope music is the mantra of today. So if the preachers and church houses are going to compete and be relevant sadly some have adopted that mentality and business ethic.

As an ex-church crack head I had to repent and realize I was being drawn in by the lusts of my flesh, I wanted to hear a message that would sell me the world in a Jesus package. I wanted Pastor to tell me how I could gain the whole world and KEEP my soul. The clever distortions, the half truths and the outright lies kept those like me who wanted to be sold a fantasy; it kept me coming back like a customer. Those type of churches are the Dope House, they give you a "hit" , some excitement, a gimmick, something that will get you high like "F-U" and you get hooked on the "rush" and the feeling and you keep needing more and more of a bigger dose of that "excitement" to get fulfilled. Yet I had to realize why I was NEVER getting fulfilled because the FLESH is never fulfilled and I was sowing to the flesh.

1Jo 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Pro 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Gal 5:16 ¶ [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

As we have pointed out the new paradigm is NOT focused on the SPIRIT it is focused on FLESH, they are NOT teaching the principles of The Kingdom of Heaven when they do this, they are totally opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jhn 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

The Black Agenda: Should be "Regime Change"

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Why can't the black community take cues from all over the world where oppressive, self serving leadership structures are being forced out? When we study Black History we see that any progress that was made was undertaken and executed by young people. Fredrick Douglas was in his 30's when he participated in the abolitionist movement and fought for women's suffrage, Dr Martin Luther King and his cadre of constituents were in their 20's and 30's. The Children's March of 1963 was led by High School aged children. Transformative change has always been facilitated by young people, the old folks have always tried to hinder progress. It was the old guard ministers that fought against Dr. Martin King Jr. Now here we are in 2011 instead of being on display in a museum or on tour with Tavis Smiley's "I AM African American Exhibit", we still see the same old faces and organizations trying to led. Michael Jordan was the greatest, he changed the game, he made the way for Kobe and Lebron but for God's sakes he had to retire and get off the court. As Long as we have to rely on organizations like the NAACP, the Urban League, the SCLC (cough *is a joke*) as the "Leading Black Institutions", the advocacy thought leaders, then Black America will continue to be "socially narcoleptic".

We need new voices from a younger generation like Jeff Johnson to be heard - the Geriatric icons no longer resonate in the community because they no longer live in the community. Leading Blacks and Black organizations are too busy being important and congratulating each other for PAST success , battles won and doing "photo ops" while the black community continues to go BACK TO THE FUTURE.

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THE BLACK AGENDA - is an Oxymoron, what plan or program do we have to address the multiplicity of issues we face? What we do have are vacillating leaders and organizations that move with the money. We all know all the "Black Statistics" and they show as a whole have gone Back to the Future, we have regressed - YET all our leading organizations do is throw banquets, award shows and celebrations, congratulating each other while the black community continues to spiral on a downward trajectory to the abyss. Which brings me to a solution of sorts:

A CIVIL RIGHTS HALL OF FAME:

I wish they would build one, so all these civil rights icons and organizations can go retire and get in it so we can go forward and deal with the issues of today. The typewriter was GREAT for its day, The Sony Walkman was hot for its day, Bell Bottoms were in style but the bible says every thing has a TIME AND A SEASON. Let Moses celebrate escaping slavery meanwhile Joshua still has many giants to face and many walls of Jericho must come down in order for the people to enter into the promised land.

Is there a market for “N*GG@$” or is it a market for the Love of Money?

Watching this video made me go deeper into the psychology of why we like to support negativity. Why do we applaud and support with our hard earned dollars music and entertainment that is self genocide? Time is the most precious gift in the universe, and there are many in the grave who wishes they could get 24 more hours of time and we spend our time supporting death. Why do we do this? I believe it is because we love to celebrate people who can “get money” and we don’t care how they get it, as long as they get it. We assume “God gave them the money”, so it must be a "blessing". We forget the devil tempted Jesus and offered HIM all the riches in the world if he would “sell HIS soul” and worship him.

It matters not if it is a top rapper or a top preacher, we like to flock to and celebrate the individual who can amass wealth by any means, be it exploitation, manipulation, prostitution or extortion as long as they are “blessed”, we feel justified and they feel validated by the money. Now what does the bible say:

Proverbs 15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, Than great treasure with trouble.
Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.

New Living Translation "It is better to be poor and godly than rich and dishonest
The problem is we want to “Get Rich or Die Trying”; therefore there exist this market for “N*GG@$” as the poet so eloquently pointed out. I will expound and suggest that the market is for those who “Love Money” more than righteousness, more than God.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The evil that is perpetrated whether it be rapping about “selling drugs” , “spraying choppas (guns like AK 47, AR 15, SKS etc), “making it rain in the strip clubs” , “pimpin women” , “murder” etc is all done with the motivation as Biggie and Junior Mafia would say to “Get money”. As the Holy Writ says men covet after money and the things money buys thus they will do anything to get it. One of the reasons we cheer these gangsters on is because we are too scared to do the dirt they do but we would not mind having the money that the dirt produces. We also must understand the Holy Writ is saying preachers have erred from the faith in order to pursue money. See a “prosperity gospel” is NOT the FAITH! Yet many are drawn to these marketers of wealth because:

2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

It is our own lusts for the shiny things in life and wanting to “Live Your Best Life Now”, is why we indulge in this type of gospel. We equate godliness with gain and that is NOT the gospel:

1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.

In verse 5 it says those who suggest “gain is godliness” withdraw thyself from them, yes YOUR PASTOR/BISHOP who teaches such things is wrong. We do not teach that TRUE godliness is with contentment, which is GREAT GAIN.

Mat 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The trick the devil is playing on the minds of the masses is that you can serve God by serving money.

I am not saying that you cannot have money, no God forbid, what the WORD is saying that all money is NOT good money.

Let’s look at 1 Timothy 6:5 in the NLT
1Ti 6:5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they don't tell the truth. To them religion is just a way to get rich.

So as we sit comfortably in our pews looking down on those in the hood' as they try and “get it how they live it”, “keeping their mind on their money and the money on their mind”, indulging in all types of self debilitating behavior. We must look in the mirror and realize we are no better than them as we sit up in church with the same dream of “Getting Rich or Die Trying”