FACTOID THINKER: Things that make me go hmmmmm...Freedom to believe, not freedom to practice

Soooooo, anyone notice lately the FACT that there are increasing numbers of cases in the courts and media regarding freedom of speech? This is one such item of news that peeked my interest: Court Lets City Restrict Church Use of Schools.(Benjamin Weiser, NY Times, June 2, 2011). A legal battle that has been going on somewhat quietly since 1995 in New York, to challenge the freedom of speech of one church is spilling over towards a ban of all churches from using public schools as their venue for worship services.

Here's a brief excerpt...click on the above link to read the full article...it's an interesting must-read:

"Deciding 2 to 1, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said the city had “a strong basis to believe” that allowing the religious services to be conducted in schools could be seen as the kind of endorsement of religion that violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause.

“When worship services are performed in a place,” Judge Pierre N. Leval wrote for the majority, “the nature of the site changes. The site is no longer simply a room in a school being used temporarily for some activity.”

“The place has, at least for a time, become the church,” he wrote, adding that the city’s policy imposed “no restraint on the free expression of any point of view.” Rather, it applied only to “a certain type of activity — the conduct of worship services — and not to the free expression of religious views associated with it.”

Judge John M. Walker Jr. dissented, saying the ban on religious worship services violated the First Amendment’s free speech clause...Judge Leval wrote that “the fact that New York City’s school facilities are more available on Sundays than any other day of the week means that there is a de facto bias in favor of Christian groups who want to use the schools for worship services."...The Bronx church and others using the city’s schools, he wrote, “tend to dominate the schools on the day they use them.”

“They use the largest rooms and are typically the only outside group using a school on Sunday,” he wrote."

HMMMMMMMMMM.........."Then they took your freedom of speech, your freedom to preach, your freedom to think. What's next? Your freedom to blink?...Silent weapons, QUIET WARS, World War 3, earthquakes, riots, wars. you can't see THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL. And what does it read? Babylon is gonna fall, is gonna fall!.." ( Corey Red )

Matthew 24:9-14
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

MUSICAL FACTS: How to be a Groupie: In Bed with Rappers and MCs

If you have followed me long enough on this blog, or my Twitter, my Facebook page, the Facebook pages I help manage: livinsoul Entertainment TM, Mommies On The Mic TM, Livinsoul International Ministries TM, The Day Jesus Spoke Hip-Hop TM, or the Twitter accounts I help manage @livinsoul_ENT, @MommiesOnTheMic, @livinsoul_MIN, @JesusSpoke ... besides knowing how ridiculously busy I am for a mother of 5 (yup 5!) darling children...you most definitely know that I am a huge supporter of Christian-based Music especially, Hip-Hop and Reggae. Sooooo, I go loco on the promo for Christ Music - from tweets, video posts, blogs and Twibbon, to behind the scenes promotion of music-ministry, Artist Fan  Page management and da beat goes on an on. So why exactly do I take the time to prop up these Rappers and Reggae MCs for FREE (mostly)?

Since I entered into the Christian Music, and particularly the Christian Hip-Hop community, as a chatty supporter and opinionated tweeter (LOL), over the last 18 months or so, I have had a fair bit of o_O from folks who seem to think I'm just some groupie chick trying to, I'll just say politely, 'talk' to Rappers (including, I'm sure, a few Rappers thinking this, themselves)...fair, enough, I can say from an outsider eye perspective, I might raise a brow if a 'strange' chick comes out of left field and seems to talk to Rappers and industry males 'just a lil too much,' without a husband in sight...but er, um...Hey World! This announcement may be long-overdue for those raised eye-brow folks, but I found it totally unnecessary for myself, really, to justify my interactions as I support, cheerlead and encourage a genre of music that was tantamount in leading me to Christ.

However, it would seem that folks are just gonna be, well, shall I say, 'feline' in their curiosity...and trully, I have other things to focus on...so FOR THE RECORD, I am, in FACT, not some groupie chick who gets off on being known, applauded or accepted by Rappers and MCs (infact my support and promo is largely ignored by them, so it's not like I get pats on the back for energies and time spent)...and I mos def ain't trynah get laid! #BOING! (insatiable husband at home...HELLO! lol!)...What and who I am is a genuine lover of Christ Music, and a woman passionate about supporting those who create it, and use it to spread the Gospel of Christ. As I have told a few people, and some inquisitive enough to ask...I began interactions with Rappers and MCs after I linked in to a favorite Artist's facebook page in my very early freshman days on facebook. From that Rapper's personal account, I was surprised to hear just how much resistance and disunity the Christian Hip-Hop world faces. I had heard some rap and reggae songs, previously, that spoke of some of the difficulties of these two types of music being accepted in Churches, but to hear it personally sparked a fire in me to publicly support and cheerlead those, whose music had impacted my life in real and intangible ways. Needless to say, the more Rappers and MCs I added as "friends" or "followed," the more I got involved in this community....and here I am...supporting favorite Artists, and many more new & old school Rappers and MCs, Singers, Poets, Musicians, Producers and da beat goes on and on and on! LOL!

Having spent a great deal of the last year of my life publicly supporting and encouraging those in music-ministry, particularly Hip-Hop and Reggae, which continue to be erroneously shunned by the majority as ungodly or, at the least, "inappropriate" for spreading the message of the Gospel, I have had the honor of interacting with many of my favorite Rappers & MCs, as well as Singers, Poets, Ministers, Producers/Beatmakers, Label & Media Company-Owners, Journalists, Dee-Jays and the like, along with some equally enthusiastic supporters, naysayers, and the whole caboodle that make up this nouveau-Christ Church. It has been a fun ride, I  have to say. But I do this for more than fun. I talk to Rappers and MCs etc. because they too, need the encouragement, the upliftment of spirit and the good old fashioned 'well done' pat on the back that us, 'consumers' take for granted when we play the music that ministers to us. Not only have I received some feedback that my own support is meaningful and encouraging, God has truly used this time in my life to break me, mould me and shape me for the greater Vision of support He has had planned all along.

Inevitably, in the midst of supporting the Artists/industry folk behind the music that continues to positively impact my spiritual and emotional life, I have found my joie de vie...the je nais se quoi I have been missing in my journey of life, to find purpose and meaning through who I have been created to be, and what I have wished to offer the world since I was 6 years old (but that is another blog-story)...suffice to say, God has allowed this time in my life of serving others, to become the catalyst for me embracing something I have fought for some time. My Husband has been called to ministry since he was a teen. He has had his own personal struggles and intervening circumstances preventing him from coming to the place of putting his foot in that pool. But along the way, though I saw myself being in the background administratively, I had not actually married the Vision of Livinsoul International Ministries TM, which my husband has been called to, and I was grateful for all the delays in becoming a "Pastor's Wife".

Well, getting in bed with all these Rappers and MCs got my juices going to desire to conjugate my passion at 6 years old to "build the world a home, and furnish it with love", along with my role as a Wife and Partner in incubating and helping to birth and nurture my Husband's seed - the Vision of Livinsoul International Ministries TM. By serving others, I discovered the purpose God has for me. I have had opportunity to see my gifts for what they are; to learn my limitations, and to embrace the destiny God has had planned for me...so yeah! I'm a chick who talks to Rappers & MCs...and yet, soooo much more...as one of my favorite Rappers, Corey Red says: "I was asleep, but the Giant has awakened!"...Mami, got VISION - in 3-D! Watch this space....and see where God directs this script... ;-)

If you do not yet understand the purpose God has for YOU in life, pray, commit yourself to service to others and allow God the opportunity to show you your gifts, your abilities, your purpose, and yes! your limitations. When you do you will truly be able to serve!

Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. -- Jeremiah 1:5

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. -- Jeremiah 29:11

Click here for The Day Jesus Spoke Hip-Hop 4-part blog series, "Does God Have a Purpose For Your Life? - Absolutely!" 

BLACK FACTS: in celebration of Black History Month, LESSON #1

"Let's take a trip back to Africa, before slavery. The year 1591 AD. This year had an effect on you; the same year Morocco invaded Timbuctu. The city fell & caused the fall of the Songhay Empire - even back then we was Kings with bling - we been fired. But there's more instability to Africa's West Coast. Slave traders came, filled their boats and left toast, and sailed across the Atlantic, where hundreds and millions of slaves died, centuries before the Titanic. Some went to America, others the Caribbean. Now you call me a Yankee and I call you West Indian. We all are African-descended, but most of us are ignorant to the experiments of Willie Lynch. He put the dark skinned slaves against the light skin, let 'em argue about who got 'good hair' and 'right skin'. Put the man against the woman and the young against the old; teach 'em capitalism and show 'em how to sell their soul. IT'S TRUE, THE BIBLE WAS MISUSED IN SLAVERY, BUT THAT SAME BIBLE WAS USED TO SET SLAVES FREE. Harriet Tubman - Christian; Frederick Douglass - Christian; many Blacks who fought in the Civil War were Christian. Let me help you UNDERSTAND RELIGION - THERE WERE CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA WAY BEFORE THE WHITE MAN'S RELIGION! ...

Fast forward 21st century - it's real. Mind your business in these streets - you still get killed. We spiritually blind so we can't see far. WE IDOLIZE SCARFACE AND BLASPHEME GOD. WE GLORIFY KILLING, BLACKS ILLING, CATS SPILLING, AS AMERICA MAKES MILLIONS OFF OF MISERY BLACKS FEELING. PSYCHOLOGICALLY DESTROYING THE PSYCHE OF BLACK CHILDREN - ALL WE GOT LEFT IS A NEXT GENERATION OF BLACK VILLIANS. The Church playing games as Lucifer snatch millions. These televangelists better actors than Matt Dillon. BLACK MEN, STOP ABANDONING WOMEN & BLACK CHILDREN. THERE'S A HOLE IN OUR SOUL ONLY CHRIST CAN FILL THAT LACK FILLING. But, nobody's feeling my song - coz ALL MY BROTHERS REALLY WANT IS MONEY AND A THICK CHICK WITH A THONG, HOUSE AND A CAR, MAD WEED, A SPLIFF AND A BONG, LIVE LIKE A DON, ICE AROUND YOUR WRIST AND YOUR ARM. But then the thieves broke in and they stick up his arm, got your family hostage, 4-50 a month, nodding your head - all it take is a click and you gone. You feeling my song? But too late - your Spirit is gone. So, AFRICAN, WE MUST STOP THIS CRAZINESS, AND STOP BLAMING THE WHITE MAN FOR OUR LAZINESS. BLOODS AND CRIPS GOT BEEF THAT'S MAJOR - SPORTING THE SAME COLOR HANDKERCHIEF AUNT JEMIMA WAS ROCKING WHEN MASTER RAPED HER! ...

BLACK PEOPLE, BLACK PEOPLE! WE GOTTA WAKE UP, WE GOTTA WAKE UP!"

*** I wish I could claim this eloquent, succinct and poignant look at the state of Black America - past, present and future - a bright future if we wake up to the LIGHT! But the FACT is, the above quote is the intellectual copyright of, Renaissance Speaker, Writer, Activist, Poet and Emcee, COREY RED. While this could easily take the form of one of his many motivational and inspirational speeches, this is, in FACT, a rap-song, entitled 'BLACK TEARS'. Believe me when I tell you, reading the lyrics is no-where as hard-hitting as hearing the actual song with it's simple, forceful beats and gut-wrenching 3-tier chorus and sound effects.

During Black History Month I like to take the small window of opportunity to refresh our memories of the State of Black America, the African Motherland and the Black Diaspora. Too often in the toil of our lives we miss the impact and severity of our collective history - not as some dark oppressive doom and gloom slavery and fight for civil rights against the white man story - but the OVERCOMING history of our forefathers that has allowed us the opportunities we have today to accept defeat OR to RISE above it. Yes, there is still a spiritual, physical, mental and emotional struggle that rages itself against the Black populus, but REALITY FACT: Like so many of our forefathers, WE CAN OVERCOME...the key to that victory over racism, over prejudice, over poverty, over dis-ease, over depression, over crime, over drugs, over fatherlessness, over what may come is CHRIST. For, just as many of our forefathers had to remind themselves in the face of the whip, the chains, the battons and the guns, "[WE] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us]." (Phillipians 4:13)

RISE UP, BLACK PEOPLE! TAKE YOUR PLACE AMONG KINGS AND QUEENS!
BLOOD WAS SPILLED THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE AN ABUNDANT  LIFE - THE BLOOD OF OUR FOREFATHERS AND THE BLOOD OF CHRIST!

If you haven't heard the Corey Red song, "Black Tears" you can check it out by downloading it from a FREE MIXTAPE here: http://www.coast2coastmixtapes.com/mixtapes/mixtapedetail.aspx/dj-i-rock-jesus-corey-red-illest-rhymez-u-neva-heard
If you are not familiar with Corey Red's music, I invite you to take a listen at a few of his releases:
1. Make It Happen - FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD - http://coreyred.bandcamp.com/ 
2. Crashin Da Party - http://www.thebus-shop.com/shop.cfm?prod=382
3. Resistance iz Futile - Corey Red & Precise: Resistance iz Futile- Corey Red & Precise - on amazon.com
4. Illest Rhymez U Neva Heard - FREE - http://www.coast2coastmixtapes.com/mixtapes/mixtapedetail.aspx/dj-i-rock-jesus-corey-red-illest-rhymez-u-neva-heard
5. I am Legend (album) & I'm Still Here (single) - FREE - http://coreyred.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-legend-2008


***To keep up with up-to-the-minute news on Corey Red, follow him on:***
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CoreyRed
also on:
Facebook: MUSIC PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/CoreyRedMusic
Tumblr: http://coreyred.tumblr.com/
Bandcamp: http://coreyred.bandcamp.com/ (FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD "Make It Happen")
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/coreyred
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/therealcoreyred

If you would like to show support and help spread the word about the upcoming albums, you can add a Twibbon to your Twitter or Facebook profile: http://twibbon.com/join/CoreyRed-NEW-ALBUMS

Black History Month Lesson #1:
SUPPORT MUSIC THAT UPLIFTS THE BLACK COMMUNITY, NOT TEARS IT DOWN!