FACTOID THINKERS: Things that make me go HMMMM...BOOM BYE BYE INNA BATTY BWOY POSTER!

I can guarantee you, like just about most folks out there, my thought life alone can get me a one-way ticket straight to hell, never mind my actions! Praise God for His grace, that saves me from condemnation, but still puts me under conviction towards repentance (both confession of AND change of my badness ways)........and I preface with this comment so all of y'all who wanna give me that "you not perfect either, let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and all that misquoted jazz can get off at the exit right here...coz whatever my sin, I'm not about to not say anything about the jacked up jive that's going on in the world and in people just because I'm subject to the same or similar failings....WHATEVER! ....this here photo is nothing but one of the MANY promotions of the goodness of homosexuality aimed at the African-American/African diaspora communities..............and I'm sick of it!!!

Word to Babylon! -- if allyou happy to burn in dee lust of your perversion, fine....but stop trynah drag dee rest of us with you! #BOOM

"Now you can try to say this message ain't politically correct, but He came to bring his Sword, so what else did you expect? For the homosexual who is asking, 'why am I like this?' I hope they feel my words, coz I cry when I write this. See, I was never Gay, but I was blind like you, lacking affection, trapped in deception, with a filfthy mind like you. So Father have mercy coz what lives within us is like handling broken ratchets, trynah get em to bust. But I got power in da name of Jesus given to us. There's freedom in His presence if you still addicted to lust......no fornicator or adulterer, or sexual deviant will ever get into Heaven if they live disobedient. Believe me, I know it's hard, so we need a new heart. No wicked man will ever inherit the Kingdom of God. So tell me how could you neglect, or possibly think you'd escape, if you reject the truth, then there's no room for your mistakes. Don't let the devil trap you in da belly of the beast, coz hell is worse than prison, 'cept you never get released...so to get to Heaven, as I follow HIM, follow me..." -- "The Facts I Expose", Lavoisier, The Rap Terrorist





FACT:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. -- Romans 1:18-32

"I'LL UPHOLD THE TRUTH, EVEN IF IT MAKES ME GUILTY" -- "Just Talking" Lavoisier, The Rap Terrorist

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!" 

RANDOM FACTS - Death NEVER dies

Bear with me on this one…it’s a doozy for a second…

The human brain and psyche are complex self-regulating systems (CG.Jung). They are a macroscopic collection of microscopic subsystems, an intricate machine, of sorts. Consider complex systems as being composed of millions of tiny subsystems, for example, the cells in our body, the molecules in an object, and the citizens of a country. While it is highly likely that both the brain and psyche possess global properties, such as memory and consciousness each subsystem is able to act randomly while the overall system is in equilibrium, and remains relatively predictable (Mainzer, 1994).
  
‘Chaos theory’ studies the behavior of dynamical systems. One of the findings of Chaos Theory is that complex systems that seem to be in equilibrium are not really at equilibrium. Tiny variations present within the macrocosm can send the system into chaos at any time. Complex systems, and especially living systems, like the brain and psyche, require more than conditions of equilibrium to maintain self-organization or growth (Cohen & Stewart, 1994; Gleick, 1987; Kellert, 1993; Prigogine & Stengers, 1984).

One finding of Chaos Theory is ‘Bifurcation Theory’. Bifurcation being a crisis point in the life of a system, in which the future of that system becomes uncertain. It is like a fork in the time sequence of a system, in which a system can take two possible paths, one or both leading to chaos. All dynamic systems go through bifurcations, most of which are irreversible (Cohen & Stewart, 1994; Gleick, 1987; Kellert, 1993; Peitgen, Jürgens & Saupe, 1992; Prigogine & Stengers, 1984).

Entropy is a measure of chaos (Nicolis & Prigogine, 1989). The second law of thermodynamics suggests that there that can be no perpetual motion machine as all systems wear down, energy is lost and cannot be totally recovered by a system. We can also consider entropy to be a measure of internal randomness, or molecular chaos. As entropy increases, chaos increases (Angrist & Hepler, 1967; Atkins, 1984).

All too much science for your brain? Well, the FACT is these theories began to make a little sense to me after listening to this song:

The heart-beat of a drum and the singers’ call to a Soldier somehow, through the complex machinations of my brain and psyche, became an energy input. The result: emotional crisis by the friction it brought to my psyche, as memory and consciousness came together to remind me that one day, in the late summer, of 1997, by a random act, previously inconceivable by me, the level of entrophy increased within another subsystem of my body – my womb, and a son, my son, died. The memory of his death is made stronger still by the FACT that he died by my own hands. I have lived these many years with the appearance of equilibrium, while, within the microcosm of my systems, the loss of energy from terminating the pregnancy of my son, was increasing the entrophy within to produce what seemed an 'irreversible' state of grief.

FACT: Ending the life of a human fetus is a death that never dies, because those who commit this act go on living that death perpetually in the memory and consciousness (and subconscious) of the brain and psyche. Following the abortion, my life was truly a season of bifurcation for me. I was suicidal, depressed and plain tired of struggle after struggle, only compacted by the death of my beloved grandmother...Realizing, I needed more than the equilibrium of coming to a place of 'emotional rest' about what I had done to my son, I chose one of the forks in the road of life, and I came to Christ and continued to grow towards a greater equity of Spirit --- Irreversibility Theory be damned! Christ takes the sting out of death:

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

But though I have received the forgiveness of God, REALITY FACT: my brain and psyche, as evidenced from the trigger from the song above, still work together to remind me, of the murder I committed upon another Soul. The difference, now, in the law and science of my brain and psyche - knowing who Christ is has allowed me not to be moved so extremely that all subsystems within me shut down. I remember my son, yes, with regret and grief, but I remember the death of Christ that brings a resurrection LIFE. Through Christ I defy the second law of thermodynamics - my psyche is a "perpetual motion machine". My energy for life shall not be depleted while Christ remains integrated into all subsystems of my being. May my son's death never die, but live forevermore in me, as a memorial of his LIFE, and the LIFE I found through Christ because of his death...for I shall not be moved by past sins. R.I.P ‘iShaaka Zulu’.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16).

• In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that women, in consultation with their physician, have a constitutionally protected right to have an abortion in the early stages of pregnancy—that is, before viability—free from government interference.In 1992, the Court reaffirmed the right to abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
• Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.
• In September 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone to be marketed in the United States as an alternative to surgical abortion. In 2008, 59% of abortion providers, or 1,066 facilities, provided one or more early medication abortions.
• Forty percent of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended. In 2008, 1.21 million abortions were performed.From 1973 through 2008, nearly 50 million legal abortions occurred.
• Each year, two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; half have had at least one previous abortion. At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, about one-third will have had an abortion.

 References:

*Abortion statistics: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

·         Jung, C. G. (1973). On the nature of the psyche. Hull, R. F. C. (Trans). from Bollingen Series XX. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung. 8. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. First published in 1960.

·         Mainzer, K. (1994). Thinking in complexity: The complex dynamics of matter, mind, and mankind. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

·         Cohen, J. and Stewart, I. (1994). The collapse of chaos: Discovering simplicity in a complex world. New York: Viking.

·         Gleick, J. (1987). Chaos: Making a new science. New York: Penguin.

·         Kellert, S. H. (1993). In the wake of chaos: Unpredictable order in dynamical systems. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

·         Prigogine, I. and Stengers, I. (1984). Order out of chaos: Man's new dialogue with nature. Toronto: Bantam.

·         Nicolis G. and Prigogine, I. (1989). Exploring complexity: An introduction. New York: W. H. Freeman.

·         Angrist, S. W. and Hepler, L. G. (1967). Order and chaos: Laws of energy and entropy. New York: Basic Books.

·         Atkins, P. W. (1984). The second law. New York: Scientific American.

RANDOM FACTS

AmEn!!! Lauryn Hill! #BOOM

Plenty FACTS of life, love, music, and art to absorb in this 2-part speech, courtesy of Lauryn Hill. See how many you can list...ENJOY! #LEARNdat