Father's Day

Thought I would post this song to remind our fathers of their responsibility.  You won't meet to many boys that don't won't to emulate their Dads; or too many girls that don't look for the Dad's qualities in their mate.  So what happens when Dad is not around.  In many cases, nothing good comes out of it.  The bible tells us in Ephesians 6:4, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."  What do you think not being in your child's life will do, exactly what God told us not to do.  To the Dads that stuck around, thank you.  To the ones that didn't, I pray God will change your heart to be more active in your children's lives.  To the ones that want to be in their child's life, but due to some circumstances out of their control are unable to, be faithful to God and He will  work it out.  We have many programs to help  issues, but I believe if we focus on educating our youth and motivating our parents to be active in their lives, you can eliminate many of these problems.  You only eradicate an issue when you get to the root.  Enjoy!

Mirrors Part 1 and 2.0

Check out the new episode of Platinum Life Radio. Due to technical difficulties, part 2 was cut off, thus 2.0 was born.

http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/show/my_first_radio_show_782_19

Here is the playlist for the show:

Mirrors Part 1
Riot - Tedashii
I'm Alive Remix - Jahaziel ft. Da' Truth and Ambassador
Forgive Me - Bizzle ft. Jin
Know Him - Level 3:16
Play With My Heart - Chris lee Cobbins
Who's Got Ya - JR

Mirrors Part 2
Dum Dum - Tedashii ft. Lecrae
Mirrors - Cam
Short Sermon
Tonight (All of Me) - Flame ft. JR
Be Like You - Lecrae ft. J Paul

You can also check out the first episode Consistency Part 1 and 2 on the site.  God bless!

Your Help for Persecuted Christians

We all enjoy our religious freedoms here in America.  At my church, Mount Paran Church of God, we have missionaries all over the world.  Because many of these other nations do not allow the same religious freedoms, these missionaries are often risking their lives for the sake of the Gospel.  These men and women take the Great Commission seriously (Matthew 28:19-20), to go out to the all the nations and make disciples; even at the risk of their own lives. 

There are two missionaries in particular, Pastor Youcef Nardarkhani and Farshid Fathi, are both in prison in Iran.  Their only crime is preaching the Gospel. The video below not only highlights them, but the persectuion of Christians across the world.  I would ask that you pray for them all.  You can also write letters to the missionaries themselves and/or to your local Congress men or women (see link to Mount Paran's site below).  Let me know if you have any questions about anything.  Thank you in advance for reading this and taking action.  God Bless!

http://www.mountparan.com/iran.asp

Consistency (My First Radio Show)

Hey check out my first radio show.  In this show, I go in depth in to my last posting (Twitter Love) and play some of my favorite Christian Hip Hop and Rhythm and Praise tracks.  Would love to hear your feedback.  I am new to this, so your feedback is important.  Check the link and track listings.  The show is broken up into to two parts.  You can save it and download in iTunes as well.  There is also an app for your smartphone for spreaker.com (the website I am using).  More information on that to come.  Here is the link:
http://www.spreaker.com/show/my_first_radio_show_782_19
Playlist after the jump

Twitter Love

We say we love God, but how consistent are we with our love.  This is the issue that Chris Lee Cobbins tackles in “Twitter Love” featuring Dre Sr.

I can be tweeted when I want, and ignore it when I don’t, I guess I’m just not much of a supporter, ‘cause I keep going back and forth, so when I like it I follow you…and when I don’t I just unfollow you…I be giving you that twitter love.

Twitter Love is a metaphor for loving God when it’s convenient.  Too often when things are good, we ignore Him, but run back to Him when things go wrong.  We have the nerve then to ask God why He allows evil in the world! 

With the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden, this takes me back to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  A state of fear overcame the nation when they witnessed this on television and in person.  I remember specifically watching the news as they noted how churches were full on Sunday and even televising President George W. Bush attending a church service.  I remember watching famous pastors, including Bishop T.D. Jakes, getting an unusual amount of television time as people asked why God let this event happen.  What they don’t’ realize is that due to this event, people were now acknowledging God and even attending church.  Now I am not saying that the attack on 9/11 was justified or even necessary, but when we live life like we don’t need Him, He won’t force himself on us.  We can’t push Him away and expect Him to protect us at the same time.  Even for those that were saved at the time, God has a purpose and plan for everything.  Either way, it had people talking about God whether it was in a positive or negative light.  Unfortunately once shock wore off from the most devastating terrorist attack of all time, everything went back to normal and people began to live their lives without God once again.  Church attendance returned back to its normal levels and pastors were no longer getting significant airtime on television, unless of course they were getting into trouble.

more after the jump

Surrender

I love this song by Flame featuring V. Rose and there is now an official video for it (yay).  We are going to be hearing a lot from these guys.  V. Rose just signed to Flame's label, Clear Sight Music, and should be dropping an album soon.  The first single, Oh My Ahh is a banger already. 

Anyway, this song takes me into to worship mode.  The video gives us a clear view of what running away from God can do.  The song teaches us that we are to surrender all to him.  After all, everything belongs to God anyway, so who are we to take what we have and try to run away from him.  I pray you peep the video and God speaks to you through it to surrender everything in you.  I have attached the lyrics after the jump.

Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked

I love a good redemption story, but none was more intriguing than the story of Gene Elliot Thornton, Jr.  If the name doesn't sound familiar, you may recognize him as Malice, one half of the critically acclaimed platinum selling rap duo the Clipse with his brother Terrence (aka Pusha T).  The title and premise of this book is derived from Revelations 3:15-17,  "I know your deeds, that you are neither, cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."

So that's the story in a nutshell; a man who came to know the Lord through crisis (which is my testimony) and then abandon Him in his time of blessing and abundance.  This story is a real depiction of someone conflicted, yet always aware of God in his life.  It is an easy read as well, and that is not to discredit it.  The main reason why it is an easy read is because it is a page turner, keeps you interested in what will happen next.  This is hard for me because I am not the avid reader.  With that being said I read it over the weekend, reading it on and off for about two or three hours.  This book is highly recommended by me.  You can get it on Amazon for about $16.  If you have an iPhone (or another smartphone), you can download the Kindle app and get it for $9.99. 

As far as Malice goes, I first heard about his faith about a year ago.  From everything I have been reading about him and from hearing him speak at the panel discussion (highlighted in my last post), he appears to be genuine in his faith.  It's amazing how the Lord can work on anyone.  Including a man who once embodied and glorified things contrary to the Word.  Think about his stage name; malice means, according to dictionary.com, to desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness.  So God takes a man who embodies the desire to inflict harm and turns him into a man that desires to save souls (reminds me of the Apostle Paul).  I am very happy for Gene and pray that he will stay steadfast in his walk with God.  I would ask that you pray for him as well.