FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME...

"In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. We have the victory. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Satan, you have to flee. Oh, tell me, who can stand before us when we call on that great name? Jesus! Jesus! Precious Jesus! We have the victory!" ~ In The Name Of Jesus, congregational song

"There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain, break every chain, break every chain." ~ Break Every Chain, Will Reagan

Peter said in Acts 4:10-12, "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (kjv)

It's also written that demons tremble at the name of Jesus. What I'm getting at is, we get so triggered at the names of people that wouldn't know who we were if they had a picture of us in front of them. From Bishop T.D. Jakes, Kirk Franklin, Tye Tribbett, Creflo Dollar, Brian Carn, just to name some. You mention those names in the midst of some people, watch the atmosphere change. Watch the mood change in the room. just because they were brought up. Some of these people have done nothing wrong, and I sit there and wonder, "What did they do?" To be honest, some of it is because they're different or they have made mistakes that were in the spotlight.

I don't think any of us understand what is like for anybody to be under the spotlight. I would imagine that it's harder for Gospel artists and ministers, because if they don't cross every "T" and dot every "I", the piranhas will eat them alive. Heck, even in the local church, if the piranhas smell blood, it's over. Why do you think B. Slade is not Tonex anymore? Piranhas.

Back on topic. We give people way too much power over us. I get it though. It's real easy to let anybody become a distraction. We as humans tend to find one thread of something we don't like about a person and then turn that thread into a sweater of reasons to not like the person. To the point where they get so much power that when we hear the name, our blood instantly begins to boil. I'm a wrestling fan, as some of y'all know, and when some of us here certain entrance music, our blood boils over. Examples being John Cena and Roman Reigns. Only reason is because the bosses see money in them. They see "box office", and as soon as we as fans realize that, we get so angry. John Cena and Roman Reigns really did nothing wrong other than doing their jobs. But because they are not who we chose to be the "top guys" we boo the decisions of the creative. Reason I brought that up is that some fans have given Roman Reigns and John Cena so much power that even hearing their names brings about an angry response. Some even begging to riot when Roman and Cena win at anything.

The only name that should have the kind of power to trigger anything in you is Jesus. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. It is written that all power is given unto Jesus, so we need to stop giving the power away. I believe if we start pleading the blood of Jesus over these common names that trigger such emotion, and over our own minds, we'd be able to move forward as a body. 

As my pastor often says, "You got to love me to go to heaven." Jesus is love.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

TEMPORARY THRILLS ARE JUST THAT TEMPORARY

Before I go on, and I know this guy is like Ice Cube in the fact he somehow turned into the N**ga you love to hate as far as Gospel music, but one of Tye Tribbett classics is song called Everything. I have it on repeat right now. For some strange reason Tye Tribbett and Bishop TD Jakes have turned into easy targets for the religious in the church as far as hating. May not be where you all are at, but I hear it all the time. I guess they are not traditional, and of course tradition is all what Jesus was about, right? Or it may be the fact that Tye got caught and they didn't. Moving on...

Thrill seekers. We seek stuff that will thrill our flesh. Like you hear bungee jumpers and sky divers talk about the thrill they get when they do what they do. But after the thrill is gone, what's next? Like these marriages that come together for the sex part but forgetting that marriage requires relationship. The sex is a thrill but the relationship requires actual work. For some reason, the word "work" has become like profanity. It's not just the young generation which gets accused of being lazy. Some of the older generation is just as or even more lazy than...

A lot of people seek the thrill but don't seek the consequences of the thrill. Consequences? Yes. Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't seek the thrill or enjoyment of certain things. If you're a bungee jumper or a sky diver, do your thing. I'm not mad at you, but as for me, that's not a thrill I'm seeking to have in my life.

Some want the prize of work, but don't do the process of work. Some want to eat and not work. It is written, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." Like some want to make to heaven but don't want to travel the road to get to heaven. Taking the road to hell will not get you to heaven. Taking the road to NY will not get you to California. If you want to get to a specific destination, you have to take a specific route. Not to say there won't be detours on the way, but you still have to head a certain direction to get to that specific destination.

Thrill is defined as a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure. A temporary fix if you will. Like why some get high looking for that temporary fix. It's like cell phones. Some of us always wants the newest phone, even when your current phone works fine. You just want that temporary excitement or thrill of having the newest gadget on the market, that will only end up getting replaced.

All these thrills we seek is all well and good for the temporary, but there's still a void looking to be filled. A hole in the soul if you will. Only Jesus can feel that void. Only Jesus can feel that hole in the soul.

Bottom line, the thrill our flesh seeks are temporary thrills. But why not seek for an everlasting thrill? Why not seek for a thrill that will give you a feeling that you'll never get past? Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but Jesus never fails. Have you tried Jesus?

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

ELIMINATE THE HATE...NOT FOR WHAT YOU MAY THINK

Warning: If you're a fan of G. Craig Lewis and Ex Ministries, you might as well leave the blog now. You will not agree with this blog. If you preach against rap music, you might as well leave the blog now, because you won't agree with this blog. If you don't believe in delivering the gospel through rap, you might as well leave the blog now because you won't agree with this blog. Ok, you've been warned.

The LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi-Sexual Transsexual) community uses the term sometimes, "Eliminate the hate" in regards to their rights. I'm going to take a switch with that term. If you've been reading my blogs for some time, you know that I'm a fan of gospel rap. I believe it can be used to spread the gospel. The Gospel is not changing it's just the delivery of the Gospel. I look at it like this. Some preachers you don't like to listen to. Some like Bishop T.D. Jakes, and some like Joel Osteen. Both are preaching the Gospel, but the delivery is different. Some like Rod Parsley, and some like Billy Graham. Both are preaching the Gospel, but the delivery is different.

Now to the point. Some like the Canton Spirituals, and some like Lecrae. Both spreading the gospel but the delivery is different. It's not for everybody. Me advocating Gospel rap is not going to change your opinion on the genre. But if you don't like the genre, don't hate on the individual doing what he do to spread the Gospel. It's not for you. Paul said it like this, "When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law."

For some particular reason, when something comes along that's different, it's wrong. It's satanic. It's the devil. It's a sin. The Bible talks about nothing being new under the sun. Going back in history when TV's first came out, they were considered a sin. When movie theaters came out, a sin. When Jazz was big, it was being preached against, and in some places still being preached against. Why? It's different. We are scared of different. So naturally so spiritual. Naturally, the LGBT sees disagreement as hatred. Spiritually, when you disagree with ones thoughts, or opinion, it turns into a rift or hatred.

We need to stop hating one another over petty little things like disagreements. The Bible talks about we got to love everybody to go to heaven. Stop hating people that are different from you. That's called being prejudiced. Disagreement shouldn't mean hatred. I don't hate my family members because I disagree with them. I don't hate some preachers cause they say things I don't agree with. When disagreement turns into hatred, that's when it comes a time to check yourself. Don't let your misconceived notions on anything, turn into hatred.

One argument on Gospel rap I hear, is that, "Gospel music should lead your to worship not to twerk." My response, twerking is something that was already in you to do. I think if some music leads you to twerk, it's something you got to do some self checking on yourself. Twerking came from the strip club, did it not? If twerking is what you do, don't blame hip-hop, blame the visual the videos give off. Not all hip hop gives the visual of sex sex sex. Don't blame what people of done to hip-hop and put that on everybody. Now again, if you hate gospel rap, what I'm saying is not going to change your outlook on it. I hate quartet music. I don't like it at all. It's not for me. But I respect anybody that spreads the gospel. I'm not in the quartet audience. I'm in the gospel rap audience. Should that mean we hate each other? No.

Let me put this out there, just because it's has the label hip-hop does not mean twerking is involved. Ok? Strip clubs has been out before hip-hop. Music was talking about sex before hip-hop. Hip-hop gets blamed for stuff that was happening before the genre even started. Lest we forget some of our favorite Gospel artists does not have the cleanest record out there. Kirk Franklin, he put his stuff out there so there's no reason for me to bring that up. James Cleveland? I'm not making this stuff up, you can look it up. Donnie McClurkin. Tye Tribbett? My point is, it's not the genre that's the problem. Da Truth said it like this on TBN, "It's nothing wrong with hip-hop culture. It's something wrong with the heart that's corrupt."

And that's really all I have to say about that. All and all, let's stop allowing the devil to make on disagreements lead to hatred. Stop giving the Devil more power than he actually has. You may not be a fan of Gospel rap, I'm the minority in my house hold when it comes to the genre, but I respectfully disagree with them and continue to do my thing. Some of the dislike for it is fair. But I feel it's no different than raising the roof in church or saying, "Ain't no party like a holy ghost party cause a holy ghost party don't stop." I don't see it as we're bringing the world into the church, I see it as an evolution of delivery.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson