31 YEAR OLD...etc etc etc

I don't know how to type this so I'm just going to type what's in my heart. First let me say that I know that I haven't been blogging as much as I used to but I would in previous years, but I've come to the point now where when I do blog I want to them to have some kind of meaning behind them. I could usually blog about nothing, but I'm 31 now. I'm working now. Granted I'm a cook at Zaxbys, but gotta start somewhere right?

So recently, while at work a couple of young dudes were talking about sex. One of them asked me about it, and I told him silently that I was a virgin. Almost as if that I was ashamed of it. The kid was shocked that I said that and then tried to say that he could fix that problem for me. I'm not 41 yet, but you get the point...

It's a weird position to be in honestly. I look at other people in my age group, and their much further along in life than I am. I can't say that I'm married. I can't say that I'm a parent. I can't say that I'm making decent money. As I mentioned in previous posts, I'm still trying to figure things out. Some are even trying to help me out by asking me stuff like like, "Have you ever thought about---" I've thought about a lot of things. I dream about a lot of things. 

I can say that I'm a survivor. What people have died from, I've survived. Congestive heart failure, I'm still here. Homelessness, I'm still here. Depression, I'm still here. Not saying that to boast. Trust me. I'm NO where near perfection.

Here's what's crazy tho. Before all stuff that happened, I was meditating on a song by Tye Tribbett, oops, that says, "Let us worship/Let us Sing/Hallelujah to the King/Let us raise our voices high/Praise the name of Jesus Christ." The drive says this, "Halleu ooh yah/Halleu ooh yah/Halleu ooh yah/Hallelujah we praise Your name" Through most of the shift I was humming this to myself. It's like what the Bible says, "When I want to good, evil is always present."

It's not easy. This whole being single thing gets lonely sometimes. I remember when I was high school I would write quotes like, "I'm so sick of being lonely." Practically I was begging for help but afraid to ask for it. One time though a classmate read it and wrote under it something like, "You're never alone with Jesus" or something like that. I had wrote sentences like that all the time but never showed them to anybody or never told anybody. This classmate even gave me like a happy face cookie on a stick. Obviously it left an impact cause I still remember it all these years later.

Recently I've find myself liking who I am. Liking the fact that I like to laugh and have fun sometimes at wrong times. Liking the fact that I'm sarcastic. Liking me. Liking Daniel. With that, I still find myself down sometimes, but usually when that happens I find something to laugh at. Think of something funny to get my mind out the dumps. It's an up and down thing. 

I don't know of any of this made sense. I just needed to get all this out. Hopefully you got something out of this. Thanks for reading either way.

Stay saved,

Daniel Richerson

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

USE WHAT YOU GOT

It's been a long time. Little over a month. With a lap top that doesn't work and a desktop that went out on me, it was hard to post anything, but let me take this time thank you all for sticking around. Thanks for reading my stuff. Got a wrestling blog posted, and got my ipod on shuffle. So with that being said...cue Prodigal Son ~ Tye Tribbett. Before I go into this blog, I've heard Tye Tribbett's new album and I'm going to say it's his best album yet. Just awesome. I also listened Isaac Carree's new album, and I liked it also. I'm an R Kelly fan so that Clean This House remix is the cut as far as I'm concerned. But anyway--let's do this.

You can tell somebody what their doing is wrong. You can even tell them the consequences of the actions, but to be honest, it sometimes is not going to do anything. Some people got to be experienced to finally get it. Like you can tell thief about how wrong stealing is and it'll go in one ear and out the other. But when that jail cell closes, not all the time, but usually the realization kicks in. A prime example is the late great Sammy Davis Jr. Just imagine if he would've left the cigarettes alone. He'd still be alive today and killing it, possibly. But he just couldn't stop smoking even when he told people he stopped, he'd sneak off and get a puff in. Don't wait until it's too late to get the realization. I know I got realizations in my life and thank God I'm still alive to get stuff straight.

Some of the bad habits you can't seem to break, I say if at all possible, change your habits, or seek help. Don't wait until the consequences of that habit start to happen to realize, "Hmm, I my need to stop this." Believe me on that. An old song has become one of my favorites. I encourage anybody going through to YouTube Wave It Away by John P Kee. The song basically says give it to Jesus because he can bare them. Matthew 11:28-30 reads like this, "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light." Now that was Jesus speaking.

A popular song in the church now is Break Every Chain by Tasha Cobbs. It's an awesome worship song. I'm willing to bet it's a song sung out of key and tune at churches around the world. That's when you know you got a hit folks. Anyway the song says, "There is power in the name of Jesus. To break every chain." We love that song. We "go in" on the song. Yet we don't use the power. An old congregational song says, "There is power. Power. Wonder working power in the blood of the lamb." We don't call on Jesus nor do we plead the blood of Jesus anymore. That may sound old school but the blood still works. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big supporter of new school. But some stuff we shouldn't stop doing as believers. Calling on Jesus and pleading the blood is right up there. We are a generation that loves singing and quoting but doesn't like applying.

We're wondering why chains aren't being broken. We wondering why we're still bound. Seeking God might help. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicket ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." #Boom! Let me bring this in the mix though. Acts 16:25-26 "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were open, and every one's bands were loosed." Is your praise being heard? Maybe that's part of the problem.

Now the seed has been planted or watered. I pray that God provides the sunlight to provide the growth. I learned that I can't force anyone to do anything. I learned that what goes on in your personal life is just that. Personal. It's none of my business. All I'm supposed to do is speak truth. and the Bible says in John that the truth shall make you free. The decision is yours. Believe me that this blog is just for me as it is hopefully for some of you reading this.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson
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Lust

Lust is defined as intense sexual desire or appetite, or it can mean a passionate or overmastering desire or craving. If there's one thing hurting the Christian men today is lust. Why is that? Why do you think that is? Is it the fact that because we're saved and filled with the holy ghost that we're immune to lust? Or we're immune to messing up?

Look at David from the Bible. The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. With all that said, if you read in 2 Samuel Chapter 11, David had sex with Bathsheba who was married to Uriah. Bathsheba got pregnant. David tried to hide this by telling Uriah to go home and sleep with Bathsheba. Uriah didn't do it, so David being the King put Uriah in position to get killed. Note again, this is the same David that was a man after God's own heart. So then you get to Chapter 12, still in 2 Samuel, and God was angry with David. So He sent a prophet, Nathan, to tell David a story. Starting at verse 1 and going to verse 4, in the CEV, it says, "A rich man and a poor man lived in the same town. The rich man owned a lot of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one little lamb that he had bought and raised. The lamb became a pet for him and his children. He even let it eat from his plate and drink from his cup and sleep on his lap. The lamb was like one of his own children. One day someone came to visit the rich man, but the rich man didn't want to kill any of his own sheep or cattle serve it to the visitor. So he stole the poor man's little lamb and served it instead." Now, David was furious at the rich man. Then Nathan nailed him. Starting at verse 6, "Then Nathan told David: You are that rich man! Now listen to what the LORD God of Israel says to you: 'I chose you to be the king of Israel. I kept you safe from Saul and even gave you his house and his wives. I let you rule Israel and Judah, and if that had not been enough, I would have given you much more. Why did you disobey me and do such a horrible thing? You murdered Uriah the Hittite by having the Ammonites kill him, so you could take his wife. Because you wouldn't obey me and took Uriah's wife for yourself your family will never live in peace. Someone from your own family will cause you alot of trouble, and I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes. He will go to bed with them while everyone looks on. What you did was in secret, but I will do this in the open for everyone in Israel to see.'" What's done in the dark, comes to the light. Lust caused David to lose a child. The child he made with Bathsheba. Lust don't care how big you are or how small you are. You let lust take control, it will. No questions asked.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20, Paul said, "Some of you say, 'We can do anything we want to.' But I tell you that not everything is good for us. So I refuse to let anything have power over me. You also say, 'Food is meant for our bodies, and our bodies are meant for food.' But I tell you that God will destroy them both. We are not supposed to do indecent things with our bodies. We are to use them for the Lord who is in charge of our bodies. God will raise us from death by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to life. Don't you know that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? Is it right for me to join part of the body of Christ to a prostitute? No it isn't! Don't you know that a man who does that becomes part of her body? The Scriptures say, 'The two of them will be like one person.' But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit with him. Don't be immoral in matters of sex. That is a sin against your own body in a way that no other sin is. You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God."

Wow. That said a lot right there. Just the simple fact that our bodies are a temple should make something click to say, "Hold up. I can't degrade this temple for a few minutes." But some of us men are like the first verse of the song "Love Lifted Me," which says, "I was sinking deep in sin very far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more..." I think sometimes the simplicity of the Word throws us off. Meaning that we look at the simplistic view of it, that we don't care to apply it. That's where trouble happens. Now I know this is not just a male thing. I'm sure it happens in the female community as well. I'm using male because so many male Gospel artists have fell into the trap of lust. Some of us regular men have fell in the same trap. The only difference is the Gospel artists got caught.

For those who have fell in the trap, and are in the trap of lust, Galatians 5:16-26 says, "If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey your selfish desires. The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should. But if you obey the Spirit, the Law of Moses has no control over you. People's desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful deeds. They worship idols practice witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well. I told you before and I am telling you again: No one who does these things will share in the blessings of God's kingdom. God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind,good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed selfish feelings and desires. God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit. But don't be conceited or make others jealous by claiming to be better than they are."

I'm not trying to throw stones here. I'm just saying that none of us are perfect. For all have sinned, right? The problem is we put people on such a platform that when or if they fall, we don't forgive them. Nobody is perfect. In order to follow the Spirit, you have to have the Spirit. In order to have the Spirit, you have to be saved. What must I do to be saved? Believe. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I heard recently that all confession means is agreeing. You agree that you were sinning. You agree with God that Jesus died on the cross and so forth. To those who have the Spirit. Follow it. You have to make the decision, "You know what Satan. The Lord rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I'm following Jesus today. I've decided to make Jesus my choice." Now if you do mess up, go to God for the forgiveness. God will forgive you.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson