The Bet Awards Tests The Boundaries Of What Can Be Called Music

Rapper "Trinidad James"

The BET Awards yesterday, had its good moments and a few bad ones. Some great gospel music was played. Songs by talented R&B singers was featured on the show as well. However, some of the songs by select rap artists and a few R&B stars, really should not be classified as music. Soulless songs with nothing behind them. Future generations will not get anything out of such music. Truthfully, I struggled to understand some of the words.

Hosts Bow Wow and Angela Simmons, interviewed rapper French Montana 

One rapper, who is often criticized for his music is Chief Keef - the 17-year-old felon whose rap sheet with the police is longer than his actual lyrical rap sheet. BET did not invite the rapper to the show, which led to him launching into a tirade on Instagram, filled with expletives. He threatened that if he had been at the awards he would have snatched chains and impregnated women.

Chief Keef

Keef is making things harder for himself. He is making himself a target for the police and the Feds with his flamboyance and testing social boundaries. He needs to rein that in or mark my words, someone in the government is going to get him. Calm down. You are on their radar and when you hit 18, arrests will be in a whole new category.

What We Can Learn From Zachery Tims Life And Tragic Death

Zachery Tims

In the wake of the death of popular Florida pastor, Zachery Tims, 42, who was found dead in a W Hotel room in New York, last week, reportedly with drugs on his person, the church needs to examine what led to this tragic end, the public fall from grace that precipitated it and how we can respectfully learn from it.

In his mid-teens, Tims, was a youth offender, sentenced to a juvenile detention center for attempted murder. He also tried and became addicted to drugs in his youth. Tims stated he later became a believer, placing his faith in Jesus. This led him to start a church in Florida, which grew to a congregation of 8,000 members and an accompanying youth center for troubled teens.

In 2009, trouble struck, as stripper, Judy Nguyen, began making internet posts about meeting Tims in a gentleman's club in France, where they began a year long affair. His wife, Riva Tims, who is also the mother of his four children, divorced him, left Tims' ministry and founded a new church in Florida.

We're all human. We all make mistakes. However, the key is to learn from those mistakes and bad choices and stop making them. Tims kept falling into trouble, due to making the wrong choices, which have consequences. To honor God that made us, we should choose right, rather than wrong.

Tims lost his footing, due to temptation and wealth, in a story that should remind Christians to guard their heart and emotions from temptation. Learn to walk away from it, as too much is at stake. Think ahead to the consequences, before you make negative choices that will destroy your life and name. I do not write this to be judgmental, but in the hope you will be careful and spare yourself the pain of going the wrong way.

Money is not bad, but the Bible states, "The love of money is the root of all evil." It didn't say money was the root of all evil, but the love of it, which has caused some to do cruel things to others. When one uses money as a positive tool, through things such as giving to or creating charities, building community centers or helping out a friend in need, this is good and admirable.

As much as I think Tims seemed like a nice person, my eyes welled up with tears when I read of his death and I do not wish to write ill of him, he promoted what is known in some circles as the "Prosperity Gospel" which is morally dangerous. It can warp your perspective on life, because money can't be one's focus in everything. Preaching the message of come to God and get rich, is wrong. The Judiciary Report does not agree with it.

If you are struggling under financial problems, there is nothing wrong with praying to the Lord, asking Him to open doors for you to meet your economic needs and obligations. I've seen God answer such prayers for different people. The Lord has blessed and helped many people in such circumstances. It is also permissible for one to pray for the funds to undertake a goal or dream that is of good intent.

But pastors should not fall into the trap of preaching about getting rich through the Gospel, as that was not the message Jesus promoted. There is nothing wrong with living a humble life. Not everyone will be of great financial means and there is nothing wrong with that. The moral code of the Bible is to place one's faith in Jesus, turn from one's unethical ways (sins) and do good for those around you. Christianity is not seen in the money one has, but in the good one does.

Zachery Tims and Riva Tims

Regarding life, God has shown through the Bible, you can have a spouse, children, friends, family, house(s), car and job. What more could one want. When you experience trouble from bad choices, it will bring home the fact, a walk on the wild side is not worth jeopardizing that.

There are people suffering in this world with illness, trauma from tragedy, painful memories from being raped or abused, the loss of loved ones. The church's goal must be to help the suffering and needy and to give hope to those who want to give up on life, encouraging them not to do so. There are more important things in life than money.

RELATED ARTICLE

Popular Florida Pastor Found Dead In New York Hotel Room

"Gospel Hill" Movie Review

Title: Gospel Hill

Year Of Release: 2008

Review Date: June 31, 2010

Rating: PG-13

Running time: 99 minutes

Box Office Gross: N/A

Site Rating: 3 out of 10 stars

Don't let the title "Gospel Hill" fool you, as it really is not a Christian film. It contains profanity and other ungodly themes. The movie is about a developer, lying to the African-American people of a small South Carolina town, promising neighborhood redevelopment, but attempting to demolish the historic area, suffering from urban decay, to make way for commercial real estate.

There are themes of racial conflict present in this movie as well. This film could have been done better. The acting was fine, but the script failed it. The Celluloid Film Review did not get very much from this movie.

NBA Gospel Brunch

Donnie McClurkin

The NBA is set to hold its 5th Annual All-Star Gospel Brunch in Dallas, Texas on February 13, 2010. It will feature performances by a host of singers and appearances by several stars.

NBA Readies for All-Star Gospel Brunch

The NBA is gearing up to celebrate gospel music with the 5th Annual All-Star Gospel Brunch, which takes place February 13, 2010 in Dallas, TX as part of NBA All-Star Weekend. The event will feature performances from Donnie McClurkin, Fred Hammond, James Fortune, Angella Christie, and Ricardo Sanchez. This year, the brunch will honor area pastors including Pastor Frederick Haynes, Pastor Gary Oliver, Dr. Tony Evans, and Bishop Kenneth Spears. Paula White and Jonathan Slocumb will host this year's event. (Dec. 28, 2009)

http://www.gospelflava.com

Obama Slammed By Mayor As Muslim

President Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama, has been slammed for interrupting the annual Charlie Brown Christmas show on television, with his televised speech. Mayor Russell Wiseman, ripped Obama on his private Facebook page. He slammed Obama for bumping the show, which has a Christian theme about Jesus, whilst labeling the President a Muslim, attempting to impede the preaching of the Gospel.

Mayor Russell Wiseman

Seriously, why did they pick Charlie Brown as the show to preempt, when it is such a beloved American favorite. Why not interrupt Chris Brown's 20/20 appearance that milked the Rihanna beating for publicity.

Tenn. mayor says Obama purposely bumped 'Charlie Brown Christmas'

Fri, 12/04/2009 - 14:22 - In the opinion of Arlington, Tenn., Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech this week on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.

Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman's "friend's list" had access to the post. He has more than 1,600 friends on Facebook.

"Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load ... try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it ... w ... hen the answer should simply be 'yes' ... ," according to the exact Facebook entry.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas," which first aired in 1965, has become a beloved annual TV event for many because of its emphasis on the "real meaning of Christmas," including Linus' memorable reading from the Gospel of Luke of Jesus' birth.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday night, the ABC-TV special was bumped to Dec. 15 after the network learned of the timing of the president's speech.

In Wiseman's extensive thread that attacked the president, his supporters and Muslims, he stated " ... you obama people need to move to a muslim country ... oh wait, that's America ... pitiful."

At another point he said, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different ... "...

http://www.scrippsnews.com