Christ Can't Save You-My Response

Jesus Christ
Can't save you
Life begins where
The Church ends

How sadly mistaken
For the hardhearted
Life never started
To begin with

The Messiah can't
Save you once
Time stops

Leading to the Father
Shattering the facade
That you've built into reality

Not sure of what's
More astonishing
The fact you blasphemed
Yet still have use

Of your windpipes
Or the adopted
Sons and daughters
Soon to come into

The inheritance of
God's kingdom
Defending the blasphemer

Silly rabbits
Tricks are for kids
Your actions speaks
Volumes of testaments

Maybe, just maybe
You were deceived
Concerning salvation
Under the assumption

That following moral
Teachings could suffice
For your sins

Undermining the very
Reason Christ
God manifest
In human flesh

Demoted Himself to
That of a mere human
Conceived, born through
The uterus He so magnificently created

Lived in front
Of mankind to inspire
Hope for repentance and freedom

From the law and
Sin that had us bound
For death

Paid the ultimate price
Suffered,in 3 hours
More than any sinner
Ever will in Hell

While still retaining
All power in His hands
Catch the newsflash Hova

Anyone who boasts
Of being similar to any degree
Is an imitator

Jesus Christ
Can't save you
Life begins where
The Church ends

No numb skull
Life in your case
Begins where slavery
To sin ends

Even with the stench
Of incredible idiocy
Laced in your rhymes
I'll continue my prayers for you
Shawn Corey Carter.

- Yehoshua

Jay Z disses Jesus Christ

To all who read this article, please pay attention. Pastor Cox from the Passion for Christ Movement (P4CM) has responded to the comments made by Jay Z. For those don't know what Jay Z said, in his song Empire State of Mind, Jay Z said in his verse, "Jesus can't save you, life begins where the church ends". Take that in for a moment... ok, now come back to reality. Christ himself has been slandered again by a celebrity, and it seems that Christians have lost the heart or will to battle against slanders made towards our Lord and Savior. With that being said, let me speak on Apologetics. Apologetics means to simply speak to defend what you believe; in terms of apologetics coupled with Christianity, it means to defend the faith. This another area where Christians seem to fall short. We've been bombarded with sin socially and culturally that we've lost the will to fight, but in some cases, we seem to even applaud and condone the sins and wrong doings of this world, especially when it comes to celebrities, rappers and athletes. Pastor Cox spoke on apologetics, and how to interpret poetry, rap songs very thoroughly. Check the video and don't be deceived.

Selah, pause and think on these things! There’s no problem with “goin’ hard” for the Most High as you “make war” because there’s times when you just have to “pump up the bass” to show folk “who you represent”. At the same time, there’s moments when it’s just good to sit back and reflect upon the goodness of the Lord in a laidback, calm manner. Such is the case when you take a good listen to Brooklyn’s own Jas Knight and the jazz- infused The Psalter.

First off, Jas Knight the artist (whose name fittingly sounds similar to “jazz night”) is a skilled pianist and musical composer/ arranger. His sound is heavily rooted in jazz with a slight touch of soul/ funk and contemporary gospel mixed in. This is personified right from jump on “Stapler”, the opening track of the album. Expert drum work, keyboarding, and guitar riffs provide an intro to what amounts to an extended jazz set submitted to Christ. Jas then introduces us to the first Psalm being spotlighted, number 100. This provides some live trumpeting patterned into a contemporary- styled bassline with excellent harmony accentuated by a reasonable auto-tune background.The third track on the album is an interlude, “Contrapuntal”, that definitely fits the definition of its title. The three speakers bring commentary about the psalms, with several moments of each overlapping the other, in a way that is a bit busy and tough to listen to. This is followed up by a description of the Psalms by Emmaus Darjeeling on the song of the same name as this theologian. It also features a free flowing piano composition that brings to mind the “Heart First Remix”, not surprisingly featuring some adlibs from shai himself. The 1980’s feel to the “Psalm 91 Outro” was a nice change of pace and provides a little nostalgia in the midst of the timeless jazz sounds. There’s more of the live, soothing atmosphere vibe continuing down the playlist as Jas orchestrates a move through the Psalms in a calculated manner.

There’s not much that can go wrong with reiterating the truth of the Lord, especially with the crisp clear instrumentation that Jas provides. He combines the approach of simply reiterating the psalm of the moment with taking bits and pieces of the psalm and making it fit the vibe of the music. Add in somespittage provided by R- Swift (“Psalm 136b), Da’ Truth (“Psalm 91”), and the previously mentioned Mr. linne (“Psalm 37”) and there is a nice poetry club feel to this project. Jas also ensures that the listener realizes or is refreshed in the fact that our Messiah is spoken of all through these psalms on “Christ In The Psalms”.

All analysis aside, this is quite simply a project that can be loaded into the ipod or CD player of any and every fan of music. Whether it’s the rap enthusiast or the urban/ R& P aficionado, The Psalter provides a relaxing, worshipful change of pace. The focus of this project isn’t on the lyrical prowess or the musical composition, so much as on the worship- worthy value of the Psalms. Grab your Bible, push play on this 5 star project, and let the beauty of His holiness dwell with you this jazz night.

Theophanies

DaSouth.com stars:

Theophanies...what are they? What does God’s appearance have to do with God dwelling through the supreme revelation of His Son? Why was it that God thought it right for Jesus to live as a Jew, revealing the oracles of God through them? These can be some of the many questions that can be raised when coming across a topic that honestly, the majority of Christians have no clue exists.

Well, no longer do you have to wait to go to seminary to know what this means, for a group by the name of Hazakim (Jewish for “strong ones”) has come through with “Theophanies,” a project that was so long in the making that Phanatik on CMR’s last group album made mention of the wait! After listening to this album through and through I just have to say that the perspective given of the Gospel through Jewish men by Hazakim is needed, due to the fact that no one bothers with this. Either Reformed theologians keep it hushed, or some Charismatic misapply OT Scriptures and it’s time to get the record straight.

When the album starts, you’re not introduced to the rhyme flows yet, but an introduction. When I say an introduction, I mean something that was crafted because when you get into the use of violins and character narration of what the Jews were waiting for in a Messiah after seeing false Messiahs fall is something that helps you to see why the Pharisees were the way they were towards Jesus, even though they were wrong. Another thing that this establishes is the heart that Hazakim has towards unbelieving Jews. Like I said up above, Christians have been chillingly silent towards Jews and the evangelism of Jews is something that should grieve any heart because there is next to zero efforts towards reaching people who can read the Law of Moses, and are veiled to the gospel of Christ. Many of us don’t really know of the treatment that has been shown towards the Jewish people, even by theologians that we have upheld from the Reformation.

With that said, the production on this album has a noticeable Jewish flavor to beats, and it’s fitting that this influence is best noticed on the tracks “Genesis 18,” “Genesis 32,” “Exodus 3,” and “Judges 13” for these are the chapters in the Old Testament where the Theophanies took place. A theophany is an appearance of God towards man, which are the appearances to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and parents of Samson. With these tracks they go forth in “lyrical theology” (thanks shai linne!) as they rap about the passage-titled songs. Besides the theophany tracks, there were some highly notable ones as well, such as “Salvation Plan,” “Passover Lamb,” “Crucifixion Description,” “Heavy Laden,” “Shamayim of Gold,” and even more!

“Salvation Plan” is just a song that you will consider to be classic to the extra degree. I was glad that Hazakim saved this beat for themselves, and was also very excited to hear Stephen the Levite absolutely rip his verses! The topic of this song was very well spoken on, for it dealt with the reason for the sacrificial system and how God laid out His salvation plan. “Crucifixion Description” is a track that everyone has heard of through the very moving video put together with this song, which explains the medical things that Christ went through on His way to offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Although physical pain was the least of the sacrifice that Jesus offered, for He became sin even in not ever falling prey to it, it was apart of what Jesus did to free us from sin and it’s effects in the end. “Passover Lamb” provides that perspective of the Jew that I was also speaking of in the beginning of this review, for Anthony provided through his rhymes, a story of how one of the Jews wouldn’t respond to Moses’ command to spread the blood of a lamb on their doors before the Angel of Death was to take the firstborn, then Michael comes through with one of the Jews that would accept that command of Moses to put the blood on the doorpost. Then, in the same song, they connect that incident to the future sacrifice of Christ as that Passover lamb, which brings me to a point that I really want to make with this.

The trademark that I have seen from Hazakim, besides the Jewish influence on beats, is the gift of Michael and Anthony to tell vivid stories in their music. The fact that Messianic Judaism isn’t something Holy Hip Hop is known to bring forth, they certainly establish vivid tales of aspects of the culture of a Jewish man or woman to and overwhelmingly “Greek” audience. Look forward to the track “Heavy Laden,” with which Hazakim share their burdens of ministry and life on a track, even having a visual of one who doesn’t want to bear their own cross and ends up picking it back up again. When you hear rap artists do this, it shows the power of the art form to convey things to people in a way that they may not have heard it before.

One interesting, and dare I say, humorous track was when Hazakim decided to go back to the 80’s after the song “Mercy” and have a female singing about His mercy. With this track I just saw Hazakim having fun with what they were doing, and although it may throw some off with doing this, it made me laugh and accept it, because they wanted to do music and they did it, although I would have left the starting of that Eighties Mix outside of the original “Mercy” track at the end. Speaking of the song “Mercy,” I found it very cool that they used the same beat that was originally used in a response to Craig Lewis and his attacks on Christian Hip Hop, because for one it showed that they weren’t responding just to make noise to Craig and it is evident in that they used the beat for a more worthy topic, which also brought a worthy feature with MuzeOne on the guest rhymes.

With all that has been said about this album, there is one song that I want to highlight with its lyrics, as well as another surprise....reggae! The name of the song is “Kadosh,” and if you are unfamiliar with Hebrew, kadosh is the word for Holy, so that when Isaiah saw the glory of the LORD, he heard the seraphim say, “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh.....”Seeing that the first Hebrew word that I learned in Christian college before I transferred after my second year was kadosh, it was very special to have this track as a conclusion to the album. When the intro started, we had clips of someone speaking about the holiness of God, but when the reggae artist started speaking “Kadosh! Kadosh! Holy Holy! , just imagine my expression with these words said in response while listening: “Wow they actually did it!” Then, as to not even be more excited when listening to this song, Anthony came through with lyrics of full conviction, check out these lines below:

“I clarify my conclusion with a quote from Paul/”He’s the image of the invisible God in literal physical form”/its specified in the epistle of John(1John)/”No one has seen the Father, save the Son, but when you see Him you seen the Father/cuz they are one in the same, in substance and name, glory and attributes/the deity of Messiah isn’t up for dispute/and anyone who claims the opposite is a false prophet and speaks contrary to God’s doctrine./So when they tell you there is no evidence in the Old Testament for the Incarnation/you’ve got Biblical reference that God dwelled amongst men when He so desired/ and He did it ultimately in Jesus the Messiah”

I mean...after hearing stuff like that, just do what the song says, “Kadosh! Kadosh! Holy! Holy!”

Point blank, this album is a milestone in Christian Hip Hop, for we have a picture of what Paul and the early Christian believers had; a Jewish representation of the Gospel. This album is not a party album, it’s a sit down and listen album with discussion and reflection that is needed after. This is a type of album that should invigorate someone’s faith and study and pursuit of who God is, why He said what He said, did what He did, and how it applies for our lives today. When I say that this album was carefully crafted, I may be making an understatement, because they even went all the way to using an accordion in one of the theophany tracks(buy the album to find out which one), using violins and even composition pieces on the interludes, and aside from the fact that they could have left out the tags of saying that this was Hip Hologetics volume 2, which made it sound more like a mixtape than an album, this is officially named a classic. I pray that many will be blessed to hear what Hazakim has to say, and most of all, that believers in Christ will appreciate that He in fact appeared in the flesh as a precursor to the Messiah that dwelt on the earth as God with us, never being ashamed of loving us even though we rebel against Him, and paid the price for our sins in dying and rising again!

Growth in Christ

Have you ever wondered about going to the next level? Have you ever felt the annoyance of still struggling or getting tripped up by the same sin? Does your spirit talk to you, telling you that you need to grow in your faith? I've been there and I find myself there often. Once your faith becomes stagnate, it gets difficult to grow deeper in Christ. So, I hope to encourage you with scripture on growing in your faith.

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:2-3, "Like newborn infants, desire the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it in your salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good." Assuming that you have been reborn, you have to go back to milk to sustain you. Milk, in this case, is the word of God. In other words, we must desire the word of God not only for sustenance, but also for growth. This passage also implies that since you are saved, you already know of God's goodness (grace and mercy). This will also drive the desire to feed off of His word. Peter also mentions that we need to supplement our faith to help us become well rounded in Christ. Let's jump over to 2 Peter 1:5-8 to view the supplements he mentions. "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Peter put it straight forward; these supplements have to be added to your faith to assist with your growth in our Lord, but to also ensure that you aren't useless to kingdom business. This is all apart of growing in our Lord Jesus Christ, I can assure that it will take time and much effort.

Distractions in growth are a daily thing. TV, magazines, the company you keep, family issues, the internet, problems on the job, these are all things that will take your focus from growth in the Lord. I know, I have to deal with these things as well, and sometimes these distractions pull a lot of energy from you. Nonetheless, we must drive and spend time in the word daily, for these distractions are no joke.

Imagine this: you're a farmer getting ready to plant seed and tend to your land. Your hands are on the plow and you're ready to work, however, you keep looking back at your home thinking, " Man, I wish I could go back to bed for a couple of hours". Surely, you can see that this type of behavior won't get the job done; the seeds have to be planted, but you're distracted by your desire for sleep. Jesus warns of this type of thinking/behavior with a painful consequence. Luke 9:62 says, But Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Let's look at this and the imagery I gave you in the growth aspect. You can't make any progression and move forward if you're looking back. What did Jesus mean when He said looking back? I believe that He meant looking back at your former self and the sins that stained your character. How can you grow in Christ when you still desire premarital sex? How can you grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ when you still desire to partake in the sin that caused beef between you and God? You get what I'm saying? When you're heart and mind aren't in unison, growth in Christ won't be a top priority.

Going back or desiring the sins that held you bound is crazy. Galatians 4:9 sums up it nicely. "But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?" This is what happens to the Christian who loses focus on growing and knowing Jesus. The Christian will eventually go into a back-slider state and fall back into the same sins or desires that held them bound in the beginning. That's not a good place for a Christian to be spiritually.

In the end, growth in Christ is a must. There's no way around it, we have to progress in this Christian walk. Either that or you will fall back into the same filthiness that angers God. Trust me, I've been there too. Brethren, dive into the word and spend time with the Lord. Please continue to fight, our lives are on the line. Literally. God Bless.

Our Identity

Do you know who you are? That's a real thought provoking question, considering the fact that the identity we cling to is a facade. Have you ever pondered what is the underlying foundation of our identity? If you haven't, then lets take a look and see who we truly are.

Pride
Anytime you watch TV, or read a magazine, you usually can hear what fuels an individual's identity. Rappers tend to repeat themselves with "I'm the best in the game", or "I'm the boss". Athletes tend to blurt out the same phrases. If you've ever heard these statements before, then you know what fuels their identity. PRIDE. It's not hard to recognize, a prideful person usually begins or ends every sentence with "I, I, I", or " Me, Me, Me". These individuals journey through life thinking that they made their success, oblivious to who gave them the ability to achieve their position in life.

Who I am vs. What I do
"I'm not that cat you see on TV. I'm not that rapper, model, actor, baller, none of them defines me. I'M A BELIEVER." (I'm A Believer, Identity Crisis: Tedashii). Provoking line by the Reach Records affiliate. This is another level of identity crisis. Some people believe that what they do, how they earn their paycheck, makes them who they are. Let me be the first to tell you. What you do doesn't make you. Sports, hobbies, job/career employment isn't your identity. In my humble opinion, it would be crazy to identify yourself by what you do. For example, if a professional Football player is crushed with a career ending injury, is he still a football player? The same thing flows into the career/job realm. We know how the economy is. If your company took a spill, and you were let go, are you still the Marketing VP of that major company? Are you still the accountant or the CEO? Probably not.

The Fall
You should know that all sins that the world suffers with today, first came into play with Adam and Eve. Ever since the fall, we have lost our identity and ever since then, we have been searching for a model to identity ourselves with. That's why we look to actors, rappers, entrepreneurs, and the like to try to find someone that can give us the spark needed to walk in an identity. This is how society has lost themselves. When the very thing they cling to as their identity is taken away from them, some don't know how to cope with life. They've created their identity from something that will only go as far the grave, never really unlocking their true self. I hope you see the point I'm conveying.

In Christ
An identity found in Christ is the only identity we have. Being secure in the knowledge that you are a child of God, a follower of Jesus is the only identity that can sustain loss of employment or career ending injury. That's the guarantee of your identity drenched in Christ. Please take heed, be careful what you model your identity after. Also, be warned. Pride comes before destruction, an arrogant spirit just before the fall (Proverbs 16:18). Placing pride as the foundation of your identity is suicide. Search the scriptures, study the books that glorify the God of the Bible. The Creator is the only image we were made after, (Genesis 1:26-27), so let's model ourselves after God. Be blessed.

- PenLife

Trial of Endurance

What's going on folks! It's been a long time since I've been on here. I apologize for slacking, but I was really pushed to share with you my journey over the last four months. Hopefully, this brief testimony will give you the same encouragement during your hardest times.

During the past four months, life hasn't been so easy. I've had to fight to stay on track during my Christian walk. One particular area that was in constant battle for priority over my faith was my job. My job can be stressful sometimes. After some stressful days, I just want to relax and unwind from the long day. In Febuary, the heat was turned up and the heat is still blazing strong today. I was at work at 730am until 630pm, sometimes later in the evening. Obviously, I was tired and my brain couldn't process the thought of reading my word. There were times when I missed fellowship with believers for a week straight, due to the obligation of my job. Needless to say, I soon found myself feeling weak. Not physical or mental weakness, but weak in the spirit. This was obvious, as I found myself slipping back to old, dead habits. With the combination of lack of water from the word, long days at the office, and little to no conversation with the Lord, I almost let my flesh convince me to decrease my time with God during the week by pushing God to available weekends.

Before my flesh could seal the deal, however, I was reminded to be strong. I was glancing through the word one day last week and I came across scriptures dealing with determination, prayer, and perserverance.

Determination
Proverbs 24:10 - If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place.

Prayer
Luke 18:1b - It was necessary for them(men) to pray consistently and never quit.

Perserverance
Galations 6:9 - So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time, we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit.

These scriptures really spoke to me. These passages reminded me, better yet, encouraged me to get back on track and continue where I left off. I just wanted to encourage everyone that there will be times where life will suck, but be strong. Know that as believers, we will go through hard times. The Bible even tells us to endure those hard times, for we represent the Father in Heaven. All praise goes to God for rekindling the flame in me for His glory. Be encouraged saints!

** ALL SCRIPTURES ARE IN THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION**