​The word Christian means to profess to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ to stride to be Christ-like. It is a word that is used by the majority of Americans to identify their religious faith and moral character. Most people who identify as Christian make sure to proudly state it with many going so far as to scream it from the rooftops. People that identify as a Christian, generally want to make sure it is known that they are a Christian, but what does it actually mean to be a Christian? If you simply call yourself a Christian does that mean you live your life in a way that is Christ-like?

Usually the first thing a non-Christian will tell you about a professed Christian is that they don’t appear to be very Christ-like to them. You see even if you are not a Christian, chances are you still honor and respect Jesus Christ and his teachings. Non-Christians see the love of people in everything that Jesus did so that is something they can support. When you actually take the time to talk to non-Christians you will soon find out that their issue isn’t with Jesus Christ but with Christians. If you know history then it is easy to see why.

People who have identified as a Christian have committed some of the most evil, heinous acts human beings have ever known. They have annihilated entire civilizations. They have enslaved other humans treating them like they were less than animals.  They have treated people like disgusting trash, and stolen fortunes all in the name of Jesus. Even today you have people that take money from the poor, molest children, sexually assault people, worship guns and weapons to kill, as well as cover up all kinds of crimes in the name of Jesus. Are we to believe that these people are living in a way that is trying to be Christ-like?

Jesus clearly addresses people that use his name in vain as well as evil people that do horrible acts in his name, God will take care of them one day. In the meantime we should carry on with our service to God. Now that doesn’t give much comfort to a lot of people, especially non-believers. People want a sense of justice or what they perceive to be fairness. They want evil people to pay for their sins. 

What we forget is that God is the only being in Heaven and on earth that decides what is right and what is wrong. While there are people that are evil and do evil things, we don’t know where they will be at the end of their lives. It is possible that at some point before their life ends that they will find God and repent for their sins. They may be saved and accept Jesus Christ as their savior. This is something that so many people forget.

The thing about trying to be like Jesus is that it is completely different than trying to be what we think of as good. Being like Jesus is to sit down at a table and eat with someone that you know is going to betray you. It is to remain peaceful when your enemies are trying to kill you. To be like Jesus is to challenge the people of the church and let them know that what they are doing in the church is not serving God and is not helping His people. It is to take care of the saved and sinners alike equally for we all fall short of the glory of God.

The thing that so many people today forget about Jesus is to be humble. Humble today is a dirty word. I see all the time people profess that they are not going to be humble and you shouldn’t either. People are focused on themselves today and not much else.  Many have been beaten down so much and told they are worthless that they feel a need to prove that they are not.

Jesus had to endure the same thing. He was a Jewish man under the rule of the Roman Empire. He was from a place that many considered to be beneath upper society. Nothing good came from there. Jesus was mocked and ridiculed up to his death. He had all the power in Heaven and on earth, but did not use it to save himself. He sacrificed his life for all people so that they could reach Heaven. Jesus not only did this but in the moment he also took the time to save someone that asked for forgiveness at the end of their life.

The thing people completely miss when it comes to being like Jesus is that it means you start being less like you and the people you see in the world. You start caring more about people and less about things. You are not moved by money, fame, and power. You are moved by telling people about God. You love being in the presence of your family and friends, not just people that are going to help you make your next business deal. Sharing the love of God is your joy not being consumed by worldly things. 

We all need to be more like Jesus. We need to learn how to love all people. We need to learn how to correct people that are doing wrong. We need to be willing to sacrifice for others. These are the things that Jesus taught and people have forgotten especially those that call themselves Christians.

In the end it doesn’t matter what you call yourself. You can call yourself Christian, religious, spiritual, atheist, agnostic, or whatever label you wish to give your moral philosophy. One day God is going to tell you what you are and that is the only thing that matters. It will be at that moment you will find out if you truly followed the teachings of Jesus Christ and served the Lord. 

by Teal Graham

​Women have always learned the ways of womanhood from their mothers or grandmothers. Some women have learned the ways to womanhood from other sources because their mother, grandmothers, and aunts weren’t available. For many Christian women their teacher was a woman grounded in Christian faith with a strong love of God. 

This God fearing older woman instructed younger women using examples from the Bible. Those examples might be no more than a bit of scripture or a sit down with the Bible opened to a passage, but a lesson was taught and correction was given. 

Now back then, (I’m dating myself but I’m cool with that.), that instruction may not have been appreciated immediately but that instruction became words to live by, a life giving spring so to speak.

Today it seems a lot of younger women in the church, have strong views in opposition to the Bible. Life experiences have given them hard feelings that have left them bitter and jaded at the Word of God. They claim Christianity as their faith, but they do not hold sacred the religious doctrine they say they believe and follow. Some younger women have even gone as far as to make the claim that the Bible is unjust and hurtful to women. 

Anyone making such claims truly has a crisis of faith and belief in Jesus Christ as their savior and could use the love and support of Christian women of God. She needs a group of women that will listen to her issues and answer them with the Bible. Her words and experience can give comfort to a young woman who is constantly given messages that conflict with the teachings of the Bible. There are plenty of bad sources out there but she needs sources from the power of a praying woman.  

This mentoring helps women who feel victimized find peace in a world where women are subjected to many cruelties. The women elders of the church can teach younger women how to live their lives serving God in a world that today shuns such behavior. They can help those who have trouble applying the Bible to their everyday lives

This guidance will help a Christian woman become a godly righteous woman after God’s heart and not worldly woman lukewarm in her faith. Christian women instruct their daughters with godly principles. These teachings become the cornerstone that provides comfort during their rough seasons in life. A life-giving spring that becomes eternal and everlasting passing from one generation to the next. 

Although, this teaching is timeless and does not follow trends for trends are fleeting; here today and gone tomorrow. God is always the same, today, yesterday, and forevermore. A godly woman of Christ will understand that she will always look different from how a more worldly conscious woman does. 

We need more of our female church elders to share this wisdom with our younger women in the church. Unfortunately there aren’t that many women in the church that actually want to mentor younger women. There are a variety of reasons but it seems the most common one is that older women feel that younger women do not wish to hear any of the wisdom that is shared with them. Many older women feel like few of the younger women actually want to follow Jesus. 

The Bible teaches that women of God are to become someone of reverence to her family and community. A true asset to her family. A prize of immeasurable worth. A resting place. A voice of confidence and encouragement. A constant source of nourishment and comfort. A trusted guide through difficult times that lives forever and ever. 

It seems as though few young women today wish to become any of these things which doesn’t actually matter. We as older women of God should still teach the Word of God as it is written even in times where it is not accepted. We know that the Word of God gives comfort in life. Everything else will pass away over time.  That is the message and love we need to share with our younger sisters to help them on their path to God through Jesus Christ. 

​Previously on Grandposts Inspire, we talked about why you need to stop making New Year’s resolutions year after year that you are not going to do. Today we look at one of the most common resolutions I have seen put out there the past couple of years: I will stop being perfect.

First off, child you ain’t never been perfect. You have never been anywhere close to perfect. The mere fact you felt the need to make a resolution that said you need to stop being perfect means you have never been anywhere close to perfect. The very first thing you need to do is look at things a little differently with a different mindset and a different heart.

When you say you are going to stop being perfect what you are really saying is that you are not happy with some aspect of your life. You are not getting the results that you feel like you deserve. Maybe you are not being loved the way you want to be love. Maybe you are not being helped like you help others. Maybe all your kindness is being repaid with harshness. Something in your life has got you feeling like your acts of perfection are not being appreciated. 

Now ask yourself why do you feel this way and is this how you are supposed to feel. You might be feeling like you are better than those around you so why should you keep trying to do more. You do more than enough already so you shouldn’t have to do more. It’s not going to be appreciated anyway, right?

Here’s the thing, there is nothing wrong with trying to be perfect. When we say perfect we should be saying that we are always trying to be our best. We do this for ourselves and no one else. It is who we are and who we wish to be. Our love of God, ourselves, and others moves us to do these things because that is who we are.

I know it is the cool; in thing to just be your bad self and let everyone else have to deal with you, but is that really how you wish to be? You know you should be giving people your best and not your worst. That’s why you say things like Jesus help me not do this. You know better you are just letting that evil heart sway you. 

The temptation is always strong to do things that you believe will benefit you. The Bible is filled with people that loved God but still sinned. Raise your hand because that applies to every single one of us. Even though we sin God still loves us and He made a way that we can still get close to Him in spite of our sins. And yes we all have sins that we need to repent so we can be saved by God.

It would be easy to just throw your hands up and say forget it all. I am going to stop trying to be better since there is no way I can be perfect especially since it seems I am the only one trying. Instead of thinking like this why not think that I am going to work on these things to help myself and others around me. 

I know this is going to come as a shock to you but I guarantee the people around you don’t think you are perfect. I am sure they have a long list they can share of things that you do wrong. I am going to go a step further and say they probably have shared that list with you. I am going to go even further and say that might be the reason you said you were going to stop trying to be perfect in the first place.

So please stop listening to these charmers and manipulators that keep telling you to do things that are the opposite of what God tells you to do. It doesn’t matter how they come packaged they are all wolves in sheep clothing.  Doesn’t matter what church they pastor, what street corner they evangelizing, what books they write, or how many people are following them on social media, they are all trying to sell you a bill of goods that takes you further away from God’s purpose by telling you what your tempted heart wants to hear instead of what the Spirit is telling you that you need to hear.

So get back to working on that list of things about yourself that you need to work on and your goals in life that you want to achieve that will keep you on the path to the Lord and not worrying about building kingdoms on this earth. Just focus on God and doing your best at all times and you will be fine. Perfection is not the purpose of life anyway, being in the grace and love of God is. 

​We are coming in on the end of another Black History Month. The NBA All-Star Game just ended (the unofficial Black people’s Christmas) and most people have moved on to thinking about Easter and getting their summer beach bodies. Given all the events the past few years, let’s take a look and see what Black History Month means to people today.

For those that care it was not lost that many non-Black people took Black History Month as the time to attack African Americans and Black History in full stride. If you are an older African American then you have lived a lifetime of being attacked for being Black. In the old days racists were free to speak their mind without fear of any type of retribution. They didn’t have to use “woke” instead of just saying nigger (A lot of people will be bothered because I chose to type that word out instead of using the n-word).

For the past few years Black people have been under constant attack from people that are either threatened by our existence or could care less that Black people exist. This Black History Month they decided to kick it up a level and attack the concept of teaching Black History at all. States across the nation are taking up initiatives to remove the teaching of anything related to Black History especially anything pertaining to slavery. It sounds like something the villain in a movie would do but alas this is reality for Afro Americans. Everything Black people deal with in life is larger than life to white Americans. African Americans actually have to fight against Lex Luthors trying to make the smallest of us completely miserable. Unreal to other groups who believe it or not often join in on the attacks. 

In the shadow of the hatred Black people are going through right now how are we feeling about Black History Month. Today it seems as if Afro Americans have a few different ideas when it comes to Black History Month that are as diverse as Black Americans themselves. These are just some of what I have been able to gather from talk with my people.

First, there are those Black people that look at Black History Month as a celebration of the African Diaspora so they celebrate the accomplishments of Africans across the world. It usually centers around the first Black person to do something that white people had been doing for centuries. There are the exceptions of a Black person that did something to become wealthy. There is also the rarer African that did something ground-breaking before anyone else. The purpose of Black History for this group is to prove that Black people have contributed just as much as white people to American society and therefore should be accepted and respected by the white American majority. There is a sense of pride that comes from telling the history of Black History Month and why it is important today. 

Another way Black History Month is celebrated is as African American Heritage Month. Instead of focusing on the first Black person to do something, they focus on African American culture. For them history denotes something in the past while heritage, the term that other ethic groups use for their months, denotes a culture that continues today as well as acknowledging your ancestors that created that culture. It focuses on the unique African American experience of the descendants of freed African slaves and their struggles with trying to survive in a racist American society. Instead of looking at African Americans through the eyes of white supremacy where every Black person is the same, they focus on just the African American experience. There are also Black people that celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month for example because there are Africans in those cultures also.

Last and of course least there are Black people that do not acknowledge nor care about Black History Month at all. This group comes in basically three flavors all of them bitter and sour. The first are those Black people that are just apathetic. They have been abused for generations and it shows in everything that they do. They are at the point where they just don’t care about anything beyond what their basic desires are. Far too many African Americans fall into this group because they are the ones that have been left behind by everyone in our society, which sadly includes successful African Americans.

The next group is the one we will loving call the Revolution. To acknowledge Black History Month would be to acknowledge defeat and they will never accept that. They reject anything that is done by the “white man”. They believe that Black History Month is just a patronizing endeavor and they want nothing to do with it. Regardless of whether African Americans celebrate Black History Month or not I would say a large group of Black people feel this way. Dealing with evil every single day of your life is impossibly hard and it has made a lot of Black people bitter and angry. One does get tired of fighting after awhile.

The last group is the group that Black people just can’t stand. There are many names used to identify them but we will take the high road and not use them here. They are the dark skin people that actively campaign against Black History Month and pretty much anything concerning African American culture. They are the ones that white supremacists love putting front and center at any event where they are attacking Black people. There is nothing a racist loves more than using a dark skin person as a weapon against Black people. Many dark skin people have found out it pays very well to be that black weapon for racist white people. In many cases it pays more than they could imagine or make another way. I doubt most of them believe anything that they say but who knows maybe some of them believe that white people are superior to other humans and should be worshiped. 

I almost forgot the self centered group so we will call them the honorable mentioned. They don’t care about Black History Month because they only care about themselves. As long as everything is okay in their world then everything is fine. You will probably never see them express a view about being Black or anything to do with Black culture. They make sure that they do everything to fit into white American society to succeed in life. Many will go out of their way to never associate with other Black people. As long as their money is right and they have funds coming in then they can’t be bother with Black History Month or Black culture. It has to be a very empty experience but I guess it works for them.

So does anyone know the true meaning of Black History Month? It would take a series of books to delve into what it means to be African American. In this article I have used the terms Black, African, Afro American, and African American interchangeable because in America for most people they are the same thing when in fact they many completely different things. The life experiences of Black people around the world are not all the same. No one would think I was talking about the same people if I used the terms Irish, Jewish, Polish, and Italian.

For me that pretty much sums up the meaning of Black History Month. I guess a lost culture can never be recovered. Some wounds will never heal especially when they are constantly be reopened and you are getting new ones, yet my Black people still rise, strive, and thrive.  

​It's that time of year when people are rushing to stores looking for luscious boxes of chocolates, fresh cut roses, gigantic stuffed teddy bears, wonderful greeting cards, dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant, and of course diamonds.

There are so many men that are in the stages of planning that dreamy romantic Valentine’s Day for a woman in his life. Many men know that if he gets this wrong, his life is going to be miserable for the next few months if not few years. It's won't be enough if he tried if he gets it wrong. He has to do something that is going to move her and leave her breathless in awe.

For those women with a man incapable of pulling off this romantic feat or those without a man in their life then she will take the initiative to plan her own Valentine’s Day evening of what she wants done for her. Having been disappointed in the past, sometimes for years, she is bitter and she will do whatever she needs to do to get everything she feels she deserves from a man on Valentine’s Day.

So many people try to create love out of nothing for one day of the year. Valentine's Day has been marked as the day that men show women their deepest undying love and how much he cares and treasures her. He must provide charm, romance and most importantly treasures to purchase her love. This is a coupon, discount free zone. 

There are people out there that missed the memo that Valentine's Day is the day they are required to tell their love one that they love them. They are going to approach the day just like they do every day, loving each other. It probably will be boring to many a romantic woman with no steaks, lobsters, champagne, or diamonds in sight. Just two people who love each other living their lives together. Every single day.

No one should ever feel like they have to do something extra to show they love another person. No one should ever feel like they are owned love and demand someone do a number of tasks to show their affection and devotion.

Fancy dinners and diamonds are not love especially when done out of duty. Love is a feeling that is there whether you are staying in a fancy hotel or just sitting on your couch. It's there on February 14th and September 26th the same.

Too many people have no idea what love is. People think of the dictionary definition of love which is deep feelings or strong affection. Which is correct if one has a pure loving heart but few people have a pure loving heart. You can have deep feelings and strong affection for someone and those emotions are completely negative, wrong, and harmful to everyone involved.

The love that many are seeking is the love that God has for us. It is a love that is kind. It does not ask of anything. It freely gives of itself. It does not make demands or proclamations. It is a love that endures and will always be with us. It is a love that is pure of the heart. 

God’s love will always be with us. We don’t have to do anything to create it, but it just happens. There is nothing like sharing God’s love with another human being. It is a great feeling and I truly understand why so many seek it out but we have to let it happen naturally. A lifetime of love is so much better than a day of strong affection. 

​Way back in July I remember seeing a lot of posts across social media that went something like this; Next year, I am going to make more money, be more happy, remove negative people from my life, travel across the world, and drink more water. Now I don’t know if you know this or not but July is the seventh month of the year. That means that there were still five more months left in the year so maybe, I don’t know maybe a person could start working towards their goals sometime within that five months.

We are now fully into the season of New Year’s resolutions. All the motivational speakers, affirmations makers, goal authors, life coaches, bloggers, vloggers, and [cough] inspirational greats; have been telling you that this is the year that you are going to make big, major changes in your life. Everything is about to be wonderful and fantastic. All your problems are about to go away.  Your life is about to be perfect. 

Now it doesn’t matter that your life has not changed much in the 10+ previous years because this year is going to be different. If you follow my 10 step plan, purchase my new book, buy this new gadget; your life will be completely different, you basically will be out of the money you spent buying their wares.

I am not here to tell you that wanting to make changes in your life is not important. Many people need to make some major changes in their lives [child I could tell you some things on this]. Just because you need to make changes doesn’t mean that you will. Your goal boards, motivational white boards, daily affirmations, and life planners aren’t worth anything if you don’t put any will into achieving these goals.

Most people’s New Year’s resolutions are basically wishes thrown out to the universe because little to no effort will go into achieving any of them. On top of that many of them are basic, empty, selfish prayers. People want things but they don’t actually want to work for them. They lack resolve to accomplish the things they need and they desire the wrong things. This is why most people never achieve any of their New Year’s resolutions.

Everyone, at any moment can start working toward any goal they wish. Everyone, at any moment can decide what things they can possibly achieve in life and what things are a little far-fetched. They can then decide what course of action they will take to work towards those goals.

Now here is the hard part about all of this, we will fail to accomplish many if not most of the things we desire. Some of us will, but most of us will not. That is the thing that all these resolution experts won’t tell you. I mean who wants to hear that they most likely won’t achieve their lifelong dreams. (I want you to take note of all the times people tell you don’t let anyone tell you that you can not accomplish your dreams). Who is going to spend money on something that isn’t going to change their lives?

This year instead of making a bunch of New Year’s resolutions that you are not going to work to accomplish, let’s try this instead. 

First sit down and have an honest conversation with yourself. Examine your life and think about the things you would like to change. 
Second think about the things you want to change and why you want to change them. Are they things that are good for you or are they bad for you? Are they things that are selfish and self-centered or are they things that will improve your life, bring you peace, and bring you closer to God. 

Third think about the things that you have decided you want to change. Now think about how you got into the situation in the first place. Are there things you could have done to prevent these things from happening? Are there things you can do to prevent these or similar things from occurring again in the future. 

Next start making plans to get the things that you have stated you wanted. Be honest with yourself. Don’t say you can do something when you know you probably can’t. Don’t be saying you are going to get 8 books when you know you will be lucky if you can get 4.

Lastly, get to work.

You don’t have to make a big declaration about what resolutions you are going to take this year or any other year. Most people don’t care. Not even the ones that like you. They know you and they know your history. They know what you are capable of doing and what you are not. 

What’s that you say? The people you hang around don’t know you and ain’t no good. My sister, I think you may need to add some new goals to your life. After all sis, we all need to drink more water. 

I have seen some posts on social media where people are saying that they don’t have the Christmas spirit this year. They are saying that they are just not in the mood. I have seen some people try to tell them how to find the Christmas spirit with a step by step checklist of how to achieve the perfect Christmas mood. Did I mention that these are Christians that are having this discussion?

Now we are not going to go into the history of everything that is Christmas. I think we have had more than a few discussions in recent years about that. Still there are quite a few Christians that seem to be confused on how they are supposed to behave during Christmas. I mean if you are over 40 how we celebrate Christmas today is completely different than what you remember in the good old days.

Is it even called Christmas anymore by the larger society? We mostly hear the term for the holidays. We don’t really see Christmas anymore by anyone. Schools are out for Winter Break before winter even starts. We have Black Friday and Cyber-Monday sales not Christmas sales. Seems the only thing that is called Christmas is the tree.

And let’s talk about Christ which is in the name Christmas. How often do we see the baby Jesus instead of Santa? I mean this year you probably have seen more grinches and gnomes than Santas in stores. Seems it’s better to have multi-cultural gnomes than it is to have a Santa whether he is Caucasian or African.

It would seem that Christmas and how we celebrate has become a very personal thing. There is no longer a societal way of celebrating Christmas that everyone follows. America, it would seem, more than most other countries in the world, has to try and be all inclusive and that means that we acknowledge that many people celebrate in different ways at the end of the year. For many Christian Americans that is a very difficult thing to process.

So you have a lot of Christians that don’t really know what they should be doing at Christmas time. Sadly many are having to deal with the fact that the magical time of Christmas that they grew up dreaming about was just a fantasy and never really existed. People didn’t just become nice and holy at Christmas. They were the same mean, nasty people they always were you just didn’t know it. A lot of people had a hard time learning Santa Claus was not real and they are not going to be able to raise their children believing in Santa. This is the reason many say they aren’t in the Christmas spirit this year.

We as believers should carry the Spirit of Jesus with us all year long, not just from late November to December. We shouldn’t get worked up over strangers telling us “Merry Christmas”, obsessed with buying gifts most can’t afford, or receiving gifts we don’t need. Sick and poor children need attention and help year around not just when you are feeling the Christmas spirit. We should be following the teachings of Jesus all the time.

So when I hear a fellow Christian say they are not feeling the Christmas spirit it makes me wonder when do you feel the Spirit of the Lord. It’s okay if you don’t feel the Spirit extra in late December but you definitely shouldn’t feel nothing January through November and then feel extra great during Christmas.

I am not going to tell anyone how to celebrate anything. I am thankful for every day I have been given on this Earth. I would never fault anyone for wanting to take time to thank God for the birth of His son and be joyful. I am not even going to tell people not to buy gifts as long as you are doing it in love and staying within your means. It is okay to do things that make your happy and be grateful to God. Where people get into trouble is when they try to make themselves feel something out of obligation and not because that is what is in their hearts.

So if you find yourself not in the Christmas spirit this year it’s okay. You might be going through something that is weighing heavily on your heart so you don’t feel much like celebrating. Whatever your reasons know that you are not required to be joyful just because it is the Christmas season.  Just remember that you don’t need the Christmas spirit but you do need the Holy Spirit and that is with you at all times. Please take peace in knowing God is always with you through all seasons.

​I could talk about this topic for the next 100 years and would probably still have plenty to say for a 1000 years more. I am not saying this as a joke I would use when speaking to an audience at say a church, I actually mean it from the bottom of my heart with all my being.

For the past couple of months I have seen more than a few ministers, preachers, or whatever the cool thing is to call yourself these days when you minister unto people, complaining about people not attending church anymore. It seems these holy men and women are severely bothered by the drop off in the number of people that have stopped attending church services on Sunday. For some reason it seems to bother them greatly and they feel that it is something that their church members need to fix.

Let’s be clear when they say church, they mean that building with the name First Baptist, United Methodist, God’s Children, or maybe even St Mary’s on the big sign in front of the building. The place where folks gather on Sunday and have “church” or as I like to call it inspirational Sunday entertainment.

Now I am not going to say every single church building in America is having some type of show on Sunday morning, but I am going to point out there are an awful lot of singers, musicians, photographers, sound engineers, lighting, and cinematographers that pay their rent and mortgage working at church buildings on Sunday morning. I mean a lot of church productions put many a professional secular artist to shame. They have loud music, bass, lights, and dancing. They have people that move the crowd and make everyone feel like they are having a good ole time.

So humor me for a moment. What is different about the people that go to church and the people that don’t go to church, who aren’t Christian, and don’t believe in God? Like do you know if someone is a Christian just by looking at them? Do you know if they go to church every Sunday? Should a Christian be just like everyone else in their society? Should anything stand out about them from others?

American Christian churches have a lot of problems that apparently they refuse to acknowledge exist. It’s pretty obvious to everyone not an American Christian church leader that they have a lot of sins they need to address before inviting people to service on Sunday. 

In the past couple of years (more like months) we have seen many horrific scandals in churches. Everything from the routine (sadly) preacher committing adultery with multiple people in the congregation to child abuse and sexual assault. I don’t think anyone is surprised anymore by the atrocities church leaders commit consistently. The truly horrifying part is they (the people that operate the church buildings) never do anything to address these evils. Instead they cover them up and try to protect the perpetrators and attack the victims.

Less horrific but just as serious is the amount of money that these churches collect in the name of God that never seems to reach people in need. Far too few churches do anything to support their communities. Most don’t even do anything for their church members. Good luck speaking with the church pastor if you aren’t one of the elite members of the church. Everyone else is just a person sitting in the crowd, an opportunity to sell a book, CD, or DVD after services end in the lobby.

People of faith who love God and love Jesus have a serious problem with the way the vast majority of American churches conduct themselves today. To many they are just a bunch of hypocrites scamming people in the name of God. That doesn’t make a follower of Jesus Christ too happy so therefore they want to get as far away from these vipers as they can. People don’t want to attend church because they know God is not in the building. These church buildings are not the Church and followers of Christ know this.

I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken to people that have brought a problem that they have had with a minister, priest, or leader of a church. So many churches are filled with a lot of arrogant, self-serving people that believe they are the only authority in the world when it comes to God. They absolutely refuse to listen to anyone but their ego when it comes to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The worst part is they frequently preach messages of sin with messages that directly conflict with the teachings of Jesus.

The other thing in America today is that certain people are using the word of God to spread hate to attack and subjugate other people. They believe they are the holy chosen ones and everyone else must be destroyed. If you are a person that loves all people and you know God loves us all, then you do not wish to be associated with people spreading hate. Just because someone throws the name Jesus or God into their hate message doesn’t make it righteous from God.

I am going to stop right here because no one wants me to keep talking about bad churches. There are plenty of good churches out there too. They are led by people that love God and follow the teachings of Jesus to the best of their abilities. They do so much and never ask for anything in return. We see them and we pray for them. More importantly God sees them and their works in His name. Many Christians prefer to spend their time doing work to help people instead of trying to sell their wares in the name of God.

Don’t let anyone tell you how to serve God. It may not make sense to me but if it speaks to your soul then you should follow it. In the end that is all that we can do in this world. There are many roads to Heaven your path may be different than mine. They only thing that is important is that you follow your path to get there.

There are plenty of Bible verses I could share but just read your Bible and pray on it and God will always lead you to the Truth. I love you all and God bless and keep you. I will keep you all in my prayers. 

by Gray Graham

​A few years ago I heard a speaker tell a story about giving a speech to a major corporation. In their speech they told the audience how their spouse absolutely loved the company and was their biggest fan. They cherished the company and thought the world of them. Now I can tell you that this company is one of the most hated companies in the world. While you are reading this I am sure you have a long list of companies it could be.

There are a lot of companies in the world that a large group of people hate. Thanks to social media you can hear about it everyday. I am sure right now there is an organized protest against a lot of major corporations trying to put them out of business. People love telling others about companies and businesses they do not like.

Let’s take a moment and think about a company you do like. You like their products and you like their service. I can almost guarantee you that there is a large group of people that absolutely hate that company and you are probably one bad experience from joining them. It doesn’t take much for a company we have dealt with our entire life to betray our trust.

So what do you do when you get to the point that you hate a company and no longer wish to do business with them. Most of us will look to their competitors as an alternative. Chances are you already do business with them. After all who shops at only one store?

So you start doing business with another company. Their services meet your needs and then as stated above one bad experience and you are back to square one looking for a company to do business, meet your needs, and not make you hate them.

The truth is that organizations today do not value their clients and customers. We are just a resource to be harvested for profit. The moment there is no profit in it for them, we will be discarded and forgotten. They don’t care if we will never do business with them again and will tell all our friends how awful they are. Companies are willing to go to court and ligate for years instead of provide service to their customers.  They know that while you may not do business with them again someone else will. Major corporations know that there are a lot of people that love their brand and will continue to do business with them.

Major corporations have something that you and I do not have and that is money and resources. They can buy anything that they want and many only buy what they need. Service to clients cost money and makes nothing extra. A corporation would rather spend money to get new clients instead of spending a dime to keep an existing one. From their prospective there is nothing to be gained from doing the right thing and making you happy. 

And let’s not forget that a corporation is just an entity created to make money. What we think of as a company is really the products and services they provide and their employees. I am going to guess that you probably work for a corporation or organization so you know exactly what they think about their employees. 

Most organizations severely limit what their employees are actually able to do in service of customers. After all employees are humans with a heart and most want to do right by people. The golden rule is the golden rule. This is why corporations make sure to put people in charge with no heart and only focused on meeting corporate and personal financial goals instead of people that care about people.

It would be nice if we lived in a world where we didn’t have to deal with people that we didn’t like who try to take advantage of us but unfortunately we don’t. Most of us don’t have a choice in the organizations we have to associate with to live. If there is only one grocery store in your neighborhood that is where you have to buy food. If only one company makes a drug that you need to live then you have to buy it from them. If a company owns the mortgage on your home then you have to pay it. If there is only one hospital in your town and you have a medical emergency then you have to go there for treatment.

It’s nice that some of us get to pretend that we have plenty of choices when it comes to life but most people know and understand that they don’t. This is why most people just hold their nose and bare it and just go about their lives. But you better believe that the first chance they get to cut that company loose they are going to take it. Until then they are just going to bite their upper lip and drink the poison that tastes the best to them. 

​As someone that has celebrated Juneteenth for longer than most of you have been alive it pains me to see all these responses from people about Walmart selling Juneteenth ice cream right next to the 4th of July sherbet. About twenty years ago I was trying to get Black people to to acknowledge and support Juneteenth at some major organizations. At the time I got a lot of rejections and disinterest especially from Black people from the Northeast or Black immigrants. They had never heard of Juneteenth and once they were told what it was, they had no interest in doing anything for it. 

So you will have to forgive me if I call foul on all these Black people online complaining about Walmart selling Juneteenth wares. You knew last year they were going to sell Juneteenth merchandise just like they do ever single other holiday. I promise you that if major corporation did nothing to acknowledge the existence of Juneteenth, some of the same people complaining now about them selling Juneteenth red velvet ice cream would be complaining that retailers were ignoring Juneteenth as a holiday and not giving it the same respect as Independence Day. I know my Christian African American brothers and sisters are not complaining about buying stuff for Juneteenth when they just spent money celebrating the death of Jesus Christ on Easter. 

Last year when Juneteenth was made a national Federal holiday, I had more than a few Black people curse me out because what kind of self respecting Black man would want a national holiday for the end of slavery. A long time friend basically said I and others like local civil rights heroine Ms Opal Lee, were just being passive puppets to the white supremacy.

While many of us have always celebrated Juneteenth as Jubilation Day, Jubilee Day, or Freedom Day under the mantra of none of us are free until all of us are free, others look at the day with anger that even after a war people still had their freedom taken from them for two years. There are a lot of African Americans that simply hate the day. 

This all boils down to the fact many African Americans are ashamed of being Black specifically African Americans, the descendants of former African slaves. See racists white people are not the only ones that don’t want slavery taught in schools. Some African Americans are ashamed of their African ancestors and are ashamed of anything that reminds them of the African slaves.

Many African Americans want to be anything but African Americans. How many Black people become upset when they are referred to as African Americans? They will tell you that they have never been to Africa so don’t call them that. They don’t even realize that it was the newly freed African slaves that called themselves African Americans. Even though we have churches over 100 years old with African American in the name, many people think it is a term started by Jesse Jackson in the 90’s.

African Americans are not a monolith. Black people are not a monolith. There is not just one Black culture in the United States or the world. To racists we may all just be Black, but there are many different Black cultures in this country. Juneteenth is one of the only times where African Americans are clearly separated from our Black brothers and sisters. So no you can’t wear your Haiti Independence t-shirt to a Juneteenth celebration anymore than I would wear a Juneteenth shirt at a Haitian Independence Day celebration.

There is clearly a separation between what I like to call average Black people vs Black journalists and Black social media influencers. We often see various people online speak for Black people when they don’t actually have a connection to African American culture and the African American community. Many can not even define what African American culture is. For them if a person with dark skin does it then it is part of African American culture. 

Let’s understand something, Walmart is not a white corporation. It’s a corporation just like all the other corporations out there. You are free to buy stock just like any white person. If you have a retirement account chances are you already own Walmart stock. Walmart and most of these organizations have African American employees, African American executives and African American leaders.

I fully understand, especially at the moment, that many people have a problem with corporate greed. Companies never miss an opportunity to turn any event or tragedy into a profit as we are seeing in America right. During the Black Lives Matter protests we saw people try to capitalize on that to make a profit. There were many Black people that used Black Lives Matter as a way to make money for themselves when they didn’t actually do anything for the larger Black community. Same thing goes for Juneteenth. There are plenty of Jamaican and Haitian people that are making Juneteenth merchandise to sell when they have no connection or love for the holiday at all. 

I don’t know what happened to Black people over the past couple of decades. Actually I do know what happened to Black people and so does every other older Black person that warned us what was going to happened. I can only hope that one day we get our Blackness back but it definitely does not look like that is ever going to happen. Black people can’t even define what being Black is other than they want to make sure that they are not it.  For too many of us see ourselves through the eyes of those that hate us just for existing. 

Here we are as Black people; African Americans upset about a “white” store selling ice cream for Juneteenth. I have know many Black elders that would have thought that was a great accomplishment especially after having a Black President of the United States and a Black Vice President of the United States. 

Instead we have people that want us to mourn and grieve and read books instead of taking just one day to just celebrate that despite all the evil that has been done to our people, African Americans not only survive but we thrive. People the world over copy our culture and follow our lead on a number of issues.

That’s what is really sad. African Americans have been abused and traumatized so much that we can’t even take a moment to have some joy as we prepare for the next battle.  As my good friend told me, it is more important than ever for us to teach the younger generations about our history, experiences, and culture. There is a movement in our country today to completely remove the history of African Americans from schools and colleges. 

We have leaders in this country who still have the same mentality as the Texas slave owners that refused to tell the African slaves they were free. They, like their forefathers, believe they are superior to all Black people and we are lesser than they are. African American is a joke to them and so is an African American holiday. See we are free but our freedom is always being challenged, just like our peace of mind. Juneteenth will always be a reminder to America that it’s sins of slavery still affect us today and it is something that we as a society will have to work hard to repent.