Losing my religion

Restoration movements are a big part of modern day Christianity. As the literal word illustrates, "restoration" is about restoring something to its original state. In Christianity, beginning in the early 19th century, various members from different Christian groups and denominations decided they had drifted away from the basics of Christianity. It's the Christian version of "make America great again"   Restoration is about "making Christianity great again"...That's how all these "movements" and "revivals" come into being in the first place. And these "movements" are almost always dangerous. These movements all start the same way: individuals abandon their formal denominations with hopes of establishing a church based solely on the Christianity taught in the New Testament. With their belief in Jesus as the only model and the Bible as the only sacred book, they endeavor to “restore” the church to its original focus duri...

 The man in this video used to travel with gospel legend Fred Hammond on tour. He lived in the gospel world among many of the "A-listers" who are household christian names.  He's got some things to say. I think it matters because at some point what's in the dark must be brought into the light.  Also, let me be VERY clear that being gay is not a "sin", nor is it "bad". However, we have to understand that the hypocrisy of living a double life while publicly condemning homosexuality is wrong. It sends a horrible message to others who are LGB (Lesbian, gay, or bisexual). Eventually, we have to decide if we're going to use the bible as a determiner for non-heterosexual orientations or not.  More on that later. Here's the video. Enjoy.

 Gospel star Tye Tribbett does an impromptu rant on the gospel music industry. Once again, what's in the dark always comes into the light. I learned the truth about the gospel industry a few years back and well, there's nothing "gospel" about it.  From what I see, it appears Tye Tribbett is at least fighting to not sell his soul. It seems his heart is good as well as his intentions for making music. So this article isn't about him being a hypocrite. (Although you never know. All I can go on is the information available to me at the time).  All in all, he seems pretty genuine compared to many christian artists who are just doing this christian music thing because, for example, they couldn't do secular music.  One thing is for sure: they may be "christian" on stage but backstage it's the same as your favorite rapper or rock star. I'll leave it there😳 Sooner or later we're gonna have to learn that the christian belief system causes a kind o...

 ****This story is ongoing, so stay tuned for future developments. This article is, by no means, written to be fully comprehensive of all that is going on here**** Check out the story here * Picture: Ex-ICOC members Marcus Mesquitta, Justin Singletary, Arluah Wontan and Manny Chong I just caught wind of this situation and wanted to document it for historical purposes. The Boston Movement, the ground zero ministry that went on to launch what is now known as the International Church of Christ , or ICOC, is alive and well in Boston, Massachusetts as of 2021. Members of the church constantly dismiss those of us who publicly expose the spiritual abuse of the ICOC due to what they claim are old and outdated practices. In other words, the abuse and corruption of the church supposedly doesn't happen anymore.  Let me be the first to say that this is false. The true story I am referencing in this article is evidence that a leopard doesn't change its spots. Neither does a zebra change ...

  I'm on no one's side in this situation. I don't even like celebrity gossip, but it falls under the umbrella of spiritual matters, so I decided to share it. If you haven't heard about the situation between Kirk Franklin and his son, the details are in my previous article here . If you don't feel like clicking the link, here's the cliffnotes: Kirk Franklin, if you don't know, is a legendary gospel artist known for being a pioneer in modern-day gospel music. His oldest son, who is 33 years old, secretly recorded a phone call with Kirk cursing him out and threatening to kick his a$$.  The scandal revolves around Kirk being a Christian gospel artist living in the public eye in contrast to his private behavior.  When analyzing the family and relational history behind what Kirk said to be a "toxic" relationship with his son combined with the context of Kirk being a christian celebrity, this is a very humiliating situation for Kirk Franklin. I talked...

  What's trending this week is the video of gospel legend Kirk Franklin going off on his 33-year-old son during a phone call. It appears that his son decided to record the call as it was in progress. The leaking of this video has been socially controversial among those who care about celebrity gossip. I'm mentioning it for a specific purpose as it relates to religion and modern-day Christianity.  Kirk Franklin is someone whose music I listened to over the years for inspiration and upliftment. Mostly his story is that of a broken soul who found God after a traumatic childhood full of poverty, abuse, and abandonment. He was a teenage father and indulged in his share of dysfunction and debauchery. A pioneer in gospel circles, he is famous for putting gospel music on the mainstream map, using the Christian narrative of grace, redemption from the past, forgiveness, and God's love and acceptance over hot beats and melodies that appeal to the younger generation.  This isn't to...

I've been spending some time looking at my past. I was recruited into the International Church of Christ cult in 1995 and left the group in 2006. What I realize now is how much I was indoctrinated. I tended to believe that being extreme was the only legitimate way to be.  My personality, to be fair, was conducive to such extremism. I am an "all or nothing" type of person. When I commit, I am 100%. I don't half-ass anything. So when encountering the teachings of the ICOC movement, the discipleship ideology was not only interesting but appealing.  As a freshman in college at the time I was recruited, my roommate would roll out of bed every morning, get on her knees beside the bed to pray, go to church every Sunday, criticizing me for not going with her....all while being one of the most vile, mean, abusive people I have ever met. She was only one of many examples I witnessed. The extremism and elitist black- and- white ideologies of the ICOC looked mighty appealing in t...

  One of the spiritually abusive practices of the ICOC and ICC is the churches' indoctrination process known as the first principle studies,   commonly known as the bible studies .  These first principle studies are a series of foundational studies one must successfully complete to be 'saved" and water-baptized. Once these actions are achieved, the person is accepted as a member of the "movement".  These studies are discipleship-based, with the goal of making the "student" into a "disciple". 

  Lovebombing: The "church brochure" Church life is presented as a sort of sanctuary from the larger society. It is supposed to be, according to the Christian new testament ideology of golden rule principles, first century church stories in the book of Acts, (and all the unspoken rules that are inferred from such bible scriptures) a community full of unconditional love, grace, peace, support, integrity, authenticity, and positive regard.  The unconditional love, in my experience, is on the "church brochure". It's church branding 101. In my you tube video, I talk about the dark side of church culture. I spent 11 years as a member of a non-denominational evangelical church called the ICOC (International Church of Christ) where the church was promoted as a "spiritual family".  This family was supposed to be stronger than blood family. We referred to each other as "brothers and sisters" in Christ. This was patterned after the church in the book ...