Christian Living
This blog was partially inspired by Black Entertainment Television or Brazenly Explicit Tomfoolery, as I prefer to call it. That's quite bold of me, isn't it? Hey, media is my passion & my God-ordained calling. I refuse to grade on a curve and ignore the obvious to appease my industry peers. Moving on...
As a child, I used to sing along with BET infomercials into the wee hours of the night - on weekends, of course. Esther Brooks didn't play that (watching anything other than Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, The Cosby Show and A Different World during the week) and I wasn't trying to test the waters with her. Bear in mind that this was during the early to mid-1980's. That's when folks were just starting to get comfortable kissing on TV. It was an era when sitcom execs discovered that it really was okay to let married couples sleep in the same bed. Ah, the sweet memories of naïveté!! Unfortunately, that is something that many brown children know nothing about in today's world. So, when I hear babies who barely know their ABC's singing along to videos on BET such as "Drop it like it's Hot" or "Bust it, Baby" (and I'm not talking about busting a bubble, either), it reminds me that times have drastically changed.
Now, I've always had what you call an "old soul". Back in the day, I would sing the songs from the commercial right along with my great-grandmother and my great aunt. We would harmonize to Shirley Caesar's classics and James Cleveland's anthems during the 60 second promotional teasers. But there was one person that I was always eager to hear. The commercial seemed to legitimize itself in the minds of church folks all over as Rev. B.W. Smith from New York hurled the phrase, "[Watch them dogs] Who in the hell left the gate open?" You should listen to the entire message on YouTube when time permits. Meanwhile, let's revisit the question at hand and take it even further, shall we?
The Bible talks about many gates: the gates of hell, the pearly gates of Heaven, the gates to the inner court and many more. However, we often tend to overlook the most important gates of all. Jesus loved to make folks read between the lines. It's not always as black and white as the scripture upon the printed page. Stay with me…I'm going to bless you….
Every place on your body that serves an entrance or exit of a physical function OR as an opening to anything that is aesthetically stimulating is a gate. Your eyes, ears, mouth….come on, you're an adult so you know where I'm going with this. It is vital that we are careful about what we watch on TV and in movies, what we say & hear or who we're in relationships with and what we do in those relationships – even with "church folks". I could go even further about how the spirit of Jezebel is wreaking havoc in modern day Christendom. But I'll save that for another day. The point is that if we don't watch and pray, we can easily give the wrong person or thing access to our gates. This would, thereby, expose our souls to rapid decay - to the devil's chagrin.
Here's a personal testimony. During my pre-teen years, I had a bad habit of falling asleep while watching TV. When the late night programs came on, they were usually for "grown folks only". Needless to say, I would have some "interesting" dreams because my subconscious was still awake. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of dreams that Dr. King had. I wasn't concerned about when or where freedom would ring. I'm talking about dreams where I was in a compromising position and I seemed to enjoy it (the truth sets you free). Then, I would wake up with a feeling deep down on the inside - and it wasn't because my soul was happy. Thankfully, I did feel convicted about it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like there were any adults that I could talk to because I was too afraid of being judged. Here's why...
I was born and raised in one of the largest African-American church denominations in the U.S. I grew up knowing some of the most influential preachers & musicians in the greater New Jersey and New York area as my "aunts & uncles". My cousin and I use to attend about three services nearly every Sunday. After we worshipped with our local congregation, we would go over to New York to attend very well-known churches for evening services. All I remember seeing was a large aggregation of demure women wearing long white dresses & head coverings. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had said something to one of those women? I could hear them saying, "Girl, you bein' fast. Go and lay prostrate on the altar! You need to purge that spirit out of you!" I'm not saying that they would have necessarily been "off" in their presumptions of my need for deliverance. However, among some older women, there was a tendency to harshly condemn the youth rather than invoke healing and bring understanding. It would have been great if I knew someone who would have said, "Baby, I'm a church momma now but I ain't always had it all together." But alas, that wasn't a reality in my world. Furthermore, as an adolescent, my body was going through so many changes and ALL of my hormones were blossoming quickly. Although it was a natural occurrence, synchronized by God Himself, I felt guilty that my body was delving into womanhood.
Let's remember, though, that I had opened a door to heightened sensuality (i.e. that means even more than the normal stuff that teens feel) through what I allowed into my eye and ear gates. The first movie that I went to see – thanks to a saved adult relative who made me promise not to tell my grandmother - was Jungle Fever. NOT GOOD! Plus, both of my parents were still walking a bit on the "wild side" during my youth. (Let's praise God that they aren't where they used to be. GLORY!!!). So, there was a predisposition to certain types of sin brimming beneath the surface of my spirit. However, I was totally unaware of how generational curses affected even blood-washed believers. I didn't realize how crucial everything was at the time.
The enemy doesn't fight fair so he was glad that I was blindly opening these gates. The less I knew about my authority in Christ and my ability to crucify the flesh, the more damage he could do – or so he thought. He used the exceptionally creative mind that God blessed me with as a tool of perversion. He attempted to set in motion a cynical scheme to lead me down a path of rebellion and death. See, satan may not know all the plans that God has in store for us. But, he will attempt to distort our gifts so that they will be used to our detriment instead of for God's glory. Oh, that ol' toothless, slewfoot bastard...Sorry, I get carried away when I start doggin' him…
But I found out that when you know better, you [should] do better.
As I cultivated a stronger relationship with the Lord during my early teenage years, I began to understand what was happening. I learned that although my physical body was asleep, my spirit was still active and in tune with my surroundings. We are not just one-dimensional creatures. We're made in God's image with the ability to do and process many things all at once. I realized that my thought life had been adversely influenced due to my bad habits (i.e. what I chose to let into my gates). At times, my mind was so heavily engrossed in sensuality that I had to talk to myself. I would just say, "Okay, Imani. Think about a hymn, a scripture or one of those holy women in white. Do SOMETHING to stay focused on the Master!!!"
When I realized that opening these gates would cause me to spiral downward, I decided to fortify myself in God's Word and with support from strong, Christian friends & non-judgmental mentors. I also made a personal commitment to become one of those non-judgmental mentors that a young person can always come to when they need love, understanding and prayer. I had to become more sensitive to what I allowed into my mind and spirit. Was it always easy then? Absolutely not. Is it easy now? It's much better but I'm still striving to please God more every day. The assurance I have is that the Lord always gives us a way of escape (read: that's the right kind of gate) when we are tempted. That's why I don't take the credit for being a 30 year-old virgin. I'm grateful that the Lord Himself taught me how to fight the mind battles and how to pray effectively before I got caught in a self-destructive cycle (yes, He really IS a personal Jesus). Otherwise, I'm sure that right now, I would have a very colorful nickname and my livelihood would consist of performing seven (7) nights a week as...um...how shall I say this in a politically correct way..."a metal gymnast". Need I say more? I think not!
It wouldn't be me if I didn't make you laugh! But, I do urge you to please hear the Heart of God concerning this matter. The Body of Christ is on the brink of an outpouring that the saints of old never lived to see. However, the Lord needs to know that He can trust us to have integrity. True integrity is doing what's right whether we're being watched or not. Where are the women who will choose to retain their virtue (I'm appealing to both lifelong and reborn virgins right now) instead of sharing their private parts with anyone who shows them attention? Where are the handmaidens who can honestly lift up holy hands instead of finding a quick fix through masturbation? After all, masturbation isn't sex, right? Surely, that couldn't be a gate! Hmmm...
Where are the brothers who will study the Word of God late into the midnight hour instead of lurking into the online world of pornographic ecstasy? Where are the preachers who will impart sound doctrine and still treat their wives like queens instead of beating them to a bloody pulp when no one is around? Then, the First Lady can cloak the pain in her Sunday suit with her hat tipped over to the black-eye side. Surely, no one will find out about the gate that the Bishop opened when he balled up his fist. Let us not be deceived or gullible. These things do happen – yes, even in the church.
This message has been burning on my heart for a while. I had to be obedient and take the time to share from God's Heart to yours. He sees our struggles and our desires to live right in a sin-crazed world. His question to all of us today is: No matter how great or small our "issue" may be, how long will we leave the gate open?
Selah...think about that…
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