6.07.2010
6.01.2010
Joel 2 (King James Version)
Joel 2
1Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
2A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
6Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
7They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
8Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
12Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
14Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
15Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
18Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
19Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
20But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
21Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
22Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.
32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
5.28.2010
Over once and for all, Please!
From a friend:
I admit: I am not Jamaican. I've never been to Jamaica. But there are some things that are just so wrong as to offend one's basic sense of justice and decency no matter what piece of ground you are standing on.
On one thing I have to disagree with the consensus - "over soon" is not what I hope for. "Over once and for all" is the only thing that will save Jamaica.
I mean seriously, even right now Golding's people are looking for some legal loophole that will allow them to not have to extradite Coke. Since when did corruption and cowardice pass as "leadership". Why do the decent and upstanding people of Jamaica, of which I have had opportunity to meet many, allow criminals to control their lives?
From what I can see, Jamaica has no leader. It has a RULER, perhaps, and if so his name is Christopher Coke. But even that gives him too much credit, he is but one gangland warlord among many. Big bad men. Gunmen. Rubbish. Even they are just pawns of a perverted system created by the invisible hand of the market to feed America's insatiable thirst for drugs.
If ever there was a need for revolution, this is it, and I don't mean a revolution of violence and bloodshed. As several have pointed out, the government is by no means legitimate. But at least it is something that makes an effort to occasionally pretend. But when the next election comes, this is one example where what I have to say next comes into play.
What I believe in is a revolution of the mind (America needs one too, by the way, but I'll save that for another day). History offers very few potential turning points, but they do happen. If the Jamaican people as a society harnessed the anger they feel over this ongoing tragedy and finally decided that they deserve to live free of the threat of violence, free of the control of criminals, and united against the forces that corrupt Jamaica - then and only then will change come. Will it come from a corrupt government that is part of the problem? No. Will it come from the media? If only. If you're asking "why don't they tell us the truth?" then you're asking a question which deep down you already know the answer to. No, change can only come from... well, from people like some of you deciding to spread a message of change at any price. The power of change is within each person. It doesn't come from outside, it doesn't come from someone else.
In the world as it is, every Jamaican has a choice: 1) adopt an attitude of submissive acceptance, turn a blind eye to the problems and hope they go away 2) vigilance, whistleblowing, organizing, demonstrating (peacefully), asking the uncomfortable questions, and taking a courageous stand wherever the opportunity arises. I'm not going to lie to you: what I'm talking about here is a dangerous thing. Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy - an assassin's bullet found its mark on all of them, and more than a few of their followers suffered or paid the ultimate price. A path of confrontation, true confrontation on the things that matter, does involve sacrifice. But before you let those words "at any price" scare you, let me ask a question. How many of you know people, good people who minded their own business and lived decent lives, murdered for no reason? The price is being paid either way, and it is a heavy one. We are all going to die one day, nothing will change that, but accepting it gives you the strength to say anything that is necessary, and do anything that is necessary to fight for what really matters to you, for what you believe in. The question then merely becomes what are you willing to die for? Are you willing to die for Jamaica?
No matter what country, no matter what culture, it doesn't matter where you are, this rule is always the same: standing up to bullies is the only way to defeat them. And make no mistake: either you defeat them, or they defeat you.
Jesse Rogers
I admit: I am not Jamaican. I've never been to Jamaica. But there are some things that are just so wrong as to offend one's basic sense of justice and decency no matter what piece of ground you are standing on.
On one thing I have to disagree with the consensus - "over soon" is not what I hope for. "Over once and for all" is the only thing that will save Jamaica.
I mean seriously, even right now Golding's people are looking for some legal loophole that will allow them to not have to extradite Coke. Since when did corruption and cowardice pass as "leadership". Why do the decent and upstanding people of Jamaica, of which I have had opportunity to meet many, allow criminals to control their lives?
From what I can see, Jamaica has no leader. It has a RULER, perhaps, and if so his name is Christopher Coke. But even that gives him too much credit, he is but one gangland warlord among many. Big bad men. Gunmen. Rubbish. Even they are just pawns of a perverted system created by the invisible hand of the market to feed America's insatiable thirst for drugs.
If ever there was a need for revolution, this is it, and I don't mean a revolution of violence and bloodshed. As several have pointed out, the government is by no means legitimate. But at least it is something that makes an effort to occasionally pretend. But when the next election comes, this is one example where what I have to say next comes into play.
What I believe in is a revolution of the mind (America needs one too, by the way, but I'll save that for another day). History offers very few potential turning points, but they do happen. If the Jamaican people as a society harnessed the anger they feel over this ongoing tragedy and finally decided that they deserve to live free of the threat of violence, free of the control of criminals, and united against the forces that corrupt Jamaica - then and only then will change come. Will it come from a corrupt government that is part of the problem? No. Will it come from the media? If only. If you're asking "why don't they tell us the truth?" then you're asking a question which deep down you already know the answer to. No, change can only come from... well, from people like some of you deciding to spread a message of change at any price. The power of change is within each person. It doesn't come from outside, it doesn't come from someone else.
In the world as it is, every Jamaican has a choice: 1) adopt an attitude of submissive acceptance, turn a blind eye to the problems and hope they go away 2) vigilance, whistleblowing, organizing, demonstrating (peacefully), asking the uncomfortable questions, and taking a courageous stand wherever the opportunity arises. I'm not going to lie to you: what I'm talking about here is a dangerous thing. Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy - an assassin's bullet found its mark on all of them, and more than a few of their followers suffered or paid the ultimate price. A path of confrontation, true confrontation on the things that matter, does involve sacrifice. But before you let those words "at any price" scare you, let me ask a question. How many of you know people, good people who minded their own business and lived decent lives, murdered for no reason? The price is being paid either way, and it is a heavy one. We are all going to die one day, nothing will change that, but accepting it gives you the strength to say anything that is necessary, and do anything that is necessary to fight for what really matters to you, for what you believe in. The question then merely becomes what are you willing to die for? Are you willing to die for Jamaica?
No matter what country, no matter what culture, it doesn't matter where you are, this rule is always the same: standing up to bullies is the only way to defeat them. And make no mistake: either you defeat them, or they defeat you.
Jesse Rogers
.........................................................
A lot of people share these sentiments. We must and can do better. The fate of the Diaspora depends on it.
Just my two cents.
5.17.2010
Long time nuh chat
My 12 year old says to me last night that, "Nikki Minaj is mad wack..." Give thanks to JAH that I've been teaching her to recognize foolishness in all its forms from the day she was born. Never too early to start teaching lessons and principles. Foreign language and music lessons aren't the only things that children learn better the earlier you start.
Now for all those who like Nikki's music, I'm not knocking choice. Matter of fact there are quite a lot of songs, quite a bit of everything out there that can be quite relevant to people. Trouble is seems that many people seem to have forgotten the scripture that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."(Proverbs 22:6)
I was raised learning ABCs and 123s. Now we as a society are bombarding them with "Shake it like a salt shaker." and it's derivatives. I'm all for artistic expression but hell, junk in junk out.
Just my two cents.
Now for all those who like Nikki's music, I'm not knocking choice. Matter of fact there are quite a lot of songs, quite a bit of everything out there that can be quite relevant to people. Trouble is seems that many people seem to have forgotten the scripture that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."(Proverbs 22:6)
I was raised learning ABCs and 123s. Now we as a society are bombarding them with "Shake it like a salt shaker." and it's derivatives. I'm all for artistic expression but hell, junk in junk out.
Just my two cents.
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