21 Nov
My Two Cents on 50 Cent and His Ilk
The moral watchdogs who bemoaned the wicked state of music in the '80s had no idea how bad things would be today. Rap music is has set a new standard for evil in pop music. Rap, in the form of hip-hop and gangsta rap, has grabbed about 80 percent of the market share.
I was watching some of the videos for this type of music on MTV2 and I was amazed at how focused they have become at promoting immorality. Nearly all of the videos followed the same plot line. If you click to a rap video at any hour of the day, you find the glorification of vices such as crime, violence, hedonism, misogyny, drugs, and greed.
When I saw one video, I thought the devil himself must have produced it. It showed a group of hoodlums dancing around a fancy car. Wearing stylish hip-hop clothes and diamond-encrusted jewelry, they waved cash to the camera while a couple of half-naked honeys made their moves in the background. The video was the perfect ad for materialism.
The number one rapper today is "50 Cent" Curtis Jackson. This guy's life story is one of a horrific series of tragedies. Jackson never knew his father. When he was 8 years old, Curtis' mother, a bisexual Queens drug dealer working under "Fat Cat" was murdered. As a teenager, he made a living by selling crack cocaine. His choice of vocation led to prison time.
In May 2000, Jackson survived being shot 9 times in the face, hand, and legs by an assailant. He was also stabbed twice, once by rival rapper Ja Rule in one of his many violent disputes.
You would think that it would be impossible for someone with such a villainous background to get a recording contract. Because of his 2000 shooting, Columbia Records executives did decide to drop him, claiming the shooting was negative publicity.
The folks at Columbia quickly learned how the world has changed. Fellow
rap stars Eminem and Dr. Dre signed 50 Cent to their Shady/Aftermath label,
and the rest, as they say, was history. In its first week of release, 50's
first major label debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin,' sold 872,000 units. So
far, it has sold over 11 million copies worldwide. His follow-up CD, The
Massacre, sold over 8 million copies.
I checked out the lyrics for his Get Rich album, and I noticed that six words seem
to be the backbone of every song. I would need an adding machine to keep track of how many times he uses the f-word, the s-word, nigga, bitch, money, and gangsta.
Many of the songs, if it is possible to call them that, are about his disputes with other rappers. He promotes three very simple messages: only look out for number one; never show love; and money is the only thing that matters.
I can't believe that people buy this excrement for its entertainment value. The inversion of the value system is what has allowed a person who speaks to such low values to become so successful. 50 Cent is honored as a street-wise hero with a hard knocks success story. The filth that he spews from his mouth is praised for being a realistic portrayal of life.
I truly believe that Satan has run out of ideas for how to produce music with a more evil nature. Maybe a level lower would be a category of music that had pedophiles singing about molesting little boys while blaspheming God's holy name, but I doubt it could be made into palatable format.
In doing research for this article, I could only find one Christian source that had anything negative to say about 50 Cent or other rappers. It seems that the music of today has become so diabolical and so engrained into society that church leaders have no way to invoke reproach upon it.
I can only conclude that the state of popular music shows that we have progressed to the end of the apostasy stage, and judgment is the next logical step.
Pre-Trib Study Group
Each year, it's been my habit to attend at least two big conference. To my great frustration, for the past two years, my Air Force commitments have prevented me from attending four prophecy conferences in a row.
Finally, the time has when I don't have to worry about a deployment or some other type of military exercise getting in the way. Next month, Terry and I will be attending the Pre-Trib conference in Irving, Texas.
If any of you folks live in the Dallas area, I would like to invite you to join some of us who already plan to have a 5:00 dinner meeting on Sunday, December 4, in the Irving area. We're going to meet up in the lobby of the Harvey Hotel. You can find information on the conference and the Sunday meeting on the RR message board.
Another big meeting not to miss will be the Tulsa conference. The 12th Annual
Tulsa International Prophecy Conference will take place April 5-8, 2006 at the Sheraton Tulsa Hotel. As we get into the new year, I'll post more detailed information on that gathering.
-- Todd
Truth About E.T.
Generations of earth dwellers have long reported seeing strange lights in the heavens. From Ezekiel’s wheels within wheels to gigantic triangular crafts hovering for millions to see above Mexico City in recent times, the extraterrestrials seem to visit planet earth at will.
Now, according to some who believe ancient predictions, nature’s assault on the earth are beginning, in fulfillment of extra-biblical prophecy. One news article reports:
Katrina. Rita. Wilma. The earthquake in Pakistan. These devastating natural disasters are part of the change the world is undergoing, something the Maya
foretold thousands of years ago.
That's according to Jaime Maussan, a popular investigator of UFO phenomena in Mexico ("He sees Maya link in UFOs, natural disasters," by Pablo Jaime Sainz, UNION-TRIBUNE, November 10, 2005).
The 1947 Roswell, New Mexico incident spawned a flying saucer craze that continues, and as of late is picking up steam, with major TV networks including in their weekly programming things involving E.T. goings-on upon 21st-century earth. The Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network (MUFON), an organization devoted to the belief that we are being visited on a regular basis by travelers from outer space, documents most every report of suspected ET activity and examines each for credibility. Television documentaries on the networks, plus the cable stalwarts such as A & E, The History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic present programs at least once a week that ask if we are being visited by creatures from out of this world. With all the growing fascination with alien sightings, encounters, and abductions, it is reasonable to ask: Why is this so?
Certainly, Maussan believes it is true. He believes the Mayas foretold all we see happening, and that the weather and earthquake phenomena is ET-driven. The article continues:
Maussan will be at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido tomorrow to present a conference titled "La Profecía," where he said he will explore how
the Maya predicted the future through their knowledge of astronomy.
"There are indications that the Maya had knowledge of this 5,000 years ago," he said, referring to the natural disasters. "The question is: Who told them?"
He theorizes that extraterrestrials somehow contacted the Maya, who were able to develop an understanding of events to come.
Maussan doesn’t appear to be a kook, upon examining his education and earlier work resume. He received a bachelor's degree in radio and television studies from Miami University in Ohio. A native of Mexico, he was considered a credible journalist for years, working in Mexico’s equivalent of CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
According to the article:
In 1991, he became interested in the wave of UFO sightings Mexico experienced after that year's solar eclipse.
Since then, the 52-year-old has become Mexico's most popular UFO investigator, thanks to his weekly television program, "Third Millennium," and interviews
in popular variety shows like "Otro Rollo.”
Maussan believes the Mayan prophecies are beginning to come to pass, and says, “We have to prepare for the climactic changes that are on the way…”
Pablo Lonnie Pacheco, who works for the Astronomical Society of the Alfa Planetarium in Monterrey, disputes Maussan at every opportunity, and has debated him many times on the topic of UFOs. Pacheco said, "He's a charlatan," he said. "He takes advantage of people's ignorance. He sees UFOs everywhere.”
This commentary is not to cast aspersions on Mr. Maussan, nor to agree or disagree with Mr. Pacheco’s assessment of his nemesis in the matter of ETs. The commentary is to flat-out agree with Mr. Pacheco, however, that the UFO phenomenon is a hoax, so far as these UFOs have anything to do with the world’s way of considering them. The hoax is, I’m convinced, wrapped in the story of Genesis 6: 1-6. The ”visitors” from another world are not extraterrestrials from outer space, but interdimensionals from just on the other side of the fabric we call space. They are the bene elohim –the “sons of God”--who fell in the rebellion in Heaven in eternity past. These creatures are indeed determined to pull the prophetic wool over the eyes of earth dwellers in preparation for the time of tribulation that will follow the rapture of born-again believers.
At least, I believe the UFO hoax will be part of the delusion God will allow to affect millions who have understood that Christ is the way to salvation, but have rejected Him. Earth dwellers of that time will be sent the ultimate hoax. The Scripture prophesies:
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thes. 2:8-13).
Part of the “delusion” could quite possibly be that UFOs, which have been a part of earth’s recent history, have abducted large populations, or have somehow made millions vanish.
I’m convinced we are seeing that scenario in the making at this present hour.
--Terry
Terry’s new book: The Rapture Dialogues
This generation is seeing many signs and experiencing conditions Jesus and the prophets foretold would be like birth pangs for a very troubled Planet Earth just before His return.
I’m convinced that one of the great signs that is not yet fully in view, but soon will be, is found in the Lord’s words in Luke 17: 26: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”
My new novel deals with this prophetic signal, which suddenly materialized at the mid- 20th century point, in my view. We are beginning to see increased fascination with the matter, and the major TV networks are jumping on the bandwagon.
The UFO phenomenon can be intelligently probed by examining Genesis, Chapter 6. This novel, and the sequels which I hope will follow, explore, through unique storyline and theme, the strange sightings, encounters, abductions and other aspects of this enigma.The characters run the prophetic gauntlet, from now to eternity, with particular focus on the earth-stunning event the Apostle Paul was referring to when he prophesied: “Behold, I show you a mystery…” (1 Cor. 15: 51).
As the author, I’m receiving a pre-worldwide release edition of 1000 copies this December. The novel will be released to the major markets in the spring, probably March.
I, of course, would like to get the book off to a rousing start. But, I would also like to offer it to my raptureready.com family/friends, first, with the prayer that you will –if you agree it is a worthy book—spread its attributes to everyone you know. If you don’t like it, just e-mail me, and I will apologize, personally…
To get one or more of the early release copies of The Rapture Dialogues, I ask that you send $14.50 for each copy you desire (which includes shipping) plus your name, address, and e-mail address to:
Terry James
P.O. Box 1108
Benton, AR 72018
I promise to sign your copy, unless you stipulate otherwise.
Remember, the book will be sent to you next month, or by mid-January. But, I want to give those of you who are interested an early chance to get on the list for receiving this pre-mass market release. Also, it will be yours at a reduced price.
Can’t thank you enough for your love and friendship.
