The Danger of Celebrity pt. 1

Everyone knows that we are in a world that worships celebrity and celebrities. People love to try to connect with celebrities, but what has grown in this new advent of reality television and social media, is the strong desire of many to become a celebrity. Now anyone can go “viral” and get a measure of fame.

My personal thoughts on fame is that it’s liability. Yes, when I was younger, I was in hot pursuit of meeting my favorite musicians, but I have never had the desire to be famous and the thought of losing my anonymity is terrifying to me. But different strokes for different folks.

What made me want to write about this is the incident that happened at the Oscars with Will Smith and Chris Rock. But I will deal with that in part 2. I first want to deal with the danger of fame and worshiping human beings who are just like you and me.

There are people who absolutely worship Beyonce. Recently there was a church service that was about Beyonce and her songs. Yes, really. And there is even a name for her fans. They are called the Bey Hive and they will “attack” people online, by filling their social media pages with bees, if they say negative things about Beyonce. This is a form of worship.

So how do people get famous? Basically in our society today, fame comes from becoming actors, singer, musicians and sports figures. Authors and politicians can become famous, and again, going viral can bring a measure of fame to the average person. Fame come when someone does something that the world takes notice of.

But there is also another way that you can become famous. Fame can be offered to you by the devil himself. Yes, I believe that and the proof comes from Mathew 4 when Jesus had been fasting and praying for 40 days and night and the devil came to him to tempt him. in verse 5 it says the following:

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[c]”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[d]”

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[e]”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Verse 8 is key. The devil offered fame in exchange for worship. Don’t be deceived. This still happens to day. That is why every once in a while you will hear celebrities say things like they “sold their soul to the devil.” I believe it happens but it comes with a price.

So what does God think of fame? Is he against it? And is it wrong to be famous? I think that fame is something that can come and in and of itself, it’s not wrong. I believe it’s the worship of the celebrity and the attitude of the famous person that becomes problematic. Several years back there was a video going around of actress Reese Witherspoon being arrested and she used the entitled words “do you know who I am?” Well that is the attitude I am referring to. It’s the celebrities who think they are entitled to be treated differently or that they are better than everyone else, that is problematic. I’ve heard horror stories from friends who knew or had encountered some very arrogant celebrities and I will leave it at that.

Finally, because this is a blog about the prophetic, I want to share a prophetic word of knowledge that my former Pastor gave. In doing my research I am amazed at how accurate my Pastors word was. I believe it was in 1992 my Pastor gave a word that God was going to bring down two Michael’s. The Prophetic word indicated that God was not pleased because their fame (the two Michael’s) had touched His glory.

Isaiah 48:11New International Version

¹¹ For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
    How can I let myself be defamed?
    I will not yield my glory to another.

You see true glory belongs to God alone. And He will not share his glory with those who he created. After my Pastor prophesied about the two Michael’s, in 1993 Michael Jackson was accused of abusing a child and Michael Jordan had a gambling scandal and his father was murdered which led to his temporary retirement. Both men’s level of fame was greatly affected. Michael Jackson was never viewed in the same light ever again.

Listen, God is the only one to be worshiped and if you find yourself in that space of fame and fortune, you need to constantly be pointing people to Jesus and not you.

I think Will Smith’s has reached his pinnacle of fame. This incident has changed his career forever. I’ll talk about that in part 2.

When It Doesn’t Make Sense

This morning I woke up and started my day, not going to church, but watching a ministry online and then praying and then going to the Facebook page of a friend who recently got married in late August.

As I paged through the new photos and older photos of her wedding and 3-phase honeymoon for probably the 4th time, I couldnt help but smile. For some reason I feel joy and a connection to this particular friend. We worked together decades ago and all though we are not close at all, I am so happy for her. She was engaged to a man who jilted her shortly before they were supposed to get married and he married someone else. I remember sharing a video with her about Kingdom marriage coming and how hesitant she was to receive it, but just a few months later she met her now husband.

I have 3 friends who I have been closer too in the past, all over 50 who have gotten married in the last few months. Two of them have been married before and have children, and the one I just mentioned is like me. Never been married with no children.

I have never been the one who was jealous when my friends got married. I’ve watched countless friend marry and I’ve always been happy and supportive and hopeful that it would one day be my time, but now at this age and stage of life, I often wonder, what is the point?

Yes, I want companionship and I always wanted to have a large family, but now that I am past the age to bear children I just don’t get it anymore. I know I could marry and inherit children and that would be great, but now I am at the point where it all just doesn’t make sense anymore. You see I am older than the 3 friends that I mentioned and I feel I am at the age where nobody will marry me.

I recently had a dream that I went to a church that I used to go to decades ago and the Pastor (who is single) asked me to marry him. I remember in the dream being surprised and giving in to his proposal (accepting it) because I felt sorry for him. In other words, I settled for who I really did not want. He and I have a history and when we didn’t get married years ago, I felt God spoke clearly and let me know we would not be together. I also shared the dream with him (we have been in contact loosely, nothing romantic). He never responded, but I kind of felt I should share it because I felt the dream was about more of what he may have been feeling.

I guess you may being thinking “she has a lot of nerve”. lol But even when things don’t make sense, it doesn’t mean you should settle for anything. All of the friends that married recently have beautiful stories of God bringing them their “right” husband and that is what I want.

I just felt like blogging my feelings today. I don’t know if it will help anyone, but I think I needed to write out how I was feeling. I think I am deeply disappointed in God and myself. I know marriage isn’t everything, but it was a desire for me and I believe for most Christian women and to reach this point and not be married is sad. But I will continue to move forward and work on me. If it’s in God’s plan it will come and if it’s not, I will somehow make myself content.

Surviving Covid-19 Part 1

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while, but I just didn’t get around to it because I have been dealing with getting the Corona virus and all of it after affects. Just writing those words brings up so many emotions, so I know it will take me two posts to get it all out.

When you reach a certain age in life, you realize that things don’t always go the way that you want them to no matter how we try to avoid them. I say this because even the most careful of us can end up getting this crazy virus. Here is my story:

When the virus started to get bad back in March, my job went on lock down and we worked from home for 2 months. God has been good to me because I continued to work this entire year, never missed a paycheck or a meal and I still have a roof over my head. I know this is NOT the case for many people, but I am grateful to God for how my year has been.

I lost my sister in February and by May I received the surprise of my life when I received a letter about a life insurance policy in which I was name the second beneficiary (our father was the primary, but he is deceased). I was able to accomplish so much and I even brought a new car even though my other car was only a year old. So for me, this has been a great year financially. God has been good!

But just last month after being extremely careful about this virus, I was infected. I was not attending church for safety. I stopped going to the movies, don’t go to the hair or nail salon and I pretty much do nothing except get my food. No socializing or anything. But on December 3rd a co-worker came into my office and removed her mask. I had heard her talk about how uncomfortable they were and so she steps into my office and promptly removes it and stays for 15 mins. At a certain point I put my mask on, but I guess it was too late. I always look back to that day and wonder why I didn’t ask her to put it back on, or put mine on immediately, which is what I normally do, but of course hindsight is twenty-twenty.

On December 8th my boss call’s me on my work phone and informs me that this employee tested positive for the virus. Of course I was horrified because I had spent 15 minutes in my very small office with her. So I got tested and on December 12 I received the terrible news that I had tested positive. I kind of sensed it though, because by the time I go tested, I had developed this dry hacking cough and I kept wondering, why I was coughing

After the initial shock, I felt a little fear because I didn’t know what to expect. But after that subsided, I had to deal with a real rage. Honestly, it’s been a long time since I felt this angry. You see folks, wearing a mask is mainly about protecting other people. It’s really not about you! My friends and family will tell you, I was so angry, I really had to get a hold of myself. I told one of my co-workers that if the woman who infected me wasn’t working here, I would have sued her. And what made it bad was she did not apologize nor acknowledge that she gave it to me at all. Just moving along like nothing ever happened. Also, she found out she was positive, so soon after our encounter, so I wondered when she suspected she had it.

The most difficult part of all of this is that I know this could have been avoided. I believe if she had worn her mask and if I asked her to put her mask back on the outcome would have been different. I also should have put my mask on sooner. But of course there is nothing can be done about it now. The good part is my symptom’s were not too bad and I did not have to go to the hospital. As you know, many are dying from this. I had a childhood friend die leaving his wife and 4 children. Another friend stayed in the hospital for 6 months. And my former Pastor got it, got pneumonia, had a stroke and is now in a rehab, all as a result of Covid-19. And his wife got it and she was undergoing Chemo at the time. So I know that my circumstance could have been much worse. Other than extreme fatigue, and occasional cough, and losing my taste and smell. I did pretty good. But let me tell you this; Covid-19 is nothing that you want to get.

To be continued….

The End Part 2

I just read part 1 of this again and I was a little horrified that I put so much information out there. But the truth is when I look back at the experience that I mentioned, I believe I was targeted by a scammer, period. Sometimes how we are perceiving a situation is not what it really is and after we have time to step back and evaluate it, we see things more clearly. So again, I think I was targeted by a romance scammer and thank GOD he is gone.

So why am I saying “the end” this time? Because I was on Facebook and this sermon popped up entitled “How Long Are You Going to Wait on That Man?” It made me stop in my tracks because waiting for Boaz is a thing that single women in the church do. Some are waiting on a particular man and others are just waiting on the man that God has for them. Well the sermon got my attention not because of a particular man, but just because of the concept of waiting.

You see, waiting can become problematic after a long time and after you reach a certain age. I feel there is something wrong if you are waiting for a mate forever. As I listened to the sermon, I knew what God was saying. He simply means no more waiting, so whoever comes along give them a chance.

Well shortly after that someone at my job showed interest and then someone from the past sent a message to me to reconnect. Now trust me I am not in the waiting mode anymore, but I also know that I am not going to deal with grown passive men, which seems to be what I attract. Or maybe some men just find me intimidating. Whatever the case, I am not waiting anymore. I will give a man a chance if he shows interest and I am interested as well.

Finally, I had a deadline in my heart and mind for when I was expecting Boaz to manifest in my life (not online} and then yesterday I got the devastating new that I tested positive for COVID-19. I am doing pretty well. My symptoms are not too bad, but I am dealing with the rage I feel about the person who gave it to me.

One of my co-workers who works from home, comes into my very small office and takes off her mask and a few days later tests positive. I am mad at her, but I am also mad at myself for letting my guard down.

Pray for me. I know God is going to cause it all to work together for my good. I am home for a couple of weeks and I just have to deal with it.

Romans 8:28

King James Version

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

The End: Part 1

I just had to get online and blog today. Perhaps this will help someone. This blog post is going to help someone recognize when to make the decision to move on and say “this is the end”.

The first thing that I am ending is talking to people who I don’t know online and specifically men. Let me just start by telling you that I have not had and do not have any desire to interact with a stranger online. For those of you who don’t mind doing that I say “more power to you”. But that is not me.

Over the years I’ve been approached by a few people online and the only reason I gave them a chance is because I always had some thought that it might be someone who was trying to get to know me incognito. I know that sounds strange, but that is the truth.

Just recently, I had a dream about a specific man and so when I was approached on Instagram, I gave the person a chance thinking it was the man that I dreamed about. Within a short period of time this person claimed to be in love with me, but eventually they wanted me to do something for them financially. Well, I’ve watched enough Dr. Phil shows about romance scams to not send a dime to anyone I don’t know in any capacity. To this day I have my suspicions that the man I was talking to was the man that I dreamed about, but I can’t prove it.

After a few weeks of getting no where, Mr. online and I made an agreement to stop talking to each other and we did and then he popped up again and asked me to send him an Amazon card with money on it and I sent him a nice article about romance scams. I still feel it was the man I dreamed about pretending. I think the last interaction was to make me believe that he really was a scammer, when he really wasn’t.

So how did I get to the title “The End”? I got to that title because I will NEVER, EVER interact with anyone online that I don’t know ever again. This has happened to me many times and this is the end of that. I am too old for foolishness.

The man who I was recently chatting with was annoying to no end. I didn’t like anything about him because I knew it was all a ruse. He used the words love too quickly and honestly, unless he already knew me, how could he be in love with me? It was the most annoying experience I have had in a very long time and I am so glad I am rid of him. There was something very sick and twisted about the whole thing.

Whenever you are interacting with someone and it disturbs your peace, that means you do not need to be interacting with that person. Every time he went away, I felt better. And every time he returned, I felt troubled in my spirit.

Listen, I know the internet is the new way for people to meet and that’s okay for some people. One of my brother’s met his wife online, but they only stayed online a very short time. Even if you connect initially with someone online, eventually it must materialize in real life. Even if you don’t meet immediately, at least you can talk on the phone or face time.

That’s why I am calling this post The End. It’s over. Never again. I recently had another dream about the same man that I dreamed about (God shows me things in my dreams) and in the dream I offered him a towel twice. But when I think about it, I believe that dream means it’s time to throw in the towel*.

*abandon a struggle; admit defeat.”there are times when the difficulties appear too great and we just throw in the towel”

In Part 2, I will explain why I believe this is what I should do.

Kingdom Marriages are Coming!!

I had just about given up concerning marriage, but then I heard this! I hope this encourages you like it did me.