Don't Get Hustled! Test the Spirits!

A couple of years ago I was reading a local Black newspaper that featured great community events. I happened upon an ad for a luncheon for the United Nation Of Islam. ( Not Louis Farrakhan's Nation Of Islam)

Come See and Hear God in Person! Read the ad.

Come See Solomon! (God, Allah in the flesh!)

People's Temple Pastor Jim Jones

Be alert for many false teachers and false Christs will come! Every eye will see Christ when he comes and every head will bow. If they say he is in the desert do not go there! If they say he is over here or there, do not go there! Book of Matthew

Branch Dravidian Leader Pastor David Koresh

What?

God in Person! Naw...I think i'll pass. I read in the Bible that when God returns all would see him. Now I look back on what has happened to my people. We've always followed folks cause we always are looking for a leader. Folks followed Yahweh Ben Yahweh, it didn't turn out so well. I'll leave it at that! Folks followed Dwight Malachi York. It didn't turn out so well.

First, Dwight York, AKA Malachi York claimed he was a Moor, a Black Hebrew, A Mason and with each new affiliation he changed his name, published writings, and sold books and other materials. He once wrote Anti Masonic materials but then changed saying he was always a mason and in fact a Shriner, raised in a lodge that when checked is considerate to be clandestine. Check it out on Bogus Masonry. He then started the Nuwabian Nation of Moors along with a Grand Lodge before he was arrested and imprisoned for crimes I will not detail here. Check it out for yourself but there were several warning signs over the years that should have raised a red flag. He changed his name several times, religious affiliation, added fraternal imagery, claimed titles that could not be confirmed.

These are signs that he may have been a hustler! Why was he allowed to go on so long? If someone lies to you it may be immoral but it ain't always illegal!

But he's hustling people out they money Mista Jaycee!

Maybe!

He says He's God and that he got this divine message that he wants to impart! Ok! So you went to hear him speak then you bought his book, CD and or DVD right?

Did he prove that he was GOD? How could you tell if he wasn't? What would you judge it by? What would you compare it to? You say Miracle, I say Science! You say unbelievable! I say cheap dime store trick! You were the one who decided to have faith in him or not to have it!

It turned out that he wasn't God at all Mista Jaycee!

Now, you know but what did you learn and how will you keep from being fooled again.

I was living in Dallas when David Koresh and the Branch Dravidian's were on the news. I had never heard of the Branch Dravidian's but I was raised a Seventh Day Adventist and was active in the church at the time. The idea that they were a splinter from us was mildly shocking and surprising but there it was in Black and White.

A friend of mine informed me that the Branch Dravidian's were known to Black folks in the Adventist Church as The Shepherd's Rod!

Father Major Jealous Divine

"The Shepherd's Rod!"

I knew that name although I never recognized any members until I got to Texas. Dig, Shepherd's Rod members often attended regular Seventh Day Adventist church services! They were familiar, they were inconspicuous. After worship services had ended I noticed that a familiar man who I always thought was a Deacon would pass out tracts and fliers to meetings at a local hotel ballroom. The flyer always advertised something from the Prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation and spoke of the end times. It looked like a regular S.D.A. tract....but on close examination it deviated sharply from what Seventh Day Adventist Christians actually teach.

But there was a tell tale warning sign at the bottom of the flier! It was always held at a hotel. Why? The Church has assembly halls that are available where multiple meetings can go on simultaneously. So why a hotel? Maybe cause what's being taught would not be tolerated by the SDA church. It would be declared heretical! In fact that happened that's how the Branch Dravidian's started! And then they would be exposed! Cover Blown!

It was subtle at first. It was subtle enough then Whack! Blatantly false doctrine!

David Koresh taught that Saturday not Sunday was the Sabbath of creation just like Adventists! The Bible confirms that this is true!

David Koresh used commentaries that were familiar to most Seventh Day Adventist Christians! All that is needed to fool someone is to have something that is familiar to them among the stuff that's not!

It is said that David Koresh first proclaimed himself a Prophet! A Messenger! A Christ Like figure but not Christ! but...

Then ultimately David Koresh proclaimed to be THE CHRIST! Not Christ LIKE but THE CHRIST!

WOW!

That's a long way from proclaiming to be a preacher with a special message. I'm Christ! I'm GOD!

I'm GOD!

Black folks have dealt with this before. Father Divine claimed to be GOD!

Father Major Jealous Divine was his full name and he built the International Peace Mission and he did good works in the community that still benefit people today but He said he was GOD! Not a representative of God, not a model or in the likeness of God but GOD!

Jim Jones, a one time student of Father Divine, started the People's Temple and he ministered and helped the disenfranchised in Oakland, CA. There were members who left Jones and his People's Temple long before he emigrated to Guyana! They left because Jones began to preach that he was GOD! They left because he subtly and gradually moved away from the BIBLE and began to teach his own thing.

Dissident members were ostracized, threatened, and expelled! Jim Jones like David Koresh began preaching that the Government or some external outside Satanic force would persecute them. Black folks believed them cause we already had enough reason and experience here in America to believe it!

The threat was always on their lips and in the ears of their followers. Both Jones and Koresh would preach long hours to their followers. Criticism and critical thinking were neutralized!

Now most folks don't suffer the fates of the Branch Dravidian's or the People's Temple. God (IAM) Bless their souls! Most of us just get conned! Hustled! Fooled! Hoodwinked! Led astray!

(Sorry! Had a Malcolm X moment there)

We get hustled cause we neglect to read the Bible, the Quran , Gita or insert your Holy Book here! ( )

Study to show yourself Approved! Remember?

Imam Warith Muhammed while a member of his father Elijah Muhammed's Nation of Islam did not teach the Nation's doctrine explaining that he could not substantiate for example W. Fard's divinity in the Quran. In his later writings he often refereed to Fard as the Mystic Man but not God! Not Allah in Person!

Now let I get this straight! He could not substantiate a doctrine or confirm Fard's divinity in the scriptures.

What?

Use the body of knowledge ascribed to your Deity? WOW!

Radical!

But his Daddy said it Mista Jaycee!

Yes, Warith's daddy did say that Wallace Fard Muhammed was God in Person! But Elijah Muhammed also taught his students not to be fooled, that they must study and challenge the information they were taught!

But The Honorable Elijah Muhammed built mosques and schools and acquired land and built businesses and employed his own people! He got people off drugs and reformed Men and Women and encouraged them to lead honest God fearing Lives!

True! Elijah Muhammed did all those things! Those are great things! But it still doesn't mean that what he taught religiously is true! Good works the could see! But it is still the responsibility of the PEOPLE to see if the religious doctrine is true! Test it by the scriptures! If someone says they are a Christian but they ain't using the Bible you have got to question it!

If they say well we are Muslim but they ain't teaching from the Quran. You have got to ask why? Then make your decision!

It is your responsibility to do everything possible not to get hustled! Now maybe you study your scriptures and you check everything and you still get hustled! It happens!

Just ask anyone who signed a sub prime loan! Just ask anyone who took a pay day loan! But all will tell you no matter how good the paper work was there was always something that should have alerted the loan applicant! Variable rate Loan anyone? Variable???? That means it could change right? Go higher or lower right? Adjustable rate anyone? Same as Variable? Why not FIXED? Then came the lies and misinformation. Well, it's a low rate and yes it could change but probably won't or at least not by much....

I read some horror stories about some dudes who joined a Masonic Grand Lodge for example, The building had the square and compass, the members of the lodge were Black but they weren't Prince Hall. They said no we are SCOTTISH RITE! Or Modern Free or something or another.

The folks telling these stories all have some things in common. They all thought they were part of a legitimate body of masons or eastern stars. On the surface in most cases everything appeared as it should be in Masonry. It was only after the members questioned something they believed or knew to be true that they were lied to.

Example: My friend is a Prince Hall Mason and he says you can't just be SCOTTISH Rite without first having the first three degrees. We don't do that! Why?

True Answer: You must have the first three degrees, entered Apprentice, fellow craft, and master mason before you join the SCOTTISH RITE or THE YORK RITE.

These guys all lost alot of money, sometimes spent years in a lodge only to realize that it was not a properly chartered lodge and they all had to leave and find a new, proper masonic home.

The Beatles went to meet the Maharishi and learn Transcendental Meditation. They mediated, they opened their minds but after a while they stopped allegedly cause the Maharishi was more interested in their girlfriends, celebrity and money than their soul salvation. Does that mean meditation is bad? No! Does that mean Yoga is bad? No! Does that mean that the Beatles were wrong to look eastward? No! But it could have been tragic if they ignored the red flags and went anyway.

That's what this is about. The Red flags! The Alarm Bells! The Warning signs that keep you from being hustled! Led astray! Bamboozled! Run a Muck! (Sorry! Malcolm X moment again)

Study to show yourself approved! Keep your ears opened! Read your spiritual book and test the doctrine, the Messenger, the Spirits!

Test Them!

BE Careful! BE Mindful! BE Prayerful!

Jaycee