Hip-Hop, Idolatry & The Church Pt. 31 ~ Church Girls Gone Wrong

In my 2013 post "Seduced Church: The Prostitution, & Sale Of The Psalmist" I started off with the following scripture:

Matthew 4:8-11 ~ 8-Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9-And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10-Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11-Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Unfortunately, nearly 10 years later, after world political and social fallout, a global pandemic that was also a rebuke to the church and the world, and a host of other issues, we are still dealing with rank secularism and idolatry within the church and among many of our leading so called "psalmists". it seems that not only have they sold themselves out to nothing more than "the enemy" in order to make money and or be relevant but they are continuing to do so regardless of consequences or the trauma that their actions perpetrate upon both the church and public. 

A Timely Word & Rebuke

Recently, Bishop Patrick Wooden of North Carolina 3rd Jurisdicion COGIC, who has been one of the most blessed and outspoken leaders in COGIC for a number of years, and who is certainly a friend of mine, recently undertook the ungodly presentation of hip-hop songstress Beyonce, in her song "Church Girl". It seems that her production staff, along with her approval for sure, sampled a foundational Clark Sister's song written in 1981 by Twinkie Clark-Terrell, called "Center Of Thy Will". Because of the nature and source of the sample, and resultant use in a very debase song, much controversy has been stirred. 

The Facts Have Been Made Known

In 2018, I outline in my article Hip Hop, Idolotry & The Church series #29 that Beyonce, is by all accounts, a follower of a demonic religious belief known as Santeria. In that article I state the following:

"Within Santeria, the manifestation of a god is called an orisha. orishas (of which there can be many) can be perceived in the physical universe by initiates, and the whole community can share in their presence when they possess a priest. The orishas can be perceived through dancing, drumming, speaking to and eating with the spirits. Unlike Yoruba, in Santeria, a woman or a female can be anointed or dubbed a priest and maintain or posses special powers to the degree that the priest has "yielded to" or dedicated themselves to the particular orishas that they serve." ~ The Dunamis Word 9/22/2018

These orishas are certainly demons or demonic forces. In that same article, I document the case of former drummer Kimberly Thompson who sued Beyonce for spell casting and her "extreme witchcraft" practices. This case was probably was settled out of court with an NDA, was dismissed as neither side appeared in court to answer or address the restraining order issue. Amazingly, Kimberly was used to discuss mental illness and no additional information is available on the case. 

With a false religion, witchcraft, combined with all the evidence of possession that she puts out through her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce, it is not hard to understand that Beyonce is doing what she has done, for the most part of her career, by promoting her false deity through her music and presentations, and either directly or inadvertently seducing the masses to viewing her as some sort of icon and getting paid a LOT of money for it in the process.

I mean look at it, the very thought of "criticism" being leveled at Beyonce causes some to get angry, cuss, fuss and just overall hate the critic out of pocket no matter what is being criticized. This indicates that in the mind and hearts of many, Beyonce has taken on a "goddess status" and is untouchable and is above reproach. Many minds have been seduced and believe me, her CD's and productions are prayed over in her spirit of witchcraft.

The fact that Beyonce and her husband JayZ, who have both been the inspiration for a non-traditional view of religion, spirituality and moral values, openly in their music and personal statements, should be a strong indicator of what one is "getting themselves into" in seeking to do core business with this particular music group. In essence, WALKS, TALKS, QUACKS...OK...

The Music Industry & The Sample Game

Artists sampling the music of others within their music is not all together a new game, but one that has certainly taken new and expanded dimensions in the age of digital music production. To be clear, many of the major gospel artists and choirs have allowed their music, songs or certain parts of a song or presentation to be sampled by both secular and fellow gospel artists AND/OR, in many cases have used certain portions of secular artists works to make, produce and present gospel music. 

For instance Kanye West, who has either sampled the music of others or been sampled by others over some 3,000 times, has, during his recent tryst into gospel music and the church, sampled songs as far back as 1976 in order to produce many of his more popular so called gospel songs, some of which are still anything but gospel.

Gospel artist Kirk Franklin (the KING of secular artist remakes and samples) who has either sampled or been sampled over some 62 times with portions of his most popular songs, such as "I Smile" using samples from secular artists such as Scarface ("Smile" 1977), Bob James ("Take Me To The Mardi Gras" 1975) and Little Feat ("Fool Yourself" 1973). 

Others such as Mary Mary who's 2005 hit "Heaven" was nearly an entire direct sample of the 1971 hit "Want Ads" by Honey Cone, is another example of the gospel music artist borrowing from secular music. Then there's the 2010 hit "Walking" (man some of my most favorite songs) which sampled Run-DMC ("Here We Go" 1985) and Crystal Water's 1991 hit "Gypsy Woman"

Ooh, yes, we're not through...there's the incomparable Fred Hammond, who has not only sampled a portion of Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit "Love's in need of love today" in his "2004 Love In Need, but he also sampled the biggest beggar of all time, Keith Sweat (1987 "I want her") in his 1998 "I Wanna Know Your Ways" and even the SOS Band's 1980 song "Take Your Time(Do It Right)" in his 2000 "Willing To Follow You".  

Then, there is the most SECULAR degenerate of them all...Deitrick Haddon, who has leveled great animus against the critics of  both Clark and Knowles saying:

"Gospel artists have been sampling secular songs and turning them gospel for decades. And you've been worshiping and dancing to them songs! Now when they want to sample our songs we get self righteous and fake holy. That's the epitome of hypocricy" 

He went on to say:

“Let @beyonce make her song for her audience and you make your gospel song for your audience. Then mind your own business and let God be God. If you have a problem or a concern about Beyoncé just pray for her strength!
On another note:
I’m glad that @twinkieclark is getting rewarded after some fake gospel label shyster swindled young, innocent Twinkie out of all her publishing!
Twinkie is one of my musical heroes and it does my heart so glad to know she’s getting paid. Someone with her talent should have been super rich but she dedicated her gift to a people that half way appreciate what she has contributed to the gospel!
Lord I thank you for the wealth transfer to a woman of God that deserves it. It blows my mind how God works"

First of all, Deitrick delivers so many false narratives concerning this, I could spend another entire article addressing it. For instance Twinkie is 66 years old and was swindled out of some of her publishing when she was in her 20's from what we understand. So that is nearly 40 years ago. Then how do we "pray the strength" of a devil or evil? That is a RIDICULOUS notion. In total, his are ridiculous sentiments put as if Twinkie was just swindled yesterday or that all people deserve the blessings of God's people, no matter their worldview, goals or aims.

However, there is a good reason Deitrick would be all for sampling without limitations. It seems that 18 of his songs have either been sampled or include a sample and MOST, if not ALL of them, he sampled parts from SECULAR artists. In other words many of his songs COME FROM SECULAR ARTISTS or contain an element in them from secular artists including the following songs: 

*"Fire" (1999) which samples "Ascension" by Maxwell (1982) and "Outstanding" (1982) by The Gap Band
*"Don't Go" (2006) which samples "Stay With Me" (1983) by DeBarge
*"Glory" (2017) which sampled "Juicy Fruit" (1983) by Mtume
*"Hold on 2 your Faith" (1997) which sampled "Stranger in Moscow" (1996) by Michael Jackson
*"Oh Yea" (2002) which sampled "Break Up To Make Up" (2002) by JAY Z and R KELLY
*"Holiness" (1997) which sampled "Walk On By" (1969) by Issac Hayes

There is more, but I seriously grow tired. 

What a BUNCH OF GARBAGE!!! Jay Z AND R Kelly??? Are you serious Deitrick??? To call someone else a hypocrite is the BLACK POT calling the Kettle Black....Your team has dealt with devils and demons, presented things to the church in the name of God, and you try to justify your DIRTY deeds...What apostasy comes this way???

Small Agreement...

To the point, of which I agree to SOME little extent, as I ALREADY STATED ABOVE, the sample game, from secular music to gospel music and vice versa, is strong and has been in existence for quite some time. So, in the ONE and ONLY area in which Deitrick and I can find some semblance of agreement, please be clear, Twinkie DID NOT start this trend, and Beyonce, who's team has either sampled or has been sampled over 400 times is no novice to the sampling game.

Now, none of this is an endorsement of the sampling game or what gospel music and gospel musicians or our "psalmists" are doing. It is a reflection of what is actually going on and why many people have called for an end to the gospel music "industry".  One can debate over that all day, but what should not be debateable is that gospel music and secular music may have common roots, but wholly different aims or end goals. Many of these people don't want you to believe that there is and should be a specific difference between the world and Gospel because they attempt to serve 2 masters, but that kingdom is coming down and ONLY the Kingdom of Christ will be exalted.   

Some Details On The SAMPLE PROCESS

There are 2 parts to the process of sampling. First, anyone sampling music means that SOMEBODY gets paid $$$. There is always, or should be an exchange of money from the sampler [aka: purchaser] to the sampl(ee) [aka: seller]. This means that the sampl(ee) would either ONE, get paid a flat fee or an amount of money for the sample, or TWO, receive royalties on the play of the music in which their sample is used. Sometimes, there could be a combination of both. It depends upon how the contract to sample is negotiated.

From industry insiders, normally under the latter arrangement, the payment to the sampl(ee) is roughly .06 cents per play, (under whatever ruberic play is counted) but that is for the life of the song in which the sample is used. Under the flat fee method, a person would get paid, a PRE-NEGOTIATED sum of money and walk away from the project. One payment, no matter how successful or unsuccessful the song in which the sold sample is used.

From a monetary standpoint, according to TVStarsInfo Twinkie Clark has a modest net worth of $6MM to $7MM, which pales in comparison to Beyonce's which is reportedly over $500MM. However, Twinkie has also been plagued with health conditions on and off which may take their toll financially. So I certainly don't condemn Twinkie (as we call her) for seeking to pad the bottom line and make money... However, unlike Haddon, who is ineptly blind in this instance, I will address the real issue in a bit...  

SECONDLY, under normal circumstances, the sampl(ee) is given the scope, range and sample use parameters BEFORE payment is made and the transaction concluded. In other words, the person who made and or produced, or has publishing rights of the original sample is usually and normally given full knowledge of what will happen to their sample and or song and the details of how that song will be used. There is always an exchange of vision and use of the sample and or song, is not blind. In other words, use of the sample, DOES NOT catch the seller or the publisher by surprise under most, if not all circumstances. 

IF that is true, Twinkie or her attorney's drafting and overseeing the transition agreement or sale of sample, would have also been given the vision of use for the sample and how her music would be used and what her music would in essence be promoting. That leads me to this 

The "Church Girl" Sample Difference 

Ephes. 6:12 ~ For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.

 As stated, nobody blames Twinkie or anyone else for the "come up". God gives gifts and some of those gifts can be used to pay the bills. However, THIS TIME...there is and was a specific message directed towards the church and in particularly the women and young women of the church by the Sampl(ee) or PURCHASER. THIS is the PROBLEM!

It is without question that this song, "Church Girl" is a song which, like many of Beyonce's songs, encourages promiscuity and debase actions. This one in particular, seeks to call young women, FROM Holiness or the "Center Of God's Will" to LUST, HEDONISM, and degenerate behavior.

Mini-Analysis

The CHURCH GIRLS are called by Beyonce, to leave the position of prayer and seeking God to be THOTTY'S   aka: The Ho's Out There......According to Beyonce...this CHURCH GIRL that had been seeking the Lord and going through trials was supposed to let go, go to the PARTY (aka: world) and don't worry about anyone's judgment, but "Drop it" and "Pop it Like A Thotty"... and be a "loose" church girl and not a "bad" and "snotty" one and "let it out"..."twirl that ass" like she "came up from the South" (admonition to what we know as TWERKING and a stereotypical vision of Southern Black women being sexually promiscuous (although she didn't refer to race, the suggestion exists))...she should "get her racks up" (expose her breasts) and he should get his "math up" (aka: get hard or erect) as this CHURCH GIRL "backs it up" on him...and she should do these things regardless of whether she is planning on going to church or not, because "she is trying to do the best she can"...In other words, this admonition is one of empathy, because this girl has no husband and even if she does, she was born "free" and needs to do something for "herself"...then don't be afraid to get paid for your actions (blank check) and be a prostitute "do it baby", "stick it baby" and in the end, Beyonce isn't trying to hurt anyone but "trying to bring life within your body" 

 So Beyonce's thoughts suggest that these CHURCH GIRLS have no life! 

The DEVIL IS A LIAR!

John 10:10 ~ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

As we can see, this song, using this particular sample, is NOT merely about music. It is about 2 diametrically opposed world views. It is about to POLAR OPPOSITE visions and views of life. one, where the life is subject to God, that is living in HIS servitude, and the alternate that seeks to serve self, if not always, then for times, when there can be a "letting down of the hair" and a less intense view of life itself. one in which these GIRLS and LADIES can give themselves to devils as some sort of pressure valve release to the flesh...

Romans 8:6 ~ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace.

Conclusion:

Bishop Wooden was so on point in his analysis and it is GOD that used him to observe and bring this EVIL to the surface. With all of what is going on, our young people and Saints in general need to know that the position of prayer is the right position and that God is still God and will answer prayer and is soon to come. 

Twinkie DID NOT and DOES NOT need Beyonce to be relevant in any way. 

Obviously there are individuals seeking to undertake the issue and they are blind, held in the flesh and following friendship with the world so tightly that they cannot divest themselves from it. 

1 John 2:15 ~ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

They know little or nothing of SANCTIFICATION and HOLINESS and if they do, they have been seduced by the god of this world into aligning themselves with his deceptive and degenerate vision for the human condition of life. 

It remains SAD that our leadership within the church in general has been so easily seduced into non discernment of truth, right and reality. What judgement we face from a GOD who is not simply some low life charlatan passing by, begging for friends...HE IS GOD and he deserves not only worship, but our very best in response to HIS being. 

Joshua 24:15 ~ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD.

This Pastor and Supt. WILL and HAS, repented of sins and faults and will forever seek the Lord without compromise of HOLINESS which seems to have taken a back seat to humanism even within the holiness church and as people examine this issue. Thank God we can clearly see the sign of the time and the great falling away from truth.

One more question...how can we be in consecrated prayer and CUSS at or to God, put it in a song and think it's OK? This is SAD!

Blessed!