Silence is Deadly by Ezekiel Azonwu with transcription

I could teach you how to kill without choking, stabbing or shooting.
Just walk past someone who's dying and do this
And it's funny--I'm stuck instructing this tough class but I just passed
I was not the good Samaritan--I was the priest who just passed
Who can't understand why he's only washing his hands after taking his blood bath but
But here's the lesson:
Death is the equivalent to life when life is unmentioned.
So scratch the strife and the tension
You might as well pull them to the side, look them in the eye, and tell them, "I want you to die."

And if they're struggling and desperate for a word of life to survive,
Just keep your mouth closed--now that's homicide
Most Christians are so eager to open their mouths to bless me,
But when I'm struggling with sin, they hold the truth back and
pat me on the back gently, and tell me something sweet,
cuz they don't want to offend me
At that point it was so necessary for me to repent
see, I was driving on grace while my tank was on empty
why only bash violence when silence is so deadly?
And Scripture says our tongues hold the power of life and death
And that helps, but couldn't we use our powers to bring life to someone else?
if we just think it but never speak it, then death will volunteer itself

Shhh don't mention it.  Shhhh just roll with it
Shhhhh it's the generation of hush
Hush mode-ism. And it's ruining us
you can trust that people are thinsting for the living water
so why are we so busy sweating bullets
trying to keep it a secret that they're sure to be dry. . .Bones
In this valley we are all Ezekiels
God needs us to speak to his people
Shall they live? I don't know
Cuz honestly, if I'm not speaking life into you, I'm killing you
I see some of you are feeling the same type of conviction I'm feeling too
Cuz if I had an adjective to describe the type of killers we've become, it would be serial
And I'm serious, just look at us
Even in our personal lives, we've hidden behind our lies so many times
that our hearts have a hard time convincing our minds that everything is fine,
so because of our pride, we keep our lips sealed, and pretend that we're mimes

not knowing that our audience is potentially blind

But my God speaks Braille, and it's only difficult

If you can't see what He did for you 

So I don't care what they did to you, know how much it gets to you

regardless of who disrespected, rejected, or neglected you, slept with you

and sexually transmitted disease infected you 

no matter who, what ,when, where, why or how they spiritually  or physically molested you

raped you, betrayed you, spit in your face just to show you how much they hate you

despite what they did against you, 

if you take two seconds and think about how you've offended God, 

it should make you understand how much you deserve death just as much as they do

so if they hurt you, let them know, speak forgiveness, let it go, 

cuz my brethren you should know holding a grudge is the same as holding a gun

with the intention of having someone resting in peace

why do you think they say, speak now or forever hold your click-click peace?

you know sometimes we can be like old TVs 

with antennae that can't receive signals from above so they shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

but God wants you to transmit that big picture with love

so don't let fear remote control you

cuz no matter how much static is in your view on Christ's station,

it's never cute to be mute in volume

so I dare you to be different, cuz by faith I've made a decision 

that even if I was somehow placed in a prison

feet tied up, hands cuffed, face duct-taped up, 

I would summon my faith in the Christ who saved us

through the manifestations of my heart's meditations, 

I'd initiate communicate with my brain and 

translate that information to my nerves and my veins, 

sending words to my epidermis surface in case my lips couldn't release my statements,

I'd nod, twitch, and wiggle and wink you towards salvation

The spirit of pride--every spirit of pride or lack of boldness, I destroy it in the name of Jesus

You are now granted freedom to life--and not just to have it, but to speak it

Just allow God to breathe it, your CPR is needed

so if anyone is ever seeking for life, through the power of your words

I pray and I wish that I never see anyone go shhhhhhh

Cuz Christ took lashes of the whip--and I'm not talking the regular whip

The kind of whip that when inflicted, causes the flesh to rip and compels you to go --

So you never have to go shhh

And now that we know that God has chosen that our spiritual reproductive organs be manifested 

by our words through our lips when we're speaking supernaturally we're conceiving by our words 

through our lips 

so how can life continue to exist when my sisters keep them closed and my brothers keep them zipped?

so for the sake of life I beg you to open your mouth and speak

tags: ezekiel azonwu silence is deadly lyrics words p4cm lyricist lounge

Things I learned. . .

As if there is anyone who does not know, I sponsor a Compassion kid.  His name is Tamirat, and he lives in Ethiopia.  He is about my age (just 3 months younger). The cool thing about Compassion is they do not just ask for your money and leave you in the dark.  They want you to know about their programs, to know about the child you sponsor, and about his/her culture.  I wanted to know about Ethiopian culture and have a reference of things to talk about.  In reading Compassion's info about Ethiopia, and with a quick visit to Wikipedia, I learned some new things about Ethiopia:

• Their new year is September 11, my birthday :)
• Amharic, a semitic language, is the official language
• Addis Ababa is the capital
• Ethiopian cuisine does not have pork because of religious influence 
• Ethiopian cities are largely at high elevations, many higher than Colorado Springs (>6000ft), where Compassion's headquarters are. 
• Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world 

All of these are off the top of my head.  

I learned about Africa in 7th grade--a full 9 years ago.  Of course, I remember very little, even about the Congo, which I wrote a report on.  But Compassion, by way of their blog and other media, has really helped to get me out of my American box.  In 7th grade, Mrs. Whitmire was teaching us geography and history, but a middle school World History class does not teach the true state of the world.  I am so much more educated in reality by Compassion.  I love knowledge; I  love information--I have been called a walking concordance, a walking dictionary, and a walking encyclopedia.  And yet, I do not watch the news (seriously, I do not have TV, and only read news on Facebook). I believe I know more about the state of the world than your average American.  The world is getting smaller, and it would seem we would be more aware of what is going on, yet I am astounded by the level of ignorance my peers have (and that I used to have). 

I would be interested to see what other people learned about their kid's country--comment below if you have anything cool that you learned

I Try

It was at the Lyricist Lounge 3, hosted by P4CM, that my need to speak life was realised.

I gained some understanding that night, and while my fickle heart still finds ways to force emotion upon me, I know better.

When someone does something against you, it hurts. When they are an intimate friend, it does not just hurt, but it kills. It kills something inside of you. Things can never be the same. How do you forgive the one who repeatedly spit in your face? Not by your own power, that is for sure. I am afraid to say I forgive, because I still feel the hatred sometimes. Forgiveness is final, and my attempts have been anything but. It is not to be based on the recipient, but I feel so unforgiving when they are so unlovable. Quite a dilemma I have. One thing, though, I can say--I try.


"regardless of who disrespected, rejected, or neglected you, slept with you. . .spiritually or physically molested you. . .despite what they did against you, if you take two seconds and think about how you've offended God, it should make you understand how much you deserve death just as much as they do. . .so if they hurt you, let them know, speak forgiveness, let it go, cuz my brethren you should know holding a grudge is the same as holding a gun." ::ezekiel azonwu::

How Two People Changed the Future

Two sponsors changed the lives of two children and ended the line of poverty. Wow, that is success. I doubt our welfare program works that well

http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-stops-here/

Almost by Ezekiel Azonwu (transcription included)

one of the most dangerous terms in English diction

if it could be translated into audio it would sound like

pbb-bb-bb-bb from the saxophone of Lisa Simpson

two words designed and strategically combined

to form the biggest oxymoron in the history of mankind

ALL-MOST

But see, as far as the world's concerned, you could live your life vile

and could almost get away with murder if you had a nice smile

you could almost meet folks just to almost sleep around

and stop at your local clinic while you almost had a child.

see, 'almost' is no stranger to Satan. Here's proof:

he only tells lies when they're almost the truth

and it's amazing in our incompleteness we find complacence

but if almost is one of Lucifer's many traits

then we are inadvertently good Satan impersonations

But on the contrary, Christ did his job fully

and he proved he was God when he died on the cross like it was his duty

and to pardon my iniquities that I commited rudely

he resurrected from the grave just to tell death to excuse me

but excuse me, this is your life and that's something I can't impose on

but your body is God's home which was alone about to get forclosed on

See, an almost Christian looks right but lives wrong

Can't stand the conviction in Romans so they sit down to be comforted in Psalms

Never understood worship but loved to sing songs like I surrender all. . .MOST

Cuz it's far to expensive to spend your life on something that doesn't appeal to your five senses

see, nowadays, Christianity is like a Louis rag--

no function or use but we just rock it cuz it's stylish

not righteous, but right-ish

So now all God sees is a pile of ISHmael's when he intended for Isaac's

And we're moved by how we feel so we're saved when we feel like it

so technically we've never really been saved we merely tried it.

So no wonder why we're never sold out when we return it after we buy it

Let me break it down because you need to beware

that your life could lack the very standards that need to be there

Cuz on that final day of judgment while God's receiving his heir

will he say, Son, well done or [spits] medium rare!

Cuz even by earthly standards it would be highly insane

to start spending all of your money days before you almost get paid

like parents, you wouldn't send your kids to a school that's almost safe

and ladies, would you really date a man who claims he's almost straight?

and this is the very thing about God that we all try to get around

but his standards are like between two mountains--no middle ground

so a halfway life is unprofitable to you

cuz after all the Sunday service, Bible studies, and prayer meetings

and everything that goes between, God will say I never knew you

But that's not even the worst part of living your life as neutral

it's that you were once arctic but it is your lukewarmness that is causing him to spew you

and this is the very thing that had me

I was bound and held down by the unforgiving gravity of my spiritual reality

I was a Christian, or at least I portrayed the fantasy

With a filthy personal life but a "God bless you brother, how you doin' sister?" personality

I was a male enveloped by guilt because I was stamped a sinner

My message couldn't be received because I didn't represent the sender yet I was almost delivered

Till that one day when I totally, absolutely and completely surrendered

I took heed to a modern prophet who proclaimed it was time for change

now I'm no longer bound to sin point-blank off the chain

You can ask Umar Abdul Mutallab, he'll tell you the same--

you don't almost go to jail when you almost blow up a plane

like you don't almost go to hell when you almost get saved

despised the cross that he was slain and thus the cause for which he came

but don't worry i'm almost done, but before i leave this stage

we have all worked in sin and death was minimum wage

but if it wasn't for Christ we would have almost got paid

tags: ezekiel azonwu almost lyrics words p4cm lyricist lounge

Bailout Plan by Tim Glenn

“It’s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.” –Bono.

I don’t mean to make light of the current economic crisis in the United States, but there’s a part of me that wonders if we don’t deserve this.

As a country, we have been getting fat and lazy while two thirds of the world struggles just to stay alive. Not all of us, mind you, but collectively — as a country — we’re complaining not because we can’t survive but because our luxuries cost us more than we want to spend.

We want cheap gas and “affordable” four-bedroom homes. We want 200 channels on television and to be able to go out to eat two or three times a week.

As Americans, many of us believe we deserve those things. There’s a sense of entitlement. Meanwhile, on the other side of this tiny little planet of ours, someone is praying, pleading to God for a slice of bread.

So our government is working on a bailout plan. How can we maintain the “American way of life” without suffering the consequences of our decisions? A loan. We’ll loan ourselves money and turn a blind eye to the root causes of greed and selfishness.

We do that so well, don’t we? We attack problems by trying to change the circumstances, instead of battling the root causes. I know I’ve done it in my own life, so this is as much an indictment on me as it is on anyone else.

Then I start to think about the poor.

What is the bailout plan for that family living on less than $2 a day in a developing country? The family who struggles not with wants for luxury but needs for survival. Who will bail them out?

The answer, oddly enough, is us. Yes, the same “us” that’s struggling in the midst of this economic downturn. When our economy is bad, it trickles down to the poorest of the poor.

Higher food costs and fuel prices mean their $2 a day doesn’t go nearly as far. We have to look beyond ourselves, now more than ever, to be the church God intended us to be.

The Church is God’s bailout plan for the poor.

I’m not saying we should throw money at poverty and turn a blind eye to its root causes. I understand why Bono is frustrated over the lack of funds, I really do. But money alone won’t stop poverty.

It goes deeper than that. Besides, I think the Church can do better than any government. We understand the spiritual implications that despair and hopelessness cause. And no one can meet those needs better than the Church. If we’ll just be the Church.

This is a time to pray. Not just for the economic crisis in our country, but also for the ones hit hardest — the poor. And, there’s something else we can do: give more.

That’s right . . . more. I know it sounds odd, but what if, instead of hording our money during this time of economic struggle, we decided to be more giving? Wouldn’t that be something?

Imagine the headlines: GIVING TO THE POOR IS UP — EVEN AS STOCKS DECLINE. At the very least, we can’t afford to cut back on our giving. The poor simply cannot survive if we do.

I don’t know what giving more means to you. It could be sponsoring a child. It could be giving to a fund that feeds the hungry.

Maybe it means going on a mission trip and getting your hands dirty. But this is the time to do it. Now. Not tomorrow. Not to change circumstances . . . but to attack the roots.


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