Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the times a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible now in honor of the one and only true God the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob please join us for today’s program welcome to Discerning the times my name
Is Brian Thomas so great to be with you as always I have a very interesting topic of very much needed topic that we’re going to look at today that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time but before I get into that I want
To remind you as we always do that your Eternal state is far more important than your current state if you have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior I urge you to come to him today to receive him because if not your future will be the Lake of Fire where you will
Be eternally separated from our Almighty Lord but for those of us who have received Jesus Christ The Best Is Yet To Come because we will live in a perfect Kingdom with our Lord For Eternity so if you’ve never received Jesus Christ please come to him on today so once
Again folks I want to thank you for joining us on today’s podcast again we have a very interesting topic I’m excited we have special guest Pastor James Farrington who is here to to speak with us about sororities and fraternities so Pastor therington I want to thank you for joining us today
Welcome to the program thank you brother Thomas for your wonderful invitation and your hospitality and thank you again for the opportunity to share with your audience today looking forward to it it is truly an honor and a privilege to have you and I thank you for your time so we’re going
To discuss the topic of should Christians pledge fraternities and sororities and this is from a book that Pastor therington authored several decades ago and uh it came to my attention not too long ago just a few months and I I said I really wanted to get him on to share with our audience
Because this is a a very important topic uh for the times that we are living in so just a little bit about Pastor therington he was born in Durham North Carolina graduated from North Carolina a ENT State University with a degree in speech and theater communication where
He served his senior year as the student government president he currently pastors Evangel Fellowship Church in Reidsville North Carolina and successful life Word Ministries both of the Church of God in Christ that is in High Point North Carolina he’s the author of nine Christian books including should Christians pledge fraternities and
Sororities which he is here with us today to speak on and superintendent Farrington has been married to Lady Don Prudence Arrington for 36 years they have three children one son-in-law and three grandchildren so again it is really an honor and a privilege to have Pastor Farrington and Pastor there
Intend to to get us started I’m going to just really Turn You Loose and just have you share with us what God has placed on your heart over the years on this topic but I did mention in the introduction where you attended college but if you could share with us again where you
Attended school and what what your experience was there with fraternities yes sir well good afternoon to you our brother Thomas and your audience thank you again for this wonderful invitation to share uh the subject uh today which would be Christians pledge fraternities and sororities uh first of all I’d like
To say I thank God for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and him giving me the wisdom and insight to want to encourage the body of Christ I attended North Carolina a T State University graduated in May on May 17 1986 in a school in the fall of 1982 uh came to
School I was not saved at the time when I came to school knew about the Lord knew about the church it was not safe uh I guess about five or six months later I got saved uh filled with the Holy Ghost and at that time where the rescue Temple
Which later became Evander Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Greensboro on the leadership of our spiritual father uh the late great Bishop Otis Lockett senior and mother Barbara Turner as well Lockett um and then was on campus historical black college campus um there got saved and joined my college
Experience and as I always say when I attended College in the early to mid 80s there were two questions that were traditionally have in the circles that I was involved in one what was your major and then secondly when were you going to pledge and that’s what the ghost
Sorority so that kind of got my my Peak saying because people were asking me I remember one of my mother’s friends who worked on campus at the time she was in sorority that’s one of the first questions she asked me uh when am I thinking about pleasing because she was
In a sorority so got introduced to Sirois and returns somewhat at a distance didn’t know a lot about them but the more I began to just watch begin to study begin to inquire never went to an interest me never really got involved with trying to find out more just
Watching from a distance and talking to people who were thinking about pledging and those going through the pledge process so it said to me as a Christian then um that’s not something I should be involved in because of what I’ve witnessed firsthand That’s interesting and I think back to my days of college I entered College in 1994 the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and it’s it’s interesting I think back on it because I I love the color red red has always been my favorite color and
Um also my complexion I I am of the the lighter shade of brown and so I was wearing I was wearing my red and uh and again I I loved uh baseball caps so I collected baseball caps in my freshman year I actually got a red baseball cap
That had the Indiana University logo on the front and so for anyone that’s familiar with fraternities they know that that is right up the alley of the kappas and so I was going around campus and I remember one of the guys who was a Kappa he came
To me and like you said uh Pastor therrentine it wasn’t a question about if you’re going to play it was a matter of when that was how people looked at it and so he came to me one day and he was talking with me and he was saying stuff
About the cap and everything and I didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about well what I didn’t realize until later on was that as I was walking around wearing my red and the Red Cap was that the Kappa fraternity was founded at Indiana University and so he
Was later telling me he said yeah man I was looking at you and I was thinking Brian must want it real bad but that was the furthest thing from my mind because like you I had no interest in fraternities and so but it’s interesting though to to hear of how many people
Have the similar experience of of the expectation for for people to get into a fraternity or sorority and uh and also you you ran for student body uh president you were student body president as as well right that’s correct I ran uh in Yeah March of uh 9 March of
1985 got elected by the student body it was interested because I ran against a guy that was in a fraternity who by all uh accounts should have won by a landslide uh so that that was an entering interesting process because while we were having our campaign my cousin uh
Who had my namesake he was pledging that for that particular fraternity at the same time so he went through a lot of things let’s just say that that maybe had we not had the same last name he may would have escaped but once they found out that we were related
I heard he had some challenging times uh towards this pledge process because I ran against big brother so that was a that was a whole nother story okay okay all right well let’s let’s talk about so when it comes to these fraternities and sororities and and I read your book and
And it’s just so much great information and we’ll share with the audience how they can get a copy of it at the end of the program but you speak to the fact that there is a lot of uh ritualistic things and ceremonial type of things
That go on so so speak to that please yeah I am receiving really changed brother Thomas for when I started dressing to Christmas pledge I first started off by addressing because I get I never had a piece uh about pleasure especially more I got in the word I started growing in
My walk with God but the conversation starts shifting once I started really really you know studying and taking a deeper dive into why they do really what they do now most well all of the fraternities and steroids and there’s nine of them and you know they’re
Referred to as the divine nine uh the fraternities and sororities and so I started studying in researching and gathering information okay now I need some factual information to really back up what I’m saying because people just think it’s my opinion you know James is on a tangent uh whatever James keep it
Moving but when I when I start really studying how they uh actually have virtual books and what most people don’t know anytime you have rituals involved something of someone is being worshiped whether you know it or not I use the analogy in the Christian church and we
Have an actress we have communion once a month on the fourth Sunday well our ritual is that you know we eat of the Lost body we drink in his blood and we do this until CCR return again well the rituals who are we highlighting who are we exalting well we’re reminding people
That the blood of Christ still saves Mankind from the sin so anytime you have a ritual anytime you go through ceremonies something or someone is being worshiped and one of the things that many times the sororities are kind of push back on and say well that’s not
Really the case well I I used to respond by saying this the distance between fraternities and sororities than any many other social groups for example many of us that live in homes you may be a member of your Home Association or maybe your block Club of the beautification uh you know committed in
Your community but there are no rituals attached to it you do it to provide a service for your neighborhood and your community and so once I start really studying it and really got information from the fraternities and start looking at what the actual worship of their original books really say it changed the
Whole conversation okay it changed the conversation from being about what I thought to what I sent to what now I know based on what you have said in your own book I give an example of just in chapter seven of the book that we wrote uh I guess over
37 years ago now it’s called up close and personal and it talks about Greek letter organizations and I look at this from one of the fraternities Alpha Phi Alpha this is their their prayer uh the alpha name and it says and I quote uh an Alpha Phi
Alpha fraternity prayer oh Lord May the true Spirit of fraternity rule of our hearts guide our thoughts control our life so that we may become Servants of all then it goes on to say um I am an alpha because I pledge initiated and I’ve seen the light my chapter meetings and activities are
Attended regularly I will keep my vows I am loyal I am Alpha so I’m saying to myself whoa let’s back up first man this is not something that people just came up this is what you say in your original book so who who are you exalting if you
Are a Christian are you exalting Christ are you exalting apple and the question then becomes was Thomas what is the true Spirit of fraternity well and I found out a lot of people when they play it they don’t know what they said they were just so happy to get
Involved then it says and control our life got our thoughts and Rule our hearts well from a Christian’s perspective the only thing that should be ruling our hearts guiding our Fosters control in our life is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the work that he did on the cross
And then the word of God not a fraternity or sorority and that and this is one example and all of them have something similar to that causes you to say wow did I really say that do we really do that and the answer is yes because it’s in your ritual book so when
You talk about ritualistic uh sayings or ceremonies or initiations I would dare say people that I’ve met that have come out of fraternity didn’t even know that the information was in there wow wow and so you know this is not again this is not just an opinion you’re you’re
This is coming straight from the horse’s mouth you’re you’re citing stuff right from their own documents their own books that’s correct this is and and how people say well how did you get a in the question you know it was simply this people that came out of returns and
Sororities denounced it then in the letters now I’m no longer a member of this fraternity also run and say hey I need you different I’m giving you information brother James that will help solidify the message you’ve been preaching that time only about a couple of years this
Is going to give you the if you will the information that says there’s no longer the opinion of some Christian this is what we said this is what we’ve done and now we have to take a closer look as Christians so you’re right it’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth wow wow
And another thing that you mentioned in acts when I thought when I read it and I said well it’s like it’s hot and in plain sight you talk about the fact that Within These Greek fraternities and sororities that they have all these symbols and logos that are from the
Greek gods the Greek idols that’s right and do people do Christians really realize that that’s what they’re doing I I don’t think so I think backing up to what you said brother Thomas early I think a lot of people are so impressionable when they come to school
I was one of them like I said I looked at I thought it was a good Brotherhood I thought it was you know they were stepping they had the colors they were known on campus why wouldn’t you want to be a part of something that looks that
Good from the outside not knowing what goes on the inside but speaking to uh chapter two I deal with Greek mythology and religion and one of the things that I talk about how some of these Greek symbols are used and I I just highlight um just one for the sake of our conversation
Um I deal with the Greek goddess uh dealing with Sigma gamma role the Goddess that deals with attached to deltas and Matata uh APA a uh the hybrid of the Lion’s bodies usually with a human head and that terminology simply means the term is divide derived from
The Greek meaning divine together and so a lot of these Greek organizations have these because you know one of the things that Greeks historically they were about wisdom and knowledge they the whole thing was about uh knowledge and wisdom and being in philosophical but also really highlighting the gods that they
Serve of the Gospel they allowed it so brother Thomas many of our Christians that are still involved in many cases in sororities and fraternities don’t even know the Greek mythology of the religion of Greek mythology that causes these fraternities to work for many of them to highlight uh what they really believe
And the thing is folks who are listening audience you know it’s really what you’re doing is you’re making Allegiance and you’re opening yourself up to things in the spiritual realm demonically speaking and you and you don’t even realize that’s what you’re doing and we know the Bible says who can serve two
Masters you either is going to serve God the true God of the Bible or you’re going to serve the kingdom of darkness so that is something that really people you need to stop and think about what you’re doing and and the question that I have Pastor therington is why why do you
Think people choose to pledge why is it such a a popular thing because as as I think about it I was a Christian when I went into college I I got saved when I was eight years old and for me I I just always looked at it as I’m I’m a
Christian my identity is Christ is enough I don’t need anything more than that why do you think there are so many people though that feel this urge or desire to to pledge a fraternity or sorority what I found when I started talking addressing this brother Thomas
From 1984 up until now it really 1985 excuse me I’ve broken it down to four reasons probably more but four main reasons why I found out why Christians and non-christians players number one they they pledged because they think and they do the steroids and fraternities do a
Lot of good work in the community so they want to be a part of a community service organization that’s my son pledge other people play number two because notable people and famous people have played if so-and-so played then it must be okay then the third reason why I think pulled
A lot of people in in my group at the time they found out that being a member of fraternity sorority was a great Network for personal or professional game right you know you you go you go through an airport you go anywhere and you may not be a member of the same fraternity
But if you if they think that you’re just great you know that that’s an open door and then fourth reasons a lot of people pledge because family members have played it’s a family thing you know you keep it kind of going in the family everybody goes to Auntie everybody goes
To Howard everybody goes to you know be a female you go to Bennett shawl you know Saint all and so those are the main reasons that I’ve I’ve seen over the years and then the bottom line reason for some people regardless what’s going on I love those colors so much
Branded on me so bad I’m gonna pledge regardless of the consequence yeah it’s uh it’s something that we folks we really want you to to stop and think about what it is that you’re doing why you were doing it and again what is your allegiance to Jesus Christ for
Those of you who Proclaim to be Christians and you speak pastor therington about the things that go on everybody hears about The Hazing that takes place um yes sir there’s the spirit of secrecy that’s also there can you speak to those things for a moment
Yes oh hazy and I highlight and I’m glad you brought that up because I wanted to talk about that I highlight the incident that happened when I was on Auntie’s campus um and it’s highlighting the book about aging I tell Christians I’m West Christian you know why would you want to
Be humble why would you want to submit yourself to anything that would be degraded right let’s say you’re a Christian and let’s say you know nothing about a fraternity sorority you just see it and they just won you over and I want to be a part of this maternity sorority
Then you get in and then you start realizing everything that they’re doing is to crush your spirit so you’ll be willing to submit to anything they say or do and one of the things that we are highlighting in the next week and I’ll talk about that at the end is that I
Would you know Hazel is still going on any form of intimidation hazing or demeaning behavior is easy now why would you as a Christian want to submit yourself to somebody let’s say uh brother Thomas you were trying to join Seth returned I was your big brother and you you love the colors
Not the brother Thomas I want you to go uh pick up my laundry from the uh from the cleaners then you go and I didn’t tell you I had 10 pieces there so you only picked up one piece and I make you go back nine different times to pick
Up ten pieces of my laundry because I’m trying to crush your spirit over the top I I text you or call you or you align it 12 o’clock here and I want you to bring me a Whopper and some fries and you pay I’ll figure out why would any Christian not being like
This is life stuff concern or what I know that happens to some people why would you want to submit yourself to that or to another person on that level and and the question is is because you want it that bad and so that that Spirit of secrecy gets in because you don’t
Want anyone to know that you one went through all of that and number two you submitted yourself to it now if the Bible is what I call the open book And it is but your ritual is a book that’s only for that fraternal sorority well which book is higher if you’re a Christian right it should be the Bible and if I can open the Bible and not be ashamed of what God says from his word
But my question is to you if you’re my brother or sister in Christ what are you hiding your ritual book that you don’t want me to see right and then which relationship then become higher your relationship to your fraternity and sorority or your relationships to me if I’m your brother
In Christ which one is higher in your land and for the most part they won’t say it many Christians want but the bottom line is the fraternity or the sorority is higher yeah and I think the secrecy is the key word what are you hiding that you don’t want the world to
Know wow yeah that that should really I mean that that just tells it all right there that really does yeah and as you said I’ve heard of some stories of some things that go on with hazing and and for Christian programming we we just can’t share I can’t share because it’s
Just too much but uh yeah why is there this Spirit of secrecy and I know some who still are in those organizations but they say if they had to do it over again they would not do it because there are some things they’re not willing to speak
On but they were just that humiliated with what they went through but to your point the Bible is open for everyone why what is it that you’re trying to hide And for those who might be in your spirit you’re you’re in denial maybe saying well no I’m not elevating my my
Greek organization above the Bible well stop a minute and ask yourself the question and I noticed something that I’ve witnessed from some people that they will post more on social media about their fraternity and sorority than they do about Jesus Christ matter of fact when it comes to Christ there’s
Little to nothing there but you always see things about the sorority and fraternity but yet they say they’re a Christian so so so why is it flipped if if you haven’t elevated it so uh yeah that that’s something that that people really need to chew on the title of the
Book once again is should Christians pledge fraternities and sororities well we have to press the pause button for this week as we are out of time but we are not done we’re going to dive even deeper next week as Pastor thurington will be back to share what the Deltas
Pray at their funerals concerning the afterlife so folks we know that we are ruffling some feathers with this topic but we want to challenge you that if you want your walk with Christ to be right when it comes to this topic we encourage you to heed the words that Pastor there
Inton is saying because God has placed this on his heart a number of years ago and and there are many people who are heeding to the words and they have renounced their allegiance to these sororities and fraternities and so we encourage you out there listening if you
Are in that position we encourage you to do the same it’s not always easy swimming against the tide and going against what’s popular but you will be better for it in the long run and that is why I praise God for our guests who has followed the urging of the Holy
Spirit to speak out on this very very critical topic pastor therons and it’s been such a blessing to have you on how can the audience get a copy of this book yes sir thank you both Thomas the way you can get a copy of the book the book
Is fifteen dollars for a book and three dollars for shipping and handling uh please write to and I’ll say it twice just put successful life church or successful life coaching c-o-g-i-c post office box 1481 tension book division High Point NC and you zip it 27261 the address again is successful
Life church we’ll keep it simple post office box 14 eight one that’s one four eight one attention book division High Point NC 27261 and when you send your letter uh you can send in a check or money orders preferable but checksify make it out to successful Life Church put in your memo
Uh just put the book and just put scpf yeah sure Christmas pledge and the number of books that you want so once again Pastor therington so great to have you on thank you so much and and may God continue to order your steps and to strengthen you as you continue with this
Message and I I praise God for what he has placed on your heart and in sharing this message to the people we look forward to having you back next week to conclude our discussion on should Christians pledge fraternities and sororities amen but thank you again brother Thomas and and To God Be The
Glory thank you again sir amen amen all right and to our audience please come back and join us again next week as we continue to encourage you to discern the time Times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible until then remember to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem bless
God’s great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever amen amen Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the times please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible until next time remember to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem bless God’s great nation of
Israel and seek first the kingdom of God Discerning the times is presented by blessings to Israel
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