2023 Bridges to Manhood Day 2

Do it and put your three in there yeah do do it and put your three in there yeah and we are very thankful tonight again uh for for what the Lord is doing and uh we also happen to have our uh acting National secretary also with us

We also have uh our ministers across board who are also on the line we want to welcome you all we so also have uh our acting National head Apostle Dr bayani who’s who ministered powerfully yesterday and you know he’s here with us today as well you know the nation is

Fully represented so we we really want to say God bless you all for coming the second day and tonight is going to me mega so just stay tuned and be involved in all that is going on may the Lord bless you and honorable MC I hand over

To you and I want to uh before that I want to welcome our International p p p p International is in the house amen just arrived just today and I happen to be with us we thought he’s so tired but uh Reverend we really welcome you uh for

Being with us tonight thank you for making schedule to be here amen amen amen thank you so much dear Reverend chair at this time with your permission we’d like to continue um by singing some songs of Praises so we would like to invite the nipson media team to give us

Some Praises at this time thank you we praise your name we praise your name Praise Your Name we praise to you the Lord to you the Lord Our God to you Lord God to you to you the Lord Our God our to you Lord Our God we praise your name we pra name

Hallelujah we praise your name to you the Lord God on our to you God on our needs to you the Lord to you the Lord God Hallelujah name we pra come on lift him up come on lift him up God Hallelujah to you the Lord Our God our need

Take something and take something and take something take something and say to Jesus welcome to Jesus Hallelu hallelu take something away take something away wave unto Jesus wave unto Jesus to Jesus I have joy in my heart deep deep down in my heart I have joy I have in my heart heart deep down in my heart Jesus Toy I I Hallelujah Jesus to me oh do you believe That I iow my heart I sing a [Applause] Hallelujah his name I will praise His name I I will glor glor hallelu child I will praise [Applause] His glor Hallelujah child my heart I sing a s overflow your heart over heart this come on Sing heart heart I sing a new song I will praise His name I will praise His name Glory Glory Glory hallelu heart sing I am blessed and highly favored come on I am blessed and highly this is [Applause] [Applause] my I LIF my my I am blessed I am blessed and I am blessed and yes is my my hey hey hey yes is my moment this is my oh this is my day is [Applause] my this is my Everybody Up up up let up let higher come on higher come on higher come on higher come on higher higher higher higher higher higher heyy yourto Jesus for he for you your to Jesus for he can everything lift him higher LIF him Higher oh your unto Jesus for he C you yourto Jesus he somebody LIF him higher Come on Hey one more time hey hey hey hey Everybody How lovely are the mountain are the of them who bring good news good news come on let me hear you sing unto Jesus hey I got 1 2 3 [Applause] [Applause] Got Come on lift up your voice wherever you are good news good news Goods anouncing peace anaim Jesus all over the world I got I got I goty hey Heyy I [Applause] got I Got Jesus Jesus [Applause] God Hey And I’m Trading My Sorrows come on and I’m trading my S I’m laying them down I’m for the joy of the I’m tra in my sickness and I’m tra in my sick I’m tra in my p i TR in my I’m L I’m down everybody s yes Yes Lord oh praise the Lord hallelu hallelujah oh hallelujah amen amen God bless you our nipson team for um the projecting um the praise songs from New England region amen penser penser p all right um with permission from our dear Reverend chair and our youth director at this time we’d like to um

Hear the word of God and without further Ado I want to introduce the resident Minister for prwc Metro City Virginia and the coordinator of Pensa International for church in the person of Reverend KIU to minister the word of God this evening thank you thank you very much my dear di

Quincy uh Christ in you the hope all right let’s do it one more time Christ in you amen and dearly beloved I am incredibly honored and um I don’t take it for granted at all uh to have this opportunity to speak to my brothers and sisters as well as to

Our fathers on the line and so dear Pastor Sana and the leadership of the Men’s Ministry and the youth Executives on both sides I really want to express my most sincere appreciation and Thanksgiving for the opportunity to address God’s people this evening uh this topic is one that is uh

Of great great passion to me um as far back as maybe 10 12 years ago I wrote a chapter um I co-wrote a chapter with aposto amak in a book that he put together on relationships but something tells me that not many people read that book and

So when I had the opportunity to pull that chapter out and have a conversation with God’s people tonight I didn’t want to pass it on and so I’m a little jetlagged I’ll try not to yawn or fall asleep on you all but I believe the topic is exciting

Enough that God will preserve us and I’m praying that lives will be transformed as a result of what we are going to hear tonight may God bless all of us for the opportunity to be here and thank you for the chance uh shall you please uh join

Me in saying a short word of prayer Dive In Father God I want to thank you for this evening I want to thank you for the lives of your children gathered here I pray that the spirit of God oh Lord will lead us and guide our conversation father touch our lips with

That coal of fire and cause for hearts to be transformed even as we open up scripture and we share out of the abundance of what is given to us your word is life and father God we speak life into each other this evening oh God

Set me aside oh Lord and speak to your children out of your Divine prophetic word we know that you do this because every time we ask you do and so we ask this in Jesus name we have prayed amen amen amen amen so tonight I have been given the pleasure of sharing with

You um a a presentation which I have uh put together which I want to share with you briefly um and we will go from there um hoping that this technology will help but if it doesn’t please let me know um I am going to present a slide a

Slideshow please can you confirm that you can see the slideshow uh with some pictures on it give me a give me a thumbs up if you can see there we go thank you dick Quincy so um we are talking about fraternities sororities and secret societies in fact the secret societies

Is one that I have added there of my own because I think it is relevant for the discussion tonight um but I want to start by just putting together put just laying out my personal biases as well as my personal stake in this conversation my objective

Tonight is to open up the secret The Secret World of fraternities sororities and secret societies these things are out there but until and unless you have been exposed to them you probably wouldn’t pay as much attention to them um I also want to spend this evening one of my

Objectives call your brother join us is to provide understanding for how to communicate on what drives the attraction of fraternities and sororities in these secret societies and then I’ll provide a Biblical Christian lens to how we respond to the reality of fraternity prorities and these secret organizations on our various campuses

And in our lives but I want to share with you a picture and um I if somebody could I want to see who can identify the three people that I have identified in these two pictures the picture on your right is the picture of the Masonic Lodge the Masonic

Lodge which is the ancient and secret Lodge of the Masonic temple um the the the Masonic Lodge you may know them as lodges and then on the left is a picture of the five Beta Sigma fraternity taken I think in the 1930s um I don’t know Quincy if you

Could please monitor the the chat group or is it closed maybe it is um but I am I have circled three faces in both of these pictures and um if anybody knows who they are or you can identify them I want to point out to you here that on the right you

See this picture of men wearing what looks like um some sort of you know these coming to American sashes and Royal sash with it looks like a like a apron on them and I have circled two men illustrious men the first one is is the former president of Ghana uh President

John aunu for and then the second one on the right uh is the S the current s and they belong as one of the highest ranking members of the Masonic Lodge of England fraternities and by extension sororities are birthed out of these Masonic orders and so to truly understand what are the

Underpinnings of fraternities and sororities you have to also go back in history because the Masonic loges came around in the 1 in the 17 maybe no the 18th century so 1700s is where the Masonic lodges were established as a sort a sort of um group or secret society of enlightened men

Who by their own inner secret rituals were able to establish some degree of social bonds between themselves it became a very elite membership group that you had to undergo through many levels of script uh spiritual and Theological they have their own religion so to speak and so to truly rise within

The Masonic ritual you have to have been in there and gone through the various ritualistic secret rituals to rise into the highest levels and so the and John kof former president are members and some of the highest ranking black men within the Masonic uh um order of England there are many

Members in our ghanian Parliament who are Masonic uh Freemasons they call them ah on the left is a picture this picture and the reality behind it is what actually attracted me to join the five Beta Sigma fraternity at the University of Virginia in 2002 now the person that I have circled

There is our former the founding president of Ghana in the person of Dr kroa some of you I’m sure you you all know Quan and croma came to school in the 193 that would say 1931 32 in Pennsylvania at a historically black college called Lincoln University and at the time that he came

To school there fraternities were one of the ways in which um young men gained social acceptance and so it was a safe haven for young African immigrant schooling in America to join this fraternity this particular fraternity and I had read about kman Kuma and his autobiography and I read about his

References to the time that he came to America to school and the impact of his fraternal organization that it had on him and so when I was approached to join five Beta Sigma at UVA it didn’t take much convincing for me to join because somehow I had come to appreciate that it

Was quote unquote a good thing but as we will learn tonight there are deeper levels of understanding that we must first appreciate but I wanted to just bring this home because I believe most of you are ghanians listening to me but it just any African any black person

Should appreciate that these things are not rooted in myth but they are rooted in the lived experiences of our current day and it is very attractive all right and so I want to bring it within the Collegiate context okay the Collegiate context of the United States uh the things you see on the

Right the pictures you see on the right um is the picture of a secret society at the University of Virginia called um um goodness why am I forgetting this one I’m drawing a blank uh it will come to me it will come to me I have forgotten your name but

They are a secret society nobody nobody knows their members okay a seven Society nobody knows their members when they die they are the only organization whose members when they die a bell is wrong at the University and their names are published with a special Insignia in the alumni

Magazine it is the it is probably one of the oldest secret societies in the country now what you see under it is what we call the Divine n now I’m not sure if you can see that from 1906 where alpha alpha was founded all the way through 1963 different fraternal and and sority

Organizations were established within the black um college going age group um universities let me put it that way now these organizations were called the divine nine and the divine nine represent the original nine fraternal and sorority organizations established at historically black universities to provide a sense of um um a sense

Of collegial social grounding as well as belonging for college students so what you see is that the attract we will get to the attraction here but the truth is that secret societies have been on college campuses and have have been popular on college campuses because it creates a

Special sense of elitism that allows you to be able to self identify that you are special you’re unique you are self you are selected okay everybody wants and everybody likes to be wanted but when an elite group picks you and allows you to join them it gives you that that sense of

Confidence that sense of belonging in an environment where perhaps you would not ordinarily stand out now what you see there on the last picture is the Skull and Bones which is one of the secret societies at Yale University at Yale University um and in fact there has been

A movie made about it the truth is that a lot of the presidents particularly the ones that went to jail joined this sculling Bones the bush the bushes Bush senior and Bush junor were both members of if you experiencing AAL emergency I don’t know where this thank

You um so so the the these organizations hold a lot of interest because they are secret because they create a pathway to a certain degree of exclusion exclusiveness and they also present um a lot of attractive quote unquote advantages which we will discuss shortly now I also want to just point out that

There’s a version of this on Nigerian campuses I don’t believe there is this thing in ghanian campuses but if you go to Nigeria they have this thing called confraternities confraternities or they call them Cults okay Cults or confraternities in Nigeria I think that’s the only place where it’s active is a a further

Corruption of the secret society agenda that started in the 17th century what it is is in fact wace soena the Nobel prize winning literature and literary giant was one of the original founders of the original confraternity in Nigeria called the Pirates I um interestingly enough I I I

Was invited to one of their meetings during one of my visits to Nigeria um and one of their members worked with the organization that I work with and we were hanging out one night and he invited me to go to a one of their meetings and it was an interesting

Meeting because they have also adapted when they realized they didn’t think they didn’t realize that I wasn’t a member so I got to see what they were doing and I realized that it is the same ritualistic elements of fraternities and I believe of the Masonic rights that have now been Africanized to become

Confraternities and now they become extremely violent in Nigeria in fact people on Nigerian college campuses have died and have been killed and a lot of the gangs that are coming out of Nigerian universities are related to these confrontal and so the root of all of this is

Secrecy secrecy a desire to do things in darkness that when shown or viewed in the daytime is seen as Elite and belonging to a special group but what is binding all of these together is darkness and things done in darkness all right please if you have any questions

Now what is the alure and what I mean by the Allure is what is the attraction of fraternities and Greek lettered organizations and secret societies why are young men and women increasingly being attracted to this these organizations first one that I want to point out is that it promises

Social and a sense of purpose Brotherhood or Sisterhood a sense of camaraderie and a focus on community service every single one of these organizations will tell you that they exist to either to build your social network to give you a sense of purpose as far as community impact is concerned

Or to Grant you a Brotherhood that you probably didn’t have okay what you see here is you probably recognize somebody in there but what you see here is the day that I joined five Sigma at University of Virginia immediately as a black man on an allh institution that affiliation with a with

A black letter Greek letter um organization immediately gives you in and status on campus it gives you recognition it gives you a sense of family people who have gone through the trials and tribulations of the pledging process we’ll talk about that later and then it gives you Brothers on campus okay secondly it

Also um combines what I call youthful enthusias ASM A sense of idealism a sense of I want this is these are the prime years when we are studying these are the prime years when we feel like the whole world is open to us these are the years where

We feel like we can do anything we are young we are smart we have access to college degree and if I can only affiliate with like-minded people who are similarly ambitious I Can Take On The World and if you’re an African you know that K Anda did it it even makes it

That much more attractive of course it also comes with parties it comes with access to you get more popular so the girls will come your way you get more recognition on campus Because all of a sudden you have a crude to run with you are more

Confident it has a lot of social appeal because people respect that in some ways I can actually think about it this way there are many people like in Virginia in America who have created their own quote unquote Kingdoms in America they call themselves chaps right they don’t own any land but they

Get social [Applause] respect and so the same way that we get we do whatever we have to do to get Social respect on college campuses many young men and women are are aligning themselves with fatties and sororities with exclusive commitment or expectation that they will get social

Standing right you get to throw the parties you get to host the parties you get to host the community forums you got get to lead the demonstrations because you have ground you have social standing and it’s very attractive secondly uh thirdly whatever number four particularly for people who are

First generation college graduates or College attendees I was in some ways a first generation College attendee and when you go to campus and you realize that you don’t have any frame of reference you know maybe your uncle or your dad that hasn’t like given you that college expectation talk and so you are

Defining your college experience almost exclusively by yourself there’s no mentor to kind of guide you you just kind of finding your own way it is very easy to find yourself in that kind of um in that kind of attractive you become an easy target for fraternities all right

Also I’ve already talked about The Sisterhood the Brotherhood the scholarship in the community but you can almost every single NFL game you see Brothers who have who have been hit as we say or who have taken the hit which is to be branded their membership in the fraternity is visible because they have

Been branded by Hot Iron usually on your shoulders it is extremely it is seen as extremely attractive to go through the process of branding I show you Michael Michael Jordan here you don’t really see it in this picture but he is a member of Omega scii and he is branded on his

Chest now why is I I just want to ask you a question what do you think is the significance of taking a hot piece of metal shaping it like a Greek letter and burning your body permanently scaring your body to reflect your affiliation with that organization what do you think is driving

It and we see it across every everywhere you see black men and women you are likely to see some degree of representation of these fraternal or sorority affiliations the ladies don’t usually get gred but some do okay the ladies will wear their colors proudly everywhere they go the

Ladies it’s it’s it’s you see it and they represent the brand of their sorority with pride and and they they would love to talk in fact current vice president um Kamala Harris is a member of the AKA she’s an AKA and so the public figures who represent these institutions make it extremely

Attractive of course because these are social organizations that have to be cool and recruit we have our own dances we call them stepping we have our own strolls as in you know we we we when we go to a party we have to make our presence known and so there are unique

Things that we do to attract attention and so it’s not just the branding and the and the and the tattoos but it is also the public demonstration of our presence everywhere we go okay so when you are a member you um this is all part of the brand building so to speak um

Also membership and I’m saying all of this so that you know why people this is not an off-topic conversation it is a real conversation that is rooted because it is extremely attractive um a lot of these young men and women what the the the the confidence as well as the social

Acceptance that comes out of their membership um pushes them into leadership positions and so that is also one of the attractions now I want to talk about the initiation process so we’ve talked about the why why is it attractive um um I and um and why and so that’s why I want

To talk about the process of initiation okay the process of initiation how do you become a member see the pling process is designed in its very nature to create strong emotional attachment now I want I wonder if anybody knows why that is such a necessary part of the process scientists and Psych have

Actually proven that the best way or the most the easiest way to bring total strangers together out of different places different cultures different backgrounds and make them into one emotionally is to subject them to the hardship some different some sort of trauma when you go through trauma with somebody when you go through

Difficult ult experiences with another person you become bound emotionally and so the pling process is a multi we sometimes monthong process to cause emotional bonding among the people that are pledging in that class or that cohort that emotional process is triggered through psychological trauma and so how they cause that

Psychological trauma is many they use many different things it includes hazing which is physical abuse and beatings it includes being forced to memorize and memorize and memorize tons and tons of lure and and and this procedure it includes Oaths and and and and rituals just like you know in a marriage

You go through an oath process and you go through the ritual of the marriage ceremony to bind you two together in the same way the initiation process for fraternities binds the line as we call them Spirit uh physically emotionally and I also say spiritually because as you will learn

Soon enough some of the things that are uh that binds them are OES promises made in terms of with candles and the like but so let’s let’s let’s move on I want to talk about the Oaths and pledges of Allegiance okay so the initiation process aims to establish unwavering loyalty through intense

Rituals including the recitation of secret Oaths and pledges this is an example of one such oath in fact this one I took out the name of the fraternity just so I can give you an example it says all Noble fraternity the pride of all our hearts through manliness Fidelity thou ever thust

Impart the source of our Delights and joys and happiness thou art oh Noble fraternity from thee we will never part we will live for thee we will strive for thee we will all thy ways adore this sounds like scripture sounds like a Psalm Psalm of David or something

But it is an oath to a fraternal organization see the initiation rituals often involve candles darkness and the recitation of loyalty affirming pledges and it forer psychological allegiance to the organization and then the intense hazing is also hazing that is the physical abuse the physical beatings the

Physical challenges that you all have to complete together as a group so no in fact you you by the time you come out of it you come out of your hell week as we call it and you you are unveiled to the community you these people that you go

Through that process with will become the closest friends you you will have on campus and if it if it continues they will become probably your closest friends in life all right so these are the rituals now I just want to spend a few minutes on hazing all right this

Is um this is not a black fraternity but the concept is the same like you will literally be beaten with a piece of wood multiple times and I just want I bring this out because Young men and women not I don’t usually hear about the sorties people

Dying but a lot a lot of young men have died trying to get initiated into fraternities you see Hazen is officially banned across all the fraternities in their initiation rituals but if you don’t go through the haing the members will know that you are not

Legit and so if if you truly want to be legit you will submit yourself to the ha that’s the honest to go through now I should also make a point here that I I graduated from college 20 years ago and so what I’m telling you maybe 22 years

Out of date but I only to believe that that’s still probably the case and so pledges which is the people that are going through the initiation andure significant psychological and emotional trauma and I told you before that the reason why they end this is because it binds it is what is used to

Bind them emotionally together and so this also something that we should also learn from that if you’re in a marriage and you’re going through different challenges if you can go through it together it will bind you you become Inseparable if you go through traumatic experiences together now

Let’s as I’m asking a question my son or my daughter wants to pledge a fraternity or sority how should I respond now we’ve talked about the why we’ve talked about the how and now let’s talk about some responses okay the truth is that you cannot address these issues without considering the

Foundational issues behind why they are interested it’s very easy for us fathers and mothers Pentecostal as we are to just immedi start quoting scripture without necessarily understanding the word so I ask that you ask why is membership in this organization so important to my Christian Child you’ve raised your child in Sunday school

You’ve raised him in your home you’ve raised her in your home all of a sudden they are saying to you that they want to join this organization and you know you’re worried about everything that I’ve just told you about what do you do and then they they’ll probably tell you

Um it will help me to become a good public citizen they will say that it will teach me to be socially less socially awkward they will say that it will make me a community leader they will say kman kroma did it Martin Luther King did it Michael Jordan did it they’ll give you

All sorts of excuses and I just need you to understand that these reasons are noble but a wise Bible Focus C or father or mother should dive deeper and seek guidance from scripture in first Thessalonians 5: 211 tells us that we should examine everything and hold on to that which is

Good so let’s start from there what are some Christ centered responses that takes in all the factors that I have laid out and we how do we respond to it as Christians so I want us to talk about the spiritual implications of fraternities and sororities I’ve already told you that

They are birthed out of the Masonic rituals in fact let me just add this about K and chroma history tells us that when K and Kuma went back to Ghana and became the first president of the Prime Minister the first president of G he brought some of these secret

Rituals K was not a Christian in fact K apparently studied to be he wanted to be a a Roman Catholic father at one point in his life so he was spiritually inclined but when he became president history tells us that he actually created his own religion some of you may

Know this was K J or something like that and that his and chomas self idolization and his commitment to secret rituals is no different I I want to I want to make a direct correlation between his experiences as a member of the of the fraternity which came out of

The Masonic LGE system that there’s a direct line between that historical experience into the that eventually made his religion when he became president now let’s look at some scriptural responses 2 Corinthians chapter uh chapter 6 ver14 I want us to just spend some time actually reading the text can

I please Quincy can you pull up 2 Corinthians chapter 6:14 to6 For Me 2 Corinthians 6 14- 16 praise the Lord hallelujah you want to red or you want to pull on the screen uh I’ll pull it I’ll pull it myself if if it’s okay I’ll pull it quiny go ahead

I I’ll pull it don’t worry I’ll read it I I will read it actually I’ll pull it and we can discuss of the screen uh let me see let me stop the share and do another share from my screen um here it is all right so we are looking at second Corinth

It’s probably very small on your screen 2 Corinthians chapter uh chapter 6 I want us to look at 6 verse4 it says the left is the New Living Translation don’t team up with those who are unbelievers how can righteousness be a partner with wickedness how can light live live with

Darkness what Harmony can there be between Christ and the devil how can I believe how can a Believer be a partner with an unbeliever and what union can there be between God’s Temple and Idols for we are the Temple of the Living God as God said I will live in

Them and walk among them beloved this is why it’s important to me that we don’t always say pens p p that has no meaning spiritually but when we say Christ in you the hope of glory it has spiritual meaning he says I will live in them

Christ in us and he says you walk among them I will be their God and they will be my people and so therefore come out from among unbelievers and separate yourselves from them says the Lord don’t touch their filthy fa is and I will welcome you and I will be

Your father and you will be my sons and daughters says the Lord God Almighty Beloved the reason why many people seek these worldly approval through fraternities is that they seeking a Transcendent experience they are seeking Brotherhood they are seeking Sisterhood they are seeking social acceptance they seeking to be part of an

Elit praise the Lord okay Hallelujah they are seeking to be part of an elite but what greater body of of of of of of of special people can there be than the people whom the creator of the universe calls my own beloved if you truly understand how your

Body is the Temple of the Living God and I didn’t have the benefit of this teaching before I pledged Sigma 20 two years ago I didn’t have the benefit of spiritual maturity but I want you now if you’re listening to me I want you to appreciate that you are so loved and you

Belong to a fraternity or a sority that is greater than any that the world has ever even imagined you are already a member of a fraternity you belong to the family of God and so he says what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness Fellowship has light with Darkness Beloved the things that happen

In sororities and fraternities and in secret societies they all happen in the dark if the light of God is in you what business do you have making pledges of Allegiance in the dark I pray that the spirit of God will arest somebody’s inclinations right now it is my prayer that the attraction

Of the world in fact let us read um Isaiah 43 Verse 3 quiny read from me I’m I’m about to pull it up Isaiah 43 read from verse 3-7 I’m highlighting it for you all right praise the Lord I’m reading from Isaiah chap chapter

43:3 to 7 let us hear the word of the Lord for I am the Lord your God the holy One of Israel your savior I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom I gave Ethiopia and Saba in your place others were given in exchange for you please sub

Mute I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me you are honored and I love you stop right there do not be afraid right there I I just want you to know if you’re listening to me now maybe you’ve never heard this before

For that you being a Christian God says that in fact you mean so much to him that he will give everything to show you how much he loves you he says others were given in exchange for you Jesus died for you to be called a son or a daughter of the Living

God it says because you are precious to me you are honored and I love you look we join these people join fraternities looking for a seat of Honor in society read 5-7 do not be afraid for I am with you I will gather you and your children from

East and west I will say to the North and South bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the distant corners of the earth bring all who claim me as their God who have made them for my glory it was I who created them hallelujah hallelujah amen beloved this

Is one of my favorite text in all the scripture because it it points out how the people who are gods in fact next year the theme is unleashing God’s people we’re talking about people who are gods and You by virtue of you hearing me and by fact

That the spirit of God is birth in you and you are saved you are beloved of God he says bring all who claim me as their God look fraternities and sororities are the gods of many people some of these old heads they worship their affiliation how else why else would you get branded

And so I just I want to share this so that you don’t um you don’t misunderstand what is happening here that when you make these Oaths of allegiances and when you make these pledges you are exchanging the God who loves you for a God made by man so that man will accept

You listen to me fraternity sororities and Masonic rituals and Masonic orders are human Creations but your salvation is a Divine gift of Grace that’s the difference okay carrying on I’m sorry I think we were we were here so the Bible says that we should not be on equally yolked with

Unbelievers back when we were when back when I was in darkness during this season of my life we would organize parties on Friday night on Thursday nights actually and Thursday nights were the nights where the gospel choir and the Bible studies where the majority of black

Students went they did it on Friday or Thursday nights and we would organize parties with the expectation that we will pull everybody from home to Bible study so they can come and get drunk with us and party with us Bible says what is the business of light with

Darkness and don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers all right carrying on now when we read Exodus 20: 30 verse3 this is where we read about about how jealous God is for his name says you shall have no other God but me see fraternities and sororities um Can often conflict with

These Commandments it diverts their attention from spiritual priorities and it Fosters guilt how does that happen I remember the time that I was pledging prior to that I had joined a Christian group on campus and they would come by every week to do Bible study with me in my

Suite but the minute the pledging process started I started dodging them I didn’t have time for them I was too busy making allegiances with unbelievers the Bible also qu cautions us not to make Oaths or pledges or to use the name of the Lord in vain Matthew 5:33 the interest of time I

Can’t read all of these but I just want you to know that the spiritual bonds that come out of these fraternal initiation rights have deep meaning which are anti- God the god of of our fathers and The God Who has saved us through Christ Jesus now the question that I have for you

Is what is the source of your joy the ultimate Joy you have to choose do you want the adulation or the praise of man where people will sing praises over you or do you want the approval of God that choice is yours in first John 2:

15 I’ll pull it up so we can read okay first John chapter 2 first John 2:15 says do not love the world nor the things it offers you for when you love the world you do not have the love of the father in you the serious text for the world only offers a

Craving for physical pleasure you get plenty of that when you after you’ve pledged a craving for everything we see you’ll be seen you’ll be noticed you’ll be wearing your your your jackets and be wearing your brand and pride in our achievements and possessions it will make you feel like you’re better than everybody

Else these are not from the father but are from this world and this world is fading away along with everything that people claim but anyone who does what pleases God will live forever praise the Lord hallelujah anyone so the key differentiator here is the love of the

World says if you love the world then the love of the father is not in you the desire of the flesh the desires of the eyes the pride of life these are the key stock in trade that sororities fraternities and secret societies sell this is their biggest selling points

They will give you these and that they can deliver but the Bible tells us that all of it is passing away and whoever does the will of God will abide forever praise the Lord And so we continue I’m just trying to give you some some basis so that when you’re having these conversations with young people you know where to take it now the other truth is that apart from the spiritual rejection of God your academics would take an impact I remember that the semester that I

Pledged was probably my worst academically when I was in school one of our one of my members at Metro City the year told me that in fact he tried to pledge but then he quit because his academics was taking too much of a hit the time commitments look pledging

Of fraternity and being an active M of fraternity it’s like your work it’s like the same time it’s like working for a church the amount of time that I put into my church is the same amount of time that I used to put into Sigma at UVA when I was a vice president

There and so these are choices that you have to make will you sacrifice your academic performance your academic future for the approval of the World that is something for us to think I also just want to highlight the fact that not every Greek lettered organization is demonic or evil in fact the single most impressive and effective um Bible study college campus evangelism Ministry that I’m aware of is called Kai Alpha Kai Alpha is a college-based Christian

Organization that is incredibly effective I’ve seen them in operation at UVA occasionally when I’m when I’m in when I’m in the area in Charlottesville on the weekends and I on Fridays when they meet I have fellowship with them and look penser campus ministry there’s a lot we can learn from Kai

Alpha but I just mention it so that you know that I’m not talking about Greek learned organizations broad but you have to look at certain things what do you have to look out for what is their requirements for membership to whom must you pledge allegiance what are the fruit that is

Being produced by its members on campus check out their public profile how do they like to be seen talk with the current members as well as talk with your Christian Council I apologize for the spelling mistake there with the counselors what is the alignment with the word of

God and what will it do to your Christian Life on campus for me pledging destroyed whatever commitment to Christ that I had on campus it was only by the grace of God when I came out of school and my Spiritual Awakening came through p and above all because you have the

Seed of God in you pray about these things now perhaps you’re already in it you’re already in it but these teachings perhaps has brought you awareness that perhaps you have entered into a covenant with the devil you have entered into a covenant that rejects God light and darkness cannot coexist okay

So this is something that I had to do for myself but John uh Matthew chapter 3 verse 7 let me let me pull it up so we can we can have a discussion on this Matthew 37 this is John speaking John the Baptist he says but when John saw many

Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptized he denies them he said you brute of snakes who want you to fad the coming wrath eight prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God H don’t just say to each other me I

Go to church me my father is an elder me my father is a pastor so even though I have made I’ve committed myself to this I’m not going to renounce it and and and turn a new Leaf John is saying to them it’s not just enough to just claim something you

Have to prove by your life that you have turned from God for some of us it might very well mean that we have to if you haven’t been baptized already it might very well mean that you have to submit yourself formally to baptism and renounce all of this through your practice

If you were if you entered into this after your baptism then this is just this is another form of of sin and just as we confess every sin before God we must renounce and confess and prove by the fruit of our life that we have truly confessed and we have truly renounced

And rejected it so this is a narrative in fact I I picked this up a lot but the content was so good that I think everybody who has been previously affiliated with a fraternity or sorority and whoever is going to lead prayers tonight let us touch on these prayer

Points so that we can break the B the bonds and once you break it look I know a certain fraternity where they they give you certain rituals to keep the certain um certain pieces of that that you have to burn them you have to burn frity something you have to burn them

There are certain things they will give to you when you become a member you have to bur those things you have to repudiate them reject him you are a child of God Isaiah tells us that his deposit is in you so you cannot be coming to church meanwhile

You’re still hanging out with these people at night you’re still going to you’re still displaying their their whatever you’re wearing the t-shirts you’re representing them you’re going You’re there’s no difference between you and them when you’re together John says let the fruit of your life bear witness to your

Repentance and dedicate yourself to using whatever skills or knowledge God has given to you not to advance elitist exclusionary agendas of human approval but to advance a kingdom of agenda of being the salt the light and the yeast of the world you are light and if you renounce

It then I assure you my brother my sister listening to me that you are truly going to live the life of a child who is favored Who belongs to God that’s what I care about I don’t care what you call your organization but the truth is

If you have to make a commitment to any entity other than God you are Sinn and Bible says which God is a jealous God you must reject it and so Joshua I want to conclude by reading Joshua Joshua said now therefore fear the lord and serve him in all sincerity and in

Faithfulness put away the gods that your father served put away the gods that and kroma served put away the gods that Martin Luther came Michael Jordan and everybody else Serv and serve the Lord and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord choose this day whom you will

Serve whether the gods of your fraternity or the gods of the amorites the gods of your sorority but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord let this be our admonition tonight the world will offer you it will give you everything on a

Platter but I want to tell you that the end of the day we will all stand before the Judgment Throne of God he will ask us why did you allow another human-made institution to compete for the affections of your heart you cannot love God and your fraternity at the same

Time if that fraternity doesn’t Advance the agenda of God and is competing for your heart with God for your heart and it is winning because people approve of you then I want to assure you that you are walking on a dangerous dangerous path straight may the Lord God help us may he

Give us the ability to be bold to stand and say I made a mistake or not make this mistake father God I renounce it now deliver me and give me the ability to stand even against pressure in Jesus name God bless you amen want to say a big God bless you

To our dear Reverend k for that powerful presentation I believe that we’ve all been blessed and at this time we want to engage a few of ouren with a discussion so I’d like to kindly um introduce our deputy director for the Youth and Pensa Ministry Ina Elder yau watch thank

You Deacon thank you uh for that warm introduction and we want to thank our pastor for that uh insightful Exposition that you have just given onto us God bless you Pastor uh I’m seeing comments on here if we are going to spend time to have some questions we are going to

Spend uh about an hour in Q&A uh so if you have any questions could you kindly send them directly to Deacon Quincy and then Deacon Quincy will be kind of nting through them and then I also have some questions that I’ll be asking just to kind of keep the

Conversation but before we get started on our panelist uh for tonight for the discussion they’re going to have our pastor Kofi with us and then we also I want to humbly invite my brother Gideon saon who’s also going to be on the panelist so there will be our two

Panelists that will be addressing the questions or the concerns that we have uh tonight so Gideon I want to give you a quick minute just to uh introduce yourself and then if you can um let us know as far as uh the fraternity which one you pledged and what made you pledge

If your reason was any different than what pastor already kind of gave us so gide just give us a quick introduction all right praise the Lord hallelujah first and foremost I want to thank God for a program like this um growing up I wish uh I had something like this as um

There was a lot of information that was shared that I did not have grown up so definitely thank the Lord for this program and I also want to thank the leadership for putting me on the panelist um my name is Gideon sarpong I am a member of piwc Metro City Virginia under the

Leadership of our beloved Reverend kof I went to Virginia Tech go hes uh I graduated in 200 S and I pledged Alpha F Alpha Fraternity Incorporated and what what made you get it what made you pledge uh was your reason any different like do you have a different reason than what past already

Kind of shared with us or was your reason kind of fell in line with the saying yeah so everybody has different reasons for pledging uh mine is very interesting so um and I’ll kind of break it down as far as the language for some of our our individuals so uh bear with

Me but um for those of you who are college students you know on the yard you have uh people that are very influential whether it’s being those who are on the football team B basketball team or those who are members of the Greek life um at Virginia Tech was a

Combination of the two we had the football players and then we also had those members who were part of the Greek um fraternity um to be a part of the football team you had to be either six foot and 200 plus um pounds and if you

Look at me I’m neither of those and so the other option was potentially joining a Greek letterer for eternity um on our campus the alpas stood out to me because one they were very popular two they were very smart and three they were doing good in the community all notable

Things for a young individual to Aspire for um when I entered a freshman year I came into school with two of my close friends two who were Guan one of my friends his older brother was an alpha and he was a senior at the time and so

He was you know somebody we looked up to a role model he introduced us to a lot of upper classmen he took us around and essenti was one of those things where you know you kind of wanted to be like him and then I remember one evening he

Told me and my friends hey you guys are coming to a uh an interest meeting and I had no clue what that was and it was one of those things where it’s kind of like you’re going to go and you’re going to like it I had no CL CL what an interest

Meeting was nothing to the knowledge as far as what was going to transpire afterwards and that kind of led to the process of me joining the Alpha Fire Alpha fraternity thank you Gideon um Pastor when you were speaking you you discussed renouncing uh Your Allegiance to the fraternities uh there are some people

Who might have pledged and uh they are at a crossroad as far as uh renouncing but they have afraid of uh what it might do with their relationships with their brothers or sisters that they crossed with you mentioned you go through things where it binds you together there’s

Loyalty and all of that so how did you uh has there been any change in relationship uh with any of them your Lon brothers that you crossed with how you navigating or how did you navigate uh that change and what would you tell someone who’s afraid of losing your

Friends if they were to renounce the allegiance thank you thank you um the truth is that you know we’ve been called and we’ve been saved to make a difference we’ve been saved to be the light we’ve been saved to be the salt we’ve been saved to be the

Yeast um renouncing and rejecting that life doesn’t mean that you should become enemies with the people that you’ve have known and have been friends with if that were the case none of us will have any friends other than people we know at church but the truth is that there must

Be a difference in your life compared to them and they should know that you are different you have entered into a different Covenant and so that is how you become the light and if they are still holding on to that Darkness you can be the means by which the light enters their

Life and so the truth is that and that’s why I read from Matthew 37 that it is not enough to say that I have repented of it it must be seen by the fruit of your life are you still going to their Gatherings and representing them just like you were

Before are you still wearing the Para Alia are you still branding them on your car are you still going to their parties are you still getting drunk with them are you still whatever it is there has to be a palpable difference between you now and you before that is

What makes and confirms the renunciation but if you have one foot here and one foot there that is what I was warning about with Joshua choose now whom you will serve I think I don’t know if that answers your question it does uh Gideon any anything you wanted to add to that

Well how has your experience been like I’m assuming you’ve renounced maybe you haven’t I’m assuming you have and you know how did you navigate that you know obviously I know some of the people you know you playge with and whatnot how has that changed relationship if any and

How for you how was that experience like yeah so initially when I was going through the process of kind of just you know understanding what I got myself into and trying to getting myself out and I informed some of my brothers that hey this is something that

I no longer plan on uh wanting to be a part of you know I was definitely ostracized from a lot of events and so you know they would go to let’s say skiing or you know they’ll have you know regular Gatherings and nobody would call

Me nobody would let me know know and i’ hear from it from you know somebody else initially it it really didn’t bother me just because at that time I was so spiritually focused on um getting to know God and growing um and so um it took a while for them to come

Back to their senses that okay this is you know beyond him being our quote unquote fraternity brother he is also our friend and so it took a while for them to come back to you know that type of relationship but initially you know it was Mo mostly them ostracizing me and

Also you know calling me names I remember one time they called me John the baptizer and so disciples right right right you hear some of those things and if if your identity in Christ is strong you won’t let those things bother you and so that’s kind of what I experienced thank

You brother Gideon uh digan Quincy I know you you’ve getting some questions go ahead and ask one of the questions that you received yes sir so one of the questions that we have here in the chat that was sent to me directly is that um what of the people who have pledged that

Don’t see the spiritual repercussions in their lives therefore think there’s no consequence of the Covenant they’ve made so is that is the person asking if maybe they haven’t spiritually matured so they don’t they don’t understand the significance yeah so maybe for example I pledge to like a sorority or a

Fraternity at VTEC but I I claim to be a Christian but I don’t see that there’s any repercussions in it so is there any consequence consequences of the Covenant that I’ve just entered into if I don’t know if I am I think if I understand the question

Correctly um the question Springs out of this I I would describe it as a very typically African approach to spiritual things what do I mean by that we feel like for something to have spiritual significance it somehow must manifest in a curse in our present life right yeah I’m still living my my

Best life now so so what this thing has no it has no appeal to me whatsoever I’m living my best life but I think we we need to separate what um we need to separate that from what does Scripture say concerning who we are and have we truly By The Fruit Of

Our Lives rejected the covenants that we made in that season of our life now if you still Embrace those Covenants and that is what gives you Joy then I’m afraid that you’re waiting for something to be dealt with in the physical now it may which may or may not happen I’m not

Saying one way or the other but the point is the Bible tells us that even if Jesus is delayed in coming we will stand before the Judgment throne and we have to answer for these things so you cannot say after hearing tonight what we presented you cannot say that I didn’t know any

Better I will leave it at that g maybe you have something to add no I think you you hit it on the head and one of those things is you know the spirit convicts people at different stages um in their walk and so once the spirit convicts you uh it’s one of those

Things where just as Joshua said choose today whom You Shall Serve if you’re a Christian the and the spirit convicts you and tells you that what you partook in is not of God and you decide to turn your ear or look the other way then there’s an

Issue and even as Pastor was preaching tonight or the exposition you know one of the things I took away was that uh you pledge to the gods of the fraternities or the authorities right and scripture also tells us you can’t serve two masters so which one really is

Your god which one are you really following thank you Pastor and Gideon um what advice would you give someone who might be a member of our church right now and they are on campus or they might even be alumni and they are actively recruiting people to come and join their

Fraternity or their sorority what advice would you give that individual so the first thing I would say is are you exerting that same them to win souls for Christ and if not the question is who are you serving you can’t serve two masters plain and simple Amen to that he meant to

That let me let me jump in here and I think we particularly need to be very careful in terms of when we are selecting pener leaders on campus Because if you are not careful you’re going to pick leaders who will use their spiritual platform to pull more members into their sorority or their

Fraternity and so let us be very careful about what are what is a spiritual maturity or the growth level of our leaders how do they feel about souls relative to social approval we need men and women who are sold out for Jesus and are will to stand

Apart right but if you are dlyan and we give leadership position to such men and women the ministry will never grow because they themselves are confused and they don’t have a strong commitment one way or the other that’s that’s what I would say thank you Pastor you know some

People will say that you know they pledged uh and you mentioned that sometimes they will use their law of oh you’ll gain friendship uh we have a lot of alumni in the workforce and things of that nature I see somebody actually put a very good question in the chat right

Now how would you convince someone who might have a very good job now by way of them being a member of a fraternity maybe they got put on by you know someone who was part of that fra how would you uh advise them to I guess renouncing it you know maybe they feel

Bad about this is how I got this job and now I’m saying I’m renouncing it what would you what kind of feedback would you give someone who might be battling with that issue G you want to go because I don’t want to talk go ahead go ahead honestly the truth is

That you know everybody is going to need somebody at some point right now let’s be very very honest these jobs that people use so much as a reason for joining fraternities how many people G you can tell me how many people do you know that got jobs

Because they had an interview with their fraternity brother zero me particularly I was able to help one of my fraternity Brothers get an interview and he was able to get a job but maybe that’s one example that I can come up with but the truth is that that selling point is way

Oversold way way way oversold it’s not true ain’t nobody going to give you a job because you you a sigma an alpha that has nothing to do with it however if you’re somebody who can prove that you’re a man of integrity and it comes across in your interview and you

Happen to be speaking to a Christian that will make a difference so I am actually here to sell you on the fact that there’s a bigger fraternity out there that you are not appreciating enough there a bigger sorority out there that you’re not appreciating enough it is called the family of God

Amen amen you another thing I wanted to add before we go to Quincy for the next question I think sometimes we I know when people are going through the The Pledge and process sometimes too they pick up habits that can even ruin your life and your careers right it can be

Drinking some people start Heavenly drinking during that period and then it stays with them next thing you know they throwing their life with their careers away um because of that alcohol that started during that uh period uh Dean Quincy go ahead with the next question all right so our next question

Is what is your opinion on individuals who believe they can serve God through their Greek life organization so one of the things as far as Greek life is their roots are are founded on rituals right um for anybody who’s who’s pledged if you look at your history book or

Anything you’ll read all about the different rituals from the beginning all the way to now and we know when as Christians when you’re doing anything with rituals you’re you’re uplifting something right we as Christians our ritual is on the first Sunday of the month we take the communion the the

Bread and the blood and who are we uplifting Christ right now with these uh organizations you’re not uplifting Christ with all these various rituals you’re uplifting another entity and so again we say back to the same scripture you can’t serve two Gods it’s either you’re serving God

Or serving somebody else and so that’s what I’ll say to the person who thinks that they can serve God through their fraternity affiliation or sority affiliation quy next question all right so the next question is is there a need for the church or a leader of the church to take an

Individual through a process of Deliverance after pledging a frat or soul if so is there a process in place I’ll take that I I think it’s about how do you come to realization that you have been engaged in living in sin right so the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all

Sins if you haven’t been baptized maybe this is an invitation for you to include this in your renunciation as you as you’re about to be baptized but perhaps if you were baptized before and and you you fell into this lifestyle it’s like somebody who went to college and started sleeping

Around they need Deliverance but what they need is salvation what they need is to reconnect back to the blood back to the lamb but as as I’m speaking now if the spirit of God is calling you to renounce it when we pray the Lord God will deliver you it

Is the Bible says that we hear and once we hear and our heart accepts it we confess it once we confess it and we are genuinely our our mouth and our hearts are united in this belief we become a new person and so I think that Deliverance you not no in this Pentecost

We don’t go to pray for me you understand Pentecost we don’t go to pray for me it’s when the spirit of God drops in you and you realize that no I must make a uturn once that heart has made that and you confess it and you

Pray a genuine prayer I believe that the Lord God will make you a new person and then the repentance must be shown by the way you live others must know once that happens you don’t need anybody to lay their hands on you you don’t need no

Pope spirit of God will do it because we believe in the sainthood of the of the Believers but I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be able if you want your pastor to pray with you you can call your pastor if you want some Elder some man of God that you

Trust is is faithful there’s nothing wrong with that but I also want you to know that that that repentance is something that begins here it begins with you and that is the critical point repentance and confessing and praying and rejecting and turning around that is the most important and I just I don’t

Want anybody to think that they need to go through some sort of special Deliverance the Lord God the spirit of God and the blood of the Lamb is more than able to deliver you amen um we have another question in the chat um someone says what can we say for

The Greek letter organizations that claim to have Christian principles so they all they all claim to have Christian principles but again for those who have been who have actually pledged when you actually read some of these scriptures or whatever they take certain excerpts from scriptures and

They twist it and turn it around similar to what Satan did in the garden you know similar to when Satan tempted Jesus he knew scripture he took it and twisted it if and I wish other members of other organizations on here that can attest but if you actually look at some of the

Verbiage they will take scripture and they will twist it and a lot of the times they will insert their organization and replace it you know they’ll they’ll insert their organization and replace what the current scripture says about either God or the spirit or whatever so they all claim to be founded on biblical

Principles but when you dive into it it’s not go ahead Pastor go ahead oh I’m reading multiple questions about how does a church fill that void right the need for social connection the need for professional mentorship that that that void which makes fraternities and sori so attractive I think somebody just

Responded the truth is that look that is why that is why the church is there there’s no reason why look PPN the Pentecost Professional Network this is why they exist there’s no reason if you looking for an internship reach out to somebody within the church I I have a Ministry at Metro City

That helps people to get jobs one of my deaconesses is dedicated this is her Ministry she connects people she helps to review your resume these are practical things we can do if you need a a friend on college campus start a pener Ministry let that be the fraternity Kai

Alpha I was talking about Kai Alpha at UVA on a Friday night you go to a Kai Alpha meeting at UVA it is jaming up in there chman for Christ let our services on campus be attractive let our Brotherhood Fellowship the love we show to each

Other in the Church on campus let it be attractive and let others come and see the light you see I think it is nothing that the fraternity will provide you that the church isn’t equipped to do 10 times better nothing and so let us make our home our

Church homes that kind of environment that helps people that shows love and that creates a sense of belonging if we have that within our pcer Ministries believe me pens is the only fraternity you will need amen I I I can I can attest to that Kofi because I remember when I

Graduated the person that got me my first job was a deacon in the church and so it wasn’t my connections with Alpha it wasn’t my big brothers it was a deacon in the church who was a manager who pushed my resume and essentially hey you got the job you just

Got to go through the interview and so that quote unquote brother and sister in Christ help me get to that first job which propelled me to where I’m at now amen amen I see somebody by the name of uh Edward oing posted a comment does the church have an alternative to these

Groups that I can find on my campuses uh yes as a church as part of the uh penser Youth and penser directorate we have a camp campus Ambassador for each region obviously as we speak today we don’t have Pence on every single campus in the

US but our our goal is to plant penser Ministry so I’m not sure which college you go to feel free to reach out to me directly or Deacon Quincy uh we can put you on in touch with our national uh coordinator who can put you on with your

Regional coordinator our goal as a Ministry is to plant penser within uh the campuses you might be the agent you might be the person that God is even calling to initiate or start uh Pensa uh on your campus imagine leaving that Legacy that you are the person who is

Able to plant and establish a pens Ministry within your campus so Edward uh or Ben feel free to reach out to me directly myself or de and Quincy we can put you in touch uh with uh the right people uh Quincy go ahead with the next question all right so the next question

Was Martin Luther King Jr also into this frat because I thought he was a Christian secondly they said what are some of the affiliation items I have observed individuals wearing extra rings and bracelets in addition to their marital ring so yes Dr King was a member of a

Greek letter fraternity there’s a lot of quote unquote pastors Christians who are in fraternities that doesn’t mean you know again it’s one of those things where the Holy Spirit has to convict and shed light on what they went through as it being contrary to the word

Of God when I was pledging and I was going through you know all that stuff I didn’t think anything of it it was until years later that I graduated and my eyes became do and nurses Rush from one patient to another and more go ahead go ahead J it was until

Years later that my eyes became open and I started doing like my due diligence as far as researching all the implications the negative the pros as far as pledging that you know the spirit convicted me as far as you know this is not uh this is

Contrary to the word of God and so yes Dr King there’s so many other preachers pastors it’s big in the African African-American uh Community um and so don’t be surprised if you hear of another you know black preacher who claims that they’re a Christian is part of you know Greek letter

Fraternity I didn’t get the second part of the question um they touched on the rings on some people who have their affiliation items on their hands their fingers and most of them are children and woman I think he’s referring to the items you know the Branded items the

Rings the I don’t know what other items they may have come through your initiation process if you are still holding on to them what does that mean think you address that when you were giving your Exposition yeah but G baby maybe you can respond how how did you deal with your

Complex over patience we have five words so I I trusted all my pair of canelia and so I don’t have anything related to Alpha uh in my possession uh people keep those things just you know as a status symbol you know flash you know my letters to show

That I’m part of this I’m part of that so I’m not sure if that answers the question yes thank you um someone also asks should they avoid sermons from ministers that are affiliated with the Divine n so the the Greek letter organizations I I’ll take that look I

Think our generation I’m I’m speaking to young people now right those of us who cons so much media we have what media we allow into our lives you know it’s very easy to be gifted oratorically it is very easy look and sound cool but in this day and

Age what we should really be looking for is the fruit of people’s lives that is that should be the key what is the fruit if you can’t if you don’t know what their character is and their life is be very wey about listening and being making them your

Teacher and so don’t be listening to people whose lives you cannot endorse listen to me very carefully young people because how many people um how many people were following what that what’s the name of that preacher his name was long um something long G help me Eddie

Longed Eddie long had a massive Church meanwhile he was sleeping with young boys yeah you understand and there’s so many other look let the fruit of Our Lives be the witness to our Ministries and if you cannot have visibility on the teacher life be very careful about making them

Your life preacher because you may be following the wrong things that’s all I say Amen uh somebody was asking about Hazen if so I want you to to to touch on this and obviously well let me ask the question if Hazen as part of initiation for these secret societies why not the

Federal government taking radical action to ban them forever through these sororities and fraternities so essentially why is The Hazing still happening I know G I think the alphas were banned for a while if I remember correctly um if you can speak into that El to obviously it’s secret what not but

If he can speak into that so every organization quote unquote is a non haazen organization right now at the national level that’s what their their stance is but you got to realize on the local levels you know the national cannot control what happens at the local level

And so hazing goes on all over the place now as far as why doesn’t the government ban hazing a lot of these government officials are part of these secret organizations or societies and so they are a part of the issue and therefore they’re not going to quote unquote put

Measures in place to stop what is going on at the local level um and so it’s going to persist but again all the organizations will tell you that there’re a non- haazen organization but once you pledge and you go through it you realize that’s not the case and and the truth is

That hazing and the national organizations know this that Hazen is a critical ingredient in the bonding process and people who don’t go through the hazing are not respected isn’t that right g y all right Pastor I and again I wanted to ask I think we have a lot of our parents

Are on um are there some signs or some things that our parents can look for because a lot of um people will pledge and their parents will have no idea uh there are some people on the line who might have pledged and their parents just have absolutely no idea that their

Children are even part of fraternities or sororities so are there any signs that parents can look for for all we know people are probably going through it now and parents just have absolutely no idea so are there any signs or things that they should be looking out

For so I’ll start and then Kofi you can continue but one of the things is if your child stops coming home during breaks stuff of that nature um when you call them they’re being short as far as the response responses I think as a parent you you can tell when there’s something wrong

With your child every parent you know I’m a parent I I can tell when there’s something wrong with my child without them communicating that to me and I’m pretty sure parents if you’re on a Comm constant dialogue with your child at school you can tell if there’s

Something going on going wrong with them and so again when I pledged I didn’t go home for you know Christmas break I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving and everybody else is at home so as a parent the question is what is my child doing there while their friends are home and

So these are some of the signs that you know one can start putting two and two together as far as you know something is not right Pastor those are great indicators and if I could have add additional proxies um if you cannot reach your child after 9:00 p.m.

Consistently got to be wondering where they’re going maybe they pledging if they lose a ton of weight all of a sudden that’s a Telltale sign when they stop cutting their hair I can show you an afro um if they Stu cut in their head for a long period of

Time that’s a side right there um what else and that who are they hanging out with you got to know your friend your children’s friends anyway and somebody also even uh Yangon posted if they if they start deactivating uh their social media accounts or they St posting all together

Yeah those are some uh other signs as well uh Quincy go ahead if you have question all right so um this person asks why do some African-Americans seem to be attracted to fraternities and sororities are you told of the spiritual implications before you join the fraternities and what are things done

Under cover and in darkness thank you so when they’re saying African-Americans are they saying ghanians or African-Americans because we def want to Pardon blacks please blacks okay well again Greek letter fraternities was established for African Americans all the way in the early 1900s as a means to

Bring uh those IND individuals who were at predominantly you know white colleges together and so it started uh in that form and so a lot of times what you’ll see is somebody’s great grandfather great great grandfather great great great great great grandfather was part of a fraternity and so it’s passed down

Through lineage and so what they call they call them as um Legacy right and so a lot of people pledge because their father was uh you know in the Greek um organization or their mother or their aunt or whatever and so that’s why you see it being very uh predominant in the africanamerican

Community Pastor did I miss anything that’s it all right Quincy next one all right um someone says how can the church be of help contrary what the other Affiliates offer not the spiritual part but the Practical support I think we addressed that already no I think

So okay so another question is is it necessary to burn parah falia is it necessary to do what to burn to buy burn burn burn burn okay pastor I don’t particularly think so um it honestly my the day that I became free of this shackles it just it became meaningless

To me after that point like my my relationships with people were no longer rooted in whether they are a member of the fraternity or not um paraphernalia I don’t I don’t even know where mine are to be quite honest with you but it’s it doesn’t hold any sway

But I think to the extent that you know I would actually I like Gideon just don’t even I mean it’s part of your history like for me there are some people who will always see me as the the sigma guy from UV right because that’s what they knew me

As now there’s no way you can change that and there are people who have actually gotten permanent lifetime branding they’ve scarred theirselves they’ve gotten tattoos whatever but that doesn’t mean that you cannot turn a new Leaf you will always have those reminders but the question is to what

Extent do those things pull you back into those lifestyle that is where True Deliverance happens G no I think you’ve answered it thank you I I want to go back to the parents um for our parents who might be struggling with this maybe their children are uh thinking about joining these fraternities and

Sororities I think the approach as far as how you communicate is very very important now there’s some practical tips that you can give the parents as to how to really approach the conversations with your children uh regarding fraternities and sororities as far as the how to so I think there’s resources out

There I mean I don’t think there are resources out there that you can give your child to read prior to them going off to college or while they’re in college about the uh negative implications of joining a fr eternity as a Christian and so you know this Young Generation they like to

Research and they like to fact find and so you give them these type of you know resources to use at their disposal because like I said when I was coming up I had no knowledge as far as you know what Greek life was all about there was little information as far as the

Negative side and I didn’t have individuals um like myself coming up to have these type of discussions and dialogue I think now they have a lot more resources to be a little bit more informed and educated about you know what they could be opening themselves up to frankly I mean everything that I

Shared I shared a ton of insight into that conversation um and this presentation was pulled out of that chapter in the book that Apostle amaku wrote years ago was this thing called relationships it’s a chapter in that book and so I would recommend that for parents that are looking to kind of get

The inside details on this pull that book and and check out that chapter um I’m happy to share that chapter as well digitally I think Elder Crosby has more than free to share it with the rest it has very useful information in it someone is asking how all of this

Affects the church we mentioned that pledging uh men that pled to these fraternities makes a person bold to seek for leadership position because of the confidence they gain are we safe so I think essentially they’re asking uh that are we safe we might have some people in leadership positions within the chur you

My dear who might be part uh of fraternities and sororities is the the church safe Pastor what I’m not sure what’s the implication behind that question that we might have some people in leadership position now within the church who might be part of fraternities and sororities

So are we safe with having people in positions uh leadership positions who are part of fraternities and authorities I don’t know maybe we should include it in our questions uh Elder I think someone also just sent a message that um to add on to your question might this be the reason

Why some members refuse to be called to serve as deacons of the church yes but would rather opt for eldership no I mean this is a a big reason why a lot of people don’t want to become presus Period okay and the someone says please can this sori be traced at the high school as well no but they start engaging young like they start teaching them stepping like I me as I’m thinking about this now my daughter loves to step she’s in a

Step team at her school and so when they get to College they they want to join a step team they want to join a and then the sororities make it really attractive yeah I mean that’s that’s you a lot of these fraternities also take on volunteer opportunities in the middle

And high schools so they do mentoring in the high schools and middle schools so that is how they start selling the the coolness early right okay this and another person says easn star sority also claims to celebrate the lives of biblical women while emulating their Lifestyles is it okay to join this

Groups what can you tell us about this group Pastor I think we already talked about this G you mentioned how if you read every one of them will tell you that they they stand for biblically consistent principles so Brotherhood Sisterhood um public service and and social well-being but as we said before the

Root of all of these is in the Masonic rituals okay and anything that is rooted in rituals that are not biblical is in competition with your heart for God and um anything done the Bible says that anything done in darkness um it’s is is the light has

Nothing to do with it so the question is look at the criteria that I was talking about what what do their oath of membership say who do they pledge to um and how does the fruit of the lives of the people that are in it how

Does it comply with the fruits of the spirit of God these are the types of organizations you should seek to be a part of I mean like they have fraternities for accounting Majors fraternities for engineers those are neutral fraternities that anybody can be a member of if you are in the in the

Academic academic criteria but I’m talking about these things that we are talking about are social organizations that are rooted in a certain degree of spiritual bonding that brings all of their members together that’s what we referring to G no I think you hit it on the

Head question I got would you say that those who say that they are locked in with God are not if they are if they are a part of a sorority or fraternity if it makes it better people who are a part of this community and are servant would you say they are not

Saved that’s not for me to tell I mean that’s not for any one of us to tell if you GNA go to heaven or hell you know better than I Jud that g do you have a point on that no I am not the judge so

All right if you if you were to have a conversation with your younger self what would you tell the younger you your first night you were pledging if you can go back in time and have a conversation with your younger self your first night of ples

Oh uh uh I’ll start I’ll probably tell myself that you don’t need to go through this to please anybody because I think uh one of the main reasons why I did it was to please you know was more so out of you know hey I want to please this quote unquote uh

Senior brother of mine who I looked up to and so that’s you know one of the driving reasons for doing it so that’s probably what I would start with you don’t need to do this to please anybody Pastor I think for me they they spoke to

My they spoke to my desire to make a difference which was incredibly powerful and so I would tell the younger man that it isn’t human institutions that makes a man great it is the fear of Gody do you have any more direct questions or that we you went through

Them all um so just one more that just came in what do you have for for parents most parents are into this I myself started using Soundwave and frequencies to activate so called chakra chakra yeah so the parent is saying that if I’m hearing this correctly that they are engaged in other

Forms of mysticism or ultic practices right um and you know that’s actually a very good point a lot of our young women you know are participating in different Yoga practices that have ritualistic elements to them that they think is no big deal but the people who are pushing it are pushing a spiritual

Agenda and so to the questioner it sounds like the person knows what you’re doing is spiritually uh is Consulting with aquatic practices then the direct answer is that you need to repent and throw those things out that is I mean that’s you know I can’t cushion it anymore you know if we

Know better we need to do better and I think the spirit of God is speaking to us tonight that you cannot serve two masters you cannot have a piece of your heart for um that serves the the the the the Aquatic SL social approval um needs

Of your caral nature and then have the other heart of part of your heart serve God those things The Darkness and Light have no compatibility so we must choose and I think if we are dabling in each side we have to know that we have by default surrendered to the dark side

Over amen before we uh I want to hear uh get in Pastor just your last part in words uh before we uh I would like to hear from direct and maybe one of our other uh uh pastors or Apostle one of our fathers who’s also on the L so any

Closing remarks from you all the other thing I would say is what we share today is not to condemn anybody um I know there’s a lot of individuals in the church that have gone through the process of being either in the fraternity or in the sority and may not have been

Um the spirit may not have uh convicted them yet but it’s my prayer that after tonight um you’ll start to question some of the practices and the things that were done and begin to go through the process of um deciding whether to um not even whether to deciding to renounce

Um your affiliations with uh the Greek letter fraternity um and I will leave it at that thank you brother Gideon Pastor oh I I think Gideon touched on it um you know we do this not to condemn or to please judgment on anyone as I said in the very

Beginning why once we know better we can do better um my parents probably still don’t know what a fraternity is I think maybe my mother is on the line she may or may not the point that I’m making is let us let us dial down the anger let us dial down the

Emotional fights that we have at home over these issue let us seek understanding once we understand what the roots of the issue are then we can address it with the right spiritual tools and I just want to I just want to just assure every parent that you may

Not fully understand all the issues that your child is going through in college but never stop praying for them never stop praying for them and I know you don’t but I just want to really encourage you that you know the the truth is even when I was going through this

Season I had the presence of mind that deep down somewhere that I’m a Child of God but I just didn’t have the courage to be able to resist it in the spiritual growth and maturity to be able to resist it and when the seeds that have been

Planted the Lord God will use it let’s never give up let us continue to pray for them and at the end of the day something great will come out of it uh I’m very very I believe absolutely that nobody who is listening to us now will be will have their life turned upside

Down spiritually because of an affiliation with a Greek lated Organization no God is too kind God is too loyal God is too faithful and he will do it and so let’s keep hope alive I am very hopeful that something good will come out of this for us and for the church

Amen amen amen before I director to kind of give us his remarks or take on all of this I on behalf of the Men’s Ministry and uh the youth and pens leadership sincerely um extend our gratitude and our appreciation um brother Gideon uh Pastor Kofi for being

A part of panelist tonight just for being very authentic uh for being vulnerable for sharing uh your path with us and you know being willing to to speak to us on these things uh the knowledge that I think we’ve all learned tonight has just been incredible getting messages left and

Right about how impactful uh you know people learning new things things that they had never really considered and thought about before so God richly bless you both director I want to give you a minute before we jump into prayers a minute or two uh for any remarks

Regarding this topic that you might have for us please and we want to say thank you very much uh God richly bless you uh brother Gideon and also re bless so uh just just in closing uh I mean we it’s been a very insightful night yes we’ve learned so

Much this will even um qualify all of us for a degree tonight for learn from yesterday and today uh from the different kind of well views that we learned uh backing up with the sororities and the fraternities I think we’ve learned a lot and um uh the basic and line thing is

That you know the Bible let us uh admonish us to study you know and the Bible’s a lack of knowledge my people perish so there are some of these things that are going out there that I mean we have to know about it and I think uh in

The future we will begin to pick some of these subject areas and you know bring it on the table and discuss it you know so that we will know how to even Minister you know if we come across somebody who uh happen to be part of some of these organization how do we

Even minister to them so that at the end of the day it to help from yesterday what our Apostle talked about and one one thing that he made mention of his indoctrination you know uh and most of the things start very gradual you know so even as our brothers

Were speaking you know it may start like you know just a social organization but the more you go deeper into it you are introduced to several other things and that is what um we want to admonish our young people you know we have all these resources in the church uh some of our

People who have gone through some of these things so if you need help please reach out and get help we have many people we have counselors so don’t just uh be by yourself and suffer and struggle but just reach out and we believe that the Lord himself will will

Help us all may the Lord bless you amen amen God bless you Pastor God bless you too amen appreciate you God bless you and your feedback uh now with that said uh Deacon if you want to take over I’m not sure who’s leing as a praise because of

The time spend five very I mean 15 minute of intentional intensive prayers on this topic that we’ve heard tonight so if you can uh humbly um ask for the person uh leading us in prayer to to to jump on please all right thank you so very much

At this time we’d like to all right thank you we’ like to now introduce um Pastor AA Fring pong to lead us in a time of prayer for 10 minutes thank you amen amen thank you uh uh leaders for the opportunity protocols observe uh beloved as our director and

The leaders said if you were on the line yesterday and today you have learned a lot your eyes has open to what goes on what goes on around there but what we need to do is to pray what we need to do if they have devices to our Our Youth

And we also have prayer hallelu we also have a God who set the B who has to have God and we have the most important is that Bible says he has given us power to trample scorpions and serpents to go to the camp of enemy to

To to demand what belongs to us so this is what we are going to do tonight we are going to the account we are setting blocks our youth are not going to be go going to be persuaded into the camp of those those those those fraternities and

Cities anymore but we are setting at BL we are praying over them we are blocking their chances we are going if anybody by any means has has has find him or over there will bring that person back up up pray up we have 10 minutes

Any you want to pray any you want to PR J PR PR in the walls of Jerusalem hasay for the Forgiveness of the fathers and want to and this our them of our children pray our forgiveness pray our forgiveness For Stand against stand w’t get any member come stand against we are stand standard is that we are not getting any of our youth anymore we are not getting any of our anymore we are not taking them back anymore we are not get any of our members anymore that is stand we want to

From understand name Jesus in the name Jesus thank you for this moment for for we are praying to have a coverage we God so that they wouldn’t be into this we are praying goder you are keep we are facilitat yesterday to today bring them before you Lord whatever they have lost

Your name be praised may your name be glorified Jesus name amen bless you amen amen amen God bless you very much Pastor E F for leading us through that special time of prayer um now at this time we’d like to invite our dear Elder Asaf

AJ to give us the V of thanks for tonight thank you oh praise the Lord hallelujah hallelu how father the the good Lord has brought us for this very two days has been very impactful and also so insightful I believe and that we are all blessed yes on this note on behalf of

The national executive for the premium in collaboration with the youth and P directory we want to thank God for this conference and also give thanks to our dear National head and his wife together with the national executive all our Apostles also with the area heads and also all the pastors for their support

And guidance that they’ve been showing and supporting the Ministry and also with this program secondly we want to thank our own Apostle bayani and uh our very Reverend U for their wonderful and very insightful presentation for these two days want to say God Rich bless you amen

TR blessed and hopefully we are we have something to live on from these two days that’ gathered want to thank the national executive led by our able Elder app P for this program we said may the good Lord bless them for this vision and also the the women’s

Movement the national leader and her executive for their support our mothers has always been with us and will continue to be with that me God Rich bless you all and also the regional the district and the local P leadership want to say God bless you for your support and all all

The men and the women that came for this two days conference we say may the good Lord bless you am we’ve come to the end of this year Bridges to Manu and we believe next year we will move from another height God bless you all amen am amen God bless you God

Bless amen amen amen God bless you so much Elder from montain at this time um as the program is Drawing Near to a close I’d like to ask our dear Youth and penser director Pastor Albert Sana to give us some remarks thank you praise the Lord I have our acting National head on

The line Apostle Dr Bayan hango and we want to see if our daddy have anything for us before we leave then we’ll take the announcement and also Pastor Saka will bless us pleas thank you very much again on speaking in this conference along with uh pastor goof watch thank you very much

And God bless you all amen amen thank you so much Daddy and all our fathers and our mothers our precious mothers who are behind us please thank you very much next time when we call you please bring all your interage we love you so thank everybody for being here this

Past two days so we’re going to take our announcement then our pastor Saka will bless us praise the Lord hallelujah amen amen we just have a few announcements um the first one is that we still have more PM suit available so all the men we want to

Encourage you if you have not yet purchased your pemium suit please submit your name your size and your payment to your District leader or the regional leader and um we’ll be able to get them um for you as soon as possible we have a lot of seal still remaining and most

Importantly our young men we have a discount for the Youth and pener Ministry hallelujah amen giving our youth and pencer Ministry 33% of the suit we have both colors in place and so please quickly run and come and get your seal is $60 instead of

$80 and so um we want everyone to have one the other announcement we have is that as we know we are getting close to the end of the year we want to submit our report on time so the regional leaders please kindly start work on your

Report send it to the um national office dep payment leadership so that we can also put together the national report on time and I have also um distributed the page from Reverend kofi’s um chapter that he wrote on fraternity on the Men’s Ministry and the women’s ministry leader have sent those

Two our mama esta Walker as well to share so that we will continue to really digest this important topic I think that’s all the announcement we have thank you thank you um Elder Crosby for giving announcements um with permission from our chair at this time we like to ask that

Brother me one second just a few items I announcements that I wanted toh say on behalf of the youth directorate please uh so I you the members who are on the line as usual we know that December is going to be a busy month we have our Christmas conventions but we also have

Our transpose our major end of the year event that is forthcoming the last week of December it is going to be December 27th which is a Wednesday it will be virtual online and that Thursday is going to be in person a formal announcement will be coming we have not

Announced where it’s going to be held yet so please be to look out for that formal announcement will coming where we are going to be holding the in person our transpose our end of the year event and then also we are going to have PPN is also going to have an event before

The end of the year and fly should be forthcoming uh is going to discuss how to kind of prepare for the following year how to set goals and things of that nature so two events from the directorate that you’ll be seeing before year end we just wanted to uh bring it

To everyone’s attention and just to kind of also wet your appetite pens 2024 is forthcoming a for announcement will be coming any day now within the next week or two we expect to have a formal announcement so something will be foring just so everybody God bless all right thank you so much quick

Before uh we end this program hello praise the Lord hallelujah yeah the I think we had invited uh our immediate past leader for p and I also our past leader in the person of apostle Santi to join us uh for this program and I believe they did

They might be on the line so we want to take this opportunity to thank them for coming to support us and also we we thank them from their their prayer and their guidance if they on the line we just want to say a big thank you to you

For coming up be on board with us God bless you wherever you are God bless amen thank you so much God bless you Elder um our program is drawing to a close now at this time we would like to invite our brother Isaac quing to give

Us the closing pray and then after our dear acting National secretary Pastor s if you can kindly please give us the benediction thank Hallelujah we thank God for this the leadership for this opportunity father in the name of Jesus we thank you for such a marvelous conference 2023

Wes we bless your name oh God and we thank you for the leadership who put together father we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we have heard so much yesterday and today we pray oh God for revolutionary transformation based on identification with Christ and the church by the fullness of the Holy

Spirit therefore we pray oh God the outpouring of the spirit oh God upon the youth in the name of Jesus let their identification be with Christ let their identification be with the church we come against any forces and entities that will try to draw them in the might

Name of Jesus Amen father we pray for the grace to be in the right company to develop a a Godly character and the grace to do things that will benefit their eternity and a glorious life here on this Earth in the might the name of Jesus we also pray for the leadership oh

God that next year will be much more powerful we pray in the name of Jesus oh God that the youth will be made ready to take up the leadership of the church even as our fathers are passing away in the mighty name of Jesus thank you Lord

We bless you in the name of Jesus we pray amen and amen Amen shall we receive the blessing and now may the god of Israel amen may he bless you and keep you amen may he Grant you the ultimate Joy amen may he give you his approval amen the watch over your spirit your soul and your body am without blemish to the return of the

Savior let’s all go in peace in Jesus name amen bless bless God bless everyone MC of the year Bless bless good God Bless you that’s a very educative program God bless you you Bless that’s it God bless you The Honorable apprting number one God bless you the big behind what did bless you was beauti what did you do to my PR right yes sir National

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