Couldn’t have told me in college I wasn’t a Christian that’s when I actually started going to church on Sundays the conviction happened while I was in the process in college but I didn’t know it was conviction I was in the beginning stages of our rituals they had like a a
Table at the front of the room it had candles on it it had ivys on it and it had a picture of the most notable founder eth hedgman Lyall it was an altar but what stuck out to me was they were like we need you to come and kneel
Before it and every girl in the room we just looked at each other and I know now it was that it was the Holy Spirit you know letting the people in the room who at least had that a slight relationship with the Lord this isn’t right and I Remember what’s up ladies welcome back to another episode of the woman intentionally podcast I’m your host Whitney Kilgore and y’all today it’s going to be another great episode first of all I want to just say thank you to all the new subscribers y’all been coming on over joining The Sisterhood
Joining the Jesus tribe and listen here I’m excited about it okay so I just want to welcome you guys um and just hoping and praying that that as this channel continues to grow we’re all going to keep growing in Christ and just kind of getting filled with what he wants us to
Do and how he wants us to live intentionally with the life that he has given us so um today is about to be a good one okay I know y’all excited you didn’t seen the title by now and so I’m just praying that um you will just
Listen in and that you will take from this what you can get it is not our objective to convince you of anything it is our objective just to to share how the Lord has been revealing things to us but open your eyes as well so I have a
Special guest I’m going to bring her in her name is Desiree and see what God wants to do within this hour that we’re gonna be chatting here so let me bring Desiree in hey Desiree hey hey how are you doing good y’all this is Desiree I’m
One of those people who like saw Desiree on YouTube and was like hey girl I want to get you on a podcast I’m G keep emailing and I just was like let me just keep trying and when we talked on the um on Zoom it was really like I was like
Lord this is gonna be so much more than just a podcast interview like her story and her testimony is phenomenal but um I’m just excited about The Sisterhood that he has created in this in this opportunity so welcome to the woman intentionally podcast Desiree hey thank you I’m I’m so excited
To be here and I just want to Echo that and and talking to you I remember kind of preparing for our initial conversation and I was just praying and immediately when we got on the phone I think we both kind of felt that connection so this is just the beginning
But been a lot of preparation to get here so I’m excited right right right so listen I think I want us to start off with just telling everybody a little bit about I just want to know who is Desiree where are you from what are you into just talk
To us a little bit yeah um so you’ve already covered it my name is Desiree Grace um originally from Knoxville Tennessee born and raised so um went to the University of Tennessee and um we’ll kind of get into that with my testimony that’s also where I got into um
Sororities and then all the things but honestly interest Jesus not to be too too you know um women pouring into women um building Community I currently live in Chicago right now where you know I’m I’m I’m building up a women’s ministry here um just to teach wom what it looks
Like to lock into God and then to also lock into Godly Community um so really passionate about that um as well as just spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ um so it’s a little bit about me how old would you say you were when you started like really getting serious about God
Like were you raised in church church or like did this just come about yeah yeah I have an interesting background I wasn’t raised in church in fact I was I was raised in a home where God was not modeled and I think like sometimes uh I’m just GNA say it sometimes in Black
Culture right God has talked about and you know everybody grandama got the Bible on the kitchen table but um not always are people like living it out the word of God out so I think God was a central Topic in my childhood but the things that were modeled the fruits that
Were you know happening in my home was more worldly and so I didn’t grow up going to church every Sunday or anything like that but this is where like the hand of God comes in um and I’ve been able to see this as I’ve grown and matured is that the cheapest place for
My mom to send me when I was younger as a kid was a church so I did not get to go on Sundays but Monday through Friday I wasn’t so much having formal church but I was around spirit filled people who were just amazing counselors and
Things of that nature so I think the seed was planted then um but because it wasn’t modeled my life didn’t really model it and it wasn’t until after college I think I might have been 22 when the Lord snatched me up and and he got a hold of my heart and that’s when
Kind of everything changed including what we’re going to talk about today yeah wow I think that’s the case for so many of us we went to church and I saw the the laying on of hands like I had people trying to like you know make me
Not I’m not going down like I’m not going down seen it and I never really understood it and then you know like we go to church and then go home and it’s like living like hell the other six days of the week and so the same thing we
Talked about it even sang the songs and did the things but didn’t really walk that thing out and that’s the same objective I have is to like what does it really look like to live for God because people think that living for God is like it’s no fun like you just over here
Miserable like we really living good over here so sure we hear how you grew up and all those things so I want to talk about what Drew you to AKA what what Drew you to that organization I think um for me like when I talked to a lot of girls or even when
I was like in the process of joining like so many people like I wanted to be this since I was a kid but for me um I really didn’t know about like Greek life at all really until my junior senior year of high school and so I didn’t grow
A genuine interest in it until that time of life and coming from the background I came from where you know not everybody was a college graduate not everybody had went down that path I think what I was more so exposed to was just um wanting to kind of get out of the circumstances
That I was birthed in and I was living around I went to Inner City schools and things like that so when I saw um AKA for the first time it was actually on YouTube and I remember how I was younger how sought after they were I remember
Reading the comments and just the way that people respected them the way that people saw them in such a positive light and I think like what young girl period you know doesn’t want to be you know sought after or valued or all the things that come along with it and then as I
Got closer to college and started doing research of colleges I started to see how well respected they were on campus and so for me it was a matter of um you know I want to be a woman of value I want to be a woman you know who’s held
In high esteem so I think that’s where it started and then as I got older and got in college that’s when I learned about more of the history and more of you know what they’ve done you know for black culture and also just the different women who have been a part of
It um that have gone on to do amazing things in the world you know and that’s not just AKA but all of them so so to speak so I think at first it might have been more shallow like okay I want to be the girl but then it became I want to be
A part of something bigger than me and that’s when that Journey started as far as my interest goes yeah I think when um I never pledged or anything but I didn’t go to college I went the military route but also same thing just like you said
Like when you thought when you heard AKA like it in my town you were either AKA or Delta yeah AKA AKA were the pretty girls um that was just like that was it in my mind pretty girls go here and then not saying ugly girls go to Delta but it
Was like the down toe chicks the girls that everybody like like everybody so in my mind I was like well I ain’t pretty enough to go to AKA so I’m G be that’s girl listen that that was in my mind you know what I’m saying like having never um been to college or
Anything you just see like like the ones that you see the difference or whatever and so like that was what even in high school that’s kind of how we thought about it you know so um I was like I’mma Be a Delta and Lord was like you going
Right and then Easter star tried to get me girl over in the Army and I was like whoa oh Lord they was coming no yes girl I was in Iraq I was deployed to Iraq and like the it was in the Army it was more of easn star Freemason which
I’m going to uh get some guests to talk about those particular particular ones but definitely there is an esteem or there is a perception of what it means to be an AKA who can be one you know what I’m saying from some from the outside looking in so before we go
Further when it came to like looking back at your esteem and and and how you viewed yourself or your selfworth and all those kind of things do you feel like um you know that played into you wanting to be that or it affected your self-esteem when you crossed did you
Feel like you came out more confident how was that yeah yeah I I think that that’s uh the thing about uh these organizations and and not just them is that they they do play off of the human desire to belonging which is like a core human need right so The Sisterhood or
The Brotherhood right or um yeah like it really tends to the fleshly side of things for sure that when you’re held in the high esteem or when you walk into the room and people see your letters like and we don’t like to talk about that because we act we like to act like
It’s all about service but it’s not it’s it’s not all about that you know and and we you’re trained to go into the interviews and to say that but a piece of it is the connectivity the networking but also the esteem you’re held in so yeah I would I
Would be lying if I said that my background you know coming from an environment where maybe there wasn’t a lot of good validations about my identity and who I am and my value did 100% you know lure me into wanting to change that for myself and I think AKA
At the time was a feasible option and I even remember all the girls who were rushing around campus and trying to get you know the letters of recommendation and all that and and um I remember being in a room it was like almost 200 girls
In there if not more just wanting to be a part of it and um the anxiety was so high and even when girls got denial letters people were just crushed and so I think it definitely does appeal to the human emotion of like I want to belong I
Want to be important I want to be valued for sure yeah one thing I’ve also wondered when it comes to the differences right um do you feel like aka’s esteem themselves more highly than the other sororities and was that something that just kind of came naturally as you pledged or is that
Something kind of like um that just kind of trained or or like you know instilled in you as you go through the process well I think when when you’re coming into an entity that’s pre-existing that’s bigger than you so to speak there’s already these set standards in
Expectations and so of course like you know we like we don’t like to talk about the elitist part of Greek organizations especially when it comes to the black ones because there are breakdowns in both the black and the white ones but I was in a black one so that’s what we’re
Talking about today um before it was the Divine n it was called the elite eight so the always this elitist piece of it and with AKA I believe the elitist perspective comes from they were first right the first and so um 100% that was the idea like everybody understands that
And then I also think that there’s just a general kind of like um back and forth between different organizations and it’s a little playful but there’s an expectation like when you see certain organizations you think yours is better right and AKA being the first sorority that was definitely instilled that like
We’re the best um not to say that everybody believed that to their core right I think for me I was I came from more humble beginning so I don’t think I really believe like oh I’m better than all these people but I will say you know
When I became an AKA I feel like my my core set of beliefs were okay but yes I started to kind of fall more so into My Flesh like the cultural side of things you know let me put the plates on my car and make sure you can see the keychain
Right and I will say people responded to me differently as a result of those things so it’s a very real thing it’s not like made up so yeah there’s an elitist piece of it for sure even down to you know when you’re not Greek right the formal term is you call them gdis
Which just means you know they’re I’m not gonna cuss but God individuals and so it’s almost like people who are not Greek from a Greek perspective are looked down upon and I think these are things we don’t talk about because it’s internal but yes and I think it’s felt
You know like from someone who hasn’t done it it’s it’s definitely felt like same thing you said I know people that have wanted to be AKA like with everything and and like felt like they should have been because of their degrees and all the things they had but
Were still rejected and it was so crushing to them um wanted to be a part of that and and to me that’s one of the things that I didn’t I haven’t necessarily agreed with it’s like if and then also I’ve known people who to be one and then when they didn’t pay dues
Or they didn’t I guess do certain things they were basically like not given the same privileges or the same level of respect and in my thing I’m hearing like Sisterhood well if you’re my sister you’re my sister you know if we didn’t did this we should be sisters regardless
But um so those kind of things kind of like you know shot me away from it but you sometimes people can’t see past that it’s like no I have to be this because I think I think there’s personally a deeper um desire for validation that that people are kind of seeking after I
Agree so you join you’re living your life you know Miss AKA doing all the things um what would you say happened that started to cause a little bit of conviction about you being a part of it yeah well I think it’s important to note like going back to my original
Background of how I knew God right you you couldn’t have told me in college I wasn’t a Christian right I I was that’s when I actually started going to church on Sundays myself and I I would bring girls with me I’d be buy you know buying
Them the Bible study books but but I was a Sunday Christian you know and you kind of hit on it with your testimony where you go to church and you sing the songs and you you feel a move of God but but Monday through Saturday you live like hell and so what
Was happening was I knew of God right but I had not had a true encounter with him to where he’d be the Lord over my whole life so and that’s another thing you know of course you can pledge outside of undergrad but the vast majority of people do undergrad so
You’re talking about young impressionable Minds like our minds aren’t even developed until 25 so the conviction happened while I was in the process in college but I didn’t know it was conviction because I didn’t have that intimacy with the Holy Spirit to know this is the holy spirit talking to me
This is the holy spirit warning me and so for me the first time I felt unsure um but I didn’t have words for it was I was in the beginning stages of our rituals and um we were walking into this pitch black room we all have on black
Dresses and um they they had like a a table at the front of the room it had candles on it it had ivys on on it and it had a picture of the most notable founder Etho hedgman ly and it had like a pledge book and some just different
Things that signified AKA it was an altar and it literally says that you know in the ritual book as well and um that was creepy in itself right but you don’t know what’s going on but what stuck out to me was they were like we
Need you to come and kneel before it and I remember when they said that and every girl in the room we just looked at each other like and I think it and I know now it was that it was the Holy Spirit you know letting the people in the room who
At least had that a slight relationship with the Lord this isn’t right and I remember looking and locking eyes with one girl I looked up to a lot in college who had a relationship with the Lord and we looked at each other and it was just like this unease but with that said
You’re asked to do it and the expectation is that you do it immediately and and um it even says in the ritual book in certain versions that if you’re not able to fulfill that the candidate then needs to leave right so um we just did it and and I think people
Also disregard the psychology behind like group think and how you’re in a setting and everybody’s doing something so you just do it so I felt that uneasiness then that wasn’t the last time that I kneeled at all and that wasn’t the last time I felt that
Uneasiness I think it just got easier to explain away the more I kept doing it yeah I and a part of that becomes like uh it’s like nurtured right like we become the more nurtured we are to do with things the more natural it becomes becomes for us but that first time first
Time you know what I’m saying you do something you ain’t got no business doing y know what I’m talking about it’s like oh how dare I question right but then nurturing you know after a few times you’re like let’s go I’m good so I’m good yeah we become programmed and
It becomes na it becomes natural for us to do it so um I would just even in this moment you know just in any aspect of life just encourage ladies to think about what are some things that you have uh been doing that have become natural
For you that you know were not natural in the beginning like what have you allowed yourself to be nurtured into doing just because you do it often like you knew this thing wasn’t pleasing to God but because you like it or enjoy it you just continue to do it and then it’s
Easier to block out the conviction that you feel when you’re doing those things so that can go into all areas of life not just this one so just pay attention I think too um the verse that comes to mind is we perish for our lack of knowledge and so sometimes you don’t
Even know that what you were feeling was the Holy Spirit trying to guard you and protect you just like me and so I would even urge women or whoever listen to the podcast to ask as the Lord to reveal sins both known and unknown because there are so many things that we’re not
Even aware of because we perish for our lack of knowledge but it’s like then when I got more mature and the Lord was like okay I have your heart I have your ears now I can go back and show you the error of your way you know so even even
Even thank God for grace and mercy that even in ignorance when we don’t know and we enter into things he’s willing to extend grace mercy see and then we can repent but he will show us like kind of the way of error and the origin of it so
Yeah you hit on something good even there too because I think a lot of times sometimes we think because we’ve done it some things we do knowingly like some things like we know it ain’t right we still do it and the fact that God sent
Christ to to to die for us for those moments too is just another reason for us to just consider like man is this something that God really wants me doing you know is this in line with you reasons that we don’t know these things is because we don’t read our word as
Christian I cannot tell you how long I live as a Christian without reading the Bible without a prayer life okay without yes at fast you want me to eat no not eat food for how long is that your devil literally I think that also points to the fact that
Um we follow into casual Christianity and and the thing there is that we like the God who gives we like The God Who restores who blesses but we don’t know or have relationship with the God who takes and requires and says sacrifice and and pick up your cross
Bear it and Die daily and so I think the issue is that when we only have a service level relationship with the Lord we can be confused almost when it when the truth inconveniences us but if you have not been inconvenienced by the word of God I would urge you to tap in
Because it literally says in this life we will have trials and tribulations I was just reading the word before this and Paul was writing from jail and he’s like I’m in jail because of what I’m doing for Christ I’m suffering because of it and so um I think it’s just a it’s
It’s a reality check and thank God for that grace and mercy but yeah God is gonna require some things from your life but it’s good yeah but it’s a good thing so yeah yeah and I think the enemy is so deceiving because he’ll it’s like almost everything that
He does is like trying to mimic God right um he’s trying to mimic God so you know it may just seem like an altar but no that’s you know God is a jealous God and he tells us he’s a jealous guy putting no other gods before him and he
Says at the name of Jesus every kn shall bow so why do you think it’s not a coincidence that Satan is out here like trying to have us bowing and kneeling and all these different things you know what I’m saying um as a sign of of surrender like honor and reverence for
This organization or these organizations and not even that for just people some of y’all bowing to Beyonce okay let’s not even get into that but you know different so many different things it’s not just this okay we have to get it together casual Christianity it really does it is really
Destroying us so yeah so things like this and surrounding yourself with people who are trying to talk about things that may not feel good to you I don’t only want friends who just tell me how great I am I need friends in my life who are like hey did you think about
This did you cover this in prayer did for this girl I didn’t even know I need to repent for that you know surround yourself with women who are trying to hear from God when it came to your decision to denounce like what solidified that yeah o man a lot of hours with God
Working on my heart a lot of time um I think you know when I did denounce which was the public side of things right uh and and just so happened that my video went crazy viral right and and the ra the reason I even bring that up is
Because there were a lot of opinions attached to it going viral and it was interesting because I read them all and and that was just me being young and not protecting me myself but I read a lot of crazy stuff and I was shocked at how
People who had never known me I’ve never met had complete narratives about me I was doing it for clout or um I did something haphazardly or I didn’t do proper research you know what people didn’t understand was that that video that video was a year after the Lord had
Me privately come out wow um and so for me it was not halfhazard it was not quick I tried to really evade the words of God that I was getting um how it started for me was I just graduated and I’m AKA out I was very much invested in
The organization a leader like poured into a lot was really invested and so I remember getting my first job after college and I moved and I was even getting involved with the grad chapter like I’m solidified and um I had a a Exline sister at time who had just given
Her life to Christ and she uh came in hot right she was in that beginning stage where you’re just you’re so obsessed with Jesus and so she was allowing him to kind of investigate so many parts of her life and one night she called me and she was like I’m feeling a
Little off about some of the stuff we did and uh during AKA during our process and I’m like okay and that’s all she said and then all before I knew it I think it was like the next week or two weeks later she had publicly got online
And completely broke ties with it right so it sent my community and college into an uproar I mean she was saying it’s demonic it’s this it’s that and at the time I had people calling my phone because they were like oh you’re a Christian right so is there validity to
This and for me at the time I was extremely offended I felt like I the way she carried it out was tasteful but also like I’ll be honest I even said things like oh no like she’s crazy like I don’t know what she’s on you know because I
Was responding in my flesh but I won’t lie it stuck with me it stuck with me I’m like what is this you know and you know I just kept doing what I was doing kept showing up to events but the issue was when I would show up to events I wouldn’t feel
Peace after hearing what she had said I remember I was at a event and it was like I think the world day of prayer and I was at a church and we all showed up in our colors and they had changed the lights in the church to pink and green
And we up in the the altar we’re like we have priority seating in the Altar and I just was like wait a minute I don’t know what’s going on and I remember I just didn’t feel peace and so I grew even more offended and I’m like okay this
Girl is a Christian and she’s essentially saying this is demonic so I as a Christian am offended let me go and look and investigate so I can prove her wrong and that where the origin of deeper investigation came for me so I remember um there was another girl at
This time who had denounced from the alpha chapter at Howard and you know which is a really big deal because the alpha chapter is really hard to get into and I remember watching it and I texted the girl that had you know previously denounced from my line and I said I’m
Watching this but I just don’t understand and she said if you didn’t feel something in your heart you wouldn’t even made the full hour video so you need to talk to God right and so I remember I got a copy of the ritual book because they don’t give it to you I
Had to go and find it I didn’t even know what I was saying at the time when I was in college I was just repeating verbally repeating things and so I remember I was in my room and I said God um I don’t think anything is wrong with this but I
Said if there is something I said remove the scals from my eyes so I can see it like you see it and you hear it and I just felt just a wait I just felt a wait and I I turned open that first page and immediately just tears
Started to pour um because I saw things that were wrong on the first page um and so that’s where it started for me and then I read through the whole ritual book I probably read that thing over 50 times I sat with it I’m even getting emotional talking about it and I just
Allowed the Lord to kind of take out a too comb and show me all the things that I had done even unknowingly and then you know it became very clear that um I had made Oaths I had made covenants I’d given over my life to things I had kneeled um the
Ritual book talks about my kneeling representing my submission it talks about even in bowing I bowed to the founders um and then we’ll get into this but scriptures were literally the Holy Spirit was giving me wisdom I was reading it and I’m like this just sounds
Like scripture I don’t know I type it into Google long and behold it would be a whole Bible verse that was popped up but it had been manipulated yeah God had been taken out of it and then the organization had been put in place of it
And so he was just taking me through like a crash course of like you know this is modernday idolatry and not only that you have disobeyed The Ten Commandments on a couple different for a couple different reasons because you’ve already bowed and kneeled but in you doing what you did and making these
Covenants and Oaths you can only serve one master so you have literally made a covenant invested your time and done all these things and now you’re in Covenant with something that is not of me which is demonic and now we need to have you come out and so from there it was a
Year-long process of him working on my heart to actually come out yeah powerful I have questions about uh the Covenant peace for people who may not understand like the SE severity of a covenant can you talk a little bit about that like why did that hit so hard for
You knowing you had made a covenant with these um these Idols yeah the Bible tells us uh right uh let your yes be your yes and your no be your no it literally talks against making like certain Oaths and vows and so um othing and vowing over my full Devotion to this
Organization the only thing that should have that much of me is God right and so and then when you seal it in ritual you know one of the things about the rituals was that we started in all black right and we’re and the thing with secret societies and other things is that
There’s always rituals having to do with it a lot of people don’t understand the roots of Greek life which is free Masonic they borrowed the rituals they borrowed all these things from free Masonic organizations um and so the rituals where I was in all black I was
Kneeling this is a ceremony where I’m literally offering up myself to this organization and the language speaks to that also inside the ritual book right um and then at the end of those ceremonies when I’ve kneeled time and time again when before altars which is
The same process that we we do in church when I gave my verbal confession to oath my life over to serve this with full devotion which is the same confession we give to the Lord the problem is you can’t do both and I think that people
One of the things one of the most common things people say is well if you let the organization get in the way of God that’s your problem what we all did when we made those Oaths and those vows and got on our knees and made the same
Confession out our mouths that we make when we go to chur church and we give our lives over yeah and so um it it’s it’s so severe and the Bible reminds us that you will give account for every Idol word you spoke amen amen and then it makes me
Think about that scripture that says present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God and then like I just said Satan comes over and says present yourself to me you know what I’m saying give yourself over to me and then life and death is in the
Power of the tongue like so many things so it’s one thing to have y’all doing it but then to have you like speaking and confessing and saying these things even just reading a little bit right the more you start to read you start to recognize that everything that Christ did was was
Surrounded with sacrifices Christ sacrificed his life before Christ they were sacrificing animals and all these different things and then now here we come and in this form of idolatry sacrificing ourselves which is what God wants to use to do his work in the earth and I think it’s so so small because
When I looked at akas or any other the organizations and see them uh doing all this work in the community it’s like they’re doing sa they’re they’re sacrificing their time you know and they’re committing and doing all these things in community this is good stuff but but deeper deeper desire I wanted to
Know what God working on your heart look like for you you know some people you know because a lot of times we don’t know what it means we have literally learned that serving God is going to church on Sundays but we don’t recognize that there’s so much more to God you
Know and so what did God working on your heart look like for you like what did that mean how did you even know to do it you know o man I think it was um it was just seeking them I think and and I’ll go into detail what that looked like you
Don’t know what you don’t know yeah and and and the Lord knows that and hence we have the Holy Spirit that comes to guide us and comes to be our Helper and comes to be our counselor so for me you know it reminds me of the verse that talks
About like those who diligently seek him like not only will they be rewarded but he’s going to reveal himself to them it talks about knocking the door will be opened right and so there’s this active process of our faith where I think of seeki the Kingdom first all these things
Will be added unto you and so I think it came from me really having an open heart to seek God and the Holy Spirit just leading me um for me that year-long process was a lot of it was the fear of man and I and a lot of people struggle
With that I’ve had so many um people message me especially men who are like I know I did something wrong but I’m I’m locked in I’m locked into this Brotherhood and I’m I’m fearful of what the repercussions would be because right now we’re just talking about the above
Ground process we’re not talking about the part where people are getting beat brutally and abused and you know and manipulated in all types of stuff like that so for me it was the fear of man you know I going back to my childhood and one of the things that led
Me to this Sisterhood was you know I didn’t have a lot of good validation growing up and so um the fact that I had created a life for myself where I felt secure I was essentially giving all of that up and then this was before he even told me to
Go public so I remember telling him I’m like all right I’mma do it but I’m not getting online you like you gonna have to find somebody else to do it um because I was scared of what people would say about me I was scared of what people would all the things that
Inevitably happened right and he worked on my heart and um he took me to G Ians 1:0 where Paul talks about if he were If he if it was his goal to serve people and I’m paraphrasing he would not be a servant of the Lord yeah you know and
That’s where one of the taglines from you know when I denounced came from which was people aren’t my standard God is and so he he started to kind of talk to me and work with me and we wrestled and it was this beautiful transition
That was a lot of tears and a lot of pain but he ultimately said Desiree you have to make up in your mind are you more concerned with people’s salvation or their frustration and when he told me that after countless nights and hours of sitting with him I was like it is worth
People being frustrated with me if they in turn will know the truth and be saved I think like we said if you don’t really have a a personal relationship with God it may be easier for you to just like overlook this and not even you know
Attempt but I will say like she said just Allowing God to really just work on your heart you know like none of us really know what we’re doing when we get started okay so don’t be deceived I don’t care how many scriptures we quoting like like one of those things
Where like girl start to just give him a chance when we say just letting him work on your heart we just simply mean God I’m not sure about this this is what I’m feeling there’s a scripture that says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
My sight Lord the things that are in my heart right now I’m not sure if they’re acceptable in your sight so can you just show me like what’s going on like I’m saying that I’m a Christian but in my heart I’m not sure if this sorority or
This food or this man or this thing is getting in the way of me really being acceptable in your sight in my heart so you know asking God about those things that are in your heart and if you know he needs to remove those things in order
For you to really have that relationship with him is what I would say like just start with just and he’ll start to show you girl it’ll be Supernatural because that’s the thing it’s like sometimes we can’t even explain this stuff you’ll just be like okay I know this had to be
God to like show me this because there’s no way I could have known this on my own yeah so Des right for the Christians who are dead set on they can serve God and they can also still be in their sorority or fraternity um what kind of questions
Would you you know tell them to ask themselves or to consider you know in this moment of watching this video nothing and let me tell you why yeah because the Bible talks about how there’s no good thing in our flesh and so and it says to not lean on
Your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him so the question shouldn’t even be directed towards you the question needs to go to God need we have to Humble ourselves like even me like when I go back to what I just shared I wasn’t going to a ritual
Book because I thought I did something wrong I was going because I felt like somebody had me messed up a little bit but I humbled myself and I said Lord I don’t see anything wrong with this but if there is remove the scales from my eyes and
Unplucked go before God and say but what do you think about it yeah that’s the question and I think when I was you know I didn’t know that so when I was going through this you know I had talked to like presidents over regions of different organizations and I was
Talking to people who were Greek and what was happening is a confirmation bias I was sub subconsciously going to people that could only affirm or strengthen my reasoning to stay and I think sometimes we can get really really confused when we talk to a whole bunch
Of people but the Bible tells us to test every Spirit by the spirit so go to the Holy Spirit that’s good because the Bible also says that the heart is deceitful who can know it so like yes it’s so wicked like you’ll be really thinking Some people in their
Heart knew they wanted to kill this person they like it’s only right that I kill them in yeah yeah the is crazy it will it will really convince you of some things like you’ll really be thinking you right out here and then when you really step
Back and look I’m like dang that was me I was out here a whiling thinking I was so right you know so and Justified so so yeah yeah so that is a that’s a very that’s a very wise thing so take it to God you know come out of yourself come
Out of myself Lord is this pleasing to you is this what you want from me my question is you know what were the struggles that you face not only from fellow Christians but from the world as well what were some of the struggles that you faced when you decided to denounce
Yeah I think the world is to be expected the world is to be expected I’ll say that at least you know and how God Was preparing me I didn’t know it was going to go like viral and get as much traction as it did but I think he was
Telling me like this is going you gonna get some backlash and um yeah that was that was tough that was tough I think I think it the issue with the Saints is when they’re so it feels so Justified right in their relation relationship with God and so they will use the
Justification that they believe that they have to then tear down you because you must be wrong I think that’s maybe the more hurtful than the world you know um but a part of it also is just understanding that like the enemy comes as an angel of Light and he comes
Specifically to deceive to twist right even going back to the ritual book when scripture was just manipulated Jesus Christ his name is in the ritual book actually and that’s the craziest thing is that like if you are not if you were leaning on your own understanding you
Will be deceived and so I think during that time like what helped me a lot was like people coming to me and seeing the backlash because one thing about me God was like do not defend yourself and just my background that wasn’t a natural that wasn’t a natural reaction for me but he
Was telling me that because he was getting the glory and if I in put it myself it would have not become about what God Said in the truth and would it become more about me right and so I think um the verse that talks about how like a servant is not greater
Than its master so they hated me first they’re gonna hate you too and so understanding that so many people even people in the church are deceived and not just about Greek life but other things I think it helped but it definitely suck to see it but I will say
Uh the silver lining of that was in me not defending myself so many Saints who did know the truth defended me on my behalf yeah so it was kind of like I will say it was neck and neck you kind of focus more on the bad just because
We’re naturally attuned to that yeah but um people showed up for me and the world was just like that’s where it’s like you’re doing it for clout you’re goofy you’re this you’re that and and the Bible talks about how they can’t even receive they can’t even understand the
Knowledge of Christ so I think I just had to grow in maturity and understand like that’s actually how the Bible says they will respond I think what hurt more than the Saints or the world was people that were close to me and that’s what I would like to talk to people about too
Because I think that’s also the thing that people get a lot of fear is how will my Lon brothers or my L sisters perceive me how will some people are legacies they’re parents their parents parents have been in this for so long but um the Bible talks about those
Willing to give up mothers and brothers and sisters like they have such a great reward and I’ve seen God do amazing things in my life where to lose is to gain I may have lost friendships or I may have lost people but he’s brought in more enriching relationships that Lead
Me To the Cross instead of to the world so it’s and take for sure yeah that’s super encouraging because I can imagine that those are the things you think about you know you’re thinking about who’s not fa to you know fool with me because I’m doing this or like you know
How are people going to react to me doing this or to me saying this and that’s not only with this kind of life but just so many other things where we say we don’t do anymore like friends wanted I didn’t want a club no more and friends was like like you know just
Simple things like that it wasn’t my thing anymore and I had to really count up the cost of losing friends because I didn’t want to do that kind of stuff anymore and willing to give those things up so after like overcoming all of that and and you know going through that
Journey and going through that process of kind of like maybe some loneliness and things like that and kind of working through that what were some of the positive things that came out of you denouncing like how has life changed since then and you know what what are
Some good things that came out of yeah um I would say in terms of denouncing God is so interesting and just funny to me like how he weaves life together um because having this conversation where that video is about um maybe three or four years old I would have had a
Different response if you asked me then because I was in the thick of it but now you know announcing in in the way the video kind of took off it was one of the first times for me to see one of my spiritual giftings in teaching and I
Just I just thought you know was pretty natural like the Lord showed me something and I’m just going to um portray it but like so many people thousands and thousands and thousands of people and these are just people that I know about who messaged me who I’ve also
Helped to you know get out of the organizations that they’re in have literally said like it was just so clean it was so pure it was so easy to understand and simplistic and so that’s when the Lord started to reveal to me like oh like I’ve actually called you to
To communicate and to teach and to spread the gospel in that way and it’s a gifting um so that’s one of them is just like identifying greater levels of purpose I remember when I was struggling with God I was like God I really don’t want to give you know AKA up
Because I’m I’m invested and have relationships with people I have jobs I’m trying to be in this grad chapter and he said you know I understand that but if you don’t I can’t take you to where I want to take you because it will
Get the glory instead of me and so in my ability to humble myself and to die to My Flesh and to lose this portion of my life a world of opportunity from God opened up for me so um yeah from That season there was like so many things
That happened I ended up getting like sponsored on YouTube and paid just off that one video and um I ended up getting some some forms of notoriety which are not are the less the least important thing to me but um being known for my faith and like even I hosted an event
This past weekend for women just to come together and lock into God and lock into each other and so many women came up to me and was like you video changed my life and so I think one of the most valuable things I’ve been able to see is
U the fruit from one yes and freedom right generational curs is being broken and I kind of want to share this right because we think of the cost the Bible tells us to count the cost in terms of what it takes to follow God but I also
Think one thing we should also do is count the cost of not and so when we go back to the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy which you referenc I just want to read it real quick because I had someone ask me they said um I feel like
Something’s wrong but I want to I want to stay in the organization I want to be a light which you can’t do because repentance means to literally turn and go the other direction right and then I was explaining this to them and they said uh but is it a heaven and hell
Issue like is me being here GNA send me to hell and I said hey I don’t have one to put you in or take you out of but if you’re asking that question is it willing to gamble with your with your life with your soul right so it reminds
Me of Deuteronomy um which is The Ten Commandments and it says You must not have any other God but me you must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea you must not
Bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods I lay the sins of the parents upon their children theti the entire family is affected even children in the third and third and
Fourth generation of those who reject me but I lavish unfailing love for a thousand Generations on those who love me and obey my commands I want to speak to that because one of the best things I’ve seen is freedom I’ve breaken generational curses you know and this
Has not been easy things to do but I’m the Lord is laying on his un his unfailing love for a thousand Generations where I’ve been able to come out to break covenants to break agreements not just with Greek life with other things and now I can walk in that
Freedom and so that’s the best thing ever honestly yes yes I love that scripture because I think sometimes the enemy will really get us like discouraged you know about how many like there are some consequences for the generations coming after us but then God comes back and says what he’ll do the
Blessings that will come upon us in our to come if we are obedient to him so I feel like that’s so encouraging for for you know for you if you’re listening for your children for your children’s children you know what I’m saying so we can set them up for success and we can
Also do some damage and like for people who are like still questioning it think about some of the life’s choices that your parent or your grandparent made and how that affected your your mom and your grandma how that keeps going you know this is the same thing we just sometimes
Can’t see it we don’t even recognize that there is spiritual things going on causing these issues why there’s poverty in your life where there’s lack why marriages never survived your family in your bloodline like sickness all of these different things we don’t know so it’s like you really are setting
Yourself up for Success believing the promises of God and then going ahead and being obedient so I’d rather take a chance on the promises and the blessings of God than to even play with what what he’s saying that he’s going to do because this is not Satan say I’m going
To curse you and do all these things this is God saying I’m saying what what comes of us being disobedient and not obeying him putting other God before him you know yeah just growing in God growing in knowledge and being able to you know fight differently because you
Mentioned this earlier like we don’t fight with flesh and blood but we fight with spiritual wickedness and principalities and high places and so to be unaware of that fight that’s going on around us is to also be a victim which goes back to the scripture we perish for
Our lack of knowledge and so one of the last things I said in my video which the Lord put on my heart was a scripture that says it would have been better for you to have not known than to have been made aware and still do what you’re
Doing and so now the knowledge Bears responsibility yeah yeah amen amen so I’m praying that after listening to this you will pray it’s not about what you think but that you will seek God about what he says about this thing the scriptures are there like she went and
Found the ritual book for herself you know do do what you need to do to get right with God you know and um and to set your gener the the coming Generations up for success in all of this I think that’s be that’s a beautiful thing and it’s it’s just
Freeing because God gives us so much Authority and so much power just by making the right decision you know like you’re not helpless in this situation at all you have a choice amen do you have anything else that you want to share before we pray I do want
Us to pray um before we leave but is there anything else that you want to share you know um from all of your experience with people reaching out um I know when I was started learning about these things and I told someone close to me about the um the bondage of
Freemasonry in their mind they told me like no baby um once you’re in you’re always in and the only scripture I knew at that time I was so young I had just start you know um learning about all these things I was like but whom the sun says free is free [Laughter]
Indeed yeah oh my God I think that’s such a trick I mean I don’t think I know it’s such a trick from Satan I got so many comments like that oh like once once you’re grafted in like you’re in it’s not true like the blood of Jesus is
Enough to break any yoke any stronghold right like every need about every tongue will confess like even the demons know his name and so you serve a God who even like the world of Darkness knows acknowledges and will have to surrender to and so once again that’s just the
Power of freedom and knowing your Authority in Jesus Christ and so I would just end on love right I think uh it’s it’s the love of God that moves us into like more righteous living and he’s not doing this because he’s some authoritarian figure that just hates you
In his way waiting on you to mess up he’s doing it because he loves you and it’s through that love that he sent his only son Jesus to die for our sins that we could be made right with him and have eternal life and so you have authority
Through Jesus Christ and he loves you and he wants to make all of your crooked paths straight and you have the ability to do that um so now it’s just up to you to to seek that out and choose it amen amen I heard a testimony of this guy um
He was telling his testimony and God told him that um the least of them in God’s kingdom is greater than the highest of those in Satan’s kingdom yes so brand new baby Christian and you still got more power than anybody that are that are affiliated with the works
Of darkness and the kingdom of darkness so do not let the enemy scare you y’all better y’all better get gangster with Satan because he out here trying not playing with him you you you do you do gota you do kind of have you get some
Some some grit with it but you know the Lord the Lord will keep you um yeah we’re going to pray over anybody who would be receiving this message um so even that just be a covering and a hedge of protection over you as well yeah Des
Ray I would appreciate if you would pray I think you kind of know the heart of people who are have had this experience and um yes so we’ll just pray in a prayer of rep of repentance um and and whatever you feel led to pray for people
Watching this video Perfect I would love to um dear heavenly father we just first and foremost want to come into your courts with just gratitude and praise um to even be here to even be having this conversation to even be um saved and redeemed myself is is just something
That um just reminds me of your grace and your mercy and your love that you don’t you don’t sit high and look low just to pinpoint things about us or to make us feel bad about ourselves but you just want to you just want to see us
Live righteously you want to see us live for you and in that there’s so much goodness and there are so many things that so many people may not understand but in time you will reveal it to them and so I pray for every heart that is
Receiving this word I pray for every ear that is listening for every eye that is watching Lord I pray that they don’t even take what we say is Bible but they try the Spirit by the spirit that they lean not on their own understanding but in all of their ways they would
Ackowledge you and you would make their crooked paths straight I even pray just against the spirit of offense one of the Oaths uh one of the Oaths in the ritual book is that we would oath ourselves and vow to defend our organization every over every undertaking and so I even
Break the spirit of offense Lord that they would be able to hear the Holy Spirit and you would be able to speak to them and lead them just to the path of freedom God I pray for people who might be under spirits of fear and spirit of intimidation who are scared of what
People will think of them who are scared of what their family will say people who are have been engrafted into these organizations generation after generation Lord I pray that you would show yourself to them that you are the Mighty God who is above all things you have all power all authority to break
Any chain any yoke any Covenant anything Lord but also you are a God who restores in right time and so Lord I pray that they would just come to you and trust in you that you know everything and they can trust your good and perfect will
Your word tells us that you have have plans to prosper us not to harm us but to give us a hope in a future I pray that they would feel the love of God that even when they are unsure even when they are scared they would know your
Heart which is to plan and to prosper them and to give them a hope in a future and I just pray that the overwhelming feeling of this podcast today is love but love cannot be but we cannot have love and forsake truth either and so I pray that they will receive this through
The Holy Spirit processing it through the love you are but also the truth in the name of Jesus we pray and I also just want to extend um the prayer of repentance to anybody who might be watching to anybody who might be listening you can repent right now in
This moment Lord I pray that you would lead them to a prayer of repentance where they would begin to renounce and repent for covenants made for decisions made for actions done sins both known and unknown and that you would lead them out of that darkness and Into The
Marvelous Light in the might name of Jesus we pray amen amen amen listen Desiree thank you so much for just being willing sharing your heart and the courage that it took even back then and even today um I’m just I’m excited to be your sister in Christ I’m thankful for
That and um and for the people are going to be blessed by watching this podcast listen you guys um I’m going to put all of desire’s information down below go follow her um and make sure you guys um comment down below you know what you got from this and I appreciate you guys
Tuning in listen we are not just living life we’re not just out here doing whatever we feel led to do we are to live and to woman intentionally so I will see you guys in the next episode bye Bye
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