Good afternoon i know many you all want to know why i renounce my membership from alpha 5 from fraternity incorporated and i promise you i’ll get to that but first i just want to share a little bit about my experience in alpha my journey my research deeper to the fraternity
My walk with christ and what ultimately led me to make that final decision so please watch the video and let me know if you have any questions thank you overall i enjoyed my time within the fraternity i spent over two years as a undergraduate brother on campus and i had a well-rounded experience
Between meeting different people and different organizations doing programs step shows that we won stroll-offs yard shows parties and so all that was cool you know it was a fun experience and um after a while actually when i first you know crossed it it was kind of an adjustment to me to
Be honest with you um i’m still pretty social i would say social introvert you know i’m more introverted but i can be social in the right environment but you know this coming around a whole bunch of you know brothers with different uh personalities and you know we went through you know some
You know challenges and feats that most organizations go through when they you know come through uh when they pledge fraternities to sorority so you know after that you know i was really trying to just really get to know the guys on campus and so
Um it was cool but i just was trying to find that balance between my friends and my i already established social groups before i was at alpha and then while i was in alpha just trying to balance that but overall it was great experience i learned a lot
I learned a lot about myself and you know it was a great experience and so fast forward so backing up a little bit i was 19 years old actually i’m sorry i was 20. i was 20 years old when i had cross alpha and i had the opportunity to do an internship
At the general office the headquarters out in baltimore baltimore maryland a couple months fresh after i crossed and that was a great experience got to go to the national convention down in austin texas and worked with alpha headquarters and got a chance to meet so many different
Alpha brothers from all over the country and i lived in baltimore for a summer and that was great i’m awesome experience and so yeah i had some great times and you know i had some great times i was the chaplain on campus a chaplain for the chapter for a while
Um but backing up where i where i was during that time spiritually and just where i was at i was you know just desiring to be a part of a network of uh black men who um exemplified excellence but spiritually i would say i was still a believer in jesus christ
Uh for sure but i wasn’t walking a or living a godly lifestyle fully you know i still like to party and you know i was in a relationship at the time and on and off but uh under relationship for the better part about two years um but then on and off after that
Two-year mark um after joining fraternity sorority um relationships are definitely tested so you know at that time mine did not stand the test of time um however um i was just i wanted to explore you know and after you know a recent um you know departure you know break up a
Relationship i was just you know wanting to meet you know women and just have fun and you know that’s what i did i didn’t get too caught up in like the drinking or smoking but i was you know just uh you know i was exploring you know let’s just say that
With uh different women and that’s not right but that’s just where i was at the time i’m gonna be honest and so around the age of 22 back in like 20 2015 when i was getting ready to graduate i really felt convicted i really felt convicted about i need to change my lifestyle
I need to change my lifestyle so uh with that being said um i started going to bible study on campus youth for christ and then after i graduated i dedicated myself to bible study and reading the bible i went back home in farmington hills where i’m from and
Which is right outside of detroit area so i was at home while i graduated joined a church home and then eventually i had the opportunity to move down to kent state in ohio and i was there for some time but with that being said during this time i wasn’t active in
Alpha i was still a member but i wasn’t uh financially active or a part of any alumni chapter so that’s a little bit of background story about you know why i joined you know what the context of where i was at the time my experience as an alpha and after graduation and so
You know now we’re going to fast forward to life after graduation and alpha on the what ultimately led to me renouncing the fraternity so before i get into why i renounce and i know that’s the part that you all wanna that you’re waiting for you know that’s the climax
Of the story but it’s important to mention um around my 23rd birthday i decided that i wanted to you know fully live for christ and become celibate until marriage i want to give up sex and remain abstinent until marriage and at this time i was committed to not
Drinking not smoking but just really want to live a godly lifestyle in christ jesus to live holy so by the grace of god you know i was able to remain celibate for about almost five years my master’s degree at five years until you know i married my wife and so
With that being said i’m backing up i wasn’t doing everything perfectly you know it’s a process god was working on me when i moved down to kent ohio i lived by myself i had no family um i didn’t have any friends down there so it was just a great time because me
And jesus we spend a lot of time together and i learned a lot about myself i did a lot of studying at the scriptures and i found a great church home and yeah that was that i was never active really with alpha at the time i was still affiliated you know in the
Fraternity never had any thoughts about necessarily denouncing at this time but um yeah that’s just where i was for about a few years and fast forward um back in last year during the pandemic in november 2020 i moved down to columbus ohio um and after i got engaged to my fiance now wife
I mean we got engaged i got my own apartment and i was here and we were preparing to get married and so fast forward to this past september 2021 about four months ago now we end up being married and you know now we’re here still in columbus and it’s great and so
My wife she’s a a member of a sorority um aka alpha kappa alpha um just side note but the reason i say that is that you know we got married and we you know did a celebration to him and did some strolling at her weddings you know her
With her aka lion sisters me with my alpha brothers and we had a good time it was all love but now i’m starting to get into the details of why went down so with that being said we had some private discussions over i would say the past year you know just
Kind of reflecting our experience of being a part of a uh greek letter fraternity or sorority and i was just sharing you know some of my highlights and also just some of the areas that weren’t so great you know um there’s certain things that were done and that we had to do and
We have to do you know we we did on volition that isn’t unique to you know just where i came through but from various chapters of showing your allegiance or pledging you know and what that looks like is varies from chapter to chapter but let’s just say there are a lot of
Details i didn’t agree with and you know i just kind of but i’m not bitter or i’m not offended or i’m not resentful towards anybody it’s all i love but at the same time you know it’s just every now and then we think back on certain things like man i can’t believe
We did this and that but um and you know vice versa as well you know she shared with me similar sentiments but whatever you know so but lately over on social media and i was just praying to god just in this year 2022 just greater obedience there’s no greater obedience to god and
I didn’t really have any new year’s resolutions goals was greater obedience so i’ve just been praying for god to transform my heart and sanctify my my heart and to continue to work on me and you know little by little on social media i would see you know this person denouncing or
Renouncing their fraternity sorority this person announcing for attorney sorority and i’m like man what’s going on so i just kind of had me think my why and i started to listen to some of their stories and i watched some youtube videos of different individuals denouncing and renouncing their fraternity sorority
Then it just had me curious i’m like huh i can’t definitely understand where they’re coming from let me do my research like i said i was thinking about it on and off for a while but some people watch those videos and seeing those facebook posts was almost like god was showing me something
Um but it was a process you know over a couple months but you know i started to do my research on my fraternity sorority and i saw some similar parallels and connections as to you know why they denounced and renouncing you know at the time i was thinking like
You know i think i’m at the point where i definitely want to distance myself from the fraternity sorority i’m not quite there to denounce yet or renounce however um let me do some research and pray what god wants to do uh what the lord is leading me to do in this season so
That’s what i did and so i’ve done a lot of research and i’ve studied a lot of things and i would say there’s a facebook post where um naked a she uh did not serve sorority and she cut up you know some uh her sweater that had her greek letters on it
And you know she had a lot to say about it a lot of people had a lot of ridicule and consternation for her actions but you know for me you know while it may seem a little extreme i could definitely understand and this was like the fourth or fifth time i’ve seen people
Announcing after doing the videos i’m like you really putting this on my heart you know and just showing me this and so i definitely got what she was saying and so that was probably like the the that was probably like the last thing i saw that my okay i’m really going to consider
You know where i’m at in this fraternity so this fraternity alpha valve excuse me um and what’s the proper step moving forward um i was waving actually back and forth like oh man over the last six months a year like i should get back involved you
Know maybe i should get back involved a little bit meet some of the alpha brothers and here in ohio and uh you know just get back in the fraternities to work but it’s just something you know the holy spirit was just kind of like just be patient no
I felt that way i try to you know sign up for a list serve some stuff but i never really got a call back so okay cool i’m chilling but you know when i saw those posts in that final post it really had me do my research and so
With that being said um i’m gonna start getting into some of the reasons why i run out stay tuned okay so why i renounce alpha file for fraternity incorporated it’s not just one reason as uh various reasons i’m gonna give you the broad and then i’m gonna get into specifics broadly i felt
Led by the holy spirit that this is the right thing to do why anytime you one joins a fraternity sorority and there’s things that you have to do with secrets secret rituals oh um things that you have to do that is in private but not for any good reason besides keeping secrecy
You know that’s a for me a yellow flag off top you know so i was just thinking about man we did all this stuff in secret but why usually when people do things the secret is not good um and i’m gonna leave it at that so
You know that’s why a lot of things are done in secret but also i guess to protect you know outside members from you know knowing the uh you know the secrets of the organization but the fact that we have secrets of the organization that said a lot right there so
I’ll touch on that eve uh touch on that but from the outside licking in you know from attorney’s disorders are cool you see um people come seemingly close together and uh they’re stepping and strolling and they may you know get ladies you know fraternities who the women are usually pretty or they’re
Doing their thing and so outside looking in is it’s cool but at the end of the day you know it’s what was it really doing itself for me personally the more i studied the scriptures and got closer with christ i started to see um conflictions between being in a greek letter organization
And truly serving god and serving the lord jesus christ i started seeing some parallels in my this is my own conviction um and several other people but i’m not forcing what i believe unto others per se but i’m just saying hey do your research look at this information and then choose
Um make your own decision about what you’re going to decide to do so but you know there are some things about fraternity sororities that even from the outside looking at seem a little secretive receiving a little um clandestine in first thessalonians chapter 5 22 it says to abstain from all
Appearance of evil so uh if something doesn’t look right looking in or the secret i don’t know something just don’t sit right in my spirit you know that’s kind of how it does it does look like you know some things are mysterious the secret you can’t get all the information so
Um the bible says to abstain for all appearance evil that’s not saying fraternity disorders or evil i’m not saying that but it looks like almost like a cult like it can look like that from outside perspective now i never really thought that but i can see why certain people have shared with me
It does kind of come off that way just the secrecy of it but um specifically for alpha alpha we have a lot of egyptian and african symbolism particularly egyptian civilism and mixed with greek culture ancient greek culture the greek culture during that time it was very polytheistic paganism they worshipped many gods
They certainly at that point in time back in ancient greek culture they were not uh christians you know they became queer a lot of them became christians later on during you know the time of paul and the bible and once you know the gospel of jesus christ
Started to spread it to different parts of greece but during this time a lot of our roots are in ancient greek um paganism customs you know from the letters to the symbols to to that so particularly for alpha alpha there’s uh our mascots the sphinx of jesus the
Sphinx that you see the sphinx head out by the pyramids in egypt and so i was looking that up i’m like you know what is you know the sphinx and the sphinxia giza represents um king pharaoh or pharaoh uh cafre as horus and um harem m aka that’s the greek name of
The sphinx which means horus in the horizon um and horus was a ancient egyptian guy that represented the morning sun and he’s often depicted with the sphinx with the head of a man a lion or a ram and so um the sphinx represents an ancient egyptian god and that’s our
Symbol of the fraternity i’m like interesting okay so that’s that um but to give you some scripture ezekiel chapter 20 verse seven when god was talking to the nation of israel after he was bringing them out of egypt to these nations in ezekiel um the israelites they got caught up in
Their slaves in egypt for 400 years they got caught up with some of the customs and worship in their gods and in ezekiel he says and i said to them each of you get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on and do not defile yourselves
With the idols of egypt i am the lord your god and so he specifically told israel hey get rid of all idol worship get rid of all images anything affiliated with each of egypt get rid of that you know i’m the lord your god so me being a christian um
Knowing what like the sphinx represents and how symbolism of the ancient greek god that’s you know that was a yellow flag almost reflect right there um so um just the egyptian symbolism for one also the pharaohs um alphas are almost simultaneously um adopt the pharaoh adopts the pharaoh
Head and so the pharaohs were the mediators between the gods and the world of humans back in ancient egyptian culture they were believed to be almost like gods on earth the pharaohs they were the usually the emperors of the rulers and after death the pharaohs actually became divine identified with osiris
Which is the father of horus and the god of the dead and the pharaohs passed on the sacred powers to the new position of the pharaoh usually their son so um if you know anything about the bible you know that egypt you know was that arch rival
To israel and they enslaved israel for 400 years and so the egyptian culture was steeped very much into pagan paganism and different rituals and worshipping many gods and so while they were the most advanced civilization on earth during that time the most powerful they were also steeped
In some wicked things and so i just found it interesting how alfalfa has a linkage to the pharaohs and the sphinxia giza and this is something um called uh set so set for those who may not know um for greek letter fraternity sororities usually when you’re you know pledging um the location where
You go to is called set they say hey we’re going to set and you pledge um and so that’s what uh you know through the grapevine you know i heard or may not know may or may not know but i won’t say anything about that but um anyway set sct sometimes spelled scth
Or suketh set uh was actually the name of the egyptian god of war chaos and storms and um seth was an ancient egyptality mythology was known to be the brother of miss osiris isis and horus there’s a lot of connections with horus horus and uh you know egypt culture and alpha so
Horus raw um but yes saturn used to go to set a lot of not good things happen that said let’s just leave it at that it was chaotic the god of war chaos and storms is appropriate to what happens at set you know so if you know you know if you don’t then
You know you can do your research and by the way everything i’m sharing right now was information you could look up online i’m not sharing any secrets or anything like that but anyway so i just found it interesting the other place that we you know used to go to and you know do
Various activities uh was called sets right um and that represents the egyptian god of war and that’s not unique to alpha that’s a lot of fraternities authorities black greek letter organizations they actually call their uh place of where they prepare you know the pledges for uh for what they do the activities so
That’s one that’s another thing so touching back on the secrecy part of it um the bible says as far as anything secret luke chapter 12 verses 2 and 3 2 and 3 that for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known
Therefore whatsoever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light and that which you have spoken in the ear and the closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops that’s luke chapter 12 verses 2 and 3. and um yeah and also in ecclesiastes um it says in uh
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verses 13 and 14. um solomon is author ecclesiastes he’s saying hey out of everything in life this is what i know the end of the matter all has been heard the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments
And for a god will bring every deed into judgment without with secret thing whether good or evil and so god is looking at us and judging you know everything that we do will judge everything that we do um secretly and in public you know and so
Like i mentioned before there’s a lot of things that happen in secret that you know don’t does not get revealed to the public and you know god is there and so you know while i prayed and i repented and asked god for forgiveness and which you know he has forgiven me
For you know some of the things i got out of ignorance or did where i did at the time with an information and knowledge that i knew um with the validation of i wanted to be an alpha and this is what i had to do to justify it you know
But with that being said just know that jesus god is you know uh sees all things but you know he’s also merciful that he wants us to repent before he judges us you know god would rather give us mercy than judgment remember that and that’s in james you know so
With that being said um yeah the secrecy of it um there’s also some other things so the hymns like you know when you become alpha and or infratraining sororities there’s a lot of chants and hymns one of the common ones that we uh used to say
Um or i guess you said they used to say some no longer remember was i’mma say we i’m speaking the past tense it’s all of my love my peace and happiness i’m gonna give it to alpha and so uh a lot of the the divine nine divine nine fraternities and sororities used to
Say that in their various ways but when i’m saying all about love my peace of happiness i’m gonna give it to alpha you know i used to chat that you know just you know as a champ but with that being said the more i grow
With christ it’s like how am i going to give up my love my piece of happiness to organization but rather i should give all my love and peace and happiness to god and god alone right and so one can say oh michael you know this is
A chance it doesn’t matter too much but our words do matter you know our words you know are we weighty they’re important you know proverbs 18 says life and death is in the power of the tongue and they that love it they that know it love it’s fruits and so
You know life and death is in the power of the tongue you know the uh tongue is very very powerful all right and so i just want to give some more uh scriptures to you know validate that our words you know are important indeed um i’m not gonna read ecclesiastes chapter
Five verse two says do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before god for god is in heaven and you want earth therefore let your words be few you know emphasis on do not be rash with your mouth to utter anything hastily before the lord your
God so god hears everything that we say furthermore um in ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 6 it specifically says do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin nor say before the messenger of god that it was an error why should god be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of
Your hands so i’ll repeat that again do not be do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin so when we’re saying whether we actually mean we’re going to give our love and peace and happiness to our organization and many of us actually mean it um
That’s the sin before god you know because we’re pointing this thing before we’re saying that we’re putting on our organization um and we’re going to give everything to it so if we give everything to this organization that means that you know god is at least secondarily
And uh in exodus 20 you know we should have no guys before you know that’s idolatry and so while as i mentioned one might just say it’s a chant yeah well what we say is what we say matters a lot okay and so matthew chapter 12
What i say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account for in the day of judgment and fi for by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned you know these are coming from the mouth the lips of jesus himself
Saying that every idol word that we speak you know we will give an account for and we will be justified or we shall be condemned and so i know in my lifetime i said a lot of idle words a lot of words of vein a lot of
Um words that i didn’t mean or i thought it meant at the time but um god is faithful first john says god is faithful and just to cleanse us from all of our sins and unrighteousness if we confess our sins before god so god is faithful and just to forgive us
All of our sins you know if we confess so with that being said if we haven’t repented if we haven’t asked for forgiveness we’re going to be judged by every word that we say all right there’s poems that various organizations and the divine now we have to memorize
Uh one of the ones universally that i think just about every divine nine greek organization um chances invictus you know um there’s a the opening goes out of the night that covers me black as the pit from paul to pole i think whatever god’s plural may be for my unconquerable soul
And so when i was saying that poem that always kind of struck me like even back then like huh whatever gods may be i only believe in the one and true living god the most high god yahweh elohim uh jehovah you know god has many names but whatever gods may be for my
Conquerable soul interesting nah like by my mind i’m saying that but in my mind i’m like you know lord god jesus christ the son of god heavenly father you know you’re the one true living god jehovah so with that being said yes so that was a
Poem that you know a lot of us memorized i had to recite um over and over um in the divine nine organizations and so um fast forward to the end of the poem um the last couple stanzas goes um no it matters not how uh straight the gator charged with punishments to scroll
I am the master of my fate i am the captain of my soul and back at the time you know we spit that yeah they used to give us height you know but now look back at it i’m like wait i’m a born-again believer in jesus christ i’m a born-again believer in jesus
Christ jesus is the master of my fate and captain my soul not myself you know um we are saved by grace through faith in jesus not of a good works not of ourselves not of works unless any man should boast you know but we are saved by
Grace through faith only faith in jesus christ you know he has cleansed us from our sins and made atonement for our sins and he’s the one that has eternal life jesus said in john chapter 14 where it says in the way the truth and the life no man
Comes to the father except through set by me and so i realized even that’s poem while it may seem encouraging at the time it actually is anti uh theoretical to the doctrine of jesus christ you know to the doctrine of christianity i should say um it contradicts the scriptures
You know so for me as a born-again believer in jesus christ i am not the master of my faith i am not the captain of my soul you know that is you know jesus that’s jesus alone romans tells us that um that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
Confess that jesus christ is lord so you know he is going to come back and you know judge judge us in our eternal destination yep so with that being said it gets like some of the poems and the chants you know i just realized there are
Words in there that didn’t line up oh and the author william ernest henley who wrote invictus was actually an atheist he was actually a proclaimed atheist that was well known of him so that’s interesting in itself yeah so i was looking at all that right and so
Um i talked about the secrecy i talked about some of the uh the poems um furthermore the prayer um the alpha prayer so this is public knowledge um so the prayer goes oh lord made the true spirit so alpha’s um at chapter meetings and formal alpha events and
Conferences we always sing to him right and so even if we look at the word him the word him comes from the greek word hymnos which means a song to be praised and so alpha or fraternities we’re not a religious organization so who are we praising you know one may say god
Right but you know when we look at the hymn that we sing uh there’s um stanzas in there that goes alpha phi alpha the pride of our hearts and love by us dearly art thou we cherish thy precepts thy banner shall be raised to thy glory dion or ran reed now so
Uh with that being said we look at the words alpha file for the pride of our hearts we cherish your precepts that banner shall be raised to thy glory and that renown is saying that we’re giving glory we’re giving honor um you know our hearts are is full for
Alpha you know so we’re seeing a religious um him in the also the dictionary.com says that him is a song of praise dedicated to god or gods uh we’re singing pretty much him to alpha you know the organization and so i’m a religious song but that never in there doesn’t talk about god
But you know we’re exhausting alpha in the name of alpha in our fraternity sorority um well in this case fraternity but if your fraternity sorority has in him or the other divine not from training sororities have hymns it’s probably the same thing but for alpha i can speak on that
I looked at it you know him is what we see in church where we give praise and glory to the lord i’m not going to give my glory on a renown to any organization i’m going to give that to you know my god in heaven you know my heavenly father you know so
Um yeah jesus christ deserves other glory honorary now in revelation 19 hallelujah salvation and glory honor and power unto the lord our god yes the lord our god is mighty the lord our god is omnipotent you know shout out to uh i think his name steven heard for that stephen heard
He sung that song but revelation 19 you know um the power glory honor renow belongs on to the lord jesus christ you know who is the living word of god you know who is a king of king and lord of lords and so i don’t want to give glory honor renown to
An organization to the name of an organization you know so that’s that and then at the end of each hymn there’s always a prayer and the prayer um goes like this if i can remember it knocking my breath oh lord may the true spirit of the fraternity rule our hearts guide our
Thoughts and control our lives so that we may become through the servants of all amen funny alpha is not a religious organization but you know with that aside let’s say okay we’re praying to god we’re saying a prayer to god but we are an organization comprised of um or
When i say we you know i’m saying at the time i’m no longer affiliated but alpha is an organization comprised of brothers from various different faiths and beliefs so as a christian you know we worship yahweh jehovah um we know jesus christ is as god the son
Is so and we know the holy spirit but you know if i’m singing a prayer with brothers a different face who doesn’t share that you know we’re praying to god and we’re praying the lord but it’s not specific enough like who are we praying to god god could be any
Higher power supreme being that one believes but doesn’t mean it’s the one and true living god the most high god the god of uh israel the god of all earth one creator you know our heavenly father you know our redeemer so it doesn’t mean we’re worshiping the
Same god but when you say oh lord may the true spirit the fraternity you know rule our hearts and i’m like what’s the spirit of fraternity the spirit fraternities to not ask what can the fraternity do for me but what i can do for the fraternity so that’s um
Praying to god which is a ambiguous term but for me i always used to justify saying i was praying to you know my lord and my heavenly father but it’s not clear and then we basically seems like we want to we’re praying to god to help us to be alphas and
Our heart mind and soul but god says the greatest commandment jesus said the greatest commandment is to love god with our heart mind soul and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves you know so it’s almost seeing as if alpha if not is replacing the due glory and
Love that we are due to god and god alone or you know it is uh competing with our love and love that we give to the others and so um jesus makes it clear that we know we can’t serve two masters right we cannot you know in matthew
Let me find my scripture here matthew chapter 12 or no i’m sorry that’s not it um let’s see here but yeah going back to uh while looking for that going back to the hymn the pride of our harvest and love by us dearly cherish our precepts i honor every now
Go back to some of the chants all of my love peace and happiness gonna give it to alpha you know we can’t love the world or the things of this world and still please god and please the father we can’t do that first john chapter 2 15 verse 17 through 17 says
Love not the world nor the things of this world if anybody loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world
And the world passes away and the lust thereofs but the person that does the will of god shall abide forever so we can’t really love you know our alpha or you know zayn or whatever our organization is and really love god because the bible clearly tells us not
To love the world or the things of this world you know so if we’re loving that the love of the father truly isn’t in us and so when we’re saying these chants and we’re sometimes you know taking oaths or rituals or whatever that we’re going to give our love or devotion and
Commitment to our organization you know that is out of order you know that is in a way idolatry so and then furthermore let’s say after you uh you do all this but backing up when you know when you’re pledging yourself pledging you know means to by definition i looked it up what does
It mean to you know pledge and technically pledging is a any like pledging activities is illegal but i’ll leave it at that um illegal but you know hey so to pledge according to the dictionary.com is a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something so when we’re pledging
Our fraternity so we’re getting dedicating our time our money our finances our um intelligence knowledge our study you know all for the hope of obtaining membership and said fraternity or sorority and so we’re giving all this to do attention and do effort to this order to this thing
To this ideal of organization but rather than to you know our father in heaven to the lord jesus christ um we’re giving everything to the wrong person in a way that becomes an idol or it can be at least and so you know for x amount of time you know that
Organization desiring a membership in the organization uh really is a full-time around-the-clock time consuming process and you know work you dedicate yourself physically mentally emotionally um for sure you know intellectually so you’re giving everything for the sake of this organization to pledge all right some of the other terminology
Um is you know crossing the burning sands and so when uh pledges go from pledges to actually gaining membership in the fraternity sorority in the black greek letter organizations it’s called crossing the bernie sands which is pretty much a metaphor for a rite of passage from you know passing in from
I guess either i’m not gonna say ignorance but from being you know yourself into the organization into enlightenment into this brotherhood or sisterhood that is supposed to be eternal right so the only thing that i know is eternal is eternal life you know through jesus christ or you know condemnation eternal
Condemnation um so whatever we say we’re gonna be a part of a brotherhood or sister forever you know the bible in isaiah says that you know the um world is passing away the heavens and earth is passing away and but the person that does the will of god shall abide forever so
All this stuff is going to be gone he’s returning sororities it’s not going to mean anything but you know us you know being with jesus christ in heaven you know in the kingdom of god that’s going to be forever for those of us who are born again believers and so
What i’m saying is that the holy spirit was revealing a lot of these things a lot of these customs a lot of these practices to me during this time um i haven’t even got down to um the oaths and the rituals that occur and so i’ll be talking about that here in just
A minute so about taking oaths right the bible makes it clear about what we should not you know make any oaths on this earth um nor shall we make any vows false vowels false vowels i should say but any fraternity sorority a divine greek letter organization um is that there’s a ritual process
And in the ritual process you’re taking an oath usually out of secrecy that you will not reveal the secrets of your set organization or fraternity sorority but what does the bible say about taking oaths um in matthew chapter 5 jesus is saying that you have heard from the ancients have told you you
Shall not make false vows but you shall fulfill your vows to the lord but i say to you take no oath at all neither by heaven for it is the throne of god neither by the earth for it is the footstool of his feet nor by jerusalem for it is the city of
The great king nor shall you take an oath by your head for you cannot make a single hair white or black but make sure your statement is yes or no anything beyond these is of evil origin huh so any else that we’re taking anything that we ascribe to
Is of evil origin you know this is basically the bible is saying you know certain things you have to take oaths like if you you know oath of you know protecting the nation of the bible but when you were taking a or a war taking the oath of the nation to
Protect the nation from war or or something like that um But in this context you know when you take an oath to keep the fraternity sororities and secret the the knowledge and the information of fraternity sorority seeker that is of evil origin according to the words of jesus remember in ecclesiastes uh solomon told us you know suffer not our mouth so do
Not let our mouth cause our flesh to sin right so if we’re saying anything more than what jesus said you know we’re in sin so we take an oath for our fraternity sorority we’re that’s uh that’s evil according to the eyes of god according to the words of jesus jesus
Christ himself and we can’t justify that that’s that’s what we did that’s what i did um out of ignorance out of not really knowing the knowledge of god second peter says that you know by uh grace and peace be multiplied by the knowledge of god in jesus christ so
We obtain more grace and peace once we know more about god and our regret relationship with god the father and the lord jesus christ you know he gives us more grace um and the grace comes you know peace and understanding so um also i believe his mercy you know he
Was protecting a lot of us and you know he um i believe he allowed me to go through the process and become alpha for these years just to show me and teach me and reveal certain things to me and for me to make these things known
So i could speak on it due to personal experience and i just wanted to share that with you also also in any black greek letter organization there’s usually some type of reference in your oath process a ritual process to some type of shrine or altar and shrines or altars or temples
Um these things are um holy words um ascribed to you know worshipping god or a god and so why do we have temples or shrines or altars in our rituals you know or certain signs or certain things that we you know also may kneel or bow to you know the
Hebrew word worship means to to literally bow you know bible shows you know you’re you’re giving worship um to the certain things so uh many of the fraternity sororities have some type of worship kneeling or bowing showing submission sewing ultimate reverence showing the form of um being subject to you know
A god or something that you uh make a god in a way saying this thing i give myself i willingly yield myself to this in this case fraternity sorority and so whenever we’re bowing or kneeling or worship to anything besides god that is clearly sin you know we’re in john in revelation when
Um the angel the lord uh gave john revelation of the things i think angel gabriel you know john was getting ready to kneel at his feet to worship and the angel said you know do not you know bow to me you know for i’m also a servant of christ
You know only about a god only you know so um it’s important that we realize what the actions that we truly were doing during this time we really were making oats to our fraternity sorority we really were making a um Willful decision to in a way give ultimate reverence honor glory love attention and devotion to said fraternity sorry in this case for me it was for alpha and i didn’t realize all that at the time but you know god brought back a lot of things to my memory thanks to
Youtube videos thanks to the internet there’s a lot of things you can find on the internet thanks to conversations with other people and i realized that i have a decision to make here yo like this is this is deep you know i don’t want to give my glory uh to any other
Any other thing or any other being um besides the lord jesus christ you just do all honor and glory and praise and clearly by after mentioned um examples and things that i did you know that was obviously and i was in danger of danger i did do that stuff
Not saying that i worshiped my fraternity for already like it was everything but in a way yeah and then once you become a member fraternity for you have a neophyte presentation to be a neophyte usually means to be a student um the efi means particularly was first
Used in the bible to be like a student of uh christ you know to be a student of like paul used neophyte to be a student of learning about uh christianity about christ but it comes to be also came to be known as a learner someone who learns
Who uh is new at learning so we’re in neophytes there’s a neophyte presentation show and in these neo5 presentation shows or probates we’re basically publicly revealing ourselves to the public that we have a new identity a new name you know in our fraternity sorority you know in alpha land you shall be called
You know matai that was my uh my personal line name and then we have a name of our line and you know we used to shave our heads you know that was custom of our chapter share our heads we almost have like a new identity in alpha but the bible says that
You know our first career in corinthians you know and uh john that we must be born again you know to enter the kingdom of god you know unless we be born again you know we should know why it’s into the kingdom of god and so first corinthians says that we are a new
Creation new creature in christ you know we’re not a new creature and our organizations we’re a new creature in christ so us being almost like a spiritual rebirth in our fraternity sorority that’s problematic you know that’s a that’s an issue that’s a severe issue so
I want to be sure that i’m only born again in the kingdom of god i’m a new creature in christ and i’m not a new creature and you know alpha i’m a new creature in jesus christ i’m gonna find that scripture for you um i want to be specific on that all right
Second corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. therefore if anyone’s in a christ the new creation new creation has come to all has gone the new is here that’s the new international version but i like the new king james therefore or king james version if any man be in
Christ he is a new creature all things are passed away behold all things are become new you know we are a new create creature in christ furthermore uh second corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 the next verse it says all this is from god who reconciled us himself through christ and gave us
The ministry of reconciliation that god was reconciling the world to himself in christ not counting people’s sins against them and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation so we are made new and we are made restored and whole again with god our father through what jesus christ has done for us
Um and so no fraternity sorority or anything can do that for you can’t give you a new identity um that’s his vanity and if in a way that’s borderline blasphemous you know i don’t want to say it’s blasphemy you know to have a new identity in an organization
You know but being born again but um clearly the bible says that we’re a new creature in christ and so you know that’s um somewhat of a parallel to me but with that being said i think that pretty much summarizes a lot of research i did there’s more to
It as well you know branding you know getting brands showing your ultimate allegiance and your commitment and your belongings to fraternity sorority uh you know that never sat right with me i’m not saying that uh i have a scriptural reference as to why that’s wrong but
At the end of the day well in the new testament but in the old testament says make no cuts or marks on your body but we’re under the new coming in of uh you know grace and truth but with that being said um it’s showing that i have i want to
Everybody to know that i belong to said organization um if you take a brand you know i’m branded in my heart you know with jesus christ you know i’m not branded by no organization so i thank god i never got a brand but several members of you know my former chapter
They are definitely branded and also several other divine nine greek letter organizations uh do have a brand as well um it’s pretty much just displaying the highest level of loyalty to your organization by placing a symbol on your skin um you know i’m branded with you know jesus christ in my heart so
Um with that being said that’s pretty much a lot of the research that really has led me to make the decision to repent of my actions fully and in order to complete my repentance process it required me to renounce and so i had conversations with my former line brothers and
Other certain members of my chapter before i came up publicly with it but you know i have just been encouraged to um share my story and i feel a lot of support and love from both alpha brothers and or alpha men because i’m no longer a brother but alphas and
Um just people that i know who have just confided with me and you just supported me during this process you know it wasn’t easy to come to this point but you know once i did i was sure of the decision i was making and you know i feel
I feel great about it i feel at peace i know it’s the right thing to do you know it’s better to obey god than to obey people um you know we should put our trust in the lord and out of man you know seek to please god and not people you know so
In galatians chapter one you know verse 10 i want to find that for you and so paul was basically saying that you know i’m not a christian to please man but i’m a christian to please christ you know i want to be a servant of christ if i was here to please men
So galatians you know chapter 10 says this oops i had it but i gotta pull it up here before i’m now for am i now seeking the approval of man oh man that was here but anyway look that up when you get a chance galatians um chapter 1 verse 10 all right so
But yeah oh more terminology like when you become uh a letter of a black greek legend or letter organization there’s always a distinction if you’re made or paper you know pretty much if you went through a pretty trying process you know you’re considered made if you didn’t really go through
As what people may deem as a tough process or you know whatever the requirements are to be made which is you know subjective um you’re considered paper right and people used to treat you shady they used to treat you different they used to almost condescend to belittle you if you were considered paper
Right and if you were made you get a lot of respect um and privileges and people honor that so i mean i’m talking you know sub alpha brothers or people in their own fraternities sororities who treat others either better worse depending on if you’re made or not and
That’s that’s always what’s messed up to me um let me not even get into the pledging process because there’s several things i don’t agree with it um yeah several things i don’t even agree with that um you know for one it’s illegal um you know secondly you know people results you
You sleep deprived you know you’re spending a lot of your financial resources paying for the organization this takes a toll on your body physically for sure um emotionally um after you cross there’s definitely some minor ptsd um it’s a lot of stuff that goes in with this supposed to
Be hazing supposed to be illegal and pledging but let’s be honest we all know it still happens and so it’s a lot of that um i feel that you can’t force brotherhood you can’t force close relationships you know a lot of that stuff that people go through that i went through and others
It was vain it didn’t really do nothing for me just and we lost a lot of good members of the tr would have been good members due to excessive nonsense and i’ll just leave it at that um oh here we go galatians chapter 1 verse 10
You know and by now trying to win the approval of human beings or of god you are now trying to please people if i were still trying to please people i would not be a servant of christ you know so when i made my decision to renounce
You know i was sure of it and you know a lot of people had a lot of support some people didn’t necessarily agree which i’m totally okay with but you know i’m not seeking the approval of people i’m seeking the approval of god you know i’m striving to follow the lord jesus christ
Matthew chapter 7 says enter through the straight gate for why it is the gate and broad is the way that answers that leads to destruction and narrow is a way that leads to life and few find it you know so i’m trying to enter into the straight gate the narrow way
And so that’s not to say that people on greek letter fraternities authorities are not saved or they’re going to hell or they don’t have a relationship with jesus christ i’m not saying that at all because there’s several ministers pastors and men and women of god and these fraternities and sororities but
You know from what i see and from what i study and what i’ve come to my personal convictions and what i’ve read through the scriptures uh for me um it is clear that you know there’s a contradiction in the doctrine and the will of god in the uh and
These returning sororities there’s some this conflict and so you know pray that god gives greater grace and revelation and understanding to those who are in the organization to come to the realization of this but if they don’t you know i definitely don’t judge i love and
Support a lot of the brothers and out in alpha particularly i still you know have a great love for alpha i’ll never say anything negative about the the guys um in the relationships i formed um i can’t say i won’t say anything negative but i’ll i’ll be fair and i’ll
Be objective let’s say that um and so there’s a lot of great times great experiences you know great relationships for them through alpha that i still hope that can continue even though i’m not a member of the fraternity anymore so why did i renounce you know i said all
The in summary um we look at the hymns the chants the oaths the rituals uh the terminology the history of the symbols of our organizations um what they represent you know the greek culture the egyptian culture um a lot of it contradicts christian doctrine in my way in my understanding of my perception
And some might disagree with me you know so being i’m good with hearing different perspectives from what i read and from the scriptures i have um that this what the scriptures revealed to us i’m sorry in the scriptures our research and what the word of god says you know
Um the heavenly father has given me a decision you know i can either make the right decision that he’s leading me to do or i can follow my own will james chapter 4 verse 17 he says that he who knows to do right and does not do it to him it is sin
So i would have been willfully sinning against my conscience excuse me against um what the scriptures say if i would have continued personally in my fraternity and that led me to my decision to renounce and i sent an official letter to the fraternity and they granted me my
Request to renounce and i am no longer a member alpha file for fraternity incorporated and that is my story and thank you all for listening i pray that this message has been revealing and you’ve learned some things and i appreciate your time god bless
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