An Excerpt from THE ELEMENTS Book I

Friends,

Today I wanted to share a brief excerpt from Book I of my upcoming, alternative Earth fantasy – THE ELEMENTS, which I began in 2003 after seeing the news coverage of the beginnings of the war in Iraq. I have talked about my fictional writing mostly on my website, but I wanted to share some it with you all. Enjoy! 
“Zuri, the flesh must be divided evenly,” instructed Leena, pointing to her too generous cuts of the meat given to them by the recently returned warriors. 

 “You mean less the largest portion which goes to the Queen,” The young woman stopped cutting the flesh in front of her, took a deep breath and started dividing the portions already cut into smaller pieces.

 “I hear she doesn’t even eat it,” said another.

 “She doesn’t. She doesn’t like the meat from wild beasts and says that it smells bad. I tell her that it’s all of the meat we have now. She just drinks the muthi and makes me take the stew away most days– I give it to the those in need of it,” said Olufemi. 

 “You give it to Wasswa,” teased Nia as she walked by Olufemi carrying a basket full of fruit that somehow she had to divide between so many. 

 “We give the best to the King’s family while the people are starving. It isn’t enough and it never is,” said Olufemi. 

 “You can ignore me all you want Olufemi but I see the way he looks at you…and you he,”

 “He is a warrior and I am a servant, bound to the king and his family. These eyes wander no further than the Queen’s izindlu,” said Olufemi without looking up from her task.

 “We do as we are told and we are lucky to have this much meat. The days of hunger will end and we will have rain again. King Nkosana has shared this from the ancestors, that we will suffer for a short time and the Kishnu will kneel at our feet. It is prophesy!”

 “Yes, Leena of course,” said Olufemi, nodding her head in agreement.

 “Leena, you are old and sound just like the King. Do you have any thoughts that are your own? I’m tired of the prophesy and I want to eat everyday. I’m tired of hearing about the ancestors, what about the living? Why can’t we till the soil or go fishing in the sea for ourselves? Why must only Nkosana provide?!” asked Nia for the third time since the last rain.

 Without warning, the elder cook rushed to the girl, raised her right hand up above her,slapping her left cheek with so much force the girl staggered backwards. All of the others stood where they were, speechless. The young cook’s pride alone was enough of a dam to keep tears from her face. She raised her hands to the left side of her face for a moment, then dropped them and faced Leena as if she was ready to strike her back. 

 “Nkosana comes from a line of kings too great in number for you to count, child. He has always provided us with food even when the land refuses to. We don’t have to sweat in the hot sun or suffer the dangers at sea like Kishnu women – faces painted black, climbing trees,weapons in hand like men, with not a trace of themselves left recognizable, except for bosoms. Your tongue is a young child running ahead, beyond the reach of your father’s spear, into the jaws of a lion. Our duty is to prepare the food given to us by our king. Never again let Nkosana’s name pass your lips unless followed by praise or gratitude!”

“Nia, wait! Don’t leave!” yelled Olufemi as the girl turned and rushed out of the room so quickly a breeze tickled each of them.

 “I’ll go after her,” announced Olufemi while cleansing her hands with water from a potjiepot in front of her.

 “No. There’s too much work to be done and every hand is needed. She wants you to come after her as you always do when she’s in trouble. Leave her to her anger. It will have abandoned her by night fall,”

“Leena, she’s my sister. She is young and needs me. Let me go to her. I’ll bring her back to finish the cooking,”said Olufemi.

 Leena turned to Olufemi and embraced one of her shoulders by extending one of her arms.

“Olufemi, you’re loyal to your sister and that is good, but now your duty to Lungizwe requires your loyalty. You cannot share it. Let her be,”

 “Yes, she’ll be fine. She always is,” said Olufemi with a faint smile. By now the others were listening but had returned to their respective duties. Leena and Olufemi returned to theirs, all in silence.

 

Excerpt from THE ELEMENTS Book I Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. www.theelementsbooks.com

 

Pro-Lifers: “Pray for Kermit Gosnell”

A group of pro-lifers began praying for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell last week before his conviction and this is the right thing to do. Although he snipped the spines of babies who could have thrived outside of the womb with medical attention, in performing late-term & born alive abortions, and as depraved as that is he too, can be forgiven. Whether through abortion or waging an immoral war, the taking of life is wrong & can be forgiven through Christ Jesus. Gosnell is  72 years old and ironically, although he illegally took life, he himself waived his right to appeals to avoid having his life taken. Even he would rather live than die – how ironic is that? I pray that before he takes his last breath that he repents, truly sees what he does as wrong & seeks salvation & forgiveness. I hope he realizes that legal or not, first trimester or late term, abortion is just wrong on so many levels. One thing I have observed is many liberals expressing disgust for what he did (and they are right). But many of them, had he done this in a state that allows late term abortion, would have no problem with the very same acts. God help us:

“We commit to praying for the repentance and salvation of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, convicted of three counts of First Degree murder of babies born alive,” Kemper says.

“While so many people are crying for blood and for him to be executed,” Kemper wants to turn that anger into loving prayers for the eternal life of a man who showed a callous disregard for human life. “I want to start a revolution of praying for the soul of Kermit Gosnell instead of crying for his death. I want him to find the hope I found in Jesus.”

Please click HERE to read the entire article. Note that as of today (Tuesday 5-14-13) Kermit Gosnell has waived his right to appeals to avoid the death penalty & has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

I normally don’t do this & know that I respect everyone’s right to choose their faith (or not). Briefly, I want to take a moment to invite all of you who subscribe to my blog or who will see it throughout social media to accept Jesus Christ if you have not done so already. Christ came an died on the cross and was resurrected for our sins. There is nothing to bad or horrific in the way of sin that God will not forgive. No sin is greater or worse than another. The choice is yours & please feel free to contact me via my blog, website or on social media if you have any questions about accepting Christ. God can forgive Kermit Gosnell and He can forgive you. This life only lasts for a time but eternity is…eternal. God Bless!

 

Planned Parenthood on Gosnell Conviction: “It’s the Law’s Fault”

Friends.

So abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first degree murder (three counts) for killing babies, some born alive (and ending late term pregnancies which is against the law in his state) & this is what Planned Parenthood had to say in the aftermath of his conviction:

“This case has made clear that we must have and enforce laws that protect access to safe and legal abortion, and we must reject misguided laws that would limit women’s options and force them to seek treatment from criminals like Kermit Gosnell.”

First of all, Gosnell was not in some back alley, boot-legged, backwater illegal clinic. He was a licensed physician who worked in a legal abortion clinic. He knew he was breaking the law when he was cutting the spines of babies born alive and those he snatched from the womb late term. Planned Parenthood thinks women everywhere should have access to abortion at any stage of the pregnancy & because some states don’t allow late term abortions, they are allegedly “restricting access” & forcing women to the arms of unethical doctors like Kermit Gosnell.

No one told these women to wait until they were late in their pregnancies to decide to have an abortion – they chose to do that. Abortions become more expensive the further along you are not cheaper. I don’t advocate abortion but if your state only allows them up to a certain point you’d better hot tail it in there before that point if you want to murder your child legally. These women knew he was giving them the “hook-up” if you will, by killing their babies for them past the legal time limit & I don’t believe for one second that they didn’t know what he was doing was illegal. Planned Parenthood is blaming the limits in the laws of some states for Gosnell’s actions & that’s the most despicable, irresponsible thing I have heard from them in a while. It’s the fault of those women that they waited until their babies were in some cases fully formed & able to live outside of the womb to have an abortion. It’s also the fault of AMA licensed, Hippocratic oath swearin’ Kermit Gosnell for breaking the law & not giving those women an emphatic “No, you’re too far along” answer as was his duty. He killed those babies and a jury has convicted him of three counts of 1st degree murder on yesterday appropriately. No, Planned Parenthood, it’s not the law’s fault so stop making excuses & using tragedy to advance your immoral cause. Planned Parenthood’s alacrity to expand abortion laws everywhere in the US has nothing to do with women’s rights or combating “restricting access” to women, it has everything to do with expanding their profits. The wider the pregnancy range the larger their clientele base. There’s no subterfuge to conceal their motive. The fact remains that just like any other business, they want to make profits.

I’m not certain of Gosnell’s exact motivations to break the law and abort those born alive & late term babies. It could have been greed – abortion is a money maker for these clinics & very profitable. Women who have the means pay for them & those who cannot are subsidized by the federal government. No matter your income level, if you want an abortion, as a society we’ve ensured that you’ll have access to one, even though free contraception such as condoms and various forms of birth control is ubiquitous in America nowadays. He could have felt empathy towards the mothers who came to him, late in their pregnancies out of desperation and decided to help them by taking away the apparent burden of motherhood. It could be a combination of those and other reasons – we’ll never know. What we do know is that he took the lives of so many babies by snapping their spines with scissors, even though they were old & developed enough to live outside of the womb with proper medical care. What I’d like to know is when will we as a society return to decency & start valuing all life at all levels again. When will we shun the Gosnells of the world and stop making excuses for immorality and illegal acts. Unfortunately, in respect for my own life I won’t hold my breath but I won’t give up hope either.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” - Jeremiah 1:5

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: Kermit Gosnell waived his right to an appeal to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced today with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

 

Unlikely activist: Early civil rights protester stands out for conservative views – Winston-Salem Journal: Local News

From journalist Jennifer Young of the Winston-Salem Journal:

The time was the late 1940s, the place Greensboro. A mother had sent her two young sons to the neighborhood grocery. A gang of local toughs waited just outside the store. One came at the older brother from the front, one from the back and the third went for the money in the boy’s pocket.

The younger brother, who was only 6, stood back while his sibling managed to fight off the young would-be robbers. The little fellow took it all in, though, and came away with some very important life lessons: Be prepared to defend yourself. Show no fear.

Those were lessons that Clarence Henderson carried with him years later, on Feb. 2, 1960, when he walked through the door of 132 S. Elm St. in Greensboro and sat down to his place in his town’s –- and his nation’s – history.

And they’re lessons he remembers today as he proclaims a philosophy that sometimes raises eyebrows, even among those who consider him a hero for what he did 53 years ago. 

To continue reading click the link below:

Unlikely activist: Early civil rights protester stands out for conservative views – Winston-Salem Journal: Local News.

 

Danger Word & "The Black Horror Revolution": one week to go!

Reblogged from Danger Word:

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UPDATED 5/17: Last week, the cinema blog Shadow and Act called Danger Word a part of "The Black Horror Revolution."  Our donors are diverse friends, family, fans, horror lovers and indie film supporters who believe in the same dream of telling our own stories.  

But the cast and crew will meet on the location A WEEK FROM TODAY, on Friday, May 24th--and we can't make this film without you.  

Read more… 293 more words

 

When is a horror movie more than a horror movie? (Danger Word: 19 days to go!)

Reblogged from Danger Word:

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When is a horror movie more than a horror movie?

When it’s funded by a community.

When it gives black actors a chance to be heroes and heroines.

When it’s about teaching our children to be strong.

Danger Word began as a dream, but that dream is more and more real every day.  With only 19 days before the shoot, it’s time to buy plane tickets, put down deposits and meet contractual obligations. 

Read more… 296 more words

Help me support Danger Word Film!

 

The Oxymoron of the “Celebrity Pastor”

Consevative Libertarian blogger Talitha McEachin

I think that the term “celebrity pastor” is an indicator of how spiritually lost some of us are. I have received several invitations over the past year to visit someone’s church where they referred to their pastor as a “celebrity pastor”. It really turned me off personally.The church is the one place which should remain uncontaminated by pop culture but sadly, what we have been seeing is not just the influences of celebrity/pop culture on many churches, but the outright surrender to said cultures, on the part of church leadership. The body of Christ should influence and lead pop culture not be lead by it. There is no balance with too many pastors. With all of the caveats in the New Testament regarding the persecution that believers did and will face, quite frankly, popularity, to a large degree is not something that necessarily attracts me to a church. Of course, this depends on what a pastor or his church is popular for (teaching the word of God or how well the choir performs in a competition for example). The Christian church is not a club, restaurant, sports franchise, or clothing line. Spreading the gospel of Christ does not require that we must brand churches in the way the world does any of those things named.

I’m not attracted to the churches of pastors who are not just assigned this title (anyone can call a pastor this without his knowledge or acceptance of it, he can’t help that) but who embrace them & build brands around themselves rather than Christ. Our Savior, Jesus Christ often stands in the shadow of the celebrity pastor rather than front & center, where He belongs.

Celebrity culture in churches also fosters what I call the “untouchable” & “irreproachable” complex we see so often these days. Meaning, no matter what a pastor does wrong, he cannot be criticized, admonished, held accountable or in some cases, prosecuted. Even in the aftermath of scandal, when there is very clear evidence or admission of guilt & in some case illegal acts, many still worship these pastors as if they are Christ returned in the flesh & refuse to acknowledge that they are no less corporeal than any other person. I’m not suggesting pastors cannot be forgiven for sin because according to Romans 3:23 “We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So, it’s not a matter of whether or not we should forgive but rather, should we continue to allow them to lead us? Should we obstruct secular punishment when the law is broken? After all, we are also commanded to obey the law, title of pastor notwithstanding. Sometimes a demotion (or punishment) is the best way to obtain the humility required for church leadership. As Christians, we must have something that separates the body of Christ from the secular world & the more pastors allow celebrity/pop culture to infiltrate & influence their churches, the more those lines are blurred. The notion of a celebrity pastor is oxymoronic at best but the only celebrity in Christian churches should be Christ himself. Think about it…

 ”But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22