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Satan Sense Vengeance. Retaliation. Retribution. Revenge. Gettin' back. Familiar wordz ain't they. Madd familiar in our world, in < Yo, an' becuz o' those words, tha peeps who shared Remembrances, an' thousands--mebbe millionz--like 'em were treated to experiences an' feelin'z described by words like: funeral, heartbreak, abandonment, hopelessness… Experiences they could ill do without. "Tha streetz R mean, sun," U may spit. "I mean, U ain't no G, homie, U dunno how crazy it be." "Mang, if somebody smokez ya homebwoyz, denn U gotta smoke dem busterz fo' ya homebwoyz." "It always gonna—gotta—be this way." "I mean datz tha way it IS." I hear that. In stereo. Lotta truth there. Except for words like: always, gonna, gotta. I ain't feelin' dat. "But, sun, U buggin', fam. U trippin', " some may say, "Have YOU had any of Y'ALLZ homebwoyz smoked??" Or like an ese wrote to me a few months ago: HEY HOMIE…ALL THE HOMIES DEATHS WOULD HAVE BEEN IN VAIN. AND YOU KNOW THAT CANT BE.I DONT MEAN TOO DISS YOU ESE BUT HOW IN THE FUCK YOU GONNA TRY TO KICK IT WITH SOME FOOLS THAT SHOT YOU OR KILLED YOUR HOMIE? NAH, HOMES IT DONT ROLL LIKE THAT. NEVER WILL. Yeah, this ese's right in one sense. I never have lost a loved one or close friend to gang violence. I never had someone I grew up with an' kicked it since day one be at my side one minute, an' then be lying on asphalt or concrete the next, in an enlarging pool of they own blood. I pray I never will go through something like this. An', my heart and love goes out to each and erryone who has. Y'all have strength I'll never have, to survive such horrific loss an' still go on. An' because it so painful, because it so destructive, because it suckin' the life blood an' precious hope of an entire generation, it—the violence, the vengence—IT--gotta STOP. An' they some dope reasons why. We gonna be peepin' thez over tha next few weeks. First, we have no right, whatsoever, to take "justice" into our own hands, and take revenge. Yeah, I know how anger feels—not the immolating rage that can consume G'z when they homebwoyz are taken out right in front of they eyez—but I know the "species" so to speak. Anger can be all-consuming, all-controlling. Anger wants out; it wants to be expressed. It demands to be felt. Anger is not good to "stuff," to suppress, to bury deep down in one'z heart. It doesn't' disappear but cools down, an' "cold" anger quickly becomez dark bitterness an' hate--a corrosive poison that eats up tha soul. So, anger, even rage, got to be felt, but also gotta be processed an' managed in a safe an' non-harmful way, wit lotta back-getting', love an' support. When we permit ourselves to really, deeply feel our pain, we can't let it dictate an' direct our actions an' behavior. We must balance emotion wit reason. As tha Scripturez spit: "Be angry and sin not." Eph. 4:26 But, getting' back on track, we have no right whatsoever to wreak revenge, to "make 'em pay," because vengeance be GOD's prerogative. An' He shares it wit no one. Check it: "Vengeance is MINE, says the LORD." Deuteronomy 32:35 Mine--Lord. God, and God ALONE has the right to meet out justice and repay injustice. He says: "I will repay." I. Not you. Not me. God. Solo. God alone. When we take revenge an' "justice" into our own hands, we usurp God's right and we put ourselves in His place. "Yo, well, that don't seem all dat bug." U may reply. Well peep dis: puttin' oneself in tha place of God is tha verry thang that got Lucifer booted outta Heaven, an' turned him into Satan—The Adversary: "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will site enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Isa.14:13-14 An' what happened to His Wackness when he tried to play God? Check it: "But you were brought down to the grave to the depths of the pit." Isa. 14:15 Woah So, fam, when we take revenge, an' usurp the prerogative of the LORD God, we let Satan play us like spadez. We let him bring us down to the grave, to the depths of the Pit wit him. In handing out judgment, we incur God's judgment and wrath upon ourselves. We become no better, and 'zackly like, the Devil hisself. No good. An' that ain't all. I got more to spit on dis trak, next week. I'm out. Peace. ONE sun |