It's time to draw the line....

[00:00:00] What's going on y'all? What's going on? Come on in. Come on in. It's your girl Victoria

[00:00:14] J. Welcome, welcome, welcome, one and all to 12th Street Talk Back where transparency is

[00:00:24] I love language. I am your host, Victoria J back in the building. Once again y'all to do

[00:00:33] my solo episode. Your girl thought it was time to just get back on the bike and you know,

[00:00:42] share a few of her thoughts, a few of her opinions and I've been missing this part of the podcast

[00:00:50] for those of you that are new to the show. We are not new to this. We are true to this.

[00:00:58] We've been around for a little bit now and those of you that have been rocking with me

[00:01:05] from day one, I want to say first and foremost, thank you so much for joining me over on my

[00:01:13] YouTube channel, 12th Street Talk Back presents morning inspirations 30 minute uplift on Monday,

[00:01:21] Wednesdays and Fridays. You guys have really been holding me down you know with the transition of

[00:01:30] the show going to morning inspirations and I am having a ball y'all. I am having such a great

[00:01:36] time trying to get the YouTube media channel to grow. We've had some growth. We went from

[00:01:44] somewhere like maybe I want to say 26, 27 people to now we had a cool 55 and you know it's

[00:01:54] trucking right along with everything like everything. Everything takes time to grow. We

[00:02:01] went through this when we first started the show, we went through this. When we started the 12th

[00:02:09] Street Talk Back Facebook and Instagram page and it's still you know trucking right along.

[00:02:17] We haven't quite hit 1000 followers on Instagram but we're a little bit over 1100 on

[00:02:25] our 12th Street Talk Back Facebook page so you know like I said and everything it takes time.

[00:02:32] So my 55 followers on the YouTube media channel, I thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so

[00:02:39] much for just hopping on the bandwagon. Our Spotify hosting platform is trucking right

[00:02:47] along guys you guys have been holding me down over there. You know we didn't miss a beat. We

[00:02:53] had a few follow off because a few people like this part of the show where I did my solo so where I

[00:03:00] had guests like the Queen's Table Talk and we chopped it up and you know I've been pondering

[00:03:07] doing this popping back up here and there. I know for most of us in the podcast world

[00:03:15] Spotify released over a little over a month ago or a little less than a month ago that they

[00:03:21] won't be letting us record over there. I wasn't doing it anyway. I think I stopped recording

[00:03:27] on Spotify for about a year ago but I just been using them as my uploading platform,

[00:03:34] my hosting platform and when they did that guys they also added a feature where you could have

[00:03:43] one or more podcasts. You could upload one or more podcasts over there. So I'm playing

[00:03:48] around with the idea of doing the morning inspirations presented by Toa Street Talkback

[00:03:55] and that is that will be its own brand and then I'm playing around with this idea 12

[00:04:01] street talkback. You know my solo episodes and you know maybe a guest here and there but

[00:04:08] I don't want to get and dip back into adding more work to my plate with the morning inspirations

[00:04:15] presented by Toa Street Talkback. We do have guests on Fridays, Freedom Fridays and Friends merged

[00:04:23] with Morning Inspiration and on Fridays I give my guests an opportunity to tell their testimonies,

[00:04:30] tell their stories or even entrepreneurs come on and be able to talk about their brand or

[00:04:37] here lately has been more authors. I've been telling all my guests every guest that

[00:04:42] I've had on thus far with the exception of maybe one is an author. So any way that I can get the

[00:04:50] community together, I am all for that guys. I am all for it but your girl have been moving right

[00:04:57] along. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I have been pouring into myself greatly you know God is

[00:05:03] number one in my life and just being able to get up and read his word and also put it on

[00:05:12] the YouTube media channel 12 Street Talkback and then have it uploaded to audio and wherever you

[00:05:19] listen whether it be Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, radio. I looked up we're on tune and now

[00:05:29] to my tunes just wherever you can get your podcast pod Bay pod chasers we're on there guys just

[00:05:41] look up 12 Street Talkback Google me. You can also listen to it for free over on our 12

[00:05:47] street top back dot com website. All you got to do is put in 12 street top back dot com.

[00:05:54] You can listen over there for free. You can rate the show on any of the platform. So to my new

[00:06:01] followers guys don't forget to follow us on one of your listening platforms. Spotify, Apple,

[00:06:11] YouTube, rate the show five star ratings as well as I haven't been back since we joined a network.

[00:06:20] We are part of unfiltered studios network. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Unfiltered studios

[00:06:29] for having 12 Street Talkback is some amazing podcasters over there with some amazing shows.

[00:06:36] You guys can Google unfiltered studios and it'll pop up everybody that's under that umbrella.

[00:06:44] And as well as listen to my show, you can listen to some of these amazing podcasts

[00:06:49] bringing you different information anywhere from news, music, movies, one minute, stupid minute

[00:07:00] history. I love love love that I learned something new every day with cab finding your way with the

[00:07:09] beeb my twin my Virgo twin is over there chronicles of a Virgo the guru the goat of mental health.

[00:07:19] So guys head on over. We just got some amazing content created creators over there pedals of

[00:07:28] support hip awareness. I mean the list goes on and on and on nailed it. It just goes on and

[00:07:36] on guys. So you know, shots out to my new unfiltered studios network. I think you think

[00:07:47] you thank you for holding a girl down holding the sister down and let me continue to be me.

[00:07:54] And that's what it's all about. It's all about being us living our best life.

[00:08:01] Speaking of which, that's why I jumped on the mic today. I had a lot to say there's a lot

[00:08:05] been going on since the new year since I transitioned my show to just more than inspirations Bible

[00:08:13] study. And I kind of was up in the air about whether I wanted to talk about some of that stuff or not.

[00:08:20] And I decided that why not? But we're gonna put a spin on it. We're gonna talk about it,

[00:08:28] the way that it is and the form that it is out there in the universe right now. But then

[00:08:34] we're gonna talk about it with the Bible says about it. I'm gonna give my opinion about that. So

[00:08:40] that's the reason for the pop up today, you know, and plus I was missing this side sometimes when

[00:08:49] you're live all the time and you're just out there live, you kind of want to take a break.

[00:08:58] This is my relaxed chill out time. And this is where I can come in my room, shut the door,

[00:09:04] light a few candles and just go for my close my eyes and get my thoughts out. This is how I used

[00:09:12] to do it before I went live. And I was missing this part of it. I ain't gonna lie guys, I was

[00:09:17] missing this part of it. And you guys know I love to talk. So we're gonna jump into

[00:09:26] a little bit of everything today. I think I'll be all over the place today, but I think it'll come

[00:09:31] full circle. You know, I'm gonna talk about a little bit of anxiety that I've been having a

[00:09:37] little bit of fear about the unknown. I'm gonna talk about some of the celebrities and how they

[00:09:46] in our neck of the woods are leaders in the Christian world and what you should and should not

[00:09:57] allow how much are we really gonna take? How much are we really, really going to take

[00:10:05] before we say you know what some things is just drawing the line. So we're gonna jump into

[00:10:13] this. We're gonna jump into our quick break with BetterHelp. Thank you, BetterHelp for sponsoring

[00:10:21] this podcast and we'll be right back to jump into that in just a sec.

[00:10:44] What's up guys? It's your girl Victoria J from 12th Street Talk Back here to tell you about my new

[00:11:01] friends and partners BetterHelp. Thank you, BetterHelp for sponsoring this podcast.

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[00:13:10] And tell them Victoria J sent ya.

[00:13:17] Alright guys, let's jump right in to what's on your girl's mind today. So I was sitting here

[00:13:25] and as always, I'm always chopping it up with somebody whether it be my seasoned aunt,

[00:13:31] whether it's my bestie, whether it's someone in the podcast world or one of my sisters or what

[00:13:38] have you. And we're always talking about things that is on our mind, things that's going on in

[00:13:43] the community, things that's going on in the world. And as you get older, you start to

[00:13:49] notice some of the things that your parents used to talk about when you were in your teens and 20s.

[00:13:56] You know, life, life and how the world changes. So for your girl, as I embark on 53 this coming

[00:14:09] August, I've also in the last three years embarked on a lot of weight gain. Three years ago, maybe four

[00:14:19] now, right during the pandemic in 2020, I had not one, not two, but three back surgeries.

[00:14:30] And it has been a roller coaster ride with my weight. So I've been picking up some new tips

[00:14:40] and tricks from friends and family on my eating habits. And I'm starting to work on

[00:14:47] that part of me, the physical part of me, just trying to get some of the weight off

[00:14:53] for my four foot frame and the pounds that I have gained. And just wear it stressing about

[00:15:02] things such as strokes, heart attacks, you know, cancer, you know, those things running through

[00:15:09] my mind now that I'm a woman of a certain stature. So I decided, you know, to try something

[00:15:19] different, try a calorie diet and also talk to my physician about getting some of the weight off

[00:15:30] and getting professional help. But as I embarked on that as well, having multiple conversations

[00:15:37] with different people, we started to talk about our spiritual wall. As I said earlier,

[00:15:46] I do the morning inspirations on our YouTube media channel, morning inspirations 30 minute

[00:15:53] of live because I'm working on feeding my soul, feeding my spirit. And with the things that's

[00:15:59] going on in the world right now, I think as well as our health, as well as our mental health,

[00:16:07] we need to be working on feeding our spirit as well. We got so many things at our fingertips,

[00:16:14] so many things we can look it up by Alexa, we can look it up by Googling it, we even got AI

[00:16:24] out there just you know, just doing the most. And we also are still in a position

[00:16:32] where tension is still rising. I don't think it ever came off of that high that it was on

[00:16:40] during the pandemic. In fact, my personal opinion and this is just my personal opinion,

[00:16:47] I think that it has gotten multiplied by three. In my neck of the woods, it's been so much going

[00:16:56] on. It's been so many killings out of anger, you know, shooting people for a parking spot or

[00:17:03] shooting people at the gas station road rage. It's just been a mess. And I imagine we're not the only

[00:17:12] state that's going through these high highs. And as we get into the summer, the summer brings

[00:17:20] even more aggravation, the heat working grocery prices are astronomical. And I can imagine

[00:17:32] that the levels of tension in the households can be a little bit training, it can be taxing.

[00:17:39] And what do you do about that? You want to work on not only your mental health, but you also want

[00:17:46] to work on the spiritual side of you. And I thank God that he's put me in a position

[00:17:52] in my 40s where I started to think about my Walt Wood Christ and take it a little bit more

[00:18:00] seriously. However, as well as the tension that has multiplied by three, that since the pandemic,

[00:18:10] we also had since 2024 come in, we've had some leaders with shadows of doubt cast on them for

[00:18:21] some of their actions, behaviors or even just guilty by association, which does not make us

[00:18:29] particularly feel good as people. When you're following Christian leaders and you are expecting

[00:18:37] a certain behavior, and you know, they're supposed to be your God. Now, for all you Bible scholars

[00:18:48] out there, give me a minute to explain what I'm saying because I often say it in morning

[00:18:54] inspirations. We are not the fashion ourselves after people, we are to fashion ourselves

[00:19:01] after the word. The Bible is the roadmap to life. You follow it, you go straight and you turn right

[00:19:10] as my seasoned grandmother would say my late seasoned grandmother, which was a pastor.

[00:19:16] And she never condemned us for not being and walking in the will of God, but she also told us

[00:19:26] that if we read it in the Bible, try to straighten it up the best we can. She wasn't one of those

[00:19:34] that bumped you over the head with the Bible. Neither was my mother and my mother was a Christian.

[00:19:40] She let you go your own way and she prayed for you, which is what we're supposed to be doing

[00:19:47] in the Christian community, which leads me into some of the celebrities that are in the ministry

[00:19:58] that has some shadows pasted on them, as well as those leaders. I would also say as well as

[00:20:11] role models for our children, for people in my age group that we grew up looking up to.

[00:20:18] They have not been cast as such a great light as 2024 has come along.

[00:20:24] You got the puff daddy scandal going on right now with the flicker of T.D. Jake singing a bunch of

[00:20:33] other people. You got the William Murphy thing that went on in the new year with the whole savings

[00:20:44] of 150 souls by having and playing surf and swag music in the church or New Year's Eve.

[00:20:58] You got the Monique's and the Cat Williams of the world being on the Shannon Sharp show

[00:21:08] and getting over a million plus views. And you got the world, the celebrity world.

[00:21:15] And you got us regular folk saying 2024 is going to be the year with a lot of people

[00:21:23] that we look up to our peers, our leaders of exposure. Now I can't say whether that's

[00:21:32] true or not, but it's looking that way. I don't have a crystal ball and I am not a prophet,

[00:21:38] but it's looking that way when they called it at the end of 2023.

[00:21:45] What I wanted to talk about with that with your spiritual wall, hey, let's not fashion

[00:21:52] ourselves after people. And I know that's hard to do because some of us grew up in the churches

[00:21:58] that we're still going to today. And we look up to those people, we go out of our way to, you know,

[00:22:07] be a great example in the church because they're being a great example for us. But and it's hard

[00:22:15] to do as people because we're still fighting off that flesh was still conditioning our mind.

[00:22:21] And for most of us that doesn't really, you know, we kind of dabble, we teeter on the fence

[00:22:30] of being a Christian or whatever spiritual guide that we have in our life. And then we have some

[00:22:38] that don't teeter on the fence at all. It's just life is what it is. But those that are

[00:22:44] teetering on the line of Christianity or even walk in the wall. I just wanted to remind you

[00:22:52] that as well as your health, as well as your mental health, your spiritual life has to be right.

[00:23:00] And you can start small and it definitely does not start by these examples. However,

[00:23:08] we are to pray for those people. My Bible tells me that we're to cover their sins with prayer.

[00:23:16] We're not supposed to mock them. We're not supposed to judge them. We're not even supposed to be

[00:23:23] sitting and associating ourselves with the wicked ones. My Bible tells me, and as I said, it's a

[00:23:32] God, my Bible tells me not to run swiftly to trouble, but run from the people that say,

[00:23:44] come, come join me. Let's put our plunder, our goods together. And you can find that

[00:23:50] over in Psalms and Proverbs as well as I'm sure a lot of other places. But if you read Psalms 1

[00:24:00] and 2, Proverbs 1 and 2, you'll find that over there. So what am I saying guys?

[00:24:08] Spiritually, don't get discouraged of the whole scandal allegedly,

[00:24:14] alleged scandal that it appears that maybe TD has gotten caught doing some things or

[00:24:24] saying some things or participating in some things. I'm not going to say yay and nay,

[00:24:31] I'm going to say allegedly you make up your own mind on how you feel about that.

[00:24:36] But my point in bringing that up is we're not to fashion ourselves after people. And I know this

[00:24:42] is like the third or fourth time that I said it, but my Bible tells me to fashion myself

[00:24:48] after the word. So if I'm looking to my word, to God made throughout my life and communing with God,

[00:24:56] making God a priority, praying, fasting, going to church, even spending time in God's nature

[00:25:10] on a nature walk and collecting my thoughts. I don't have time to get involved in what's

[00:25:17] going on all over the internet, the social media platforms, all in the news. And I know it's hard

[00:25:26] to do because everywhere you turn around, you know, you got people like myself, Godcasters,

[00:25:33] newscasters, you got YouTubers, everybody wants the story. They want the scoop.

[00:25:41] But if you're walking with Christ, my Bible tells me to cover your brothers and sisters

[00:25:49] and cover their sins with prayer, prayer, pray for that fallen soldier, that fallen son,

[00:25:57] daughter, wife, husband. But let's not add to the judgment pool. Let's let God do the judging.

[00:26:07] And I think we've gotten away from that. I hear tale. I have not heard it in the national news,

[00:26:14] but some of the parishioners from the church to make a church, their feathers are ruffled.

[00:26:23] And from what I hear in the speculation allegedly, you know, they're angry and words

[00:26:32] are being tossed out there. I'm for words. I'm for less are being threatened.

[00:26:41] What I say about that as a Christian guys, sometimes we have to be reminded that the

[00:26:48] Bible says in Proverbs, be angry, but sin not. He never said that we couldn't be angry.

[00:26:58] He never said that we couldn't be upset. But when you start with the chin,

[00:27:06] when you start dousing the fire with more gasoline,

[00:27:12] you yourself are take in that second hand smoke.

[00:27:20] Stay away from the fire. Stay away from sitting in the seat where you feel like

[00:27:27] it's okay for you to pass judgment. But you don't have the inside scoop.

[00:27:34] We live in a world right now where people can doctor things, not saying that that's the case.

[00:27:42] Because I clearly seen some of the footage on all of this stuff.

[00:27:47] But I'm saying from a Christian point of view and just a human being.

[00:27:52] If you have a relationship with Christ, don't add to the fire.

[00:28:00] Actually pray and cover their sins. I remember not too long ago, it was last summer as a

[00:28:09] matter of fact at my church. And where I live at in the state of North Carolina,

[00:28:16] my church would be considered a major church, a make a make a church is a million dollar church.

[00:28:23] And the assistant pastor said, what we are to do as people is if your friend or your family

[00:28:34] member is going through something going through some changes and perhaps they brought it on

[00:28:40] their self or perhaps it just was laid at their front door as a friend, as a believer.

[00:28:51] We are to cover them, support them, be there for them until they make it through the fire.

[00:29:02] And then we can give them our opinion, especially if they're close to us

[00:29:08] on how it made us feel. Because when we're standing there and in the in someone is in the need of our

[00:29:17] support, whether it be emotionally, physically or financially. If you truly love that person

[00:29:25] or you have the love in your heart that I got a love like Christ had for us when he died on

[00:29:31] that cross for all of our sins. I can't imagine not wanting to have someone to go through the fire

[00:29:42] with you. I can't imagine someone telling me to leave my husband or my wife because it got a

[00:29:50] little bit too thick. The Bible tells us for better or worse, for sickness and in health.

[00:29:57] And although we as spectators may not quite understand that person's situation,

[00:30:05] we as spectators didn't spend 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 some 50 years with that same person through the good,

[00:30:15] the bad and the indifferent. But us as believers, us as Christians, when are we going to be

[00:30:23] in the position to say enough is enough. I'm going to do exactly what my Bible tells me to do.

[00:30:31] I may not like it. It may anger me. It may have pissed me off that you could put yourself

[00:30:40] in this predicament, but I'm still going to cover you with prayer.

[00:30:45] My Bible tells me that God is the only one that can be the judge and the jury.

[00:30:53] Now we live in a world where we do have actual judges and we have actual juries,

[00:30:59] but let's let that specific entity decide that if charges are going to be brought

[00:31:08] on any of this stuff. I don't care whether it was the bishop. I don't care if it was the famous

[00:31:15] rap guy. And I'm trying to refrain from saying names. I know who I'm talking about and what

[00:31:24] I'm talking about, but you know, I don't want them kind of problems because I ain't got no

[00:31:29] money. You can't come over here trying to sue your girl. But I just wanted to explain it

[00:31:37] from a biblical point of view. And then I want to move on to the gospel singer

[00:31:46] that saved 150 souls in his church. And I did, I'll ever look at a couple of his interviews

[00:31:55] as well as I briefly looked at the video. What I could say about that. In his interview, he said

[00:32:06] he was coming from a place of acts three. Now in acts three for my Bible scholars, you guys already

[00:32:14] know that's where Peter and Simon, they go to the temple. They pray at a certain hour and there

[00:32:20] was a man there that had been there sitting at the temple of the porch of the beautiful,

[00:32:26] the beautiful gate. And he had been crippled since he was born. And he was looking for a

[00:32:35] handout like he normally was. And you know, Peter says to him silver and gold I don't have, but what

[00:32:43] I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk. And he reached down and helped

[00:32:51] him. My Bible tells me he gave him his right hand. Although I do not agree with the secular music

[00:33:03] being played in church. I think there's another way to do it. He says he was coming to coming from a

[00:33:12] point of view of we meet people where they're at. So playing the surf and swag music was him

[00:33:22] trying to meet the young people where they're at. I have two things to say about that.

[00:33:30] Hey, it's not just all about the young people and I had to find that out a year or so ago when I

[00:33:37] first started my podcast, I was on fire with my young community and the things that they were

[00:33:44] doing towards one another as well as the greatest respect for the parents. But as I moved on and

[00:33:53] had different conversations with people I've never ever saw in my life in this podcast.

[00:34:01] It's giving me a different view on some of my views, some of my stiff neck, hardheadedness

[00:34:12] and sometimes I'm not even going to say sometimes I'm not even going to soften the blow.

[00:34:18] Us seasoned people, it starts with us. It starts with us leading by examples.

[00:34:26] And a seasoned people, we need to lead by example. We don't need to be focused so much

[00:34:35] on just the young community. Now don't get me wrong, the young community is a great big

[00:34:41] important piece of the pie and we want them to better their self. We want them to get their

[00:34:47] education. We want them to stop dying. We don't want them to get in jams where police brutality and

[00:34:53] all that other stuff gains and you know, getting pregnant before they turn 18 and not being able

[00:35:01] to fulfill their life. But as seasoned people, some of us still think that we are young

[00:35:10] in our teens and our 20s. When they came out with that thing, the 30 is the new 20.

[00:35:21] The 40 is the new 30 and the 50 is the new 40. Yeah, it was a good key key. It's a good ha ha.

[00:35:28] And if you're exercising, eating right, your mentality, your mental is, you know, halfway

[00:35:36] there or 80% there and you're getting yourself spiritually there or are spiritually there,

[00:35:42] then you know, I can see where you can get a good, you know, I'm looking good. I'm not looking 50.

[00:35:49] I'm looking like I'm 30 or 40. I know what I want my future to look like. I'm stashed away money.

[00:35:57] I got some stocks and you know, I've got a little nest egg saved up for my children

[00:36:03] for college rainy day fun in a world where that's hard to do right now.

[00:36:10] I can see you setting the little key key saying, Hey, I'm 30, but it's the new 20.

[00:36:18] But when you don't have everything together and I'm not saying you got to have everything

[00:36:23] together in all aspects of your life because that takes time. But as long as you're working

[00:36:27] on one piece of the puzzle and not trying to be your children's bestie,

[00:36:34] but actually leading by examples.

[00:36:40] And we wouldn't have the surface swag in the church. Now I got where he was trying to go

[00:36:46] meet them where they're at. My number two thing about that is it is so much gospel rap out there.

[00:36:55] I just got introduced to it maybe a week ago. And that's what brought this thought to mind.

[00:37:03] Huppie and I was riding down the street. He was taking me grocery shopping because I can't do without

[00:37:11] him. And he was playing this gospel station in our area. And I've been, you know, we

[00:37:21] I always listen to gospel, I always listen to that station, but I've never listened

[00:37:26] after six p.m. And that's when the young DJ came on. When everything he played sound like rap music

[00:37:36] and it had the hardcore bumpity bump beat, you know, reminded me of my DMX bone thugs and

[00:37:44] harmony JZ days, biggie days. And I immediately looked at him and I said, what in the world are

[00:37:51] you playing? That's just bother my spirit. He said, that's gospel rap. And sure enough,

[00:37:57] when I looked at the station, it was still on the same station and it was gospel rap.

[00:38:02] He said, you have to listen to the lyrics, but I couldn't get past the thumpity thump

[00:38:07] and hear the lyrics because it was more muffled probably like sometimes I sound when I'm on

[00:38:13] the mic and don't get it just right. But I said all that to say this particular gospel artist turned

[00:38:25] bishop minister, whatever he calls himself, he could have kept himself out of the line of fire.

[00:38:33] Had he just played some of the new school gospel rap, maybe it wouldn't have been taken so hard.

[00:38:43] But my personal opinion is even though he said he did not do it to get attention,

[00:38:54] my personal opinion is that maybe he did because you're not it's not like you're not

[00:39:03] unfamiliar with gospel, what records that's where you started from.

[00:39:12] So sure enough, when you was out there playing your surf and swag, walking it out,

[00:39:19] you could have walked it out to one of the gospel rap songs.

[00:39:25] That if I was still in the world like that and cutting a rug at the club,

[00:39:33] probably be dancing and dropping it like it's hot and shaking a tail feather.

[00:39:38] I mean, let's just be real. It's about honesty here. As far as the other one, the other bishop,

[00:39:46] there are such things as your bishop's office, your chambers. It's like a judge hand.

[00:39:57] When you are in a situation where you know you're associated with someone that has not quite

[00:40:07] even their self to the Lord, their whole persona loses. I'm not ready.

[00:40:19] Don't get me wrong. It's not okay to shun anybody whether they're a question

[00:40:24] Christian or not and thought we're supposed to be telling our testimony. We're supposed

[00:40:29] to be ministering to them, but there is a time and a place to do that.

[00:40:34] And when you put yourself in certain places at certain times, you're guilty by association.

[00:40:45] My Bible does tell me

[00:40:49] to shake off the dust if they don't receive you. So I'm only going to ask you a couple times.

[00:40:57] And I may not even ask you. I'm at the point in my life. I never going to force what I believe

[00:41:03] on someone else. But if they open the door, if they come to me and ask me,

[00:41:09] I can tell them my testimony. I can tell them what I believe that God has done for me. I can

[00:41:16] tell them what Jesus died on the cross and done and I can give them something to think about.

[00:41:23] Because my Bible does tell me that operate out of love. Don't beat nobody over the head.

[00:41:30] It says in fact, it says when you're giving your testimony to someone, don't do it in oppression

[00:41:40] to make, oh, you want to do this and you know, you're going to hell and blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:41:45] But it says do it out of love. Give them something to think about. At the end of the day,

[00:41:49] it's their choice. But when you're in a leadership position that high,

[00:41:55] there's also examples in the Bible where they had witnesses, witnesses from the Old Testament to the

[00:42:04] New Testament. And we all know that in the Christian community over the years, there have been scandals

[00:42:16] whether it was a woman and a man, man and a man or woman and a woman or whatever woman and children,

[00:42:22] men and children, even in our school systems, there has been some inappropriate behavior.

[00:42:30] I would think that if you have a discerning spirit and you should, if you're in a leadership position,

[00:42:40] when you are not walking and talking the walk that you're preaching

[00:42:47] and you find yourself in your community being torn to pieces because you're guilty by association,

[00:42:58] that is a problem with that. That is a problem with that.

[00:43:06] And you make it look bad for the rest of us that truly, truly, truly want to

[00:43:14] help people read the Bible, help people see what Jesus did, help people understand the Old Testament

[00:43:25] and what obedience and faith looks like and the love of God look like. You make it very hard

[00:43:33] by season people. Some of us make it very hard for other to, for us to convince other season

[00:43:40] people as well as our younger community. My Bible tells me that God loves everyone,

[00:43:52] so it is not my job to sit and judge. I don't need no help from me. Jesus don't need no help from me,

[00:44:03] but I do know that Jesus sits on the right side of his father and makes intercessions on my

[00:44:09] behalf. He don't need no help from me judging nobody and telling nobody what a sin is, but what he

[00:44:18] needs me to do is stay seated in the position that he put me in and talk to them with love

[00:44:27] about what he said is a sin and what obedience look like. But also, and this is the most important

[00:44:38] part, doing it out of love, doing it with love, loving that person no matter what they look like,

[00:44:48] no matter what the circumstance is. I think that a lot of us leaders need to get ourselves back in

[00:44:57] love so that we can lead by example and show the Christian community that I copy love

[00:45:07] that Jesus Christ showed us with no conditions. He didn't have any conditions on

[00:45:15] going up to the cross. He didn't have to make up his mind. He didn't have to waiver the odds.

[00:45:24] He knew what he came to do because he said only do the things I see my father do.

[00:45:31] He came to finish something that Noah didn't finish, not Noah, Adam. Adam didn't finish.

[00:45:46] And he did it very well resisting the same things, the temptations that we resist today.

[00:45:52] But doing fasting, and I want to touch on that a little bit too. Fasting is not to fast,

[00:46:03] you know, to say God, you know what? I'm believing you for this house. So I'm fast for five or six

[00:46:11] days. Fasting is to kill that flesh, that you want such a relationship with your heavenly Father.

[00:46:22] You want that friendship. You know that you sit at the table of a king.

[00:46:29] That whatever you got to do to be obedient to the God line so he left behind for us

[00:46:37] in his word, you're going to try to break those habits that the flesh has been accustomed to

[00:46:45] for how many years you've been walking this earth. And it's not going to happen overnight. It may

[00:46:51] take you a lifetime. You'll be 120 years old still trying to break some habits. We can guarantee

[00:47:01] you that God promised us 120 years is plus that short in the time because we don't want to eat healthy

[00:47:11] like myself. Or mentality is all over the place. Our mental health is driving us to be depressed,

[00:47:21] stressed, anxiety, the foods, the stuff they're putting in the foods and we're consuming it

[00:47:28] because it's quick, as fast as microwavable and we're not feeding our spirit. We can get all the books

[00:47:37] in the world and don't get me wrong. I love me a good book and I love a good author. In fact,

[00:47:43] I'm still working on mine. But here's the thing. The Bible is the best book that I know

[00:47:53] and then it can help you diet. It can help you with your mentality. It can help you with your spiritual

[00:48:00] want. But again, it's your choice of what literature you choose to pick up to feed your soul.

[00:48:10] Just like it's your choice, what you pick up to put in your mouth, whether you want to be

[00:48:15] healthy or not healthy. And I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do because as my mother

[00:48:21] used to say, you got to clean up around your own doorstep before you come and clean up around

[00:48:26] somebody else. And for those of you that if that's too old school for you, just like I always say,

[00:48:35] don't be going throwing the rocks in my glass house. Because yours just one second

[00:48:43] from pulling the plug and crumbling to and I take that for myself. Anything that I say

[00:48:51] I take it for myself.

[00:48:56] A while back my season on said,

[00:49:00] she's been serving God for 56 years. My grandmother was a preacher

[00:49:11] and she said your grandmother used to always tell me,

[00:49:15] look at walking this Christian walk like a plate of food.

[00:49:25] You eat what you can. You shove the rest to the side of the plate. Don't throw it away

[00:49:32] because you might need it. But what's for you is for you. And that's the same way in church

[00:49:42] where you're listening to your minister, your reverend, your bishop, your evangelist.

[00:49:48] If it applies to you, you eat it, you meditate on it, you do what you have to do to change

[00:49:56] or try to change your behavior. But don't throw the rest of the sermon away because someday you

[00:50:03] might need it. Would that being said, let people ask me my feelings on all three of these situations

[00:50:15] and even with the celebrity, the well known celebrity that finds himself in some hot water.

[00:50:21] What I can say about him is

[00:50:35] my Bible tells me I'll never see the righteous forsaken.

[00:50:38] And for the rich, and I'm not saying all,

[00:50:49] this is their heaven. And when you walk around in human form

[00:50:57] and think that just because you have money and you've obtained some type of power

[00:51:05] that you can walk over top of people, no matter how big or how small,

[00:51:13] what goes around comes around. And it's just your turn and we all have turns.

[00:51:21] Something that you did, I don't care whether you was 14, 24, or 34, something that you did

[00:51:30] that affected someone else, that hurt someone else, whether you said it or whether it was an act.

[00:51:38] We all have a turn. Even with our children, the Bible says you spared the rod, you spoiled the child.

[00:51:48] We got out of the habit of chastising our children because society said that my age group said that.

[00:51:58] But now most of our children are not living to see the age 18, let alone their 20s.

[00:52:12] As we spared the rod and we let society dictate what went on in our homes.

[00:52:20] And now we're at a point in society where teachers don't even want the job anymore

[00:52:30] because they're starting as small as seven, eight and nine years old. Talking back,

[00:52:40] blaspheming the teacher when you know I just had one of my family members start substituting

[00:52:47] and the stories that I have heard from between third and fifth grade, not to mention

[00:52:56] the stories I've heard from some of my podcast community that is out there teaching. Some of

[00:53:04] them been great. Some of them haven't been and some some of them say, you know, the kids are

[00:53:08] just misunderstood. But at the end of the day, I stand firmly on it starts in the household.

[00:53:17] And I think what happened was we took a handful of cases. And I won't even make it that small.

[00:53:26] We took a big bundle of cases where indeed, in fact, those parents was not ready to be parents.

[00:53:35] When they may have been abusing their children, they may have been drug addicts because the

[00:53:40] opioid pandemic is through the roof. But we applied that to every parent in America.

[00:53:48] And it got to the point where our parents or teachers are throwing up their hands.

[00:53:56] You can't defend yourself even as a teacher. If you got this big old 1314 year old person

[00:54:06] that's bigger and stronger than you, I'll often smack the mess out of you.

[00:54:12] You can't make them do their work if they don't want to. And cell phones has got ridiculous.

[00:54:18] So don't get me wrong. You know, my children came up in the era and I came up in the era

[00:54:23] with cell phones was not permitted in the school. And if you had them in school,

[00:54:27] they better be in your locker. Now they, you know, are grew. And I think maybe all of us

[00:54:35] really with, especially with the killings and the mass shootings. So I understand it from both sides,

[00:54:41] but you know, we feel like my kid need to have his cell phone just in case it's emergency. I agree 100%.

[00:54:52] But also I believe that they should be put away while you're in class. And I think that's

[00:54:59] something that we need to start advocating for in our different states. Even if you have to have

[00:55:05] personalized lockers in the classroom like you have in the gym, put your cell phone in the locker,

[00:55:14] in the locker while you're in class. So it's not a distraction.

[00:55:21] And maybe have the teacher have one openly and ready available for, you know, an emergency

[00:55:32] such as the alarm being sounded that there's a crazy person going through the school killing

[00:55:41] and shooting people. And you need to evacuate. But something and that's just an example.

[00:55:47] A lot of you may not agree with me and it is what it is. That's another thing that I found out

[00:55:54] in this last year. You can't please everybody. If I say this and agree with you,

[00:56:02] then I'm the coolest person in the world. But if I say something that you don't agree with,

[00:56:07] and especially with it being Christianity, I'm trying to refrain from saying religion

[00:56:15] because religion has gotten put in so many boxes. It's either you believe in Jesus Christ,

[00:56:21] the Lord's savior or you don't for me. That's my personal opinion. But there is something that we can do.

[00:56:32] But then again, the other part of me feels like the narrative, the situation has gone on so long

[00:56:42] that it's too far gone to even fix it. Our nation does need a healing, but only Jesus can do that.

[00:56:52] Only God can do that because a lot of things we let go way, way too far. And look where we are

[00:57:03] today. And this is just my personal opinion. All of this is alleged with the people that I was

[00:57:10] talking about the ones that I tried to call no names. But I think if we start back in our homes,

[00:57:19] and then that even that's even a push. That's even a push because you know some of these kids got a

[00:57:26] mindset now where I'm just going to call the police on you and they start stuff that don't

[00:57:32] even need to be started simply because they have a mind that I ain't gonna let you tell me

[00:57:37] what to do. And it starts young. It starts in a preteens. But then you have a whole group of adult

[00:57:48] seasoned people that just did not or were not ready to be parents, but ended up parents anyway.

[00:58:00] And it's a mess out here. But from my Christian point of view, if I could say anything at all,

[00:58:06] I would say this. Cover your families. Pray for your friends, your family that stranger, your

[00:58:16] leaders. Pray for the leadership. My Bible tells me that clay for the people in leadership

[00:58:25] leadership positions and sometimes we don't know where God is going with a situation.

[00:58:30] If you go back and read the Old Testament, it got worse for the Israelites before he got better.

[00:58:37] They had to go on the run. But that was so that God could show his self mighty. He kept heartening

[00:58:44] Pharaoh's heart. He kept making him angry and more, you know, I'm not releasing these people.

[00:58:56] He kept the old one, the tables turned.

[00:59:02] Or I showed his self mighty on his people's behalf. The same thing he does for us on a daily basis.

[00:59:09] His grace and mercy is what gets us through the day guys. It really is.

[00:59:16] He breezes breath in our body every day. We got working limbs. I say to see ears to hear

[00:59:22] and maybe not all of us, maybe not all of us have moving limbs right now. Maybe not all of

[00:59:28] us have an eyesight, but you're still breathing a breath. And I think that should count for something.

[00:59:39] That's just my personal opinion. But I think when are we gonna say

[00:59:45] enough is enough and we draw the lawn as Christians and not just as Christians scratch that.

[00:59:56] My people, when are we gonna draw a lawn in our communities

[01:00:01] and say enough is enough because I really believe when the 12 tribes was made in the Old Testament.

[01:00:08] That was our blueprint for our families to protect our family names. That's our trial bed.

[01:00:19] And although we may not have agreed with our great-grands,

[01:00:24] our grandparents, our mothers, our fathers, I think some of us,

[01:00:31] some of us seasoned people got enough instilled in us where we're seeing everything come full circle.

[01:00:42] And there's nothing wrong with sprinkling a little additive on that already terrific tasting meal.

[01:00:53] So that's where our young generation coming in showing us things new,

[01:00:58] positive. But I don't think that all of it we gotta adapt to, we have to find a way to draw the lawn.

[01:01:11] And some of you might say, you know what, Victoria J., you don't even know what you're talking about.

[01:01:16] But trust me, I do in more ways than one. I have three young adults

[01:01:20] and I spent many a nights worrying, crying, angry, mad at the world because they wasn't doing it my way.

[01:01:30] Family found peace of mind. And I had to ask myself, what were you doing in your 20s? What were you

[01:01:36] doing in your 30s? It's called grumpains. But what was your mother doing for you? She was praying

[01:01:45] for you while you was wild. So let them young adults go on and be young adults if you know you've

[01:01:55] raised them the best way you know how. But if they're in their preteens right now, and you're

[01:02:01] a grandparent or even a parent, it's not too late to try to reel them back again. I'm seeing

[01:02:09] too many parents in our community just on up their hands and saying whatever.

[01:02:16] And I'm seeing too many young people six feet under way before their time

[01:02:25] strung out way before their time. And the devil is always on his job. Satan is always on his job.

[01:02:33] He's on his job 24 seven. And if we stayed on our job, which is prayer,

[01:02:42] even if it's a quick prayer every day,

[01:02:48] then we can put a shield. We can ask God to put a covering around our children when they're out

[01:02:56] of our sight. But it also starts at home the same way my parents did us.

[01:03:07] You spare the ride, you spoil the child.

[01:03:12] So I'm going to wrap this up and saying season people.

[01:03:17] Don't be too hard on yourself if you follow the leader in your Christian community

[01:03:24] that you truly, truly believed in and act or situation or guilty by association.

[01:03:32] That's you to the point where you're just done with church. I can see that home on my couch.

[01:03:39] The Bible tells us fellowship under one roof pray, but a covering over that person didn't

[01:03:45] the Bible didn't say you couldn't be angry.

[01:03:49] But he said, be angry, but sin not.

[01:03:53] If you find yourself, then you're not in the Christian community.

[01:03:58] But you know that you have a relationship with God. You just haven't turned that page to say,

[01:04:03] you know what? I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to straight go straight and turn right.

[01:04:12] Still put that hedge of protection over your community, your children, your leaders,

[01:04:17] people in leadership position and let's not be the first one to cast the first song.

[01:04:24] Just like they did with the lady in the Bible that they caught in the act committing adultery.

[01:04:30] Jesus didn't condemn her, but what he did is he bit down and ignored everybody

[01:04:37] in that circle and start writing. And he said, who here without sin has to first stone?

[01:04:48] And when he looked up, the adulteress was the only one still standing there.

[01:04:54] And he asked her, where are your accusers? And he just said, go and send them more.

[01:05:01] So if I had only father didn't put his seven in position where he was going to judge, who are we?

[01:05:10] And still away from foolish conversations. This is to my Christian community.

[01:05:16] We don't have to debate about stuff. You don't have to tell anybody what you believe

[01:05:21] and what you don't believe. And this is right and this is wrong.

[01:05:23] Our Bible tells us stay away from foolish conversations.

[01:05:29] You would never ever get someone on my show to bake me and to argue with them about the word.

[01:05:37] Because I'm not going to give you that 15 minutes of fame. You believe what you believe,

[01:05:41] I believe what I believe, and we ain't even got to meet in the middle. And I'm

[01:05:45] still love you anyway. So protect our loved ones,

[01:05:56] protect our children. Let's help our teachers stop quitting them walking away from their jobs

[01:06:02] because we can't do what needs to be done in our homes.

[01:06:07] And any authorities that's listening out there that want to chime in, I know your guys' jobs

[01:06:15] is difficult to difficult as well. I've talked to some officers that just they can't do no

[01:06:25] more than we can with a minor sometimes in certain situations. It's a lot that has to

[01:06:31] be done. You got to catch them red handed before they can feel the sting of the law sometimes.

[01:06:39] And I know, I know I've been through something with some teenagers for the last couple of years.

[01:06:48] And it's pretty much you got a video tape, you got to have all your eyes and teeth crossed.

[01:06:54] But the thing about it is they know it. The Bible does say that the world will be

[01:07:04] weaker but wiser. They're wiser in their soul. But being able to man up and handle

[01:07:11] certain situations, they ain't built like us man just like we wasn't built like our parents and

[01:07:17] so on and so on. I couldn't survive slavery. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you

[01:07:23] whether they put me in the kitchen or not. I just couldn't I couldn't survive that.

[01:07:32] But someone paved the way for us to be where we at and I'm gonna wrap it up because we

[01:07:38] went over an hour but listen guys, this election is important. It is important

[01:07:47] and whether you're up in the air about who you're going to vote for or even if you're

[01:07:52] going to vote it out again at all. Again, someone paved the way for us to have that opportunity.

[01:08:01] So at least try. Grab you a young person that's 18 and take them to the polls with you.

[01:08:11] I know a lot of us, especially in the black and brown communities,

[01:08:14] we want to say that it's not going to make a difference but it does man.

[01:08:19] And not just in the primary. Get into your community. I'm still not giving up on hope.

[01:08:28] I'll still be talking about community to the day that I take my lab breath.

[01:08:36] Okay, so peace and blessings to you all. I hope you enjoyed this

[01:08:41] solo episode on this beautiful, beautiful Friday afternoon. I'll be coming back at you guys April

[01:08:49] the 19th with a special guest in the house. Entrepreneur by day and night.

[01:09:01] As well as on the 26th we got a great, great, great awesome speaker coming.

[01:09:07] I've taken the last couple of weeks off but I felt like playing today.

[01:09:11] I felt like getting on the mic today. You never know. But definitely morning inspirations

[01:09:18] presented by 12th Street Top Bat will return on April the 17th.

[01:09:26] We'll have our special guest on April the 19th and we'll be going into

[01:09:31] our season six. Season five was long. I stopped counting after a while.

[01:09:38] I stopped counting after a while after we hit our 300 episodes. I stopped counting by season.

[01:09:45] I don't know if I'm gonna pick that up anymore or not. We just gonna go with it.

[01:09:50] I'll tell you guys what episode we're in the next time I do solo and be looking out for some

[01:09:58] things from your girls. Your girl got some things on the rise, some big, big things on

[01:10:03] the rise that's coming up. Don't forget to check us out on our list and platforms Spotify,

[01:10:10] Apple, Amazon, five star ratings. Please, please, please come follow your girl on one of the

[01:10:18] platforms. Follow us on YouTube. Let's get 12th Street Top Bat out there in North Carolina and

[01:10:30] other states, other countries. We got a great segue in about 34 countries. And although it is

[01:10:41] not a consistent listening, we still got other countries under our belt. But North Carolina

[01:10:47] is my home. This my community. So if you're from North Carolina, tell a friend, tell a friend and

[01:10:53] tell a friend because we're gonna be in this community for a while. We're gonna be rolling

[01:10:59] up our sleeves and digging in here and helping everybody from the young to the seniors.

[01:11:07] Peace and blessings to you. If you can't do anything else, give somebody a kind word,

[01:11:12] but a hot meal goes a long, long way.