" There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. There is only cursing, Lying and Murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed"- Hosea 4:1-2
my heart has been heavy for a while now. As a thirty-year-old black man in America, it pains me to log into social media which has turned into our daily news, to continuously see my people dropping like flies as the reaper seems to have employed other people to do his dirty work for him. Death covers African Americans like a wet moldy bed sheet and the stinch is causing me to not only grieve but become angry at our lack of love and care for one another as a people. 26 year old Charles Jones out of Jacksonville Florida infamously known as "Julio Foolio" unfortunatley as a member of the circus or some would say the drill music rap scene took his turn on the poplular Merry go-round of death this past Sunday June 23rd while celebrating his Birthday. Many rappers have preceded him in death going all the way back to Pac and biggie in the mid 1990's, however it seems that today there is a different evil that's present in these artist causing them to use their music as an outlet of hatred and antagonisms, with the new trend being to even diss their "opps" beyond the grave, something that was rarely heard of when i was growing up.
I think about artist like King Von, FBG Duck, Mo3 and JaydaYoungan. Every single one of them either made fun of their dead enemies directly, or referenced murder in general like it was a sport to compete in. Julio was no different, he repeatedly disrespected his dead foes and made fun of their demise with lines the devil would nod in approval over. The question is what stole the hearts of these young men away replacing it with a frozen stone?
I didn't listen to Julios music at all because i had already heard what kind of content he was known for making, but as is my habit, when one of these rappers sadly pass away, i dig into their discographies out of curiosity just to see what they were communicating in their music. I also take a look at their social media accounts to see where they always promoting death and destruction or did they perhaps show their loving side with their families, or significant others, don't ask me why i do it i just do.....having said that, it didn't take long at all for me to find the answer to why believe Julio and so many other's go down this dead end road Pun intended, the answer is simple They don't feel loved so they lack LOVE to give! Foolio released a song titled "Ion Need Love" Where he's literally spilling his heart all over the track reminiscing on friends and close loved ones that he's lost to the streets. He talks about the danger loving someone brings mainly that it leaves him open to be hurt and that he's ultimately tired of being hurt, even saying that in a couple of past shootings that he survived how he wished he would've died.
When a person says that they don't need love make no mistake about it, they're actually screaming that they not only need it but WANT it as well. Foolio lost his dad to gun violence at 13 years old, and he found himself engulfed in an environment pain, poverty and violence but what hurt his future the most was the love that was absent from his life. The scripture i referenced above speaks of the Israelites and how they had become corrupt as a nation, God says that faithfulness, LOVE, and an acknowledgement of God(concern for his will and ways) were abent from the land which contributed to Immorality of all kinds with death being the end result. It's not a big secret ya'll, our children need unconditional love as young kids, they need life spoken over them from the time they come out of the womb, they need acceptance not based on their performance but based on their humanity, THEY NEED IDENTITY and dignity from their father's especially! Studies have shown what happens when the father doesn't give his son all of these things. I'll end with answering the question i posed in my title, will the cycle of death ever end? Jesus said that "those who live by the sword will die by the sword" Matthew 26: 52
The answer is No and yes! it won't end in this world because the hearts of men will only grow colder and more wicked , we just cant save everyone, let's be real! what we can do is be about our fathers business until he returns and set's up his eternal kingdom where he promises to end all war, violence and last but certainly not least Death itself!
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed"- Revelation 21: 1-4
This is our hope but until then we aid God in healing the land not killing it ....Blessings
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