Trip was awesome!!

NY was absolutely awesome. Time with my friend Matt and his wife Jaime was truly a Godsend! I took a lot of pictures of downtown Albany and surrounding areas. I will post those pictures up soon. There was plenty of beauty to behold =) Most of the time spent was relaxing, fellowhipping, and working/practicing on muisc. The experience of it all was awesome!! I mean it was enriching, empowering and spirtually gifted. Me and Matt worked on a song called "I'm a cross", and it started out with him on the piano and singing and me working on beats on my monome. Then it just kept blossoming and evolving. We did like two preproduction versions and kept recording any ideas we got. By the end of the week, we had recorded Matts little cousin, Mom, cousins friend, a local singer named Malcolm, me, Matt 10 times, Jaime and maybe other people too...that was just for vocals. We ended up with a choir like chorus, it was really powerful when all the voices were combined :) Then Matt hopped on the bass and added a slick bassline, and also did some guitar work on the track. I came up with a really up tempo beat for the chorus and got the song arranged out. I plan on doing this original version, getting all sounding awesome. And then doing a couple other versions, maybe like a breakbeat version and a dance version. The mix right now though is in shambles and needs work :(. But, I beleive it is a challenge God is giving me to show my skills and move them forward, to learn and grow. A lot of time was put into this track but its energy is strong. It is a good solid Christian song. What more could you ask for?

Last week was also more than a musically growing experience as well. It was spiritually enriching as well. I feel like a different person from the dude who boarded a plane on Friday the 14th. One of the many lessons I was taught was dilligence. Working hard all the time. No laziness allowed. Matt would get up everyday at 5:30am and blast Christian music and work out. It didn't matter who was asleep or awake. He didn't do it to be annoying, he did it because that was the best time to workout and worship before he went off to work. He put God first and it didn't matter what time it was :)Putting God first. You would think it would be easy. But it is not, because it has been our nature not too, our sinful nature. We have too much pride. So, everyday this week so far I have been waking up at 5:30am and reading the Bible and practicing my bass. When I get home from work open up my Bible and read it. The practice piano and work on music. Everyday, the dilligence. This week in NY gave me a thirst to grow with God, as I realize my music doesn't matter if it is not inspired by God. I want to be truly inspired, and close with the Lord. I am going to do my best. Thats all I can do, and depend on the Lord for the rest, as I know my best is never going to be good enough.

I met a lot of awesome people in NY as well. Matts wife Jaime is really nice and we spent the day in downtown Albany looking at all the SWEET buildings. The designs are a gothic feel and I got a lot of awesome pictures of a cathedral church. It was one of the most structurally magnifecent churches I have seen in person. Jaime is an awesome cook and good woman of the Lord. So that was a blessing to meet her. I met some wonderful people at Matts church. One of them being the pastor and he stood out from most. He had this fire of the Lord about him. Part of his sermon was about how when Jesus was sleeping in the boat while the apostles were out fishing, a storm came and it was soo bad that they were scared and Jesus was sleeping. The apostles woke up Jesus and said "...do you not care, we are going to perish...!!" Jesus got up and told the storm to calm, and it did, then he said "why are you so afraid?" The pastor then said: "Folks, I am going to tell you something...I can predict storms. Yes, I know you may laugh, but I can do what the weathermen can do. I can predict storms." " I may not know when or where the storms will be, but I can tell you that they will come!" "But with Jesus in your boat it doesn't mean storms won't come, but it does mean you will sustain and get through them." Man, so true, and I am glad Jesus is in my boat! There so many other meetings awesomness, too many to list in a short blogging. Matts family is great as well! His mom and dad are real nice and his sister and her daughter Mallory are awesome! everyone was just a blessing to meet and interact with. What a wonderful time.

So on the musical front. I am really tearing myself down and rebuilding musically. I feel like I have never been genuine. I do not really like my music to be honest, I think it is boring and non aggressive. I feel it is just not me. It has been what, 8 years of hopping from person to person, then solo, then person to person again. I have learned so much but always put God second. How I know this is because I never let God work through me musically, I am always afraid of what people will say when I make something genuine as that is when it will hurt the most. But, by doing that I put God second. God puts in my heart to make something, I must do it. So, I am trying to finish up some projects that are lingering and just practicing. I really feel I have a hunger to get good at the bass and piano/keys/synth. Concentrate on that. I am also selling a lot of gear, I want to limit myself, and then re-get gear that I need but make it high quality. I am looking to upgrade my monitors so I can get fatter mixes and be confident that my mixes will sound good, but my emphasis will be on the solidness of the song writing. I feel these things are on my heart so that is why I am doing it. I am also working on my lunch breaks and breaks with making music from my Nintendo DS. A bit of an 8bit project, and I feel it awesomely a blessing. So, moving to NY may still happen. I may never do music again. I am at the mercy of the Lord. =) He comes first.

The Easter Sham

So, Easter is approaching. I do not like that holiday. You would think I would love it as it apparently is to celebrate Jesus's ressurection. But I know it doesn't. Besides the fact the we do or should celebrate that everyday as that is the foundation of the Christian faith. If Jesus never rose from the dead then he was not who the 300+ prophecies and he said he was. So, with that said, a day has been set aside to celebrate this and churches everywhere will have a special Easter Sunday...yet, an infiltration by pagan/secular ways has polluted this 'holiday'. Its in the eggs, it has hatched a bunny rabbit. A disgusting perversion of what is supposed to be celebration of the foundation of Christian faith. The celebration of the conquering of sin and death. The celebration of the beauty and amazing power of Jesus. So this begs a question, where did the bunny and eggs come from? The name Easter is derived from the Eastre, the Teutonnic goddess of Spring. There is a strong relation, but the actual origin is from the days of Babylon, specifically after The Great Flood. The origin of this perversion is from Babel(Babylon). Most perversion and idolatory, satanic/star/sun/moon worship originated from Babylonia. Nimrod who was Noah's great grandson, after the flood built and organized the cities: Babel, Asshur, Nineveh, and Caleh amongst others. (Genesis 10:10-12) Those cities were the pinnacle of evil as known from biblical account. Nimrod was by Jewish tradition one who made 'all other people rebellious against God'. He was a tyrant, political leader and a high priest of an occultic religion. Nimrod was married to Queen Semiramis. Once Nimrod died, his wife Queen Semiramis made sure he was deified as the Sun-god. In different cultures he was known as Baal, the Great Life Giver, the god of fire, Baalim, Bel, Molech. Later on when Queen Semiramis gave birth to an illegitimate son named Tammuz, she said this was Nimrod incarnate. The son was considered a savior as Queen Semiramis told her people that he was conceived supernaturally. The son was worshipped but the mother was worshipped even more! With Nimrod deified as god of the sun and father of creation, Queen Semiramis was now deified as goddess of the moon, fertility and more. According to the 'fables' of this mysterious Nimrod led religion, the boy Tammuz was worshipped with various rites in the Spring. When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar, according to legends, he went down to the underworld and because of his mothers weeping he mystically revived in the springing forth of the vegetation during the Spring. So from then on each spring there was a festival to represent the 'resurrection' of Tamuzz from the underworld. Another name for Queen Semiramis was Ishtar(originally pronounced Easter), and aslo: Eostre, Astarte, Ostera, and Eastre. Other names for Semiramis, the Mother Goddess include: Wife of Baal, Ashtaroth or Ashtoreth, and Queen of Heaven.

Excerpt from an article regarding the Hare/easter bunny:

"The rabbit is well known as a sexual symbol of fertility. In various parts of the world, religions which developed from Babel also associate the rabbit with periodicity, both human and lunar (Egypt, China, etc.). As you may remember, the Mother Goddess Semiramis (Easter) is associated with the Moon. In other words, the Easter bunny symbolizes the Mother Goddess. Annual Spring time fertility rituals are associated worship of the Mother Goddess and Tammuz, the reincarnation of her husband Nimrod."

Excerpt from an article regarding the eggs:

"Most children and families who color or hide Easter eggs as part of their Resurrection Sunday tradition have no knowledge of the origin of these traditions. Easter egg activities have become a part of Western culture. Many would be surprised and even dismayed to learn where the traditions originated.

“The egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. They believed an old fable about an egg of wondrous size which was supposed to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this marvelous egg - according to the ancient story - the Goddess Astarte (Easter) [Semiramis], was hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter.”[11]

The idea of a mystic egg spread from Babylon to many parts of the world.[12] In Rome, the mystic egg preceded processions in honor of the Mother Goddess Roman. The egg was part of the sacred ceremonies of the Mysteries of Bacchus. The Druids used the egg as their sacred emblem. In Northern Europe, China and Japan the eggs were colored for their sacred festivals.[13]

The egg was also a symbol of fertility; Semiramis (Easter) was the goddess of Fertility. The Easter egg is a symbol of the pagan Mother Goddess, and it even bears one of her names."

So, as I was driving down the streets of my travels, why is it I see on many Christian churches along the way: "EASTER SUNDAY, easter egg hunt for the kids" So, in essence that Christian church is practicing pagan occult rituals. The Christian church has unfortunately absorbed pagan aspects to attract the secular/pagan world to Jesus. The saying "What would Jesus Do?" maybe is applicable here, as I know that Jesus would be rebuking anything pagan in His Church. Yet, why do Christians accept the Easter holiday, the very word Easter is evil and demonic looking at its origins. I suppose that is why in the end days even Christians will be deceived by the antichrist, we as people are weak and accept tradition. I say, if people only respond to tradition, then start a tradition of praising Jesus everyday, not through altered accepted pagan rituals, but through praise like in the new testament. Sheer away the holidays, and praise the Lord all the time. I am very angered as I was one of the pagan practitioners on those 'Easter' days. It always felt wrong and pointless, I now feel disgusted.

Vacation in NY!!!

I need it!

I am mentally exhausted. I hate my music, and can't get a spark going to keep going. I know what I want to make, I get to a certain point and then say 'ugggh, this blows cow booty'. Oh well. Maybe I should just make 2 minute slammers. A whole album of 2 minute beats. YAY! Anyways, I am sure I just need a recharge. I need some motivation, I am so lazy. lolz, what a complain whore. Everything is good. NY is going to be really exciting, and I am going to try and finish the rough draft of a full album, get a live show together and make awesome music with Matt. He is my friend who I will be staying with. He is a really awesome guy, good man of God. I have talked about him before. An amazing musician! He is married to a wonderful woman. So I think it will be refreshing also to just get away and only have music to do. And some sightseeing of course =) I will be there for a week. Woo hoo. I can't wait! I leave this Friday. Hmm...I think I have more bloggable stuff for later. I have to vent about some things that go on in this world. Icky..