Then, a snake popped out and tried to slither away to our backyard. I screamed and shielded my body with my son’s. Just kidding. Though, I did scream! I quickly opened the garage door, grabbed a shovel, and killed the anaconda, saving my son’s life, and the lives of my wife and neighbors. My wife says it was just a small garden snake the size of an infant’s shoelace, but I felt like a superhero, none the less.

That reminds me of our first parents, who also dealt with a Snake, six thousand years ago, in a place called Eden. Adam and Eve were inseparable. Except for the time Adam went to pick some roses for his mamasita, while Eve was out talking to a flying reptile. (Now, I don’t know about you, but if an animal talks to me and Dr. Dolittle is not there to translate, I’M RUNNING!) Especially, if that animal is not a parrot!

Now, when the Bible says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” 1 I think It means, EVER. We were never meant to isolate ourselves from the real world. We need each other. Example, if Adam was with Eve, at the time the Devil was tempting her, he could’ve told her, “Don’t do it! There’s something fishy going on. I named the serpent and the serpent does NOT talk!”

But, he wasn’t with her and Eve took a bite from the mango. (I wouldn’t sin for an apple. So, I refuse to believe Eve did. Now, warm apple pie with ice cream; that’s a different story!) Did you know Ellen White says that the serpent plucked the fruit and put it in her hand? 2 Eve never went for it, but she took it. The same thing happens to us, huh? Satan knows Christian teens will never go the bodega to buy some beer, or to the street corner to buy some weed. But, if someone offers it to them at a party; then maybe. Don’t take it!

If you are tempted to take something, though, borrow my shovel. And, stomp that slimy Snake in the head with it. Oh wait. Jesus already did that for you on Calvary.

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1. Gen. 2:18

2. Patriarchs and Prophets (Ellen G. White) page 30

          It’s the New Year! Most of us have vowed to start exercising more. (Don’t look at me!) A lot of us have decided to start reading more of the Bible, and play less video games. Some of you have vowed to stop gossiping, or even are committed to start paying tithes and offerings. Imagine a world without New Year’s resolutions. I wish I never had to diet. I wish I was just skinny, again, like I was in my early teens. What happened to me? Here I am 4,973 Whoppers later, making promises to myself knowing I can’t keep. I haven’t even started yet, and, I’m tired. In fact, I’m tired of being sick and tired of trying!

Does that sound like you? If only we could go back in time and erase our past. If we could only go back to that place, and not take that step that got us so hooked in the first place. Whether it be touching that cigarette for the first time. Or even looking at that dirty magazine, or going into that porn site.

Pastor Eldin Ramirez has an awesome sermon about the movie, Back to the Future, and had inspired me to write this blog, and a sermon concerning the topic. In that movie, Michael J. Fox plays Marty McFly, a typical American teenager of the Eighties, who is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean/time machine invented by his slightly mad scientist friend. Marty must make certain his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love, so he can get back to the future.

If that was me, (Though I’d probably would have had to go back in time inside a U-Haul truck, not being able to fit in sports car! Ha!) I would make sure the young me never steps foot inside a fast food restaurant, which happens to be my present weakness. Or I would never grab that Playboy magazine in my hand, or look at the movie Scarface, a movie that made me want to be a mobster, after I saw it.

I definitely would take back those ugly words I have said to people, and I would “unbreak” those hearts I have hurt.

But, I was thinking… Imagine if David had never committed adultery with Bathsheba. We would have never been blessed to read Psalm 51, verses that most of us can relate to, but still points us to a forgiving God.

And, picture King Saul not being scared of Goliath, and killing him. Little David would have probably died a lonely shepherd, and we would have never read of the battle between him and Goliath, a story that gives us hope while facing our very own giants.

Come to think of it, what would we do without these awesome examples of the Bible that warns us of what not to do while preparing for heaven?

So, you know what? If there is gonna be any time traveling whatsoever, let Jesus be the One to travel back in time, allow Him to forgive you of your past sins, so you can finally let go and come back to the future!

That’s what I am going to do! And, while I am being changed, by He who began the good work in me, I’m going to have me a chicken sandwhich (I’m downgrading from a Big Mac). Yet, I’m going to trust in Him that said, “Come now, let us settle the matter…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool”.

(Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

]]> http://www.ghettopreacher.com/2013/01/back-2-the-future/feed/ 0 http://www.ghettopreacher.com/2012/12/mary-had-a-little-lamb/ http://www.ghettopreacher.com/2012/12/mary-had-a-little-lamb/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:15:44 +0000 Ghettopreacher http://ghettopreacher.com/?p=481 My son and I recently went to a Shaquille O’Neal book signing. The book store was packed; lines everywhere. (Reminds me of my stretch marks! Ha!) As he stepped inside the store from his limo, someone screamed out, “There he is!” and the crowd went wild. I thought of when John the Baptist saw Jesus and proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” 1

But, check this out: I had to pay $29.00 for Shaq to autograph my book. (You know how many Whoppers I could’ve bought with that! Dang it! I’m truly regretting it! ) Now, imagine if he would’ve walked up to the cashier and paid for the books of every single person in line. That would’ve been awesome. Right? Only a  millionaire like the big Shaq-Diesel could do something like that. But, you know what? That’s what Jesus did. He paid a price you and I could never pay.

I heard a song the other day on Christian radio that went like this:

“Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?

This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you…”

Wow. Isn’t that awesome?! A Mary Christmas! But, Christmas is for all of us, as well. You see, Mary had a little Lamb that came to this world to deliver us from sin. Amen? Speaking of which, I wish somebody would’ve delivered me from my wife the other night as she plucked some of the white hairs I have on my goatee! She’s younger than me, so she says, “There’s no way my man is going to have canas being with me!” (In Hebrew that could be translated as: ‘My husband aint gonna be lookin’ like a Puerto Rican Santa Claus!’)  Anyways, as she was plucking away she yanked the wrong one! Ouuuuuuch!!! It hurt more than being shanked, and all she could say was, “My bad. I plucked out a black one by mistake.” Whaaaat!? With watery eyes I scratched my chin and cried, “All that PAIN for nothing. At least, make it worthwhile!”

That reminds me of what Jesus did. Mary’s little Lamb was born on a measly ol’ manger to later die hanging on a tree; for you and me. So, this Christmas, let’s not get too distracted with a fat man in a red suit and some make believe flying reindeers (Though, Rudolph is the bomb!). Instead, let’s meditate on Jesus, who’s the true Reason for the season.

‘Cause, if we don’t, then all that pain He went through years later was for nothing. So, let’s celebrate His birth and sacrifice worthwhile, and unite with me in singing the lyrics to that oldie but goodie hymn that says, “Joy to the world the Lord is come…”2 Merry Christmas. Or should I say, “Mary’s Chrsitmas to all.”

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1. John 1:29

2. Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Anyways, I worked up the nerves to walk up to him, and introduced myself. “My name is Willy Ramos,” I said, “the youth call me the preacher’s ghetto.” Auuuuuuuggh, man. I can’t believe I just choked up! Why am I so scared of him? He’s just a man. Ok, I’ll try again. “I meant to say, ghetto preacher.”

He didn’t say a word. Just looked at me like if I was stupid. I realized that I was bothering him so, I picked up my luggage, and said, “Bye.” Then, I took out one of one of my business cards, and attempted to give it to him. He never took it. He left me hanging. I was embarrassed and was turning as red as Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales! He left me with my hands in the air, looked at me up and down, then turned away to retrieve his bags. I can’t believe he just treated me like I had the “cooties” or something. Wow.

I wanted to backslide just for a few minutes and hit him over the head with my suitcase! I didn’t. Thank God. Imagine the headlines on that! On the next Cintinela issue: “Fat preacher sits on author and squashes him!!” I went home and cried. Not one of those soft-baby-boo-hoo kind of cries. (I need to keep my street credibility!) I shed a tear. Because it hurt.

I’m kind of glad it happened, though, to be honest. God taught me an important lesson that day. God reminded me that I shouldn’t put no one up on a pedestal accept for Jesus. Not Ellen White, Joel Olsteen, Joyce Myers, and, not Oprah……….Just Jesus.

“You shall have no other gods before me….You shall not bow down to them or worship them.”
-Exodus 20:3-5(NIV)

I can imagine the ring announcer introducing the two combatants like this the day it all went down:

“In this corner weighing 560 pounds…(No, not me!)…with a record of 460 wins and zero losses…the phenom of the Philistines…the super heavyweight champion of Gath…ladies and gentlemen…The undisputed, undefeated Go-li-ath!!!…and in this corner…it’s…it’s…it’s… just… David?”

Yup. Just David. Have you ever felt like that? Has anyone ever told you, “Oh, it’s just you. I thought it was somebody important.”

And, when the Bible talks of the “least of these,” ¹ do you categorize yourself in that bunch?

I remember I was at this camp in Florida and somebody asked if I could take a picture. I said, “Sure” and posed for the camera like a super-sized super model.

Tyra Banks would’ve been proud! All of a sudden, the person with the camera said, “You don’t understand… We don’t want a picture of you, we want you to take it of us.”

I felt real small. Come to think of it, that’s the only time in my life that I’ve ever felt small. All the other times I feel extra, extra, extra large. Ha!

I also remember a time, Pastor Manny Cruz asked me if I could preach at the same venue as Jose Rojas & Alejandro Bullon! What? Who am I? And, I was real humbled the time I preached on the same pulpit that Ellen G. White used at Atlantic Union College.

But, you know what? I have seen God use me, too! I just got my GED the other day, at the age of thirty six, yet I have preach to thousands.
And, I’ve been at a Federal Prison where an ex-murderer approached me and said she gave her life to God because of my radio ministry.
And all the glory goes to God, of course. But, I’m telling you this because if God can use a punk like me, and use David to kill a giant, he could definitely use you! You are not insignificant. You are worth the blood of a God!

Just think, you’re here not by chance, but by God’s choosing… He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.²

So, always remember, in your corner, you are in the company of He who created the heavens and earth! Giants beware!

<sup>1. Matthew 25:40
2. Roy Lessin</sup>