I HEARD A TALK SHOW MADE UP OF PEOPLE TRAPPED IN THE MATRIX... AND THE PROPHET IN ME WENT TILT

I almost never listen to progressive radio. WCPT in Chicagoland. For lots of reasons, most of which have to my desire for avoiding head explosions. Yesterday I listened for most of a program called "The Family Meeting". It's liberal black people talking about all things community based (in their viewpoint). Since I am interested in this I listened. I recognize that some of what I was hearing was from a progressive liberal viewpoint and I get that. But when things became all Race Race Race... I was amazed by the blindness.

The discussions became all about reparations. The question was HOW MUCH? Of course this for things that happened hundreds of years ago. Horrid but really history. Only kept alive by movie ticket sellers. It got weird when other people called in and also demanded due reparations like a Chinese fellow did. That derailed the whole conversation. That revealed the fact that Reparations is racism. When that became clear it ended the discussion.

That drifted into why a whole community of people are mostly poor. The reason is, (according to these folks), that they didn't get an inheritance. That they can't save any money. That they can't build wealth. Then they started to talk about how the Chinese immigrants and the Indian seem to build wealth, despite not being LIKE the rest, coming with nothing. And it drifted from there. The Wall Street Journal had interviewed one of the fellows. He told how it was that there wealth building in the black community was almost non existent. I scratched my head.

What made me really sad was the conversation then about windfalls. Money. What would you do if... Big Lottery Win, big sports contract, big money just comes. MILLIONS. What would you do? How would you use the money.

There were 6 panelists. One was a banker. All African American. NONE of them could give a cohesive plan. Big House. Big Car. Buy a seat on the city council, or a congressional seat (they thought money was the key to winning elections, ask Mitt Romney). Travel. Clothes. Cadillac. The whole deal. Almost cartoonish in stereotype.  This from people from the community. I wondered when they would begin to talk about more watermelon and fried chicken. Wait, they actually did. Joking of course, but it was recognized how much like the image they had become.

I quickly recognized that despite a weak attempt to be serious, they really had no idea what they would do with a zillion dollars except to blow it.

They talked about how sports stars with contracts that pay enormous amounts of money are broke within a few years of the end of their career. They also had no solutions except to get a financial adviser. What about learning something for themselves? Becoming their own financial advisory?

Here's what I ultimately learned.

1. Liberalism is the enemy of anyone coming out of their circumstance. If you harbor liberal views you are condemning yourself to poverty... at least of the spirit.

2. Blaming anyone including the system is bad for your spirit. It allows you to hide behind circumstance without responsibility. "If it's to be it's up to me" is a lost art.

3. Money is a tool that if you never learn to operate will kill you or end up broken. It saves nothing, spending it only perpetuates the decline in your life and it is deceitful above almost all else. It is a tool of the enemy to deceive.

4. Learning economics might be a way to help those who have none get some. It's a pretty easy thing, but most of what you think you know is wrong.

5. Stuff will never make you better or happy.

One last thing, the one person on the panel, working as a banker, who should have known said she wanted to accumulate about $400,000 in investments and live on the interest. And she's a banker. WOW.

No wonder there are no inheritances.

Here's the point, and I hope you read all the way to here, IF we are going to help one another get past poverty, there are HUGE Poverty Mindsets (strongholds) that must be torn down. Spirits of Poverty. They unfortunately come attached to identity. IF you believe because of your race or ethnicity that you are trapped in poverty by "the system", then you are. It's a stronghold. It's a Spirit. Unless you turn your back on and renounce all of the lies, you will remain in chains. Worse, so will your children.

I have wondered why I was called to this. A white boy from North Dakota. One who has more years behind than ahead. Why me Lord?

It's time to break the chains. The problem is, it starts with breaking off the lies. We can't do that with prayer alone. YOU are going to have to be part of every prayer you pray. You can't do it with education alone. "Knowledge is power" you hear people say. NO, that's only half the truth, APPLIED KNOWLEDGE is power.

Unless you APPLY what you know it is wasted.

AND, you will have to carefully examine all you know about what you believe about yourself, your heritage, your future, your condition and those who are around you. What are they. What do you believe about them? EVERYTHING YOU ONCE KNEW IS PROBABLY WRONG.

It's the MATRIX. I heard the voices of those deep in the matrix on Sunday. They have no idea how deep they are.

It's time to break free. Now What? Can one later in life really break free?