Atlanta Daily World

Pop Star Katy Perry Says 'Speaking In Tongues is as Normal as ‘Pass The Salt’'

Speaking in tongues is rarely discussed. It is even rarer to be discussed in Hollywood.

Pop star Katy Perry also learned to speak in tongues while growing up with her strict religious parents. The singer previously said, "Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as 'Pass the salt' ... "My dad speaks in tongues and my mom interprets it. That's their gift."

She is not alone!

"Transformers" star Megan Fox says she has been speaking in tongues since she was a child and often has to restrain herself during trips to church. Fox, who was raised as a member of the Pentecostal church, says she used to take part in glossolalia sessions–the muttering of speech-like syllables as a form of religious expression–from the age of eight.

Fox admits she is a devout Christian and often feels overcome by religious fervor when she attends church services. She tells Esquire magazine, "The energy is so intense in the room that you feel like anything can happen... I have seen magical, crazy things happen. I've seen people be healed. Even now, in the church I go to, during praise and worship I could feel that I was maybe getting ready to speak in tongues, and I'd have to shut it off because I don't know what that church would do if I started screaming out in tongues in the back."

The origin of the practice is believed to be the miracle of Pentecost — as told in the New Testament book of Acts — when Jesus' apostles were said to be filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in languages foreign to themselves. And a gifted few are said to have done it in early Christian congregations. Saint Paul called it "speaking in the tongues of angels."

The practice is widely embraced by Pentecostals but looked at askance by many other Christian denominations.

Prayer For President Obama and Vice President Biden

Psalm121 is written with such confidence that the reader cannot deny he has experienced every bit of God's safety, God's protection, and dependability on more than one occasion. David was an amazing King. He understood leadership, crisis and temperance. .

Today as President Barack Obama begins

This may be the greatest quality of God's appointing David into leadership – no matter the circumstance, we can always know what to expect from Him.

(Psalm 121)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you—

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil—
he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, try some Psalm 121 leadership this week. Be a safe place, be a protector, be dependable. Most importantly, be consistent.

Do You Live In The Spirit?

Scripture tells us that John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15, 41) by Christ himself, whom Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit.

When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth John lept in her womb as they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41).

The fire of the Spirit dwelt in John and made him the forerunner of the coming Messiah. John was led by the Spirit into the wilderness prior to his ministry where he was tested and grew in the word of God. John's clothing was reminiscent of the prophet Elijah (see Kings 1:8). John broke the prophetic silence of the previous centuries when he began to speak the word of God to the people of Israel.

His message was similar to the message of the Old Testament prophets who chided the people of God for their unfaithfulness and who tried to awaken true repentance in them. Among a people unconcerned with the things of God, it was his work to awaken their interest, unsettle them from their complacency, and arouse in them enough good will to recognize and receive Christ when he came. Are you eager to hear God's word and to be changed by it through the power of the Holy Spirit?

Mark (1:1-8)

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths."
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel's hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
"One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Jesus is ready to give us the fire of his Spirit that we may radiate the joy and truth of the gospel to a world in desperate need of God's light and truth. His word has power to change and transform our lives that we may be lights pointing others to Christ. Like John the Baptist, we too are called to give testimony to the light and truth of Jesus Christ. Do you point others to Christ in the way you live, work, and speak?

Obama Pays Homage to Black Church on Eve of Inauguration

President Barack Obama and the first family on Sunday visited Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Washington DC known as the "National Cathedral of African Methodism" to worship.

About 1500 congregants and senior pastor Rev Ronald E. Braxton jubilantly welcomed the president on the eve of his inauguration, which is also the birthday of Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The church also sang happy birthday for First Lady Michelle Obama who turned 49 on Jan.17.

President Obama's visit to Metropolitan AME is significant because it also marked the eve of the church's historic 175th anniversary and underscores Obama's faith posture, which came under fire during his first term in office when some on the religious right were questioning his faith.

"It was beautiful and it was spiritual," said Tijuana Morris who attended the service. "I took pride in the service that our president was in the church."
The church beautifully decorated to honor the president's visit according to Dr. Garland-Hill, a minister at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit sends a strong message that "Obama is not only the president of all of us but he remembers his roots and his ancestors and the role they played for us to be where we are today."

The AME church which grew out of the anti-segregationist movement in 1787 has since been a major spiritual denomination for African Americans when it was first founded by Richard Allen.

The Metropolitan AME has had a revered history and distinguished record of notable African Americans and transformational leaders who either spoke at the church or attended regular Sunday service there.

For example preeminent African American civil rights pioneer Frederick Douglass who interfaced with President Lincoln attended service there and the church was the site of his funeral in 1895 as well as legendary labor leader and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph who was funeralized at the church.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev Jesse Jackson Sr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert H. Humphrey, Charles H. Wesley, Paul Laurence Dunbar are among a list of previous speakers who have graced the pulpit of Metropolitan AME.

" Obama is a messenger just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who always had a message about peace," Hill said. "For him to visit an African American church on this Sunday sends a message that as a black man he is not ashamed to go to his roots."

Obama has selected Myrlie Evers Williams, the widow of Medgar Evers, the slain civil rights activist to deliver the invocation at the inauguration, another twist to the celebration that reflects on the civil rights pilgrimage that included the blood of many innocent lives shed.

"I am eternally grateful to Obama to have Myrlie Evers to deliver the invocation," Hill said. "To me that means that from the grave the work of Emma Till leaves on. Obama now leaves a legacy for our children that you have an obligation to never forget where you came from."

Rev Hill said to look at the White House built with the hands of slaves and to see a Black man now occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as president is completing a cycle of history.

"That is why the Black church today needs to go back to our roots to give our children not only religious training but social and economic training because it was the center place of our existence as a people," Hill said."The Black church should reach out and help because so many people are hurting out there. We need to have more clinics in our churches."

Virgie Rollins, chair of the Democratic Black Caucus said Obama's visit to Metropolitan AME today shows "He is still trying to decide where he wants to worship. I'm assuming he enjoys it. This demosntrates again he is starting to feel comfortable with his relationship with his God. He talks about his faith."

Rollins said probably the president "Is accepting to be a part of this church because picking a church will be important to him and his family."

With their visit to Metropolitan AME, the Obamas seemed to be building a strong affinity with the African Methodist Episcopal Church because President Obama addressed the AME General Conference in 2008, and as recent as June of 2012, Michelle Obama, was the keynote speaker at the church's quadrennial General Conference where she delivered a fiery speech.

"You see, living out our eternal salvation is not a once-a-week kind of deal," She said."And in a more literal sense, neither is citizenship."

She urged the 10,000 attendees of the conference to move beyond the four walls of their churches and make a difference.

"And to anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place better - no place better. Because ultimately, these are not just political issues -- they are moral issues," She said at the height of the heated 2012 presidential campaign. "Find that nephew who has never voted - get him registered."

Bankole Thompson is a Senior Author-in-Residence at Global Mark Makers Publishing House in Iowa where he is writing a groundbreaking six-part book series on the Obama presidency. His book "Obama and Black Loyalty" published in 2010 follows his recent book "Obama and Christian Loyalty" with a foreword by Bob Weiner former White House spokesman. His forthcoming books in 2012 are "Obama and Jewish Loyalty" and "Obama and Business Loyalty." He is the first editor of a major African American newspaper to have a series of sit-down interviews with Barack Obama. Thompson is also a Senior Political News Analyst at WDET-101.9FM Detroit (NPR Affiliate) and a member of the weekly "Obama Watch" Sunday evening round table on WLIB-1190AM New York and simulcast in New Jersey and Connecticut.