So let’s talk about MegaMess 2006 a little more. This year the ‘Mess is brought to you by T. Dexter Jakes, Coca Cola, Pine-Sol, Gospel Toady (and no, I didn’t misspell the name), Delta Airlines, Nationwide Insurance, Kraft Foods, Clorox, and someplace in there, maybe by God. The interesting thing about all the sponsors is that with them the good bishop can do whatever he wants, inviting who ever he wants without being accountable to anyone, not even God. I’ve already railed earlier about bringing the world in to sponsor religious (even if he keeps trying to deny the religious aspect) events. I won’t harp on that in this posting.

Last year, at the ‘Mess 2005, the women of God were addressed by Gladys Knight, an up and coming Mormon. Christians were entertained by Steve “Filthy Mouth” Harvey and were crooned to by Patti Labelle, who still, by the way, sings “Lady Marmalade.” Only now she sings it with some hotties in lingerie singing back up. I would show you the picture but I don’t want to “stumble” any of the brothers out there.

This year, some of the speakers include such people as Jamal “Pretty Boy” Bryant and the usual list of theological suspects. But as I combed through the web site, I saw a couple of interesting items. And here is where you will have to follow me.

One of the speakers is Susan L. Taylor. Most of you, at this point, are probably saying “Yeah. So?” And that’s fair enough.

Ms. Taylor is the editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine. Not that a good Christian women can’t be the editor of Essence Magazine. That thought is anything but true. However, I some how have to question the appropriateness of bringing Ms. Taylor in as a speaker, motivational or otherwise for a bunch of folks who claim to name the name of Jesus.

If you go over to www.essence.com and poke around a bit, you will discover a very interesting and perhaps disturbing set of facts about the editor and the magazine.

As many of you know, Ms. Taylor does a very popular column in the magazine called “In the Spirit.” As you read it, you will see that the spirituality has nothing to do with the spirituality of Jesus Christ. Instead it is a spirituality more closely aligned with Oprah Winfrey (take a look at this discussion she had with a woman with outstanding…uh…testicular mass).

But more than this, Ms. Taylor is presenting seminars called Empowerment Seminars. Take a look here to see the slate of speakers and performers.

The list includes such people as:

· Danny Glover
· T. Dexter Jakes
· Iyanla Vanzant

At this point, with the exception of Danny Glover, you might be asking “So what?” And after all, since this event is even less overtly religious than the ‘Mess 2006, you wouldn’t expect the lineup to be consistently Christian. I mean, two out of three isn’t bad. Right?

There only one problem with that approach. We know T. Dexter. But let’s take a look at that last person on the list: Iyanla Vanzant.

If you take a look at the Essence Biography (click here) you can see that Ms. Vanzant is a Yoruba priestess. Click here to get an idea about the Yoruba priestess thing. Look familiar? Yoruba is, apparently, something of a precursor of Voodoo.

Here is a description, approved by Vanzant, of the altars she maintains in her home:

There are also the altars. On the one in her bedroom, where she does her daily 5:30 A.M. meditation, rest an amethyst crystal, ashes from the altar of the Dalai Lama and images of her spiritual gurus: Baba Muktananda, Babaji, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Vishnu, Buddha. On the altar in her book-lined office sit seven glasses of water and an image of the Black Madonna. This is where she consecrates her eyes, head, mouth and ears before sitting down at her computer to write. There’s a third ancestral altar downstairs in a room in the basement, which she visits weekly. On it are displayed old family photos and pictures of 21 legendary African-American women, among them Harriet Tubman, Aubre Lorde, Queen Mother Moore and Ida B. Wells. “I’m standing on my ancestors,” she explains. “They are powerful people who have done so much of the work.”

Did I miss something here or did she not even mention Jesus Christ? I mean Buddha, Vishnu, and a couple of other folks got mention, but Jesus seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in the list of spiritual luminaries.

Again, you wouldn’t expect much in the way of authentic Christianity from Ms. Taylor. But here is my question: Why is T. Dexter lending his name to this event? You could say “Oh Melvin, he is just being available to present the gospel should the opportunity arise!” And that could be.

Hmmm. I think I’m going to be a keynote speaker at the National Call Girls’ Association Convention in Nevada (since it’s perfectly legal there); just in case an opportunity to preach the Gospel presents itself. And until that happens, I’ll just mingle with the conventioneers.

And of course, the follow-on question is why is this woman, a woman who promotes a Yoruba priestess as an example of spirituality, speaking at the ‘Mess 2006? Actually, that’s not the right question. We know why she is speaking. The question is why are the Christians out there too apathetic to complain about it?

Does the phrase “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” mean anything to you?

Remember - T. Dexter is an outstanding marketeer. In that respect he is brilliant. Unfortunately, he spends most of his time marketing you rather than presenting the Gospel. He spend his time loosing the women and making the men dance around like women.

More to follow over the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Melvin Jones on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 1:55 pm.