Freedom doesn't mean doing anything you want to do. It means the ability to make the right decisions, and accepting consequences for the wrong decisions.

Some people, the ones with a plantation mentality, insist that nothing is ever their fault.

"Why didn't you finish college, Ray-Ray?"

"That professor doesn't like me."

"But he likes everyone else, right? Can we assume that everyone that graduated were personal friends of the professors, while those who didn't finish were his personal enemies? Or maybe it had something to do with not going to class, not doing your assignments, or maybe not buying books until three weeks into the semester?"

Then Ray-Ray gets mad. Someone was supposed to meet him at the doors of the college campus and give him his degree. It isn't his fault . . . You weren't supposed to go there.

"This church isn't feeding me," says Sis Truman.

"Do you have a Bible? Can you read? Then why not feed yourself some?"

Sis Truman gets mad. You weren't supposed to go there. She wants to preach, but she doesn't think she should have to read her Bible. She is simply supposed to open her mouth and revelation is supposed to pour out, even though she has not done her part.

The children of Israel whined about missing full flesh pots and leeks and cabbage. They seemed to forget that they were being beaten everyday, that they were being under a heavy yoke and treated like cattle. No, they just wanted to eat well. They weren't willing to take personal responsibility for their own choices.

Same with some of us. We would rather stay in the ghetto and spend every last penny on what we drive and what we wear than go take some classes. As long as they have been fooling around, some people could have finished two or three degrees by now. No, we just want to roll well and sport the newest fashion. Let's not talk about the cell phones . . .   

Ever see broke people  . . . I mean broke people . . . with the latest, fanciest cell phones to their ear? Have you ever wondered who they are calling? What is so important when they don't even have a job? They put in a fancy ring tone so everyone will have to notice them, and will even interrupt choir rehearsal or even service to take a call . . . like they are Donald Trump or something. What is so important that you have to disrupt service?

Plasma TV. Cell phones. All kinds of video games. And credit as bad as Jesse James! Let's get smart, folks!

Don't we know that credit rating is an indicator of how responsible we are with our money? That is why lending companies can stick it to us when we are ready to buy a car, or open up another line of credit . . . they know you will pay late, so they demand outrageous interest rates because they know you need a car, they know you need some credit . . . so they cycle of living on the plantation continues. Remember the plantation is not a physical place, it is a system that keeps a group of people in forced labor, working for someone else.

To leave the plantation, we are going to have to be more responsible than that, folks.