Welcome to Class 70 of “The Ramp” to the Highway of Success course for young women. I am Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society, working in partnership with the Martin Luther King Senior Institute for Young Men & Young Women. The Institute aims to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Sr., commonly referred to as “Daddy King”, whom God used to raise the great leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Our purpose is to guide young men and young women, and help them get on the path to becoming kings and queens for the glory of God.
I am your instructor for this course and the author of the ESSENCE Magazine bestselling book “Letters to Young Black Men” and the national bestselling book “Letters to Young Black Women.” My wife, Meriqua Whyte, and my eldest daughter, Daniella Whyte, co-authored “Letters to Young Black Women” with me. My daughter (who has two bachelor’s degrees in psychology and religion and a master’s degree in human services counseling—executive leadership and a second master’s degree in developmental psychology) and her mother, developed the Study Guide. We are using Letters to Young Black Women and its study guide to guide you through this course. This course is for all young women, but especially for young black women and young women of color who oftentimes face disadvantages that others do not. The goal of this class is to help you operate from a position of strength and power based upon the Word of God so you can be victorious in life. My prayer is that this class will empower you to win against your enemies: the devil, sorry men, and even yourself.
Today, we will continue our study, “ON YOUR LIFE — As a Young Black Woman: BEWARE OF THE DAWGS”.
— First, Let’s Pray —
Allow me to begin with a quote from Ron Brackin. He said, “In his natural perversion, a man wants to lie with a hooker, wed a virgin, and keep both.”
Now, please pull out your text and your digital study guide or follow along on the screen. First, I will read a portion of the corresponding letter from the book, Letters to Young Black Women. Then we will proceed with this lesson:
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In closing, how do so many young women get taken by dawgs, and why are good girls attracted to bad boys, or dawgs?
First, many of us wrongly think that good girls or churchgoing girls are all good, and that they don’t have any evil in them. I hate to be the one to tell you, but that is simply not the case. Unfortunately, what oftentimes draws the good church girl to the bad boy is the bad in the good church girl, which the Bible calls the flesh.
Second, young women are attracted to masculinity, and oftentimes, the good church boy appears so weak and effeminate that the good church girl is turned off by that, and associates masculinity with the “bad boyness” of the dawg.
Third, no one takes the time to teach the good church girl how to discern when she is dealing with a dawg, and how to protect herself from the dawg.
Fourth, the love of the forbidden. Unfortunately, because of our sinful nature, we all have an attraction oftentimes to that which is mysterious, dark, evil, and forbidden. The dawg is all of that and more.
Fifth, sometimes, some young women don’t want to be protected from the dawg, and therefore, they do not take heed to the warning signs. This letter is a huge warning sign to you. You can avoid much pain and heartache if you take heed to it. Daughters and YBW, thousands upon thousands of young black women have been deceived by dawgs, and thus bitten by dawgs. The sad thing about the bite of these dawgs is that the scars seldom go away. Most times, there is a permanent scar that affects her and therefore her relationships for the rest of her life. As I said earlier, this book is about prevention; don’t let this happen to you.
BEWARE OF THE DAWGS!
Papa
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Because of the Fall, all human beings enter the world with a defective, sinful nature. Romans 3:10 states, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” Even the people we generally consider to be “good people”—including ourselves—have an evil side which shows itself on occasion unless it is kept in check. Since both good and evil, light and darkness reside within us individually, we must beware of ourselves as much as we must beware of others. We can be, and often are, our own worst enemies. As licensed counselor, life coach, and ordained minister Craig D. Lounsbrough said, “As I look at my life, I might ask ‘Who is the person that represents the greatest threat to me?’ And if I happen to have a mirror around somewhere, I can rather quickly answer that question.” If you were privileged to have been raised in a good environment surrounded by positive people, the “badness” inside you may be latent. You are most likely out of touch with your bad side, which is a good thing; however, the darkness within can easily be awakened when you come into contact with someone from a different background who has an active bad streak, or who is openly and appealingly dark and dangerous. It is a strange aspect of being, but the humanly-speaking “small” sinfulness in a “good person” will cause them to gravitate and latch on to an evil person faster than another relatively “good person.” And there are those evil people who delight in pursuing and corrupting the innocent of their own accord with no invitation needed. Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, some good girls who are church-going and who have lived clean lives are oftener attracted to bad guys who they know will only lead them down a path of destruction. Sadly, one such example of this, many believe, is the life of Whitney Houston, her relationship with Bobby Brown, and her tragic death. With this knowledge in mind, heed the warning and choose to “Walk in the Spirit, and not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Remember, you can choose your actions but you cannot choose the consequences.
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In the next class, we will continue our study, “Beware of the Dawgs.”
—LET’S PRAY—
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Now, like many of you, I grew up in a very religious and church-going family, and during that time, I often heard the phrase “Being Saved.” Now, much of what church people said “being saved” was back then especially, in my community, is wrong according to the Bible. I wrote an article about it titled “On ‘Being Saved’ in Black America” which is available for you to read free of charge on our website, gospellightsociety.com. Right now, I want to share with you very briefly what the Bible says “being saved” really is.
First, understand that you need to be saved because you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, understand that a horrible punishment — eternal Hell — awaits those who are not saved. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus Christ said that God will say to those who are not saved, “depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Third, realize that God loves you very much and wants to save you from Hell. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you want to be saved from Hell and be guaranteed a home in Heaven, simply believe in Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose from the dead for your sins, and then call upon Him in prayer and ask Him to save your soul. And believe me, He will.
Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That is the most important decision you will ever make.
God bless you and keep you until we meet for our next class.
BCNN1 WP 