Saturday, April 25, 2015

Renouncing Delta: A Personal Testimony about forsaking Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

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Renouncing Delta

A Personal Testimony about forsaking Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Read in PDF

The Introduction
It was in my second year of college when a member of my church who attended the same university I attended, along with another friend I’d known since we were freshman in high school, pledged Delta Sigma Theta (Delta or DST). After they’d become members, they invited me to a Delta Rush.

The Rush
Delta had a motto that pulled me right in and caused me to put all, if there were any, of my guards down. All discernment, any reservation, and all questions that would have counted me among the wise to ask, turned to naught when “The Public Service Sorority Founded on Christian Principles” Motto was made known to me.
Both of my friends who’d already pledged were Believers, and as I conversed with more and more of these intelligent, what seemed to be well-rounded young women, I discovered that just about all of the Deltas of this chapter were not only Believers, but very active in their local churches. This excited me because I was serious as I could be about the LORD, even at that time in my ignorance. So, I felt I’d fit right in. Needless to say, I made plans to pledge.

Pledging Delta
I zealously pledged DST in the fall of my third year of college and my zealousness only increased after I actually became a full-fledged member of the sorority.   During the pledging process I studied and took in all I needed to know to become “one” with DST, and I did it with great pride. I enjoyed it. I believe I can speak for most of the young women I pledged with when saying that we had a great time and experience. We were not “hazed” (forced to do humiliating or dangerous things), we were not spoken down to and we were well respected. I know this sounds unbelievable to many, but at our university hazing would not have been tolerated. Besides, even though the women of DST of this chapter were loyal to the organization, they were even more serious about graduating college. So in other words, they really didn’t have time for excessive, ridiculous behavior.
Nevertheless, after our allotted time of pledging, I, along with seven other young women, “The Eight Captivating Publications of Delta Sigma Theta,” on a highly anticipated Sunday evening, ecstatically and dramatically walked barefoot on “the burning sands,” making our vows to keep covenant with this “thing”…for the rest of our lives.
Finally, I’d become a Delta. Yet, as excited as I was, I didn’t really know or understand what I’d committed my life or my soul to, nor what I had gotten myself into spiritually.
Though I was truly a Believer, I didn’t know the Word of God and honestly, I had no substantial knowledge of Greek letter organizations prior to pledging.  Moreover, sadly, yet in all sincerity, I never asked my heavenly Father if pledging Delta was something I should do.
LORD, something is wrong with me.  Renouncing DST- Phase 1
About a month after becoming a Delta I went to a revival with my husband, who was then my boyfriend. While sitting there I remember asking the LORD what was wrong with me because there were so many beautiful, life changing things going on – a lot of excitement - yet I felt so empty, as if I were dead on the inside. I mean, I felt dead, dead - so dead that it frightened me. Having no idea what was going on with me, nonetheless knowing that something was gravely wrong, I desperately ran up for prayer at the time altar prayer lines were forming, and it was the LORD who led me to the line He wanted me in.
As I made my way to the front of the line, the sister who would pray for me took my hand to ask what I needed her to pray for.  But the moment that woman of God, full of His Spirit and power, took my hand, she dropped it, took a couple of steps back (putting an obvious amount of space between us), looked at me with a look of disarray and deep concern, and asked: “Baby…what is wrong?” No doubt, her alarming actions and question led me into a hysterical loud cry as I answered with a resounding wail - “I don’t  knowwww.” 
Well I praise my God for that woman, who was one of the visiting ministers, because she knew, by the Spirit of God, that I had an urgent spiritual issue that needed handling at that very moment. So as a result, she asked every Saint of God who was leading the other prayer lines to pause and come over and lay hands on me as she began praying and warring for me. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes because I know now that the LORD had me delivered that day when I didn’t even realize I needed to be.  I Bless Him and ALL Glory and Honor is His!

Moving Forward
Well many years would pass before I would find out what was wrong within me back during that time in my life. I literally had no idea, but the LORD did.
Nevertheless, I was very active in DST during the rest of my time in college. Moreover, after I graduated, I always had something on my body or vehicle proudly touting DST.  But it was also not long after I graduated that phase two of what the LORD had planned for my life concerning this issue would take place.

It’s Not of God!  Renouncing DST- Phase 2
A couple of years after I’d graduated college and gotten married, a gospel singing group I was a part of had just finished rehearsing in our home. While walking one of the sisters outside to her car, somehow, we’d begun talking about sororities and fraternities. The conversation led her to share with me that she’d pledged Sigma Gamma Rho in college, another well-known sorority. Now this sister was about fifteen years older than me, and I had no idea she’d been a part of a Greek letter organization because she had never mentioned it, neither had I ever seen her with any paraphernalia on. So when she told me she had pledged in her college years, I excitedly responded with “I didn’t know you were Greek!”   Then I asked “Are you active?” She simply answered “No.” 
(See my Father in Heaven knows me. I am the nosy middle child, and He orchestrated that conversation in such a manner that would cause His inquisitive daughter to do just what He knew she would do.)
So, just as planned, I, Ms. Nosey Rosey, asked “Why?” 
But this sister’s next response was the one the LORD needed me to hear. 
After I asked why she wasn’t active, looking directly into my eyes with a wide smile, she gently, yet profoundly answered “Because it’s not of God.”
Wow! Though I tried not to show it at that moment, I was overwhelmed, greatly disturbed, and convicted by her response.  It shook me to the point of no return.  I was a God Fearer and I was not trying to play with Him, nor do anything that would disappoint Him. Her no nonsense response did just what my Father wanted it to do… it shattered the unwarranted admiration I had for DST. It caused me to muse over my ties with it, as my heart began turning away from it.  From that moment on I’d developed a form of resentment for Delta that I could not shake. I wholeheartedly believed what that sister in the LORD said to me, even though I didn’t know all of the facts. But as a result of backing away from DST, I was led to a place in the LORD I’d never experienced in my life.

Leaps and Bounds
After willingly backing away from Delta by the grace of God, proving, even to myself, that my fear, love, and desire for God was greater than my blind love for Delta, the LORD took me on a glorious, spiritual journey. From being baptized in the Holy Spirit, to speaking in tongues, experiencing prophetic dreams, visions, along with the manifestation of other spiritual gifts, my eyes were opened as I constantly communed with the LORD. It was absolutely glorious. It was the time when I’d begun clearly hearing Him, by His Spirit, speaking to me. In addition, I began studying His written Word like never before.  It was so much, I cannot tell it all. But just know, it was during that season of life, I truly learned for myself that if we seek the LORD, we will find Him, and if we hunger and thirst after righteousness we will be filled…just as He’s promised.

Sound the Shofar! The Formal Renouncement!   Renouncing DST -Phrase 3
Many years had passed since the night of that revival, and frankly, I’d hardly thought about it over those years. But one day, while blessing and loving on the LORD with the fruit of my lips, I verbalized to Him that I could not, and would not want to imagine life not knowing and feeling His presence.  Instantaneously, on the tail-end of my statement, the LORD brought me back to the night of that revival.  He visually showed me myself and allowed me to remember that feeling of total emptiness.
After that reminder, a bit taken aback, I responded slowly with the question - “oh yea, what was wrong with me?”  So in that supernatural, mind blowing moment, the Spirit of the LORD spoke to my spirit and instructed me to go and get my Delta Rituals.
Needless to say, I was blown away as I quickly went with godly fear into the garage to retrieve those books that had been packed away in a box for years. It took a moment to get to them, but when I opened them I had the shock of my life.  
As I began reading the contents of those books it was as if I was seeing them for the first time. They were dark, foreign, and appalling. The vague notion of anything Godly was snuffed out by the consuming leaven of the revered, dark side of Hellenism so prevalently displayed throughout.  Reading them caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up as I gasped, yelled, and sat there in total amazement.
After I’d seen enough, I immediately asked the LORD to forgive me for making vows to this ungodly thing called Delta Sigma Theta, and I stood up before Him and the entire heavenly host renouncing and denouncing all that it is. I pleaded with the LORD to remove any residuals and/or remnants of the paganistic junk that may have still been deep within my soul because of the vows I’d made.
I quickly started collecting any and everything in my house that I’d bought or received because of Delta, all of the paraphernalia, the formal gold sorority pin, elephants, informal pins, jerseys, etc., absolutely everything.   I put them in a garbage bag and put it outside to be picked up by the garbage collectors. As for the certificate of membership, I burned that in the kitchen sink. (Acts 19:18)  And yes, it was that serious.  I needed my Father to know that my life, my soul, my heart belonged wholly to Him and that I had absolutely NO allegiance to Delta Sigma Theta, Minerva, the dead twenty-two founders, its “virtues” and all the other carnal rubbish attached to it. Moreover, I had to confirm that there wouldn’t be anything found “in” me or around me concerning DST that would give the enemy and/or the spirits connected to DST the impression that they could have access or legal ground to my inner man. My outer actions were essentially an expression of what had already transpired within me by and through the Spirit of the only true and Living God. I had rejected and turned my back to DST because my “face,” was now, totally, toward the LORD.
I glorified and blessed the LORD for His mercy and forgiveness as I stood there in complete awe, and adoration, pondering the fact that He’d intervened in my ignorance by not only leading us to the revival many years prior, but leading me to the altar, to that particular line, to have that particular sister discern that there was a serious problem, so that she and the other Saints would lay hands on me and pray for me, which had made the very moment I was experiencing even possible. What a merciful, loving God! I love Him so much.
Well after my repentant holy rampage, I thought about another sister I’d pledged DST with in college that had become a true sister in the LORD. I picked up the phone, called and told her to pull out those rituals, which she hadn’t looked at in years as well.  When she did, she was blown away too. I then called and shared the news with other members of DST that were in the LORD, desperate to share with them what the LORD had shared with me.


Clarity of Purpose
Before I move on, I need to explain that there are tons of teachings out there on the facts concerning the rituals and customs of Delta and the other organizations like it, and what makes them offensive and ungodly. So if anyone would like to know these details, if you have internet, and you do not have a hard heart concerning the truth, the clear answers are right at your fingertips.
But as for me, specific, historical details, are not what I have been assigned to share.  I’ve written what I’ve been led by the Spirit of God to write concerning what happened to me spiritually after making vows to Delta, and the danger of grieving the Holy Spirit, our seal for the Day of Redemption, and the very real risk of offending our God to the point of no return.  To you who say “LORD, LORD”…this is serious. Those who have ears to hear, I pray it will be a blessing to you in a life changing manner.


One God
Well as you’ve read, my patient Heavenly Father ordered my steps throughout this aspect of my life, gently leading me by His Spirit into All truth. Never once did I feel any anger from God toward me in my ignorance. Furthermore, because God is Sovereign and not even one sparrow falls to the ground without His consent (Matthew 10:29), I am sure that in my anxious, self-satisfying need to become a part of Delta, He allowed me to pledge it, just like He knew I would. El Elyon, the Most High God is All-Knowing, nothing surprises Him. But because He knew I would, He also had the plan for me to be delivered from it already set up!!
Yet even with the plan already set up, I did have a choice to make. When the sister so sweetly shared that these organizations are “not of God,” I could have become indignant, angry, hard-hearted and retaliatory, but by the grace of God… I was receptive, and fearing Him, which leads to life, put me on the road to total deliverance.
I know through personal experience that we can only serve, with our whole hearts, One God. We can only be totally devoted to One God. We can only truly love One God. (Exodus 20:3, 20:23, 34:14)
And if there’s anything that is not like Him “in us,” our relationship with Him can and will be hindered. I can’t love and worship Minerva, a false goddess, and love and worship my Father, the True God, too. Vowing and keeping covenant with Delta is vowing and keeping covenant with all that it is, including the false goddess Minerva. Yes, it is. Lighting the “torch of wisdom,” the wisdom that Delta pays homage to the false goddess Minerva for, is an offense against the true God because any and all true wisdom can only come from Him.
How dare those who say they love and honor the True God, acknowledge the false goddess Minerva as some bearer of light and giver of wisdom! God fearers and worshipers have good sense because of Him. We can “see” because of Him, by His Spirit. We have understanding because of Him.
 “With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding” Job 12:13
 “For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”  Proverbs 2:6
“God made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and by His understanding and skill stretched out the heavens.”  Jeremiah 10: 12
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  James 1:5
We are simply fooling ourselves if we think the Only True, and Living God has somehow changed since the days of the Old Covenant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. There is no way the LORD God would, or could, approve of individuals who call themselves His children, lighting candles and paying homage to the false goddess Minerva and all of the other false gods or goddesses attached to all of the Greek letter organizations and secret societies.
Can you imagine Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, the High Priest of God who will return, our powerful Savior and Lord who Is the “Vine”  (John 15) we are to be connected to, making vows to (Matthew 5:33-37), and keeping covenant with one of these organizations? No way! You know it just like I know it!
Well if we, those who profess to be the “branches,” are abiding in The Vine, then to be attached to anything that is not like Him would be very uncomfortable and nearly impossible. So essentially, you’re either abiding in the Vine… or you are not, there is no in between. You cannot, there’s absolutely NO Way to totally abide in the True Vine and totally abide in Delta and its goddess simultaneously.
Yeshua taught that the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road that leads to life is hard, and sadly, few find it (Matthew 7:13-14). He taught that whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Is anything worth your soul? Anything? Don’t you realize your soul is your life? I’m not talking to those that do not call him or herself a child of God. I am addressing those who say they love God with all of their hearts.
Listen, I have seen for myself many ministers in the churches that are “one” with these types of organizations grievously sin against God, over and over. There’s enough purging that needs to take place within each believer without the wickedness of these secret societies and Greek letter organizations being added to the list. But to have this weight, this sin, this idolatrous commitment, only opens the door to more and more sin. We cannot give the enemy a foothold that would allow him to come in and potentially consume our souls, our minds, and our hearts.

King Josiah
I’m reminded of Josiah, the King of Judah (ruled 640–609 b.c.e.), and his voluntary actions when he realized that they had been sinning against God in the most horrific way. Judah, just like Israel had been sacrificing to, and worshiping false gods. They had left the Way of the LORD and had been doing what they thought was right in their own eyes. Hear the Word of the LORD in II Kings 22: 16-20 through a prophetess Josiah inquired of after the reading of the scroll containing the laws of God, brought him to the realization that the people of God, namely Judah, had severely broken His commands:
“This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this city and its people. All the words written in the scroll that the king of Judah has read will come true. For my people have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to pagan gods, and I am very angry with them for everything they have done. My anger will burn against this place, and it will not be quenched.”
“But go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the LORD and tell him: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning the message you have just heard: You were sorry and humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I said against this city and its people—that this land would be cursed and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the LORD. So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this city.’”

So to reiterate, the LORD did not take kindly to His children fraternizing with, and worshipping pagan gods. This is crystal clear. And it is also clear that Josiah had every intention to please the LORD. Let’s Check out   II Kings 23:
“Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the Temple of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. There the king read to them the entire Book of the Covenant that had been found in the LORD’s Temple. The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the LORD’s presence. He pledged to obey the LORD by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
As a result of finding out the truth, Loving God and Turning from Idolatry...This is what King Josiah did:
He had all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, all the powers of the heavens, and the Asherah pole removed from the LORD’s Temple.  (An Asherah pole was a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the pagan goddess Asherah, also known as Astarte). He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD. The King also removed the horse statues that the former kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun from the entrance of the LORD’s Temple, and burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
He defiled the pagan shrines east of Jerusalem that King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the god of the Moabites; and for Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He destroyed every pagan shrine and anything that was not of God contributing to idol worship in all the land. (Read it in II Kings 23)
In other words, King Josiah went on a Holy Rampage with a Righteous indignation! He’d made a pledge to Honor and Obey His God, the True God, and he did everything he should have to keep that pledge.
This is what the LORD is calling for by those who say they are His children that are involved with Greek letter organizations and secret societies. The type of commitment, zeal, and affections members of those organizations have, for those organizations, should be for the Giver of life, and Him only. You know the kind of zeal and affections that cause many to believe their lives would not be complete without those organizations?  That’s what I mean.
Our God hates it when His children show allegiance to any other god but Him. It was He, Himself that said we should not have any other God but Him.  He made it clear that He is a jealous God and He cannot be the God of those who choose to worship and pay homage to false, pagan gods.
The LORD had taken great care of the Hebrew people. He had saved them in a time of famine, He had delivered them from slavery, He literally rained down manna for them while in the wilderness, even when they grumbled and complained. He had shown Himself to be a faithful God, a committed Husband to His people.
In the same way, is it not God who supplies all of our needs today? Is it not Him who gives His mighty angels charge over us, and keeps them all around us? Is it not Him who had the plan of Salvation, through Yeshua, for us from the beginning? The LORD is the True God and the Everlasting King and besides Him there is no other. Delta nor Minerva, or any of the other false gods conjured up by the carnal minds of men, can do anything for us! It is of this world and we are not to love the world, or anything of the world. We have no business messing around with that kind of thing.

Trick of Satan
The goddess Minerva/Athena crowns Delta’s crest making their motto deceitful, attempting to mask the blatant worship of the false goddess. Drop a little “public service” rhetoric in the potent mix, and there you have it, yet another Eve-type deception. Satan is always on his job. He goes around as a roaring lion, looking for who he can devour! These organizations were strategically orchestrated by the deceiver. Can’t you see that? Why does anyone need to make a lifetime commitment, a solemn vow, to a “thing” in order to team up with others to do good deeds? The entire notion is childish.
When vowing and making a covenant with these organizations, we become one with them. You say no? I ask then, why don’t members say “I am a member of Delta…or a member of Alpha?” Instead, members proudly say, “I am a Delta…or I am an Alpha’”…and so on. And it is true. They are right in saying so. When the vows are taken, just as between a husband and wife, they become one with what they’ve committed their lives to. So just as husband and wife in traditional marriage share a name, it’s the same as calling yourself by the name of one of these Greek letter organizations/secret societies. It’s just that simple.
When we are born again and are hidden in Messiah, we say we are a part of the Body of Messiah, being that we are one with Him and the Father. Now we know marriage between a man and woman and becoming one flesh is of God, as it was established at the time of creation (Genesis 2:21-25). But what is this idea of making vows to and becoming one with a “thing?” A thing that is clearly pagan and wicked from the root. From the beginning mankind has been continually making up ways to create a breach between himself and the True God, whether inadvertently or purposely. One way or the other, it is the god of this world, the Enemy who gives them these ideas, and makes them believe it is “good” and that they need these things -but it is up to those in the LORD to seek Him and discern the truth by His Spirit. It is all a trick of the Enemy.

God’s Mercy Endures
But the LORD is merciful and full of compassion…and He is very patient. It took hundreds of years for the pronounced curses for this kind of sin to actually come upon the Hebrew people, mercifully affording them the opportunity to repent for their blatant, idolatrous living. The LORD’s desire is always for people to repent, turn to Him, and love Him with our whole hearts, rather than to give severe punishment.
I was blind to the truth about Delta Sigma Theta when I made vows to it, but the LORD was merciful to me because of His unfailing love. Yet I still had my role to play in this relationship. As a loving Father, He has and will always do His part, but as His children, will we do ours? Will we be obedient?
From the beginning of time, man’s relationship with God was built up and strengthened by obedience, or weakened and torn down by disobedience. That has not changed. Yeshua told us we must “Love the LORD with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds...” just as it was written by the finger of God at Mt. Sinai thousands of years ago. To love Him is to forsake any and everything that is not like Him, or offensive to Him. And for God fearers, that even includes a possible offense!  

Uh Oh, There are No More Excuses
Once we’ve heard or been exposed to the truth, there is no more excuse and the consequences are solely our own. If you don’t understand the depths of the vows you’ve made to these wicked secret societies, or if you still need more clarity, investigate. Research some of the ritualistic activities carried out by them, and as you do ask the LORD to show you how and why they’re not of Him. Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door of Truth will be opened for you.
Loving God with all our hearts is the business of the Believer. It is a command and an absolute privilege all at the same time. Being one with our Savior, makes us one with our Father, and we can’t  be one with Him who is Holy and Righteous and be one with that which is unholy and unrighteous.
We must love the LORD with all of our hearts and forsake the idols that we’ve invited into our lives, and our hearts.
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” I John 2:15
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear (worship, honor, obey) God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13

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