Grace and Peace, I am Richard Roldan preferably Ricky. I’m married with 2 children and 2 stepchildren who all live with me. But before being regenerated aka being born again I was pretty much a bad dude. You know the whole thug life, drug dealin gun wheelin lifestyle etc… don’t feel the need to go into details cause that would be a book actually LOL…..no but seriously, I made an official commitment to Christ at the age of 20 since being raised in a Christian home where your pops is a pastor, you really don’t know when that actual regeneration occurred and I don’t think anyone really does, but anyways I stop thuggin cold turkey like the next day, which brought me some trouble but that’s another story. Ever since I have been given a Godly desire to take the gospel and sound doctrine back to da hood aka my culture…..not that my culture is all hood but that is term we lovingly use to describe the inner-city and urban environment.
Basically, I feel called by the Lord to be an Evangelist/Reformer/Pastor to my culture, to bring them the true message of the gospel and teach them sound christian doctrine as found in our creeds and reformed confessions, which we in the Reformed faith, believe are the accurate summaries of the Word of God. I do not have any formal training but I have been studying biblical theology and systematic theology through the same means as bible college and seminary students via books, audio, video, and mentors for the last 19yrs and I also have been teaching for 18yrs but I am open to getting a formal training for the sake of better credentials and hanging a degree up on my wall…lol…..not to downplay formal training or anything, there is much need for it, believe it!
Now what culture do I refer to? By that I do not mean my spanish culture as many people quickly assume being that I’m Puerto Rican or Philarican, I was born in Philly, rather what I mean by my culture is the Hip Hop culture/inner city urban culture to which I was born and raised in. This culture is a sub-INTERNATIONAL culture, I emphasis international because individuals not learned of this culture quickly assume it is only a sub-American culture, which it is but not limited to America. This like any other culture or nation must also be evangelized and discipled as the principles of our Reformed faith mandate, a Reform Ordinance sort of speak, to bring nations and its cultures to Christ receiving this command by our Lord in the Great Commission.
Some of you will not understand this need, and to be quite frank, it makes me no difference being that my concern is for those likened to me in the same culture I was raised in. Christ calls us to engage the culture not attempt to change it but He does call us to to call them to repentance and to shun the sins of the culture. That’s a little about myself and the intentions of my heart.
Urban Reformed Theology 
Hey, you got ‘er running! Looking good. I actually came close to using this theme myself, but the wifey wanted the other one. Gotcha bookmarked. ( :~ king neb
haha….yeah…its madd easy…thanks bro……this reminded me of Kool Moe Dee’s joint back in da day……”da wild wild west”
how do I leave a signature on my comments like yours….is that automatic or you have to put that every time? lol
nah, i typed that in. yeah, this pic actually kinda goes with the whole Godzilla theme too. This looks like a place where Godzilla would hatch. lol.
LOL!!! didn’t even realize that hahahaa
I’ll be keeping up with this homeslice! I’ll be praying for that calling that God has placed on your life brother.
Thank you Ramon….I heard you was doin it up for da Lord over there too…..thats wassup……God Bless
Any thoughts on this? relating to redeeming cultures as opposed to those who want to entirely change cultures to fit their own? What would you say to those who say hip hop is evil therefore using its means to get to an end does not glorify the Lord but mixes paganism with Christianity.
How I feel about this is Luke 5: [36] He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. [37] And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. [38] No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. [39] And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “God was doing it one way with them, and he is now doing it a new way with us. The thing is people have a hard time relating to God in the way of time, music, style and culture because we feel that God looks at things according to our day and age. So believers for the 70s have a hard time understanding what God is doing with youth or young adults form 2010. It will be like in the days of Noah it never rained before, Luke 17:26.Isaiah 43:19 (New King James Version)19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. So my answer is, “God see everything in 4D, He hold the very time line in His hands he is not bound by our time, music, style and culture. So in that know this if he touches it, it will bring glory and honor to His name.
Word word……can you expound on why you used the Luke passage a little? thanks bro……I’m most def feeling what you saying though, What God is concerned about is sin not what I am wearing or how I have my hair today or yesterday……Christ redeems cultures not changes them but He does change their sinful passions. I discussed this in a forum that is actually of my Reformed persuasion and many of them were against the hip hop culture alltogether and most def had raised eyebrows and frowns on Christian Hip Hop…….ima go find it and post it here
Why I used the passage of Luke in a since is to show sort of the same since of tradition versus God. Many believers now and days observe there traditions as if they where the actual law of Christ. We see this again on:Matthew 15 1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.We attempt to take our man made rules and force people into following them as if they where Biblical principals which they are not.Show these same people a video of African tribes worshiping our same God they may cry out witch craft or heresy. When in truth they judge them based on there own rules not Gods, it is neat to watch though because there is a lot of different styles of worship in this world. The key thing to look for in order to know if it is the Lord’s is does it Glorify Him!
AMEN BRO AMEN!!!!!!!
Aren’t you being a little bit hypocritical here? You jump on us for using the chinese word Tao and some of it’s ancient philosophy and culture in order to reach the people of the orient, but you get upset when other Reformed protestants look at what you are doing in the hiphop culture and philosophy as pagan. Or mixing paganism with christianity. Just as you are not doing anything wrong, we are not doing anything wrong.You can’t have it both ways Ricky!
Yeah Rick. Be consistent, like Jnorm, and openly embrace pagan influence! lol.
lol Neb……….Ummm John I am clearly referring to the false accusations of such ones that protest by claiming that the culture is pagan therefore should be shunned, but as I also clearly stated that is not the case so your point is not my point. Furthermore I NEVER once jumped on the EO for using the TAO please quote me, but rather expressed my concern with the EO for adopting eastern mystical thought and trying to Christianize it by somehow. I actually love that title of that book “Christ the Eternal Tao” thats dope because when translated means Christ the way eternal. I also have Bruce Lee’s genius book on his philosophy of martial arts in the form of Jeet Kun Do called “The Tao of Bruce Lee”. So its not the words being used but the way it is being used and how it is defined that is the problem. Its one thing to use pagan thought and terminology to get your point across as Apostle Paul did in Athens with the Greeks but its totally another thing to adopt this same pagan thought and mix it with christian thought to make up some unbiblical doctrine, that is where the contention lies bro…….I’m sure you see what I am saying.