Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Ethocast, a podcast about sound leadership practices to boost the life in college fraternities and sororities. I'm Eddie Francis, presenter of Followership to Leadership and the D9 Leadership Blueprint, presentations designed to help Greeks become more ethical and effective leaders. I'll share lessons learned from my college days, My career journey and leadership research.
Speaker: This is Ethocast. Leadership to the letter. Bonjour mon ami. I'm Eddie Francis and thank you so much for visiting me in my little corner of the podverse for Ethocast.
Speaker: Ethelcast is brought to you by Edify Ventures, publishers of the D9 Leadership Blueprint, Personal Leadership Ubuntu, and Collective Impact. You can get a free excerpt today by visiting D9LeadershipBlueprint.com. And listen, you know, if you like what you hear, i mean, help a brother out. It would just warm my black and old gold heart. If you were to like and share this episode of Ethocast. So the conversation with Dr. Lyman Montgomery continues, where in this part of the conversation, he goes deeply into symbolism. And how there are so many things around that people who are denouncing might not even realize are not as cool as the organizations they're denouncing and renouncing.
Speaker: So here we go into part two of my conversation with dr Lyman Montgomery about the Sacred Greeks movement. The views expressed on EthelCast do not necessarily reflect the views of the host's guests, or any entities with which this podcast's participants are affiliated. Questions, comments, email eddie at eddiefrancis.com.
Speaker: And thank you so much for joining me on Ethocast. We are back for part two. Part two. with my man, Dr. Lyman Montgomery, because um honestly, that first interview probably could have gone for about two hours. And so let's do it, man. The first thing, let's get into symbolism because you did something that had me laughing and I immediately called my wife and said, okay, check this out.
Speaker: But for anybody who renounces or denounces and they are wearing a Nike swoosh, Yes. They might want to think about their apparel choices if they want to be consistent with their um religious views. Tell me about the swoosh.
Speaker: Yes. So the swoosh from Nike, first of all, the word Nike is the Greek goddess of accomplishment. OK, the swoosh is actually her wing.
Speaker: And so Nike on purpose chose that Greek goddess because as an athlete, you want to achieve, you want to accomplish, right? Winnings.
Speaker: And so they use that swoosh, which is the goddess Nike's win. So I shared with you last time a funny story, true story.
Speaker: I was out running with my letters on, five bit of Sigma, old friend of mine, we grew up in church. He sees me. He's like, hey, Rev, hey, Rev, what you doing, man? What you doing? I said, oh, man, let me get the little exercise in, you know, trying to get in shape.
Speaker: He's like, no, man, what's that on on your chest, brother? And I said, what, my fraternity? He's like, oh, man, you got to take that off. said, what are you talking about?
Speaker: He said, he said, you know, man, when y'all took that oath, man, you aligned yourself with a demon. I said, interesting. I said, well, what you got on?
Speaker: He said, what? A sweatshirt? I said, Nike. He's like, what about it? I said, well, brother, if I'm going to hell for wearing Phi Beta Sigma, which are Greek letters, you know, Nike is the goddess of achievement or accomplishment.
Speaker: And that smooshes her wing. That's a shown up ah deity. He looked at me. And then I noticed he the Mercedes Benz.
Speaker: I said, know what the Mercedes Benz emblem? He was like, what about it? I said, well, the emblem stands for sea, air, and earth, the three elements which are used in witchcraft.
Speaker: I said, where are you on your way to? He said, man, I'm going to pick up a prescription for my wife. I said, oh, you're going to a witch doctor. I said, did you know the word pharmacy comes from the Greek word pharmacia or pharmaciica, which literally translates into which.
Speaker: He looked at me and said, I ain't got time to deal with you, Lyman. So when we talk about symbolism, there are a lot of symbols, and I like to put them in categories, all right?
Speaker: The first group of category I would call apparel that you mentioned, which is your sports teams, right? Everything from the Detroit Lions, everything from the Falcons, all those our representative of deities.
Speaker: Every last one of them. From the Bengals, the Detroit Lions, all those are representative You can trace the history of some form of deities, right? If you go to Starbucks, that logo is a serene or a mermaid. And the reason that Starbucks chose the marine because the the serene were noted for enchantment.
Speaker: In other words, Starbucks wants you under the spell. Yeah. That's why you stand in line. 30 folks in line. You're late, but going to stand in line to get that what? That latte. That $7 latte. $7, $10 latte, right? Because you're under the spell. Yeah.
Speaker: Now, let's talk about everyday symbols that people don't realize. The wedding ring. I'm really going to give them some folks nerve. Oh, I know you will. Go to chat GPT.
Speaker: Get on Siri and ask. The history of the wedding band or the wedding ring comes out of Roman mythology in which they believe that the circle was the circle that showed that man was, it's a shackle actually, that the man was tied to Zeus and the woman, because back then women considered property, is tied to the man.
Speaker: It was an everlasting, bond of enslavement. I am a slave to God. You are a slave to me. It also goes all the way back in Egyptian with papayas that they use papayas reeds to give a ring as well, meaning the same thing.
Speaker: Let's look at the wedding party. You ask yourself this question, why is there a best man? What is the role of the best man? I actually have asked myself, why is there a best man? Yes.
Speaker: Let me tell you the history of the bet of the wedding party. Why does your wife wear a veil over her face? During medieval times, it was believed that there were two spirits, succubi and incubi spirits. Okay?
Speaker: The purpose of the best man is that on the eve of the wedding, they believed that evil spirits would come to steal the bride and the groom.
Speaker: Your job as the best man was to offer yourself up as a sacrifice to those evil spirits.
Speaker: The reason that the woman wears a veil over her face It was believed that if her face was veiled, then an evil spirit could not recognize her.
Speaker: Why does the bride, the bridesmaids, and the mage of honor wear the same colors? Again, it was believed that when those when an evil spirit was coming to capture the bride, that if there were bridesmaids,
Speaker: and the matron of honor, her job, just like the best man, was to offer herself up. And it was to confuse those spirits because they were all dressed alike.
Speaker: Now, if you problem with fraternities, then get rid of your wedding band. has nothing to do with Christ. Get rid of the wedding party. Okay? Okay.
Speaker: Matter of fact, let's go to the other extreme of a funeral. The reason that we have funerals, and in most funerals, you see flowers, right?
Speaker: The Romans practice, we also get this from Memorial Day, as well as ah while we give flowers during Valentine's. They had a ceremony called the Rosazea.
Speaker: That was the festival of the roses and it was believed that if you presented roses it would warn off evil spirits if you notice they placed the flowers where on the coffin yep yep now it served two purposes they didn't have embalming part of it was because you know dead body been there for a while it's gonna smell kind of bad right So part of the flowers during funerals was to absorb the order of decay, but also to ward off evil spirits.
Speaker: This is why they had a wait. The purpose of the wait, again, believing that an evil spirit would come and steal the body, your job during the wait was to stay awake yeah and stand guard to protect.
Speaker: Yeah. Let's talk about the church. Uh-oh. eighty percent So wait, before you get into that alignment, because I think what's important to note here is that, and and this is the reason I asked you about symbolism, yeah is that if you were going to commit yourself to saying I'm renouncing or denouncing this because of what it stands for, because it is evil. And then you decide to dig really, quote unquote, deep into the symbolism and and you know whatever it is that you dig into. And then you say, see, see, see, I found it. I found it. I found the evil.
Speaker: The reason I answer it is because honestly, if you dig deep enough into almost every single tradition we have, Especially the biggest traditions. Yes. going to find some evil. My wife and I had this conversation before you go on to the church.
Speaker: My wife and I had this conversation. when we got engaged, she requested a lab created diamond. ah Specifically, she said, I do not want a real diamond. I want a lab created diamond. I was like, great. And so we went, we found one, boom, great. And diddada and i said, i really appreciate that you did that. And she said, well, do you know why, right? I said, I know exactly why. And so for any sister,
Speaker: who is renouncing and denouncing and you are going to your man and you're saying, oh, you better get me a real diamond. You are supporting blood, blood that is spilled for that diamond. Absolutely. In our homeland. Yes. That's what you are supporting. And some sisters have been told this and they have said, i don't care. i want my diamond. So if you're going to go digging for what's wrong with the denni fine, but go dig for a whole lot of other stuff and go find out what every other thing that you that you love and cherish and the holidays. I mean, the holidays get crazy. There are crazy stories behind the holidays. but
Speaker: But the church, I mean, i yeah blow our minds with the church, though. So here's the thing, and I want to preface this. I am an ordained elder yeah in our lord and savior jesus christ church i hold papers in both the church of god in christ life's ordained elder church of god in christ as well in maranatha all right where i serve as an administrative elder okay so this is not someone who is upset and angry at the church this is someone who's very grounded but we have to recognize
Speaker: that 80 to 85% of the things that we have in our sanctuaries are not biblically sanctioned, but they were engrafted through traditions. Let's start with the pulpit.
Speaker: The pulpit comes out of the Roman Senate, in which it was believed the higher you were, Because they believe in status, right? yeah So it was to show a separation between the commoners and the sacred or the sacred and the profane.
Speaker: So they had a pulpit which elevated them, which goes against scripture, because scripture says, when you have a guest, do not give them preferred seating.
Speaker: But what do we do in most churches? Let it dignitary. We give them preferred seating. Yeah. Okay. We should not elevate. Bible says, do not ah elevate yourself higher than any other for you are all equal.
Speaker: All right. But yet in most churches, you see the pulpit. That's number one. Number two, the offering table or the communion table is rectangular in most churches. Right.
Speaker: And you will see the inscription. Uh, um, do this in remembrance of me. But we never ask the question, why are communion tables rectangular?
Speaker: If you were to do a history lesson, what type of tables did the disciples use? You would find that they were low to the ground. They sat in the, mobile what we call Indian style, a cross laid, right?
Speaker: the the the The tables that we see in churches come out of the temple of Athena in which there were blood sacrifices made. It's actually an altar.
Speaker: That's why it's rectangular to strap you down. But yet we we have them in our churches. The other thing, most churches have stained glass windows. And in the stained glass window, you normally will see angels and the saints with what's called a halo.
Speaker: yeah That comes out of Egyptian cosmology. And what that is, is the sun god Ra
Speaker: of illumination. Just don't take my word for it. Look it up. So if you got a problem with Greek letters or our emblem or our shield and you believe that symbolism is synonymous with worship, then when you go to church, why are you sitting in the building?
Speaker: Oh, by the way, it better not have columns. Most churches have columns, right? That comes out of the the Roman and the Greek pantheon. Those Roman columns?
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, most churches now, want to move to a dome, right? Did you know the dome is actually the Eye of Osiris. We in the Christian culture talks about an olive branch, branch right?
Speaker: If you look at Greek mythology, you will see there is a story of Athena and Poseidon. Poseidon went to the people and he said, i will be your protector.
Speaker: And he took his trident and he threw it down.
Speaker: Athena took an olive branch. Have you ever noticed Athena, she has olive branch around. okay She said, I'm not of war. I come in peace.
Speaker: So now what do we do? We say extend an olive branch. Yeah. Well, that's not Christian. right We are literally quoting Athena. Yeah. And so here's my question, because as somebody who was a former recruiter, former job recruiter, somebody who has done executive recruiting.
Speaker: One thing I know is that when you were talking to somebody who wants to be who wants the job. Yes. There's always a tell. There's always a tell if the candidate is not the greatest candidate. Yes.
Speaker: What I'm really interested in is what do people need to understand in in all of the D9? When someone wants to be a member of your fraternity or sorority and there's a very and there's something there,
Speaker: What are the kinds of tells that people have that should make you stop and say, wait a minute, I don't think this person is serious about being in my fraternity or sorority. And as soon as we look up, as soon as they get letters, I'm telling you this person is going to denounce, they're going renounce, or they're going to do something, or they're just not going to ever come to a chapter meeting after they get their letters. I mean, what what kinds of tells, because I know the tells are there, what are people not paying attention to?
Speaker: let me Let me give you three things that has proven to be true across the D9. Number one, they talk more about the benefits of membership, but not the work.
Speaker: Oh, I love the way y'all step. oh i mean i Oh, man, I can't wait to fork the letters. So it's more about the showmanship, right?
Speaker: Not the work. That's number one. All they care about. Or it's about legacy. Well, you know, my mama's an AKA. My My great aunt was an AKA.
Speaker: They said I better not come home unless I sport, you know, the the green and ah the Ivy and the green, whatever. yeah and And in those cases, they act as if the fraternity or sorority chapter is obligated obligate that's to initiate them. Absolutely.
Speaker: So yeah now is an obligation. I'm a legacy. You got to take me e regardless of my character, regardless of my grades.
Speaker: So one looks at the benefits of bits of membership, but won't do the work. The other feels that the fraternity or sorority is obligated to accept them, not on merit, not on their own personal work, but based on who their parents were. And that is Barney Rubble trouble there. now Here's the third thing that I've seen as a tale.
Speaker: They look up to a particular individual and they have loyalty to an individual book, not to an organization. That one person. i So like so i i have heard I have heard this before, Lime. I have heard this where somebody said, yeah, I decided I wanted to be a member of because of my boy or because of my girl. Yep.
Speaker: And you're sitting there're going, oh okay, is that the only reason? And they go, well, yeah, yeah, you know, they, they, you know, I heard this dude say this. Well, you know, my boy told me he was going put me on. And so, yeah, now i'm a member of, and you're going, yes so it's not about the frat or the sorority. It's about your friend, your one friend, your one friend. And what happens when that one friend lets you down?
Speaker: Or what happens when that one friend, because see what happened? You have loyalty or fidelity to an individual. And guess what? It didn't matter if they were going to join Sigma, Alpha, Iota, Omega.
Speaker: It could have been new, five, nothing. yes But my boy, someone follow my boy. you don You know, we we ended it together. We ended to win it. Right.
Speaker: Let's talk about hazing.
Speaker: Every did not the divine nine organization has condemned hazing. Does it still happen? Yes. How come we don't talk about hazing within the church?
Speaker: Look at the number of videos where a pastor has he humiliated a church member. e And yet we we we're quiet on that.
Speaker: oh The Bible says if if you're going to judge a matter, you got to use the same standard. The Bible said if you're guilty in one You're guilty and all.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So you cannot, this ain't Burger King, you can have it your way. So my question is to the audience, what standard are you going to use?
Speaker: If you're going to use the standard that all symbols will tie you to demonic oppression, then is what I need you to do.
Speaker: I need you to stop saying we go to church on Sunday because Sunday is named after the sun guy, worship of the sun, not the S-O-N, but the S-U-N.
Speaker: Wednesday is worship of the wind. Friday is Frida. All right. Now,
Speaker: How come we don't say you won't read anywhere in your Bible where it said on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, the first day? don't you to go back to saying the first day, the second day, the third day.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. say As a closing word, um first of all, again, as a reminder, how can people find out about you and especially how can they find out about sacred Greeks?
Speaker: Yeah, real simple. Just go to my website, CoachLyman.com. That's CoachLyman, L-Y-M-A-N.com. Everything is there for my coaching, get my books, everything.
Speaker: CoachLyman.com. Ethocast is a four-hour edification limited series. If you like what you heard, like, follow, and share this podcast for more leadership insights for your fraternity or sorority chapter. To find out how your campus or a campus near you can book followership to leadership or the D9 Leadership Blueprint, contact me today, eddie at eddiefrancis.com. Until next time, spread brotherly and sisterly love everywhere you go.
