Asheera Horton-Lamb, 25, Dallas, TX 2025

Q: If you had never been introduced to Christianity or the Bible, do you think you'd still believe in it today? 

A: Um, I think if I was never introduced to it, but it existed, yes, I would have made my way to it. Um, the same way I made my way to it and out of it and then back to it and then to a deeper version of it. I believe, truly believe that, um, that that God was pursuing me my whole life. So it's like, I would have really had much like, way to look past it because it was as is the truth um and I was kind of I'm I'm open to it you know what I'm saying and I've always been open to the truth um as it you know while the teachings of the Bible have challenged me and pushed me, but it has also actually been beneficial to my development. So I feel like however it came about, like I said, as long as it existed inside of the world, I probably would have still become a believer of the Bible.

Q: If Christianity had originated in Africa, and not Europe or the Middle East, would it still look the way it does today?

A: Well, I mean, if it originally started in Africa, then it wouldn't have had the negative effect that it has today, because as I mentioned before, the Romans were the ones who killed the Messiah. So if, so of course it would make sense for the same, very same, like they're using the scriptures and the testimony of the scriptures to validate whatever degree of oppression they want to, but they were also the oppressors of our Messiah. So for it to have originated there in Judea by the Romans, that's the, it's like, that was their weapon to get it to Africa, right? That was their weapon. They're using the Messiah's name to kind of drill, like, okay, this is what he said to do, this is what he said to do. If it would have started in Africa, even if it was the exact same faith, because it's not, it's not the same faith, to believe the entire scriptures without reserve, to keep the commandments, to, To not celebrate Christmas, to not celebrate Thanksgiving, that's not even Christianity, because Christians do that, right? So it wouldn't have even turned into what it is now. It wouldn't even be the same thing, actually, if they never would have got their hands on it. It would be the original culture of the Israelites, which is serving one Most High Elohim without Hellenism, without redefining and re-changing names, we probably would have still been on that side of the world. We probably, we would have still got our stuff. We would have still went through some things, but, you know, but because they got their hands on that entire country, they, you know, they, they weaponized the scriptures. So if it would have started in a different place, it wouldn't even be what it is at all.

Q: Were you ever encouraged to explore other belief systems, including African or ancestral traditions?

A: Yeah, so I was brought up as a traditional Christian. We went to Baptist church. We went to non-denominational churches. My mom actually was a motivational speaker, like she went to prison and everything and, you know, wrote a story about just the power of God delivering her. So it was it was like front of house as I got a little bit older. It did get more like in background noise, but that's when I picked up my own personal relationship with God, where I started, you know, on my own, going to Bible studies and, you know, going to, just becoming more involved.

with the church. So it was always a part of my upbringing. And then on my own as well, as deep as I got in is as deep as I got out, because I had questions. You know what I'm saying? I remember when I was reading the story of Cain and Abel, and I was just like, I literally told my mom this, I was like,

How did Kane, after he killed Abel, go out and it be a bunch of people? And it was supposedly, as far as what was laid out plain, there was only them and Adam and Eve, you know what I'm saying, as far as I knew. I was like, when did they make wives? When did they get cousins and people and entire whole nations? So when did that happen? And that was my question. So then I let that, the kind of question I had caused me to deconstruct.

And I began deconstructing, and I found myself just kind of finding anything that kind of made sense for me. You know, New Age, Zodiacs, Tarots, Ifa, you know, I got into that from the age of like 17 to like 20. I'm 25 now, so that wasn't that far back in my review. And I rededicated my life in 2020.

So yeah, that's kind of my walk.

Q: Were you ever encouraged to explore other belief systems, including African or ancestral traditions?

A: I don't think I was encouraged necessarily Like I said, my mom she was a Christian as I was growing up but She wasn't the kind of person that didn't allow me to technically explore. So I explored on my own, as I mentioned before, right? I started to explore on my own into the different spiritualities and getting to know just the universe and, you know, just getting closer with nature. Like I was a vegan, like it was a whole personality thing that I put on and, um, I did get into, you know, African spirituality to a degree. I got into the crystals. I was really big on that. Like, that was my whole, like, persona for, like, a whole, like, what is that, from? like 17, like I said, to like, I was 20 years old, where I was in relationship with, you know, shamans and, you know, Babaus and, you know, mothers and Oshun and all this. So I was I was in it. I was in it. And that's really where my music started. Like, I started, that's where I was at when I started growing into myself as an artist, but as I started getting closer to creation, that's what led me to Creator.

Q: How do you reconcile biblical references to slavery with the legacy of slavery in the Black community?

A: So, I mean, I think that the slave owners, they capitalize on the fact that black people

We're believing people and we'll never do y'all how y'all do us, okay? So I feel like, as I mentioned before, the black people that they took, they didn't just take Africans necessarily. They were very selective about who they took. And they took the Israelites of the Bible, right? They didn't just simply take Africans, they took the Israelites of the Bible that were the chosen people. And then they took the faith of those people and they maximized on it. The same people who killed Yahushua Hamashiach are the same people who were colonizing all of these different countries.

So they were very specific about who they wanted and why. Obviously, as we see in the scriptures, there was a time where Yahuwah said that “you will be scattered amongst the earth. You will forget yourselves. You will forget my name”. And, you know, they just made sure they just kind of doubled down on the fact that we were a stiff-necked people, and they made us docile, and they utilized the very scriptures that were made to redeem us back to our creator as a way to make us servants to them. And it's almost like they used a piece of our memory in knowing that there is a sovereignty and manipulated it into something that made us weak versus strong.

Well, I mean, based off of the scriptures and based off of what I know, slavery itself, it's really not just been simply tied to the Bible. It's kind of like an order of It's an order of power. And there's always going to be, as long as society exists, someone at the very bottom and someone at the very top. And so I don't feel like it's promoting it. I feel like it's talking about the reality of the world that we live in. Even though we are free to work wherever we want to work, per se, we are still essentially slaves to a system that really means us no good, right?

But if it's not promoting it, then why would God give instructions on how to enslave people? Because, like I said, it's a role within a system of society. Now, there's literally, as we said, right, there was a world going on before the pages of the Bible were stitched together. And that role was there. And so I feel like It's a lot of times when it comes to slavery, it was fulfilling debts. It was when they did conquer a city that caused war, right? If they were at war with someone, okay, either we kill everybody or the people who were in that town now becomes our workers, right? And now they are endowed to us because they lost the battle.

 And that's, I'm not saying that I'm a promoter of war either. But we know that as long as human beings exist, there is always going to be some kind of contention. And that contention is happening right now all around the world. People winning wars and losing wars. I'm not like, yay, this is happening. It's just kind of is what it is kind of thing. It's a position in society. There are people like myself. I don't get paid worth what I should get paid for working for Toyota. I get paid the same amount as a fast food worker and I take calls for Toyota. So it's a position that I am in society that I feel like I'm a slave and I'm not being paid what I'm worth. But because of whatever the circumstances and the situation reads, right, this is where my cards fall. I'm not saying that anybody should be a slave. I'm just saying it's kind of a position that ends up falling when a people get conquered.