Thank You Dr. King
January 17, 2010 by COREN BURCH
Filed under Evangelism
This is the day set aside to honor one of our national heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. Here are some facts about Dr. King:
Martin Luther King Quick Facts
| Birth | January 15, 1929 |
| Death | April 4, 1968 |
| Place of Birth | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Known for | Leading the civil rights movement in the United States |
| Advocating nonviolent protest against segregation and racial discrimination | |
| Milestones | 1954 Selected as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama |
| 1955 Received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University | |
| 1955-1956 Led a successful effort to desegregate Montgomery, Alabama, buses | |
| 1957 Helped found and served as the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) | |
| 1958 Published Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story | |
| 1963 Wrote ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ arguing that it was his moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws | |
| 1963 Delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech to civil rights marchers at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. | |
| 1964 Won the Nobel Peace Prize | |
| 1965 Organized a mass march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that created national support for federal voting-rights legislation | |
| 1968 Was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee | |
| Quote | ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ August, 1963, in a speech to civil rights supporters at the March on Washington. |
| Did You Know | King’s nonviolent doctrine was strongly influenced by the teachings of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi. |
| In 1964, King became the first black American to be honored as Time magazine’s Man of the Year. | |
| King’s efforts were not limited to securing civil rights; he also spoke out against poverty and the Vietnam War. |
“Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Quotes–Famous and Not so Famous:
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.
We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Wall Street Journal, November 13, 1962.
I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009
January 4, 2010 by LATOIA
Filed under Christian Living, Features, Society & Culture
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
For quite some time now Christians in the U.S have had freedoms that our counterparts elsewhere (i.e. China) could never imagine. However, as we progress further into the last days Western Christians are now beginning to feel the pangs of persecution.
The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) has released its list of the top ten incidents of anti-Christian defamation, bigotry and discrimination in the US from last year. The list was selected by the subscribers to CADC’s e-mail list and was selected from a list of twenty of CADC’s top stories from 2009.
“It is arguable that anti-Christian hatred has spilled over into material forms of persecution in 2009,” said Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “Christians were killed and bullied for their witness, ministers and churches threatened with violence and vandalized for standing for marriage, and Christians were fired for not compromising their faith. If these are not bona fide examples of persecution, than I wonder what more it might take?”
The Top Ten Anti-Christian headlines for 2009 according to CADC subscribers are,
10. Pro-life Pastor Reverend Walter Hoye of Oakland, CA was jailed for exercising peaceful, pro-life speech.
9. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois.
8. HBO’s program “Curb Your Enthusiasm” aired an episode where the main actor urinates on painting of Jesus. When confronted HBO would not apologize.
7. The overt homosexual participation in Obama’s presidential inaugural events by “Bishop” Vickie Eugene Robinson, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D. C., and a homosexual marching band.
6. Police called to East Jessamine Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky to stop 8th graders from praying during their lunch break for a student whose mother was tragically killed.
5. Pro-life activist Jim Pullion was murdered in front of his granddaughter’s high school for showing the truth about abortion.
4. An activist judge ordered a home school mom in New Hampshire to stop home schooling her daughter because the little girl “reflected too strongly” her mother’s Christian faith.
3. The Federal Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate” that labeled conservative Christians extremists and potential terrorists.
2. President Obama’s appointment of radical anti- Christians like homosexual activist Kevin Jennings as the “safe school czar;” pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Seblius made Secretary of Human and Health Services, and Chai Feldblum, pro-homosexual and anti-religious liberty judge nominated for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
1. The Federal Hate Crimes Bill that attacks religious liberty and freedom of speech. For the first time in our history ministers are vulnerable to investigation and prosecution for telling the truth about homosexuality.
Raising them Right…
August 15, 2009 by LATOIA
Filed under Christian Living, Devotionals, Evangelism, Faith, Family, Fatherhood, Marriage, Motherhood, Parenting, Relationships, Society & Culture
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
As believers our first ministry is to our family. We are to consistently live and teach the gospel to our children. These gifts are our responsibility and none of us should want to get caught with our work undone. I was so very moved when I watched the video below. It shares the testimony of a young man, named Brady, that came to Christ during a bout with brain cancer and how it built his faith as well as his parents’.
Wanna Live Until 100+…
February 26, 2009 by LATOIA
Filed under Emotional Wellness, Family, Fitness, Nutrition, Self Improvement, Weightloss
We’ve all wondered with amazement about how so many biblical figures lived well into triple digits. How could they accomplish this without all of the medical and technological advances that we have today? Here are a few tips I found to help us along the way.
10 Health Habits That Will Help You Live to 100
You don’t need to eat yogurt and live on a mountaintop, but you do need to floss
The biggest factor that determines how well you age is not your genes but how well you live. Not convinced? A new study published in the British Medical Journal of 20,000 British folks shows that you can cut your risk of having a stroke in half by doing the following four things: being active for 30 minutes a day, eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables, and avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol.
While those are some of the obvious steps you can take to age well, researchers have discovered that centenarians tend to share certain traits in how they eat, move about, and deal with stress—the sorts of things we can emulate to improve our own aging process. Of course, getting to age 100 is enormously more likely if your parents did. Still, Thomas Perls, who studies the century-plus set at Boston University School of Medicine, believes that assuming you’ve sidestepped genes for truly fatal diseases like Huntington’s, “there’s nothing stopping you from living independently well into your 90s.” Heck, if your parents and grandparents were heavy smokers, they might have died prematurely without ever reaching their true potential lifespan, so go ahead and shoot for those triple digits. Follow these 10 habits, and check out Perls’ lifetime risk calculator to see how long you can expect to live.
1. Don’t retire. “Evidence shows that in societies where people stop working abruptly, the incidence of obesity and chronic disease skyrockets after retirement,” says Luigi Ferrucci, director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Chianti region of Italy, which has a high percentage of centenarians, has a different take on leisure time. “After people retire from their jobs, they spend most of the day working on their little farm, cultivating grapes or vegetables,” he says. “They’re never really inactive.” Farming isn’t for you? Volunteer as a docent at your local art museum or join the Experience Corps, a program offered in 19 cities that places senior volunteers in urban public elementary schools for about 15 hours a week.
2. Floss every day. That may help keep your arteries healthy. A 2008 New York University study showed that daily flossing reduced the amount of gum-disease-causing bacteria in the mouth. This bacteria is thought to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation in
the arteries, a major risk factor for heart disease. Other research has shown that those who have high amounts of bacteria in their mouth are more likely to have thickening in their arteries, another sign of heart disease. “I really do think people should floss twice a day to get the biggest life expectancy benefits,” stresses Perls.
3. Move around. “Exercise is the only real fountain of youth that exists,” says Jay Olshansky, a professor of medicine and aging researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s like the oil and lube job for your car. You don’t have to do it, but your car will definitely run better.” Study after study has documented the benefits of exercise to improve your mood, mental acuity, balance, muscle mass, and bones. “And the benefits kick in immediately after your first workout,” Olshansky adds. Don’t worry if you’re not a gym rat. Those who see the biggest payoffs are the ones who go from doing nothing to simply walking around the neighborhood or local mall for about 30 minutes a day. Building muscle with resistance training is also ideal, but yoga classes can give you similar strength-training effects if you’re not into weight lifting.
4. Eat a fiber-rich cereal for breakfast. Getting a serving of whole-grains, especially in the morning, appears to help older folks maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day, according to a recent study conducted by Ferrucci and his colleagues. “Those who do this have a lower incidence of diabetes, a known accelerator of aging,” he says.
5. Get at least six hours of shut-eye. Instead of skimping on sleep to add more hours to your day, get more to add years to your life. “Sleep is one of the most important functions that our body uses to regulate and heal cells,” says Ferrucci. “We’ve calculated that the minimum amount of sleep that older people need to get those healing REM phases is about six hours.” Those who reach the century mark make sleep a top priority.
6. Consume whole foods, not supplements. Strong evidence suggests that people who have high blood levels of certain nutrients—selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E—age much better and have a slower rate of cognitive decline. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that taking pills with these nutrients provides those antiaging benefits. “There are more than 200 different carotenoids and 200 different flavonoids in a single tomato,” points out Ferrucci, “and these chemicals can all have complex interactions that foster health beyond the single nutrients we know about like lycopene or vitamin C.” Avoid nutrient-lacking white foods (breads, flour, sugar) and go for all those colorful fruits and vegetables and dark whole-grain breads and cereals with their host of hidden nutrients.
7. Be less neurotic. It may work for Woody Allen, who infuses his worries with a healthy dose of humor, but the rest of us neurotics may want to find a new way to deal with stress. “We have a new study coming out that shows that centenarians tend not to internalize things or dwell on their troubles,” says Perls. “They are great at rolling with the punches.” If this inborn trait is hard to overcome, find better ways to manage when you’re stressed: Yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi, or just deep breathing for a few moments are all good. Ruminating, eating chips in front of the TV, binge drinking? Bad, very bad.
8. Live like a Seventh Day Adventist . Americans who define themselves as Seventh Day Adventists have an average life expectancy of 89, about a decade longer than the average American. One of the basic tenets of the religion is that it’s important to cherish the body that’s on loan from God, which means no smoking, alcohol abuse, or overindulging in sweets. Followers typically stick to a vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts, and get plenty of exercise. They’re also very focused on family and community.
9. Be a creature of habit. Centenarians tend to live by strict routines, says Olshansky, eating the same kind of diet and doing the same kinds of activities their whole lives. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day is another good habit to keep your body in the steady equilibrium that can be easily disrupted as you get on in years. “Your physiology becomes frailer when you get older,” explains Ferrucci, “and it’s harder for your body to bounce back if you, say, miss a few hours of sleep one night or drink too much alcohol.” This can weaken immune defenses, leaving you more susceptible to circulating flu viruses or bacterial infections.
10. Stay connected. Having regular social contacts with friends and loved ones is key to avoiding depression, which can lead to premature death, something that’s particularly prevalent in elderly widows and widowers. Some psychologists even think that one of the biggest benefits elderly folks get from exercise the strong social interactions that come from walking with a buddy or taking a group exercise class. Having a daily connection with a close friend or family member gives older folks the added benefit of having someone watch their back. “They’ll tell you if they think your memory is going or if you seem more withdrawn,” says Perls, “and they might push you to see a doctor before you recognize that you need to see one yourself.”
Our Sin Nature
February 25, 2009 by Elizabeth
Filed under Apologetics, Christian Living, Evangelism, Faith
This is awesome, my pastor, Elder Lester Powell preached this message 12/11/2007; it is a timely word that blessed my soul. I pray that it will bless you as well.
-Elizabeth
Subject: Our Sin Nature
Scipture: Romans 7:14-16 (NLT)
“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.”
“I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not”. Romans 7:14-16 can anticipate the response that is coming: Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
But I need something more!
Romans 17-20
“For if I know the law, but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” (Message Bible)
The apostle Paul in this text says like many of us say. “I just don’t understand myself.” I know what not to do, but I do it anyway. We do things that we know are not good for us, but we do it anyway. We look at men and women that do crazy things. We call them crazy, but we do those same crazy things ourselves. For example, smoking cigarrettes. The label on the carton says these things will cause cancer, sickness, and even death, yet we smoke them anyway. We do self-destructive acts, but we feel that it won’t happen to us. We are somehow the exception to the rule.
Two wrongs never make a right. We try to handle problems in our lives by smoking, drinking, being critical of others, judgemental, depressed, lying, losing our problems in drugs–we do these things to get control over our lives and we try to handle our sin nature–we try to handle it OUR WAY!
In Genesis 3 verse 10, Adam and Eve told God –after they had sinned and eaten of the fruit–10 “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.” Their sin exposed them and they became naked. We live in fear that people will find out we are not perfect. When we walk in sin, we do our best to do everything right on the outside. We are afraid that we might blow it. We will never have all the answers. Some of us feel that we will always have control of it. But we never will. We want people to believe that we have it all together–but yet we go home and fall apart.
We fail, when we try to handle our sin by ourself. There is not one person that has done everything right. Fear causes us to fake it, to put on a false face. We smile and go through the motions because we don’t want anyone to know that we have failed. We know that we are not pleasing God and living right, but we know on the inside, we are a total mess. Some here today are afraid that some may find out about your true financial situation. We don’t want people to know that we watch the caller ID, and if the mortgage man calls we avoid them. We don’t want people to know that we are months behind on the rent. People don’t see how you have to fight your way out of the house, and the bruises that are underneath those designer clothes. We don’t want people to see the emotional abuse that you go through in your home. We don’t want people to know that we are on Food stamps. It is okay to be on food stamps, but seek God so that you don’t stay there.
We are afraid that people will find out our true Christian status. So we come and put on a performance. We know how to shake and dance, and we have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof scripture says from such turn away.
2Timothy 3:5 says, “Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money hungry, self-promoting, stuck up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes their animals. Stay clear of these people.” (Message)
When the fast is over, where are you? Many fast, but has your situation changed. Has your position/status changed after the fast. It is not enough to serve in the church and die and go to hell. It is okay for folk to say good things about you– Oh, he/she is a great preacher….teacher……singer…..churchworker…..great personality…….but on the way to hell– because of his/her wrong relationship with God. It is hard to juggle things when we are the way we are. We can’t be one way with your church sister, and another way with your friend from back in the day. If you are going to be a sinner then be a sinner. If you are going to serve God then serve Him fully.
Paul says in Romans 7: 21 -23″It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.”
That is why satan wants to control your mind. Paul is frustrated with himself because of the struggle inside of himself. In Psalms 32:3 (the message bible) David said, “When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.” David had sinned and kept his silence. The silence was destroying him. It is hard because you know that you have sinned–and when you try to praise God–the enemy will remind you of that sin. So that when you try to stand and praise God, or speak of His goodness, the enemy will say…now remember what you did last night–you can’t praise God– you have sinned. But if you go to God and confess your sin, then you and me-we can go to God and confess and forsake that sin and praise God without restraint from the enemy. There is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
Then comes the failure. We know we aren’t right, and then the fear comes. Provers 28:13 says, You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them. (He who covers his sin shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy). It is not enough to confess our sin and go back to it. When we don’t deal with sin God’s way, we are bound to fail. It will be too easy to walk back into it. We can’t prosper. It might look like we are prospering, but after a while we will see–we are getting no where. We must stop denying our sin, and the fact that we need help. We tell ourselves, ” I don’t do any worse than anyone else.” That is denial. We say they aren’t living any better than me. No, let us do right and show others how to do it the right way. Don’t look at man, but look at Jesus Christ.
How bad to things have to get before we admit that we need JESUS? He is the answer and the way out. Don’t wait until we get fired, our marriage falls apart, some disease strickens us, our kids life is in a mess. How long before we cry out to God that we need help? God will let us go through it all and get to the edge of the cliff–until we cry out —Lord, save me! Lord, help me. Then and only then we will not care who hears us. Don’t wait until you hit rock bottom before you cry out to Him.
Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of deliverance. Today is the day to cry out and realize that we can’t fix it–only Jesus can. If we don’t cry out for help–we will stay in the mess.
Jesus said “Come to me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
In 1 John 1:9, God says that “He is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”
Moses, David, Daniel, Paul, John believed God in this matter. Jesus–there is no other name whereby men are saved. But only God can get rid of the old man. The old drug addict….liar….backbiter…hypocrite….fornicator…adulterer…alcoholic….if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. We become new creatures in Christ…no drinking, smoking,fornication,lying….. We can give God the praise and get joy out of going to church. Jesus died to bring us out of the miry clay of our sin. David said, I cried unto the Lord and He delivered me and established my going out and my coming in. The Lord is my rock and my salvation. Let us not continue to go on and leave our place with the problem. Jesus is the answer to my deliverance, my breakthrough, my way out, my answer to my way through. Call Him while He is near and seek Him while He may be found. Let Him in, don’t let it be too late. We don’t know what tommorrow holds. 7 people went into the shopping mall and did not know they would make it out. A gunman came in and stated shooting and left a note saying. I am famous now!
Tomorrow is not promised. Come to me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Be blessed!
Free Bible Software:Bible Explorer
July 11, 2008 by LATOIA
Filed under Bible Study
I love convenience. I like things that are aesthetically pleasing. Ease of use is also extremely important to me. However, I was not able to enjoy any of these things when it came to delving into bible study until today. I downloaded Bible Explorer and I love it. It is much more than a Bible or concordance on your desktop. It is a phenomenal research tool. Bible Explorer allows me to have multiple translations of the Word, resources and reference tools at my fingertips. The interface is very intuitive. It is an ideal tool for any student of the Word of God, no matter what their skill level. Free video tutorials are available if needed.
Bible Explorer allowed me to easily switch between books and the cross referencing tools elimante the need for multiple books all over the place. I can see that it will be a great time-saver for me (I have two small children). The software can be downloaded for free and there are over 2600 books available for download and many of them are free. There is unlimited potential for what one could accomplish with this software. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Spreading the Gospel to the Lost
May 14, 2008 by LATOIA
Filed under Christian Living, Evangelism, Ministry
As I sat watching the news tonight I saw images of the destruction and turmoil in China. It is reported that at least 3/4 of the population near the earthquake’s epicenter were killed, at least 15000 people dead. One woman watched as her husband’s lifeless body was pulled from the wreckage. Then something even more disturbing caught my attention. Many people had set up makeshift religious alters near the bodies lining the streets. A woman burned paper money near her husband to bless him in the afterlife. Yet another woman cut her husband’s clothes off in order to separate his spirit from his body. It was apparent that these people did not know Christ. This news report reminded that personal evangelism and ministry are more important than ever. We must see everyone as a potential convert. Paul shares many important principles for ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:22:
- find common ground with potential converts
- make them feel accepted (without compromising your beliefs)
- avoid being a know-it-all
- show sensitivity to their needs and concerns
- seize each opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ
We must be prepared for, courageous in, and sensitive to God-given opportunities to spread the gospel to the lost. We need not be fearful because the Holy Spirit will empower us and help us to speak. Acts 1:8 Nor should we rely on our words or clever packaging (although I do think some people require a more radical approaches in order to initially gain their attention) it is the Holy Spirit that convicts people and opens their eyes revealing their need for salvation. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 Let’s continue to pray for more workers to harvest in the fields. Matthew 9:37
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