Get MoreSnap this code and check
out our video content
Re-evaluating the risks associated with alcohol.
Is a traditional birth coach the answer to black maternal and infant mortality rates?
EMBRACE your health with this wellness checklist.
90 Years of Message
Ninety Years of Good, Black Health
What happened to black hospitals?
This survivor gives praise and glory for even her “stage four.”
When the doctor gives you bad news, get into gear, starting on your knees.
How to Become Brand New by Barry Black
How the Stylistics hit upon timeless truth.
Media that takes you higher
Work of Your Hands
Using Humans to Make a Statement
Project 2025: Political Program or Prophetic/Religious Playbook?
Otis Redding
Resurrection Celebration
Family Under Construction
A Different Look at Faith
You Might Be a Samaritan
The Global Ruling Superpower Taking Shape
Editor
Carmela Monk Crawford
[email protected]
Graphic Design
Erica Keith
www.ericakeith.com
Pacific Press Publishing Assoc.,
Virginia Ramsey 1-800-456-3991
Advertising
[email protected]
Marvin Brown
Carlton Byrd
Virgil Childs
Byron Dulan
Garth Gabriel
Alva James-Johnson
Abraham Jules
Kenneth Manders
Michael Owusu
Calvin Preston
Marcellus Robinson
Calvin Watkins
© 2024 by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, 9705 Patuxent Woods Drive, Columbia, Maryland, 21046, U.S.A. Address editorial correspondence to MESSAGE MAGAZINE, 9705 Patuxent Woods Drive, Columbia, MD 21046-1565 U.S.A. All subscriptions are prepaid. If you did not order MESSAGE, it is being sent as a gift from a friend. You will not be billed. To subscribe, mail payment to MESSAGE, 1350 North Kings Road Nampa, ID 83687, U.S.A. or call 1-800-456-3991. Subscription price: one year, $19.95 U.S. currency; single copy, $4.00; overseas, add $10.00 per year for postage. Prices subject to change without notice. Periodicals Postage paid at Nampa, Idaho and additional offices. Vol. 91 No. 8 March/April. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MESSAGE, 1350 North Kings Road Nampa, ID 83687, U.S.A. Printed in the U.S.A.
Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Statements in this issue attributed by an author to other speakers/writers are included for the value of the individual statements only. No endorsement of those speakers’/writers’ other works or statements is intended or implied.
Vintage Vault
To do so is to begin a new and wonderful experience, a mental enlargement, a coming to maturity, a character embellishment that will be the wonder of men and of angels. Best of all, it will bring you at last to the very portals of heaven and the welcome of God Himself, who is the source and embodiment of all truth.
— Sanford Whitman, “Closed Minds”
Message, May 1959, p. 30
Phillip McGuire Wesley, jr.
Read
By Alan Forbes
Are you a parent looking for a good book? ABC: I Am What I See is encouraging, inspiring, and thought provoking. It opens the minds of young scholars to different career opportunities. Wonderful illustrations match career descriptions. This lovely book expands children’s knowledge of different fields of work. Available on Amazon.
editorial
y now you’ve heard of Dan Buettner’s study, literature, and developing lifestyle and community brand, The Blue Zones. In a nutshell, Buettner explored geographical regions around the world that have higher populations of 90 and 100+ year-olds in their communities, and likely hold the secrets to longevity.
These communities spanned the globe and include Sardinia, Italy, Ikaria, Greece, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, Okinawa, Japan, and the only Blue Zone comprised of a diverse people defined by similar beliefs and practices, Loma Linda, California. There, most of the participants in this study happen to be Seventh-day Adventists. And, Adventists, typically are vegetarians, avoid alcohol, tobacco and drugs, and seriously check out of weekly stress during the seventh-day Sabbath.
Similarities in diet and lifestyle choices emerged from all these communities, and the data extracted show nine common denominators, or “choices” that can lead to longevity. The people in the Blue Zones are more likely to…
Photo by: DreamsTime
BY EDWARD WOODS
ith no federal policy addressing the immigration crisis, migrants have become human pawns in a fight between Republican governors, and sanctuary cities led by Democratic mayors. Republicans cite the need to secure the borders, reduce smuggling of weapons, drugs, and people, and the need to address crime at port of entries.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre emphasized, in particular, the role of Texas in the current migration and immigration crisis. There, Governor Gregg Abbott has ordered that groups of undocumented migrants be shipped to sanctuary cities.
However, the lyrics describe a man resigned to a hopelessness that’s hounded him for 2,000 miles from Georgia to San Francisco. Perhaps this journey was a variation of the Great Migration of blacks leaving the South to escape white supremacist terrorism and pursue better job prospects. This exodus is often associated with destinations like Chicago and New York, yet there was also a strong westward movement.
Traditionally, American Easter/Resurrection Day Celebration fare includes ham and lamb and eggs and potatoes and green beans and some sweet ending. Eggs are pretty much expected in some form, but, each menu is clearly determined by the ethnic cultures in communities across the country.
As you’re planning this year’s celebration, consider omitting eggs, especially if you are African American. We have the highest rates of death from heart disease. “Eating one egg per day significantly increased the risk of dying from heart disease. Higher blood cholesterol levels and higher intakes of dietary cholesterol were also associated with an elevated risk of death from heart disease.” (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine.)
ne weekend I was on call at a South Texas hospital and was asked to see three separate patients with newly diagnosed liver cancer, generally not curable, related to their alcohol-induced liver disease. I was relaying what I considered an unusual number of cases to the physician I was covering for and was told that that was not an unusual number. That brings me to the reasons why I do not drink alcohol.
The origins of doulas can be traced back to ancient Greece where women supported each other during childbirth. The word doula comes from the Greek word “doule” which means female servant. In modern usage, we like to say, “one who mothers the mother.” Now, there are many different cultures, not just the one mentioned above, where women have been supporting women in their communities from day one.
Women supporting women have been throughout history. In many cultures, midwives took on the support role while in others you might have found a mother, grandmother, or other female members and people of the community who provided this type of care. For purposes of this article, black women have always held that supportive role for one another.
Regardless of what your family looks like, some simple essentials can make a difference in the strength of your bond, and the integrity of the unit. If every family takes a fresh look at their family, we can thrive and not just survive.
While many families that I meet across this globe are struggling to connect and even be in relationship, l’ve witnessed also some amazing successes. Let’s revisit ideas and practices that will bless the home environment in wonderful ways.
1935
“I can safely say that the proper attention to the feeding of children and co-operation on the part of the child and parent, will insure healthy, hearty children; and when the body is in perfect health and vigor, it maintains a wonderful power of resistance against disease and infection.”—Dr. Grace D. Kimbrough, MD., (1879-1960) a black pediatrician, philanthropist, and former Message columnist.
1944
Early editors, not always without supremacist language or racial sensitivity, did manage to sound an effective warning against tobacco in 1944, 21 years before the United States required big tobacco to print a warning on each cigarette and tobacco product, 40 years before the dangers of “second-hand smoke” was taught.
“It has been found that animals exposed to the fumes of tobacco are injured, but in their offspring the results are still more apparent. Some are born dead: the survivors are never robust. Nicotine, carbon monoxide, and furfural form a combination that must surely bring serious results. The most serious injury comes from inhaling the smoke.”
What Every black American Should Know about Hypertension
uring the decade after the Civil War ended and slaves were freed in 1865; the Jim Crow Era began. Jim Crow Laws enacted by the Southern States enforced segregation of public spaces, restricted voting, limited education opportunities, increased the chances of incarceration and convict leasing, and worst of all denied hospital access to black patients and barred black physicians from hospitals and the American Medical Association. Referencing this travesty, Martin Luther King said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
However, God always sees, hears, and delivers the oppressed. He saw pregnant Hagar flee into the wilderness to escape her enslavers, Abraham and Sarah, who exploited her body and labor for their gain (Gen. 16). God heard the cries of Israel when Pharaoh attempted genocide against infant boys and raised Moses to secure Israel’s freedom (Exodus 1-3). God also sent Jesus to heal the sick and set the oppressed free during Roman times (Luke 4:18).
Not only is it critical to make sure you ask the right questions, but it’s also important to avoid the crippling mistake of falling victim to asking the wrong question. It’s concerning to watch the legalization of a substance that may be subjecting us to undue harm.
While heroin and cocaine are some of the most addictive and toxic substances to the human body, their impact on culture is at least framed within their illegality. But the relaxing of attitudes and legalization of a substance expands its capacity to negatively affect, not just the users, but society in general.
Marijuana is responsible for the deaths of up to 430,000 people in the United States annually. Alcohol is responsible for the deaths of between 80 and 100,000 Americans annually. The number of deaths from cocaine use is estimated at 24,500. And even that number represents the stark increase in deaths from cocaine use which was 6,784 as recent as 2015, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
During the examination, the doctor said it was a goiter, and he thought it might be cancerous. He had me scheduled for surgery in two weeks. While on the way home a friend called to get the diagnosis.
“I have cancer,” I told him.
The buoyancy in my voice made him wonder. In referencing 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”), I told him if I’m sad then I don’t believe that God can heal me.
During the surgery, the doctor saw that the blood vessels and the goiter were indeed cancerous. I instructed him to remove the entire thyroid, although the right side was benign. Five months after my thyroid surgery, I saw an endocrinologist who said that he could not help me because I had stage 4 cancer that had metastasized. Also, because the cancer was both differentiated (stationary) and poorly differentiated (it moves around and is said to be “hiding”), all he could do was recommend someone that specialized in treating that type of cancer.
I took my bicycle off the rack and literally pulled off the spider webs. I started riding a few miles a day, then gradually increased to 25 miles a day, at least six days a week. I changed a few eating habits and I lost 30-40 pounds easily. I was in the best shape of my life, and feeling like it as well!
Nonetheless, when I visited the doctor for my annual physical in early 2009 we were shocked to learn I was borderline anemic. Further tests and a bone marrow biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of Myelodysplastic Syndrome which is a deletion of my red blood cells. This led to my bone marrow transplant in 2016.
Then, in 2020, I was literally shocked, and still in shock, that I had a stroke. This experience was devastating for me. I really thought I was going to die, but I had to keep telling myself I was going to live.
Interestingly, in both cases my doctors shared that it was my healthy lifestyle that saved my life both times. I had the stroke on Monday morning, but I had walked three miles on Sunday the day before. Coupled with regular doctors’ visits, eating 100% organic, almost zero sweets, practicing nontoxic household cleaning, and less stress with routine walking, I am still here. What makes me get up and walk every day is this message that I tell myself daily: “I want to live!” So, by God’s grace, I am doing my best to make good Health Happen!
Nonetheless, here is the rest of the story. You never know when a health crisis is going to hit. It needs no invitation. It just shows up invited or not. It is during our season of healthiness that one needs to prepare for the unexpected. As I reflect on my experiences, here are six areas of focus…
To tell you how I feel, my love
Mere words could not explain.”
Facebook 
Twitter 
Instagram 
YouTube 
I wrote a book about having unrealistic faith, extended Wednesday night prayer meeting services expounding on resetting faith, and engaged in impromptu conversations about managing it. Some may even think that it is my favorite subject, and the truth is, I will never hold back on speaking about faith. But one of the things I love about the matter of faith is that the Bible doesn’t hold back from talking about it, either. Depending on the version of the Bible you read, just the word faith can appear over 230 times.
But as frequently as it appears, people find ways to complicate it. In Matthew 17, Jesus talks about having “mustard seed” faith. Yet, when I think about this Scripture, I often wonder how many people know what a mustard seed looks like. To some people, that tiny spice is as foreign as a rare jewel. So, if I’m trying to encourage someone to have faith the size of a mustard seed, I’m trying to get them to compare their faith to something they’ve never held or seen before.
Christopher Thompson
Besides this, the disciples were so narrow and exclusive in their ideas that it would be inadvisable for them to come into connection with the Samaritans. They were leavened with the spirit of the Pharisees to a greater degree than they thought possible. The theories and maxims of the rabbis still exerted considerable influence over them, but Christ had given them many lessons to counteract these teachings.
Global, Ruling, Superpower Taking Shape Don’t See How? Open Your Eyes!
As we look around the world and see decay, destruction, and endless dissension, some may believe that God did design the universe but left it to run on its own. Some call this belief, “Deism.” I would argue that God has not left the world to run on its own. Instead, He has indeed provided the world a significant blueprint, with specific clues that indicate He knows just what is happening and where we’re headed. And, that He is in control.
Before proceeding any further, let’s acknowledge that for some, the very idea of God can be a challenge. Others may argue there is no God at all.
Having worn the “nation’s cloth” for almost 34 years, having been integrated into combat, having experienced conflicts, living with the certainty of death for 13 months and two days, and officiating the farewell of teammates, I can understand why. However, intentionally opening one’s eyes and seeing what is real, relevant, and redemptive takes courage, commitment, and a clear consensus. Our world’s events are orchestrated by an intelligent force moving us towards a global finale.
Mark 8:36 states, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (KJV). This world is going to pass away, and thus, we focus upon this new kingdom.
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-799-7288
http://atlantaberean.com/bomc
[email protected]
