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In support of the People Who Spoke Up, Led Out, and Went In.
Trace history’s greatest hits to humanity, and the people who struck back.
Crowd solutions elevate Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown Jr.
Getting past the impasse in accountability.
Testimony Drawing Closer to Jesus.
U.S. Senate Chaplain examines the secrets of sweet communion.
Media That Takes You Higher
Anti-Facts
Justice on the Row
Ghetto Santa
God and Country
Last Thoughts of Mom
Hope Found in the Ancient Sanctuary Ritual
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© 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. 90 No.6 November/December. 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
In Luke 21, beginning with verse 25, God describes our time. . . .
The night of the world’s distress and travail is in itself an omen of the birth of the glad day of Christ’s return. No thoughtful [person] can any longer afford to be deaf to the warnings from the Book of God. We can no longer afford to be blind to the signs that tell of the end of our earthly tenure.
The little girl who prayed, ‘Dear God, please take care of Yourself, for if something happens to You, we’re sunk for sure,’ was in her way praying for all of us — God is the only way out.
–“Why Christ Must Come Again,” by Norman G. Simons, Message, December 1954
Phillip McGuire Wesley, jr.
Read
Tara VinCross
Deep Calling by Tara J. VinCross is an insightful and spiritually empowering book that invites readers into a deeper relationship with God. VinCross explores how to hear and respond to God’s voice, emphasizing the importance of spiritual transformation and personal growth. This book is one of the best resources for those seeking to become a disciple and a practical way for any church to create a discipleship journey for believers.
editorial
y the time you read this, it’s likely that you’ve tired of election coverage, and its dramatic conclusion. We put Message together in advance, and at the time of this writing don’t know the outcome of the 2024 election. That said, one of the most telling events, an unwelcome harbinger of things to come, occurred at the October 1, 2024, vice-presidential debate. That’s where Tim Walz and J.D. Vance sparred under high pressure questions. And this astounding exchange ensued:
“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we’ve brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” said Vance. Vance was compounding the insult to the Haitian community that Donald Trump leveled a month before. The insult was patently untrue. After Vice-Presidential candidate Walz rebutted, moderator Margaret Brennan interrupted the debate quietly.
ver the last five years, the Death Penalty Information Center identified concerns raised by governors in California, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Arizona, Ohio, and Tennessee that caused them to place or continue a hold on executions. These governors question whether there was due process in death penalty cases, and they critique the lack of equal treatment for individuals sentenced to death.
If recent history bears a pattern, the governors have a valid and grave argument. During the week of September 20-27, 2024, America witnessed five executions. Three of the executed individuals were black. Khalil Allah aka Freddie Owens in South Carolina, Marcellus Williams in Missouri, Travis Mullis in Texas, Emmanuel Littlejohn in Oklahoma, and Alan Eugene Miller in Alabama received the death penalty from their state with questions unanswered and concerns unaddressed surrounding due process and equal treatment.
Aside from racial disparities, death row also tends to hold a disproportionate population of individuals with functional disabilities and debilitating backgrounds.
In August 1968, James Brown said it loud, “I’m Black and I’m Proud!” This song transformed the “Godfather of Soul” into more than an entertainer, he was now a musical militant. This change was catalyzed by the April 4 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By December of ‘68, the self-proclaimed “Minister of Super Heavy Funk” boldly interceded with Santa by ordering him to “go straight to the ghetto” 12 times in one song.
Perhaps Brown urged Santa 12 times to go with the 12 days of Christmas? One thing is for certain: Minister Brown’s boldness didn’t emanate from anger. Empathy was his motivator, as seen in the following lyrics…
OPTIMAL HEALTH
Menopause typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 55 years. Perimenopause is the transition to menopause and can last for years prior to the onset of menopause. During perimenopause, estrogen levels start to decline.
It’s no secret that a good night’s sleep is crucial to overall well-being, but we fail to consider all it entails. Without a properly rested body, other health measures like diet and exercise become muted. Moreover, many of us are unaware that God revealed the importance of healthy sleep and tips for achieving it in the Bible eons ago. Here are just a few examples of the divinely inspired guidance the Lord provides when it comes to resting our minds and bodies.
In addition to loss of life, according to the International Journal for Equity in Health, Volume 21, article No. 137, we learned that the black community faced four main threats:
- Health (41%)
- Family (25.1%),
- Finances (8.2%) and
- Education (4.9%).
Both the New York Times and ProPublica have written about the effect that COVID-19 has had on black families due to environmental, economic and political factors. The National Library for Medicine also reports that there is an overrepresentation of African Americans among current, confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. This only underscores that the pandemic is amplifying and even worsening the existing social inequalities tied to race, class and access to the health care system. And as Gee, G. C., & Hicken, M. T. (2021) assert…
Life Design
Five Steps to Making Your Conscience Your Ally
Your conscience is more than just an inner voice – it’s a God-given compass designed to help you navigate life’s important choices and decisions. The Apostle Paul argues that one of life’s top priorities is to maintain a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:5).
Here are five steps to making conscience your ally versus your antagonist.
They need to be prosecuted to the highest extend of the law. . . . We need people, especially our own people, to stand up or nothing changes.
“Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today. . . . Sonya’s family deserves justice. I am heartbroken for her children and her entire family as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss.”
Brown Sr. has been the grand marshal at the Ferguson Juneteenth Parade, and a frequent panelist discussing the killing. He’s in front of the cameras at press briefings, meetings, exhibits, and ribbon cuttings. He’s the star of a documentary. Even at church, people sidle up to him for selfies.
He and his wife sit in solace with others who have lost loved ones — reliving that moment again and again to support them. They relive the moment in defiance of the narrative brokers who would paint Michael Jr. in a certain way. To the elder Brown, this is not a life work, but a life sentence.
Ferguson was already a tinder keg before Brown Jr. met his untimely death that hot summer day. Ferguson essentially operated a notorious shakedown of its residents for minor traffic offenses, raking in more than $2 million in fines each year, said Patricia Washington, a former city government aide, but now the public face of the Ferguson Police Department.
The seven-year-old nonprofit is a metaphor. Red, because we all bleed red, a reckoning that flies in the face of the racism that so eviscerated the city. Circle, because the unbroken circle includes everyone — all ethnicities, races, nationalities.
“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take a side with us in such a contest.”
OPTIMAL HEALTH
I was just shy of 12 years old when Pastor Mike asked me this question after youth Bible study one Wednesday night. “I . . . I don’t know.”
“Have you ever professed your faith in Jesus before?”
“I don’t think so . . . no, I haven’t.”
Hebrews 11:5-6 provides us with insight into Enoch’s life: “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying— ‘he disappeared, because God took him.’ For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God” (NLT). We learn from this passage that Enoch lived by faith and made pleasing God his primary focus. His life was so special that he was inducted into Faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11.
What are the key lessons we learn from Enoch’s life? What does his faithful living teach us about pleasing God? How can we benefit from his great example?
Hebrews 11:5-6 provides us with insight into Enoch’s life: “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying— ‘he disappeared, because God took him.’ For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God” (NLT). We learn from this passage that Enoch lived by faith and made pleasing God his primary focus. His life was so special that he was inducted into Faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11.
What are the key lessons we learn from Enoch’s life? What does his faithful living teach us about pleasing God? How can we benefit from his great example?
We’ve seen entities create Donald Trump Bibles that have copies of the Constitution or Declaration of Independence included, serving as a buffer between the Old Testament and New Testament. Christian symbols have experienced a revival as the Louisiana governor passed legislation to place the Ten Commandments back in public schools. The aspirations of Project 2025 firmly support the principles of Christian nationalism.
And as an ardent believer, you would assume that this would be the cause of great celebration. You would think that true believers would see this as a move of God. And yet these things cause my prophetic “Spidey-sense” to tingle. These things are actually a cause for great concern.
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Christopher Thompson
Luke 23:8 and 9 (KJV)
This exchange is borderline bizarre. It is one of the most profound images of Jesus. He knows Herod doesn’t have the right mindset. Miracles are not for entertainment. This is not a magic show. Therefore, He remained silent.
Think on this. John the Baptist was Jesus’s biological cousin. While we can’t be sure of exactly how Jesus felt about Herod, what we do know is that He hadn’t forgotten it.
Many believe that God, in His infinite wisdom, already had a plan to save humanity even before He created humanity. Someone said, “before there was sin there was a Savior!” What a blessed reality! Our salvation was not secondhand guesswork of God, but a well laid-out plan in place before our creation!
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