Get your “but” out of here!
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Ironically, Biblical interpretation can lead to many disputes.
My maternal uncle and I had one a few weeks ago on the question of original sin and the nature of man. So, as usual, we opened the Bible to settle the question. Of course, the Bible, itself, created the question!
The scripture, Gen. 1:31 plainly says—
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
"The phrase, ‘All that he had made’ includes man, necessarily, Uncle.” I said. “That is because God also made man.” I then referred him to this scripture:
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Gen.1:27.
“So, Uncle, ‘Man,’ being part of the ‘all he had made’ is also ‘very good,’ not inherently bad, evil or sinful.” I insisted.
“But…” intoned my uncle.
“Ain’t no ‘but’ in there, nowhere, Uncle! So, get your ‘but’ out of here!” I said, before I realized what I had said. The pun: but/butt had slipped out.
I had been speaking over the telephone to my mother’s brother.
We, my siblings and I, simply didn’t use that manner of speaking to older relatives. Even though I was 59, at the time, myself, when that involuntary pun slipped out of my mouth, I immediately apologized. We’d been raised better than that by both parents, and my uncle knew it!
He chuckled, himself, at my startling utterance, and went on to agree with it, in spite of himself. The double entendre “butt” and “but” was so sudden, and so stunning, you couldn’t help but laugh. It was like a “discovered check” on the chess board! In this case, it was a discovered checkmate!
So went our good-natured repartee on original sin, and the alleged “fall” of man. It was one of many theological discussions between us. Most of the time, he got me. Today, I’d turned the tables.
My uncle and I were always discussing theological questions over the telephone, since we lived 250 miles apart. I knew my uncle’s ways, well. He was Mississippi-ole school Baptist, whose daddy and grand-daddy had been Mississippi- ole school Baptist preachers.
On one previous occasion, he had told me that Genesis did not accurately describe “the beginning.” But, the book of John did. That one floored me. So, we turned to that book. Sure enough, it said:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:1-5. That reference had, frankly, surprised me, and left me slightly exasperated. So, not desiring to get lambasted yet again with such a scriptural hay-maker, I had cut my uncle off, unwisely and imprudently, to my detriment.
I have since inwardly resolved to never do that again!
Our most recent “debate” concerned itself with whether Peter had been “too proud to pray” for the former Samaritan mystic/sorcerer, Simon, who had become wealthy through his sorcery?
Simon, along with many other Samaritans, had been undergone conversion and baptism by Phillip. Later, after his conversion and baptism, Simon had been sternly rebuked by Peter, of all people, (considering Peter’s multiple rebukes and later forgiveness by Jesus) after his conversion to “The Way.” Simon had offered to pay Peter for knowledge of the Holy Ghost and for the gift of healing, by the laying on of hands, in Acts 8:14-25, after seeing Peter and John lay hands upon and heal worshippers, who received the Holy Ghost.
After his rebuke, Simon had asked Peter to pray for him, so he might avoid experiencing the scourges in Peter’s rebuke. Peter ignored his request for prayer and went on with his business as though Simon didn’t exist.
I argued that Peter was wrong for refusing to pray for Simon, after his rebuke. My uncle, naturally, took the orthodox view, insisting that Peter had done nothing wrong, because Simon’s heart was not right with God. I told my uncle the scripture didn’t mention anything about the rightness of Simon’s heart. Besides, 2 Chr. 25:2, doesn’t require that your heart be right, as long as you do what is right in the sight of God. That scripture says: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.”
Well, there we left it in Jesus’ name, till our next theological visit.
#30
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
BLACK HISTORY SUNDAY
BLACK HISTORY SUNDAY AT
GILBERT MEMORIAL A.M.E.
Rev. Brenda Smith, Pastor
Sunday, February 27, 2011
REV DR Larry Delano Coleman, Homilist
1. GOD AND JESUS IN SCRIPTURE:
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.Daniel 7:9
14His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Rev. 1:14-16
2. MOTHER NILE--------------- ALSO CALLED “GIHON” IN SCRIPTURE
13And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. Gen.2:13
Ethiopia or Cush is the first nation in the bible. Ethiopia is in Africa. The land where man began. The land where civilization began. The land where you and I began! Where everybody began!
The Nile (Regarded as the longest river in the world.[3] It is 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The latter is the source of most of the water and fertile soil. The former is the longer. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source in central Burundi. It flows north through Rwanda, Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan. The Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia at 12°02′09″N 037°15′53″E12.03583°N 37.26472°E and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathe in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans,* and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
3. “WRESTERS” OF SCRIPTURE FOR WICKED ENDS--
Folks have lied about black history for centuries, BOTH BLACKS AND WHITES even in school and church. Some of it is still on the internet! So watch out!
WHY WOULD A BLACK MAN LIE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, YOU MAY ASK? HE’S SICK, BRAINWASHED, FULL OF THE DEVIL, WILLFULLY IGNORANT!!
WHY WOULD A WHITE MAN LIE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, YOU MAY ASK? HE’S SICK, BRAINWASHED, FULL OF THE DEVIL, WILLFULLY IGNORANT!!
“All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me.” PSALM 56:5
“But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.” JEREMIAH 23:36
4. The so-called curses---
They would even subvert, pervert, wrest and suborn scripture to make it applicable to us:
20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.c 21He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth,d
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
5. GENESIS 9:20-25—A DRUNKARD’S CURSE: BLESSES AND CURSES IN THE SAME BREATH! “from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” JAMES 3:10 11; NOAH’S CURSES NOT GOD’S CURSES. NOT TO HAM, BUT HIS GRANDSON, CANAAN, ANYWAY. WHOSE LAND THEY COVET TO THIS VERY DAY!
6. USED ON BLACK SLAVES IN AMERICA: TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE, GABRIEL PROSSER, DENMARK VESEY, DAVID WALKER, NAT TURNER, HARRIET TUBMAN, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JOHN BROWN, BISHOP HENRY MCNEAL TURNER
7. “Now therefore ye [are] cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” Joshua 9:23
8. Refutation of the curse--
“How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?” Numbers 23:8
9. SIMPLE SOLUTION TO OUR CRISES AS A PEOPLE---
10. “Study to show thyself approved unto God A WORK MAN THAT NEED NOT BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.” 2 TIM 2:15
11. FIGHT BACK WITH THE WORD OF GOD AND WITH YOUR RIGHTEOUS, VIRTUOUS LIVES!
LIKE BISHOP RICHARD ALLEN, DANIEL COKER AND BISHOP MORRIS BROWN
12. FOLKS WHOM GOD TURNED WHITE---
Moses hand—EXODUS 4:6-7--
6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous[a]—it had become as white as snow.
7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
13. Miriam moses’ sister
9So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. 10But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12“Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. Numbers 12:9-15
14. Gehazi
It happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.” 11But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ 12“Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.
Gehazi’s Greed
15When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, “Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so please take a present from your servant now.” 16But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will take nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
23Naaman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.”
26Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants?
Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow. 2kings 5:27
________________________________________
15. PURPOSE OF TODAY’S MESSAGE: to inform; to empower; to love
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 1 THESS. 4:13
11so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 COR. 2:11
Today, we’re gonna set the record straight in Jesus’ name! And the only book we’re gonna use is the BIBLE—the greatest black history book ever!
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
16. Turn to Genesis 10—the table of nations—critical biblical index
Genesis 10
1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Now, Ham refers to the black man. His descendents, his “sons” are where the world’s earliest civilization are found. Civilization means writing—on papyrus paper, and in stone; hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic; reading, mathematics, astronomy, navigation, shipbuilding, agriculture, music, animal husbandry, art, medicine, the calendar, surveying, stone quarrying and building in stone, and the worship of God “Amen” -- and on and on
17. Ham’s bone--
6And the sons of Ham; Cush (ETHIOPIA AND SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA), and Mizraim (EGYPT), and Phut (NORTH AFRICA), and Canaan (ISRAEL, LEBANON, SYRIA).
Now use this table of nations as your reference point, whenever you study!
7And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (BABYLON), and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (ABRAHAM’S HOME).
11Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
12And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
13And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
15And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,
16And the Jebusite,[JERUSALEM] and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
18. SOJOURNING IN OR NEAR EGYPT DURING HARD TIMES
Remember Abram went to Egypt in a time of famine with Sarai his wife, who he claimed was his sister. Genesis 12. They played that sister game again in Genesis chapter 20 with King Abimelech.
Isaac, ABRAHAM’S SON, was on his way there, when the Lord stopped him on the outskirts in the Land of Gerar, home of King Abimelech and the Philistines.
1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3“Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 Gen. 26:1-3
Joseph was sold there, and Jacob (Israel) found succor there. (AFRICAN AMERICANS, akin to JOSEPH—SOLD BY THEIR BRETHREN; LATER RESCUE)
Moses was born there.
And baby Jesus and his parents fled there.
Abraham Isaac and Jacob all sojourned in or near the land of Egypt. Amen
19. THE EGYPTIANS WERE BLACK PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM CUSH, ETHIOPIA!
JUST LIKE THE AMERICANS CAME FROM ENGLAND!
20. Specific examples
MOSES WAS MISTAKEN FOR AN EGYPTIAN—MOSES WAS TAKEN FROM THE NILE AND was later MISTAKEN FOR AN EGYPTIAN
EXODUS 2:18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
Job 30:30-- My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Queen of Sheba -- First Kings 10:1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9:1–12).
1. Song of Solomon-- The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
SONG OF SONGS 1:1-6
21. TAKEN FROM INTERNET--
The original Jews in Africa 2000 years ago were a Black African people as an ethnic group. (Massey: Egypt Light of the Word p501) Many of them still are Black, in northern Africa such as the Falasha Jews of Ethiopia. A New York Times editorial (3/2/84) described them as "a lost tribe that has kept its identity for more than 2,000 years in a remote corner of Africa." Abraham, ancestor of the Hebrews, was from Chaldea; the ancient Chaldeans were Black. In fact, Africa takes it name from Ophren, a son of Abraham by his wife, Keturah (Whiston: The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus p50) Like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the lineage of Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie also goes back to Judah -through Solomon/Queen of Sheba and King David.
Roman historian Tacitus wrote that many of his time believed that the Jews "were a race of Ethiopian origin." The Bible classifies the Ethiopians & Jews together, "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord." (Amos 9:7) Black Paul is mistaken for an "Egyptian" and declares himself to be a "Jew." (Acts 21:37-39, 22: 2,3) That the Jews got their language, religion & culture from the Canaanites & Sumerians through Babylon, is well documented by historians. The original ancient Hebrew alphabet was identical to that of the Phoenicians. "Semitic languages" are really dialectical variants of African languages.
The word Semite is from semi which means half. Half what? Half BLACK! (mulatto!) Semite refers to the descendants of Shem, one of Noah's sons. The word originates from the Latin prefix semi which means half. "half Black and half white... therefore Black (since Black is genetically dominant)" points out Dr. Cress Welsing. Historian Cheikh Anta Diop also points out that the "Semitic" arises in the 4th millennia B.C. from crossbreeding between Black inhabitants of the holy land and white northern invaders. While many Semites (such as Jews & gypsies) have mixed so much with whites that they've forgotten or deny their African roots, racism (white supremacy) will never let them forget this no matter how light-skinned they become, as proved by Hitler, who mandated their destruction because they were classified by whites as "non-white" peple originating in Africa. The very word gypsy means "out of Egypt."
A good site to read is:
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/DNA%20is%20a%20Mother.htm
Other points:
Moses passed as Pharaoh grandson for 40 years (Acts 7:23),
Moses was called an Egyptian (Exodus 2:16-19)
The apostle Paul was mistaken for a black skin Egyptian (Acts 21:37-38),
Joseph was not recognized by his brothers in Egypt they thought Joseph was an Egyptian (Genesis 42:1-8)
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Discuss:Were_Adam_and_Eve_dark_skinned#ixzz1F6QUGD70
22. CONCLUSION :We are all made in the likeness and image of God, so let no man take your crown! Rev.3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Rev.3:11-13 14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
23. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. Amen.
GILBERT MEMORIAL A.M.E.
Rev. Brenda Smith, Pastor
Sunday, February 27, 2011
REV DR Larry Delano Coleman, Homilist
1. GOD AND JESUS IN SCRIPTURE:
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.Daniel 7:9
14His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Rev. 1:14-16
2. MOTHER NILE--------------- ALSO CALLED “GIHON” IN SCRIPTURE
13And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. Gen.2:13
Ethiopia or Cush is the first nation in the bible. Ethiopia is in Africa. The land where man began. The land where civilization began. The land where you and I began! Where everybody began!
The Nile (Regarded as the longest river in the world.[3] It is 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The latter is the source of most of the water and fertile soil. The former is the longer. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source in central Burundi. It flows north through Rwanda, Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan. The Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia at 12°02′09″N 037°15′53″E12.03583°N 37.26472°E and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathe in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans,* and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
3. “WRESTERS” OF SCRIPTURE FOR WICKED ENDS--
Folks have lied about black history for centuries, BOTH BLACKS AND WHITES even in school and church. Some of it is still on the internet! So watch out!
WHY WOULD A BLACK MAN LIE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, YOU MAY ASK? HE’S SICK, BRAINWASHED, FULL OF THE DEVIL, WILLFULLY IGNORANT!!
WHY WOULD A WHITE MAN LIE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, YOU MAY ASK? HE’S SICK, BRAINWASHED, FULL OF THE DEVIL, WILLFULLY IGNORANT!!
“All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me.” PSALM 56:5
“But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.” JEREMIAH 23:36
4. The so-called curses---
They would even subvert, pervert, wrest and suborn scripture to make it applicable to us:
20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.c 21He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth,d
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
5. GENESIS 9:20-25—A DRUNKARD’S CURSE: BLESSES AND CURSES IN THE SAME BREATH! “from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” JAMES 3:10 11; NOAH’S CURSES NOT GOD’S CURSES. NOT TO HAM, BUT HIS GRANDSON, CANAAN, ANYWAY. WHOSE LAND THEY COVET TO THIS VERY DAY!
6. USED ON BLACK SLAVES IN AMERICA: TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE, GABRIEL PROSSER, DENMARK VESEY, DAVID WALKER, NAT TURNER, HARRIET TUBMAN, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JOHN BROWN, BISHOP HENRY MCNEAL TURNER
7. “Now therefore ye [are] cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” Joshua 9:23
8. Refutation of the curse--
“How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?” Numbers 23:8
9. SIMPLE SOLUTION TO OUR CRISES AS A PEOPLE---
10. “Study to show thyself approved unto God A WORK MAN THAT NEED NOT BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.” 2 TIM 2:15
11. FIGHT BACK WITH THE WORD OF GOD AND WITH YOUR RIGHTEOUS, VIRTUOUS LIVES!
LIKE BISHOP RICHARD ALLEN, DANIEL COKER AND BISHOP MORRIS BROWN
12. FOLKS WHOM GOD TURNED WHITE---
Moses hand—EXODUS 4:6-7--
6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous[a]—it had become as white as snow.
7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
13. Miriam moses’ sister
9So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. 10But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12“Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. Numbers 12:9-15
14. Gehazi
It happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.” 11But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ 12“Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.
Gehazi’s Greed
15When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, “Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so please take a present from your servant now.” 16But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will take nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”
23Naaman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.”
26Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants?
Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow. 2kings 5:27
________________________________________
15. PURPOSE OF TODAY’S MESSAGE: to inform; to empower; to love
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 1 THESS. 4:13
11so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 COR. 2:11
Today, we’re gonna set the record straight in Jesus’ name! And the only book we’re gonna use is the BIBLE—the greatest black history book ever!
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
16. Turn to Genesis 10—the table of nations—critical biblical index
Genesis 10
1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Now, Ham refers to the black man. His descendents, his “sons” are where the world’s earliest civilization are found. Civilization means writing—on papyrus paper, and in stone; hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic; reading, mathematics, astronomy, navigation, shipbuilding, agriculture, music, animal husbandry, art, medicine, the calendar, surveying, stone quarrying and building in stone, and the worship of God “Amen” -- and on and on
17. Ham’s bone--
6And the sons of Ham; Cush (ETHIOPIA AND SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA), and Mizraim (EGYPT), and Phut (NORTH AFRICA), and Canaan (ISRAEL, LEBANON, SYRIA).
Now use this table of nations as your reference point, whenever you study!
7And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (BABYLON), and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (ABRAHAM’S HOME).
11Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
12And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
13And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
15And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,
16And the Jebusite,[JERUSALEM] and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
18. SOJOURNING IN OR NEAR EGYPT DURING HARD TIMES
Remember Abram went to Egypt in a time of famine with Sarai his wife, who he claimed was his sister. Genesis 12. They played that sister game again in Genesis chapter 20 with King Abimelech.
Isaac, ABRAHAM’S SON, was on his way there, when the Lord stopped him on the outskirts in the Land of Gerar, home of King Abimelech and the Philistines.
1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3“Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 Gen. 26:1-3
Joseph was sold there, and Jacob (Israel) found succor there. (AFRICAN AMERICANS, akin to JOSEPH—SOLD BY THEIR BRETHREN; LATER RESCUE)
Moses was born there.
And baby Jesus and his parents fled there.
Abraham Isaac and Jacob all sojourned in or near the land of Egypt. Amen
19. THE EGYPTIANS WERE BLACK PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM CUSH, ETHIOPIA!
JUST LIKE THE AMERICANS CAME FROM ENGLAND!
20. Specific examples
MOSES WAS MISTAKEN FOR AN EGYPTIAN—MOSES WAS TAKEN FROM THE NILE AND was later MISTAKEN FOR AN EGYPTIAN
EXODUS 2:18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
Job 30:30-- My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Queen of Sheba -- First Kings 10:1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9:1–12).
1. Song of Solomon-- The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
SONG OF SONGS 1:1-6
21. TAKEN FROM INTERNET--
The original Jews in Africa 2000 years ago were a Black African people as an ethnic group. (Massey: Egypt Light of the Word p501) Many of them still are Black, in northern Africa such as the Falasha Jews of Ethiopia. A New York Times editorial (3/2/84) described them as "a lost tribe that has kept its identity for more than 2,000 years in a remote corner of Africa." Abraham, ancestor of the Hebrews, was from Chaldea; the ancient Chaldeans were Black. In fact, Africa takes it name from Ophren, a son of Abraham by his wife, Keturah (Whiston: The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus p50) Like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the lineage of Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie also goes back to Judah -through Solomon/Queen of Sheba and King David.
Roman historian Tacitus wrote that many of his time believed that the Jews "were a race of Ethiopian origin." The Bible classifies the Ethiopians & Jews together, "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord." (Amos 9:7) Black Paul is mistaken for an "Egyptian" and declares himself to be a "Jew." (Acts 21:37-39, 22: 2,3) That the Jews got their language, religion & culture from the Canaanites & Sumerians through Babylon, is well documented by historians. The original ancient Hebrew alphabet was identical to that of the Phoenicians. "Semitic languages" are really dialectical variants of African languages.
The word Semite is from semi which means half. Half what? Half BLACK! (mulatto!) Semite refers to the descendants of Shem, one of Noah's sons. The word originates from the Latin prefix semi which means half. "half Black and half white... therefore Black (since Black is genetically dominant)" points out Dr. Cress Welsing. Historian Cheikh Anta Diop also points out that the "Semitic" arises in the 4th millennia B.C. from crossbreeding between Black inhabitants of the holy land and white northern invaders. While many Semites (such as Jews & gypsies) have mixed so much with whites that they've forgotten or deny their African roots, racism (white supremacy) will never let them forget this no matter how light-skinned they become, as proved by Hitler, who mandated their destruction because they were classified by whites as "non-white" peple originating in Africa. The very word gypsy means "out of Egypt."
A good site to read is:
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/DNA%20is%20a%20Mother.htm
Other points:
Moses passed as Pharaoh grandson for 40 years (Acts 7:23),
Moses was called an Egyptian (Exodus 2:16-19)
The apostle Paul was mistaken for a black skin Egyptian (Acts 21:37-38),
Joseph was not recognized by his brothers in Egypt they thought Joseph was an Egyptian (Genesis 42:1-8)
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Discuss:Were_Adam_and_Eve_dark_skinned#ixzz1F6QUGD70
22. CONCLUSION :We are all made in the likeness and image of God, so let no man take your crown! Rev.3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Rev.3:11-13 14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
23. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. Amen.
Monday, February 21, 2011
when a coincidence is not
WHEN A COINCIDENCE IS NOT
Monday, February 21, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
A coincidence is when by chance and without discernible design two or more persons meet and discover something in common with each other that surprises them all. Coincidences also concur in nature, mathematics and science, and have been plotted statistically into conforming probability tables. Some deny the existence of coincidence and place causality, determinant or non-determinant, behind it all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence
We’ve all experienced apparent coincidences. When someone we had been discussing unexpectedly appears, we call it a coincidence. When we discover someone with our exact name or birth day, or when we encounter unknown relatives in unusual places, we also call these coincidences.
The opposite of coincidence is “causality,” but its mere definition, not to mention its proof, is as ambiguous and as uncertain as its opposite’s, “coincidence.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality
No one thing causes another thing to occur at any specific time and place. Each component of an occurrence has its own separate, and, therefore severable, history and vitality. Each component, individually, and, sometimes jointly, contributes in whole or in part to the occurrence. Recognizing the inherent subjectivity of causality, civil juries are instructed to decide whether an occurrence was “more likely than not” caused by one thing or another. This is known as preponderance of the evidence.
I recently learned that a childhood friend, whom I had not seen in over 30 years, was chairman of a department in a Philadelphia hospital, where he is a physician. I mentioned to him that one of my former clients, a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry, was in Philadelphia, also, possibly at the same facility. My friend then stated he believed that my former client had recently been appointed chairman of his respective department at that same facility! I requested that he convey felicitations to him and my love.
Now, was this a coincidence or some aspect of causality? Frankly, I am not sure.
Monday, February 21, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
A coincidence is when by chance and without discernible design two or more persons meet and discover something in common with each other that surprises them all. Coincidences also concur in nature, mathematics and science, and have been plotted statistically into conforming probability tables. Some deny the existence of coincidence and place causality, determinant or non-determinant, behind it all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence
We’ve all experienced apparent coincidences. When someone we had been discussing unexpectedly appears, we call it a coincidence. When we discover someone with our exact name or birth day, or when we encounter unknown relatives in unusual places, we also call these coincidences.
The opposite of coincidence is “causality,” but its mere definition, not to mention its proof, is as ambiguous and as uncertain as its opposite’s, “coincidence.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality
No one thing causes another thing to occur at any specific time and place. Each component of an occurrence has its own separate, and, therefore severable, history and vitality. Each component, individually, and, sometimes jointly, contributes in whole or in part to the occurrence. Recognizing the inherent subjectivity of causality, civil juries are instructed to decide whether an occurrence was “more likely than not” caused by one thing or another. This is known as preponderance of the evidence.
I recently learned that a childhood friend, whom I had not seen in over 30 years, was chairman of a department in a Philadelphia hospital, where he is a physician. I mentioned to him that one of my former clients, a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry, was in Philadelphia, also, possibly at the same facility. My friend then stated he believed that my former client had recently been appointed chairman of his respective department at that same facility! I requested that he convey felicitations to him and my love.
Now, was this a coincidence or some aspect of causality? Frankly, I am not sure.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
WE'RE ALL ONE...
We’re all one…
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
One conserves
Another removes.
One discovers
Another explores.
One opens
Another closes.
We’re all one!
One numbers
Another distributes.
One builds
Another improves.
One establishes
Another destroys.
We’re all one!
One worships
Another condemns.
One sows
Another reaps.
One discards
Another keeps.
One enriches
Another desecrates.
One detests
Another appreciates.
We’re all one!
One lives
Another dies.
One rejoices
Another cries.
One rises
Another falls.
One freezes
Another scalds.
We’re all one!
God is
We are.
Both near
And far.
Whether here
Or there.
One race
One hue-man.
Both me
And you-man.
We’re all on!
AMEN!
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
One conserves
Another removes.
One discovers
Another explores.
One opens
Another closes.
We’re all one!
One numbers
Another distributes.
One builds
Another improves.
One establishes
Another destroys.
We’re all one!
One worships
Another condemns.
One sows
Another reaps.
One discards
Another keeps.
One enriches
Another desecrates.
One detests
Another appreciates.
We’re all one!
One lives
Another dies.
One rejoices
Another cries.
One rises
Another falls.
One freezes
Another scalds.
We’re all one!
God is
We are.
Both near
And far.
Whether here
Or there.
One race
One hue-man.
Both me
And you-man.
We’re all on!
AMEN!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
HOT AIR BALLOON
Sunday, February 13, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
HOT AIR BALLOON
ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a little boy who loved his Daddy very much. He thought his Daddy could do anything.
They lived near St. Louis, Missouri, where the St. Louis Cardinals play big league baseball.
One day, they went to a baseball game. There, Daddy bought his son a big red hot air balloon, which was tied to a long plastic string. The hot air in the balloon made the balloon float up in the sky. But, the long plastic string, when held tightly, kept the balloon from flying far away.
The little boy loved his big red balloon. He played with it throughout the game. When they ate popcorn or drank soda pop, Daddy would tie the balloon to his son’s chair to keep it safe.
After the game, Daddy reminded his son to hold onto tightly to the balloon’s string. Otherwise, he said, the hot air, in the balloon, would cause it to fly far away.
All the way home, in their car, the little boy held on tightly to his balloon’s long pretty plastic string.
As soon as they got home, though, a bad thing happened. A big gust of wind blew the balloon out of the little boy’s hand while his father was picking him up from out of the car!
Up, up, and away it went! Higher and higher the balloon floated! It was being carried farther and farther away by the wind!
“Daddy!” cried the little boy. “Catch my balloon!”
But, Daddy could only watch, sadly, as the balloon floated away. It finally came to rest in the top of a tall oak tree, in someone else’s back yard, about block away.
“Sorry, son.” He said, “There are some things, even Daddy’s cannot do, like catch a hot air balloon!”
The little boy wept bitterly at his double loss. The first loss: being the loss of his big red balloon. And his second loss: the realization that his Daddy, whom he loved very much, could not, after all, do everything as he had formerly thought, like catch a hot air balloon!
Soon, the little boy’s loud, piteous cries brought his mother outside to comfort him and to dry his tears.
“Ssh. See!” she said, pointing, while she smothered him with kisses. ”You can still see your balloon! So, you still have your balloon! See! There it is!"
"Listen! SsShhh! We don’t have the sun, or the moon, or the stars, either. Do we? Do we?” she asked.“But, we can see them all – the sun, moon, and stars--so they’re still ours. So, we still have them."
"So, stop crying like a baby! Where’s Momma’s big boy? You still have your balloon! It’s just safe, now, in that tree! Now, tell me, who won the ball game?”
The little boy, somewhat overwhelmed by his mother’s wit, stopped crying. Mother’s wit had stumped him, and diverted him. He did not know who had won the game. He had been too caught up with the balloon to notice or to remember, if he had ever known.
All he could do now was to quietly watch his big red hot air balloon float playfully in the wind in the distant oak tree top by its long, pretty plastic string. It remained there for many days, steadily diminishing in size, till one day, it was gone.
“The Cardinals won” said Dad. “Kenny Boyer hit a home run.”
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
HOT AIR BALLOON
ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a little boy who loved his Daddy very much. He thought his Daddy could do anything.
They lived near St. Louis, Missouri, where the St. Louis Cardinals play big league baseball.
One day, they went to a baseball game. There, Daddy bought his son a big red hot air balloon, which was tied to a long plastic string. The hot air in the balloon made the balloon float up in the sky. But, the long plastic string, when held tightly, kept the balloon from flying far away.
The little boy loved his big red balloon. He played with it throughout the game. When they ate popcorn or drank soda pop, Daddy would tie the balloon to his son’s chair to keep it safe.
After the game, Daddy reminded his son to hold onto tightly to the balloon’s string. Otherwise, he said, the hot air, in the balloon, would cause it to fly far away.
All the way home, in their car, the little boy held on tightly to his balloon’s long pretty plastic string.
As soon as they got home, though, a bad thing happened. A big gust of wind blew the balloon out of the little boy’s hand while his father was picking him up from out of the car!
Up, up, and away it went! Higher and higher the balloon floated! It was being carried farther and farther away by the wind!
“Daddy!” cried the little boy. “Catch my balloon!”
But, Daddy could only watch, sadly, as the balloon floated away. It finally came to rest in the top of a tall oak tree, in someone else’s back yard, about block away.
“Sorry, son.” He said, “There are some things, even Daddy’s cannot do, like catch a hot air balloon!”
The little boy wept bitterly at his double loss. The first loss: being the loss of his big red balloon. And his second loss: the realization that his Daddy, whom he loved very much, could not, after all, do everything as he had formerly thought, like catch a hot air balloon!
Soon, the little boy’s loud, piteous cries brought his mother outside to comfort him and to dry his tears.
“Ssh. See!” she said, pointing, while she smothered him with kisses. ”You can still see your balloon! So, you still have your balloon! See! There it is!"
"Listen! SsShhh! We don’t have the sun, or the moon, or the stars, either. Do we? Do we?” she asked.“But, we can see them all – the sun, moon, and stars--so they’re still ours. So, we still have them."
"So, stop crying like a baby! Where’s Momma’s big boy? You still have your balloon! It’s just safe, now, in that tree! Now, tell me, who won the ball game?”
The little boy, somewhat overwhelmed by his mother’s wit, stopped crying. Mother’s wit had stumped him, and diverted him. He did not know who had won the game. He had been too caught up with the balloon to notice or to remember, if he had ever known.
All he could do now was to quietly watch his big red hot air balloon float playfully in the wind in the distant oak tree top by its long, pretty plastic string. It remained there for many days, steadily diminishing in size, till one day, it was gone.
“The Cardinals won” said Dad. “Kenny Boyer hit a home run.”
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
THE PRAYER PLACEBO
THE PRAYER PLACEBO
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Why does prayer “work” sometimes, and not “work” at other times?
Does prayer itself have potency? Or is its potency illusory?
These compelling questions may be answered, ironically, by science. An experiment with “placebo effect” may explain.
One web site reports:
Placebo effect: Also called the placebo response. A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo -- a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution -- can sometimes improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. Expectation to plays a potent role in the placebo effect. The more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=31481
A mere “expectation” that {prayer/placebo} will be helpful can improve a patient’s condition. This is true whether one is dealing with a pill with no active ingredients, or private prayer.
Certain persons are believed to have the capacity “to get a prayer through” in some religious circles. However, both religious and scientific evidence cumulatively suggest the actual power lies within the faith/belief complex of the “prayee,” the object of prayer, not in the “prayor,” the person doing praying, nor in the words of the ‘prayer’ incantation itself!
Jesus’ powerful colloquy with the Canaanite woman explains:
Matthew 15:21-28
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
The Canaanite woman’s “great faith,” i.e. “expectation” was the active enzyme in her daughter’s deliverance, according to Jesus!
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/canaanite_woman.html
Returning to science:
It has been shown that placebos have measurable physiological effects. They tend to speed up pulse rate, increase blood pressure, and improve reaction speeds, for example, when participants are told they have taken a stimulant. Placebos have the opposite physiological effects when participants are told they have taken a sleep-producing drug.
The key phrase is “when participants are told…” such and such a thing, they tend to feel physiologically and believe. The Bible says:
“So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17
“Faith comes by hearing.” Believing what one is told is key, especially where it involves the word of God.
Reverence for God is the most powerful placebo of them all, which is accessed through prayerful expectation, otherwise known as applied faith, which science cannot qualify nor quantify.
Where there is light, though, there is also, necessarily, darkness. That is because a “nocebo”—negative effect-- is the opposite of a placebo—positive effect.
Observe:
In the strictest sense, a nocebo response occurs when a drug-trial's subject's symptoms are worsened by the administration of an inert, sham,[1] or dummy (simulator) treatment, called a placebo.
According to current pharmacological knowledge and the current understanding of cause and effect, a placebo contains no chemical (or any other agent) that could possibly cause any of the observed worsening in the subject's symptoms. Thus, any change for the worse must be due to some subject-internal factor.
The worsening of the subject's symptoms is a direct consequence of their exposure to the placebo, but those symptoms have not been chemically generated by the placebo. Because this generation of symptoms entails a complex of "subject-internal" activities, in the strictest sense, we can never speak in terms of simulator-centred "nocebo effects", but only in terms of subject-centred "nocebo responses".
Although some attribute nocebo responses (or placebo responses) to a subject's gullibility, there is no evidence that an individual who manifests a nocebo/placebo response to one treatment will manifest a nocebo/placebo response to any other treatment; i.e., there is no fixed nocebo/placebo-responding trait or propensity.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo
This is all part of the awe, wonder and mystery of God:
Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what are mortals that you are mindful of them, the children of mortals that you care for them? Psalm 8, verses 1, 3-4.
As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. Ecclesiastes 11:5.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. Psalm 111:10.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. I Corinthians 4:1.
http://mysteryandawe.com/page3.htm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way:
In a real sense everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. Plato was right: "The visible is a shadow cast by the invisible." And so God is still around. All of our knowledge, all of our developments, cannot diminish his being one iota. These new advances have banished God neither from the microcosmic compass of the atom nor from the vast, unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. The more we learn about this universe, the more mysterious and awesome it becomes. God is still here. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "The Measure of a Man" page 54.
AMEN!
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Why does prayer “work” sometimes, and not “work” at other times?
Does prayer itself have potency? Or is its potency illusory?
These compelling questions may be answered, ironically, by science. An experiment with “placebo effect” may explain.
One web site reports:
Placebo effect: Also called the placebo response. A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo -- a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution -- can sometimes improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. Expectation to plays a potent role in the placebo effect. The more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=31481
A mere “expectation” that {prayer/placebo} will be helpful can improve a patient’s condition. This is true whether one is dealing with a pill with no active ingredients, or private prayer.
Certain persons are believed to have the capacity “to get a prayer through” in some religious circles. However, both religious and scientific evidence cumulatively suggest the actual power lies within the faith/belief complex of the “prayee,” the object of prayer, not in the “prayor,” the person doing praying, nor in the words of the ‘prayer’ incantation itself!
Jesus’ powerful colloquy with the Canaanite woman explains:
Matthew 15:21-28
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
The Canaanite woman’s “great faith,” i.e. “expectation” was the active enzyme in her daughter’s deliverance, according to Jesus!
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/canaanite_woman.html
Returning to science:
It has been shown that placebos have measurable physiological effects. They tend to speed up pulse rate, increase blood pressure, and improve reaction speeds, for example, when participants are told they have taken a stimulant. Placebos have the opposite physiological effects when participants are told they have taken a sleep-producing drug.
The key phrase is “when participants are told…” such and such a thing, they tend to feel physiologically and believe. The Bible says:
“So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17
“Faith comes by hearing.” Believing what one is told is key, especially where it involves the word of God.
Reverence for God is the most powerful placebo of them all, which is accessed through prayerful expectation, otherwise known as applied faith, which science cannot qualify nor quantify.
Where there is light, though, there is also, necessarily, darkness. That is because a “nocebo”—negative effect-- is the opposite of a placebo—positive effect.
Observe:
In the strictest sense, a nocebo response occurs when a drug-trial's subject's symptoms are worsened by the administration of an inert, sham,[1] or dummy (simulator) treatment, called a placebo.
According to current pharmacological knowledge and the current understanding of cause and effect, a placebo contains no chemical (or any other agent) that could possibly cause any of the observed worsening in the subject's symptoms. Thus, any change for the worse must be due to some subject-internal factor.
The worsening of the subject's symptoms is a direct consequence of their exposure to the placebo, but those symptoms have not been chemically generated by the placebo. Because this generation of symptoms entails a complex of "subject-internal" activities, in the strictest sense, we can never speak in terms of simulator-centred "nocebo effects", but only in terms of subject-centred "nocebo responses".
Although some attribute nocebo responses (or placebo responses) to a subject's gullibility, there is no evidence that an individual who manifests a nocebo/placebo response to one treatment will manifest a nocebo/placebo response to any other treatment; i.e., there is no fixed nocebo/placebo-responding trait or propensity.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo
This is all part of the awe, wonder and mystery of God:
Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what are mortals that you are mindful of them, the children of mortals that you care for them? Psalm 8, verses 1, 3-4.
As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. Ecclesiastes 11:5.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. Psalm 111:10.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. I Corinthians 4:1.
http://mysteryandawe.com/page3.htm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way:
In a real sense everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. Plato was right: "The visible is a shadow cast by the invisible." And so God is still around. All of our knowledge, all of our developments, cannot diminish his being one iota. These new advances have banished God neither from the microcosmic compass of the atom nor from the vast, unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. The more we learn about this universe, the more mysterious and awesome it becomes. God is still here. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "The Measure of a Man" page 54.
AMEN!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Antidote for depression
Antidote for Depression
by Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Colossians 3:23-24. "Whatever you do, do your work
heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."
Master, I thank you for reviving me, for restoring me, and for showing me
the right way. It is so easy for one’s foot to slip from the true path. It is so easy for one to become lost in the thickets and brambles of the material world; for the light of the spirit to be blotted out by the dark, overwhelming canopy of earthly desires and values.
When one is in such a condition, depression is the likely sequel, because earthly rewards can never supply satisfaction to the soul. Only spiritual rewards can do that. And spiritual rewards come only from God. Unless one’s soul is satisfied, there can be no satisfaction on earth. Only a sanctified soul is a satisfied soul.
Thus, our earthly labors, whatever form they assume, must be undertaken as though for God, and not for man, knowing that whatever we do for God will be rewarded by God. God’s reward being the true and everlasting reward.
11Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
14But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
1 Chronicles 29.
by Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Colossians 3:23-24. "Whatever you do, do your work
heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."
Master, I thank you for reviving me, for restoring me, and for showing me
the right way. It is so easy for one’s foot to slip from the true path. It is so easy for one to become lost in the thickets and brambles of the material world; for the light of the spirit to be blotted out by the dark, overwhelming canopy of earthly desires and values.
When one is in such a condition, depression is the likely sequel, because earthly rewards can never supply satisfaction to the soul. Only spiritual rewards can do that. And spiritual rewards come only from God. Unless one’s soul is satisfied, there can be no satisfaction on earth. Only a sanctified soul is a satisfied soul.
Thus, our earthly labors, whatever form they assume, must be undertaken as though for God, and not for man, knowing that whatever we do for God will be rewarded by God. God’s reward being the true and everlasting reward.
11Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
14But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
1 Chronicles 29.
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