Violet has waited over a year for us to have time to fix her home.  She has been mighty patient. Following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Violet began the rebuilding that her home needed.  She hired a contractor who gutted out her soggy house and began working to put her kitchen and living areas back in place.  Before he was finished, he left with her money and never came back.  Violet, who is one of our church members from the Bogalusa Seventh-day Adventist Church, has tried to make do with her unfinished house.  Her home is one of the projects that South Louisiana Rebuild is working on now.

There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision.  A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does.  People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything.  A person's own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty.

When the Bible says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2), it means that we must continually choose, twenty-four hours a day, to keep our minds on the positive things of God.  The apostle Paul provides a great list by which we can evaluate our thoughts: "brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8).

Let’s eavesdrop on a conversation Jesus is having with His disciples about their faith. In Matthew 17:20 He said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed . . . nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Think about how tiny a mustard seed is. The Bible has more to say: “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it” Mark 4:31, 32.  I’m getting excited about faith just reading this verse. You can’t get any smaller or bigger than that.

We live in a society that loves to make excuses, and one of our favorite phrases is: "It’s not my fault."  But the truth is, if we are bitter and resentful, it's because we are allowing ourselves to remain that way.  We've all had negative things happen to us.  If you look hard enough, anyone can make excuses and blame the past for his bad attitude, poor choices, or hot temper.

Pedophila in the Christian Church-An Oxymoron or Conundrum 

Pedophilia—it can’t be happening in God’s house, can it? This subject alone is one that most Christian churches don’t even focus on. In fact, the Christian church as a whole speaks of this as though it happens only “in the world” and not in the church. As a matter of fact, most Christians might possibly admit to maybe knowing of someone who had the experience, but rarely does the conversation take on a personal nature. As a Christian writer, I’ve decided to share a story from my own family in hopes that it will shed light on this for someone else, and bring healing to someone who is still hurting.

Bible Study Podcast Targets Young People, Commuters

In a world where the Internet helps people fit news, entertainment and even spiritual enrichment into their increasingly multitasked lives, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific now offers the Adult Bible Study Guide on podcast.

7 Secrets of Health Churches

Secret #2:
The churches and their leaders seek to be relevant. It’s a dangerous word in today’s churches. “Relevant” carries with it a multitude of meanings, and the meaning is positive or negative depending on one’s perspective and philosophy of ministry. I should clarify at this point that relevancy does not and cannot mean biblical compromise.

Many church leaders long for the day when church members will be first concerned about biblical fidelity and reaching a growing unchurched world with the Gospel. Sadly, too many members are more concerned about their own comforts than making the necessary sacrifices to be relevant and reach out to those who are not followers of Christ. Most of the church conflicts I have witnessed or heard reported dealt with peripheral issues: the style of music, the length of the sermons, the physical facilities.

Conquering LUST on the Job

Finally, alone in his hotel room for some decompression time, he drops heavily onto the bed and flicks on the television. Mark’s assailed from every angle by sexually-charged images, both in commercials and regular programming, broadcast and cable channels. He is captivated by what he sees. Scanning the channels, he’s drawn to content that progressively worsens. Memories of his meeting with Linda merge into the images on the screen. He’s resisted this for months, but tonight he gives in and purchases access to adult content to satisfy his growing hunger for more explicit images. Guilt once again washes over him, yet he can’t take his eyes off the screen.

Witnessing Without Words!

THERE, YOU DID IT AGAIN! I CAN’T believe you’re so stupid!” The project manager raged at Jim, his assistant, who remained silent and sullen. In the large architectural firm in which I worked, everyone in the open-floor office easily heard the barrage. But hardly anyone paid attention to what had become Jack O’Malley’s* regular outbursts.

The Devil Made Me Do It. 

This “blame game” isn’t played just by kids. Adults play a real-life version of it quite often, and quite well. As a matter of fact, adults were the creators of the original “blame game.” Adam, when asked by God if he had eaten of the forbidden tree said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). And when Eve was confronted, her answer in essence was, “The devil made me do it!”

People today are still blaming the devil. After all, what a great excuse! Well, is he also the culprit for our addictions? The Bible tells us that the devil is the originator of sin and started this mess we are in. However, it also reveals that the devil had some help along the way. Yes, the devil made the suggestion to eat the fruit, but he couldn’t, nor did he make Adam and Eve eat it. They chose to eat it.

Certainly there’s more of the same to document. But the sufficient grace and power of God has sustained the Black race and given the assurance of a bright future for the faithful that is worthy of our focus. In preparation for the great day of His appearing, we must give ample attention to these life-soaking issues confronting the Black community. An appropriate use of time would be to develop a system for survival that considers these factors:

At the end of the first week, he became so annoying to me that as each day passed the situation became unbearable.  I could not understand why he would set my nerves on edge by just walking into the same room.

Halloween has become as much a part of American culture as apple pie and baseball.  Each October 31st,  millions of children and adults, Christian and non-Christian don costumes of a favorite character or entity to participate in parties and trick-or-treating to commemorate the occasion.  Have you ever wondered what is truly lurking in the shadows behind this apparently innocent activity?  Let’s pull back the curtain shall we?