June 19, 2021

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Man in his search for wisdom, in his expectation that there’s something better out there than what he has from God, listened to satan’s lie, “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” (Genesis‬ ‭3:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬) Ever since then, man has not stopped his pursuit of knowledge. Not that there’s something wrong with getting wisdom, but the wisdom that fails to recognize God as the ultimate source of knowledge is tainted with foolishness. No wonder Proverbs 3:5,7 warns us against self wisdom. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” (Proverbs‬ ‭3:5,7 NLT‬‬) Ever since our first mother was deceived by the glamour of having all it takes to make our own decisions, her children have never stopped their quest for self sufficiency in decision making. The result has not been favorable looking at the restlessness, the lack of peace, hatred, anarchy, and anything that can describe evil around us. There’s only one wise God, and He alone can supply the knowledge that will help us make wise decisions. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭KJV‬‬)

 

June 12, 2021

A Spade Is A Spade

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There’s a proverb among the Igbos of Nigeria that says, that it’s difficult to believe a fish in the river claiming that it has not touched water. Following the same train of thought, it’s equally difficult to believe anyone in this world claiming to be free of sin. This does not mean that we should be deliberately looking for sin to commit. Unfortunately, this seems to be the mentality of today’s world, and so we are awe struck when we see or hear the boldness at which some crimes are committed. People are quicker to pull a trigger on a fellow human being than you and I are to swat a fly, because they know how difficult it will be to convict them. The boldness in breaking the law or displaying behaviors that were once considered obscene is frightening. It makes you wonder where this generation is going and what future generations would look like, if this trend continues. One thing we should not forget as Christians is that we serve a God who “calls a spade a spade”. “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.” (Matthew‬ ‭5:18‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

For anyone who thinks that he or she has done nothing wrong because you have been exonerated by people who have no fear of God like you, God says, “I am the Lord, and I do not change…” (Malachi‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬). The wiseman Solomon, once King of Israel, has provided us an escape route that we would be wise to hold on to as our survival guide. “…Dear friend, if bad companions tempt you, don’t go along with them. If they say—“Let’s go out and raise some hell. Let’s beat up some old man, mug some old woman. Let’s pick them clean and get them ready for their funerals…— Oh, friend, don’t give them a second look; don’t listen to them for a minute…” ‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭1:8-19‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Need I say more? “A word to the wise is sufficient.”

 

June 5, 2021

Talk With Action 

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I have no doubt that majority of the Christian world are convinced that change is needed in our world today more than ever before. We talk about it, sing about it, love reading about it, and enjoy listening to sermons that make us feel sorrowful that the condition of the world is getting worse every day. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much efforts being put to bring the changes we are looking for. Many of  the Christians believe that they are worshiping one God no matter what denomination they belong, yet they cannot join their forces together to fight a common enemy, EVIL. The world has enough Christians who if they want, could do something that would make their presence felt in a positive way. Jesus has told us how to accomplish our desires if we really want to, because continuing in our present manner of divided efforts would be counterproductive. “...Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart.” (Matthew‬ ‭12:25‬ ‭NLT‬‬) This is the worst enemy of the Christendom, the same ones who claim to be children of one father, the creator of the universe, the all powerful God. What is it then, that is  hindering us from seeing the need for unity? Could it be pride or fear, two elements that should have no place among God’s children if they are really who they claim to be. Before pointing fingers at anyone, we need to examine ourselves individually and find out how ready we are to move from talking to actually acting. It starts with each of us because we are all equally responsible. Start in your little corner.

 

May 29, 2021

Dangers  Around Us

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Last week, I wrote about the increase in the number of people who are denying the existence of God. We may never know the extent the devil would go to show that he is in control of a person with this frame of mind. The undeniable evidence could be seen in the unpredictability of the safety of our workplaces and highways, two places that are hard to avoid in our lives. It was very frustrating to hear of another killing of nine innocent lives who went to work this week the same way they have always done for years but never made it back home this time. Few days earlier, a boy in kindergarten could not make it to school because of a person angry at his mother’s driving. These are some of the results of rejecting the God of love in the heart. 1 John 4:12 says that the full expression of God’s indwelling in our hearts is the expression of His love in our lives. Hatred is a sign that God is not present and wherever this exists, man created in God’s image ceases to be who God intended for him to be and adopts the character of the enemy. In Genesis 6, we are told that it broke God’s heart when He observed the extent of man’s wickedness. Every evidence today indicates that it never abated, instead it is getting worse. One thing we can do is to pray for God’s protection against the dangers around us and to remember to thank Him for His amazing love over us. Let us not forget to pray for the families affected by the carnage on our highways and workplaces.

May 22, 2021

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Are you appalled as I am at the rate of suicide among young people, I mean very young people? As a mother approached me this week about her 12 year old daughter and her friend 12 also, attempting to take their own lives, I asked myself, what has someone this young experienced in this life to warrant this extreme measure? Then I considered the responses I have been getting recently from people of all ages especially those in their twenties and younger, when asked if they believe in God. It may surprise you to hear that many in our society today deny the existence of God. No wonder there is so much crime in our society. There’s no fear of God in people’s lives. Some are bold to acknowledge that there is a higher power, but are reluctant to call Him God. With all the evidence around us, what are we still searching for to convince us that all we see and more are the handiwork of God? I’m happy that He’s able to speak for Himself, “I am the Lord; there is no other God...” (Isaiah‬ ‭45:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬) He goes further to challenge those doubters, “...I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. “Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future.” (Isaiah‬ ‭44:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬) What is your response?

Between Two Enemies

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s unfortunate that there are many in the world today who would see this as an unfair and a dishonest greeting. How can it be a Happy Sabbath when the sky above you is lit with punishment and death? As a resident in the punished land puts it, “We are in between two enemies”. You would think that with the terror of the pandemic all over us, that the whole world would join hands together to fight a common enemy, that has caused havoc everywhere there’s human life. Unfortunately children of a Father whose name is love can be heard saying, “don’t stop until you finish the job”, and you wonder, what job?  No matter what this assignment means, I hope that this week has reminded us of the urgency in telling the world what wars and rumors of wars point to.  “So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.” (Matthew‬ ‭24:33-35‬ ‭MSG‬‬). Thank God who couldn't stop until the work of redemption was finished on Calvary so that no matter the giant we face in this life, we can be rest assured that there’s a rescue plan in our favor. Pray for fellow human beings in every part of our Father's land where there's unrest.

May 8, 2021

Heavenly Excursion

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Some of my favorite days in Elementary school were days we went on class excursion. It’s the same as field trip. Looking back now I wonder why I was so excited about excursions.  I don’t want to appear as anti school work, but those were days of joy when the school day was spent in a different environment and we went home without what we considered as “daily load” of assignments that always occupied most of the after school hours. That meant more playing time and of course peace of mind. Maybe it’s this childhood experience that is generating in me so much energy, excitement, love, and desire for the grandest of all excursions - going to Heaven. What is more exciting about going to Heaven is that it will be the longest excursion I have ever taken - one thousand years. Why wouldn’t I be excited for a place like this when everyone who was in Heaven when I was born is still alive and not everyone I have known on earth is still with us today? One 17 year old girl who later became a great author, giving a glimpse of what this excursion would be like said this in what she called “My first Vision”, “After I came out of vision, everything seemed changed; a gloom was spread over all that I beheld. Oh, how dark this world looked to me! I wept when I found myself here, and felt homesick. I had seen a better world, and it had spoiled this for me.” This same author, Ellen G. White, in another book, Maranatha page 355 puts it this way, “Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it.” On page 133 of her book, “Heaven”, she says, “More Glorious Than We Can Imagine—The lion, we should much dread and fear here, will then lie down with the lamb, and everything in the New Earth will be peace and harmony. The trees of the New Earth will be straight and lofty, without deformity.” I don’t know about you, I love the idea of peace and harmony which you and I know is in great shortage on this side of the universe. I wish everyone would be as excited as I am for this excursion. I hope you are as curious as I am for the Amazing experience of visiting Heaven. Come let us go!!!

May 1, 2021

Light Of The World

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. What would you say is the state of Christendom today? It’s sad to say that it is not different from the state of the rest of the world. For example, those living in the United States of America would agree that Christians in any of the two major political parties do not behave differently from the non-Christian members. You would think that they know better and would use the Bible as their guide in every decision making; instead we are proud to make the common statement that our decisions are made along party line without thinking of the implications. There’s a big problem when Christians deny themselves their individuality in other to belong. I wonder what happened to the light of the world mandate. In that verse, Jesus did not give His followers a choice, you can become light of the world if you want to. No, instead He said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew‬ ‭5:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). In other words, if you sign up to belong to this group, you have agreed to be light to a world in darkness. You are different. Too many lights today have found their resting places under the bushels of injustice that looks the other way when people created in God’s image are treated inhumanly. It’s time for all of us in the Christian world to take out our lights that have been hidden for far too long, so that the world can see how ridiculous it is to tell anyone born into this world that he or she does not belong. Unless we do this, we are perpetuating the evil behavior that tries to claim the exclusive ownership of God’s benevolence. This is our Father’s world.

April 24, 2021

Breath Demands Justice

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. “God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature...” (Genesis‬ ‭1:26 MSG‬‬) Paramount in God’s nature is that He is a God of justice; and as those created to reflect this nature, we gasp for breath when this necessity of life is denied from us. In the same line, we are not surprised when God’s children jubilate because man has shown himself as a reflection of his maker. We who find ourselves in the position to call attention to the suffocating man must not ignore every opportunity accorded us to praise those who obey the Spirit of God to condemn the recklessness of denying another man the ability to breathe. It’s unkind to hear a person created in God’s image cry, “I cannot breathe” and fail to supply the needed ventilation or ask why it was denied. It’s true that nothing we do now can bring back life in a body that lacks one of the elements of a living soul, but our actions can communicate to Satan and his allies that God alone has the prerogative to give or to take life. This week’s verdict in a case that drew global attention may not completely eradicate the occurrence of such heinous crimes from our society, but it stands as a warning to everyone planning them that there are consequences to such audacious behaviors. The world will no longer sit idle and watch irresponsible behaviors go scot-free in this 21st century. As true followers of our Master Jesus Christ, it is imperative on us to be active citizens in our communities and to “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” (Romans‬ ‭12:15‬ ‭KJV‬‬) It’s my hope that the unifying call of the first stanza of this music by the Johnson brothers will inspire all of us to do just that.

“Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea” (https://www.pbs.org)

 

April 17, 2021

Do Not Legitimize Hatred

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Do you know why bizarre behaviors have become rampant in our society? The clue is in the response of majority of the citizens when they hear or see the evidence of such outrageous behaviors. If you still don’t know, which is a kind way of saying “you are in denial”, I want to draw your attention to accept the reality that we are living in a society that has made HATRED an acceptable way of life.  Although a person may not come outright and tell the whole world that hatred should not be condemned, I urge you to analyze their words in an interview. The applause they receive energizes them to continue to promote the “H” word and make it look glamorous. This is the reason why the same behaviors that make you cringe have become a daily occurrence in every neighborhood, including the one near you. What prevents Mr. A from acting the same way Mr. B and everyone up to Z acted if they got away with it? I’m convinced that it takes more energy to hate than it takes to love and be kind to others. According to Will Smith, “Hate in your heart will consume you”. At the rate we are going, it brings chills to the bones to imagine that we might reach a point where a person may be so lunatic to bring up a bill that legitimizes hatred against any group in our society that they choose although it might be going on now unofficially. If you ask Maya Angelou, she would tell you that, “Hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet”, so why does it continue to be so highly dignified? I hope that you would be encouraged by this quote, “Haters don’t really hate you, they hate themselves because you’re a reflection of what they wish to be.” No matter how much a person hates you, our mantra has not changed, “...‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew‬ ‭22:39‬ ‭NLT‬‬) According to Martin Luther King Jr, “...Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”.

 

April 10, 2021

Prepare To Meet Your God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family.“Prepare to meet your God”. This sounds like the type of wake up calls we normally hear from parents to their children to get ready for school or an activity.  Even today when we use it in a worship setting, it sounds like a “Call to worship” and because we have become accustomed to hearing some of these statements, they have almost lost their meanings. This is not what it sounds like in Amos 4:12. ““Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”” Amos‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ The entire chapter actually presents what sounds like a God who is not happy, but like a merciful and loving God, informs His children ahead of time, of His own preparations. It does not sound good but the indication in verse 11 is that He has tried to help us avoid this experience but to no avail.  It sounds more like what one boy will say to another, "Are you ready to fight? Let's dig it out." The time is up and there’s no escape from judgment (this fight). But is this really judgment or is there any need for a sitting judgment with God as we know it, because as Amos 4:11 indicates, we are guilty? I don’t want to face God’s judgment. This God is a Consuming Fire. Our only hope is the purifying blood of Jesus. Nobody covered in the power of this blood will be destroyed by God’s fierce judgment. I recommend it because this is what I have chosen. Claim it now before it is too late!

April 3, 2021

Never Rest Universe

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I hope that we are all awake and observing at least some of the constant activities around us. I once saw a farm with the name “NEVER REST” and I wonder why anyone would not support a proposal to identify the entire Universe with the same name.   This is why unfortunately the world that is interested in celebrating this as a Holy Week is not willing to listen or remember the words of the Hero of the week. He didn’t want to leave us, the ones who caused His death, ignorant and so He said, “Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.” ‭‭(John‬ ‭16:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬). In other words when the world around us starts getting busy, which everyone will agree is the situation now; review the warnings. If you are not sure why remembering the Savior’s warning is important, He adds, “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.” (John‬ ‭16:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬) We can celebrate as many Holy Weeks as we want, but it is of no benefit to us if we lack faith in the one we are celebrating; not so much as to try His recommendations. If anyone thinks that things are rough now, we might as well prepare for a rougher future. However, if you are living in paradise, you probably wouldn’t know that right at this moment, there is great support for those committing murder in the name of the Lord. “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” Our God has provided us with boundless resources to help us in times like these. It’s left for us to use them.

 

March 27, 2021

God Of Mercy And Justice

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If you have ever lived near a church that has a bell that rings at different intervals of every hour and on special occasions, you would become so familiar with each tone and style that you can easily recognize what the time or occasion is when you hear the toll without being told. Using the same analogy I can say that a very familiar tone of a frequent bell that rings in our country was heard again this week as it did the week before it. When the bell stopped ringing, 10 innocent souls that had been with us from the beginning of the day became part of our growing statistical data. As it stands now, “the safest activity” title remains unclaimed because nothing and nowhere seems safe including going going to the store to pickup a gallon of milk. Everywhere is as dangerous as being in a war front or deploying your parachute thousands of miles above the ground. At the same time we boast before everyone how strong we are and yet unable to stop the carnage that we created by ourselves. Herein lies the proof that it’s not the grip of sin on us but our grip on sin that is destroying us just like the monkey’s hand trapped inside a calabash and refusing to let go the peanuts in his hand. This is why I think that our only refuge and hope is the God referred to in Deuteronomy 32:4 as just and right. He is never arbitrary in His judgment and will never be controlled by emotions. What a blessing that this is not one of the powers placed in the hands of wounded souls like you and I. I believe that in His mercy, justice will be done. Unless directly affected, one may not know how difficult it is to love one’s enemies. Although the enemy may refuse to surrender his arms, you and I must give up our equally destructive weapons in the hands of a just and merciful God, trusting that everyone will receive what he or she deserves.  The God of mercy is also the God of justice. “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; JUST and TRUE are thy ways, thou King of saints.” (Revelation‬ ‭15:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬)

 

March 20, 2021

The Prince Of Darkness In Action

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Nobody knows the devil more than God, which is why it is expedient that we listen to Him when He forbids us from friendship with the devil. The devil’s mode of operation is likened to darkness and every God’s child knows that light has no fellowship with darkness. He does things from time to time to make his presence felt and no matter how many times we see him in operation, we still act surprised as if we have forgotten that he is still around. I don’t think there is any woe worse than the day he became everyone’s next door neighbor. “...Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath...” (Revelation‬ ‭12:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬) One thing about him is that he is such an expert that when he acts, he does it in a way that will confuse his observers or maybe they just want to act ignorant. For instance, the heinous crime committed this week that took the lives of innocent women. You can see the misguided focus on mental health and addiction, leaving out an important component that led to the crime. It’s as if the criminal is the victim and so if we take care of him, he will not do it again. Why is it that no one wants to acknowledge that the nucleus of this type of crime is hatred? I wonder the type of insanity that will make someone recognize that pouring cold water on someone will not do as much harm as pulling a trigger, and also be able to know where to find a particular group of people to hurt with 100% accuracy in three attempts. Until we learn to call a spade a spade, the devil and his representatives will always find some reason to hurt those that they don’t like. Thank God for His mercy and intervention that keeps these behaviors from being our daily experience. We can join the Psalmist in praying, Lord “...Free me from hidden traps; I want to hide in you. I’ve put my life in your hands. You won’t drop me, you’ll never let me down.” (Psalm‬ ‭31:3-5‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Amen!

This Is My Fathers House

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If the Lord tarries, future generations would be amazed at how we took care or should I say, our lack of care of God’s creation entrusted to us. “GOD took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭2:15‬ ‭MSG‬‬) I don’t think that considering what we are about to pass on to coming generations, that they would have a lot of kind words for us in their evaluation of who we have been and what we have left for them. Good thing about it is that we would be gone. No other generation has brought in as many changes with so many negative effects as this generation. The Lord has been so good to us to make us the most gifted, the smartest, and the most blessed with  abundant resources, yet we are the least in recognizing God’s sovereignty and the worst caretakers. The result is blatant disregard for the dignity of our fellow human beings. There is now a new Golden rule which says, “Do unto others before they do it to you”. I have had two traffic experiences in the last few days that would make you consider never stepping out of your home if that were possible. In the second one yesterday, I was about two blocks away from my house when another driver felt that he must turn no matter what the traffic rule says. I allowed him to make his left turn, my right, but not without asserting my right with my small car’s horn. I couldn’t believe it when his big SUV responded to my compact sedan, and my interpretation of that vehicular communication was, who are you to tell me what to do? Drive on and see who will sustain the most damage. The streets are no longer safe because of your look as if God has no right to bring someone into the world who does not fit into someone’s specifications. I think that the attack on innocent people on our streets because of their feature that identifies their heritage, is an act of cowardice. What happened to the inscription that I saw on commercial buses when I was little, that said, “Live And Let’s Live”?  Anyone who desires to can go ahead and make the claim, “This is my land”.  However, do not attempt to take away another person’s right to shout and sing, “This is my Father’s world”.

 

March 6, 2021

Peer Pressure

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The young people among us would like to hear this, which is, that peer pressure has no age or status limit. The same ones who are claiming to be counseling them against the negative influence of others, are not avoiding the same behavior in their own lives. I do not think that anyone would be against a person conforming to honorable standards, but when what we are agreeing to do is against every facet of what we know are good moral values, then we have fallen prey to negative influence of peer pressure. It is unfortunate that today’s adults would give up their rights to be free thinkers, so they can belong to one group or another even when threatened by death. Thank God, the Bible has examples to show us why allowing ourselves to be pressured into doing something we know is not right to satisfy our friends, will end up hurting us. King Rehoboam’s experience seen in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10, should teach us good lesson. He found out the hard way that dancing to friends’ tune is not the best way to go for a person aspiring to become the next king of any nation. In another example, we find (Daniel 3) that 3 Hebrew boys who refused to follow the crowd, ended up gaining top leadership positions in a foreign land. I hope that these two examples are enough to direct our decision making when pressured by any group or when we think that conforming is the only chance we have to gain an influential position in the future.

 

February 27, 2021

You Are Free

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. On this last Sabbath of February 2021 which also marks the last weekend of the Black History month of 2021, I wonder if we understand what it is we are celebrating and why it is necessary to celebrate it. No one alive today was present when the emancipation proclamation was made more than 150 years ago, but we believe that it was a Spirit of God led declaration. Unfortunately, there are many today who were not yet born when this decision was made who instead of embracing it, are very unhappy that they share the freedom of this world with some of their neighbors. Although the emancipation is cooperate in nature, we each have to decide for ourselves whether or not we want to be free. We can deny ourselves this important aspect of being human by subjecting ourselves to other people's opinions. We know that the devil is never happy when he sees God’s children emancipated. He declared war against God’s children more than 2000 years ago when he discovered that the greatest emancipation ever had just occurred when God paid the price to redeem His children. We are aware that the devil's frustration stems from his knowledge that, “... if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John‬ ‭8:36‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) It’s now left with each of us to embrace the joy that is available to everyone who accepts the provisions of the emancipation, because there is celebration that accompanies it. “...There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (Luke‬ ‭15:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬) Don’t wait for anybody to  inform you that you are free like every other person. The time of legislation on this topic is far gone. The devil and his accomplices are infuriated that "the deed is done" and so it is too late and senseless to continue fighting on this same issue. YOU ARE FREE!!! Let us celebrate it.

February 20, 2021

Wisdom From God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This week, man made another great stride in his quest for knowledge - the Rover landed safely on Mars. This is an accomplishment of extraordinary level which also demands that we give a memorable recognition to the source of such great ability. It’s easy to bask ourselves in the glory of our successes that we forget that our part in it is so minuscule that it could have been done without us. “For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;” (Proverbs‬ ‭2:6‬ ‭NKJV)‬‬ In other words, the wisdom to do things does not originate from man; it comes down from the omniscient God who gives generously to His children. There was no doubt after seeing the headline “Perseverance rover has just landed on Mars”, that man wants to own it all. You would think that after seeing the first pictures sent by “Percy”, that we would pause to honor God and His amazing creative power more than we have done before; but we are driven by our desire to have our name remembered in all that is happening that we forget God who made it possible. What do you think would be anybody’s answer if God decides to put everything happening right now on Mars to a halt until this question is answered, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth (Mars)? Tell Me, if you have understanding.” (Job‬ ‭38:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) We thank God that He is very merciful to us. Otherwise, all it’ll take is to say, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭11:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). What would we do then and how big will our pride be?

 

February 13, 2021

High Functioning Mental Illness

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I have observed that there are different levels of mental illness, but some of them are so high functioning that people hardly notice that something is wrong. A person may acquire a prestigious academic achievement and maybe position too, but these do not take away the real problem. Many times, high achievers are treated as if they can never think or do wrong. No matter what a person's academic achievement or position is, when a person sees and is convinced that an object is red, but takes an oath to defend it as yellow; I have no other option but to consider this person as mentally ill. It pained God that He created such beings whose minds are so bent on carrying out their evil thoughts no matter the truth before them that condemns such action. The person may be so sophisticated that no psychiatric evaluation will be recommended, but this does not eliminate the effect their action may have on the society which sometimes may be worse than the actions of those in psych wards. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ‭‭Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!.. Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” (Isaiah‬ ‭5:20-23‬ ‭KJV‬‬) It is difficult to believe that a person who is so bold as to behave this way is acting unaided and so I will not be quick to accept that these are not agents of the same perpetrator mentioned in Revelation - “...Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation‬ ‭12:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬) I thank God that these actors are not going to be long in the arena.

February 6, 2021

Advice Of The Wicked

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. After listening to a lot of people who seem eager to be seen and heard, I noticed that many of these people are acting out of their ignorance of reality. Many people today are abandoning their God-given ability to think for themselves and are allowing others to think for them. Unfortunately, the consequence of such a behavior is regret. “Had I known” is always a sign that someone has been acting before thinking. I have heard it been said that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” which makes it difficult to find a well-meaning lawyer willing to defend anyone on such ground. There’s no wisdom in an adult claiming that he or she behaved in an unacceptable way because another person said that it was a good thing to do. What does one expect when joining a group whose ultimate goal is to commit crime? “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.” ‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬) In case you are still in doubt of God’s wisdom, read His inspiration written thousands of years before 2021, for example Proverbs 1. “My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! ‭‭They may say, Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!..My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths.” ‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭1:10-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬) A simple explanation for all the evil we see around us today is hatred. There’s so much lack of love in people’s hearts including those who claim to know God, that they feel that there will not be enough air for them to breathe if others who do not look or reason like them are allowed to partake in God’s oxygen. The good news that may be disappointing to the wicked and keep the oppressed dancing is that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.” (Psalms‬ ‭24:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬) God gets to decide everybody’s portion.

Politics Is Not For Clergy

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s high time the clergy stopped involving themselves in partisan politics because it does not reflect their claim as Christian leaders. Unfortunately, those who were “Politicians” secretly before assuming Church ministerial positions hardly allow their converted Spirit to be heard whenever politics is around the corner. Their political spirit asserts its superiority based on the length of time it has dwelt in their lives. It’s easy to notice this in the life of a clergy because he forgets everything he has preached about truth and follows the dictates of whatever side of the aisle he/she has chosen to belong. This is not part of their job description and puts a stain in the name Christian. When Christian leaders align themselves with a political party and make it obvious that they will blatantly disapprove opinions different from theirs no matter how cogent the opposing opinions are; it tarnishes the reputation of their calling. The Bible likens the clergy’s position to that of a Watchman. ““Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.” (Ezekiel 3:17-19 MSG) Stick to your Watchman duties and leave politics alone.

 

November 14, 2020

The Character Behind Man's Power

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The 16th president of the United States of America once made a statement that I have been reflecting on in recent days. You would probably agree with him especially when you experience it in real life. He said, "'If you want to test a man's character, give him power.' Abraham Lincoln." Although I do not know the circumstance that led him to make this statement, I am sure that it is as true today as when he said it two centuries ago. In fact, it is part of who man has chosen to be right after sin entered the world. Nobody knew that the first child ever born was a murderer until he misused his privileged senior brother status. There were many other classical examples in the Bible mostly national leaders who thought and behaved as if the mandate given to them included opportunity to undermine the wishes of the citizens. King Saul's recklessness was so bad that he decided to sacrifice to God instead of waiting for Samuel the prophet. He wouldn't leave the office, but instead sought to kill the one God had chosen to succeed him. Without seeking for the opinion of his advisors, king David ordered for a census. King Ahab was so weak that his wife Jezebel dictated how the affairs of the nation were run. Nobody dared say no to her husband or else it caused them their lives. This was the price Naboth paid for owning a vineyard near the king's palace and refusing to sell it to the king. Throughout the ages, it has been proven that misused power always brings out the arrogance already existing in a person. As Christians and leaders in our homes and other larger circles, we can make a difference by accepting the invitation from the greatest King ever lived who said, "Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NLT) If we allow Him to teach us how to be gentle hearted leaders, very few people under our authority will accuse us of oppressing them.

 

November 7, 2020

Accept God's Plan

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Since the beginning of this world, God has asserted His authority in the universe, and no one has proven Him wrong. All those who have dared challenge Him have failed. “I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,” Isaiah (45:5 NKJV) The only reason we receive from Him blessings meant for good people is because He is God. None other in this universe will show us love that we know we don't deserve. He blesses those who do not agree with Him - "though you have not known Me." It's because of our lack of knowledge of who He is, that we look despondent when we go through life experiences that we call disappointments. I refuse to tag them by that identification because of the connotation the word gives. Instead, I choose to look at them as unfulfilled expectations. If we accept that He is God and none other, we will understand and accept when He carries out His plans on our behalf, that are contrary to our expectations. You can tell from our reactions when things do not go our way that we think that the whole world belongs to us because of the privileges He has allowed us to enjoy in the past and yet, His love never fails. In the words of the late Chinua Achebe, "He has the yam and the knife to cut it." If He gives you a piece, take it, eat it, and move on. It's a waste of time questioning His decision because, He is the only God there could ever be. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6 NKJV)

 

October 31, 2020

God The King Maker

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There is a group of people who like to flash the title “Christians” but are not ashamed that the life they live is not representative of their claim. “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.” (Matthew 15:8 NKJV) They are quick to stamp the same title on every idea they come up with to make it sound like it is the voice of God. Hearers beware and ask God to give you the discernment to know when people are pushing their personal agendas on you and when they are representing God. How much of Christ is in their claim of “Christian Worldview”? Our God is not a God of confusion, and so why should there exist diversities of opinion on one idea if it is really from God? I wonder if these are not hidden agendas of a group thinking that if they make enough noise, God will be influenced to change His plans. Maybe these pretenders did not hear or probably heard but refused to believe when He declared, “I am the Lord, and I do not change...” (Malachi 3:6 NLT) Use the two verses below to determine the genuineness of the badge you love to wear that says you are a Christian when you wake up this Wednesday morning. Those who use the title for their own selfish reasons will not agree with Daniel when he declares, Praise [Blessed be] ·God [L the name of God] forever and ever, because he has wisdom and ·power [might]. He changes the times and seasons of the year.
He takes away the power of [removes; deposes] kings and gives their power to new [sets up] kings. He gives wisdom to those who are wise.” (Daniel 2:20,21 Expanded Bible EXB) May God’s will be done, is our prayer.

 

October 24, 2020

Our Daily Vote

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If I ask you if you have voted, you will probably say yes or no. The truth though is that you have. We are all born to a two-party universe that never stops soliciting for our votes from day one. The campaign gets stronger as we advance in age and it becomes tougher for us to decide which authority to support. However, no second of our lives passes by without us casting a vote. Earthly elections are done to find out who will win, but in the election of who we want to rule our spiritual lives, the winner is already known. If the last statement is true, then it makes no sense that we would have difficulty deciding which side to place our permanent allegiance. Why would anyone in his or her right mind, cast a vote for a candidate who has already lost an election? Unfortunately, we find ourselves flip flopping every second from one side to the other using weakness as our excuse of spiritual instability. One of the early leaders of Israel, Joshua made it clear that such fluidity of behavior is deceitful and unbeneficial, hence his admonition “...choose you this day whom ye will serve...” (Joshua 24:15) It behooves us then, to examine ourselves every moment to know whose side we are supporting. Whether we believe it or not, we are constantly casting our ballots to one of the superpowers that rule this world. God has allowed the devil to deceive himself by claiming that he has control when in actual sense his days are numbered. Losers in desperation, are always campaigning frantically towards the end because they have realized that they have little or no chance of surviving. “...Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12 KJV) Wouldn’t you make up your mind and choose to be on Jesus’ side, the winning side? “...Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:” (2 Peter 1:10 KJV) In other words, don’t waste your vote on the losing side, VOTE FOR JESUS!!!

 

October 17, 2020

Vote Without Bias

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don’t think that I have ever seen an election season as fierce as the one going on now. I wish that people will spend more of their energy in fulfilling their constitutional rights by casting their ballots than they would spend complaining of the suffering of the past. Let your vote be your voice because at the end of the day, it is the voices that move the decibel farthest to the right that will carry the day. It is best to encourage people to vote according to the conviction of their hearts void of bias. Anything outside this principle will mean 4 years of suffering to the soul that refused to do the right thing even if the person you voted for wins. This means that to enjoy the next 4 years, one must obey his or her conscience. Don’t torture yourself by ignoring the truth. One area of nature that has remained constant which I’m sure you know or will soon find out is that everyone reaps what he or she sows. “...whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6:7, 8 KJV) Please don’t bring the Christian card into this. Jesus Himself encouraged us to give to Caesar that which is rightfully his, not neglecting God’s portion.  “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” (Matthew 22:21 KJV) We cannot tell anybody who to vote for, but it is necessary that everyone exercises his or her civic rights. VOTE!!!

 

October 10, 2020

Unfair Rules

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Are you still surprised at the level of disequilibrium in our world today? How can you expect anything different, seeing that our rule making process promotes different rules for different people? It may sound comfortable to you if you are the one making the rule, but it is a source of unbearable pain to those on the receiving end of the rules. This is why those who find themselves sitting on this “rule making thrones” are extremely reluctant to give up their seats because their imagination informs them that the reverse role may not be pretty. I am, therefore, reminded of a ladder climbing rule that we were taught when we were very little, which says that, “It pays to be nice to the people you meet on the way up, for they are the same people you meet on the way down.” This sounds like wisdom that could come from no one else other than my Igbo forefathers since I also claim that they were the inventors of ladder after the disappointment of the Tower of Babel. I wish that someone had taught this lesson to our modern-day rule makers, and the importance of being pleasant to those they expect to be recipients of their rules. Why must we snub the same rules we have made when they pronounce verdicts that are not favorable to us? Our society will glow with honor today if we start being man enough to accept our own imperfections. The Bible appropriately advises us, “Don’t be stuck-up and think you’re better than everyone else. “Don’t be greedy, merciless and cruel as wolves, tearing into the poor and feasting on them, shredding the needy to pieces only to discard them.” Proverbs 30:13, 14 MSG

 

October 3, 2020

Noisy Coverups 

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In a world with so much commotion, it takes a lot of keen attention and listening to hear what the noise is trying to communicate to us. Many times, the background disturbance is so tense that it throws us off the course of our own reasoning. It appears to me that the cacophony we are experiencing in the world today is a tactful way to coverup the world's shameful inadequacies. What ends up happening is that there is more turmoil in the society than when we started. I am convinced that the world creates havoc to hide its ignorance. This is the time that I recommend whoever is reading this, to stop and read John chapter 16 and please pay attention to the discourse of the chapter and find something more comforting than the unfathomable uproar around you. I'm happy that the chapter ends with this verse, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV) If the Author and Finisher of our faith overcame the world, I see no reason why anyone who follows Him will not be more than a conqueror. It's my prayer that all of God's children will have that peace that passes all the understanding of today's stormy world.

 

September 26, 2020

Wolrdly Affairs Under God's Control

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. My message this morning is short and simple. If God saw it necessary to involve the actions of the wisest man that ever lived, to inform us of the six things He hates or seven that are abomination to Him, wait patiently as time ripens for Him to display His power. You are probably wondering why there are so many swift feet today rushing to do mischief. Well, soon and very soon everyone will find out that the creator of the universe does not tolerate abomination.  “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,” Proverbs 6:16, 18 KJV. One thing you must endeavor to appreciate about God is that He allows every proud commander of evil enough time to display his or her ignorance, and then responds by exposing the foolishness of man's wisdom. He once evicted a monarch from a palace and gave him a dwelling with the beasts of the field where he ate grass like oxen. The same writer of Proverbs through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says in Ecclesiastes "And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.” (Ecclesiastes 3:16 KJV) In other words, place of judgement (courtroom) and place of righteousness (the church) that are expected to promote justice are instead becoming breeding grounds of injustice. This was about 700 years before Christ was born and unfortunately nothing has changed from what King Solomon observed from his palace more than 2700 years ago. But read what he says in the next verse, "I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” (Ecclesiastes 3:17 KJV) Yes, my friend, no matter how much noise anybody thinks he or she is entitled to, in the final analysis, God's judgement will settle everything. His may not be as swift as the evil doers', but it will be the fairest.

 

September 19, 2020

Pinch Yourself Before Pinching Me

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Our society is becoming more and more toxic every day. How can it be any different when there is so much endorsement for intolerance of people who do not look like us, think like us, have as much money as we do or worse, agree with our opinions? It is very unnatural to expect a living thing to remain quiet when agitated.  This is why the Igbos of Nigeria ask anybody who cannot resist the strong desire of pinching another person to first pinch himself or herself and experience the comfort or discomfort that it gives. Unfortunately, it seems that the 21st century society is bent on stripping Jesus’ statement in Matthew’s gospel every element that makes it golden. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NIV) Whenever we are too bold to dishonor this rule, we are giving room to any other rule that is available and I guarantee that it is bound to lack the prettiness of gold. Any achievement that is gotten unfairly is very dishonorable even though an immoral mind may not see it in that light. Again, we can learn from the cautionary words of the Igbo forefathers as they enjoin  their children to expect that whatever they get from the side of the pot will most likely be consumed from the side of the mouth. You may not understand this until you have lived in a “not so affluent” society where a child is glad to be given the opportunity to wash a pot after it has been emptied of food. I hope things get better for us, but at the rate of moral deterioration and the unfortunate support it receives, nothing but the fulfillment of Bible prophecies should be expected. But if everything happens in sequence, it should be comforting to know that after men’s heart fail them for fear, “...then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:27-28 KJV

 

September 12, 2020

Open Mouths Are Fire Hazards

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This has not been a kind season of wildfires for the inhabitants from Washington State to California judging from the horrible pictures we have seen coming from there recently. In their despair, people are leaving their homes with any item they can take with them that means the most in their lives. Surprisingly, an item that has the most sentimental value to one person may not worth anything to another and so it is useless judging what a person has chosen to salvage out of a house full of valuable materials. It must have meant a lot for a man who put the effort to make sure his father's headstone was preserved. Records have proven that man’s valiant efforts are no match to these fires. As a sign of the value of life, people are just happy that they escaped the dangers of these fires alive, after all material things are replaceable; life is not. If as reported, most of these fires are started by humans, it means that we do not have to be losing lives and property every year if we can control our behaviors. Unfortunately, even after hearing how a person’s actions has caused a wildfire, another person flippantly acts in similar manner. Time after time, humans refuse to learn from their reckless behaviors that cause trauma to innocent lives. Among the dead this week were two members of a family whose vehicle could not start. As joyful as having a baby is, it loses its value when it takes so much destruction to reveal the baby’s gender, especially if waiting for 9 months will preserve the lives of those who would have been the baby’s future neighbors. The devastation we have seen in recent weeks should put fear in the mind of every well-meaning Christian who reads James 3:16 and realizes that we carry the worst source of fire everywhere we go. He did not say, “Is like” but “Is”. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” (James 3:6 KJV) The best solution to any fire is not to start one. They are not easily contained. No wonder our omniscient Creator hid the tongue inside the mouth to prevent wildfires that we are capable of starting. Let us, therefore, keep our mouths closed especially during this season when COVID19 is an acceptable excuse to be housebound even if the devil makes it look like we are more attractive with our mouths open. It will prevent a lot of wildfires and in essence save lives.

 

September 5, 2020

COVID 19 Is Real

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24 KJV) I’m glad that as a community of faith Lakeview SDA Church members are returning to our home which was deserted since after our worship of March 14, 2020. This is a testimony that COVID19 is real. We wouldn’t have abandoned God’s sanctuary for 6 months if we thought that COVID19 was a hoax. We thank God for protecting our small family from this pandemic and pray for continued shelter under His wings as we return to our beloved Worship Center with modified worship services. As believers of God’s Holy Scriptures, we can see how it feels to return from an exile, trusting God’s assistance in rebuilding our congregation to our pre-pandemic condition and better, ready to proclaim His message to a world torn apart by human greed, selfishness, and racial injustice. Our service today is a celebration of God’s goodness towards us in thankful recognition that so far, our little group has been spared from the deadly attacks of coronavirus. At the same time, we join the rest of the world in mourning the deaths of thousands who have been taken away from us by this disease and pray that the decision makers on how to deal with COVID19 will forget about themselves and think more on the safety of God’s children. Everyone is invited to a high Spirited, Holy Ghost filled worship service today at Lakeview SDA Church in a small Central Florida town known as Haines City. If you have determined not to honor this invitation physically in person, we are also extending it live via the social media platform Facebook. “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” Psalms 95:6 KJV

 

August 29, 2020

Love Knows Justice

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In this tumultuous time in our world's history, a time that has been ravaged by the clash in the differences of our worldview, it is incumbent on each of us to decide which side we are on. This is not a time to claim neutrality. Everybody has to be either on the left or on the right, because there's no middle ground. It may not make any sense to you depending on your philosophy in life, but we have to expect that everyone will not be on our side. The world cannot be complete without those you consider weird. This is exactly what has given birth to the clash. Each side thinks theirs is the only sensible solution to the problems caused by their opponents. Of all God's creatures, man may be the most pitiful because of his blindness that prevents him from seeing and even when it is obvious, failing to accept that a person they like is capable of doing wrong. This is why you and I must love Jesus. His love for you will never prevent Him from telling you your wrongs. Even when there's enough evidence to convict you, His verdict is still, "Go and sin no more." One thing that has eluded mankind is this ability to continue loving someone without condoning his or her bad behaviors. I feel that this has contributed to most of the ills in our society and we are never going to start enjoying peace until we have made it part of our way of life that we are not going to allow love, our association with some individual or organization to drown the justice we owe to others. We perpetuate evil by giving it license to be repeated with so much impetus. Evil hurts, but repeated evil hurts more

 

August 22, 2020

Deceived By Counterfeits

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I was so tired this morning that I was going to skip sending my usual Sabbath morning message today. I believe there are many other tired people like me who are not only physically tired, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and with life in general. I thank God who saw the fatigue in us before it was developed and offered us the invitation, “...Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NLT) I don’t know about you, I’m tired of all the counterfeits everywhere we go that make it difficult to know what or who to believe. Trust me, you and I will not get it right every time. There are times when no matter how prudent we are, some of these cunning rascals will get their way, but we are to blame if we choose to remain in our deceived state. You have probably heard the saying, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The pain of the second deceit is always greater and irreversibly too late. I hope that we bear this in mind the next time we glue our eyes on the TV admiring the quadrennial fake talks we have subjected ourselves to listening and the make-believe healing going on. Of all the places “fakeness” exists, it should not be expected in Christian arenas where people purport themselves to be representing Christ. I’m happy that the COVID19 has exposed the emptiness of their healing claims. As violent as it may sound and unlike me, I would advocate taking all those mock healers to COVID19 rooms without providing them with any protective gears and asking them to heal each patient before coming out of the room. Anyway, we don’t need to fret about them because our omniscient God already has a plan, as Isaiah reveals to us. “...These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren’t in it. Because they act like they’re worshiping me but don’t mean it, I’m going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing.” Isaiah 29:13-14 MSG

 

August 15, 2020

A Year Of Surprises

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don’t think in my lifetime, that I have seen a year with more surprises than 2020. COVID19 has occupied our minds so much that we ignore the significance of many other positive events happening around us. The devil enjoys it when he puts so much negativity on our path that we are busy battling them and no time recognizing the great things happening around us. It wouldn’t hurt sometimes to venture out of our comfort zones and smell the roses that God is bringing to life in unexpected places. If you never believed the Bible when it says in Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” this will sure make a believer out of you. About a week before the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote (August 18, 1920), it was announced to the whole world that the United States of America is ready to welcome the idea of having a black woman as their Vice President which may eventually lead to Presidency. It’s always a noble thing to rejoice when a brother or sister is rejoicing and I want to be that noble brother to celebrate with my sisters and the world at large on these accomplishments as they evolve. It's Biblical to celebrate one another according to Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice..." I believe that little by little, we would be regaining every freedom that has eluded us or should I say, been denied us all these years. As much as this has benefited many women in the last 100 years, I was expecting that my sisters would have recognized these as achievements worth celebrating and that if they don’t blow their own trumpets, no one will blow it for them. I'm sure that it took many sleepless nights and sweats of dedicated mothers more than 100 years ago to make these provisions available for their children to enjoy in the 21st century. We are actually reaping the benefits of their hard labor which they themselves did not get an opportunity to see come to fruition. Let us praise God for defeating the stubbornness in the hearts of mankind that blinds them from seeing that we are all created equal. I am hoping that many who are still in denial will join the band before it is too late.

 

August 8, 2020

Occupying Tragedy Prone Spaces

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. My heart was touched this week by the level of the explosion that happened in Beirut Lebanon. Finite man will always come up with unlimited scenarios of what caused it but may never come to a conclusion that is indisputable. Looking at the extent of this blast, we should be thankful to God that the death toll is not more than has been reported. No matter the scenario that is universally accepted, it should be of great concern to any well-meaning individual if an event of this magnitude does not jolt someone's thinking. As this tragedy proves, daily engagement in an activity for 100 years does not guarantee its safety. People in that area of Beirut woke up on that day (August 4, 2020) the same way they have always done and were engaged in different activities as was their custom, until tragedy struck and changed their lives forever. Unless a person has resolved never to get off the bed tomorrow, it is difficult to predict very accurately where one will be at every given moment. If the realization that many times during the day, we pass through areas of trauma waiting to be claimed, does not send chills to your spine, I don't know what else would. Many times, we concentrate on one source of death and put all our energy on how to avoid it forgetting that there is death in almost every experience we go through in life. The people who died from the explosion in Beirut might have survived COVID19, cancer, etc. but died of something no one imagined would happen. This life is full of landmines that no amount of caution can prevent us from stepping on. It is, therefore, incumbent on us to comport ourselves and appreciate every breath that the Lord, the giver of life allows us to take. Life is very precious. Learn to enjoy every moment of it.

 

August 1, 2020

Everyone Leaves A Legacy

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How would you want to be remembered? This is not a place to play the humility game because everybody will die, so you must leave us with something to remember you by. The wise man wrote in Proverbs 20:11, “Even a young man is known by his actions — by whether his behavior is pure and upright." (Proverbs 20:11 CSB) He himself set a record that is yet to be broken - 1000 wives and concubines to one man. He is known by that legacy. What legacy are you setting for yourself? There is no doubt that some will pass through this life eager to be remembered for their wickedness towards their fellow humans. They will try to block every avenue that tends to lift another man or woman up from a poverty status to a better class, all because of their selfishness and fear of not being on the top. At his funeral service this week, John Lewis was remembered for being an advocate for justice. One word that continued resounding from the speakers at this service was his perseverance to fight for the good of others amidst death threats. It was this tenacity not to give up when his life was in danger that has earned him the respect and admiration of people like me who have benefited from his efforts. A lot has been said and written about him and all point to his selfless service for others. Those who find his exemplary life as a rebuke to their unrepentant, pungent, and unChristlike behaviors will show their frustration even in his post-mortem. Going back to the question I raised earlier; it is obvious that the world is not going to have too much trouble finding what to remember us by, because the DNA on the trails we are leaving behind, carry all the information about us. It is left with each of us to decide if we are going to leave a good or a bad one. Those who care will accept to change when it becomes obvious to them that their actions are very despicable and hurtful to others. Those who do not care will become worse. If you doubt, watch, and listen attentively to understand the wickedness in their hearts.

 

July 25, 2020

Lay A Good Foundation

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I want to say something to parents on behalf of our young ones who are supposed to have had a summer break. Your cup is probably running over with worries for what is likely going to be a COVID19 school year. Things may not have been 100% smooth between you and your child, but it is still better than people outside think, and your greatest satisfaction will come when you see him or her succeed. My suggestion is that you hold on to that little string of connection, whatever it is, and try to build on it. Outsiders may never know as much as you do concerning your child, so it will be counterproductive to depend on them to define to you who your child is. Unless you had your child before you were 10 years old, there will always be one or two generational gaps between the two of you. This is an important fact that should not be ignored because
of the effect it will have on how each of you perceive the world around you. If this difference is nonexistent in your relationship, I am afraid that one or both of you are misfits of your ages. One thing that will play the biggest role in letting them go back to school to avoid breaking the law of the land, is the foundation you are working from. Hopefully, you laid a strong foundation earlier in your relationship with this child. Always revert to this crucial element for solace. Of course, bad foundation will in most cases yield bad results and vice versa. If there is anything that could be done to help salvage the foundation, this is the time to do it. The assurance that you have a good foundation; will give you peace of mind that no matter how far away the children walk from your standards, something will trigger in them a desire to turn back in search of what you told them. The key before you let them loose to a scary environment, in the custody of strangers again is to lay a good foundation. Remind them before they leave home, how you want them to behave, and they will not depart from it according to Proverbs 22:6. They may never know that boundaries exist until you remind them and show them where the boundaries are. You will be surprised that this school year will end without any of our children bringing COVID19 home. Above all, pray when you are tempted to worry about this situation.

 

July 18, 2020

Wisdom Of The Foolish

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This generation is trying its best to prove the wise man right. After reading Ecclesiastes 7:12, listening and observing the behaviors in our society today, one would agree with him that, “Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life.” (Ecclesiastes 7:12 NLT)This is very evident in the unwise decisions of those among us who claim to know, that are resulting in the deaths of innocent citizens. There's a proverb by the forefathers of the Igbos of Nigeria that says that, "what you use for an itching ear is not good for an itching eye." How else can one interpret the irrational behaviors that we are seeing everyday including in neighborhoods near you? It is very unfortunate that we may not have something tangible left for generations after us. Hopefully, we would not leave COVID19 for them to battle with, although it looks more likely to happen than not. What is going on with a society that sees what is right and proudly chooses to do wrong? I never believed that I would live to see individuals that would go this far ignoring the hurting cries of their fellow human beings suffering in pain and do nothing to alleviate the situation. Instead, there is all kinds of selfish maneuver of rules and misapplication of power to perpetuate the condition. If God does not intervene, man is bent on making himself extinct, but God forbid because I strongly believe that, "...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.” (Daniel 2:44 NLT) If there is  ever any consolation for fairness, compassion, unrestricted justice for all, it must be sustained in our determination to patiently wait “...for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 KJV)

 

July 11, 2020

Jesus Intercedes For All

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I wonder what you would do if you were God, with children like the ones in the world today who search for you with all their strength mainly when they are in trouble. We can't pretend as if we are unaware of this reality that includes all of us. Not too long ago, there was a terrorist attack in New York, USA, best known as 911 that took more than 3000 lives. It became a wakeup call for many who had taken worshiping of God as an inconvenience. These were people who had found it more pleasurable to go shopping or look for one kind of recreation or the other instead of stepping into a place of worship. Suddenly, they began to change their attitude towards God, afraid of a repeat of 911. A different view of God emerged, and sanctuaries were flooded with people who remembered God's power and felt that He can save them from an impending death. Shortly after, maybe about 6 months, it no longer seemed as if there was any more threat on anyone's life, at least not from a terrorist act of that magnitude. The same people who flooded the sanctuaries retreated to their old habits and church attendance returned to its pre-911 level. The same trend is being repeated now as COVID19 is wreaking havoc in every neighborhood. Many are so eager to worship God that they will not listen to any warning for caution. They ignorantly convince themselves that coronavirus cannot be contracted in the church, but to everybody's surprise, coronavirus likes to attend church also. All we have to do to keep a safe distance from it - 6 feet as recommended. Discrimination against coronavirus is not a sin. The reason God protects us is not because we are in His house or because we are "good" people. When Jesus intercedes, He does so for everyone, making it possible for people in the uttermost part of the world to be saved. He knows the hearts of men that they can be strong today and weak tomorrow, willing today and unwilling tomorrow, sincere today and insincere tomorrow. We are blessed to have a God who allows us to enjoy His benevolence today in spite of what He knows about us tomorrow. While it is hard to comprehend, the truth still remains; that Jesus died for us while we were very active in sin.

 

July 4, 2020

A Birthday To Remember

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family and HAPPY BIRTHDAY America!!! Looking back on the past birthdays since you landed in this country either from your mother's womb, a ship, or from an airplane, you would agree that something is different this year. As eager as we are to celebrate, there seems to be some hesitation in many minds struggling with the lack of inclusiveness still present in our society after 244 years of independence. This may go on the records as a birthday like none other, but unfortunately not so much on the commendable side. With our differences of opinion on how social distancing should be observed or whether or not wearing mask is important, it leaves us with little or no room to make plans that will help generations after us. Any generation that is so obsessed with power and its own position that it forgets to plan for tomorrow's offspring or cares less of their survival, is the most selfish generation that ever existed. It's always helpful in life to sit down and take a look at our past actions and decide which ones are working and those that are not and suspend or do away with the ones that are not working. The presence of friends is one of the joys of birthday celebrations, but when no friend is willing to attend your birthday, it becomes a food for thought.  Hopefully, we have not broken the wise man's order that requires, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly...” Proverbs 18:24 NKJV. We all know that we have a lot of homework to do and that it is unhealthy to continue to push things under the rugs and pretend that they do not exist. Again, the wiseman warns, “He who covers his sins will not prosper..." Proverbs 28:13 NKJV. Ponder this in your mind; many people thousands of miles away in other countries were willing to risk their lives to show solidarity with the oppressed in our society few weeks ago, but will not remember that it is our birthday. It could be that oppression in one corner of the world is seen as a universal oppression. Do you? It's also possible that the tears of the oppressed vibrate across the globe quicker and more powerful than the tiny spits from the laughter of their oppressors. I pray that we don't carry the Bible so long that it numbs our sensitivity to the inhumanity against our fellow human beings.

 

June 27, 2020

Misuse Of Free Will 

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Misuse of that which is good can make it very undesirable. One of those good things at man’s disposal is God’s good gesture that permits man to do as he pleases. If there’s one thing that man has not learned how to handle, it’s this very extension of God's love. It has gotten so bad that man has lost the ability to make good use of it and so that which is supposed to be pleasurable has become an instrument of self-torture. Although this is universal, it has become more evident in the western part of our hemisphere where the energy of self-confidence is more pronounced. Whenever man thinks he knows too much, God’s silence proves him foolish. “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”(1 Corinthians 3:19 NLT) It started with our first parents who were overpowered by their strong desire for that which was forbidden, and so it has trickled down in ages that we have twisted meanings of “DOs and DON'Ts" in our brains. While we are able to give the brain enough time to turn the upside down appearance of images to real or meaningful objects, we have lost this ability in our interpretation of the real meaning of happiness, where it resides and how to go about extracting the benefits embedded in it. You would think that those who know how COVID19 started would have better solution for its eradication, but no they are the ones incubating it more. It would not hurt to learn or even humbly asking the “not so wise” how their numbers of infected citizens have gone down and be willing to do the same. It’s easy to avoid places of worship because of coronavirus but extremely difficult to stay away from places of recreation and secular entertainment for the same reason. As it has always been the case, those who see no sense in the measures provided like looking at the replica snake God instructed Moses to make, are the ones who suffer or die. No one is above the law even if your brain is so stuck that it has lost its ability to rearrange the upside-down images before it so you can see reality. Do not allow yourself to be too wise, too big, too powerful, too beautiful or anything of the like to obey. One of the worst things that can happen to anyone is to be in a position where no one can point out your error to you.

 

June 20, 2020

God Cares For His Children

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There's hardly any day that passes without something happening that brings discouragement to God's children. Many in the Creator's household are hungry, sick, maligned, marginalized, scorned, and treated as if they don't have any part in the abundant blessings their Father has made available to all His children. Surprisingly, in this time of dissatisfaction, discomfort and unpredictable conditions, God still expects us to, “...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 KJV) If anyone knows how to go through pain and suffering, it is Jesus and so He is qualified to recommend to us how to deal with uneasy situations. This is why we must trust Him when He promises that, “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (Psalms 121:7, 8 KJV) This forever promise is as active today as on the day it was first uttered and as available to those who understand it as to those who do not. Anyone who wants to avail himself or herself of this great promise must first overcome fear. The number one goal of fear is to keep us from enjoying God's abundant blessings already bestowed on us. From time to time, the devil uses his agents to accomplish his goal of denying us God's joy. The devil is a liar. He knows very well that, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalms 91:1 NKJV) Rejoice, relax, and enjoy God's benevolence because He loves us so much that He has made this territory exclusively for us and inaccessible to the devil.

 

June 13, 2020

Unethical Loyalty

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It is undoubtedly clear to everyone by now that people are willing to go to any length to satisfy their quest for popularity or power. What I don't understand, however, is the unethical loyalty of those who want to help them achieve this goal. We sell our moral values (if we have any) when a person we are following makes unbelievable blunders and we refuse to acknowledge that the action is unacceptable. Not even a "for better or for worse" vow should be enough to blind us so much as to forget a Christian's responsibility to uphold good behavior in the society. As leaders, Christians are expected to be salt on the earth, “...But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” (Matthew 5:13 NLT) Many Christians are not aware that this is how low they denigrate the name Christianity when in spite of the truth they know, for example, make their legislative decisions along party lines. How can someone be so careless as to risk eternal life because of another individual knowing, "...that friendship with the world is enmity with God? (and that) Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4 NKJV) When we go to this extent to sully Christianity's reputation, it means that we are no longer capable of handling our leadership role because we have indirectly relinquished ourselves from the status. God forbid. As Christians, we know that we are the head and not the tail and therefore cannot allow ourselves to conform to the world so much that we lose our ability to proclaim “...what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2 NKJV) To keep our leadership status demands that we walk, talk, act, and live lives that unequivocally represent that position.

 

June 6, 2020

Enough Is Enough

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV) I have always looked at the above verse in the light of a person not revealing a plan to others. Many times, it is given a negative connotation which is not always the case, like when friends plan to celebrate a person's achievement. The activities of the last 12 days, however, have caused me to look at the same familiar verse from a different perspective. I am beginning to see this verse having the same effect at a first-person level as much as it does on a second person or possibly greater. For example, individual "A" meets individual "B" and convinces himself or herself that "B" poses no threat to the superiority of his or her strength. From that moment on, A takes delight in making sure that B acknowledges this fact privately and publicly. It is possible that you have seen this or experienced it in your life. One day, B resolves that "enough is enough" and musters up enough courage to challenge that which has turned out to be a menace in his or her life. Many "As" and their cheerleaders have gone home ashamed and disappointed after meeting the unexpected resistance of their "Bs". It takes fortitude for a person to take this stance. It is a move void of cowardice. Injuries or even death has little or no meaning to a person who has determined to "take this bull by the horns". The second King of Israel, David vividly demonstrated this fact when he, a lad, took upon himself to engage in a combat with a decorated army commander who dreaded the lives of his nation's army. His example shows us that the only way to accept and be successful against the giant challenges of this life is, "...in the name of the Lord of hosts..." (1 Samuel 17:45 KJV)

 

May 30, 2020

God Of Life, Not Death

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. "Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.” Genesis 4:11,12 NLT. If the inhabitants of this world should learn at least one lesson from these two verses, they should teach us how God looks at human aggression against each other. One good thing that man has going well for him is that the universe operates on an already established order, which means that God acts and not react. This may be the reason why those who think that they are better moral beings than the worst criminals, feel disappointed when the wicked are not immediately consumed by hail fire. Like two of Jesus's disciples, we wait and wait until our patience runs out and our weak sinful nature starts to manifest itself generating an almost uncontrollable desire to take matters into our own hands. "When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”" Luke 9:54 NLT. This may remind you of some of your childhood experiences in which two people were encouraged to fight. You probably heard it before or said it yourself. "Will you stand there and listen to him say that to you?" But as mentioned above, God does not operate on reaction as shown in the next two verses. “But Jesus turned and rebuked them. You don't realize what your hearts are like.  For the Son of Man has not come to destroy people's lives, but to save them..." Luke 9:55,56 NLT. If we are still in doubt as to how God deals with atrocious behaviors, I hope the last verse is clear enough to convince us to be different from the people we are dragging to the judgement throne of God. Our God does not destroy. He saves.

 

May 23, 2020

Always Be Ready

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It is a blessing to be created by this God who knows so much about us and still loves us. No other one can be so kind, gracious and merciful as He is. We go to Him with our “filthy rags” righteousness expecting to receive His blessings and He still does it anyway. Who else will know so much about our past, our present, and the inclination of our hearts not yet revealed and still listen when we call? All of a sudden, everyone is realizing that the world is coming to an end. It is like every catastrophe that the world experiences come with an “End of The World” stamp on it. I am not against every calamity that falls on the inhabitants of this world being a wakeup call, but why do we go back to such deep sleep in our spiritual journey once it seems the situation is over? If we would pay attention to the scripture every time, we realize that we are living in a world that is dying, we would find out that we are only experiencing the tip of the iceberg. Unless we understand what, we are preaching now and believe in them, we are not going to be better than the ones listening to us. If we are so afraid of the world coming to end that we are willing to switch to our “good people” mode every time something bad happens, why not make it permanent this time? Yes, the world will not always remain in this state. It will come to an end someday, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Matthew 24:36 NKJV. The risk in being seasonal believers of God is that He may come the hour we know not, in our off season when we have decided to take it easy. It did not take long for 5 virgins who stepped out in preparation for a new season of waiting, to find out that the seasons of preparation had ended. The door was closed, never to be opened again. I hope and pray that none of us who know so much and have gone through so many scary moments in life, will not slumber and be caught unawares. It will be the most unfortunate experience for anyone who claims to know God. Even if the Lord does not come today, the world may end today for you. Are you ready?

 

May 16, 2020

Mental Health And The Family

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It seems these days that there is a day, a week, or a month set aside in the year for almost everything in life. Yesterday was International Day of Families, and the month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. No wonder family as an institution is suffering tremendously if all it gets in a year is one day of recognition and appreciation. This is a sign of how much value our society places on family and how important it is to us. By the way, shouldn't appreciation of the family be a daily occurrence? Maybe this unappreciative attitude towards the family as an institution is an extension of the individual treatments existing in each unit. If we were to recognize each family member as a valuable part of the family entity, we would extend the same behavior to larger units that we naturally belong to. You may not know it, but you and I become part of many units that we did not subscribe to the moment we enter this world. It goes from our immediate family to our country and then the entire world. It is very unlikely that a person will be nasty on a larger unit and be nice at the lowest unit. My reasoning is coming from the fact that the larger the unit, the more out of touch you are with each other. We know that people exist out there, but we do not always see them. But the lower the unit, the more frequently you meet with each other, and if there is any rectitude left in you, it would be expressed here. This is why the Scripture wants to know, "...he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” I John 4:20 NKJV It is becoming obvious that the reason we need a whole month for mental health is because the immediate family which should be the foundation of our overall relationship with each other is shaky. Very soon, we would find out, if we continue to ignore the truth, that one month may not be enough for mental health awareness especially after COVID19 pandemic. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to seek help even when in doubt. Nobody is above the mental health illness and I am not sure anybody is immune to it.

 

May 9, 2020

Experience Is The Best Teacher

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One of the worst things that can happen to a person is to come out of a difficult experience without learning anything from it. If we think that we are smart, our smartness should inform us to see every life experience as a learning opportunity. The advantage in this is that it gives us the ability to avoid future bad ones, so they don't get repeated and makes us experts in the good ones. This is why "experience is the best teacher". If you agree with this statement and using it as a rubric to assess the world's handling of COVID19, how would you rate us? You would think that looking at the way it has ravaged the world that it will humble us, but instead it is bringing out the worst in man's ignorance and arrogance. This is not the time to worry about anybody's failures before COVID19 or now, but to concentrate on getting rid of the pandemic. Whenever a person's energy is centered on showing his superiority over another, the person depicted as inferior has always ended up being more justified. A classic example is the parable in Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee talked too much about his achievements, claiming superiority of his character over the tax collector's and forgot to acknowledge that he had a need. Our need now is for coronavirus to end so that life will return to normal. Unfortunately, there will hardly be normalcy in life again in the whole world especially in our hemisphere until COVID19 is eradicated. There is an African proverb that says that a hunter who chases after two animals will go home with no game in his hunting bag. We should ask ourselves, which one do we want more of - get rid of COVID19 or assert our superiority?

 

May 2, 2020

Do What The Spirit Says Do

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. I had something different in my mind to write to you this morning, but the very moment I opened my eyes I felt a strong desire to praise God. Who am I to resist the Spirit? It reminds me of the almost forgotten spiritual, “I’m Gonna do What the Spirit Says Do” which is not always an easy task. Can you imagine the transformation that this world will experience if all of us would make this our daily goal and stick to it? We may say it, yes, we may convince ourselves that we are ready and committed to carry out the good desires of our heart, but it does not always end up being what we do. As our Savior accurately observed in Matthew 26:43 “the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. I believe that this is true of those who seek after God’s truth, but I doubt it’s so with people whose intentions are always to serve themselves and to amass all the pleasures of this world. Each individual has to examine himself or herself in this area to know which side they are. It cannot be the Spirit (I mean the Spirit of God) telling anyone to treat another individual based on anything that differentiates them. This only happens when we allow the devil to resurrect that part of man that is unlike God. No matter how much we pretend, God’s children are always going to standout because of that special identifying quality that directs their lives, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14 NKJV) I invite you to acquire that special feature that the world would see in you and affirm, surely this is the son or daughter of God. Allow the Spirit to lead in your life.

 

April 25, 2020

The Human In Wisdom

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In recent days, I have heard many people saying that life is never going to be the same after coronavirus as if to imply that there has ever been a sustained period in history when life was always the same. How I wish that this is coming out of a desire that the world will become wiser because with wisdom we would be able to navigate through all life challenges by making the right choices and without hurting each other. I would know when to accept my inability to be an expert in every aspect of life and have the courage to give others chance to express their views. I would love my fellow human beings because God who gives wisdom packages it with love. Wisdom is incomplete without love and does not emanate from God. I have a strong feeling that it must be the one referred to as "man's wisdom" which in my opinion is the worst wisdom to have. "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” James 1:5 NLT. While God's wisdom is free, the price of man's wisdom is so high that the only resource to pay for it is one's life or unfortunately in many cases, other people's lives. What would you do differently if you were wise?

 

April 18, 2020

Universal Pain

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You may never know what someone is going through until you find yourself in the same condition as they are. Even at that point, different people go through similar experiences differently. An example is when mothers describe their childbirth experiences. You may ask 10 different women and none of them will describe anything similar. Furthermore, a woman who has had 3 different pregnancies may give 3 different experiences; hence as they say, no 2 pregnancies are the same. Now that you understand me, let's apply this scenario to our COVID19 experience and see how we fare. When the world heard of this disease, nobody thought much about it; instead we continued to enjoy our usual daily activities as if we were the "untouchables" dismissing it as their sickness and therefore their problem until COVID19 crashed the not so important things we worried about. Some of us probably enjoyed giving it our own unscientific name that made us feel a false sense of security which unbeknown to us was making our communities more vulnerable to the virus. I am hoping that if we have not learned anything from COVID19, that at least it has taught us that we should show some compassion to those who are suffering no matter who they are, how they look, or where they come from. We may be 7 seas away from each other, but the same wind that blows the sea eastward today may blow it westward tomorrow. It's possible that many lives would have been saved if the whole world had rallied together against COVID19 when it was first identified and keep it confined In one geographical area. Now "their" small problem has become everybody's big problem. I wish we had listened to the forefathers of the Igbos of Nigeria who warned their pregnant daughters against laughing at a woman who has a stillbirth. If you still don't get it, coronavirus then resorts to a command mode found in John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

 

April 11, 2020

Lean Not On Your Own Understanding

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Of all the conspiracy theories about COVID19, the worst in my estimation will be any theory that undermines the ability of this virus. By this I mean a decision maker be it household, village, city, county, state, or country, subjecting those under his or her leadership to go against the warnings from experts only because you expect God to protect us. Yes, God always provides us a way of escape in many situations, but we face the consequences of not following His directions. It is ludicrous to sit in a burning house and expect God to save us. He has blessed us with people who are knowledgeable in the behaviors of a virus, the least any well-meaning individual can do is to listen to these experts. It will be shameful if other families listen to them and survive, but your household follows your imposing decision and is wiped off from the face of the earth. History informs us that those who followed the expert's instruction in Matthew 24:16-18 "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:..." were saved when the nation was besieged. It is always not advisable for anyone, no matter your status in life, "to lean on your own understanding." We just have to accept it that it is a daunting task for one man to be an expert in everything. The best thing now is to have our ego locked up in a box and buried so we can listen to those who have the information that will benefit everyone. This is now a matter of life and death which renders money powerless, and so it is incumbent on anyone in a leadership position to ask the experts, "What would you want me to do?", and do exactly as instructed. Coronavirus is real! It is dangerous even suicidal, to allow ego or greed to stand in our way of acknowledging this truth.

 

April 4, 2020

Viral Love and Peace

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As bad as COVID19 is, it has done something none of us would have thought possible. It has cut down on acclaimed peace summits all over the world. These summits as often seen, end up being disguised promotions of personal political agendas. The result is a never-ending conflict among nations even when leaderships change. Then came Corona telling everybody, "You better fight me first if you cannot live unless you fight your neighbor". Immediately everybody's attention is drawn away from negotiating for war weapon deals to an enemy that nobody can see with their naked eyes. We are aware of an elusive enemy out there from the Virus family named Corona, but how can one fight an invisible enemy whose presence is only manifested in the destruction it creates? The good news is that manufacturers of weapons of war are forced to go into hibernation for now so we can face something more powerful than any battle gear they can produce. The resultant effect which probably many of us have not realized is that Coronavirus has forced Peace and Love to go viral as well. The focus on the boarders now is to prevent everybody from crossing with Corona and not with guns and ammunitions. My wish is that Peace and Love will find a permanent place in the Virus family without any dependence on Corona. I am sure that looking at the present condition of things, the defense against Corona will also go viral when anybody discovers it. We are really loving and lovable beings except that we sometimes succumb when the devil tests the genuineness of our love. A good test to detect viral love is found in Matthew 12:31 "...Love your neighbor as yourself".

 

March 28, 2020

Strength In Unity

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Human beings enjoy using flowery words that when put to test, will prove that they were just “make me feel good” statements. Everyone will tell you that there is strength in unity but when a disease like coronavirus shows up demanding social distancing, we forget how it might isolate some in our community and how they may feel. Many who have depended on the weekly church assembly as their avenue to stay in touch with the outside world for hugs, handshakes, pleasantry smiles, are about to spend a whole month starved of all these experiences. This is the time to prove that our pre-coronavirus Happy Sabbath greetings were really from the bottom of our hearts. If you are wondering how this could be possible, why not calling those church brothers and sisters outside your circle of friends on the phone, to help them feel someone cares? It carries more weight than waiting until post-coronavirus to say, “I miss you.” This is the time to prove that you really miss your brothers and sisters in Christ. If we only worry about the wellbeing of those who care about ours, then we are not different from every other person.  Our strength as a community of faith comes when no one is neglected.

 

March 21, 2020

Safety Against Coronovirus

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. People all over the world are beginning to appreciate the word “safety”. When in danger, run to safety. When threatened by COVID19, take safety measures. What’s this safety that protects even against the mighty and scary coronavirus? While the world is running helter-skelter, the psalmist, King David, identifies his safety as recorded in Psalms 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.” Psalms 18:2 NLT. This is a relationship influenced discovery that the psalmist is declaring here which cannot be experienced by anyone feeling unprotected, powerless, or unsafe. The Lord provides us a place of refuge and all the help we need in time of trouble. He is the best protection for anyone feeling threatened by coronavirus. It’s a relationship that begs anyone involved in it to obey God and do whatever He bids you to do. Some of those who refused to do something as simple as looking at a bronze snake on a pole when bitten by a poisonous snake in the wilderness, found out the hard way because they died. Those who looked at the snake as advised got well. It was more of a test of trust than anything else. Our generation may be experiencing a different species of snake that calls for our trust in a God who is able to provide us with hand sanitizer, masks, and wisdom to keep a short distance of about 6 feet from each other only for a short period of time. We joke with the literal meaning of the KJV Bible use of “It came to pass”. This is it now.  Accept it that this too shall pass.

 

March 14, 2020

The Devil's New Tactics

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We may not know what the devil has under his sleeves in his new tactics to scare God's children, but unfortunately for him, he is attacking those celebrating sound mind and not a spirit of fear. He already knows the hatred that is keeping us apart and is very angry at the little connection we still have, so even the tiniest separation he can create makes him happy. The Sabbath day which is supposed to be a delight to God's children, ends up becoming a day of dismay. He is thrilled to see the doors of many places of worship closed this week and who knows how many more. There is report that many store shelves are empty because moderation has lost its meaning in our society. Nobody cares to think of the person behind because of the empowerment it gives to be the sole possessor of that which everybody wants. Greeting has lost that which makes it affectionate and has become a bump of the fists and the elbows. The devil really knows how to snuff out of us whatever he thinks will bring us joy and replaces it with unimaginable misery. Many will miss this week's sanctuary services for fear of the coronavirus and yet will spend the time doing everything but what it is meant for. This is exactly what the devil wants. It is absolutely the right thing to be proactive in every situation that threatens our safety, but "...unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good." Psalms 127:1 (NLT)

 

March 7, 2020

Sin Is A Deadly Virus

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It's amazing the game the devil plays with our imagination in our minds. None of us has died before so we dread going through the experience and we do everything within our power to prevent it from happening to us. Consider the precautions we are all willing to take to protect ourselves from being the next victim of the coronavirus. One problem inherent in us is that we are always more concerned about the external, the physical, that which man can see than the spiritual, that which no man can see. This is why we may never see anybody wearing a mask or sanitizing our hands against another deadly virus that has been pandemic the longest. If the reason we take all the precautions available against coronavirus is because we do not want to die, why is it that we do not take the the same steps against sin which is more deadly than all the other viruses combined? This is why I mentioned earlier that the devil plays an imagination game in our minds. You would expect that the same way the fear of death which we have not experienced before leads us to protect ourselves from dying, that in the same vein there would be a greater desire that will spur us to avoid sin so we can go to Heaven where we have not been before. Instead we expose ourselves to the most deadly virus daily without considering isolation or voluntarily quarantining ourselves from where we know it is prevalent including in our homes.  One remarkable difference between the two viruses is that there is cure for sin. “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31 NKJV Accept Jesus now as your personal Savior and your sin disease which you contracted when you were born will lose its deadly power on you.

 

February 29, 2020

Fear Of A Virus

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We probably didn’t expect about a month ago at the debut of the coronavirus, that it was going to wreak so much havoc as it has today. By the way, it is only one virus and already everything on its path is tumbling even before it gets to them. Can you imagine what will happen if we have more than one running concurrently? Little did we know that the same global closeness we were priding ourselves of creating through technology is no longer in our favor. Large gatherings are frowned at because of their potential to spread the virus. Many nations are now discouraging their citizens from traveling to areas where they suspect there is coronavirus. In a very short time, we have watched the same human wisdom we were priding ourselves of possessing become ineffective when we need it most, resulting in global panic. Men’s hearts are going to fail them so much that many will die without suffering from the disease. I am happy that no matter how widespread this turns to be, there will be a group of people who will not allow coronavirus to dictate how their daily lives will function. I’m sure you would like to know why some people are so rattled by this global enemy while others are so relaxed as if it is nonexistent. One answer that comes to mind is that the closer we are to God, the less effective is satan’s efforts to discourage us. Satan runs away when he sees God. No wonder the Scripture tells us to draw close to God and that He will draw close to us too. All fears are gone when we feel God near us. The level of our fears could be a good indicator of our closeness to God. How high is yours?

 

February 22, 2020

Sin Is Sin

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You have probably seen the list that came out this week ranking our 50 states based on the sins they commit. This list “2020’s Most Sinful States in America” gives an impression that sin is plenteous in one state and not in another. The risk here is that we might create a better than thou attitude in the minds of citizens of low ranked states over ones higher in the rank. Sin is sin no matter how many a person commits or its density. It may surprise you that it is also the most equal pay advocate ever known. A person who commits one sin receives exactly the same pay as the one guilty of a thousand or more sins. Unfortunately, the list does not identify where the person with the most sins lives, which could be in one of the least sinful states. Without doubt, there are environments that have strong attractions to lure a person to a sinful behavior, but our determination to stay away from the temptations will help us more than running away from areas characterized as sin headquarters. No matter where we go in this world, we are bound to meet sinners because according to Romans 3:23, everybody is a sinner deserving a paycheck - “death” described in Romans 6:23. If everybody is a sinner, it would be right to say that a place is most sinful because most people live there. Thank God that Romans 6:23 offers us an alternative paycheck - “eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” There are only two paychecks available to each of us and we have to decide which one we want, death or eternal life. Nobody gets both.

 

February 15, 2020

Turn On Your Light Stand For The Right

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don’t know why many people in this world including those who make a claim to the name Christian, think that the best way to show someone that you love them is to be part of everything the person is doing. We can connect with people without taking part in the things they do especially the ones that are not right. For example, the best way to show that we love a pathological liar is not by becoming one ourselves. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons a Christian should endeavor to have a connection with a person whose behavior is morally unacceptable, is to show him or her a better way of life. It is an indisputable fact that when a majority of us condone a behavior we disapprove of and that we know is unethical, we are helping to perpetuate that behavior in our society thereby creating an evil environment. We cannot become partners in crime with someone so we can gain their love. This is the reason the Bible tells us to be light to the world.  “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16) If people around us are not seeing this light emanating from us that is an indication that we are also in darkness. Do you have your light on and if so, how bright is it?

 

February 8, 2020

Man Misuses His Ego

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I found two verses in the Bible that are saying something I feel should be trumpeted into the ears of every inhabitant of this world. You probably have seen and read them from Psalms 8:5 and Hebrews 2:7, but I wonder how much you believe the truth in these verses. “You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands.” (Hebrews 2:7 NKJV) This verse in Hebrews adds that God has allowed man to be in charge of His creation and it’s this charge position that has caused him to act like he has lost his senses. Man is lower than the angels, yet he doesn't have half as much respect as the angels have for God. Although the Bible uses the word “little” in the comparison of the angels and man’s positions, yet he is lower. Angels bow down and cry Holy, Holy, Holy in God’s presence. Man, on the other hand, behaves any way he likes and says anything he wants and at the same time publicizes that he prays to God. Man finds pleasure in using forums meant for prayer to make another individual look bad or to ask for another person’s failure, and still expect God to answer the prayer. Angels do not see worship of God as something to joke about, yet man sees it as a way of entertaining each other. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7) God is very aware of those moments when we use His right to receive glory, to advance our own agendas. He sees and hears everything including our hatred of others, our arrogant and naughty behaviors.

 

February 1, 2020

Free To Worship

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I meet many people these days who say they are Christians but nondenominational. I wonder what is attracting so many people away from traditional popular denominations in search of independence. It doesn't look like the hierarchy in the main denominations is observing the trend because they would have been taking some steps to stop or at least mitigate it. I am surprised if I am the only one who has noticed that people are leaving the core mainstream traditional denominations in droves and forming churches that are not connected with any formal organization that has existed since the 1st century AD. I believe that everybody has seen it but chose to be selective in their vision or cares more about their retirement benefits than taking care of their flock. It's also possible that authorities in these churches feel that it is better to let disgruntled members go instead of probing that is likely to reveal long kept secrets. Yes, nobody likes to be denied his or her rights. There will be some resistance if we use the power given to us to manipulate others. Maybe the rapid growth we are seeing in the number of nondenominational churches in modern days is a way of protesting the unfair treatment by the establishment. Christ Himself didn't condone such behavior and so he protested one day “And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Matthew 21:13 KJV People ran away when He acted on His statement. It is never good to misuse the power given to us to take unfair advantage of the helpless. Would you be an independent worshiper if given the opportunity? In other words, do you know your rights to demand for it?

 

January 25, 2020

The Devil Attacks Man

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. “...Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12) Look around you and determine how far away you are from this woe at this very moment. Gone are the days when the devil would focus on one geographical area to unleash his deadly venom. When HIV was becoming a global disease, it was probably that alone at that magnitude and everybody’s attention was focused on it. The same was the case when there was an Ebola outbreak. These days, the devil is attacking his victims, the inhabitants of this world, in multiple fronts at every moment. Unprecedented, devastating, huge, deadly, and more such adjectives have become common words in our everyday vocabulary because there’s no better way to describe what we are experiencing. Pray for our brothers and sisters in China who have received their own share of trouble from a disease they have named coronavirus. Also remember the people in Eastern part of Africa whose means of livelihood are being swept away by swarms of locusts. I hope that you don’t concentrate on this two and think that the devil is satisfied with double whammy because there maybe multiple disasters going on right now at different parts of the globe that I am not aware of. Don’t be deceived by the devil’s pretense to be on our side. He has never and will never be our friend. He knows where it hurts the most and that’s where he will concentrate his pressure. It doesn’t matter, however, how big our troubles are, but how big our God is.

 

January 18, 2020

Time Shall Be No More

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We describe “Time” in many ways that seem to imply that it is unfair to us. If there is one thing that has treated mankind most equitably, it is Time. It’s the most patient and unchangeable part of life. We take the liberty of talking of it as “not waiting for anybody” as if to imply impatience. We say that it is “fleeting” and give a notion of not enough. It “flies” giving a false impression that it is unreachable. All the while, Time is at the same place it was when man met it, entered into it, and started to struggle to find his way in and around it. It’s on this struggle that we get frustrated and begin to blame Time for everything we have failed to achieve. One truth that will never change is that Time will never give a man a day that is less than 24 hours from the day he enters to the day he exits this world. What we do within this period is up to us. Everyone will get a fair chance to do and undo many things in his life, make and correct his mistakes, hate and love others, offend and forgive others. Eventually, a person will exit when he or she runs out of opportunities, and not Time to continue on the cycle, because Time is still where it has always been. This is when Rev. 10:6, “...Time shall be no longer...” becomes a reality for an individual. Someday, Time shall be no more for everybody, which means that all the opportunities to correct, forgive, love, cherish, and do good are gone. Christ will reward everyone for every activity done during their sojourn here on earth. If anyone believes in God, it is imperative to get our lives on the right track now before the aged Time expires.

 

January 11, 2020

A World In Turmoil

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If the events of the first 10 days of 2020 are a true representation of the entire year, then we are in for a rude awakening that will keep all of us sitting on edge for the next 356 days. With the tension in the Middle East, the fire in Australia, the earthquake in Puerto Rico, to mention a few, I wonder what you think is the sentiment around the world today. You may not know 100% how someone else is feeling, but you are aware of your own nostalgia each time something new is added to the list of the world's tumultuous current events. If those of us who are thousands of miles away from the center of each of these tragedies are feeling the impact so close, I wonder what is going on in the minds of those who have been directly affected in each of these places. It looks like the rest of the ride on this life journey will continue to be rough and worse until Christ’s better Kingdom is ushered in. Hard as it may sound, this should be a moment of rejoicing for us because the devil has but a short time to cause his havocs. It won’t be long, and our troubles will be over. With all these happening around us, I wonder if we still have the strong desire to prolong our stay here seeing that we are in essence delaying Christ’s return. No wonder He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come...” (Matt. 6:10) Let us resolve to make this our constant request to God, "...Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Rev. 22:20)

 

January 4, 2020

There Is Nothing New

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family on this 1st Sabbath of 2020. I don’t know if you have noticed that there’s much attention paid to 2020 as the beginning of a new decade than most recent beginning of decades before it. How is it that all of a sudden man is beginning to be aware of his environment and to predict the behaviors of those he shares it with? Although we make our predictions based on the trend we see in our society, the wise man’s statement in Eccl. 1:9 still holds true, “...there is no new thing under the sun.” By the time this 4th day of 2020 is over, many new citizens would have made their entry into this world and many who are here already would have exited as if to make room for the new entrants. You probably have noticed that there seems to be more liars among us than there are lovers of the truth. That too is not new. No matter how much you wish it were the opposite, it’s a trend that has survived many decades. What do you think is on a person’s mind when signing up for a profession that he or she knows already has a bunch of liars in it? There comes another one. There will always be people who hate someone so much that they’ll not rest until they make sure that the person is no longer breathing. That is a trend that started about 6000 years ago by Cain the 1st son born in this world. We are quick to see these patterns in others but never acknowledge that we are contributing to the trends that keep this world heading down a cliff of no recovery. The greatest contribution that we can make to this world that we love so much that we are doing our best to tarry linger in it, is to stop sending our negative unsolicited vibes that the world continues to receive from us. Do you know what yours is/are? 2020 will be a good year and the world will be a better place to live if you spare us the agony of our helplessness in dealing with your efforts to make us to be you in 2020. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

December 28, 2019

The Truth About 2019

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I’ll make sure that the next time I write you another message like this, it would be in AD 2020. If you are thinking that AD 2019 went too fast, I can assure you that so far, apart from the remaining 3 days, all the other 362 days have been accounted for, each with its complete 24 hours. I hope that each of us has learned something from 2019 that we were not aware of before. Which of your experiences in 2019 intrigued you the most? Were you surprised at the extent people are willing to go to cover up their mess with lies? It didn’t start in our generation but right from the Garden of Eden. Our 1st parents did it to conceal the naked truth of their lives, but as you and I know, the truth will always come out. You wonder why it continues to be the quickest strategy people are willing to employ seeing that those who used it in the past never succeeded. I, therefore, hope that our 2020 resolutions will include, to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth” because the Bible is very clear about it that “... You can be sure that your sin will track you down... (Numbers 32:23 msg) As my mother used to tell us, “The truth shines like the moon." It’s important then that we resolve to always tell the truth because it is the truth that will set us free. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

December 21, 2019

Truth Never Changes

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Anybody who doesn’t make it to Heaven would have missed among other things, ever experiencing an environment where judgment is always fair. There will be no compromises of any kind in Heaven. There is no fear of whether or not you are on the majority side, because everyone including your best friend will vote according to their consciences even if you are guilty. Enjoy dishing out unfairness now as much as you can because it is plentiful here in this world and nonexistent in Heaven. It is always them against us or us against them that determines a person’s actions these days, never right or wrong. Those who are expected to be defenders of justice are unfortunately the ones stifling it the most. They forget or maybe know it but do not care that when they trample the truth, they are choking civility to death in our society. When the air we breathe is saturated with this level of lawlessness especially among those who have sworn to uphold the law, then all the integrity we have been boasting of having, is gone to the dogs. It will be extremely hard to get it back. “Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.” Proverbs 23:23 NLT

 

December 14, 2019

Free Deal

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The time has come again when we all go out looking for what we think are great holiday deals or great holiday bargains as we have always done at this time of the year. Unfortunately, we forget the greatest of all deals or bargains that anybody can ever get. I’m sure it’ll blow your mind if you hear some of the reasons why there is no other deal or bargain in comparison with this one. It is not season dependent - always available. It is not status or class dependent - everybody gets equal amount including “the least of these”. Best of all, it’s free. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9 KJV The deal even gets better and sweeter when you hear the extra that is included in it - “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31 KJV  The whole household is covered in this one deal and you don’t need to go out day after day shopping. It’s the best that we can get to keep our entire household rejoicing daily. Nothing can ever be better than eternal life freely offered to us by the Author of life Himself. Accept it now!

 

December 7, 2019

God Owns Everything

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We are busy collecting as much as we can of all the things the world flashes on our faces and at the same time singing, “This world is not my home.” If we really believe the lyrics of this song, who do we expect to store for us all that we are collecting, since they are useless outside our world? Intuitively, (yes, men have intuition too) I can sense the devil’s strategy is to keep us busy collecting so that we can hardly have time to contemplate on God’s goodness. God becomes an afterthought in our lives. The devil has trained his marketing agents so well that they can interpret the portrayal of our faces so well that they can almost accurately predict the products that will yield them more money on the next Black Friday, next Christmas, next Halloween etc. We have become addicted to the word “Sale” that we do not check to make sure that the price is really lower than the regular price. In our minds, the word “Sale” has almost become synonymous to “I’ve been planning to get one”, “I don’t have any”, “I need it”. This message is not to condemn anyone who wants to take advantage of holiday TV commercials. Instead, it’s a wakeup call from our lethargic conditions to remember the source of the strength and money that we are eager to spend. “If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that GOD, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth..., (Deuteronomy 8:17-18 MSG) Our Father in Heaven does not give us possessions so that we can forget Him. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:8 KJV)

 

November 30, 2019

Blind Eyes

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. People have turned blind eyes to public display of unethical behaviors for so long that we are beginning to act as if they are right and we are wrong. Those who have convinced themselves that they have the loudest voices will shout, and shout from the roof tops if need be until you accept their views as the norm. You may wonder how a person could uphold such views, but they end up controlling the minds of the majority because they have more resolve to push their agenda forward at all costs than their rivals are. Christians are not supposed to be timid, but when we turn blind eyes to issues that could put a person in hell, then we are not faithful to our calling. It’s a disservice to what our name stands for when we entangle ourselves with relationships that make it difficult for us to see the trespasses of the sheep we have accepted to guide. The one whose name we bear, defied all odds condemning the behaviors of the status quo. It’s our responsibility to warm the world of the impending doom and why every well-meaning person should start preparing for it. If we neglect our responsibility, it’s like we are pushing a drowning person further into the water. We need to wake up as soldiers of the cross and proclaim to the world that Jesus Saves.

 

 

November 23, 2019

Holiday Giving

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The holiday season seems to be a time when man gets closest where God intended for him in his love for his fellow man. He is happier (some) and makes good plans to extend helping hands to those in need. We miss to recognize the positive effect the exchange of gifts has on both the givers and receivers because we are focused more on the frenzy of buying and selling that defines this period of the year. It does not mean that the products we rush to purchase during the holidays are new in the stores. They have always been there from the beginning of the year, but there seems to be a heightened level of joy that comes with giving or receiving it from someone during this season. Maybe if the stores would make the same holiday prices available throughout the year, people’s joy will be spread over the 12 months of the year thus sparing the last 2 months from an overload and also helping the not so good mental health of our society. Maybe if the corporate executives would recognize their stellar workers at several times during the year, there would be improved production. Maybe if parents would recognize their children's achievements at different stages of their academic endeavors instead of waiting for graduation, there would be less dropouts. Why do we wait until December before giving someone a gift of something we know they will appreciate? Why wait until the Holiday season to tell someone that you love them? Although many people will like to live until the end of the year, everybody doesn’t. They would like to experience your love more often than once a year. “A friend lives at all times...” Proverbs 17:17

 

November 16, 2019

Those That Remain

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There is only one time when, "Those That Remain” will be greatly desired as a group to belong to, and that is when Jesus appears in the clouds of heaven and change them in a twinkling of an eye and put on them a robe of incorruption and immortality as recorded in 1 Cor. 15:52. There is not much joy to be counted among those who remain any time before this very moment because of the pain, anxiety, uncertainty, and grief those who remain are forced to endure. Do you think that those who remain now have any advantage over those who do not? Your answer may depend on how much weight your tears place on you. This is what determines the strength of the pain on those who remain and of course how broken hearted they are when those tears trickle down their cheeks. No wonder those who remain love to sing their disclaimer that, “This world is not my home” as if this will spare them the agony every member of their group must endure. If those who take other people’s lives are not as senseless as they are, they would understand this truth that they too have a date to relinquish their “Those That Remain” membership. “Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? 2 Peter 3:11 (msg)

 

November 9, 2019

The Invisible Wall

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. A very popular wall came down 30 years ago today in response to a call made about three years earlier to “tear down this wall”. Many people around the world rejoiced at the fall of this wall, including those who did not expect any direct benefits from it. One may wonder why a person thousands of miles away would be so happy for an event like this which has nothing to do with his or her wellbeing. This was one of the events that contributed to the globalization of our modern world affairs. Man was beginning to feel that whatever affected one in one corner of the world affected everyone everywhere; like in the famous statement by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that we, “are tied together in a web of mutuality in which an injustice in one place threatens justice anywhere”. You would think that this displeasure against a visible wall would translate to the same attitude towards an invisible one that continues to plague us locally and globally today. If the physical wall that we can see is condemned because of the tyranny it symbolized, the invisible wall is worse because of the deceitfulness of the heart where it is hidden. Until we accept the existence of this wall, the reunification that took place when the physical wall fell, may never happen among the different factions of our society. I wish that today’s leaders will follow the footsteps of their predecessors and initiate the fall of the invisible wall that continues to divide our society.

 

November 2, 2019

Abraham's Seed And Heirs

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You probably heard it before me that three big religions claiming Abraham as their father are coming together to build a family house in memory of their father. Oh, how I wish that the outside display of brotherhood among these 3 "brothers" will translate to tolerance of individuality among them. This will really make a big difference in today's world affairs judging from the root of all the problems going on today. For these 3 brothers to set aside their age long differences and unite under a common goal is a huge step forward on the road to long awaited peace. This of course highly depends on the motivation behind this historic display of love. As I watch this unfold, I begin to find out that I am not as optimistic as I thought I was, but with a reason. According to Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” I also want to sound a warning to those who think that every attempt to come together refers to this verse. There may be more surprises on the way. What do you think? If you really recognize the power that these 3 brothers hold in the world, you would agree with me that the commissioning of this project in 2022 will be something that the world has never witnessed. At the same time, remember that God has halted the completion of a big project before because of the motive behind it. I know that it's not an easy task to bring 3 estranged people to a bargaining table, so I must give credit to who credit belongs for accomplishing this in one historic visit as a representative of the descendants of one of the sons. I'm surprised that you are still demanding to know the names of the 3 sons referred to in what you have read so far. They are Muslims, Jews, and Christians building a Mosque, Synagogue, and Church. Some of the things going on in my head now are the significance of the choice of the location of this family house and what would have happened if a different location was chosen.

 

October 26, 2019

Everyone Is Responsible

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Our world is far from experiencing the change it’s hoping for, because no one wants to accept how much he or she has contributed to whatever is wrong in our world. Everyone thinks that it is the other person’s fault, and until we accept our individual parts in creating what we see as our problem, the change may never occur. The other group that I don’t belong to is always responsible, so get rid of them. We are only able to see through our tunnel vision, that it is either people from another region of the world, another country, another race, another language, another educational level, another gender, another political party, another religion, another denomination, another marital status that are causing the ills in our society, and the list goes on and on. The ones who are getting the grunt of it now are the youths in our society. They get blamed for almost everything that goes wrong especially the decline of the society’s moral values. Not only are they seen as lacking in this area, but many times defiant in accepting the presumed better ways offered to them by their elders. Could it be that what is deemed as rebellion is our youth’s way of protesting their innocence? It’s hard for a person to sit down and constantly swallow the portrayal of his or her character as evil. The only way change we anticipate can take place in this generation, is to start accepting that none of us is 100% good. Recognition of this small defect will lead to better tolerance of each person’s individuality and so a better and more peaceful environment for all of us, including our youth. It’s a shared responsibility.

 

October 19, 2019

In Times Like These

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As in the words of the hymn writer Ruth Caye Jones, “In Times Like These, We Need A Savior." This was in 1943 after hearing the news of the casualties of the Second World War and seeing its effects on everything around her. Although this pastor's wife could only observe the suffering of those she and her husband were serving, it was a worldwide phenomenon that man brought on himself. You would think that by now, man would have learned from his experiences of yesteryears, but on the contrary, it has gotten worse more than 500 times. In times like 2019, not only are there wars going on in different parts of the world, but those who are not engaged in wars, are manufacturing weapons that can destroy people in mass and are urging others to fight to create market for their products. In addition to wars, I wonder how Mrs. Jones would have
felt if some of the behaviors that have been legitimized today were seen in the same light in her days. This preacher's wife must have also been a Bible scholar, for when she saw these times described as a perilous period in 2 Timothy 3:1, she also discovered that it was not completely a hopeless time because of the anchor of Hebrews 6:19 that will keep the soul firm and secure. In other words, instead of focusing on the prevalence of atrocity, injustice, greed, hatred, spiteful treatment, bitterness, cover-ups, marginalization of the less privileged, etc. and the apparent approval of such behaviors in your time; concentrate your energy on making sure that "Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock" which is Jesus.

 

October 12, 2019

Slap On The Wrist

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The counsel in Proverbs 22:6 to “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” does not mean ‘slap on the wrist’ for every offense a child commits. A child who knows that he or she is going to receive such as a punishment no matter how grievous the offense is, will one day commit a crime so heinous that any ear that hears it will tingle. A slap on the wrist may be enough if little Johnny pulls off a piece of hair from his sister’s Barbie Doll's head; but inadequate when he shoots a neighbor’s dog with a BB or his toy gun. Johnny may misinterpret this misuse of parental authority as a signal to do whatever he wants and that he will get away with it. Any child who grows up in an environment where he or she enjoys a privilege of no consequences for bad behaviors may turn out to be a terror to others. Moving further with Johnny’s example, it’ll be unfair if Johnny has a brother who looks different from everybody in the family and always gets severe punishment for every offense he commits, big or small. Many times, we decide what the normal color of a sheep should be and so maltreat any sheep that does not meet our criteria. Every member in our families deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity. Every reprimand should be equal to its offense no matter who commits it. Anything void of this is not a healthy environment for a child to grow up. Someone hurts when a 'slap on the wrist' becomes the norm.

 

October 5, 2019

Unavoidable Dates

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We are more elusive in our heads than we are in real life. We try to avoid places, objects, and most especially people we feel are not kind or pose some danger to us. Even the most righteous among us react in this way to danger or anything that has an appearance of threat to our wellbeing and our treasured piety. In essence, whenever we feel like running away from an environment, it is because of real life experience it reminds us. The very appearance of the situation triggers something in our memory that informs us that we are in an unfriendly territory. Have you noticed, however, that of all the conditions or past that cause us to seek an escape route, calendar dates have proven to be unavoidable? It appears as if dates are stationary, certain dates- those particular dates. No matter what you do to forget that they exist, you still end up bumping into them because in your inattentiveness, you fail to realize that dates make way for their brother or sister dates to make their annual pilgrimage to the most secret place in your body- your mind. We might as well welcome every date and their baggage in spite of what we think about them, because they are so inevitable that we would all be removed before any date is pulled out of its position on the calendar. “...Even so come, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

 

September 28, 2019

Live What You Preach

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I want to give a shout-out to Justice Johnson Busingye of Rwanda who has abolished more than 1000 laws left over from colonial rule in his country. What may be striking to an enthusiast in these laws is that they were made by the colonial masters for their own benefit, in this case, Germany and Belgium. I am happy for the enlightened new blood entering the scene in these countries and determined to fix the wrongs done to their people many years ago. I am surprised though that since Rwanda's independence in 1962 no other Justice has seen the oppression hidden in the laws that pretended to have protected their grandfathers. Unfortunately, the hands of the church that brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people are not clean in all these as would have been expected. Whereas their master became poor so that the people He preached to would become rich, these messengers did the opposite. I am yet to hear someone apologize for the inhumane treatment received by the people in the mission field from the same people telling them to change from their wicked ways. I have always known churches to own large parcels of land, but unaware that there were laws protecting the unlimited boundaries of those campuses. It is no longer the case in Rwanda that the church will own swathes of land and that the areas will be separated between the whites and the rightful owners of the land(maybe without compensation), thanks to their illustrious son, Johnston Busingye. The church did extremely well in taking the gospel to different parts of the world, but at the same time made many mistakes in those days when they took advantage of the people they were supposed to minister to. It's easy to say, "I want to be like Jesus," but difficult to actually live it. Jesus “...made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
Philippians 2:7. Are you ready to be that humble?

 

September 21, 2019

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One of the most important warnings Jesus gave us that we have carelessly ignored is found in Matthew 7:15, ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” No other time in history has this become more relevant than now. If you doubt it, look at the number of churches around you and many of them started by one man or woman otherwise known as “independent”. This is not an attempt to condemn all independent churches, but I wonder why they are springing up everywhere. Are they on their own because they have received a new revelation from Heaven that others are not willing to embrace? If so, it’s not fair to rush and blame them for avoiding possible contamination by unbelievers. Do your own investigation before joining any of these mom and pop congregations. You definitely do not want Heaven to see you as a wolf when you are putting up the appearance of a sheep. If you know that there’s fallacy in your teaching to gullible souls who listen to you and give you some maintenance token; if you are aware of your minimal knowledge in what you are teaching others but make it appear as if you are a guru at it, then you qualify to be called a wolf. Take off the sheep’s clothing so that the real you can be seen. This is also true of us who attend the established denominations of centuries ago. If we attend church every week, as preacher, member, or guest, and know that there’s a wolf hidden in our lives, we are not only deceiving others but ourselves too. If a wolf invites you, it's more likely looking for dinner not a friend.

 

September 14, 2019

Heartless Exploitation

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If you were visiting the earth from another planet in the aftermaths of hurricane Dorian, you would think that the inhabitants of your host planet were angels because of the love they showed to the Bahamians. Assuming you did some research before your visit, to know how the people on earth treat each other and found them unkind, you would have been surprised at this level of generosity and probably condemn your source for presenting false information. You only need to spend one more day before rushing back home and I promise you; you would discover that these people have not changed a bit. You probably arrived during their 10-minute break. They’ll soon get back to work and you’ll discover that they are not yet done with taking innocent lives or giving their legislative support to those involved and doing other atrocities they are passionate about. Although there’s hardly any behavior that surprises anybody anymore, I am still amazed to find out that some who came to help Bahamas were there because of what they hoped to get. I cannot understand how someone will feel so free to take advantage of others in their most vulnerable moment. Although it may look like a deal between two nations, I still consider it as an extortion because it takes away resources Bahamas could use to care for her citizens. I pray that while planning evil against someone, that we remember that the tide has the potential of turning against us and then we would realize that exploitation is evil. "...Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8 NKJV) I applaud the leaders of Bahamas for rejecting any such offers from rich private or government sources and pray that they would refuse to be lured.

 

September 7, 2019

Save Our Souls

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The SOS (Save Our Souls) call from Bahamas was heard loud and clear all over the world this week. It is hard to describe or imagine the distress the people of that country have gone through in the last seven days and I don’t expect that there is anyone on the face of this earth whose heart was not touched as we watched our brothers and sisters go through one of the worst traumatic experiences of recent years. Yes, those of us on the other side of the ocean from them might have been spared the same experience, but we cannot be overjoyed when we remember the experiences of the citizens of Bahamas. By the way, I do not have to come from Bahamas to consider them my brothers or my sisters. Wherever there is a person hurting in this world, all of us should share the pain. The unspoken call which you might or might not have heard is, “Come over to Bahamas and help us.” Who will go and work today? One misconception that we may have is to think that we have to be physically present in Bahamas to make an impact in the lives of those affected by hurricane Dorian, whereas; we can help from anywhere in the world and at any level or form. Weather reporters used the words “NEVER BEFORE” to describe the terrible nature of the category 5 Dorian. The only way we can respond adequately to this disaster is to return the favor to Dorian with overwhelming combined effort to help Bahamians stand on their feet. No matter what happens, be rest assured, the promise has not changed, “... no, never again will a flood destroy the earth. (Genesis 9:11)

 

August 31, 2019

Peace Be Still

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s hard to tell worry-freaks like us not to worry when Dorian is knocking at our door, but I am sure that our worry will take a different dimension the moment we realize that we are never alone in any storm. Dorian will obey when it hears the same voice that other storms have always heard in the past, “Peace Be Still.” We can take solace in the promise from our Father, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We are not saved because of our preparations, “Even the winds and the waves obey Him,” and Dorian will not be an exception. Often, our most threatening storms are spiritual in nature and not the ones we face physically, but no matter their form, all storms understand and listen to the command, “Peace Be Still.” We may never be storm-worry free until we acknowledge our Lord's voice saying to us, “Be still and know that I am God.” Until we follow this instruction, we would be suffering from storms that have already passed. I urge everyone to hide in the rock that is our best shelter in the time of storm, including Dorian. This too shall pass!!!

 

August 24, 2019

Another School Year

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In the summer, many academic campuses from elementary to Universities are like ghost towns waiting for August to come back to life. Gone are the days when sending a child to one of these places of learning was exhilarating experience. Parents were willing to sacrifice the good moments they would have spent with their children hoping that after these children have walked on these grounds where wisdom grows, they would return home wiser and better equipped to succeed in life than when they left. Unfortunately, these revered grounds have been so transformed that they are the exact reflection of the shamefaced society they left behind. The guardians of these children are hardly at ease during the school hours because of the bittersweet emotions they go through daily starting from the time the children enter the school bus until they return home later in the day. Hardly any day ends without hearing about an incident involving an institution of learning. You would think that spending more money will eliminate most of these problems, but unfortunately it has not and many of the children are there because the law requires them. Everybody is sitting on such a slippery edge that if the law is removed today, many of the school hallways will be empty. Don’t worry; education will not become extinct because there was once a time when there were no schools or internet. How did the children learn in those days? “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”Deuteronomy 6:7 NKJV. Parents were responsible to teach their children things they learned from God. Maybe, today’s parents have not attended God’s school and so can only teach lawlessness which according to Romans 4:15, is the behavior of those who feel that there is no law to charge them.

 

August 17, 2019

Trapped In Fear

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I doubt that our medical facilities are ready for the upsurge in patient admission they are about to experience. I do not know when it’ll start to happen if it has not started yet, but I believe it’ll eventually be a reality. You probably haven’t thought about it, but if you consider the frequency of heart-breaking events happening around us, you would accept that there’s sense in my reasoning. It sounds like we wake up every day expecting new tragedies in different shapes and form. One does not have to be present where these traumatic events are taking place to be affected. The very fact that they are not normal occurrences makes the heart jump each time we hear of them and lead to insecurity. If it were possible, many people will no longer come out of their homes for fear of what may happen to them. It’s not localized and so nobody can predict which neighborhood is next in line. Whether you believe it or not, the culmination of all these encounters that our minds go through is gradually increasing the number of future PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) patients. If men’s hearts are already fainting for fear and anxiety of their expectations as mentioned in Luke 21:26 before the main event, what do you think will be their condition when the sign of Christ’s return is manifested before our eyes? We may pretend to be brave, but we have all become victims trapped in some level of fear. How high is yours? I hope that It is low enough that someone can depend on you for comfort.

 

August 10, 2019

Anything Goes

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. What do you expect from an “Anything goes” society? Your guess is as good as mine, but do we really need to guess on an issue such as this? I do not know which corner of the world you live, but wherever it is, the events around you in the last 7 days should be enough to tell us the effect nonchalant attitude towards unacceptable behaviors can have on any generation and ones after. Deterioration takes time and gets worse when neglected. One area that has been left unchecked for a long time and now hurting us badly is the entertainment industry. Generations before us allowed themselves to be so lured into the amusement of whatever was presented to them that they failed to notice when the entertainers crossed the boundary of their moral values. The longer they remained glued to the screen or sat in the arena, the further away anything moral was ignored, resulting in the worst decline of ethical values the world has ever known. The attitude in our generation has not been different and so as long as we continue to absorb what is being fed to our eyes, the deeper the entertainers would go to the gutters to retrieve behaviors for our minds too. I can’t imagine the anarchy this world would go through if the Lord does not come soon. It’s always a bad omen when everyone starts doing that which is right in their own eyes which is the reason we have a book in the Bible named Judges. I encourage you to read it. We may think that there are too many atrocities going on today, but wait until more of the reigning evil doers realize how far they can go emboldened by supporters at all levels who are more interested in their status and money than societal decency and the lives of others. Unfortunately, everybody is declining to hold somebody accountable, therefore, “Anything goes.”

 

August 3, 2019

CRISPR For Sickle Cell

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. According to Daniel 12:4, one of the signs that we are nearing the end of this world is the frantic search of the truth for salvation leading to increased knowledge about God. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and from, and knowledge shall be increased.”  Daniel 12:4 KJV Many times, however, we only think of the science and technology part of the increase in knowledge which of course is growing by leaps and bounds, thank God. You probably never thought that increase in knowledge will bring hope to sickle cell patients during your lifetime. This inherited blood disorder has been a big threat primarily to children of African descent and Hispanics of Caribbean ancestry longer than modern medicine can remember. Many have canceled their wedding plans to avoid having children with the disease because it was discovered that they were both carriers of the gene that causes the debilitating and most times, life threatening attacks from the formation of the malformed cells. Needless to say, sickle cell patients hardly live a normal life which makes CRISPR a dream come true. Although in a clinical trial stage, initial results indicate that there is good reason for strong optimism that CRISPR therapy will make sickle cell a thing of the past because of its ability to compensate for the defective protein that causes the disease in an individual. There should be excitement among God’s children whether you are among the affected risk group or not. It’s another sign of God alleviating the problems His children go through even though the devil and his followers would want it differently. No matter the wishes of the doomsayers, it is still God’s plan, “...that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2 NKJV We should all be praying that God will grant more knowledge to the scientists to perfect CRISPR.

 

July 27, 2019

Feelings or Principle?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The devil is dancing because of the havoc he has caused with people’s feelings. You may not see it as something serious until you consider how much of our society’s daily life is impacted by feelings as opposed to principle. This is why there are so much in the news today that you never thought would have happened in your lifetime. If you are absent from church today, it’s probably because you feel like staying home. You didn’t think much of it this week when your feelings pushed you to share piece of your mind with someone without permission. Thank God you didn’t follow through yesterday when your feelings to strangle someone’s neck seemed irresistible. Never before have people been prouder to respond, “I felt like doing it” when asked why did you do so much evil, than we see in our society today. You wonder if principles still exist or gone to the dogs. Yes, moral principles exist but where do you expect to find them? We cannot expect to harvest tomatoes where we planted yam or oranges from an apple tree. One theory that has never failed in the computer world says, “Garbage in, garbage out.” How much decency do you expect from a society that frowns at mentioning God’s name wherever it will make positive impression in the lives of tomorrow’s leaders? If we were smart, we would hid to the Bible instruction that says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) Until we stop misleading ourselves, we would continue breeding individuals with despicable characters from our beautifully decorated and equipped institutions or so-called developed society. By the way, what controls your own decision making: feelings or principle? Make it a principle to always do the right thing.

 

July 20,2019

Powerless Clergy Robes

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Many are wearing clergy robes today but are denying the power thereof. It has become more of a robe of worldly recognition than of God’s work. After seeing the obnoxious behaviors around us, I wonder why no one in the clergy ranks has come out to condemn them as unacceptable. The clergy who have been called to be watchmen have been incapacitated to perform their duties because they thought it nobler to be identified with the kings of this world than with the King of kings who created Heaven and earth and whose servants they claim to be. God’s message to a watchman who fails to warn wicked men to turn away from their wicked ways, is that the wicked men will die “...and I will hold you accountable for their blood.” Ezek. 3:18 I am afraid that the current state of affairs around the world and the freedom at which people are expressing their hidden wicked agendas if unchecked, will make the world so chaotic that many will choose death over life. We are beginning to catch a glimpse of what the Bible meant by “...God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” I am sure that He also saw the 21st century clergy preferring to gain notoriety with the rich and famous over honest service to their maker. It’s difficult not to compromise the truth after being honored with special dinners and recognition by high ranking officials even after being aware of their lack of moral values. Our worship activities are of no value to mankind unless they are to, “...Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.” Isaiah 58:6

 

July 13, 2019

Not For Sale

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How is it that many of today’s preachers want to extort millions of dollars from whoever is vulnerable to listen to their marketing schemes called preaching? The same people who are preaching that their congregations should honor God with the fruit of their labor are not afraid to fatten their bank accounts with whatever is meant to honor God. No wonder this type of preaching has been coined “prosperity gospel" because of how prosperous the preachers quickly become and are able to deceive their followers that they too can become rich as long as they make sure their preachers remain wealthy. It’s no longer uncommon for a pastor to own a private jet or demand that a congregation purchases one for him or her. It has become a status symbol for anyone wanting to be in a manmade category of elite preachers. Why is it that no one wants to remind them of their job description found in Matt. 10:7, 8 “And as you go, preach saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” The Boss has made it clear here that the assigned service should be rendered free of charge because the words they are presenting are not theirs in the first place and they were received free of charge. Instead they have put so much exorbitant prices on their services and their worth that it has become difficult to differentiate the preachers from the world’s notorious scammers. Imagine for a moment how rich Jesus Christ and His disciples would have become if they had charged for their services, but they did it without expecting any remuneration. Don’t be deceived, it’s not only those whose churches can only fit in stadiums or large auditoriums that are exploiting the minds of the masses who listen to them. It has become an epidemic that preachers want to be seen as worth more than God’s message given to them, but according to John 15:20 “A servant is not greater than his Master.” Our Lord was very emphatic about this in John 13:16, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” Profiting from a property that is not yours could be looked at as a form of armed robbery.

 

July 6, 2019

Tue Freedom

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I thought that man understands the freedom he has from God, but when I see the bloated level at which he celebrates the freedom from a fellow man, I begin to doubt this perception. God’s freedom is the greatest of all freedoms. It’s the only one that gives every man complete charge of all decisions he makes in life. The choice is yours whether good or bad and God will not deny you the privilege to carry it out. Do you know that you can decide to move from one part of the world to another today and God the creator and owner of the world will not ask you why? The independence that several nations celebrate specifically allows them to live only in that particular country and requires them to have a passport and most of the time visa to cross the boarders. If only we knew the value of God’s freedom, we would hype it more than any other that we have. What is the value of independence in many of these countries when it is indirectly dependent on the decisions emanating from generational greed and uncontrollable desire of individuals thousands of miles away looking for those to make their subjects? Judging from this, God’s freedom is unmatchable. It goes to the extent of allowing you to decide whether or not to continue reading this piece. “If the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” (John 8:36) We should, however, not be callous in our exercise of God’s freedom, or use it as an excuse to do whatever we want. Instead, we should see to it that our freedom grows by serving each other in love. This is true freedom.

 

June 29, 2019

Sin Is Sin

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. An important step to the road of charge in a sinner’s life is the recognition and acceptance that there’s a particular behavior in his or her life that is bad which the Christians refer to as repentance. Until this first important step is taken, a person’s life will be one of defense, comparisons, and self-justification. It’s this trio that makes a person’s life what Jeremiah 13:23 sees as being “accustomed” to a particular lifestyle and making the possibility of change very difficult. I don’t think that we fully understand the futility of comparing our sins with that of others. It only ends up giving us satisfaction of a moment. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and that includes all sins, big, small, society approved or not, inherited or not, white or blue colored, public or secret, committed by a person in a most holy position or a street person, sin is sin. The problem is, when am I going to take that important first step of recognizing and accepting that there’s something wrong with this particular behavior in my life? The best answer I could find is in 2 Cor. 6:2 “...Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” You probably thought that this verse is for those who are not yet Christians to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. Unless we recognize the importance of the “Now” and how fleeting it is, we would continue to forget that “our gift of prophecy, and ability to understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; our faith, that could remove mountains, are NOTHING if we make it a habit to ignore our opportunity NOW!!!

 

June 22, 2019

Threats Of War

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As I watched the celebration remembering 75 years of the D-Day two weeks ago and seeing the many white crosses representing the thousands of lives lost, i wondered why what looked like unity among the celebrants did not lead them to sign an accord to prevent a repeal of a similar incident in the future. We may claim to be smarter than all the generations before us, yet we find ourselves falling into what Albert Einstein refers to as insanity, “Doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” You know that something is bound to happen in a not very distant future when you hear the exchange of words between different nations. It’s a normal human behavior to protect that which belongs to us no matter how weak others perceive us to be or how strong the aggressor is. I wish that all the nations will be at peace with each other, but when I remember our Lord’s words in Matt. 24:6, 7 “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars...nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...” I start doubting the reality of the peace emissary that I am trying to be. The bad news is that more thousands will die especially now that our “knowledge has increased” leading us to develop means of removing other nations from the map of the world and be proud of it. The good news is that it will bring our Savior’s return closer than ever before. One thing that matters most is our fate whether or not we live through another war. Since there’s no likelihood of my wishes coming through, my earnest desire is that we receive eternal life from our Savior Jesus Christ.

June 15, 2019

Father's Duty

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I want to wish all fathers, Happy Fathers’ Day, but I wonder if this includes absentee and deadbeat fathers. They have chosen the wrong time to be absent as implied in the slang, “the did is done”, the child is already here. How I wish they were absent at the beginning, and then the problem that their absenteeism brings to the society would’ve been avoided. The use of the word “absent” is too mild to describe an action that has such an enormous impact in our society as we are witnessing today. Although it will be wrong to claim that all children who grow up in two parent homes always turn out to be good citizens, there’s no doubt that the majority of the problems we have in our society today is caused by fathers not being involved in the training of their children. Some of these fathers referred to as “deadbeat” are not totally in denial as the absentee fathers, but they are still not man enough to contribute to the life necessities of their children. As far as these children are concerned, if there’s no lifeline, their fathers are dead. It’s unfortunate, however, when a father is absent in the life of a child because the mother has denied him any involvement in the child’s life. As far as I know, there’s only one successful virgin birth on record that happened about 2000 years ago. It always takes two to tango and will also take two to nurture the outcome of the tango. Fathers who are absent in the lives of the children they helped to bring into this world, are missing out in what the wise man Solomon saw as part of the benefits of having children, found in Proverbs 17:6, “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.” HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

 

June 8, 2019

The Bible, A Life Manual

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The Bible is a very complete manual for everyone interested in living a worry-free and peaceful life. As is usual with every manual, failure to follow it exactly as is stipulated, leads to consequences that are not always enjoyable. Take for instance if we were to practice what Christ in Matt. 7:12, refers to as the essence of all sermons; many or all confrontations would be eliminated. “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Are you surprised to know that the Bible is concerned with how we handle our business deals with each other? Lev. 25:14 “And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another.” Unfortunately, oppression against neighbors in business deals today is done with impunity. Another area of the manual that has suffered tremendous lack of attention, is in the area of marriage which undoubtedly has resulted in the destabilization of that institution. Can you imagine how minuscule the rate of divorce would have been for us to notice it if everybody adhered to the instruction in Eph. 5:21? “Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.” (MSG) Pathetically, not long after the “I do”, selfishness and stubborn disregard for this section of the manual sets in and dissolves the partnership without any consideration for the “Till death” part of the agreement. According to the Apostle Peter, we as individuals, communities, and nations, would do well if we heed to the light shining from this extremely indispensable manual, the Bible. 2 Peter 1:19.

 

June 1, 2019

Broken Records

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Today is the 1st day of June 2019 and already this year is turning out to be a record-breaking year in many wrong places. As of May 30, 2019, the CDC reports that this year has had more measles cases than any other in 25 years, and yet the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. Did you know that it is one of the 5 diseases of the Middle Ages that are making a comeback in our acclaimed Modern Age?  Others include, plague, tuberculosis, mumps, and scarlet fever. I don't expect any of the people of that era to be alive today, so where are these diseases coming from? The other record broken this year is the number of people who have died trying to reach the world’s highest peak, Mt. Everest. Ironically, 11 people have died this year trying to reach the 29,000 feet summit that costs $11,000.00 per ticket. Another record broken was the recent twelve consecutive days with at least eight reported tornadoes starting from May 17, topping the previous record of eleven days set in 1980. The aftermath of this is heavy rains that are causing levees to breach along the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers and leaving many people homeless. Surprisingly, a meteorologist had to apologize to those venting their anger on social media against him because the TV station switched the broadcasting from their favorite TV program to report weather conditions. It didn’t matter that this was done so they could take the necessary precautions to save their lives. If you are not surprised at that behavior, I wonder how you feel about someone refusing to be inoculated against measles? How different are they from those who neglected the instruction given in Numbers 21:8? The only task a person bitten by a snake had to perform was to look at a replica brass snake Moses made, to get well. Many refused to look at it and died. Even today, many are rejecting the ways of escape God has provided us in times of trouble; accept inoculation, stay away from the “death zone” of Mt. Everest, listen to know when to evacuate dangerous areas during inclement weather conditions, but we are too stubborn to listen. This is the same as in sin which is mentioned in Ezekiel 3:19, that will take the life of a sin-sick soul who continues to ignore the warnings of a watchman. God’s warnings are given for good reasons. We do well by listening to them if we do not want to be part of a bad record-breaking statistics.

 

May 25, 2019

Nations Divided

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel said, ““And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” (Daniel 2:43 KJV) In other words, the nations of the world can no longer be under one rule and the division will continue until Jesus Christ returns. The closest the world came to be one was on October 24, 1945, when it formed the United Nations, ironically leading to the independence of many nations. They hoped to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international co-operation, and to act as a center for harmonizing the actions of nations. You would expect that the spirit expressed here is in harmony with Paul’s in Romans 15:1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” However, the real intent of this organization and the willingness to put it in practice is being put to test in its decision this week condemning the British continued colonization of the Mauritius Chagos Islands in the southeast coast of Africa since 1965. It’s really worse than colonization because the natives were evicted from their land, and now the United Nations in a 116 to 6 vote is asking Britain to let the people about 1800 of them, some in their 70's and 80's back to their land. The decision of the highest court in the world is that the handover should be done as rapidly as possible. You would be surprised to hear someone in 2019 saying that his or her country is disappointed by the results of the vote or that there are no plans to abandon the island. If this decision cannot be enforced because of the power of 6 over 116, then All Nations is no threat to Daniel 2:43 and is presenting a front that in some cultures would be looked at as a “toothless dog.”

 

May 18, 2019

Wrinkle, A Natural Phenomenon

Good morning and HAPPY sabbath my Lakeview family. You may not be surprised if I tell you that there are a lot of things going on while you are sleeping that you don’t know, but there is one that will definitely startle you. What do you normally associate wrinkle with? Mainly the skin and fabric, right? When it appears anywhere on a person’s skin, it is often looked at as a sign that the person has spent few years on this side of the universe. In order to engage everybody in a guessing game, many have decided to spend their hard earned money in surgeries or buying creams that claim to remove wrinkles from a person’s body. Since you are already aware of this fact, how would you feel if you are told that the moon is wrinkling too? Yes, scientists have discovered wrinkles on the moon. You probably didn’t know about this because you were sleeping, the same way you woke up one day and saw your own wrinkles. Even after covering up our wrinkles, other things like our gait still reveal that the effects of our efforts to mask only affected the outside and could not make the changes that matter inside. Who is going to make the cream that will cover the wrinkles on the moon? Has anyone thought of what this might mean to us who enjoy the moon light at night? It’s already causing quakes on the moon as strong as 5 on the Richter scale. Have you considered that the moon might have always been this way, but It has taken man this long to discover how its creator made it? For those of us who fret on the sight of wrinkles no matter where they appear; on the 4th day of creation, “...God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night...” (Genesis 1:16) This was a little over 6000 years ago and no matter how old this sounds, none of the lights has failed in its duties. You may not know it, but King David (before NASA) in Psalms 8:3 expressed some awe when he considered the complexity of the moon. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained”, man is nothing. I wonder what he saw. You and I will marvel if we realize how sophisticated God’s other creations are and yet He cares so much for us above them all. Stop worrying about wrinkles no matter where you see them because it’s probably a natural phenomenon.

 

May 11, 2019

Thank God For Mothers

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This weekend as we honor mothers all over the world, I want us to remember that all mothers are equal. It does not matter whether you were born in a palace, a castle, or a humble hut, your mother is as important to you as any other’s - she brought you into this world. Amazingly, you are as precious to your mother as any other child is to his or her mother. No other person in the world could qualify for this position in your life except her, which means that it’s useless wishing that you were born by another woman or to a different household. Some of us might have been privileged to have two mothers because our biological mother was incapacitated by circumstances of this world to perform her motherly duties. It’s now your turn to reciprocate the love shown to you when you lacked the aptitude to make any sense of this world. An interesting fact to bear in mind is that once mom has done her part of showing you how to navigate through this world, you have an unlimited opportunity to move yourself up from the shanty place that you are not impressed with to a delightful palace or the likes of it that you always wanted, and take your mother too. By the way, we have the power to turn wherever we are into a palace or make it feel like one. Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves to be confused by the commercials, gifts, and special meals associated with the celebration, that we have forgotten that we are supposed to be thanking God as we are admonished in 1 Thess. 5:18 for giving us these mothers. “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” THANK YOU GOD FOR OUR LOVING MOTHERS!!!

 

May 4, 2019

The Truth

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Please meet my friend Truth, very obedient. To an extent you say? The Truth’s head that you see occasionally sticking out, is when something happens to the cover that has kept it from the public’s eye all the time. Who then is to be blamed when that which has been a secret for a long time finds its way to the public domain? Some of such secrets can be so corrosive that the public would stand amazed when they see people’s dignity and reputation having nothing to hold them. You may have this erroneous belief that those who have provided the safe havens for these secrets do not care, but you fail to wonder why they continue looking for more covers to distract everyone’s attention from the real deal. They are professionals in what they do and enjoy every moment of the drama because they notice that a majority of the public are so naive that they absorb everything presented to them without questioning. They conclude that these people would hand their hamburgers to another person to chew for them if possible and so are emboldened to put up a pretend worry-free face. Far from the truth! People can still deduce that there is some uneasiness from the uncharacteristic stammering, facial appearance, including avoidance of the public eyes, that the seat is getting hotter than usual. All these would have been avoided if people had learned to embrace the truth. It was the beloved Apostle John who rightly diagnosed the problem we have and gave a prescription that will serve us well if we would take it as prescribed. “And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. “John 8:32 (NLT) Do you want to enjoy this life to the fullest? Make Truth your ever-present friend though the heaven falls.

 

April 27, 2019

Crazy World

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I hope that I am wrong when I give my unscientific opinion that it seems that there are more crazy people in the world today than there are normal people. If you dispute this opinion, it could be because yours is not fully blown and permit me to add, yet. What is going on in the heads of all these people? Consider the level and number of atrocities happening around us and far away. If you think that it’s bad today, wait until tomorrow when these little ones who are growing up in this violent culture become teenagers, young adults, and if they are alive, adults. The very fact that people are afraid to walk on the streets, go to the store, go to their places of worship, or relax in their own homes, creates some degree of insanity by itself especially in the tender minds that never experienced anything different. Go ahead with your wishful thinking expecting that it’ll end anytime soon when the leaders of the world are allocating most of their budgets on the ammunitions and nuclear bombs that will blow up the rest of the world except their country. Their citizens who have no interest to go after in other countries, plan on how to get rid of the one nearby, their neighbors, innocent animals, properties, and people in their own households. It’s indeed a crazy world. Don’t forget the rising trend in the number of people committing suicide every year. It has become the second leading cause of death among 15-24-year old. When you consider our decisions on social issues and the amount of money and time, we are spending on them, are you surprised why our society is what it is today? The bad news is that the trend of the world’s craziness will continue to be upward bound with no hope of slowing down. How much do you think you are contributing to the world’s craziness? Has it ever crossed your mind that you might be crazy? This is just a glimpse of what God saw when the Bible says, “GOD saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. GOD was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. GOD said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.””
Genesis 6:5-7 MSG

 

April 20, 2019

How Much Are You Worth?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How much do you think you are worth? There is a tendency in us to think that a person’s value is dependent on how much money he or she has. Of course this is true based on man’s method of discernment, but is it the standard you use to decide who you are or your worth? Do you think because the whole world does not rally together around you as they do for their so called VIPs when your losses are the same, then you are worth less? We may never amount to anything if we are going to allow the world to determine our value. In the first place, everything that the world uses to decide where they are going to place anybody or how much value they are willing to place on you, is momentary. No matter how much anybody thinks he or she or his or her property is worth, all is transitory. However, I want us to take solace in knowing that the same price has been paid for both the VIPs and the least person in the whole world. Nobody on earth cost Heaven anything more than the blood of Jesus. As of the material possessions, houses, cars, jewelry, etc. they will vanish away, but those who accept the purchase price for their lives, will remain. Since this world will not last forever, “Heaven and Earth will pass away”, (Matt. 24:35) the best news for all of humanity, is that those who accept the price paid for them will “...meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17) “...Amen! Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

 

April 13, 2019

Global Outrage

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Have you taken count of the protests that have taken place all over the world in April 2019 that is only 13 days old or in this week alone? The bad news about this global outrage is that the people who are in the position to stop it, act as if they are oblivion of the issues the protesters are crying about. What is it about being a Head of State that makes a person who gets it to be insensitive to the wailing of the ones  they are supposed to take care of? As if they have not done enough harm, they all seek re-election to the same position that the majority of their citizens gave them a D or an F grade. Granted, a D or an F requires that a course be repeated, but that is in the academic world. That favor should not be accorded to a person who forgets or arrogantly neglects the platform that helped him or her to win an election. How do they get re-elected with this many people advocating for a change in leadership? We hope that the results announced to the world are authentic and that there is no need to check the finger prints on the ballots. The best action for anyone who is not happy with a disdainful leadership, is to “long for a better country - a Heavenly one” (Heb. 11:14) where the evil treatments that lead to protests do not exist. I assure you that this country will definitely come whether you are a citizen of it or not, but why not? Cast your vote for Jesus now and always, to guarantee your citizenship in the most harmonious nation ever known.

 

April 6, 2019

Anti-Christ

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Can you imagine the concern that many Christians have today when they hear the word Anti-Christ? Who is he? Where does he live? When is he going to act? These are good information to search for, but it appears to me though, that this rush to know is focusing mainly on the end time any-Christ as described in Rev. 13 when your number 1 anti-Christ is sitting or standing closest to you and refuses to move away from your mirror? The word "Anti" indicates opposition, not in agreement with, contrary, etc. The same Apostle John who wrote Revelation said in 1 John 4:3 that, "...every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of anti-Christ..." The implication here is that whenever our behaviors are not in agreement with how Jesus wants us to behave, when we are doing things that are not representative of Jesus, then we are anti-Christ. If you disagree with this reasoning because of how bad you think anti-Christ is and you don't want to be identified with something that bad, how would you interpret your behavior when you turn left knowing that Jesus wants you to turn right? This may sound very simple, but we need to be very careful of the nonchalant behaviors that have become part of our daily life so much that we see them as normal. Something is not quite right when we resort to seeing our actions in the light of, 'Jesus does not really mean it that way'. We should be brave enough to make this the guiding factor in all our actions; 'Is this defiant of the directives from Jesus, then I will not do it.' Accept it if it is, so you will not be anti-Christ. If an action is anti-Christ, that Is exactly what it is regardless of our personal interpretation.

 

March 30, 2019

You Are Good If...

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How do you determine that someone is good or bad? Does a person’s good or bad classification remain the same in your book no matter what that person does to you or says about you? How genuine is the information in this your book if people's names are moved around depending on whether you feel that they are favoring or are against you in their decisions? You have probably met individuals who shower you with all sorts of flowery words but are quick to kick you to the curb the moment they sense that your opinion will not align with theirs. Unfortunately, the same attitude is extended to God by those who display the emblem that purports them as Christians. If you doubt me, why is it that people are ready to praise God and give testimonies of His marvelous works for them, but will without restrain, question where God is and doubt His existence the moment they go through a bad experience? Is there any time God ceases to be God? His own words in Malachi 3:6 answers this question very eloquently, “I am the Lord, and I do not change...” This means that the attitude of favoring those who favor us is exclusive to humans. What is the impression you expect people to have of you when they are aware that you will not say anything good about them unless you are sure their actions are going to be in your favor? When Job asked, “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10), he was implying that nothing that happens to him will change his perception of who God is. Even if men and women around us earn our ever-changing attitude towards them, does God deserve the same?

 

March 23, 2019

Free To Be Me

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You must have been noticing the havoc those who think that everyone must be like them, are causing all over the world. Of course, every well-meaning person should understand that no two people are alike and will never be even if they are twins. It makes sense then, that each individual is entitled to choose, where to live, who to marry, what profession to pursue, what to eat, who to worship and how, when, and where. Can you imagine how frustrating it will be if everybody did everything the same time, exactly the same way all the time? For example, everyone in a stadium tries to use the restroom at the same time. As ridiculous as this may sound, yet it is in essence a true representation of the actions of those who want everyone to look like them, live their lives like them, and be the exact replicas of them. I don’t know how anyone will enjoy a society in which everybody is the same size, North, East, and West. Since God is the creator of Heaven and Earth, does He need permission to make it the way He wants, including different hues in plants, birds, flowers, trees, food, fruits, humans, and everything we see. He, who receives our worship, has allowed everybody to enjoy their freedom in this matter. Unfortunately, some worshippers are claiming that they have the prerogative to dictate how others will use this freedom. In Luke 18:9-12, Jesus told a story which according to Eugene Peterson, was directed to those who are “complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and look down their noses at the common people.” Two men, “I am better” and “I am bad” came out from a prayer house with “I am better” becoming worse while “I am bad” became best. It is best because justification is the ultimate goal of every Christian; nothing can be better. “...Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12) Be careful who you want to eliminate because of the differences between the two of you. If you insist on doing this, eventually no other person will be living except you, since you will never find any other one exactly like you. This is not only for those who are actually performing the act; but also, for those insinuating the idea through their speeches.

 

March 16, 2019

Peace That Passeth All Understanding

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Who do you think are the most satisfied people in the world? You are probably thinking that those you consider as the rich and famous have nothing to worry about and so are very satisfied. It’s possible that you are wishing that your bank account will get fatter because it is where your satisfaction will come from. I might not remember to include the ones you had in mind; and so who do you have on your list as the most satisfied people? If your satisfaction depends on the things of this world, then it will always elude you because as Jesus said in Luke 12:25 “...Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” The man Jesus used to illustrate this statement declared to himself “...Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!”(Luke 12:19) In other words, I am satisfied for what my hands have accomplished and the enjoyment ahead of me. The response he received in v 20 is the worst verdict any human being can ever expect. “Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods -who gets it?” The writer of the gospel of Luke brings it closer home to us in v 21, “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not God.”  So who do you expect to show real Satisfaction not with this world but with their life in the world? I submit that it is anyone who has a relationship with Jesus. Those who align themselves with Jesus will have peace that passes all understanding because they are in the presence of the only one who can give these comforting words, “...Take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”

 

March 9, 2019

As A Man Thinketh

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You have probably heard this statement taken from Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinketh, so is he.” Nobody knows what you are thinking at any time, but they can get a clue from your actions. Since you are capable of having good and bad thoughts, the only way for people to know which one is dominating your thoughts is by your activities. You would probably wonder why a lawyer will choose to defend a murderer on the basis of insanity and define insanity as inability to think. The question is, how did the person know that the gun or knife in his or her hand if used with a reasonable force, can inflict enough harm to stop another individual from functioning? How can a person know without thinking? What do you think could be going on in the mind of a national leader to motivate him to order for the massacre of innocent male children from two years and under? Before you consider using spontaneity as a defense, ponder on where it might have originated. If a person is accustomed to doing evil, the Bible asks, “...What are the odds (of him or her) doing good?” Jeremiah 13:23 He or she may display some good acts once in a blue moon, but majority of the actions will be dominated by all sorts of evil, because that is what has long been practiced. The world is watching, so beware!

 

March 2, 2019

God Is In Control

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If you remember, I ended my message last week with a reminder to thank God for His involvement in our history. Do you even believe that God has any involvement in your life? Believe it or not, He is. There is no mincing words in this statement found in John 15:5 “...For without me ye can do nothing.” Those who think they can challenge this statement by trying to force history to be made so they can get the glory will always fail. To spare ourselves the disappointment of failure, I will suggest that we keep our ego at bay and humbly ask God to lead in every project that we want to pursue. This does not mean that God approved everything that we have successfully completed. It rather means that we are only able to accomplish our plans if God permits them. It does not matter how much money we invest in something, time, publicity, intellect, wisdom, our expertise in convincing others, the command or appearance of power that we want to portray, we are bound to fail if God says that it is not yet time. These and more must be what the song writer saw when he wrote, “The arms of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own”. Let us depend on God instead of our ability. God is in control.

 

February 23, 2019

The Story Of Us

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As we celebrate our 2019 Heritage Day today, I want us to reflect on the theme that this year’s organizers have chosen, “The Story Of Us”. It’s easy to look at the big picture of this theme and forget its parts that include you and me. We cannot know the story of “Us” without knowing our individual stories; so what is your story? As we write our stories, I want us to remember another story that is the only one that can give credence to our story and heritage - the greatest story ever told. This is the story about God coming from Heaven, born as a baby in a manger, living among us, teaching us that we are all children of one Father, dying on the cross that we might not die, and going back to Heaven to prepare a place for each of us. Only the power and an understanding of a story like this can bind people from 20 countries together in a tiny congregation of less than 100 regular members, to celebrate their heritage. This must be a fulfillment of our Lord’s Prayer, “...that they may be one, as we are.” (John 17:11) If you are wondering where and when this story ends, I want to remind us of our Lord’s promise, “...I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3  As we celebrate today, let us not forget to thank God for His involvement in “The Story of Us.”

 

February 16, 2019

God Makes The Way

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. History students will probably remember the great Carthaginian commander, Hannibal, and the famous statement credited to him, “I will either find a way or make one”, when it seemed impossible for him and his army to cross the Alps. With this determination, he accomplished his goal of crossing the Alps into Italy with the help of 36-40 African elephants; a feat that became his greatest military achievement. If an earthly warrior can muster up such fortitude to march against a vast and strong Roman army, disregarding the opinions of his Generals that it was an impossible task to embark on; how about us when we face seemingly insurmountable experiences of life? This is another evidence to convince us to accept the statement in Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” This is also probably a good time to reevaluate the reality in our lives, of our Lord’s statement found in Matt. 17:20 “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” The assurance here is that there is nothing we wouldn’t be able to tackle if we have faith. Unfortunately, our struggle with faith seems to be an unending battle. Thanks to Don Moen who in his song, “God will make a way where there seems to be no way”, reinforces our assurance that our God is able. It was He who made the way for Hannibal, and He will do the same for us. I suggest that you listen to Don Moen’s song, “God Will Make a Way”, and if possible, read the story behind it.

 

February 9, 2019

Love From The Heart

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If you are wondering why almost every display in the stores for two or more weeks ago, has the shape of a heart, check your calendar. In about 5 days, the world will celebrate a day that they have associated with love, named Valentine. Whatever the origin is, business owners have capitalized on the occasion as they have always done on other holidays; and what better means will they choose to communicate our need for this one day to us than what is believed to be the center of our emotions, the heart? Since Valentine’s Day is associated with love, one of the strongest emotions in humans, the heart became the choicest symbol for the day. “This one day” as identified above, or one second for some people, comes and goes and nothing seems to change in our relationship with each other. You would think that after eating so many heart shaped candles, cakes, and wearing heart shaped costumes, that our hearts would be touched as a manifestation of our claims, but no, everything is business as usual. What really matters the most is not what we say on Valentine’s Day, but what we do after. How pathetic it will be for the Valentine flowers to outlive the love they purport to represent. The businesses end up being the ultimate beneficiaries of Valentine, unconcerned of the hearts that will be left bleeding for the next 12 months. If your Valentine message on Feb. 14, 2019 is not genuine, it is because of Solomon’s diagnosis in Eccl. 9:3 “the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after they go to the dead.” It is urgent that we pray for a change of heart to one that is full of sincere affection for all humans. Death is knocking.

 

February 2, 2019

God With Us

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s absurd to claim that one believes in God as man’s creator, and at the same time think that He’s not involved in every aspect of our lives. It doesn’t make any sense that He would take the time to create man as indicated in Gen. 2:7 and abandon him. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” His statement in Isa. 49:15, exonerates Him from this preposterous feeling. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” (KJV) Yes, our generation has broken that rule and we now hear of mothers walking away from children they bore; yet God makes it clear that He will never act like those mothers - never! The “never” is an indication of an unceasing presence of God who also repeated in Heb. 13:5 “...I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.” (Msg) If God has this non-stopping, ever sustained closeness (omnipresent) with us, then there is nothing that happens in our lives that He does not know. There’s no doubt that some of these life experiences come with excruciating pains that are hard to bear, yet His assurance is that “...He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.” (1 Cor. 10:13 Msg) This is why we can rightly refer to Him as our “...very present help in trouble.” (Psalms 46:1 KJV) Our God is always with us and ready to help. We just have to accept that He is who and where (omnipresent) He says He is and ask the Holy Spirit to help us feel His hands of mercy and love that enfold us as He continues to administer His breath into our nostrils.

 

January 26, 2019

Man's True History

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don’t know if you have heard of tomorrow’s screening of a new documentary, “Who Will Write Our History” that coincides with the 2019 International Holocaust Remembrance Day. From the description, the film seems to chronicle the torture and killings 70 years ago of thousands of helpless innocent minorities. For those who believe in God, it is a history that started 6000 years ago when in Genesis 6:5 we are told that, “...God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Before you doubt the facts presented, examine the time in which you and I live, and decide if there is a difference. It may not always happen at the same level but, man will always delight in showing off his power by how much he can make other men suffer. Apostle Paul paints this picture of today’s men in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” I am surprised that “irreconcilable” predicted so many years ago, will be as evident as it seems to be in 2019. Looking at the full display of man’s wickedness as he crucified Jesus Christ; the same one who came to rescue him, then you know that there is no limit to his wickedness. No matter who writes the history or what the content is, remember that God has the ultimate and complete detailed record that counts.

 

January 19, 2019

The Power of Love

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You have probably heard this quote by Jimi Hendrix, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” If this statement was true in 1970 when he died, how relevant do you think it is in today’s world? What do you think will happen to peace in a society where the reverse is the case? In other words, the love of power overcomes the power of love. Imagine in your head or maybe in your own case, there’s no need imagining, because it’s already happening; so, take an inventory of the things you have seen and heard.  What seems to have an upper hand, and therefore readily evoked, love or power, and how is it affecting your community? Yours may be the type of society that Lord Alton had in mind when he said that, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. If, unfortunately, this is the condition you have found yourself in, you would probably identify with this online definition of Lord Alton’s statement, “Having power corrupts a man, or lessens his morality, and the more power a man has, the more corrupted he will become. This idiom means that those in power often do not have the people’s best interests in mind.” These humans are perfectly represented by the animals in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. You would think that there is no place for this kind of thinking in the 21st century, but it is still obvious that, according to Orwell, many feels that, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” One rule that will forever have gold all over it says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matt. 7:12 KJV) If you don’t, don’t be surprised when time catches up with you, when “...The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.” (James 5:4 NLT)

 

January 12, 2019

Defiant Leaders

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I am not sure that the leaders of this world know that Jesus is the one who gives them breath. If you are wondering where I got this idea, tell me why they will not follow His instructions. They all ignore the job description given to them in Matt. 20:25-27 “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be slave.”(MSG) In other words, the real leaders are the suffering masses that are being denied their God given rights, and without whose sweats, those in power will not enjoy all the necessities of life they think are theirs  to distribute as they choose. Whether it be chemical or deprivation that they use as weapon against their fellow citizens, they still claim to be caring, compassionate, loving, and that their decisions are for the good of all. May be they are the ones referred to as godless. They will probably be surprised when they discover that all their actions were vividly clear in God’s sight and that as far as our God is concerned, there is nothing like a secret intent. "People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives.” (Prov. 16:2 NLT)

 

December 29, 2018

Advocates for Justice

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. On this last Sabbath of 2018 and also my last blog of the year, I want to focus on what according to Merriam Webster organization, has weighed the heaviest on the minds of most people in 2018 and therefore has won the title, Word of the Year. The 2018 Word of the Year is “Justice”. It was searched 74% more in 2018 than in 2017. What do you think caused this surge in the search for the word Justice? Several possible reasons may include apparent lack of it in the society as seen in the lopsidedness in the decisions made by the powers that be. People could be searching to make sure that the word still retains its original meaning; that it is still what they supposed it to be. This 74% jump may be a sign that as we move forward in the 21st century, there will be more outcries for Justice because it is not forthcoming as 74% of us have indicated. Like the proverbial salt, “but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matt. 5:13) It seems this is about to be the fate of our most cherished Justice, but we should all pray that it will never reach the chaotic “good for nothing” level in our society. Let us uphold Justice in 2019 since we depend on it for the checks and balances needed at every level of our human life. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do Justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8 ESV) Justice is so important that God required it from every king of Israel. “Because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice.” (1 Kings 10:9) If God puts you in any position, He expects the same, because this is what He delights in, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne...” (Psalms 89:14) HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019 to all my readers. May we find “Justice” and strongly determine to be its uncompromising Advocates in 2019.

 

December 22, 2018

Christmas Time is Yule Time

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I read an article from the Merriam Webster organization entitled, “What Puts the ‘Tide’ in ‘Yuletide’?” As you know, Merriam Webster is not a religious entity, but is dedicated to helping the world know the meaning of English words and their origins. I am a subscriber to their “Word of the Day” postings, and sometimes I read the additional information that are added. The content of this article identifies Christmas as the etymological cousin of Yule, and that both cousins are from a “midwinter pagan festival that took place in December.” According to Webster, the pagan celebration Yule drifted to what we know today as Christmas because of the prominence of Christianity in England. This means that whenever we say, Christmas time, we mean Yule time, a pagan festival. As a Christian, I believe everything about the virgin birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (God incarnate). If the world would understand the full meaning of God coming into the world in human form and all that it accomplished, we would be celebrating Him every day. Could it be that the attention the world gives to Christmas, is Satan’s ploy to take away our minds from the joy of daily remembrance of Jesus’s birthday, and so uses the opportunity to continue the deception of who he really is? The world fails to see the camouflage and is therefore deceived to accept the pretense hidden in the elaborate month long celebration. Satan must be rejoicing and having a feast day every December 25 seeing the attendance (in billions) to his Yule celebration. He is very happy knowing that man is very satisfied and their minds so fixed on December 25 that they will not attempt to research to find the true date when Jesus Christ was born. A lot of energy is used, billions of dollars spent, and millions of hours wasted on the type of worship that will eventually qualify for God’s evaluation of “In vain do they worship me.”

 

December 15, 2018

Annual Display Of Love

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s that time of the year again when people run hectare scatter to show that they care for that relative they speak to once every year. What better way to show that we dearly love someone than to buy him or her gift once a year? I wonder how an individual will feel if a gift returns undeliverable because the intended recipient is not alive to claim it; he or she passed away few months ago and you were not aware of it. This says a lot about the depth of the love that your gift is supposed to portray since nobody called to inform you about your relative’s death. It means that you are not only out of touch with the deceased, but with all your relatives. It seems that November and December are more appealing months than any other month, to do good deeds because of the notoriety they carry, and so we all save to find the needy in our society during this period. Who cares about what they go through in the 1st 10 months of the year? What if the demands of those months take so much toll on them that they are too frail to appreciate your expensive year end gifts? Don’t you think that one call a month or even a quarter, will be more valuable to the relative than the once a year gift? The Apostle Peter recommends in 1 Peter 3:8, that we be sympathetic, loving, and compassionate. I’m sure that you will agree with me that one year is too long for people we claim to love to wait for any of these favors to reach them. Jesus commands us in John 15:20, to “...love one another, as I have loved you.” How does He love us? Jer. 31:3 “...I have loved thee with an everlasting love:” This type of love is perpetual, continuous, timeless, unceasing, uninterrupted, unbroken, constant, ceaseless, incessant, and steadily available. It is the kind of love that changes life.

 

December 8, 2018

Container Of Hatred

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I heard a statement this week from former Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming, which I want us from now on, to consider very seriously in our daily lives. You probably heard the same statement, because it was on his eulogy at his friend former president George H. W. Bush’s funeral. He said, “Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in.” I wondered how all the containers either in extremely very close proximity or thousands of miles away listening to him felt at that moment. Unfortunately, many or all the containers who heard him left the 111-year-old Cathedral with all the contents of this corrosive element still in them. You and I have been privileged to get a second chance of being informed that hatred is not friendly to any container that harbors it. Empty yourself of this element if you still have any of it in your system. According to Eugene Peterson in Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred starts fights, but love pulls a quilt over the bickering.” If you really investigate a lot of adult bickering going on in our society, you’ll discover that most of it is caused by pride, envy, highest level of ego, and lack of love. What else will make a person to hate a fellow human being to the bone, and always criticizing every action the person takes, to the point of denigrating the person even in matters that are worthy of praise? The wisest man who ever lived tells us the only place where this abrasive behavior could be seen. Proverbs 10:18 “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” I agree with this statement and I hope that you too will see the foolishness in allowing that which erodes you, to grow inside you. It is nothing but death in the making.

 

December 1, 2018

Acknowledge God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Welcome to the 1st day of the last month of 2018. This means that you only have 31 days to put a finishing touch on all that you set out to accomplish this year when it began. I know that some of us procrastinators, who are somehow behind on our goals, are probably scrambling to reach them and are probably praying one prayer that will not be answered - “Lord, delay the end of the year”. This is not the time to worry about our failures, but to find out why they happened and determine that they will not be repeated. You have probably given up on the idea of goal setting, because none of the last ones you set was accomplished, and so you put it in the category of a chronic disease. I want you to know that there is no chronic disease that our Heavenly Father is not able to heal. It may sound like a minor issue that should not be taken to God and so you decide to bear it yourself. This is almost an act of heathenism. According to Eugene Peterson in Proverbs 3:6, 7, we should trust God in all that we do. “Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God!” “Everything” mentioned here includes goal setting. No wonder the Psalmist says in Psalms 116:2 “Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.” God is never tired of hearing from us. Run to Him! Call upon Him! That’s exactly what I’m doing right now. How about you?

 

November 24, 2018

Tell The Truth

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Do you know the best way to remember the statement you made in a case no matter how long it has been since you made it? You have probably faced the frustrating moment whereby your statement to Mr. A is totally lost, or the sequence of the narration seems to have entirely escaped your memory. You find yourself struggling to make sure that everything you are presenting to Mr. B aligns exactly with how you stated it to Mr. A, but to no avail. There’s one solution to this problem that is guaranteed to work every time, and I’m glad that you know it already - ALWAYS SAY THE TRUTH. It’s that simple, although fear makes it look difficult. If there is anything that will never change no matter the circumstance, it’s the truth. Stick to it and you will find out that it will always come out the same way every time. No wonder the Bible for our own good admonishes us in Proverbs 23:23 to “Buy the truth, and sell it not...” It is the devil that tries to deceive us into believing that twisting the truth will be to our advantage, whereas the Bible rightly tells us in John 8:32 that “...Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Many times, it is the fear of punishment that makes the temptation to tell a lie extremely irresistible, and at the same time blinding us from seeing that the temporary freedom it offers comes with a permanent prison sentence of our conscience. Determine to make the truth your never parting friend, and you will find yourself always happy.

 

Stop The Violence

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. 33,000 is a large number, especially when it is reporting the number of people who lost their bubbly lives in an instant. I was shocked when I heard that our country lost 33,000 innocent souls in one year from gun violence. This is a serious issue and I suggest that we tread very carefully while debating on it, to avoid persuading the rest of the world to conclude that we are a society full of inhumane citizens. We really don’t want to sound so insensitive that we forget to recognize that one tragic death can have a lifelong negative effect on 10 or more other lives. There is no doubt that those who would not like to see this as a serious issue, are probably those who have not directly experienced the loss of a family member from tragedy. There is no other explanation for why a person would want to go through the torture of breaking the world’s age-long golden rule found in Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” You would choose your words very carefully before brushing off the death of 33,000 people as nothing even if your life depends on a base that thrives on the cause of these deaths. We would one day realize that we need each other no matter our differences of opinion, and then you would wish you had condemned this atrocious behavior in its infancy. In 2012, the Sunday Times observed that, “Our democracy has always had a healthy dose of live and let live about it; but sadly not in our day.” Each of us needs to find out what it is that has neutralized the dosage and rendered it unhealthy. If it is violence, why not accept it and resolve to STOP THE VIOLENCE? Imagine 33,000 empty seats at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year.

 

November 10, 2018

Referendum Not To Vote

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In a democratic society, the worst referendum is the referendum against one’s self. How can that happen, you wonder? When an eligible voter decides not to cast a vote, he or she has opened the door for decisions to be made that he or she does not approve.  Every elected official understands an election as a mandate by the citizens for him or her to make decisions on their behalf, including how the constituency should be governed, determine what acceptable behaviors are, and how to regulate them. That is a lot of power given to one person, and there is nothing Christian about staying home on an Election Day on the premise that politicians are bad anyway. With so many social disorders around us, it’s a disservice to Christianity for anybody to recluse himself or herself from a democratic exercise such as voting. If you are one of such Christians, do not be surprised   to wake up one day and find out that a person who has no regard for the 10 commandments found in Exodus chapter 20, has been elected as the leader or representative of your constituency.  You have indirectly supported the perpetuating of the same moral decadence you are crying against. Whether you accept it or not, every society is a mirror of the people they put in office. If you want to live in a society with high moral values, that upholds impeccable ethical standards, and willing to call a spade a spade; vote for candidates with such qualities. If there’s none available, then do not be afraid to ask your fellow believers to vote for you. Unfortunately, everyone is asking for a change, but no one is ready to make the change.

 

November 3, 2018

Wolf Wanna Be

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s amazing how far man is willing to allow his delusion to lead him. Surprisingly, he has chosen a day in October to display to the world that he’s not satisfied with the elevated position God has given him above all other creatures. You probably heard or saw men this week acting out the word “lycanthropy” - “a delusion that one has become a wolf.” It may have been represented in a different form but portraying the same idea of man claiming some power that does not belong to him and delighting at seeing other people scared. You may wonder what it profits a man to have the appearance of a devil. Nothing except if one knows himself to be the devil personified. I don’t know the costume you chose to wear this week or what you made the world around you to think of you. It’ll be worth your while to protect the quality that God saw when He made you and declared that “...It was very good...” (Gen. 1:31) God made you a loving creature, remain so. There’s no gain in portraying anything that is in enmity with that love and care for each other. There was once a man, actually a monarch who became an animal, but he did not enjoy the 7 year experience. He delighted in being seen as a tyrant and to be feared, and God allowed him to get a taste of how it feels to be feared. He eventually accepted that all power belongs to God; his reasoning returned to him and he was restored to the seat that so much thrilled him. (Daniel 4) Terrorist costumes do not look good on any man no matter the form. You probably didn’t know that making people feel uneasy is an act of terrorism. Now you know!

 

October 27, 2018

Justice According To Man

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The very mention of the word “Justice” carries with it an aura of fairness. Most times, however, those who find themselves in the hands of the ones who have been given the power to make justice a reality, are surprised at the crookedness embedded in the world’s handling of today’s judgements. Whereas justice carries with it an impression that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, our society boldly twists it and makes it dependable on who owns the gander. The powers that be care less of what anybody thinks of their decisions and so feel free to stuff their opinions in our throats. We watch before our eyes as Mr. B goes to prison today for the same thing that Mr. A did yesterday and is moving around as a free citizen. These are without concern for what anybody might say or what the little conscience left in them is urging them to do. Thank God that “He is not a man...” (Numbers 23:19) It almost sounds as if He is our only source of fairness left. He is our only guarantee that worldly status will not always be used in deciding our cases. If you haven’t, I pray that you find out soon that of a truth “...God is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34) Man will not only disappoint you in this but will also garner as many people of like passion as possible to drown your cries against it in the name of majority. No matter what our friends think or what special favors we enjoy from our friendships, thus says the Lord outweighs all opinions.

 

 

September 22, 2018

Are You Male Or Female?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Before you know it, everything will be accepted or rejected based on how politically correct they are. You may want to know who it is that is claiming the sole right to redefine the natural world as it has been handed down to our generation. There are too many of them and so I will not attempt to make any list. However, I will caution that you be careful when dealing with a majority of the so called experts or intellectuals in the academic world. This is where the statement in Acts 26:24 really makes sense, “Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” Instead of accepting the truth, we choose to investigate every interpretation we don’t agree with in search of reasons to change something which is already a common knowledge. You have probably heard of a professor at a medical school in Sweden who is being investigated because one of his female students complained that he mentioned in his lecture that there are biological and anatomical differences between male and female. He refused to apologize and is facing a possibility of not teaching the nature to nature class again. The problem our society faces is that nobody will come to the professor’s assistance. Everybody is going to stand and watch him lose his job, thereby opening the floodgates of senseless complaints. The irony in this is that the same society complaining that the new iPhone doesn’t fit the typical biological female hand, is the same that will turn around and refute the differences. According to this smart medical student, women have been forced to modulate their behaviors for their own safety from mutilation and sterilization. In other words, they have not always been the way they are today. My Bible says that in the beginning, God made one male and one female, and I accept it to be so. Are you confused as to whether you are male or female?

 

September 15, 2018

Man's Doctrine, Not Bible In Schools

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Who really benefits from the enforcement of separation of church and state in public schools? We are all aware that it is the reason why the Bible is not allowed to be seen or taught in public schools for the fear that it will be used to indoctrinate the children. Today, there are complaints in almost every Christian denomination for an apparent lack of interest among the youth in church related activities. Researches have been conducted, committees formed, yet nobody seems to consider that there could be a relationship between this behavior and the removal of the Bible from schools’ curriculum. An area of a child’s life which is supposed to be reinforced by the triangle of the Home, Church, and School, is suddenly left to two - Home and Church. Every triangle requires 3 connected points to be complete and until this disconnection is fixed, our neighborhoods will not get better. The other problem is that nobody cares to find out what has been used to replace the Bible in schools.  We deceive ourselves by thinking that because the Bible is not taught, nothing is taught that can influence the beliefs of our children. Consider the different social groups that are demanding special recognition of rights that they claim are denied them and how their successes in the courts of law have affected the school curriculum. They have subtly deployed the teachers to proselytize the children in their beliefs and we have without resistance agreed to pay the teachers to do the work. The result is that the children grow up believing what they hear most of the hours that they are awake, and it becomes a struggle for the parents to convince them to accept what they (the parents) believe. The choice is obvious when these children are old enough to establish their own homes - have nothing to do with Christianity. What do they teach those children in school that makes them so antiChristian? Has anybody cared to find out?

 

September 8, 2018

Nothing is New

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The more one reads the Bible, the more its pages come alive as if it is written today. Have you ever doubted 1 Kings 4:30, that King Solomon was the wisest man? The only reason you would not accept such special recognition given to him is if you do not know his source of wisdom and accept that it is also the source of all wisdom in the world today. The Apostle James has taken care of the problem by directing us to the right source of all wisdom. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5. I mentioned King Solomon because of what he was directed by the Holy Spirit to write in Eccl. 1:9 that “...there is nothing new under the sun.” No matter where you are in the world and based on whatever the events are that are happening around you, have you noticed any difference between what you see now and what you have observed before or what you read in history? The similarities between yesteryears and today are so vivid that one does not need the highest level of formal education to notice them. It may be more pronounced in some areas of the society than in others, but brothers and sisters, everything happening around us is a repetition of the same events but may be in greater magnitude. If I may borrow from our everyday language, “It is a vicious circle.” Whatever opinion you have about today’s politics and politicians, men’s rhetoric, man’s love of money, evil in the society, cheating to get ahead, marginalization of the poor and the less privileged, man’s misuse of power, hypocrisy of those who call themselves worshippers of God, and the list goes on and on; they have always existed. The question is, which of the things we frown at as evil, do we help to perpetuate?

 

September 1, 2018

Religious Persecution

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The world today acts as if persecution of Christians only occurs in countries where majority are not Christians and public killing of Christians is practiced. With this mindset, it’s difficult to notice other forms of religious persecution occurring even among those who claim to have religious freedom. It’s no freedom when someone cannot have a Bible on his or her desk at work, cannot express his or her belief to a coworker, is not allowed to be absent from work for religious reasons like a day of worship, and many others. If there are more Christians in a country where these restrictions are given, then it means that being in the majority has no benefits. How can this be possible? Why would small groups be given more voice in legislative decisions than much larger groups? Are the Christians afraid to make their beliefs known, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is God? It looks like there are other ways of suffering religious persecution that do not involve physically killing an individual. With the stroke of a pen, a Commander in Chief wanting to appease a minority base, can strip Christians everything that makes them peculiar. I wish that the Christians will wake up and be watchful whenever new bills are introduced so they can understand all the implications and hidden facts in the document. We cannot afford to be quiet and watch different facets of minority groups control the minds of those authorized to make laws of the land, thereby determining how we express our beliefs.  If Christians suffer in the Middle East because they are in minority, why should they also suffer in societies where they are majority? Our keeping quiet may open the door for the stones to be recruited to do the work we are called to do - cry out.

 

August 25, 2018

A House Divided Cannot Stand

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We have a lot going on around us today, and I mean a lot.  They multiply so much each day that we are finding it difficult to cope. When those who are expected to find a solution to a problem spend most of their time arguing against each other, it’s a sign that you cannot expect anything to be accomplished. This is true whether it’s the smallest unit of one family or a much larger unit of one country. A home in which the parents argue or fight most of the time will in most cases end their days with a load of unfinished activities, and the piling of unfinished duties will compound to stressful life in the home. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus, you have no reason not to accept His statement found in Luke 11:17 that “...Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.” If the words used here are not graphic enough for you, the writer of Mark reporting the same statement presents it in a more familiar way, “It cannot stand”. The word that Jesus used is “every” which means that there’s no exception. Satan, the enemy finds it easy to enter every household, group, or kingdom that cannot get their acts together because everybody is busy defending himself or herself leaving the unit unprotected. Erosion outside the house or on the street is easier to handle than the one inside the house. The one inside, shakes the house because the foundation is broken and so the resolution will be to leave the house to fall. No matter how small or big a human unit is, civil war will destroy it. In his 1858 “A house divided against itself cannot stand” speech, the Republican presidential nominee, Abraham Lincoln said, “I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall —but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” This is also my wish for every human unit from the smallest household to the occupants of the largest territory, and from the weakest family to the strongest kingdom. Stop the CIVIL WAR!!!

 

August 18, 2018

God's Word Online

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I received a WhatsApp text not too long ago in which a preacher strongly condemned the use of Bible Apps on the phone. I felt bad because of the way the message came through to me and hoped that those who have heard me speak against using the phone in the church did not feel the same way I felt after listening to this preacher. I think we are getting the act of worship wrong and so I think that this is a good time to clarify my stand on phone usage during worship service and hope that you will be able to separate me from those whose demands I perceive are somehow different from my expectations.  The reason I do not allow the phone in the church while services are going on is because people tend to be checking their emails and going on multimedia sites, including watching videos, which I think is disrespectful to God. I do not see anything wrong in someone reading God’s words from a piece of paper, on a billboard, from the telephone or any electronic device. How do you think the generation that read the scriptures from the scrolls felt as they watched the generation after them transitioning from the scroll to the printed book form? I remember the first time the electronic Bible came out and the effect it had on the search of the scriptures. Those who had them were always quicker in finding quotations than anybody using the Bible in book form and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that advancement. I think that it’s a good thing when a person values the Bible as important enough that it should be one of the Apps in any electronic device he or she has. What if a person memorizes the entire Bible and do not need any device to help them remember any verse, are we going to condemn them too? We are seeing the newspapers, snail mail, and other printed forms of transmitting information becoming extinct and our generation becoming less and less interested in getting their information in printed paper form and so it is a good idea to learn to speak in the language that this generation understands. It’s okay if they don’t read them regularly, after all those who carry printed Bibles do not read them regularly. Can you imagine having the Bible on the telephones in countries where they are prohibited? I do not see any loss of value in the Scriptures that are not in paper form. This is the 21st century. Who knows what the new technology would bring tomorrow?

 

August 11, 2018

Protect The 1st Amendment

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Enjoy the 1st Amendment while it lasts. Before you question my concern for the life of this important amendment, let’s make sure we know what it is. “Amendment 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Even from a layman’s understanding of the law, don’t you smell something in the air about to affect the survival of this right? There is a reason why it is the No. 1 of all the amendments and I don’t understood why everybody is keeping quiet while it is being attacked. This is the fundamental freedom of all that makes us citizens of the USA. Every other right crumbles at the fall of this particular one. Unfortunately, people seem to compartmentalize it, and so when a certain section of it they think does not seem to concern them is affected, they look the other way and feel that it is “their problem”. WRONG! It should be seen as one amendment and that a separation of any section of it will almost be a death sentence to the entire amendment. I thank God for giving our founding fathers the wisdom to know the need for all the freedom protected by the 1st Amendment and for making sure that they were all added. We should not be complacent and watch it being taken away. Life in the countries where there’s no such freedom, is like living in hell. We want to always start our counting from the No. 1, worship God without being told how, and be able to say where and when it hurts.

 

August 4, 2018

Precious In God's Sight

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. What is it that thrills your soul? Would you accept Thoro Harris’ view that it is Jesus that should thrill our souls? This week cooperate America got a thrill that was blasted all over the news media - Apple became the 1st American company worth more than $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000). With the 7.2 billion of us in the world today, that will mean about $139.00 per person assuming there’s anything equal in the world's distribution of wealth. Although you may not feel excited to receive $139.00, there’s someone somewhere in the world who will celebrate like a millionaire with that amount. This achievement means that Apple is worth more than the GDP of every country in the world except 15. I am happy to read that with all the accomplishments; the Apple CEO still thinks that people are more important than Apple’s financial returns. Unfortunately, there are many in the world today who have no regards for people of lower class, but Mr. Cook recognizes that it is “diversity that yields products like this,” and eventually translates to Apple’s greatness. “Our products are all about the people who use them,” he says. Don’t you wish that every other person will see other human beings in the same light, above everything created by God? Man is so important that God sent His Son to die on the cross that man might be saved. He makes it clear in Isa. 43:4 that we are precious in His sight so much as Eugene Peterson puts it, “I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” You are more important than anything you can see or think of, including $1 trillion multiplied by 1 trillion a trillion times to infinity.

 

July 28, 2018

Judgment Day Is Coming

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. This world is in such an up and down motion that every Christian's desire would be that the Lord Jesus Christ will come today and take us to Heaven. We wish the world would remain in its upward condition and never go down, but it doesn’t. We were jubilating last week for the successful rescue of the 13 Thailand soccer players, but this week, we mourn the death of 17 passengers in a dock boat accident in Missouri. This incident becomes more painful when one realizes that 9 of the victims were members of one family. This time, the volunteers could not do much for the victims due to severe weather condition. At the same time, we are hearing reports of ‘firenadoes’ in California. Unfortunately, many times when tragedies of this magnitude occur, those who are not affected tend to attribute them to God’s punishment as if to say that those who are alive are better than those who lost their lives. Belief of this kind is not Biblically based and is a misrepresentation of who God is. Time is coming through when those who fail to confess that Jesus is Lord and King, the Savior of the world, will be destroyed in a lake of fire, but it is not now. Judgment day is coming when everyone will be rewarded for the life lived on earth. Therefore the Apostle Peter asked in 2 Peter 3:11 “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” This is the right time for anyone who hates the judgment fire which will be worse than any firenado, to turn to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. Don’t judge God’s children before it is time.

 

July 21, 2018

Brotherly Love Beyond Borders

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It’s amazing what man can accomplish when they come together and demonstrate the love of God which is hidden in them. No matter how many weapons of mass destruction we can manufacture and no matter who we plan to use them on, we should never forget that we are children of one father in Heaven. One must be the devil himself exemplified to have felt anything but joy at the rescue of the 13 soccer players from the cave in Thailand last week. That is what should be referred to as United Nations, not when people with ulterior motives meet to create enmity in the hearts of men. It vividly brought out what the Psalmist was trying to draw our attention to when he wrote in Psalms 133 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” The world will become a better place when we forget our differences and endeavor to work together for the good of each other.  Our creator saw this potential in us when he declared in Genesis 11:6 that “...nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” It is an innate ability we have that will bring out the best in us if we can reject all the differences that the devil tries to deceive us with, and work in one accord. Let brotherly love continue.

 

July 14, 2018

Appreciate Your Friends

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One thing that the devil has mastered very well and is the best at it is deceit. He has perfected his game so much that we continue to succumb even after vowing that he is not going to succeed again. Those who believe in God identify Satan as an enemy and so he approaches his target as a friend. He may try to convince you to abandon your friends claiming that they do not have good intentions for you. His representatives are also trained to treat their neighbors in the same way and we fall prey to their crafts. I wonder if the wise man King Solomon, was not victim of other kings with such skills, judging from his admonition in Prov. 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Be careful when a long-time enemy suddenly declares friendship with you pretending to lavish love on you and trying to cause you to abandon those who have been your friends all along. There is a reason why some kisses are referred to as “butterfly kisses”. If you don’t know, take some time to watch the butterflies pollinate flowers and you will no doubt be careful the next time you are conned to relish advances of a long time enemy. One other advice worth noting from the wise king in the same chapter 27:10 says, “Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not...” Sometimes those family friends are so close that it’s hard to think that they are not part of the family. Don’t be the one to break the bond because you may never know when you would need those friendships and then you will realize that a friend in need is a friend indeed. I’ll conclude with another quotation from someone who has been in a leadership position and has gone through the experience, Prov. 18:24 “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly...”

 

July 7, 2018

The Civility of the Uncivil

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Have you noticed how the majority of people are crying out loud for civility in our society while at the same time they themselves are very uncivil? If you are thinking that this type of behavior is only found among those considered to be the low class of the society, you are wrong. It seems, unfortunately, that the higher a person's status in society, the worse the person's ethical behavior, if it still exists. Once upon a time, it was expected that a person would show some dignity and ignore some comments recognizing that they are sometimes made to test one's maturity. It appears that there's not much difference between the behaviors of people considered to be in today's upper echelon of the society and that of the ones on the street. There's that "I will not let you outtalk me" mentality even if it empties my reputation. We live in a society where no one is ready to turn the other cheek. I don't know if you ever heard of the story of a man who was visited by a naked crazy man white he was taking a bath. The man ran out of his bathroom naked, in pursuit of the crazy man who ran away with the pant and shirt he was planning to wear after bathing. As you picture two men running on the street, how would you describe them? The wisest man that ever lived, knew what he was saying when he warned us in Proverbs 26:4 "Don't answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are." How would you describe yourself after responding to your husband's, wife's, neighbor's, coworker's, classmate's, brother's, sister's, or anybody's senseless comments, civil or uncivil?

 

June 30,  2018

Movers and Shakers

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Whether you believe it or not, thanks to George Orwell, “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Movers and shakers do exist in our society. It’s your problem if you do not recognize the cloud they carry because they themselves are aware of it and try their best to make sure that they move and shake when it would be felt the most. It’s amazing how one man’s announcement of his plans to retire can send millions of people scrambling on how to reduce what they think are potential negative effects on people with opposing views. But no one can be compared with the greatest Mover and Shaker the world has ever known, Jesus Christ our Savior. His effect started to be felt right when He was still in the crib. The reigning king at the time He was born was so rattled after hearing of His entry that he resorted to killing all the children born within that period, hoping that Jesus would be among the children killed. Bethlehem and the surrounding cities were transformed during His 3.5 years of service. You can tell from the reactions of members of His inner circle when they heard His retirement announcement that there can never be another Mover or Shaker like Him. One of the members pulled Him aside and warned Him to desist from making such statements. He did retire, but not before leaving to his followers a formula for moving and shaking the world. Those who came immediately after Him moved and shook the world with this formula so much that the tremor is still being felt today. They took the gospel to Europe and Asia amidst hardships. If they could accomplish so much without the technology available to us today, they have every right to blame us for our inactivity. The gospel we are enjoying today has been passed on to us through the hard work and perseverance of those brave Movers and Shakers. What are we passing on to generations after us? “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14 "All Power" to do it has been promised to us, therefore go ye.

 

June 23, 2018

Free Others, Free Yourself

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Amidst all the commotion and confusion in the world especially around us this week, there's at least one positive event to report; ten women in Saudi Arabia received their driver licenses. You may be wondering, what has that got to do with me? Yes, in a selfish society where human feeling is lost, it will not sound strange to hear such a comment. It is easy to look the other way when the cries of helpless people are heard, claiming that it is not your fault that their condition is not like yours. According to the Apostle Paul however, we ought to "Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep." (Rom. 12:15) If we do not find any other reason to rejoice on this Saudi announcement, why not for the fact that there's no other country in the world that denies women driving privileges. The Saudi men will soon realize that they are also going to enjoy a lot more freedom than before. You may be looking at it from the point of view of having more time for themselves, but remember that in situations like this one, there's also some psychological freedom enjoyed by both the givers and takers of the law. Jesus tells a story of a judge who by his own admission as recorded in Luke 18:4 "...don't fear God or care about people, v 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!" The moral of the story, having compassion on other people will help your sanity.

 

June 16, 2018

Big Head

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I was taken aback this week when on the “historic day” of 06/12/2018, someone made a very bold statement that “Nothing happens in this world unless we say so.” You probably remember few times in the Bible when men felt the same way and the responses they received. One very popular one was the King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled the world. According to Daniel 4:31, while the statement, “...Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” was still in his mouth, he heard a voice putting him in his rightful place. He ended up walking on his 4 limbs instead of 2 and ate grass. Another unfortunate one happened in the judgment hall as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was being tried by Pilate. The Apostle John records this claim from Pilate in John 19:10 “Then Pilate said to Him, are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify You and power to release You?” It’s mind-boggling the distance we allow our minds to quickly travel, the moment we see ourselves possessing a little bit above the average of anything, money, power, education, beauty, etc. Our Lord had kept quiet to Pilate’s rhetoric up to this point but was not going to ignore such a senseless claim. Pilate and his likes of the 21st century, need to be reminded that there’s a higher authority without whom there will be no world. John 19:11 “Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above...” I hope that all of us would use this as a point of reference whenever tempted to feel that the size of our head is bigger than others.

 

June 9, 2018

Natural Disaster

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don't know about you, I feel that we have had enough of these so called natural disasters that are almost becoming a daily experience. Recent volcanoes in Hawaii and Guatemala are evidences that the elements of this world are getting as tired as we humans have been signaling for many years. Rightly did the Apostle Paul as I quoted recently, say in Rom. 8:22 that "...the whole creation groans..." Since I am a novice in volcano eruptions, I am going to leave it for the experts to discuss and focus more on human lives that have been affected. Can you imagine losing 36 of your family members in about a twinkling of an eye? These people might have watched with amazement the Kilauea volcano Fuego volcano and the Kilauea also, and you would
discover that volcanoes have one common weakness - the inability to differentiate between mansions and huts or bungalows, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, the powerful and the powerless (I saw a picture of a policeman outrunning the civilians in search of safety). I hope we have not started giving these a Revelation name such as in Rev. 16:1 "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." They will happen though, but what are your plans since you know the certainty of God's Revelations?

 

June 2, 2018

 Koinonia

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Koinonia wins! Who would have thought that in a country that discourages anything that has Christian connotation in their curriculum, will expect their children to correctly spell a word dressed in Christian meaning? Koinonia, a word that best describes the oneness that exists in the fellowship of Christ’s followers,  has in one day become a buzzword of the general public.  This word will become more meaningful if the children we are expecting to spell it will see it expressed in the lives of those coaching and judging them. The world will be a different place to live if the unity that is shown in Koinonia will become a standard lifestyle of the leaders of this world and their subjects, the teachers and their students, the rich and the poor, the aristocrats and the commoners, parents and their children, and everybody. It may sound unachievable, but according to Acts 2:42-47, it was in an environment such as this that the Christian community started. No one wanted to accumulate more than the other because nobody counted anything as his or hers. The result was an exponential growth that is yet to be explained because there were peace and trust among brethren. The world needs more lived Koinonia than spelled Koinonia.

 

May 26, 2018

Cashless Society

Good morning an HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I was kinda startled when I read a BBC News article of April 6, 2018, with the heading, "The Swedes rebelling against a cashless society", not because I didn't think it would happen, but because I didn't know it's already happening. Some of the experiences of their elderly and the less privileged in terms of technology made me look again at Rev. 13:17 "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." I don't know if Sweden is being used as an experimental ground, but don't be surprised when it becomes the only way to conduct business in the world. Don't you think that a cashless society can make it easy to enforce the law of Rev. 13:17? Do you think that having an internet connection, a smartphone, and a computer, can free you from some of the challenges of such a
law? The demand here is allegiance. You cannot buy or sell unless you have the mark, and you cannot have the mark unless you have allied yourself to the authority of the beast. As a reminder, Apostle Paul poses this question in Rom. 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?" Accepting the mark so that you can buy or sell is a vote for the devil and thus a rejection of Christ's death on the cross. Those who will make this mistake are not doing it because they don't know that we ought to obey God rather than men, but because they have taken away their focus from the light of the world and placed it on the necessities of life instead. If this ever becomes one of your struggles, remember that our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from any danger.

 

May 19, 2018

Groaning Creation

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don’t think there is anybody living in the 21st century America who does not have a clue of what the Apostle Paul means in Rom. 8:22 when he says that “...we know the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now”. One human instinct is to rush to a groaning person and offer as much help as is within your power to make his/her life more comfortable. But there is not much one can do if this offer for help is rejected because of human pride. I want to remind us as I have done before, that we cannot continue to do things the way we have always done them and expect different results. We know what is wrong with our society and unless we accept the truth, our experience will continue repeating itself.  Our usual defense has been that mass murderers are of low mental status. If the report holds to be true in this case, that there were two people involved, I wonder what our explanation will be this time. Will I be right to say that a person of low mental status was able to identify another of equal status and was able to bond with him to accomplish one purpose. Unfortunately, those who claim to know better are yet to find a common ground in their purpose. I am almost beginning to accept man’s claim that the robot he made with his own hands is smarter than he is. I don’t think that the robot will give away so much of its reasoning power to money.  The unfortunate thing is that those who suffer the most ills caused by our decisions, are those who do not have anything to do with the perpetuation of it. Those who have the power to make the needed changes will only show up on TV and display “TV compassion” which you and I know ends on the TV. When the camera is off, you find these grieving families still where they were before - in need of hope and comfort. We all need hope and comfort because you never know if you are not affected today that you may not be tomorrow. Where is your hope and comfort? It gives me joy to know that King Jesus is going to put an end to all money-controlled legislations, and as He puts it in Rev. 21:5 “...Make all things new...” The instruction in that verse is to look, and so I am looking forward to that glorious day. How about you?

 

May 12, 2018

When They Say Peace

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There seems to be a lot of peace ideas looming in the air or if you like, euphoria of possible peace. I hope you don’t interpret this to mean that I’m being pessimistic or anti peace; on the contrary, I love peace as much as you do. I am, however, trying as hard as possible not to jump as high as the rest of the world in jubilation for the apparent successes in the events of recent days, for the simple reason that it poses a strong temptation to those who like to gloat. You can blame me if you want for not being as enthusiastic as you are, because I’m concerned more on figuring out the message the Lord is giving us in what we have observed so far than on what we are told has taken place. His promise in Amos 3:7 is, “Indeed, the Sovereign LORD never does anything until He reveals His plans to His servants the prophets”. Did we miss something? Could it be then that the Apostle Paul’s message to the Thessalonians might be relevant to us in 2018? 1 Thess. 5:3 “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” The only way to avoid the travail of childbirth is to shun getting pregnant, because it is too late when one is already pregnant. Do you get my drift? We all wish that this is not the time Apostle Paul is referring to, but what if it is? None of us can tamper with God’s clock especially if He sees that the time is right, and all conditions have been met - it’s time for the pregnant woman to deliver. If this is the time, it then means that our “high fives” were premature. Eugene Peterson renders it this way, that it’s in the midst of these congregations, “...We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!” that suddenly everything will fall apart. Are you sure things are not already falling apart? Do you have an idea when this will happen or what regime/s will usher it in? Watch and pray!

 

May 5, 2018

Try, Try Again

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As we enter a new graduation season, I want to remind us that there are some who started this journey but will not qualify to receive their diplomas at the same time with the rest of their classmates. As much as you don't want this to be the experience of anyone you know, we must also accept the fact that there are not many academic institutions with 100% graduation rate. What do we do then with a person whose graduation has been delayed? I'm not sure you noticed that I used the word "delayed". Yes, I want us to see it as a delay and communicate it the same way to anybody we know who is worried that he/she is not going to receive a diploma in this graduation season. People need to understand that failure in one thing does not mean total failure in life and that we should not make it to appear so. The old saying that "If at first you don't succeed, Try, try, try again" has not lost its values and benefits, and is still as good today as the first day it ever entered human mind. We should stop interpreting one time failure as no hope. The warning from prophet Micah 7:8 is "Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again..." This is a sign of a better tomorrow and so rejoicing over a person's delayed success may come back to haunt you. According to the wisest man that ever lived, the sun does not stay down when it falls, but gets up again to make you and I happy. Eccl.  1:5 "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." Can you imagine what will happen if the sun ever stays in its fallen state, refusing to rise the next day? May we all learn this act from the sun. Rise from your fall and encourage others to do the same.

 

April 28,2018

The Root Of All Evil

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We all hate evil and yet we find it difficult to stay away from it. Have you ever asked yourself why? If there’s an epidemic of a disease today, a warning will be issued informing everybody to avoid identified causes of the disease and everybody who wants to live will make sure that they follow the instructions to the letter. How is it then that nobody seems to pay attention to the source of evil? In this case, we are not only given the cause, but deep to the root. We know that if we do not want a tree to survive, we get rid of the roots, but in the case of evil, we fertilize the roots. You probably know what I am referring to, found in Apostle Paul’s letter to his adopted son in the ministry, 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” It is because of this love relationship that people will give their bodies for different acts not worth mentioning and regret many years later. Many are telling lies to take away from those they think have too much. Many are offering it to allure others to act as they want. Many are killing others to  get it. Many are going to war to take away territories belonging to others. Identity theft has become one the fastest and most desired money making schemes. Many illegitimate businesses are started today with the sole purpose of gauging others of their hard earned money, and on, and on. Can you think of any evil today that is not rooted in a desire to amass wealth? The passage above says that it is the root of all evil, which means that no evil is exempt. Is money evil? No, but the love if it is where all evils are nourished. Do you love money and if so, how deep is your root?

 

April 21, 2018

Forgive and Forget

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The Igbos of Nigeria have a proverb that implies that grievance is forgotten when death occurs. In other words, if you are no longer on speaking terms with a person and he/she dies or someone from the immediate family dies, it’s expected that you will let go your anger and pay a condolence visit. I will, however, add that it’s better to stay away from the bereaved if they pose a threat to your life. If not, just go but consider resisting the temptation to talk. You are the most miserable of all men and in need of a special therapy if you find it difficult to forgive a dead person. What a better time to practice the “forgive and forget” lifestyle than when your adversary is dead, even if you have struggled with this concept all your life? Accept that the competition is over, no more rivalry between you and the person. How long are you going to wait on the battle ground you created, before packing your weapons and go home since you have no enemy to fight against, except you? Yea, you re the one receiving all the beatings since there’s no one to take them from you. Peter asked Jesus in Matt. 18:21, how many times he should continue forgiving an erring man or woman, “...till seven times?” I guarantee you, he will not ask such a question about a dead person because a dead person will wrong you zero times. Stop carrying the self-imposed burden which will hurt you in the end. I feel that death is an equalizer, a ground leveler, and that we should be satisfied when it occurs and accept that there is “No victor, no vanquished”. What do you think? Would you be willing to take this stand and bury the hatchet today and whenever anybody you don’t get along with kicks the bucket?

 

April 14, 2018

Human Dignity

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The preservation of human dignity seems to be something very important to Pope Francis. In his address to the U. S. congress on 09/24/15, he said, “The figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being...You are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image an likeness fashioned by God on every human face.” This week, he has expanded the importance of defending the value of all human lives to include the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant and warning that it is wrong to uphold an ideal of holiness that recognizes one form of injustice but ignores others. How do we know if we are defenders of the rights and dignity of all humans created in the image of God? We cannot do this well until we have accepted without an iota of doubt that every man and woman was created in the image of God. The realization of this fundamental premise will control how we value each other and help us to accept the equality of God’s image in all of us. The result will be a rule-of-thumb that is Biblical, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 7:12)

 

April 7,2018

Man's Tradition

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I want to remind you of the quotation I gave you last week from Gal. 6:7, that warns us against allowing ourselves to be misled into thinking that God can be manipulated. I am repeating this warning because I'm worried that we may not be taking it very seriously. It was Jesus Himself who told us in Matt. 7:13 that an activity is not considered right because of the number of people participating in it. Instead, be careful because a large number is in many cases, an indication that something is not right. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:" That something is made to look Holy, does not mean that it's Holy. I asked last week what egg hunting has to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ or Easter. Many in the Christian community today take Easter and Christmas to be so sacred and religious that these are the only days in a year that they remember to worship God. Record shows that church attendance and offering are highest on those days. Unfortunately, these were pagan rituals brought into the church by a Roman emperor, Constantine who in an attempt to preserve his government, tried to unite his sun worship and Christianity by claiming that he too was a Christian. Not only have many today embraced these traditions, they are also defending their decision to worship God on Sundays as God ordained and have made Constantine a Saint. All through the scriptures, we see that our Father in Heaven is very particular. I hope this catches your attention, Col. 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

 

March 31, 2018

Via Dolorosa

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. No level of re-enactment will be like the real events about 2000 years ago when Jesus carried the cross Via Dolorosa, the Way of Suffering. The anguish was a lot worse than the pretend look of the actors today. It was so bad that it caused a strong seasoned fisherman like Peter, to deny that he ever knew the accused, so that he might not be put through the same ordeal. Today's actors see their spectators eating some ice cream and drinking some soda and know that they can have some of that at the end of their act. There was no such merriment for He who bore the cross for us 2000 years ago, but a dark grave instead. The actors cannot handle the weight of their own sins, but Jesus carried the sins of the whole world. As good as these acts are to remind us of the cost of our sins to God, the devil still tries to belittle the events of that precious weekend by making the world hunt for eggs instead of searching for the risen Christ. What has an egg to do with the resurrection? The children who hunt for eggs this weekend, will teach their children to hunt eggs because their mothers took them egg hunting, and so continues generation after generation of egg hunters. Thus is satan made happy because many are denied access to the source of water that they can drink and never thirst again. Do you know why Jesus died, observed the Sabbath in the grave, and what His resurrection means to you? If you know, tell the whole world what you know starting from your own household. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap." (Gal. 6:7)

 

March 24, 2018

Be Silent Before God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How would you feel if you were the one to answer the who, when, where, what, and how questions that God posed to Job? You probably haven't directly been asked those questions, but you and I from time to time, show the behaviors that prompted that query. Since you want to assume that God has never asked you such questions, why not also accept that we deserve the same type of interrogation whenever our behavior gives an impression of doubt or lack of faith in who God is and what He can do? I'm sure that you would be as stunned as Job and will if we have not lost our minds; take the same stance found in Job 40:4 "...I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." Unfortunately, you and I continue talking, thereby making the matter worse. I urge you to read Job 38 and 39 for the questions and 40 for the grace and mercy of our creator. It's amazing that one so powerful and wise is still reachable and cares for us so much as to give us His air to breath even when we fail to acknowledge Him as sovereign. Compare it with what man does with every little power he gets. He calls everything his own and is ready to close the boarders so that no one can enter or enjoy "his" acquired possessions. All mineral resources become his including water, and he feels that it is in his power to determine who gets and who does not. Let him stand before God and answer the questions Job faced and he will be dumbfounded like Job. Which of the things we claim as ours are we responsible for bringing into existence? All of us, therefore, need to take off our earthly king crowns and place them at God's feet, for He is the only one who has the right to be a King. We may be surprised when we go through experiences of this life or when some events take place, but nothing surprises our God. He knows all about our tomorrow.

 

March 17, 2018

Walk With God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. My mind has been preoccupied lately with 4 words that mean so much to me found in Gen. 5:22 and repeated in v 24 - "...Enoch walked with God". You will understand the intimacy of the relationship that existed between these two after reading Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" As their communion got deeper, God found in Enoch a man too good to be left in the world and so God took him to Heaven. The history of every man before and after Enoch the 7th from Adam ended with "and he died", except him. Have you thought of what it will take for your history to end with (insert your name) walked with God? It does not matter whether we are recognized or not by those around us as walking with God since they are not in our personal walk with God. If we would use the prophet Amos' statement as our yardstick, we can conclude that this is a sign that our lifestyle is in agreement with God's expectations. Enoch's experience gives hope to those who have made up their minds to walk with God no matter the circumstances they face. Yes, hope because judging from my posts in the last 2 weeks "It is appointed unto man once to die" but our Savior has promised those who walk with Him "...though he were dead, yet shall he live:" (Jn. 11:25) First things first, are we walking with God?

 

March 10, 2018

Thou Shalt Surely Die!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I thought that Satan would have stopped his lie of "...Ye shall not surely die:" Gen. 3:4) after seeing that we are dying. His strategy this time is to deceive man into trusting and depending on what he (man) created and named Artificial Intelligence. The very name of this invention exposes its limitations. This and what science refers to as Virtual Reality are exactly what their names say they are make-believe. The same deceiver who cheated our first parents in Eden is now telling their children that they can download the consciousness of a dead person so that the person can carry on conversations as if alive. As curious as our first parents were, many of their children are still allowing themselves to be deceived especially since it has a potential to make one rich. Science is using the same feeling of immortality that got our parents hooked on listening to Satan as an incentive to desire this new idea. Many of Adam's and Eve's children believe this illusion so much that they are paying money for their own brains to be downloaded so that there will be a clone of them that will live forever.  Their memories, feelings, and beliefs will continue to exist since robots don't die. You probably have heard of Bina48. Before you get carried away by what the people who created it claim that it can do, remember that your brain does not operate on its own. All the parts of the human body are interdependent. The brain interprets information that it receives from other parts of the body, unlike Bina48 that operates without this stimulation.  We should, therefore, interpret it according to its name - "Artificial". In other words, God's warning has not changed, "...thou shalt surely die." (Gen. 2:17)

 

March 3, 2018

Inevitable Appointment

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The Apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminds us of one appointment we tend to forget. We may not want to acknowledge it, but it is a guaranteed fact that each person who enters this world will one day honor their own appointed time. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die..." (Heb. 9:27) After reading a verse like this one, we still get surprised when a person we know dies especially when it is sudden. We accept the inevitability of death but we act as if we are in charge of the timetable, hence our reaction of shock. I felt the same way when i received a call earlier this week that a brother in Christ who was in church with me last Sabbath and spoke to me, had passed away about 2 days later. It's hard to get used to hearing these unexpected deaths although left with us, very few of them will be expected. Yet, that person is one of the 55.3 million people that will die this year. On that same day, there were 151,600 people that died. In that very hour, there were 6,316 people who are no longer breathing. I don't know how long it has taken you to read this, consider the fact that about 105 people have lost their lives since then because that many people die every minute. Why am I giving you these statistics? I hope that the fact that you are reading this writing will put a smile on your face at least once today. I hope that it'll destroy the anger and bitterness of the last hour, unfortunately in some cases day, weeks, months, and years. This is why it's important to honor the admonition given by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt. 5:23, 24 to reconcile with anyone who has grudge against us, because we don't know when anybody's time will be up and it'll be too late. Granted, you may survive the trouble maker, but you will be the one hurting after realizing that you have failed your master. I urge you to give that unworthy spouse, son or daughter a kiss after reading this passage. Give that estranged friend or family member a surprise call because of all the unexpected possibilities of the next second. Do it now to avoid the pain.

 

February 23, 2018

How Dare You

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. On this last Sabbath of the Black History month of 2018, I want to approach my weekly writing to you by borrowing from one of the not very adequately mentioned heroes of the black history (as far as I am concerned), Dr. W. E. B. Dubois. I must confess, please forgive me that I have always thought that he was born in Africa, not knowing that he was born in the U. S. but became a naturalized citizen of Ghana at the invitation of the then president Nkrumah. He also spent the last 3 of his 95 years in Ghana. In line with what this month is about and what we have been seeing and hearing in the last 7 -10 days, I am touched by the essay portrayed in his book, "The Souls of Black Folks". The idea that I want to borrow from him, is the double-consciousness concept that pushes a person's actions according to what someone else wants him/her to see. I call it the inability to do what you are convinced is right no matter the whole world's view of the situation. I have seen in the last 10 days how easy it is for man to allow money to interpret what is coming through his lenses. The only thing it takes is to give him enough money, so much that he cannot repay and in his ears will always be the "dare you" voice. The sense of reasoning is quickly lost because of the power emanating from this thing called money. Once it's accepted, the person who made the offer has nothing to fear because he knows how weak and helpless you are. How dare you? No wonder the Bible says that "the love of money is the root of all evil". (1 Tim. 6:10) If you love it so much as to accept it from no matter whom, there is no limit as to how good evil will look to you. People will look at you and wonder why you are taking some weird positions not knowing that it's money that is talking in your ears "how dare you". What else will make a man agree that something is evil and yet support ideas that will prolong it? You are in authority to stop the marketing of a certain food that is known to be causing death, but you accept money from the manufacturer and swear that the production of this food must continue and that the best thing for the society is to have more people eating it. Our Savior Jesus Christ was right when He said that "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other..." (Matt. 6:24) Something has to give - the lives of innocent human beings or money. How do you vote on this crucial issue that involves other people's lives and death?

 

February 17, 2018

Pray Without Ceasing

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I think that those who are still claiming that a person's 2nd amendment rights supersede what the United Nation refers to as "Basic right to life", are defending their stance because it has not hit their homes yet. I'm sure that they'll reconsider their decision the day they experience the horror of being informed that something tragic has happened to their son or daughter. You must understand that the fundamental right to live exists not because any organization says so, but because the creator made it so. Everyone who enters this world safely automatically receives a license to live. There's no other way; else it will be a stillbirth. It's so important to God that when man lost that right, the creator Himself came to earth to give it back to him more abundantly. The inability to recognize the superiority of a person's God given right over some manmade right calls for an emergency examination of the mental health of those involved. I said, those involved, because as you already know, the derailment that you are looking at may not have started with the very car you see off the track, but by some others that made it inevitable to act as you have seen. Amazingly, there are two lawsuits (not in Florida), one filed in 12/2017 and the other as late as 01/2018, claiming that there are too many prayers going on in schools, thus violating the separation of church and state. There is always chaos when God is denied entry into a person's life. With a week like the one ending today, don't you think we should look for another weapon to combat the enemy since our man-made ones have proven incapable? Even if they try to force you to stop praying, do it in your heart. They couldn't intimidate Daniel to stop. "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thess. 5:17) If we ever needed the Lord before, we sure do need Him now.

 

February 10, 2018

Mars Your New Home?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In order to prevent himself from being extinct, man has decided to become multi-planetary at least starting with earth and mars. The plan is that the 1st settlers of mars will take their occupancy by 2025 and that by 2040; there will be a city in mars with about a million citizens. To show that man is still a smart being created by God, he refused to go to mars and die, but decided to send a dummy to go and explore the potential new home first. The offer was too good for the dummy to refuse - an opportunity to be the 1st and only driver in mars and the only owner of the $100,000.00 Tesla Roadster in mars. If the dummy is there first, it has the right to call anybody who comes later, an immigrant. If you ever get to mars, the only one with the right to call you an illegal immigrant will be a dummy. Do you know that God noticed man's ability to do extraordinary things thousands of years ago, before man thought of building the world's most powerful rocket? God announced it when man was carrying out another building project to escape anything catastrophic enough to wipe out the entire world. Gen. 11:4 "...and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to doing." That project could not continue because it was counterproductive to God's plan, so it became evident to man immediately that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God..." 1 Cor. 3:19. The only wise God has offered man a way of escape that is affordable to the rich and poor. He has promised to come and take everyone who believes in Jesus, not by rocket, but all will be caught up in the clouds. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and eternal life is guaranteed to you, not in mars but in Heaven.

 

February 3, 2018

Heirs of His Kingdom

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. On this 1st Sabbath of the Black History month, it’s good to rejoice that no matter what man thinks of you, “...Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9) I am happy that the Lord designed it this way and that it will forever remain hidden from those who may claim superiority and an exclusive right to own everything good. They would have intensified their efforts to eliminate everybody so they can have it all to themselves if they had gotten a glimpse of the beauty of God’s plan. It is very unfortunate that with all the knowledge man has gained in the 21st century, they are still having discussions on eugenics and passing legislation supporting it. It may sound like it is to reduce the number of certain animals or criminals in our society, but be not deceived. The post on January 29, 2016, by Lisa Ko in Human Rights says that it is “Used as a means of controlling “undesirable” populations - immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill” and that “federally-funded sterilization programs took place in 32 states throughout the 20th century.” There is at least one state discussing it right now. It may not surprise you to know that the person who formulated the idea in 1883, Francis Galton, was a half-cousin of Charles Darwin - a family determined to mar the image of God. The good news is that the creator of the world refers to the same ones who are marginalized, as friends. None of those who fought tooth and nail to get rid of the powerless in the past centuries is still living today and none of them took anything with him. Unfortunately, the fate of the modern oppressors will not be different. Alexander the Great’s 3rd deathbed wish says it all - “Put my hands outside the coffin so that people will understand that I came to this world in empty hands and I will leave this world in empty hands.” No matter how strong, greedy, selfish, proud, prejudiced, rich or poor you are, NOTHING except you is allowed inside your coffin because none belongs to you. “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.” (Deut. 10:14). The best thing is everybody, “live and let’s live”. We are all God’s children and equal heirs of His Kingdom.

 

January 27, 2018

Absolute Truth

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Are you one of those who think that there is no absolute truth? You know that back in your head, there is a struggle that you are ashamed to make public because all your private experiments have proven otherwise.  This claim is  man’s way of trying to feel good even when he knows he is doing something wrong. The world would not be worth living were it not for some absolutes. Most of the problems the world faces today stem from the denial that there are absolute truths. I am sure that there are some things you dare not attempt because of the consequences you will encounter. It may sound ridiculous but how about holding your breath for one day if you can last that long? I don’t think that there is any doubt as to what may happen if you pour flammable liquid on your blanket and try to torch it while it is covering you. The fact that we are staying away from such acts and many more, is an indication that we believe in absolutes but are reluctant to accept them so we can cover our bad behaviors. Before trying to use this false belief as a proof that there is no God, how old are you? The absolute truth is that you don’t know what happened before you were born except when someone told you or something you read. How can someone who is not even 200 years old dispute the fact that Jesus came into the world 2000 years ago? Never for a moment deceive yourself by thinking that God did not know what He was doing when He used the definite article “the” in Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day...” By the way, He left us one absolute truth that you dare not play games with. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Nothing in this world can be more absolute than this.

 

January 20, 2018

Payday Is Coming!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You probably have experienced some false alarms before, but the next statement is not one of them. Jesus is coming soon. You may ask, what is the deal? I’m not going to hold back any information from you. The real deal is that His coming is very imminent, and it’s not going to be a fun experience for those who are not ready. Running to manholes or shelters may help when it’s a false alarm, but useless when the Lord appears in the air. The only safety will be an acceptance of Jesus as a personal Savior and having your name written in the Lamb’s book of life before He returns. Why not do it now? “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:33. This is far from being a false alarm if it is at the door step. Too late to make preparations other than the ones already made. If we could use the reactions to false alarms as a sign of what might happen when the real deal takes place, you would agree that the people who panic the most, are those who are not ready. Are you ready to welcome Jesus? According to the Apostle Paul, “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Heb. 10:37 The confirmation of this statement comes from the Lord Himself, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:12 This passage indicates that He is not just coming to visit, but to pay us for the work each of us has done in our lifetime. It is a pay day! Everybody will be paid, whether you are ready or not, because you worked. The problem is, whose work are you doing, God’s or satan’s? Those who work for God will be rewarded with everlasting life, while those laboring for satan, will receive everlasting damnation. Which side are you?

 

January 13, 2018

The Narrow Way

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Being in the minority may be uncomfortable now, but there is a minority that every well-meaning person should endeavor to belong. Matt. 7:14 “...narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” It does not matter how beautiful or handsome you are, how much money you have accumulated, or the highest position you have attained in this world, all those years of accomplishments would be a waste if one fails to be among the few who will find this narrow way. If this is the only way that leads to life, it means that any other way would lead to death. No one likes to die, including those who enjoy making you feel like it is bad to be in the minority. History reminds us that God has always had a lone voice who In spite of all threats, would stand for the truth and fight against social injustice. It is very appropriate that we remember that it was 50 years ago when such a man of modern time, Martin Luther King Jr., who defied death to give us a glimpse of what it is like to be allowed to express ourselves, was snatched from us. I am sure that the God who gave us the 1st 50 years is also able to give us a 2nd one and more no matter who may want to stand in the way. Our God is greater and more powerful than any human regime. One thing that makes me glad is that whenever the suppression of the minority that we read in the Bible was rekindled, it was because they were doing well. Haters and oppressors of the minority will never want to see them progress, but don’t worry, prosperity comes from the Lord. Be true to God who has given you victory in the past and brought you thus far to celebrate this Golden year. He is still on the throne and His authentication occurred before and is greater than any man’s signature. If He tarries, there’s going to be a Centenary celebration no matter what man may think. I wish you Happy Golden Anniversary of the legacy that our hero Martin Luther King Jr., left for the world to enjoy.

 

January 6, 2018

Happy New 2018

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. As usual, the world welcomed 2018 with loud jubilation. If we are so excited about the opportunity to enter a new year that does not guarantee that the 7 billion of us entering it will exit safely into 2019, I wonder what our reaction would be when we find out that we are going to spend 1000 years in Heaven. We get so caught up in our celebration that we forget to realize the better meaning of 2018 - We are nearing home. Hallelujah! If this does not give you joy, I don’t know what else would. This is a good reason to shout on the roof tops, on the hills, mountains, and valleys announcing to the whole world that we are going home to a Kingdom where nothing happens behind doors. It’s the end of argument on what was said or was not said, or who was involved or who was not. If you have been wishing yourself a utopian environment, you have probably noticed that it’s not possible wherever you are now. This is a foreign land which Apostle Paul did well to remind us in Phil. 3:20 that “...our citizenship is in Heaven...” Anybody who understands this knows that your citizenship now can be questioned and should be ready to give it up, because we know that we are citizens of “...a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10) Goodbye! to shaky, untrustworthy, non transparent, disputatious, and bogus regimes. The rightful Leader is about to takeover.

 

December 30, 2017

His Saving Blood

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Were you surprised when I wrote last week that the world does not and is not willing to know the Jesus it claims to celebrate on December 25. Don’t you think that if they did, they would keep their ethnocentric feelings away from Jesus since it is not part of His character. Jesus is the Jesus of the world, so put your brush away and take Him exactly for who He is and nothing more or less. Accept Him as the Savior of the world. No matter where you dip your brush, the result will only satisfy your inferiority complex and probably arouse a spirit of jealousy and competition in someone else who also wants to claim Jesus with his/her own brush. Instead of focusing on the outward appearance, thereby putting ourselves through unnecessary stress, why not rejoice on the one thing that can save-the BLOOD of Jesus. The last time I checked, it’s still the same color no matter what your eyes tell you about anybody’s outward appearance. One thing that matters to me and maybe should matter to you too, is that this blood has not lost its strength to save. You can travel as far to the East, West, North, and South of the world as you want, you will never find a person with a different color of blood. It’s a uniting factor for all of God’s children everywhere. As we transition from 2017 into 2018, would you resolve with me to know Jesus better and accept the one thing that will never change-His saving BLOOD?  He still cries “...that they may be one as we are...” John 17:11

 

December 23, 2017

Jesus Is The Reason 

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. In about 48 hours, the world will be celebrating the birthday of Jesus that it doesn’t seem to know and is not willing to know. How else would these celebrants be going to the manger every year forgetting that the one they met in there over 2 thousand years ago, did grow to become a man. In fact, this world’s behavior, despite its desire to give one day of the year to Jesus, does not indicate that it is cognizant of the accomplishments of the baby they want to celebrate his birthday. I pray that you will concur with the Apostle Paul’s strong determination expressed in 1 Cor. 2:2 “...not to know anything among you except Jesus and Him crucified.” No matter the clamor, the rush in out of the stores, Jesus and Jesus only should take the center stage. Breaking it down for everyone to understand, Eugene Peterson renders it this way, “...first Jesus and who He is; then Jesus and what He did - Jesus crucified.” I wish that our enthusiasm to celebrate Jesus’s birthday and “taking away His gifts”,? will extend to a desire to walk with Him on the streets of Nazareth and its environs, even to Calvary, because I know that no one will ever meet Jesus as He hangs on that cross, and still be the same again. Don’t make it look like Jesus has more fair-weather friends than very sincere ones. If we really understand what He did for us on Calvary, our daily lives would never stop celebrating Him for such a monumental accomplishment on our behalf. How far are you willing to go with Jesus on this journey that could not have been accomplished any other way other than from manger to Calvary?

 

December 16, 2017

Gender X

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. After suffering his worst defeat on Calvary, satan is still fighting to deceive the world that he has a chance of winning. The battle is over, satan!!! How will anyone defend before future generations, the addition of X as a new gender? It may not sound serious to you now, but remember that we felt the same way about many other new ideas in the past, as they went from one state to another, and from one country to another until they became universal. How unfair it will be for a child to grow up and find out that his/her birth certificate identifies him/her as X. Mind you, this new gender comes without any genitalia different from the ones God gave in the Garden of Eden. The world’s strongest advocate of human rights, now denying it from defenseless new born babies. Johnny will one day ask, “Daddy, how come my gender is X and Tommy our neighbor’s son is M and physically we look the same?” Well, gender is determined now by what parents think and not by the child’s external sex organ. It may be happening in a state near you. Imagine the state of confusion when such a child tries to enter a country where no X lives. If you are one of the confused ones, when you get home today and in the privacy of your room, examine yourself. If you still possess one of the original two genitals from God, then you are male or female. As at now, satan and his workers who are introducing this 3rd gender have not given us any pronouns for X. Rightly has the Bible declared in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...” and in Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Confused vision is no vision.

 

December 9,2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The instructions in the Bible are not intended to put physical fear in us but for us to examine ourselves, and thus lead us to Spiritual fear and true repentance. Many times, satan finds one event that he can use to make us focus on the physical dangers talked about in the Bible and forget the salvation that is available to us through Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is coming, but it’s not going to be based on one announcement about Jerusalem as preachers of “dispensational pre-millennialism” may want it to sound. Deceitful as man is and he knows it, that 99.9% of his actions are motivated by selfish reasons, he still thinks that he can control the hands of God. Jesus is coming, but according to Eugene Peterson’s translation of Acts 1:7, “timing is the Father’s business”. In other words, no matter how much quid pro quo arrangements we make to push our own agendas, God’s calendar will not change. No one knows “neither the day nor the hour”, meaning that it’s not under man’s control. People from all nations, kindred, and tongue, will accept Jesus as their personal Savior, not only the people from the country where He grew up.   According to Rev. 14:6, the conversion exercise will be going on among all people who “...dwell on the earth-to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people”. You know that God wants His children everywhere (Spiritual Israel) to be saved. The promise in John 14:1-3 is for all of us. He’s preparing a place for each of us in His Father’s “many mansions”, and if He’s coming to take us, it means that the 1000 years we all seem to agree on, will be spent in Heaven. “Dispensational pre-millennialism” can only be right if it agrees with Jesus’ statement in this passage. We must understand that no matter what we do, man’s agenda will not work unless it is God’s will.

 

December 2, 2017

Love Reigns!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The world has experienced a different kind of amalgamation this week, and it doesn’t seem very vocal about it. Please don’t get me wrong, I understand that it was announced, but have you realized how careful we are in avoiding mentioning some obvious facts of that which is about to happen? Many who may be hesitant to breathe the air of joy coming from the royal palace, could be the same ones who suffered shortness of breath for eight years when something that had never happened before, took place In America’s White House. No matter how much we hate a person or group of people, God is still the one who determines everybody’s destination. According to Daniel 2:21, He is the one who puts us in our positions, and so can also remove us when He desires. If our Savior Jesus Christ tarries long enough before coming back to take us to our Heavenly home, we may see a different blend of children running around the queen, not just in pretense photo ops, but as rightful heirs. God is giving us a glimpse of how His Kingdom will embrace people of every color, nations, and kindred. Please don’t count yourself out in protest of who God has given the same opportunity that is available to you. I praise Prince Harry for his fortitude to stand on his decision, allowing his passion to be led by the Spirit of love who chose Meghan. The silence in some quarters is enough to tell us how brave you are; an evidence of the willingness of true love refusing to be held hostage by man-made boundaries. Parents, do your best in the upbringing of your children, because you may never know where they will end up or where they will invite you to - the White House or to a Royal Palace. May God bless this Royal union and keep us alive to see His handiwork as it unfolds.

 

November 25, 2017

True Thanksgiving

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I ventured into the imagination lane last night and wondered what it’ll look like if we allowed Thanksgiving to stand on its own without all the encumbrances we have put on it. By this I mean eliminating the commercials, the special sales, the traveling, the eating and drinking, the entertainments, and so on, and just dedicate it to thanking God. Do you think it will still receive the same response it has always had if anybody tries to implement such changes now? How would you respond? What do you think will cause a lack of interest in such a proposal? You see, we have created an environment for ourselves that claims that every aspect of life must have entertainment, food, and drink to be meaningful, including worshiping God. Can you imagine the impact this day will have in our country if we really treated it according to the religious connotation the name seems to bear? A day in which everybody from the highest ranked to the lowest, will recognize God for His goodness without worrying about ourselves and how much we get out of it. On the other hand, we derive extreme joy from the fact that it sounds religious and act as if we expect God to be satisfied. Please do not misunderstand me; God wants us to enjoy life to the fullest, but not to pretend like He is with us when we want to do things our own way. His response to such a behavior is, “...this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isa. 29:13) God is never deceived!

 

November 18, 2017

He Is the Reason 

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We have entered that season of the year again when everything appears to be festive, including the air we breathe. In the minds of merchants, it’s also the best time to take advantage of the vulnerability of the mind in a festive mood. The problem is that the season covers a span of 2 months. That’s 2 months of exposure to the almost irresistible baits to prove that we belong. For some of us, it takes about a year to recuperate from the effects of these 2 short months on our finances, and for some, it may take longer, which means that the damaging effects will keep on compounding. As you and I know, any negative effect on our finances brings with it a dominos effect on other areas of our lives. Our spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well-being start feeling the shock of the aftermath of allowing ourselves to be lured into a spending and eating frenzy. All of these could be avoided if we celebrate the season in the right way and allow God to be the center of the last two holidays of the year that we want to commemorate. Instead, we make feasting and accumulating the main focus of the occasion, thereby losing the meaning of the celebration. In one, we are supposed to be celebrating the bounty of God’s love that has fed us and with a surplus left. We claim in the other, to be remembering God’s love in coming to live in the world to pave the way for man to go to Heaven. Both are rightly God’s and not that of selfish men and women. Unfortunately, we give God a spectator chair so we can run the show. You and I are making claims and expecting honors that we do not deserve. Let all the glory go to God because, He is the reason for the season.

 

November 11, 2017

We Will Worship!!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I think that Christian experiences in these days, are beginning to help us understand apostle Paul’s statement in Ephesians 6:12 better than before. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Satan is renewing his old strategy of putting fear in the minds of those who have chosen to worship Jesus as their Lord and Savior, by changing the colors of the walls and floors of these worship places into red made from the blood of innocent worshipers. He likes to spill innocent blood as he did on the cross. In this way, he plans to permanently close the Sanctuaries where he performs his acts of atrocity by making us condemn God’s house as no longer sacred. No matter how you see recent events, I believe that we can still count on the promise that mentions principalities among the things that are powerless when face to face with God’s love for His children. Romans 8:38,39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Lord is still with us in the beauty of His Holiness, so Satan’s or his agents’ actions cannot diminish the sacredness or the honor in God’s house. We will worship our God without fear or trembling.

 

November 4, 2017

What's Done In The Dark ...

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Have you noticed that man has not stopped thinking of himself bigger than he really is? This has also led us into thinking that we can do anything we want and get away with it.  Unfortunately, we forget that the earth operates under a law that has never failed, found in Numbers 32:23 “...be sure your sin will find you out”. No matter how dark the environment is, you will be surprised when things done in the dark start being exposed in the light.  I think that sins keep a trail so it becomes futile to try to hide the truth. Instead of going through all that trouble, why don’t we resolve to do things right, be truthful, honest, and transparent? Many times, we allow the devil to deceive us by his presentation of a make-belief fun and popularity without the truth that it’s all for a short time.  Nothing from Satan lasts, because he can only control the dark and has no power over light. Thank God for the light that helps us see the truth. If you want, go ahead and live your life of hypocrisy and coverups, but don’t be surprised when we start discovering who you really are or blame anyone for what you brought on yourself.  There’s no hiding place down here. The light must do its work.

 

October 28, 2017

From The Eyes Of God

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I assure you that no matter the conversion, the righteousness, or the level of repentance, man may never reach the heights of seeing his fellow man or this planet “from the eyes of God”, as credited to the 6 astronauts on the ISS mission 5253. In fact, that is not a feat that I would want man to attain. I’m satisfied with God having the exclusive rights of seeing the planet earth according to the wise man in Prov. 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” There’s no doubt that the men have gained a new perspective of God’s creation by the opportunity accorded them on the ISS. After listening to these astronauts, one is tempted to advocate making it mandatory for every man and woman, boys and girls, to take a trip to the space. According to Commander Bresnik, in space “there’re no borders, there’s no conflict, it’s just peaceful”. I hope that everybody will remember this powerful statement when he added that “People cannot come up here and see the indescribable beauty of our Earth and not be touched in their souls”. If a trip to the space is what it will take to bring a cure to the hatred, killing, jealousy, discrimination, cheating, marginalization, selfishness, and all sorts of evil that is in the world today, why not support the idea of mandating it? If you are wondering where to start, I would suggest starting from the top.

 

October 21, 2017

Do You Need Reformation?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I lost count of all that we have to celebrate or anniversaries of special events that happened in the month of October. Added to the list this year, is the 500th year of the beginning of Reformation. You may want to know what the reformation was all about. Why was it necessary and who was being reformed? It may surprise you to know that it was the belief of those who claimed to be Christ’s followers that needed to be reformed. Unfortunately, not much has changed in 500 years. Has it? Who do you think needs to be reformed if there was one today? Who will protest this time? I submit to you that it’s the same Christians that continue to be deficient in their understanding of God’s written word. It seems like the more Biblical languages we learn the worse it becomes. What is it that makes man think that much learning gives him the power to determine how God’s words should be viewed? It’s evident from the many churches on our streets, that somebody is wrong.  I see more confusion now than there was in the 16th century. We cannot all be right and still be going our different ways. If the reformation should do what it’s meant to do or may be I should say, if we allow the reformation to do it’s work in our lives, we should all be in the same place, upholding the same truth. Our God is not a God of confusion. There’s only one truth and that’s the truth about Jesus Christ who left His throne in Heaven, died on the cross, rose from the grave and went back to heaven. There’s nothing complicated in this except what man selfishly brings into it. Many of us are still struggling with this and until we accept it in its entirety, the anemic condition of our Christian belief will never be healed. Remember, that anemia does not mean that a person is totally out of blood. If it were possible for Martin Luther to start another reformation today, which part of your strong Christian background needs to be reformed or are you so confident in your church’s belief that you feel you don’t need it? This might be the best evidence that you need reformation to help you better understand the salvation that Jesus offers to all.

 

October 14, 2017

Speak Lord

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If we have been paying attention to the world affairs in recent weeks, we would have noticed that every new week brings with it a “wow” occurrence. Could it be that God is trying to communicate something very important to us? In 1 Kings 19, prophet Elijah experienced these elements in the same order as we have gone through them recently - strong wind, earthquake, and fire.  God chose to speak to him, not in the wind, not in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in a still small voice. In our own case, instead of trying unsuccessfully to interpret each of these occurrences, why not sharpen our ears for when a still small voice might come? We are probably nearing home and so are being reminded to be on guard. For an example, we only see the destruction done by the fire and forget that it’s also a means of purification. Could it be that we are being reminded of the purification of heart that we need before we can go through the gates of the approaching home? Instead of concentrating on the meanings, maybe we can just say, “Speak Lord, your Servant is listening”, that is, if hearing the still small voice is important to us. I wish that each of us will make hearing God’s voice the greatest desire of our lives especially in these times.

 

October 7. 2017

Gone Is The Utopia

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We are discovering every day that as imperfect as we are, we still harbor this false expectation of being able to create a perfect environment in this world. It is time we accepted that this world has been invaded by principalities and rulers of darkness.   Gone was the utopia that could have been ours the moment our first parents took from the devil’s hand and ate that which their creator forbade. To show you how evil the devil is, he hid his accomplices from our first parents when he approached them in the garden. I believe that if she had seen them, she would have asked, who are all these behind you?  Can you imagine the difference that would have made in her response, thereby keeping the world in it’s original perfection? If he only showcased himself to our parents, why would you expect him to treat us differently and show us every evil intention he has in one act? It’s sad but we have to say it as it is. This is our fate for the rest of the journey until the rightful and perfect owner of this world takes over. Every true believer knows that we should brace ourselves now because, it’s going to get worse not better. Do you think that the people whose lives were lost this week never prayed that that they would not be part of such a carnage? We, therefore, need to ask ourselves this hard question, what will happen to me when Jesus the restorer of peace comes, after I had gone to my grave directly from a celebratory mood?

 

September 30, 2017

No Room For Violence

 

September 23, 2017

Spiritual Alertness

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The information recorded in Luke 21 which I mentioned last week, corresponds with Matthew's record in chapter 24 which we are very familiar with. I say kudos to my NLT for its rendering of Matt. 24:6 "And you will hear of wars and threats of wars..." In case you were too busy this week to see most of the muscle flexing that went on openly in the world, search on one of the news media network's website to determine for yourself if there is anything remaining for this very verse to be fulfilled. The amazing thing is that more verses in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 were being fulfilled simultaneously. Matt. 24:7 "...There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world." Also in Luke 21:23, 25 "...For there will be disaster in the land ...And here on earth the  nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides." Just as I said last week, the people in Hawaii have been told to be on alert. The only difference is that I was calling for Spiritual alertness while the powers that be are calling for environmental awareness. I'm not sure there is much the later can do for anybody in the face of modern weapons. On the other hand, the Spiritual alertness will help a person to realize that God's words are true when each of these conditions starts to happen as predicted. This should strengthen an alert person's faith and make it easier to adhere to the 2nd part of Matt. 24:6 "...but don't panic..." Jesus has a name for those who panic, "O ye of little faith", because they don't recognize the unmatchable power with them on their journey. Panic in 2017 may also be because of a person's level of readiness to see Jesus. Are you ready for Jesus to come now?

 

September 16, 2017

Staying Alert!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. If we live a little longer, we would see a lot of Bible verses come to life before our very own eyes. Amazing how many theologians are made from one event that is one notch above the norm. Alright, Irma might have gone 2 notches above. But why do we have to wait for an occurrence like Irma to happen before we can realize where we are in our journey to Heaven? Everybody becomes an interpreter of prophecy especially when the events happen 2, 3, or 4 successively. Surprisingly, the new events become like Pharaoh's thin corns that swallowed the full ones. You may understand me better if I use later corns that swallowed the earlier corns because some will argue that Irma was not thin compared to earlier disasters. Do you know that many of us did not remember that the popularly celebrated 911 was this week? The same Monday when we were busy trying to find where our experience with Irma fits in prophecy we forgot that we had one already on record.  Could it be the result of "Men's hearts failing them for fear"?...(Luke 21:26) All the confusion and panic could have been avoided had we accepted that we don't know the time our master will return and follow the alert therapy as given in Matt. 25:13. Staying alert as instructed is a sign that you trust the therapist, and the result will be perfect peace, since your mind is constantly on Him. (Isa. 26:3) One lesson learned is that all our accumulations can vanish in a twinkling of an eye.  The main concern now when we go to the store is to replace food and not those materials that disappeared with Irma. Now they are immaterial. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the warning to stay alert will not change. Make it your cherished companion, your new way of life, to be alert. Jesus will definitely come, and it may be when we least expect Him.

 

September 9, 2017

Hide In Him!

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One of the effects of the increase in knowledge, is that the world is getting smaller. We can watch events taking place 1000s of miles away as if they were happening across the street from us. We are now able to predict storm movements and convince ourselves that our margin of error is insignificant. The problem with this level of self-confidence is that we make our plans which we call survival and depend solely on it's adequacy. We forget the Bible verse that says that a watchman's dedication to his duty is in vain unless the Lord is involved in the watch (Psalms 127:1). Let us not forget to accept the Lord as the rock in whom we should hide and the best shelter from a category 5 storm. The same way He has taken us through many higher categories of life's storm, I know He will do it again. Very soon, Irma will pass over and we will realize that it's all because we had an ever near Helper, our Rock, and our Shelter in the time of storm - Jesus Christ. Hide in Him!

 

August 26, 2017

Are We who We Claim To BE?

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. How do you think John 13:35 would sound if it were said in August 2017? I don't think it's a bad idea to paraphrase it to suit our time, after all we always ask, "what would Jesus do?" Hopefully we are inquiring because we want to be like Him. In case you don't know, Jesus was the one who made the statement in John 13:35. It may not sound right, but this is my August 2017 rendering of that verse. "By this shall the whole world know that we are who we claim to be when we can boldly condemn evil and show true love to all humanity." As I am writing this, I remembered one classic story told by Jesus. It was about an innocent man minding his own business on Jerusalem to Jericho highway. Men who thought that they were the rightful owners of the man's possessions, stopped him, took everything he had, gave him thorough beating, and left him to die on the highway. The first 2 people who saw him after his ordeal were members of the clergy. One had actually reached the highest echelon there was in clergy ranks and was therefore by virtue of that position, considered the leader of his people. These 2 men eyed the suffering, helpless man and left him in great agony of pain because of the safety of their own lives. By the way, the suffering man was their brother by nationality. A foreigner came by the clergy abandoned sufferer, stopped and took care of him. He also took him to the nearest hospital emergency room, paid for the medical bill, and left his business card to be informed of any additional cost. Someone has described the two groups this way. "The clergy were afraid what may happen to them if they stopped to help the suffering man. The foreigner on the other hand, worried about what may happen to the man if he passed without helping him." I wonder how many in all levels of clergy ranks in 2017 are following the footsteps of their predecessors in that story, noticing but looking the other way as they hear the cries of oppressed, suppressed, and marginalized men and women. With so many groups of believers today, there  are as many High priest as there are denominations, as opposed to Israel's one reigning High priest at a time. How is the High priest of your denomination responding to the mournful cries on the streets near you? Does he or she walk away and pretend he doesn't hear them? I don't want to think that it is a type of response that comes with the position. God forbid. By the way, what have we all failed to do because of fear?

 

August 19, 2017

Love Prescription

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Have you noticed how man and everything about him is deteriorating faster than can be tolerated? The rate of decline physically, mentally, and spiritually, is so alarming that one wonders why man is so bent on this self destructive drive. Nothing is as degrading as when a person who claims to be capable of running 100 m in a very short time resorts to crawling - something you thought he had forgotten. Why would a person who claims to be in the 21st century be reminded that he is displaying an 18th century mental behavior - a behavior you thought he forgot 3 centuries earlier? My recommendation is the removal of everything within our physical environment that makes us desire to be the only ones breathing. God has enough air for every one. Another recommendation is to stop the growth of the bacteria that is eating man internally. There's nothing more debilitating to the mind than this bacteria called hatred. It eats up a person's physical, mental, and spiritual capabilities that the person starts behaving subhuman. Unfortunately, as it looks, it seems like nobody is immune no matter our status. Thank God for developing the only antibiotics that takes care of this dangerous bacteria. You can get it free of charge. If you are wondering, the antibiotics is LOVE. Our world needs this now more than ever before. Understandably some may need heavier dosage than others but remember that you cannot stop taking it until your prescription is finished for it to be effective. Take 3 (Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, and 3 in the evening. How many years is your prescription? The nature of the disease (becoming chronic) calls for lifetime prescription. Pray that all of us will see our need for this very important antibiotic - LOVE, and never refuse it, for no one is too big for a little dose of love. May God's blessings fall on all of us His children. PEACE! 

 

August 12, 2017

Endure To The End

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I was listening to 50+ great hymns last night on YouTube and was really enjoying these hymns as they were being played, but at the same time trying my best to resist the temptation of clicking on the other captions on the side. I was eventually overcome by one of the titles and the gesture of the people on the picture, and so I paused the hymn and clicked intending to watch only a minute or two and do some reading before going to bed. I ended up watching more than 30 minutes. It was a church service going on in another country and it was live. The pastor at one time said, "this morning" which means it was live because judging from that country's time it was about 3 AM. There might have been up to 3000 people in that gathering. The lyrics of the praise songs was mixed with more than 1 local language and English. I watched with curiosity to see where this was leading. The pastor started praying and telling the people or a select group to say things or point at a part of their body and shout. The prayer went on and on mentioning different aspects of life that people heard and jumped or fell on the ground as if to say, "it is me". At certain times he would tell people who might have been affected by certain experiences in life to go to one of the 3 alters, and a great number of people went. I eventually turned it off and went to my best companion in sermon preparation - the Blue Letter Bible and started reading Matthew 24. My eyes were drawn to verses 6, 7, 11. The 1st two talk exactly about the rhetoric that have filled the ears of the inhabitants of the world this week - wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation. V 11 talks about deception by false prophets. I know these things have been happening for a long time, but I was reminded how imminent it is in 2017. The advantage we have as stated in v 25 is "I have told you beforehand". Unfortunately, it is the beginning of sorrows. Thank God for His promise to make it short. Our part is to endure to the end. The assurance is that you and I will be saved. Thank you Jesus. Amen!

 

Back to School

August 5, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The school bells are beginning to ring again, beckoning on the curious minds to come and be filled. The parents eager to have their children listed among the greatest brilliant minds that ever lived, have made sure that each child is equipped with all the "back to school supplies" they can lay their hands on. They trust these items so much as to make them appear to have the magic to make everyone who possesses them smart. I wonder if all the parents remembered to give their children "the way they should go" in their supplies as recommended by the #1 wiseman, Solomon in Proverbs 22:6. According to the wiseman, the children may forget the answer to question 1,  but they will always remember "the way they should go". It's almost an "until death do us part" relationship. This does not mean that they will always use "the way they should go" that you supplied them, but they will remember someday that you gave it to them. Do not let any child leave home this school year without a brain full of "the way he or she should go". It'll make a change in the classrooms, at home, and in our world.  I wish you all a happy and successful school year!

 

Minor Issue

July 29, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Believe it or not, ready or not, Jesus is coming soon. It's true that the Bible says that it's not God's wish that any of us should perish, but that we should repent, however, someone is going to perish. Why should it be you? Why should it be me? It might not be something big that is likely to put some of us in this peril, but no matter how insignificant the reason is, the fact is that the person's name is not found anywhere in the Lamb's book of life. Who is to be blamed? The person who has allowed a minor issue to stand in his or her way to everlasting life. The good news is that everyone of us knows his or her own minor issue, but do we believe that it was part of the burdens Jesus carried to the cross? The same issue that we want to consider as minor is big enough to prevent someone from going into Heaven, and so Jesus decided to die for it. How much though do we trust Jesus enough to allow Him to handle our minor issues? If it's still there after reading this short note, you might as well accept that you don't trust Jesus as your sin bearer. The time may be running out on us. Jesus is coming sooner than we expect. The next breath we take may be the last chance we may have to surrender all to Jesus. Would you allow your "minor issue" to be an obstacle to receiving citizenship in paradise freely offered to you? Jesus has already paid for your ticket.

 

Endure Till the End

July 22, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You must have known by now that the devil takes note of your everyday activities. We ought to be cognizant of his too. If he's not attacking you, it means that he likes what he sees in your life. On the other hand, you better brace yourself and look out as he unleashes his fury on you if you are not doing his will. Take for example our little community of faith, Lakeview. Seven days ago, we were on the mountain top of our faith, expressing our sincere joy for what the Lord has done in our midst. How long did it take before he brought us back on our knees? I'm not saying that we should ever be weary of using that as our weapon against him. You must have taken notice of how many families in our congregation that have been attacked in this short period of time and for that I say, PRAISE GOD! We must have done something right for satan to be so mad, and we cannot allow his madness to be a deterrent to us. We must continue to praise God as long as there is breath in us. Don't forget what has already been revealed to us in Rev. 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Brothers and sisters, we signed up for this. Let us remain faithful until the end. It will not be long!

 

Peer Pressure

July 15, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I really think that people of all ages underestimate the power of peer pressure. It affects people of every age and works of life. It's undoubtably true that the effect may be more pronounced in teenagers because of their weakness in restraining their emotions and behaviors, but what about adults who in their subtle ways imitate the actions of their peers. There is a common saying of doing like the Jones. Spiritually, I think satan uses the pressure of friends' actions to test our stand in Christian life. A very good example is found in the Bible, in the book of Daniel where 3 Hebrew boys stood their ground on God's side, refusing to be influenced by the behavior of others. It will not be inappropriate to call this a test of faith. Satan uses every opportunity he gets to test how strongly we trust God. Being the bully that he has always been, he adds threat to it if you show any indication of resistance. The 3 Hebrew boys when threatened, made their conviction clear - Our God will deliver us, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods." (Dan. 3:18) I wonder how many of us are bold enough to refuse to be swayed by the "everybody is doing it" mentality. No matter who is doing it, God's law is still immutable. Which way are you leaning? It's better that your friends are the ones feeling the pressure of your determination to stand alone if need be, than for you to the one experiencing their pressure. What is the pressure on you today? Does it require you to compromise your faith in Jesus? How have you been responding to this pressure? No matter the side you choose, be rest assured that our God who art in Heaven will never change His rules to accommodate those who cannot make up their minds

 

Are You "Sure"?

July 8, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There was a deodorant commercial in the 1980s that challenged its listeners to raise their hands if they were "Sure". It added that you got it, you know it, and you feel confident secure to raise your hand if you are Sure. I wonder how many of those preaching today can confidently raise their hands that they have the true message of Jesus crucified. I am not talking of Jesus being mentioned, but that Jesus is in the message because we want our listeners to trust Him as their Lord and Savior, the only way whereby we might be saved. I wonder how many of us who claim that we know Him, really understand that He is God and as God, He knows every secret in our hearts, including when we are mentioning His name to get an impressive passage through life, or to make people feel good about us. To prove to you how real God is, He foretold us more than 2000 years ago that it is not everybody who will call Him Lord, Lord, in 2017 that will enter His kingdom, and yet men are not afraid to use this precious name for their own vain glory. If the mention of His name alone and then turn around and act whichever way we want would suffice, He wouldn't have said, "If you love me, keep my commandments". I know that every "free passage" preacher will not like me mentioning this quote which is also from Jesus, because they are unaware that I agree that nobody will go to heaven because he/she kept the commandments. I do, however, believe also (may be this is where we differ) that one cannot treat God's commandments with disrespect and expect to be called in to His kingdom. Can you imagine having a disobedient citizen in God's kingdom? It wasn't pretty the first time it happened. Do you know Him? Have you got Him in your heart? Do you feel confidently secure about your claim? "Raise your hand, if you are Sure."

 

Freedom

July 1, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Freedom is one of the best gifts man received from God and one that he would not want to relinquish to anybody. Since creation, man has enjoyed the benefits of having a "personal space" and is always ready to defend the territorial integrity of this space no matter the size. Many wars have been fought and many lives lost, to achieve this goal of independence which in essence means free to do as I please without waiting for anybody's approval. As you and I know, freedom comes with its consequences and citizens in some of these countries may find out that they are not really free in the same country that claims and celebrates its independence. It may surprise many in our country USA, that takes pride in its independence, that our country ranks #15 among the free countries of the world, in the dissemination of what makes a country free. This should not surprise us since we  have twice as many laws and regulations as any country in the world. The worst part of independence is the fact that nobody has the right to stop you from carrying out what you have purposed in your heart. You can make your own laws and change them anytime you want, even if there is no sense making the change. You can choose your own leaders and become subject to their sensible or senseless decisions. The idea of freedom brings a feeling that one is unstoppable, and people will rather be spectators than instructors to avoid conflicts between them and a person who is about to make a deadly decision. We prefer to get involved after the fact, to "interfering" in other people's affairs. The problem is that the consequences of some of our actions can have long lasting effects. If our first parents, Adam and Eve, were to be alive today, they would be shocked at the effect of one free choice they made 6000 years later. If you are like all of us, you probably have made at least one bad choice in your life. How long did you feel the effects of this choice in your life? You are probably still feeling it today. Are you going to continue repeating the same mistakes? Don't forget that the effects of our mistakes can run concurrently with each other. The result is stress that is beyond what you and I can handle and followed by other sicknesses, and eventually death. Yes, we are free to independently carve our own ways every minute of the day, but what is determining how we make those choices? The best way to enjoy our independence is to "Depend on Jesus". He alone can make you happy. Your earthly leaders will frustrate you. Since it is July, I want to use this opportunity to wish all my fellow citizens of this great nation popularly known as USA ??, Happy Independence Day that is Dependent on Jesus.

 

Stagnant Faith?

June 24, 2017

Good morning and Happy Sabbath my Lakeview family. If a number line could be used to measure faith, where would yours be? How long has it been at this particular location? In other words, do you have a growing or a stagnant faith? Why would anyone allow his or her faith to be stagnant when our Heavenly Father on whom our faith is built, is always showering us with His blessings? Be careful, because your faith may be dying if it has not moved upward in 24 hours, worse still in 7 days or more. How can anyone say that he or she cannot find anything that God has done in his or her life for such a long time? I don't like the idea of a pendulum movement of faith either, because the one on whose love our faith depends on, is not changeable. Think again, if you cannot feel the evidence of His mighty power in your life at every moment in your life. It's amazing that He still bestows His love on us even when we deny Him the recognition He deserves in our lives. That's the one you and I should seek for and hang on to always, one who continues to sustain our lives even when we don't recognize who He is. If your faith is not 100% on Him, where is it? Any part of it found elsewhere, is a waste of time and a total loss. Have faith in God. He will never fail you.

 

God Is God

June 10, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. GOD IS GOD! I thank God that you feel that you already know this and need not be reminded.  However, in a society like ours that has grown to be a generation of DIYs (Do It Yourselfers), it is easy for us to bring the same attitude into our spiritual lives. No matter how much you enjoy what it looks like - spiritual jamboree, we all need to separate ourselves from the crowd from time to time and acknowledge God for who He is. It's a very dangerous risk to wait for Him to do the introduction by Himself - "I am God".  It has a stern connotation with it especially when He reminds you who you are. Read Isa. 46:8,9. We need to ask ourselves individually, does God have His deserved position in "all" of my life? If it's not all, then it's nothing. You will agree with me that this spiritual Russian roulette has been going on too long in our lives and we are not getting anywhere. We need to stop and allow God to be God even in our lives. The difference will be obvious for we will start living every aspect of our lives according to "Thus says the Lord" and not "Thus says...."(fill in the blank with your name). Friends, God is still on the throne in Heaven. I hope He is also on the throne of our hearts. No matter what anybody thinks or says, He is God and none other.

 

Are You Like Jesus?

June 3, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You will agree with me that there's no one like God. I wonder though why when asked to support this statement, we wait a little bit before mentioning our first reason. I hope that the hesitation is because there are so many and we are wondering which one to start with, and not because we don't remember. Do we really mean it when we say that we want to be like Jesus, if we are aware of His goodness or we just want to sound good. Do we mean 100% like Him or to a certain level that's convenient? How do you think you will do if given a "be like Jesus" test? Will the people who spent the last seven days under the same roof (people in your household) say they saw something about Jesus in you? I know you are thinking, how about those who live by themselves?? If you live by yourself, think about everybody you interacted with in the last 7 days. The truth is, people cannot see any likenesses of Jesus in us if we do not have Him(Jesus)in us. If we really want to be like Him, we should let Him come into our lives and give us the full revelation of who He is and then, others will see Jesus' likeness in us. Until then, we are only revealing who we are and unfortunately, it is not like Jesus.

 

Standing In The Need Of Prayer

May 27, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There's one song that we sing that is beginning to sound selfish to me. You are entitled to your own opinion and so you don't have to agree with me. The chorus of the song says, "It's me, it's me, it's me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer." Each of the stanzas is used to exclude everybody else that may think that they have a reason to be included. It sounds as if the singer is answering questions that beg for others to be included in the prayer session, but the response comes back to affirm the selfish stance of the one praying - "Not my mother, not my father, not my brother, not my sister, not the stranger or the neighbor, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer." Yes literally, you may be the one standing or kneeling in the prayer session, but how can one conclude a prayer session in which no other person's need is mentioned? This is just for me Lord; I don't want to share with anybody. I see a totally different approach when I read my favorite chapter in the Bible, John 17 in which the main focus is actually the needs of others. Please don't get me wrong, I am not blaming anyone for praying for themselves, but suggesting that if you may, try to reorient your thinking that including others in your prayer will take away some of the blessings that the Lord would have given you. Our God is so BIG that He can give everybody in the universe 100% of their needs and still have more than you can ever remember to ask, exclusively for you. What a MIGHTY God! While you are at it, would you mind expanding your prayer territory today to include everybody, whether you know them or not, like or don't like them. Our God is able to handle it all. AMEN!

 

100% Jesus

May 20, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I wonder how much Jesus we allow people to see in our daily lives. The fact is that anything less than 100% is a failure. The intent here is not to discourage anyone but to help us see how dependent we are on Jesus. Without Him we can do nothing. Without making a list, think of your involvement in every aspect of your life from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night. That's a lot of involvement- father, mother, spouse, co-worker, Christian, neighbor, student, and the list goes on and on, almost inexhaustible. Each of these, believe it or not, will grow sour, very detestable, unpleasant to the eyes, if it lacks the presence of Jesus in it. Jesus needs to be seen in everything we do or else we are a failure including in our worship. The good news is that the 100% is not achieved in one day. This is one test you are already registered to take as many times as possible the moment you enter this world until the 100% goal is met. It's a lifetime process, so do not be discouraged if you miss the mark at the end of any day-more reason to involve Jesus until you trust Him enough to let Him take control. How much of Jesus are you willing to allow people you come in contact today to see in you?

 

4 Bad P's

May 13, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. You can tell how much a person understands and believes in the reality of the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the way he or she clamors for the things of this world- possessions, position, popularity, and power (4 bad p's). I hope you do not see this as having a condemnatory tone especially when sin has convinced us that they are all necessary for our existence. The problem comes from the way we handle each of these p's.  What is our motivating factor? How well do we understand the temporariness of this life, the earth, and everything it offers, when we "lose sweat" over any or all of these p's? Thank God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit that washes away the ulterior motives of these desires from us and helps us to see them in the same light as Jesus did when He identified them in Matt. 6:32 as among the things that the Gentiles seek. Now we are born again. He also points out in Matt. 20:25, that the uncontrollable desire to throw weight around is the way of life of godless rulers. They don't know any better. It should not be so among those who claim to have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As people who have our eyes set on things above, all that the world offers should be seen in the light of "Occupy until I come". We should be able to accept the equalizing power of the cross and accept ourselves as sinners saved by grace. "All animals are equal". Nobody is inferior to another person. Possessions, positions, popularity, and power rightly used, have their places in life. They are tools of service. How well have you been serving?

 

Marching Orders

May 6, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. For a woman who wrote such hymns as, "Take My Life and Let Be", and "I Gave My Life For Thee", it wouldn't be a surprise to know that she is also the author of the hymn, "Who Is On The Lord's Side?" Frances Ridley Havergal, a woman who suffered health challenges much of her life, was not afraid to emphatically conclude that hymn with the words, "We are on the Lord's side, Savior we are Thine". The part of her manuscript that contains this hymn is entitled, "Marching Orders" which to me implies being enlisted. There are always two sides in a war and in this case Frances recognizes one side as Jesus's side, hence the question, "Who Is On The Lord's Side?" If in spite of her frailty, a minister's daughter who was expected to be taken care of by God, could make this declaration that she is on the Lord's side, what is your response to that question? Although she puts it in a way that sounds like she is answering for you and me, the burden of proof is still for each person individually. Do you think that like Frances Havergal, no matter what you are going through, you can assuredly say, "I Am On the Lord's Side? I suggest that you read the words of that hymn even if you sang it before. By the way, the only other side is satan's. Need I say more?

 

Wallowing in Sin

April 29, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. There is one picture presented in the Bible that we can use to help us whenever we struggle with any particular sin. This picture is found in Proverbs 26:11 and 2 Peter 2:22. By the way, why did I use the word struggle above? It is an indication that victory has not been won yet for this particular sin. Granted, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but this does not mean permission to wallow in sin. One thing that separates Christians from non-Christians, is the ability to recognize any sin that besets us and having a burning desire to stop it or stay away from it. Going back to the picture, the two passages present one of the grossest things to witness in life - a dog vomiting and licking or eating the vomit. Most of the time it is in a liquid form in which licking makes more sense. It is an eyesore to watch that happen. You don't even want to hear the sound of that activity by the dog. Every vomit no matter who it comes from, is smelly and nasty to look at, up to the point of causing another person to throw up. The analogy here is that we who are Christians and love to feel sorry for or sins, are in essence vomiting our sins when we feel sorry for them and ask God for forgiveness. The wisest man, Solomon and apostle Peter are saying in their dog-vomit analogy, that we would be acting like the dogs if we continue going back to the same sin we felt sorry for and have asked God to forgive us. That is gross and stenchy!

 

Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed

April 22, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. An online dictionary defines redeemed as, "gain or regain of (something) in exchange for payment."  The Bible recognizes Jesus as doing just that for the whole world and as indicated in Rev. 5, the redeemed are going to celebrate this by paying homage to Jesus around God's throne. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" (Rev. 5:9). In her hymn by the same title "Redeemed", one of my favorite hymn writers, Fanny J. Crosby suggests that with such an accomplishment, the celebration starts now. Shout it out, announce it with emphasis (megaphone) to the whole, that the most important thing has happened in your life; you have been "Redeemed!" But the worst thing that can happen in a redeemed person's life is to walk back to captivity. Please don't let it happen in your life. We have been bought with the most expensive price - the blood of Jesus. Start living it, broadcast it, affirm it through your life, REDEEMED, REDEEMED, REDEEMED! Praise the Lord, I'm redeemed.

 

Lost Sheep

April 15, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. What is the best gift you have ever received? Surpriiiiise, it is the gift of eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is a guarantee to those who accept the offer from the redeemer. The inhabitants of this world received the best that Heaven can offer in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. His mandate was to bring the lost sheep home. These sheep are counted lost because of their adoption of strange image, an image foreign to the household of God. If you are like me, you would wonder how one can embark on such a difficult mission to find sheep that have lost their identity and bring them back. Then I heard the true Shepherd say, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27) There is no better gift for a lost sheep than to recognize your Shepherd's voice and for your Shepard to acknowledge that you are indeed his, and finally to be seen under the guardianship of your Shepherd. What a reunion? Saved, saved from the doom that awaits every lost sheep. Saved from danger and safe in the arms of a caring Shepherd. Are you following your Shepherd yet? If not, it means that the 1st two steps have not yet occurred in your life. You haven't heard the Shepherd's voice and so you have not gone through the id process. Don't worry, you are still a sheep, but whose sheep?

 

John 3: 16

April 8, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. John 3:16 is probably the most quoted and the most familiar verse of the Bible. Can you imagine what the world would look like if it were also the most lived verse of the Bible? This question should begin with each of us individually. In other words, can the reverse of this verse truly show that {insert your name} so loved God that he/she gave his/her life for Him? This will undoubtedly turn our rote memory of this important verse to one that is actively lived. Every moment of our lives will be a true demonstration of this love generated from the deepest part of our hearts. John the beloved calls it our id, our badge of honor. There will be no more doubts as to whose we are or where we belong. We are followers of Christ- Christians, because the world can see the reflection of our love for God on every man and woman we come in contact with. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35

 

Lord, What Would You Have Me Do?

April 1, 2017

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. It is a mistake for anyone to think, not included in Jesus' call of "Come and Follow me".  Such a claim is a way to defend one's disobedience to the creator of the universe. We try many times to support this type of defense by what we think are our weaknesses, such as poverty, lack of enough education, level of knowledge in God's word, too busy to give satisfactory time and effort it demands, etc. The list can go on and on. The fact is that if we are looking for an excuse to be exempt from doing God's work, we would find it. There are, however, a lot of evidence in the scripture to support that those who accept God's call are supplied everything they need to perform their assignment along the way. God is not looking for those who have 10 or more years of experience like the employers of this world, but those who are willing to be used.

The transformation that occurs once this acceptance is made, is amazing. Assuming it is our 10 or more years of accumulated crudeness, God is able to scrape that thick accumulation and make us decent human beings. The work we do for the Lord helps to refine us as we are faithfully engaged in His work. Come as you are and the Lord has promised to supply all our needs. The result that occurs is beyond human explanation because of the changes it brings not only to our assigned territory but also in the life of the willing worker. If you haven't yet, it's not too late to ask, Lord what would you want me to do? I'm sure He has something for everyone of us to do for Him.

 

God Says Yes You Can

March 25, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don't know if you have noticed that God has work for people of all ages. There is a possibility, however, of someone thinking that he or she knows better than God and so tries to determine whether or not you are capable of handling God's assignment. This person will only succeed in their goal with your permission into your spiritual territory. One of the strongest reasons used to discourage someone from accepting God's assignment is age, for which apostle Paul warned his apprentice, Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no man despise thy youth..." In other words, the apostle is saying, don't let people think less of the work you are doing for the Lord, claiming that you are too young. Since we cannot control what anybody is thinking, maybe it will be acceptable to say, don't let anybody draw you into the feeling that your work for the Lord is inferior. Any work we do for the Lord is important, so don't disregard it's potential accomplishments because of any human being whose goal is to put you and God's work down. Each time such nay Sayers came to apostle Paul, his response was, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." If you believe this, that the Lord will give you the wisdom and strength to handle His assignments, the negative thinkers will be afraid to interfere in the father and son/daughter relationship you have with the Lord. Our God always supplies all our needs.

 

May God Help Us!

March 18, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I think that man has gone out of his sense. Can you imagine an ant standing, may be sitting, in front of an elephant and asking, what can you do to me? Man's attitude towards God is worse than that scenario. The "I don't care" attitude that man portrays before God, is mind boggling. We have become so fearlessly defiant of God's law that we break it as if we have authority to do whatever we want with them. You wonder if there is any recognition of its existence in our minds. No wonder many argue that there is no God, and yet they continue to breath. The scripture tells us that angels created above man, more powerful than man, do not rest day or night in saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, before God's thrown. (Rev. 4:8) They actually take off their crowns while doing this, and I'm sure they prostrate too. Those of us who accept that there is God are clamoring for special recognition because we spend an average of 5 hours a week worshiping God. Compare that with the angels' 24/7. May God help us!

 

Are You a Pretender?

March 4, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I think that faking Christianity is the worst deception there could be in life. In many acts intended to deceive another person or group of people, it is the recipient who suffers, but in fake Christianity, it is the giver, the faker, the actor who suffers. A person who is devoted to this type of life loses out in the enjoyment non-Christians are getting, but continues to live under the impression that it is enough to be called a Christian. This is how it becomes the worst deception: Jesus' second coming to this person is going to be sudden, and so the necessary preparation to wait for the Lord is not made. This person has ignored numerous opportunities to repent because it may mean an end to some special recognition available only to Christians or any other special reason. It is hard to believe that a person will know how to do good but chooses to do evil. It is sin according to the servant of the Lord in James 4:17. Since the wages of sin is death, the one who wastes time pretending to be a Christian when indeed he or she knows it is counterfeit, will die an everlasting death. What is worse than that? Thank God for providing an alternative, "the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". Accept this gift now and stop pretending.

 

Brothers and Sisters

February 25, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Behold, what manner of love our Father has given unto us, that we should be called sons and daughters of God. That's who we are no matter where we come from, East, West, North, or South. It's our maker who exercised His right to decide where to display each of His workmanship, and the hue for each group. All DNA searches end at Adam and Eve's home who in obedience to God, gave their children more real estate than they could handle. "...Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it..." (Gen. 1:28). When God saw that man's desire to have a united front was going to lead to disobedience to this rule, He showed them that His earlier plan was still the same - fill the earth, so He mixed up their languages. Up to this point everybody was considered a brother or a sister or at least related. It's out of ignorance that those who went east would tell those in the west or vice versa, that their language which originated from the same source is superior or that they are superior because of a contrast on their skin. Amazing that man who claims to be advanced in knowledge still considers outward appearance as a factor in their decision of how each person should be treated. Thank God that His opinion about each person is based on what goes on inside. (1 Samuel 16:7) If man is so rattled and deceived by what they see outside, can you imagine what they would do if they had access to the inside as God does? Rejoice because all God's children are fearfully and wonderfully made from the same factory, including you, which means we are brothers and sisters no matter which portion of Adam's distributed real estate we were placed.

 

Empty Barrels

February 18, 2017

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I hope that the saying that "Empty barrels (drums, vessels) make the most noise" does not apply to Christians. If it does, I recommend that every Christian needs to do a daily self-evaluation to know how empty or how full they are. By the way, why would an expression of Christian life be considered empty? Isn't it what is expected of a good follower of Christ? Unfortunately, the empty barrels make the most noise for lack of substance. Likewise, if a Christian lives a life that begs for applause, it could also be that it is missing a very important element. It is definitely deficient of Heaven's support. Instead of doing 10 things or "great" things "to be seen by men", why not do one or look for little things to do that will make Heaven happy? Heaven will not applaud if our performance is only meant for earthly theatre. I really do not want to look at what we do as Christian performance, but unfortunately that is exactly what it is, an act encouraged by human applause if Heaven grades it as not coming from the heart. According to Matt. 6:1, there is no paycheck for anything we do that is motivated by recognition. I am sure that he is not condemning doing good or others noticing that we are good, but as he admonishes us in Matt. 23:5-12, we ought to mix it with some humility.

 

"Behold, I give you..."

February 11, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I wonder why people want to know if given the chance, what someone would like to change in his or her life of yesterday. I can assure you, that chance will never come, and so why waste your time thinking of something that is not possible. It's gone and gone forever and so a million chances would not make a difference. Many opportunities, however, await us to make right choices today so that we do not have to regret our use or misuse of each moment before us. We wake up every morning and before us is an unrestricted access to everything the world can offer. Many times, instead of approaching these new experiences with new plans, we go back to our old bags of reserved plans and seek out the same ones that did not work yesterday. Our God is a generous giving God who makes sure you are awake when He is directing you to the daily bounties He has
provided for you. Every morning begins with "Behold, I give you..." Genesis 1:29. He will not tell you to behold something you cannot see. What Adam beheld that day was an entirely new experience and God made sure that he was looking to observe as He said in Genesis 9:3, that everything is included. Now that you are aware that you have access to God's storehouse, what is your plan for handling the vast opportunities before you today? Before compiling your list, have you considered asking God for His plan? That is the best and the safest starting point. I pray that all our choices today will be God driven so that there will be no room for regrets.

 

The Lost Man Epidemic

January 28, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. Do you know the worst epidemics ever recorded? It is the lost man refusing to accept his condition. People will run to the hospital to restore a broken arm, leg, prevent the loss of an eye or any part of their body, but are ready to argue when informed that they are spiritually lost and what will eventually happen to their whole body if an immediate action is not taken. The best trending news, however, is that Heaven is united in the rescue mission for each lost child. Our part is to accept our ignorance of where we are and accept the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Make a concerted decision that no matter what the condition is, we are going to turn right when He says turn right, left when prompted, forward, backward, or stand when asked. The only people who will remain lost at the end of Heaven's mission, are those who lived their lives their own way. This world is a very complicated place for any of us to try to navigate it on our own. Why not stop trying to depend on your knowledge or strength which will end up being a wasted effort, and ask the rep from Heaven to take control?

 

Thy Kingdom Come

January 21, 2017

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One of the reasons Jesus taught us to pray for "Thy Kingdom come", might have been because of His pity for us living in kingdoms that are ever changing. He knows how much quality is compromised by frequent changes, and so He asked His disciples to pray for this forever kingdom to come. His is the only permanent kingdom there is or could ever be. Nobody will take over from Him, which is an indication of the stability of His Kingdom. No wonder there is peace and joy that is beyond human comprehension in the Kingdom He is asking us to pray for. Who wouldn't be joyful knowing that you are living in a kingdom where everybody has equal opportunity? I'm sure that this is the ideal kingdom you and I are looking forward to, but we must vote for it to show our support. Each time you pray for the everlasting kingdom, you are voting for it to be ushered in. We can actually start enjoying this beyond imagination kingdom now by allowing the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. What is holding you from doing it now?

 

Cleaning Stream

January 14, 2017

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. We all know that dirty clothes smell and that they need to be washed with soap and water to remove the smell. Sin is the same way. It smells. I don't know where you live, but this is a fact that cannot be denied. The stench of sin is everywhere. We gasp for air when we hear the news of the havoc sin's pollution is causing every day in our neighborhoods. The hearts of men are already failing them and you can see the restlessness in their movement-to and fro as predicted. Thank God for the cleansing service He has provided. Like the soap and water needed to remove the smell from clothes, the blood of Jesus washes our sins away. No well-meaning person says I have washed this shirt or dress before and so I will continue to wear it without ever washing it again. In the same manner, the sin cleanser from Jesus is available to us for a rewash every time we are stained. Go as often as you need it. Jesus has paid for the service on your behalf. Take advantage of this free service. When was the last time you went into the cleaning stream? Do it now!

 

Let Him Lead

January 7, 2017

 

Happy New Year

January 1, 2017

 Good morning my Lakeview family. Our Lord has done it again. What a blessing that you and I woke up this gorgeous morning in the land of the living and able to welcome a brand, new year. I wish you all the best that 2017 has in store for all God's children. I enjoyed working with you in 2016, but our work is not done until our master returns, so let's make 2017 the best of all the past years for Lakeview. Thank you for responding as you did last night. That's what family is all about. I know that with that kind of Spirit, we are going to do greater things and be more than successful in 2017. HAPPY NEW YEAR ?.

 

Insatiability of Humans

December 31, 2016 

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. I don't know why I was so thrilled the 1st time I heard my High School Economics teacher say, "Human wants are insatiable." Whatever it was, I'm  beginning to see more truth in that statement, the further I am away from the four walls of the High School. Sometimes I'm tempted to think that the insatiability in man is triggered by the fact that he came into the world empty handed, and so all we see is an attempt to fill the empty hands. I know that you are wondering why it takes man a lifetime to fill only two empty hands. The best reason I can come up with is that because the world is empty. Man does not realize this and he uses all the energy he has to grab and grab until he leaves the world empty handed as he came in. As we come to the threshold of another year, I wonder what the record will indicate occupied most of our time in 2016. Is it going to be different in 2017? Has it ever been different or "same old, same old?" A wise man once called it vanity after he discovered that the treasures of this earth yield nothing but temporary pleasure. Luke 12:20, 21 makes this very clear because there will be no mention of treasures when your soul will be required of you. No wonder Jesus gave us the recipe which we will do well to follow. I'm trying to make it easy for us to remember, so starting from tomorrow the 1st day of the 1st month, "seek ye 1st the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" in 2017. One of these things guaranteed to Bank of Heaven customers is abundant life, because they know that their treasure is moth-proof in Heaven. Open your Bank of Heaven account today. Every transaction is free.  Happy banking and HAPPY NEW YEAR?. Thanking HIM for my bank account in HEAVEN

 

If You Have Faith

December 24, 2016

 Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. The road to Heaven is full of trip and fall, trip and fall, but only those who make up their minds to reach their destination, get up after each fall and continue on their journey. This is why faith is so important. It lifts up a fallen soldier of Christ and puts him/her back on the heaven bound road. Without faith, I heard, it is impossible to please God and so seeing Him is out of the equation. It does not make sense analyzing the mishaps we experience on our Christian journey, because the devil is determined to justify each one and use them to keep us discouraged. Let him be the one discouraged when he sees you up and going again, praising God for His awesomeness. The promise is already yours, that He who began the good work in you, that you thought you were the one responsible, will also complete it for you, if you have faith.

 

Know Your Story

November 19, 2016

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. According to the world population clock, there are about 7.3 billion people in the world today. These are 7.3 billion potential stories of how great God's love is, because whether you believe it or not, my story is not your story, and your story is not mine. Everybody needs to know his or her story without which any claim to know God has no future and is meaningless. You may be wondering how this can be true since most of the world's population does not know God. How do you know and don't you wish that everybody including those who think they know God would pursue things of this life as prescribed by God? How quickly we are to put on our boxing gloves any moment things don't go our way. You mean those gloves are still around after all the rhetoric about our knowledge of God? What then is the difference between the "know it all" about God and the "ignorant" about God if we all value every minor detail the same way? Jesus has given us the order in which to go after the things of this world. If you and I are not following this order, we are just like the rest of the other 7.3 billion out there. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:33) Most of the world is doing it in reverse order. Are you? What means the most to you in this life? It is time to bury those gloves and be satisfied with what God allows us to have. You will find that nothing you need is missing.

Being a Veteran for Christ

November 12, 2016

 

Why Do We Worry

October 29,2016

Good morning and HAPPY SABBATH my Lakeview family. One thing or maybe the first thing we forget when faced with adversity or in pain, is God's promise - "I'll never leave you or forsake you". This is an important theme that is found all over the Bible because our Father in Heaven knows that we are worry freaks. The question in Matthew 6 is, who among us has grown one more inch because we are worried about our height? Fear or worry is an indication that one does not recognize God's presence. Maybe it is part of our inherited nature and the reason why it was the main focus of God's instruction at Joshua's inauguration. Read Joshua 1. The reason no one was able to successfully stand against him was because of God's presence. He, therefore, had no reason to fear or be dismayed. This important message is echoed in Heb. 13:5, Isa. 41:10, Ps. 37:25, 28,  1 Sam. 12:22, Deut. 31:6, 8, and many more. Don't worry, our God knows the best way to handle our affairs. Trust Him! You are in good Hands?.

 

What Group Do You Belong?

October 22,2016

Good Morning and HAPPY SABBATH Lakeview family. There are three groups of people when it comes to opinions about creation. The first group believes that there is no God and are ready to defend their beliefs through what they learned from Charles Darwin. The second and dangerous group, believes in God but lives like there is no God. The third group believes and trusts in God. The second group is dangerous because it is difficult to find anything to tell them about God that they don't already know. Unfortunately, they allow everything they know about God to go to the gutters any moment a disappointment occurs. I think this is because this group does not really know God. Which group do you think you belong? Are you comfortable with your position when it comes to accepting God's ability in handling (all) your affairs? How big is your God? Take a look at the size of your doubts and fears before giving your answer.

 

 FREEDOM

July 4, 2016

Of all the gifts to man at creation, freedom stands out as one of the most needed and the most appreciated. Unfortunately, as it has turned out, freedom has become the most abused of all the gifts ever given to man.

God gave it to man knowing that he will need it, even though as the Creator, He had every right to dictate the rights allowable to His own creation. He wanted man to show Him the same love that He demonstrated to him, but not by force. True love cannot be forced. Man misused this right and plunged into the worst condition that could ever exist in life. Our first parents may not have known how low they had taken their children, but you and I will agree that it was beyond imagination or maybe we have created more avenues for ourselves to make the condition worse.

Human instinct is to attempt to come out of any condition that is not comfortable. There is no limit as to how far man is willing to go to make sure this is achieved. He will fight if need be, which is the route many countries have taken to secure this much needed freedom. It is always an occasion of joy and an unending celebration, whenever a group of people are finally able to govern themselves independent of what any outsider may think. Finally, freedom to make your own decisions and live with the consequences - good or bad. This is an area which many people rushing for freedom do not always remember. Most of the times, we focus on how sweet independence sounds and forget that the results may not always turn out to be good. Many adults can testify to this. Can’t wait to be 18 so I can get my own apartment, and then the real world appears and things are no longer what they seemed to be.

Remember the point I made earlier, that man’s misuse of his first freedom plunged him into the worst condition that ever existed. I am hoping too, that you have realized what God knew from the beginning – that at this depth, it was impossible for man to help himself. He can struggle and fight as much and as hard as he wants, he lacks the ability to get himself out of this depth. It is like a person in a very deep well and needs a rope thrown to the hole to pull him out if he takes hold of the rope. In this case, no one had a rope long enough to reach where man was, except God. God came down and offered to rescue man from the abyss that he dug for himself. It is left with you and me to accept the truth that our struggles and fights cannot give us the freedom we need. Take hold of the rope that Jesus has lowered into our pits and accept that of a truth it is the only way out. The death of Jesus on the cross is the only way of escape for man from his trapped condition. Grab it. Embrace it. Never let it go, because it is truly the only way to gain freedom from the life you and I are living now into the life our Father in Heaven intended for us in the first place. Accepting the truth that Jesus is God; and that He came into this world, lived, died and resurrected, and that He is coming again, shall set you free. This is indeed the freedom that the world needs today.

I Go To Prepare A Place for You

One of the greatest promises made to man is found in John 14:1-3.  This promise was made by none other than our Lord Jesus Christ.  It starts with a consoling statement, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”  In other words, don’t allow yourself to be frightened by your experiences in this world, because you believe in Christ. 

How can anyone live in this world and not worry about the daily experiences that are not always gratifying?  They may not come directly on you, but there is no guarantee that you are not the next in line.  Jesus gave a solution to the heavy burden of worry – “Believe in God, believe also in me”.  Accept that God is able to handle all the issues that are causing the worry in your life.  Trust God so much that you are willing to relinquish everything to Him.  There is no doubt that if we are able to do this, all our worries will vanish.  Wow!  Worry-free life available to everyone who is willing to allow Jesus to handle his or her problems.

Little did the disciples know that He who was advocating to be their worry carrier was going to die in few hours.  Good because that would have taken away the little they were able to accept from His presentation.  The next verse gives a report of God’s house in heaven.  In His description of the house, Jesus informs His listeners that God’s house has many mansions.  Now the promise, “I go to prepare a place for you”.   I will like to replace the “you” with my name and you do the same with your name.  No matter how gorgeous you think the house you live in now is, I am sure you’ll be glad to exchange it with a place prepared for you by Jesus in God’s mansion.

The promise did not end in the preparation of individual places in the mansion.  Like Philip, we need to know how to get there because it wouldn’t make sense holding a Title to a place you cannot occupy.  Jesus removes the ambiguity by giving another assurance – “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”   Imagine in your head, Jesus opening a door and saying to you “Go in, this is your residence for the next thousand years”. 

It looked like nothing of this promise was attainable on the Friday when Jesus was crucified, but Jesus never fails.  On the Sunday morning of the same weekend, hopes were revived because the grave could not hold Jesus.  He rose, reassuring the disciples that His promise still holds.  He left them after spending about 40 days with them.  Again it looked like the disciples were never going to have a restful life when they saw Jesus rise to go to heaven.  As they stood there in desperation, wondering what had become of their lives in the 3 ½ years spent with Jesus, two angels appeared to reassure them of Jesus’ promise.  “This same Jesus”, they said, “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) 

I urge you to accept this promise.  Claim it as yours so that as Jesus described in Luke 21:25, 28, when “men’s hearts are failing them for fear”, you will “look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”  Our Lord said it, and the angels confirmed it, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, and He is coming back to take us to our home in Heaven.  GET READY!