The book of Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 22 declares: A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in my own season.” As we celebrate Black History month do remember that we were bound to be free! Transplanted in a land of which we knew nothing about, valued only for the physical strength, entreated as less than, yet never equal to  being human; always less than a moron, declared by some  to be void of a soul. Yet, God, having a transversal plan, has always declared the end from the beginning.  His picture has always been greater than what is made plain or visible to the eye. And though we traveled through many gates of hell, we were, by Him, destined for greatness. Reflecting Rev. Joseph Lowery again, we have achieved individual greatness, climbed mountains, torn down many walls, and have learned to declare God’s Word,  No weapon formed against us shall prosper!
But, what do we say concerning the weapons African Americans have formed against themselves?  Americans are known for their humanitarianism. And, though we had to fight and are yet fighting for our rights to the dream, many of us do ponder the holistic value of them all. In this country, poverty has two faces. The one who would  do better if a hand was offered, if opportunity knocked and ability unlocked the doors of their dreams. The second face is of those minds who sit on the front porch watching as the employed drives by. For it is the tax payers who afford them better housing; even Section Eight; in time this new home for them begins to look like the hood they left behind. The absence of integrity and self-worth deprive them of better. The efforts of assistance are made hoping to raise the standard of living for all humanity in this country. Somewhere we lost “train up a child in the way he should go.”…They are allowed to swing on the doors until the hinges are torn off. The landscaping is parked on and trampled until the curb appeal has long been forgotten. The new great commandment is, Blow your grass debris into your neighbor’s yard, this is what you want them to do unto you and yours!
Where do we draw the lines? Is it crippler/crutch or a helping hand? Many who have depended on assistance lost something in the process; shifting their lives from  being one type of menace to becoming another type. I am not Dr. King, neither do I truly know what he would say if he was still here with us. But, I do believe his words yet penetrate the souls of those who knew them. What is the contents of our character and that of our children? The dead bodies found at midnight or before daybreak speak of our loss of  human worth and respect for human life. What has happened to our quest or respect for property ownership and its value and beauty. Where is genuine loyalty to the brotherhood of life itself. Are we still brethren? What historical legacy are we leaving? Is it…what one culture couldn’t do to us, the twenty-century generation rose to complete by self destruction. Have the blessings we now enjoy, bought by the blood of millions, been in vain to some degree? Let us as a nation within a nation of people begin to complete one another and stop the wars from within.  “Brethren, love one another, and let this love continue! 1 John 4:7-12    Electra.gethsemaneministries@yahoo.com.

So it was, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they surrounded him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him, and God diverted them from him. 2 Chronicles 18:31

An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors (the ambushing force) take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops. This morning God revealed this term to me and blessed me so tremendously. This is a natural definition of ambush but there is a spiritual aggressor within your midst that isn’t always underbrush or behind hilltops but right in your face. There are individuals strategically placed in your life that smile with you, listen to your problems and even pretend to care about you but all along they are awaiting their opportunity to take you out.  Although you may know that anything allowed to affect you has been allowed by God or you may realize the extent of the attack means you are closer to your destiny, it does not prevent the hurt of betrayal nor does it restore the trust you once had in those people.

However, God says in Matthew 5:44–
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. 

As you go through the days ahead and are confronted by people you would rather not speak to, smile. Shine the light of Jesus and show them how little effect they have had on your blessings, your favor or God plans. You don’t have to communicate but be courteous and obedient to the Word of God and pray for them. Remember none of us are perfect and you, too, have flaws and sometimes the people that hurt you aren’t even intending to do so but they are being used by the enemy to distract and derail you. Stay focused and keep moving forward.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26
 
Remember who you are and who you belong to,
Minister Deidra Bibb

The Tittusville AOH Church of God cordially invites you to attend their 100th Church Anniversary Celebrations. The order of services will be held on the folowing dates:
Sunday, Feb.2 at 4p.m. a Musical Celebration was held.
Friday, Feb. 7 at 7p.m. – Guest Speaker, Bishop John D. Redmond, Sr., Pastor  of Greater Mt. Zion Temple of Deliverance Church, Birmingham, AL. Sunday, Feb. 9 at 4p.m. – Guest Speaker, Bishop Gregory Cannon, Pastor Rice Temple AOH Church of God, Montgomery, AL. Friday, Feb.14 at 7p.m. there will be a Love Banquet at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Guest Speaker, Evangelist Deborah Smith, First Lady of the Leeds AOH Church of God, Leeds, Ala. Sunday, Feb.16 at 4p.m. Guest Speaker, the renown Bishop Phillip Wright, Pastor of the Harris Temple AOH Church of God, Chicago, Ill. and the Greater Gospel Temple AOH Church of God, Cleveland, Ohio. Friday, Feb.21 at 7p.m. Guest Speaker, Bishop Joseph Hamilton, Pastor of New Zion Bible Way Church, Birmingham, Ala.
Climaxing Service will be held on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 4p.m. Guest Speaker will be Bishop George Washington Ayers, National and International Presiding prelate of the AOH Church of God, Inc., along with the Choir from the Cathedral of the Cross, Center Point, Ala.
Tittusville AOH Church is located 506 4th Court West in the Smithfield area. Overseer Joseph Kenneth Turnes, Sr. is the Pastor.
For more information on this great celebration, please contact Mrs. Therlene Hall at (205) 925-0130 or Mrs. Frankie Weeks at (205) 643-0259.

Soul-stirring vocal powerhouse to release new CD “Reloaded” in March

When Zacardi Cortez sings, everybody listens. Whether it was fronting James Fortune & FIYA’s #1 hit “I Believe” in 2010 or his own Top Ten breakthrough single “One More Time” with John P Kee in 2012, Cortez always delivers. Now, the rough kid from the Houston projects, is sitting on top of the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart with his latest radio smash, “1 on 1.” The urgent yet smooth ballad is also spending its second week at #1 on the Mediabase Gospel chart.
“This is a dream come true,” Cortez says. “I’m thankful to the president of the record label, Kerry Douglas, for beliving in me and giving me a chance. I thank him and Tawanda Shamley for working the radio long and hard to get me to this place. I thank Bill Carpenter for keeping my name and face in the media. My manager Vonda Morris always has my back and has been guiding me on this journey and my music director Lucius Hoskins, who co-wrote  ‘1 on1,’ is always upping my game musically. I’m just really grateful to God and all of the radio music and program directors for making this happen.”
January has turned out to be a whirlwind month for the singer who serenaded gospel legend Daryl Coley at the BMI Gospel Trailblazers Awards a week ago and stole the show that featured a who’s who of the gospel industry. Then, he performed  “1 on 1” on the nationally syndicated TV broadcast of the 29th Annual Stellar Awards and won a slew of social media praise.
The soulful song has been getting radio spins since this past July and anchors Cortez’ forthcoming CD “Reloaded” (World Wide Music, Inc.) that will be released in March. “The song is about spending one on one time with God,” says the Houston native. “We all go through those times when we just have to put everything else aside – turn off the TV, put the video game down, stop taking phone calls – and just concentrate on our relationship. It can be your relationship with your girlfriend or God. We all need that one on one time with the ones we love to let them know that we do love them.”
The primary songwriter Lucius Hoskins says that after a long day of working on music, he fell asleep in his recording studio and woke up around 2 a.m. “I prayed for God to give me a melody that would speak to all people not just the gospel community,” the Grand Rapids native recalls. “When I finished, I sat at my piano and began to play the melody. There were only a few words to what I played so I reached out to two of my writer friends, Traxx Sanders and Ike Jenkins. I told them of my prayer about a universal song that, anyone could relate to and they put the finishing touches on it.”

Visit www.mrkerrydouglas.com or www.zacardicortez.com.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rev. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr., a former Memphis mayoral candidate and influential pastor of The New Olivet Baptist Church, is known throughout the River City for keeping it real. As schools begin to acknowledge the contributions of notable African-Americans during February Black History Month activities, Whalum says that the annual observation should be abolished.
“I think it’s a colossal waste of educational resources at best, and an inhumanely-cruel and slow-acting poison pill at worst,” says Whalum who was the most outspoken member of the Memphis City School Board during his tenure there.
However, one should not take Whalum’s disdain for the holiday opinion as anti-African-American. On the contrary, Whalum advocates a more pro-active approach to celebrating Black History. His New Olivet Baptist Church boasts ministries that include an outreach to gang members and its B-A-M-M (Bust-A-Move-Monday) selects Black-owned businesses on the first Monday of each month and directs patrons to spend their dollars with that business on that day. It’s a wealth-building initiative that’s empowered many African-American businesses in the region.
“I’m not some fly-by-night, jack-legged preacher,” Whalum once told The Memphis Daily News when running for elected office. “I am well prepared. … They’re scared of this kind of candidate because I don’t owe anybody anything at all.”
Whalum is a graduate of Morehouse College, Temple University School of Law and the Memphis Theological Seminary. Born and raised in the inner city of Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Whalum has dedicated his life to proclaiming social justice for the citizens of Memphis, especially those who cannot speak for themselves: the children.

“. . . the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).

There are many types of servants in our society. Some serve others in their employment in order to make a living and support their families, while some serve others out of love for them or their love for God. However, the type of servant spoken of in Proverbs 22:7 is not a volunteer. This servant is in servitude by bad decision-making. They serve loan sharks, payday loan companies, title loan companies, and credit card companies. Most of the victims are poor, not well educated, and in some type of desperate financial situation. The sucker signs tell them “Easy Money,” “Get a Loan Today,” “We will Give You What You Deserve,” “E-Z Payments,” “Bad credit? No problem.” They believe borrowing money is quick and easy, but they are charged extremely high rates of interest, and when the time comes to pay, they don’t have the money. Therefore, they make a new loan to pay off the old one, and make a new loan to pay that one off, and it goes on and on, it keeps going. Soon, they are paying only the interest and the debt keeps growing. They often lose a great deal in this process, from cars to credit, and they move from being borrowers to being victims.
People need wisdom in order to avoid the traps of predatory lenders. The book of Proverbs falls into the category of “wisdom literature” revealing wisdom of the ages, and more importantly, the wisdom of God. It says when it comes to borrowing, “Don’t!” God is good! He loves us, and He does not want us to live in servitude to loan sharks. Follow His counsel and just don’t fall into the trap of being a servant to the lenders.

Dr. Robert Wilkerson is a minister, writer, and founder of People for the Christian Way, an organization whose mission is to encourage all people to practice Christian principles in business, politics, and every area of life. drbobwilkerson@bellsouth.net, www.peopleforthechristianway.com

Powers of Light Part I
Rev. Joseph R. Reid

Light is one of the most important elements of life and the moment we receive the light of Christ, our world is illuminated to the truth of God. We awaken and are changed into who God want us to be.  If we remain dark, we will never fully know God.
There are three powers of light. One, the power that enables us to know the truth of God; two, the power to transform and awaken us and three, the power to brighten our entire body, mind and soul in preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The first power of light enables us to know the truth of God. We become aware of the truth of God through prayer and meditation. There are a thousand and one fallacies about prayer and meditation all around the world. Prayer and Meditation is very simple: Prayer is for the heart and from the heart. Meditation is for the mind and removes the mind. They both are about becoming conscious. Awaking to God’s presence and power. They are both light. These powers of light are not chanting, hollering, using a lot of words, nor using a mantra or a rosary.  These are hypnotic methods. They can give us a certain kind of rest and nothing is wrong with that rest; if we are just trying to relax, it is perfectly good. Any hypnotic method (traditional prayer, worship, confessions or revivals, can be helpful, but if we want to know the truth, they are not enough. The truth of God can only be found when we practice a daily regimen of prayer and meditation.
The second power of light is its capacity to transform and awaken us to new life. Prayer and Meditation simply means transforming us from a state of unconsciousness (darkness) into consciousness (light). Normally only one-tenth of our mind is aware (luminous), and nine-tenths is oblivious (mysterious). Just a small part of our mind, a thin layer, has brightness; otherwise the whole house is in darkness. And the challenge is to grow that small light so much that the whole house is flooded with light, so that not even a nook or corner is left in darkness.
Finally light has the ability to brighten our entire body, mind and soul in preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. When the whole house (out bodies, mind and spirit) is full of light, then life is a miracle; it has the quality of magic. Then it is no longer ordinary – everything becomes extraordinary. The mundane is transformed into the sacred, and the small things of life start having such tremendous significance that we could not have ever imagined it. Ordinary stones look as beautiful as diamonds; the whole of existence becomes illuminated. The moment we are illuminated, the whole of existence is illuminated. If we are dark, then the whole of existence is dark. It all depends on us. Prayer and meditation are the keys.

Far too many people put their trust and confidence in what they can accomplish by their own means.  Man cannot do anything good, or bad, unless God allows it. Take a look at man and see how vulnerable and limited he is; you see God made man a free agent to choose his own way, but without God giving him physical abilities, he cannot do anything.  You may be thinking if he is free, why does he need God – you see, many think that way.  The answer to the WHY is no one can do anything without God.  GOD IS OMNISCIENT – HE HAS ALL KNOWLEDGE – HE IS OMNIPOTENT – HE HAS ALL POWER, therefore everything is limited, but God. Put not your trust in yourself or any man. [Jeremiah 17:5-8]
All who have given their lives over in God’s hand, and trust in Him, have made the choice to allow the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit to govern their lives through His written Word.  Many trust in what man can do or what harm man can bring upon them, but if you put your trust in the Lord, He will guide you into all righteousness, and protect you from dangerous situations.  He will guide you around evil forces and hidden traps that man sets.  The Word of God says in Psalm 121: 2-4, “My help comes from the Lord, He will not allow your foot to slip, He who keeps Israel neither slumber nor sleep.” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not unto your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5  TRUST IN THE LORD.  Hallelujah!

www.thealmightyeyes.com

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
105 Parker Springs Street, Brighton, Alabama 35020

You are cordially invited to attend our 17th Annual Agape Breakfast, Saturday, February 8,
Nine O’ clock  in the morning. The breakfast is hosted by The Women’s Home & Overseas Missionary Society, Mrs. Delores Senior, President-Parent Body.