Words of the Week – Page 4 – Los Angeles Sentinel

Wisdom on Living Saved and Single

Rev. Donald Lee, Contributing WriterJanuary 2, 2020

Today, we’re sharing nuggets of wisdom on being saved and single. While you wait for God to connect you with your soul mate, it’s of the utmost importance that you appreciate your season of singleness. So many single people are on the dating scene, oftentimes putting themselves in compromising positions. But it is possible to live a saved and single life, one of true joy and integrity. Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Did you get that? Wisdom is “the principal thing.” In other words, wisdom is the

Words of the Week – A Few of My Favorite Things

Rev. Dr. Kelvin Calloway, Contributing WriterDecember 26, 2019

Scripture: Matthew 2:7-11 What is it that makes Christmas, Christmas for you? I have learned along life’s way that there are different things for different people that make Christmas, Christmas. What makes Christmas for some, may not make Christmas, Christmas for others. Fruitcake and eggnog does it for me. When I was younger, it was mincemeat pie. For some, it is caroling and for others, it is the Christmas tree that makes Christmas, Christmas or gifts under the tree or keys to that new car, or new house. And then for others, Christmas ain’t Christmas without the one you love.

Religion

Words of the Week – Are You A Ruler? Do You Measure Up?

Larry S. Buford, Contributing WriterDecember 4, 2019

A couple of Sundays ago, I heard a message about the power that God infuses into us. Among the Bible verses referenced was Philippians 4:13, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me .” This is a KJV amplified rendering of the more familiar, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The message was a challenge to believers who walk by faith to receive the power that God sends from Zion, enabling us

Religion

Words of the Week – A Song of Thanksgiving

Rev. Dr. Kelvin T. Calloway Sr., Contributing WriterNovember 20, 2019

Scripture: Psalm 100:1-5 Music has been referred to as the universal language. Its universal quality is one that speaks to people of all tongues, of every generation, and to every human situation. Songs are poetry put to music. They are lyrics put to melodies. Songs speak to our ups and our downs. They speak to our joys and our pain. They speak to our sunshine and our rain. They speak to our love and our happiness. Our songs speak to every human situation. In the text, the psalmist admonishes these ancient believers to sing a song of thanksgiving. His admonishment

Religion

Words of the Week: That’s Not My Story – But It Could’ve Been

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterNovember 6, 2019

My name is Brian Wellington Carter. I am a native of Los Angeles and received my education from private schools and colleges most of my life. I am a creative writer and journalist who enjoys sci-fi and fantasy. My name is Brian Wellington Carter and I could’ve easily been the next Charles Manson. Or Jeffery Dhamer. Or Ted Bundy. Or the unknown pedophile breaking young lives across the country. What I’m trying to say is because I was born in sin and shaped iniquity, I could’ve been a monster — but, because of the grace of God and the blood

Religion

Words of the Week – Put the Blame Where It Belongs

Barbara Bryant, Contributing WriterOctober 30, 2019

You have an enemy. Although unseen by the natural eye, this adversary is not imaginary nor a mythological character. Satan, the devil, is a real person… a spirit being, with intelligence and tangible characteristics. He is the personification of all that is evil and is the author of every wicked work. His nonstop goal is to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). Around-the-clock, the enemy is on the prowl, seeking to cause disorder and destruction to your life. With military-like strategy and ruthless hostility, the devil aggressively searches for weakness in your faith, hoping to devour you with deception, temptation,

Op-Ed Opinion Religion

Words of the Week – When Despair, Pain and Misery Come… Jesus Will Answer! – Part 3

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterOctober 2, 2019

“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” -Psalm 126:5-6 I remember feeling lost after my father passed away, kind of like losing a compass and having no direction. Not hearing his voice in the house was strange — not hearing the Volvo roll into the driveway, his laugh, which was hearty or hearing him sing to himself — which I’m fondly remembering as I write this article. I missed my Dad greatly. My sister’s death left me

Religion

God Restores Despite Climate Change and Hurricanes

Rev. Marvin MacKenzie, Contributing WriterSeptember 22, 2019

As a little boy growing up in the Bahamas, there are certain memories that I’ll always have. I remember long hot summer days and swimming in the ocean to as far as I could go. I also remember the hurricanes that would come each summer. Hurricane season occurs during the summer months and when I was a child, hurricanes seemed no more than severe rainstorms. But it seems that as I’ve gotten older, hurricanes have become more and more powerful. As I’ve gotten older, it seems that the storms I face in life have grown in intensity. Hurricane Dorian is

Religion

Words of the Week – When Despair, Pain and Misery Come – Part II

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterSeptember 11, 2019

After my father passed away, it was just my mother, sister and I living under one roof. He left a big hole, a weird space that was foreign and sometimes scary. I was the man of the house, still had a year-and-a-half of college to go and didn’t have my driver’s license yet (I’m a late bloomer when it comes to many of life’s milestones). At this time, I had a close relationship to my sister, Renell. Her name was Esther Renell Fenison, but most people knew and referred to her by her middle name (my mother’s middle name is

Crenshaw & Around Op-Ed Opinion Religion

Words of the Week – When Despair, Pain and Misery Come – Part I

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterSeptember 4, 2019

I loved my father. My father’s name was Wilmer Wellington Carter and he was a true provider for our family. Dad was into getting wisdom and knowledge as he read a lot of books. He always said that the Bible was the most important one and to start there first, to fear God was the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. My father was older, so we didn’t play sports and roughhouse, instead, we learned about every animal in the encyclopedia. I fell in love with dinosaurs, and knew the names of just about all of them and I still remember

Religion

Words of the Week – Changing Times & Cold Hearts

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterAugust 21, 2019

One of my favorite musical groups is Earth, Wind & Fire and I grew up hearing their music all the time on the hi-fi. One particular album is a favorite of mine called “Raise!” and there is a song called “The Changing Times.” The first lyrics ring very true of today: “As you discover changing times, You must have the strength to endure.” We have been in the midst of changing times, but it is getting more evident, as times goes by, these days are getting darker. The shootings, bold racism and rampant homelessness are some of the prevailing signs

Religion

Words of the Week – The Wedding Dress

Larry Buford, Contributing WriterAugust 14, 2019

Are you a creative person? If so, then you know the creation process of making something from nothing. As a writer, I brood over a blank page to find the right words to bring a meaningful thought or idea to fruition. It’s not just a bunch of words thrown together. So, concerning creation versus evolution, which would you believe that best-selling author Stephen King accidentally knocked over some ink onto some paper and the splash formed into a best-selling novel; or rather that he purposefully toiled and skillfully wrote it? The Bible reads in Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was

Religion

Words of the Week – The Lord’s Bottom Line

Brian W. Carter, Contributing WriterAugust 7, 2019

We live in a confused world. You have to be careful what you say to everyone, because everyone is ready to attack you for what you just said. Huh? Yep! It’s a world full of camps and you don’t choose which one you belong to either — it’s chosen for you based on what you say, believe, think, act, etc. You think the man should be head of the household… you are a male *@!#%*! You are a caveman! The gay guy that works in accounting… what? First of all, he is a she! Her name is “Ivory!” OMG, are

Religion

Words of the Week – Being on One Accord with the Lord

Beverly Pye, Contributing WriterJuly 17, 2019

The early church created an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself Christians, it’s time to change the contemporary church playbook. Yes, good preaching and good singing is well and good, but true worship must become top priority and intentional. If Sunday is the only time that we all seem to come together, then we must rethink our Sunday service. At least one Sunday per month, prior to arrival, we should consecrate ourselves and come prepared for worship. No set agenda, just allow the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Trinity) to have His way, so that

Religion

Words of the Week – A Cross to Bear

Pastor Edward Anderson, Contributing WriterJuly 10, 2019

Scripture – Matthew 5:38-41 America is, in many respects, at an impasse. Time itself has found itself at the burgeoning of a new precipice. And if I was a philosopher like Hegel, I might summarize looking at the times that a new dialectic is emerging. If I was a philosophic critic like Derrida interpreting the signs of the times, I might postulate that what we see on display today is simply the falling away of modernity and the emergence of post-modernity. And beloved if I was a theologian like Karl Barth, I might describe our time as God breaking into