Words of the Week – Page 8 – Los Angeles Sentinel

Words of the Week – Is Your Belief-System Working?

Barbara Bryant, Contributing WriterAugust 30, 2017

I have no problem saying, “I don’t know some things about God.” But just because I don’t know some things about God, it does not mean, I don’t believe in God. John 14:1 says, “…Believe in God.” What Jesus meant by believing in God, means believing everything that God has said about Himself. “Believe in God” means trusting that God deals with us not according to who we are, but according to who He is. “Believe in God” means to account God trustworthy, that God is faithful to God’s promises. Is your belief-system working? Most people don’t realize how their beliefs shape them and their life. What

Religion

Words of the Week – O.J. Simpson: Biblical Joseph Story in Reverse

Larry Buford, Contributing WriterAugust 2, 2017

As I watched the O.J. Simpson parole hearing, I couldn’t help but think how life can take unexpected turns. Since 1994, we have watched a superstar – a man who was on top of the world – fall from grace in rapid fashion. We all know the story of his trial in the murders of his wife Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted in that trial, but about 10 years later, he wasn’t so lucky when the state of Nevada convicted him in a robbery case for which he was given a harsh 33-year sentence. This was his

Religion

Words of the Week – Positive Thinking vs. The Word

Brian W. Carter, Staff WriterJuly 26, 2017

One might ask if positive thinking is Christ-like. I would say that following the example of Jesus in our living leads to a positive lifestyle, one that is upright and yields a favorable outcome. I would be remiss though to say that positive thinking will get you to heaven — that glory belongs to Jesus, not the mind. We are living in the age of the wonders of the mind: freeing your mind, banishing negative thoughts and envisioning where you want to be in life. This is the age of positive thinking, where you can create your own utopia

Op-Ed Opinion Religion

Words of the Week – Filling The Void

Brian W. Carter, Staff WriterJuly 5, 2017

It’s not really something that you are aware of as a child, but sometime during adolescence, it begins to become evident. It grows, faster in some people, slower in others, but it grows and we feed it constantly. It can be all-consuming as an adult as we throw money, sex, relationships, material objects and even ourselves into it. Well, what is it? It’s the void. We all have a big gaping void in our lives that is always hungry for anything that we have to offer. Lucifer knows this and he is all too happy to make suggestions and send

Religion

Words of the Week – The Struggling Bones in the Closet

Brian W. Carter, Staff WriterJune 14, 2017

Recently, life coach and relationship expert Cheyenne Bostock (@AskCheyB), posed the question to ladies on Twitter: “Would they date a man who has given up homosexuality after finding Jesus?” Definitely not a new question with not-so-new answers as most of the women responded with a resounding, “No!” No surprise there, but it made me go even deeper with the question: “Could you date a former pedophile who found Jesus? Could you date a former sex addict who found Jesus? Could you date a man who served time for rape?” In other words, can we be “soiled” beyond redemption? Beyond finding

Religion

Words of the Week – ‘Church Still Matters’

Rev. Dr. Kelvin T. Calloway, Contributing WriterMay 31, 2017

Scripture: John 5:1-13 We live in an age characterized by the prefix “post.” We live in a post-modern, post-racial, and the most recent, post-truth age where the truth no longer matters and alternative facts have taken its place. The prefix “post” invaded our culture and our faith. We live in a post-religious age – post-Christian, post-evangelical, post-denominational and post-religious. All of these phrases describe a culture, according to the Barna Group (the evangelical Christian polling firm) that appears to be moving away from conventional Christianity. The culture seems to say that “Christianity and church no

Religion

Words of the Week – Dealing with the g-Word

Brian W. Carter, Staff WriterMay 24, 2017

One of the definitions of grief is “deep sorrow, especially that is caused by someone’s death.” I recently lost my sister to cancer, a battle she bravely fought with God and all of my family by her side. We are people of faith, Christians, and I was deep in my belief that healing and complete restoration was soon to come — but it didn’t. So I’m left to deal with the g-word — grief. No one wants to deal with grief because it’s nowhere near pleasant and it’s a lifetime process. The loss of a loved one stays with you

Religion

Changes in diet leads to a healthier you

Donald Lee, Contributing WriterApril 19, 2017

The Lord tells us in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge … ” Friends, so many people — including God’s men and women of faith and power — are dying at young ages, well before their time, I believe because of a lack of knowledge. As I’ve shared so many times before in messages that precede this one, what we don’t know can kill us (and has been in many cases). Therefore, it’s high time that we start taking more time out to research and learn what we may be doing in terms of our

Religion

The Writing, the Reading and the Telling!

Larry Buford, Contributing WriterApril 12, 2017

For a sworn testimony, we are asked by the courts: “Please place your right hand on the Bible: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” Most people do it without even knowing a scintilla of what’s in that book! The Bible! People may boast, “I have a Bible…matter of fact, I’ve got two!” And so it may be; they have one collecting dust on the coffee table, and the other collecting dust on their nightstand! But what does it mean to just “have” a Bible? Some people feel

Religion

When Jesus Prays That Your Faith Fails Not, It Won’t!

Barbara Bryant, Contributing WriterApril 5, 2017

God has warned us about Satan in the Bible. Satan is a master destroyer of the souls of men. He has been a murderer and a liar from the beginning, so God commanded us to be sober and vigilant because our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. Satan’s greatest desire is to have you, that he may sift you as wheat (Luke 22:31). Don’t think of the sifting of flour when reading this scripture. When God talks about sifting wheat, He is referring to a very violent action used to separate the grain from

Religion

Trust in God, He’s There For You

Joresa Blount, Contributing WriterMarch 15, 2017

I had a chat with a friend yesterday about getting out of the valley for good. She was feeling very discouraged. In her perspective, she felt like every time she climbed one mountain another one would show up. I understood completely. I don’t call myself the #ComebackQueen for nothing. Sometimes, I just wish I could be normal and not want so much out of life! LOL. But what do you do when you feel like the struggle won’t stop? How do you keep going? Know that you are not alone. As I recalled past moments of feeling the same

Religion

Be assertive about good health in your faith walk

Rev. Donald Lee, Contributing WriterMarch 8, 2017

Third John 1:2 says, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Friends, as it relates to our faith walk with God, we’re prospering. We’re doing well. Yet, while that is always a good thing, we should be prospering in our physical bodies, as the scriptures point out. If we are challenged in our health, we need to eradicate those infirmities by way of the Word of God and natural resources that the Lord has placed here in the earth to help us. Mark 5:25-34 says, And a

Religion

‘Hidden Figures’ Exemplifies MLK’s Famous Quote

Larry Buford, Contributing WriterFebruary 8, 2017

The movie “Hidden Figures” is a wonderfully untold non-fiction story written by Margot Lee Shetterly about three brilliant “colored” women working in key positions at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the dark Jim Crow era. The main characters – Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) – served on a team of brains for the historical launching of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Directed by Theodore Melfi who co-wrote the script with Allison Schroeder, some of the scenes and portrayals may have been a little glossy and imbalanced as

Religion

Words of the Week – ‘Judge Less and Love More’

Dr. John Gibson, Contributing WriterDecember 15, 2016

John 15:9-12 reads: “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” In this passage of scripture, Jesus gives us, as New Testament believers, a commandment. In this commandment, He instructs us to love.

Religion

Words of the Week – ‘At Ease in Zion’

Rev. Dr. Kelvin Calloway, Pastor, Bethel AME-L.A.November 23, 2016

Scripture: Amos 6:1-7 The recent presidential election proved to be a very sobering and surreal day for our country. It will probably go down in history as a day when everybody knew where there were on that day. On a day when the political pollsters and pundits had predicted the crowning and coronation of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the billionaire businessmen from New York, Donald J. Trump, pulled off the greatest upset in modern presidential politics. Voter turnout statistics by CNN News revealed that the 2016 turnout was the lowest in 20 years The most disconcerting statistic