Now Is the Time of the Spirit: Living in the Dispensation of Grace

Now Is the Time of the Spirit: Living in the Dispensation of Grace

There’s a line from Ellen G. White that has lingered in my mind all week:

“The dispensation in which we are now living is to be, to those that ask, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.”

— The Review and Herald, March 2, 1897, p.2306.

It’s simple, but it holds a truth that reaches deep into the heart of what it means to live for God today.

We Are Living in the Time of the Spirit

We often think of Bible times as something long past, the age of miracles, prophets, and visible divine power. But Scripture tells us that our time is not empty of God’s presence. We are living in a dispensation, a sacred season in salvation history, where the Holy Spirit is God’s chosen means of working in the world.

Do this to glorify God. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

To preach good tidings to the poor,

To heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

To open the prison for those who are bound,

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God,

To comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

To give them the oil of joy for mourning,

To give them the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord

That He may be glorified.

(Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Is 61:1–3.)

My Thoughts:

    God is so good to me. He loves me so much.

    When I reflect on these verses from Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Is 61:1–3., I wonder why they focus on the poor, the captives, and those who mourn. Then I realized: these verses describe the condition of humanity—my condition. Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 6:23. says, "For the wages of sin is death..."

    I need to know that God loves me. I need healing for my sinful and broken heart. I need freedom from sin. I need a way out of the prison of my sinfulness. I need to hear about the Lord's pleasure and His acceptable year. I even need to hear about the day of vengeance.

    Let me pause here for a moment. Verse 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Is 61:2. mentions "the acceptable year of the Lord" and contrasts it with "the day of vengeance of our God." Think about that for a second—an entire year of the Lord's favor versus a single day of vengeance. God is so good to me. He loves me so much that He wants me to know this: vengeance is not His focus. It’s a single day. Not 360 days, not eternity—just one day. Isn't that amazing? Thank You, Jesus!

    And then, God promises to comfort me in my mourning—the mourning for the death of self. He even allows me to take the time to mourn this loss. Then, He promises to exchange my ashes for beauty. How incredible is that? He will anoint me with the oil of joy and clothe me with the garment of praise.

    This garment of praise reminds me of the story of the prodigal son. But anyway, back to Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 6:23.: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

    This is the blueprint. I first need to know that my Lord loves me. Not only does He love me, but He loves me so much that He gave His only begotten Son so I could be saved. In response, I’m called to share His love and proclaim His goodness to others.

    But how good is my God? Oh, He is more than good—He is love. If you haven’t seen my God and my Savior, I dare you to find Him. Jeremiah 29:13And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Je 29:13. says, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

Quotes: Dr. Samuel Koranteng Pipim

Among some of the memorable quotes from Pipim's sermons and lecture series are the following:

“To change the world, you must first be changed.”

“The complacency of success is the first step to mediocrity.”

“Excellence is a journey, not a destination.”

“There’s no alternative to excellence; without it we’re doomed.”

“Excellence is a winsome lifestyle. Therefore be nice to people.”

“Learn to think for yourself, otherwise somebody will do the thinking for you."

“Those who read are those who lead. But those who write keep the leaders right.”

“The pen of truth is the most effective weapon against the arrogance of power.”

“Lead by actions, not by directions.”

“Leaders think and act. Puppets blindly follow policies and polls.”

"Don't be flattered by your position. It is your character and accomplishments that count."

"Discouragement is my encouragement."

"A goal without a deadline is a dream."

"In a culture of theological pluralism, biblical teaching is controversial and divisive."

“The silent majority are not silent. Their voices of apathy are louder than the courage of their convictions.”

"Samuel Koranteng-Pipim" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 27 Aug. 2010. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Koranteng-Pipim>.

Proverbs 30:7-9 - KJV

⁷Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

⁸Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

⁹Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Lyric: Renew Me (Performed by Heritage Singers and Avalon)

Why am I such a dusty window

For your light to shine through?

Why am I just a tiny star

In a sky already blue?

Why do I offer everything

With my heart closed like a fist?

I want to love You better than this

Why do I live like I'm in chains

When You have set me free?

Why do I have to break Your heart

Before I fall to my knees?

I know it's time to pray for change

Give all I have to give

I want to love You better than this

So renew me

Remake me

Undo me

Unbreak me

Come into the empty spaces

Of my broken places

And consume me

Complete me

Pursue me

Redeem me

Let Your Holy Spirit living through me

Renew me

Lord Renew me

How I need You as my refuge

My first and last resort

Be the river always running

Through my deepest thoughts

Keep me in Your arms

'Cause even when I drift

I want to love You better than this

So renew me

Remake me

Undo me

Unbreak me

Come into the empty spaces

Of my broken places

And consume me (And consume me Lord)

Complete me

Pursue me

Redeem me

Let Your Holy Spirit living through me

Renew me (Renew me)

Renew me (Renew me Lord)

My life bending to Your will

Seeking You until I'm more and more like You

So renew (So renew me Lord, renew me)

Come into the empty spaces

Of my broken places

And consume me (And consume me Lord)

Complete me

Pursue me

Redeem me

Let Your Holy Spirit living through me

Renew me (Renew me Lord, renew me)

Renew me

Renew me (Renew me Lord)

Renew me (Please renew me oh Lord)

I need you to renew me

"This song have renewed my spirit time after time again. When I am down, this song has become a part of my prayer. I hope it would be yours too. May God bless you through this song." - A. F. Lolowang

How Can a Man Fall in Love With Someone He Had Never Seen?

Dear reader,

It boggles my mind to find this unexplainable feeling in my heart. I cannot sit and try to comprehend the possibilities for a man to actually fall in love with Someone that he had never seen face to face?

I am a visual person, who loves to see things in different views to completely understand it and perhaps fall in love with it. Through this boggled mind, I felt as if the word “love” is a rhetorical word in its own nutshell. Those four-letter word somehow can touch a human's heart in a way that is unimaginable, which often becomes a source of joy to a recipient or the one who is giving it away.

Is it possible for a son to love his father? Is it logical for a daughter to love her doll? Can it be understood for a man to love a woman? These are just some of the feelings that dwell within that four-letter flowery word of love. Poems stood around it, business empires staggered because of it, nation is born from it, and due to love hatred crumbles. But how is it possible to love someone that you’ve never seen before?

Long ago, perhaps about a couple of years in the past, I’ve gotten to know a special someone who is undeniably the most humbling and God loving individual. At first, she was just another “friend” that I’ve met in the matrix of World Wide Web. Yes, I said it, “matrix,” an environment that is illogically formed and impossible for me to comprehend. Yet, after knowing this individual, with the heart that she holds, and the humbling goal that she is trying to attain, and even though I have not seen her face to face, there ignited in me this complex feeling that I tried many times to defuse. Is it love?

After getting to know Jesus, I’ve gotten to see the immense love of this Individual that I still am longing to delve upon and whom I am trying to wrap my mind in.

I read His biography, tried to picture myself in His position, tried to understand why a Deity would come and die for His creatures that is worth less than an angel, and to see the true love that He possesses revealed through His action and His death on the cross. It’s mind boggling!

I then ask myself, how can God love someone that He had never seen?

How is it possible that the plan of salvation that was created thousands of years ago have been planned for you and I today? How is it possible that a sinful being, born about two millenniums after His death, would be loved by a Son of God? Had He seen me in His complex mind as He hung on that cross? Did He visualize my deterred state as His body was thorn, whipped, and beaten? Is it possible that as I sin today, He had already seen it as He stumbled while carrying the burdensome cross on His beaten and blood littered body toward the hill of Golgotha? Is it true that because of His love toward you and I, placed Him, an unblemished sacrifice, to die on that cross for our sins? Could it be love?

I read and read His story, and at first I do not see it. I mean a Devine being, who sent His begotten Son to be 100% human to die for someone such as I. How could it be possible? Can a man fall in love with God whom he had never seen face to face? How can a man fall in love with Someone he had never seen?

It suddenly hit me that men sees with their eyes, while God sees with His heart. It suddenly struck me that love does not come from the eyes, but it comes straight from the heart.

Could it be that I’ve seen what I have not really seen?

Love is a wonderful mystery to me. It’s not just a four-letter, awe-struck, "girlish" kind of word, but it’s a word that means so much more than just that. It’s an unexplained feeling that exists for a reason.

It is love that placed our orbit in its celestial space. It is love that has kept me alive. It is love that mends my broken heart. It is love that broke me down to tears to know that the Someone I’ve never seen, have died for my sins.

How can a man fall in love with Someone he had never seen?

Easy, keep your eyes shut and let your heart do the seeing.

Now, you may ask, how about that “she” you were referring to earlier in the so called matrix of the World Wide Web. All I can tell you is this, God knows my future. I don’t. All I have to do is to work for Him with all of my heart and lean not upon my own understanding, and He’ll provide the rest.

You may not understand what I've wrote, but I hope you can understand one thing; it does not take two eyes to see true love.

May God bless you all.

Much Love,

Assdhy.

AudioVerse, heard on 5/21/2010

As I was studying my Bible, I was disturbed somehow and I had this feeling to play this file that I've downloaded from AudioVerse.org and was really blessed. I do hope that you too will be blessed. Happy Sabbath and God bless. :)

Live Profoundly, by Shawn Boonstra

Journal - May 05, 2010

      Life have been tough for me. Right after finding out that God's hand is still working, I fell into temptation yet again.

      My untitled heart spoke, "I've done that stupid temptation over and over again that I felt as if the Holy Spirit have left me. I felt as if God has turned His face from me and His ears are plugged. I compared myself to the Israelites and I felt that I am those that could not leave Egypt behind. I was those that died through the journey and have never made it to the promised land. I felt terrible coming to Christ. When I knelt and prayed, my untitled heart spoke as if it is uncertain in its loyalty and its pure love for God. I kept asking God, can You please speak to me, let me know something, let me know a little bit more of You.
Prior to posting this, I found this at the perfect time:


      No, I will not be going to Philippines as a missionary just yet, but the message that God wanted me to hear was in the video itself, and that's when I came up with this quote; 'I am a failure, yet, with Christ, I will overcome.' God helped me realized that since I was born, I am still a failure, I am still incapable of standing on my own, and that I needed Christ to help me stand. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not saying that God made me a failure, but God allows failure to happen so that I can depend on Him. I just could not believe of His subtle message."

Thank You Lord, for taking the time to look after your adopted child. A child that is yet mature in spirituality, who failed, and have fallen, yet you came and picked me up though my face have planted to the ground. You cleaned the dirt off of my face and you cleansed me with your own robe of righteousness. You gave me comfort to let me know that through the falls, there will be One that will always lift me up. Lord, thank You for Your Son. May this quick prayer of my untitled heart, be acceptable in Your loving heart. Amen.

My Dedication

Joshua 24:15 - "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -KJV

Joshua 1:5-9 - "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." -KJV

My Love for Christ - Romans 8:34 - 39

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?       As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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.

Unholy Infatuation

The thought of marriage seems to have a bewitching power upon the minds of many of the youth. Two persons become acquainted; they are infatuated with each other, and their whole attention is absorbed. Reason is blinded, and judgment is overthrown. They will not submit to any advice or control, but insist on having their own way, regardless of consequence.

Like some epidemic, or contagion, that must run its course, is the infatuation that possesses them; and there seems to be no such thing as putting a stop to it. Perhaps there are those around them who realize that, should the parties interested be united in marriage, it could only result in life-long unhappiness. But entreaties and exhortations are given in vain. Perhaps, by such a union, the usefulness of one whom God would bless in His service will be crippled and destroyed; but reasoning and persuasion are alike unheeded.

All that can be said by men and women of experience proves ineffectual; it is powerless to change the decision to which their desires have led them. They lose interest in the prayer meeting, and in everything that pertains to religion. They are wholly infatuated with each other, and the duties of life are neglected, as if they were matters of little concern. Night after night, these young people burn the midnight oil to talk with each other,—in reference to subjects of serious and solemn interest?—O no. Rather of frivolous things that are of no importance. - Message to young People

Deleting Social Networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster.

I find this to be addicting.

So I prayed, and prayed.
Struggled here and there, and I've committed to delete all my accounts including Facebook with God's help.
Well, I did deleted FB. But someone on FB sent a message to my sister's account...
Anyway, Hector, if that was you, let me know what you need brother...
LOL...
No, I'm not deleting my account because I've had any confrontation with any of the people on FB, but I don't know why, I just felt as if God is sweeping my life off of the gutter.
I just feel at ease now without these Social Networks and other addictions. Now I'm focusing more on the Bible, and I'm getting to see God in a different point of view now. I've stopped watching TV, I've stopped listening to worldly musics (except classical or instrumental with piano or violin), I've stopped eating meat, I've stopped checking out girls (I'm leaving that to God. I know that a special someone for me will be provided by God. Just let Him lead you), I've stopped speeding, and so many other addictions that I was facing. It's just like God took it away when I asked Him to. I know God told me to keep quiet, like what He have told to Legion the possessed man, and the paralyzed man, but I just can't keep this shut.
Now, Instead of being in front of the TV, I'm reading sections off of The Great Controversy (Chapter 30, "Enmity between Human and Satan" is a good one... I love it.), sections off of The Message To Young People (I love reading the section on Service and Prayer... Very strong message there. Sigh.. Took my breath for a second there. Oh, I did read about courtship too. If you're planning for courting, I'm encouraging you to read it first before you ask that special lady out ~.o) I'm also reading the Bible more and just diving into it, while asking God to open up the mind. I've always done morning and evening devotion, but this time, it's just like, I'm spending 10 - 20 minutes more on one devotion to understand it deeper, I'm also learning piano via YouTube on my spare time :). Cleaned the apartment more often. I mean, I feel different with these worldly stuffs off of me. And man, if you really surrender your life to God, God will give you the Holy Spirit to fight the temptations. Remember this that Satan has no right to take your soul. That's the reason why God have given you Enmity toward Satan. We were born a sinner, but Jesus have died for our transgression. Anyway, I'm just sharing my testimony.
But if you have any addictions, something that took your time from reading His word, than I encourage that you talk to God sincerely. First, ask for repentance, humble yourself, ask God for humility. I had to go through humility and trials. If you are facing some trials, don't blame God. NEVER blame God. That's Satan's wish that you would blame God for it (the oldest trick in the book). God knows how much you can handle and He wants to see how much of your life that you would surrender to Him.. Anyway, ask God for anything you wish for the glory of God. Only for the glory of God. If it's for your own glory, than forget about it.
Anyway, I hope you guys would find encouragement through this last note.
I am deleting my Facebook after Hector tells me what he was going to tell me. :)

Alright, this is Assdhy F. Lolowang.
If you need to contact me, my e-mail is
A.F.Lolowang@gmail.com
I don't check it periodically but you can send one or two.
If you have AOY...
http://www.armyofyouth.org/soldiers/connect/viewprofile.aspx?sid=2500
and if you have blogspot...
http://azdhyxt.blogspot.com/

Anyway, my last note...
I wish you guys would have the same blessings as I have and if you need prayer, send me an e-mail. :)
I don't mind praying for you.
I'm leaving this post until Friday.
So, I'm deleting this account on Friday.
And hopefully no one would be sending me messages through my sister or brother. :)
Anyway, I love you guys.
Just surrender your all to God, and He'll provide. That's not my promise but it's God's promise.
God bless you all.
And have a merry Christmas. Go celebrate the reason why God came to this world. :)

posted 12/22/08

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson a Seventh-day Adventist's Pediatric Neurosurgeon. - New York Times, 6/8/1993

SCIENTIST AT WORK:

Benjamin S. Carson; For Many, Pediatric Neurosurgeon Is a Folk Hero

By ROBIN MARANTZ HENIG
Published: June 8, 1993

WHEN he first came to Johns Hopkins Hospital as a neurosurgery resident, Dr. Benjamin S. Carson was occasionally mistaken for an orderly. "It wasn't deliberately racist," he recalled, without a trace of bitterness. "It's just that orderlies were the only black hospital employees these people had ever seen before."

Today, at age 41, eight years after becoming the nation's youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery -- he is one of only three African-Americans in that position -- Dr. Carson is arguably the most famous surgeon on the Hopkins staff. As director of the 22-member team that in 1987 successfully separated Siamese twins joined at the head, he was in the national news for weeks.

As a result, he has become something of a folk hero in black neighborhoods, no less for his own story of triumph over adversity than for the dramatic operations he has attempted.

Today his surgical challenges are less bizarre than the Siamese twin separation. But they are still technically complex and emotionally demanding.

As do other neurosurgeons at leading medical centers, Dr. Carson tackles the toughest cases, from congenital dwarfism to inoperable brain tumors, from intractable epilepsy to unremitting facial pain. He tries to wield his scalpel in ways that will restore the body to something approaching normalcy.

"My philosophy is to look at a patient and ask, 'What is the worst that could happen if we do something'? " he explained during a rare free moment in his modern, uncluttered office. "It's usually that the patient ends up seriously debilitated or dead.

"Then I ask, 'What is the worst that could happen if we do nothing?' And it's usually the same thing. So with that as a background, I figure it's always worth trying to do something, if there's any chance at all that doing something might end up helping."

This attitude led Dr. Carson, in 1985, to revive the surgical procedure known as hemispherectomy, the removal of half the brain in a child who is plagued by seizures that do not respond to drugs. The hemispherectomy, first developed in the 1930's, is an operation of epic consequence, performed in the hope that the remaining one can orchestrate thought, speech and movement for the whole body.

After several hundred unsuccessful attempts, the procedure fell into disfavor in the 1970's, not because of the dysfunction resulting from the loss of brain tissue, but because of the nearly inevitable post-surgical complications, including bleeding, infection and problems with the cavity left behind.

But when Dr. Carson met Maranda Francisco, a 4-year-old girl from Denver who was racked by 120 seizures a day, he decided that medicine had advanced sufficiently to give the measure another try.

"The chief of pediatric neurology here, John Freeman, felt that Maranda was a perfect candidate for a hemispherectomy, which he had seen performed a few times while he was at Stanford," Dr. Carson said. "So I did a lot of reading on the subject, and it seemed to me the complications were mostly things we could handle now."

The odds against success were great, but Dr. Carson figured it was worth taking a chance. "I reasoned that she was having so many seizures that she had no life, so there was not really anything to risk," he said. "And there might be a whole world to gain."

Maranda is now a healthy 12-year-old who takes tap-dancing lessons. Like most of the other hemispherectomy patients at Hopkins -- 44 in all, which the hospital believes is more than at any other center in the country -- Maranda got her speech back immediately after surgery, probably because her right hemisphere had already taken over language function from the badly damaged left hemisphere.

The main physical consequences of the loss of half a brain -- paralysis of the opposite side of the body -- was corrected in Maranda's case by several months of physical therapy. Most of the other children have had similar restoration of speech and movement.Dr. Carson estimated that 80 percent of the hemispherectomies done at Hopkins have significantly reduced or eliminated the patients' seizures.

"We can only do this operation on young children, because their brain cells haven't decided what they want to be when they grow up," Dr. Carson said. This flexibility, which neuroscientists call "plasticity," explains why certain brain cells take over the functions of damaged or missing cells.

Heroic as these hemispherectomies have been, the real media attention came after the Siamese twins case, which held a sort of lurid fascination for physicians and lay people alike. When the parents of the twins, Patrick and Benjamin Binder of Ulm, Germany, sent in a request to have their sons operated on at Hopkins, there had never been a successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the head.

It was just the kind of long shot on which Dr. Carson seems to thrive.

The operation, for which the surgical team spent five months rehearsing, lasted 22 hours and involved 70 surgeons, nurses and assistants inside the operating room, and another 70 support staff members outside.

During the operation, Dr. Carson used a new way of buying time for brain repair. It involved hypothermia, cooling the patient's body to 68 degrees to slow brain metabolism sufficiently to allow the surgeons to stop blood flow through the brain for an hour without causing damage.

"I almost didn't make it," he recalled. "After they stopped the heart and set the timer for one hour, I told everyone I didn't want to know how much time we had left."

He managed to separate the two brains in about 20 minutes and to close the skull of the twin he was working on -- with his mentor, neurosurgery chief Dr. Donlin Long, closing the other twin's skull -- in about another 40.

After the operation, the successfully separated twins went home to Ulm. But then, as far as the Hopkins staff was concerned, they disappeared. Despite repeated efforts, Dr. Carson has been unable to find out how Patrick and Benjamin, now 6 years old, are faring.

"I've written so many letters, and I've never gotten any response," he said.

(In Ravensburg, Germany, a local physician said the boys were too disabled to live at home and were staying at a facility for handicapped children in the area.)

"I still believe the surgical procedure itself was an incredible success," he said. "And whenever there's a less-than-ideal result, I feel you must always ask yourself, 'What can I learn from this? How can I do better next time'?"

Although Dr. Carson has occasionally been criticized for publishing his research only infrequently and has had his originality as a scientist questioned, he is unruffled by such comments. A mild, soft-spoken man with an unhurried manner and a ready smile, he projects a sense of confidence, which he attributes to knowing his subject cold, believing in his talent and relying on his religious faith. Beating the Odds

A Seventh-day Adventist, Dr. Carson said one of his favorite sayings is, "Do your best, and let God do the rest."

The most dramatic procedures he performs today involve large brain tumors. When the size of these encroaching tumors is significantly reduced, Dr. Carson said, the stray pieces of cancer that are impossible to remove surgically are often destroyed, even without dangerous radiation therapy.

"If you can reduce the bulk of the tumor and shave it back to normal tissue," he said, "then I believe the body's natural defense mechanisms can keep the rest of it under control."

Beating back nearly insuperable odds, which is what he attempts in the operating room, is also something of a theme in Ben Carson's personal story. His father abandoned the family when Ben Carson was 8, and he grew up in a Detroit ghetto, where his mother provided for her two sons by working several domestic jobs.

After a rocky start in elementary school -- he laughs when he recalls that he was, by universal consensus, the "class dummy" in fifth grade -- he began to excel academically, a fact that he attributes to his mother.

"She made my brother and me turn off the television, restricting us to two or three programs a week," Dr. Carson said. "And she made us read two books a week from the Detroit Public Library, and write book reports for her." It wasn't until years later that the boys discovered that their mother, with a third-grade education, could not read those reports. 'You're my Role Model'

This demanding regimen soon made a mark on young Ben Carson, who graduated third in his high-school class and won an academic scholarship to Yale University, where he majored in psychology.

Now, in between operations and hospital rounds, Dr. Carson, the father of boys whose ages are 9, 8 and 6, frequently delivers inspirational lectures. And he sets aside an hour every month to talk to schoolchildren.

At the most recent such lecture, in mid-May, 750 youngsters from nine schools greeted Dr. Carson's arrival in the Hopkins auditorium with the fanfare usually reserved for rock stars: squeals, applause and requests for his autograph or a chance to snap his photograph.

"You're my role model," one teen-ager told him. "I want to be a brain surgeon, too."

"You hold on to that dream," replied Dr. Carson. Still trim and with a full head of hair, he appears so youthful that in his blue surgical scrubs and white coat he almost looks like someone masquerading as a doctor.

But no one mistakes him for an orderly anymore. Message to Children

At the lectern, his message was simple: "Don't let anyone turn you into a slave. You're a slave if you let the media tell you that sports and entertainment are more important than developing your brain."

The hands that have made him one of the most sought-after neurosurgeons in the country, the hands with the long tapering fingers and immaculate oval nails, gripped the microphone tighter as he delivered the message that has become almost as important to him as the operations he performs.

"You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be a valuable person," Dr. Carson said. "You become valuable because of the knowledge that you have. And that doesn't mean you won't fail sometimes. The important thing is to keep trying."

Taken from: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DE1230F93BA35755C0A965958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all

Christmas' Origins and my opinion about Christmas.

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

For many centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born.[9] However, in the early eighteenth century, some scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice,[7] which in ancient times was marked on December 25.[10] In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.[6] In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after the Annunciation on March 25, the traditional date of the conception of Jesus.[11]

Winter festivals

Main article: List of winter festivals

Mosaic of Jesus as Christo Sole (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[12] Christians consider Jesus to be the "sun of righteousness" prophesied in Malachi 4:2.

A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[13] Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts.[14] Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,[15] a usage first recorded in 900.

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

Main article: Sol Invictus

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.[16] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[17] This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.[18]

The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered." Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[3] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.[3] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"[3]

Patristic developments
Adoration of the Magi by Don Lorenzo Monaco (1422)

The New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus.[19][3] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on Pachon 25.[3] This corresponds to May 20.[20] Tertullian (d. 220) does not mention Christmas as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa.[3] In Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox.[21] The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.[22] De Pascha Computus, a calendar of feasts produced in 243, gives March 28 as the date of the nativity.[23] In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays.[24] In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods, which suggests that Christmas was not yet a feast at this time.[3]

Feast established

The earliest reference to the celebration of the nativity on December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354.[25] In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival focused on the baptism of Jesus.[26]

Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.[3]

Middle Ages

In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent.[27] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[27] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[27]
Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England.

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.

By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.[27] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[27] "Misrule" — drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling — was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.[27]

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporating ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[28] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[28]

Reformation into the 19th century
Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present, by John Leech. Made for Charles Dickens's novel A Christmas Carol (1843).

During the Reformation, some Puritans condemned Christmas celebration as "trappings of popery" and the "rags of the Beast."[29] The Roman Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. Following the Parliamentarian victory over King Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas, in 1647.[29] Pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities, and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[29] The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration.

In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[30] George Washington attacked Hessian mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton in 1777. (Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.) By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday. Charles Dickens's book A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion as opposed to communal celebration and hedonistic excess.[31] In America, interest in Christmas was revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and "Old Christmas", and by Clement Clarke Moore's 1822 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[32] Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted holiday traditions he claimed to have observed in England. Although some argue that Irving invented the traditions he describes, they were widely imitated by his American readers. The poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas popularized the tradition of exchanging gifts and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[33] In reaction, this also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England", Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[34] Christmas was declared a United States Federal holiday in 1870, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant.

I strongly believe that Christmas is an origin from Pagan ritual and I do believe, even during Jesus' time, Jesus did not celebrate this Roman's celebration, which was called Saturnalia at that time, because it was to worship the God of Saturn..
I know some Christians don't celebrate Christmas and some do celebrate Christmas. I personally really don't mind celebrating it or not. I don't find anything wrong with both. I mean, it's not like we are taking the trees and worshiping it or worshiping Santa Claus. If you do, than, I would think that you're not a Christian. Because the Bible prohibited worshiping such things other than God Himself.
Anyway, if it's just a type of decoration, and a way to bring family together to learn about the birth of Jesus and His mission, then I don't find anything wrong with celebrating Christmas.
Now of course I got to throw in some verses here.
Jeremiah 10:1-6 (NIV)
"Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says:
'Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.

For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.

Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good.'

No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power."

Again, this is about idolatry. So if you are worshiping the ornaments, and you make it a focus in which the decorations (tree and all Christmassy stuffs) to be an awe to you, something that you put glory to and it bring your mind away from God, than I suggest to not do it at all. I even suggest that you burn it. For nothing should be more glorified than God. He is a jealous God.

The second text is Mark 7:1-23 I'm not going to post that text here. I believe that you can find it yourself on-line or out of your own Bible. But on these texts, God talked about traditions and your heart. I mean you can not be a hypocrite.

Anyway, you can say anything you wish about Christmas or my opinion here, but if you're doing it in a way that brings dishonor to God, I'm going to leave that with you and God... :)

So is it OK to celebrate Christmas? In my personal opinion, yes. But to what extent?

Remember that anything you do should glorify God.

PS: When I was in Indonesia (98% Muslims), I celebrated Ramadan. I didn't worship their god, but I celebrated with them. They made awesome food with "halal" meat. And when they pray, I pray to my God in my heart to bless this food and hoping that there was no pork or anything that's against my believe. :) Anyway, remember that in the end of time, it all will be about worship. Who would you worship. God? or the world?

The Day I Decided to QUIT! (The Fern and the Bamboo)

One day I decided to quit...
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. ..
I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I asked, "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me...

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light.
I gave them water.

The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor.

Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.” He said.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.

In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit." He said.

"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He asked me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots".

"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you."

"Don't compare yourself to others."

He said. "The bamboo had a different Purpose than the fern.

Yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and brought back this story.
I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.
............

God will never ever give up on you.

For the Christians, prayer is not an option but an opportunity.

Don't tell the Lord how big the problem is, instead, tell the problem how Great the Lord is!

Heaven’s door open this morning, God asked me... “My CHILD...
what can I do for you?” and I said “Daddy please protect and bless the one reading this message.”

God smiled and answered ... "request granted."
............

Good days give you Happiness.

Bad days give you Experiences.

Both are essential to life.


Keep going...


Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrows keep you Human,

Failures keep you Humble,

Success keeps You Glowing,

But Only God keeps You Going!
............

This message is now in your hands.
What will YOU do with it?

Anger toward Adventist Youths

Dear Adventist Youths,

I happened to turned on the radio and heard how Facebook was used to get in-touch with criminals about their court date. The judges and the authorities stated that people respond better on Facebook than calling them through their phones.
Like books, radio, television and internet, Facebook too is a tool in spreading a message. Why can it be a message about Jesus? Jesus stated that if you deny the Father before men, He will deny you before His father.
What upsets me the most is what many of the Adventist youths are doing with their own Facebook page? Yes, Facebook is for you personally. However, isn’t it true that Facebook is used to share to others a little more of you that others may have not seen? If God is not on your Facebook, wouldn’t it be true that God is not in your personal life? There are millions of Facebook users that have not known about Christ yet. Are you going to keep silent of the word of God? Are you going to sit still in front of your computer and alert people of how you dislike this person, and that idea, and the fun you’ve spent with friends and disregard, perhaps, one of your friend who has no knowledge of Christ ending up knowing how your malicious, or frivolity, or even your levity egoistic idea that are revealed through Facebook? Do not be influenced by others. Use this chance to proclaim your God, testify about His love, share a testimony of what He has done to you through the notes application, and maybe share a text that can inspire others.
I read an advertisement that said something like this: “If you’re reading this, than there’s a great chance that others are also reading this. Please call ###-#### to post your Ad” I strongly feel that Facebook is something like that, it’s like an advertisement of your own life. You can definitely advertise your personal life on Facebook, also, you can interchangeably share Christ so that others may see what Christ have done to you. Isn’t it possible? I believe so.
Hasten God’s second coming my friends. Let anyone that spent hours on Facebook, instead of the Bible, to read your testimony and be blessed. Also remember this; if they are criticizing you’re way of testifying God, know that they are certainly criticizing God.
Imagine this, you have the chance to bring hundreds of souls to Christ through the people that you’ve added from Facebook, yet, you choose to keep silent. What can a bright flashlight be if it’s hidden behind the thread of your pocket? How can your pizza taste like pizza when you restricted the amount of cheese that it should have? Shout the message on top of the mountain if you need to, but wouldn’t it be pointless if you’re screaming it to rocks and trees? My friend, God is giving you ways to share His message to others. Are you going to just sit there and talk more about yourself? Or is it time to make Facebook a tool to introduce others to Christ?

Sincerely,
- A. F. L.
A youth for Christ. :)

PS: Facebook has more than 140 million active users, average user has 100 friends on the site, 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day, and more than 13 million users update their statuses at least once each day. (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics). What are you waiting for? Are you going to let pastors and missionaries do all the spreading of God’s news? It’s about time that every Adventist youths, young and old, to share His good news to every corner of the world, including the World Wide Web. So pass this message on to your Adventist friends and share His message and see the life that will be touched.

Come, Take Up the Cross, and Follow Me

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. - Matthew 16:24