October 8, 2017

PRAY FOR ME



                      THANKS TO GOD


I pray that this will bless you as it blessed me.

Hello God,
I called tonight
To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
 To my anxiety and trial.
You see,
I can't quite make it
 Through a day just on my own...
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep
My family safe and sound.
 Come and fill their lives with confidence

For whatever fate they're bound.
 Give me faith, dear God, to face
 Each hour throughout the day,

And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.

I thank you God for being  home
And listening to my call,

For giving me such good advice
 When I stumble and fall.

Your number, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,

Never had to pay a dime.
 So thank you, God, for listening
 To my troubles and my sorrow.

Good night, God, I love You too,
 And I'll call again tomorrow!


                      PRAY FOR ME PLAYLIST




September 17, 2017

CHANGE



There seems to always be a guarantee in life that change will happen. Change is something we tend to fear and become anxious about because we do not feel in control of life. The good news is that God has a plan for your life to hope, future, and to prosper. If we trust in God and allow the change to grow us to become more like Jesus Christ in how we respond and act, then we are promised that all things will work together for good for those who love Him and keep His commandments! We hope this playlist and Bible verses   of change will give you peace and encouragement as you face the ups and downs in  life. The words of TD Jakes will bless you.

       TD Jakes - NOTHING AS POWERFUL AS A CHANGED MIND


                       CHANGED Playlist 


      Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

      Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

      Psalm 18:2
 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

August 6, 2017

CHANGED


                                 CHANGED

God has changed me

God has changed the direction of my life

God has changed my heart

God has changed my understanding of my life


                           CHANGED - Playlist 

July 19, 2017

Luther Barnes -The Other Shore --- & more


                              "That Other Shore" by Deborah Barnes                             

                         If My People

    

                        What More Can I Do

                       

                         Jesus And Me

                     

                       I'm Going Away


                                Heaven On My Mind







April 15, 2017

Sweet Hour Of Prayer by Rev. H.R. Rancifer

  



 Thank you God for your grace and mercies your Love is everlasting.










March 5, 2017

The AME Church’s long struggle to overcome



               The AME Church’s long struggle to overcome

The black church has a complicated history in America. It has been a central site for the organization of black movements for freedom and civil rights and has symbolized a growing black independence in America.

by Julius H. Bailey, Wikipedia added info

The African Methodist Episcopal Church was born, in fact, from a act of racist violence against peaceful black worshippers. In 1787 at Philadelphia’s St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, black members of the interracial congregation were inadvertently praying in the white section of the segregated church, which was under construction at the time. The black section of the church had been moved to another area, and the black members were unaware of the change. Instead of allowing the black members to finish praying and then moving to the black section, the white ushers forced them from their knees and physically began to move them to the black section.

                                              Mother Bethel Philadelphia

 Two of the members who experienced the assault, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, went on to found the first AME Church in 1816 in Philadelphia.

 It is the oldest independent Protestant denomination founded by black people in the world.  It began with 8 clergy and 5 churches, and by 1846 had grown to 176 clergy, 296 churches, and 17,375 members. The 20,000 members in 1856 were located primarily in the North. AME national membership (including probationers and preachers) jumped from 70,000 in 1866 to 207,000 in 1876.

Not accidentally, the AME Chuch’s assertion of black freedom of assembly and worship coincided with the origins of black freedom of the press. Even before the official founding of the church, as early as 1794, members of the nascent congregation, including Jones and Allen, worked to help Philadelphians during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. However, the white press took the opportunity to disparage African-Americans and the AME Church. Matthew Carey, a well-known printer, claimed in a circulated pamphlet that African-Americans took advantage of the outbreak by burglarizing the homes of white people who had left the stricken city. In the absence of any countervoice by the American media, Jones and Allen published “A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia.” Setting the tone for subsequent African-American authors, Jones and Allen felt it was critical to correct the public record as quickly as possible to avert further fallout from the slanderous assertion. Not only did they challenge Carey’s characterization, but they also described the ways black people, at risk to their own health, helped a substantial number of white citizens during the crisis.

 Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church

The AME Church in South Carolina shares this history of white violence and hostility toward black independence and religious life. In 1800, despite the First Amendment’s commitment to freedom of assembly and religion, the South Carolina legislature passed one of the many of the laws that made it illegal for African-Americans to gather for religious purposes before dawn or after sunset. Magistrates could break up these meetings at will. Many white people in early America worried that religion empowered African-Americans and could lead, without proper supervision, to disobedience or outright resistance and rebellion. In some areas of South Carolina, black Methodists outnumbered white Methodists 10 to 1. The growing independence of AME churches was often curtailed when concerns about their activities arose and white Methodists took back the privileges they had allowed, such as meeting in their own quarterly conferences, handling their own finances and exercising control of their memberships.

When a dispute over burial grounds in the cemetery arose, black members withdrew from those interracial churches to found their own communities and to worship in the manner that they thought best. In 1818 they founded an independent congregation called the African Church of Charleston.

This symbol of black independence was quickly followed by the harassment of black members, arrests and the closing of the church in 1821. Denmark Vesey, one of the members of the church, would not take the matter lying down. Along with several other carefully selected participants, he planned in 1822 to take the city of Charleston’s arsenal, kill the governor, set fire to the city and kill every white person that they encountered. However, this assault, planned for July 14 — Bastille Day, which was associated with the French Revolution’s abolishment of slavery in Haiti — was betrayed on June 14 by slaves who knew of the plot. Although they did not carry out a rebellion, even planning a slave revolt was punishable by death. Vesey and over 30 other followers were hanged, and the city demolished the church.

Given the tight restrictions on black movement and religious life in particular after the Vesey rebellion, the members of the church had to meet secretly and out of the sight of white people. They risked arrest and even their lives to worship in the way that they saw fit. It was not until the end of the Civil War in 1865 that the church was formally reorganized as Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“Mother Emanuel” remained a symbol of black freedom and religious expression through the civil rights era. Martin Luther King Jr. and Roy Wilkins led rallies there in 1962, as did Coretta Scott King for striking hospital workers in 1969. Its pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was a state senator and committed civil rights leader. One of the nine victims of the shooting, he embodied the spiritual and political significance of the church and its history.

AME put a high premium on education. In the 19th century, the AME Church of Ohio collaborated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly white denomination, in sponsoring the second independent historically black college (HBCU), Wilberforce University in Ohio. By 1880, AME operated over 2,000 schools, chiefly in the South, with 155,000 students. For school houses they used church buildings; the ministers and their wives were the teachers; the congregations raised the money to keep schools operating at a time the segregated public schools were starved of funds.

The Mission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to minister to the social, spiritual, physical development of all people. At every level of the Connection and in every local church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church shall engage in carrying out the spirit of the original Free African Society, out of which the AME Church evolved: that is, to seek out and save the lost, and serve the needy. It is also the duty of the Church to continue to encourage all members to become involved in all aspects of church training. The ultimate purposes are: (1) make available God's biblical principles, (2) spread Christ's liberating gospel, and (3) provide continuing programs which will enhance the entire social development of all people. In order to meet the needs at every level of the Connection and in every local church, the AME Church shall implement strategies to train all members in: (1) Christian discipleship, (2)Christian leadership, (3) current teaching methods and materials, (4) the history and significance of the AME Church, (5) God's biblical principles, and (6) social development to which all should be applied to daily living.


President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend a church service at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2013


February 26, 2017

The Real Look Of Jesus



                                The Real Look Of Jesus  

The works of Flavius Josephus a Hebrew; War of the Jews,Antiquities of the Jews,The Life of Flavius Josephus - Autobiography,Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades,Flavius Josephus Against Apion.

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 C.E. in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 C.E. he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero's wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 C.E. to find the country in revolt against Rome.

Although Josephus had deep misgivings about the revolt, it became inevitable, due to reasons he discusses in his history, primarily the abuses of the Romans; this spurred the growth of fanatical Messianic Jewish movements which believed that the world was coming to an end shortly. In 66 C.E. the Masada was seized by the Zealots and the Romans were on the march; Josephus was appointed the commander of Galilee.

Josephus had to fight a defensive war against overwhelming force while refereeing internecine squabbles in the Jewish ranks. In 67 C.E. Josephus and other rebels were cornered in a cave during the siege of Jotapata and took a suicide pact. However, Josephus survived, and was taken hostage by the Romans, led by Vespasian.

Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the 'entire world'. Josephus
                                                                         
 joined the Romans, for which he was branded a traitor. He acted as consultant to the Romans and a go-between with the revolutionaries. Unable to convince the rebels to surrender, Josephus ended up watching the second destruction of the Temple and the defeat of the Jewish nation.

His prophecy became true in 68 C.E. when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Roman and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 C.E., the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 C.E. He wrote Against Apion in about 96-100 C.E. and The Life of Josephus, his autobiography, about 100. He died shortly after.

Despite his ambivalent role, Josephus was an eyewitness to history, and his writings are considered authoritative. These texts are key to understanding a pivotal point in world history, which has tragic repercussions even to this day.

This first century source is called the Halosis or “Capture (of Jerusalem)” of Josephus (37-100 CE). Originally written in Aramaic, a Greek rewriting was published around 72 CE. This is an important text for the discussion of Christian origins, particularly given the section therein treating “the human form of Jesus and his wonderful works.” Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, is believed to have had access to official Roman records on which he based his history of the early ‘Jesus movement.’

In 1931 Austrian Jewish Biblical scholar and art historian Robert Eisler published a classic in Josephus scholarship, his The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist: According to Flavius Josephus' recently rediscovered 'Capture of Jerusalem' and the other Jewish and Christian sources. Through a meticulous analysis of extant manuscripts, Eisler endeavored to restore the original reading of a first century text that discusses John the Baptist, Jesus and the early Christians. This first century source is the Halosis or “Capture (of Jerusalem)” of Josephus (37-100 CE). Originally written in Aramaic, a Greek rewriting was published around 72 CE. This is an important text for the discussion of Christian origins, particularly given the section therein treating “the human form of Jesus and his wonderful works.”

Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, is believed to have had access to official Roman records on which he based his history of the early ‘Jesus movement.’ He is thus a singularly contemporary witness. His texts passed through Christian scribal hands,during which process the texts were no doubt altered: some ‘offensive’ passages were omitted and some Christian embellishments interpolated. However, according to Eisler, a Slavonic (Old Russian) translation
made from the original Greek text preserves – in scattered form – that original Josephean Testimony. By reconstructing the relevant passages, Eisler ‘restored’ what he believed is the original, first century description of the man Jesus.

“At that time also there appeared a certain man of magic power … if it be meet to call him a man, [whose name is Jesus], whom [certain] Greeks call a son of [a] God, but his disciples [call] the true prophet who is supposed to have raised dead persons and to have cured all diseases. Both his nature and his form were human, for he was a man of simple appearance, mature age, black-skinned (melagchrous), short growth, three cubits tall, hunchbacked, prognathous (lit. ‘with a long face [macroprosopos]), a long nose, eyebrows meeting above the nose, that the spectators could take fright, with scanty [curly] hair, but having a line in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Nazaraeans, with an undeveloped beard.”

This is a remarkable image of Jesus! A short, hunchbacked black-man with a unibrow, short (kinky) hair with a part down the middle, and a scanty (nappy?) beard would have made the Passion of Christa profoundly different experience for undoubtedly every viewer. That this basic description goes back to Josephus is affirmed by a number of early Christian ecclesiastics, such as Andreas Hierosolymitannus, Archbishop of Crete (8th cent.) and John of Damascus (8th cent.). Most of the details of this description are found in other Christian literature of an even earlier period. As T.W. Doane quotes:

Arthur E. Palumbo, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Personages of Earliest Christianity (New York: Algora Publishing, 2004) who concludes: “It is likely that Eisler’s restoration of the Slavonic passage about Jesus does correspond as close as can be expected to what Josephus actually wrote and to what was recorded in the actual official Jewish and Roman documents. ”

“In its first years, the Christian church fancied its Lord’s visage and form marred more than those of other men; and that he must have had no attractions of personal beauty. Justin Marty (A.D. 150-160) speaks of him as without beauty or attractiveness, and of mean appearance. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 200), describes him as of an uninviting appearance, and almost repulsive. Tertullian (A.D. 200-210) says he had not even ordinary human beauty, far less heavenly. Origen (A.D. 230) went so far as to say that he was ‘small in body and deformed.’ As well as low-born, and that, ‘his only beauty was in his soul and life (emphasis Doane’s).                                                                                                  
This startling image of the Hebrew prophet from first century Jerusalem does violence to the reigning iconographic orthodoxy. Indeed, this orthodox image appears to be a point-by-point contradiction of this no doubt more reliable one: black-skinned vs. white; short and hunchback vs. tall and majestic; short (and curly) hair vs. long and flowing; scanty vs. long beard, etc.

The Book Isaiah Chapter 53 verses 1 - 6
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry   ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no   beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:   and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him   not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him   stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the   chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and   the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Remarkably, scientific advances developed three quarters of a century after Eisler wrote have confirmed the correctness of his restored description of Jesus. In the December 2002 issue of the scientific magazine Popular Mechanics the cover story ran: “The Real Face of Jesus: Forensic Science Reveals the True Image of Jesus.” Science-writer Mike Fillon reports on the fruits of the application of a new science, forensic anthropology, to the search for the historical Jesus. British forensic scientists and Israeli archaeologists collaborated to recreate the “most accurate image” of the Nazerean prophet to date. Based on the data obtained from this multi-disciplinary approach, Richard Neave, retired medical artist from London’s University of Manchester, created a molded image of a dark-skinned Jesus.   The data, for the most part, is uncannily consistent with Eisler’s restored description. Mike Fillon writes:

“Jesus (would have had) dark rather than light-colored eyes…in keeping with Jewish tradition, he was bearded as well…While most religious artists have put long hair on Christ, most biblical scholars believe that it was probably short with tight curls …

From an analysis of skeletal remains, archaeologists had firmly established that the average build of a Semite male at the time of Jesus was 5 ft. 1 in., with an average weight of about 110 pounds. Since Jesus worked outside as a carpenter until he was about 30 years old…(his) face was probably weather-beaten, which would have made him appear older…the (image) of the dark and swarthy Middle Eastern man emerges…he probably looked a great deal more like a dark-skinned Semite than westerners are used to seeing…”

Now, Neave’s reconstruction still has a somewhat “European” look, which, by his own admission, derives from his own imagination. Genetics acorroborates this data and confirms that Jesus and the Hebrew must have been, not just black, but Africoid. The African origin of the ancient Hebrews was noted often by the Classical authors and is now confirmed by the genetic data, particularly that related to the so-called “Cohen Gene” or, more properly, the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH). Discovered in 1997 by Jewish scientists, this paternal genetic marker (it is found on the Y-chromosome) has a high frequency among the Jewish (Askenazi and Sephardic) priesthood (Cohanim) and is thought to be a signature of ancient Hebrew ancestry. The haplotype (CMH) is indeed part of a haplogroup (HgJ)that originated in Black Arabia or Afrabia ca 30 kya (thousand years ago) and in high frequencies is believed to indicate “Semitism.”

While early reports, largely from Ashkenazi (white) Jewish writers, tended to portray this discovery as evidence that Ashkenazi Jews are truly Hebrew with a legitimate claim to the Holy Land, further genetic tests and reports demonstrated just the opposite. Two data-sets in particular turned this apologetic use of the discovery on its head: the further “discovery” that the “purest” surviving remnant of the Children of Israel identified by CMH tests is the tribe of Black Jews in India.

The Bene Israel and the Black Jews of Cochin, who show a genetic affinity not only to Ethiopians and Yemenies, but also to the tribe of Black Jews in South Africa, the Lemba, whose relation to the ancient Hebrews has also been confirmed by the presence of high frequencies of the CMH and the reports confirming that, though the CMH is found in high frequencies among the priestly class of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewry, this class only represents 4-10% of this Jewry. Most Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews lack this signature and in fact have been shown to be genetically related, not to Semites, but to Gentiles: Kurds, Turks, East Europeans, etc.  Thus, genetics confirms that the ancient Hebrews were black.

Anthropological and archaeological evidence for the Judean town of Lachish, sacked by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in the 8th century BCE, further confirms that Hebrews at that time were still an Africoid people. The approximately 1500 skulls discovered during excavations show a heterogeneous population,  but the primary group was likely of a “dark complexioned, narrow-headed type” similar to the ancient Egyptians. That these “Kushites” of Biblical Lachish were in fact Hebrews is unmistakably confirmed by the so-called “Lachish Reliefs”, the monumental pictorial reliefs depicting the siege which graced the walls of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. These reliefs depict the Assyrians leading away African-Israelite captives  and even flaying them alive . These African-Israelites, with their short stature, prognathicism, and short, kinky hair resemble in these respects the Josephus’ restored description of Jesus. Thus, divergent evidences converge to confirm that description.

1886 THE PROPHET: Tennessee-born Prophet F. S. Cherry established the Church of God, a Israelite movement in Philadelphia. Cherry was a charismatic orator who was fluent and literate in Hebrew and Yiddish .His personal accounts depict a completely self-educated seaman and laborer who traveled the world until "the Lord touched him and appointed him a prophet," thus leading Cherry back to America to teach African Americans that "the true Jews are black and that Jesus was black." Attracting southern migrants, Cherry used the Talmud and the Old Testament to bolster his belief that Jews of the European Diaspora were impostors, and his followers were the true Israelites.

Sources: Mike Fillon - The Real Face Of Jesus, webmazoor70 - The Real Look Of Jesus According to The Scrolls, Wikipedia,  Wesley Muhammad, PhD - Jesus, the Black Prophet and the Ancient Black Hebrews of Israel, Arthur E. Palumbo - The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Personages of Earliest Christianity

        Is This The REAL Face of Jesus?


      WAS JESUS BLACK? (1ST CENTURY IMAGES OF CHRIST/YESHUA)


      World's oldest Picture of Jesus + others part 1/2


      World's oldest Picture of Jesus + others part 2/2









February 5, 2017

How to Overcome Challenges in Life



       "At Calvary" FBCG Combined Choir


     "How to Overcome Challenges in Life" Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. (Encouragement)


      "Made A Way" Anthony Brown w/ FBCG Combind Choir (Incredible Worship, Amazing)