by Loren Seibold | 8 September 2022 | In a memoir in the New Yorker magazine (August 22, 2022), writer Hua Hsu told of how his family tried to overcome the barriers to success in their new home in America. “Like many immigrants who prized education, my parents had faith in the mastery of technical […] Source: https://atoday.org/the-blueprint-part-1-the-myth-of-the-perfect-answer/
Inside Story: South American Division ~ Part 11: The Final Attack
Part 11: The Final Attack
By Andrew McChesney
Two weeks before Father’s baptism, he inexplicably grew angry after guests left the house following a small group Bible study in Manaus, Brazil, on Friday evening. He announced that he would sleep in the living room.
The night was darker than usual. Electricity went out in the neighborhood, leaving the houses and streets in pitch blackness.
About 1 a.m., Junior woke up to the sound of a voice shrieking that Father was not going to be baptized.
Junior was scared and didn’t know what to do. He stayed in his room to see what would happen.
The voice screamed again, saying that Father was not going to be baptized.
Junior waited.
He heard someone enter his room.
“Please, son, pray with me,” Father said. “The enemy is attacking again.”
Another voice spoke. “What are you doing?” It was Mother. When she heard the screams from the living room, she had sunk onto her knees and began to pray. Now she invited Father and Junior to join her in pleading for Jesus to chase away the evil spirits.
After some minutes of prayer, Mother suggested that they step outside the house where they would be able to see one another in the dim moonlight.
Outside, Father said he was thirsty. Junior volunteered to go back in and fetch a glass of water. In the kitchen, he spotted a mysterious dark spot on the floor. Calling for Mother, he pointed at the spot and asked, “What’s that?” Mother looked closely at the floor. “That’s hair!” she said.
Back outside, Junior and Mother took a closer look at Father. Big tufts of hair were missing from his head. It looked as if someone had taken a pair of scissors and chopped off his hair haphazardly.
Father put his hands to the top of his head and winced.
“I’ll have to shave my head,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m bald.”
When the sun rose on Sabbath morning, Father felt terribly tired. He was unusually weak after the nighttime attack by evil spirits, as if he had received a severe beating. He decided to pray at home instead of going to church.
After Mother and Junior left, he prayed, “Jesus, don’t let them take over my body. Please be close to me. I don’t want to be possessed anymore.”
Opening his Bible, he read in Psalms 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (NKJV).
Father understood that Jesus was telling him not to be afraid. Jesus would guide him to his baptism. Sure enough, evil spirits never possessed Father again after that Friday night. But he could still hear them.
Your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open eight churches in the South American Division, including four in Brazil, where Father (Eduardo Ferreira dos Santos) and his family live.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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Friday: Further Thought ~ Waiting in the Crucible
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “The Anointing of David,” Pages 637-642, in Patriarchs and Prophets.
God’s plan for us may require that we do a lot of waiting, and this really can feel like a crucible.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Learning patience during this time can happen as we focus on the person of God and trust that He is acting for us. There are many reasons for waiting, but all are concerned with the fulfillment of God’s plans for us and His kingdom. We can lose much if we rush ahead of God, but we can gain much by maintaining an attitude of trust and delight in Him.
The Lord weighs and measures every trial.
“I cannot read the purpose of God in my affliction, but He knows what is best, and I will commit my soul, body, and spirit to Him as unto my faithful Creator. ’For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day’ (2 Timothy 1:12). If we educated and trained our souls to have more faith, more love, greater patience, and a more perfect trust in our heavenly Father, I know we would have more peace and happiness day by day as we pass through the conflicts of this life.
The Lord is not pleased to have us fret and worry ourselves out of the arms of Jesus. More is needed of the quiet waiting and watching combined. We think unless we have feeling that we are not in the right track, and we keep looking within for some sign befitting the occasion; but the reckoning is not of feeling but of faith.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, p. 242.
Discussion Questions:
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-waiting-in-crucible/
Press Open Day Provides Opportunity to Thank Retirees
The Stanborough Press held its first Open Day on their premises in Grantham, since 2019 on Sunday 4 September 2022 with over 400 people in attendance. The hosts for the event were Curtis Murphy, a former Publishing Director of the British Union Conference (BUC) and Elisabeth Sanguesa, General Manager of the Stanborough Press.
A highlight of the event were presentations to Victor Pilmoor, former Chief Financial Officer, (5 years), Alison Jeynes (42 years) and Liz Parkinson (nearly 14 years)…Source: https://adventist.uk/news/article/go/2022-09-08/press-open-day-provides-opportunity-to-thank-retirees/
God’s World, Our World: Adventurers & Pathfinders as True Stewards
Stewardship formed the cornerstone of the first South England Conference (SEC) face-to-face camporee for Adventurers and Pathfinders since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom in 2019 which was recently held at Phasels Wood Activity Centre in Hertfordshire, from 22 to 31 July 2022. We praise God that during the lockdown years when no outdoor events were possible our young people were able to use the online platforms to hold virtual camporees. This was an inclusive…Source: https://adventist.uk/news/article/go/2022-09-08/gods-world-our-world-adventurers-pathfinders-as-true-stewards/
