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Worship: For Heaven’s Sake “About forty days after the birth of Christ, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, and to offer sacrifice.” The priest held Jesus in his arms but did not recognize the infant as the promised Messiah–God. (Read more below.)
Wellness: For Health’s Sake Pastor Flemons, a doctor of biblical wellness, reviewed an NPR article on the case of Phineas Gage. The case ushered in the modern era of neuroscience. Brain scientists today are still obsessed with the consequences of his brain injury. (Read more below.)
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Worship: God Chose Your Gender and Your Sexual Orientation Before You Were Born (The Dedication)
Wellness: How Your Diet Is Putting a Hole in Your Head
TOPICS THIS WEEK – May 21 – 27
Worship Sunday – The Dedication; Monday – “We Have Seen His Star”; Tuesday – As a Child; Wednesday – The Passover Visit; Thursday – Days of Conflict; Friday – The Voice in the Wilderness; Saturday, the Sabbath – The Baptism [All topics per Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White.]
Wellness Sunday – How Your Diet Is Putting a Hole in Your Head!
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Words of Encouragement
Ezekiel 3:8-9 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Psalm 66:10-12 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
For Heaven’s Sake…
“The dedication of the first-born had its origin in the earliest times. God had promised to give the First-born of heaven to save the sinner. This gift was to be acknowledged in every household by the consecration of the first-born son. He was to be devoted to the priesthood, as a representative of Christ among men. DA 51.1
“The priest went through the ceremony of his official work. He took the child in his arms, and held it up before the altar. After handing it back to its mother, he inscribed the name “Jesus” on the roll of the first-born. Little did he think, as the babe lay in his arms, that it was the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory. The priest did not think that this babe was the One of whom Moses had written, “A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.” Acts 3:22. He did not think that this babe was He whose glory Moses had asked to see. But One greater than Moses lay in the priest’s arms; and when he enrolled the child’s name, he was enrolling the name of One who was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. That name was to be its death warrant; for the system of sacrifices and offerings was waxing old; the type had almost reached its antitype, the shadow its substance. DA 52.2
“As Simeon enters the temple, he sees a family presenting their first-born son before the priest. Their appearance bespeaks poverty; but Simeon understands the warnings of the Spirit, and he is deeply impressed that the infant being presented to the Lord is the Consolation of Israel, the One he has longed to see. To the astonished priest, Simeon appears like a man enraptured. The child has been returned to Mary, and he takes it in his arms and presents it to God, while a joy that he has never before felt enters his soul. As he lifts the infant Saviour toward heaven, he says, ‘Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.’ DA 55.2
“Anna also, a prophetess, came in and confirmed Simeon’s testimony concerning Christ. As Simeon spoke, her face lighted up with the glory of God, and she poured out her heartfelt thanks that she had been permitted to behold Christ the Lord.” DA 55.4
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isa. 11:1-5; 9:2-6.
“As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord” Luke 2:23.
The prophecies long before the birth of Jesus clearly refer to the Messiah as Him, not Her. It was a gender-specific mission. Like so, God has given to us all gender-specific missions, says Pastor Flemons. Jeremiah 1:4-5 confirms this: “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Before Samson was conceived, his mother was informed: “For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; . . . for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5). For a time, Samson failed to embrace his calling and made a mess of his life. But he never considered his gender a deformity.
“The offerings presented to the Lord were to be without blemish. These offerings represented Christ, and from this it is evident that Jesus Himself was free from physical deformity. He was the ‘lamb without blemish and without spot.’ 1 Peter 1:19. His physical structure was not marred by any defect; His body was strong and healthy. And throughout His lifetime He lived in conformity to nature’s laws. Physically, as well as spiritually, He was an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws.” DA 50.3
“When you live your gender and live your calling,” says Pastor Flemons, “you are blessing God.”
“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1).
What would happen to the plan of salvation if JESUS had said, “I don’t want to be the Son of God and die for these people, I’d rather be a girl”?
(These are selected paragraphs from chapter 5, “The Dedication” in The Desire of Ages (DA), by Ellen G. White.) This is based on Luke 2:21-38.
For Health’s Sake…
Phineas Gage had a sudden change in personality following a railroad construction accident that “destroyed much of his brain’s left frontal lobe.” Before the accident, he is described as having had an “even-tempered personality.” Afterward, he is described as “fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity, which was not previously his custom.” The commentary was made by “John Martyn Harlow, the physician who treated Gage after the accident” in 1848.
“This sudden personality transformation is why Gage shows up in so many medical textbooks, says Malcolm Macmillan, an honorary professor at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and the author of An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage.
“‘He was the first case where you could say fairly definitely that injury to the brain produced some kind of change in personality,’ Macmillan says.”
Pastor Flemons says the same thing can happen from consuming excessive sugar, caffeine, smoking, and using substances like crack cocaine. In the same way, the frontal lobe can be damaged. Dramatic changes in the personality can happen, because the frontal lobe is where moral decisions are made. When the frontal lobe is damaged, the individual loses control over sensual feelings, says Pastor Flemons. That is why people with addictions are rarely, if ever, calm.
The frontal lobe is located just behind the forehead. An 1851 article, copied and pasted into the current NPR article, identifies the area as “the regions of the organs of benevolence and veneration.” Referring to Mr. Gage’s injury, it is said that his injury “left these organs without influence in his character, hence his profanity, and want of respect and kindness; giving the animal propensities absolute control in the character.” Pastor Flemons has previously referred to a connection between eating flesh foods, cooked rare, and the animalistic propensity toward sexual performance, as described by a career prostitute.
The Bible, even in the Old Testament, made this connection. Jeremiah 3:3 says, “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.”
Thankfully, Mr. Gage’s errant personality lasted only temporarily; albeit, the two to three years may have seemed like a lifetime to those nearest him.