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http://www.thepost.mindspring.com Charlotte 5B RELIGION THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1997 Christmas bazaar Christmas sale at Little Rock features unique Christmas gifts. See Church News page 6B. Sunday School . ^ LESSON Women with AIDS touches congregation Living In God’s Light It is generally agreed that the beloved apostle John wrote the three general epistles that bear his name. He was probably one of the first two apostles called by Jesus. This letter was probably written between A.D. 90-95 after John’s Gospel and before the book of Revelation. Scholars claim that in this letter John is writing against an early form of a heresy that came to be called Gnosticism in the second century. Gnostics claimed to have special esoteric knowledge given by God. A major tenet of an early group was that all matter is evil. This led to two different prongs of doctrine and practice. One group said that since all matter is evil, one ought to prac tice ascetidsm.This led to punish ing the body, avoiding any physi cal pleasure, and monasticism. The message John is talking about is Jesus as the eternal Word. Christ was in the begin ning with God; he cooperated with the Father in creation. Thus, Jesus is the source of their light in our lesson. : John claimed historical reliabil ity for his witness to Jesus. He personally had heard the wonder ful teachings, had seen the mar velous miracles performed, had touched the real body of Jesus during the Lord’s life and proba bly after his resurrection. As one of the inner three who had gone with the Lord on the mount of transfiguration and into the Garden of Gethsemanem, John was particularly suited to witness for the truth of the gospel mes sage. It had become John’s duly to witness to that perfect fife and fight in his time. Now that responsibility has been passed on to us. We must testify with word of mouth an deed of fife to the liv ing reality of Christ by imitating him in our daily lies. The Emtithesis between fight and darkness is a favorite concept with John. It is used fi'equently in his Gospel. The difference between true spiritual fight and darkness can be analyzed as fol lows; fight is truth - darkness is error; fight is righteousness - darkness is sin; light is in logical order; truth produces righteous ness and righteousness leads to fife, abundant and eternal. On the other hand error results in sin and sin brings death; spiritual, physical, and eternal death, which is a final and complete sep aration fiom God. Death means Separation, not extinction. Fellowship means sharing. When we follow what John and the other actual witnesses of the life of Christ have declared to us about Jesus and his will, we share Christ’s love, joy, and salva tion with these early Christian saints and also with people around us today who see our lives. ; The word for fellowship here is koinonia. which means “having in rommon.” The early church con tinued in fellowship in many ways. Their material goods were held in common and shared with others in need. The message of ^vation was shared with others. They shared with' one another around the Lord’s Table. When Paul refers to the Lord’s Supper in Corinthians 10:16, he uses the same word, koinonia. Paul also speaks of sharing Christ’s suffer ings as a way to know him. Tb walk in darkness is not just committing heinous sins as adul tery, thievery, and murder, but is both not knowing what is right and not doing what is right in our daily fives. So we must study the Word of God to know the truth, then five by it. ’Then we will not only feel close to him but know what he would have us to do in any fife situation. John acknowledges in this verse that even though we walk in the fight, in fellowship with Christ, we might sin, but in such a case there is a way of forgiveness through the blood of Christ. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS EDEN - Rosalyn Jackson walked to the pulpit and spoke from her heart as one more voice hoping to chase AIDS out of the shadows. She read from a speech she had been writing for several weeks. She clasped and unclasped her hands. Then she stopped refer ring to her notes and began speaking. She cried at times. Jackson is 30, and her son is 4. Both have tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and both receive treatment at clinics at Baptist Hospital in Winston- Salem. Jackson believes that a man she once dated infected her through sex, and she unknowing ly passed the disease on to her unborn son. She planned the service at her church Sunday to draw attention to World AIDS Day, which was Monday. It is a time meant to educate the public about ways to fight and deal with HIV, which has infected 30 million adults and children worldwide. Jackson stressed the basics: People who engage in unprotected sex or inject drugs expose them selves to HIV. At first, she had nightmares in which she saw herself in a hospi tal bed dying. She has left those visions behind. She tells herself She lived to the fullest Temika Sheppard, right, plays with sister Sherrika outside her grandmother’s North Charlotte apartment. The nine-year old, who died Sunday, touched the hearts of many. She received gifts and was a guest on the “Breakfast Brothas” Morning Show. Youngster with cancer fought hard By Jeri Young THE CHARLOTTE POST For two years, Temika Sheppard bravely fought brain cancer. When chemotherapy left her bald, she told her mother she needed a hat. When adults whispered that she only had a short time to five, she got angry. “She said they didn’t know what they were talking about,” her mother, Wanda Sheppard, said in an interview with The Post in September. “I had never seen her that angry.” 'Ifenuka, 9, died early Sunday morning, surroimded by her family. She suffered from a rare form of brain cancer. Primitive Neuroectodermal, that strikes the brain and central nervous system. 'Two weeks ago, Tfemika took a turn for the worse. She com plained constantly of throbbing headaches and had a hard time moving around. “She would just scream,” her uncle, Jerome Sheppard, said. “It just hurt her so bad. It was so hard to watch. I had a hard time walking into her room. She was just in so much pain. I hated to see her like that.” Jerome Sheppard says that Tfemika’s living as long as she did was nothing short of a mira cle. In July, doctors at Carofinas Medical Center told the family Tfemika had only three months to five. Despite the grim progno sis, Tfemika continued to be active. “Up until two weeks ago, she was real active,” Jerome Sheppard said. “She did just about what she wanted. She just went down so fast.” Often, Tfemika had a hard time walking and speaking, but relatives and friends say noth ing stopped her. She kept up her spirits and theirs. “She was tough,” said family friend Pamela Harris. “She real ly tried to be strong when she wasn’t. You knew she was weak, but she would stiU try to walk around and play with her little sister. She even went to school. She had a tough spirit.” Harris, who fives near the family in Fairview Homes, and her sister Vivian Jenkins launched a campaign in July to let people know of Temika’s plight. The two and other Fairview Homes denizens spent hours canvassing Charlotte with flyers and asking for prayers. To make sure Temika had what she wanted and needed, the two formed the Tfemika Sheppard Foimdation to raise money and circulated hundreds of copies of her wish fist. Tfemika wanted to ride a motorcycle and visit Disney World. She also wanted to meet a professional athlete. “When people heard about her they just wanted to do things for her,” Harris said. “That’s just the way people are.” Harris said it’s difficult to fist all of the people who helped. TVails of Thunder, an African American motorcycle club show ered Tfemika with stuff animals and took on her an 8-mile motorcycle ride. WPEG radio’s Breakfast Brothas invited Tfemika to be a special guest on their morning show. Residents of the Piper Glen community arranged a huge birthday bash for her and several members of the Carolina Panthers visited and brought presents. Harris, who gets choked up when she talks about Tfemika, said people asked for nothing in return. “They just gave and gave,” she said. When Tfemika wanted a chi huahua, brothers Ellis and Maurice Himter of A Affordable Bailbonds/Hunter Budget Bail Bonding searched the coimtry until they found one and had it shipped from Kansas. Temika named the dog, Shorty-do-wop. Jerome Sheppard agreed peo ple were kind.. “People were nice,” he said. “In a way it’s kind of a relief She was in so much pain. She’s in a better place now and that makes it much easier.” Funeral services will be held for Temika today at Family Mortuary Chapel, 2310 Statesville Ave. at 2 p.m. Contributions to the Temika Foundation can be sent c/o NationsBank - NC2-172-01-0, PO Box 30120, Charlotte, N.C. 28230-5859 or call (704) 596- 5859. Thousands married in stadium ceremony By Alice Ann Love THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASfflNG'TON - Tb Hanako Ikeno, it didn’t seem strange to pledge herself in marriage Saturday to a foreign man she’s known just a day in a football- field ceremony surrounded by 28,000 couples. More than 20 years ago, the marriage of the 19-year-old’s mother and father also was arranged by the Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, founders of the Unification Church. “Tm thankful that God could pick my spouse. I trust him more than anybody else. More than myself,” said Ikeno, who grew up in Milwaukee. As she and 19-year-old Keichi Kaneko, the Japanese man picked by the Moons to be her husband, took vows Saturday in preparation for their marriage, her parents watched from the stands of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium and renewed their own wedding promises. In aU, 28,000 couples - most long married and 2,500 newly matched - paid $70 each to take part in Saturday’s marriage affir mation ceremony sponsored by the Unification Church, which believes cross-cultural match making will help unite the world. The real weddings come later in separate legal ceremonies. “We want to create God-cen tered families that will serve as examples of true love,” said Moon. Ranks of new brides and grooms in long white dresses and dark suits took up two-thirds of the football field once used by the Washington Redskins. ’They were sprinkled with holy water, took vows to be married and raise fam ilies in the church, and exchanged rings under a gray November sIq'. After the morning ceremony presided over by the Moons, the couples shared box lunches. Married couples renewing their vows did not have to belong to the Unification Church and oiganiz- ers promoted the event - called “Blessing “97” - as a non-denomi- national celebration of marriage and family. Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan also attended. Blessing “97 followed a week of festivities billed by Unification Church as “World Culture and Sports Festival,” a title that may have confused some celebrities invited to participate. Whitney Houston, who had top billing in a concert for a reported dlrs 1 million salary following Saturday’s blessing ceremony, canceled at the last minute, citing sudden illness. About a dozen picketers protest ed the event that AIDS will not kill her. Four years after testing HIV positive, the only adverse physical effect she experiences is occasion al shortness of breath, she said.Nor has her son experienced adverse physical effects, Jackson said. The drugs that mother and son take are helping, their care givers say. Alabama ministers angry Rejection of gift unfair, group says THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TAMPA. Fla. - Pastors and dea cons of Alabama churches that burned two years ago say the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc., betrayed their trust. A year ago, Lyons accepted a check for $225,000 from the Anti- Defamat'on League and the National Urban League. Two weeks later the St. Petersburg minister wrote the Anti- Defamation League, saying six Alabama churches had been given $35,000 each to help rebuild. But most of the money was never distrib uted. After The Tampa 'Tribime reported the status of the funds two months ago, Lyons returned most of the money to the A n t i - Defamation League. “A liar is a liar,” the Rev. John Alexander told The Tribune in a Sunday story. “If you tell one fie, you have to make up another to make it fit.” Lyons said the letter was mailed by mistake and that all the money wasn’t given out because he decid ed that some of the churches real ly didn't need the help. But four of the six churches stiU need to build or complete improvements, the Tribune reported. Investigators with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office have questioned the pastors about whether they received any money from Lyons, who remaiins under investigation by federal and Florida officials examining his financial dealings. While the investigations contin ue, the tiny congregations of the unfinished churches struggle to raise more money. Any insurance money was spent long ago. Donations that poured in while the burnings received national focus have long since dried up. As Lyons paid big money for a waterfront house, a Nevada time share, jewelry and fancy cars, the Alabama churchgoers - many on fixed incomes or earning mini mum wage - say they raised cash through weekly church donations and fried chicken dinner socials. Lyons, who claims to represent 8.5 miUion black Baptists, has come under criticism lately for EiUeged misuse of church money and for his dealings with Bernice Edwards, a convicted embezzler with whom he owned the water front home. Several ministers orchestrated a failed effort this summer to remove him as head of the Baptist group. Pastors and church officials agree that the money Lyons said he gave but didn't would have gone a long way toward completi ing the work. Lyons
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