Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 245 JANUARY 2017 BODY OF CHRIST NEWS TESTIMONY A Retirement Plan for You Iam a member of a special retirement plan of which I have been a member since 1960. I retired ten years ago, at the end of 2006. Which means I have been retired and I am now planning how to spend my final check. When I retired, the pension board tabulated the number of points in my personal account. They then, with my permis- sion, divided these into ten-year plans which determined the amount of my monthly retirement check. This, of course, was based on the stock mar- kets and the investment volatility. Therefore, I am not just spending my final check; but deciding how I will sur- vive without the monthly checks which dictates how I live every day. They have informed me that the payout value for 2017 for a MMBB annuity unit will be 71.325604. But, what does that mean to me as I contemplate 2017? Well, let me evaluate what that means. The first thing which I face is my mortgage. Yes, I do have a mortgage. Yes, it is small, and not nearly what it was when I lived in my big house and a large mortgage. It means that I need to find the money to pay the mortgage and the monthly HOA bills. Then there are my medicines. Yes, even though I am in reasonably good health, I do take prescription drugs (quite a few to be exact). I think one of them is “Colcrys” which is for gout. I remember talking to my primary care physician about how to cut some of the cost. I pointed out that I have been taking this pill for 25 years and have no recurrence. She responded: “No, I won’t change this pill. That may be the reason you have not had a recurrence of the Tendonitis.” At 83 years of age, I need these medicines to keep going. Then there are simple things like food. I eat every day. Carefully, yes. Healthy, yes. Therefore, food is impor- tant and everyone needs it to survive. I share season tickets to the Rockies Baseball teams for recreation. I spend 3 or 4 days a month from April through September at the ball games. Then, without being specific, when I glance at my checkbook and see all the things which I pay with my paycheck, it never ends. My tithes, offerings, and gifts to good causes, my cleaning bills, my credit card payments, and my util- ity bills. It is frightening to think about it. All that I am and all that I do goes back to my faith in God and to my retirement check. It all goes back to my faith and my retirement check. As a retired pas- tor, I think about things like this. I can’t work. I can’t beg. I may preach every now and then; but, this is not an answer. I never realized that in my life I would have to think about these things. I lived like my retirement checks would last forever. Is this a bad dream, as I imagine spending my last check as Christmas comes as it always does? If this is a dream for me, it is a reality for many ministers and for many churches? Churches who know their pastor (and church staffs) who serve them, and God; work for the church and do not have adequate benefits. I mention this exercise which expresses a missing link in the ben- efits many churches do not offer to their minsters. I happen to know that many Baptist churches do not offer these pension benefits for their clergy. Many COGIC churches do not offer these benefits. Many other Protestant churches offer these benefits and many do not. My denomination, American Baptist, National Baptist and many others are now eligible to partake of these benefits without regard to their Christian Denomination. I have been redeemed from my seem- ingly impossible dilemma of having to spend my final retirement check. I have been redeemed by people I never knew. It goes back to 1910 and 1911, long before I was born. A dedicated group of American Denominational leaders. There were other religious leaders who took up the push for some relief for Ministers growing old and Missionaries coming back to America without funds for survival. United, they were mov- ing to a plan to form a pension for the Ministers and Missionaries. It came down to a deadline of Christmas day for the deadline of pledges which would say that the dream could be realized. The leaders hold their breath as the days ran down. Then, on Christmas day one final, major pledge came through. A promise of $250,000.00 came through from The Rockefeller family which meant that the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board could uphold this major promise as it came into fruition. In 2016 this program rescued me from acknowledging December 2016 as the day of me final check. Why, because from this fund, MMBB is pro- viding the finances to support my res- cue. I know that I am covered with my same basic check for the rest of my life. And, not only for me, but for all minis- ters and missionaries who live through their earned money in the retirement fund. They will be protected for the remainder of their lives by MMBB. I pray that this prayerful dream will urge other churches to enter their pastors into such a program as this. The door is still open and there is no deadline date for application. This information is for Churches who wish to provide benefits for their Ministers or Church staff members only If you or your Church is interested in this pension plan you may get in touch with the National office of the mamba Pension off in New York at service@ mmbb.org Or you may contact the regional officer of MMBB Rev. Clifton Morgan. P.O. Box 461507 Aurora, Co 80046-1507 303.955.6093 email clifton.morgan@mmbb.org Facts Christians Should Know About The Holy Bible "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." — 11 Timothy 2: 15 (NIV) Iwas amazed, while doing research, when I came upon the following statement on the Internet: "A new study by the American Bible Society showed increasing disbelief that Scripture is actually true." Later, to read in a Pew Research Center report that "Black Protestants only answered correctly 13.4 percent of the 32 questions asked about the Holy Bible, compared to 15.8 percent of white mainline Protestants." Consequently, I decided to write this essay. Purpose? To provide readers with information about the subject for their consideration. Aside from the foregoing, I had thoughts about what I had read in a blog written by Douglas Birdstall, then president of the American Bible Society. Birdstall said: "I see the problem as analo- gous to obesity in America. We have an awful lot of people who realize they're overweight, but they don't follow a diet." He added: "People realize the Bible has values that would help us in our spiritual health, but they just don't read it." Bottom line? "There is a biblical literacy problem. Americans, including churchgoers aren't reading much of any book, including the Good Book," in the words of Ed Stetzer, in an article that appeared in Christianity Today magazine, entitled 'The Epidemic of Bible Illiteracy in Our Churches,' dated July 6, 2015. Notwithstanding the foregoing back- ground, the goal of this discourse is to present 10 amazing facts about the Bible that might encourage and inspire readers to nurture a daily Bible read- ing habit: 1. The Bible was written over 1,600 years by 40 or more writers. 2. While the Bible is one book, it contains 66 smaller volumes. The books of the Old Testament were writ- ten before the birth of Jesus Christ. The New Testament covers the life of Christ and beyond. 3. Each of the books, except five, are divided into chapters and verses. The five which aren't divided by chapters, are Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. The latter are short books, which only have verse divisions. The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9 with 90 words. Shortest verse is John 11 :35 with only two words, "Jesus wept." 4. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119 with 176 verses; the smallest is Psalm 117 with two verses. 5. The Bible is the only tome among various religions that include the actual words of God. The Bible says more than 3,000 times "thus saith the Lord." And the words that follow are quotes from God. 6. There are historical discoveries regularly found to support the accuracy of the Bible. 7. Research shows that more than 168,000 Bibles are either sold or given away per day in the world. 8. There are no contradictions in the Bible, contrary to what many folks say. Look at the Bible entire- ly and understanding its teachings, which will confirm the fact. have been the author of Hebrews. Moses wrote the first five books in the Bible. An interesting commentary about the Bible is what Dr. Cyrus N. Nelson wrote in the Preface of the book 'What the Bible is All About' by Henrietta 9. Of the thousands of proph- ecies in the Bible, more than 3,000 have been fulfilled, either within the Bible itself, or since it was written. 10. Apostle Paul wrote at least 13 books in the Bible. Moreover, he may C. Mears with Foreword by Billy Graham: "One of the great tragedies ... is that the Bible is the best-seller year after year, it is not the most read and best understood. Most of us don't need another translation or revision of the Bible; instead we need a rededication and com- mitment to studying and understanding the one we have." Closing, I'm reminded of what I had read in Henry H. Haley's Bible Handbook: Revised Edition. "Booklets for daily devotions now advertised so abundantly by various denominational publish- ing houses, may have their place. But they are no substitute for the Bible. The Bible is God's Own Words. And no other book can take its place. Every Christian, young and old, should be a faithful reader of the Bible." James Peters Ben Walton By Ben Walton, Colone, US Army (Ret.) By James D. Peters SCRIPTURE The Bible is the only tome among various religions that include the actual words of God.