To Believe Despite the Odds

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Published: December 26, 2009

MY mother had my sister at 15 and me at 17. She raised us by herself when my father went to jail. We lived in the South Bronx. People assumed she’d never be able to achieve in life and neither would we. But my mother never stopped going to school. She took us with her to her classes at Hunter College.

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SHEENA WRIGHT

Chief executive, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Manhattan

AGE 39

LIVES IN A Harlem Brownstone

LAST VACATION Jamaica

In the 1970s, she fought for financial aid for college students in need. People would come to our house and make banners to protest one thing or another. When she got arrested, I saw her on the news. Her example made me believe that I could achieve what I set out to do. I also thought that my life should be about service.

My mother sent my sister and me to the North Bronx for middle school because she was not satisfied with the school in the South Bronx. We commuted an hour and a half each way.

I joined a tennis program in the neighborhood sponsored by Coca-Cola and was featured on Phil Donahue’s show. An executive with the program suggested that I go to the George School, a private school near Philadelphia. My sister and I both got full scholarships.

I skipped a couple of grades in school and enrolled inColumbia University at age 16 to study history and sociology. I helped found the Pan African House on campus and was also an executive of the Black Students’ Organization. One year, we protested over Columbia’s investing in organizations in South Africa.

While in college, I worked part time at The New York Times and, after graduation, worked in its Washington bureau for a year. Many of my classmates had gone to law school, however, and I decided to follow the herd.

Law school at Columbia allowed me to hone my critical-thinking skills and taught me about corporate law. It also opened my eyes to economic empowerment issues. I see economic empowerment as the next phase of the civil rights movement — giving neighborhoods equal access to capital, which will allow them to develop a strong economic base.

One summer, I worked for the Legal Aid Society, and another summer, for a New York law firm. When I got my law degree, I joined the law firm, which had only a handful of women as associates and a couple of female partners out of about 75. I was the second black woman hired.

I learned a lot about business and negotiating complex transactions during the five years I worked there, but I realized that I wanted to use my skills for the betterment of my community someday. I moved to another law firm and learned more about private equityand other resources that businesses could use to grow and develop.

Next I worked at a start-up and saw firsthand a minority company’s challenges in raising capital. In the 1990s, Harlem underwent a gentrification, and in 2002, the Abyssinian Development Corporation hired me as chief operating officer to help develop the community further. I was promoted to C.E.O. later that year.

We’ve completed numerous development projects, providing housing and educational and other services. In 2004, we helped more than 200 families living in the Ennis Francis Houses. Once the government contract expired, the building could have been sold to a private contractor for the market rate. But the entire housing project was terribly rundown. There was so much mold and mildew that mushrooms were growing out of carpets and the walls looked as if they were covered in fur. The sewage line had collapsed. We bought the building and totally rehabilitated it.

Harlem can teach other cities that if they identify their strengths and build on them, they can achieve their goals. You don’t need a million dollars and a lot of external things. If you wait for them, you may never get to where you want to be.

As told to Patricia R. Olsen

The difference
27 December 2009

These days it’s impossible to testify of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection only through words. The world wants more than long speeches, more than emotional rituals. The world wants proof of His resurrection. And to prove that He is alive, we need a life of quality and a character unlike any other.

It’s not only about having testimonies of miracles we received, but behaving in a way that is beyond reproach—first at home, and then everywhere else. Unfortunately, many “Christians” behave well among friends and strangers, but around their family, they act out their old nature. Others are “holy” when they talk about the Word of God, but when it comes to doing business with brothers in faith, it’s dog-eat-dog. They are selfish, mean, stingy, cunning, and so on.

God is Just. His throne is based upon justice. “Woe to him who causes one of My little ones to stumble!” says the Lord.

We know that perfection is almost impossible. But we should behave, as much as possible, according to our belief. After all, if our character does not testify of the Lord Jesus, what’s the point of speaking about Him?

Bishop Macedo

Which Direction Are you taking?

The Right Direction!

"And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do." Exodus 18.20

One of the most important thing in a man's life is exactly the direction he needs for whatever he has to do. Many of them for lack of right direction ended up making wrong choices and wrong decisions. But the question is: How can you have the right direction? Where can you find that? Who can give you the exact direction for your life? In one of his prayers King David said, "O Lord, You have searched me, You know my sitting down and rising up; You understand my thought afar off, You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways." Psalm 139. 1-3

God is the only one who can give you the right direction for whatever you need to do in your life and this is something He does through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. If you daily seek for His presence and you sincere show Him that you definitely depend on His direction, without a doubt He will give you. Don't think that you have enough knowledge and are fully capable of making decisions by yourself, ask first for God's direction and He will give it to you. By doing this you will be able to avoid making wrong choices.

We invite you to be a part of the New Year's Eve Night Vigil in which we will be starting the year 2010 in the Presence of God Almighty who will give you direction for a successful year. Prepare yourself and your loved ones to join us in this event. December 31st at 11pm in all The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

The Wise Man and the Cow

The wise man and the cow

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there lived a Chinese wise man and his disciple. One day in their travels, they saw a hut in the distance. As they approached they realized that it was occupied in spite of its extremely poor appearance. In that desolate place where there were no crops and no trees, a man lived with his wife, three young children and a thin, tired cow. Since they were hungry and thirsty, the wise man and his disciple stopped for a few hours and were well received. At one point, the wise man asked:

“This is a very poor place, far away from anything. How do you survive?”

“You see that cow? That’s what keeps us going,” said the head of the family. “She gives us milk, some of it we drink and some were make into cheese. When there is extra, we go into the city and exchange the milk and cheese for other types of food. That’s how we survive.”

The wise man thanked them for their hospitality and left. When he reached the first bend in the road, he said to his disciple:

“Go back, get the cow, take her to the cliff in front of us, and push her off.”

The disciple could not believe what he was hearing.

“I can not do that, master! How can you be so ungrateful? The cow is all they have. If I throw it on the cliff, they’ll have no way to survive. Without the cow, they’ll all die!”

The wise man, an elderly Chinese man, took a deep breath and repeated the order:

“Go ahead. Push the cow off the cliff.”

Though outraged at what he was being asked to do, the student was resigned to obey his master. He returned to the hut and quietly led the animal to the edge of the cliff and pushed. The cow fell down the cliff and died.

As the years passed by, remorse for what he had done never left the disciple. One spring day, the guilt became too much to bear and he left the wise man and returned to that little shack. He wanted to find out what had happened to that family, to help them out, apologize, or somehow make amends.

Upon rounding a turn in the road, he could not believe what his eyes were showing him. In place of the poor shack there was a beautiful house with trees all around, a swimming pool, several cars in the garage, a satellite dish, and on and on. Three good-looking teenagers and their parents were celebrating their first million dollars.

The heart of the disciple froze. What could have happened to the family? Without a doubt, they must have been starving to death and forced to sell their land and leave. At that moment, the student thought they must all be begging on the street corners of some city. He approached the house and asked a man that was passing by about the whereabouts of the family that had lived there several years before.

“You're looking at it,” said the man, pointing to the people gathered around the barbecue.

Unable to believe what he was hearing, the disciple walked through the gate and took a few steps closer to the pool where he recognized the man from several years before, only now he was strong and confident, the woman was happy, and the children were now nice-looking teenagers. He was dumbfounded, and went over to the man and asked:

“What happened? I was here with my teacher a few years ago and this was a miserable place. There was nothing. What did you do to improve your lives in such a short time?”

The man looked at the disciple, and replied with a smile:

“We had a cow that kept us alive. She was all we had. But one day she fell down the cliff and died. To survive, we had to start doing other things, develop skills we didn’t even know we had. And so, because we were forced to come up with new ways of doing things, we are now much better off than before.”

Author unknown

The spirit of a word
20 December 2009

Words have power. A person who speaks, sows; a person who hears, reaps. But both of them reap the fruits of the word. The lack of understanding about this truth has caused serious problems not only to those who speak but also to those who believe.

Many times, people don’t mean what they say. Sometimes they speak out of selfishness, because they don’t want to listen to others. There are people who say what they are not supposed to just because they don’t want to be at a disadvantage. Either way, every conversation brings consequences—some good, others bad.

The mother says to her son or daughter, “If you do this to me… your child will do something worse to you.” The years pass and there’s that son or daughter going through even worse situations with their kids. And so their mother’s “curse” is fulfilled.

Few people know that words have spirit. If a word is bad, it produces sadness, pain and death. But if it’s good, it produces joy, health and life.

Jesus used the power of words to heal the sick, set the captives free, etc. His work was characterised by the use of words.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18)

And yet He also used a word to kill a fig tree. Through that attitude, He was showing the negative power of a word.

Those who work in the media know this power very well, one reason why many people hate me without knowing me. I don’t bother or hate them, because we don’t sing from the same song sheet. I feel sorry for those who have been poisoned by their own venom.

Be very careful with the words you hear, “for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food” (Job 34.3)

Bishop Macedo

The Pursuit of Victory

"When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit." Judges 8.4

When we believe in what we are doing and we have a target to reach out we don't care of how far we got to go to accomplish our mission. One reason why many people fail in what they do is that they get ready to start something but they don't get ready persevere on what they have started to do. Why, for example, are there so many broken marriage? Is that because there's no more love? Or, are they getting tired of seeing each other? These could be the answers but in my opinion, the main reason why they break up easily is because they got ready to get married but they forget to prepare themselves to remain married which is the most difficult side of a relationship because after we get marriage then problems come, that's when you find out the other side of your partner, you are able to know not only what is good but principally what is bad, exactly what you couldn't see before getting married, but then it's too late, you've already got married. If you are not prepared to keep your marriage then, there's no doubt that you are going to break up.

In terms of conquering victories and make your dreams come true the same rule must be applied; to believe that God wants to bless you is not enough you must also do your part by pursuing what you want which in some cases take time to happen and if you are not prepared to persevere on what you do believe God is going to do in your life, sooner or later, you will give up on your dreams. Get ready therefore, not only to start something but to finish what you start.

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

Perseverance is a gift given to all those who truly believe in what they do and in what they want. Those who don't see other options or other results, they always use their obstacles as a trampoline to jump higher. Though for many people their victories seem to delay but for those who have the spirit of perseverance, they don't care how long it will take for what they want because they are able to overcome even the time, they are focused on what they believe without taking care of what is happening around them.

Only those who persevere are able to go all the way for what they dream of!

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

Perseverance

PERSEVERANCE

Every sacrifice we make gives us authority and power to build our success in whatever area of our life; financial, spiritual, sentimental or family. When we come onto the Altar of God to lay down the sacrifice, in other words, we are renouncing our life into His hands and as a consequence of this act of genuine faith we receive God’s Authority to do or to conquer whatever we need in life. Therefore, if you have made a perfect sacrifice like Abraham did by presenting his only son Isaac on Mount Moriah, you have the full authority to go ahead on what you want. There’s no way you can materialize your dreams by sitting down at home and waiting for something happens to you. As a person who sacrificed, you are entitled to possess the realization of what you sacrificed for. “…and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies”. Genesis 22.17. How can you possess something without moving ahead? Don’t think your blessings will fall from heaven or someone will just come to deliver it into your hands, it’ll never happen!

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heavens and on earth”. Matthew 28.18

Though the Lord Jesus had healed many and had performed several miracles, he was being criticized and persecuted, but after sacrificing His life on the cross, His authority was recognized by everyone and today there’s no other name in heaven or on earth with power to save our life, before His name all knees shall bow down.

Now think about you who sacrificed in this Campaign of Israel, all obstacles and enemies who for a long time blocked your ways and prevented you from changing your life and making your dreams come true, they now have to bow down before you because after you have laid down not only your financial sacrifice but also your life on the altar, you are no longer fighting by yourself but God is with you, His anointing is upon you as well, forasmuch as you can’t wait or depend on anyone for you to do what you are supposed to do. If before making a sacrifice all things seemed to be impossible for you, now with God’ s Authority all things are possible, nevertheless if you just wait for things to happen, I can firmly say that with you nothing is going to happen. A man or a woman who have faith to sacrifice on the altar, they are able to make things happen.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.” Revelation 3.21

Get ready to come back onto the altar, not for another sacrifice but to testify about your great victories that definitely and without a shadow of doubt will happen to you!

Be blessed in Jesus Name!

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

1 888 793 6411

The three lions
13 December 2009

There were three lions in a forest.

One day the monkey, who had been elected as the representative of all the animals of the forest, held a meeting and said: “We, the animals, know that the lion is the king of the forest, but there is a doubt in the air. There are three strong lions in this forest, so who must we pay tribute to? Which one of them should be our king?”

The three lions found out about the meeting and commented among themselves: “It’s true. The animals are right. The forest can’t have three kings. We need to figure out which one of us will be the chosen one.”

How are we going to figure this out?

That was the big question: they didn’t want to fight each other because they were good friends.

They were at a crossroads.

Once again, all the animals met to discuss a solution. They used different methods and brainstormed, and finally had an excellent idea. The monkey met with the three lions and told them what they had decided: “Well, gentlemen, we have a challenge that will solve our problem. The solution is Mount Difficult.”

“Mount Difficult? What are you talking about?” asked the lions.

“It’s simple,” pondered the monkey. We’ve decided that you three should climb Mount Difficult. Whoever reaches the top first will be crowned king.

Mount Difficult was the highest of all the mountains in the vast forest. They accepted the challenge. On the day of the challenge, thousands of animals gathered at the foot of the mountain to watch them climb.

The first lion attempted the climb. He didn’t make it. He was defeated.

The second lion attempted the climb. He didn’t make it. He was defeated.

The third lion attempted the climb. He didn’t make it. He was defeated.

The animals were curious and impatient; after all, which one would be crowned king since all three were unsuccessful? At that moment an old but wise eagle took the floor and said: “I know who should be king!” Everyone stood silent with high expectations.

“How do you know,” shouted everyone at the eagle.

“It’s simple,” said the wise eagle. “I was flying close by when I overheard what they said to the mountain on their way back down to the valley.”

The first lion said: “Mountain, you defeated me!”

The second lion said: “Mountain, you defeated me!”

The third lion also said: “Mountain, you defeated me, for now! But mountain you have reached your limits and I’m still growing.”

“The difference,” added the eagle, “is that the third lion had a winning attitude when faced with defeat and whoever thinks this way is greater than their problem: he is his own king. He is prepared to be a king to others.

All the forest animals enthusiastically applauded the third lion as he was crowned king.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY:

The size of your problems or difficulties doesn’t matter. Your problems, in most cases, have reached their climax and are already at their maximum level but you’re not. You’re still growing. You are greater than all your problems put together.

Mount Difficult has a certain size and limit but you haven’t reached your maximum level of performance or potential.

Intelligent Faith is God’s energy inside you. Use it as a tool for achieving your dreams. Don’t conform to the things you can see because you have access to the invisible (your dreams) by faith.

Be blessed in the name of the Lord!

Bishop Macedo

24 Years of Love

Last December 7th we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. We praise and thank our God for being very merciful to us and for giving us this wonderful pleasure of knowing each other, together we grew up, faced many problems and obstacles and conquered many victories. This is not all, we know we still have a lot to do and trust God with all our hearts as He is with us then, there many great things to conquer.

We will always exalt Him on high because through His power we stand against all evil forces.

We thank you Lord with all our mind, strength and soul.

Why Abraham?
10 December 2009

Abraham was chosen to be the first patriarch according to the same criteria God used in the creation, to choose the best in order to produce the best. A basic principle to obtain quality results: a seed of quality, fruit of quality.

The patriarch of God’s nation had to have a character like Job’s: blameless, upright, fearful of God and who shunned evil. He had to be different from the others.

Abraham’s character in relation to the others qualified him to serve as a founder of the nation where the Son of God would be born.

Although Abraham did not perform any miracles or extraordinary deeds, his character, along with his faith, testified on his behalf.

A good example of that is when he rescued his nephew. Lot had been taken captive, and so Abraham gathered the most capable servants, all born in his house, and pursued four kings who had prevailed against five kingdoms, where Lot was.

Not only did Abraham overcome four kings but he also delivered Lot and the five kings who had been captured. On top of that, he recovered all that had been stolen from the five kings, and as proof his immaculate character, he gave everything back to them.

Everyone who is born of the Spirit reveals his faith, and consequently has a character like Abraham’s.

Also, his loyalty to Sarah fulfilled the quality of faithfulness the Creator needed for His project, even though he lived among a corrupt generation. Not even her inability to bear children became an excuse for him not to love her, be faithful to her and show consideration for her during the years they lived together.

In God’s eyes, a person who was able to love, be loyal and consider someone he could see, would also able to do the same to the One couldn’t see.

Abraham’s marriage was decisive in his choice as Patriarch of the Nation of Israel. Both of them had to have the same spirit, the same faith and the same objective.

Bishop Macedo

Just Watch!!

Watch Yourself!

Envy is one the strongest weapon of those who are not able to conquer any great thing in life. Their concern is not with themselves but with what others are doing or conquering. The envious ones rejoice not with their success but with someone else's defeat. There's a passage in the Bible that clearly shows this situation; "Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came a woman having an alabaster box of a very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as he sat eating. But when His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." Matthew 26.6-9.

See friends, how the disciples reacted against what the woman did, they actually are those who should have done what she did but as they were not able to then, they decided to criticize her.

My advise for you who are taking part of the Campaign of Israel and are about to lay your sacrifice on the altar, is to be careful with those who are not in the same faith like you, there's no way they can understand what you are about to do. Maybe you have lost wonderful opportunities of doing something great in life, just because you shared your private life with someone who didn't want you to succeed or didn't want you to have what they don't have. So, you better watch yourself and those who approach you. If you are to do something important in your life or you are about to make an important decision, keep it just between you and God, don't try to show others how capable you are to do things. Remember; silence is the secret of many great things in life.

There's one who doesn't want you to lay down your life and your sacrifice on the altar of God, and this one is the devil. He wants to keep on holding your life back in everything, but through your perfect sacrifice he will be obligated to let it go for good.

May God bless you!

www.universal.org

1 888 793 6411

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

What makes you worthy
26 November 2009

Many do not get results from their faith because of one of these two common mistakes:

1. He thinks he is not worthy because he’s so bad a sinner. He believes he does not deserve God’s blessings because he’s done so much wrong, he thinks his faith is too small, and so on. He puts himself DOWN before God.

2. He thinks he is so holy, so righteous, full of merit for being hardworking, honest, dedicated, kind, etc — that he thinks he will be blessed because he’s earned it. He thinks a lot of himself before God.

The problem is that God does not operate on either of these terms. He’s been known to bless prostitutes, murderers, and thieves. He’s also seemed indifferent to the suffering of many righteous, pious people.

Why?

The only thing that matters to God on the issue of blessing someone is if that person has acted his faith. If he believed and acted upon that belief, he gets blessed. If he did not believe, all he can do is suck his thumb.

Bishop Macedo