Taia Colai Tiniyara

The name Melchizedek has often sparked interesting discussions in some gatherings I've attended. Off the top of my head, the Genesis story said that he was met by Abraham and that he was the king of Salem and a priest of God. What's so interesting about this Priest King? Let's find out. There are two priesthoods in the Bible record. One had a beginning and an end; the other is a perpetual priesthood. The first is the Levitical Priesthood. This was instituted at by God's instruction to be the ministers of the Tabernacle planned by God to be built the Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. Only male descendants of Levi were to be part of this order. The line of Aaron was ordained by God to carry the mantle of the High Priest. The second is the Order of Melchizedek. The Levitical Priesthood was a type or shadow of the Melchizedek priesthood. The writer of Hebrews chapter 7 states that Melchizedek didn't have any parents or genealogy, without beginning or end, he r...

Before we dive into the issue of sporting games in Seventh Day Adventism, I would like to first address the salvation and grace issue raised by Allan York Duasavu. In addressing church issues, where and how does salvation and grace fit into the picture? I want to address this because it may seem like to a lot of people that I am making this issue a criterion for salvation. Let me break down Yeshuwah which is the Hebrew word for God is our Salvation and is also the name of the Messiah. The Spirit of God comes and convict your heart of the love of God, making you realize that you're in bondage and you fall short of that love through your sins. The result is repentance and need for the atoning blood of the Lamb. Our sins are taken away from us when we confess, transferred and laid on Jesus Christ at the altar of sacrifice. In exchange, the title of the righteousness of Christ becomes yours through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the witnesses of heaven declare you guiltless. You...

  Adam and Eve yielded over their position as king and queen when they chose to disobey the command of God through the flattering deceptions of the Devil. The Bible says that the Devil has “...the power of death…” Paul in his letter to the Romans said, “...sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned…” Romans 5:12 . When you see death, decay or deterioration occur, you are now sure that you are stepping into the territory of the Devil.  Sin and death are twin siblings, and sin is the elder of the two. Death cannot be born if sin does not precede it. The Bible says that “...the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23 . In the above verse Paul said that by Adam, sin entered the world and death followed closely behind. God was dead serious when He told Adam, “...thou shalt surely die…” if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knew of the power that Satan wields. Had Adam and Eve heeded God’...

  A hesitant victim can be conquered by the art of baiting. Google dictionary defines bait as food placed on a hook or in a net, trap, or fishing area to entice fish or other animals as prey. The word “entice” means: to attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage. In his book The Art of War, Sun Tzu said, “Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” The Prince of Darkness is a skilful general who plans and devices his baits with such mastery that countless men, women, youth and children throughout the ages fall victim to his attacks. He is no respecter of persons and does not have any mercy even on women and children. His mind is totally bent on the destruction of the human race. The benefits and advantages presented by him are dedicated to our destruction. In the previous chapter, we learned that the Devil reinforces his attacks against his enemies by presenting them with benefits. In the second chapter of this book, we identified the second enemy th...

  Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”  The Art of war, pg. 3.  Such are the tactics used by the Devil against a human being who does not make the Word of God the basis of his life. God in His wisdom warned Adam and Eve of the foe they face. It would have been too obvious for the Devil to take his original angelic form and come to Eve, so he came up with the plan to take the form of the Serpent, “…the most subtil (beautiful, precise, wide, crafty and cunning) of the beast which the Lord God had made…”  Genesis 3:1 . The book of Revelation describes the Devil as “…the great dragon, that old serpent…”  Revelation 12:9 . The Greek word “drakonia” which is translated as “Serpent” or “Dragon” means – fabulous serpent. The creature that approac...

  Choosing to sin was the reason for the fall of Lucifer, and eventually, the fall of man. Sin is everything that is opposite to who God is. The Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die…”  Ezekiel 18:20  “For the wages of sin is death…”  Romans 6:23 . “…you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  Romans 6:16 . “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”  Genesis 1:1-3 . The sun if the main source of light on planet earth, but it was created on the fourth day. What is the nature of this light that God unleashed on the first day?  The Bible answers, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the...