Services held for Jacqueline D. Martin

Funeral services were held at Gospel Lutheran Church on Wednesday, January 24 for Jacqueline D. Martin (pictured and highlighted at far left with her sisters), who passed away January 17 at the age of 46.

She is survived by her mother, Willie Mae Martin; father, Eddie J. (Teretha) Martin, Jr.; daughter, Sharon Smith; brother, Ronald (Doris) Martin; sisters, Darlene Williams, Lisa Jett; nieces LaTashia (Eric) Teague, Ryan (Isaac) Underwood; nephew Anthony Martin and a host of loving relatives and friends. Her sister, Deborah Reese-Foster and her grandparents preceded her in death.

Internment at Graceland Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Leon L. Williams Funeral Home, 2157 North 12th Street.

National Christian Financial Advisors: New Year’s “resolve,” not resolutions, will be most effective in meeting financial goals

Waterbury, CT--The beginning of each new year invites people to drop old habits and start new ones with New Year’s resolutions, but Hakeem Webb, Senior Investment Advisor of National Christian Financial Advisors (NCFA), suggests having “resolve” to meet personal financial goals is a stronger, more viable strategy for success.

“People always want to start off the new year with a fresh new start and they often make up resolutions that are rarely kept,” says Webb, co-founder of NCFA, one of the nation’s leading financial service firms.

“There are Biblical principles that will help anyone meet their personal goals and get them on the path toward financial freedom if only they have the true “resolve” to put them into action.”

Webb bases his financial services on the words of Christ found in Matthew 6:33, which says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

“This means if you put God first, food, shelter, good education for children, successful retirements, and all the other needs will be supplied,” says Webb.

“So the first step to financial freedom is finding out what specifically God wants you to do and then move in the natural way to meet those goals.”

Webb says that’s where the resolve is needed. There are four steps toward financial freedom as a believer, according to Webb.

First, tithing; second creating a budget and getting control of your cash management; third, maximizing your retirement contributions; fourth, be entrepreneurial and seek ways to earn supplemental income. Also, double check your withholding: an incorrect withholding will result in too few or too much taxes taken out, either case will be costly.

“If you receive a large tax refund from the government each year, you have too few exemptions and that extra money could be working for you, not feeding the government,” Webb explains. “You may not realize it, but by just investing as little as $50 a month in a mutual fund yielding 8% per year, you could accumulate $16,291 in just 15 years.” Webb says that starting with as little as $25 a month can get you on track for substantial savings and investments.

NCFA serves individuals, families, pastors and churches with strategic financial planning in the areas of Cash Management, Saving and Investing, Retirement Planning, Education Planning, Estate Planning and Charitable Giving. For more information about NCFA, visit http://www.ncfallc.com/ or call 1.866.540.3129 ext. 102.

Religious Commentary

We Need Watchers

by W. Deen Mohammed

In time, knowledge and science tell us, if man neglects his world; you won’t even find a trace of it. Iron will rust and become dust; steel structures will all come down, not to mention the wood that will deteriorate much faster. All of those things will go.

Scripture says, “Search, travel and see what became of great nations before you.” You hardly find any trace of them anymore; they have been buried under the ground.

In time, wind will cover them with leaves and other things. Rain will help bring them down. The weather will wear them out. Trees will drop leaves that keep piling up. In a few thousand years, those leaves go back into the earth and become dirt, as do all organic things.

The earth keeps rising up, and what you made keeps going down. Pretty soon, you can’t find any trace of the material accomplishments of a great people. So what gives us a start will also bury us and put us out of sight. That is God’s Creation.

God says, “Think not, man, that you are bigger than the Creation.” You are not bigger than the Creation. The Creation supported you coming here, and the Creation will take you away and erase your presence forever.

We think ourselves too important; we think ourselves too wise; we think ourselves too mighty. Trying to show your toughness to people makes you small.

Man is becoming sterile mentally. He cannot come up with a vision anymore to advance his world. We had great men and women of vision in our past, which helped advance the human life for American people. The intelligence of the people is becoming sterile.

Our males on the street level and otherwise are becoming show offs, bullies, a little global species of little-daring big men. Aren’t we, Mr. President Bush?

Several years ago, I was a guest of Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian quarters, a camp rigged and designed obviously to me to contain Palestinians under extreme pressures, to take away the human quality from their life and drive them out of their human form and existence.

While there, I observed their distressful existence, and I also observed their unflinching moral and political determination and their human concern. That included their human concerns and feelings for Jews. I know Palestinians are a humane people. They are not what you see and hear about.

We have to qualify for freedom and economic empowerment. The African American people, coming from slavery and seeking opportunities in this world, had our attention, our interest, our focus on this world. Our politicians and all were focused on this world for coming in.

Once you get in, you should stop putting so much attention on this world and put some attention on your past, on your human essence, to see if you can better your human essence, so you will be qualified to get more freedom and to have economic empowerment.

Troubled lifestyles that we see in the street are blinding us. Rich cities of the ancient were walled in. They had special gates through which a tourist might enter. Cairo was one of those great ancient cities. It had civilization with scientific achievements over most of the world and at one time over all of the world.

A story is told to introduce us to myth, in the Egyptian mythical religion. It goes like this: To enter that city, you have to solve the riddle. You come to the gate and there is an oracle above the gate, a mythical creature that could speak to you in your language. The oracle would ask: “What moves on four, then on two and then on three?”

The answer that you give should be, “The man.” Now if you can’t answer the question, you cannot be “the man.” Religion is ordered to keep the need in the human soul and its expression in community life upper most on man’s agenda.

You can work for money, you can work for knowledge, you can work for popularity--you can do all of that forever. But you don’t have the essential life of the human creation on the agenda as something you are supposed to study, watch and keep, to know when something is influencing it out of its form, to know when something is working against it, to see if the culture is hurting it.

You have to have watchers. All of us can’t be watchers. So, you should choose those good leaders of yours, in the church, in the synagogue, and certainly in the mosque. Without leaders, you are doomed. Without leaders, you are dead. Without leaders, you are not going to have anything--eventually.

Satan and his influence are going to take it all from you. I am not talking about a mystery. Satan is real. Hellfire is real. You want me to show you Satan.

Look in the mirror; some probably have become so corrupt, all they have to do is look in the mirror.

God says to us, “Oh you who believe, save your own souls and save your families from the wild fires of blind passions.”

That is the Qur’an. For both community and secular society, family life is first.

The whole world of achievements has to be seen as tracing back to family.

W. Deen Mohammed, son of Elijah Muhammad and mentor to Malcolm X Shabazz, is leader of the largest Muslim community in the United States, president of The Mosque Cares and founder of the Collective Purchasing Conference. Email responses welcome at WDMinstry@aol.com.

Motivational Rap Album Encourages Youth to “Stay Driven!”

Dallas, Texas (BlackNews.com)--“Pursuing your Purpose, Keep your Eye on The Prize,” is the hook to the hit single “What the P for” which has just been released from the Stay Driven Soundtrack presented by TrackMakers. Written by Marcus Parker featuring Bluu from last season’s American Idol, “What the P for” has been called a breathe of fresh air to hip-hop lovers who have been begging for music that could not only make you move your head but also bring a positive message.

With lyrics like “To Paint a Positive Picture to Produce the next generation of Winners,” “What the P for” also displays hip-hop creativity with MP being challenged to write a song that made sense, while still using over 50 words starting with P.

The song which has spring-boarded to popularity in Texas thanks to the foresight of D.J. Steve Nice of Dallas’ number one hip-hop station K104.5, and Adrian Scott of Beaumont’s Magic 102.5, who both felt that their listeners would receive a street-credible production laced with Parker’s flow and words of wisdom.

Available at CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com/trackmakers), the world’s largest distributor of independent music online, the Soundtrack has already starting to sell downloads in Europe and Japan.

While being inspirational, this soundtrack is full of urban truth. Featuring, the cutting edge production of the TrackMakers, The Stay Driven Soundtrack is a welcomed alternative to what currently passes for good music and will surely leave its mark in hip-hop history.