S.O.S.: Save Our Seeds: aEURoeThere is nothing new under the sun.aEUR Know that the past is our greatest teacher.

By Melvyn G. Robinson

My reason for writing this book is to share my experiences with the hope that someone reading it will appreciate the fact that one can change for the better. Our young men and women are facing insurmountable odds of surviving in our communities.

I read a report from the Centers for Disease Control, which states the US saw the highest rate of gun-related deaths in more than twenty-five years. Firearm murders increased most among youth and young adults--40 percent for those ten to twenty-four. The increases were also highest for people of color. Rates of homicide involving Black males ages ten to twenty-four years were already twenty-one times as high as white males of the same age. Crime as a whole is on the increase.

Long-standing systemic inequities and structural racism limit economic and education opportunities. They contribute to unfair and avoidable health disparities among some racial and ethnic groups. So I'm sending out the SOS (Save Our Seeds).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886168266

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S.O.S.: Save Our Seeds

aEURoeThere is nothing new under the sun.aEUR Know that the past is our greatest teacher.

Melvyn G. Robinson

ISBN 979-8-88616-825-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88616-826-6 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Melvyn G. Robinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

THE NKJV–THE NIV–THE LBP (LIVING BIBLE PARAPHASED)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

It Takes a Village

Forks in the Road

Precious Gifts and Destructive Lifestyle

My Damascus Road Experience

A Chosen Vessel Divinely Appointed

SOS

A Father's Plea

Chapter 7

Train up a Child

You Have to Come off of the Porch

Go Home

There Is a Better Way

Sleepwalking

So, My Brothers, Choose Life

About the Author

Foreword

It still amazes me how God will allow our paths to cross with people during seasons in our lives, and we become friends for a lifetime.

I met Melvyn Robinson and his wife, Sandra, around 2011 when my son, Gavin, along with Chris and Twanda Hall, invited me to visit Victory Temple Baptist Church located in the heart the of community called Binghampton.

Now I was born and raised in Binghampton (Memphis, Tennessee), but I never wanted to return because Binghampton is where I became addicted to crack cocaine, and the Lord delivered me thirty-five years ago, and I vowed never to return, not even go to church.

Little did I know, the Holy Spirit had a divine reason for sending me back to Binghampton, and one of those reasons was to hear the teachings of Melvyn Robinson. I felt impressed to become a member and attended Bible study every Tuesday, where Melvyn Robinson would teach with so much power and authority. I asked my son if he was the assistant pastor. My son said he didn't know, but as he taught the Word of God, I sat in awe because this man didn't know me from Adam, yet the lesson he taught seemed to be directed at me as if someone had told him my business.

Each week as Melvyn Robinson taught, he didn't know I was sitting in church angry and had almost become bitter because my son, Gavin, the one who invited me to Victory Temple, had become addicted to drugs and alcohol in the same neighborhood where I also became addicted. I was hurt because no parent wants to see their child experience the horrible life of being a drug addict. Yet the Lord was using Melvyn Robinson week after week to proclaim the love of God, the patience, and the forbearance that God wanted me to show my son, just as God had shown me.

Initially, I struggled walking in love with my son, but the Holy Spirit used Melvyn Robinson's teaching to open my eyes and soften my heart. This book is filled with wisdom the Holy Spirit has taught Melvyn Robinson, who now has a mandate from God to pass what God has imparted to him to the next generation to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:6 KJV).

So let's listen and hear what the spirit of God has given this mighty man of valor, and as Dr. Loretta Griffin would say, "And even some Melvynism."

More importantly, I encourage you to join Melvyn Robinson as he sends out an SOS that can be heard all the way in heaven, saying, "Lord, save our seeds!"

Sonia Adams Cleaves, pastor of Daughters of Zion Women's Ministry

The Healing Cathedral Christian Church

Acknowledgments

Ithank God for hearing my prayers. It was my desire to write a book many years ago. Because of my fears and feeling inadequate, I felt that writing my book would never come to pass. I prayed to God, If it's Your will, I would like to write a book. My prayers have been answered. You took my mess and turned it into my message.

To my wife, my friend, my prayer partner, and my love, you encouraged me to see in myself what you saw in me. God enabled you to see my potential. Through your faith, you encouraged me to realize that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

To my family, I thank God for all of you. Each has contributed to my being who I am in my walk with God now and when my focus was elsewhere. You were always encouraging and not judgemental.

Preface

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. (John 1:1–2, 14a NIV)

When sin entered the world, God instituted the plan of substitutionary sacrifice, which required the sacrifice for sin. Animals could not take away sin. What was needed was a perfect sacrifice, one that knew no sin. This was accomplished with God becoming a human being; Jesus Christ's (the second person of the trinity) purpose for coming was to die on the cross for the sins of the world and to introduce a new covenant.

This new covenant, or the New Testament, is the vow that God made with mankind that He would forgive sin and reestablish a new relationship with those whose hearts are turned toward His son (Jesus Christ). Jesus knew why He came in the flesh and the price that He had to pay. On the cross, He suffered great pain, was ridiculed, and His Father turned His back on Him. Before the cross, in the flesh, Jesus was able to identify, sympathize, and be an example for us because He experienced the same kinds of trials that were faced by man. He was tempted, He was persecuted, He experienced physical pain, and He dreaded the anticipated gruesome death.

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him.

On reaching the place, He said to them, Pray that you will not fall into temptation.

He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed.

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.

An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.

And being in anguish He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22: 39–44 NIV)

My brothers, Jesus paid it all through His spilled blood for our redemption. He gave His life as a ransom for us all. He knew no sin but became sin and died in our place. He died so that we might receive God's mercy.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16–17 NIV)

So, my brothers and sisters, your accounts have been paid in full, and my suggestion to you is to claim your freedom.

Since we now have been justified by His blood, how