Unproven

“2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:2-4

I know that it seems that I revisit these few scriptures quite a bit-there’s a lot of information here. It’s not just a comfort to God’s people, to hear that ‘greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.’
It’s also a warning. Those of you who do not believe in God, but have heard about ‘anti-Christ’--go look in the mirror. That sounds harsh, but that’s as plain as I can put it. If you think it’s a terrible thing to call someone anti-Christ-you’re right. It’s horrible. It’s mean. It shouldn’t happen to a dog. Especially as John mentions that “4You are from God, little children, and have overcome them;” which means what? How have Christians overcome those who have the spirit of anti-Christ? Only by having Christ in us-He is the Over comer, the One who has Won. And He shares His victory with His people, His flock, those who love Him.
Because I have faith in God, I have no faith in man. Let’s turn that around from a secular perspective:
Because I have faith in man, I have no faith in God. Joe Stalin couldn’t have said it any better. The problem about believing in man is that Man constantly proves himself to be unworthy of anyone’s faith. If one man’s pinnacle of glory is cutting the head off of a schoolgirl, faith in man is unfounded.
But, you say, that that is one bad man, and most of us are not like that--I say that just as a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, humanity is only as good as it’s most evil people. We can’t put a halo on these men and horns on others “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. No Christian is good. I’m a sinner saved by Grace; as bad as I am, God, who IS Good, Great, Wonderful, has restored me to a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Even though I do not deserve such Grace.
Anti-Christs will be the first and only ones to tell you that God is unproven. But He has a perfect record, evidenced from Genesis to Maps, and anti-Christs can’t even keep the world quiet, let alone at peace.
Jesus said it best: 33“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

Alabama

“My sister was my first piano teacher. She taught me from an early age, and it’s generally accepted by all that she is the smartest one in the family...(that she married into)."
Victor Borge


It’s funny. Funny how our minds work, and how other’s don't....in quite the same way. Whether its Sarah Silverman sharing an off putting thought in concert or Ann Coulter eviscerating
a liberal holy touchstone-we marvel at how some minds work so differently than our own.

Comedy-great comedy-is like baseball. Timing and Anticipation. Success comes from doing the unexpected. Steven Wright was Made for Left Field. Get it? If you did, you know.

We celebrate the anti-mundane, in the hope that we ourselves do not live mundane lives.
Sarah Silverman comes to mind, as I was just reading a short homage to Dorothy Parker written by her friend S.J. Perelman. Dorothy Parker loved putting together sharp acerbic quips. I am going to do the unanticipated here, and not quote a single one of Mrs. Parker’s famous sayings.
Dorothy Parker would have loved Sarah Silverman’s act, and, although their politics would have been extreme opposites, I think that she would have appreciated Ann Coulter’s as well.

False or True?

Recently, Lu posted on our comment page, with regard to my posting about the passing of my brother, whom I do not believe was a Christian:

Doug, aren't there quite a few Bible passages that say not to try to figure out who's saved and who's not, because 1) it's not your job 2) you're not very good at it?
I’m sorry, Lu, but that misses the mark a bit.

“15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 1 John 2:15-24

Here John delineates-draws a line, separating Christian from non-believer. He mentions that they know the truth, because the have the anointing of the Holy One (v. 20)

23This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 3:23-24

Again, each believer knows that he belongs to God; His Spirit indwells us. And we also are given a gift of spiritual discernment:

“8For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”
1 Corinthians 12:8-11
With the distinguishing of spirits, we are blessed with insight-in these corruptible bodies we do not yet see or know perfectly-but the Spirit within us does help us to distinguish between the saved and unsaved. And it is important to be able to do so:


1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:1-6

We adhere to right doctrine by being spiritually discerning as to whether a teaching or doctrine is true or false. It is just as important to reject false doctrine. And false brethren. And that discernment comes from the Spirit of God.

Honor Your Father

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
-Mark Twain

Whether your father is still in this world or not, I hope you can make it a point to spend a moment honoring him or his memory, "so that you may live long and that it may go well with you," the first commandment with a promise. There are also many men who stand in the place of fathers throughout children's lives, for whatever reason, and I lift a toast to those good men as well. Our society needs good men.

Here's praying for many more. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

le

Random Thoughts Special Unleaded Friday Edition

Today was a good day. The weather was beautiful, work was all right, and I got some things done. My family is doing fine; my nephew has graduated and tomorrow is his Grad party; I know I’ll see some good friends from way back.
It’s kind of strange to think of my nephew as a grown up-I moved to Las Vegas when he was all of two weeks old. I’ve changed career jobs a few times since then, learned computing, graduated from college, had a long term relationship and now am taking care of my parents-it may not sound like much, but I’ve had a good life; God has taken care of me, has led me to where I am, and will lead me Home.
I’m grateful that there has been great progress in the War on Terror-as that seems to define our era, much as the two “World Wars” defined the first half of the last century. I’m grateful, but also confident that no matter how war rages, no matter how Man rages, our future will be one of Peace, when the meaning of Jerusalem is evident to the entire world. “Swords into plowshares” gives an idea of what we will be doing instead: cultivating the land. Not by the sweat of our brow, either. That was part of the curse with which Creation will no longer be stained. Pretty cool.
If the Lord tarries, meaning He waits for more lost souls to hear and accept His great gift of Salvation-it’s possible that we might get hit hard here in America by Islam or some other power.
But that’s not the end of the world, friends-of course I hope that it won’t happen, but if it does, it’s comforting to know that Islam/all false religions will someday be wiped off the globe, and won’t even be remembered-God has a plan to win the Peace, too.
Islam doesn’t frighten me, and Satan is already defeated. Nothing to worry about-God is in His Heaven, and we need not fear. Global warming won’t destroy the planet, Mankind will not destroy the planet, even electing a Democrat would not be the end of the world. It will end when God destroys it, replacing it with a new Heaven and new Earth. This happens at the end of the Millennial Reign, so relax: Al Gore is wrong.
I seem to have gone far a field from where I started, but not really. It is a good day, God is in His Heaven, we needn’t worry about the ‘end of the world’ happening any time soon. There is much to be grateful for, and nothing to fear. Praise God!

Flag Day

I am the Flag
by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America. I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia. There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag. My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.

Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known. My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country. My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters. My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all. My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.

I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity. I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home. I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.

I am as old as my nation. I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people, by the people, for the people." I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism. I am displayed in schoolrooms; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display. Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.

I have my own law—Public Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations. I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.

Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow. I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity. If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots. Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.

As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less. Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth. Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.

God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" and that I shall ever be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.

le

Patient and Quiet

21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

These few verses of Scripture have been a well of cool, refreshing water for me over the years. When I am discouraged or going through tough times, I turn to the book of Lamentations, chapter three, and read these words which begin with Hope. Because I remember that God is Good, and has promised to take care of me and guide me through this life, I have Hope.
It isn’t through my own goodness (doesn’t exist) but by the Lord’s mercies that I am not consumed-I’ve always thought: consumed by hate, bitterness, despair at having failed God and myself-His mercies hold me up when I deserve to fall. I don’t deserve such goodness, but I benefit because His compassions fail not. Never fail. Ever. He created me, knows my innermost secrets and weaknesses, and still His compassions fail not. That’s not human. Only God loves like that. His compassions are new every morning doesn’t mean they end at night, but simply that when I wake and am in need, they are already there. Great is thy faithfulness-I’ve always imagined Jeremiah looking up to Heaven as he wrote this, speaking right to our Father in Heaven.
The Lord is my portion-I have nothing else. All that I have has come from God, all that I will be is His.
Some are bonus babies, born into wealth; the Lord is my portion, so they are paupers by comparison. Bonus babies may wait for their 21st birthday to receive their portion; mine’s being kept imperishable for me. The Lord is my portion and my Hope. Patience and Trust in God are preached in every book of the Bible. When it says that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him, it’s a promise wrapped in a blessing. When I’ve been in trouble and trusted God’s leading rather than my own efforts (which get me loster), I am soon out of trouble, just as soon as I say, “Okay God, I’ll do it Your way, in Your time.”
Here is my favorite verse among these. Hope and quietly wait. Trusting that God will save me from whichever predicament I have fallen into, and doing so quietly. For someone who is not yet a Christian, this verse can mean trusting God for the Salvation of your soul. But God continues to save us, because He loves us, and, once again, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”

Finality

“Well, he was a Christian, you know.”

Silence.

“I know, because a pastor told me.”

Silence.

“That should give you some comfort.”

I turn away. “No.”

Sometimes our lives go along placidly for years, years so unremarkable that we can only remember them by which car we owned then, or who was President.
Well, 2006 has been a year for the books, and it’s not even half over. But it is, sad to say, over for my brother, who died Sunday from a fall.
It’s always the same-people want to live as heathens, but die as Christians. That sounds harsh, but please bear with me for a moment. Many people have said the things quoted above at funerals and in hospital rooms where someone has died. I heard it Monday, word for word. People who are dying in their own sins hope against hope that they, like the person dying, might somehow make it to Heaven without having to be saved. But wishing doesn’t stand a chance against reality. And the reality is that none of us are good enough to get into Heaven. Jesus Christ, God Himself, is the only One good enough- He invites all who are weary and heavy laden to accept His gift and be free from sin now and live forever, adopted into His family.
But our opportunities to accept that gift end when we die. No Mulligans.
I would not dishonor my brother by lying about him; he has passed out of life, his chances are ended -God alone knows whether I will see him again. Knowing him all of my life, I don’t believe I will.
I continue to pray for my family and friends-no one should go to Hell. If you were caught in a fiery room, flames to the ceiling, flames advancing, and there were an open door right behind you, you would go through that door.
Jesus Christ is the doorway through which you can be saved from the fire. It’s that simple.

The Fifth Column

There are many ways to bring a nation low, but the best and most sure ways are those that work from within. One fifth columnist inside your enemy's gates is worth a hundred soldiers outside. In the American Southwest many such fifth columnists are hard at work to bring about the splitting asunder of this nation. Their weapons are the lies of multiculturalism and diversity and the stealth of political action.


Marcos Aguilar

Los Angeles, not to be outdone by her liberal northern sister, now has its own institutionalized racism in the form of a charter school supported partly by taxpayers. Founded in 2002, the school was formed to serve kindergarten through eighth grade students and is located in El Sereno, a nearly 100% Hispanic community just east of downtown Los Angeles. The walls in El Sereno sport graffiti in Spanish, mostly anti-American and pro-Mexico/Aztec. The latter, by the way, comprises most of the curriculum of the new charter school. The school's name is Academia Semillas del Pueblo and its student body is comprised primarily of youngsters of Mexican descent (97%). But that's not what makes it racist, its curriculum does that. For a more detailed description of this new departure from sanity go here:

Reconquista or Diversity?

Academia principal, Marcos Aguilar, said the following in an online interview recently:

"We don’t want to drink from a White water fountain, we have our own wells and our natural reservoirs and our way of collecting rain in our aqueducts. We don’t need a White water fountain. So the whole issue of segregation and the whole issue of the Civil Rights Movement is all within the box of White culture and White supremacy. We should not still be fighting for what they have. We are not interested in what they have because we have so much more and because the world is so much larger. And ultimately the White way, the American way, the neo liberal, capitalist way of life will eventually lead to our own destruction."

The school is also funded by the separatist groups MeCHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan and La Raza (The Race, and they don't mean the human race). Balkanization may be in our future. Goodnight America!

Nuda Veritas

Guilt Removal (or How To Love Yourself Even If You're A Miserable SOB)

The story in my local newspaper stated that road rage is henceforth to be referred to as "Intermittent Explosive Disorder" (IED). Researchers have apparently discovered that people who suffer from this 'dysfunction' have lower than average levels of serotonin production or that their bodies do not use it properly.

It's a relief to discover that those who suffer from this malfunction of brain and body aren't really responsible for their abysmal behavior. I sense a whole new area here for defense lawyers to exploit. Just think of all the prison cells that could be freed up by releasing all prisoners who murdered in an explosive rage or those who blew their stack and beat up their wife or kids because dinner wasn't ready on time or some other perceived trivial slight. Women should know that not including enough serotonin in the diet runs the risk of bodily injury.

Furthermore, we can breathe a sigh of relief that the terrorists who murder friend and foe alike with IED's (Intermittent Explosive Disorders) in places like Iraq aren't actually angry with us. They are not conducting a holy war for conquest, they are merely suffering from serotonin deprivation, probably due to our untimely invasion of the place.

So remember, the next time some red-in-the-face guy tailgates you while shouting obscenities out the driver's window he's not really at fault. Just smile and signal that he should follow you to the nearest drug store for a serotonin fix. However, if he's waving a gun perhaps you should head for the nearest police station instead.

One less thing to be responsible for, phew!

Nuda Veritas

Overheated Fat Lady Tells Story

5:00 pm Returned from the grocery store where I purchased copious amounts of dog food and cat litter only to discover that the electricity was out.

My first hint was that the garage door would not open. How was I to return my dear Nissan to the safe haven of my 140 degree garage? At first I thought maybe my husband was on the other side holding the garage door down. He thinks little things like that are funny. Sometimes he hears me exiting my car in the garage, so he quickly locks the entrance door to the kitchen. Things like that. Personally, I think it’s a personality disorder, but it makes him laugh. And I laugh too, just so he’s not laughing alone.

I had to enter our home by the front door, which I rarely ever do. You know how it is, people entering and exiting their home through their garages in their cars, never meeting their neighbors. A sad fact of urban life.

It was one of the few times I’ve had to try to locate my key on the key chain, but it was easy because I had them make me a psychedelic one last time I was at Home Depot. Ever seen one? Very cute. There were three door hanger commercials on the front door handle. I guess I should make it a point to open the front door once in a while.

My husband was sitting on the phone listening to the electric company canned messages, “Press 1 if you have a question about billing or your account,” “Press 2 if you are interested in new service,” “Press 3 if you are trying to reach an employee,” “Press 4 if you have an electrical outage in a commercial building,” “Press 5 if you have an electrical outage in a residential building.” There would be more, but my husband pressed 5 and listened to the bad news—a power outage in our area caused by an interruption in a major power delivery cable which would probably not be fixed until 8:00 pm.

The first thing you notice when the power is out in your home is of course, the quiet. Why is it that when everything is running--the refrigerator, the fans, the air conditioning, the television, the clocks—you don’t feel compelled to run screaming out of there with your hands over your ears? It is just such a part of our lives to have constant noise pulsing and ringing and hissing and beeping and whirring. This world of electricity is really too noisy. I digress. My house was very quiet.

In Phoenix today it was the hottest day of the year so far, 111 degrees according to the thermometer on my husband’s vehicle. My kitchen is being remodeled so I haven’t really been shopping for several weeks (we have eaten at nearly every eatery within a two-mile radius because you can’t really cook without a sink, and there is some hold-up with the counters and you can’t put the sink in until the counters are ready, etc.--another story), so my fridge is quite empty. Also, if you don’t open a fridge much it takes at least three or four hours before it actually loses its coolness enough to matter, or so I’ve heard. The point is, I wasn’t so much concerned about food being destroyed as I was about my own melting temperature, which is 88, and it was already 84 degrees in my house. So I determined to curb my activities (i.e., no cleaning) in order to keep my body temperature from overheating the house. So how to cool myself down? I decided to take a nice luxurious, cool bath. I got out of my sweaty clothes and into the tub. “Ah, Calgon take me away,” as those of us old enough to know what that means used to say. I soaked and enjoyed the longest bath ever.

My body sufficiently cooled and dressed in jammies, I set out to find some candles. Now, I have been to 20 or so candle parties in the past five years (you know what I’m talking about, ladies), so it was not difficult to scare up ten or fifteen candles which I lit in various rooms. Did I say that even though the power company said 8:00 pm I really had no confidence that it was actually going to be back on by then? What to do? How does one occupy oneself for over two hours without a computer or television or lights or air conditioning? (My husband was working on his battery powered laptop computer and listening to the Suns play on his battery powered radio, so he was set.) An idea!

“Why not write an article for FDW while I am captive to these circumstances?” I arranged eight candles on my dining room table, found some paper to write on (Writing by hand! Could I remember how to do it?), and proceeded to put pen to paper. Have you ever sat next to eight candles? Sweat started to pour off my face in my 88 degree house. Critical mass! Critical mass!

Click, whirrrr--the sounds I have grown to love and expect! Ah, the sweet relief of AC. Thank you, Lord. Okay, back to the computer.

le

"For a Limited Time Offer..."

15Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.
Philippians 1:15-18

Doesn’t it seem strange, for Paul to mention that some others were preaching Christ with baser motives-envy of Paul’s popularity, strife and what he calls ‘selfish ambition’? Some envied Paul’s ministry, but not his chains. That doesn’t sound like he’s describing Spirit-filled, born again in Christ Christians. But who else would be proclaiming Christ? We are all too human, and I have seen good ministries begin well, bearing fruit but end up a shambles. As I am certain that God is perfect, that leaves only the people themselves to blame.
Selfish ambition. Here we go.
I’ve been noticing quite a bit of selfish ambition on religious TV broadcasts, and it’s disturbing to me to see the Gospel being misused to sell stuff, the name of Jesus being used to pitch religious junk. Remember that Jesus cleared the Temple twice of the moneychangers and the sellers of sacrificial animals. First, near the beginning of His ministry:

14And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” John 2:14-17

and the second time, in the week before His crucifixion:
15Then they came* to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”

This is just my view, and is hardly a scientific examination of religious programs across the TV landscape-but I see problems that are troubling. “Holy water” still being sold by one, to his eternal shame, and I’ve noticed James Robison, who’s had a TV ministry for years, is now acting as the geek when “Minerals and vitamins” are being hawked in half hour infomercials. I guess Balaam found a way to prophet after all.
It’s not just the religious junk that bothers me. It’s also the religious junk man-centered philosophies which are being preached instead of the Gospel. Usually to stadiums filled with believers. “Did you see me in Dallas last week? Man, I killed! 60,000 eating out of my hand!”
Think of it like this: There are two separate groups that are appealing to two different audiences, to attain two different results.
1: The Gospel is being preached to the lost, the good news that Christ died so that we may live again, restored into God’s family by adoption, is being broadcast around the world...by a small percentage of Christian ministries on television. Their audience is the lost.
2: The larger percentage of Christian broadcasters aim their gospel at the body of Christ. Their audience is the Christian, who is in TROUBLE. Christians must be stu-pid-they need to be taught how to live happily, succeed prosperously-they need the “Ten Rules”, the “Five Conditions”, the “Seven Be-Attitudes” which will make the Christian Life healthy, happy...(and if you act now and buy the complete Book/ DVD set, I promise you’ll have better looking children.) You can be thinner, look younger, have a sexier marriage...all in the name of Christ.

Am I alone in this? Has anyone else been bothered by the commerce going on in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
“I know my book will help you...these five rules will change your life...stop messing up your life, my DVD will show you how...you CAN live Happy right now, today, and when you order I promise that...if you want to be Blessed by God, then by God, you need this tape series...”

Think about this. Our Helper, our Teacher and Guide is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit which illuminates the Word of God, and we do not need to be taught by man how we should live. That is the Holy Spirit’s job. And our only schoolbook is the Bible.
I do not support those ministries which market their wares at Christians. They are siphoning off support which should go to the spreading the Gospel rather than the building up of our selfish lives. I support a few ministries, including the Voice of the Martyrs. And more importantly, in my church WE support missionaries around the world, a radio ministry and an orphanage in Mexico.
“16and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.” Sounds like a precept that could improve our lives. Where’s my scourge of cords?