“POSITIVE” ENCOURAGEMENT for IGNORANCE—or—“NEGATIVE” FACTS for TRUTH

April 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

What is your goal?

What are the means to your goal?

What resources do you turn to for strength?

 

If it makes you money, do it.

It if makes you happy, buy it.

If it makes you happy, go for it.

If he makes you happy, marry him.

If it makes you feel good, listen to it.

If it guarantees your retirement, secure it.

“. . . much stuff laid up for many years.  Eat, drink, and be merry.”

 

“But God said, ‘You fool’ . . .”

 

No wonder people say Christians and the alternate media are ‘negative.’

But there remains a nagging word at the end of the title—TRUTH.

The goal of happiness directs you on a path with only positive and encouraging influences.  Result—Ignorance.

The goal of reality directs you on a path with facts that may be very uncomfortable.  Result—Truth.

 

So, what is your goal?

So, what are you watching and listening to for encouragement?

So, what is your source for information—for the facts?

So, are you getting the truth—and basing your life on it?

 

You can count on

afrtalk.net

onenewsnow.com

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

SET FREE BY THE FIRE—NOT YET, BUT SOON

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

“It’s the economy, stupid.”

Really?

Political policy?

Voter strategy?

How’s that working for you, America, the past decade?

Are you better off than a few years ago, with that emphasis?

How’s that working for you, church?

Has your influence on the culture expanded?

Prosperity, abundance, apathy, dependence, disaster . . . in America?

 

“Set free by the fire” sounds un-American, in our life experience.

We’ve come to expect a high standard of living as a birthright in this country.  And the church has bought into materialism to the point of ineffective—blending in with the economics of the world.

This is not typical—not in history—not in the church.

“Some through the water, some through the flood;

Some through the fire, but all through the blood;

Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song

In the night seasons, and all the day long.”

At this point I hear no one warning Christians to stop putting their money into the future of this world.  It is finally becoming obvious how shaky and uncertain that may be.  Actually, Jesus told us (and it’s written down in everybody’s Bible) to not lay up treasures on earth, where “moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break in and steal.”

How quickly His words can become true, after we ignore them for decades, thinking we have beat the system (the system that He warned us would fail).  “Moth, Rust, Thieves”—recession, collapse, crooks, dictators.

We have bought into the repeat of history, thinking we know better, thinking we have insured everything, thinking we have guaranteed income for the rest of our lives if we just get the right advice and make the right investments.

“But God said, ‘You fool.'”

And American Christians say, “I don’t want to hear that.  Shut up.”

God’s response will be clear soon enough.

Some Christians will be set free from financial bondage to this world, through “fire” that burns away everything that is not invested directly in the kingdom of God.

Some Christians, and many who claim Christianity, will fall away from faith when they see their “stuff” burned up.

SET FREE—from your stuff—your treasure and your heart in heaven

or

BURNED UP—with your stuff—your treasure and your heart on earth

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Financial, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

EVER BEEN ‘TO STUPID AND BACK’?

April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

‘TO STUPID’ is quick and easy.

‘BACK’ is slow and hard.

Better to avoid ‘STUPID’ in the first place.

Worse to go ‘BACK TO STUPID.’

Been There—Done That.

Don’t Do It.

There are answers—wherever you are.

I can help.

I can help you.

I found the answer.

The Answer found me.

Tell me where you are today.

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational

DEDICATED TO MY CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES

April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

“Be Strong, and of Good Courage;

For the Lord Your God Is With You Wherever You Go.”

 

You must choose to invite Him to go with you wherever you go.

Filed Under: Faith Based, Family, Inspirational

TRY HARDER—TRY SMARTER—TRY WISER—HOW?

April 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

FIRST—TRY HARDER—Just work harder, longer, more.  Most Americans are in this group.  Times are tough.  Times are uncertain.  Hold onto what you’ve got.  If you have a job, do anything to keep it.  If you have to, get a second job.  Sacrifice (even your dreams) to put food on the table and pay bills.  Hope things get better.  Don’t waste your limited time and energy to think about things you can’t do anything about anyway.

SECOND—TRY SMARTER—Work smarter, not harder.  Pick the best advisor and learn how to beat the system.  Get a job that is recession-proof.  Make only guaranteed investments.  Learn from others’ mistakes.  Play your cards right, and you don’t have to sacrifice.  Believe in yourself.  Be confident.  Don’t share all your secrets, and you’ll come out ahead.

THIRD—TRY WISER—Wiser is usually confused with working harder and working smarter and believing in yourself.  Truth is, wiser includes working hard and working smart, but not depending on yourself for success.  “Wiser” is not even a common word these days because it suggests principles from outside ourselves.  It implies learning something from older people—people that younger folks may not consider successful.

This calls for another paragraph.  In America we’ve gone for half a century of progress, mostly smooth sailing, and a universally accepted formula:  get a good job, get good stuff, get good insurance, get a good retirement, it’s yours because you earned it, enjoy it because you deserve it.

There have been very few glitches to this pattern for most people, until now.  We hear that the current economic policies are unsustainable, yet individuals seem to have few choices for fundamental change.  If the whole system blows, we’ll just deal with it then.  In the meantime, we try harder and think we’re trying smarter.

So, where does this leave trying wiser?

If we took time to stop, sit, and listen to older people who learned contentment apart from the current focus on finance, we would be better prepared for the days ahead.  The greatest challenge for older people is finding anyone who will appreciate their wisdom, receive it, and apply it.

If you find a person who has learned to live out “Godliness with contentment,” do everything you can to build a relationship with that person and spend a lot of time with him/her.

If you find a person who can honestly say, “Having food and clothing, let us be content,” choose to let that person influence you.

Greater speed does not contribute to wisdom.

Hard work may contribute to wisdom.

Smart does not equal wise.

“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Family, Financial, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

“IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM”

April 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

“You choose this day whom you will serve.”

 

“Once to every man and nation

Comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood,

For the good or evil side;

Some great cause, or God’s Messiah,

Offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by forever

Twixt that darkness and that light.”

 

“If the Lord be God, follow Him.”

 

“Lead on, O King eternal.

The day of march has come;

Henceforth in fields of conquest

Thy tents shall be our home.

Through days of preparation

Thy grace has made us strong,

And now, O King eternal,

We lift our battle song.”

 

YOUR CHOICE – – – TODAY

Filed Under: Faith Based, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

HAPPY ENDING ? – – – WHEN ?

April 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I believe in a happy ending, but I ask my share of questions that begin with, “When . . . ?”  (to say nothing of all the “Why?” questions I could tell you about)

Life has a lot of tough questions, so what about the ones with missing answers and the ones with “wrong” answers?  (and there’s another question)

First, I can’t make a happy ending happen.

Second, maybe my happiness is not the goal.  (I didn’t just write that, did I ?)

Third, I hate it when preachers and writers [me too] sound like they’re going to answer life’s impossible questions—and then after thirty minutes or thirty pages you can’t remember what they said at the beginning.

Fourth, maybe others’ happiness is my goal.  (I didn’t write that either, did I ?  I’ll tell you one thing for sure, that was not my idea.)  Does happiness happen only when you make others happy, and you forget about pursuing your own?

There’s a lot in the Good Book that says so.

And check out the shortest bottom line on this website—the “UNDERSTATEMENT OF ALL ETERNITY” (11-24-12)—for Christ followers—

WE END ON A POSITIVE NOTE !

 

 

Filed Under: Faith Based, Inspirational

“GOOD” – – – IT MAY BE FRIDAY, BUT . . .

April 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Good Friday came and went, and so did I—or so I felt.  I could write for weeks now, just on everything this weekend that postponed my writing.

I would say a loaded life has more meaning than a placid one.  Yet we all seem to desire and strive for smooth sailing.

Good Friday, Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

What an ordeal it was for Jesus.

What a deal it is for us.

When you start thinking of God working things together for good, that aren’t good, you can go on and on with examples and lessons, including stuff that still doesn’t make sense.

If we love God, we are eligible for promises that make all the difference in the challenges, trials, and tragedies of this life.

But the promise that I’m thinking of goes even farther concerning eligibility—

If we love God, and are called . . .

That’s telling me that we are not in charge of our destiny, or responsible for making all the details of life fit together.  “Called” means taken out of the mainstream of humanity without permanent meaning, to something higher.

Then there is more to the promise—

If we love God, and are called according to His purpose.

You see, when we try to force meaning into our lives by ourselves, we are never totally successful.  We achieve some goals, but some questions remain—about good and bad, about God and us, about life and death, about “then what?”

Jesus went through everything we do, and more—including pain and injustice and the ultimate questions “Why?” and “If . . .”

He knew the end from the beginning, but that didn’t make it easy.

So why did He do it?  Why did God arrange it?

So we don’t have to.

 

“Life [all of it] is worth the living,

Just because He lives.”

 

“And we know that all things work together for good, to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose.”

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational

ALL CHILDREN NEED . . .

March 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

All children need a father and a mother.

We do well to not ignore or intentionally try to alter that fact.

 

All children have a father and a mother.

We cannot change that fact.

 

Any attempt to change what God did and what God said, doesn’t work and brings pain and destruction and disaster.

 

God had the first Word.

God has the last Word.

Don’t get caught in the middle against His Word.

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Family, Inspirational, Political---Cultural

TRUTH—DEBATABLE?

March 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Truth may be disputed, but it cannot be refuted.

 

The Roman Governor, Pilate, asked Jesus, “What is truth?”

Good question.

Pilate did not have the answer.

The answer was standing in front of him.

Jesus had already said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Not only did Jesus create everything.

Not only does Jesus own everything.

Jesus is everything—the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Then He said, “No one comes to the Father except by Me.”

And that is how we get everything, including the Truth.

JESUS = TRUTH

Don’t try to refute it.

Don’t try to debate it.

Don’t try to invent it.

Don’t ignore it.

Accept it.

Accept Him.

Filed Under: Educational, Faith Based, Inspirational
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »