I’m not suggesting that you hire private investigators or organize a group of special church agents to spy on your church leader, but I am suggesting that you watch your church leaders like a hawk and if they do something that suspicious, make sure that you question them and if their answers aren’t satisfactory to you and the rest of the followers in your particular Christian organization, I suggest that you ask them to leave and then find another church leader that’s honest and will serve the needs of your church.

It saddens me to find large religious organizations that never even question their church leaders. Some of these church leaders have used church funds to provide their families with a lifestyle of wealth and privilege. They have expensive cars, live in nice homes and even have people from their church maintain their property, clean their homes and even their cars.

I don’t need to go into all of the details when it comes to the immoral sexual behavior. You can look back at ministers in the past who have said one thing and done something entirely different, only to find themselves caught in the snares of their lives later on down the road.

Now the worst thing of all and the biggest problem with church leaders is manipulating and twisting church scripture around until it serves their needs and their needs alone. These people will often use twisted biblical scripture to accumulate large financial donations to their church, only to find out later that this money was used wrongfully and didn’t serve the best interest of your Christian organization.

If you really don’t care, let your church leaders do whatever they want with the money, but if you do and you want to make a difference, watch these people and listen to what they say for clues about their character.
Exposing the Truth

The survey stated that rich folks pray less than poor people and the reasons for this could only be speculative. The margins are small and according to this survey, 40% of the rich people prayed, while 49% of the poor folks prayed on a regular basis.

That’s really not that big of a margin, less than 9% so we don’t really need to get carried away with our speculation or make it sound like there is a big difference between rich folks and poor people who pray.

I don’t believe that the survey included the incomes of these people, but I would guess and I’m only guessing here, but that the average income for poor folks would be under $10,000 a year and for rich people would be over $250,000 a year.

It is however interesting to see that there isn’t a large margin or percentage of rich people to poor people when it comes to praying or believing in God. I would imagine, the next survey could be entirely different and I would need to write a totally different article on the subject, but for now, poor people pray more often than rich people and that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Keep up the god work and pray often
Should Christians Buy This Book

For the majority of his life, Sheikh Abdel Wahid Yahyia (1886-1951), as he was known to Muslims, was a Sufi. The Sufis were/are the “secret” branch of Islam, and they are the only Muslims truly capable of making a long-term peace with both the West and the East. From the 1930s on, he lived in Cairo, Egypt, and wrote books which attempted to explain what was wrong with modern religions.

On the surface, Rene Guenon was a living contradiction: he was a French Roman Catholic-Muslim who advocated Hinduism. But that was precisely his point.

The problem with modern religions, and modern civilizations for that matter, was that they have forgotten the esoteric (hidden or secret) teachings that are veiled within each major religion. Had humanity not forgotten the inner teachings that lie beneath the surface, they would have known the commonality of all religions, and of all humanity. Lacking the esoteric doctrines, however, the religions and societies have all degenerated into asinine charades that have led to countless wars and a deepening materialism based upon the failure to transcend the ego.

On the surface, two islands appear to be entirely separate land masses. Some would say a person would be crazy to argue that two islands, thousands of miles apart, were but one. Yet, if you look beneath the surface of the water, you’ll see that both islands stem from the same continental shelf.

So it is with religion. Most people never look past the storm und drang of their own egos. They only see separation, whereas beneath the surface they are all one.

Rather than arguing from an Islamic standpoint, Rene Guenon preferred to argue from a Hindu standpoint to explain what was wrong with Christianity. He felt that Hinduism, the oldest continuously practiced religion, would be more likely to be understood by Westerners than Sufism.

Unlike in the West, where the esoteric teachings were driven underground, Hinduism and its esoteric doctrine were for the most part openly taught amongst the Brahmin castes. The caste system, although questionable socially, did manage to preserve the ancient core teachings of the Vedas into the modern world.

Parallel to Hinduism in the West there were Greek, Roman, and Nordic religions, but these have long since faded into memory. That is why there is such an unnatural separation in the West between its secret inner teachings and its exoteric or public religion. Incidentally, it is also why Church Fathers such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas had to resort to classical writers such as Plato and Aristotle to justify their “new” religion to the intelligentsia. Christianity was, in fact, a re-embodiment of Greek and Egyptian esoteric doctrine, repackaged for a wider audience.

Rene Guenon understood all this and wrote extensively about it in such books as “The Crisis in the Modern World,” “The Reign of Quantity” and many other worthwhile books. Rather than the shallow-minded drivel many Americans read, why not try to tackle the works of Rene Guenon?

I doubt you will find an author more relevant today than this French Sheikh. Americans would be wise to follow this Sufi’s pathway to peace in the world and brotherhood among men.

Corey Wicks is an award-winning journalist and author. He can be reached through email at rosencruez@yahoo.com

I just wanted to let you know that your life matters. That’s right, I’ll say it again, your life matters. Sometimes the journey of life can leave you feeling hopeless and invaluable. When you’re down, people can have a tendency to act like Job’s friends (you’ll have to read Job to find out what I mean). Instead of embracing what God is sovereignly doing in your life, they may tend to lean more toward being on the critical side.

Having said that, God wants you to know that you are still very valuable to Him. Matthew 6:26 states “Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest, nor do they gather food into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?”

This is the question I ask you dear reader. Aren’t you worth more than they to God? The answer is yes.

Always remember that someone, somewhere is looking at you. Whether you like it or not my beloved, you are an example!!!!!!!! So, why would God give up on you? So, don’t you give up on yourself, no matter how tough the road may get. We do have the victory! Remember, we win! So, keep your head up and even if you don’t “feel” important or valuable, just rest in knowing that you are.

One of the best Psalms to meditate on is Psalm 23:1. It reads “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” That phrase speaks volumes. Also, Psalm 34:18-19 which reads “ADONAI is near those with broken hearts. He saves those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person suffers many evils but ADONAI rescues him out of them all.”

In your quiet time, meditate (softly speak) these words into your soul and spirit:
“God is love, God loves me, I am valuable to God
I love God because He first loved me
Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world
Though my heart is broken, God is with me
Though my spirit is crushed, He is saving me
Although I may be suffering several evils, God will rescue me out of them all.”

Please remember again, your life really does matter. God loves you beloved. Believe it and receive it.

Melinda Welch

She was a mere child when she was conceived by the Holy Ghost. Being an unwed mother in those day was punishable by stoning. Just imagine, Joseph, her bethrothed’s reaction to finding out she was to have a baby and they had not even been married yet. He must have loved her a lot to listen to the words that God Himself spoke to him and tell him to marry her, that she was chosen to carry this child by Him.

Joseph was an inspiring role model for Jesus as a father. He took on the responsibility without question. Mary taught Jesus along with Joseph the things most parents teach their children. She taught him to read, eat, even potty trained him! What a Blessing!

Another role model woman in the Bible was Mary Magdaline and her sister Martha. Mary Magdaline had the privilege to wash Jesus’ feet with her hair and pour out an alabaster jar of expensive perfume on them. What a picture of humility. She was ridiculed for her actions, but was blessed by Jesus.

There are so many women in Scripture that played a vital role in our lives today as women. Some gave us standards to follow and some did not. None were perfect just as today. Eve started the battle of the wills within all human race, both male and female, but Adam played a major role in the beginning of what we still are facing today. That is SIN. Disobedience of God’s Word. Doing things our own way.

We need to turn back to the Truths of the Bible and start living like we were commanded at the beginning of our time. It will not be long before Jesus returns to take us home to Heaven. We walk a narrow path as Christians, believers of Jesus, and those who do not believe walk a broad path. Few walk the narrow path and many walk the broad path. Do not follow the crowd on the broad path. Please take the narrow path today. All you need to do is Admit you are a sinner, Believe Jesus died for you, Confess you are a sinner and need Jesus to save you and ask Him to come into your heart and save you.

That’s it! Simple as A,B,C. Get on your knees today and ask Jesus to save you before He returns for His children and you are left behind. God Bless You.

Jesus was sent to Earth to die. He did it willingly. He loves You and Me so much that He stretched out His arms on an old rugged cross to be an atonement for our sin. He wants you to join Him in the Family of God. You can become one of His children today.

Get out your Bible and read through the Book of John. It is unfolded history that is just as relevant today as it was back 2000 years ago. When you read through John, go to the Book of Revelation and see what is to come and what will happen after Jesus comes back for His children. Will you be left here?

From one women to everyone, accept the love of God today. My name is written in God’s history book of time that will be opened at the day of Reckoning. Is your name listed as one of His followers? If so, tell someone else, whether man or woman, about His love and forgiveness.

God Bless You.

This was about two years ago. I don’t even remember if it was Memorial Day, The Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, etc. These holidays tend to run together in appearance during Sunday worship service. So where is our patriotism? Wait!

Did you catch that? Sunday worship service. We gather Sunday morning to worship God and be fed by Him. This discussion is nothing new to us. My father-in-law served and retired after almost 30 years. We’ve had some interesting discussions on this topic. We love him and are thankful for his service. Our objection to explicit patriotism during corporate worship comes from our desire to be Christocentric. But can’t you worship God by thanking Him for this country?

Yes and No

Yes, we can certainly worship God by thanking Him for the blessings He has given us in this country. Just as Christians in countries like China or Iraq can thank Him for the blessings He’s given them. The most important blessing of them all is Jesus Christ. Having peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ is a radical thing in countries like China and Iraq. In the USA, you can find Jesus on billboards and bumper stickers. Even our poor are “rich” in a sense. We’ve been so blessed that we often don’t see it. We start to worship the creation rather than the Creator. This brings me to “no”.

No, we can’t thank God for what He’s done if our focus is not on God. We don’t need 800 American flags up in front of the church. The Pledge of Allegiance during worship service is not an act of worship towards God. It’s more like taking the bronze serpent that God graciously gave and worshiping it. We sing “God Bless America” when we should be singing “God Forgive America”. Based on what we’ve done with what God has given us we should be thankful He doesn’t remove some blessings! Dr. John MacArthur offers a perspective on this in his sermon Can God Bless America? Even so, God in His continues to be gracious to us. How should we react though?

Then how?

There are much larger issues than patriotism overshadowing the worship service. Those are different topics for a different time. I want to graciously offer another perspective on the topic at hand. I understand not all churches are over taken by patriotism on certain US holidays. Though there are many. I’ve seen them and sat through them.

I appreciate our Armed Forces. It takes certain personalities, gifts and desires to serve in such capacities. The same goes for our everyday public servants from police, fireman, EMTs, social workers, etc. As Christians in those occupations all have the responsibility to serve God through their work. God should be praised for all of these types of work. These non-military workers don’t get national holidays. We have a bit of a cultural issue to deal with which is always tough. Even for Christians.

Understand that …there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [Rom. 13:1-ESV] We praise God for our government not the government itself. We are to pray for …all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [1 Tim. 2:2-ESV] And not just general prayers, but also for them …to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [1 Tim. 2:4-ESV] We honor those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces by thanking God for them. We thank God that He gave them the ability to perserver in the hard times of service. Even the Apostle Paul counted his life as nothing as he boasted in the Lord.

I understand it’s not the actual people asking to the center of focus. They are merely accepting recognition. I ask that God be the One being recognized and the praises are sung to Him and about Him. What separates our celebration from the world’s is Jesus Christ Who is the very reason we gather on His day. Let’s not move the focus on Jesus for certain holidays. There are six other days of the week to celebrate US holidays.

A Prayer

We should just have a regular worship service with a simple recognition, prayer (see above) and thankfulness towards God if we are to celebrate certain holidays inside the church. I offer a prayer for Memorial Day 2009.

Heavenly Father. Oh great and wondrous God. You have blessed us beyond measure with your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you! Thank you that you have put us in a country that we may worship and serve You freely. Thank You for those You’ve used to keep that freedom and establishments in place. We praise You that You’ve done so inspite of ourselves. I pray Father that you would bless Your sheep who are serving in military capacities among the world. I pray that they would be faithful servants that their lives would reflect Christ for that world to see. I ask that You would convict those unbelievers who are around Your sheep to bring them to repentance and faith. Please let us all be good stewarts of the grace You’ve given us to live among the government You’ve put in place. Help us to take the Gospel as we are going and living. May those who have served in our military be a testimony of Your sovereign hand as they share with others what You have done for them. For your sheep currently on active duty and their families, please give them comfort. Help them focus on Christ as they live through tough times. I pray their lives would be a testimony of faith and reliance in Jesus. Help them in times when they must serve under ungodly leaders. Strengthen their faith. I pray that You would give wisdom to those in our government that they would make wise decisions for the country. I ask that you would convict us Christians to live out the Gospel under these great freedoms You’ve given. Help us all to be faithful. I ask all of this in Jesus name.

Amen.

Mark Lamprecht

Mark Lamprecht blogs at http://hereiblog.com on various cultural issues from a Christian worldview

We are living in a time where there is so much stress. The uncertainty of our times is putting a lot of pressure on people and it is causing a lot of stress. And it seems the more one listens to the news, the more stressed out they get.

As if there wasn’t enough going on, along come reports about a thing called, “Swine Flu.”

There are scores of articles how to relieve stress in your life. There have been many books written on the subject. And there are even courses that you could take as well.

In some of the articles that I have read online, that give tips and keys to relieving stress, very few mention prayer. But praying can definitely be a great help in reducing stress. Let me clarify this a bit.

Some people under stress pray prayers of desperation: “Oh God, you gotta help me! I can’t take this pressure anymore! Please do something!” Now I do understand how a person can feel very frustrated. But, I am not talking about a desperate prayer. I am talking about taking prayer breaks to talk things over with God.

The Bible talks about Daniel praying three times a day. In other words, we know that at least three times during the day, he took time to pray and talk to God. Whether or not he took any other prayer breaks, we don’t know. But for certain, there were three times that he did stop everything that he was doing so that he could pray.

Have you ever considered the situation he was dealing with and the stress he could have allowed to control his life?

Daniel was from Judah. He was captured and taken to Babylon. But because of his absolute trust in God, and, his applying himself to be the best he could be, he ended up with a job as a very high ranking government official.

Now this is amazing. Imagine your country going to war, taking captives back to your capital, and one of them becomes a high ranking government official. Imagine a foreigner running things and in effect telling you what to do. How would you feel? You can read how there were a number of natives of the land who hated him.

Now that could cause a little stress.

What about Daniel’s boss? I hear people from time to time talk about their boss and what a mean person they are. I hear others talk about not wanting to work at a company because the boss is not a Christian?)

Daniel’s boss was an unbelieving pagan dictator. Would you like to trade your boss for his boss? And let’s not forget that it was common that if the dictator did not like what you were doing, he could simply have you executed. No due process, no trial with fair representation, no opportunity to appeal; just a very quick execution.

Yet, in spite of all those conditions, for many, many years, and even under different governments, Daniel managed to keep his job. He could have allowed all the stress around him to affect him in a negative way, but he didn’t. One of the things that Daniel did was to pray to God three times a day, even when it was illegal.

There was an occasion when Daniel’s enemies persuaded the king to sign a decree, that if anyone asked a petition of any God, or man, for thirty days, except of the king, that person would be cast into a den of lions.

Those prayers breaks must have been very important for Daniel, for he neither stopped praying three times a day, nor did he try to hide it. And, if you’re familiar with the record, he was arrested and thrown into a den of lions. God delivered him from that pit unharmed. Then his accusers were tossed in for causing all the trouble, and the lions had a feast!

How important that time in prayer must have been to Daniel. It was a time to take a break from all that was going around him and just talk things over with God. It was a time to remind himself that as he trusted God, God would continue to take care of him.

It was a time of asking for God’s help, but also a time of recommitting his trust and confidence in a God who does deliver when we trust and believe Him. Daniel was doing his best. The Bible says that he was faithful, and that his enemies could not find any grounds for accusation, or evidence of corruption, or negligence. That’s why they came up with the, “No prayer for thirty days” idea.

So, do your best. Continue to improve your skills and abilities go to God on a consistent basis. Cast your cares on Him because He cares for you. Release and let go of any fear that you have and replace it with confidence in a loving and powerful God.

And when you feel stressed out, take some prayer breaks!
Michael A. Verdicchio offers a FREE special report, “9 Keys to Answered Prayer!” for signing up to his weekly news letter, “The Pep Letter,” at http://www.ConfidenceAndJoy.com

The second type of interpretation is the Historical viewpoint, which believes that the Book of Revelation depicts the entire course of Christian history from the time of the author until the completion of the ages. The various seals, trumpets, and bowls are regarded as chronologically successive, marking important stages in the making of the Christian Church, especially in the west. Since the Revelation starts with the status of the churches of Asia, which were obviously contemporaneous with the time of writing, and ends with the final conflict with evil and the development of the City of God in the indefinite future, it seemed only reasonable to conclude that the material between these two termini should deal with the intervening historical process.

The main difficulty with this belief is that the intervening time period is of undefined length, and that the identification of any one of the symbols with a particular historical event must necessarily be uncertain. It may be possible to make a connection between each symbol and certain known events to have subsequent years prove that the identification was erroneous. Also, the Historical viewpoint, which tries to interpret the Apocalypse by the starting of the church in the last nineteen centuries, seldom if ever takes cognizance of the church outside of Europe. This viewpoint is concerned primarily with the period of the Middle Ages and the Reformation and has relatively little to say of developments after 1500 A. D.

Actually, there are two branches of the Historical viewpoint. (1) The older branch, represented in the Reformation, tried to identify historical events in European and Church history with the events described in the Book of Revelation 4 through 16. Revelation was believed to march chronologically from the 1st through the 18th centuries. (2) Then the younger branch is common in this day among many different denominations which believe that the Book of Revelation is a non-chronological panorama of history.

The Futurist viewpoint believes that the material in the Book of Revelation 4 through 16 is a picture of future events, which relate specifically to the end of the age. None of the material in these chapters is connected with the past or the present. Instead, Revelation is believed to portray the Great Tribulation period spoken of by the Old Testament prophets and by Jesus (Matt. 24-26).

Lastly, the Idealist viewpoint believes the Book of Revelation is symbolic, with no relationship to events or persons in history or at the end of time. Instead, Revelation is taken to use figures familiar to first century readers to represent the general conflict between good and evil.
Hello, my name is Meredith Lee Miller, I have a Doctorate in Theology and a Ph.D in Religious Studies. Being in the ministry for nearly 30 years, along with being a pastor for over nine years, there have been many problems, situations that have needed to be confronted in regards to what different people have to face in their lives. It has been very challenging, along with being very satisfying, to have a opportunity to be able to help an individual to cope, deal with the problems, situations that sometimes arises in our world. If I had my life to live over again, I have to say that I would still choose the position that I currently hold, that God has placed me in, and that is helping people to get through tough times in this life of ours.

Author Link:
Personal Blog URL: http://opinionplace.blogsome.com

While religious diversity exists in countries allowing such freedom, the fact remains that what religion you subscribe to is strongly influenced by your parents, authority figures and location. There are not many Christians being raised in Afghanistan. Imagine five children born at the same moment but in five separate locations. America, Thailand, Iran, India and Israel. As adults odds favor each child believing in the teachings of: America-Christianity, Thailand-Buddhism, Iran-Islam, India-Hinduism, and Israel-Judaism. You could say each was given a different program about religion and the hereafter. Some of these programs are so in conflict with other programs that people have been fighting to the death for centuries to prove the superiority of their belief system.

Here’s what’s interesting about this programming and virtually all of our programming. The programs were installed without our permission when we are children. These imaginary five children had no say in where they were born nor what they were taught about religion. However, each would grow to believe their religion to be the supreme religion and, in many cases, are willing to die in that belief. You could say that are staking everything on that belief. So, who is your programmer?

Actually, you have a lot of them. For most of us, our programming comes from a conflux of our family, authority figures such as teachers, clergy, doctors, friends, the media, role models both good and bad, our community, the circumstances of our upbringing (contrast the programming a child received being raised poor in the depression era to being raised now in a middle income home), good and bad experiences and influences. Understanding programming is important because it helps you understand why other people act the way they do. This doesn’t mean you condone their actions or even like them, but once you understand that we are all products of our programming, it helps you to place the actions of another in a larger context.
John Graden is a fun, exciting, and inspirational speaker, author, and trainer.

John Graden is the author of The Impostor Syndrome. The Impostor Syndrome is the feeling you’re not as smart, talented, or skilled as others think you are. It’s the feeling you’ve been faking it and are about to be found out. Learn more about the book at:

http://www.TheImpostorSyndrome.com

In the country where I live, Australia, there are plenty of places that will take on a person that is not able to work due to a mental illness. Even with my illness, I find a way to work a couple of days a week.

The life you can have working in the daytime and not staying up all night gossiping, is a good life. There are many places that you can work and where you input a couple of days a week will be valued.

There are so many people that are not working at all and who could work even if they are on a Disability Pension. In our country we have a program where people have to work for their unemployment benefit. This is a good scheme that has been set up and gives people worthwhile experience while they are out of work.

I enjoy working with these people in a soup kitchen ran by the Salvation Army. This is a good thing for me as it gets me out of the house and mixing with a community of Christians and people that are poor.

There are many organizations that have a job for you where you can volunteer your services, make a difference, and give back to the community. Come on readers, get up and work for a living.

If you would like a personal prophecy( A personal message off God) please write to one of our gifted team members with your request to http://www.personal-prophecy-free.net

Readers in Sydney, Australia: If you would like a team of us come to your church and do an extensive workshop in the prophetic/ an impartation of the gifts and us oversee 9 days of practical experience as you practice your new gifts in the marketplace through prophetic evangelism? Click the following link for more information. http://www.personal-prophecy-free.net/prophetic-evangelism.htm