The Problem of Greed

           


         Lately  I have been thinking a lot about the economic situation in our country and also globally.

I have been  learning  about   socialism and capitalism and why people hold these  views.

 I  now believe that  neither of these viewpoints are a real solution to the economic  crisis we are

 facing and they are really not all that different from each other.



     Capitalism claims to  put industry and trade into the hands of private individuals instead of into

 the  hands of the government. But ultimately the government puts regulations on what can and can

 and can not be done. The rich sit on top and the poor get nothing.  The wealthy people are the

people with the most influence in society and they "rule the world."



On the other hand we have socialism which claims to give everyone an "equal distribution of

wealth." But once again the government is the one who gives out the wealth and regulates spending.

This obviously does not cure the problem either. Those on top are still on top. Russia is an example

and so is France. Both of these countries abolished their monarchies in the interests of the people and

then they got something worse called anarchy. After anarchy comes  absolute government control.


 Taxation  is supposed to guarantee those in need public services  but

it does not always work that way. Private citizens are   funding President Obama's little golfing

expeditions  and private citizens are also funding unnecessary government research projects like

landing on Mars.


The big issue is Greed. Greed in the world and greed creeping into the Church of Christ. Jesus said

in the bible that we can not "serve both God and Money." Tolkien's Novel the Lord of the Rings is

really a an allegory about power corruption and Greed. Jesus talks about the Pharisees devouring

widows houses in the name of doing God's work.  Jesus also  said he desires compassion and not

sacrifice! The idea that God needs your money to do this and that is wrong and simply not biblical.

I was talking about this very matter with someone and that very evening during my devotional time

with God I read these verses from Hebrews without even knowing that they would directly apply to

what we were discussing. Hebrews 13:5 says, " Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with

what you have. For God has said, 'I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.'" This verse sums it

up so well. The reason why we have poor people is because of the Greed of mankind. We can not

be simply content with what we have and the blessings that God has given to us. We must get the

latest this or the latest that.  We should instead  be looking to God as our provider. Being grateful is

part  of the solution.  The other part of the solution can be found in verse 16. Verse 16 says, "Don't

forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are pleasing  to

God."  This is an imperative command! We must help those who are in need. This does not mean

we throw away our money with our eyes closed... this means we are a blessing and help to those

around us in need on a daily basis.


      So the answer to the problem would be  really quite simple. But we are no longer the Christian

nation we once were. 1) If we are Christians than we should be obeying God's word which teaches

us to be a) grateful for what we do have and b) provide for those in need around us. 2) If we do

this, God  will bless us and take care of us. Selflessness is opposite of Greed and in a

world sinking in moral decay... our best bet as believers is to follow what the bible says in our own

lives and let that be a witness to those around us. With Christmas upon us... let's remember

the ultimate gift of God's love which was sending Jesus to us. We can go further this holiday season

by giving instead of constantly getting. I mentioned briefly the Lord of the Rings. I would like to

finish this blog by posting a rather long quote from that book. This quote was spoken by the Lady

Galadriel. Galadriel was a beautiful and powerful lady who did much good... but even she realized in

her best good if she possessed the ring she would still fall under the weight of Greed. If we ever

think we are beyond greed and human nature... we should think again. The ring should be given to

God... no mere man can shoulder the burden.

"“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.

“I pass the test”, she said. “I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel."  JRR TOLKIEN'S LORD OF THE RINGS

One final question.... Will you pass the test?

Let's NOT be political correct

                  Just a few days ago I finished reading and studying the book of Romans. The major theme that stood out to me was  FAITH. Romans 14:23 (NLT) says, "If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning."
                This is a very serious verse that every Christian needs to give heed to. If we are not moving in faith, we are moving in sin! How often do we put aside what we know is right for what is convenient or not to offend another person? I am not saying that we can not respect what others believe but we can not "bend" to appease others.           Appeasement and political correctness is a work of Satan himself. This is the very reason why the United States is on the verge of moral collapse. We can no longer deal with matters from a biblical worldview because "we might offend" someone. The church is losing it's ability to confront sin within it's walls, so there is no way we can confront sin outside of our walls. If a brother or sister in Christ is not in line with the WORD of God, we need to tell them and not just let it go. If Mary Evans is worshiping the Lord on Sunday and spending the rest of her week nights in a bar getting plastered, we have a problem that we must confront. We have to love  but with truth and with God's word.      The ever popular bible  verse that people love to throw at Christians is that we must not judge. But this does not mean we should not quote scripture or truth. When we quote the scripture we are not damning anyone, it is the word itself that condemns them. When people quote this scripture they are telling us to "shut up" when we are confronting them or they are trying to justify their own behavior.      If Christ's return is so eminent and near, we can not afford to be politically correct. The UN for all of its political correctness is doing nothing to improve matters in the Middle East. You can love someone, respect them, but you are not helping anyone by refusing to speak the truth to them. Our faith is our testimony and we can not afford to sit on our hands and keep "hush hush." Be bold and strong in the LORD everyone!

    

          

       

Can we be a moral people without God?

    




                                                              Moral without God?


              I know that I said that my next blog would be about my trip to Massachusetts but I feel that I must postpone that for now and write about something with much more immediate impact. This blog will answer a question that I have been pondering these last couple of days. Can a person be moral without God? The way I am answering this question may confuse some people but I am prepared to explain and defend my answer. I believe that a person can be moral without being a Christian but I believe it is impossible to be moral without God. To some this might seem like a contradiction but it is not. When you consider the use of bibles in courtrooms or the "golden rule" that we quote to our children all of the time we see that many of the teachings in scriptures play a role in our society. If we consider our constitution and the founding fathers who penned it, we know from history that not all of these men were Christians but they still believed in upholding the teachings of scripture because they knew that it was the best foundation for a moral nation. John Adams said "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."


              There are some people who feel that preachers should not deliver sermons about sin and repentance. The argument they use is that everyone knows what is right and wrong and we don't need God. I disagree with this position. If God is the root of our understanding of morality, it's like citing a source in a research paper and not giving the one who wrote it credit. We have to have an anchor for our moral stance. If morality is relative which some people believe, then we will have a chaotic society. What if our government decided that we should throw out the constitution and apply Sharia Law instead? What if we applied the Maori or Native American understanding of moral justice? What if we had forced abortions like China? Our nation decided to have it's foundation on the bible and the truths in it. We gained our independence from Britain but we prayed every step of the way. We put God in front of what we did and we succeeded. The French wanted to follow our example but they decided to get rid of God from their society. They crushed the reformation and they decided to rely on Reason instead of God. The French Revolution was "godless" and "bloody." They lost their grounding for morality. The Russians did the same when they embraced atheism as the state religion. America has stood because of it's biblical foundation but as we see the government constantly trying to suppress biblical values, we see our society deteriorating before our eyes. Former President Ronald Reagan said, " if we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

            Let's close out with a few scriptures. "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." This scripture is from Isaiah 64:6. This scripture says to me that even our best understanding of right and wrong is not enough and we must rely on what the word of God says. Another scripture says "When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability." This scripture is from Proverbs 28:2 and I think it shows what is going on in our nation today, we are becoming like France did during the Revolution and our government will be toppled if we do not follow the truth that we built our nation on. But the promise is if our leaders follow God, we will be blessed. This is the answer. A person can be moral without being a Christian but they can not be moral without God. If we reject God from our society, our nation will go the way that France did and maybe even worse. You can have all the morals in the world... but what's your anchor?

The Unexpected

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8


I am reminded that God's ways are not always our ways and that his will is not always our will. Life would be pretty boring if we knew everything before it happened. Sometimes God uses the unexpected to get our attention. If you don't believe me, take a good look at Jonah. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale because he refused to preach God's message to the people of Nineveh.

If you want a historical example, take a good look at Henry VIII. King Henry went around trying to find a woman to give him a son. Finally after divorcing his first wife and butchering his second, wife number three gave him the son he always wanted... Edward VI. Who the heck remembers Edward? The only thing I remember about Edward is that he died young and that he named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. I doubt he knew that she would be executed nine days later!

Henry VIII never had another legitimate male heir to the throne but he was the father to two of England's most famous monarchs. His eldest daughter by his first wife Catherine of Aragon became "Bloody Mary" and it was she who took a final stand for Catholicism in England. Henry's other daughter Elizabeth became England's most praised monarch. It was Elizabeth I who defeated the Armada and it was Elizabeth I who vested an interest in the New World. But... Henry probably did not see this when he had Anne Boleyn's head chopped off. Ironically, Elizabeth I became a much more famous monarch in English history than Henry himself. It was thanks to Elizabeth that James I became the next ruler in England and it was thanks to James I that the bible was translated. If it was not for James I persecution of Christians, America would not have the legacy of Christianity it has today. Henry did not see any of this!

Think of Samuel the prophet of God who anointed David king of Israel, did he not believe that the King would be one of David's more "qualified" older brothers? But it was God's will and God used David to take down the Philistine Goliath.

Sometimes God uses the unexpected to get people's attention. The only question is... What does he have to do to get your attention?

God found us in New Zealand

                       
    *I am not good at grammar but I hope that I can share what the Lord is doing in my life with others!


                   DOWN UNDER AND UPSIDE DOWN

                   Prior to 9/11 , my  family did a krazy thing! We sold our  beautiful home in Phoenixville, PA and hightailed it to New Zealand...

        I will never forget that evening when we were all in the family spa and my dad announced that we were moving. I was angry enough to explode! I was only seven.  Move??? Why would we want to do that? But it was no use... my parents were set on the idea. We sold our house and pretty much everything we held dear. Even after  all of these years my parents  occasionally ask about things we sold and lament the fact that we sold them. Our extended  family   thought we had lost our minds but we still moved...

        The first year in New Zealand was agony! The way people lived was definitely not AMERICAN and the attitude was so different, not bad BUT very different. New Zealanders are very chilled out people.  We spent all of this first year  trying to find a place to live. We even spent our first Christmas in a rental home.

 During the following year  we  came to a little area known as Cheviot. Cheviot is located in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Cheviot is also an hour and a half north of Christchurch.

 We found a beautiful piece of land near Cheviot  and we decided to build a Mediterranean home. This was an arduous task and it quickly gave people the wrong  impression that we were RICH AMERICANS. I was attending a small rural school  at the time of about 200 students. I liked the teachers a lot. You do not get a lecture from teachers in New Zealand for reading a bible and sharing about it during  Read and Share time. Some of the children were very nice but others picked on me because I was American.

I came home one day after school and saw my parents. Something had happened and I could feel it inside. My dad told me that we had left God out of everything and that we had moved for purely selfish reasons. This was the start of something beautiful. GOD FOUND US IN NEW ZEALAND. I had always believed in God but it was not until New Zealand that he really came alive for me personally. I was baptized in New Zealand in the Public School pool and I shared my faith with my friends. But the greatest work was still to come.

We came back to America in 2005 to adopt Jeremiah. We thought that the process of adoption would take 4-6 months, it took two years! I wondered if I would ever see New Zealand again. During this time we experienced different church cultures and made a ton of friends. Revival swept our family but some of them thought we were religious bible nuts. Jeremiah and I were home schooled but we both agree that these two years back in America were the best years of our lives. We met so many fantastic and wonderful people. But we went back to New Zealand one more time.

When we went back to New Zealand, nothing had really changed in two years. We attended that small rural school and we were once again labeled as JESUS FREAK AMERICANS. But the opportunities to witness were unbelievable. I gave a speech on John the Revelator in front of the whole community and I got to share my testimony in my Social Science class. I took first place on the speech cup which is now in the Cheviot Museum.  But God was calling us back to America. Our time in New Zealand was done and over. But I will never forget because  GOD FOUND US IN NEW ZEALAND.

WE ARE TAKING A WEEK LONG TRIP TO MASSACHUSETTS, I WILL WRITE MY NEXT BLOG ABOUT THAT!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." ROMANS 8:28