July 15, 2007

Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of
1. the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:
1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.
4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.
5. The decay of religion--faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people. Edward Gibbon.


200 Years?
Ancient democracies wane under the selfishness of human hearts. "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependency;
from dependency back to bondage.
General Quote. Alexander Fraser Tytler is said to be the author of this quote and lived at the end of the eighteenth century. "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic" is said to be the book he never wrote a book with this title.



Ours is the only country in the world where people pay $200,000 for a house and then leave it for two weeks every summer to sleep in a tent.
Research shows that 80 percent of non-Christians worldwide don't know any Christians. Pastor James Emery White believes that stat exposes the heart of our cultural crisis. We've been called to influence the world around us, but we've often simply retreated into our own Christian subculture.
"When we seek out that which is lost, we are loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and valuing people as God values them. If we as the Church keep this as our core focus and mission, we will never become an empty building or mere tourist attraction. We will be so occupied and fulfilled with doing what the Church was placed on this earth to do – taking what is inside the Church out into a broken world – that our doors will never close. The lost will be drawn to us because of our open arms and our loving, safe environment. - Christina Caine, Stop Acting Like a Christian, Just Be One (Regal, 2007)

According to USA Today, more than 30 percent of American adults have abused alcohol or have been addicted to alcohol. That includes 42 percent of men and 19 percent of women. - Source: USA Today

"We spend our lives on the run: we get up by the clock, eat and sleep by the clock, get up again, go to work - and then we retire. And what do they give us? A clock." - Dave Allen

We build too many walls and not enough bridges. Isaac Newton quote

Dumb and Dumber Has Become American Norm
Most Americans are dumber than dirt when it comes to health. Some startling statistics that may point to the reason for this epidemic of dumb-and-dumber-itis:
+ 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives
+ 80 percent of American families did not buy or read a book last year
+ 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years
Meanwhile, people in the United States spend an average of four hours in front of the TV each day and three hours listening to the radio -- both sources that contain little or no real information that can truly benefit your life.
Obviously, most of you reading this are not in this category and do actively read, so you're not part of the problem. However, as we work toward creating a paradigm shift in people's consciousness about health and well-being, we clearly have our work cut out for us.
With almost no one searching for, reading, and critically analyzing information, it's no wonder that only 11 percent of Americans know the daily amount of calories they should be eating -- especially when you consider the vast amounts of disinformation being thrown at all of us by advertisers every day, as well as the pseudo-science being spread by the many bought-and-paid for organizations which are nothing more than fronts for corporations.
Drug companies, as only one of many examples, spend literally billions of dollars each year on direct-to-consumer TV advertising (the U.S. being one of only two countries in the world where this is legal) because they know that it works.
When most people see a drug being advertised on TV, they have no other sources of information to let them know that they are being sold an ineffective and dangerous product. Given that situation, it's no surprise that 2/3 of doctor visits resulted in a drug being prescribed, and spending for prescription drugs is the fastest-growing category of health care expenditures.
Yes we have a long row to hoe in educating our friends and relatives about the truth so at least they can make informed choices and not continue to be brainwashed by the drug cartels.
If we are to thrive as a society, encourage your kids to read, read often, and discuss what's been read to encourage free and independent thought.


Here is a prayer:
O, Lord, we pray for peace and safety in Iraq.
We pray for our servicemen and women who struggle daily to represent the best of this country in the face of danger and threat.
We pray for the diplomats who struggle to resolve ancient and new conflicts.
We pray for the families who seek to protect their children from harm.
We pray for the children who are watching and living in violence and terror.
We pray for Your guidance in the coming days.
Lord, we pray for healing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East.
Help us to be mindful that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.
Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in the full conviction, that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity. --Daniel Webster
(Commenting on Romans 8:28) You may have heard the story of that eminent martyr who was wont always to say, "All things work together for good." When he was seized by the officers of Queen Mary, to be taken to the stake to be burned, he was treated so roughly on the road that he broke his leg, and they jeeringly said, "All things work together for good, do they? How will your broken leg work for your good." "I don’t know," said he, "how it will, but for my good I know it will work, and you shall see it so." Strange to say, it proved true that it was for his good; for being delayed a day or so on the road through his lameness, he just arrived in London in time enough to hear that Elizabeth was proclaimed queen, and so he escaped the stake by his broken leg. He turned round upon the men who carried him, as they thought, to his death, and said to them, "Now will you believe that
all things work together for good?" --Charles Spurgeon


One of the Secrets to Success
Andrew Tobias, the financial author put it this way. Go down any day to the waterfront, and you will find a crowd of unhappy people. Someone will be having trouble getting the motor on their yacht to crank. Someone else will be scraping barnacles. Another will be repainting. Things just don't make you happy. Property brings problems. It is like an alligator that takes a bite out of your pocket every time you turn around. Don't be burdened by too many material things. As you go through life, one of the secrets of success is to travel light. Unknown


Real Evangelism
If we are going to be effective in reaching people for Christ we are going to have to start showing people that we really care. Evangelism and missions must be relational in nature. There is no record of Jesus walking up to someone out of the clear blue sky and saying: I am the Messiah and then him beginning to show his care for them. No, he showed his care for them first and then he revealed himself to them.
A story is told about a man who was on a luxury liner and suddenly he falls overboard. He can't swim and in desperation he begins calling for help. Now it just so happens that there were several would be rescuers on deck who witnessed the incident.
The first man was a MORALIST. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book on how to swim. He now tossed it to him and he yelled: Now brother, you read that and just follow the instructions and you will be alright.
The man next to him happened to be a IDEALIST. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately jumped into the water and began swimming all around the drowning man saying: Now just watch me swim. Do as I do and you will be alright.
The person next to him happened to be a member of the INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH. He looked upon the drowning man's plight with deep concern. He yelled out: Now, just hold on friend. Help is on the way. We are going to establish a committee and dialogue your problem. And then, if we have come up with the proper financing, we will resolve your dilemma.
The next man on deck happened to be a representative of the school of POSITIVE THINKING. He yelled out to the drowning man: "Friend, this situation is not nearly as bad as you think. Think dry!"
The next man on board happened to be a REVIVALIST. By this time the drowning man was going down for the third time and desperately began waving his arm. Seeing that, the revivalist yelled out: Yes brother, I see that hand, is there another? Is there another?
And finally, the last man on deck, was a REALIST. He immediately plunged into the water, at the risk of his own life, and pulled the victim to safety.
My friends, the harvest is plentiful, but the WORKERS are few. We need realist in the church willing plunge into the water and go to work.

Evangelism
An executive hirer, a "head-hunter" who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told me, "When I get an executive that I'm trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed. Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?" It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.
"Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?' And he said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.' For the first time in my career I was speechless." Josh McDowell

Biblical Passages Are Like Rental cars
Biblical passages are, in some ways, like a fleet of rental cars. Some get driven a lot, some are less popular. Some are easy to handle, others take more skill and experience to manage. Almost all of them get abused by their drivers.
If today’s gospel text were a rental car, it would be a great big SUV with a lot of miles on it. One look at it, and you would know that this one has hauled a lot of people’s baggage over the years. Big and unwieldy, it tends to go off in other directions regardless of where you are steering it.


The Grahams' Unexpected Hospitality
Former televangelist Jim Baker speaks of events that occurred immediately after his release from prison:
When I was transferred to my last prison, Franklin [Graham] said he wanted to help me out when I got out-with a job, a house to live in, and a car. It was my fifth Christmas in prison. I thought it over and said, "Franklin, you can't do this. It will hurt you. The Grahams don't need my baggage." He looked at me and he said, "Jim, you were my friend in the past and you are my friend now. If anyone doesn't like it, I'm looking for a fight."
So when I got out of prison the Grahams sponsored me and paid for a house for me to live in and gave me a car to drive. The first Sunday out, Ruth Graham called the halfway house I was living in at the Salvation Army and asked permission for me to go to the Montreat Presbyterian Church with her that Sunday morning. When I got there, the pastor welcomed me and sat me with the Graham family. There were like two whole rows of them - I think every Graham aunt and uncle and cousin was there. The organ began playing and the place was full except for a seat next to me. Then the doors opened and in walked Ruth Graham. She walked down that aisle and sat next to inmate 07407-058. I had only been out of prison 48 hours, but she told the world that morning that Jim Bakker was her friend.
Afterwards, she had me up to their cabin for dinner. When she asked me for my addresses, I pulled this envelope out of my pocket to look for them. In prison you're not allowed to have a wallet, so you just carry an envelope. She asked, "Don't you have a wallet?" And I said, "Well, yeah, this is my wallet." After five years of brainwashing in prison you think an envelope is a wallet. She walked into the other room and came back and said, "Here's one of Billy's wallets. He doesn't need it. You can have it."

Time to Be a Hero
On January 13, 1982, when Air Florida's Flight 90 crashed on takeoff and fell into the icy waters of the Potomac River, Martin Skutnik, age 28, saw the plane go down. He stood with other spectators on the riverbank watching a woman who had survived the crash and was struggling to swim in the cold water. Skutnik plunged into the river and rescued her. He had never taken a life saving course, but he saved the woman's life. He probably didn't use the proper form or technique when he swam to the woman's side, at least as professional swim instructors would teach it. He may not have followed the Red Cross Lifesaving Manual in the method he used to grab the woman and bring her back to the safety of the shore. At that time, Skutnik was a general office worker. He had a wife and two children and lived in a rented town house. He became a national hero on that fateful day by risking his life to rescue that drowning woman.
Most of us don’t have the occasion to be a hero. The extraordinary acts of courage are normally done by extraordinary people. When it comes to the more difficult challenges in life we are accustomed to turning those challenges over to the experts. This has become the trend in the Church. More and more, congregations are leaving the work of the church to paid staff rather than lay volunteers. Keith Wagner, It Takes Guts

One of the best letters of reference ever received at the University of Alabama Medical School, according to the Director of Admissions, came from an old mountaineer. The letter read
I know'd this kid from the day he was born. He played with my kids, helped me with the chores. I don't know if he has sense enough to make it in medical school, but I know he will be the kind of man I'd like to come here to take care of me and my folks. (Don Shelby, Final Evaluations)
Isn't that beautiful? And it hints at what I am saying. We can be so at one with Christ that Christ will live and act through us.


The Shoes
My alarm went off-it was Sunday again;
I was tired-it was my one day to sleep in. But the guilt I'd have felt the
rest of the day Would have been too much, so I'd go; I'd pray.
I showered and shaved, adjusted suit and tie,
Got there and swung into a pew just in time.
Bowing my head in humble prayer
Before I closed my eyes,
I saw that the shoe of the man next to me
Was touching my own and I sighed.
With plenty of room on either side, I thought, "why do our soles have to touch?"
It bothered me so; he was glued to my shoe, But it didn't seem to bother him much.
Then the prayer began: "Heavenly Father," someone said-
But I thought, "Does this man with the shoes have no pride?"
They were dusty, worn, scratched end to end.
What's worse, there were holes on the side!
"Thank You for blessings," the prayer went on.
The shoe man said a quiet "amen."
I tried to focus on the prayer,
But my thoughts were on his shoes again.
Aren't we supposed to look our best when walking through that door?
"Well, this certainly isn't it," I thought, Glancing toward the floor.
Then the prayer ended and songs of praise began.
The shoe man was loud, sounding proud as he sang.
He lifted the rafters; his hands raised high;
The Lord surely heard his voice from the sky.
Then the offering was passed; what I threw in was steep.
The shoe man reached into his pockets, so deep,
And I tried to see what he pulled out to put in,
Then I heard a soft "clink," as when silver hits tin.
The sermon bored me to tears-And no lie-
It was the same for the shoe man,
For tears fell from his eyes.
At the end of the service, as is custom here,
We must greet the visitors and show them good cheer.
But I was moved inside to want to meet this man, So after the closing, I shook his hand.
He was old, his skin dark, his hair a mess.
I thanked him for coming, for being our guest,
He said, "My name's Charlie, glad to meet you, my friend,"
And there were tears in his eyes-but he had a wide grin.
"Let me explain," he said, wiping his eyes.
"I've been coming for months, and you're the first to say, "Hi."
"I know I don't look like all the rest, But I always try to look my best."
"I polish my shoes before my long walk,
But by the time I get here they're as dirty as chalk."
My heart fell to my knees, but I held back my tears,
He continued, "And I must apologize for sitting so near."
"But I know when I get here, I must look a sight.
And I thought . . . if I touched you, our souls might unite."
I was silent for a moment knowing anything I said
Would pale in comparison, so I spoke from my heart not my head.
"Oh, you've touched me," I said. "And taught me, in part,
That the best of a man is what's in his heart."
The rest, I thought, this man will never know.
How thankful I am that he touched my soul!