Everyday’s mercies come anew. Do not worry about tomorrow; today has enough worries of its own (Matthew 6:34). This is what I am slowly learning. You know, it’s funny, you can read the bible and understand it but still not apply it. Jesus tells us not to worry — period. The truth is that we all fall and stumble in our walk of faith. It’s inevitable — we can’t always see where we’re going. All we know is what is written in God’s Word and what He chooses to reveal to us. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving and worthy of our trust. Humans that we are, we sometimes want proof. This is why it is essential to read the bible to know how God works. He is always working; we sometimes need to look a little harder to see it.

Some people fear death. I can understand, death is a scary proposition when you are not saved. If you are saved, you know that Christ conquered death at the cross. His ability to do so was due to the fact that He lived a sinless life. In the perfection of His life He was able to deliver billions of people from death. Did you know that even angels can sin? Christ’s redemption is to restore His family back to Himself. However, angels that sinned and did not repent have an eternal destination — death.

I think it’s kind of funny when I think about how much money our country wastes on cosmetics, especially being a Christian nation. You’d think we’d have other priorities. What’s not funny is that most of our cosmetics are not regulated very well by the FDA. There are many carcinogenic compounds in cosmetics that aren’t safe for human use. We should be ashamed of ourselves! I’ve heard so many people say, "Chinese-made products are so unsafe. They all are trying to kill us." Well, take a look at the stuff we slather all over ourselves in terms of cosmetics. Natural ingredients have been available for centuries but instead we choose to poison ourselves with chemicals that don’t have any place being near our skin or hair.

Obedience is difficult. I’ve been struggling with some of the same issues for a long time now. For me, God has told me what to do but it isn’t easy. It’s not something I could just wake up every morning and do without a struggle. I have good intentions of doing it. Every night before I go to bed I say to myself, "Ok, tomorrow will be different than today." But it doesn’t always work that way no matter how sincere my convictions are. I don’t think it’s hard to obey the Ten Commandments if you’re talking about the ones God gave to Moses until Jesus tells us in the New Testament that we can’t sin with our thoughts either.

So many people ask whether or not they can lose the Holy Spirit. This question I have tried to answer repeatedly. I guess a lot of people don’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and because of this they imagine they are without it. They Holy Spirit is the spirit of life. When you become a Christian and God sees the time is right, He will indwell you with the Holy Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit knows you and you know Him you can’t undo that relationship. God is your Father and you are His child. There is nothing you can do to change that.

Narrow-mindedness is the cause of much strife in the churches and between them. To some extent, I have been considered narrow-minded about some things. For instance, I do believe that you have to know Jesus to be a Christian. There is no flexibility in my thinking there. But I don’t believe that you have to live your life like a Quaker to be loved by God. No offense if you do.

Someone did a keyword search on the topic of what to do "when [the devil] robs me of my godly positive thoughts." I thought I would write about this because it happens to me a lot. For me, the devil is constantly pointing out my flaws and telling me that I am a bad person soas to suggest that all my positive thoughts must be lies. This, of course, is not true. I love people but lately it seems that negative thoughts are bombarding me. There is a remedy for this. I’ve found that there are only a couple of things that need to be done to get rid of the negative thinking patterns.

23 Minutes in Hell was one wild read. I must admit, I don’t know much about hell but I guess after reading this book, I know all I’ve ever wanted to know about it. The book is authored by Bill Wiese and is roughly 170 pages. I liked that the book was short because it was extremely intense and I didn’t like reading about hell. I would rather read about heaven and pretend there wasn’t a hell in existence. However, whatever I thought before, I really believe now that hell does exist and that it is much worse than I could ever fathom.

Google analytics is pretty cool. It allows me to see certain things about people’s keywords they used to get to my site. One person got there by asking whether or not "autistic people were the devil." This really stung because I would never say or imply such a statement. I don’t even like to repeat it. As some people may know, my younger sister is autistic. She has what is called RETT Syndrome. This disorder is a severe form of autism that affects the mind and body of the girl who has the specific genetic code for its childhood onset. If I had to pin whether or not my sister was a devil or an angel I would definitely call her an angel. She is the sweetest child you could ever meet. She is now twenty-four.

Someone came to this website with this search query, "some don’t deserve forgiveness, for some, our past transgressions weight will be born upon our shoulders for eternity." I don’t know what page it brought them to but I’d like to resolve this persons’ search for truth regarding this statement even though I acknowledge the fact that this is a statement and not a question on behalf of someone else’s theology. Let me reword the statement as it should be to be a biblically sound sentence:

None deserve forgiveness. However, Christ has borne the burden of sin for all of us once and for all and anyone can be forgiven when they accept Christ as their Savior and Lord and truly repent for their sin.

Someone came to this website wondering if violent video games are sinful. Today I would like to answer this question. While violent video games have not always been around since Jesus’ day, violence has. The bible has a lot to say about violence but not much to say about violent video games. Therefore, most of what I have to say in this posting comes from gleaning bible verses about exposure to violence.

Herein these few paragraphs details the past five years of my life that were sort of, to say the least, messy. In the history of mankind many creative types have been misnamed manic depressive. People like Einstein and Mark Twain were considered highly intelligent, creative, yet a little crazy or a lot depressed at least some of the time. Even Solomon had his periods of melancholy (see the book of Ecclesiastes). What is unfortunate about all this labeling is that it can hurt and hinder the potential of many people who are simply experiencing life in the way God has created them to be.

Thoughts are a big part of our lives. Typically when we have a thought we accept it as a part of us. For instance, if you tend to have self-diminishing thoughts you may discredit and even paralyze your capability of succeeding in the future. You’re probably wondering why I make such a big deal about thoughts. To most people they are an every moment occurrence with no special significance whatsoever. For me, thoughts have always been important. I think about why I say certain things, why other people say certain things, and usually the derivative of my words is a string of thoughts.

Stop and Pray
Anytime you are confused or indecisive remember the Lord and pray for His advice. Confusion and anxiety can steal our peace but Christ restores our peace when we ask for His help. One of my favorite sayings in the Bible is "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,"(Joel 2:32 NIV). Calling on Jesus may feel at first like a weakness because no one likes to admit they can’t do things on their own. Perhaps not everyone but most people don’t like to feel powerless. However, there is intrinsic power in Jesus’ name. God has given Jesus dominion over all powers and principalities. If we truly grasped this we would be less likely to have any fear aside from a reverent fear of the Lord.

Today I was walking down the street with my friend. We were talking about the devil and how he tests Christians. Last night both my roommate and I were under spiritual attack. We agreed with the program she was watching that said that the devil can treat our minds like a dumping ground and that we must find ways of getting rid of his influence. I’m going to share my story and perhaps it will help whoever reads this know what to do when the devil attacks.

When I found out that billions of dollars went to bailout big banks who had claimed no accountability to where the money went, I was outraged. Why is it that when a minority American steals bread from the gas station he gets convicted and sentenced to some type of punishment but when big banks pocket taxpayer dollars they are above the law? Most middle class Americans can attest to the outrage because the money that was supposed to go to keeping them from losing their homes instead went to feeding porkie bank executives.

Do you want to get rid of sadness, fear, jealousy, anger, hatred and other negative emotions? There are three ways to work demons out of your life if you are a born again Christian: praise, forgiveness, positivity, Bible- based speech, prayer and obedience. In this posting I will give a little bit of insight into each of these elements. To understand what you must do to rid your heart of reoccurring negativity you must understand that you have an enemy that is constantly pressing to invade your life with sin and unhappiness in order to steal your joy and the power of God’s influence in your life.

Today as I was walking down the street with my roommate I had an epiphany. Some people say forgiveness can be difficult. I agree with that because I’ve struggled with it all my life. But today I found myself thinking about someone who had hurt me and I had a little pep-talk with myself.

I have just finished reading a great book called, "The Story of Stuff," by Annie Leonard. This book is very intelligently written with plenty of research done and hard facts. Annie Leonard is the host of the Internet film "The Story of Stuff." She has researched the processing of stuff mostly in the United States but also globally, as our problem with "waste management" is ever increasing in its geological span.

Today most people don’t frequently use the word "covet." It has become outdated for more chic words like "envy" or Jones-ing. There is even a phone model from Verizon called the En-V. I’ve seen makeup labels that have to do with the word envy. No matter how commercially and politically correct the meaning of the word is, all forms of it are condemned as sin in the bible.

Jealousy is a powerful emotion. It can drive people mad and wreck relationships. The bible says that envy rots the bones (Proverbs 14:30). Envy can eat at a person from the inside. A jealous heart is hard to hide. Since we know that God judges our hearts and His judgments are righteous we must stay away from envy and pride. Pride and envy go hand in hand. When someone is proud they are often likely to compare themselves to others. When a believer compares himself or herself to another believer they are not acting in love. Each one of us must keep our eyes on our own walk with Christ so that we can be certain not to judge ourselves or others by making comparisons and trying to determine who is saved and who isn’t.

Do you ever stop and think about how amazing creation is? I was taking a walk today, like every day, and I noticed that the trees and foliage all around were shedding nuts and berries. We are very blessed to have such fertile soil in the United States and especially in Michigan. Here the trees and grass are lush and they surround the landscape providing shade, shelter and food for all of the animals that live here.

Is sex before marriage a sin? The bible calls sex before marriage fornication. Fornication is considered a sin according to both the Old and New Testaments (Galatians 5:19-23, 1 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and 1 Corinthians 7:1-2). However, we have confidence before God that He will forgive us for our sins when we believe in the saving power of Jesus and are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. If you have sinned this way in the past, you can ask forgiveness then plan on not doing it anymore. When the Holy Spirit convicts us that something is wrong we need to listen and with a repentant heart come to God and ask forgiveness.

"Is it necessary to go to church to be a good Christian?" The word church is sort of a misnomer in our culture used to describe a building that houses worship services for the Christian faith. When Christianity began, back during the ministry of the twelve disciples and the Apostle Paul the word church denoted a group of people or the body of Christ. Sometimes these groups met in private homes to study and learn the gospel. The Apostle Paul told the church (the group of people) that they should not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). In today’s society I think that this is just as relevant to us as it was to them.

In this website I have talked about planetary concerns and issues with the environment. Now I want to talk about animals, domesticated or otherwise. It is very important that we tend to our pets and make sure they stay healthy, exercised and eating the right foods. We need to take care of all creation.  This means that we must maintain healthy soil and stop destroying habitats with pollution or human efforts at land development.

"Where the mind goes the man follows." "You are what you think." Many people have trouble understanding why things never seem to go their way. They may be depressed or covetous and they want what their neighbor has but are dismayed when they don’t receive the same blessings as someone else. They may compare themselves to other people and act as if they are entitled to blessings. While God does look for ways to bless His children, we have to be patient to receive His blessings understanding that we must act in thanksgiving and be grateful for what we do have.

The Bible tells us to guard our hearts and I’ve often wondered what exactly that means (Proverbs 4:23). Our heart is where the Holy Spirit resides if we are Christians and the heart is a very essential organ both physically and spiritually. There is a spiritual heart of a man or woman and there is a physical heart. In today’s society I think it is important to protect both types of the heart but in this posting I will talk particularly about how to guard your spiritual heart.

I’ve talked about there being baby and mature Christians and the difference between the two. There is a form of religion that people assume when they aren’t very mature in their faith. One sign that someone is not very mature in their faith or that their walk with Christ is not developed is when a person is judgmental. There are some people that should be mature Christians because of their age but yet they still seek to categorize people within the church, spiritually into two realms, the saved and the unsaved.

I am reading a book right now by Thom Rainer called "The Unchurched Next Door." The book got off to a good start. It talked about how as Christians we should try to bring people to salvation and that the major impediment in churching the unchurched is Christian silence. He explains that most people would come to church if they were invited. Despite its positive aspects, this book is not one that I would recommend to anyone.

With Christ we live under a new law of grace. God says He desires mercy not sacrifice. He also says, if we love Him we will obey Him. Living under grace doesn’t mean that we can abuse our Christian freedom to choose to sin or not. Rather, the Holy Spirit should convict us when we are sinning to stop. When Christ comes into our lives we lose the desire to sin and with the Holy Spirit we are given power to say no to sin and to desire fellowship with God. Some people, although saved, still struggle with specific sins. While Christians can sin and disobey God they shouldn’t because it will cripple their walk with Christ. If we walk in disobedience for a long period of time we can seriously compromise our ministry on earth and our relationship with Jesus.

"Why does God allow human suffering?" As I browsed the web tonight looking for questions to answer I kept coming across this one. Many people ask this question because it seems like a loving, all-powerful God could end suffering easily. But in today’s posting I will show how a loving God cannot end all suffering at once until the appointed time.

"How can a loving God send people to Hell?" This is a question that I believe many pagans struggle with. They believe that people don’t deserve to go to Hell because nothing they have done is that bad. In today’s posting, I will try and challenge the traditional view of Hell and explain why some people will be going there.  I will also explain how not to go there. 

"The modern Christian churches of the world tend to gloss the fact that God is a child killer - the 10th plague in Egypt - and say that Jesus set this right. Ignoring for a moment that the crucifixion is just one more child killing to fulfill God’s will, why does Jesus say he also will kill children in Revelation 2:23?" This question I found on the website tribe.net under an article called "Ten Questions to Ask a Christian." In today’s posting, I will try to answer this question.

"Why do Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians?" This question asked by the website Orangeacid.net is one that many non-Christians use to peg Christians as sinners that are no different than pagans. The problem is that some Christians appear to be or claim they are without sin. Those that claim to be without sin do not have the truth in them (1 John 1:8). The truth is as Christians, we still make mistakes and sin. However, when we do sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us and we repent and ask for forgiveness knowing that we have an intercessor — Jesus, to cover our sins. Christians are still human.

A person asked on the website orangeacid.net, "Why is God such a huge proponent of slavery in the bible?" He cites the, "slaves should obey their masters as they would obey Christ," passage in the New Testament (Colossians 3:22). I know for a fact that God is not a proponent of slavery in any form and in this posting I will explain myself with bible passages. The author of the question continues his questioning by asking "why is God so jealous and unforgiving in the Old Testament?" It is my belief that this person is taking certain scriptures out of context and extrapolating questions based on his own atheism.

"Why does the Bible contain so much anti-scientific nonsense?" This is another question asked by the website orangeacid.net. The author entitled the page as "Ten Interesting Questions Every Intelligent Christian Must Answer." He went on to explain the antiscientific nonsense as the "idea that the universe is only a couple of thousand years old and that Jonah lived inside a whale for three days, etc." Sometimes the questions people ask are so nonsensical that I wonder if I’m doing any good by even responding to them. In this posting I will try to address this question with biblical support for my evidence and with a little bit of science to go along with it.

Species extinction is a major concern in today’s world. It seems like this one has been put on the back burner for so long because people place higher regard on issues like global warming and oil depletion. Species loss is just as important as the other two I mentioned and in this posting I will explain why in addition to explaining the current status of the situation.

I’ve heard some preachers and many Christians say that global warming is not happening. They like to tell you that it is not something we need to focus on and that there are more important things Christians should worry about. A certain preacher even said once that some people use planetary concerns to mask hatred and condemnation for their neighbor. I am here to refute these claims because I believe that loving our God and our neighbor cannot be done without taking care of the planet God made and we and our neighbor live on.

There are some major concerns that we should have about our planet. They are resource depletion, the shifting of planetary equilibrium, species extinction, oil depletion, wars and pollution. In this posting I will talk a little about resource depletion and in tomorrow’s and other postings this week I will talk about the other problems and offer solutions and biblical teaching surrounding these issues.

I’ve heard Joyce Meyer preach and teach on the "What about me?" mentality. I am going to address it today because I’ve run into many people who have this mentality. I’ve talked about the poverty mindset in a previous posting. Today I’m going to talk about selfishness, self-pity, envy and negative thinking.

Rejoice with Those Who Rejoice
Have you ever had someone in your life that was never happy? Perhaps it was even you who was or is never content. Every time something good happens to you your bitter friend will go and trash your good feelings because they are jealous. The bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). What if the person in your life refuses to rejoice with you and is always in mourning because of self-pity?

Some people wonder what kinds of things are sins and how do you recognize them. I would like to explore this issue using some scripture references to explain myself. In Jesus’ day a teacher of the law asked Him a similar question. Jesus answered with the Ten Commandments then later He went into a more broad definition. Someone also asked Him "Which is the greatest commandment?" Jesus replied with "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul." He also said the second greatest commandment was like the first. It was, "Love your neighbor as yourself." From these two commandments we can tell what is sin and what is not (Mark 12:28-34).

Some people ask how they can recognize the voice of God. This is a very important question as there are many voices that we hear and that we must distinguish between. Some people, like Moses in the Old Testament times, are fortunate enough to hear an audible and distinct voice of God preceded by some miraculous sign like a burning bush (Exodus 3:1-3). However, for most people, God’s voice is much more subtle. Even the prophet Elijah heard God speaking in a small voice out of the stillness (1 Kings 19:10-12). Prophets like Daniel spoke to God in dreams (Daniel 1:17 NIV). Some people hear God’s voice in music. The question is not how does God speak — because they possibilities are endless, but rather how do you know when God is speaking?

When looking for something to write about, I found someone’s question, which was: what does the bible say about psychics? The bible does make mention of psychics many times. But they are not always called psychics in the bible. Some common synonyms for the word psychic, according to Thesaurus.com, are:

augur, clairvoyant, crystal ball gazer, diviner, medium, mind reader, oracle, palm reader, palmist, predicter, prophet, psychic, seer, soothsayer, spiritualist, tarot reader, tea-leaf reader

Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit, was a fascinating albeit controversial read. This book, written by Gary Wills, went through and highlighted various doctrines of the Catholic church that were either unbiblical, heretical, or flat-out lies. I’ve always been fascinated with the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church, not because I believe it (or most of it), but because I’ve heard in various sermons that in the end times this church will be prominent in establishing a global religion. If you’ve ever read the Left Behind series you, like me, would find this to be a very frightening concept. However, God has not given us a Spirit of fear, therefore it is wise to know your facts and to not take anyone’s word for granted.

For a short period of my life I went to a Seventh Day Adventist Church. They had a billboard on the side of the highway that said something about the end times and their imminence. My mom and I were reading the Left Behind series at the time and we were certain we didn’t want to get left behind in the event of the Rapture. This was what motivated us to go to that church. We believed they had some inside scoop on the end times that would predict for us when it was coming and what the signs were so that we could look for them. Now I know that the Rapture is actually indicative of the day of Jesus’ return and that it won’t be that hard to spot. He says that as lighting is visible from the east to the west will be like the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:27). In other words, when Jesus comes back, everyone will see it.

This Mother’s Day was special to me because my mom is a very special person. She’s hardworking, loving, kind and even funny when she wants to be. This was a Mother’s Day when I was a little tight on cash. But my mom didn’t complain. Instead she helped me carry a huge dresser into my apartment for my roommate. It must have weighed 200 lbs and boy was it awkward — none-the-less, my mom helped me carry it. Not only that — she drove about 200 miles to get it. She’s a big fan of craigslist.org. Anyway, this is just a token of my affection to tell her how much she is loved and appreciated.

For some people faith does not come easy. Atheists, for example, claim to not have any faith in God. While I am not suggesting that they do have faith in God, I am suggesting that they have faith in something. Whether or not you are a Christian you have some measure of faith. When you go to the grocery store you have faith that you will be alive for another week to eat the food you bought. When you get into your car you have faith that it will start. When you’re driving seventy miles an hour down the freeway you have faith your tires aren’t going to fly off. So, no matter who you are, you have at least some faith in something.

Eye-Gouging
Someone came to my site recently asking, "should I gouge my eye out if it causes me to sin?" This is a serious question despite what it may seem. First of all, let’s explore the issue a bit. Jesus says if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out (Matthew 18:9). Have you ever met anyone that can sin with just one eye? Or would one body part be especially sinful over another? I don’t think so. What causes a man or woman to be unclean is what comes out of the body — sinful thoughts, wicked plans, deceitful gossip and malicious lies (Mark 17:19-21). Jesus illustrates this with the Pharisees in His time that were clean looking on the outside (almost pristine for the age) but on the inside were full of all kinds of wickedness ("dead men’s bones," etc.)(Matthew 23:27). The body part that causes one to sin is not really a body part at all. It’s the mind or the heart and not the physical organs either. Were it the physical parts Jesus might be suggesting lobotomies or heart transplants in physically healthy organs.

In my bible a while back I looked in one of the footnotes about demon-possession and it said that some forms of schizophrenia were from demon possession or oppression. I have searched this matter deeply, with God, myself, professionals and media sources. What I have found is the source of demonic power. It lies in strongholds of the mind and institutions of oppression and lies that have perpetuated themselves throughout history.

Today I finished reading Max Lucado’s book, "Facing Your Giants." The book is about the life and times of King David, son of Jesse, and his incredible faith and relationship with God as it applies to our lives today. The book read like fiction but the stories in it are either true stories from the bible or incidences in Max’s life. Because I’m not used to reading fiction the book was difficult to get into at first. Once I got it I was marveling at Lucado’s use of the modern English language and the American experience to write a book that conveys truth written about in the bible centuries ago.

Anxiety affects 13.4% of the adult population in the United States. It accounts for almost one third of the total mental health bill here. In this posting I will explore the issue of anxiety and its resolution for Christians.

In our culture, you don’t have to look far to encounter the source of most American anxiety. We are increasingly becoming a society too fast paced to keep up with. We are bombarded with information sources and media which distract, dishevel and disorganize our thinking. Don’t get me wrong, although we may suffer from information overload, we are blessed with a high literacy rate with cheap and easy access to entertainment and knowledge. So while we struggle to keep up with all the media we are presented with, many countries find themselves with high illiteracy rates amongst other types of poverty.

This book is great. I just finished reading it through for the second time. It is written by Drs. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. The book entails what makes a beautiful person, from outward features and cultural standards of beauty to inward character and spirituality. The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty contains very interesting drawings featuring the human form and inner workings using impish-looking characters to demonstrate the functioning of our bodily processes. I personally think the most redeeming quality of the book is the illustrations. Some of them are hilariously accurate.

This book was a fun read. In it, Dr. Chapman describes what he calls the five love languages. According to him, there are five ways by which people primarily show their affection. He talks about having a "love tank" that starts out full when a marriage or relationship begins but can end up on "E" when your mate doesn’t speak your primary love language often enough or proficiently. Gary goes through several circumstances he’s been presented with by couples in his many years of counseling. The stories are applicable, typical, and interesting. It seems that every story ends happily after the couple decides to follow his advice about speaking each other’s desired love language.

Some people say that there is more than one way to get to heaven. They claim you can be Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu, that you can believe in one god or many gods or no god but as long as you are a good person you will be able to make it to heaven. Being a good person implies that one has committed good works all or some of his or her life. Some people even believe that you can buy your way to heaven, which is similar to the good works theory. The truth is that there is only one way to get to heaven because there is only one God.

I heard a song on the radio about being "my brother’s keeper." It made me stop to reflect upon what that means. In the book of Genesis, when God asks Cain where his brother Abel was, Cain said (when he had murdered his brother), "I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?" Interestingly enough, God responded to Cain’s sarcastic remark with a statement that pretty much conveyed the idea that Cain was his brother’s keeper. To be your brother’s keeper means to be an advocate for your brother. As Christians we should be advocates for one another.

Christian power lies in Christ. Therefore the power we have is in prayer. I’ve noticed that when I want to pray there are usually distractions going on around me. Some religions tell us we have to assume a posture when we come in prayer. Others tell us that we need to say certain words. The best way to pray is in the way the Bible tells us to. In this article, I will enumerate some keys to successful prayer according to God’s Word.

Did you know that words can have power? The things that come out of our mouths sometimes can determine which direction our lives or circumstances will lead — either to a favorable or unfavorable outcome. Sometimes when something negative comes out of our mouth it seems to solidify or make manifest our fears or thoughts about our situation. What was previously a worried thought can become an actual event or fixed mindset once it has been released from our lips.

There are many books out that also proclaim a new ideology of the power of thoughts and the spoken word. Words originate as thoughts therefore thoughts have an impact on our attitudes or relationships and mindsets or belief systems. Some authors say that thoughts transmit a frequency into the atmosphere that is perceivable on a meta level by the entire universe. While humans don’t have the cognition that they perceive the thoughts of others they still will often pick up on peoples thoughts based on their body posture, facial movements and speech.

I’ve been convicted lately that I need to start buying only products made in the USA. This Christmas it was tough to find gifts at all but I managed to get a general idea of what types of products are still made here. For gifts, food is a fine way to express your endearment toward someone. I got some sausage packages and candy assortments, some from the dollar store, and put them in with presents. Here is a website I found that links to other sites that make products in the United States: www.stillmadeinusa.com.  Please read further and if you agree with me on the matter, sign this petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/madeinusa/ .  Hopefully, with enough signatures we can start taking back jobs on American soil and stop devaluing the dollar.

I am reading a book called In All Things that was sent to me by James J. Jackson, a syndicated columnist with publications in Chinese, Swahili and Malayalam. He has traveled internationally as a missionary and has four adult daughters and nine grandchildren. James was adopted along with his nine siblings after the death of his mother and father at the age of four by his uncle and aunt, David and Bessie.

I found the book to be extremely thoughtful and emotion-provoking. He writes using chapters consisting of short essays that give his insight on national and global social topics. His conclusions can be refreshing at times in a world that sometimes refuses to hold its moral ground. However, there are some points in the book where the reading is heavy due to Jackson’s tight grasp on his moral reasoning.

Do you know that there are 114 instances of the word money in the bible? Why is it so important that Jesus alone talked about money recorded in the book of Luke ten times?

Money can become an idol. In 1 John 21, it says, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols," (NIV). Online, the dictionary defines an idol as:

1.

a. An image used for worship
b. A false god

2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively
3. Something visible but without substance

The Shack, by WM. Paul Young, was one of the most comforting books I’ve read in a long time. Our church committed at bible study to this book. The entire congregation was encouraged to purchase a copy and we discussed in weekly meetings during lent season. There is a lot to talk about in the book. I gave out some copies to see what my friends and family thought of it. I received mixed reactions from them.

I’ve been noticing a lot of signs advertising events and even more merchandise devoted to Halloween this year. I’m going to be frank: I hate Halloween. I think it’s the worst holiday ever that trivializes and even glorifies things that are evil and sadistic. As I drove down the expressway the other day I saw a billboard advertising a "Spirit" Halloween superstore. On the poster there was a scary-looking skeleton/demon hooded in a black cape. I didn’t read the sign thoroughly because I was driving but the gist was that there was a huge store for all people’s Halloween needs — costumes, make-up, decorations, etc. When I drove to work the other day I saw someone’s yard littered with skeletons, and other Halloween paraphernalia. This person had even bothered to put up orange lights on his/her trees.

"’In your anger do not sin’:Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold," Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV). A friend and I had a disagreement this past month about music. We work in a home care setting where there are two residents: my sister and an older woman with Down’s Syndrome. My sister and I like to listen to music because my sister is unable to focus on the TV and for me the TV is destructive. The woman with Down’s Syndrome likes to watch cartoons, all day, and my friend likes to have the TV on while she’s at work for background noise. My friend dislikes music; I dislike the television. One day we had a disagreement about what should be on while we were there and if it was fair for one of us to have the TV on all the time and one of us not to. When I left from work that day after the disagreement I was angry. Apparently my friend was also.

Oh He died died died so you’d live live live in the truth truth truth of His love love love.

With nails and thorns in His lovely flesh, we are born again, by His wounds we are healed, His truth revealed in His love love love shining from above...we are bought by His blood, given to the Son.

As the days chip away we are refined by grace, like silver in the fire, our trials draw us higher.

His love makes us whole so that we may go on to do His will strengthening ever still.

His beauty emanates, His light radiates from our once cold hearts now reborn to start beating for him, shining through Him, glowing for Him, all for Him — callous trimmed, filled to the brim, thorns and thistles replaced with love sown with His own tears which replace our fears.

Knowing His grace, reveals His face — shining like the sun, a friendship won.

Recently, I was gripped with fear. My emotional paralysis came about when I started to entertain the idea that the end of the world was fast coming. Lately, I’ve been feeling the imminence of the end times. I would turn to the left and realize that there was no exit there then turning to the right, I would find the same blockade. My mind was basically frozen in a state of worry. Most people have undergone something similar but theirs might have stemmed from financial troubles or familial difficulties that seemed insurmountable. For some it escalates into a panic attack and lasts moments, while for others, living in a perpetual state of fear is commonplace. When the terrorist attacks of 2001 hit many people accepted fear into their way of life.

 It is easy to become distracted by day to day inconveniences. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is pushing against us. There is definitely a battle going on. We are surrounded by media and information. There is a lot to do and a lot of new things to learn and experience. At the same time, the pace of the current American culture is becoming increasingly hard to keep up with. As the Baby Boomer generation ages, they are coping with the grieving processes associated with losing parents and children moving out of the home. The youth culture is rapidly expanding and people are focusing more on images of physical beauty and wealth. With the population growing, many are turning inward to escape the outward pressure of conformity. Many are trying to increase their visibility, desiring a lifestyle glorified in the media of fame and instant gratification.

People that know me know that when I go places, a lot of times, I have my younger sister with me. My younger sister is nineteen and is physically and mentally disabled. She has what is known as Rett Syndrome. She cannot talk or walk and she can’t make purposeful hand movements.  She can, however, enjoy life.

Are you right with God? Have you opened up your life to Him? I know some parts of my life God is slowly working His way through. I’ve heard a lot of people say that you need to give your life over to Christ and hand over all of your problems as if it were easy. It’s not! Something happens as we grow up from our youth to adulthood that makes us want to be in charge all of the time. It is impossible to hand every choice you will ever make over to God unless you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our daily advisor. He goes with us from place to place telling us what is acceptable in God’s sight. Many people don’t want God to get that close. They don’t want Him in the bathroom with them.

When Christ is waiting in the Garden of Gethsemane at night (Matthew 26:36-46), praying to the Father about the crucifixion, His disciples are sleeping. In Jesus’ presence they were relaxed. They thought that He being the Son of God would protect them. Jesus, knowing the suffering He was about to endure prayed fervently all night asking that the cup be taken from Him if it was the Father’s will. Jesus probably wanted the only friends He had on earth to pray for Him. He had warned them before about His imminent death but apparently the disciples either didn’t believe Him or weren’t worried about it. They were able to sleep during the time when He warned them to pray and keep watch for Him. A couple of days later when Christ was tried they were no where to be found. It seems that they were then realizing that they were in danger, too. If Christ wasn’t going to save Himself from death, perhaps they thought that He wasn’t going to save them either. They couldn’t understand what was about to happen. Peter denied Jesus three times and for the last time, he called a curse on himself.

I was watching the news the other day and they were interviewing a man from Miami that claims that there is no such thing as hell, evil or the devil. He also claims that he is the Christ. Apparently, there is some following to his movement but I don’t buy it.

There are a few tricks that work pretty well in deterring people from salvation. One is denying the existence of evil, hence denying the existence of sin and negating the good news of the gospel. Another way to deter people from seeking the Lord is by dramatizing evil and making it so blatantly extreme it is foreign and incomprehensible to most people, as in horror flicks and Hollywood dramas wherein people are taught to fear it if they don’t have a silver bullet or wooden stake. Another way to avert salvation is to familiarize people with sin and evil so that it appears to be commonplace and not so evil — just naughty, as in daytime soap opera naughty. All of these are pretty sneaky tricks and all examples of ways in which spiritual warfare is being waged daily in all of our lives.

Few people realize that their spending affects their relationship with God. What we do with our money indicates what is most valuable to us. It indicates what or who we worship.

Half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day.* It would cost 6 billion to solve education problems and to create literacy for the entire world, yet in America 8 billion is spent annually on cosmetic sales. This is why what we do with our money matters.

There is a difference between being religious and being faithful. Sometimes when I bring up my faith to another person they back away assuming that I am about to preach to them or judge them. There are many reasons why people do this and each person has their own. I’ve heard many people say that they don’t like religion to be forced down their throat. This makes me wonder if they were brought up in a church that pressed the need for religion rather than faith.