USAID-funded sign encouraging extramarital affairs pulled after outcry

End Time Bible Prophecy

wnd.com

by Lisa Correnti

Fri Mar 22, 2013

March 22, 2013 (C-FAM.org) – Just one day after USAID released a progress report on development reform, a US and UK funded AIDS prevention ad was pulled for being offensive and immoral for its promotion of extramarital affairs.

While Christian and Muslim religious leaders called on the Communications Commission of Kenya to remove the ad from airwaves, it was a public outcry, in particular from parents that resulted when children viewed it during prime time airings.

The ad “Weka Condom Mpangoni,” which translates to “use a condom when having an affair,” depicts two women in a marketplace discussing the extramarital affair and the friend reminds her to use a condom while having sex with her boyfriend.

Bishop Julius Kalu of the Anglican Church of Kenya told Kenya’s Daily Nation the ad promoted extra-marital affairs and sex among school pupils.

“There are…

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California Recommends Gay Books To Students

End Time Bible Prophecy

California Dept. of Education adds dozens of gay, transgender titles to recommended reading list

http://www.lifesitenews.com

by Kirsten Andersen

SACRAMENTO, March 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The California Department of Education has revised the statewide recommended reading list for its 6.3 million K-12 students, adding roughly 40 titles focused on homosexuality or gender confusion.

The list, which was last revised in 2008, contains more than 7,800 books categorized by grades K-2, 3-5, middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). This is the first time the state has included books that won the Stonewall Book Awards, a gay-centered award for literature celebrating the homosexual lifestyle.

“We have titles in the list for the LGBT community for multiple recommended grade levels,” Roxane Fidler, the CDE’s education programs consultant, told the San Jose Mercury News. “There are books from the Stonewall Book Awards, which has not previously been on the list.”

Fidler…

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How To Abide in Christ. Paul Washer

Jesus Is Alive and Active

altruistico

Hebrews 10:10-14

Have you ever wondered what Jesus is doing, now that He has ascended to heaven? Our Scripture passage tells us that after offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Verse 13 might lead us to believe He is simply sitting up there waiting for the time when He comes back to rule and reign on earth. But when we consider other passages, we soon realize He is quite active on our behalf.

First of all, even though the Son is with the Father in heaven, He is also residing within every believer in the person of the Holy Spirit, whom He sent to be in us and with us (John 15:26; Rom. 8:9-10). Christ is actively working within you to shape your character and empower your obedience.

Next, Jesus lives to intercede for those who believe…

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Wanted: Woman willing to give Birth to a Neanderthal Baby

Samuel at Gilgal

Does this sound ridiculous or what? Even if we have the technology to create Neanderthal babies, should we? Jennifer Lahl writes:

No, this is not a tabloid headline you read while waiting to checkout at the grocery store or something you might read on Craigslist in their Help Wanted ads. This was a casual comment by Harvard University’s prestigious geneticist, George Church, made in a recent interview for Germany’s Der Speigel magazine. . . .

But just how far-fetched is this idea? In 2009, scientists in Germany reconstructed the Neanderthal genome and boldly proclaimed that with these new technologies (and $30 million) they could produce a living Neanderthal. . . .

As scientists pursue this technology in hopes of resurrecting an extinct species or of dealing with endangered species, one has to wonder what limits should be placed on this new science? What are the moral criteria that will be…

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Rob Bell Affirms Gay Marriage

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Of Christ!

Rob Bell, controversial author and former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, affirmed and openly endorsed gay marriage Sunday at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral in response to a question regarding same-sex marriage, the Christian Research Network reports. Bell said: “I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it’s a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs — I think this is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are.” Bell went on to say that while it used to be fair to equate evangelicals with social conservatism, that assumption no longer holds true. “I think we’re witnessing the death of a particular subculture that doesn’t work,” he said. ” … [W]e have supported policies and ways of viewing the world…

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Pay Close Attention To the Words! See For Yourselves & Compare!

The Obligation of Riches

As Christians with food on our table, most of us have gone astray here….

Shaped by Story

Take a look at this story, told by Jesus almost 2000 years ago. It’s found in Luke 16. The translation is the Holman Christian Standard.

There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate. He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because…

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Is Your Name Written In The Earth

Is Your Name Written In The Earth

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 15:47

IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN IN THE EARTH?

John 8:6(b)   But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not.

Jeremiah 17:13  O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

A woman was brought to Jesus one day

As the Pharisees wanted to know what He’d say

She had been caught in the act of adultery

For which stoning in the Law was compulsory

They asked the Lord Jesus if this was so

As they were trying to test Him you know

Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground

Without uttering even one sound

But they kept on questioning, so He arose

And He then made a statement to His foes

He said the first stone should be thrown by him

Who could truthfully say that he was without sin

Jesus stooped again and wrote on the ground

And before very long He and the woman found

That they were left standing quite alone

Cause the Pharisees had slunk off home

He asked the woman where her accusers were

And whether any man was left to condemn her

“No man Lord”, is what the woman said

“Neither do I condemn you”, He said

Her entire being was flooded with grace

As she met with her Saviour face to Face

“Go and sin no more” were the words He spoke

And she was filled with faith, love and hope

Why did the Lord Jesus write in the ground that day

Please tell me oh Lord, is what we must pray

We must ask why our Lord Jesus did what He did

And why this marvellous Truth has been hid

God hides these things from the prudent and wise

Whose hearts are on earth and not in the skies

He has revealed them to babes who rest in Him

And who know they’ve been forgiven of their sin

The Scriptures were fulfilled that momentous day

In the most astounding and astonishing way

It is not just the New Testament that is reliable

Our Lord Jesus is on every page of the Bible

The Old Testament is not a boring old history book

If you think that, then I’d urge you to take a look

And see that the New is in the Old concealed

And the Old is in the New revealed

The New is in the Old contained

And the Old is in the New explained

Those Scribes and Pharisees knew the Law

And they must have been shaken to the core

When the Lord Jesus fulfilled in Jeremiah Seventeen

What was written and preserved in Verse Thirteen

We do not know if they actually saw their own name

Of if they understood Jeremiah’s very serious claim

That those who depart from the hope of Israel

Will indeed tell an horrendous and horrifying tale

If they forsake the Lord of glory and they depart

They will end up in hell with a stony heart

They have forsaken the Fountain of Living Water

Whether they be father, mother, son or daughter

They think they’re not sinners but cast the blame

And the last thing they’d do is call on God’s Name

They have a form of religion but it is just a bluff

Their good deeds and self-righteousness are not enough

Their names are not in the Lambs Book of Life

Oh no…

But in this devilish earth that is down below

………………

So ponder these questions now that you’ve heard

The stupendous Truth contained in God’s Word

WHERE HAS THE FINGER OF GOD WRITTEN YOUR NAME?

AND WHAT WAS THE REASON OUR LORD JESUS CAME?

yh

Dick and Yvonne Harris, P.O. Box 281, Umhlanga Rocks 4320. Tel/Fax (manual) 031 5612526. Email address: dickharris@absamail.co.za                   Date unknown.

via Is Your Name Written In The Earth.

 

Noah, His Neighbors, and the Moral Barometer

LURCH TOWARD TRANSGENDERISM PUSHED BY OBAMA

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1Corinthians 6:19) KJV

End Time Bible Prophecy

Colleges also facilitating move toward sex-change surgeries as routine

SOURCE

By Michael F. Haverluck

The expression “boys will be boys” is no longer true at dozens of America’s universities who are offering sex change operations with paid tuition fees. Instead, “boys will be girls” more accurately portrays the thinking behind the new health coverage policies at many of America’s elite colleges, which, according to the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Line of Fire,” reflect the agenda pushed by the Obama administration.

Michael L. Brown, host of Line of Fire, said in a WND interview that universities routinely teach that gender is a matter of mind, not physical assignment at birth, so it’s changeable.

And President Obama has been helping spread that idea.

“Without a doubt, the president and his administration have been real game changers, not so much in changing public opinion from scratch, but rather…

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REMOVE THE EVIL MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES

Feminist Indoctrination: From The Super Bowl To You

Workman is Worthy Ministry

Speaking about the scene at his workplace, one Christian brother said that he sometimes noticed married women huddling up to discuss the flaws of their husbands. This man made the point that in almost every case, the wives sought advice from women who were divorced–sometimes, the amateur counselors even had more than one failed marriage in their past.

“Why do you think that is?” the brother asked. “Don’t you think they would consider counsel from a lady who’s thirty years into a marriage?” These are excellent questions. If you need a building constructed, do you hire an engineer whose buildings are collapsing after a few years? When you want your teeth repaired, do you find the dentist with the worst online ratings in town, who leaves his patients needing a tube of Fixodent? Of course not.

But these women, and countless others, are going to ask the coworkers, family and…

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Apostate Food in Jesus’ Name

this post is a blessing.

BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

http://raptureready.com/soap/cameron25.html

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Revelation Chapter 6 “Pale Horsemen Of The Apocalypse” Paul Begley (video) He explains where we are with the seals!

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Of Christ!

“Pastor Paul Begley reads chapter 6 in Revelation and then explains where we are in the seals.  I believe this also, it’s amazing insight.  He mentions the pale horse and say’s it was caught on camera in Egypt.  After you watch Pastor Paul, watch the video of the pale horse in Egypt. Maranatha.”

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Are We the Jews and the Greeks of 1 Corinthians?

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

1Corinthians 1:22

 

When we read the Bible today we tend to interpret it based on our contemporary understanding of the world.  But if we look at this passage from the perspective of someone living in early Christian times, it says much more than what appears.

The Jews and Greeks are the major groups that Paul was addressing in the letter to the Corinthians.

Paul says that the Jews require a sign in order to believe something. He also says the Greeks will believe something if they are able to reach it through rationalization and idealization.

There is a special link between the Greeks and the Jews in the Bible. The Greeks were descendants of Japeth, son of Noah.

English: Illustration by James Tissot Copyright de Brunoff 1904 Source: http://www.cts.edu/ImageLibrary/tissot.cfm (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shabbat Shalom 
Miketz (Genesis 41:1 – 44:17) 

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

(excerpt)

“…The Talmud cites the verse, “May God expand Japheth and may he (Japheth) dwell in the tents of Shem”(Genesis 9: 27) as proof that the Torah was not to be translated into any language except Greek (Babylonia Talmud Megillah 9b). The verse is Noah’s blessing to Japheth and Shem for their modest behavior after he was shamed by their brother Ham. The Talmud’s reading of the verse turns Japheth and Shem into symbols. Japheth is the forerunner of Greece and Shem; the progenitor of Israel. The expansion of Japheth is the beautiful Greek language “which shall dwell in the tents of Shem,” when the Torah is translated into Greek. The Midrash adds: “Let the beauty of Japheth be incorporated into the tents of Shem” which has come to mean the ability to extract the positive aspects of Greek culture and synthesize them with our eternal Torah….”

So we see that the Jews and the Greeks are to proceed together. It is interesting that in these turbulent times, perhaps end times, Greece and Israel are allies once again.

But we know that the Bible speaks literally and it also holds greater more expanded meaning.  The Jews and the Greeks are being singled out and addressed in 1 Corinthians.  Paul is referring to them as separate groups, but as parts of a whole.  The Jews and the Greeks are addressed separately, yet together, in one sentence.

They were the parts of the whole early Christian group in his letters.

They represent the same parts of the Christian group today.

No, we are not all Greeks and Jews in an ethnic sense! But ethnicity is not the issue here….it is how we approach faith.

The Jews wanted signs and the Greeks wanted wisdom. Those are the same  two groups that define us today, the sign seekers and the wisdom seekers.  Seekers seem to be falling into these divisions today more than ever.

There is a trend for believers to be seeking more than just the Word.  The bombardment of media with end time signs and with end time teachers (genuine and false) as well as the very strong role that science plays in our society have caused many of the faithful to require validation through these influences in order to sustain their faith.

Sign seekers are those that have displaced their focus on prayer and contemplation/devotion and the Word, and are focusing most of their attention on signs – end time signs, wars, famines, quakes, persecutions, plagues, harbingers, …..   This is dangerous because it has the potential to change the true essence of the Gospel to satisfy our need for sensationalism.  This poses the risk for Christians to sit back and become vulnerable prey of  the barrage of news items that are being tossed out of the mass media sources and by the sources of alternative media.  We need to be very careful how we handle this barrage of news.

The media blitz of end time signs serves many purposes that are not all on our agenda.   It is very important to be aware of the signs and wonders of the end times.  However, it is more important than ever for all Christians to take advantage of the moment and recognize it as a time to act quickly, because time is running short.  This is not the time to sit back and watch.

When the signs and wonders start, we need to become even more active Christians – trying to spread the Word, and  most importantly trying overtime to further correct our lives. However, we can be diverted by the huge influx and influence of writers, books, movies, news, blogs, sites whose emergence has been triggered by the end time signs. Some seek to genuinely inform and teach, others seek to enter the scene with their false teachings.  This can be a dazzling array of information that strays you from your task at hand.

It is very easy to sit back and become a student of the signs, watching all of the horrors that are taking place the way we would watch a serial – waiting for the next episode.  The danger here is that some people risk being overwhelmed by this, focusing solely on this and it threatens to become a spectator sport for many.

We have to be careful not to allow the huge stream of information that comes forward at this time to serve as an agent for front row seats in the Colosseum, hence not our agenda.  The danger here is that some people risk being overwhelmed –  focusing solely on this. allowing for these events and influx of opinions/debates  to become a spectator sport for many.

The wisdom seekers today are those that walk the tight rope with science.  They have the need for rational explanations for everything in order for them to believe it.

Christ’s teaching and the Gospel are simple truths, simple statements that contain the Truths of Ages.

If someone needs a sign or a rational explanation, then he needs convincing. That is not believing.  We don’t necessarily need to understand what we believe in.  That is where humbling  is necessary, to understand that our intellect should not be participating in our faith.  The intellect which is held in such high esteem in the affairs of the world is worth nothing in the Kingdom of God.  It is the heart and soul which serve as bridges to faith, leading us there,  not the mind and its logic.

The Bible contains the unbelievable, the undefinable, everything that defies our logic and explanations.  It also contains a truth that only someone who has humbled themselves completely from the humanistic and egotistic glory of this world can understand.

Many of us still hold on to a bit of our ego, a bit of the worldly society.  Many of us are still interested in what others think of us.  Many of us are still preserving some doubts inside of them.  Many of us are still trying to hold on to some vices or sinful ways, trying to allow for their faith and salvation without having to sacrifice being of this world.

This individualization of the Christ’s teachings and laws, trying to customize them to our liking, to fit into our life as an addition not as a radical change, was a big problem for the Corinthians. Some wanted their idols and Christ. They didnt want to make the changes, leave the world behind, jump the hurdles and change their lives.

Same problems exist today with the modern day Christians.

We can not individualize Christ’s laws and teachings to fit into our present life styles. Many of us want to be in both worlds. We want to enter Christ’s Kingdom, yet we don’t want to face having to run a tough course and jump huge hurdles in order to follow Christ’s laws and teachings.

And in order for many of us to get past these hurdles of faith today, we look for a huge sign or a good argument to give us that push.

So Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is talking to us, the parts of us that mistakenly hold on to the same needs in order to believe, as the  Jew and the Greek did then.

1 Corinthians 1

King James Version (KJV)

Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

² Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their’s and our’s:

³ Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

⁵ That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

⁶ Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

⁷ So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

⁸ Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹ For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

¹² Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

¹³ Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

¹⁵ Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

¹⁶ And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

²⁰ Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.

³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Bible excerpt  from Bible Gateway.

 

 

 

 

 

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“I feel like I’ve been losing”

I can’t believe what she said
I can’t believe what he did
Oh, don’t they know it’s wrong
Don’t they know it’s wrong, yeah
Maybe there’s something I missed
But how could they treat me like this
It’s wearing out my heart
The way they disregard

This is love, this is hate
We all have a choice to make

Oh, Father won’t You forgive them
They don’t know what they’ve been doing
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losing

It’s only the dead that can live
But still I wrestle with this
To lose the pain that’s mine
Seventy times seven times, yeah
Lord it doesn’t feel right
For me to turn a blind eye
Though I guess it’s not that much
When I think of what You’ve done

This is love, this is hate
We gotta a choice to make

Oh Father won’t You forgive them
They don’t know what they’ve been doing
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losing, oh no

Why do we think that hate’s gonna change the heart
We’re up in arms over wars that don’t need to be fought
Pride won’t let us lay weapons on the ground
We build our bridges up but just to burn them down
We think pain is owed an apology and then it’ll stop
Truth be told it doesn’t matter if we’re sorry or not
Freedom comes when we surrender to the sound
Of Your mercy and Your grace, Father, send Your angels down

Oh Father wont You forgive them
They don’t know what they’ve been doing, oh no
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losing
Yeah, I feel like I’ve been losing

Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losing
I feel like I’ve been losing

Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them
Cause I feel like the one losing

Lyrics Source

“Im Not Ashamed of the Scandal” Paul Washer

the web of astarte and mammon

This morning was something of an eye opener for me.  I realized something that probably never “sunk in” before.

I always heard, since I was a little girl, that man is with sin, corrupt and by his very nature sinful.  Fine.  I assumed that this was describing what man would be like if he was left “unbridled”.  So I understood that to mean that if there were no laws, no guidelines, no parameters, no principles and values – and of course no families, churches and schools  to enforce them – that man would steal, cheat, kill and “be sinful”.

Later on, as I grew older, I saw first hand the disastrous works of hate, envy, jealousy and greed.  So my understanding grew of what “sinful” meant and my big challenge was to be able to handle living among those sentiments.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I wasn’t a “holier than thou’ person.  It’s just that I lived in a very close-knit community where those sentiments were running rampant, with all the hypocrisy that goes with it.  I never recognized these sins in people, I lived alongside them.  I just felt the wounds, without understanding that there is envy or greed.

It wasn’t in my nature to be hateful, not just because I knew it was a sin. I really didn’t “know” it.  I was told these things, like most kids were then, but the message never really reached me. Why?  Because we never really knew how to distinguish hatred, envy, jealousy and greed – because we were living in it. Only the extreme cases were recognizable to us, not the subtle every day workings of these things in our community.

The American Dream, New Jersey 1991 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My community was made up of hard-working immigrant families in the US, trying to assimilate, trying to achieve the American Dream, trying to provide for, and yet trying to amass all that they had been deprived of in their war-torn, impoverished country. They were religious, hard-working and family oriented.  There were no issues of stealing, killing or coveting another man’s wife back then in this group. Yet we all fell prey to other sins.

Life in this community, now that I look back, was experiencing living  on a Monopoly board for the first time. You can buy property! You can buy a house, houses, buildings! You can do all these things! Riches and comfort that were only for the elite in the old country were now within our reach. From a life of hopeless poverty and war, now they had a chance to secure their family, and with comforts and things unimaginable.  This was the message. And this message permeated the very  core of the community, church, schools, homes.  Which home would be the finest? Who would reach the finer neighborhoods first? Who would have the most successful business? Which church would be the most elaborate?  Designer clothes, expensive cars, small luxuries – that was the trap for thousands of families that came to the US from war-torn places.  You quickly get over the “basic needs” requirement and forget how hard it was where you came from when you are dazzled by the vast, elaborate and mind-boggling temple of consumerism.

You begin to live your life worshiping in that temple. You don’t realize that you are worshiping, but the more you strive to acquire, the more time you spend honoring mammon and you starve your spiritual self.  And lo and behold, greed and envy became part of many people’s nature as they sought to acquire all that they saw, thinking that once you reach luxury level, you have attained the proverbial house on the hill- you “made it” – you “succeeded”.

You can’t obey two gods.  Mammon drives people away from God.

You can drive up to your elaborate and expensively built church in your best clothes, in your “good” car, but chances are you may be worshiping Mammon and chances are that the “church” itself may be worshiping Mammon too.

But why did I go into this song and dance about my past?

To elaborate on a point. We don’t see ‘sins’ if we live among and within them.  And I realized that this morning.

I was watching television. I hardly watch television.  It was the role that TV played in dumbing down the population and the shallow values that turned me off quite a while ago.  I’m not claiming to be the virtuous one. I am a well seasoned traveler in this life. I have done many things I am not proud of.  However, I have come to an understanding that I must live in this world, and this world is constructed with twisted values. It’s very fibers are twisted.  ( My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18:36)  We have reached the point where what is essentially good is portrayed as bad, and what is bad and evil is portrayed and presented as good.  So I work on “being in this world but not of it”.

Which brings me to the TV.   Here I am, after so long, sitting in front of the TV.    I put on a channel that focuses on travel.  What did I see? I saw a program that shows people who pack up their belongings from the “biggie”  countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia) and go to impoverished third world nations or to remote countries quite far away to start up a new life, building a new venture.  And the show focuses on their choice of homes in their new country – and we watch as they tour the different homes that are available – along with their real estate agent, and we see different homes all within their budget,of course.

And I saw a couple that dropped their life in one of the “big nations” to take up life in a Himalayan country, as they were establishing some sort of school/foundation/orphanage there, in conjunction with an already functioning school there.  I thought that this looked interesting, so I sat down with my tea interested to see their work there.  But that was hardly mentioned.  The show was focusing on the home the couple would choose to live in.  It was like a tiny one episode reality type of show.

So we see them touring homes and these homes were beyond luxurious compared to the horrid living conditions of the area.  Nestled in the squalor , perfectly hidden behind the street walls were beautiful homes in lush gardens with all of the amenities of the west.  And this seemed to be the  theme of the show, not “said” but “understood” : that there were little palaces to be had, in these terribly desperate and poor cities, hidden behind street walls, and quite inexpensive for westerners.  So, the desired subliminal message is : “With an investment much less than you could imagine, you can have a gorgeous home like this, in these countries.  How exotic.” An ode to mammon really, showing how the palace on earth is accessible, and that is what matters.  If you can live like royalty, blind to reality, how can you look up to the Kingdom of Heaven? You can’t see it from there!

I was watching them trying to make up their minds which house to settle for…and their issues were ‘spaciousness”, the guest bathroom is quite small, the pool is small, etc…  And then it hit me. If I were watching this a few years ago, I too would have been looking at those homes in the program, oohing and aahing at their beauty from the comfort of my couch – and interested to see which they would choose because that is how polluted I was then.

I don’t have an issue with big homes! On the contrary, there is nothing nicer than having spacious room for a family to grow…but it’s one thing to meet your needs, and another thing to need the excessive. Mammon creates needs, its part of the package.

I put my tea cup down, and realized that the show glossed over the squalor. It glossed over the fact that the people outside the walls of the villa have nothing to eat.  It was all about the pool and the bathrooms the size of a living room, when the people just around the corner have no sewers, no food, hardly a roof over their head. What deserved attention: the work that the couple were doing there helping others in the orphanage or the size of their bathroom and if the pool has jets? Okay. I was disgusted. I saw that we are marveling the luxury.  This morning I saw that the success and the allure of the program was just a manifestation of  the temple of vanity and the idols they worship there are astarte and mammon. Unknowingly we watch, applaud, marvel and live in this mindset, victims of this web of deceit.

I changed the channel and there was an “entertainment” channel, full of gossip and who is who.  I would have watched it years ago – and in half an hour I would have been a well versed expert about so and so’s tremendous party, where and when so and so was seen with her children and what they wore, so and so after her baby and she lost all the extra weight…these kind of things.   Today I saw similar things, but the glitterati involved were even more shallow than ever, and some appeared almost deranged.

We know that this celebrity lifestyle  displayed through the media is actually completely dysfunctional, scripted, full of substance abuse and riddled with psychological trauma. Yet they present it on the programs as glittering, alluring, they just show what they want you to see – bits and pieces of the celebrity life style delivered out of context from the rest of those people’s troubled lives.

Beautiful, Dirty, Rich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And young people are drawn to these celebrities as a result of the shrewd marketing, listening to them, copying them, following them, interested in everything they say and do.  They model their behavior and ideals after them, these celebrities literally have entered into the lives of the young people.  I realized that this is idol worship. We haven’t escaped the sins of the Old Testament at all.

You don’t need to visit a temple with idols like they did in the past, you just need to put on the TV  or read a gossip magazine.  You don’t need to worship the idols with sacrifices at the temple like they did in the past, all you have to do is follow their lead, copy them and try to model yourself after them – that is sacrifice enough! You have successfully pleased the god behind the idol.

Bloggers should never write long-winded posts. I apologize. I’m getting to the point!

. You sacrifice the sanctity of your very creation by copying much of the sordid values and lifestyles that prevail today.  You don’t need to visit the temple of mammon to worship it. All you have to do is put your energies toward seeking to get more, to have more,and to show that you have more,and  to feel the need for these things.

Children and teenagers are especially vulnerable to these pitfalls.  They easily fall into the traps of wanting to dress like celebrities, acting like them.  And the market (mammon’s high priests)  has cashed in on this vulnerability, conditioned these children and teens to think that they “need ” all different things that are being promoted, so we have little children with cell phones and teenagers that are more active in their virtual world than in their physical world, because the computer and online market (gaming, as an example) are tremendous.  The virtual world however is filled with many dangers.

So we are sinning constantly.

The majority of the population don’t view themselves as sinners.  Yet we visit the temples of mammon and worship idols throughout our day, like it or not.  We are being served glossy versions of something that is actually corrupt in nature.  It’s one thing to buy what you need, and it is another thing to fall prey to the conditioning that you “need” something more, something better – which you really don’t.  Greed hides behind consumerism.  You think you need things, but you really don’t, it’s an illusion.  Ask me how many designer pocketbooks I accumulated.  Seriously. I had a store a few years ago that sold makeup and accessories.  I, like so many other merchants,  was keeping the proverbial oil burning in vanity’s temple.  And I kept mammon happy too, making money off of the vanity of the women.

Think of the effort, time and thought that people put behind getting their hair done, their face and nails done, their wrinkles fixed, their suntans constant, achieving a certain “look”, getting into a certain social circle, being in the right places, trying to have influence, driving the “right” car, living in the ‘right’ neighborhood, or doing anything else that in their mind builds status.

All of that time to get these things was time WASTED.  All that time, they could have found God, they could have found His Son Jesus.  The road that leads to the temple of mammon doesn’t intersect at all with the road that leads to God. We are blessed though because Jesus is patient, and waits for us to get off the wrong road and to get on the right one.  But time is now short.

If you aren’t sure if you are on the right road, take a look around you. Is your road wide and easy to travel? Is it paved, smooth and is your ride just fun and games, with no worries? Is life a joy ride?

If it is, I suggest you turn around and head back the way you came. Until you reach an intersection with a really narrow road. This narrow road is bumpy, full of challenges, and the ride isn’t easy.

That is The Road. The Way.

Stop there. Find Jesus. Knock, He will answer.  Repent. (you may have never killed, stolen or cheated anyone – but we all have committed idol worship and mammon worship because it is the very fiber of this world). Forgive others. And keep on repenting, and keep on forgiving others.

You will then find yourself on the narrow road heading for the narrow gate!

Now, the challenge is staying on it and helping others find the road.

No one said it’s easy.

Related articles

• I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ/spurgeon (dailymannablog.wordpress.com)
• Are We Worshiping “Great” Worship? (aaronwilliamsblog.com)
• Is There More To Balaam Than A False Prophet And His Talking Donkey? (vineoflife.net)
• Bollywood, Drugs, Ethics, Politicians – A Heady Mix (yensures.com)
• Fallen Idols (litteration.com)
• From Whence Comes the Chaos? (macdumcum.com)
• Whom Do You Serve? God or Mammon? (myviewandopinion.wordpress.com)
• SOUNDING THE SHOFAR- Satan, the Cause of Church Woes (vineoflife.net)
• Proud Not to Have Served Mammon (theburningplatform.com)
• Lady Gaga’s Satanic Ritual At 2013 Inauguration (countdowntozerotime.org)

Shocking Youth Message Paul Washer

Praise the Lord for leading you to this. This is tremendous. It will speak to the hearts of so many. It blessed me, and it will bless so many others…. Thank you.

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Of Christ!

I discovered this Minister by accident while searching for another video, and I’ve got to say this was no accident.  God led me here, I know he did.  This is amazing!

This video is called the Background of the Shocking Youth Message, This man is an amazing man of God.

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