Happy Riches Blogs

Freedom For Feminists

2011-08-08T22:17:00.000-07:00

Freedom for some people is about being able to do what they want to do when they want to do it, regardless of consequences.

You could say that sounds like a good definition of freedom. Yet often the people who claim to be free are not really free at all. There once was a movement that embraced the slogan of free love. The culture was really about free sex. The pill had been made widely available and women's liberation was gaining momentum. At last women have been set free from the threat of having an unwanted child if they wanted to indulge in unrestrained sexual activity. The free love revolution hit the headlines and sex, booze, drugs and rock and roll was the rhythm of the day. So-called sexual license was here to stay.

The woman's liberation movement of the sixties was largely sparked in 1963 by Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique which denigrated the idea that childrearing and homemaking was a woman's role. There was more to sexual expression and women had the right to be as free as men.

Supposedly, men enjoyed a life of sexual license with any woman of their choice and held the power in corporations and politics and anywhere else that mattered.

But what were men free to do? Most men did not live such a life at all. In fact, suburban husbands went to work, came home and were often at the mercy of their wives, because, at home, the wife was the boss. Admittedly, there were many exceptions, but in a majority of cases the loving lady ruled.

Regardless of what certain people might like to claim, freedom is not just a matter of throwing off the shackles of being tied down to a home, or a job, or obtaining a university degree or anything else. Freedom is about being able to enjoy what you have around you regardless of your circumstances.

When freedom was gained for the Negro slaves of the Confederate States of USA, the plantation owners, who had first opposed the idea of setting their slaves free, found that they had a better work force that was cheaper than a slave force. They found that the people were still enslaved to the need for a roof over their head and the need to obtain an income to pay for the roof over their head and the food in their belly and the clothes on their back.

People who belong to the ruling class, who have the wealth to do what they like, are not really free, either. If they over-step the boundaries of what is acceptable they will be bound by the fear of being found out. How often do you see a politician disgraced because he thought he was free to over-step the bounds of social acceptability?

True freedom means that you can do what is right whenever you choose. If you succumb to your desires all the time; if you give in to your lusts; if you find your emotions getting the better of you; or if you find other people can push the buttons that ignite your outbursts of frustration and anger; the truth is you are not free. True freedom is self-control. This way you are able to do what you like, whenever you like, according to what is right.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

RELIV REVIEW

2011-08-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Riches said...

Reliv is an outstanding company. Unfortunately, the products work so well that there are many people trying to discredit the products.

I take RELIV and I know of many people who take the products who have had spectacular health turnarounds.

The issue about soy is largely unproven, and besides there are many other factors that have to be taken into account when making various claims about a food like soy which is used by many people as part of their staple diet.

People do not understand how their body works and people who are full of toxins and are getting ill are not taking RELIV. Nobody who takes Reliv product correctly suffers from illness.

What happens to many people who take the products is they experience some natural responses by the body as their immune system begins to force out all the toxins.

One man I know suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis suffered the symptoms of severe influenza for two weeks, until his body was purged.

Six months later the only evidence of him having had rheumatoid arthritis was from tell tale signs of his joints, but he was no longer in pain or agony when moving too quickly.

Unfortunately, for him once he was free of all the pain he decided he no longer needed the products and his body relapsed because his diet did not provide the optimum nutrients and detoxifying herbs that Reliv products provided. Then some doctor told him he had a better treatment and now he is back to being in agony.

I have remarkable evidence in photos and video of how effective the product is in getting the body to heal itself.

Personally, I would love to get a dozen people who had severe rheumatoid arthritis and put them on Reliv NOW or Classic and Arth-Affect and put the product to scrutiny.

Unfortunately, the company prohibits anyone doing this.

The other issue which tarnishes Reliv is when people join up only with the idea of making money who are relatively healthy. These people do not appreciate the health benefits and suffer later anyhow.

I take Reliv products and extol their benefits. In fact, I have been taking them for years and am probably older than Dr Mercola, but look a lot younger.

People say that soy is supposed to lower your sex drive. Well that is absolute rubbish.

All in all, RELIV is no. 1 in my book, and I haven't seen any product on the market that can beat it.

If the World Health Organisation were really about helping people, Reliv would have been given to all the people in poor countries years ago and many of the health problems that exist among the poor would have been eradicated because they would be getting the nutrition every body needs.

You can enjoy a healthier body and more energy by taking Reliv NOW and Innergize by contacting Reliv in your country. After four months your blood cells will be renewed and your body will thank you. You can order Reliv Now and Innergize by telephoning the Reliv Office in your country. To order Reliv you will need a sponsor’s I.D. no. My Independent Distributor No. is AURIC001954.

Have a question. Want an answer? Email me NOW at happyriches@gmail.com.

The Secret To Getting Rich

2011-06-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

The secret to getting rich materially is to use other people’s money. This is often called the OPM solution.

You might ask how can you use Other People’s Money and benefit from it.

First of all, this is the way the banks work. People put money into their bank accounts and the banks use that money to lend it to other people.

A simple scenario follows: You put your money in the bank because you want to make sure it is safe from thieves and robbers. The bank could charge you a fee for this. Only if the bank charged you a fee, you would probably keep the money under your mattress. However the bank offers you interest on your money, so you put the money in the bank. The bank then lends your money out to borrowers at a higher interest rate than what it charges you. The bank makes a profit on the difference on the interest rates between the money it borrows and the money it lends. The owner of the bank is using other people’s money (your money) to make money.

You need to learn from the banks if you want to make money. If you want to get rich, learn the secret of OPM.

Really, it is not much of a secret. Yet most people seem to be at the bottom of the pyramid rather than benefitting at the top.

What people do not know is that banks compound their profits by lending out money that has to be paid back monthly rather than annually.

This is how the system works. You put $1000 in the bank. The bank pays you 8% interest per annum. It then lends that money out at 10% interest per annum. You get paid annually. The bank gets paid monthly. People who borrow your money from the bank pay the bank back monthly. The money they pay the bank is then able to be lent to someone else.

Effectively, the bank has now created a monthly cash flow of money that they can lend to more people at 10% without having any to pay interest to you. By doing this the bank is able to compound the interest they receive on a monthly basis, whereas you are only receiving an annual rate if you leave your money in the bank for one year.

In fact, it gets better for the banks because the people to whom they lend the money put their money in the bank, so that $1000 you are getting 10% interest on can be lent to more than one person. Effectively, banks can turn your $1000 into $10,000 in one year and only have to pay you $100 in interest.

While you cannot be a bank, you can learn the secret of using OPM and leverage your own income and wealth.

You may wonder how a person can go from living in poverty to living in a palace within five to ten years. The reason is the person who does this has used OPM.

The easiest way to do is to get a line of credit. A line of credit in its simplest form is available in the form of a credit card.

A credit card when used for making money is a valuable asset. When a credit card is used for consumer purchases it can become a trap and a never ending downward spiral into greater debt. When used for business purposes, a credit card enables you to make the most of opportunities if you do not have the ready cash.

When you identify an opportunity to buy a bargain that you know you can sell for a profit, then a credit card provides you with the cash to do the deal.

John Fitzgerald runs a private company and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Because he has a private company, he does not figure in the annual review of the wealthiest people. Forbes magazine and the like who evaluate people’s wealth annually to publish their annual list are unable to estimate the worth of private companies, so the owners are excluded from the list. Anyhow, John Fitzgerald began his road to wealth by using his credit card as a down payment on a property.

Cash may be king, but credit is the queen of wealth. The two go hand in hand. Together they rule the economy. Put another way, one person might be able to slay a thousand, but two people will be able to slay ten thousand, to quote an ancient proverb. A little cash and little credit and you are on your way.

Making money is all about leverage. To use leverage you need OPM.

Two New Blogs

2011-04-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

I have decided to create a separate blog called Health For Life and a second blog called The Truth.

On Health For Life blog I will discuss the topic of how to have a healthy body for life and avoid many of the diseases that people suffer from unnecessarily.

On The Truth blog I will develop and explain aspects of truth and powerful insights that will enable you to better understand yourself and the why you were born and why the world is like it is. The issues covered will be spiritual, religious, philosophical, theological, psychological and even sociological aspects of your upbringing.

Truth is often substituted by theories and really it should be about experience and what you can prove now. We are talking about steak on your plate and not pie in the sky when you die.

Let's talk about Health For Life and get to The Truth of what matters.

Click here for Health For Life or here for The Truth.

When Will Jesus Christ Return?

2011-02-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

There have been a number of predictions of when Jesus Christ will return. One of the most fascinating has to be that of Frank Tipler, Professor of Mathematics at Tulane University. Professor Tipler claims that Jesus will return sometime before AD2057 at the latest. In support of this claim, Professor Tipler writes “Christianity is not a mere religion, but an experimentally testable science.” math.tulane.edu/~tipler/

Jesus said:

Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. (NASB)

The fig tree in this parable is often thought to be the nation of Israel. Interpreted, this passage above means that when you see the non-existent nation of Israel founded again, know that there will only be one generation and Jesus shall return.

Based on this above passage for centuries people have been predicting that Israel would return as a nation, and contrary to their scoffers have been proven right.

Israel began in to exist in its present day form when in 1917 the Balfour Declaration was made that committed the British Government to establishing a home for the Jewish people in Palestine. In 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to create two separate states in Palestine, one Arab and one Jewish. Israel was to be given independence. This occurred in October of 1948.

In the light of what Jesus said and Israel being recognized as the homeland of the Jews, it appears that Jesus will be returning soon. As for the exact time Jesus will be returning, predicting the exact day is impossible. However, we have a clue as to when the year might be because Jesus said that it shall be as in the days of Noah.

A generation can be anything from 10yrs to 120yrs. Much depends on what is being talked about. A generation can be a lifetime or a predetermined number of years. In the case of Noah, the generation that is referred to is 120yrs.

What this means in the light of what Jesus said about his return is that he will return around 120yrs after the declaration that the Jewish homeland should be created.

This means that Jesus should be returning somewhere around AD2037. Frank Tipler has Jesus returning no later than AD2057 based on information other than interpreting what Jesus may have meant in this parable.

There are other prophecies that have to be fulfilled before Jesus returns, such as the restoration of the temple and the gospel being preached to every tribe on Earth.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

5 Keys to Understanding Yourself

2010-11-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Human being has five aspects to their existence that are essential for understanding themselves. You are not exempt.

For you to understand yourself you need to realize these five keys are a part of your everyday life.

By finding fulfillment in these areas of your life you will find true happiness and true riches.

Key No. 1
You are a spiritual being. To deny this is to deny your own existence and the reality of being born.

The reason you are a spiritual being is that you can conceive the existence of the immaterial or spiritual realm.

If you were not a spiritual being you would not be able to conceive that hidden principles of existence enable the earth to have night and day, the moon to have a monthly cycle and the sun to have a yearly cycle. Moreover, you would not wonder why this is so.

Key No. 2
You are a psychological being.

The reason you are a psychological being is that you have a combination of attitudes and emotions that are formed as a consequence of your interaction within the social environment in which you grow up.

Basically there are only a few primary emotions. These manifest in various ways depending on the attitudes you develop as a result of being conditioned by the environment in which you have been raised.

Key No. 3
You are a social being.

The reason you are a social being is you are not a being that simply survives by consuming energy from plant life without the need to interact with other persons.
You need other people to learn from, to communicate with, and for personal development. Only through relationships with other people are you able to discover more about who you are.

You are designed to have relationships with other people. The truest words ever said are “no person is an island”.

Key No. 4
You are a physiological being.

The reason you are a physiological being is you have a metabolism that requires the processing and transforming of physical elements (i.e. food. water, air, sunlight) to survive.

You also need to physically utilize your bodily systems in order for you to be able to function. This is often referred to as “use it or lose it”.

Key No. 5
You are an economically orientated being.

The reason you have an economic orientation has to do with survival. This is because you live within a naturally hostile environment which has extremes of climatic conditions and the fact that you are a social and spiritual being.

An economy begins when two people decide to trade something. As soon as two people trade roles an economy has begun. Hunting and gathering societies are the primordial form of the more complex economies that constitute the twenty-first century.

For you to understand yourself you need to recognize the existence of these facets or areas of your life and then evaluate where you stand in relation to each one.

Once you know exactly where you stand in relation to each of these facets of your life, you are then able to discover and realize true happiness and the true riches of existence.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

God Sanctions Lying

2010-11-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Ask any religious person and they will tell you that lying is wrong. I am not just talking about men lying with other men or a man lying with another man’s wife or a woman lying with a beast or anything like that. I am talking about telling untruths, deceiving people, telling lies.

The book of Proverbs says that telling lies is one of the six things God hates. Jesus said that telling lies defiles a person. Paul the Apostle says that liars cannot enter the kingdom of God. The book of Revelation states liars are to be thrown into the eternal lake of fire, along with the Devil, whom Jesus said was a liar from the beginning.

Yet the prostitute Rahab, who happens to be an ancestor of Jesus Christ mentioned in his family tree in the book of Matthew, chapter one, is sanctioned by James, the brother of Jesus, as a virtuous woman for telling lies. She also is upheld as an example of how to be virtuous in the book of Hebrews.

This contradiction makes it difficult to defend the Bible as a book inspired by God, especially when the ninth commandment of the Decalogue states that to tell lies is a sin.

For instance, Dwight L. Moody, a respected preacher writes concerning the ninth commandment:

We have got nowadays so that we divide lies into white lies and black lies, society lies, business lies, etc. The Word of God knows no such letting-down of the standard. A lie is a lie, no matter what are the circumstances under which it is uttered, or by whom.

The Bible, however, seems to contradict what many people say in and out of the pulpit.

What did Rahab do?

Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out (Jos. 2:1-7 ESV).

It is quite clear that Rahab lied in order to deceive her countrymen. Yet, according to the writer of Hebrews and the writer of the book of James, in this instance, telling lies was an act of faith.

Hebrews 11:31: By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

James 2:24-25: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Evidently, telling lies to deceive people is okay if it is an act of faith. Besides, the ninth commandment is not “you shall not lie” rather, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”.

Proverbs 6:16 -19 distinguishes between “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who breathes out lies” as two distinct phenomena out of the six things God hates.

There is a significant difference between lying and bearing false witness against somebody.

To bear false witness against someone means telling a lie to unjustly accuse an innocent person.

To tell a lie that prevents people from suffering unnecessarily, however, is not the same as lying to deceive somebody for personal gain.

While the Bible states that God is not a liar and no lies originate from him, the case of Rahab requires some more thought from those who reject the idea that God would never sanction somebody who tells lies. Evidently, it appears that telling lies and being a liar are two different things, which is largely a matter of the heart.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Why I Am An Atheist

2010-09-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

The reason why I am an atheist is because when I look at the people who claim to be Christians and how they conduct their lives, I am sure God does not exist--—at least, that is the view of one atheist.

If God were real, why are people suffering in the floods of Pakistan?---wrote the editor of a Rupert Murdoch newspaper.

Many non-believers in God claim they do not believe in God because they cannot see any evidence of God benefitting people who claim to believe in Him, nor can they understand how a loving God could let people suffer as they do as a consequence of natural disasters or through a man-made catastrophe.

Atheists love to point to the fact that if a loving God were real there would be no suffering in the world, and, if Christians were blessed or favored of God, there is no evidence that Christians are any different from anybody else who is not a believer.

As for the Earth being ruled by a loving God, this is contrary to what the Bible teaches. The Bible actually teaches that this world is ruled by an evil personage who is the god of this world. With this in mind, there is no difficulty in understanding why there is suffering in this world.

There is a distinction to be made between the god of this world and the God of the Universe. The Bible is quite clear about this. For anybody who has a problem with this fact, the Bible extends an invitation to every person to come and reason it out with the God of Creation.

According to the Bible, the God of Universe has the ability to read your innermost thoughts and assess the genuineness of your intentions. If you are genuine and truly want the issue resolved for you as a matter of life and death, you will have an audience with the Heavenly Father.

As for people claiming to be Christians not demonstrating a life that is any different from non-believers, in the majority of cases this is true. There are two possible reasons for this.

One is that the person claiming to be a Christian is not really a Christian, rather someone who only pays lip service to the values of being a Christian.

The other reason is many people having become a Christian are still in the process of a metamorphosis and have not attained to the level of maturity that is recognizably Christ-like.

The Bible states that only a fool says that God does not exist. Many people have rejected God in the thousands of years that have preceded modernity, so the religion of atheism is nothing new.

The reality is you did not ask to be born into this world, but according to the Bible you can ask to be born into the kingdom of God.

The problem with the religion of atheism is there is no hope. You live on this Earth to worship your youth and then you die. There is no hope. There is no assurance of anything other than a futile life.

Contrasted to the religion of atheism, the Bible teaches that the Creator God will place an assurance within each person of eternal life. This is not a belief, but rather a part of Himself within the void that exists within all who have not asked to be born of Him.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Bible Teaches Men Are Gods

2010-09-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Bible teaches that men are gods.

Many people cannot believe that this is true, but this is what the Word of God says, ““You are gods”. Jesus even confirmed this in the gospels saying “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ...he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken.”

This idea that humans are actually gods frightens so many Christians who love the idea that they can do whatever they like doing, even though they believe it to be wrong, and then say that they are only human, and, besides, Jesus paid the price for our sins so we can be forgiven.

Our human weaknesses are just too many for us to be responsible for them. At least, this is the victim mentality that seems to prevail. But the victim mentality is not one that expects to find a means by which life can change; rather the victim mentality is an excuse to justify indulgence in so-called human weaknesses.

Like one spoilt sad sack I know. Being the only son of a successful prominent man in the world, he thought he would inherit his father’s wealth, so he dropped out of college, lived life as easily as he could, only to find that when his father died, instead of wealth, there were only debts. Now at the age of fifty-three he blames his father for ruining his life. Instead of getting a job or demonstrating the entrepreneurial skills he claims to possess, he sits on a couch most of the day watching TV, drinking beer and wine and waiting for someone to offer him a job as a CEO; all the time oblivious to the fact he already is a CEO (that is, a couch executive officer). The high IQ he claims for himself, according to the Bible numbers him among the fools, because he says, we came from apes; God does not exist.

Men are gods, but they shall die like men. This is what the Bible says. Men have the power to make decisions, having been made in the likeness of God, but just like men born of animal flesh, they shall return to the dust from which their chemical constitution is created.

This is the sad state of affairs. Too many people want the easy way out. Jesus said the way to destruction was easy, but the way to life was a narrow and hard way—well, hard initially, it gets easier as practice becomes the norm.

Actually, Jesus said that if you were feeling weary and heavily burdened from your labors, he would give you rest for your souls and put you in an easy yoke.

While, on the one hand, the way to life is hard, Jesus said that he would make it easy. This is a paradox. There are many contradictory truths in life, and many in the Bible. For just as the way to life is narrow and hard, it becomes easier and the potential widens. On the other hand, the way to destruction is wide and easy to enter; it narrows to become hard and unforgiving.

Originally, men were meant to be sons of the Most High, but because of disobedience and an unwillingness to accept responsibility, men shall die just like the other Earthly species.

The story of Adam and Eve demonstrates how people act. Adam blamed Eve for his sin rather than accept personal responsibility. Eve blamed the serpent for arousing her desires to indulge in the lusts of the world.

Still each one who is born has within the power to act as a god and make decisions, but unless the truth is acknowledged and responsibility taken, every human being will die as mere men; human beings made in the image of apes rather than God.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Why Is The Resurrection Important?

2010-09-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

The resurrection of Jesus is critical to the Christian message. Without the resurrection the Christian faith does not exist. Everything is wrapped up in the resurrection. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then the faith of Christians is in vain.

Some might think that the most important message of the Christians is that Jesus was born of a virgin. Others might think that it is the message of peace. Some more might think it is to love your neighbor as yourself. Then there are those who will proclaim to their own death that the most important message is the crucifixion of Jesus and he paid the price of sin for those who are to be saved. Yet it is without doubt the most important message for the world is Jesus rose from the dead.

Why is the resurrection the most important teaching of the Christians?

The resurrection of Jesus provides us with hope. If there is no resurrection of the dead then there is no hope of this life having any purpose and there is no hope of eternal life.

While the birth of Jesus is a miracle in itself, this is meaningless unless Jesus is resurrected from the dead. The fact that Jesus preached peace and preached love and performed miracles becomes meaningless if Jesus was not resurrected from the dead. The fact that Jesus was crucified and paid the price for sin on behalf of all mankind is meaningless if he was not raised from the dead.

Mohammed wrote in the Koran that Jesus was born of a Virgin, but refused to accept that Jesus rose from the dead. It is one thing to acknowledge that God can do a miracle and cause a virgin to have a child, but it is another to acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead.

To acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead is to acknowledge that He is alive today. More than this, to acknowledge Jesus rose from the dead is to imply that he is God in human form. Both these issues could be problematic to anyone who was attempting to start a political movement under the guise of religion.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, He is able to be known by you and me. Many people have discovered Jesus and entered into a personal relationship with Him. This is more than just believing a message. A personal relationship means something special that occurs with you and another person. God is able to do this through the Holy Spirit which is given to everyone who enters into this relationship.

This is the difference between being somebody who truly belongs to Christ and people who call themselves Christian yet do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

As the Bible states: If you believe Jesus has been raised from the dead, then you have the right to be heard by God.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Evil God

2010-09-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Most people tend to think God is good.

However, you would have to be wondering about the God who created people just to cast them into eternal punishment as being good.

The god of John Calvin apparently does this. John Calvin is still one of the most influential people within the Christian church, even though he died in the 16th century. Evidently, many theological colleges still teach his interpretation of the will of God as being sound, even though there are many Bible verses that contradict Calvin interpretation of the Bible.

One of Calvin’s so-called great Biblical truths is the doctrine of “Limited Atonement”.

This doctrine asserts that Jesus Christ only died on the cross to save a few souls and not as the Bible states to redeem the souls of every person.

The doctrine of Limited Atonement states that Jesus did not come to reconcile the world back to God but rather came to reconcile only those select people whom God created to be reconciled with Him. Everybody else God created to be condemned to eternal punishments.

The god of the Calvinists, and those who teach his doctrines, is obviously not the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible is a loving God who desires that all men come to salvation and than none should perish.

As you can see that there is big difference between a loving and good God who desires all men to be reconciled with Him and a hateful and evil god who creates people for the sadist purpose of seeing them suffer for eternity.

The other problem with this doctrine of the Calvinists is the god they worship must have a twisted sense of reasoning because he felt the need to create people so he could reconcile them to himself.

Why would an Omniscient God, One who is all-knowing, need to create people so he could reconcile them to Himself? It just does not make sense.

The argument is that Adam needed to be reconciled and all those who were born after Adam, were born into sin and this separated humankind from God, so they need to be reconciled.

Now there is no dispute about the fact that all humankind needed to be reconciled to God because of Adam’s sin. But the doctrine of limited atonements states than only some needed to be reconciled, the rest were destined to eternal punishment.

There is no disputing that Jesus said that hypocrites were going to be cast into eternal punishment. Actually, I find it rather interesting that Jesus seemed to single out hypocrites for eternal punishment and not those who are guilty of murdering, stealing, committing adultery, telling lies or coveting.

Not that I would want to be pointing the finger at anyone in particular, but everybody knows a hypocrite when they come across one.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a “hypocrite” as
1. “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion” or
2. “a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings”.

In respect to the first definition, there would have to be no redemption.

In respect to the second definition, our human failings might get the better of us; otherwise we would all be condemned to hell. It is also true that our beliefs and feelings can change over time, and the grace of God allows for our ignorance.

Regarding murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars and the covetous, there is no guarantee that they will escape eternal punishment, unless they repent of their wicked ways. But, unlike those who put on a public face of being virtuous and religious and upright but are not, at least, we who recognize the error of our ways have a hope.

As for those who put on a public face, not all are involved in religion, many use religion as a convenience in the hope of a get out of jail free card or to bolster their credibility for public office.

One has to wonder about John Calvin though. He was not only a religious figure but also a political figure in Geneva. But when he instigated the slow barbecuing of the physician Michael Servetus at the stake, it is doubtful that he was acting in a flash of anger. That was a very public execution instigated by a man cloaked in the appearance of religious virtue and political guise and justified by his doctrine of limited atonement.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Ignorance Never Ceases To Amaze

2010-09-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

I never cease to be amazed at how Christians can be so blind that they will continually “swallow camels and strain gnats”, as Jesus remarked about the religious in his day.

I went to a midweek Bible study being run by a Pastor I have just met. The issue of free-will was raised and this guy was on the side of free will and on the side of not having a free will.

Moreover, according to this Pastor, a person is responsible for his or her actions but does not have a free will.

I would have thought that it goes without saying that if a person is responsible for his or her actions then they have to be able to exercise choice in what they do; otherwise how can a person be held accountable for something that person did not decide to do.

People love to look for conundrums or make out something that is obvious to those who love the truth; it is a difficult question to answer.

It is kind of like saying to little Johnny, “Why did you kick the cat?”

Little Johnny does not why he kicked the cat, except it happened to be there.

Little Johnny is only two years of age. This Pastor is around sixty years of age.

The irony about this Pastor is he is adamant that people need to be held responsible, but he himself, being forgiven, is not responsible.

In this pastor we see the reason why most Christians are missing out on so much joy in their lives. Too many people who call themselves Christians simply have no clarity about what is right and what is wrong and where responsibility is assumed and what it means to be accountable.

The pastor claimed that there had to be a tension between the two views which we had to struggle with and neither was right nor wrong.

In the end, when pushed, the pastor admitted that he was a Calvinist and did not believe we had a free will.

This is the view a person holds when he terrorizes people and kills a few but claims the Devil made him do it, or some other force made him do it.

The Bible actually states that we are to resist the Devil and draw near to God, which requires us to exercise our volition and demonstrate how we use our free will by choosing to draw near to God rather than letting the evil one influence us.

Technological engineers are trying to develop robots and give them a free will because they recognize that man has free will. I will let you decide whether that is a good idea or not.

Meanwhile there are many Christian Pastors who believe you do not have a free will and the ability to decide for yourself.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Total Depravity

2010-09-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of the doctrine of “Total Depravity”. If you haven’t heard of it, essentially it states that all human beings have no goodness in them at all and are incapable of doing anything good.

I was just reading a recent article published by Matthiasmedia, written by David Starling in support of this teaching. What struck me were these words:

“While the doctrine of total depravity is not at all a denial that fallen human culture is capable of accomplishing magnificent works of beauty, truth and wisdom, it does remind us that on all these works of human hands—even the most magnificent—there will be the stains and smudges of human sin.”

The above paragraph is not what the doctrine of total depravity; rather it is more in line with another teaching known as Arminianism that was accepted by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.

Arminius rejected Calvinism because of the view that Jesus died only for the elect and not for all people. Calvin, of course, was so arrogant that he barbecued the Spanish Physician, Michael Servetus, at the stake outside Geneva without any compunction. (Evidently, in his shortsightedness, Calvin thought he would save God the hassle of having to do it at the great judgment of all mankind.)

Paul the Apostle also signed his name to murder and the pangs of his conscience were causing him much grief; so much so, that the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to him and asked him why did he try to fight them.

Now, let’s get back to the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity: it never ceases to amaze me how much people will go to support a position, even when it is obviously wrong, incorrect and erroneous.

The truth is that human beings are capable of doing good deeds. Even David Starling recognizes this. However, this contradicts the concept of total depravity. Since this is the case: Why support the doctrine?

It is very hard for people to admit they might be wrong because this sometimes means they will lose favor with friends or their position in society or cost them money or, as in the case of Michael Servetus, being barbecued at the stake.

While it is true that only God is good, what is meant by goodness here is more than what we think of being good means. However, man does do good deeds, even if they are only temporary and do not have eternal worth.

What I have found over the years is that a majority of people do not really want to know the truth; they tend to want to be accepted by their peers. Those who rebel against the status quo are often doing so for reasons other than seeking the truth.

If you want to know the truth, you have to admit that you did not ask to be born. I have yet to meet anybody who actually asked their parents if they could come into this world.

Since you did not ask anybody whether you could come into this world: How could you be totally depraved from birth? It just does not make sense. Yet there are those who will fight to the death in defense of the doctrine that you were born totally depraved.

David Starling further asserts: “Our children do not enter the family pristine, waiting to be messed up by the excesses of our parenting.”

Try telling that to a loving mother and father.

According to David Starling then, we can assume that every little child is damned to hell and doomed to eternal punishment; unless, of course, the child grows up a Calvinist.

Yet, oddly enough, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, for unto such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Why Prayers Are Not Answered

2010-08-31T20:35:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest problems why people do not get their prayers answered is they do not ask in faith.

I was listening to a man pray for somebody who was ill just recently and this is how he prayed.

“Dear Heavenly Father,
We are such awful people; we always do wrong and fall short of what you require from us. We are nothing in your eyes and are deserving of nothing. If it is your will, we ask you to heal this person.”

What’s wrong with that, you might ask.

Firstly, it is the prayer of the defeated. Or you might say the prayer of the hopeless.

Secondly, this kind of prayer lacks faith. There is no expectancy that it will be answered.

Thirdly, this prayer is an insult to God. The person praying is stating that God is a waste of time because he created humans as a waste of time.

Let’s get some facts right.

Firstly, it is true that people are born only to die and our lives are futile as a consequence of being born only to die. But this does not mean that there is no reason for us being here.

Secondly, if you are going to pray to God as your Heavenly Father, wouldn’t you expect Him to think of you as someone who is important to Him, as any loving father does of his own children?

Thirdly, if you are going to ask someone to do something, you do so in the expectation that the person will do it; even more so when it is a father who sees his children in trouble.

The Bible says the prayer of faith is answered.

Jesus said that if you have faith and do not doubt in your heart, your requests will be answered.

This is the problem with most people, they lack faith. They do not believe that God really cares. They do not really want to see God working on their behalf. They do not really want to have a genuine relation with their Heavenly Father.

The reason for this unbelief starts from a faulty basis of reasoning from which people approach God.

For instance, I know a person who has no family, believes he is the smartest person in the world, yet doesn’t see his life as futile. This is the case, even though he has no occupation, but believes he should be a CEO of a large company. The truth is he is a CEO, but not a chief executive officer of a company, he is the couch executive officer of the lounge room, who watches TV and drinks beer during the day and wine of a night. He lives off the government and has been doing so for the last seven years.

This person does not believe God exists because he is a scientist. He has no degree in science. He dropped out of university because it was too boring. Yet he claims he is a thinker and, according to him, science has proved that there is no God.

I was talking to a bus driver just recently who was telling me that global warming was destroying the world because the Earth was getting hotter every year. I asked him had he heard that the Earth had actually been cooling over the last decade. He hadn’t, but said most of the scientists said it was getting hotter, and he believed the scientists. I suggested he did some critical thinking. He replied, “I am a subjective thinker.”

So many people simply want to believe what they feel comfortable with and do not want to know the truth.

Either there is a Heavenly Father or this world is doomed regardless of what men or women do. Not asking the hard questions about existence, and then seeking God out with expectancy of being heard as to why you are here and what is your purpose in life is like saying I don’t really care if I live or die, or whether I enjoy pleasure or suffer pain.

The truth is nobody asked to be born. Therefore you have the right to ask, or even challenge God, to give you the answers you need. God has to reply. And the Bible teaches he answers the prayer of faith

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Understanding the Truth

2010-08-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Within Christianity there are many different views about what the bible teaches. One of the reasons for these many different views is the basis upon which a person or group of people begin to interpret the Bible.

Establishing a sound basis from which to begin to understand the Bible is important if you are going to find the truth and be set free from ignorance, fear and futile thinking.

Here are a couple of misconceptions that seem to bind people that call themselves Christians or, more correctly, identify themselves by some religious persuasion (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Fundamental) and carry a denominational brand; be it Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican (Episcopalian), Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Reformed, United Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Apostolic, Seventh Day Adventist, and so on.

One is that that Bible is the living word of God, when in fact the Bible states that Jesus is the Living Word of God and the Bible merely bears witness to him.
Another is that the Old Testament is no longer relevant for today, since it has been superseded by the New Testament.

Some more are:
You have to study to show yourself approved of God.

The King James Version is the Only True Word of God.

Man is completely and utterly incapable of doing a good act.

The Church is built upon the Apostle Peter.

If you do not accept the historical church dogma and statements of faith, you are of the devil.

Unless you are baptized, or sprinkled with water, you are going to eternal punishment.

Praying to saints is acceptable to God.

The second commandment of the Ten Commandments about manufacturing images and bowing before them does not really matter.

Once a person is saved, that person cannot lose his or her salvation.
All Catholics are going to hell.

All Protestants are going to hell.

Anybody who does not speak in unknown tongues is not saved and going to hell.
There is no such thing as eternal punishment.

Unless you keep the Sabbath, you cannot be saved.

Unless you believe the Earth was created in seven twenty-four hour periods, you are deceived.

God has ceased performing miracles like those recorded in the Bible.

The gifts of the Spirit are not available today.

Unless you speak in unknown tongues you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Speaking in unknown tongues is of the Devil.

The parable about talents is not about money, it is about abilities and gifts.

Good works will get you to heaven.

God does not require people to reason.

God is not really interested in human affairs.

God has not given humans a free will.

God has decided people’s destiny before they are born, so that nobody has any say whether in whether he or she shall go to eternal torment or share in heavenly bliss
God knows everything there is to be known ever.

God is not capable of creating anything he has not thought of yet.

The list goes on. There are so many erroneous ideas about God and man’s purpose for being on this earth, trying to work out what is true and false, right and wrong, incorrect or correct is similar to searching through a rubbish dump.

However, I can point out a couple of truths that you cannot deny. And if you are starting from the truth, then you will have a sound basis to progress towards gaining the freedom that comes with the truth.

First truth: Nobody asked to be born.

Second truth: Nobody would ask to be born on this earth only to die.

And a third truth is if anybody asked to born on this earth and they are going to die, this is nothing but futility. All this means is being born only to die is futile.

To me the basis of all truth has to be self-evident. If you start with self-evident truth, then you have a solid foundation with which to begin understanding what is true.

As Jesus said, ”The truth shall set you free.”

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Ignorance Of The Learned

2010-08-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

As I was walking along a street, near where I live, I saw a sign on the footpath stating “Grace Fellowship”, which had an arrow pointing to the entrance of a local community centre. As it turned out this was not the Grace Fellowship that I had encountered elsewhere, but a splinter group from the local Baptist church. The group is headed by a Baptist pastor who is a Calvinist Baptist.

Prior to his sermon, he began having a look at the first commandment of the Ten Commandments. He asked his congregation if anybody knew the first commandment.
Immediately there was that sense of doom and gloom overshadowing the congregation, which would have really been rather frightening had not one of the more learned opened his mouth and stated: “The first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind and your soul.”

Sadly, he met with the disapproval of his pastor. This was not what he was looking for. More dismay and gloom started to overshadow the congregation.
Not trying to be a know-all, I couldn’t let this continue and quickly put my hand up to draw attention that I existed and quoted the first commandment: “And God spoke all these words saying. ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: you shall have no other gods before me.’”

The pastor acknowledged that this was the answer he was looking for and then proceeded to quote the 1st commandment saying, “You shall have no other gods beside me.”

What he was saying is that he is God.

This might seem rather trite, but the truth is he himself said that we were not to have any other gods besides him.

Then he went on to elaborate upon what he was really trying to say, that God is the Creator and He alone is to be worshipped.

He also went on to say that four of the Ten Commandments refer to God and the other six refer to man. “The first four,” he said, ”are directed upwards towards God and the next six are sidewards towards man.

“So what!” you might say.

In the space of a few minutes, this man, who was about to give a sermon on the need for right teaching and understanding the truth, begins with misinformation; a couple of little errors. This is a little like a couple of shifts of wind that deflect the arrow from hitting the target.
Oddly enough, “sin” is often defined by pastors like this man as simply meaning “having missed the mark”.

In truth, or as Jesus would say, “Verily, verily” or “Truly, truly” this man who claims to preach the truth has missed the mark and began to inadvertently teach falsehood that will lead his hearers astray sufficiently that they will not get set free.

You see, Jesus said that when you know the truth, it will set you free.

You might think I am splitting hairs, but this is a really important and serious point. I am not arguing about church dogma. What I am doing is pointing out errors in people’s understanding of what the Bible actually says. There is a big difference; a significant difference; even a life-changing difference.

The irony is that so many people blindly claim they are teaching truth but in fact are teaching subtle errors.

For instance, the pastor went on to claim that he had a balanced approach and yet overlooked that truth that the first five commandments of the Ten Commandments refer to God and the second five have no mention of God. Instead he had four commandments one side of the scale and six commandments on the other side of the scale. Not exactly a good balance.

After the service had finished, I drew his attention to the fact that the first commandment was as I had quoted it and not as he had abbreviated it. At first the pastor pointed out that it is “any gods beside me” not “any gods before” as I quoted. So I had to inform him that the word “before” is used in the translation I quoted. And he thought I was being picky.

Anyhow, the pastor appeared to have a revelation regarding the first commandment of the Ten. “It is really about salvation!” he exclaimed. Then he said that I had raised a good point.

As it happens, this guy is developing a platform from which to claim his interpretation of the scriptures is absolute truth, untainted with error. In the process, he denounced every other position that he could think of as erroneous.

In our very short conversation, I pointed out that there were many people who subscribed to doctrines that had differing views of how they are to be interpreted, but the only basis upon which fellowship of Christians can be justified is if they accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He was rose from the dead. Issues about the Godhead and any other teaching should not be a disfellowshipping matter.

At this point, the conversation ended abruptly, without the pastor excusing himself.

And so the world goes on. People preach but do not practice even though they preach as this pastor reiterated in his sermon, “We preach; we practice! We practice; we preach!”

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The problem with being a Christian

2010-08-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

The problem with being a Christian is that there are so many different views on what being a Christian means. In the end, this becomes confusing.

The difficulty is Christians have different views on yesterday, today and tomorrow. You might think that this is impossible if the Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. But Christians, or I should say, people who claim to be Christians, simply do not agree on what should be quite obvious, if God is the same yesterday, today or tomorrow.

There are three subjects which concern yesterday, today and tomorrow. These are Creation, Salvation, and Judgment. Creation is about how the world came into being and is found in the first chapter of Genesis. Salvation is how people are able to discover the answers for existence and their purpose in life. Judgment is basically about the end times and whether or not people are going to receive just recompense for what has happened in their lives.

The Creation story is found in the book of Genesis. The first chapter talks about how God created light on the first day of creation and mentions that there was water and spirit. The light was not that of the sun, because the sun was not created until the fourth day of creation. So the light has to be something else other than what is understood by daylight or electromagnetic radiation from the sun. This fact alone suggests that the days of the creation are not twenty-four hour days. The twenty-four hour day is dependent on the sun and the earth turning on its axis. Neither the sun or the earth were created on the first day. Hence, it is quite obvious that the light on the first day of creation is not sunlight.

There a many different views on the length of the days on the creation period and these range from twenty-four hour days to billions of years. There are also theories about prior universes existing prior to the current creation. There are also different ideas of how humankind was formed. Some theorists claim that humankind evolved from a bacteria that was originally created by the Creator; others claim that humankind evolved from a primate form that was created by God; while the Bible simply says that God created man in their own image: male and female. This suggests that God is more than one, but the Bible claims God to be one, even though manifest in different forms of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Creator is represented in different ways throughout the world. Some see the Creator as a some form of force. Some see the Creator as a vengeful judge. Some see the Creator as an indifferent entity who is not concerned with the universe. Some see the Creator as a loving Father. Some see the Creator as the Godhead who consists of the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit.

This concept of the Godhead is also interpreted in different ways, with some accepting the Son of God as being God himself and others only seeing him as a demi-God. The Holy Spirit is also accredited with being God Himself or being less than God because the being emanated from the Father and the Son or an impersonal force that represents Godhead or executes the Father's fiats.

Salvation is seen as being predestined for some and not for others. Some see salvation as something that is obtained by performing certain rituals or doing good works. Some see salvation as something that has been universally provided for all and their is nothing that needs to be done to obtain it. Others see salvation as series of reincarnations or transmigrations. Some see salvation being only available to people who belong to a certain grouping. Yet the Bibles teaches that salvation is obtained by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of the Son of God, which some see as a progressive walk and others believe it is a once and only acceptance that cannot be lost.

The Bible also teaches that a person's name is written in the book of life. It also teaches that a person's name can be erased from the book of life. In the Book of Ezekiel, a whole chapter is devoted to how a sinner can be saved and righteous man can lose his salvation. Besides this, there is reference to people blaspheming the Holy Spirit and not being saved, and holding the word of God up to contempt. and spurning the blood of the covenant, and outraging the Spirit of grace, and being repossessed with evil spirits after having been made clean.

Judgment is about what happens in the end. Judgment not only refers to personal accountability and recompense, but also how the nations of the world will be judged. This is known as the study of the end times and there are many interpretations regarding this that are difficult to prove because end has not yet come.

Essentially, there are what as known as three interpretations which hold different schools of thought. There is the amillennium, premillennium and post-millennium views.

The amillennium view holds that world is already in the process of being judged and people of God are being tested, while at the same time God is working out his plan which will culminate with the church being triumphant and Jesus having fully established his kingdom on earth at the end of the age. Within this view there are many variations of interpretation. The Roman Catholic Church figures as the Antichrist in this view.

The post-millennium view holds that Jesus will return to earth and reign for a thousand years, after which the Devil and his angels will be released upon the nations of the earth. The judgments of God will be unveiled upon the nations and this will culminate in the great battle of Armageddon, after which the great white throne judgment will commence.

The pre-millennium view seems to be the most popular of the three positions. Within this view there are three perspectives known as Pre-tribulation, Mid-tribulation and Post-tribulation, that also have variations in interpretation.

What is known as Pre-tribulation is the popular view among Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. This view holds that there is going to be seven years of tribulation just prior to Jesus setting up his kingdom on earth. Before this seven years of tribulation occurs (of which, somewhat oddly, three and a half years are not tribulation but peace) all the believing Christians are to be caught up to into the sky. Then the Antichrist will be revealed and all havoc will take place on earth. This will culminate with Armageddon taking place and then Jesus will reign on earth for one thousand years.

The mid-tribulation position holds that the Antichrist will be revealed and then those elect believers, who are not deceived by him, will be caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the sky just before the three and a half years tribulation, mentioned in the Bible, occurs on earth. Many subscribers of this view have the three and half years peace occurring during the time of Jesus ministry on Earth, while some place this as the working of the Antichrist prior to the tribulation.

The post-tribulationists have the Christians living through the tribulation period and meeting Jesus in the air as he returns to reign on earth. Some views have Armageddon occurring at the return of Jesus and others at the end of the millennium.

Then there are the different views on whether people are going to be thrown into an eternal Lake of Fire to be tormented for ever, or only for a period of time or will be burned into non-existence. Some people believe that members of their sect are going to be raised to live for one thousand years on Earth during the millennium of Christ rule and after this, there is nothing more to look forward to. Others look forward to spending an eternity discovering and learning about new experiences.

Regardless of what many people might claim, there is one way to know if Christians really know what the Bible means, and this is by considering the Ten Commandments.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Good And Bad of Alcoholism And What It Might Mean When Jesus Returns

2009-08-31T04:00:00.002-07:00

I decided to attend some Alcoholic Anonymous meetings just recently. I hadn't been to one for decades. The last time I was at one, the convener for the night asked me to give a testimony. I stood up and stated that I prayed to God at the age of sixteen asking that I would not become an alcoholic. Then I told some of stories of what had happened to me whilst drinking. Afterwards, the convener who asked me to speak said, "You are either an alcoholic or not, and once you are an alcoholic, you are one for life."

Evidently, the Alcoholic Anonymous belief system has not changed. Alcoholism is considered a disease and incurable. The only solution is not to consume alcohol in any form, least you prove beyond all doubt that alcohol controls your life for evermore.

The concept of alcohol being a disease is helpful, but at the same time it is also a complete untruth. One reason for this is immunity to disease is acquired by being inoculated with a small shot of the disease. For instance, immunity to malaria or influenza is created by receiving a small shot of malaria or influenza. Likewise, one would think that if alcoholism were a disease, a small shot of alcohol would provide the body with sufficient antibodies to prevent a person from becoming an alcoholic. Makes sense, don't you think?

However, if alcoholism is not a disease, but an addiction, then the cause of the problem has to be an issue of psychology rather than that of a physical nature. In fact, the truth is alcoholism is really a spiritual problem, as are most psychological issues, only people like to make a distinction, and in some instances use the distinction as a means of denial that a spiritual reality exists.

It is ironic that God or the Higher Power (an allusion to the Creator for those who have difficulty with the idea of the Heavenly Father) is very much a part of the Alcoholic Anonymous program and alcoholism is called a disease. When Jesus was on Earth, he equated disease with sin, when he healed people of their diseases, by saying that they were also forgiven of their sins.

What happens at Alcoholics Anonymous is beneficial, to say the least, but at the same time it is restrictive in that people who follow the program tend to bound up in fear rather than the discovering the liberty of being set free from the very thing that prevents them from discovering a richer and fuller life of self-discovery. People who are set free from alcoholism are no longer alcoholics. But Alcoholic Anonymous members are never permitted to think of themselves as being set free from alcoholism and start off every testimonal speech with "My name is ..... I am an alcoholic." And this is their confession. As many have said, "You are, what you say you are."

The other notable behavior among members of Alcoholics Anonymous is each one tends to repeat his or her story over and over again at every meeting they attend. There does not seem to be any real change in their testimony, except when they decide to embellish the facts a little and make the story more sensational as they revel in the spotlight Some call this hyperbole, others call it evangelastically-speaking, while others call it untruth.

Regardless of the negative element, on a positive note, there is a sense of reality when people share how they are struggling daily to come to grips with their alcoholism and stay sober. Like any addiction it is not easy to go cold turkey, and plenty of support is required. Alcoholics Anonymous provides this support in the many meetings that are conducted throughout the world at all times through the day.

Upon reflection, I wonder what would happen if Christians were able to mobilize themselves into having something similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, where meetings were organized for people to go and confess their sins and pray for one another, as the Bible says believers should, in the villages, towns and cities of the world throughout the day. This might be inconceivable today, but could this be what is going to happen in the thousand years that Jesus is going to reign on Earth. I wonder!!

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Error Of Christian Views

2009-05-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Among Christians, or shall we say, people who call themselves Christians, there are many different views. This is normal and to be expected. For there are many different views among Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and any other identifiable bloc of adherents.

Now you would expect that if two people were to find the truth, that truth would be seen in the same light and both persons would have the same understanding. Ironically, the truth is that when two people discover the same truth, this does not result in the same understanding, but, instead, this often results in misunderstanding because the two individuals interpret this same truth differently. This might sound odd, only this is the truth more often than not. Instead of a truth being understood for what the truth really is, people will interpret the truth and then argue about who is right and who is wrong.

One way of avoiding arguments is to say that your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. This way we have no need to argue over whose interpretation of the truth is right or wrong. The problem with this apparent problem-solving idea is nobody really knows what is really true. This is because you could as well be saying, "You believe whatever lies you want to believe, and I will believe whatever lies I want to believe." However, we know that no lie is the truth.

The truth about people who believe lies is whoever believes a lie is being deceived. Nobody likes to be deceived, yet this is more often the case than not. Unless a person has the truth, then that person is deceived. If we all want the truth, then we will first of all have to learn to recognize what is false and what is true. If we cannot distinguish between what is false and what is true, we definitely are deceived.

One of the things that amazes me about people is they are all too often ready to defend something that cannot be proved, and quick to reject the obvious. Rather than admit to the truth, most people are more inclined to believe a lie, and then reluctantly acknowledge the truth when it becomes evident that continuing in their personal deception is going to be detrimental to their self-interest and there is no benefit in continuing to be deluded.

When it comes to wanting to know about the truth for your reason for being here on earth, you have to be honest with yourself. To be honest with yourself means that you have to acknowledge you were born on a certain date and have only lived a certain number of years on this planet. What this means is that you cannot really prove history and your personal knowledge of life is restricted to what you have heard, seen, smelled, tasted and touched. Your experience of life is your reality.

Some might say that your reality is not just your experience of life, but what you think of that experience. Your reality becomes your thoughts and not necessarily what you experience with your senses. Since we are conscious beings who are not only capable of being aware of our surroundings but also capable of attributing meaning to our sensual experiences, our personal reality becomes wrapped up in the attitudes we form, and the interpretations of the facts that we consider.

How you can interpret the facts that you see, hear, smell, taste and touch is evidenced by whether you attribute the creation around you to a Creator or to chance. If you believe that cities, planes, cars, ships and technology and other man-made creations were not created by a creator and believe that they merely happened by chance, what can I say? If you believe that moon rotates around the Earth and the Earth revolves around the Sun and there are seasons on Earth, year after year, century after century, and thousands of millennia after thousands of millennia, just by chance, then what can I say? Maybe mathematicians are deceived when they say that odds for such things happening by chance are beyond the bounds of probability.

One thing I know is that I did not ask to be born into this world. Neither do I believe that you asked to be born into this world. Like myself, you just found yourself here. Yes, we are all born into a world that is full of suffering, injustice and subjected to death. Yet according to many people who call themselves Christians, you and I were born to be cast into everlasting punishment by the Creator of the Universe.

Now I was speaking to a Christian Pastor and I challenged this view that people were born to be cast into everlasting punishment. But he said that it was right. Well, if this is right, then God is an unjust God. But according to the Bible God is a God of justice. Now, either the Bible is wrong, or this Pastor (along with all the other people who believe this theory that people are born to be cast into hell) doesn't understand what justice means and is deceived.

Personally, I think most Christians are deceived about quite a number of things and are not really seeking to know the truth. The reason I say this is there are too many Christians arguing about what is right and wrong because they do not want to have a clear understanding of the very words they use.

According to the Merriam-Websters dictionary, "Just implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper." To be just means "having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason" and "acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good".

There is no way that a just God could create people with the intention of throwing them into everlasting punishment. It is illogical and unreasonable and does not conform with being morally upright. Yet Christians believe this deception, and many try to use it as a means of scaring people into their brand of man-made religion.

Actually, the Bible says that Hell (the place of everlasting punishment) was created for the Devil and his angels. Nowhere does the Bible say Hell was created for men or women. However, the Bible does say that people will also join the Devil and his angels in the event that they reject what God has provided for them. Now who in their right mind would reject what God the Creator has to offer them.

The question for you is to answer is: Have you found out what God has put on the table for you yet?

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

The Evil Of Religion

2009-04-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

Religion, that is the man-made variety, is inherently evil. True religion which is the quest for the truth. Or, as according to James, the half-brother of Jesus, true religion is to "Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (Message Bible)

Some time ago I got acquainted with a group of people who had left the Potter's House movement. These people explained to me that the reason why they left this movement. From what I was told it sounded like this religious group was was a man-made religion and not a God-inspired movement. The reason I say this is because these people told me that many people were abused by the manipulative tactics that were used to control members.

The other night I popped into a Potter's House meeting. The ""P-A-S-T-O-R"" came over and introduced himself to me. He seemed quite amiable, but there was a sense of urgency about him. Another person came into the doorway, so I let him greet the next person. This person he made quite a lot of fuss over, and seemed to make a big point about a very small issue the person was having. This gave me the impression that he was overdoing the "concerned-for-you" bit and this man titled "pastor" either lacked a sense of proportion or was disingenuously making out he cared.

The service began and two songs were sung twice. The plate was passed around, and another song was sung. The pastor gave his sermon. Then there was a prolonged call for the unrepentant, the sinners, and the back-slidden to come forth and receive what God had ordained for each person to receive that evening. Since there were only eleven other people in attendance besides the pastor and his wife, I assumed he was talking about me. And since he had this inspired word that we were all present because God had ordained us to be there, I was obviously in the right place-- only I definitely felt no need to respond to his invitation, since I already have peace with God and have the joy of salvation.

Since I was not forthcoming, so as to appear not a complete goose for making such a prolonged altar call, the pastor decided to pray for two of the young Filipinos, so they might receive the Holy Spirit. This he did by mumbo-jumboing while he laid hands on them and encouraging them to mumbo-jumbo after him, so they might then have the evidence of the Holy Spirit. He then told them to keep practising their mumbo-jumbo so they will know how to do it better, and not lose the gift he had imparted.

Afterwards they brought some biscuits and chips out for everybody to have a snack and offered a cup of tea or coffee. As it happened, the pastor and I got to talking and he asked me to describe my religious experience. I asked him which version the complete version or a shorter version. He said he would settle for the abridged version. So I gave him a snippet of the introduction to the abridged version.

Evidently, having the joy of the Lord is insufficient for salvation, according to him. Having a genuine experience of receiving salvation as I have had is invalid unless I receive in the proper way. I needed to have a ""Potter's House"" experience and do ""The Potter's House" thing.

On the basis of the conversation, it appears to me that the Potter's House movement is in need of serious overhaul in getting its theology right and learning what the truth about God is really. Just chasing people in the streets and telling them they are going to Hell, if they do not repent and be saved the Potters House way, is not salvation. In fact, Jesus warned people about going all out to make converts and making them twice as much a child of Hell as themselves.

On the noticeboard, as I walked in the door, I noticed a letter from the chief of the hierarchy explaining how complaints against Pastors have to be processed. But it is not really scriptural because it is like the peers judging peers. If pastors were true pastors they would care for their flock and not abuse them. Evidently, the problem of abuse has been an issue that warrants letters from the hierarchy. In reality, a true spiritual movement should not really have this problem. A man-made organisation obviously does.

Moreover, I am of the conviction that if someone is really living for God, then that person would be very much a representative of Jesus Christ and people would seek that person out. I am sure that if people are demonstrating the characteristics of Jesus Christ, their reputations would go before them.

As we continued talking, it became apparent to me that ""THE POTTER'S HOUSE" is a man-made religion that gives people who produce growing congregations a self-righteous sense that they are serving God by saving people as they become members of the "THE POTTTER'S HOUSE" religion.

Essentially, the movement holds to the belief that God creates human beings with the sole intent of throwing them into an everlasting fire, unless they cry out in fear and scream out, "God have mercy on me!" After you have done that, by learning how to speak mumbo jumbo, you have the evidence of the Holy Spirit.

The truth is this:

You did not ask to be born into this world, so how can God throw you into an eternal lake of fire to be tortured for ever and ever, if He is a righteous and just Creator.

Furthermore, Jesus said this: "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice!'"

If Jesus says that God desires mercy to be shown to him, then most of these fire-and-brimstone evangelicals who condem all men to hell-fire unless they repent of the evil of being born a wicked person, and false-baptism-in-the-Holy Spirit Pentecostals, need to be set free from their deception.

The reason why God says He requires mercy is you can judge him for causing you to be born into a sinful, wicked world. Think about it. This is why Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy! Man-made relgion is all about sacrifice, never about loving, caring, giving, forgiving, and understanding the purpose of the Creator, so that life is worth living.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Don't Have A Dream, Have A Vision

2009-04-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

Probably the most famous words to have echoed around the world are "I have a dream". These words have been heard at conferences, sales meetings, church gatherings and motivational course events throughout the world.

Many a motivator, many a self-help guru, many a preacher has yelled, screamed and broadcast as loudly as they can the need to have a dream. "You must have a dream!" Without a dream, it is said, you cannot succeed. Without a dream you have no motivation; without a dream you have no direction; without a dream you have nothing to believe in; without a dream you have no hope.

The one thing that has always struck me about Martin Luther King is he got shot. Not only did Martin Luther King get assassinated, but his dream was also assassinated with him. You see if his dream was something that was suppose to happen, it did not come about. Although people would say that with the election of Barak Obama as President, he got to see his dream.

When I was reading the Bible I came across a verse that said that your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

When I read those words I was puzzled because a distinction was being made between dreams and visions by associating dreams with old men and visions with young men. There is a distinction between having a vision when you are awake and a dream when you are asleep. But when there is a distinction made between a person being old and a person being young and then associating dreaming with old men and having a vision with young men, there is something else to be understood.

The reason old men dream dreams is they never come to pass. And old people dream about the dreams of their youth. When they were young they had dreams. When they grow old they still have dreams, only they are now dreaming about the dreams of their youth.

Young people who have a vision are different to young people who are dreaming. First of all to have a vision you have to be awake. Secondly, a vision is something that you look towards accomplishing, whereas a dream is merely something that passes in the night. Thirdly, a vision becomes a goal, an aim to be pursued, something in which you invest your energies towards achieving.

Sportspeople do not so much dream about becoming a champion, rather they envisage themselves becoming a champion. Not all sportspeople can win their respective events in the competitions in which they compete. Individuals may outperform other individuals at various times, but sportspeople come into their own and become champions when they perform personal bests. Sportspeople become champions when they better their personal best times or their personal objectives. The more often sportspeople better their personal best efforts, the greater champion they become.

There are champions and there are champions of champions. Just because a person doesn't become a champion of champions does not detract from being a champion. There are many reasons why people can or cannot achieve what they endeavor to do. But the one reason they are able to achieve is because they are young people with a vision of success. They are young people who are able to qualify their vision as being more than a dream. They are young people who are actively pursuing what they see is a possibility for them to achieve. They are young people who can define their goals because their vision is clear.

Dreams are not as clear as visions. Dreams are vague. This is why most people do not remember the dreams they have while they sleep. This is why old people dream about the dreams of their youth. As young people they may have had a dream, only it was not a vision. The dream was not clear like a vision, it was a vague idea. Because the dream was a vague idea, the person did not know how to bring the dream out of the world of uncertainty into the realm of surety. The person did not know what was required to facilitate the dream. Whereas had the dream turned into a vision, not only would the objective been clear, but what was required to achieve the objective would have been clearly defined and able to be achieved.

Don't have a dream. Have a vision. Have a vision that is clear in your mind. Have a vision you can define and work towards with definiteness, and not be like those who wish the dream was more real. With a vision you can hope for something that you can really achieve by faith working through love.

http://www.tencommandmentstoday.com/

The Day Of New Life

2009-04-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Day Of New Life

Easter Sunday is the day Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave.

But did Jesus really rise from the dead or is this a myth?

For some people who think that a celebration is about festivity, much of the celebration about Jesus' resurrection would seem like nothing to get excited about. Religious ceremony just seems too much like a funeral with solemn faces performing symbolic rites.

Now if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then there would be no need to commemorate his resurrection, unless you saw it as a birthday celebration. Since Jesus died and then rose from the dead, his resurrection should be more like a birthday celebration, and should be celebrated in a grander manner than what is seen at the beginning of each New Year. I mean, how much more significant than entering one more new year is entering into eternal life; never to die again.

The truth is there is only one way to know whether Jesus has risen from the dead and that is to seek him yourself. If you are like myself, and have personally met Jesus, then you will be like myself and know that Jesus has risen from the dead. Rather than celebrating Jesus resurrection, you would think more about celebrating the day you meet Jesus.

There are many people who have met Jesus Christ and have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is like you have a direct phone line to Jesus Christ, and even God the Father. More than this, being baptized in the Holy Spirit is like having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ himself, because there is an inner assurance that you are in relationship him. Jesus becomes closer than your closest friend. The mystery of God is not really a mystery when you receive his Infinite Spirit into your own spirit.

To those who do not know Jesus personally, but have only heard about him from others, celebrating his resurrection might seem like a boring religious ceremony. To those who believe in the hope of the resurrection, celebrating Jesus on Easter Sunday would be important. But if you go into many churches, even on Easter Sunday, you might wonder what on earth they are celebrating. The singing is lifeless and the singers more like a grief-stricken mourners than people who are rejoicing because they have a hope that goes beyond being born only to die.

Whereas if you happen to go to a place where people have had a genuine experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the singing is uplifting and filled with joy every time they get together. This is because every time those who have been baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit have every reason to rejoice. Celebrating the resurrection is something to sing about, and not something that is restricted to one day a year, but something that is an every day event.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

America Is Sliding Into A Hole

2009-04-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Derek Prince claims God woke him up one night and asked him to pray for America. Evidently, God told Derek that he had shown so much favor to the USA but the country, its people, have turned their back on HIM.

Prince is now dead. But he did learn some interesting lessons during his life. A Cambridge University graduate became a Christian who entered into supernatural experiences and began to learn truths about the Kingdom of God that most people are too afraid to confront. From what I heard of Prince speaking about the USA, God wanted him to become a watchman and stand in the gap for her. Unfortunately, I do not know what happened other than what he commented on.

Prince said that there were supposedly 30 million born again Christians living in the USA. However, he doubted this to be the case. Prince could not see how this could be possible. Evidently, the USA is becoming more like Sodom and Gomorrah (or, as some say, Sodomy and Gonorrhea) as each day passes. Although, AIDS and herpes simplex 2 have been said to be the modern judgments for the respective sins that people receive for such acts.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. (RSV)

When people disregard God, morality slides into oblivion. Instead of having a unchanging standard of morality, relative morality begins to become the norm and situational ethics forms the criteria for making moral judgments. Effectively, this is where people begin saying, if it right for you then that is okay, as long as you do not trangress me. This where government feeds money into corporations that goes to pay executive bonuses, lurks and perks, and lurks and perks become hidden bonuses for government lobbyists. This is where the electorate elect government officials to implement law and order, but judges in the courts of law decide to overturn government policies and create their own precedents to which others may appeal, rather than have the law upheld. This is where the government can blame free enterprise for not being productive because it has been seduced into receiving tax funded payouts. This is how the homeless can live in streets and houses remain vacant.

Once there was plenty of land to claim and plenty or room for population growth in America. Now the cities reach higner and higher into the heavens. Many of the people who work in those tall buildings and live in those tall buildings appear to have become so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. If government really wants to interfer with the rights of people and do so justly, everybody should be made to work with their hands for two years and learn what it means to clean streets, clean walls, clean the countryside, and do some hard labor. Instead, we have people heading from classroom to classroom to lecture room and a room called an office, while others are shunted and shoved by authorities from one slum to another slum and are given nothing to do.

White collar crime is not as bad as blue collar crime which is not as bad as black coloured crime. At least this is what it appears to an outsider. The idea of justice, the idea of equality, the idea of sharing equity for a decent day's pay for a decent day's work appears to be foreign to the current culture.

Yet more and more people are heading to USA. It is the destination of the underprivileged. It is the destination of the wannabes. Only what they wannabe is not to be found in the land that is about to deeper and deeper into a black hole called debt. Not only foreign financial debt, but debt to God it cannot repay.

The true riches of life are not evaporating from those who become wise, only those who worship the god of greed, the god of immorality, the ravenous god of despair. Like the leech, this god is never satisfied, and like the leech, the god of despair just doesn't care.

http://www.tencommandmentstoday.com/

The Day Jesus Will Return

2009-04-08T04:05:00.000-07:00

In the book of Acts, angels appeared and told the apostles that Jesus would return on a cloud in the same way they were watching him move out of hemisphere on a cloud.

It has been suggested that Jesus left earth on a spaceship. The disciples were not seeing a cloud, rather the smoke from the jet engines.

Today is a significant day in the Jewish calendar. The reason for this is every 28 years the sun rises in a direct line over the wailing wall of Jerusalem.

General news release reports:

TENS of thousands of Jewish faithful gathered before sunrise today in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to bless the sun in a prayer that is said once every 28 years.

Dressed in white prayer shawls, men and women, adults and children filled the plaza in front of the wall, Judaism's holiest site, and crowded on the rooftops around the area to catch the glimpse of the sun rising over the Holy City.

As the faithful swayed back and forth in prayer, the area filled with the din of the Birkat Hakhama prayer.

The prayer is said as the sun comes up to mark what according to Jewish tradition is the sun's return to its position at the moment that the universe was created 5769 years ago.
It returns to the spot once every 28 years.

The prayer has special significance this year because it coincides with the start of the Passover holiday, one of Judaism's most important, at sundown today.

The Wailing Wall, also called the Western Wall, sits below the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest place.

The next time this will occur is on Wednesday, April 8, 2037.

Jesus said "As in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man."

When Noah started building the ark, it took him 120 years to complete before the flood came.

Now here is the interesting bit.

In 1917, the Israelites were given official recognition to reinhabit Palestine once more. This was known as the Balfour Declaration. Just like in the days of Noah, if we add 120 years to the declaration of the Balfour Declaration we come up with the year 2037.

Now wouldn't it be rather humorous of God, for His Son to return on the morning when the Jewish nation is praying for the sun's return.

Jesus said that nobody knew the hour or the day of his return. But I reckon that this is a good guess.

As for not knowing the hour or the day, we are told we could know the season, so there are four seasons in the year. What would be more memorable for the Lord to return around the time of the Passover. Or as the angels said to the disciples, 4o days after Jesus resurrection, as you see him go, so you shall see him return.

There are a number of reasons why Jesus could not return just yet.

One reason is the gospel has to be preached to all the tribes of the earth.

Another reason is the man who opposes himself against every god, even the Creator, and who proclaims himself to be God has not yet appeared to sit on the seat in the Jerusalem temple.

A third reason is the temple is still the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest place.

But the Iraelites are still praying there. Expect changes in the next 28 years.

www.tencommandmentstoday.com

Todd Bentley and The Lakeland Revival

2009-04-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

I came across this following article which I thought was very interesting and well worth reading.

It was found at http://www.stormharvest.com.au/

The Lakeland Outpouring and Todd Bentley

By Robert I Holmes and Brian Medway We are whole hearted supporters of revival, and certainly the renewed focus on the miracle working aspects of the gospel. We love the documented testimonies being shared by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton of http://www.ibethel.org/ in California. Fervour for God, and a desire to see revival are good and godly things.

A renewed interest in ministering with angels, prophetic ministry and sharing the testimony of Christ in these last days is admirable too (Revelation 19:10).So how about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Florida phenomena? More than a dozen Christian leaders have written to us recently, asking what our take on all this was, and whether we thought this was a genuine move of God. That we cannot tell you - for neither of us has been over to it. For reasons outlined below, we have no intention of going.

What is being broadcast (also outlined in more detail below) in Lakeland leaves us rather disturbed. A close ministry associate hosted Todd Bentley in Melbourne, Australia, and can testify to the positive influence he had during events a few years ago. Indeed heaven touched earth. Another ministry associate in Nigeria testified to the genuine miracles and healings which took place there under his ministry. A friend in Carolina testified to Todd's recent honour toward older prophetic men such as Paul Cain and Bob Jones. This is all good.

By no means do we wish to encourage heresy hunting, or criticism of other sincere brethren. What do we gain by spending time and energy criticizing others? What do we gain spending time and energy publishing material denouncing others, let us seek Christ. Our reason for writing is to sound a warning, to refocus our attention on things that are true and things which really matter. The key phrase for us is that, "This is God, but it isn't all God."

The gospel we preachIt is from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34) and it is what is inside a man that makes him unclean (Matthew 15:11). Our letters, emails, correspondence, prayer meetings and web sites portray to the world what is inside us. Our broadcasts, messages, podcasts and videos are an expression of our hearts. So if we want to know what a person's passions are ... simply listen to them. The apostle Paul issued a stern warning to us about men or angels who preach another gospel or that demand attention (Galatians 1:7).

Though angels are part of our worship celebration, of healing the sick and even preaching the gospel we must be wary of worshipping them, honouring them overly and being puffed up with visions (Collosians 2:18).

What then is the gospel being presented through Todd's ministry and the Lakeland Revival? What are the first things being concentrated on in the preaching there?Angels are central http://www.god.tv/ Angels are the focus of this Florida outpouring (opening screen, banner).

Todd, in his May 9th, 2008 address speaks of the release of financial angels. Todd claims to be walking with the angel who accompanied William Branham. He promotes an angel named Emma, said to be associated with the prophetic movement in Kansas City. Jesus intimates that angels to have assignments, but that they are without gender (Matthew 22:30). We find Todd's miracle working and healing quite different to the word of knowledge based ministry of Branham.Third heaven focushttp://www.extremeprophetic.com/

n an interview with Bob Jones, Todd Bentley and Patricia King, Todd focused in on the idea that, "Relationship with Jesus starts in the third heaven" and that we "have experiences in the supernatural dimension, to release the glory"... (WSTK-ITV broadcast). We find it difficult to substantiate either of these statements in the gospels.Appeals for moneyhttp://www.lakelandrevival.tv/

The first thing presenting itself at both the main web sites is a request for money to keep the meetings going in the large auditorium (http://www.ignitedchurch.com/).

Evidently the finances are not sustaining the revival. For this to happen so early on seems to indicate an incorrect focus, or a reliance on human technique.Focus on anointingwww.hubpages.com/hub/Lakeland-revival

"One of the ten anointings that was going to manifest is the fire anointing!!!" (April 27th, 2008). There's the prophetic anointing, the healing anointing, the prayer anointing, and our favourite - the anointing to cancel debt (May 9th 2008). It is once again very difficult to substantiate such anointings from the Word of God.

Transferable impartation http://www.freshfire.ca/ the oft repeated phrase is "Come and Get Some" - some what? Stroll around the web site and it's all about Todd, and all about supernatural impartation. Great, but what about Jesus Christ? How about the things He cares about - the lost, the lame, the poor, the widow and the orphan? Heavy self promotion www.charismamag.com/news

Why do we have to promote, advertise and request for a revival? When did revivalists have to call their own meetings "a healing outpouring" and "the greatest revival in history"? This trend of self promotion is disturbing. www.ustream.tv/channel/great-florida-healing-revival

The use of and promotion of violenceWhilst we recognise that at times God uses unconventional means to heal (such as spitting in the dirt) or raise the dead (like lieing on the body of a boy), the use of violence in promoting the gospel seems to go right against the heart of who Christ is. Over several meetings Todd laid out the use of violence in his ministry including kicking a lady in the face, spear tackling a man, smashing a cripples legs, and chocking a man to bring deliverance.

Questions

1. Why are we calling this a revival? The largest churches in the UK (such as Kensington International) draw more people every week than are turning up to Lakeland. The largest church in Nigeria (Faith Temple) draws three times that number! These churches win as many people to Christ each week as are being won at Lakeland. We do not call them revival because such a term implies that communities are being affected, towns are being changed, nations are being shaken. Our team has searched earnestly for credible evaluations of how many have been saved in Lakeland, Florida. We could not find any. There are estimates of how many people show up, and how many are falling down - but not of salvations?

2. Why have all the recent "revivals" which cause tourism take place in America? Toronto, Smithton, Pensacola, Lakeland... thousands travelling to see it. In the last week of June, 2008 there was a baptism of 10,000 new converts, gathered in from hundreds of COC churches in Northern India (where it is illegal to change religion). Two weeks after that, there was the confirmation of 8,000 new converts in a Pentecostal assembly in Uganda. It is estimated that 1,000 Iraqis are being converted a week now from Islam. Why don't we fly to those places - whose statistics are far more impressive than Lakeland?(For more information on revival tourism to those places watch this space!)

3. What has our Christianity become about?The gospel of Jesus Christ is not primarily about angels, third heaven revelations, impartations and transferable blessings. Jesus did not primarily die to make us rich, or cancel debt we have accrued through the self focused spending we engage in here in the West. What happened to the simplicity of the gospel - repent, believe and be baptized?We do not think the meetings in Lakeland will do much to make churches around the world look and act more like Jesus. The need for holy love, perfect oneness, release of the saints to ministry and completion of the great commission is not enflamed by enamel teeth or even miraculous healings. These tasks will remain long after Lakeland has become a set of archives in the YouTube history.

Before you spend thousands of dollars going there, take a trip to the empty buildings at Pensacola, edifaces with a high debt and few people. Or perhaps go to Toronto and see a city that has successfully resisted God's presence in her midst these last twelve years. Never the less, when asked about people who worked miracles in the name of Jesus, but who may be off centre, or walking a different path from Himself, Christ answered, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. For He who is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:39,40 NKJV). -------taken from http://www.stormharvest.com.au

http://www.tencommandmentstoday.com/