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Woe Is Me

As I’m out and about traveling or at public places I love to listen to what people are talking about. Not the specifics or the “juicy details” but just the overall tone and tenor of the average conversation. What I’ve noticed over the years, in America, is this:

The farther we get away from our Christian roots/worldview and the more we become a humanistic government controlled society, the more we become a nation of complainers, criticizers and malcontents: the government isn’t doing enough (that’s “code” for they aren’t taking enough money from others and giving it to me); my health is terrible; people aren’t treating me right; I don’t make enough money; life is hard.

Of course 99.9% of the people declaring these things are wearing nice clothes, holding a cell phone, driving a new car, on their way to the mall, planning what to watch on cable TV that night, surfing the Internet, wearing $100 sneakers that look great with their new hairstyle and manicure while eating out at a restaurant.  We used to call that WHINING and ungratefulness. It was considered it a BAD thing.

Sorry folks… life is abundant and rich for 99% of America. Even our poor are rich compared to the truly poor of the world.  Thank GOD, yes GOD, for what you have and quit complaining. Note: does my complaining about the complaining make me part of the problem?

Another Bible Snake Oil Salesman

Sorry folks, I long ago quit being shy about naming names when it comes to public ministry. If you are going to be public, then public responses are appropriate.

I caught about 10 minutes this morning of this clown named Todd Coontz.  In that ten minutes he butchered Scripture, lied about God speaking directly to him “words of prophecy just for you” and generally turned Christianity into a “God’s wants you to be RICH and if you make me RICH, I’ll pour out my special annointing from God to make YOU rich.”

He said God specifically and directly spoke to him and gave him prophecies for 2010 that this will THE YEAR for your spiritual and financial breakthrough. That friends is a blatant, sacrilegious lie. Of course, he is just another in a long line of temple marketers who have been proclaiming this same “prophecy” EVERY year for decades. He was basically a young clone of John Avanzini.

Besides the wanton prosperity peddling, this guy made a mockery of Bible interpretation. He said “God loves numbers. Numbers are infinite. God speaks to us through the use of numbers. In fact, God loves numbers so much, He named a book of the Bible ‘Numbers'”.  Of course the implication being that God loves numbers, money is made up of numbers, so God loves us to be rich, and the amount of numbers (money) we have is a statement about  our faith. After I finished laughing at this absurdity, it made me mad.  Mad because he is deceiving people… and mad at the lack of discernment that will cause many Christians to swallow this spiritual sewage.

I always come back to feeling some compassion towards these false teachers and false prophets like Coontz because I know it will be a great and terrible day the moment they face God and He judges them for their abuse of His children and His Word.

No Problem

Have you noticed that a lot of people say “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome” or “my pleasure”?

  • Thank you for filling my tea glass…  “no problem”.
  • Thank you (after being helped at the cash register)… “no problem”.
  • Thanks so much (after being helped in a store)… “no problem”.
  • I appreciate that… “no problem”.

Huh? Is it a problem sometimes and I just happen to catch you at a good time? Is each act of service judged to be either “a problem” or “no problem”? Should I expect at some point that someone will say to me, after a “thank you”, “well, you were a real problem.”

I’m being facetious of course. What this is really about is people just not being taught good manners, social grace and proper etiquette. If someone says “thank you” they are not trying to avoid being a “problem” and need confirmation of their success.

Say “you’re welcome…”. What a concept. And not a problem either.