Black Friday

Chances are pretty good that you were one of the 226 million shoppers who swarmed stores over the weekend.  The number of shoppers increased by 14 million from last year (National Retail Federation).  It’s simply astonishing to think about this many people roaming around for good shopping deals.  But what is more surprising about this whole situation is the amount of money that was spent.  From Thursday through Sunday, people spent a record setting $52.4 billion.  Despite our rough economy, this is a 16% increase from last year (National Retail Federation).

Among many things, this should serve as a reminder to us about what our culture is focused on.  It’s focused on having “stuff.”  Having the newest phone, TV, computer, iPad, toy, game, etc.  It’s impossible for $52.4 billion to be spent without materialism being a factor.

The culture in Bible times is completely different from today.  They didn’t have the interesting gadgets, gismos, and possessions that we do today, and yet they were given many stern warnings about materialism.  Surely we need the warnings today even more than they did then.

Let’s not forget that money and materialism can take us away from the Lord.  This is exactly what Christ was talking about in the parable of the sower.  He said, “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).  Materialism take people away from Christ.  Let’s also not forget 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with much grief.”

It’s certainly not wrong to go buy a gift for someone or go buy something for ourselves.  But let’s keep in mind that materialism is literally tempting us in almost every ad, every commercial, every sign, and every store.  Let’s just remember to keep God first, and certainly everything else, especially money and materialism, will fall into their proper places.

Useless

Researcher Spence Silver was curious about what would happen when he mixed together a new concoction.  Silver worked for the 3M company and was fiddling with a new type of adhesive.  What he discovered was an adhesive that would apply to a piece of paper and then give that piece of paper the ability to stick and restick on different things without leaving a residue.  At first 3M saw this adhesive as useless and set it aside.  One day, one of 3M’s chemists, Authur Fry, began having problems keeping his songbook pages marked as he directed his choir.  He would mark the pages with loose pieces of paper, but those would often fall out, making him lose his place and frantic to recover.  Fry then remembered Silver’s sticky concoction and used it to stick little pieces of paper in his songbook to mark his place.  It wasn’t long before these handy “sticky notes” were requested all over the country and have become a fixture in nearly every home and office ever since.

It’s strange to think that something so helpful was once just a useless research project.  People often brush things aside and label them “useless” when it simply isn’t true.  Too often this is applied to people.  Sometimes people label others as “useless,” and sometimes people label themselves this way.  Neither are true.

This must have been exactly how the church in Corinth was feeling.  Notice what Paul tells them, “For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot says, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  And if the ear says, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?…And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary” (1 Corinthians 12:14-17, 21-22).

Maybe someone has communicated to you that you are not useful.  Or maybe you have tried to find a place to be helpful and failed, leaving yourself feeling useless.  At one time people didn’t think “sticky notes” had a useful place either.  Let’s take the words we just read from Paul and realize that we are all VERY useful in God’s eyes.  Throughout Scripture God worked through weak, flawed, and feeble people (Moses, Gideon, etc).  The key is to never give up.  There is always a place to fit in and work in God’s kingdom.  Just keep in mind that it’s not about how useless you, or someone else, thinks you are, it’s about how useful God can make you.  The sky is the limit.

Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs

It’s hard not to love these little guys.  They come in 15-30 beautiful and vibrant color combinations, they are itty-bitty (less than 1 inch long), and they have an interesting history.  As many people know, these frogs were given their name by the natives who used the poison on the frog’s skin to coat their darts and arrows.  As a kid, I always wanted to have one of these little frogs as a pet, but until recently, I had no idea how amazing they really are

Unlike most species, with this frog both parents care for their young.  After the eggs have been fertilized, the mother will lay her eggs on a leaf on the forest floor.  The father will then transport water to keep the eggs moist and hydrated while they grow for about 10 days.  Then the eggs will hatch and a whole new problem presents itself.

The little tadpoles need more water and will soon die if not moved to a better location.  One by one, the mother (and occasionally the father) will get a tadpole on its back and will climb high into the trees until it finds a bromeliad plant (or something similar).  Bromeliads grow in such a way that they will pool rainwater at their centers.  These frogs produce a mucus like substance on their skin that helps the tadpole stick to their backs as they climb up trees and leaves.  So, the little frog will get the tadpole on its back, find a bromeliad, and then set the tadpole into the little pool of water.  Then the mother will climb back down the tree and transport 4-6 little tadpoles to their own little growing pools.

The tadpoles now have water, but they will die without food.  To solve this problem, the female comes back to each pool and lays an unfertilized egg for the tadpole to eat.  The father’s responsibility is mostly to watch over and protect the eggs, but he also checks the tadpoles occasionally to see if they are hungry and will go get the mother if this is the case.

What an amazing little creature the strawberry poison dart frog is!  When we take a close look at this process, it completely fails without each step in place.  The male must transport water to keep the eggs moist or they will die.  Once hatched, the tadpoles must be moved to where more water is or they will die.  If the tadpoles couldn’t stick on their parents’ backs, they couldn’t be transported and they would die.  If the female couldn’t continually lay unfertilized eggs for the tadpoles to eat, once again, they would die.

As always, every part of this process points to intelligent design and the Creator of our world.  Just as the Psalmist said, “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalm 24:1).  The strawberry poison dart frog is a cute, colorful, and amazing creature all by itself, but the fact that shows God’s existence and glory just makes it that much more wonderful.

 

PLEASE SKIP TO 5:35 IF THE VIDEO DOESN’T SKIP AUTOMATICALLY

Magic Johnson and HIV: 20 Years Later

On November 7^th, 1991 Magic Johnson announced to the world that he was HIV positive and would be retiring from basketball.  Last week I watched in amazement as EPSN and a host of other media outlets “celebrated” the 20-year mark of that day.  They talked about how he had overcome adversity, supported charities, founded HIV research organizations, and other things he had done.  But as I listened, watched, and read everything being said, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.  I found it troubling that the media was honoring a man who contracted HIV through fornication and promiscuous behavior.

I have nothing personally against Magic Johnson and I don’t know what kind of person Johnson is today.  I also realize that we all make mistakes and can change our lives around.  There was just something sickening about how the media was glorifying the day when Johnson admitted to the world that he had been engaging in sinful activities and contracted a deadly virus because of it.  Yes, it is amazing that his health is so good 20 years later, but the honor and publicity he received for it just wasn’t right.

I don’t expect the media to be moral and upright.  Characteristics like those seem to be long extinct for them.  The media is becoming more impure and accepting of sin all the time.  The problem is, this seems to be rubbing off on Christians.  I am always saddened when I see Christian people supporting people like Lada Gaga, Katy Perry, Flo Rida, and a plethora of other immoral celebrities.  Just because a person is a great musician, athlete, or actor does not mean we should turn a blind eye to who they are and what they support.  We would be sickened if a close friend of family member did the things these people do, but for some reason we aren’t with celebrities.

What does God expect us to do about this?  First, He expects us to be different from the world (1 John 2:15-17).  Second, He expects us to be the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13-16).  If we are supporting immoral people, not only are we being just like the world, we will have a difficult time being a light for God.

It’s time we take a second look at who and what we are supporting.

Shooting At The White House

At least two rounds were fired at the upper level windows of the White House yesterday.  Apparently the bullets were fired on the windows of President Obama’s family living quarters. Luckily, Obama and his family were not in the house at the time.  The culprit of this shooting was caught in Virginia the following day.

When you heard this report, what was your reaction?  Some of you are probably glad that Obama was not shot.  Some are probably glad that the family was not hurt.  But some of you may be wishing that Obama had been hit by those bullets.

Before I go any further, let me make something very clear.  I am not a fan of Obama.  I didn’t vote for him and I haven’t agreed with hardly anything he has done in office since then. However, this shooter seems to characterize the growing dislike and anger towards President Obama in our culture.  It seems like people are speaking very negatively against Obama these days, Christians and non-Christians alike.  Therefore, this seems to be as good a time as any to be reminded of what Scripture says about this:

(1) God Appoints All Our Leaders.  Yep, even the ones we don’t like.  Yep, even the ones who end up doing despicable things (Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc).  This doesn’t mean God made them do all of the wicked and terrible things they did, because He didn’t (James 1:13-15).  However, Romans 1:1-2 makes it clear that God establishes all authorities we have in this world and it is our role to be subject to them.

(2) We Shouldn’t Speak Negatively Against Our Leaders (Exodus 22:28; Ecclesiastes 10:2).  In Acts 23, this is exactly what Paul did.  He spoke against a leader and was immediately hit in the face and asked why he was reviling God’s high priest.  Paul instantly repented of this and said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people’” (vs. 5).  Even though Paul was going through some terrible trials and dealing with evil people, he realized he crossed the line when he spoke bad of the high priest.  No matter how much we may dislike our President, we need to be careful with how we speak about him.

More Christians seem to be speaking evil against our President.  Like Paul, we need to realize that we are stepping out of line when we say and do such things (Acts 23:5).  Back in the Old Testament, king Saul had become unbelievable evil.  He was chasing David all over the wilderness and trying to kill him.  Finally when king Saul fell in battle, a young man came up to David and said that he killed Saul by Saul’s request (obviously expecting praise and a reward from David).  David put the man to death for killing God’s anointed king even though Saul had been a huge thorn in David’s side for many years (2 Samuel 1:1-16).  David realized that God appoints kings and leaders for a reason and he was not going to be a person who spoke against, or tried to dethrone, a leader that God put into power.

Some of the things people are saying against Obama are just not right.  They are rude, bitter, angry, nasty, and hateful comments towards him.  Let’s make one thing clear though, if Obama is violating Scripture, then let’s teach people kindly and refute his words and actions with Scripture!  If it is about something else, then we need to be more careful than ever not to speak evil of our leader.  Here is a better choice, let’s chose to follow 1 Timothy 2:1-2 and pray for our leaders instead.

“The Tombs” Prison

In 1838, a brand new prison was built.  It was called “The Tombs.”  Ironically, the contractor who built the prison was later found guilty of forgery and sentenced to several years in prison.  Which prison?  The very prison he had built.  As the contractor was escorted into a cell of his own making, he said, “I never dreamed when I built this prison that I would be an inmate one day” (Today in the Word, July 12, 1993).

We have heard of the expression, “digging your own grave,” but “building your own prison” is a new one.  No matter the expression, this is exactly what this contractor did.  Surely there are few things worse than building our own prisons and digging our own graves.  Strangely though, this is what we sometimes do as Christians.

Throughout Romans 6, we see this contrast between living free for God and living as slaves to sin.  The idea here is that we are walking free from our lives of sin, but sometimes we make poor decisions and end up imprisoning ourselves to sin once again.  The problem is that we get involved with friends and put ourselves in situations where we can fall to temptation.  In essence, we are digging our own graves and building our own prisons.

Let’s always strive to keep ourselves freed from sin and out of our own self-built spiritual prisons.  Let’s be reminded of Romans 6:12-13 as we close, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Webster’s First Dictionary

When you read the word “dictionary,” you might immediately starting yawning.  Dictionaries aren’t exactly the most exciting books on the shelf.  But before you tune me out, let me tell you something interesting.  Noah Webster’s first dictionary in 1828 was based off of the Bible.  Webster considered education completely useless if it was without the Bible.  In fact, many of his definitions had Scripture references!  Let me give you a couple of examples:

• “Marriage” – “The act of uniting a man and woman for life… Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children. ‘Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Heb.13.’”
• Mercy – “That benevolence, mildness or tenderness which disposes a person…to treat an offender better than he deserves. ‘The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. Num.14.’”

Those are great definitions.  But here is where the problem lies.  Take a look at the 1981 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary definition of those same words.

• Marriage – “Man and woman are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family…an intimate or close union”
• Mercy – “Compassion or forbearance shown esp. to an offender or to one subject to one’s power…an act of divine favor or compassion…a fortunate circumstance.”

Clearly all Scripture references and religious thoughts are gone.  I suppose it isn’t that surprising considering today’s culture.  People have taken God out of schools, sporting events, signs, monuments, etc.  They are currently trying to take God out of our currency and even our National Anthem.

Webster really had a great thing going in his first dictionary.  He realized the importance God should play in our words and in our lives.  Despite how godless our culture is becoming, they won’t be able to “hide” God forever.  Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him….”  Let’s see them try to hide that!

A Mom Turns In Her Children for Robbery

A few months ago in Milwaukee, a surveillance video captured many teenagers swarming a BP gas station and stealing anything they could get their hands on.  When one particular mother watched the news that evening, she was shocked to see her 13-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son on the surveillance tape.  She now had a tough decision to make.  After sleeping on it she talked with her kids the next morning and confronted the situation.  She then got everyone into the car, drove down to the police station, and turned in her own kids.

I admire this mother because she did something that many parents struggle with: making tough choices.  Whether we like it our not, parenting is about making tough decisions.  Look what Scripture tells us as parents to do.

• “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
• “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4)
• The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother….Discipline your son, and he will give you peace, he will bring delight to your soul. (Proverbs 29:15, 17).
• Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. 
(Proverbs 23:13-14).

None of these Scriptures are easy to accomplish.  Being a parent isn’t for the weak at heart.  It can be very taxing, discouraging, depressing, and downright torturous for the parent.  But again, parenting is about making tough decisions and doing hard things that will ultimately direct the child towards heaven.  Even if this means confronting a child, enforcing a rule or decision, disciplining, or driving a child to the police station.  More than ever, today’s parents must be willing to stand up and make the tough choices.  Our children’s souls depend on it.

Soccer Player Loses His Cool

Luke Rodgers plays soccer for the New York Red Bulls.  With the MLS playoffs going strong, emotions tend to do the same.  Last night Rodgers received a yellow card early in the game.  A couple of minutes later when the ball came back to him near the sideline, he blasted the ball out of bounds.  As you can see from the picture above, the ball was mere inches from taking out a woman working with the advertisement signs.

When we take a look at the situation, we see just how ridiculous Rodgers acting.  First of all, the ball was a fraction of a second from rolling out of bounds, if it wasn’t already out.  He probably could have just let the ball roll out.  Second, if he felt like he needed to get the ball out of bounds, all he had to do was tap it.  There was absolutely no need to kick the ball way out of bounds.  Thirdly, this was not a little chip shot.  This was a full force blast.  The only logical explanation is that Rodgers lost his cool and reacted out of anger.  The problem is, professional soccer players can kick a ball well over 100 mph.  Rodgers could have seriously injured this innocent lady.  All things considered, he is lucky the ball missed her.  Rodgers frustration and anger got the best of him.

Scripture often speaks against anger (Colossians 3:8; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Psalm 37:8; etc).  I don’t think we need much convincing that we do very foolish things when we let our anger get out of control (Proverbs 14:17; 15:18; 29:22).  Most times we aren’t thinking clearly and can make a situation much worse.  Let Luke Rodgers serve as a reminder for us to control ourselves and not sin when we get angry.  With this little stunt Rodgers was inches away from a major lawsuit and possibly the end of his career.  Things may make us angry, but we must learn to control ourselves in our anger.

Let’s end this article with a divine reminder from the Lord:  “Be Angry, and yet, do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity…. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32).

The Judgment Day That Didn’t Happen

A little over five months ago, Harold Camping and his followers combed through the countryside telling everyone that the Judgment Day was going to happen on May 21^st, 2011.  When the morning of May 22^nd rolled around, everyone raised an eyebrow toward Camping.  In response, the doomsayers then claimed that God have given a brief period of grace, but both the Judgment Day and the destruction of the world would happen five months later on October 21^st, 2011.  Well, obviously that date, too, has passed by without incident.  Now folks are raising both eyebrows toward Camping.  Harold Camping and his followers have since removed any doomsday predictions off of their radio show website (familyradio.com) and have basically left well enough alone.  Once again a Judgment Day prediction has proven to be nothing but empty chatter.

It seems people need another reminder of at least three Scriptures:

• “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
• “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” (1 Peter 3:10-11).
• “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36).

Do people think the Lord is joking in these passages?  I couldn’t help but think about God’s reaction would be when people found out that Camping’s predictions were wrong.  I imagined God standing and saying, “See, I told you so.”  God has made it very clear in the Bible that we will not know when Judgment Day will be.  It’s sad that people try to get around this.  The problem is, people constantly try to get around many of God’s other commands and not just this one.

The Lord isn’t kidding when He gives us a command, whether it is about Judgment Day, baptism (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21; etc.), or any other command (Matthew 7:21-27).  Our role is not to question or to look for a detour, but to obey.  After all, when Judgment Day does finally occur, we will be judged by Jesus’ words and if we followed them or not (John 12:48).  It’s time we stop trying to get around God’s commands and just do them.

To read my earlier article about Camping’s originally predicted Judgment Day, click HERE.