Ministry or Menace-2-Me?

Disclaimer: First, let me say up front - I am a firm believer in the personal faith of an individual. I believe that if you stand on your measure of faith, God is going to reward that measure of faith. He can work within the measure of faith with which you are meted. If you have the faith of a mustard seed, God can work with that. If you have the faith of the field from which sprouted that mustard seed, God can work with that. The faith of the individual is not my question. Disclaimer noted and ended.

I want to hear your thoughts on this – because in these days we need to be oh so careful. Did anybody see the movie Eli? What good does it profit a man to gain the world, if he loses his soul? Be on alert out there people. The world wants us to think all kinds of behaviors are acceptable, which are not.

Here, now, is my theory. Okay, I fudge just a little. It is in the Word. False prophets are among us. When a Minister, Pastor, Prophet or Apostle – all self proclaimed or proclaimed by men wearing the right garb, says something like:

Those of you who have $100, come up to the offering right now. God is calling for those who have $100 to come to the offering right now. He said there are at least 15 of you here tonight with $100 for the offering.

Is that ministry or menace to me? I cannot see any evidence of that happening in the word.

Or, say for instance, an appropriately deep and rumble-voiced speaker of the Word (who may or may not be a doer thereof as well) says to the congregation, friends and visitors:

God wants you to write that check tonight in faith. Where is your faith, oh ye of little faith? Do you not believe? Write your check on faith believing that He will provide. Bring your offering now.

Is that ministry or menace to me? I cannot see any evidence of that happening when I read the word. 

Okay, let’s move away from the money for a minute, because money brings power, and power corrupts absolutely and absolute power corrupts.

Let’s move toward relationship. I will tread lightly here, but I want to also say that any similarity to those living or passed on is a tragic coincidence and therefore not intended.

                Now, say the leader of the cu..church, is ministering to a couple whose relationship is in danger. Notice I didn’t specify marriage, but we can even suppose that this is a married couple. Just for the sake of it, let’s do Couple A: Married; Couple B: Unmarried.

Couple A: Married….A couple of issues, as most marriages will have. Minister counsels that all marriages have issues, however, God is the center of the marriage, so therefore if we turn to him for the council of these issues with realistic visions of the work involved on both parts, and are true to each other and the task at hand, this to shall pass and that which does not kill us, will make us stronger. There may have been some infidelity involved. Minister tells couple, both parties are involved. Can two walk together less they agree? We have work ahead of us, but if you were fully committed to what you said in front of God, and the people you loved, and some of the people that you actually luvvedd previously, then you can be successful. Grow up and grow UP.

Couple B. Unmarried…Well one party is unmarried. The other one is separated, but has made a new relationship with this woman. This couple seeks the council of the married person’s pastor, and the unmarried person’s pastor.

Married person’s pastor:  You all need to go to church together and get close to the Lord and study his word together. That is what is wrong; you need to go to Church regularly and to the same church. Y’all need to be here every Sunday and on Wednesday’s for Bible Study.

Unmarried person’s pastor:  First of all, this person belongs to a union, and this ain’t it. Therefore, this union you all are in is wrong. Period. Point blank. I am gonna keep it real for you – that’s not according to my word, it’s according to God’s word. Secondly – we need to do some work on you as individuals – one, because your self worth is an issue, which means you don’t know whose image you are created in, and to whom you belong – and it ain’t somebody else’s spouse. I don’t care how long they have been separated, special rated, pro rated, or fornicating. You got to get your own.

Now, which one of these is ministering and which one is a menace to us?

Let me hear your thoughts on this...It's Elemental that we discuss it..............

What's Your Pocket Feeling Like Now?

Okay - so, Christmas is past, kids are happy and grateful. Or not. Most of us have either returned to work or will return on tomorrow. How is your pocket feeling?

I am wondering because I read a Reuters report that said 4 million Britons are still repaying last years Christmas debt. That is 1 in 10 Britons. I also heard a similar report on CNN regarding Americans. We continue to go into debt in November and December, and then begin to try and dig out in January and February - and are still digging the following year.

In addition to the crummy economy, Americans were spending this Christmas holiday - but not as much as the media would like us to believe. You wanna know what I base this comment on? Alley Observance. Drive down any alley in your neighborhood and I bet you will have the same report as I - not nearly as many empty boxes and overflowing big greens as last Christmas or the one before. That is the real report on Christmas spending.

But, spend we did. We still, even in this day and age, have to buy expensive material items at Christmas time to prove to our children and loved ones that we will go into debt because of our love for them. Or to prove to our neighbors that we 'got it like that'. I want my neighbors to know that they win that game. Because in January of this year and next - I want to be planning a quality time vacation with my kids in the Spring and Summer, not how I can pay 40-400% on loan shark credit cards, quick cash loans, and bank fees because I had to show my kids the newest gadget with love on December 25th.

We really have to stop playing possum at our own economic lynching party.

Yes, our economy is 2/3 dependent on consumer spending. But, believe it or not, as economist will tell you, right now, our economy is dependent on healthy consumers. So, we need to save and be economically healthy enough to spend, more than we need to spend back into debt crisis.

Here are a few phenomenon that gave me pause for thought:

Bank Fees - When a check is returned for NSF - the bank charges you one hefty fee; and then after a certain number of days, a daily fee until the account is restored to a positive balance. However, the set-up is that when you use your debit card, which is like writing an electronic check, unless you are forced to enter your pin code in the transaction, the processing is not immediate. In this way, all of the processing can be done at one time, and the order of processing is determined by the bank. This leads to a processing routine that allows the bank to push through the transactions in a manner to collect the highest number of fees from the consumer. Legal Loan Sharking.

Credit Card Fees - We know that federal regulation is already in place, and probably more is coming, to regulate credit card fees. The reason is that these fees are out of control. This is another capitalist unregulated venture that is financially raping Americans, and is part of the reason we are in the economic pit right now. Easy credit at insane rates. Legal Loan Sharking.

IRS - Right now, you are apt to recieve a letter from the IRS concerning taxes from 2-4 years ago, and a slight error you may have made in your calculation (or whomever compiled your tax return). That error could potentially cost you from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. The IRS has the right to go back and 'review' your taxes for errors and possible unreported income and then harrass you for supposed owed funds and interest on those funds, since you should have caught that error back then. This is not even legal loan sharking. This is a legal shakedown and harrasment of the American citizen.

I don't know if any of this causes you to stop and say woooah! But I think I am saving my money and using the old fashioned system of checks, check register, checks and balances, and entering that pin code at every transaction.

And as far as proving my love with material gifts in December? I have learned - and learning is a process - that I show my peoples love all year long. I told my children that Jesus was gifted thrice upon His humble arrival in a stable. He saved my life - which they cannot do - be happy about those three gifts they are allowed to request, and lets make Christmas about loving each other and giving hope to somebody else. So far, we have enjoyed that immensely.

This money thing? Let's blog about it.....