Hey I'm going politial - who can resist!

I think this photo pretty much speaks for itself. So who are YOU going to vote for in November?

The Trojan Horse

I can't seem to get this theme out of my heart. The get rich thing. I apologize for sounding the alarm repeatedly here but if the soldiers sleep while the enemy approaches then we're all at risk, are we not? Not only has the enemy been sighted but the Trojan horse is being dragged into the city now.

In the Trojan Horse story, the city is besieged for some 10 years. 10 years the Trojans keep the Greeks at bay. That's a long time to resist an army. In the end it was a simple trick that got them all the access they needed to enter the impenetrable city and concur the unconquerable. One day the enemy forces just up and retreat, leaving behind the Trojan Horse (most likely the seige tower/battering ram) on the open plain. A spy withing the city walls convinces them to go out and bring the horse in as a trophy of sorts. Once inside and under cover of darkness the Greek soldiers hidden inside, descend upon the sleeping Trojans.

The prosperity gospel heard from the pulpits of so many America churches and around the world today (God forgive us for exporting this) needs to be seen as what it really is – a Trojan Horse of Satan. The lure of earthly riches: large incomes, great monetary wealth, excessive possessions, temporal comforts and all the things that moth and rust destroy is just a trap. Nothing but the same technique the serpent used on Eve in the Garden of Eden. He's packaged it up nicely and dressed it up in Scripture – twisted, misapplied, out of context Scripture – and made it so appealing, thanks to our modern day “God Wants You Rich” preachers that we have no idea that this “gift” is NOT from God. Its a Trojan Horse from hell.

Look at this passage;

People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. (1 Tim. 6:9)

I don't know, this passage seems pretty straight forward to me. What am I missing here? The people who long to be rich are the ones buying into (literally) the prosperity message. Making it's proponents very rich indeed. And in turn making themselves proponents. It seems from this passage that it's just the longing to be rich that causes the trouble.

According to this verse, you don't get freedom or happiness or peace or anything else good from pursuing riches. You get trapped. You begin to desire harmful and foolish things. You get ruin and destruction. How can this be made any clearer? How can this be a good thing? Are we just that stupid?

Lets go back and look at the verse just before this one.

True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So, if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. (1 Tim6:8)

Have you EVER heard anyone preach a message like that? Have you ever seen a book title like that? New York Times best seller: Food and Clothing Only: Be Content! No way! No one, and I mean NO ONE is going to buy that book!

So was Paul delusional? Was Jesus?

I don't know about you but I'm often discontent owning a ton more than just food and clothing. Here lies the key to discontentment. The more we have the more we want. It's like some law. The more we acquire the more we want to acquire. We find more ways to acquire and more ways to justify our acquisitions until...how did Jesus put it;

You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Could this be the trap?

Hey, lets get the next best seller on how to become a millionare. Let's get the CD set. Let's go to the seminar. Whatever it takes to get that income up, up, up. I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing. So we really don't need God but He does makes a great endorsement on the cover of our new book.

Now lets look at the rest of this passage.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wanderer from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Only some people craving money have wanderer from the true faith. The others repented before it was too late. You just can't run after money and run after Jesus at the same time. You just can't.

Slowly and steadily the message to the church has been that getting rich was the answer to so many of our problems. It used to be that the lie sat outside the city limits, an enemy army, waiting us out. Then the message began to look appealing to a much larger number of Kingdom dwellers until the day came when the army vanished and all that was left was the amazing gift of the Trojan Horse. There is sat beckoning, “Take me as your prize. Come and get me. I will be the symbol of your great achievement.” So we've wheeled the monster past our safe and secure borders to the sounds of jubilant singing. Empty songs of battles won but never fought. Rejoicing over a victory that is never to come.

True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wanderer from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Tim. 6:6-10)

Inspired

Waiting in the Dr. office today I noticed the cover of the Readers Digest someone was reading; “35 People Who Inspire Us”. It sent my thought processes churning about the word inspire. Inspiration always conjures up good feelings doesn't it? Inspired to achieve great goals in life. To 'become” somebody. To take that risk and venture into those uncharted waters. Accomplishing things we never dreamed possible. I mean you wouldn't ever want to be inspired to commit a crime or develop a character flaw would you? And yet we have people in our society (or in our small social circle) who do just that, intentionally or not. Take for instance, sex. Are we not bombarded daily with inspiration to sin sexually, whether it be premarital or extra-marital? And our appearance. Are we not inspired to “worship” our bodies and how we look? That's not exactly the noblest attribute to possess; vanity. Vanity that leads to sexual sin and self exaltation. Gang members inspire there “brothers” to commit crimes and live atrociously sinful lives. Friends inspire friends to drink, do drugs, lie, steal, fornicate (that's a very old fashioned word which here means “to fornicate”) and live generally self centered lives. So, what exactly should we be inspired to do? I think as Christians we often get 'inspired” by things that sound good but are not at all God's will for his people. Phrases like “be all you can be” “aspire to new heights” “become all you were made for” and my personal favorite “find your purpose in life” can certainly inspire us but to what end? Are we on this earth to find our life or to loose it? Yikes, if you really read the bible you'll see that many so called Christian people are inspiring us to nothing but secularism. We are told 5 times in the gospels to not cling to this life but to give it up.

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”(Matt. 10:39 and 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24 and 17:33).

I mean how many times do we have to be told, that this life is passing away?

Psalm 39:4
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.

James 4:13-14

"Look here, you who say, ' Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.' How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog- it's here a little while and then it's gone."

That our lives do not consist of our possessions...

Luke 12:15
Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Matthew, Mark and Luke all had this message in their gospels;

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Matt 16:26, Mark 8:36 and Luke 9:25)

Is this not clear enough? He's talking about material possessions, power, and prestige. Things Christians should NOT be inspired to acquire.

But we are inspired to gain earthly wealth – by Christians, even though Jesus clearly taught us;

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The kind of people who should inspire us are the ones who challenge us to live as close as possible to the true teachings of Christ. Not the ones who use the bible as some kind of tool to justify completely un-Christ like lifestyles. I just can't imagine a picture of Jesus on the cover of a book entitled “3 Simple Keys to the Life You've Only Dreamed Of” The inside flap reading something like,

“Ever wonder why life is so difficult? Why everyone else seems to be getting ahead and you, a child of God, are struggling? In his book, 3 Simple Keys to the Life You've Only Dreamed Of, best selling author Jesus Christ reveals the 3 simple keys to the “abundant life” you have always heard about but could never quite grasp. He will show you how to;

• double your income without doubling your work load

• speak the words that will get you anything you want anytime you want it

• get on the top of the heap and stay there

• realize all your dreams and your full potential

• live the stress free, overcomers lifestyle

• how to look good and feel great all the time!
  

• get the benefits of heaven, here on earth now!
  

So, I like to be inspired but I want to make sure that I'm inspired towards the life that Jesus has designed for me. The life of looking toward eternity, not living for the here and now. The life that goes against the flow of the “world” and strives towards holy living. The carry your cross lifestyle that Jesus embraced. I want to be inspired to read the Word, live it in it's simplicity and repent when I don't.

Hey, I wonder if Jesus was in that list of 35 people? Probably not.