From Every Head Shall Bow and Every Knee Shall Bend

to No Head Shall Bow

Video is about 3 minutes and cleverly done.

C~B~N thinks link has gone dead....sorry as it was VERY good!


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The Law Of The Garbage Truck

I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly

a black car jumped out of a parking space right

in front of us.



My taxi driver slammed on his brakes,

skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!




The driver of the other car whipped his head

around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just

smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean,

he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy

almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now

call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.

They run around full of garbage, full of frustration,

full of anger, and full of disappointment.

As their garbage piles up, they need a place

to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish

them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage

and spread it to other people at work, at home,

or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do

not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with

regrets, so..... "Love the people who treat you

right. Pray for the ones who don't."

~by David J. Pollay~

You can read more by him in "The Law of the Garbage Truck" or in "Beware of Garbage Trucks"

Also check out the video of people in New York City taking the No Garbage Trucks!™ Pledge: Beware of garbage trucks. It’s pretty cool.

THANK YOU to Chris for this information as it originally came to me as author unknown in an email!

C~B~N

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"Jaywalking" with Jay Leno

Still Golden After All These Years
from Agape Press
by Jane Jimenez

I shudder {Me to. So badly, I can't watch these anymore.} with a mixture of dread and curiosity every time Jay takes to the street with his camera crew and a microphone in hand. In a regular feature "Jaywalking," Leno approaches people on a Hollywood street to survey their knowledge on current news or a particular topic.

One night it's history. Leno asks passersby how many judges there are on the Supreme Court. A young man laughs, shrugs his shoulders and tosses a number in the air. Thirty six? Leno laughs, too. So, he asks, did you go to college? Yeah, the man replies. I graduated last year.

The Golden Rule? It's a mathematical formula, isn't it?

In a variation on his regular theme, Leno one night lets people choose their questions from either a 4th-, 6th-, or 8th-grade text. Jen, a registered dental assistant, says the Grand Canyon is 3,200 miles long {try: 200 miles}, and an Alabama State student says Columbus discovered America in 1842. {Try: In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.....}

What country did we fight in the Revolutionary War, Jay asks Selena. Oh, my gosh. I don't know this stuff, she admits. I really don't know this stuff.

Keeping a straight face, Leno tells her, I believe you.

Another night, and another question ... laughter gives way to sadness as we witness the current state of affairs in modern American life.

What is the Golden Rule, Jay asks. One after another, each person stares at him with a blank face. You know, he persists. The Golden Rule ... do unto others…? That's enough to get them started ...

The Golden Rule? Do unto others ... before they do it to you. Yeah, that's it.

The ethic of reciprocity is a general moral principle found in virtually all religions, often as a fundamental rule. It is most commonly heard as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This traditional rule is so highly valued that it has been known in English for centuries as the "Golden Rule." {Want respect? Then GIVE RESPECT!}

How did we manage in America to lose sight of the Golden Rule? Why is it impossible for these regular people to immediately recite the simple statement for Jay? How can we possibly teach our children new attitudes of respect and love when we have lost sight of a common cultural law as basic as the Golden Rule?

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. [Mat 7:12 NIV] A nation that does not have this law written on its heart is a nation that has forgotten how to love.

As I would have them do unto me? Would I have them yell at me and trash me with vulgarity and accusations on Jerry Springer's show?

Certainly not.

Would I have a dear family member meet me center stage on a national television talk show to reveal a devastating "secret," entertaining the world as the expense of my humiliation?

Of course, I wouldn't.

What part of letting my friends get drunk on Spring Break is a measure of my love for them?

Not one bit of it.

Restoring a healthy expression of love to our nation is as simple as remembering one rule, golden in value:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' {Jesus did NOT say love thy white neighbor as yourself.....or your black neighbor as yourself....or your Muslim neighbor as yourself.....or your Indian neighbor as yourself.....or your Jewish neighbor as yourself.....

No, Jesus said LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. PERIOD. LOVE THEM ALL~~OR DON'T PROFESS TO BE A BELIEVER IN GOD AND A FOLLOWER OF JESUS!}

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." [Mat 22:36-40 NIV]

As we take up the great commandment and make it the watchword for our life, it is exceedingly clear how much of modern life encourages us to focus on what is good for ourselves regardless of how it impacts others. {Modern life encourages SELFISHNESS, SELF-CENTEREDNESS, "I AM GOD" HUMANISM. Has modern life improved? Or deteriorated? Most would say the latter [for you ignorant college graduates, latter means the last choice listed]!}

The Golden Rule is the narrow path. It is the touchstone, the measuring stick, the weight and measure for all we say, do and think. It is not merely a "good idea." It is the law. It is a commandment. It is the sight we must fix our eyes upon, the bandage for our spirit, and the balm for a hurting world.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Test Your Basic Knowledge and see if Jay could "FOOL" you!

Test Your Knowledge


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Gossip

There is so much good in the
worst of us,and so much bad
in the best of us,that it hardly
becomes any one of us to talk
about the rest of us.
~Author Unknown~

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Two Pastors

Two Pastors wives were visiting and sewing
their husbands pants. One wife said: My
husband is just beside himself, he does not
know what to do anymore and he is so tired
and depressed he said he is ready to just
give up and resign.

The other wife said: I am sorry to hear that
because my husband has never been happier.
Our membership is growing and we are out
of our financial burden, we have such a large
and loving congregation. Life could not
be any better than it is right now.

One woman was mending the seat of her
husbands pants, the other was mending
the knees.

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

The crosses we bear are not supposed
to be heavy enough to crush us,...but
they are heavy enough to bend our knees.
~Author Unknown~


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Donating

Donate your frequent flyer miles to soldiers and their families!

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Giving to Others

I've been going to the breast cancer site
and clicking on their "click here to
give--it's free" button for over a year
now. You click the button, and sponsors
donate $ that will donate free
mammograms to low income women.

Recently they have added TABS to their site.

And now with one click, you can get
sponsors to donate to:

Hunger, Child Health, Literacy, Rain forest,
and Animal Rescue.

This is something that takes less than 5
minutes a day to complete. It doesn't cost
YOU anything but your time to click the buttons.

But it is a way to contribute back for
worthy causes through sponsorships.

So check it out and click, click, click!!!

Click to Give




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Quote from Crimes And Misdemeanors

"If all your faith is wrong Saul?"

"Then I'll still have a better life
than all those who doubt."

AMEN! ~C~B~N

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

All of us have secrets. All of us
wander at times. All of us have faith
that wavers. All of us at times feel
inadequate.That's why all of us need
something more than us.
~Nathaniel Bronner Jr.~

Founder of "Wings Over The Mountains of Life"

To Subscribe and get your own DAILY bit of inspiration!

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The perspective of death

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until at length she hangs
like a speck of white cloud just where the sea
and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says: "There, she
is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my
side says: "There, she is gone!"

There are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad
shout:

"Here she comes!"

And that is dying.


~Henry Scott Holland~
A MountainWings Moment #7291

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Funny Bone Ticklers.....

Want more? Then visit my Funny Bone Ticklers

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The Quarter...Are you selling too cheap?

from MountainWings
A MountainWings Moment#7310

Several years ago a preacher moved to
Houston, Texas.

Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion
to ride the bus from his home to the downtown
area. When he sat down, he discovered that
the driver had accidentally given him a quarter
too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to
himself, you'd better give the quarter back.
It would be wrong to keep it.

Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a
quarter. Who would worry about this little
amount? Anyway the bus company already
gets too much fare; they will never miss it.
Accept it as a gift from God and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily
at the door then he handed the quarter to
the driver and said, "Here, you gave me
too much change."

The driver with a smile replied, "Aren't
you the new preacher in town? I have been
thinking lately about going to worship
somewhere. I just wanted to see what you
would do if I gave you too much change."

When the preacher stepped off the bus,
he literally grabbed the nearest light pole
and held on, and said,"Oh God!

I almost sold your Son
for a quarter".

Our lives may be the
only Bible some
people will ever
read.

~Author Unknown~


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Compassion and Courtesy In A Discourteous World

This week's devotional from Ted Brabham comes to us from 1 Peter 3:8

"Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous."

As Christians, we are instructed to be courteous and compassionate. As believers, we are called to be gracious, humble, gentle, and kind.

But sometimes, we fall short. Sometimes, amid the busyness and confusion of everyday life, we may neglect to share a kind word or a kind deed.

This oversight hurts others, and it hurts us as well.

Today, slow yourself down and be alert for those who need your smile, your kind words, or your helping hand. Make kindness a centerpiece of your dealings with others.

They will be blessed, and you wil be, too. So make this promise to yourself and keep it: Honor Christ by obeying His Golden Rule. He deserves no less. And neither, for that matter, do they.

Thought for the Day: While great brilliance and intellect are to be admired, they cannot dry one tear or mend a broken spirit. Only kindness can accomplish this.

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From one pumpkin to another

A woman was asked by a coworker, 'What is it like
to be a Christian?'

The coworker replied, 'It is like being a pumpkin.'

God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and
washes all the dirt off of you.

Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky
stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed..

Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts
His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.'

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Lord, prop us up!

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old
deacon who always prayed, Lord, prop us up on
our leanin' side.'

After hearing him pray that prayer many times,
someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so
fervently.

He answered,

'Well sir, you see, it's like this....I got an old barn
out back. It's been there a long time, it's withstood a
lot of weather, it's gone through a lot of storms,
and it's stood for many years.

It's still standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning
to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and
propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking 'bout that and how much I was
like that old barn.

I been around a long time, I've withstood a lot of life's
storms, I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life,
I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing
too.

But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time,
so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side,
'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times.'

Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning
toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning
toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that
we shouldn't, so we need to pray,

'Lord, prop us up on our leaning

side,' so we will stand straight

and tall again, to glorify the

Lord.

~Author Unknown~

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Showing your Support

No matter your "stance" on America's involvement around the world...these are men and women who are willing to die for your freedom. Most will not be able to come home for Christmas. The holidays are a time for family. This can bring about depression. Therefore, want to show your support?

Here are some ways to do so:


AAFES Gift Certificates
www.aafes.com/docs/homefront.htm

The Army and Air Force Exchange Services
is where most servicemen and women do
their shopping. You can purchase gift certificates
for those in Iraq and those hospitalized.


Adopt a Platoon
http://www.adoptaplatoon.org/

Adopt a Platoon has several ongoing projects to
ensure that no soldier overseas walks away
from mail call empty-handed.



AnySoldier
http://www.anysoldier.com/

Any Soldier is a non-profit organization that
helps people send care packages to members
of the armed services in Iraq.


Appreciate Our Troops
http://www.appreciateourtroops.org/

Purchase a Support Our Troops mug and a
free personalized mug will be given to a
current or former service member.


Blue Star Mothers
http://www.bluestarmothers.org/

The Blue Star Mothers was founded by service
members' moms during World War II. Any
mother with a son or daughter in the military
can join.



Books For Soldiers
www.booksforsoldiers.com/

Help the troops escape boredom by donating
some books. You can also donate DVDs and
CDs requested by soldiers.


Camp Doha
www.campdoha.org/

Camp Doha provides valuable information
for those about to deploy, their friends and
families and anyone who wants to support
the troops.



Cell Phones for Soldiers

Donated cell phones are recycled and turned into
cash. The cash is used to purchase calling cards
for soldiers in Iraq.



America Supports You

Thank any service member stationed throughout
the U.S. and the world with an e-mail.



Fisher House
http://www.fisherhouse.org/

The Fisher House Foundation donates comfort
homes, built on the grounds of major military
and VA medical centers. These homes enable
family members to be close to a loved one
during hospitalization for an unexpected
illness, disease, or injury.



Freedom Calls
http://www.freedomcalls.org/

The Freedom Calls Foundation is helping
families videoconference with their loved ones
in Iraq. You can donate money to help keep
this project going.



Groceries for Families
www.commissaries.com/certificheck

The men and women who lay down their lives
for us are terribly underpaid. Help a family by
purchasing gift certificates to the commissary.


Homes for Our Troops
http://www.homesforourtroops.org/

Homes for Our Troops assists injured veterans
and their immediate families by building new or
adapting existing homes with handicapped accessibility.


Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
www.intrepidmuseum.org/pages/intrepidfoundation

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund provides grants to
the families of servicemen and women who died in Iraq.
You can donate online, through mail or by calling a
toll-free number.



Military Moms
http://www.militarymoms.net/

This site provides support to all of the moms out
there who has a son or daughter in the military.



MilitarySpace
http://www.military-space.org/

This social networking site focuses on
communications with deployed troops and family
members, support groups and pen-pals.


MarineParents
http://www.marineparents.com/

MarineParents is a place for parents of Marines
to meet up. You'll find advice, support and information.



Operation: A Bit of Home
http://www.operationabitofhome.com/

Operation: A Bit of Home supports over 150 different
soldiers per day by providing necessary and
hard-to-get toiletries.


Operation Air Conditioner
http://www.operationac.com/

Operation Air Conditioner provides not only air
conditioners but space heaters (the desert is cold
in the winter) for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Operation Dear Abby
anyservicemember.navy.mil

The U.S. Navy and Dear Abby have teamed
up. Their site allows you to send e-mail messages
of support to service members.


Operation Give
http://www.operationgive.org/

Operation Give provides toys, clothing and
school supplies primarily to the children of Iraq
and Afghanistan.


Operation Gratitude
http://www.opgratitude.com/

Operation Gratitude provides a way for you to
show your respect and appreciation for the troops.
It sends care packages and letters to troops stationed
overseas.


Operation Hero Miles
http://www.heromiles.org/

You can donate your unused frequent flier miles
to help soldiers travel on emergency leave.
They are also used to help families fly to hospitalized
soldiers.


Operation Interdependence
http://www.oidelivers.org/

Operation Interdependence supplies care packages
to deployed soldiers. You can help out by providing
goods, coordinating efforts or donating funds.



Operation Iraqi Children
http://www.operationiraqichildren.org/

Many soldiers are rebuilding schools in Iraq and
scrounging around for school supplies. Help by
donating a school supplies kit.


Operation Kids for Troops
http://www.kids4troops.com/

Write directly to men and women serving overseas
in combat areas. Or place the names of loved
ones serving overseas on the "OKFT Hero List"
to receive encouraging mail. [This is a GREAT ONE
for classrooms to participate in!]


Operation Top Knot
http://www.operationtopknot.com/

This group of Soldiers' Angels volunteers help support
the wives and children of U.S. soldiers. Volunteers
make baby blankets, booties and other handmade gifts.
Everything is handmade!



Operation Uplink
http://www.operationuplink.org/

Donate money to Operation Uplink. The money
is used to purchase phone cards so servicemen and
women can call home.


Packages From Home
http://www.packagesfromhome.org/

Packages From Home sends personal care and
comfort items to U.S. troops deployed overseas.
Find out how to donate time, money or items to
this non-profit organization.



Soldiers' Angels
www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

Become some soldier's angel by adopting a service
member.


Treats for Troops
http://www.treatsfortroops.com/

Treats for Troops helps get you provide packages to
your loved ones overseas. If you don't know anyone,
the Foster-A-Soldier Program matches you with a
registered soldier by branch of service, home state,
gender, or birthday - or you can choose to sponsor
a group of soldiers.


US Central Command
http://www.centcom.mil/

Find out what the Coalition is doing. U.S. Central
Command features up-to-date information on Operation
Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.


USO Cares
http://www.usocares.org/

You can sponsor care packages provided by the USO
with a $25 donation.

Hire a Herohireahero.com

Is designed to help returning veterans find
employment making the transition back to civilian life
easier! Post your jobs here for them!


Merry Christmas!

Top of Page

Death

Death was walking toward a city one morning
and a man asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take 100 people," Death replied.

"That's horrible," the man said.

"That's the way it is," Death said.
"That's what I do."

The man hurried to warn everyone
he could about Death's plan.

As evening fell, he met Death again.

"You told me you were going to take
100 people," the man said,
"Why did 1,000 die?"

"I kept my word," Death responded.
"I only took 100 people. Worry took the others."


Worry is, and always will be, a fatal
disease of the heart, for its beginning
signals the end of faith.

Worry intrudes on God's compassionate
ability to provide.

When we allow our problems to
overshadow God's promises, we
unknowingly, doom ourselves to defeat.

That was never part of God's eternal plans.

Release the regrets of yesterday, refuse
the fears of tomorrow and receive
instead, the peace of today.


REMEMBER: WORRYING DOESN'T
SOLVE ANYTHING, INSTEAD IT HURTS
EVERYTHING.

Simply let go and let God be God.

Live this, and be eternally blessed.

"For with God NOTHING shall be Impossible."
(Lk. 1:37)

If you're gonna pray, don't worry....
and if you're gonna worry, why pray?

Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps
if you are not willing to move your feet.

Top of Page

The Da Vinci Code and the Jews

by Rabbi Benjamin Blech

The controversial book highlights the
fundamental differences between
Judaism and Roman Catholicism.

{{{C~B~N's comments enclosed--
Theologically, we are VERY different
from the Catholic faith. But that
not withstanding, Evangelical
Christians do not support this book
or its premises. }}}
† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

It's commonly called "the runaway
best seller of the 21st century."
The numbers are staggering.
Forty million copies sold round
the world. Translated into 44
languages. Soon to be released
as a movie starring Tom Hanks.
Critics agree: There hasn't been
anything like Dan Brown's The
Da Vinci Code in publishing history.

And that, truth be told, hasn't made
the Catholic Church very happy.
This, after all, isn't just an exciting
mystery novel. Woven into a story
of the aftermath of a murder in
the Louvre Museum is a tale of
Christian conspiracies, high level
cover-ups, and ancient secret
societies that the author repeatedly
hints is more fact than fiction.

Written in breezy roman-a-clef style,
the reader is introduced to Catholic
orders that really exist, prominent
holy sites that can readily be visited,
and famous people of past and
present -- all of whom share in
what is presented as the greatest
theological falsification of history.

"Almost everything our fathers
taught us about Christ is false,"
laments one of Brown's characters.
"Faith," he has one of his heroes
tell us, "is based on fabrication."
{{{LIES OF SATAN}}}

Mingling fact with fiction in a
combustible mixture that leaves
readers perplexed by the boundaries
between one and the other, Brown
leads us to believe -- with more
than an author's wink -- that an
incredible hoax has been played
on millions of pious Christians
who've never been told the truth
about the Holy Grail.

For centuries, pious Christians
have been taught that the Holy
Grail is the cup from which Jesus
drank at the Last Supper. But for
Brown's all-knowing art critic and
alter-ego Robert Langdon, that isn't true.

"The Grail," Langdon tells us in
a scholarly voice that appears to
echo the author's personal
conviction, "is symbolic of the lost
goddess. When Christianity came
along, the old pagan religions did
not die easily.

{{{Yet die they did. And yet Christianity
has survived 2000 years. That
tells me right there that the Bible
and Christianity can and DO
survive the test of time
AND truth.
Mark 4:30-32 The Parable of the
Mustard seed. While the mustard
seed is one of the smallest seeds,
it grows into one of the largest
plants. Just as Christianity
started small...it has grown
world-wide. Within the first
generation of believers, it had
spread to Ethiopia, India and
Europe.}}}

Legends of chivalric quests for
the Holy Grail were in fact stories
of forbidden quests to find the
lost sacred feminine. Knights who
claimed to be 'searching for the
chalice' were speaking in code
as a way to protect themselves
from a Church that had subjugated
women, banished the Goddess,
burned non-believers, and forbidden
the pagan reverence for the sacred
feminine."
(The Da Vinci Code, pages 238-239)

{{{What a bunch of new age lies.
Satan is having a field day with this.}}}

And there is more. A woman's body
is symbolically a container, and the
most famous of these has a name
every Christian will immediately
recognize. Brown claims that the
Holy Grail was actually Mary
Magdalene. She was married to
Jesus and was the vessel that bore
his children.

The secret that could not be
revealed since the birth of
Christianity is that Jesus' bloodline
continues to flourish to this day.
The Grand Masters of the Priory
of Sion (an actual Christian
organization), among whom
Brown lists Leonardo Da Vinci,
Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo,
have -- according to the book's
premise -- kept to their oath
never to reveal any of this to the
public and the Roman Catholic
church is committed to suppressing
this information. Brown strongly
hints that only the fortunate
readers of this "documentary
disguised as fiction" may at
last share in this incredible
revelation.

Small wonder the Church is
profoundly disturbed. Brown's
book is for the Vatican blasphemy
masquerading as history. If the
Da Vinci Code premise is true --
and the entire book is replete with
suggestions that the reader is
permitted entree to secret truths
merely couched in a fictionalized
framework -- Rome needs to revise
its faith and its past, its beliefs as
well as the story of its beginnings.

Chilling Effects

But what strikes me, as a rabbi,
is the remarkable irony that the
very theories about Jesus presented
by Brown that make the book
blasphemous to Christians are
concepts that make Jesus far more
comprehensible to Jews.

So Jesus was married! Well why
shouldn't he have been? Reared
as a Jew, celibacy would have
almost certainly been an idea
totally foreign to him. "Be fruitful
and multiply" was the biblical
creed that all Jews considered
sacred. Celibacy as a Christian
ideal wouldn't become law until
the Council of Elvira (300-306)
decreed (Canon 33): It is decided
that marriage be altogether
prohibited to bishops, priests,
and deacons, or to all clerics placed
in the ministry, and that they keep
away from their wives and not
beget children; whoever does
this, shall be deprived of the
honor of the clerical office.
Christian scholars explain the
reason: The Church wanted to
insure that the wealth of its
leadership would not be dissipated
by way of family inheritance.
A non-married clergy would
always return their possessions
to Rome. {{{Protestants have always
thought this was nuts. A man is a
better preacher who can identify
with the troubles and temptations
of his parishioners.}}}

Historians have pointed out the
chilling effects of this doctrine.
The "best and the brightest" were
invariably encouraged to enter the
prestigious life of the priesthood.
That effectively condemned their
genes to hereditary oblivion. Jews,
on the other hand, turned those
with the greatest intellectual
potential to rabbinic lives of
learning and teaching combined
with an emphasis on large families.
That, claims Will Durant in his classic
The Lessons of History, is what in
all probability accounts for the
statistically unbelievable
preponderance of Jewish Nobel
Prize winners and achievements.
{{{In Support of Israel }}}

More troubling for Christians, a
married Jesus is far too much a
human figure instead of a god to
be worshipped. Christianity can't
conceive of their object of divine
reverance as a sexual being -- or
even as one conceived by the sexual
act.

{{{Most of us are NOT quite that
prudish. Envisioning Jesus as having
sex does not disturb me as much
as the fact that Jesus my Savior,
a Messiah who is going to die for
MY sins, so I can someday join God
in Heaven, cannot be a corrupted
Savior. Jesus and God both
knew/know that sex is one area
of human existence that is so easily
corrupted. Just look at all the
references that deal with this subject
and the many perversions that result
in this area, then tell me it is not
important! }}}

It is a troublesome relationship
with physical pleasure that turned
Christian teachings away from
their Jewish biblical source. But
Jews have no problem with a
married Moses.

{{{But Moses is not God, nor
the Messiah and never claimed to
be!}}}

It is the Torah that Moses brought
to us that not only commands
marriage but calls it Kiddushin
-- an ideal state of holiness.

Here is the crux of a crucial concept
that has separated Judaism from
Christianity throughout the centuries.
Jews spared no effort to insure that
their greatest leader never be
confused with God; Moses was always
to be viewed as human, mortal,
less than divine, even capable of sin
for which he was punished and denied
entry into the Promised Land.
His very burial site was to remain
hidden so that it not become revered
beyond measure. The greatness of
Moses rests precisely on his human
qualities. He represents mankind's
potential. In him we see what we fellow
human beings are capable of becoming.

Christians, on the other hand, insisted
that Jesus be viewed not as man but
as god; {{{Think it is GOD who has
insisted on this.....not Christians!}}}
his human form could never be allowed
to overshadow his divinity. Jesus was
not elevated man but a god descended
to earth. Physical frailties and human
weaknesses couldn't possibly be part of
his makeup.

And that is what Brown has breached
in revealing, albeit in an ostensibly
fictionalized account, a " human" truth
about Christianity's founder. A
married Jesus with children is,
for the Church, nothing less than
a diminished god.

That's why Jews shouldn't be upset
about the success of The Da Vinci
Code. After all, it's responsible for
making more than 40 million people
question what Jews have long
recognized about Christianity's
founder:

Jesus was not God; he was human.

{{{This is why having only
HALF of the inspired word of
God doesn't work:

Divinity of Jesus: Luke 5:21;
Colossians 1:15-16; 1 John 2:22-23}}}


And perhaps the day will come
when the world will acknowledge
what Judaism teaches: It isn't
God who became man, but man
who must strive to become more
like God.

{{{This philosophy is
dangerously close to secular
humanism--anathema to
GOD.

Jesus IS divine. Otherwise how can
a Jesus who is not divine, die for
MY sins if HE is sinful? It won't
work. What is not covered here
is the "sacrificial" aspect of Jesus.
To be the sacificial lamb, according
to the Torah, He had
to be without blemish or spot.
This rules out marriage.

As a Christian, we have to take
a lot of slaps from others: Muslims,
Buddhists, Agnostics, Athiests;
but now from our Jewish brethran
as well??????

I'm not easily offended. You can't be
and still be a Christian...at least in
this day and age. But this article
did offend.}}}


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Money

A man trying to understand the
nature of God asked him:
"God, how long is a million years
to you?"
God answered:
"A million years is like a minute."
Then the man asked:
"God, how much is a million
dollars to you?"
And God replied:
"A million dollars is like a penny."
Finally, the man asked:
"God, could you give me a penny?"
And God said, "In a minute."


Now that you have had a laugh...on to the
lesson!

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

The Issue of Money
===================

Shortage of money is the number one
common factor in the hundreds of prayer
requests that we receive each week at
Mountain Wings #3248

If money is not the central issue, a
money shortage is usually present in
both marriage difficulties and health
problems.

A sizable percentage of MountainWings'
readers deal with money shortage issues.

Some think it doesn't belong in an
inspirational email but let your money
get tight and get an unexpected check
and see if that doesn't inspire you.

I want to address the issue of money as
briefly as I can. For a few, my experience
may shed a new light on your situation.
Some may have a radically different
opinion, that is expected; but for many,
this will help change your view and
possibly your approach to your money
situation.

I deal with more money shortage
situations than most people simply
by virtue of being a Pastor of a church
and a businessman. People come to me,
both for advice and money in both the
church and business worlds.

Hopefully the eight principles below
will help someone reading Mountain
Wings.

Principle #1 - Hardly anyone has enough
money.
----------------------------------------------
At a recent meeting in my company,
some thought I was bragging when I said
that I had enough money. I was absolutely
serious.I have always had enough money,
but I have not always made a lot of money.

When I earned less than minimum wage,
I had enough money.When I earned minimum
wage, I had enough money. I have enough
money now.

Someone asked the multi-billionaire John
D. Rockefeller the question of "How much
money is enough?"

His answer was, "One more dollar than I have."
He therefore, would never have enough,
no matter how many billions he had.

I have seen people earn more than double
what they were earning in the previous year
and they still did not have enough money.

Money is one of those things where unless
the spirit gets right, you never have enough.
Having enough money is primarily a matter
of spirit, not amount, understand this.

Principle #2 - You are rich when you
have enough.
-------------------------------------------
Don't be like Rockefeller or else you
will forever be dissatisfied.

Often our change from poor to rich is
more spiritual than financial. It is why
Paul could say if you have food and
clothing then you should be content.

Perhaps we should realize that
instead of struggling so hard to get
more that we should simply want less.
The problem with wanting more is
that it never stops, and most find that
even when they get "the stuff," it's
not what they thought in terms of real
contentment.

Jesus said:
a. The Kingdom of God is within
b. It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of God.

Everyone wants the kingdom, yet
everyone also wants to be rich.

I preached a sermon called, "The
Roughest Verse in the Bible." It was
concerning this basic principle.
You can listen to it onWMA (best) Listen

Just maybe, for many of you, you have enough already.

Principle #3 - Neither The New
Testament of the Bible or any of the
teachings of Jesus promise nor
promote material wealth.
-------------------------------------
Some will argue against this to an extreme,
but I have looked for it over and over in
the New Testament of the Bible. It
simply is not there unless you take
a scripture and twist it to mean what
it really didn't say or you must make
speculations about things
that aren't written in scripture.

No words in the New Testament promote
wealth when looked at in context.

NONE!

"What about when Jesus told the
disciples where to fish and they had
the great haul of fish?" you ask.

Read what they did with the increase
after they got it. The disciples ate from
the fish then left the fish to follow Jesus.
When you read exactly what they did,
the pattern becomes clear.

We can sometimes be masters at making
scripture say what it never meant because
it is what people want to hear and it often
justifies our own agenda.

Jesus NEVER pointed us towards material
wealth; he did quite the opposite when
you read what he actually said.

Many passages plainly point you away
from riches but none plainly point you
towards it, not in the New Testament.

And no, the verse, "Beloved, I wish above
all things that thou mayest prosper and
be in health," is not talking about riches.

Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:8, that if you
have food and clothing you should be
content. I thought about that verse as I
was alone one day. I had a BIG problem
with it then, and I still struggle to
fully understand and accept it.

"What about shelter?" I thought. How
in the world does God expect you to be
content with no house? That just didn't
make any sense to me.

So I asked God in a quiet moment, "How
can a person be content with no house?"
God answered me and though I didn't like the
answer, the minute I heard it, I recognized
the truth of it.

The answer was, "Did my son have a house?"
"Whoa!"

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds
of the air have nests, but the Son of Man
has no place to lay his head."(Mat 8:20 NIV)

Not only are we NOT happy with food and
clothing, we often aren't happy even in
medium or large houses. We want mansions
and guess what? Given enough time,
we often aren't happy in those either.

Principle #4 - Rich and poor are relative
terms.
----------------------------------------
I went to the Amazon jungle. I wanted to
see the rain forest before man destroyed
it. The children in the jungle were
excited to see an ink pen.

We trekked through the jungle all
day with a native guide. He said our
hike would culminate by visiting the
rich man's house.

I was expecting a huge mansion
overlooking the river. When we got
to his house, it indeed sat on a hill,
but it was hardly a mansion.
It was more like a shack on a hill.

His house was distinguished by the
fact that it had a generator. The rich
man had electricity. When the rest of
the village was dark, he had light,
therefore everyone in the village
considered him"The Rich Man.

"I learned a great lesson from that.
He had no indoor plumbing, no air
conditioning, no marble counters or
carpeted floors. His house would not
even meet minimum building codes in
the poorest neighborhoods in America.
However, he had electricity when
everyone else was in the dark,
therefore he was rich.

In many parts of the world, what we
consider poverty is considered great
wealth. We have so much food in
America that eating too much causes
America's biggest health problems.

Principle #5 - Happiness is not dependent
on money.
------------------------------------------
The Amazon jungle was perhaps the poorest
area that I have ever visited. There was
no industry. The huts did not even have
doors. Yet, in the midst of what many
would consider extreme poverty by
American standards, again I saw something.

The people were quite happy.

The ability to sense spirit is something
God gave me long ago.When I sold
newspapers as a boy through many of the
neighborhoods in Atlanta, the minute
people opened the door, I could sense
whether the house was happy or sad.

I sold newspapers in the richest and
poorest of neighborhoods. Both had
their share of happy and sad homes.

The guide told us as we walked through
the village with the doorless huts, "We
marry around 13 or 14."

"13 or 14?" I repeated, amazed at
such a young marrying age.

"What is the divorce rate?" I asked.
"Less than 5%," he replied.

Again I saw that material possessions
don't guarantee happiness.We have
relatively huge wealth along with a relatively
huge divorce rate.

Principle #6 - One American family has
contributed to morefinancial disaster
than any other.
-----------------------------------------
The Joneses.

Because we often try to keep up with the
Joneses, it strains our finances to the
limit and beyond. My father, often quoted,
"If your outgo exceeds your income then
your upkeep will become your downfall.

"Too often we live way above our means.
I have always had enoughmoney because
I have always kept my expenses well below
my income. Whether you earn millions or
minimum wage, the principle applies.

Years ago my wife began selling a nutritional
system. The system had a cassette tape
explaining it. She went throughout several
Atlanta upper income neighborhoods
putting the tapes in mailboxes.

She only selected the fancy houses as
she only had a limited number of tapes.

Six people responded wanting the system.
The system cost $100.

Of the six people who responded, not ONE
had $100.

Each had a story of why they had to wait
until payday or could only pay a part now
but none had $100. "How could that be?"
my wife asked.

"I specifically only put these tapes in BIG
houses. They all had two fancy cars and
$200,000 plus houses. How could their
finances be so tight that they don't have $100?"
she kept asking me.

Because they lived next to The Joneses,
who lived next to The Joneses,
who lived next to The Joneses,who lived next to ...

Principle #7 - Lack of a budget.
--------------------------------------------------
At the church, I have a financial expert
teach a class each month. It is a six-part
series that we repeat each six months.
It teaches people how to manage their money.
We often tell people in the church to give
10% of their money to the church,
but we give them no knowledge on
how to manage the other 90%.

People came to me with testimonies
about how the class changed their financial
lives. The first thing the expert did was to
have everyone create a budget.

NO ONE had a budget. No one could
say exactly how much they were spending.
Sure, they all knew what the rent or mortgage
was, but it was often the "other" stuff
that sunk them. No onecould tell you
with any degree of accuracy exactly what
they were spending as a total.

The expert told the story of how one
lady had come to him for a loan.
She wanted to buy a car. She was going to
pay for the car by the week at one of those
"pay by the week" places.

She got angry at him when he would
not lend her the money. He had her to
do a budget. When she did, she was
shocked to see that the weekly
payments plus what she was spending
on other stuff added up to more than
what she was earning. If he had
loaned her the money for the down
payment on the car, it would
have been sure financial disaster.

WRITE IT DOWN exactly how much
you spend each month on EVERYTHING.
You may be surprised. Just something as
simple as a two pack a day cigarette habit
is $200.00 per month.

Principle #8 - Learn the principle of
giving.
-------------------------------------------------
I cannot logically explain this, but I
know it is true. It is no accident that
the U.S. is the most prosperous country on
the face of the earth, but we also give
more than any other country on earth.

Yes, I know the U.S. has flaws but that
doesn't change the principle or the result.
We benefit from our benevolence;
we suffer for our malice.

God spoke a Word of Wisdom to me
personally concerning money.

"Anything beyond sufficiency is insignificant."

It has taken me a long time to understand
that but the longer I live, the more
convinced I am of that truth.

Money is similar to food. You need it;
if you run short, it gets very uncomfortable
and even unhealthy. Yet excess consumption
has great dangers.

Having excess food is wonderful if you do
the right thing. The problem is not in
having the excess; the excess is a blessing.
The challenge is in doing the right thing
with the excess.

Even the Old Testament of the Bible
listed lack of both money and food as a
curse and its abundance a blessing.
The problem was that it wasn't long
after the abundance that the people became
corrupt. It is very hard to keep abundance
in balance.

That's why Jesus said it was HARD
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Money has always been and always will be
an issue. It traps most in this world;
it even traps most of us preachers.

"No servant can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both
God and Money. "The Pharisees,
(ministers and priests) who loved
money, heard all this and were sneering
at Jesus. He said to them, "You are the ones
who justify yourselves in the eyes of men,
but God knows your hearts. What is
highly valued among men is detestable
in God's sight. (Luke 16:13-15 NIV)

The messages of this week have presented
you with the principles for abundance
and some guidance for using the abundance.

I wrote an issue on what God specifically
spoke to me concerning how to handle the
blessing of money.

Click here to Read it

Remember that a golden chain binds
just as tight as an iron one.

Top of Page

Which are you?

A family had twin boys whose only
resemblance to each other was
their looks.

If one felt it was too hot, the other
thought it was too cold. If one said
the TV was too loud, the other
claimed the volume needed to
be turned up.

Opposite in every way, one was
an eternal optimist, the other a
doom & gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen,
on the twins' birthday their
father loaded the pessimist's
room with every imaginable
toy and game.

The optimist's room he loaded
with horse manure.

That night the father passed
by the pessimist's room and
found him sitting amid his
new gifts crying bitterly.

"Why are you crying?" the
father asked.

"Because my friends will be
jealous, I'll have to read all these
instructions before I can do
anything with this stuff.
I'll constantly need batteries,
and my toys will eventually get
broken." answered the
pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin's
room, the father found him
dancing for joy in the pile of
manure.

"What are you so happy
about?" he asked.

To which his optimist twin
replied,

"There's got to be a pony in here
somewhere!"



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