This week's Bible study continues onward to chapter 4 of 2nd Corinthians

Never Giving Up Hope

[2^nd Corinthians chapter4]

In this week's Bible study we will be completing chapter four in Second Corinthians. At the close of last week's study the apostle Paul wrote of reflecting the glory of God – not through ourselves and being reflected back to the Lord, but by allowing God to shine His eternal light through us towards others. By doing so, everyone can see the habitation of the Holy Spirit within us and be so compelled to gravitate towards God, allowing Him to permeate our lives as He adds daily to the number of those who believe in His Son and so be saved by Him. Paul continues this train of thought in chapter four, beginning at verse one.

“Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinth. 4, verses 1-6, NIV)

When Paul wrote that he did “not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God...”, I'm fairly sure that he was referring to an age-old problem within the Christian faith at large – that of pastors, evangelists and “teachers” who turn their churches or their ministries into cults of personalities surrounding themselves. I'm not going to delve into this matter today except to say that those who are in such positions of leadership within the Body of Christ will be held to a higher standard than many of the rest of us Christians when it is their turn to stand before God and give an account of themselves and of what they did – or failed to do – in their lives and in His service. Paul then goes on by referring back to something he wrote in what is now called chapter 3, the “veil”. You will recall from last week's lesson that Paul was referring to the veil in the inner sanctuary in the Temple at Jerusalem that covered that Ark of the Covenant, and how it was torn in two during a powerful earthquake that happened at the moment of Christ's death on the cross. He went on to compare that veil to one that was on the minds of those who refused to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are some people that have their vision and their minds obstructed with regard to the saving power of Christ. The Bible says that these kinds of people have hardened their hearts and closed their minds, not just when it comes to belief in Jesus, but in their dealings with all other people as well. As far as they are concerned, they are at the center of their own little universe, being either uncaring or oblivious towards others. Instead, they are focused on the acquisition of financial “success” and material gain solely for their benefit. That, my dear readers, is no way to live your life. In fact, that's not a life at all, it is merely an existence, an existence devoid of all feeling in a universe of singularity while denying the interconnection of humanity. Having said that, let us now continue at verse 7.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (2 Corinth. 4, verses 7-12, NIV)

As you can clearly see from these verses, Paul had different flourishes within his writings that are very reminiscent of inspirational speakers of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, such as Les Brown, Dale Carnegie, and Zig Ziglar, to name a few. These gentlemen, for whom I have the utmost respect, do not have a monopoly on maintaining a positive mental attitude. It is a way of thinking that originates from the Bible, such as the passage above, where Paul writes, “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Paul was telling the Corinthian congregation that in spite of all he endured for the sake of the preaching of the gospel, every time he got knocked down he immediately got back up again and continued his journey through life as a minister of and a believer in Jesus Christ, and that they should emulate his example as they endured the persecution that the early church was undergoing at the time. This in turn was inspired by the teaching of Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7, when He said, “Seek and you shall find; knock, and the door will be opened; ask, that you may receive”. If you don't ask, you'll never find the help you need to succeed in life. If you're looking for a doorway to your dreams, start knocking on doors. You'll never find what you are looking for in life if you never start looking. So obvious, so simple, and yet so completely ignored by so many people! Never allow yourself to fall into this trap, the snare of being powerless to act due to a fear of failure. Remember that making mistakes is how we learn. There is no substitute. Besides, we only have to succeed really big just once in life. Let's now continue at verse 13.

“It is written, 'I believed, therefore I have spoken'. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinth. 4, verses 13-18, NIV)

The quote the apostle Paul is referring to above is from Psalm 116, verse 10. He is illustrating himself to the Corinthian church as having the faith of King David of Jerusalem. As David spoke and believed, so Paul also spoke to the early church and believed it as a continuity of Temple leadership, except that each of us is now a temple unto the Lord, giving Him glory and thanksgiving and praise every waking moment of our lives. “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” The Temple at Jerusalem no longer exists, but the Temple of the Lord can still exist spiritually inside of each of us. That is certainly the case with me, and I can say from experience that it has made all the difference in the world in my life. Focus on the spiritual, what is unseen by the naked eye. Focus on Jesus, living each day as if He was right beside you, because He really is. Reject material possessions and excessive personal wealth, what we can see and touch, because the pursuit of these things is an empty, pointless and uncaring existence. Nobody wants to be a shallow person, having a glossy exterior but lacking substance within them. God has empowered each of us to “be all that we can be”, just like that old TV commercial, except that when we do so we become soldiers in God's army, not the US Army. Let's all begin to learn to follow Paul's example as he followed that of Jesus Christ and King David, giving our very best for God and His army each and every day of our lives.

Religion is in decline. It's not the message, it's the way it's being delivered.

Are People Abandoning Religion?

By Rev. Paul J. Bern

A recent poll showed that Americans who consider themselves Christian have dropped from a high of over 85% in the 1970's to about 70% currently. There can be no question today that organized religion has attendance issues. The Catholic church, to use only one example, has been beset by ongoing allegations of sexual molestation of young boys by priests, and it has been mired in a series of lawsuits and legal judgments that at one time threatened to bankrupt the Vatican. Meanwhile, the Protestant denominations are doing no better with some sexual scandals of their own, such as the recent admission on TV that a certain well-known evangelist was unfaithful to his wife, as well as the molestation scandal of the so-called “bishop” Eddie Long right here in Atlanta that made national headlines a couple of years ago. To make matters worse, the TV channels are flooded with preachers who spend most of their time begging for money. Many of them are living in million-dollar mansions and are driving around in cars with six-figure price tags, yet there is a complete absence of accountability with these people. Nobody knows anything about how much in donations these “nonprofits” are accumulating, but the two biggest Christian TV networks, Trinity Broadcasting and Christian Broadcasting, are known to be sitting on tens of millions in cash – each!

I know of two additional statistics regarding the church, one concerning the divorce rate and the other concerning the state of its youth. First, the divorce rate for people who regularly attend church is about the same as those who do not – roughly 50%. Second, two out of three high school kids coming from Evangelical homes who go off to college are agnostic or atheistic by the time they graduate. Organized religion is losing its youth in droves. In light of all this, I see the need to ask some relevant questions, such as why the modern church is hung up on things like abortion and same-sex marriage when it should be preaching and teaching about the extreme immorality of waging war. But, since speaking the truth might prove to be unpopular for churches (not to mention unprofitable), it seldom gets mentioned. Why is it sinful for a woman to have an abortion in this country while US military forces killed 100,000 Iraqi civilians during the American occupation of 2003-2011? Why is it sinful for two people of the same gender to fall in love, but hating them is OK for moral reasons? These are hard questions and they pose some deep thoughts about the state of organized religion today.

Chances are that if you are in your 20s or 30s, you are not hanging around a church. Polling is now a highly sophisticated industry, and religious organizations are being fed some irrefutable numbers about what is happening among their constituents. In a single generation, the Christian church dropout rate has increased five-fold. The Barna Group, a leading research organization focusing on the intersection of faith and culture, says 80 percent of the young people raised in a church will be “disengaged” before they are 30. In the past 20 years, the number of American people who say they have no religion has doubled and has now reached 15 percent. Those numbers are concentrated in the under-30 population. The polling data continues to show that a dramatic exit is taking place from American Christian churches. Beyond those numbers, denominations across the board are acknowledging loss of membership, but it is worse than they are reporting. Many churches report numbers based on baptized constituents, yet actual Sunday morning attendance doesn’t come close to those numbers. Once baptized, always a report-able Christian! Simply put, denominations are no longer a reliable source of membership information. As a result, they are losing their credibility. Is it any wonder? The mega-church movement also has flattened, with people leaving as fast as they are recruited. The only real growth among Christians appears to be in the home church movement in which small groups of independent believers gather in a house to worship.

While the polling numbers are in, the debate about the reasons is only just beginning. When a pollster asks if a person has left the Christian Faith and a church, the answer is answered “yes” or “no.” However, when the pollster asks “why?,” the answers become mushy and the numbers lose their significance. Why are people leaving churches so fast? I am not a pollster, but rather an observer of the religious scene operating outside the boundaries of traditional denominations. As such I teach and preach the Gospel as it truly is, quoting the Bible verbatim while intentionally omitting any hint of denominational prejudice and belief. By the same token, my impressions are anecdotal and in no way scientific. All I do is receive personal responses to my columns, and I carry on conversations with a steady flow of people by e-mail or when I meet them at book signings. But I am also a missionary. Not in some distant country, but right here at home in the inner city of Atlanta. While it's always good to reach the multitudes with the Gospel of Christ, I find I do best working one-on-one with people right here at home. I step aside within myself and yield power and authority to Jesus. In so doing I let others see Jesus by letting them see Him through me. Not by eloquent words or poetic sermons, but by example through kindness and tenderheartedness toward the poor, the disabled, widows and orphans, the homeless, the mentally ill, as well as ex-convicts and other vulnerable individuals, some of which don't even realize how vulnerable they actually are.

I am convinced that those in positions of responsibility within the church, and particularly clergy, need to look at themselves for at least some of the reasons for the decline in membership. I offer three observations:

[1] Churches are no longer intellectually challenging. More and more of our young people are college-educated. In the future, even more will accept the challenge of post-high school education, especially if higher education becomes available to everyone without cost as it should be. The youth of today are thinking people who are expanding the horizons of their curiosity and knowledge at an exponential rate thanks to information technology. Speaking of expanding our horizons, what will happen to organized religion when life is discovered beyond earth, which will definitely happen in another ten years or so? Will religious entities be able to cope with the change in our view of ourselves in relation to the rest of God's universe when that inevitable day arrives? Nobody currently knows the answer to these questions, but it is for these reasons that these young people often conclude that they know more than the person in the pulpit and are not willing to accept the church’s rigid catechism, an educational method that teaches all the allegedly correct answers to time-honored religious questions. As an educational tool, catechisms and other denominational instructions have become stale and provide no challenge to students eager to question and discuss 21^st century issues. Ministers pastors, priests, bishops and elders must re-establish themselves among the leaders of the intellectual community. They can no longer rely on the outdated method of teaching unquestioning obedience as a method of control of their congregations and even of whole denominations.

[2] Churches are no longer leaders in moral and ethical discussions. Young people have grown weary of churches that cannot get past social issues such as homosexuality and abortion. What they hunger for is a church that rails against the accumulation of wealth and the hoarding of material goods. Today's youth pines for a church that teaches gentleness, kindness, patience, empathy and compassion while rejecting materialism and the phony financial trappings of capitalism. Our new crop of church drop-outs is still very interested in alternatives to a selfish, hedonistic society. Justice is high on their agenda, so is morality, and they are looking for opportunities for service. Our young people want to be involved in solving environmental problems and in peacemaking. By contrast, pizza parties and rock concerts – techniques that have been used to make churches appear more relevant to the young – are not high on the agenda of young people concerned about society’s deep-seated problems. In other words, too many churches are concerned about same-sex marriage when the preacher should be talking about the unacceptability of war and poverty.

[3] Churches are no longer visionary. They have remained focused on saving souls for the next life and offering rituals tied to perpetuating theologies that no longer seem relevant to many young people. Churches are no longer teaching about Spiritual gifts because their leaders and teachers are not walking in the Spirit themselves! Churches are no longer significant players in shaping the life of our communities. In times past, ministers and churches laid out what the kingdom of God on earth should actually look like. Today, young people must look elsewhere because churches are no longer actively leading in most cases. In that sense, I am somewhat less concerned about the young adults who are leaving the churches than the continued viability of the churches they are leaving behind. One thing I know for sure – this will not continue much longer. That's because we're getting very near the end of the world as we have known it, and the beginning of a new age. I can hardly wait!

This week's Bible study will be 2nd Corinthians chapter 3

The Spirit of the Lord is Freedom

[2^nd Corinthians chapter 3]

Last week when we left off at the end of chapter two, you will recall Paul making the statement that “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit”. He finishes this train of thought in verse one of chapter three, and then continues with comments on comparing the glory of the face of Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai with the ten commandments with the glory of the risen Christ. So let's begin at verse one.

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the results of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a New Covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1-6, NIV)

I find it interesting that the apostle Paul has an apparent disdain for profit, as least as far as preaching the Word is concerned. Back then, as it is today throughout organized religion, the more money the churches can collect when the collection basket is passed around, the more “successful” a church is considered to be. That's why Paul pointed out that although it is a good thing for a pastor to have the approval of the congregation and church leadership, it is far better to have the approval of God. It is God's judgment that counts in the end, and none other. The Spirit of the Living God does not inhabit these churches where all the money is being collected every Sunday, because God does not live in buildings. The one true God inhabits the hearts of men so that His Word also lives there. Instead of being written on parchment or carved in stone like the letter of the law, the Spirit of the law writes God's Word on our hearts, like an eloquent love letter from or to Jesus. Paul then continues beginning in verse 7.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters of stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3, verses 7-18, NIV)

Beginning in verse seven, Paul is referring to Moses when he came down the mountain with the ten commandments for the second time. You will recall from the Book of Exodus that when Moses came down the first time from Mt. Sinai with the ten commandments and found Aaron and the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, he became enraged and threw down the two tablets of stone he had been carrying, breaking them into pieces. As you remember from the book of Exodus, Moses face shined like the sun when he came down from Mt. Sinai that last time to the point where people couldn't look directly at it. Paul is stating that this was a foreshadowing of what is to come for all of us who believe, that we will all one day be transformed like Moses was. When Paul refers to “the ministry that condemns”, he is referring to the old law, or the Old Testament as we know it today. He contrasts that with “the ministry that brings righteousness”, which is the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the new covenant of His blood.

Paul then writes, “For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory”. He is comparing the radiance of the face of Moses upon his return from Mt Sinai with the radiance of Christ at the Transfiguration (Matthew chapter 17, verses 1-13), and on the road to Damascus when Paul first met Christ, when He appeared to Paul as a blinding light in the book of Acts. He then goes on by referring to a veil that Moses wore for a time after he came back down from Mt. Sinai because his face shone too bright for people to look directly at him. In the same way, he writes, the Jewish religious establishment had a veil over their hearts when they worshiped at the temple because they would not accept that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied throughout the Old Testament, the Hebrew Book of the Law. But Paul is giving the word 'veil' a double meaning here because he is also referring to the veil that used to surround the inner court of the temple where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

The temple at Jerusalem – indeed all Israelite temples in biblical times – were arranged with an greater court around the perimeter which surrounded an inner court where sacrifices were made. This in turn surrounded the innermost court, or the “holy of holys”, as the Bible puts it. No one was admitted into the innermost court except for the high priest under penalty of death. As you can see, the Jews took God very seriously. But when Jesus died on the cross, all four gospels recount that there was a great earthquake which caused quite a bit of damage in what is modern Israel today. One of the side effects of this quake was that the veil around the innermost court of the temple in Jerusalem was torn in two. This is perfectly symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, because upon His death the veil that surrounded the Holy of Holys was forever ripped in two, giving all of humankind access to the previously off-limits innermost court of God's temple. In ancient times the veil separated us from God, but when the sacrifice of Jesus was complete it gave us all access to God through Jesus Christ. By no other means can we be saved. No way.

In closing, let's ask ourselves this question: Is there a veil over my heart so that God and other people can't see what's in there? You know, God can see what's in there, and if there's anything wrong He will help you fix it if only you will ask Him. He can't help us if we won't tell Him what's wrong, so why hold back? Take all your cares and your worries to Him, don't try to do it all yourself because nobody can do that anyway. Let go and let God. And the peace of Christ which surpasses all human understanding will dwell within your heart, mind, body and soul forever. Shalom.

On Jesus Christ, economic inequality, and progressive Christianity

Income Inequality and Jesus Christ

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

I have always vigorously maintained that the gap between the rich and poor is a moral problem as well as a socioeconomic problem in desperate need of solutions. Yes, it's a religious problem too, and religious people are causing it. They come to church faithfully every Sunday, dressed like fashion models, and go through all the motions of worship and praise. Sometimes there will even be some tears or some healing that takes place. But, as the Bible says, if we do all that and even more without compassion for all humankind, none of those church services I just mentioned will mean one stinking thing. Neither will the people at church, particularly the rich or comfortably well off who do nothing to help those less fortunate than themselves. All their praising, worshiping, preaching and their exclamations of, “Thank you, Jesus!!” will be meaningless. Regarding this the apostle Paul wrote, “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1^st Corinthians 13, verses 3-7, NIV)

So we can see that at least part of the reason for inequality is people who keep all they own and all they earn completely to themselves. They won't share anything – nothing! Despite near-record levels of economic inequality, many politicians and pundits still don't think this widening chasm is much of a problem in a country supposedly dedicated to egalitarian ideals. Inequality, the logic goes, is a natural result of different degrees of work and creativity. Some people strive harder and have better ideas, as well as take more risks, and giving them out-sized rewards is a good thing, since it encourages others to emulate this behavior and makes us all wealthier in the end. The only problem with this story, of course, is that it's persistently contradicted by the actual facts about inequality today. In truth, inequality in America tracks more closely with a classic Marxist analysis whereby the owners of capital exploit a surplus of labor to keep wages low and generate high profits for themselves – depriving workers of a fair share of the value they are creating for companies. Yes, there are smart entrepreneurs taking big risks in America, but the more dominant face of the economy is well-established corporations run by professional managers who keep finding new ways to drive labor costs down and profits up.

The big losers are the people who are actually creating most of the value of these companies -- i.e., the workers who make the sales, prepare the food, stock the shelves, handle the phones and so on. Many of these people are paid under $10 an hour, which is not enough to live on – and certainly not enough to save for retirement or buy health insurance, which is not offered to most low-wage workers. All of us are hurt, too, by the way that the low-wage model drags down economic growth. If you give a low-wage worker higher wages, they immediately pump that money back into the economy through more spending. But if you give a CEO another few million dollars in compensation, he'll most likely just plow that money into his stock portfolio or other savings vehicles, which doesn't do much for the economy since capital is cheap right now and customers are scarce. If we want an economy with robust consumer demand, workers need to a bigger slice of the pie. Business leaders once understood that elementary fact.

Jesus, Pope Francis, and brain scientists have asked what happens to a person who is repeatedly given a larger and larger portion of the economic pie at the expense of the workers, and the answers are clear if unnerving. Wealth and power are dangerous for your mental health, your spiritual condition, and for society in general – especially when they contribute to the neglect of the poor. Ridding the world as it exists today of poverty is currently a fantasy. Jesus spoke of this: "The poor you will always with you, but you will not always have me" (Matthew 26:11). He also said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). Only a few verses before this moment in Luke, he cries (quoting Deuteronomy 6:13): "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor." (Luke 4:18). Jesus also noted, famously and controversially, that it is easier "for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:23-24).

Jesus discouraged the accumulation of wealth, worried about its effects on those who had it, and took special pleasure in helping the poor, dedicating His efforts to them. He must have shaken his head at the large gaps between rich and poor throughout the Middle East in the first century. Pope Francis has taken up Jesus' call on this. During his 2014 visit to South Korea, he repeated a cry that has become a central theme of his papacy, telling hundreds of thousands of listeners in Seoul that the gap between the rich and poor in Korea was a problem, and they should think back to early Christian martyrs in Korea. He said: "Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing; where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded and where Christ continues to call out to us, asking us to love and serve him by tending to our brothers and sisters in need." Now, I'm not a fan of the Catholic church, but I must admit the pope has a good point here.

Everyone knows that the wealth gap in the U.S. has increased dramatically. "The top 10 percent took more than half of the country's overall income in 2012, the highest proportion recorded in a century of government record keeping," the New York Times reported in April 2014. It's a problem that makes you dizzy, and one that will never be easily solved. Indeed, the concentration of wealth at the very top of American society recalls the early 20th century, before the income-leveling measures of the New Deal kicked in. The growing income gap is perhaps the most pressing issue before the world, not just the United States, as the level of misery rises among the world's poor. Even those formerly known as the middle class, who have struggled mightily to make ends meet for decades now, face an array of problems that create mental and physical pain on a vast scale. So let's go back to Jesus and Pope Francis and their concerns. Do people on the other end of this inequality equation really fare better? Does wealth make you happy? Jesus certainly didn't think so, and neither do I. Although I've never been really rich, there was a time in my life during the 1990's when I owned and operated a small computer repair shop. For the last 4 out of 8 years that I was in business, I earned a 6-figure income. But in the process, my life had sped up to a frenzied pace. By the time I closed that business in June 1999, I was so exhausted that I took a couple of months off to recuperate. So I know first hand that money does not necessarily solve all problems. Indeed, it can sometimes create more problems than it solves.

Three Canadian neuroscientists have suggested that being rich and powerful actually makes you less happy and, even worse, incapable of sympathizing with the poor. They find that the rich and powerful among us show less brain activity in that region of the brain where human sympathy is excited. Power diminishes all varieties of sympathy, and it drowns empathy in a sea of greed. Conversely, those who feel poor and marginalized in society show a great deal of sympathetic activity. The ability to sympathize with those around us seems crucial to our survival, and it's connected to the mirroring functions of the brain. As the research now suggests, the richer and more powerful we feel, the deader will be that area of our brain where this crucial activity, which generates empathy, occurs. In fact, power fundamentally changes the way we respond to those around us.

Is it any wonder that when a rich young man came to Jesus asking for spiritual guidance, Jesus said what he was not expecting to hear. “'All these I have kept', the young man said. 'What do I still lack'? Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew chapter 19, verses 20-22, NIV). The young man "went away sad," since he had so much materialistic stuff and didn't want to let go of any of it. But letting go is essential to our own happiness as well as the world's economic equilibrium. Jesus, Pope Francis and brain scientists would agree on this. It's a hard teaching, but it's important. We as humankind must – absolutely must – outgrow our childish need for accumulating material things. The notion that economic prosperity equals happiness borderlines on insanity because of the deliberate refusal of those who practice it to plug into reality. And so on and on it goes. The saying used to be, “On and on it goes, and where it stops, nobody knows”, remember that one? The difference between then and now is that the stopping point is finally in sight due to a series of wars and natural disasters culminating in the return of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a day that will be!

This week's BIble study will be 2nd Corinthians chapter two

Second Corinthians Chapter 2

In today's lesson we will cover, as the title says, the second chapter of Second Corinthians in its entirety. Paul takes up where he left off at the end of chapter one, going on to describe what my New International Version of the Bible calls a “painful visit”. Although the meaning of this is not immediately clear, it will become more so as we examine Paul's frame of reference, beginning at chapter one, verses 23-24 where we left off last week.

“I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm. So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent – not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven – if there was anything to forgive – I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1-11, NIV)

In the last two verses of chapter one, the apostle Paul is apparently referring to some sort of internal dissent going on within the Corinthian church that resulted from Paul's first letter to them, which is what we just finished studying. Paul appears to feel that his return to Corinth to clear up the controversy would have done more harm than good, so the amount of disagreement over Paul's first letter must have been considerable, to say the least. Paul gives the church what would amount to 'tough love' by today's standards when he writes, “ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm”. Paul adds to this two sentences later in verse 3 when he wrote, “I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.”

Paul is telling this church in no uncertain terms that when he wrote what he did in what has become known as First Corinthians, he did so out of love for them and an intense desire to see them achieve oneness with the Spirit. Further down we find Paul encouraging forgiveness towards someone within their congregation, dispensing some timeless advice about how those who are accused of wrongdoing should be dealt with when he wrote, “Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” This is quite the contrary to what is going on in our country today with our broken criminal justice system and the outmoded approaches to the law, crime and punishment that are currently being used. Just lock people up, that has been the answer in the US for a generation, with the mushrooming incarceration-industrial complex that this policy has created being the end result. The United States now has more people in prison than any other country in the world, and this is nothing to brag about. With a recidivism rate of well over 50%, America's prison-industrial complex has become the world's largest revolving door. Over half are in prison for nonviolent drug offenses when they should be in treatment instead of being caged like animals. Putting people in cages isn't making the crime problem any better, it is making it worse, and it is contrary to the teachings of Christ.

Moving right along now, Paul closes out this portion of his letter with a reminder to us all that forgiveness is one of the key ingredients to a successful Christian life. There is also something in between the lines here that warns us that Satan thrives on a lack of forgiveness when Paul wrote, “I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” People who harbor hatred of others who are different from them, people who hold grudges, and angry people don't realize what a huge opening in their hearts they create when they maintain the types of mentality Paul is writing about. Jesus said it best when He taught us the Lord's Prayer, “... and forgive us our sins as we forgive others who sin against us...”. If we want God to forgive us for something in our past that is really bothering us, we should first examine our hearts to see if there is any trace of unforgiveness towards others. If there is, then it's up to us to deal with it, and that's between God and each of us. But deal with it we must, for the sincerity of our faith in the sight of God may well depend upon it. Paul then continues at verse 12.

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me. I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.” (2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 12-17, NIV)

As the apostle Paul goes on by comparing the knowledge of Christ to a fragrance raised up toward heaven to the Father, he contrasts those who are being saved with those who are not – and there are a lot people who won't make it into heaven when their lives here are over. It is an unfortunate reality of life, but we must accept it and go on. That doesn't mean we are expected to be frightened out of our wits every time we pray. God doesn't want us to be afraid of Him because He truly does loves us, but we are to remain ever mindful of the consequences of disobedience to his commandments. Don't be afraid of God, but fear His wrath if we deliberately sin against him. Paul closes the chapter with a comment about certain folks who were preaching the gospel for profit, apparently turning their churches into businesses without a single thought about how furious Jesus was when He threw the money-changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem! Paul obviously felt that preaching the Gospel was a calling from God and should not be considered a trade or a career choice, nor was it ever intended to be used as a means to solicit money from strangers. I operate my ministry pretty much the same way, in keeping with this tradition started by Paul and the original apostles, some of whom were still living at the time that 2^nd Corinthians was first written. I often wonder about famous evangelists who bring in staggering amounts of donations while operating as non-profits. What would Jesus say to those people today? Would He throw them off the sets of their TV studios, tossing chairs and smashing cameras as He went? Probably, but I do not wish to judge, so I will cease commenting on this topic for now. Instead, next week we will go through chapter three.

The American People Deserve to Know the Truth

Twenty Four Injustices That The

Mainstream Media Won't Discuss

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

During the days of Nazi Germany from the early 1930's up to the mid-'40's, there was a branch of the government called "The Ministry of Propaganda" that dished out a torrent of profane distortions about Jewish people, and later the outcome of the war itself. It was headed by a guy named Joseph Goebbels, who committed suicide at the end of the war rather than face capture, which would surely have been followed by a death sentence at the Nuremberg Trials. Today in America, we have a similar position within the White House staff that we call the Press Secretary, who can be seen regularly on the evening news. He serves the same function, he just has a far more innocuous title than "Propaganda Minister". This person's job -- and I have noticed regular personnel changes -- is to spoon-feed the media the information Du joir of the day. Everybody knows that the media is told what to say and how to say it, and yet there a few protests about it. Today's message, in light of the recent events involving police shootings of unarmed black men, is my small contribution towards demanding some truth from our news sources. No more US Government propaganda please, uncle Sam, we have all had a bellyfull already!

For decades, the mainstream media in the United States was accustomed to being able to tell the American people what to think and how to think it. Unfortunately for them, a whole lot of Americans are starting to break free from that paradigm and think for themselves, and the reason can be summed up in two words – information technology. A Gallup survey from 2014 found that over 60 percent of all Americans “have little or no trust” in the mainstream media. More people than ever are realizing that the mainstream media is giving them a very distorted version of the truth (“Truth? You can't handle the truth!!”), and they are increasingly seeking out alternative sources of information. In the United States today, just six giant media corporations control the mainstream media. Those giant media corporations own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many prominent websites. But now thanks to the Internet the mainstream media no longer has a complete monopoly on the news. In recent years the “alternative media” has exploded in popularity. People want to hear about the things that the mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about. They want to hear news that is not filtered by corporate bosses and government censors. They are hungry and thirsty for some real truth, and they know that they are not getting it from the mainstream media. If only they knew Jesus as I do. They wouldn't be hungry and thirsty any more, but that's another sermon by itself so I will quickly move on. But this is also one of the primary reasons why people are doing away with cable TV as I have. It's not just the money saved from unsubscribing to cable TV, it's the fact that everybody knows everything they are watching is a load of B.S., and they're sick and tired of it!

We are watching a media revolution happen, and many in the mainstream media today are totally freaking out about it. In fact, some in the mainstream media have even begun publishing articles that mock the American people for not trusting them. For example, a recent CNN article entitled “Still ‘Paranoid’ After All These Years” portrayed Americans that don’t trust the media as paranoid conspiracy theorists that have left rationality behind. Ever have the feeling you’re being lied to by the news media, the authorities, and/or the corporate world? That somebody — or something — is out to get you? You’re not alone. Welcome to 21st-century America. Look around. Trust is hitting historic lows. Less than 15% of Americans have a favorable view of the federal government, a decline of 31% since 2002, according to the Pew Center for People and the Press. Gallup has Congress’ approval rating down in the low teens, after nearing single digits in the summer of 2013. And the news media aren’t much better off. “Negative opinions about the performance of news organizations now equal or surpass all-time highs on nine of 12 core measures the Pew Research Center has been tracking since 1985,” a Pew report said last summer. The article goes on to make it sound like it is very irrational not to trust the media, but in this day and age it is imperative that we all learn to think for ourselves. Blindly trusting someone else to do your thinking for you is very, very dangerous.

Anyone that does not acknowledge that the mainstream media has an agenda is either not being honest with themselves, or they are complicit with the powers that control it. The mainstream media presents a view of the world that is very favorable to their big corporate owners and the big corporations that spend billions of dollars to advertise on their networks. The mainstream media is the mouthpiece of the establishment, and the world view being pushed on the big networks is going to be consistent with the economic, financial, political and social goals of the establishment. The mainstream media loves to talk about things that fit with that agenda, and they don’t like to talk about things that suggest that there is something wrong with that agenda. And so here are 24 facts that the mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about right now, in no particular order of importance (because they're ALL important!):

#1) The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that gun sales are absolutely skyrocketing all over America.

#2) They also don’t really want to talk about the fact that disarming the population has resulted in some of the most horrific massacres in human history.

• 1911 – Turkey disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1915 – 1917 they murdered 1.5 million Armenians.
• 1929 – Russia disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1929 – 1953 they murdered 20 million Russians.
• 1935 – China disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1948 – 1952 they murdered 20 million Chinese.
• 1938 – Germany disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1939 – 1945 they murdered 16 million Jews.
• 1956 – Cambodia disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1975 – 1977 they murdered 1 million Educated people.
• 1964 – Guatemala disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1964 – 1981 they murdered 100,000 Mayan Indians.
• 1970 – Uganda disarmed it’s citizens, and between 1971 – 1979 they murdered 300,000 Christians.

#3) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that a bill allowing for the “indefinite military detention of US citizens on American soil” has already been passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by president Obama. Never mind that it's completely unconstitutional (see the Bill of Rights 4th amendment, among other places in the US Constitution).

#4) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that volcanoes all along the Pacific ocean's Ring of Fire are roaring to life. It seems like a new eruption is being reported every few days now. In fact, a red alert has been issued for a massive volcano that sits along the border between Chile and Argentina, as well as for the super-volcano at Yellowstone National Park. An eruption there could devastate much of North America, killing millions.

#5) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the use of genetically engineered seeds has caused on explosion of new “super weeds” that are incredibly difficult for farmers to kill.

#6) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that renowned trends forecaster Gerald Celente is predicting a “financial disaster” somewhere between September 2015 to as late as 2018, but no later and more likely sooner.

#7) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that it is easier to get into Harvard than it is to get a job as a flight attendant in America today.

#8) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that nearly 400 TSA employees have been fired for stealing from travelers since 2003. Our tax dollars hard at work. Nice.

#9) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that giant corporations such as Face-book are funneling gigantic amounts of money through offshore banking havens such as the Cayman Islands in an effort to avoid taxes.

#10) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the U.S. dollar is in real danger of losing its status as the primary reserve currency of the world. It's no longer a question of if this might occur, but when. A financial calamity would surely follow. China and Russia are buying up all the world's gold and silver reserves. What does that tell you about their view of the US dollar?

#11) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the mainstream media always keeps track of what the president does, when in actuality they should be doing a much better job keeping track of Wall Street speculators, their bankers, and all their filthy lucre.

#12) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that there are government websites that give immigrants instructions about how to come over to our country illegally and then apply for SNAP benefits while formerly middle class American workers and their children starve for lack of work. Yes, America has always been a nation of immigrants, but never before at the expense of any of its citizens. Something is very wrong here (BTW, I don't blame the immigrants. They are economic refugees from the third world).

#13) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the U.S. economy is losing millions of jobs to nations where it is legal to pay workers slave labor wages. Actually, this process is already started in the US as well, due to the fact that no one can live on a minimum wage paycheck. The mainstream media is totally married to the one world economic agenda that their corporate owners make so much money from, and so they say nothing as a steady stream of businesses and jobs continue to leave our country.

#14) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that hunger and poverty are absolutely exploding in the United States at the same time that they are telling us that the economy is “recovering”.

#15) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that North Korea now has a three-stage rocket with enough range to potentially hit the western United States.

#16) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the United States Postal Service is losing 25 million dollars a day and is on the verge of financial collapse.

#17) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that our biggest oil supplier in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, still kills people for changing religions.

#18) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that political correctness has taken over America. The truth is that the media does not see any problem with that at all.

#19) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that nearly half a million employees of the federal government are making more than $100,000 a year.

#20) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the birth rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low. The elite are absolutely thrilled that less babies are being born. Fewer of us means less competition for them.

#21) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that violent crime in the United States increased by 18 percent in 2014 and that many major U.S. cities are seeing violent crime totally spiral out of control.

#22) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that Barack Obama received more than 99 percent of the vote in more than 100 precincts in Ohio on election day in 2012.

#23) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that during the first four years of the Obama administration, the U.S. national debt grew by about as much as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office.

#24) They don’t really want to talk about the fact that the Federal Reserve created the conditions for the last financial crisis, and their mismanagement of the economy has now brought us to the verge of another horrible economic downturn. According to the mainstream media, the Federal Reserve is “above politics” and should not be criticized. Maybe the Federal Reserve should be nationalized so that printing and coining money returns to the auspices of the US Treasury like our Constitution specifies. All the US top-tier leadership needs to do is return to the original Constitution. It's the perfect way to wipe out the so-called national debt. Because America's so-called “national debt” is a boatload of financial B.S.

This week's Bible study will be 2nd Corinthians chapter one

2^nd Corinthians Chapter One

Today, in our ongoing study of the writings of the apostle Paul, we will begin an in-depth study of the Second Book of Corinthians starting with chapter one. We'll go ahead and go through it in its entirety except for the final two verses, which are actually the true beginning of chapter two. It is widely assumed that this was the apostle Paul's final letter to the early church at Corinth, but that's only because no others have been found intact despite much archaeological exploration throughout the Middle East and Southern Europe. It would truly be awesome if an additional letter were to be found in these last days before Christ's return, but for now let's begin our study as I quote from the apostle Paul.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the Church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2^nd Corinthians 1, verses 1-7, NIV)

The first two things that jump out at us is the apostle Paul's compelling show of empathy and compassion towards all people, and his uncompromising and unconditional praise of Almighty God. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” Notice that Paul then gives God the Father and Jesus the Son all the credit for his ability to comfort and minister to those who are in trouble or distress, and he cites them as his source of ability to do so, and the flowing of the Holy Spirit as His means to accomplish it. Besides being a beautiful beginning to his 13-chapter letter to the Corinthian church, this is a good example of the documentation of the Holy Trinity as it is taught by all Christian denominations (at least as far as I know). We have God the Father, God the Son who is Christ Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit, which was sent to us at Pentecost 40 days after Christ's ascension into heaven, and which is His down payment on the souls of all humankind until its fulfillment at His second coming, which is to be His return so that He may rule the earth and everything in it. So Paul is telling us, “You all want to be good Christians, don't you? And don't we all wish to follow the apostle Paul's example of human empathy and compassion? Then rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those that mourn. Give everybody moral support to uplift them, and distribute it lavishly”. Paul then continues in verse 8:

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to our worldly wisdom but according to God's grace. For we do not write you anything that you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus. Because I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then have you send me on my way to Judea. When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, 'yes, yes' and 'no, no'?” (2nd Corinthians 1, verses 8-17, NIV)

Let's pause at verse 8 for a moment and put this entire first paragraph into its historical context. The church was being actively and heavily persecuted at the time this was being written. There were those who paid with their lives for their faith, and the followers of Jesus were being terrorized. I believe that's why Paul used his own example to encourage the faithful to not give up hope, to not give in to fear, and to always remember that no matter what happens, God is still on His throne. Paul's words in verse 9 convey this thought perfectly. “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” As Christ has been resurrected to eternal life, so shall we be, and I believe this is another clear reference by Paul to the Holy Spirit. Paul then goes on to mention that he and Timothy, who was with him when he wrote this letter, “conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to our worldly wisdom but according to God's grace”. It appears that Paul is making clear that the way in which the Church of its day was conducting its business in an entirely above-board fashion, and this is something that the modern churches – regardless of denomination – would be wise to follow.

There are way too many of these “mega-churches” and televised evangelists that are conducting their day-to-day operations as for-profit enterprises while simultaneously presenting themselves to the world, and the IRS, as benevolent non-profits. Being active in the ministry as a missionary in the inner city of Atlanta as well as an Internet pastor, writer and political activist, I can say from experience that there are a disturbing number of these churches and TV preachers who have gotten rich from preaching the Gospel. Every time I hear about preachers owning very expensive luxury and performance cars, living in sprawling mansions that Jesus would sneer at, and flying around in high-priced corporate jets, it infuriates me that Christ and Christian faith should be flaunted and aggrandized in this way. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that God wants us to have all our needs met, all our bills paid, plenty to eat, sufficient clothing, and with a roof over our heads and access to transportation, higher education and medical care. I'm equally certain that God wants us all to be rich in the Spirit, being filled with the love and teachings of Christ, and with His peace which is beyond all human understanding. God wants what is best for us at all times.

But does Jesus want all of us to be multi-millionaire tycoons? Was it not Christ himself that said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”? Did He not also say, “Be careful where you keep your treasure, for where you treasure is, your heart will be also”? And did Jesus not narrow the definition of that verse even further when He stated, “Do not store up your treasures here on earth, where thieves break in and steal and where moths and rust eat up and destroy. But instead store up your treasures in heaven, where thieves do not break in and steal, and where moths and rust do not eat up and destroy”. That last saying, from the gospel of Matthew, is what applies best here. Do you want to accumulate a lot of stuff? Make sure it's the kind of stuff that you store in heaven, because everything here is temporary anyway, and when we die we can't take any of it with us. Let's now find a comfortable place to close today's lesson, beginning at verse 18.

“But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not, 'yes' and 'no'. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not 'yes' and 'no', but in him it has always been yes. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'yes' in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership upon us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1, verses 18-22, NIV)

The bottom line here is that God's message to us, His faithfulness, love and kindness, is completely consistent all the time. There is no variation to God's love for each of us, and the best part of all is that it's eternal, going on to infinity. It does not matter how many promises God makes to us, He can and will still fulfill them all. It doesn't matter what we have done, or where we have been, or even who we are. Jesus can and does forgive all sin, all transgression against God whether intentional or not. His crucifixion on the cross and resurrection 3 days later made it all possible. And his Holy Spirit is still here with us as a guarantee for Jesus' return. Plus, His triumphant return is what we all wait for with the most anticipation. Not only is He most certainly coming back very soon, we don't have much time left. It's time for everyone reading this to make a decision for Christ. Soon He will be here, and by then it will be too late for many. The time to accept Jesus as your Savior is right now. Don't wait. Do it today.

Church attendance is mostly down these days. Organized religion has got a problem.

Why Mainstream Christianity Is Losing Credibility

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

It all started out with a Facebook posting stating that when poor people get together to make a statement it's called rioting, but when the wealthy get together to make a statement it's called lobbying. It wasn't mine, but I gave it a 'like' when it landed in my in-box because I was in complete agreement. To me, the meme “conservative Christian” is a contradiction in terms, since from a political vantage point Jesus was a progressive at least, or even a (gasp!) socialist. Another person chimed in that Republicans and conservatives despise the poor while catering to the wealthy, and that this was especially true for Christian evangelicals and “so-called fundamentalists”. That comment got me to thinking about the state of modern Christianity. There are those who call themselves 'Christians', fundamentalists or Evangelicals, and there are those who call themselves 'followers of Jesus Christ'. The two are definitely not the same thing, and I would definitely put myself in the latter category. Moreover, it has come to my attention that those who do so are in the minority as far as 21^st century Christianity is concerned. What, if anything, did Jesus have to say about this? Quite a bit, actually.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, verses 21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Further along in this same Gospel, Jesus said to the Pharisees, the ruling religious establishment of Jerusalem at the time, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Matt. 23, verse 15, NIV) Again in verses 23-26 He says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean out the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean”.

Let me interpret the above verses to the best of my ability, starting with the first one. Every person who calls on Jesus' name will not necessarily make it to heaven when they die. Some will be those who prophesy in the name of God. Why those people? Because they were saying things that God never told them to say. They were busy telling people to be more prosperous by giving more to their churches, or to have a more “purpose driven life”. They were busy telling people how to be more fulfilled and enriched personally, financially and professionally, all at the same time. They were busy peddling their NYT best-selling books when they should have been using their vast resources to win more people to Christ, warning people that time was running out, that the Rapture of the church and the rise of the dead in Christ could be only months away, and warning people to warn others as well, no matter whether they were laughed at or made fun of for saying so or not! The next verse says, “Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'” There's no mistaking who this remark was directed towards; the phony faith healers and the preachers who live double lives. I have watched a few of these faith healers on Christian TV, and maybe one in five appears to be authentic. I will decline to name names, but the remaining 80% are obviously all theater. Instead of preaching the Gospel, they're on stage, in a pulpit or a TV studio putting on a performance for the audience instead of for the Lord. These kinds of people will be punished severely unless they repent, and soon. They too are nearly out of time.

But it wasn't just Jesus Himself who prophesied against organized religion, which is exactly what He was doing in Matthew chapter 23. The apostle James had something to say about that, in James chapter one and verses 22-27, and it reads as follows: “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. But religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” This brings us full circle back to our original topic, those who claim to be religious but really aren't. James, in the following chapter of his letter to the early Church, wrote this; “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed', but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James chapter 2, verses 14-17, NIV)

People who attend church faithfully every Sunday while being mean and stingy the other six days of the week are not going to make it to heaven when their lives are over. They will be expecting to, of course. They are, after all, the direct descendants of the Pharisees of Jesus' time and they don't even realize it. They are without a clue, and they will remain so as they roast in hell, still insisting on their righteousness. “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” James' words, “the perfect law that gives freedom” is undoubtedly a reference to Jesus' ministry when He said, “He who is free in me is free indeed”. Moreover, if one considers him/herself as being a religious person, but are unwilling to share much of anything except maybe with family members if that, they're not Christian, they only live to accumulate possessions and portfolios for themselves. Life is all about their narcissistic selves. They are at the center of their own universes, and just because they did so well in life, they think they are a shoe-in for heaven because they are such a “good person”. To that I would ask, good person by whose standards, yours or God's? In the next passage, James is equally blunt. Pure religiosity is looking after the needs of widows and orphans, “...and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Defend the defenseless! Help the homeless with money or food if you can! Mentor the prisoner, and teach him or her a trade to minimize their chances of ever coming back to prison again! Have some empathy and some compassion, and become more merciful towards others less fortunate than yourselves! Despise materialism and those who blindly pursue wealth for its own sake! If you ever wanted a secular definition of what it means to follow Christ, then these last few sentences are it. Plus, as James put it, “...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Those whose words are different than their deeds are only putting on a show, of that you can be sure.

There are a couple more verses on this topic I wish to point out, and they are contained in the book of Revelation chapter three, verses 15-16, which reads as follows: “I know your deeds, that your are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. Once again, God is laying down the challenge. Do we want to be Christian – or follower of Christ as I prefer – or just pretenders? Is there anybody out there who seriously believes that God doesn't see and know all? I hope not for your sake! So it basically comes down to this as far as those who attend church regularly – are you just flirting with Jesus, or are you ready to get serious with Him? Are we just showing up on Sunday mornings, saying to God, “Hello again, it's me Lord, I'm so happy to make it to church one more time”? Are we putting our faith into action the other six days of the week, or are we simply acting religious? And what about those who consider themselves devout believers and followers of Christ, who aren't flirting with Jesus? In that case, let's ask ourselves the same question a little differently: Are we going steady with Jesus, or are we ready to fall in love with Him and marry Him (applies equally to both genders since there is neither male nor female in heaven)? Are we a part of the Bride of Christ or aren't we?

It's time to make a decision everybody! Where do you stand? Let's not be lukewarm Christians. We already know how God feels about those people, He will “spit you out of (his) mouth”. Or to put it a little more bluntly, lukewarm Christians – and the phony ones – literally make God nauseous, if such a thing is possible for Him in His Spiritual state. The time is short! The rapture of the true church could be only months away, maybe another year or two at the most, so we are running out of time! It's time for us all to get on fire for Jesus, lest any of us gets condemned to eternal fire instead. Let's not go there, brothers and sisters. It's time to fall in love with Jesus and to become a part of His Bride. It's time for us all to fulfill our true destinies as the sons and daughters of God, and of the inheritance of Zion. Anything less just won't do as far as I'm concerned, because I'm on board with Jesus forever. How about you? It's time to make an affirmative decision for Jesus Christ. Ask Him to come and live within your heart, repent – or turn away from – your sins, and start living for Jesus today. Because in the end, He's all there is.