Government Says STOP PRAYING!

Here we go again. Some people who are paid by the Federal Government to feed Seasoned Citizens have been told they must stop praying before meals. Why? Because the food was partially payed for by tax monies.

According to WSBT.tv, Seasoned Citizens in Wentworth, Georgia like to pray and wanted to pray but were told they could only "Have a moment of silence" and keep quiet. The reasons is that super sensitive watch dogs are afraid people would think that the USA was formally establishing a Federal Church with those Seasoned Citizens. The ever vigilant, hyper sensitive atheists among us were shaking in their boots with fear lest a couple of 80 year old radicals take over the retirement community and throw them and the agnostics out.

Just look what happens in places like Iran and Yemen when a religion takes over a country. I am sure the masses of citizens in Wentworth were as anxious as can be lest the jihadists in the nursing home start a campaign of terror.

I am so relieved to know that the IRS, the FBI, the NSA and the CIA are protecting us from praying seniors.

Why Do People Get AIDS?

An article in the CBS News Online tells us why so many people come down with AIDS. In an amazing story it relates that over 40,000 "women of the night" are headed for South Africa to sell themselves for money to the visiting soccer fans coming for the World Cup.

I cannot imagine going to a prostitute in any country but a man would have to be either insane of drunk to take such a chance in a place ravaged by AIDS. But this is what CBS says is happening. I always knew soccer fans were a bit off but this proves how out of control they are.

Henry Africa, 49, drives a taxi in Cape Town and, aside from the usual airport pickups and winery tours, he also operates the "Bright Red Tour," which he expects to be a hit among soccer fans. For the equivalent of 500 dollars, he'll shuttle customers from strip bar to strip bar all night and even bring them over to a safe-sex practicing prostitute, a relevant selling point in a country where one in five adults are estimated to be HIV positive.

The terms "Safe Sex" and South Africa just do not go together.

Doctor Ben Carson

I heard dr.

Ben Carson

speak yesterday and I was inspired. Thanks to the Chick-Fil-A sponsored broadcast I was able to watch on video and hear several top speakers share their insights about being a positive, servant leader.

Thanks to Prasco Company, a wonderful Christian citizen located in Mason, Ohio, and Sunrise Commuity Church, the annual simulcast of John Mazwell and other inspiring men and women shared their lives, insits and innovative ideas with some 65,000 people in auditoriums around the world.

All of them were terrific speakers with something to say. But my favorite was Dr. Carson, one of the most accomplished brain surgeons in the world. he grew up in some of the most repressive and soul killing social environments imaginable. Poverty, racism, rejection by peers when he made good grades and affirmation when he acted like a bum along wit a single mother that could not read or write.

But listen to her character. She forced Ben and his siblings to go to the local library every week and read some books. He also had to write a review of one of the b books and turn it in to his mother. He hated it. He was upset. he rebelled. But she persevered. She marked up each paper and gave It back to the kids.

Finally Ben started liking to read. He became a voracious reader. Why? His illiterate mother. Yes, I said illiterite! She could not read or write. But she faked it to make him read and write.

Now Dr.Carson is at John Hopkins Hospital. He is a renowned surgeon who, with his wife, has set up a scholars program to encourage kids to do well in school.

He is also a committed Christian and an outspoken man against Political Correctness and the Federal Government's take over of medicine. Why? They kill innovation and creativity.

I hope Dr. Carson will live a long and healthy as well as influential life. Go to his web and read all about him.

You Can Make a Difference

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and
healed their sick." - Matthew 14:14

Heinrich Himmler was the head of the Nazi SS and the mastermind of the Holocaust. During those blood-filled days between 1940 and 1945, the second most powerful man in Germany sent millions of Jews to their deaths. Himmler suffered from intolerable psychosomatic pains and the only person who could relieve these pains was a Doctor Felix Kersten, a Finn, who was a massage therapist.

During Himmler’s massage sessions, he would tell Dr. Kersten about the concentration camps. In 1942, Kersten intervened with Himmler to save Finish, Norwegian, and Dutch Jews. After moving to Stockholm in 1943, he continued to work on rescue and relief, securing freedom for several thousand more Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, and French Jews.

In the closing days of the war, Kersten acted for Himmler in negotiating freedom for Jews with the Swedes and the Allies in Stockholm; he was instrumental in arranging a meeting in Germany on April 19, 1945 between Himmler and Norbert Masur, a Zionist German living in Sweden. One result of the meeting was the freeing of 7,000 women from Ravensbruk to a haven in Denmark and Sweden. The World Jewish Council credits him with saving 60,000 of Jews from the concentration camps.

Charity

Some statistics about those who give and do not according to religious preference.

Religious people give more; much more.

Giving by Secular and Religious Donors

* Thirteen percent of all Americans claim no religious identity.
* In 2009, 63 percent of Americans said they belonged to a church or synagogue.
* Ten years earlier, that figure was 70 percent.
* In 2005, 72 percent of households that reported a religious affiliation said they gave to charity.
* In the same study, 56 percent of people who did not report a religious affiliation said they contributed to charity.

How to Measure Maturity?

I can remember clearly my first forays into the realm of comparing church successes and by analogy, pastoral leadership success. As a 30 year old volunteer campus minister I was invited to the monthly meetings of the local denominational gatherings with all the local ministers and various denominational officials. I was excited to be with these mature spiritual leaders.

I wanted to learn how to be a "real man of God" and I assumed that I could see them up close and personal here. I must admit that I was sorely disappointed. I discovered that almost all the talk was about numbers, noses and nickels. The number of baptisms, the noses that showed up at the various church meetings and then how many nickels the congregation had contributed to the church.

Whey did they do this? I am sure there are many reasons but the easiest and most direct ways are numbers, noses and nickels. Attendance, giving and commitments are the quickest and most "reliable" ways to communicate how well we are doing in the ministry. Let's face it, measuring spirituality is like catching mercury or measuring the humidity. We only see people at public meetings so we don't really know what people are doing in private.

And, the model of ministry most churches have chosen is preaching and teaching by the ministers. It is not related to the inner spiritual development of believers but the outer, easily counted things like giving and attendance.

Here I am over forty years later and I still do not see many Pastors with different ideas about how to measure maturity of their members. Take a look at the brief article by Dallas Willard to see what you think of his ideas about measuring maturity. I like it a lot and have spent a lot of my ministry trying to foster Christian maturity. But let me say quickly, it is not easy to do.

I mistakenly posted on this blog rather than my other one, Spiritual Healing and Growth. Take a look at it there as well if you wish.

I strongly urge you to read a great book, The Critical Journey, by Janet Hagberg on this topic. It is shown at the top of the page. You can purchase it at amazon.com

Healing Marriages

A school in Moscow with kids trying on gas masks



A recent article in the New York Times shows the devastating effect of dysfunctional families in Russia. There are more orphans in Russia today than there were immediately after WWII when Russia lost 25 million people!!!

we have been working in Russia since the beginning of perestroika. My first trip was in 1991 but we got going a few years later after Dr. Galina came here and learned our methods of equipping lay and professionals how to "Heal the broken hearted and set the captives free."

We focus a great deal on breaking the bondage of addiction in Russia as well as the other nations where we minister. However, Russia has the most addicted population I have ever seen so we must do everything we can to raise up Pastors and Christian Lay people to minister to those in need of sobriety.

But sobriety is not enough. Couples must learn how to live together in harmony and parents must learn how to love their children and discipline them well. Almost every family has an addict in it so divorce, abortion and domestic abuse are rampant. And, the professional Pastors, Psychologists and Social workers have almost NO real skills to bring healing through Jesus Christ.

The result? Abandoned babies. Precious babies. Lovey babies. We help workers in orphanages learn the skills of loving and healing those abandoned babies. But the most important things we do are healing the parents. healing the marriages. healing the addicts so there are no abandoned babies.

Will you help us? Pray for us? Support us?

Sweeten Life Systems