Over the years I don’t think that I ever heard any preacher talk about Ananias and Sapphira. It is interesting because it comes down to what a church really is. Everything in life revolves around people. The church is no different from the world, which is unfortunate. The church is to be an example to the world of how God works in man’s life. If you read the history of most denominations, they started with a bang. People prayed and asked to start something special. When God answer their prayers, it started a movement. Churches sprang up everywhere. The gospel was being preached and people were being saved and healed. God was moving like He wanted to. Then man had to control this movement so it didn’t get out of hand. The more man controlled the less God moves. Until God wasn’t there anymore and man controlled the church. This is how and why we have so many dead churches. I have been in 2 revivals so far. The first one lasted 5 years. And how it ended when the pastor and assistant pastor fought over the church. They split the church and God left. The second one lasted 6 months. It started with a bang and the people were amazed at what happened. Then they got bored with God’s wonders. They stopped coming and God left. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the church in Jerusalem. People were giving large amounts of money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in on this glory. Ananias and Sapphira agreed to sell a piece of property and give part of the proceeds to the church. They lied to Peter about how much money they sold the property for. They gave only part to the church. Peter asked Ananias again if this was the whole amount. He said yes and died on the spot. Sapphira come in later and did the same thing. She died in front of Peter. They lied to the Holy Spirit. God knows what is in your heart before you even speak it. The bible says great fear came upon the church. And many separated themselves from the church.

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Have you ever had the feeling of immortality? There was a song that came out a few years ago named “Ten feet tall and bullet proof”. People still have that feeling of immortality because it is partially true. There is a part of us that is immortal, but it isn’t our body. Our body is made of the dust of the earth. The only problem with that is the sin of Adam and Eve. Because they sinned against God, He cursed the earth. The earth is cursed and our body is made from the earth. Well you see the problem. But our spirit is immortal. God made us in His image and likeness. And that part of us will live forever. Man is made up of three parts, body, soul and spirit. Our body is the dust of the earth. Our soul is the life of God in us. Our spirit is our mind, will and intellect. Our spirit is who we are. That is what is going to go to heaven or hell. My brother died last year. Just before he died, he asked me if it would hurt to die. I told him that dying was like walking into another room. The pain in life is on this side with our body made of dust. I told him that when Jesus came to get him, he would go to sleep and wake up on the other side. Once the bond of God’s life is broken, our body will die and our spirit will separate. Then our spirit will go to the appropriate place. This is the mechanics of life.

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I have always been optimistic about many things. I have believed that things will work out because I believe and trust. Somethings haven’t worked and I know why. Many things in our lives must be believed. What you believe is what you do in your life. Believing can be both ways. You can believe it will get better or it wouldn’t. If you believe it wouldn’t, I’ll guaranty that it won’t. We don’t have the power to change a lot of things in our lives. But what we do have is the power to speak something into existence. You see it says in the bible that life and death are in the power of the tongue. What we say is as important as what we do. In fact speaking it comes before doing it. And before we can speak it, we have to believe it. There are so many self-help books out there. I even saw a self-help book for dummies. So if you want things to change then you need to begin changing you circumstances. If you are in bad company, change your friends. Don’t ever expect things to change if you keep doing the same thing over and over again. I have heard people say they don’t have time to do anything different. Your time belongs to you and what you do is up to you. It takes courage to change. If you will become willing to do what you need, then you can believe that it will happen. Then when belief comes, then comes a change. Then when change comes, you will see that you can do it. Optimism is believing that you can change into what you see in your heart. So then believe.

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So what was made so simple that man could understand? Why is the US experiencing horrendous weather? The majority of scientist will say it is Global Warming. That is only a symptom. It isn’t a root cause for the troubles in this country. Global Warming was written about 4000 years ago by a reputable authority. So finally the scientist have caught on. But that isn’t the reason. Man has fought against the reason for all of their existence. And it seems there is no letup in sight. There is only one outcome for this coming battle. Man will lose and die. If you would like to read about, there is a commentary written over 2000 years ago. It is very graphic and full of details. The battle is called Armageddon. It will be fought in the Valley of Jezreel near the old city of Megiddo. It says that 200 million men on one side will fight in the battle. And they will all be killed. It also says in the commentary that the blood from the soldiers will be 6 feet deep. The Victor will go on to Jerusalem. This is where He will reign for a 1000 years. When He begins His reign, there will be peace on this earth for the 1^st time. You know what is sad is that man has known this for over 2000 years. And just about nothing has changed.

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It is funny how it rains in one place and not in another. California is experiencing a drought. And in California, most of the vegetables and nuts are grown for the US. In Texas, they are still suffering through drought. Texas is beef country. The Mid-West has been experiencing storms, tornados and hurricane force winds. Then winter just ended with its storms of snow and ice. The Lower Mississippi Valley has received an abundance of rain. I had to cut my grass in between rain drops. It seems there is a pattern to this strange weather. Where the rain and wind aren’t needed, they get it. And where it is needed, they don’t get it. Of course, all of this is going to be blamed on Global Warming and the changing weather patterns. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. There is only one person who controls the weather, only one. And that person doesn’t live on this earth. Only man lives on this planet. So by the process of elimination guess who it is. You want the short version or the long version? It is so simple, it is scary. It was made simple so man could understand.

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How many people do you know including yourself, that struggle to achieve what they believe is their station in life? They want the biggest and best there is to offer in life. When I first started walking with God, He told me that I needed to be content. The bible puts it this way. It says that godliness with contentment is great gain. I had never been content with my life. I was focused on my needs. God wanted me to stop looking at my life and to start looking at the lives of ours and to see their needs. No matter what station in life they have, people are basically the same. Everyone has the same needs. In 1983, it was the Year of the Bible in the United States. Gallop poll took a surrey in the US, to see what people wanted most in life. Not only were they surprised by the answer, but amazed at the three basic needs in life. The poll showed that people wanted love, joy and peace most in their lives. You would think that it would be food, clothing and shelter. The needs of man are divided just like we are into parts. The part that is of the world, the dust of the earth, calls us to food, clothing and shelter. The part of us that is the image and likeness of God, call us to love, joy and peace. Therein is man’s struggle. Whether we will walk with God or to go the way of the world. The bible says, come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. God has made provision for all of us. And He sealed the deal with the death and resurrection of Jesus. By the way, Love, Joy and Peace are the first three gifts of the Holy Spirit that God gives freely to man. Look around and listen to see the needs of people.

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I went to supper at a local restaurant. When I was checking out, there was a young mother with her seven year old son ahead of me. They checked out picked up their food and headed to the door. I finished checking out and headed to the same door. The young boy opened the door for his mother. He saw me walking right behind them and held the door for me. There were two doors to exit and he held the door for me again. I thanked him and he replied. I know his mother taught him manners. But she taught him something even more than that. She taught him to be gracious. Most people think of being gracious as something from the Old South that has died off. People flock to south Louisiana because of the friendliness of the French people. Hospitality was practiced in the Old South. But it is still practiced today. Seeing the need in another person’s life and doing something about is hospitality. It is a form of graciousness. I hold doors open for anyone. It doesn’t make a difference who they are. If there is a need, then it needs to be done. The bible puts it very plainly, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

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After the incident on Mount Tabor, Elijah ran for his life. He ran all the way across Israel to the Sinai. He ran to the mountain of God. He complained to God that he was the only one left in Israel that was faithful to God. God corrected him and told him that there were 7000 people who had not bowed to baal. God has always had a people. The unfortunate part of that was there were over ½ million people in Israel. You see God’s people are few and far between. Why is that? Why aren’t there more people wanting to follow God. When people get into trouble that they can’t get out of, they want God to help. But once it is over, it’s bye bye. Man wants to be god of his own life. Even if that life would kill him. And guess what, it will. God has a plan for everyone. It isn’t always the same plan except for Jesus. Our lives can be full and rich if we are willing to follow in the way. If you read church history, you’ll find that only a few people actually stepped out in faith and did what Jesus did. Those stories are well publicized. It is because people who have led simple lives are not as exciting as the big name ones. There are people all over that have lived for Jesus. There were just as many miracles in their lives as anyone. But you will never find them unless you are looking for them. I know of a maid that spoke French and went to Haiti an opened an orphanage. She lived there for 20 years into her 80’s and retired. You too can live a life that will glorify God. All it takes is faith and trust that God is who He says He is. God is a rewarder of them that diligently seeks Him. Be the few and far between not the many who’s lives end in tragedy.

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I have loved music since I was a little kid. People listen to music that stirs their soul. I don’t listen to every kind of music. The music that caught my attention where I was young was the Nutcracker Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky. He wrote the music when he was 6 years old. A childhood story captured his attention and he sat at the piano and expressed himself. It still stirs my soul. Beethoven use to follow Napoleon’s army to the battle. He would stand by the cannons are they fired. He became deaf and then wrote most of his music after he was deaf. Mozart would first hear the music in his head, then he would write it. Chopin left Poland because the Russians had conquered it. To raise money for the Polish relief, Chopin played concerts all over Europe until it kill him. Mozart died a pauper and was buried in an unmarked grave. Bach wrote all of his music for the church. Beethoven was taught by a protégé of Mozart. The thing I have noticed about people who devote their lives to music, that they do it with passion. Even musical prodigies devote themselves. The work is very hard and takes a long time to excel. What kind of music stirs your soul? Do you pursue your goals with passion? I have found it is the only way to live. If you want your life to be full and enjoyable, live it to the fullest. And enjoy the gift of God given to us, Music.

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This article appeared about 100 years ago in May, 1919, in Dusseldorf, Germany. It is a listing of the Communist rules for revolution. These are the rules.

• Corrupt the young get them away from religion, get them interested in sex, make them superficial and destroy their ruggedness.
• Get Control of all means of publicity thereby:
  1. Get the people’s minds off their government by focusing their attention on athletic, sexy books and plays and other trivialities.
  2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matter of no importance.
  3. Destroy the people’s faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up to contempt, ridicule and obloquy.
  4. Always preach true democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
  5. By encouraging government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
  6. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster lenient and soft attitude on the part of government toward such disorders.
  7. By specious argument, cause the breakdown of the old morale virtues, honesty, sobriety, confidence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness.
  8. Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with a view toward confiscating them and leaving the population helpless.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was written over a 100 years ago. And guess what it still works. Have you looked at America lately? This is the playbook for a certain political party. And it seems to works just fine on American citizens. They aren’t immune to this and guess what. This country will fall if it doesn’t stand up and do something about it.

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