Important Message from Ben Stein

This is a great message from Ben Stein. The basic message is this: If you don't want God in your life, then be prepared for Him to back out of your life. Don't ask Him for favors or help if you don't want Him around. Don't complain if He lets us destroy ourselves. Pass it on.

Sincerely,
Paul+

I find myself in full agreement with Ben Stein, as I often do:

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

The Church Militant

I personally believe, based on the clear command of Scripture and the witness of the Church throughout history, that the ministry of the Church Militant is to preach the gospel to all creation, making disciples of all nations. This includes witnessing to others with zeal. I’m really glad the apostles didn’t sit in the upper room and wait for converts to accidentally stumble up the stairs and join their church. Just as we don’t sit in a boat and wait for the fish to jump in, we shouldn’t expect people to magically become Christians. It is my/our task to get out and make disciples. I believe this means convicting sinners using the Law of God (Ten Commandments), but in a gentle manner, showing all people how they have sinned against God, failing to keep ANY of His commandments. The Law is the schoolmaster to bring people to Christ. Once a person realizes how broken and sinful they are, they can receive the cure for their disease, which is Jesus Christ, the saviour of sinners.

If a doctor were to tell you that you need to get a shot in the arm and then start receiving chemotherapy, you would be offended at him for offering a cure to something you don’t have. But if the doctor tells you that, after examination, you have cancer, then you will gladly take the cure, or therapy, and will be relieved.

Once converts are made, it is the job of the Church Militant to teach them to “observe all things, whatsoever I (Christ) commanded you (doctrine of the Apostles).” The Church Militant should also provide for the widow and fatherless, help the poor, love the brethren and try, as much as it is possible, to live at peace with all men, and to not create schism.

Each member has his or her own gift of ministry, which should be used according the portion it has been given them.

Rev. Paul Thompson

Prayer

Christian prayer is communication with God the Father, and is best exemplified in the prayer our Lord Jesus Christ gave us, the Lord’s Prayer. We should glorify God in our hearts and minds first, we should seek out His kingdom, and pray that His will be done in our life, just as it would be done in heaven. Then we should offer our petitions to God, and also ask forgiveness of our sins, since we do sin daily against His Divine Majesty. We should seek His protection in our daily life against sin in our own lives and from the attacks of the evil one. We should also remember that to God alone belongs all glory and honor.

I practice Morning and Evening Prayer as it is in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (USA), but that is not all that I do. I have three children; two boys and one daughter. I pray with them every day, utilizing the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed, always leaving room for our own personal petitions and concerns. My oldest son, James, (7 years), keeps a prayer journal, and he is quite a boy of prayer, that I know, with God’s help, will grow to be a man of prayer. I am also teaching my children that written prayers are for our learning, and teach us how to pray, and for what we should pray. They do know that they can, and should, speak to God from their hearts.

Overall, prayer is a constant relationship with God that should be carried out all day. I converse with God while at my day job, on the drive home, and many times being consciously unaware that I am praying to Him. A good book I read a couple years ago called The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, was a good example of living a life of prayer/relationship with God. God can be glorified in the kitchen in one’s heart just as much as He can in the liturgy of the Church.