Corrupt Politicians (A Joke)

While walking down the street one day, a Corrupt Politician (that may be redundant) was tragically hit by a car and died.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
"Welcome to heaven," says St.. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," says the Politician.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."
"Really?, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Politician.
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course.
In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They played a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.
They are all having such a good time that before the Politician realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where
St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven...”
So, 24 hours passed with the Politician joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."
The Politician reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell...
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.
"I don't understand," stammers the Politician. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"
The devil smiles at him and says,

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"Yesterday we were campaigning,
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Today, you voted.." .......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God

In verse 17-19, of the same 1 Timothy Chapter 6, Paul writes a thought-provoking statement to the affluent Christians among the congregation. He writes “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” What a striking counsel to the Christians then and those of us especially living this time of the end.

Did you notice how Paul described material things in verse 17? He described them as “uncertain riches” Yes, that is what they really are for they can be lost in a jiffy. Moreover, in troublesome season, times of distress and the day of crisis or wrath, our gold and silver, cars, and houses, as uncertain as they are cannot save us.

It is only our Faith in Christ and the doing of God’s will (good works) which are the most certain riches to guarantee us eternal life and abundant riches in the new Heaven and new Earth (the new age) to come where there would be no suffering, pain, sickness, misery, woes and death “for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4)

To corroborate Paul’s message and stress the most certain riches that faithful Christians possess, Jesus himself proclaims to the congregation in Smyrna “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich)….” (Revelation 2:9) Though these Christians did not have abundant material things, they were rich in the eyes of Jesus because of their good works and faith in him and God.

Material prosperity and financial freedom are good for each and everyone since they afford us comfort and peace of mind. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the more important things concerning salvation. (Philippians 1:10)

  

Jesus, the son of a human carpenter on earth, hit the nail right on the head when he urged his followers to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “ (Mathew 6:33)

                                                     
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Prosper Even As Your Soul Prospers

Proponents of the prosperity message intimate that Peter urged Christians to prosper even as their soul prospers and therefore prosperity must be a necessity for all Christians. But the question is, was Peter only talking about material prosperity? If so, then it is obvious that Peter himself never prospered for the records never show or mention that he amassed tremendous wealth and prosperity. For a fact, he like the other apostles was described as a mere ordinary fellow.

Interestingly, Peter prospered abundantly. How so? He prospered in the sense that he grew in the grace of God through Christ and understood the sacred secrets and the enlightening purpose of God and therefore urged fellow Christians to also prosper in that light and direction. Peter regarded these spiritual enlightenment and riches more superior to material advantages.

In 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Paul writes “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

What advice therefore does Apostle Paul give? He continues “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6: 11,12)

With few lines and precise words, Paul shows Christians the real riches in Christ- godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness which would help them to acquire the true blessing and reward of their calling, the eternal life.

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The Problem With Prosperity Messages

However, the problem lies in the definition of prosperity, the time, the manner and the frequency with which prosperity messages are preached at the expense of the salient sermons which encapsulate the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, the commandment to love God and fellow man (Matt 22: 37-40), the end of the times and the need to keep on the watch  as Jesus admonished (Mark 13:35-37), the Kingdom of God (Matt 24:14) and persistence in good works that truly identifies Christians as true representatives and ambassadors of Jesus Christ and God in the earthly realm.(2 Peter 3: 11, 14, 2 Corinthians 5:20)

Perhaps, the message of salvation through Christ and good news of God’s kingdom has been relegated to the background simply because it is regarded as an elementary teaching which matured Christians must leave behind to pursue the more solid spiritual food like prosperity and what begets it.  Why? Because Christians do believe they worship the living God and should therefore be the head and not the tail.  Sadly, they narrow down true divine blessing and being “the head and not the tail” to mere material riches.

 Prosperity-centred Christians would be quick to point to the success and prosperity of the patriarchal fathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - as ample evidence to justify why all true believers should enjoy much prosperity as possible.

True, they were indeed blessed and prospered materially. But it does not mean divine blessing is all about material things. No wonder Satan continues to use materialism as a snare to trap Christians to lose sight of the love of God and the unseen realities of the glories to be revealed.

 A point worthy of note is the fact that these patriarchs did not desire the material things but with faith lived as alien residences awaiting the real blessing of God since they knew that earthly riches were nothing more than mundane and vain compared to unseen heavenly treasures. They loved God and desired to do his will more than anything else whilst awaiting the city of God.

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The Apostles Set A Fine Example For Us

What about the apostles of Christ?  Who could claim to be more blessed than them? They interacted with Jesus himself, the son of the Most High, wined and dined with him. They knew him on a personal basis. Jesus assured them that whatever they ask him in his name, he will do it. They saw him ascend into heaven with their physical eyes.

If you were one of them, knowing that your friend has ascended to the right hand of God, what would you have asked for from God through him? Remember, they were poor ordinary folks too. They could have seized the opportunity to ask God through Jesus all the material things they so desired so that they could show off to those who were persecuting them.  Perhaps, they could even have pointed to their material prosperity to skeptics and cynics of their faith as indisputable evidence that their faith in Jesus was firmly grounded and far from self-delusion.

But what did they ask for? Faith and Boldness. Yes, they asked for more boldness to declare the word of God and the good news about Christ in the face of vicious opposition and violent persecution. They also implored for more faith so that they could accomplish their ministry and endure to the end in order to obtain the real riches – the crown of life.

Shouldn’t these apostles serve as role -models to Christians of today? No wonder apostle Paul urged fellow Christians to imitate him as he also imitates the Christ.

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PROSPERITY! PROSPERITY!! PROSPERITY!!!

“Your year of supernatural increase”, “Your year of increasing favour”, “Your year of impact” are but few of the ever-increasing catch-phrase themes that accompany and advertise various church projects, programmes and festivals.  If you have taken some time to peruse Christian posters of late, you would undoubtedly not miss these mouth-watering, eye-pleasing and ear-tickling themes.

For many Christians who believe that prosperity is a must for all Christians, they see nearly no problems with the sudden and dramatic u-turn some pastors of today have unexpectedly but prophetically made from the pure message of salvation to the ear-tickling proclamations and declarations of prosperity messages.

The prosperity message has gained much currency and flies so much because of the critical, hard and perilous times we live in and the shackles of poverty that has deprived many of life’s comforts and even necessities.  

  

Honestly however, it would be wrong for pastors to lean on their own wisdom and philosophy to tickle the ears of people with unscriptural and baseless “motivational sermons”.

The timeless answer is to point people to the blissful purpose of God for those who love him and have faith in him through Jesus and to direct their attention to the unseen glories to be revealed in his kingdom for “just as it is written: ‘eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him’ “.

Is it wrong for Christians to be prosperous? Not at all. For in fact the Bible is emphatic that it is the blessing of the LORD that makes one rich and he adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22). Also it adds, “ And God will indeed put you at the head and not at the tail; and you must come to be only on top, and you will not come to be on the bottom, because you keep obeying the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today to observe and to do ”.

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THE WORLD - IN YOUR MIND

I’ve been told that if you change your mind, you change the world – or at least the way you experience it. Let’s take a moment to examine it.

The presumption is, if you thought the world was a hostile, ugly place filled with awful people doing awful things, that is what you’d see.Your mind would naturally seek out confirmation for its preconceived ideas (e.g. if you’re intent on buying a red car, as you go about your day you’ll see lots of red cars).

 If, however, you were able to sincerely change your mind and see that we are all God in drag, that we are the conscious aspects of a perfect universe (by God) which had to create us so we could bear witness and stand in awe of its loving magnificence, then that is the soul-shaking reality you’d be greeted with each and every moment of each and every day.

In other words, it is entirely our choice as to what kind of world we live in.

With a simple decision, we can suffer in the darkness or play in the light. We can be angry, frightened and enslaved or loving, joyous and free.

I know. It’s a toughie.

Credit: Chuck Lorre Productions, #440 (The Big Bang Theory Series)