What a difference 100 Years makes!

The year is 1909, One hundred years ago: What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1909:
The average life expectancy was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower! The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year. More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME. Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason. Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!! Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health' Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help. There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.A!

MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT

Matt 20:6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Every Christian in every generation only had about 70 years to complete their work. We are living in the eleventh hour of our lives if not the eleventh hour of the world. We are running out of tomorrows. None of us are getting any younger. What we do, we must do quickly. “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city” (Luke 14:) Make your Life Count.
What was the ultimate goal of Jesus in sending out the 12? Jesus said that he sent them out so that his house might be full. The end result of every church must be to fill the house with souls serving Jesus Christ. “Go out quickly.” The “Principle” of saving souls, or filling His house was to go out “Quickly.” The TIME factor is important. Jesus said; I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4 ). The truth is we don’t have a long time! All we have is today. The analogy Jesus is making is dealing with the end of his dispensation. However, there was a “Time” factor even Jesus was limited to. Make your Life Count.
The urgency in this time is that we are the only ones who can reach this generation. Once it’s gone, no one can or will reach it. Since Jesus, there has been over 35 “Worlds” that have been born and die. Meaning, the whole world has been born, lived their lives and have died. Think of it. 35 worlds have come and gone of which the overwhelming majority have not heard the gospel. Make your Life Count.
Longfellow said it, “What is time? The shadow on the dial. The striking of the clock. The running of the sand. Day night Winter Summer Months years Centuries.” The youthful boy or girl here tonight can tell us what time it is, but the greatest scholar here could not define what is time. God operates within a time framework.
What are you doing with your life? Where are you going? Who are you becoming? None of us are getting younger. We’re racing the clock. “One life to live will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” What are you doing for Eternity’s sake?

Curse of Addiction

It felt as if the walls were caving in on me as I walked down the long, narrow hall leading to the psychiatric ward extension of Wuesthoff Hospital. I was there to visit George Robinson, who was court ordered to receive psychiatric treatment. A creepy feeling overcame me when the security guard locked the door behind me. Shock overwhelmed me as I stared into the faces of what looked like three hundred neurotic deranged human beings. Even though I had only spoken to George a few times prior to this visit, I was there at his request. I came to help him overcome his sixteen years of alcohol addiction. As I walked through the crowd, looking for George, I saw people engaging in elaborate conversations with the walls, while others stared silently into space. Paranoia eased from me when a few "normal" people nodded and said hello. I remember thinking as I looked across the Ward, "this is the curse of addiction." If nothing else gave me reason to thank God I was not a drug addict, that experience did. As I gazed at the crowd of men and women, young and old, it became evident to me that drug addiction destroys the mind, separates families, and leaves the addict functionally helpless.
One of the first things alcohol and other drugs do to a person's mind is destroy virtually millions of irreplaceable brain cells. (According to the Center for Drug and Alcohol Treatment of America). From my experience at Wuesthoff Psychiatric Ward, I did not need many facts or statistics to prove to me that drug addiction destroys the mind. Drug addiction is a slow death, according to Dr. John B. James of Johns Hopkens Alcohol Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland. It was clear to me, after talking with George Robinson, that sixteen years of alcoholism had almost stripped him of his self worth and esteem. Even his conversation seemed to jump from one subject to another. I found it hard to make sense of what he was trying to say. It was evident that drug addiction was a psychological curse.
Another way that I saw drug addiction as a curse was the way it separated families. As I talked to George that day, he revealed to me that his addiction had driven a deep wedge between him and his father. George confessed that he lost every friend that he ever had. Drugs had destroyed almost every promising relationship George ever had. At thirty years of age, George Robinson had no real friends, no plans of marriage, no children, and no loving relationship with his mother or father. I was a preacher he had only met four or five times, and he said that I was the only one he could call for help. This brought new meaning to the latest government reports that found drug addiction to be one of the leading causes for divorce in America.
Finally, not only does drug addiction destroy the mind and relationships, it also renders the addict virtually helpless in securing a meaningful future. George Robinson had a bachelor's degree in agriculture. He was a skilled carpenter, a wind surfing champion, and a very skillful surfboard designer. George, at one time, owned a very successful surfboard manufacturing business, and alcohol addiction had taken it all away. I didn't need all the facts and figure that day to convince me that drug addiction would destroy a man's future success. If George was ever to enjoy a successful future, alcohol would have to go. Clearly, drug addiction was a curse to him.
It took George eight months of hard work to overcome his addiction. After nine years of drug free living, George Robinson has his right mind, is happily married and is a successful businessman in Melbourne, Florida. My experience with helping George overcome his addiction has revealed to me, the unforgettable curse of addiction.

IRONY OF LIFE

D.H. Lawrence presents one of the most profound ironies of life man can ever experience in his “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” I like to think of it as the growing up irony. Lawrence presents the seemingly backwards scenario’s of life in that the child was the mature entrepreneur and the parents were the naïve life wasters. In life, we expect the child to be the naïve passive person who accepts with whatever is handed to him while the parent is expected to take control of life and make things happen.
One would expect the parents of a child who is a minor with economic struggles to take control of their circumstances and make life better than it has become. One would expect that the parent should be the responsible one to speak faith and optimism that generates security for his or her child. One could easily accept a child to speak insecurities and question his or her future. However, in Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” we read the Irony of Life where the roles of responsibilities are reversed.
Paul’s mother is always speaking failure, fear and faithless words that generate fearful imaginations in Paul’s life. Such disparaging words from Paul’s mother caused Paul to hear voice from the house and their home life of never having enough. Such faithlessness normally causes children to become fearful neurotics wasting away in insecurities. However, with Paul, he took on the role of responsibility and overcame poverty while his parents passively surrendered to the failure of the whatever.
Paul, the seven to ten year old in Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” took upon him the role of making an income to pull the household from ruin while his parents only grew worse in economic failure. Paul appear to remain a child in insisting to ride his baby rocking horse while all along he developed a winning strategy to win the bets at the horse races from the childish saddle. Ironic, a child seated on the back of a toy takes life in his own hands and generates over a half of million dollars for his mother in a few short years, while his parents do little to nothing but complain about financial “bad luck” (Literature, DiYanni, McGraw Hill, 2002, pg. 97).
Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs explains that “Irony refers to language and situations that are inappropriate or opposite from normal expectations” (Literature, Roberts & Jacobs, Prentice Hall, Englewood, 1992, pg. 64). The irony of life seems to never hand us what we expect. If it did, I must say life would be too boring and predictable. Success and heroes would not be the aspired goal, but rather maintain the status quo. Extra ordinary people are those who define to us the true irony of life. They do the unexpected and accomplish the unbelievable. Ironic isn’t it that a child would be the responsible adult and the parent would become the whining child?

545 PEOPLE

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices -- 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ. If they do not receive Social Security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

EVERY SOUL COUNTS

Since the beginning of the 90’s, the proportion of the adult population that is Non-churched has risen significantly to 32 %. That may not sound like much, but 32% of 300 million adults in America is over 95 million people. Add children of those adults in America and the total is more than 150 million human beings.
To put this statistic into perspective, the non-churched population of America would be equivalent to the 10th largest nation in the world!!!! Larger than every nation in Europe. Three times larger than the population of Canada. That would equate to over 40 states in the USA. Almost all of South America.
What is the center heartbeat of Jesus? He died on the cross for 150 million un-churched men, women, boys and girls. He died for 300 million Buddhists in the world. He died for half a billion Muslims. He died for the 6 billion men, women, boys and girls who are lost in this sin, evil, cursed, abomination filled world - who is, I might add, desperately wanting someone to love them like Jesus.
You can make a difference. You can allow Jesus to use your hands, your feet, your eyes, your arms to reach, touch and love others who have no one to love them.
Ps 142:4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

PIED PIPER

Your life, success or failure, happy or anxious, Energetic or docile, Going the right way or the Wrong way greatly depends on Who or What is Influencing you. Please hear me today: Your life will get no better than the people you hang out with. This past week, you could turn nowhere without seeing, hearing or reading about Michel Jackson. Sad,
Sad, after $100’s of Millions and this is who he is? And the corrupt media who damned him, attack him, scorn him a couple years ago, now they want to let us think they LOVE him. “O such an Icon.” They destroyed him and now they want to take credit for him. Filthy devils! Look around at what a twisted, perverted and corrupt life Hollywood, Washington DC, Paris and the rest have to offer. I would never want their $100’s Millions if I had to live that kind of life. None of them know what LOVE is. The bar songs, Rock, Country, Pop, etc. all offer so much depression. Is it any wonder “The wages of Sin is Death?” As I pondered these thoughts this past week, my personality wanted to rebuke, while my intellect wanted to teach and my passion wanted to encourage. After pondering this, my passion won out. Please, hear my heart:
Why do we blindly believe what the Masses do, say, think, act? The disciples came to Jesus and said, “The Pharisees were offended when you said that everyone is defiled by what he says & what he does. Jesus said; “Every plant that my heavenly Father doesn’t plant shall be plucked up. Let them alone, they are Blind leaders of the blind and both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt 15:12-14). Why is it cool just because everyone else is doing it? Hey, someone ask, why is getting drunk cool. Hey, someone needs to ask why pushing dope your only way out. Why can’t you push a business? Why do you believe what you see on TV? Why is it that we are told to follow the crowds only to find our lives STUCK in traffic? “Shut up and punch the clock, they say. Mary, you are not coloring in the lines. Charles, you didn’t write about the story I gave you.”
Isa 56:10-12 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, dumb dogs who cannot bark; sleeping, stuck, loving to slumber. 11 They’re selfish and teachers who don’t understand: they’re all about themselves. 12 Come they say, I’ll get wine, whiskey; we’ll get drunk and tomorrow we’ll do it all over again. STUCK
Many of us are Desiring & Dreaming one thing, but Listening & Watching another. We can’t pray for a happy marriage and hang out with people who destroyed every relationship they’ve been in. We can’t dream and hope for prosperity and listen to family bash the wealthy. We can’t wish for health while confessing your sicknesses and showing off our pill collection like it’s a badge of honor. Stop listening to the media’s mantra trying to program your mind to be against success, prosperity, health and purity. For example, they bemoan; “Is that one of those get rich schemes?” OK, let me ask, If you had a choice to work HARD for 50 years to accumulate $500,000 extra in investments, or you had a choice to work HARD for 5 years to accumulate $500,000 in investments, which would you choose? Of course we all would chose the five year choice. Isn’t it corrupt that the media and government will slam entrepreneurs who devise a plan, idea, system, or product that helps a person make money on their own, saying, “They are trying to scam the public.” At the same time the media and government set up a State Lottery and STILL $billions from the public. Hey, shake yourself, stop, get out of the line of the Pied Piper. He’s taking you down to the end of the road to dump you off in the river to drown.
Let me encourage you to turn off the News, become extremely selective to the shows you watch. Never watch a movie the media “Critics” praise (they’re usually perverted, twisted and evil). Yes, and turn off the stupid radio filled with some of the worse depressing, demoralizing songs any human could hear. Please hear me, make a commitment to be very selective to watch, listen to and read only the kinds of stuff that will grow you, succeed you, bless you, encourage you, make you healthier, happier and wiser. Find the people that ARE where you want to go and make friends with them. Back away from the “so called” friends who’s lives are messed up. Step back long enough and see what the parties, drugs (streets or prescription), alcohol, and promiscuity leads you too. On the other hand, take a good look at the passionate business minded, entrepreneurs, philanthropist, missions minded people are doing and see how their lives have turned out and go there. Stop, look around at the traffic jam you maybe in and make a choice today to GET OUT OF THE TRAFFIC JAM.