I have never seen a recession or experienced its devastating outcomes. I have never experienced starvation or malnutrition. Neither have I gone to bed and was afraid of never awakening again by the ravaging of war. We soon approaching the year 2009; so much lies ahead which is unclear. We have the first black president of America. We have South Africa having to elect their next President (possibly be another Mugabe) and England politicians hoping for a change of leadership. So much is going on….then there is plans and hopes and dreams we have to accomplish.
What will 2009 look like?
Let us try to imagine:
Our monetary system could be in such turmoil that it causes further instability in the markets. People losing the homes, jobs and cars. Shops closing down and banks going bust.
Thereby affecting other dependent developing countries. Poverty was once campaigned as making it history but increase weather catastrophes causes further poverty and starvations.
Due to the weather phenomenon’s we have more tornadoes and flooding causing more destruction than previously.
The Middle-East becoming even more volatile and terrorism negotiations and talks with activists meeting for the first time.
China, Russia and Iran join forces as a world power.
Foreign troops in Iraq return home and Iraq is returned to becoming an Islamic state.
Cholera outbreak in Southern Africa thus cutting funding on HIV projects.
Sound bleak…?
We need a Superhero that will rescue us and if you watch this space Hollywood would captivate your hopes and aspirations. For the creation of more superhero dramas than ever before will thus be released. Already we have seen movies such as Iron Man, Seven Pounds, and Hancock.
Get ready and fasten your seat belts as 2009 will test your faith and your foundations tested. Godspeed!
Many people believe that we can watch anything and everything to no ill effect. I seriously question that notion. Demonstrating a direct relationship between what we see and what we do has proven problematic. It has become clear that one must take into account additional contributing factors such as in-home violence, already-established aggressive characteristics, and the record of criminal offenses. But even allowing this proviso, some correlation between viewed aggression and subsequent behaviour can be made.
Solomon wrote, ”Don’t trust violent people. They will mislead you to do the wrong thing” (Proverbs 16:29). The apostle John was warning his readers about the dangers of copying evil behaviour when he said, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11).If this is written to adults, how much more does it apply to our even more impressionable children, who so easily imitate what they see? Watching television in and of itself is not necessarily wrong, yet there are certain times when it is clearly sin. In this article, I want to look at four instances in which time in front of the tube damages your relationship with God. This may take many forms.
Ladies, let’s say a certain show has a male character whom you find yourself drawn to. You imagine having a relationship with him, you start comparing your husband to him, and thoughts of him lead you down the road of discontentment.
Men, perhaps you find yourself continually lusting after a certain beautiful actress. Or it may not be a person at all that makes you stumble; it could be that reruns of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous have left you with an idolatrous longing for “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” In other words, if you detect a pattern of sin-whether discontentment, lust, or covetousness-centred upon a certain television show or commercial, then you need to cut it off. To paraphrase the words of Jesus, if your television show or your DVD causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame or without entertainment, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. (Matthew 18:8).
When watching television we should bear in mind the words of David in Psalm 101:3″I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.” If God hates it, and Christ died for it, then we have no business being entertained by it.
Husbands, can you honestly love your wife as Christ loved the Church and wash her with the water of the Word when your time at home is primarily spent watching television (Eph. 5:25-30)?
Mothers, can you shepherd your little ones and raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord with your eyes (and theirs) glued to the tube (Tit. 2:4)?
Christian, can you make time to read the Word daily (1 Pet. 2:2), engage in fellowship with others (Heb. 10:24), use your spiritual gift to serve the body (1 Pet. 4:10), and pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).
When you watch three to four hours of television a day? If television prohibits you from obeying God’s commands for your life, stop watching it.
Money has the power to take God’s place in your life. How can you tell if you are a slave to money? A few signs are: worrying about it frequently; caring too much for your possessions; difficulty in giving money away; and getting into deep debt. Money is a hard and deceptive master. It promises power and control, but it often cannot deliver. Great fortunes can be made – and lost – overnight, and no amount of money can provide health, happiness, or eternal life. How much better to let God be your master. His servants have peace of mind and security both now and forever.
Luke 16: 13-17
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.
Additional Teachings
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
To fear the Lord is to recognise him for who he is: holy, righteous, all-knowing, all-powerful, and full of wisdom. The better we know God, the better we see ourselves for who we are: sinful, weak, frail, and needy. When we recognise God for who he is and yourself for who you are, you will want to cling to him in total dependence. This is the starting point for learning how to choose his ways, which always results in the best decisions.
Psalm 25: 4-13
Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your name, O LORD,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
He will spend his days in prosperity,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. Exodus 20:17
“But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’” – Psalm 31:14
There are at least three forms of greed:
1) an obsessive desire for ever more material goods and the attendant power.
2) a fearful need to store up surplus goods for a vaguely defined time of want.
3) a desire for more earthly goods for their own sake.
The Greed of Power
In this form, earthly goods are chiefly a means to an end, which is really not that far off from a healthy view. The money, real estate, cars are simply things used to achieve, wield and display personal power. These things can be used to intimidate or bribe others, reinforce one’s own illusions about what is important or to build up a feeling of success
The Greed of Fear
Fear is a poor motivator for virtue, but an excellent one for greed. Sometimes, greed is simply a desire to have so much that we can’t possibly run out. The stock market could crash, we could lose our jobs or health, we could be sued. If we acquire enough stock, real estate, or T-bills, we think we will be safe from want. This is an illusion. There is no perfect preventative for want, but even if there was it would stand in opposition to the trust in God to which we are called. Jesus said, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Trust in God frees us from a need to build a massive buffer against poverty.
Part of the cure may be to embrace poverty. We may not become homeless, but we can learn to do with less. Serious campers try to leave their campsite in the same state they found it. Ideally, there should be no trace left when they move on. In the same way, try to use less of the world’s goods. “Live simply, that others may simply live.” Once this kind of freedom is practiced, we realize that we don’t need that much, anyway. This knowledge, in turn, reduces our fear and builds a kind of strength and confidence.
The Greed of Acquisition and Enslavement
This is slavery, plain and simple. We can reduce ourselves to a small and cold desire to accumulate more electronic gear, antiques or other collectibles. It is far beneath the dignity of human beings to enslave themselves to objects of their own making. It is well said that our possessions in some ways may come to own us.
The obvious cure is to divest oneself of as much as possible, but another suggestion might be to consider the grave. When we die, we take nothing with us. If we are bound by “disordered attachments” to worldly goods, the separation forced upon us by death will be even more painful. If we are destined for eternal glory, the temporary enjoyment of trinkets in this life is simply absurd. Meditation on this begins to loosen the grip of objects on the heart.
Posted by Brendon Naicker 
Posted by Brendon Naicker 
Posted by Brendon Naicker 