Soul and Spirit

Ron Blue and Finances

Have you read any financial books by Ron Blue?

Here are some of them:

  • Surviving Financial Meltdown
  • Your Money After the Big 5-0
  • The New Master Your Money
  • Faith-Based Family Finances
  • Splitting Heirs
  • Wealth to Last
  • Your Kids Can Master Their Money
  • HELP! I’m Drowning in Debt
  • Storm Shelter

If you’ve read any of them, what do you make of Mr. Blue and his teaching?

A few years ago I read Master Your Money and was very favorably impressed by it. (Alas, I no longer remember any specifics!)

Right now I’m working my way through The Debt Squeeze.

Charged With Insulting Muslim Guest

No, not in Pakistan or Turkey or Egypt.

In Britain.

I know, I know — the story below is dated September 19. Old news.

But it’s current news because these folks’ trial is yet to come.

Christian hoteliers charged with insulting Muslim guest

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are charged with breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act – causing harassment, alarm or distress. If convicted, they face fines of £2,500 each and a criminal record.

The Muslim woman was staying at the Bounty House Hotel in Liverpool, which is run by the Vogelenzangs, when a conversation arose between the hoteliers and their guest about her faith.

It is understood that among the topics debated was whether Jesus was a minor prophet, as Islam teaches, or whether he was the Son of God, as Christianity teaches.

Among the things Mr Vogelenzang, 53, is alleged to have said is that Mohammad was a warlord. His wife, 54, is said to have stated that Muslim dress is a form of bondage for women.

The conversation, on March 20, was reported by the woman to Merseyside Police. Officers told the couple that they wanted to interview them over the incident.

After being questioned on April 20, they were interrogated again three months later before being charged on July 29 with a religiously-aggravated public order offence. They appeared in court on August 14 and are now awaiting trial.

Amazing. In a sobering sort of way.

Here’s another article: Critics slam case against pair who ‘upset’ Muslim

Billions Without Bibles

Two dollars a day and no Bible. And without the ability to read one anyway. And how many of them have more joy than I do? So read this info and recount the blessings you have.

Two dollars a day and no Bible. And without the ability to read one anyway.

And how many of them have more joy than I do?

So read this info and recount the blessings you have.

Seven billion people in the world in two years

Half the world lives on less than $2 a day. Right now, that’s more than three billion people, but new research suggests the population will hit the seven billion mark within the next two years.

Researchers with the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) also found that the least developed regions, like Africa, Asia and Latin America, are projected to double in population by 2050. PRB, one of the most trusted sources for world population information, recently released these statistics in their 2009 World Population Data Sheet.

International Director for Faith Comes By Hearing Morgan Jackson said that these new figures are troubling because billions of people may never hear the message of hope and truth in God’s Word.

“Already, the world’s poorest of the poor are cut off from the Bible,” said Jackson. “Half of the world’s people are illiterate and too poor to afford a Bible. Five of six African believers will never own their own Bible. And when people don’t have Scripture in a format they can use and understand, the results can be devastating to villages and whole countries.”

[…]

“Small bits of Scripture may be the only truth they have. They just don’t know any different,” said Jackson.

“But modern technology is helping overcome centuries-old barriers of poverty, distance, language, illiteracy, and culture. For the first time in history, we have the tools to reach every person in the world with the Word of God — no matter where they are,” said Jackson.

One of these tools is the Proclaimer, a self-powered audio player that can be used in the most remote and rugged locations. The Proclaimer’s embedded microchip is pre-loaded with the Audio Drama New Testament in the heart languages of the world. Indigenous believers take these life-changing Audio Bibles into their villages and towns and start listening groups. Villagers in groups up to 300 gather around to listen and then discuss what they’ve heard. By interacting with the Word of God, people come to know and follow the God of the Bible.

Currently, New Testament recordings in more than 397 languages are being used in Bible listening programs in 150 countries.

Learn more about The Proclaimer.

I’m thankful to know how to read. In two languages. And to have Bibles in both. And to earn far more than two dollars a day.

Disclaimer: It appears the Mission Network News article comes from a post at the Faith Comes by Hearing site.

Pepsi’s Score

I don’t know what it is.

But I say they’ve hit a new low with their latest effort to amp up the debasement of the culture:

Amp, an energy drink made by Pepsi, has an application (app, for short) for the iPhone called “Before You Score.” It’s billed as a “roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women—24, in all.” Choose your type and get suggestions on how to “score.”

Here’s a boast from the online commercial for it: “If you’re anticipating a successful night, the Before You Score app gives you up-to-the minute information, feeds, lines, and much more to help you amp up and talk to 24 different types of ladies.” By “lines” they mean pick-up lines. As for “types,” you can choose from “businesswoman,” “foreign exchange student,” “sorority girl,” “rebound girl,” “nerd,” “treehugger,” “cougar,” “twins,” even “married.”

Have they no shame?

Have they no decency?

Apparently not:

Pepsi issued an apology via Twitter that said, in part: “We apologize if it’s in bad taste.”

You’ve got to be kidding me! 🙄

Well, read the rest of Marcia Segelstein’s post over at WorldMagBlog.

“Just as Real and Admirable”

Frankly, I was astounded to read this earlier this morning.

Furthermore, it happened Saturday night. I didn’t learn about it till this morning. Lemme see — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — six days later. And I don’t exactly stay isolated from the news.

Has this story been buried?

President Obama delivered an unprecedented message to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night. Sounding more like a homosexual activist than a sitting president, Obama went well beyond his expected message of “I’m here with you” on the homosexual agenda.

“My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians — whether in the office or on the battlefield,” Obama told an estimated audience of 3,000. “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

Even Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was stunned at the breadth of Obama’s statement, calling it “something quite remarkable.”

“This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States,” Solmonese said in a post-speech statement. “It’s simply unprecedented.”

Sounds like the folks at Human Rights Campaign got far more hope and change than they dared expect.

Oh, America!

“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

“But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:10,16,19,20).

Here’s my source: Obama: Homosexual Relationships ‘Just as Real and Admirable’ as Heterosexual Marriage

Handy Pornography!

Way back in 1994, I wrote for our school and church a piece I called Handy Pornography! Here’s an excerpt from early in the article:

Why this increasing freedom of exposure? Well, facts are facts, you know. The news must be reported; stuff must be advertised and sold; anthropological discoveries must be made known; technological advances must be demonstrated. Do any or all or these explain or justify the increasing indecency? Hardly!

Is there news value in having a woman in ice skating attire flinging her leg way up toward the reader? No, the issue is not news. Did Scientific American need to use a picture of Marilyn Monroe with her dress flying up overlaid on a picture of President Abraham Lincoln? No, the issue is not advanced computer technology. Do bikinied women actually make a car or radio controlled airplane more attractive, or a soap more effective? No, the issue is not advertising and commerce. Do pictures of third-world, partially-nude women help us understand their cultures better than simply telling the reader they don’t cover themselves from the waist on up? No, the issue is not anthropology.

Folks, we have been snookered and taken in by a “conspiracy” of the enemy of our souls! Can you see how he is successfully wearing down our resistance to immorality? We still stand against Playboy, but will our children? If we allow in our homes what our grandparents called pornography, will our grandchildren allow in their homes what we call pornography? If we don’t bat an eye about these things which would have jolted our grandparents, will the things that still jolt us have any effect on our children’s children? Remember, what parents excuse in moderation, children justify in excess.

I urge you to read the entire article. Despite the title (Handy Pornography!) and the URL (www.anabaptists.org/writings/softporn.html), it is not pornography. Not even so-called soft porn.

Above all, love God!