IT’S OK TO BE INTOLERANT: IT’S CALLED CARING ENOUGH TO CONFRONT part 2

IT’S OK TO BE INTOLERANT: IT’S CALLED ‘CARING ENOUGH TO CONFRONT’

– part two                                                              – Mary  A. LaClair

583 words

It amazes me how people voice offense over some of the best things; like public display of Christmas, the Ten Commandments, etc.

Why aren’t people getting offended at things which give bad influence?

What you permit, you approve. And, no, I can not approve of one-sided tolerance for what is wrong, when I see so much one-sided intolerance for what is right.

The very people who used to cry “tolerance” are now themselves crying “offense”.

Is it because good people are so sure of themselves that nothing can shake them; or, is it because they actually fear being an influence?  Advertisers get paid to influence people, and often times it is subtly done with just a picture. We influence people even when we are unaware of doing so. Conclusion: influence cannot be eliminated entirely. So let’s see that good influence rises to the surface.

Here is an example:

While having a late lunch in an out-of-town sandwich shop, opportunity to be a good influence over bad came knocking.

A busy little employee was actively scrubbing tables which already looked clean.

My friend and I told the busy and pleasant employee that she could come and scrub our houses.  (I know, not very original). But it opened the door to say something to an older youth standing nearby who was wearing an obnoxious t-shirt which looked as if it came from an adult barroom. Upon seeing the offensive picture, I asked the Lord how I could address the matter in His ways. Asking the Lord before speaking is key.

This youth in his late teens spoke up and said, “If you are paying, I will come clean for you!”

I had the impression he just dropped his younger sister off at work. Looking at the shirt wearing an obvious frown on my face my reply was,   “Not in that shirt, you won’t”

“Why? I’m a good guy, really.”

“Well, one couldn’t tell by that shirt you are wearing.” It seems the Lord was prompting me.

“Really?  Well, I guess it is kinda questionable.”

“You’re right.  You look like a nice kid, it doesn’t belong on you. It is also not a good example for younger people to see you wearing that in public.”

My friend and I finished our lunch, the older youth left the store. However, when we walked to our car, the youth was outside smiling.

“See, I took it off, wadded it up and threw it in the trunk. I guess I can use it for polishing the car.  That’s a good use for it, right?”

“Right!  Good choice young man.  Good choice!  Have a good day.”

“Yes, you too mam, and… thanks!”

“God bless you, son!”

Another young man made a similar statement of thanks a few years back. He worked in a music-video store.  I went in to find out the words to rock music that would be playing in our town. The young man in his mid twenties asked me if I had a child or a grand-child planning on attending the concert.  “Maybe,” I said.

“Lady, I wish MORE adults would show an interest in what their kids are into. If they did, this stuff wouldn’t be so bad. Youth are just crying out for someone to know what their world is like. They are daring adults. And adults don’t care. I commend you and say there should be more parents doing this.”

ASTONISHED was my plain and simple reaction. After my astonishment, I did take the time to thank the young man for being so bold in his workplace.

God bless him.

Are you getting the message yet?

It’s OK to be Intolerant – It is Called: Caring Enough to Confront – part one

   IT IS OK TO BE INTOLERANT – IT IS CALLED

CARING ENOUGH TO CONFRONT – part one

                                                                                                   – M. LaClair

400 words

The next two columns will deal with Christians standing their ground – one might call it being rightfully intolerant of wrong, which by the way, others think we must tolerate.  But we don’t.

Young people today DO challenge. Can we, with a smile on our face, meet those challenges in a satisfactory way? Here is an example of handling those who challenge us even on our own turf.

Case in point:  There was gathering of young people in our town. My children invited some family and friends to gather and help monitor our property against the foray. One youth showed up on our property with a t-shirt with satanic symbols. He could stay, but the shirt had to go. I met him with some options. He could (1) go home and change (2) go shirtless (3) turn it inside out. This was my home and his shirt was uninvited. I was firm. It did not take him long to turn that shirt inside out. Advance warnings from my sons kept him from even thinking about turning it back later in the day.

Four years later, a young man at another gathering at our place proudly introduced his wife and son to me.  “You don’t remember me, do you?”.

“Should I? Refresh my memory if you would.”

“Do you remember the kid you had turn his t-shirt inside out?  That’s me.”

“Oh, I’m glad you are back. I like your shirt today!”, I said smiling.

Could I really believe my ears in what he said next?

“Mrs. LaClair, I want to thank you for how you handled that. I’m a father now, and I understand these things better. I wasn’t too pleased at the time, but now I am. I’m glad you set that example for me back then and made me think. It was more important than I would have thought at the time. Thank you.”

Wow!  Did I feel special, or what !

Youth respect adults who care enough to confront and who will satisfactorily meet their foolish challenges. Be careful that it is their actions which you disapprove and not them personally and you will be on your way to standing your ground in an acceptable manner.

This youth came back as a man to thank me. I’m sure this man’s son will have a proper upbringing.

“Cast your bread upon the waters and in due season it will come back to you.” – and it won’t even be soggy.

PART TWO is found under the category JUDGING: sub-category : IT’S OK TO BE INTOLERANT, IT IS CALLED CARING ENOUGH TO CONFRONT PART TWO

I had tried to pair part two with this one, but am not familiar enough with revising the list of categories. Don’t want to inadvertently have this one deleted by my trying to move it .

However, as a plus, you will find additional interesting articles under JUDGING I am sure: happy reading !

Don’t be afraid of being intolerant. Revelation says something about those who ‘tolerate’ and it is not favorable.

Remember we are called to be salt and light. So, beam up your light and get your salt out of the salt shaker, my friend !

— end —

The trinity of man: Body, Soul and Spirit

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRIT AND SOUL?

— by Mary A. LaClair

A woman writes a letter to the paper in which she expresses a healthy desire to differentiate between the soul and the spirit. This comes, admittedly, as a result of the passing of a beloved spouse. Confusion came to her when she consulted the dictionary for possible definitions.  I’m suggesting a Bible would provide better answers, but then Scripture can also be difficult.  Having earned a diploma in Theology, I offered her the following:

1)      Man is a spirit, lives in a body and has a soul.

a)      feeling is the voice of the body;

b)       conscience is the voice of the human spirit;

c)       reason (intellect) is the voice of the soul.

The ‘spirit’ of man is the hidden man of the heart:  (1 Peter 3:4; 2 Cor. 4:16))*.  It can be confusing when the word ‘soul’ is used to refer to that part of mankind which is unseen and eternal; yet spirit and soul are not the same. They seem to almost be interdependent, yet they are not interchangeable. It would behoove us to cultivate and improve our mind (our soul) because that is a part of what lives forever, the soul can influence the spirit which also lives forever.

Bible reading, with a prayer for understanding the New Testament, is a good place to start improving our soul and spirit, which will in turn influence and improve our body.

Our spirit is something which we can ask Jesus to inspire and to fill with His Holy Spirit.

Heb 4:12

12 For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.  ASV

As for her question, ‘will we have a body like on this earth’, that answer is found in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5* and in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 35+. *

As a seed falls to the ground and dies, yet gives forth a new and more glorious life form, so it will be with those who are found fit to ascend into glory, and truly, it is Jesus’ love which makes us fit. His Love is there for all who are willing to discover it.

“When you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.”

1 Peter 3:4   Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁴But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God. (emphasis mine)

Deuteronomy 4:29
But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.  (heart and soul are two distinct facets)

  2 Corinthians 4:16  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

1 Corinthians 15:35  Good News Translation (GNT)

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ Someone will ask,
How can the dead be raised to life? What kind of body will they have?

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

¹ For we know that when this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.² And now we sigh, so great is our desire that our home which comes from heaven should be put on over us;³ by being clothed with it we shall not be without a body.⁴ While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression; it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life.⁵ God is the one who has prepared us for this change, and he gave us his Spirit as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us.

1 Corinthians 15:34-58  New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁴ Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” ³⁶ What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. ³⁷ And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. ³⁸ Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. ³⁹ Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

⁴⁰ There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.

⁴² It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. ⁴³ Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. ⁴⁴ They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

⁴⁵ The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”^[a] But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. ⁴⁶ What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. ⁴⁷ Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. ⁴⁸ Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. ⁴⁹ Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like^[b] the heavenly man.

⁵⁰ What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

⁵¹ But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! ⁵² It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. ⁵³ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

⁵⁴ Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,^[c] this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.^[d]
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?^[e]”

⁵⁶ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Isaiah 25:8 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁸ He will swallow up death forever!^[a]
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and mockery
against his land and people.
The LORD has spoken!

P.S.  Since the soul influences the spirit which lives forever we should do ourselves a favor and learn all we can from God’s Word while we are here.

The following links are some I would recommend for further, more in depth thoughts on the difference between soul and spirit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_8Wxnw8v5Q  Dr. Creflo Dollar

http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/soul_spirit.php

http://christianindiantv.homestead.com/files/albuquerquetwo.htm\\

http://holdingtotruth.com/2012/03/22/is-there-a-difference-between-the-spirit-and-the-soul/

 

Could We Abort a Nation Out of Existence?

RATIO OF ILLEGALS TO ABORTED AMERICANS  38M : 40M

400 words

The fear-mongering, counter-culture activists in the 1960’s once spread the poison idea that normal and natural reproduction would create a population explosion that our land could not handle. They claimed there wouldn’t be enough trees to clean the air and provide fuel, or enough pasture land to feed the cattle and grow crops necessary to feed our growing masses.

They advocated that married couples limit offspring to three; two to replace themselves with only one to grow on, or as a spare. This is the thinking which I believe set the stage for decriminalizing abortion and homosexuality, anything went as long as we didn’t multiply ourselves.  We couldn’t risk becoming an over populated country like China, or like India with their opium dens.

The results are in. Illegal immigration brings into our country, foreign speaking people with no regard for legalities; and in numbers rapidly equaling that required to replace our own aborted Americans.

And guess what?  There ARE still enough trees to clean the air with wood to burn, and there IS enough pasture land to feed the cattle and grow the crops.

The fear-mongering activists were wrong. And we believed them. Too bad we didn’t apply to our Christian Nation then, the Christian Scripture  “In a multitude of people is a king’s honor, But in the lack of people is the downfall of a prince.” Proverbs 14:28 NKJ.

A group called Californians for Population Stabilization, (www.cap-s.org) which contends that high levels of immigration are ruining the quality of life in that state, released a report with studies that estimated there are from 20 million to 38 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

“While various sources place the number of abortions anywhere between 40-48 million, the centers for Disease Control and Prevention would approximate the number of abortions performed since 1973 to be 40,944,029.”  Source;  Centers for Disease Control and prevention: Abortion Surveillance – United State 2003 Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report Vol 55, o.ss-11  November 24, 2006.

Lessons that should be learned?  Beware of activists, even politicians, who cry ‘no more status quo’, beware the ‘counter culture’, even those who peddle ‘hope’, thus implying there is no current hope. Will we believe hype again?  Beware the unknown or we may become exiles in our own land because we once again believed a lie. Our “Hope” should be in God alone when life is lived by His rules.

A Quiz on “The Golden Rule”

  The Proverbs 1:20 Column

THE GOLDEN RULE – RE-VISITED

 1021 words                                                                          – Mary A . LaClair

At the local coffee counter during a discussion about crime rates, I mentioned that I thought it was time to bring back the Golden Rule.

A sixty-plus-year-old man said he thought the golden rule promoted revenge!

Another man said he thought it was Scriptural and would soon probably be censored from society by the very groups who cry ‘censorship is evil’.

I’d like to see a street survey done on what people today think of the Golden Rule, and if they can repeat it from memory.

When I was in school, we had the Golden Rule imprinted on 12-inch rulers, which we used daily for drawing straight lines.  The Golden Rule is still needed daily for drawing straight lines in society.                  

The Golden Rule we learned as children still is: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”   NOT, do unto others as others do unto you as our coffee counter antagonist implied.

I checked an encyclopedia put out by Funk & Wagnall on Microsoft’s Encarta.  This is what it says:

  “GOLDEN RULE,  precept of altruistic behavior, that is, that people should do to others as they would have others do to them (see Altruism).  With the Ten Commandments, it serves as a proverbial guideline of conduct for Christians, Jews, and others.  It is derived in its modern form from Jewish and Christian sources.  The negative form of the rule was stated in Jewish literature, as in the Book of Tobit (4:15), in the Apocrypha:  “And what you hate, do not do to anyone.”  It was also stated negatively by Confucius and other teachers of ethics.

The Christian rule, which posits a fraternal ethic from the practical basis of personal realism, is taken from two New Testament passages, Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31¼.”

So, the Golden Rule does NOT originate with, nor is it limited to, Christianity.  It is an Altruism, is stated by Confucius and other early B.C. teachers of ethics, which included Judiaism and only later included in a positive form, rather than in the earlier negative form, in the teachings of Christianity.

I eventually DID do a street survey.  My findings were quite interesting!

The ‘art of discovery’ began one August at the Bouckville Antique Days. With pen and pad in hand, I spied out people of different ages and walks of life to do a little two question ‘survey’.  They need not answer and need not give their names.

Since it was a 65 year old man at the coffee counter who didn’t know what it was, and who got me started on this,  I started looking for that particular age group.

“Hi!  I’m doing a little survey, and I’d like to ask you two short questions”

“O.K., shoot !” was the frequent reply.

“Great, thanks!  The first question is,  Do you know what the Golden Rule is, and second, what is your age bracket, within five years more or less?”

The first couple I spied in that approximate age range were happy to comply. The wife said,  “Oh, it’s ‘love thy neighbor’.”   The husband affirmed, “Yep, love thy neighbor; and isn’t it also ‘Do unto others as they do to you’; or something like that?”

There it is!   Shades of our 65 year old lunch-counter man again, right off the bat. I questioned, “you mean you think it contains revenge?”  The wife, like a good little wife, soon rescued him and said, “No, of course not!”  Yet, I wonder how he would have answered.

The next couple, a tad younger gladly responded.  She got it right, ‘Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.  The husband also got it right; however he said,  “Thou shalt not come to an antique fest without money!”   I’d say he got it right, too!

An older couple, at a young 71 and 77 years quoted it very well and stated clearly they had lived by it and had always done business by it.  “Our parents taught us well”, they said.

I found a 65 year old who gave his age first, and then said, “And, ugh, no I don’t know what it is.”…and walked quickly away.

Time to look for a younger age bracket in my survey on THE GOLDEN RULE.

Let’s see if these young teens selling ice cream know what it is.  They are between thirteen years and fifteen years of age.  I ask them in a group, and they all clamor to be the first one to spout if off!  AND they ALL get it right !  I’m proud of these youngsters!  Some say they learned it in church school, some say their parents taught it to them.  And they’re out working selling ice cream.  I think church school can teach our kids the right things.

From a forty year old I got a short  “Nope!”

From a sixty-eight year old I got an “I used to know!”

I seem to find a pattern that most 65 yr olds either did not know it correctly or did not know it at all.

I like what one couple in the 55-60 year range said.  “Oh, we have that framed and hanging in our hallway.  As Robert Hubbard, of Roycraft Furniture put it; “Do Unto Others As If You Were The Other”. “  I liked that one.

The husbands version was timely:  “Thou Shalt Not Buy Anything Unlest Thou Needest It!”     Well, I like THAT one, too!

The best answer of the day, came with my last interviewee.  And I will close with this one.  A brawny big man of 49 years, with sparkly eyes says, “’Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You!’” He went on to say,  “I think it is one of the greatest statements made, and if all people would use it, the world would be a more complete place.  I would even replace religion with it, as a commonality for all peoples.”

Y-E-S ! 

Let’s end with one of the best answers of the day.

As I leave, I hear the young ice cream salespeople say, “Hey, there’s the Golden Rule lady; we liked her survey, let’s give her an ice cream! “

Y-E-S-S-S!

Now THEY were practicing it!!

Separation of Church and State is NOT Separation of God and Country: God is NOT Church

THE MARRIAGE OF GOD AND COUNTRY

                                                                     ‑ M. LaClair

 623 words

Separation of church and state does not mean separation of God and country.

May it be remembered that this country was founded by people who left their homes and crossed the seas in order to get away from “anti‑religion”; away from kings who had lost their “fear of God”; away from kings who put their own mentality above that of God’s laws (secular humanism of today); and away from kings who punished people who spoke out against the ruling establishment. (Sir Thomas Moore), etc.

Anyone who has read the “Virginia Papers” (adopted on June 27, 1788) would know that separation came about, not as “anti‑religion” vs “religion” as they would have us think, but as an effort that no one church be favored above others. It was definitely looking for “equal favor” not “equal disfavor”. Today’s people seem to errantly interchange the words church and religion. Historical papers (Proposed First Amendment from the Virginia Ratifying Convention June 27, 1788) actually openly acknowledge and state:

“That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence…”

These are active, positive words; not any passive, negative words that some people of today would have us think. Separation of church and state, yes; separation of God and country, religion and country, no; not according to this country’s founding documents of basic Christian principles.

How many of those liberal separatists, of God and country, are trying to take out the one ingredient that made this country what it has been? Who, when following a recipe, would leave out the egg or the baking soda? When you take God out of this country, all you will get is an equally unpalatable mess on a national scale. This nation needs to return to the standards upon which it was founded. This nation needs to again openly acknowledge our Creator and recognize that we have a duty to Him, and discharge that duty by reason and conviction ‑‑ if we are to hold on to that which has made us great.

Taking creationism out of the schools but not taking out evolutionism; imprisoning Operation Rescue non‑violent, non‑forceful (no weapons except that of reason) demonstrators; taking Christian events off the ‘secular menu’ while allowing gross indigestion on open cultist diets; removing the generic prayer and all mention of God from schools, removing Ten Commandments monument from a Federal Courthouse, even allowing one man’s frivolous challenge to æunder God’ in our national pledge…  these are ways in which we recognize “the duty we owe our Creator”?, and, “the manner of discharging it”?  Can we be surprised if we fall?

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who came to America in the early 1800’s to determine the “secret” of our successful democracy, wrote,

“Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention. Religion in America … must be regarded as the foremost of political institutions of that country.”

And yet, those who would see the demise of what was once a great nation, know that all they have to do is remove that one ingredient to see us fall; religion ‑‑ duty to our Creator.  Not church, but religion and God, which is the background for the churchesàchurches, plural, as opposed to the singular Church of England.

Our forefathers may have clearly intended separation of church and state in order (i.e.) (not to show favoritism to Methodists over Lutherans), but church is not God and they did not intend any kind of separation from God or intend any separation from Godly Christianity. By their example, their words and their documents, they certainly did not intend separation of God and country. Rather, the joining of God and Country is the proven ingredient which had brought us so far.

To deny this would be to implement Pogo’s words:  “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

There Is No Distance In Prayer

PRAYING FOR THE CHINESE INDIVIDUALLY, IN GENERAL

 (720 words)                                                                                       -Mary A. LaClair

Well, I hope the title gets your attention! “Individually” and “in general” will prove to be not a contradiction.

Here are some more things which seem unrelated, but by the end will tie in with the title. See if you can stick with me.

An antique, to be valuable, should not be refinished. Collectors and antique appreciators like to see the original patina; the wear from hands, the shine left behind from the oils in the skin of people who used the objects long ago. In the eye of the collector this creates interest, it creates a physical ‘tie’ with people ages past.

In this vein, hair jewelry also was made. Hair from the deceased would be woven into a design and encased in a locket or a piece of glass; and often worn as jewelry.This conduct reveals many people believe objects have a direct connection with people long since gone.

Witchcraft also often uses a ‘hank of hair’ or even a voodoo doll as a ‘connection’. I have an aversion to mentioning witchcraft yet it should be mentioned to reveal that spiritual truths work on either side of the fence. We Christians seem to have abdicated our spiritual power just because new age has usurped it, when in fact Spiritual powers still belong to us.

In the New Testament when handkerchiefs from the person of Paul were taken to the sick, the sick often recovered. God’s Word, God’s truths never change. God’s gifts are without repentance; that means He has given the ‘gifts’ and He does not take them back. (Rom. 11:29) Prayer cloths are still in use today. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 RSV)

Now here is the tie-in:

It seems so many objects made in China are for sale in the United States today that it can be difficult to find some that are not. I prefer to buy American made; yet it seems I am coerced into buying things with a made in China label. When we shop for Christmas gifts this may become even more apparent.

I ask the Lord, “How can I make the best of this situation when it seems I can do nothing to correct it?” How can I make lemonade from these lemons? Then it dawned on me while I washed new things before using them: Chinese hands have sewn or painted many of these things. Often these things have been held in hands of Chinese people who work for empty promises and poor wages, who are probably also being ill treated.

Now I see my ‘connection’: here is a point of contact with a living individual who needs prayer. I pray for the individual whose hands have spent time sewing, painting or making this object now resting in my hands.  Sometimes I pick up an object in the store, look at it, and before putting it down, am led to pray for the person in China whose life has touched that object in a significant way. In this way, I pray for individuals, in general, in China.

I believe it both a Spiritual and Scriptural way to pray for those we could not otherwise reach. Spiritual power is spiritual power, and we should no longer abandon it only for wizards to expropriate it.

Let us awake from our apathy, from our contentment with status quo. Let us recoup. Let us retrieve. Let us tip the scales. Let us bridge the ocean with individual prayer in general and turn into brothers and sisters those living in an ancient world whom we cannot physically touch.

When saying Grace before meals I’ve heard many pray: ‘… bless the hands that prepared this food’. With proverbial hands-across-the-sea, we can be reminded through the items they send us, to pray for the Chinese, individually, in general. Perhaps we can touch them with a small gift of Christmas love through this type of prayer as we see so many items made in China as we shop. We could ask that the Chinese people whose hands have made the items we hold, and their supervisors, receive a conversion like Saul’s on the Damacus Road, and continue to do so perhaps until we have reached the whole country of China with our multiple little prayers.

For another article on prayer go to “Why Christians Should Pray” at: http://looklistenthink.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/why-christians-should-pray-2/

Are You The Keeper Of Your Keys?

 The Proverbs 1:20 Column

   690   words

KEEPER OF THE KEYS 

– Mary A. LaClair

                         What is the purpose of keys?                    

I think it can safely be ascertained that keys intend to keep unauthorized people from gaining access to things or places that are ‘ours’.

However, when I had successfully locked myself out of my own home and even my car at different times, I was forced to look at keys with more scrutiny. Being locked out of your car away from home can be a scary thing.

Did the methods invented to keep others out actually keep me out?  Yes!

We are told in Matthew 16:19 that Heaven has keys. “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:…”

Does having the keys to heaven guarantee our getting in? Having the keys to my house doesn’t always guarantee that I will get in.  If I don’t carry my keys with me all the time, or if I set them down somewhere and don’t pick them up again, I can’t get into my house. If I lock the car keys inside the car, those keys do me no good.

Did you ever lock yourself out of your own home? It is nice and cozy inside, and you are out in the cold? Was the key inside, instead of with you? Don’t let this happen with you and Heaven.

Have you locked your keys to heaven inside a church?

Do you leave your keys to heaven home for Sunday use only?

What if Jesus returns during the week and your keys to heaven are not with you or you are not in church? Will you have locked yourself out of your Heavenly home just because you couldn’t keep your keys with you during the week?    Hmmmm,  something tells me there is a message here.

Jesus is the Key to our Heavenly Home; don’t lock Him in heaven or in a church. He is the key you need when you are on the outside.

I am one who doesn’t want to wonder if she will find her earthly keys when she needs them; so my key ring is a large clump of gadgets and keys. It cannot fall to the ground without clanging; the bulge always tells me just what pocket they are in; my keys can’t sift to the bottom of a purse to set me up for a target of a mugging by standing digging for them in a parking lot, and if left where someone knows me, the memorable wad is easily recognizable as mine.

I admit, lots of keys can make one look important; but my wad is not just keys. This wad contains key rings people have brought back from Jerusalem; grocery store discount gimmick cards, jack knives, a flashlight, and a key ring voice memo‑minder ( I love it!). On our Heavenly key ring should be gifts of the Spirit, a credit card for healing, a Scripture memo minder for Words of Hope to the weary, the light of God’s Word to those in darkness and to light my own path, the Heavenly jack knife of the Sword of the Spirit for Spiritual defense; and everyone should see and know that I have the keys to Heaven – so that they are not easily misplaced or left behind.

Spiritual keys are light! Is it a job to carry the physical keys around ? Not at all!  The reminder that they are with me is always there and it is a comfort that I can find them in a hurry!

What a strange feeling not to be able to access what belongs to me because of my not keeping track of a key.

Keep Jesus with you so you can get into Heaven. Personalize the words to that song, “He walks with me and talks with me”.

Why did I misplace my keys the day I locked them in the car? Because I was in a hurry to do my own thing. Do we forget about consulting Jesus in our rush to do our own thing?

Do you have the constant reminder that the keys to heaven are always with you? If you set them down, will people be ready to call your attention to the fact?

Jesus is The Key to Heaven – Don’t leave home without Him!