The are about to experience the cold-hard facts that there is a:

“High Cost For Low Living”

Emotional adultery, sexual adultery, allegations of sexual infidelity and the impending divorce, and the “photos”. All of this from “celebrity Christians” who many people looked up to (some to the point of idolatry) for “proof” that the religious-right’s “official Christian perspective” of theopolitics actually works or in Bentley’s case, the Lakeland Revival was legitimate.

I had thought about this term ever since these stories broke out and how true it really is to only be reinforced later on after reading Mark Galli’s article entitled The Scandal of the Public Evangelical (much of this article I do not necessary agree with) over at Christianitytoday.com.

I remember hearing this term almost twenty years ago from an friend of mine who later on in his own life, had to experience that very high cost for some low living he had done. It also reminded me of a very famous Allman Brothers song by the name “High Cost of Low Living”

Below are the lyrics

You’re the life of the party, everybody’s host
Still you need somewhere you can hide
All your good time friends
And your farewell to has-beens
Lord knows, just along for the ride

You think you’re a survivor
But boy, you better think twice
No one rides for nothin’
So, step up and pay the price

Chrous:
It’s the high cost of low livin’
Ain’t it high time, you turn yourself around?
Yeah, the high cost of low livin’
Is bound to put you six feet in the ground

So many here who love you
But still, you just can’t tell
The real ones and those who drop your name

All the while behind your back
They lift the flesh right from your bones
You should know by now, we’re all fair game

You’ve been chasing each dream with whiskey
From here to Tokyo
Usin’ up all your real friends
Places left to go

repeat chrous

Don’t look behind you
Ahh, don’t look back
Don’t try to find reason in the past
Past is gone, gone at last

repeat chrous

Every one of these people will have to pay that High Cost that they never imagined that they would (1): ever had to pay, and (2): if they figured out that there was a cost for low living, the cost is a whole lot more expensive that they ever dreamed. In fact, out of these two instances, you see three distinct personalities rise up

(1): The one who blames everybody else for his low living in the name of damage control.

(2): The one who was willing to pay a little bit but when realizes that this was costing them more than expected, started to fight over the actual cost in the name of cost cutting.

(3): The one who realizes that they are already doomed and accepts his fate in the attempt to go on with their life.

It’s easy to know what happens to the sinner who doesn’t repent. They act like nothing ever happened. What usually happens to the sinner who decides to go through a “season” of repentance:

(1): They either go for a “quickie” repentance to say “they did it” but are anxious to get back into the conference circuit because “the show must go on” (and the bank account is running dry)

(2): They go to repentance but go to their buddies of “yes men” to where they will be convinced that “the other party was the root cause” or “the spouse was no longer pretty enough”

(3): They go to repentance but choose a counseling group outside of the scope and authority of their district overseers because they fear that the counseling group of the overseers will remember all the numbers and money lost along with “secular-devil liberal news media scrutiny” and hold the “repenting sinner” back from ministry for a ridiculous amount of time in the name of “life grudge” or as a way to “hold him down” to where they can seize power and control. (personal opinion aside, I believe that is why Ted Haggard went to Arizona because the ones originally scheduled to walk him through his repentance probably would have “life grudged” him because of the liberal tide the nation took)

(4): They go to repentance, paid their price, come back “restored”, and are taking proactive steps to ensure that “low living / sin” never happens again.

It’s hard when the people we “leach” upon fall because we truly believe that somehow Christianity in America is going to die or get suppressed to further persecution with black helicopters looking for us. We get angry with righteous indignation because we can no longer perform “name-drop evangelism” using our christian celebrity we vicariously want to be. We then grumble because we are now forced to evangelize through us learning everyday to live right by carrying the cross and crucifying the flesh.

It’s easy to see now. We leeched on these people to “do the job” of evangelism that we were supposed to do. We went for the atomic bomb evangelism to reach the masses with one punch instead of being content over the fact that we were able to just reach one soul.

We are Christians, we are supposed to be different. We are to be “not of this world” even though we have to everyday “live in this world”. The fundamentalists / holiness people went too far to one extreme while the “greasy gracers” went to the other extreme. Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart’s fall should have scared the church more and more to live more right but we chose to instead blame a “devil news media” and dump these people as if we never knew them instead of acknowledging their sin and tried to restore them while fighting over who got Christian Disneyland in the end.

This created the two-sided coin of one side consisting of pastors who hide everything in fear of being caught and dumped over the side having to discover who the real friends were and who were the friends that leached on. The other side of the coin consists of the pastors who will choose to continue sinning because no one will force them to deal with the sin.

The shame is that in the limelight, the christian celebrity we idolize and see as our next Billy Graham or our next Ronald Reagan usually end up dumping the true and loyal friends for the name-droppers and leeches that brag and boast about being ‘their buddy’. They go all over the world proclaiming their power while in their own private world everything is falling apart.

Even though the Christian public lambastes these people when they fail to turn America into the utopia of men like Falwell, Rushdoony, Dobson, and others; the Christian public has also sinned equally by trying to create idols, heroes, and fighters, and lovers out of these people.

And what is Christian America’s solution to a leader who steps down because of moral turpitude?

Find another charismatic figurehead quick to be our new celebrity and continue the fight. Have a repent-a-thon and invent new sins to repent from. Extremely react back to a hyper legalistic state thinking we will find the middle balance when the chaos is over with but eventually fearing to take the step for the middle fearing that this is the re-stumbling back into an apostacy.

… and eventually the cycle repeats itself when the celebrity falls and we end up paying a higher price for lower living….

Some of these men never recover and go to their graves. Some of these men claim to be free just enough for the circus to continue while never recovering and eventually go to their graves. Very, very few of these men actually pay the cost and turn around to where tragedy becomes testimony.

After seeing all these celebrity Christians “fall”, are you more scared now about the state of your personal walk with Christ? Or are you more scared about your “competition”?

I am scared about the personal walk!

My weakness appear to be more stronger
My strengths appear to be more weakened

You know you are eternally secure but you know Romans 6 resonates within you….

God forbid!

As you feel like the secret trap door is about to open up with you on top about to fall down the chute?

We can pay a little now or a lot later and the lower we go and the longer we wait to confess, the higher the cost is. If you want to live low, be prepared to pay the cost. If you want to stress yourself above and beyond the human body to the point of weakness and easy submitting to temptation and sin, be prepared to pay the cost.

I don’t want to live low. I want to live righteous.

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The High Cost of Low Living

http://brentcwood.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/confessions-of-a-recovering-legalist/

http://brentcwood.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/the-joy-of-church-hopping/

—–

http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/22455-the-charismatic-movement-dead-or-alive – I do not agree with everything said in this topic but interesting reading to say the least

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http://theresurgence.com/Virgo_Men-Bucking-the-Trend-Part-1

http://theresurgence.com/Virgo_Men-Bucking-the-Trend-Part-2

However, today (7-3-09), you may have difficulty accessing these articles because the data center that hosts theResurgence webpage has caught on fire. Even Mark Driscoll on his twitter account “PastorMark” twitted about it saying that “the Mars Hill Church sites may be offline most of the day. ”

—–

http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2009/michaelsweet-mini-0609.html Great to see what the Stryper frontman is up to now and that on the next Stryper tour, Tim Gaines will perform on the second set when they play the old classic Stryper songs.

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Articles of Interest 7-03-09

Ruth Madoff

As U.S. Marshalls seized her house, she wanted her fur coat

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Anti-Christ of the week 07-03-09

Before I proceed, this came about as a result of a conversation between myself and my buddy “Triple-P”. We were discussing this text in Acts 5:12-16 which states:

And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

As we were discussing this statement we started to ask ourselves two questions that actually are intertwined to each other.

(1): Does the statement “so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” (verse 15) imply that some or possibly all of those sick people on the beds and couches did not get healed for some reason or another?

(2): Does the statement, “and they were all healed” apply only to the “sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits” statement in verse 16 or does it apply to both the statement mentioned previously and also the “sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” mentioned in verse 15?

The reason why I ask this question is that all my life, this passage of Scripture was always taught that Peter walked outside and his shadow touched all these sick people and they were healed, rose up, and walked. I do not doubt that God can heal nor do I doubt that if God wanted to use a person’s shadow to heal people, He could. But after reading the Scriptures over again I am now wondering if some, most, or possibly all of those people did not get healed at all by God via using Peter’s shadow.

The other thing that came into my mind while discussing this was that in 1984, Oral and Richard Roberts sent out a direct-mail letter that consisted of a picture of Oral and Richard and a prayer request sheet. After writing down your prayer requests down on the prayer sheet, that person was to

…hold it (the picture) over the prayer sheet and your Seed-Faith gift so that the shadow of the picture COVERS THE ENTIRE SHEET.

to re-enact the Acts 5 verses and send in your Seed-Faith gift to “activate” the miracle…

What do you think?

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Question of The Day 07-02-09

I have decided to address this because I am getting quite a bit of e-mail from people asking me about this theme and from people who run blogs with the same theme asking me how I did some of the slight modifications.

I have always wanted to do a magazine style layout with the blog. In the past, I had used some magazine style themes in the past and tried (with the Theme Test Drive plugin behind the scenes) other newspaper / magazine themes with no luck at all. Either they had way too many modifications behind the scenes above and beyond a typical Wordpress default theme activation, they were very SEO unfriendly and I saw web page hits drop drastically, or the final “block style” outcome looked so radically different from the smooth looking samples on the template homepage portrayed to “sell” the template.

There are a few modifications behind the scenes that has to be done to unlock the full potential of this template. However, the number of modifications were less than, and also easier to implement in my opinion than some of the other themes. Plus, this template was one of the most modernized aesthetics I had seen in the newspaper / magazine blog template format.

First of all, I am using the latest version of this popular blog platform with the theme Arthemia Free with numerous modifications of the color schemes via the css file and I added and deleted some stuff in the sidebar.

The rotating image gallery you see in the “Headlines” section is the popular Wordpress plugin Featured Content Gallery 3.2.0 that I downloaded from the official site. For some reason, the download at the WordPress plugin repository did not work.

However, there was a conflict between FCG and the Arthemia Free theme that I finally resolved and documented here.

—–

Also, if you came to the blog via the main availablelightonline.com link, you will now notice that that direct link automatically forwards you to the main page of the blog. At this time, I felt that it was time to merge the webpage to the blog for the sole purpose that all the updating I was doing was to the blog and never to the old web page. Therefore, I created a page entitled “A.L.O. Archives” that links to all the old articles on the old webpage and also did a redirection script to where everyone who went to the main availablelightonline.com page automatically now goes to the main page of the blog.

I have been wanting to do this for quite a while now and finally took some time out of my schedule to accomplish this much needed task.

These are simply technical changes in order to streamline efficent management of the web page / blog. These are not spiritual changes.

It is still our number one goal and focus to “reach the everchanging WWWorld with His neverchanging Word” while at the same time still chronicling the journey out of the charismatic / third wave movements into a Reformed Theology emphasizing Scriptural guidelines, the Holy Spirit, and Spiritual Gifts via life-changing content designed to impact people through the use of scripture-based theologies, the infallible Word of God, and seeking FIRST!!! the Kingdom of God.

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The Merging

Eugene Cho – Eugene Cho: If I Were Jon and Kate’s Pastor

Riddleblog – Michael Horton Interviewed by CBN News

Internet Monk – Open Mic At The iMonk Cafe: Responding to the Whoppers

Sola Dei Gloria – The Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul

Eric Landry @ Modern Reformation – Hagiography, It’s Not

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Articles of Interest 6-27-09

Instead, it is Sunday morning and trying to prepare for church. The Commodores once said that famous phrase “Easy Like Sunday Morning”. But to many Christians. Sunday is not “easy”. It is burdensome to wake up to.

Singles, the lonely, the recovering addicts, the mourning of a lost loved one, the anxious fearing a wrathful ‘calling out’ of their shortcomings, the aloof, the social savants…….

When the daybreak appears at around 6 AM after another restless night…

where the single did all they could to fight their temptations of clubbing or wanting to just go somewhere to end up in another bed with some member of the opposite sex sleeping beside them…

where the ex-addict did all they could do to fight off the temptation to cave into the craving of their flesh to re-partake once again the substances that started their ex-spiral downward some time ago…

where the lonely sat up yearning for that lost loved one who has died or that spouse that decided that “till death do us part” meant nothing at all…

where the anxious sweated and shook all night fearing being exposed and “called out” over their known weaknesses and shortcomings in their pastor’s sermon hours later…

The hangover, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, and desperation increases and intensifies. It’s breakfast time and some try to get a couple of hours more sleep hoping to either get some rest from the past night’s events that tormented them for after church it’s hobby day, or get a couple of hours more sleep hoping that they oversleep their church starting time, or go face the day by starting off for breakfast.

Ladies and Gentlemen….. Sunday Morning Has Now Come Down

Sunday Morning Coming Down
by Johnny Cash

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I’d smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I’d been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

Chorus:
On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I’m wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there’s nothing short a’ dying
That’s half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

(repeat chorus)

Unfortunately in some cases, the Saturday night battle is sometimes lost.

The single ends up clubbing or at the gentlemen’s club and ends up in a bed with some stranger that they have no idea what they have done and if a baby will be present nine months later, or an STD will be present weeks later…

The ex-addict in his struggle succumbed to the substance…

The lonely feels the desperation and succumbs to the depression and oppression of hopelessness….

The anxious prayed all the sleepless night long and watched late night Christian television on TBN and BET but still feels no relief from the wrath they believe they will ultimately experience…

And somehow, someway…. They have to face that day…… The day where it appears peaceful in the external environment but the internal soul is deeply shamed, guilty, tormented, afraid, etc. The day where most will hear a sermon from another “Super preacher” of how their ducks are in a row and you can have mega victory and something is wrong with you if you don’t have the victory….

The lack of victory that causes you to keep your head hung low… The lack of victory that causes you to slip into church late to where hopefully people will not notice….. The lack of victory that causes you to feel afterward more shamed and guilt ridden than the two hours before when you experienced the one little victory by just walking inside those doors.

The shame, guilt, inferiority one feels because they are not in mega victory… And/or is it because the time and Kingdom of innocence has came and went or the Kingdom of innocence and happy memories of childhood was supposed to have naively lasted a lifetime. A lifetime free from pain, struggle, suffering, betrayal, despair, failure, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and inferiority. That lifetime, you can have for some hundredfold blessing, confessing at the repent-a-thon, voting Republican, and never disagreeing with your pastor no matter if he is wrong or not

That Sunday where one day……

You will somehow meet that spouse that many seasoned Christians told you was at the church looking specifically for you and you only, the uncompromising and strong warrior and the loneliness and trials of 3 AM will never exist again….

You will somehow be forever free from the eternal war of addiction to where addiction never attacks you again and victory is not measured day-by-day, but measured by the assurance of the power of God

You will somehow one day be reconciled to that loved one in heaven and/or one day, all the issues of selfishness that cause the great divide will be reconciled and the relationship will somehow be restored…

You will somehow one day never have to be anxious again believing the lie that God is out to pop you with the whammy wrath….

Maybe Johnny Cash had it right when he stated that

‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.

The widowed, the addicted, the single, the anxious, the social savant, the burdened….. Who still come week after week and greets the person beside them, but still feels disconnected, lonely, wounded, outcast, and fearful…..

And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.

and how over the years, the songs went from hymns that enforced sound doctrine to a syrupy diet coke jingle of Jesus the instant doctor that somehow instantly takes away that loneliness, singleness, anxiety, addiction, pain, and suffering caused by that rat fink Satan. However, they stayed for the sermon that once was expository Bible preaching that delved further and deeper into the meat of the Scriptures (enhanced by the hymns of doctrine) that has now become a three point pop-culture psycho analysis less the leather chair promising success, victory, and freedom if you follow the three steps and leave an offering; and further guilt and shame you when you are not successful…..

When you realize that the ‘cutting-edge, new thing’ (actually someone else’s re-legalism) does not set you free, but deepens your inadequacies because you couldn’t do something documented in another Johnny Cash song…. walk the line

Johnny Cash
I Walk The Line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.
I keep my eyes wide open all the time.
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds.
Because you’re mine, I walk the line.

I find it very, very easy to be true.
I find myself alone when each day is through.
Yes, I’ll admit that I’m a fool for you.
Because you’re mine, I walk the line.

As sure as night is dark and day is light.
I keep you on my mind both day and night.
And happiness I’ve known proves that it’s right
Because you’re mine, I walk the line.

You’ve got a way to keep me on your side.
You give me cause for love that I can’t hide.
For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide.
Because you’re mine, I walk the line.

You don’t feel the victory enough to keep going….
You don’t feel the strength to fight another Saturday Night battle
You don’t feel the love of God to feel called His child
You don’t feel the providence and sovereignty to have faith.
You don’t feel the innocence and the redemption to feel victorious.

You just simply wish that Sunday morning was easy once again. Where like a child with no worries about an addiction, an one night stand, an anxiety, a loneliness, a defeat. You want to be on an emotional high and also be free from the pain, the scorn, the ridicule, the shame, the inadequacies, the defeat, the loneliness, the trauma, and the grief. But through it all, somehow…… you still believe

Russ Taff – I Still Believe

ts a long hard road.
Lotta changes comin’
Hard changes.

I’ve been out in a cave,
For forty days.
With a spark,to light my way.
I wanna give out,
I wanna give in.
This is our crime,this is our sin.

Bridge:
But I still believe,
I still believe.

Thru the pain and thru the grief.
Thru the lies and thru the storms.
Through the cries and through the wars.

Bridge:
But I still believe,
I still believe.
OOOHHH I still believe,
Oooohh,yoooohoooo…
I still believe.. ahhwoooohooooo…
Now,now now….

Flat on my back,
Out at sea.
I’m a hopin’ these waves,
Don’t cover me.
I’m turned and tossed,
Upon the waves.
When the darkness comes,
I feel the grave..

Bridge:
But I still believe,
I still believe.

Thru the cold and thru the heat.
Thru the rain and thru the tears.
Thru the crowds and thru the cheers.

Bridge:
But I still believe,
I still believe.

Chorus:
I still believe
You can’t take that away from me no..
IIIIIIII..believe.
Ahhwoooohooooo…
NOW,NOW.NOW…

(break)

I’ll march this road,
And I’ll climb this hill.
Upon my knees if I have to.
I’ll take my place,
Upon this stage,
I’ll wait till the end of time,for yooouu…
Ooooooowhawhooooo..

(2nd break)

I do believe
I believe..
OOOOOHHHHHHHH..
You can’t take that away me..
Noooooooooo…I still believe…
OOOOOOHHHHHH…

For people like us,
In places like this.
We need all the hope,
That we can get..
I… Believe.
I….Believe.
Thru the shame and the grief.
Thru the heartache and thru the tears.
Thru the waiting and all the years.
I STILL BELIEVE..
I MUST BELIEVE..
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOO….
I STILL BELIEVE…YEAH…
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOO….
NOW,NOW,NOW.
I still believe.

You still believe that

One day…. Your addiction will be gone
One day…. Your future spouse will arrive
One day…. Your relationships will be restored
One day…. Your anxiety and fears will be replaced by peace and love
One day…. Your tragedy becomes testimony
One day…. Your heartache becomes healing
One day…. Your prodigal returns home

Through the wars, the tears, shame, scorn, secrets, years, dusty roads, memories, dark alleys…

and the eternal fight of Saturday night will one day end with the redemption, resurrection, and victory experienced on Sunday morning and everyday thereafter. You sit there looking successful on the outside but on the inside spiritually feel like the malnourished child in the African desert ravaged by the poverty, wars, and the flies that circle around their eyes.

You want peace, victory, love, acceptance, comfort, and warmth… and you walk down the lonely sidewalk wondering where and how can I find this…..

And it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

this victory you “lost”…… when you want to experience the Amazing Grace of once being lost but found again, blind but now you see, tired but now rested, addicted but now free…. But you could never find it on a wide and paved sidewalk.

You can only find it on a dusty, straight, and narrow road that leads you to the Cross at Calvary where Jesus died and shed his blood for our sins, but rose on the third day. You were never expected to walk the line in the first place. You were required to walk down the straight and narrow road no matter what it costs. Sunday afternoon fried chicken and church at the park never dealt with the inner workings of the soul. Only Jesus can.

You were never designed to surrender nor quit….
You were fearfully and wonderfully made to somehow go Onward, Forward, Toward…

And Onward, Forward, Toward… is how, where, when, and why you and I keep on moving to fight the good fight and finish the race…..

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When The Sunday Line Can’t Be Walked

Twitterer “ChurchSites ” stated in a tweet (in reference to content on a Church web page:

Church Web Design Tip- Avoid phrases like ‘have a blessed day’ they are a big turnoff for the “unchurched”

I had to respond back in my twitter profile:

@ChurchSites – ‘have a blessed day’ turns me, a born-again Christian, off – sounds trivial, prosperity gospel based, and not genuine

When cashiers at Wal-Mart, Burger King, etc. say this phrase at the very end of the conversation, do they really mean it from the bottom of their heart? Do they say it thinking the more they say it, the more “mega blessed” they will become? Do they say it to the point where the phrase has become “trivialized” and “generic” just like the phrase “God Bless You” has become when you hear that phrase after sneezing?

Has this phrase now become the newest definition in the Christianese Dictionary? Has the phrase become some sort of quazi-magical buzzword in the hope that the person saying it will suddenly be ‘promoted to the next level’ because they have said it enough times to ‘qualify’ for the mega blessing from the super-apostle or hyper prophet?

I have really wondered about this because I have found that the majority of people who usually say this phrase would describe themselves as Christian. The vast majority of those would reveal themselves to be a firm believer in the “prosperity gospel” sending money to their favorite prosperity gospel televangelist hoping that the combination of money sent in plus the “repent-a-thons”, plus the number of times they said that phrase over and over again will get them out of their daily 7AM to 6 PM repetitive labor grind into some sort of “ministry” driving around town in the “faith Lincoln” (actually a businessman’s former car that was a turn in from the expired three year lease with such ridiculously high mileage that it was wholesaled out cheap) all day long yielding not much in the ways of souls, and finances.

I have wondered if the ’super apostle’ told them that saying that phrase will usher them into the next level breakthrough (along with a seed faith offering). Something claimed to be yours through faith and grace seems to be more obtained (if it is ever obtained) by a lot of “works” based religion.

I have wondered if this is a ‘covert’ way of trying to “witness” in the persecuted workplace as one of those “sneak attack salvation plans” if the person receiving the phrase initiated further contact to where if someone did complain, they could say that the other person started the conversation and not them.

You know, I want to feel the authenticity of “Have a Blessed Day”. I really want to feel that the person saying the phrase is truly genuine and really desires for my day to be blessed beyond and in addition to the blessings I already have of having air to breathe, food on the table, clothes on the back, gas for the car, shelter with climate control over my head, gainful employment, etc. Because deep down within me, I want to genuinely and authentically say to them….

“I earnestly and genuinely wish the same blessings on your life also”, and that person know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I meant what I just said.

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When People Say “Have A Blessed Day”

He does his usual funny job. However, his Wrestlemania reviews are a whole lot better.

Here are my additions to his observations.

If Blake Griffin was being drafted by the clippers, then why did his shirt reflect the colors of the other NBA team in Los Angeles?

Yes we lost Farrah (I still have the images of that famous poster in my brain). But Michael Jackson, I thought this was a publicity stunt gone wrong because Farrah’s news story was overshadowing his future tour. However, will we see in the near future these boys who he settled with start talking now?

Hasheem Thabeet gets drafted but the footage ESPN shows is depicting Thabeet getting schooled by this year’s “we regret not drafting you sooner” athlete in DeJuan Blair. San Antonio may have gotten the steal of this draft by drafting Blair like they did years earlier with Ginobli.

The OKC thunder drafted Alan Keyes, or was it Nipsey Russell

The Timberwolves did what… Drafted a Euro point guard that wants to play in Big NBA markets and then Jonny Flynn?????? Wait until later. But they did get a shooter in Wayne Ellington. Man, we thought the McHale era was bad, the Kahn era appears to be no better.

The Warriors did the draft shocker of the night, getting Curry before the Knicks could. Everyone now thinks that this pick is going to Phoenix??? I think they are going to trade Ellis instead. It was great to see Dell again. Ex-Hornets fans loved Dell. We despised George Shinn.

Then the Knicks fans booed their pick. Man this reminded me of Donavan McNabb when the NFL’s Eagles drafted him. I was waiting for the Knicks fans to start shouting J_E_T_S Jets Jets Jets because they got Sanchez. Donavan turned out alright. Hill will thrive in the Knicks system.

yawn…. yawn…. Oh My, the Tarheel Duo in Charlotte drafted a Dukie while dumping a fellow alumni Sean May days earlier (injury prone like his dad was) …. Great player in Henderson, wrong team, poor fit. Michael Jordan could lead a NBA team but he sure can not run a NBA team.

You know you are getting old when the sons of the daddies you vividly remember getting drafted are now getting drafted.

yawn.. yawn, then Brandon Jennings shows up four picks later….

6:30: Larry Brown finishes an interview with Scott, then goes upstairs to yell at Jack, Chrissy and Janet. (Waiting.) You’re right … too dated. Nobody under 30 got that one. Damn. I’m old.

Simmons, I got that one….. I am over 40. I feel even older now!!!
Why am I now tired

yawn.. yawn…

Shaq is now on the phone. Talks about the late MJ (Jackson, not Jordan), the honesty of the Suns, and once backing up the great Stanley Roberts classic. ‘The Big Autobiography’ has spoken. Classic. Loved it.

Darko Milicic gets traded…. yawn!!!! yawn yawn….

until the Spurs select Dejuan Blair…..

ok, I’m now going to listen to the rest of this draft on ESPN Radio.

Sleepless Season 2009 is now over!!!! Time to watch Whale Wars every Friday night on Animal Planet and laugh at these self-destructive people!

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Bill Simmons Reviews NBA Draft 2009

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Back Online

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford

after his extramarital affair was revealed.

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Anti-Christ of the week 06-26-09

“Things you find in a mall?”

correct, DING!!! (a $20,000 pyramid reference here)

—

In the list above, you will notice one thing that most people would say does not belong in a modernized indoor shopping mall. You guessed it, “Church”. However, a church in North Carolina wants to change the public perception of both the mall as a place for a church and a generalized public perception of a church that sets up in a shopping mall as being legitimate and not some “Gospel Gimmick”. The church wants to move out of their “outgrown” space in a commercial strip mall to a bigger space in the local indoor shopping mall.

And the mall owners are not only in agreement and have no problem, but want to partner with the church in future charitable ventures.

In my part of the country, it is very common for dying strip malls as a “last-resort” attempt to keep from going bankrupt to rent real estate to upstart churches. Most strip malls are usually in seedy parts of town (once thriving centers of commerce surrounded by once decent neighborhoods) or the stores that once located there have either gone out of business or migrated to the indoor mall or in fancier strip malls around the indoor mall still adjacent to the city bus routes. It follows a similar pattern that happened when department stores left the inner cities for the surburbia strip malls and the indoor shopping mall that later followed. Those owners of inner city buildings as a “last-resort” started renting their facilities to “storefront” churches to garnish some sort of income….

However, the cold hard reality set in as ninety percent of these churches did not make it and soon dissolved. Nine percent either outgrew the facility and went to a bigger strip mall or used the rented strip mall as a “stepping stone” until the church was able to obtain a viable piece of real estate to build a permanent location. The one percent that stayed eventually decided to rent more space within the strip mall and eventually purchased the strip mall.

The concept from start-up church in the downtown storefront evolving to abandoned strip mall appears now to take a further evolutionary step of “natural selection” into the indoor shopping mall. It does make me wonder if the church going into the strip mall is a catalyst of this particular evolutionary process thinking they will be the “fittest” or have to realize that survival is by the grace of God alone.

Right now, I do not have an opinion of whether this concept of the “church of the indoor mall” is called by God or not. However, there is a part of me that is “intrigued” at the concept because you do not usually hear of a church within an indoor mall while there is another part of me that has some grave concerns of the concept being able to feasibly work long term.

Per the article, the church right now has plans to have a church service on Sunday mornings at 10:30 AM and ending around noon time when the other stores in the mall (except for Chick-Fil-a) is opened for business while using the space during the rest of the time operate a Christian book store, relief distribution center, and gift shop.

I can understand needing the bigger space and being in a part of town where “the community is revolving around it,”. However, if the church service will be held when the mall is generally closed, what is the point of spending the financial resources (almost a half-million dollars per the article plus future monthly rent) on renting real estate space that produces no equity back to the church when the same money could procure your own space that you own and have complete equity and full control of when you can have activities, services, and community wide gatherings (in compliance with zoning regulations and fire marshall occupancy codes, of course)? People that they want to reach out to would still have to drive to this church similar to driving to any other church. The only advantage is probably mall security (Paul Blart?), city bus routes, and a big parking lot.

In order to better reach out to a community in a location that seems to be deemed as being “Community Central”, one would think that possibly holding church services mid-week at night when the mall was open (and tailor the end of service to the time the mall closes) to the vast amount of “community consumers” would be a critical part of outreach and attracting souls into the Kingdom. I’m sure that the mall probably has a “proselytizing policy” within the parking lot and walkway premises but if the people come into the church by their own volition to seek out God, evangelism would surely take place. From the stories I used to hear about ole-time revivals and storefront churches, many of the salvations that took place occurred when people walked by, noticed the action, and stepped inside out of curiosity to see what was going on to later feel the conviction to change and accept Jesus.

…And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

Johnny Cash – “Sunday Morning Coming Down”

From researching online, the renting of space in an indoor mall is some of the highest rent per square foot of any building zoned for commercial use. Can a christian bookstore / relief distribution center / gift shop generate enough income to partially pay the future rent for 14,000 square feet of real estate without overburdening and overtaxing the regular members and frequent attendees with constant pleas for more money for the balance of the rent plus standard operating expenses such as salaries and other bills / utilities / financial obligations, etc.?

The entire concept in the realm of feasibility also raises other interesting questions. Will some tenants object and eventually move out to another mall or move to another part of the mall? Will some tenants see this as “desperation from possible insolvency” viewing the mall has “lowered it’s standards” and panic by moving elsewhere to another upscale mall when the lease runs out? If another mall replaces this mall as “Community central”, will the church eventually move out of this mall and start over at the new “Community central mall” in a migratory fashion? If a “cult” decided to approach the same mall and wanted to do the same thing, would this church cry “foul” and “persecuted”?

A church is getting ready to find out……

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Church At The Mall