|
Rev
Bates
Create Your Badge
www.revbates.tv
OTHER LANGUAGES:
Español
d'en de
semanal de Mensaje
Il
messaggio nell'italiano
Radio Programs
Click
4 Radio Schedule
Rev.
Bates Channel
REV. JEAN
BATTAH
Meriden, CT
REV.
IRENE DANON
Site includes Jewish
Science
PRAYER
REQUESTS
HEALING
MEDITATION
free
e-books
 SAMPLE
PRAYER-AFFIRMATIONS
THE
MASTER MIND JESUS
Mystical
Radical
Revolutionary
Master
Teachers
"This is a how-to,
move-through teaching ... we teach people how-to, move-through whatever it
is that they desire to move through."
Rev.
Dr. O. C. Smith
Prayer
Effective Prayer
Book
Recommendations:
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale "You Can If You Think You Can"
Dr. Frank E. Richelieu
"The Art Of Being Yourself"
"A New Design for
Living" Dr. Ernest Holmes
Music
Recommendation:
Michael Gott ... this CD & all his CDs:
Faces of the Fallen
Portraits of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
|
Share ...
The Way to a Wonderful Life, Sunday, August
25, 2013
|
|
|
Listen to the Radio Broadcast of this
Message: click
here
|
"Remember
again the metaphysical law that Jesus gave: "Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you." The basis of this law he gave in this
marvelous affirmation, I believe the first time it was ever stated:
"The kingdom of God is within you." This he gave for all
humanity, for you and me now. Through this Kingdom within, each
can say with Jesus: "All power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth." - Nona
L. Brooks, 1935, Divine Science teacher-minister-healer
Today, I
received an email message referencing an article written by Pastor Rick
Henderson posted on The Huffington Post titled, " The False
Promise of the Prosperity Gospel: Why I Called Out Joel Osteen and Joyce
Meyer" ... and even though the title of the article would make you
think that the author of the article was confident in what he was
writing, he referenced a video from John Piper to substantiate his
claims against Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer. Here is some of what
John Piper had to say about the "Prosperity Gospel":
"Riches are usually a curse." "People are destroyed
by them." "He quotes the Apostle Paul from 1 Timothy 6:6
where we are told to be content with godliness."
"Those who desire to be rich end up badly." "Normal
Christianity is pain." "It is sorrowful but always
rejoicing." "To follow Christ is to suffer, it is brief,
only 80 years, and then comes heaven." Then he quotes John
from Revelations ... the same John who rejected non-Jews and women from
his cult. He also quotes Jesus from Matthew 19:24 saying, "it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone
who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" ... did Jesus really say
this? The same Jesus who said, "it is
the Father's good pleasure to give to you" and "Pray believing
that you have" and "For
to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.
But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away"?
If Jesus said all these things that are attributed to him, then there is
a gross contradiction in his teachings. And I don't accept that as
true. But this is the reality for those who don't think Jesus'
teachings through to a rational conclusion.
We can choose to see our
relationship with G-d as morbid, that is, as a rewarding and punishing
god; this is the god of religion for centuries ... this is what
primitive man who believed the earth was flat believed. John Piper
tells us that our "treasure is in heaven" ... but is there a
different god in the hereafter than there is here? Jesus said, "the
kingdom of G-d is within, not lo here or lo there" but both
Pastor Henderson and John Piper look to the Apostle Paul for guidance.
Perhaps like them, the Apostle Paul fostered religious dogma. This
is the "belief" that Pastor Rick Henderson referred to
substantiate his harsh judgments against Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer.
His article was far stronger against Joyce Meyer than it was against
Joel Osteen. He even states at one time he wanted to believe what
Osteen was teaching, but when he couldn't "prove it" ... he
called it a false doctrine. And finally, Pastor Rick Henderson
writes: "This is a thick and heavy subject. Even though I've
written much, this only begins to scratch the surface of the repugnant
nature of the Prosperity Gospel." Wow! Harsh judgment
and arrogance from a Christian Pastor? I guess all depends on who
you follow ... Jesus or those who "talked about him."
This isn't thinking it through to a rational conclusion.
This not "thinking it through to a
rational conclusion" is something that has become all too common in
our world, and not just by those who perpetuate religious nonsense.
Politics have taken its own irrational path of reasoning when it comes
to the "Affordable Care Act." Detractors referred to it
as "Obamacare" as a sarcastic response to cover up their
failure to come up with a better plan. The name
"Obamacare" has become a double-edged sword; if it is
successful, President Obama's name will always be associated with it.
So, for some, the only thing to do is "repeal it." After
all, who wants "affordable health insurance" in an era of
rising healthcare costs? There are those who call it
"socialism" but they don't think that paying Hospital
Emergency room health services for those without insurance as
"socialism"? Our politics here in the United States
suffers from the failure to "think it through to a rational
conclusion" and we have the evidence to prove it.
But, here I am back to religion and some
statements that were so amazing to me when I read them that I still find
it difficult to understand the consciousness of the men who said it.
It is from a Los Angeles Times article about a progressive Rabbi in Los
Angeles, Rabbi David Wolpe, who has announced that he will perform
same-sex wedding ceremonies at Sinai Temple in Westwood and the
opposition he is facing by some in the community. Here are a
couple of quotes from the article: "At the end of the day,
everything is about marriage," said Dr. Saba Soomekh, a history
professor and lifelong member of Sinai Temple. "You could be a
doctor who cures cancer, but you're not anything in the community if you
are not married." M. Michael Naim states that "in his
view, homosexuality is one of many "tendencies" that must be
"overcome," such as a desire to cheat on a spouse."
Okay, guys do you really want your heterosexual daughter to marry a gay
man? Or your heterosexual son to marry a lesbian? And if
without marriage a person is not anything, then why deny it to anyone?
Once again, an example of .... not thinking it through to a
rational conclusion.
We learn in affirmative prayer that we
must work in our mind to a rational conclusion. Praying for
something that we do not have the consciousness to believe is true about
us or in alignment with the nature of G-d, will not get us the good
result that we desire. It is rational to understand our true
nature; what appeals to us and what does not. Affirming something
that is needed, but not appealing, will never get us the results that we
truly desire. Negativity, fear and morbidity are not of the Spirit
and those who fail to loose these from their pattern of thinking will
always find something to be negative about, to fear and will create
shadows where light is possible. Far too many people give up their
power to those who have confused their "opinions" with truth.
We have the power to "convince" ourselves of anything ...
false truths, half-truths and even fairytales. But, we won't
discover the kingdom of G-d within us if we do.
Our ideal should always be to
"Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you" ... "all things" ... Life is a
gift, not a test ... let's not let those who fail to think it through to
a rational conclusion ... confuse us. G-d Is Good ... and ALL that
G-d has created Is Good .. and that includes you and me and every good
desire for our life that comes to our awareness.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the
faith!
Rev.
Henry Bates
QUESTIONS
... about this message?
contact Rev. Bates
Rev.
Bates Blogs:
http://livingthesom.blogspot.com
http://revbates-en-espanol.blogspot.com
http://Rev-Bates-una-vita-meravigliosa.blogspot.com
Click
here for Free e-books:
Prayer Is A
Powerful Thing by Rev. Bates
The
Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
All
Power to You by Dr. Robert H. Bitzer
Supreme Mastery of Fear by Dr. Joseph
Murphy
|
|
|
|
|
