Galations 6: 7

How many of us are guilty of idol worship? "Never!" you say?

How many of us follow the lives of celebrities. You know, movie stars, sports stars, royalty, etc. How many of us buy their stuff, go to their new movies, go to their games, etc. I know I shouldn't be meddling with this topic. It is not fun to talk about it because we all have our favorites. But I am really put off by the Michael Vick thing. It has shown up as something that doesn't necessarily divide us, but as something that illuminates the size of the already existing chasm between us and the celebrities we worship.

We get a free look at the mental state of Michael Vick. Apparently he would throw two dogs in a pit where they would fight until one was nearly dead. According to Senator Byrd the fight would last for hours. Then Vick would take the dog that was losing and further torture it until it died. Each time, he would use a new unique way of torturing to death the dog that lost.

The ironic thing about what has happened the last few weeks revolves around the scripture, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galations 6: 7). I know God put dogs on the earth to be a loyal and faithful companion to us. Michael Vick's hobby and sideline sport was the brutal and grotesque slaying of these loyal animals. When he and his friends were caught, the prosecutors gave the friends plea bargains in exchange for their testimony against Michael Vick. Some people on the other side of this chasm were incensed. "Where was their loyalty?" Some statements were even made that those who ratted Vick out were as good as dead. Loyalty?

Now the NAACP in Atlanta has come out with an official statement that says Michael Vick should not be banned from football. After all, where is our compassion for Vick?

Compassion?

Further, today, Stephan Marbury, NBA guard for the New York Knicks told reporters that he didn't see anything wrong with what Vick was doing. "It is a sport! Is it any different from killing a deer?"

I feel like that AFLAC Duck after hearing Yogi Berra talk. My jaw drops open to speak but nothing comes out. I am not sure how Stephan Marbury goes about hunting deer, but, yes, it is very different.

The purpose of this rant isn't to heap condemnation on these wealthy idols of our society. The verse I quoted above isn't simply a Bible verse. It is a law, like gravity. We all get the fruit of what we have sown. But the purpose is for us to take another look at what our society's worship of these people has turned them into. They are not like us. They are more like the gods of Greek mythology who demanded worship but had no identity with the people at all. They have different values. The have different ideas about right and wrong, about justice. Occasionally we can make one of them face reality for brief moments, but rarely do we even want to lower them from the ranks of idol.

I want to do that now. Because of this Michael Vick episode, I am looking at super-stars differently now. They have been handed everything the world has to offer. But it is far from the abundant life that Jesus said he came to bring us.

When Dealing With A Fool, Make Sure He Is Not Similarly Engaged

Photo of Ehud Olmert (he is the one on the left)

Israel is experiencing a new low. I read just recently that most of the citizens in Israel are secular and do not believe in God. Following that tract then, most of the people want Israel to make some kind of peace with the Arab world. They see the religious issues as simply obstacles to peace. Holy sites? Let the Palestinians have them. They believe that the Arabs’ heartburn is really over the Israelis religion. No religion, no more heartburn.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert is immensely unpopular. However, he is for the most part, secular. He has, in all likelihood lost his majority. But no one wants an election because they fear that Benjamin Netanyahu, someone who believes in Israel’s biblical destiny, will come to power. Thus, even though Olmert has proven to be an uncharacteristically bad leader, they stick with him. They figure that their best chance is to get peace through his efforts of capitulation.

Recently, the capitulation plan leaped forward when Olmert released some Palestinian prisoners and Israel disbursed millions of dollars to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Fatah party. The plan was to take advantage of the split between Fatah and Hamas. If they could underwrite Fatah, then perhaps they could help their popularity with the general Palestinian population. Hopefully that would lead to a major Fatah victory in their next Palestinian election and the militant Hamas party would find itself out of power. Then Israel could negotiate with Abbas and his Fatah party about the West Bank and about setting up a real Palestinian country. The millions of dollars that Israel released was a huge thing because all money had been cut off for a very long time. The Fatah government and their security forces were finally able to be paid. Can you imagine how Abbas must have felt? They experienced hardship for so long and now they were receiving MILLIONS! Can you imagine his popularity! He had money and he had the power. He could disburse it in ways that would help his people the most.

But wait! Something happened! In the rush to spread the wealth, $3.2 million went an unexpected direction. Who could blame Abbas if he disbursed too much to hospitals or to orphanages. Being the man with all the money, it probably was pretty hectic deciding who gets money and who doesn’t. I am sure his headquarters was a pretty busy place.

But no, the $3.2 million did not go to help the sick or the orphaned. It “accidentally” went to the HAMAS MILITARY!! Abbas “accidentally” paid his “enemies” $3.2 million! He is reported to be really embarrassed about it.

Poor Ehud Olmert. He has put his money and his faith in Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has spent the last year holding onto the theory that Abbas would overcome the dangerously militant Hamas party. They fought a small war with Hamas and they suffered so much for this plan. Hamas was out of money and losing popularity. Then, somehow a clerical error happened and some of Israel’s millions ended up breathing life into the very terrorists they have been fighting against.

Things are very complicated in the Middle East. They are never as they seem. Olmert has chosen to back a man who learned everything he knows from Yassar Arafat. Mr. Olmert is a fool.

Read about the payday for Israel's enemies here: Hamas Payday

Adventures in Truth Seeking

Three things that you don’t want to hear in a tattoo parlor:

1. “Eagle?! I though you said beagle!

2. ”We ran out of red, so I used pink instead.”

3 “Bob has two ‘O’s in it, doesn’t it?”

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Moving Testimony

Three buddies die in a car crash, and they go to heaven.

There, they are all asked, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning, what would you like to hear them say about you?"The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man."
The second guy says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow."
The last guy replies, "I would like to hear them say, 'Look! He's moving!"

OK, one more:

My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad

Three boys are in the school yard bragging about their fathers.
The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50."

The second boy says, "That's nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100."

The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon...and it takes eight people to collect all the money!"