Bags of Cash

God only had to say it once, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) History, and every problem of man tells us that nothing has changed...the almighty dollar, the peso, the yuan, the rand, the pound, whatever your currency.

This week we learned that bags of cash are taken to Hamid Kazai, disreputable President of Afghanistan, from Iran, as well as from America. Why not, what is new? Billions of dollars, bags of cash, spent in present elections. As our finest young men and women give their lives, and others forever nursing the wounds of war, the industrial/political producers of war get richer. As this blind, disabled veteran has stumbled through the exploitation at veterans facilities, I have heard many ask the question, “why does God allow this?”

God knows what He is doing. You can be sure that any person at judgment will never have a word of defense, all will know guilt, all will know that God has the goods on them. I could not worship a God which I could understand, His ways, His means; trust Him, that is all He asks. Bags of money is nothing new, in politics, in commerce, in warfare. We had two governors in North Carolina, father and son, the Scotts, you did not go to their office unless you took a paper sack filled with money. One of the North Carolina's most powerful politicians, Dr. Black, went to prison for bags of money passed in men's bathrooms. Every illegal drug seller, has a bag of money.

The one question young parents have asked me, “why are my children so defiant?” Ask any child what he wants in life, the answer always, “money”. The golden years in your child's life, the most important years for your assisting the formation of character: the ages 7-12. If you fail in those years, it is generally too late. Once a child gets on the treadmill of things, envying what others have, thinking that the most important things in life can be bought at a store, character becomes less defined. Convictions are stabilized by repetition, 26 times in the 136th Psalm: “the mercies of the Lord endure forever”.

The greatest shame of the Christian church, the Christian school, many Christian homes. Young people raised “supposedly” Christian doctrines forsake them, many never to return. This is nothing new, cradled Catholics leave the catholic church; Jews, the most family-oriented race forsake their faith. Only by the instilling of ancestral values, God's honor, encouragement to live a life of homage to family or ancestry, can you expect children to honor their name. Emphasize to your children, that if Christian, they carry in their body the name of Christ, His honor, as well as the fact that the honor of their family name is all-important. As I heard my mother say, every time before we left the house for anything, “remember who you are.”

There are some things our children will never forget about your home, I will give you something for the father of the home to read at the table, every day, or at least once a week. The great editor Horace Greeley said, “a bible-reading people can never be enslaved.” A praying family can never been enslaved by sin.

Father, we thank thee for this day,

We thank thee for this family, that before the foundation of the world, you chose these parents to have these children, who have in their genes the ancestry of two great families.

Thank You for your love. Thank You for work, for school, for home, for church, for friends, for every blessing of life.

Help us to always remember the honor of our family name, and the honor of Your Blessed Name.

Amen

In 1986, two Russian ships, one carrying 1,800 passengers, the other carrying a cargo of grain, collided in the Baltic sea. There was no storm, the weather was good, the radar was working, the reason for the collision, neither captain would change course. Both were coming towards each other on the same course.

As Christians, as family members, esteem one another. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (Philippians 2:3) Discouragement is Satan's most effective weapon. It is so important to encourage one another, particularly family members. A young groom said to his bride, “when will you learn to make biscuits like my mother?” The bride said, with great affection and encouragement, “when you learn to make dough like my father.”