Unction

Pity the person who does not recognize God's perfect plan for the universe...all history revolves around His plan, His unction, anointing, investiture of people and places to do His will. Unbelievers cannot understand, Commandments are given to believers, those who will obey, those of the world think they know best, only believers seek to do His will.

Life is serious, hellfire is a serious thought, the downfall of man is pride, the beginning of every sin. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16) We, believers, know that we were chosen before the very foundation of the world for our time in history.

Handel completed his Messiah in 1741, just 24 days after he started writing the oratorio. During this time, he saw no one, refused to eat. The first time presented in 1742, the entire audience rose as one in ovation. Showing God's unction on just one man, the composer of the world's greatest score.

Today, the world is torn between two religious philosophies, found in the Koran and God's Holy Word. Firstly, Muslims do not believe that man was made in the image of God. Secondly, in the Koran, there is no original sin. In the Bible, the plan of salvation begins in the garden with original sin, Islam has no salvation history. Thirdly, Allah named the animals. Islam does not recognize the divinity of Christ, the incarnation, the ascension, although Mary, mother of Christ, is one of the most admired women in the Koran, along with Mohammad's daughter. Mohammad is anti-Christ because he did not believe in the divinity of Christ...coming on the scene late, around 570 AD.

Studying Islam, you find that they do believe in charity, caring for orphans (Mohammad was an orphan). No abortion in Islam, and Muslims do believe in a healthy lifestyle, no drinking of alcohol, no smoking of tobacco, strict diet, leaving off pork and other harmful foods, they like most thinking Christians, consider it a joke that junk food is served in hospitals. Intelligent people know that it takes nutrition for healing.

During the golden time of Islam, much was contributed to mankind, particularly in areas of mathematics and optics. As an eye doctor, I find it unusual that both Jews and Muslims are attracted to the professions of optometry and ophthalmology. When Bashar al-Assad's father died, and he was to assume the throne as president of Syria, he was a ophthalmology resident at a London hospital.

Today, 85% of Muslims are Sunnis, the conflict between the Sunnis and Shi'ahs in the 40 Muslim countries has kept them so busy with their interracial clashes (Muslims do not mind killing one another), that there has not been a wider conflict against Israel and the Western world. They are winning the world simply by numbers, large families and moving across borders.

For many in the world, it is the Jesus of history, Christ of faith, and these same people do not know if Mohammad was manufactured by the Muslims, or Mohammad, the first leader of Muslims.

The Judeo-Christian faith system knows that God gave a very direct plan, a strict economy of faith. If the Sabbaths of faith had been kept, such as leaving land fallow the seventh year, for the entire year, the insect problem, fertilization problem, and many other social problems would be solved. The Law in Leviticus instructs us about the forgiving of debts (Leviticus 23-25), giving as the supreme act of worship.

The worship of giving: tithes, offerings, the predominate teaching of the Old Testament, the tithe is the Lord's whether you give it or not. Giving should always be sacrificial, as David said, would one give to God something which cost him nothing? Think of the famine, a widow picking up sticks to cook one final meal for she and her son before death. Elijah told her to prepare him a meal first, and she did. (Mark 12) This showed her sacrificial faith, just as the poor widow, as Jesus watched, threw in all she had. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving, and you cannot out give God.

The greatest unction of your life is giving in spite of everything, knowing that God is more than able to provide for everything. How many Christians have asked God to bless their appliances, their vehicles, their crops, their gardens, all the things which He controls in order that they might show their commitment to him to through their gifts? This is the reason that the unemployed, those on social security, those who are disabled, know without one doubt that their greatest unction is in the provisions of God's economy.

George Muller, evangelist and founder of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, where he cared for 10,000 orphans, depended entirely on God's unction through the giving of others. Often, there would be no food at the orphanage, in prayer, they would wait for the food to arrive. Each year, I give an honorarium in memory of Reverend James. A. Evans, a Free Will Baptist preacher for 75 years. He told me, that as superintendent of the Free Will Baptist orphanage, he cared for 80 children on a budget of $10,000 a year. I well remember my own mother going from house to house in the community collecting canned goods, clothing, even hog and cow feeds for that orphanage and its farm.

God has taught all of us, certainly this blind, 100% disabled, service-connected veteran to walk by faith, not sight. He just requires us to trust Him, and He will do the rest. (Proverbs 3:6)

Red Flags

We have all seen a workman on the highway waving a red flag, giving us warning. But, it is only a person's conscience that can determine the effectiveness of the warning. This is the reason so many highway workers, highway patrolmen, and vehicle repairmen are killed on the highways. It is reported that three highway workers are killed and about a hundred more injured each day, in spite of the red flags.

We can predict new regulations, new restraints by government officials waving red flags. It is known that the so-called Christmas “underwear bomber” was a red flag for the government to start scanning bodies with X-ray machines in airports. The machines were already ordered and ready, security just needed an excuse. This week's red flag, mailing explosives in a shipment of packages, will further limit air travel. Those who ship anything, anywhere, by any method, know the restrictions on parcels, that anything with wires or white powder will not be accepted. Strange that a UPS plane had not been in Yemen, and Mr. Obama described the incidents before European leaders knew anything about such.

Red flags could be seen all over the JFK, RFK, MLK assassinations. Nothing about the Waco, Oklahoma City, 9/11 tragedies, makes much sense, all surrounded by red/faux flag ambiguities. Perhaps planes knocked down two skyscrapers, but why did the third one fall?

Many books could be written about warnings in history, warnings not heeded. Surely, those onlookers standing on the fortress walls of Jericho, having been informed of their miracles already, could expect something to happen, these thousands of young (the old had died in the wilderness because of their unbelief) marching around the city, not speaking a word. But on the seventh day, the seventh time, the physics of shouting, horns, the walls went down. Gideon, an army of 32,000 men (God told those who were scared to go home), finally just 300, breaking of pictures, showing of lamps, blowing of trumpets, 120,000 killed, 40 years of peace.
Is it possible that people around the world have been so dumbed down that they can see their economies totally wrecked, by the foolishness of totalitarian control which we call communism, the scheme and scam involved of the forfeiture of human free enterprise. The hoax that I will be satisfied getting the same paycheck for long study and hard work, as the one who sits around and does nothing.

The red flags are flying, telling us that when you are in a hole, stop digging. When you are obese, diabetic, stop eating the wrong food; when you are choking with throat cancer, stop smoking. When you lose your way, God is always there, you can depend on Satan to always overplay his hand. Satan wants you to fail, to ignore red flags, before victory there are always doubts. Remember you are not the first one to go through a battle, life is a battle of value for value. Worship is showing thankfulness for value, worship like giving is a value judgment. We make a mistake when we base our giving from an organization frame of reference instead of an organism frame of reference.

The organization approaches with a begging bag, Christ told his disciples not to beg for anything. There is a red flag when the church or any other organization is more interested in the organization than the organism. What has happened to the millions of dollars given for cancer research, diabetes research, autism research; the economy would collapse with the solving of the cancer problem. Many birds would happily sing if money given to the Audubon Society went to the birds, instead of the organization. Beware of red flags in your generosity, your philanthropy, I do not give to any person or any group who live better than I live.

One famed television evangelist, founder of a university which bore his name, had his meals served to he and his wife in their private suite in the hotel. Seven years ago, 2003, the president of American Red Cross was paid an annual salary of $470,000, the president of United Way was paid $430,000. Of course, this does not include their entitlements, such as transportation, hospitalization. I do not set myself up as an example of anything, I have never had a meal brought to me, not even a pizza pie, at my home or in a hotel. I do not own one article of clothing which was not purchased second-hand. God knows that I give nearly one-half my income to His work, would give more if not for such exorbitant government taxation.

Beware of the red flags of greed involving religious and other charitable institutions, Franklin Graham is paid $1.2 million, his retired father is paid $200,000. But this is the bottom of the collection plate, just think, Oprah Winfrey is paid $220 million a year, Rush Limbaugh, $33 million a year. The red flags should be lowered to half-staff to honor veterans, deceased and disabled, who gave everything and have gotten very little. It is believed that the Queen of England is worth $3 trillion, at the end, she does not have enough money to buy one more second, we all leave the same way, with empty hands. In my lifetime, I have seen the cheapest of caskets, some very expensive caskets; like the air we breathe when we walk through the airport, the rich and the poor, cannot tell the difference.

Dog with Mange

We often hear of a dog with mange, but mange can also affect human beings. It is generally a loss of hair and a skin rash or scabs. This normally occurs because the animal or human being is not cared for properly. A trainer of dogs recently told me that she can determine very accurately how much difficulty she will have when she observes the children of the owner of the animal. If the children have no manners, seen generally unkempt, undisciplined, the dog will be much more difficult to train because there has been no discipline or routine in the dog's life either.

The entire mission of parenting is the training of a child. Although they appear very cuddly and cute, children, because of their ancestors, Adam and Eve, are born little sinners. You do not have to teach them to lie, cheat or steal. You do not have to teach them to misbehave. It is up to you to show the tough love of training, good behavior and discipline in their lives. A child's character is determined very early. Character determines destination. Just as a child's hand and eye coordination are not developed until around the age of 5, so behavior characteristics which will determine further development, must be instilled early. Satan wants your child, the world, the flesh, the devil, will fight you every step of the way.

Dr. Benjamin Spock, who wrote his book on child development which was translated into 59 languages and sold 50 million copies, promoted a philosophy of permissiveness. Before he died, he apologized for his erroneous philosophy, the catalyst which catapulted many adults into rehabilitation centers and prisons.

In the Obama health plan, little is said about prevention. There is no reason why any human being should be sick. The three big killers, heart attack, cancer, and stroke can be prevented with a disciplined lifestyle and diet. Fifty percent of the population is diabetic, like alcoholism and smoking, health is a matter of lifestyle. The only preventive public health care dictum, is that of vaccinations, which can be very harmful and from which the body never recovers. Be very leery of this government's obsession with giving everyone the untested flu vaccination. It is believed that this flu epidemic is weapon-contrived, produced in a laboratory, from the deceased victims of the 1918 epidemic, combined with the microbiology of the swine and bird flu epidemics. If so, the untested vaccination could be as disastrous as the disease. It is projected that entire areas will be quarantined, that there will be check points in traveling from state to state.

In this time when foods are so lacking in nutrition, it is totally necessary to take supplements. It takes 20 carrots today to get the nutrition of one carrot 50 years ago. The soil is depleted of all nutrition. Obesity can be directly traced to the body being hungry for nutrition, the hunger causing a person to eat more and more food which only adds weight but does not satisfy the needs of the body's metabolism and physiology. One of greatest poisons that one can put in the body is aspartame and any synthetic sweetener. The best thing you can do for your family is throw out all salt and sugar in your house. It will take brave men to stand up for nutrition and prevention. At the time of Napoleon, sugar was considered addictive, nothing has changed, now bread, chips, all processed food contained sugar.

I heard Dr. Buzz Aldrin (astronaut) talk about walking on the moon 40 years ago. He talked about the bleakness and dullness of that planet. One would think that after hundreds of years of the study of the human body and nutrition, the average citizen would not need to spend as much money as one does on health care. The taking of prescription medicines, exotic chemicals, is just slow suicide. Sanity would dictate that emptying treated sewage (sewage treated with chemicals) into rivers, from which municipalities take water for treatment in water plants, treatment with fluoride and chlorides, both of which are poisons, would have progressively ended long ago. When using a toothpaste with fluoride, if you swallow some of the toothpaste, you are advised to call the poison control center. Why are we slowly killing ourselves, particularly our children, with chemicals?

One black lady who worked for me, had a sister in bed, about to die with an undiagnosed illness. Her doctor had made a drug addict of her, she was taking pill after pill, slowly dying. The victim's daughter, who had come south to care for her, had an emergency at her home up north and asked her aunt, my employee, to stay with her mother until she could return. She said, “she will not be living long, just call me when she dies. The funeral arrangements are already made. You just have to call the funeral home.” When my employee, her sister, went to the house she determined, on her own, that she would not give her another pill. Rather, she prepared some healthy food and went to feeding her food which she had prepared in a blender. She decided if she was going to die anyway, she might as well try the Christian science way of healing. (The doctor who gave her all these prescription drugs has since lost his license). In two days, her sister was much better and when her daughter returned, she found the two sisters sitting at the kitchen table eating and talking. She was amazed that her mother, if continuing with the chemical barrage would have been dead, was alive, up, and in full control of her life. I know this is true because I was talking with her a few weeks after her supposed terminal illness. Cemeteries are full of graves of people who should have changed doctors.

Real men, live vertical as well as horizontal lives. We live daily, working in activities around us; but our main source of responsibility and prosperity is vertical, dealing with the giver of life and in relationship with the healer as well as the forgiver.

A pastor friend of mine and I attended the funeral of a well known preacher of the gospel for 75 years. There was a large delegation of preachers and pastors in the audience as honorary pallbearers sitting together. When singing the deceased pastor's favorite hymn, my pastor friend said, “I expected to hear the deep baritone voices of men.” Most men have become so sensitized and sanitized to their maleness that they make better ballet dancers then ball throwers. William Wilberforce, wealthy member of Parliament in England, who ended slavery in England almost singlehandedly, was such a short man that he had to stand on a table when addressing Parliament. But he was a real man and was not afraid to face the world in a challenge for holiness.

Abraham Lincoln, raised in poverty with limited education, was a tall, rugged man, who having seen the despicable slave market in New Orleans was willing to stand alone in his determination to end slavery in this country. To this day, he is probably America's most impressive president because in every respect, he was a real man. Even in the White House, he chopped wood for the White House fireplace, polished his own shoes, and reportedly milked a cow for the White House milk. Remember, not until the White House was renovated in 1902 were there any water pipes in the White House (no inside toilets). There was not a telephone in the White House until Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

Progress is strange. We are too busy counting numbers to make numbers count. Many pray, but few believe. There was a prayer meeting going on for the Apostle Peter when he was in prison and an angel escorted him out of prison. When he arrived at the door of the disciple John Mark's mother's home where the prayer meeting was being held and knocked at the gate, a girl by the name of Rhoda came down to answer the knock. She did not have presence of mind enough to even open the gate. They were all too busy praying for Peter's deliverance and yet left him standing at the unopened gate. We really don't expect any answer to prayer. We seem contented to just survive in ignorance. (Acts 12)

Thousands of times, on radio talk shows and writing, I have made this statement, “people just do not care.” Until we begin to care about the condition of our country, our families, our churches, nothing will change.

New Year's Thoughts on Prosperity

On a plane, crossing the ocean, you reach the point of no return, a matter of not having enough fuel to retrace your flight path, just enough to continue to your destination. One plane, the Model 76 Voyager went completely around the world without refueling. On crossing anything, it becomes a matter of mathematically determining whether to retreat or proceed... a point of no return. We have already passed the point of no return, in our nation's present financial dilemma.

Our nation faces an economic storm, brought on by growing federal, personal, and corporate debt. There are too little savings and the dollar has declined to just a few cents. In 1987, Peter Grace of the Grace Commission told President Reagan that a dollar barred in 1987 would be worth just a few pennies by the year 2000. We certainly know this to be true. There is no way that the national debt can ever be repaid. If the United States goes under, so will the rest of the world because unlike the Great Depression, the entire world is in depression. Some nations like Iceland and Greece are already in bankruptcy. Obama has put our nation into more debt in his first 8 months of presidency than all previous 43 presidents, from George Washington to George W Bush combined. Get ready for many years of economic uncertainty.

I speak only to Christians, God does not need friends. In his sovereignty, he owns everything. We, as Christians, are involved in the stewardship of trust. We think we can bring God into our lives on our terms. It may scare you to know that God makes the decision... On His terms... He makes the choice... You can walk the aisle of every church in the community... Sign every card of church membership... You may think you receive Jesus but be concerned that Jesus receives you. The New Testament, gives the good news that we are not operating under law. The early sophisticates could not understand the paradoxes with which Christ talked, that we must die in order to live. That we must go down in order to go up. That we must be weak in order to be strong. That we must forgive in order to be forgiven. We must give in order to receive. If you do not have the desire to give, there is something wrong with your faith. You can give without love but you cannot love without giving. (Matthew 16:24-28) He tell us through our faithfulness, that He will take care of our enemies (Psalm 109). We are a peculiar people.

The surest way I know for prosperity in the new year, and it makes no difference when your year starts, is the giving to God of your first fruits, the first money that comes into your possession. The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God (Exodus 34:26, Leviticus 23:10, Numbers 18:12-13, Deuteronomy. 26:10, 18:4). This pertains to our material blessings. God also demands the first fruits of our lives.

God gave His people a symbol of their peculiar nature... A circle with a dot in the center, separated, the world could not get to them, and cannot get to us. The world will fuss and fume about finances, but God has complete control of the needs of His own. When God knows you will not steal from Him (Malachi 3:8), he knows that he can trust you with His blessings in the way you handle your material things. Christ talked about material things more than anything else, even heaven and hell.

The verse of scripture which completely changed my life, which lead me into the financial success which I enjoy today, I first heard from a missionary in Samoa. She made sure I understood Psalm 84:5, Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Here you have the secret for surviving the greed, corruption, and decadence of today's world. It is our national motto, you find it on every piece of currency, and our forefather's believed it, “In God We Trust”.

Remember, the tithe is the Lord's whether you give it to not. One seventh of your time is the Lord's whether you give it or not. We were made in his image whether we want to recognize it or not, the greatest gift anyone can give me, these words: “you are in my prayers.” I have a prayer list which I refresh every week, when you are on my prayer list, you can be assured that you have someone praying for you. I do not put the names of many of my family, relatives, friends because I know they do not want God involved in their lives, their business.

Key To Prosperity

I have made many trips around the world, traveled extensively through 157 countries, studied most of the large cities of the world. I have been amazed at the worlds great buildings such as the Taj Mahal in India built by a Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in honor of his dead wife. The greatness of Windsor Castle in England, the York Cathedral, the beauty of Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris, St. John the Divine in New York City, and even the capital of the great state of Texas. The difference in the building in a Cathedral, Church or Temple is that believers have given with faith. A national monument is usually built with taxes. Great homes and many landmarks are usually built with private funds from hard working individuals.

At one time, I was active in a great church. Magnificent beyond words to describe. Built by the free will giving of dedicated believers. The great pastor would say, “If I tell my people to jump in the fire I will smell clothes burning. If I tell my people to jump into the river I will hear water splash.” I thought this was great at the time but since realized he had enough ego to actually believe the members of that church gave, because of him, not as “unto God.” Another great radio preacher, who I enjoyed listening to, simply because of his brilliant mind, would always take up two offerings at each service. And his large congregation would clap their hands before each offering. He preached money more than anything else. He actually preached and I sincerely believed that he believed, that one would go to hell if not a tither. He preached over and over, that your surest form of worship is in giving of your means, giving all the tithes first fruits etc. I don't know how much was given at that church each week. But they gave many millions each year. All checks were made payable to the Pastor because it was his belief that the church members were responsible to him and he was responsible to God. I have heard him say, “It is my business if I take your money in my airplane and dump it into the ocean.” There are about as many far fetched ideas in giving to God as in many other denominational issues.

Jesus preached more on giving than anything else. Of his twenty-nine parables, sixteen are on giving. I truly believe you cannot out give God. I truly believe that you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. I truly believe it is a personal matter, between you and God. I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the key to prosperity is giving. If a man is right with his giving, right with his pocket book, he is probably right about everything else.

The plan for Christian giving is given in Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth, “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9) You can be sure that God will direct you in your giving as well as your living if you have enough trust to do so. (Philippians 2:13). Faith is a verb and I truly believe that 90% of faith is just raw courage. Faith is action, based on belief sustained by confidence. We must have confidence in Him knowing that it is not law that dictates our giving but our trust in the Sovereignty of God. He knows our needs more than we do. And He knows how much He can trust us.

The children of Israel had been in slavery for over 400 years. They saw with their own eyes the deliverance of God. Leaving houses provided by their slave masters they dwelled in tents and these two and a half million people were forced to depend solely on God for their welfare. Almost immediately, slavery did not seem so harsh and they longed for the “cucumbers and melons” of Egypt. Almost immediately, their unbelief was shown in the worship of a gold calf. God has perfect accounting books, a perfect calculator. Because of their unbelief they died in the desert after wondering for 40 years, although at one time, they were within a short distance of the promised land. Look in the mirror and find the key to your prosperity!

God does not need our money. For every beast of the forest [is] mine, [and] the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field [are] mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world [is] mine, and the fullness thereof. (Psalms 50:10-13) I am as convinced about my attitude of giving as I am convinced of my salvation that God expects us as Christians to happily give for His work. My greatest joy is to return to God most of what He has generously given to me. I truly believe that ten percent is the bare minimum. If it were required in the Old Testament, under law, surely we can do much better with grace. I am responsible to God for every penny I spend. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, at Christmas, so intent on not spending one dime more than necessary to greet the churches throughout the world, on his Christmas telegram just had one word, “others.” I do not give to lazy people, I do not give to organizations that do not spend wisely and honor God fully. (United Way, Red Cross, etc)

The Christian does not waste anything. Even Christ, fed the thousands from a small boys lunch which a loving mother had prepared for a small hungry boy, had His followers to pick up the baskets of scraps. In this day of credit cards when usury laws do not apply when you can be charged as much as 30% interest, I cannot imagine blood-bought, baptized, redeemed believers falling into satans clutches with death and buying things which you can easily live without. Your government, your banks, are intent on enslaving you. Through credit cards, mortgages and the greedy tax pickpocket ,many of you have voted for your enslavement.

Christians are taught that we are a new creation, we are the light and salt of the world. We are different from the world, different in our living, our giving, our saving, and even our spending. You can never invest what you have spent. Pennies make dollars and dollars take care of themselves, if you invest wisely. Don't mind the heathen calling you tight or frugal. We grow the plants to manufacture the paper and ink for our fiat paper currency. Out of thin air, the federal reserve takes this money and makes us greedy over it. There is nothing more dirty on God's earth than money. Paper bills, after being in circulation for some time have about every disease known to man on them. Yet, men will lie, cheat, and steal for dirty money. But, if the entire crust of the earth were gold, men would lie, cheat, and steal for a handful of dirt.

The key to our prosperity is in the control of our working, saving, spending and giving. Life is more than what we possess. God only had to say it one time, “love of money is the root of all evil.”(1 Timothy 6:10) I understand Mr. Madoff's office where he robbed his customers of sixty-five billion dollars was called the North Pole because it was white with cocaine powder and elicit sex. Mr. Madoff is now in prison like so many of his fellows who are consumed with greed. You can be sure of this, he will leave this world with empty hands, so did his associate Mr. Picower. So has every other tyrant of greed who had a false sense of prosperity. Remember, it is not what you have but what God has for you.