Bread Crumbs

Taking Sides

...then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the LORD's side-come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. (Exodus 23:26 NKJV)

What a scene this must have been.  Moses had just come down from being on the mountain with God, most likely excited to share what God had given him in those two tablets of the law, when he saw THE CALF.  You know the one.  The one that "came out" when Moses was away.  The idol.   In his fury over the sight, Moses threw down the tablets and took that calf to the fire where he burned it and ground it into powder.  So much for the little god calf.

After confronting Aaron about the calf and hearing his brother's excuse for the happening, Moses called the people to action.  It was a moment of reckoning for the people of Israel.  They had to choose sides.  Their god or THE God.

We've all been in situations where we need to choose sides.  With the world getting "smaller" due to technology,  we have more choices today in all aspects of our lives than ever before.   Today we still have choices about what to believe or not to believe with respect to what God we serve.   How do we make our choice?  How do we know what is truth and what is a lie?

Logic says that two conflicting "truths" cannot both be true.  Therefore if we know the Truth, we can easily distinguish the lies, even the subtle lies that are woven inside some truths.  The Truth is in God's Word...the Bible.  I have read The Book, the Bible.  I have read the book "A New Earth" by Eckart Tolle.  They present two different "truths".  Both cannot be true.  I'm choosing the Bible and I know why I'm choosing it.  What side will you choose and why?  _____________________________________________________________________________

Janna Rust is a Professional Coach and Speaker dedicated to encouraging others towards lives God intends for them.  For more information, visit her at www.purposefulpartnerships.com.

Oprah's New Age "Classroom"

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 3)

In early February, I happened to catch the last fifteen minutes of an Oprah Winfrey show.  I've been haunted by those fifteen minutes ever since.  And the funny thing is, I don't watch daytime TV.  To make things even more interesting, it was the first fifteen minutes of Oprah that I had watched in the last twelve months.

So why is it that I could be "haunted" by Oprah Winfrey?  To clarify, Oprah herself doesn't bother me.  It appears that she is one of the kindest hearted individuals around and tries to use her money and influence to make the world a better place.  From what I can possibly know of Oprah through the media, I like her as a person.   What I heard that was so disturbing to me was her announcement of an upcoming class on a book written by a man she endorsed as "one of the leading spiritual teachers of today".  The Lighthouse Research blog, in a recent post entitled "'Oprah and Friends' to teach course on New Age Christ", states regarding Oprah that

Her recent promotion of New Ager Eckhart Tolle's January release, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose has turned the book into a best seller in just weeks. In the meantime, Oprah's year-long promotion of A Course in Miracles is leading countless women into the arms of a New Age religion and a false god. This is no minor thing that is taking place.

Dear readers, in the current times in which we live, we must be very careful who we believe.  No matter how charismatic, nice, intelligent, or well-intentioned someone is, they can be deceived into believing and then ultimately teaching things that aren't true - eternally dangerous things.  That is why we need to know the Truth of God's Word.  We need to know it so well that when we hear the subtle lies of New Age spirituality we will recognize them as such in a heartbeat and instantly know that they contradict the Christianity of the Bible.

I mention Oprah not to call her out, but to do the best I know how in contending for the faith - the faith of the Bible.   I cannot be silent when such subtle deception is taking innocent people farther away from the God of the Bible.  What she is doing, albeit with good intentions and some possible good effects on the way people view their place in the world, is no minor thing.  Please take some time to read the post I've referenced above so you can use the information as a means of sharing the Truth with someone else.  Most likely, you will know of someone taking Oprah's class.

UPDATE:  For more information, check out my 3/4/2008 post by clicking here.

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Janna Rust is a Life/Business Coach and Speaker dedicated to encouraging others towards lives God intends for them.  For more information, visit her at www.purposefulpartnerships.com.

Optimistic or Oblivious?

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. - Philippians 4:8 NIV

This verse has always been a "get your mind focused on the good things and not your circumstances" verse for me.  For instance, I turn to that verse to combat the disappointment of coming home from church as I did today wishing I could discuss my "aha" moments from the sermon with someone who could understand.   I also turn to that verse when I see some "Christian" teaching that is not even biblical being embraced by Christians who don't know it is not biblical.  God provided these wise words so that we could protect our hearts from perpetual pessimism and live peacefully and joyfully through all circumstances of life.  I am thankful for the reminder to think on the good things and keep an eternal perspective, knowing that God and His good ways eventually win over evil.

My question is, can we take optimism too far?  When does "looking on the bright side" give way to victory by the dark side? When does that optimism turn into oblivion, where we keep our heads in the sand because it just isn't politically or maybe even "spiritually" correct to raise an awareness of life as it is, with all of its imperfectness?   

I suppose that the solution is to have a balanced "attack" by keeping our eyes open to reality but also keeping our minds grounded in the knowledge of the truth of the Bible and whatever is excellent or praiseworthy.  Being a servant of God is definitely a balancing act, but God is always ready to steady us if we ask Him to.

For further thought:

1) What unpleasant truth are you trying to ignore in your life or in the world around you?

2) What is holding you back from facing that truth?

3) What needs to be done about it to make your world a better place? What do you feel God calling you to do about it?

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Janna Rust is a Life Coach and Speaker dedicated to encouraging others towards lives God intends for them.  For more information, visit her at www.purposefulpartnerships.com.

Freedom With Truth

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  - John 8:31-32 NKJV

I can't get my mind off of the Omaha mall shootings last week, where 19 year old Robert Hawkins fatally shot 8 people and then killed himself in a horrific act of desperation.  He left a suicide note indicating that he didn't want to be a burden anymore and that now "he would be famous".   I'm saddened when I think about what might lead someone down such a path of self destruction.  This boy at one point in his life might have been a child like every other child.  What happened?  What can cause a feeling of such bondage to the past and current unpleasant circumstances of our lives?  Better yet, what can set us free from the bondage of past mistakes?

Jesus said that the truth can set us free.  It can set us free from the past.  It can set us free from feelings of being unworthy to overcome the strongholds in our lives that continually set us back. It can give us hope for a better tomorrow.   As I type this I must ask the question: If the truth (i.e. the source of truth - God, through His word) hadn't been diminished and taken out of our schools, local governments, and workplaces, would the young people of today have more hope?   If they weren't being taught that a lifestyle of materialism & pleasure-seeking is really all there is to life, would they be a little less prone to the hopelessness that seems to be plaguing a lot of our youth today?  What if they were being taught the truth in schools rather than the lie of evolution - that a God who loves them is their Creator and wants them to live their lives for a greater purpose than themselves?   I wonder.

Do you know the Truth, and its power to set you free?  It all starts with a relationship with Jesus and a daily prescription of reading what God says to us in His word.  Statistics say that most Christians rarely pick up their bibles.  Knowing this, a reasonable person can conclude that most Christians then, aren't living their lives to their fullest potential.  What a shame that is, to have access to freeing truth but not take advantage of it.  If every Christian would schedule one less activity or watch one less TV show a week, and replace it with an infusion of God's Word into their lives, I bet we would have a different world.  A free-er world.  As Jesus says, if we abide in His word, we will know the truth and that truth will make us free.  With it, we can set others free as well and guide them toward hope-filled lives.  Let's start today getting to know God's truth better.

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Janna Rust is a Life Coach and Speaker dedicated to encouraging others towards lives God intends for them.  For more information, visit her at www.purposefulpartnerships.com.