Daily riddle: If you can't find change you can believe in, might you end up with change you don't?
Bible quote: The borrower is always in servitude to the lender.
Today's sermon: Truth will only set you free when you quit denying it.
Freedom trumps all things. Nothing else is good without it. God is freedom, freedom is God.
Freedom is a choice, a thing taken not given. Freedom is hard work, a daily chore, and no one can earn it for you.
Freedom requires vigilance, tough questions and difficult, even painful choices when striving for the greatest good. And it always rejects evil.
To be Godly free, you must "Know Thyself." Your mind is for thinking and heart is for feeling, and your soul is fulfilled when the two agree. When they conflict, the soul becomes the referee. It is God's way.
But the Devil's Game Change causes people to think with their hearts and feel with their heads which is really not feeling or thinking at all. It cannot be refereed. Lies become truth and truth becomes lies, and the soul is lost. The devil is not mighty enough to possess the soul. It chases it away with your help.
Let us simplify. You've probably seen the AFLAC commercial with the duck in the boat. As leaks explode through the bottom the duck covers them with his feet, then his wings and finally with his beak while screaming AFLAC into the water propelling the boat.
It is a fitting metaphor for today's politics. President Obama is the duck in the boat leaking from holes poked by Republicans. He jumped in while it was quickly sinking to save its passengers and contents.
He anchored both feet, spread his wings and used his marvelous beak to plug the holes to keep us afloat and nudge us forward. He restored some confidence, a tremendous feat given the starting point. You'd think a simple thank you would be in order. But many refuse because their hate outweighs their love.
And what did Republicans who made such a mess do while the duck performed? While boasting of their love of Jesus and the Golden Rule, they offered him no help whatsoever, only bitter resistance. Indeed, and in deed, they worked against him openly hoping he would fail. And for the tragic, not-so-humorous punch line: Today Republicans sit on their hands complaining that the boat isn't going fast enough!
What would Jesus say of such behavior? And what would he say of their deeds that poked the holes in the boat in the first place? Brace yourself.
They bungled, lied, exploited and stole from the taxpayers like never before. They stoked the fires of fear and fanned the flames of anger and hate. They stained our hands with the blood of innocents by the tens of thousands in choosing an unnecessary war. (pause)
They bailed out the "money-changers" and billed the taxpayers. They ignored the dire warnings of the Auditor General to forfeit our control over our destiny, by enslaving us to $11 trillion of debt while introducing our new lender, China.
Then they destroyed the economy, leaving little hope of ever paying it back. And in evil denial they convince gullible, trusting people to blame the new guy. If that weren't bad enough, they refuse to repent to this day, proudly promising more.
Honestly I say to thee, that record of word and deed would render even Jesus speechless. It is painful to recount. But real truth, and nothing but it, is required for the conscience, the soul to properly function as God would have it.
This election is not complicated. It is a simple choice between good and evil, just another crucial battle in their war. And if we truly are one nation under God, it will only be through the miracle of Jesus that turns red to blue.
Jeffrey Woollard
Lowell
