The new Wal-Mart Supercenter just opened up in my town, and man, what a sight! It’s a mammoth structure of utilitarian architecture that houses everything from a grocery to a garden center, along with every dry good you can imagine from fashion wear to office supplies. And people just flock there because it’s one-stop shopping, famous low prices, and a quick get in and get out affair. It is an amazing achievement in the history of American consumerism.

Oh, and don’t forget about the official Smiley Face mascot greeting you on every sign. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside as you spend your money to save money.

The only problem is that the former Wal-Mart building in town is now vacant since the retail giant moved its local operation to the new Supercenter facility. Hard to believe that twenty years ago this smaller Wal-Mart store was the shining Camelot on the hill for local shoppers. Now it’s just a castle ruin, an empty shell of its former glory as the company moves on to bigger and better things. Alas, a sign of the times, I’m afraid.

Prior to the beginning of this Sam Walton invasion, our town had a few Mom-and-Pop retail stores downtown, but they’re gone now, too. The first Wal-Mart that landed here soon priced those little shops right out of the market and made it too easy for the faithful customers of our local enterprises to be slowly seduced by the discount convenience of the new store in town. Hometown loyalty and one-on-one service be damned! Pretty soon, those slow-paced, family-run stores with creaky wood floors and clanging brass cash registers had to close their doors for good. Nobody valued their unassuming brand of commerce anymore.

So why do I bring all this up? Because it seems to me that many Christians today have been infected with the same corrupting consumerism that has given rise to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Their lives are no longer content with the eloquent simplicity of Jesus Christ and His Word, but now clamor for a wide variety of new and improved Christianized products to over-indulge their so-called faith. The congregations have moved out of the austere model of the small-town church, where unadorned worship to God rang forth, and have instead built for themselves Christian Supercenters in which to sell their worldly goods and services in the name of Christ.

You see it every time you watch millions of professed Christians assemble in their multi-million dollar sanctuaries to hear feel-good sermons by Smiley Face mascots who offer heaven and happiness at a discount price.

You see striking evidence of this Wal-Mart mentality in postmodern Christianity every time you step into your local Christian bookstore and have to walk past shelf after shelf of shiny religious trinkets and trite bestsellers before you get to that little section of plain black Bibles in the far back corner. You see it every time you watch millions of professed Christians assemble in their multi-million dollar sanctuaries to hear feel-good sermons by Smiley Face mascots who offer heaven and happiness at a discount price.

Of course, it didn’t use to be like this. There was a time, believe it or not, when we survived just fine without the trappings of modern consumerism in our life. Long before the first Wal-Mart was built in my mostly-rural area, the presence of any kind of retail store was a rarity. All people really had back then was the Sears catalog. It sat there, prized like the family Bible, on the kitchen counter. Every member of the family had gone through that tome over and over again, memorizing the products that they dreamed of having one day. Yet they had no money for such luxuries and if they did, it was only due to careful hoarding of every stray penny they could scrape up. Sometimes they had to wait three years before saving enough money to buy that fancy hand-cranked clothes wringer so Mom didn’t have to wear out her arms twisting the clothes dry, unaided by modern technology.

Of course, when times got really bad, even the Sears catalog brought no comfort, except to supply a need for toilet paper in the outhouse.

Back then, we had a Great Depression caused by the blind self-indulgence of the Jazz age; and rural people in this area (through no fault of their own) were especially hit hard by it. These poor country folks didn’t have convenience stores, they only had each other. Families made just about everything they owned, and if they couldn’t make it, they had a good neighbor who could. It was a time when farming was so bad that it was more profitable to use their corn crop to burn in their stove for heat than to sell it for a lousy few cents per bushel. So the local families knitted themselves together and looked out for one another. It was a hard time, sometimes a desperate time. But with lots of faith, love, and patience, they got through it together as a community. There was no such thing as fast food outlets, shopping malls, or Wal-Mart Supercenters to bring swift temporal relief to their plight. It was a bare-boned existence that divided the wheat from the chaff, and forced humble folks to focus on the simple things in life that really mattered and to rejoice in them.

there was a time when Christians in this country were content with being lowly, meek, and poor in spirit. They served humbly in small congregations, read their Bibles faithfully, and prayerfully focused on the glory of Christ alone as they witnessed and brought aid to others.

So you see, there was a time when Christians in this country were content with being lowly, meek, and poor in spirit. They served humbly in small congregations, read their Bibles faithfully, and prayerfully focused on the glory of Christ alone as they witnessed and brought aid to others. Over time, however, we became more prosperous and self-satisfied, and just like the Jazz Age, we began to borrow on a spiritual capital that we no longer possessed in order to gratify our ever-increasing desire for the things of this world. Soon, many churches became bastions of consumerism and began emulating themselves after the business world, until they finally transformed themselves into a kind of Wal-Mart Christianity.

The problem is, this over-indulgence in the churches will one day takes its toll and collapse like the stock market in 1929 because it is built on a foundation other than Christ alone. And when that inevitable day arrives in which we are stripped of our fleshy provisions and thrust into a great spiritual Depression, how will this rabid Christian consumerism provide for our needs and how much of it will quickly be engulfed by the fires of God’s testing?

In the end, it’s hay and stubble, my friends. All this Wal-Mart Christianity is just hay and stubble.

http://www.sacredsandwich.com/bohemianwalmart.htm

The east side of the Carrizo Plain, in the Temblor Range, about 50 miles due west of Bakersfield, California. Photo taken on May 14, 2005.

Let my heart be sound in Your statutes, that I be not ashamed. Psalms 119:80

Some characteristics of a sound heart.

1. A simplicity in serving God.
2. A humble spirit.
3. A godly sincerity.
4. A brokenness of heart.
5. A love for the Savior.
6. A dependence on His grace.

This last Wednesday during our prayer and Bible study it dawned on me that this is the most important duty of a Christian. People get so caught up in doing good deeds that they neglect the most important thing. Some people will do good deeds to cover up their poor or non-existent relationship with God. All the while they feel good for doing good, but neglected the Lord. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 7

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

The bottom line is prayer is talking to God and Bible study is God talking to the Christian, and if there is no communication, there is no relationship! All all the good deeds in the world cant make up for that!

DALLAS - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama side-stepped a pointed query about abortion on Saturday by mega-pastor Rick Warren during a televised forum.

Asked at what point a baby gets human rights, Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade.

He went on to reiterate his view that it was important to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who followed Obama onto the stage of the nationally televised event, was more blunt and more emphatic.

He said a baby’s human rights began at the moment of conception I have a 25-year pro-life record.

Both candidates were vying for the faith vote, in particular the one in four U.S. adults who count themselves as evangelical.

Obama took questions first from Warren and McCain followed. The two shared the stage together briefly.

Some centrist evangelicals have said they appreciate moves by the Democratic Party to soften the edges of its pro-choice stand by stressing the need to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions and by also working harder in areas like adoption.

But for many conservative evangelicals a key part of the evangelical base life begins at conception and the argument ends there.

The issue remains one of the most divisive and partisan in America as Obama and McCain highlighted on Warren’s stage.

And he offered to drop his tithe, around $600,000, in the collection plate of First Baptist Orange Park.

But the church and Pastor David Tarkington politely declined and told Powell they will not accept the lottery winnings.

Many churches do not approve of the lottery and gambling but on the other hand Pastor Dr. Lorenzo Hall of the El-Beth-El Divine Holiness Church says $600,000 can do a lot of good.

“I’m against the lottery, but if one of my members won the lottery, I wish and I hope he would give 10% to the church, we could do a lot of things with that money,” says Hall.

As a Holiness minister, Dr. Hall says he does not ask where members get the money they decide to donate.

He said he would welcome Powell’s donation to his inner city church anytime.

“We are in the process now of building a youth center, and you would be surprised at the people that can be helped with $600,000,” says Hall.

Bethel Baptist Church member Lottie Walker says if she won, the first thing she would do is give lottery money to her church.

“Anything extra is bonus so that would be an extra blessing of offering after that, so if I did win lotto, sweepstakes I would tithe to my church,” says Walker.

First Baptist Orange Park Pastor David Tarkington would not say exactly why the church refused the money, saying only he didn’t want to talk about members’ gifts.

Commentary: Whew! a pastor with strong convictions! Who would of thunk it?

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=116301&catid=15&GID=WMAmGCQI3vz6rtbfKlq97+DNDNHLKYU0cLrO+wQNI6Q=&provider=email

While I have many opinions about Victoria Osteen and the Lakewood church, I will keep them to myself. I would however like to share some thoughts about the law suit and all the publicity surrounding it.

1. Christians Need to Guard their Testimony - How precious is the Christian testimony. What I mean by testimony, is the Christian’s demeanor, attitude in the public eye and how people perceive a Christian. All it takes is one fit of rage to destroy a Christian’s testimony. We don’t know exactly what happened on the plane with Victoria Osteen and Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown, but we can assume that something did occur. Now they are in court and things can only get worse.
2. Satan Is Enjoying Every Minute of It - Anytime the Christian religion can get some bad publicity, it is good for the enemy. We never hear about all the good that comes out of the body of Christ, but when one prominent Christian fails miserably, it becomes front page news.
3. Jesus Christ is the Real Victim - How a Christian behaves in public, either glorifies Jesus Christ or puts Him to an open shame. How many times has the name Jesus Christ been unintentionally dragged through the mud, because of some careless Christian? - God have mercy on us!

If you have any comments about this subject, I would love to hear from you. - Kurt

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:43-45

The Pharisees taught the people to hate the enemies of Israel. The implication was that this hatred was God’s means of judging their enemies. Jesus taught the people just the opposite. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

The Christian is to love others as God loves them. This is God’s standard of love. God doesn’t have to love us. He loves us because He chooses to love; it’s only by His grace. He loves us while we were alienated from Him as His enemies. The sinful mind is hostile toward God.

Jesus Christ died for us while we were enemies. He died for us while we were helpless sinners (Romans 5:6-11; 5:8-9).

Christ died for the sinner, the enemy; that is the full measure of God’s infinite love. Have you come to know that love by experience? God loves you so much that He sent Jesus to die for you on the cross.

Because we are the recipients of this divine love, we are to love others as God loves them. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

The only way anyone can love with that kind of love is for Jesus Christ to be working in your life because of His indwelling love (Gal. 2:20).

Christian love is not a matter of feeling the “right way” about another person. Divine love is a matter of choice. It is a function of the will. Because it is something we do, it is always possible and must always be expressed in Godly actions. We can act upon what we know to be the right thing to do.

The critical issue is obedience. We can do the right thing because God chose to send Jesus on our behalf. We can behave in a manner that is kind and loving even to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.

The word “love” (agape) is in emphatic contrast to “hate” in v. 43. Love is commanded in v. 4. “Love your enemies.”

People who persecute you are the most difficult to love. Persecution is the acid test of spiritual prosperity. We can demonstrate the love of God by praying for those who persecute us.

It is impossible to continue to hate another person in the presence of God. Pray for the person you are tempted to hate and watch God at work in your life. You cannot remain the same.

Jesus set the example for us by praying for those who were crucifying Him. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24).

The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us how to act as neighbors to all men (Lk. 10:29ff).

Jesus defined our enemies as those who curse us, hate us, and selfishly use us. These are the very ones who need us to show them love. He loved us when we were His enemies.

Wouldn’t it have been utterly amazing to watch Jesus in the midst of an intolerant environment? Hatred was everywhere! But Jesus chose to love, and we can too.

Jesus went on to say in this context, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The word “perfect’ does not imply “sinless perfection” which is impossible in this life, but completeness and maturity as God’s children. This maturity is unattainable in our own strength. It comes from God’s indwelling presence as we obey His Word. We cannot love our enemies in our own strength, but Christ will give us the ability as we obey His command.

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006