Respond to the Financial Crisis? Come out of Babylon!

A German Church has been directly affected by the credit crunch. In recent years, its income (German's law offers churches income directly through the tax payer's "Kirchensteuer") has been hit by a drop in membership fees. But its expenses remained the same.

So, to boost the coffers, the local church put its faith (faith in what??) in financial markets and made an investment in Lehman Brothers. As a result, the church is set to lose its 4.3m-euro investment. Lehman Brothers securities were considered a good, safe investment, the church official said. (read the whole story in BBC)

Recently, I had to hear these stories very often how believers have lost vast sums of their portfolios. Even this week, during a teaching on how to respond to the financial crisis by a reknowed teacher, he himself admitted he lost in the 6 digits! ... what a testimony!

Where
has
the
commandmend

"feed my sheep" gone?

John 21:15




Where do we find in Scriptures we have to invest our hard worked money into financial markets (read: dishonest scales and weights, Proverbs 11:1) over which we have; 1/ no control, 2/ no wisdom how it works and 3/ most of the time, statistically lose money anyhow... ?

I think this is again a hard learned lesson on how we have to spend our money. At least the pastor ended his teaching wise, saying we have to go back to basics, take care of the poor people ( believe me there are enough of them and if you can't find them, just ask me...) and use our money for 2 things that will last: 1/ the Word of God and our Faith in Him (not in financial instruments where moth and rust will destroy) and 2/ in souls!! (the latter the most important!)

Make friends with your money (Luke 16:9) : feed a poor needy soul, help your neighbour, a colleague who got retrenched, a sick person with no medical treatement, a child or orphan in Africa, India, etc...

Jesus says in in Matthew 25:37 to 46 to feed the poor" 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."...

So, please do not let me know you also have lost money on the stock exchange, funds, or any other financial debt instruments. It will break my heart, definitely God's and frustrates the poor child, still wondering why his prayers for his 'daily bread' are not answered...

As one commercial in the metro sytem warned. "If you do not know what the book is about, put it down." Likewise for investments: ... put it down: you have no idea how it works... If you want to know, read the book of J M Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Chapter 6, Europe after the Treaty...then you will know...

"An anxious soul is a soul who constantly wonders how his investment is doing.
A soul at rest is a soul who knows he has helped a needy soul."
, JT Clierinck

Atheist UK Bus Campaign

The UK Guardian reports that initial fundraising for an atheist advertising campaign on the buses of London raised nearly nine times the amount needed in less than 24 hours.

The bendy buses will display posters saying "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" on 30 buses for four weeks.

According to the BBC (read more: click on this link), British Churches have actually encouraged the campaign, thanking Dawkins for "continued interest" in God and encouraging people to think about the issue.

A spokesman for the Church of England said it supports the promotion of any religious position through appropriate channels. A spokesman added: "Christian belief is not about worrying or not enjoying life. Quite the opposite: our faith liberates us to put this life into a proper perspective"

Atheist do not claim there is no God, actually they say "probably" and that may be true for many other people too. It is a bit like Paul addressing the Greek philosophers in Athens (much the equivalent of today's atheists) in the book Acts (17:22-27), introducing them the "unknown" God...

The Kingdom of God is not about a religion, but more about a relationship with a "known" God, a personal, living God.

Who is the lesser evil of the 2? Obama or Cain?

Though I am not a Roman Catholic (*disclaimer) this clip makes a lot of sense, and lucky (blessed ?) I am not an American who needs to vote and make a choice out of these 2 clowns. I watched the presidential debates and none has a solution (secret maybe?) on any of the serious issues. Their words are carefully measured in such a way nothing is absolute and true.



One thing I know is that whoever becomes the next President, he is only a puppet and an extension of those who write his paycheck to fulfill the agenda of the same. Nothing more, nothing less, so let us not be deceived by nice words but discern the times.
I also notice that there are a lot of political systems being shaken right now. In Europe there is a political vacuum, pop star Sarkozy in France, the Belgian joke (without PM for a long time..), Berlusconi maffia, etc... and the "Lisbon Treaty" allowing a European President to be SELECTED, not voted... will create a powershift in this vacuum. One world government coming up you think?

(*) disclaimer: because the Pope is not my boss, Mary is not my intermediary and the saints not my idols. Simply because Jesus Christ is my only Lord and head of the Church, of whom I - according to the Scriptures - am a part of and saint myself. I pray to my Heavenly Father directly in the name of Jesus Christ and I am encouraged not to have any idols at all! Wow .. I hope I do not upset anybody, but that is what my Bible teaches me... Having said that I know many reformed Catholics who have become Biblical Christians or born again sons and daughters of the most high living God.