According to an article in today's "Wall Street Journal," cellphone providers in Asian countries are offering many innovative services. In India, Hindu worshippers can send text messages to their god Ganesh at the Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai. Ganesh is the god in charge of destroying obstacles that might keep you from successfully completing personal goals (like getting a job or purchasing a house) and he is particularly receptive to requests on Tuesday's. So visitors on that day may wait in a line for up to five hours just to get Ganesh to obliterate the hindrances in their path. However, for only four cents per text message (a fee split between the cellphone company and the temple), participants can use their cellphone to send a text message request which will be printed out, neatly folded, and placed in a box next to the temple's idol--with the hope that he takes time to read them. Presently, about 70,000 text messages are coming in from all over India each week.
The Lord is clearly interested in beauty. Some form of the word is used 76 times in the Bible. We are told that God "hath made every thing beautiful in his time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He so highly exalts the proper concept of beauty that He often associates it with holiness (Psalm 29:2; 96:9; 110:3). Unfortunately, men tend to pervert beauty as they do all that they touch. God reminds us that outward "beauty is vain" (Proverbs 31:30) and human "beauty is a fading flower' (Isaiah 28:1). Men corrupt beauty and make the "beauty of a man" a focus for idolatry (Isaiah 44:13). Eventually, man's perverseness causes his "beauty to be abhorred" (Ezekiel 16:25). The very concept of what is beautiful is no longer recognizable.
Note: What follows is an introduction I just wrote to a lesson on Mark 6:1-26 entitled "Changes in the Ministry of Christ." I thought it might be an encouragement to someone who is presently going through some great changes.
Alfred Edersheim wrote a major life of Christ called "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Edersheim's Jewish heritage gave him interesting insights into many of the beliefs and ways of life during the time of Christ. In his book (Vol.11, p.12), he wrote of the Jewish traditions concerning the defilement of hands and the accusation that Jesus did not keep these traditions (as recorded in Mark 7:1-9).
I received the following excellent comments on the earlier blog called Using Biblical Terminology. I often can see points in the different sides of arguments and wanted to give everyone a chance to see another side of this. My thanks to the one who gave this response (I will leave you anonymous): "Brother I greatly enjoy David Cloud's material, but on this issue of asking Jesus into our hearts I think he is making a mountain out of a mole hill. Consider the following verses: Galatians 4:6 - God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Ephesians 3:17 - That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. While these verses are not exactly a sinner's prayer, the idea of Jesus in our hearts is in there sufficiently and so I don't understand why Bro Cloud 'blasts' asking Jesus into your heart so adamantly."
The following is a quote from p42 of Winsome Christianity by Henry Durbanville:
"When burdened with sins from 2006; just burn them up for a real quick fix." Martin Luther dealt with a Roman Catholic agent who sold indulgences with a catchy ditty. Perhaps the preceeding one might work for the new sellers of quick fix forgiveness. Thursday's "Wall Street Journal" revealed a growing trend in churches and the modern spiritual community. More and more congregations are meeting for a service in which they write the sins and failures of the previous year on a piece of paper. Then, in a heart uplifting ceremony, they burn the pieces of paper to symbolize the doing away of these sins and their readiness to face a new year clean and ready to do better. The ceremony is getting rave reviews from many religious groups.
