Pray In Faith

“Going a little farther, He (Jesus) fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” Matthew 26:39

PRAY IN FAITH. What does this mean? It means that when we pray, we are to believe that God exists and that He will answer according to His will.

How can we know His will? This is extremely important. Prayer is NOT just our trying to get God to do what we want Him to do. Our first question should not be “What do I want” but “What does God want.” The Bible says “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of Him.”

How can we know God’s will? One of the best ways is to study the Bible. If you want to know if it is God’s will that you steal something that doesn’t belong to you, you can look in the Bible and it says “Do not steal.” The more we know the Bible, God’s Word, the more we can know God’s will. You can also pray and ask God to give you His peace; to give you wise counsel from others; and to lead you through circumstances. But God will never lead you against His Word the Bible.

So let us ask God and seek His will. Then we can pray in confidence for His will to be done. For example if you know that it is God’s will for you to forgive others, then you can ask in faith that God will help you to forgive even someone who has hurt you.

This week, let us pray that

• God will help you to learn and to know His will
• God will protect and provide for our staff and volunteers here at Global Media Outreach
• God will bless your family and loved ones and that they will all come to know Jesus Christ

GOD LOVES YOU and He has a wonderful plan for your life. As you pray to Him and seek His will, know that His plans for you are good. He loves you and He knows what is best.

Thank you and may God bless you.

God’s Going to Be Up All Night Anyway

The apostle Paul encouraged us: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The outcome is that once we have prayed, we ought not to worry. Mary C. Crowley put it this way: “Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.” Turning our problems over to God once we have done all we can do (with His help and guidance) is the essence of faith. It is a quiet trust that accepts the outcome, trusting that the decision is God’s on our behalf and for our best interests.

Once we believe and understand that there is a Creator and that He loves the world (John 3:16), we can relieve our minds of the strain of anxiety and helplessness that often leads toward depression. It is amazing how resourceful we can be when we are not hampered by worries. So let your requests be made know to God!

True Maturity

All humans go through stages of growth and development until full adulthood. We come into this world as helpless babies, move on through stages of childhood, the teen years and then into full adulthood. The trouble for some is that they are only young once, but they are immature indefinitely. Maturity is not merely a matter of aging and years; it is a matter of internal mental development and character growth.

We cannot blame a child for the faults of society or the family into which he or she was born. Even adults cannot advance if they have no knowledge and understanding. Maturity can be grasped as a goal by any person who seeks, who knocks and who makes a determined effort to be better. We are advised to grow up. True maturity comes through coming to know God and putting away the childish practices and habits of our youth (1 Corinthians 13:11).

What was Job's sin?

God said Job was blameless, and Job's friends accused him of sins he hadn't committed. So why did he have to repent in the end? What can we learn from Job's example?

Job did indeed sin, in spite of the fact that God called him blameless and upright. How could both statements be true?

Job was blameless in virtually everything that he did. He was a model husband and father. He was generous with his wealth and his time in serving the people of his community. He obeyed God in every aspect of his life. Even his closest companions could not find a single real fault in his behavior, though his friends tried their best to imagine what he might have done. However, when God showed Job his sin, he repented—not just superficially, but with a depth of sincere sorrow and regret.

He explains his sin in his own words. In responding to God's questioning, he said: "You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [That is, Job, unaware at the time of the 'behind the scenes' activity between God and Satan, assumed all his problems were a result of God's discipline. He had stated that he had lived righteously before God and was undeserving of the treatment that God was bringing into his life, as if God was unjust in His treatment of him!] Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:3-6).

In his suffering, Job had charged God with acting unjustly. He had pleaded for an opportunity to appear in court with Him. When God finally speaks, His comments are not what we would have expected Him to have said. God primarily speaks of the awesome acts of creation, the awesome creatures in it and His care for all that He has made. In doing so, He shows how little understanding Job has of the big picture. How could Job argue his case with God as an equal? If God is so attuned to His creation, how could He be unaware of Job's suffering? Job comes to perceive God in a way he never had before!

Part of what Job repented of was the capacity within himself, as brought forth in his trial, of being at odds with God. He may not have believed beforehand that he was capable of arguing with and questioning God's goodness and justice and wisdom. In the crucible of this trial, that capacity within himself was brought to the fore, and he said things about God that an enemy would say.

This greater self-realization led him to deep repentance. When he realized this about himself, he repented, not necessarily of what he had done, but of what he was—a being capable of becoming an enemy of God. In the end, he said that he abhored himself—that capacity in himself to believe evil about God. That is an important realization for anyone who will live under God's sovereignty for all eternity. By the end of the account, Job had made a conscious decision to live by faith in God's goodness, and to never question it again, regardless of any provocation or temptation to do so.

There are important lessons we can learn from the book of Job. We should realize that a person's trials are not always a result of his or her own mistakes or sins. They can come about from other sources or other reasons, and so we should not level false accusations as Job's friends did. We should also learn from Job's experience to maintain patient respect and trust in God even in the midst of our sufferings (James 5:10-11). Seeing God's greatness and our own insignificance can help us to have a realistic perspective and to learn whatever lessons we can from the experience.

Be a Barnacle

Imitate the determination of a barnacle. Fasten your life to God and never be moved.

The barnacle is an amazing salt-water crustacean. When they hatch, they swim around like other shellfish. But soon they attach themselves to rocks, the bottoms of ships and the supports of piers. That's because barnacles are encrusters, meaning they attach themselves permanently to a hard surface.

Once a barnacle attaches itself to something, it begins to grow a hard shell around its body. It's called a fouling organism because this tough little creature holds so tight to the hulls of ships that they have to be scraped off—costing shippers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Like the barnacle, true Christians must cement our lives to a solid foundation (1 Corinthians 10:4). The bedrock of a right relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ must be our underpinning. Do you tenaciously adhere to the true God through the calm seas and maybe even the rough waters? We are told to “cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Not to the shifting sands of this worlds failed thinking but we are to hold tightly to everything that is good and godly.

The tough shell of the barnacle is composed of calcite and forms an almost impenetrable shield. It protects it from the elements and all kinds of predators. Be like a spiritual barnacle by putting on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-15). Without the shield of faith you can be wounded. So protect yourself from all the elements and stop every attack from the enemy.

Let's imitate the determination of a barnacle. Fasten your life to God and never be moved.

Walk In Faith And Believe God

"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered...'Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours'". Mark 11:22, 24

We are to live the Christian life by faith. What is faith? The Bible says "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

We are to believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ. It is through faith that we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We can choose to believe God and to believe the Bible.

We can build our faith through reading the Bible. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". You can express your faith by speaking confidently about God and what He has don on your life, and by acting on what God says in the Bible.

God loves you. It is important that we believe that God exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. God sent His Son Jesus Christ so you and I could be forgiven and have the gift of eternal life when we believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord.

So, this week, let us pray that

• God will help each of us to walk in faith and believe God
• God will help us reach more people around the world for Jesus Christ
• God will protect our staff at Global Media Outreach and fill us with His Holy Spirit each day

THANK YOU for your prayers for us.

May God bless you.

Lost Temper

Steel is made especially valuable when it is well tempered in the fire. This strengthening of the metal adds endurance and thus value to its many uses. When steel is hardened by fire, we say it is "tempered." There are things that can happen to steel to make it lose its temper—and when that happens, the steel also loses its value and usefulness.

People are like steel in this regard; when they lose their temper, they also lose their worth. The Bible tells us to be angry and do not sin (Ephesians 4:26). That speaks to controlling our anger and controlling our temper. People who can do that are people who have great worth and great strength of character. We have the option to learn to control our tempers or not, but we should keep in mind what God commands. Keep your value and develop this strength.

The Ten Commandments: Have They Passed Their Sell-by Date?

An ancient Middle Eastern king defined them as "perfect" and "enlightening" to guide him as a ruler of his people some 3,000 years ago (King David, as recorded in Psalm 19:7-8).

A 20th-century European dictator called the Ten Commandments "the curse from Mount Sinai" and set out to destroy the very people identified with these laws (Adolf Hitler, quoted in The Ten Commandments, edited by A.L. Robinson, preface by Hermann Rauschning, p. vii).

Two rulers. Two contrasting views.

Written with the finger of God?

What's the truth about the Ten Commandments that the Bible tells us were "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18)? Were they intended for the Israelites only and thus no longer binding on Christians today? Justin Martyr, considered an early church "father," thought so. In a letter to the Jewish community he stated, "For the Law promulgated at Horeb [Mt. Sinai] is now old and belongs to yourselves alone" (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, p. 100).

From the early history of the Christian Church there was a concerted attempt to reject the Ten Commandments as a fundamental moral code by defining them as Jewish. After the New Testament apostles died, the biblical Sabbath and Holy Days in particular became casualties, being wrongly identified as purely Jewish rather than days to be observed by Christians.

Faith and obedience

Centuries before the Exodus God appeared to Abraham with these words, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1). How was the patriarch to lead a blameless or upright life? God's answer is given in Genesis 26:5 where Abraham is praised for his obedience to God's laws: "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

This scriptural reference makes it clear that the spiritual father of the faithful expressed faith like a Christian must and at the same time guided his life by God's laws. Both were required in walking uprightly before the Creator.

The New Testament speaks the same message in the words of the apostle John. He defines true Christians as "those who keep the commandments of God and [express] the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). As was true with Abraham, both are required.

Who's the source of moral standards?

A thousand years earlier king David was inspired to write, "The law of the Lord is perfect" (Psalm 19:7). The Creator God is best equipped to tell His creation how to walk uprightly before Him. He has given us laws and statutes that define what is right and what is wrong. "For all Your commandments are righteousness," we are told in Psalm 119:172. It is the Almighty who decides the moral standards we are to live by.

Embracing God's laws doesn't in any way lessen our need for Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice. Since we all fall short of living by the standards that Jesus taught, forgiveness of our imperfect state is an essential part of living righteously before the Creator.

Are they in force today?

Are the Ten Commandments still in force today? Certainly! It wouldn't make sense had God required people in Old Testament times to live by His laws but then allowed people since New Testament times to disregard them. When it comes to what is morally right and wrong, God doesn't change (Malachi 3:6).

Imagine how much better, happier, just and peaceful the world would be if humanity were to embrace the morality of the Creator as revealed in His Word!

* Children respecting their parents (Fifth Commandment).

* No murdering one's fellowman (Sixth Commandment).

* No illicit affairs with their devastating consequences (Seventh Commandment).

* No stealing of what belongs to another (Eighth Commandment).

* No bearing false witness in order to damage reputations (Ninth Commandment).

* And no coveting of what is someone else's (Tenth Commandment).

What a happy world that would be!

The Ten Commandments haven't passed their sell-by date. They never will because they serve as divine laws applicable at all times and for all occasions.

Are "the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God" literally crying out in heaven?

"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'" (Revelation 6:9-10).

To understand this scripture, we must remember the context. John was witnessing a vision while he was "in the Spirit" (Revelation 4:2). Under inspiration he was seeing future events depicted in symbolism. The fifth seal is figurative of the Great Tribulation, a time of world turmoil preceding Christ's return.

In this vision, John sees under the altar the martyred believers who sacrificed their lives for their faith in God. These souls figuratively cry out, "Avenge our blood!" This can be compared to Abel's blood metaphorically crying out to God from the ground (Genesis 4:10). Though neither dead souls nor blood can actually speak, these phrases figuratively demonstrate that a God of justice will not forget the evil deeds of mankind perpetrated against His righteous followers.

This verse does not describe living souls that have gone to heaven. The Bible confirms that "no one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven [Jesus Christ]" (John 3:13). Even righteous King David, a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), was described by Peter as being "dead and buried" (Acts 2:29), not alive in heaven or some other state or location (verse 34).

The description of souls "under the altar" is obviously symbolic. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 Paul makes it clear that deceased Christians remain in the grave until Christ returns. When we allow the Bible to interpret itself, Revelation 6:9 cannot mean that anyone is in heaven now. Rather, it is both a prophecy that martyrdom would occur and that it would continue until the second coming of Christ.

Heroes

There are heroes who are proclaimed such because others have witnessed their noble deeds. There are heroes who are never recognized because no witnesses were left. It is not the great occasion that makes a person a hero; occasions simply reveal those who are heroic.

Heroism is a product of how we live our lives, what our parents taught us and what life teaches us. Heroism is clearly present in the person who acts bravely—it is not a sudden product of the moment.

Do you have fears? Face them! Do you have doubts? Erase them! Do you fear the future? Grow in faith! Heroes are developed by living their lives with courage each day (John 16:33). Do this and you, too, will be ready for the occasion.

Getting Control of Your Money

Are you the couple that spent 40 years working hard so you could retire and travel to all the places of your dreams? You now find that dream is gone. Suddenly one of you is laid off, the savings are disappearing, the retirement fund is dwindling. Are you the single mother that bought a house with a balloon payment? It was great at first but now the payments have skyrocketed. What can you do when bad economic times are crushing your dreams? On Beyond Today we're going to cover the timeless financial principles that can help you get control of your money.

Are you drowning in debt, afraid you might lose your car, your house? Are you worried about being laid off? Are you watching the stock market roller coaster destroy your retirement fund? Are you stressed because the value of your house has been wiped out and there's nothing you can do about it? For so many people the dreams of just a short time ago, dreams of owning your own home or retiring early and traveling have disappeared in an economic crisis that seems to keep getting worse. The money is getting tight and you can't control the company down sizing or national inflation. So how can you deal with the anxiety of financial difficulties?

Now you might be thinking, "ok now he's going to tell me how to invest in real estate or some internet scheme." Well no, because that's not the solution to your financial problems. You may not always be able to control the economic crisis happening around you but you can get control of your life, your behavior and your money.

Now it won't be easy but you have to accept that if you keep applying the same old solutions to the same old problems guess where you're going to go? You're simply going to arrive at the same old problems.

Well today we're going to discuss three basic concepts of how to get control of your life and your money. These principles come from a book that is often maligned as being irrelevant in our post modern society. If you don't have a Bible, go get one. Get one and follow along as we explore what the Creator says about your life and your money. Now let's start by looking at something Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount about your first priority in money management. Let's go to Matthew 6:25

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Now at this point you might be saying, "Now wait a minute, wait a minute the bank is going to reposes my car and you're telling me to stop worrying?" Well the kind of worry Jesus is talking about is anxious thought. Now here's the key, if you're going to get control of your economic situation the first thing you must do is change your spiritual priorities. Instead of hoping you'll hit the lottery you need to ask how did I get into this mess to begin with? Now Jesus continues

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

The first step in dealing with your money problems is the same first step in dealing with all of life's problems. You begin by going to your Creator and finding His answers and then trusting His solutions. You have value to God and He has solutions to your problems but you're going to have to accept those solutions and you're going to have to apply them to your life. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus continues

Matthew 6:27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Have you ever wished you were taller? Or maybe could jump like an NBA player? Or could run a hundred meters with world class speed? Beyond reality no training, no miracle drug can make you taller can it? What Jesus is teaching here is that there are some things in life you can control, there are things you can't control. We can either drive ourselves crazy trying to control every situation and every person around us or we can learn to trust God to help us through the times when we have no control.

To get control of your money you must first learn and live by the Creator's rules of life. He will then bless your life. Jesus continues

Matthew 6:28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

Matthew 6:29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Solomon was a great King, he wore the most wonderful beautiful clothes in the world he was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Jesus isn't saying that you can be irresponsible with your money and God will take care of everything. So what is His point? Notice the next verse

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

Matthew 6:32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

Step one in dealing with your money problems stop making money the center of your life and turn to your Creator as the center of your life. God understands your needs. In verse 33 Jesus says

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

This isn't a health and wealth gospel. I'm not saying that if you just have faith in Jesus all your money problems will fade away. I am saying that when God is the center of your life you will have a blessed life.

As a child of God, you're going to suffer job difficulties, you're going to suffer health problems and sometimes the money, well it just won't seem to stretch far enough. Then you say, "Ok what benefit is there then in being a Christian?" Well when you place God and His righteousness, that's His ways, His instructions at the center of your life, He promises, the Creator of the universe promises to help your through the bad times, to give meaning and purpose to your life. And to give you a future beyond anything you could imagine.

Stephen Covey in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells a parable of how easy it is to get caught up in zeal and get misdirected. He relates a story of workers who clearing the under brush from a jungle, oh they are hard at work with their machetes. The managers are sharpening blades, writing policies and manuals, setting up seminars for muscle development and creating work schedules. Everybody's working hard, full of zeal, they're accomplishing tasks. Then one day someone climbs up a tall tree looks around and yells down, hey we're in the wrong jungle.

You see you can spend your time and energy working really hard only to find out you're basing your goals on wrong priorities.

Jesus teaches that God understands your need for food, clothing and shelter. He also said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you". Now the practical steps of money management begin with this spiritual understanding. There's more to it but this is where you begin.

What is the real goal of solving your financial problems? Is money itself the goal? Well no not really. What your really want is what? Peace, security, comfort in your life? If you think the solution is just getting more money and more stuff you're in the wrong jungle. And then you say, "I have money problems how can I seek God first? Let me first get my finances in order and then I can see how God wants me to live." Well you know it's that kind of thinking that put you in your present mess.

Now we're going to talk about some practical ways to get control of your money but understand Jesus' instructions, this is the starting point. In the same passage Jesus says

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

You know there's nothing morally wrong with being wealthy or having wealth. It's a matter of perspective. Are we really supposed to believe that whoever dies with the most stuff wins?

Well listen to this true story. It was the most exclusive club in the world. The list of members included the celebrated names of Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Goodyear. In 1886 Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia became the private play ground where the rich came to swim, hunt and relax in their cottages. You have to understand though, these cottages were from fifteen to twenty five rooms. Today most visitors to Jekyll Island hardly notice the two stone lions standing before the ruins of the once lavish house of Edwin Gold. One day while hunting on the island Mr. Gold's son was killed in a hunting accident. Mr. Gold left the island in his absolute agony and never returned to his mansion again. What better illustration than this area where there are two stone lions standing guard over a ruined ghostly estate illustrate the teachings of Jesus? A mans life consists not in the abundance and the things which he possesses.

So the first point in getting control of your money, the first way to do that, where do we start, is when faced with the anxiety of financial problems remember that your Creator is interested in your life. Seek the way of life taught by Jesus Christ and trust that God will take care of your needs.

Now I would like to send you a very important free booklet, Managing Your Finances. You know the price is right, we're not going to ask you for a cent. We're never going to contact you. Now if you don't believe me order it, read it and it's free. You will learn what the Bible says about wealth, keys to successful money management, how to budget, how to avoid those money battles that can ruin your marriage, how to avoid financial black holes and the most important key of all, how to find God's blessing in your life. Go on line right now to BeyondToday.tv to read or order your free copy of Managing Your Finances. Or call toll free you can write this down 1-888-886-8632 by the way, the call's free too, 1-888-886-8632 or go on line to BeyondToday.tv and you can follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

Once you turn to God and accept His spiritual priorities for your life you can begin then to learn the practical principles of money management. Now this leads us to our second point.

To get control of your money you have to learn to budget. Included in the free booklet we're offering on today's program, Managing Your Finances, we have a worksheet, it's called the monthly income and expense worksheet. Using this worksheet to determine your monthly income and expenses is vital if you're really going to get control of your finances because no financial plan works without a budget.

You have to know how much money comes in and you have to know how much money goes out. You may find out that you're just throwing away some of that hard earned cash.

Let me give you an example, spending three dollars a day, Monday through Friday on a cup of coffee is $15.00 a week, that's $60.00 every four weeks. You realize that's over $700.00 a year? Making coffee at home and taking it in a thermos could save you a bundle of money per month.

Now let's look at the worksheet ok? When you get your worksheet, now there's a couple of ways you can get this, you can go online, now when you go on line to BeyondToday.tv what can happens is you can actually download this and fill in these little boxes here and it will add up the figures for you helping you figure out how much money comes in and where it goes. Or you can order your booklet and get this sent right to your home. Now when you look at you will notice that after you take out taxes, after you take out the money you give to your church you write down where is my money going? You have savings, you have housing, whatever you're paying in your rent, whatever you're paying on your mortgage. You have utilities, electric, gas, water, trash, phone, you know you can't control some of those, phone you may be able to. Get this, download it, or get it sent to you, fill it out, start to get control by learning how to budget.

So first you get control of your life by setting right spiritual priorities, second learn to budget, this brings us to our third point, how to get control of your money.

The third point is get out of debt.

Did you ever play Monopoly? The goal of the game is to collect all the properties of a particular color and then build houses and hotels on those properties. Remember what it was like when you landed on someone else's property and they owned a hotel? You would pay out all your money, sell off your houses and you'd have to mortgage your properties. If you landed on a second property with a hotel then you'd most likely lose everything you have and you'd go bankrupt. You were then out of the game. You know Monopoly has an important lesson for your life. When you spend more than you make and buy on credit eventually you lose. Solomon said in Proverbs 22:7

Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

Now the best way to get out of debt is to get control of your money by learning how to budget and then spending only the amount of money you make. Now sometimes that means you have to lower your standard of living in the short run but you have more in the long run. This way you can break the oppression of being a slave to the lender.

Now one way of getting out of this and getting control of that and out of debt is to analyze why you buy. Now when you get this booklet or go online you're going to see a little test in here called a buying self-test. It's going to ask you questions, these questions go from do I really need this? Is this a bargain? If its on sale, is the price your price? These are very important questions you need to ask. All together there's seven questions, seven questions you need to ask before making any major purchase. Get this booklet, ask those questions to yourself before you make those buys. Learn to get out of debt and discover the satisfaction of living within your means.

Now before we go on to the Beyond Today panel to discuss how to get control of your money I want to tell you how you can get and order your free booklet, Managing Your Finances, we'll also send you something else. We will send you a free one year subscription to the Good News magazine. Now if you're looking for answers to life's most important questions this is for you. The Good News is a bi-monthly publication available at no cost. In every issue you'll find articles on subjects like marriage and family, what the Bible teaches about the most important questions in your life, how to make sense of today's confusing world news, how to understand the Bible in a post modern society and God's amazing plan for humanity and for you personally. Go on line to BeyondToday.tv to order your free subscription to the Good News or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 that's 1-888-886-8632 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

(Gary Petty)

We're joined today by fellow Beyond Today Steve Myers and Darris McNeely. You know people need to be educated in sound biblical financial principles and when we look at the global economic crisis that we're facing, it's because of an ignorance of sound economic principles, isn't it?

(Darris McNeely)

It truly is Gary, really it gets back to one word you used over and over again in the program and that is debt. Nations have lived beyond their means, run up big debts, we're looking at Greece, we're looking at Spain, Portugal, Italy and the European Union right now creating a major problem for that part of the world as having spilled over into the United States. Because nations for years and years they would not live within their means, they have instituted vast social programs that they could not afford and could not pay for and ran huge deficits and other nations now are having to bail them out. We've got even in the United States, the state of California for instance has a bigger debt than the nation of Greece and is having to make major, major cuts in order to balance their budget because they live beyond their means financing programs that they could not pay for. So it's a major problem

(Gary Petty)

And that's the same, global problems are the same as the personal problems.

(Steve Myers)

They are. In fact it's a historical thing as well, if you go back in time many historians would argue that the result of the civil war would have been different if the south's economy was different or Japan and Germany lost World War II because of economics. And so it's a huge story when you see what has happened today when you see the priorities in our governments have affected the entire world and debt is just over running everyone now.

(Darris McNeely)

The reason this is continuing longer on the global scale or on a national scale is that governments can print money. The individual can't, we can't print the money, it's illegal and will catch up to us much quicker than it does for a larger nation but the principles are still the same. If you spend beyond your means you spend yourself into debt and you will pay the piper.

(Gary Petty)

And you print enough money it becomes worthless. I don't care how great the civilization, how great the country. You know we know there's nothing morally wrong with being wealthy. Some people in the Bible, some are wealthy, some are poor, you know all had relationships with God. But we need to know the difference between unhealthy consumerism and healthy money management. What's the difference.

(Darris McNeely)

Unhealthy consumerism is again is seeing something you feel you have to have before you can afford it. Financing it beyond your means, using that piece of plastic or several pieces of plastic that we all have in our wallets called the credit card and living a lifestyle that we really cannot afford which a credit card will allow us to do if you are willing to pay the interest. You know years ago I fell prey to that when I was in my early years of marriage, didn't have a whole lot of money but could get a credit card and I would just roll over the balance for a month at a time. It was manageable, I wasn't you know bankrupt but one time at the end of the year I tallied up the amount of interest I was paying on that credit card and it astounded me. I didn't realize that and I began to realize for that amount of money here's what I could buy or here's what I could have in the bank and I determined at that time to stop paying credit card interest. Now I still use a credit card but I got myself out of the debt. I started paying it off every month. So you learn to not charge something that you don't have the money for in the bank or you can't write a check for at the end of the month. Stop paying credit card interest. Make that a goal. Use your credit wisely but don't wrack up interest, it will eat you alive.

(Steve Myers)

One of the reasons that America is in some of the problems financially that we are is that we all are consumerist when it comes to the home mortgages and the whole bubble that has come about in the last year or two is all a result of the things that we want. I have friends who are having their home go to a sheriff's sale this very week. And it is such a depressing thing to see that happen because it didn't have to happen. But this whole concept of I need something bigger, I need something better, kind of got to them so they stepped up, they got an unbelievable mortgage rate that they didn't have to pay off for five years but then when it finally hits suddenly you have to pay the piper and that debt just got right in the way and there was no way to finance it, no way to continue on and pretty soon you've got to pay and it came down to the fact that they couldn't cover it. So now they're going to lose it. And so that whole that concept that we live in our world today is that I need it, I want it, I need it now and if there's any way I can make it happen we will and we forget about the consequences that are down the line.

(Gary Petty)

What you just said is so important for young people to understand because sometimes a young person will look at what their parents have and they'll want it now, the same things. I can remember when I was younger my wife and I living in government housing owning nothing but used furniture given to us by friends and family, not even have enough money to go out to eat. We worked and over the years we were able to get more without going into debt. And they don't realize sometimes it takes years to build wealth, you just can't get it by going out and putting it on credit card.

(Darris McNeely)

Yeah and you know one of the problems today with the 150 channels we have on our cable systems, there is a number of channels that get into home buying and home decorating and home television and people see somebody buying a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars and strapping themselves with thousands of dollars of monthly mortgage and they want that. They see that someone else is able to do it, they get into it and that began and that bubble burst a few years ago and that took a lot of people down with them. Because seeing someone else have something that they thought they ought to have and they really couldn't afford.

(Steve Myers)

We forget that all important passage that you had mentioned from the Bible where the borrower becomes the slave of the lender and that at sometime you are going to have to pay that lender back and we can't put it off forever. Then it comes and it's a problem.

(Gary Petty)

That's one very important biblical principle about managing your finances. What's some other important biblical principles when it comes to finances.

(Darris McNeely)

Saving for a rainy day. Pay yourself. Learn to put aside a little bit of money each month in an account you can't get to, it's not easily accessible. But pay yourself, watch that grow. It's the fundamental principle that works and if you can build that habit but then you will avoid the debt, you will have the money for an emergency, you'll have that money for something you really do need and perhaps even want when it comes time for you to have that if you build that habit. That's one of the most important I think.

(Gary Petty)

Isn't it amazing too people forget the biblical principle of tithing?

(Steve Myers)

Absolutely. I mean Christ said be a good steward and if we're going to be a good steward put first the priorities first and you've got to pay God right? You've got to show that you want to pay God, that you want to follow Him and so tithing is a way we can do that.

(Gary Petty)

It's out of appreciation, I mean God doesn't need wealth. But we are to give back in appreciation and God blesses us. People don't want to accept that. That's a law. That's a spiritual principle. It's in the Bible. If you don't believe it I challenge you to try it.

You know today we are offering you a free copy of Managing Your Finances. And we're not going to ask you for money. If you don't believe me, order it, read it and see if we contact you for money. You will learn what the Bible says about wealth, keys to successful money management, how to budget, how to avoid those money battles that can ruin your marriage, how to avoid financial black holes. And the most important key, how to find God's blessing in your life. When you order your copy we'll send you a free one year subscription to the Good News magazine. Go on line right now to BeyondToday.tv to read or order your free copy of Managing Your Finances or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 that's 1-888-886-8632 or go on line to BeyondToday.tv and of course you can follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

Anxiety over money is a leading cause of arguments between husbands and wives. Financial worries can cause stress that lead to alcohol abuse, depression and feelings of worthlessness. What can you do to get control of your money?

Well first recognize that God understands your needs and wants to be involved in your life. Jesus said to first seek God's Kingdom and His righteousness and God will help take care of your needs. Life is more than just getting stuff.

Now secondly get control of your money by learning how to budget, get a budget sheet that organizes your monthly income and expenses. Keep a record of every dollar you spend so you can see where your money is going. And don't forget to give God His share first.

And third, get out of debt even if it means lowering your standard of living in the short run. You know these aren't easy solutions. It's going to take time, work and sometimes giving up some of those non-essential luxuries. Peace of mind is worth it. Your life can get better simply by following the way of life given to us by the Creator of life.

Listen to His Voice

The duty of a shepherd is to take charge of a flock of sheep. In ancient times as well as in some places today, a shepherd goes to the fold in the morning, where several flocks might be lying. He then calls to the sheep. His sheep recognize his voice and follow him. The other sheep that don’t belong to him pay no attention to that strange voice.

An amazing fact is that those sheep that are kept near the shepherd each have name. They answer to that name.

The shepherd leads his flock to pasture and spends the day with them and at times the night as well. If a wild animal or poacher intrudes on the flock, the shepherd is quick to defend them with his rod. He keeps the restless sheep from planted fields or dangerous paths and guides them with his staff.

If a sheep strays, he searches for it and brings it back and tenderly cares for the fragile and the weak. And if the pastures dry up or become covered with snow, the shepherd provides food for the flock of branches of leaves and tender shoots of the forest.

No wonder the Bible compares Jesus Christ to a shepherd. And not just any old shepherd but the good Shepherd.

He sacrificed all and laid down his life for you—for the sheep. He comes to the fold and calls out his own sheep by name—they're called out and brought together as His flock, His church. They recognize his voice as he calls and they answer and follow him and refuse to follow any other.

Do you recognize His voice? Do you answer His call? Do you follow His lead, and ignore the distracting voices?

Jesus Christ wants you in the fold. He truly loves and cares for you. So be sure to listen to His voice and follow the good Shepherd. (John 10:1-18).

Sunsets and Clouds

Sunsets are all beautiful, but the most spectacular sunsets are seen when there are clouds in the sky. Shades of purple, pink, red and yellow are displayed in a state of constantly changing beauty. No doubt we have said “wow” at some point as we have observed this display of beauty.

We, too, can be like the sunsets. Sometimes we have clouds in our lives that allow our true potential to be seen. These opportunities allow us to experience sorrow and joy while giving us the opportunity to show admirable character and a steadfast light. There are none more admired and respected than those who bravely face the clouds and storms of their lives—they are an inspiration to us all. James said to rejoice when you have a trial (James 1:2). It is an opportunity to inspire others.

What does the expression "soul and spirit" in Hebrews 4:12 mean?

Does this verse imply that the spirit and the soul can be separated? What does this verse teach about the Word of God?

Hebrews 4:12 says: "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

The expression "soul and spirit" needs to be understood in the context in which it is written. The point of the verse is not that it's possible to separate soul (Greek, psuche) from spirit (Greek, pneuma). The words actually have similar meanings in the Greek. Rather, the point is that God's Word is alive, powerful and sharp.

The New International Commentary on the New Testament volume on Hebrews by F.F. Bruce mentions these phrases "are to be understood as a 'rhetorical accumulation of terms to express the whole mental nature of man on all sides.'" If we fervently and sincerely study God's Word, the Holy Bible, it will help us to see the wrong thoughts and motives within us that must be changed in order to come to have the mind of Jesus Christ.

Pass It On

We live among family, friends and strangers on this earth. We have the ability to decide how we live and how we interact with one another; we learn these skills as children and develop them into adulthood as we grow in knowledge. We can cause sorrow or we can cause joy in others. We can be sad or we can be glad.

It is a good goal to make at least one other person happy every day. The various scouting organizations encourage boys and girls to do one good deed every day. They try to make just a little difference in the life of someone else. That is a noble goal. It is designed to help and develop the scout as well as the recipient of the good deed.

Make at least one person happy every day and you will soon realize that you are happy too. There is an “echo” to passing on a compliment or happiness. These principles are taught in the Bible. We reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) and we gain by first giving something away (Luke 6:38). But it is important to realize that when we pass something on, we should not expect something in return. Whatever comes back may not be what we expect, and we may not recognize its value. Just pass it on and know that you’ve helped to encourage others!

Hope In God

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." Psalm 43:5

Hope in God. As believers in Jesus Christ we have the wonderful joy of hoping in God for good things for the future.

What does hope mean? The dictionary says to hope is "to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe, desire, or trust."

Without God, our hopes may be in vain. With God, we know that if we have truly accepted Christ as Savior and Lord we will have eternal life in heaven. Our sins are forgiven. God will protect and watch over us as we trust in Him. He will provide for us and care for our needs. God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives.

We can trust God for good things for our families and loved ones. Even when difficulties come, God will see us through them and will care for us and protect us. We can have joy in God's Holy Spirit. We may not know exactly what will happen in the future, but we know God will be with us in this life and in the next.

An old song says "Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." We are protected and loved and cared for by God not because of our own goodness but because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. To God be all the praise and glory! God loves you and He will protect and care for you and lead you and guide you.

So, this week, let us pray that

• God will give you joy and hope for a wonderful future in His great love
• God will provide financially for our ministry at Global Media Outreach and protect us so we can reach even more people for Jesus Christ
• The whole world will know that Jesus Christ can give eternal life and hope for the future

THANK YOU so much for your prayers.

May God bless you.

The World Cup: Counting the Cost

For a small African country, hosting the world's most-watched sporting championship is a once-in-a-lifetime event! It's an event that South Africa has been looking forward to for six years.

But what of the cost of staging such a world-class event?

The $1.2 billion that FIFA (the world soccer federation) has spent on South Africa is more than for any World Cup (WC) in history, according to Business Report (June 17, 2010). Roadto2010WorldCupFinal.blogspot.com estimated the total costs to the country to be around $3.7 billion (March 19, 2008).

"Some more mind boggling numbers to consider," declares SportandDev.org (June 2, 2010): "More than $400 million was spent to renovate the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg; Green Point Stadium in Cape Town was built for $600 million; and a 70,000-seat stadium was built in Durban for $450 million, and that's just a sampling of the money trail.

"Should these jaw-dropping sums of money be spent to erect soccer stadiums in cities where countless children living in the shadows of these extravagant structures don't have...even the equipment to play?"

The New York Times wondered: "How could there be money for a 46,000-seat stadium [in Nelspruit] while many of [the local people] still fetch water from dirty puddles and live without electricity or toilets?" (March 12, 2010).

According to Forbes.com,"South Africa will be saddled with 10 new or newly renovated football stadiums that are much too large for domestic demand and require a large amount of spending for upkeep and maintenance" (June 21, 2010).

Other costs to consider

What about other indirect costs?

Pretoria News Weekend reported June 19 that around $3 million of public money had been spent so far by government departments and state entities on tournament tickets. "Trade Union Nehawu blasted the spending by 'shameless bureaucratic fatcats. Our union finds it totally unacceptable that our townships are burning because of poor service delivery and millions go hungry every day—yet the...state bureaucrats are stealing taxpayers' money to watch soccer.'"

Telegraph.co.uk had this scathing assessment on June 21: "Present estimates of total cost are 757% above the original guesstimates... The WC expenditure has displaced investment in projects with more intrinsic and long-term priorities such as health and education. It is estimated that WC-related infrastructure spending is equivalent to ten years of housing investment. For every seven seats in the new stadiums a fully equipped school library could have been built—only 7% of South Africa's schools have functioning libraries...

"When South Africa was announced as the host for FIFA's premier event, it was vaunted as a great expression of the so-called Rainbow Nation to bridge social, economic and political interests.

"Here is the reality: The trade unions have been instructed not to strike for the duration of the WC; the matches are not accessible to most local people due to relative remoteness and prohibitive cost; an unofficial 'blind eye' has been turned to human trafficking...leading up to WC; and...South Africa's sometimes shameful behaviour towards other Africans is rearing its head with reports of renewed hostility towards [African] refugees, professionals and business people. Frankly the government was asking a lot from a small leather soccer ball to resolve the country's complex social dilemmas.

"Soccer is historically the sport of the black working class majority and it is this majority who have greatest need of any benefits derived from this event. Unemployment stands at over 40% and youth unemployment stands at nearly 70%" (emphasis added).

The future

Indeed, it could take years for the economy of South Africa to return to normal. But why is it that this country is now facing such an arsenal of maladies?

The loss of God's blessings is hardly surprising considering the way many South Africans (in keeping with the norms of the modern world) continue to ignore the religious and moral standards upon which their nation was built. Too many allow decadence, immorality and pleasure seeking to consume their lives, as our whole world moves farther and farther away from God.

The incredible news is that a better world is in the making, one in which hunger, poverty, pestilence and disease will be unknown. At that time the entire world will learn the way of peace! All nations will live by God's righteous laws! And "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:9).

European Financial Crisis May Result in Significant Political Changes

As European leaders talk of the need for greater integration of their finances, some countries may have to leave the eurozone. Could this lead to a two-tiered Europe, with a solid core of nations built around Germany and German principles of tight money?

The world looks different from the heart of Europe.

English-language television channels in hotels are not a given, and sometimes it's difficult to even find a newspaper in English. This is not meant as a criticism—it's even more difficult to find a German- or French-language newspaper in the Midwest of the United States. But the shortage of English-language media can be frustrating when you like to keep up on what's happening in the world.

CNBC Europe was offered in one of the hotels I stayed in during a recent visit. As its name suggests, this is a European-based version of CNBC, an American financial news channel. It's very European-oriented, with business news from all over Europe and Turkey.

There was some news of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico but not much. Most of the news was centered on the European financial crisis and attempts to resolve it.

One commentator remarked on how there are two clearly differing approaches to the current international financial crisis: what she called "the Anglo-American model" and the "Franco-German model." Whereas the United States believes that the solution to the international debt crisis is yet more debt, Germany model advocates that only tight money will get us out of this mess. Even the new British government has reined in spending.

There was a great deal of talk about what used to be called a two-tiered Europe, although I did not hear that term used once on CNBC. The idea was expressed frequently, though, as a solution to Europe's crisis—dropping the "PIIGS" (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), while the other 11 members of the eurozone would surge ahead with an even closer union, built around Germany. It was also speculated that some of the PIIGS might drop out themselves, since they would then have greater freedom to maneuver.

Meanwhile, the recent 25 percent fall in the value of the euro has not done Germany great harm. The Wall Street Journal's European edition reported June 9 that manufacturing orders for German products is up 29.8 percent over last year ("Industrial Output Grows in Germany"). It was also pointed out on CNBC Europe that the average value for the euro during the last 10 years has been $1.17, so the currency is still higher than the historical average. The fall in the value of the euro has boosted international orders for German products. Other countries in the eurozone are also benefitting ("Euro Zone Posts Trade Surplus," Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2010).

Austerity ahead

But austerity was the dominant subject on the financial news channel. Faced with massive public spending cuts, European nations are set to experience great austerity in coming years. It should be mentioned that the United States is likely to follow, as American states are in no better shape than European countries.

Germans are not inclined to follow America's example of more stimulus money. The popular idea taught in American schools is that only big government spending programs got the United States out of the Depression in the 1930s. German memories are different.

"The two economic events which were seen as having had the most decisive influence on modern German history were, firstly, the Gründerkrach [Founders Crash] of 1873-4 and the subsequent period of stagnation...and, secondly, the Slump of 1929-32, usually seen as the main cause of the collapse of the Weimar Republic. In the popular mind, however, equal if not greater importance has long been attached to the 1923 hyperinflation, the 'memory' of which is frequently cited to explain the relative stringency of recent...German monetary policy" (Niall Ferguson, Paper and Iron, 1995, introduction).

Of course, there is little "memory" of these events other than what people learn in school or from a book or documentary, just as Americans have learned that the solution to an economic slump is big spending. These are clearly two different approaches. It remains to be seen which one will win out.

Bible prophecy shows that a final union of 10 kings or leaders will form in Europe, a modern successor to the Roman Empire. "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour [a short time] as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast" (Revelation 17:12-13).

Eighty years ago, the international financial crisis resulted in significant changes in Europe. The slump that followed the 1929 crash led to the collapse of democracy in a number of countries, not just Germany where Hitler's Third Reich replaced the democratic Weimar Republic. Right across Europe fascism triumphed.

I'm not suggesting that fascism as it was could triumph again, but democracy as it is today is unlikely to weather the severe austerity storms that lie ahead. Greece has seen massive riots and strikes following an announcement of cuts in public spending. Public order will need to be enforced even as people see their standard of living drop dramatically. Portugal, Spain and Greece were fascist dictatorships until the 1970s—it's not inconceivable that they could turn once again to a strong centralized form of government.

Revelation 17:13 shows that such a development will happen among the 10 as "they will give their power and authority to the beast." The "beast" refers to the supreme federal leader, the dictator who will emerge at the top of the new union, as well as the empire he rules.

Whenever I travel through Europe, I like to read The Wall Street Journal's European edition. It has a good feel for developments across the continent. The headlines on June 9 included the following: "Spain's Government Workers Begin Strike"; "UK Should Slash Debts, Says Fitch"; "Budget Fears Take Over Dutch Voting"; "Hungary Moves to Close Budget Gap"; "Greek Inflation Jumps, Lifted by Fuel Costs, Taxes"; "EU Aides Urge Joint Planning." The last item shows the push for greater financial integration.

The French and German leaders met a few days later and agreed on the need for greater control of national budgets to avoid another Greek or Spanish crisis. This would mean a far greater loss of independence than the British would agree to. Others may feel they cannot abide by the strict rules. The outcome could be a very different Europe.

Odds of a prolonged slump are rising

Further food for thought on the global financial crisis, and the implications for Europe and the United States appeared June 18 on the Eurointelligence.com Web site.

Quoting from U.S. economist Paul Krugman in a segment titled "Krugman says it's back to the 1930s," the Web site states: "German deficit hawkery... has nothing to do with fiscal realism. Instead, it's about moralizing and posturing. Germans tend to think of running deficits as being morally wrong, while balancing budgets is considered virtuous, never mind the circumstances of economic logic.

"German austerity will worsen the crisis in the euro area, making it that much harder for Spain and other troubled economies to recover. Europe's troubles are also leading to a weak euro, which perversely helps German manufacturing, but also exports the consequences of German austerity to the rest of the world, including the United States.

"How bad will it be? Will it really be 1937 all over again? I don't know. What I do know is that economic policy around the world has taken a major wrong turn, and that the odds of a prolonged slump are rising by the day."

Eurointelligence.com also quoted from the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, who warned in The Wall Street Journal that "the US might soon face a borrowing limit," which would mean an end to stimulus programs and necessitate austerity measures similar to the nations of Europe.

The BBC's Web site June 18 quoted President Obama as warning other nations not to reduce their debts too quickly, "as it would put economic recovery at risk."

The article later noted, "But Mr. Obama said the US would still aim to halve its own deficit by 2013. The US budget deficit would be cut to 3% of GDP by 2015, the president said" ("Obama Warns G20 Leaders on Budget Cuts").

Interestingly, 3 percent is the eurozone limit rule, which has been in effect for a decade, though countries like Greece did not abide by the rule. This is what's behind the push for stricter controls in Europe.

Looking at the worsening financial situation from both sides of the Atlantic gives an interesting perspective. Whereas approaches are certainly different, the end result may be the same in both Europe and the United States—austerity and a prolonged slump!

World War: Will It Happen Again?

The lack of a major world conflict for the past 65 years reassures some that the world will never again face another world war. But is our world really growing safer? And what does Bible prophecy reveal about a future world war?

This year marks 65 years since the end of World War II. Nations around the globe pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their lives for their countries in the greatest conflict the world has ever seen. Some people hope remembering the catastrophic events will help ensure such a devastating global war will never happen again.

But have the nations of the world really learned their lessons? The cycle of war continues unabated and technological advances make future wars more dangerous. The current reshuffling in the world's balance of power will likely generate more instability, infighting and conflict. And still lurking behind the scenes is the deadly root cause of war. What does the Bible reveal about where our world is ultimately headed?

Honoring the sacrifice

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit the U.S. World War II memorial while touring Washington, D.C., earlier this year. It is strategically located at the east end of the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Both the Atlantic and Pacific pavilion pillars are dedicated in honor of the 16 million who served in the armed forces, the more than 400,000 Americans who died and the millions who supported the war effort from home. It is a tribute to what some call "the greatest generation" and their sacrifice, heroism and commitment in the common defense of the nation and to the broader causes of peace and freedom from tyranny throughout the world.

Former NBC television news anchor Tom Brokaw encapsulated the war effort during the dedication ceremony in 2004. "Men, women, young and old, everyone had a role. Farm boys who had never been in an airplane were soon flying new bombers with four engines. Surgical nurses were in mash [sic] units on front lines operating while they were being shelled.

"Teenagers were wearing sergeant stripes and fighting from North Africa to Rome. Guys from the city streets were in close quarter combat in dense jungles. Women were building ships and whatever were needed and driving trucks. Kids went without gum and new toys and in too many cases they went the rest of their lives without fathers they never knew" ("Dedication Speakers," www.wwiimemorial.com, May 29, 2004).

Worldwide impact

Looking back, it may be hard to comprehend the far-reaching impact of the deadliest military conflict in history. During the six years of the war, more than 100 nations became involved on several continents. The number of military personnel mobilized exceeded 100 million. And most nations placed their entire economic, industrial and scientific capabilities into the war effort as the world degenerated into a state of "total war."

Margaret MacMillan of The Guardian newspaper summarizes the resulting upheaval: "During the war, millions more had fled their homes or been forcibly moved... In Germany, it has been estimated, 70% of housing had gone and, in the Soviet Union, 1,700 towns and 70,000 villages. Factories and workshops were in ruins, fields, forests and vineyards ripped to pieces...

"Britain had largely bankrupted itself fighting the war and France had been stripped bare by the Germans... The four horsemen of the apocalypse—pestilence, war, famine and death—so familiar during the middle ages, appeared again in the modern world" ("Rebuilding the World After the Second World War," Sept. 11, 2009).

The war expanded to include all of the enemy's territory, blurring the distinction between combatant and noncombatant. So monstrous was the devastation that between 50 and 70 million people perished. About 65 percent were civilians, a major increase from the 5 percent common in war at the beginning of the 20th century, according to the United Nations.

Today, civilian casualties of war are as high as 90 percent, reflecting humanity's increasing indiscriminate capacity to kill.

Cycle of wars

In spite of the unspeakable devastation, carnage and death, neither World War II nor World War I, which preceded it by two decades, proved to be the war to end all wars. The cycle of war simply appears unbreakable.

The Encyclopedia of Conflicts records "more than 170 significant post–World War II conflicts around the globe" (second edition, December 2006). And Cornell University's Peace Studies Program totals more than 41 million war-related deaths since World War II (Milton Leitenberg, "Deaths in Wars and Conflicts in the 20th Century," 2006).

At any given time, about a fourth of the nations of the world are caught up in some form of armed conflict. Foreign Policy magazine reports, "From the bloody civil wars in Africa to the rag-tag insurgences [sic] in Southeast Asia, 33 conflicts are raging around the world today" (Kayvan Farzaneh, Andrew Swift and Peter Williams, "Planet War," Feb. 22, 2010).

To many people, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the ongoing struggle with Islamic extremism may seem like only distant conflicts. Yet these wars have taken the lives of more than 6,400 coalition forces and more than 20 times that many enemy combatants and civilians.

Terrorists bring the bloody reality of war closer to home with an estimated 36,000 attacks and 57,000 fatalities since Sept. 11, 2001.

Past wars have not taught us to be more peaceful. They have taught us to kill more indiscriminately and more efficiently.

Sophisticated weaponry

The growing technological sophistication of modern implements of war makes future wars even more frightening. Consider nuclear weapons, the most potent explosive devices ever invented. The fission bombs of 1945 are no more than primitive versions of the first-stage triggers of modern nuclear weapons, like a match that lights the explosion.

A 1-megaton thermonuclear weapon releases 100,000 times greater energy than the largest 10-ton "blockbuster" bomb of World War II. Its yield is equivalent to a million tons of TNT, producing an incandescent fireball that vaporizes everything in its path with blinding light, searing heat and lethal radioactive fallout over many miles.

And newly developed sea and land-based delivery systems can bring this ominous threat to a nation in less than 30 minutes.

Nuclear terrorism is also a major concern. U.S. President Barak Obama identifies it as "the most immediate and extreme threat to global security." The Washington Post also reports that "Just 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium—about the size of a grapefruit—is needed to make a small nuclear device." And "there is enough 'weapons-usable nuclear material' in the world to build more than 120,000 nuclear bombs" (Scott Wilson and Mary Beth Sheridan, "Obama Leads Summit Effort to Secure Nuclear Materials," April 11, 2010).

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton describes the impact of a small nuclear weapon with only about half the explosive power of the one dropped on Nagasaki at the close of World War II. "A 10-kiloton nuclear bomb detonated in Times Square in New York City would kill a million people.

"Many more would suffer from the hemorrhaging and weakness that comes from radiation sickness...Beyond the human cost a nuclear terrorist attack would also touch off a tsunami of social and economic consequences across our country" (Associated Press, "US: al-Qaida Exemplifies New-Age Nuclear Threat," April 9, 2010).

The growing sophistication of our weapons of war makes it appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity.

Changing balance of power

Major tectonic shifts in the world's balance of power could lead to more chaotic times furthering the likelihood of war. As old alliances break down, the world becomes a less stable place. Small skirmishes are more likely to mushroom into regional or even world war.

Many experts express concern, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Kissinger, in an interview a couple of years ago on the Charlie Rose Show, stated that the "international system is in a period of change like we haven't seen for several hundred years" (emphasis added throughout)

On the same program Brzezinski said, "The political awakening that is happening worldwide is a major challenge for America, because it means that the world is much more restless. It's stirring. It has aspirations which are not easily satisfied" (June 15, 2007).

Kissinger underscored this point in his classic book Diplomacy:"International systems live precariously. Every 'world order' expresses an aspiration to permanence; the very term has a ring of eternity about it. Yet the elements which comprise it are in constant flux; indeed, with each century, the duration of international systems has been shrinking... Never before have the components of world order, their capacity to interact, and their goals all changed quite so rapidly, so deeply, or so globally.

"Whenever the entities constituting the international system change their character, a period of turmoil inevitably follows" (1994, p. 806).

This major global readjustment is occurring on many fronts simultaneously. The Middle East appears in perpetual conflict. North Korea and Iran seek power through nuclear weapons.

Almost two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is like a mother bear that lost her cubs—looking for a new identity and her place in the world. Her paw still packs a powerful nuclear punch.

The European Union (EU) is like a multiheaded beast with old forces of national self-interest and disorder lurking beneath the surface.

China, the Asian dragon, is bobbing and weaving its way to independent superpower status with a growing anti-Western tone. China's and India's exploding populations and economic growth will likely lead to additional diplomatic and military entanglements at the expense of the United States and EU.

Mixing together all these profound global changes is like trying to brew a new world order with vastly different ingredients—some blending, some conflicting and some maybe even poisoning the entire global pot.

Heart of the problem

Above all, what underlies the growing potential for a major world war is the root cause of war itself. Newsweek journalist Evan Thomas grapples with the age-old question of the cause of war in his new book titled The War Lovers. "The reasons and causes—territory, ideology, WMDs—may change with the times, but our lust for it is eternal... War fever, I believe, never really goes away. It is too fundamental to the male psyche" ("Why Men Love War," Newsweek, May 10, 2010).

This root cause of war is an aspect of our human nature. The Bible explains that our human nature is a warring nature, and it resides in all of us to one degree or another. Until it is tamed and redirected for good, it naturally spawns selfishness, lust, and a desire for power over others. These forces lead to envy, strife and war (Romans 8:5-8; 13:13-14).

The apostle James makes this clear. "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them" (James 4:1-2, New Living Translation).

Until warring human nature is changed, the world will never have peace. Literal peace on earth will only come when Jesus Christ returns and begins to change the hearts of all mankind, putting an end to war and teaching a better way to live (Micah 4:1-4). He will transform the world by transforming human nature through the power of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17, 21).

Only then will humanity's history be marked by peaceful achievements and not by bloody wars (Amos 9:13-15; Ezekiel 36:35-38; Zechariah 14:10-11).

Coming world war

Jesus Christ understood the reality of human nature and predicted wars would continue through the tiresome ebb and flow of history, culminating in a final world war (Matthew 24:6-8; 21-22). The apostle John's graphic vision of the ghoulish ride of the red horseman of the Apocalypse also illustrates this gruesome progression of war (Revelation 6:4).

Do not be lulled to sleep. A major world war is on the horizon. The harsh realities of our world demonstrate that the cycle of war remains unbroken. Technological advances make war more deadly than ever before. The global realignment of world power will likely lead to more infighting and conflict as the root cause of war—human nature—pushes humanity to the brink of total annihilation.

Jesus Christ and the prophets Daniel, Jeremiah, Zechariah and John all describe this final world war as far worse than anything the world has ever seen—including World War II (Matthew 24:21-22; Daniel 11:40-12:1; Jeremiah 30:6-7; Zechariah 14:1-3; Revelation 9:13-19; 16:14-16).

The good news is that Jesus Christ will return in time to end the madness of unchecked human nature. The Captain of humanity's salvation (Hebrews 2:10) will inaugurate a 1,000-year period of peace often called the Millennium (Revelation 20:6).

It is during this time that the incredible words recorded by Isaiah will be fulfilled: "He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).

May God and His Son, Jesus Christ, the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), hasten that day!

Connections

Do any of you suffer from digital deprivation if you are away from your computer or smartphone for more than a few minutes? Do you feel the need to be continually connected to the Internet and social media? If so, you may be one of those people who scientists say get a shot of dopamine to the brain with the digital stimulation of e-mail and Internet surfing. You can actually get to the point where you need this stimulation. It's like an addiction.

Now, don't worry. I am not going to advocate completely unplugging from our wired world, although I admit I've had the temptation sometimes. But when I ran across a recent New York Times article that profiled a guy who cannot bear to be unplugged, it got me thinking about my habits.

This Internet entrepreneur goes to sleep at night with his iPhone or iPad on his chest. When he wakes in the morning, it is the first thing he reaches for. When he takes the subway into the city, he knows exactly how long he will be off-line—221 seconds—as the train goes through a tunnel.

Scientists who study the impact of multitasking and Web surfing on the human brain say such activity is rewiring our brains. Multitasking may increase productivity, but it can lead to a distinct lack of focus and fractured thinking. Beyond this, the heavy use of technology can have a significant impact on relations within families, as people neglect relationships with their mates and their children.

But the most important relationship that can suffer is the one with our Creator. Too much digital life can sever the connection to a spiritual life. If we disconnect spiritually, we are in deep trouble.

I was recently reading in the book of Amos, "The lord called me away from my flock and told me, 'Go and prophesy to my people in Israel'" (Amos 7:15, New Living Translation).

I wondered, How did God call and speak to Amos, or to any prophet for that matter? I can understand visions, which many prophets had. But when they say "the Lord spoke" or something similar, what exactly was the method?

Amos took care of sheep for a living. He spent time out in the fields. He slept in the open, under the stars. His spent a lot of time alone, and he probably had limited human contact. He had little to distract him so he could actually "hear" God. You and I are not called to deliver prophetic utterances, but we do desire to obey and respond to God's instruction.

Are you able to filter out the clutter of modern life and focus enough to hear the "still small voice" of God amid the loud thunder of the modern world?

Elijah fled into a cave during a personal crisis and learned a lesson about "hearing" God. God was not in the noise and clamor of wind, earthquake and fire. God was loud and clear in a "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12).

Do you want to "hear" God? Do you want to be led by His Spirit? We can begin by creating conditions that allow us to hear. For a lot of us that may mean removing the clutter and distractions of our modern world. Or at the very least, managing them better so we do not lose that all-important connection with our spiritual Father.

Hearing and being led by the voice of God requires dedicated quiet time. We don't have to be prophets to respond to the calling of God and to do deeds of righteousness. All we have to be are sincere Christians yielding ourselves to God's will. Let us determine to use our modern digital world wisely, remembering our priorities, so we can hear and obey God.