Tomorrow is the start of a new year - new beginnings - new habits - new attitudes.  Praise God!

For Christmas my husband, Paul, gave me a wonderful little book titled Amish Prayers compiled by Beverly Lewis.  These prayers come from the German prayer book Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht printed in 1708 and have now been translated into English.

My 'new beginning' - 'new habit' - 'new attitude' is to use this blog to bring you these wonderful prayers so you, too, can pray them with me.   What could be better in this fallen world than for us to raise our voices together to praise the God who created us, loves us and saved us from ourselves.  I hope you will bookmark my blog and pray in unison to our great and mighty God. 

Amen 

Forgive Me

(from the blog -  i am servant )

July 1, 2010

 

I read this quote recently, and it conjured up a variety of counterproductive emotions in me.
“I like to define forgiveness as ‘giving up the right to punish the one who has hurt you.’ That’s what Jesus did on the cross.”
-Jan Silvious

Wow.

I am sure other people dont do this, but I have spent a lifetime perfecting the art of punishing people for their transgressions against me.

I can remember doing it as a child. If someone offended me or mistreated me I made it my unspoken mission to make them suffer as I had.

I used forgiveness as a weapon, a form of strategic manipulation in my ultimate battle to see who was the most ‘right’.

Thats very important to me you see… to be right.

When someone sought my forgiveness I had determined that it meant I was right. They were wrong and I had won.

This distorted view of forgiveness has brought me to disturbing conclusion.
I am wrong.

Over and over again, I am (was, is, have been) wrong.

Coming from someone who spent a lifetime trying to convince the world (and myself) that I am right, this is a horrific admission.

I read an excerpt from my Bible on forgiveness:

“Love is the prime ingredient in forgiveness. Often the one wounded must forgive with an act of the will, giving time for working through feelings and experiencing healing. Forgiveness comes with the removal of past offenses from the mind, followed by meditation on Scripture, giving over to God our hurts, praying for the offender, and serving as a willing channel for God’s grace.

…Forgiveness is the willingness to search for new solutions. (not mine or yours, but a new mutually acceptable way)

You must use words that do not cast blame or create questions. You must be concerned with seeking forgiveness only for your wrong. You must remember that a forgiving attitude does not excuse self, defend self, or accuse another.”
(emphasis mine)

I love the transparent and authentic forgiveness that is God’s perfect design. His recipe is flawless. His way ideal.

I have been on a mission to seek forgiveness from everyone that I have wronged. (and shamefully, the list is long) Some have offered me mercy, some have not. Some hurts run deeper then others.
What I am learning is that through forgiveness, I am truly finding out what mercy is.

“Seeking forgiveness frees you to receive Gods mercy.” (from my Bible, ‘The Womens Study Bible’)
And after I try to amend the wrongs I have done on this earth, I can lay them all at the feet of Jesus, and he wipes the slate clean.

Now, my responsibility doesn’t end! I must seek to change my behavior! To learn from my errors.
But He doesnt hold them over my head… He doesnt whisper in my ear, “You dont deserve this joy Amanda, remember that one time you did that bad thing?”

He whispers, “I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. You are forgiven.”

John Piper - Why Christmas?

Misguided Anger

By James Robison

 

“Be angry, and sin not.”[1] The Scripture goes on to say we are not to let the sun go down on our wrath. This is a clear indication of how adversely animosity, hurt, and resentment can affect us. Although there are numerous occasions when we should be deeply disturbed, even angry, about damaging or evil practices, we must not allow them to lead us into bitterness.

There’s plenty for Americans to be concerned, unhappy, and angry about. It could be because of personal failure, evil actions, bad policies, political leaders, or economic woes. Our nation and most people normally take action because they are mad about something or at someone, or sometimes both. We’ve become a reactionary people instead of a responsive people. Reacting hastily and with anger produces far less than the best or even desired results. We need to respond to truth and act with patience and wisdom.

Our truly blessed and once-great nation will never see the desired and necessary changes until we respond appropriately. Now is the time to take action—not because we are mad at someone or something, but because we love Someone. We should love God and others (the two great commandments of Christ). When this happens, we will recognize truth and see clearly what is best for us personally and nationally to the benefit of all citizens.

Whether anyone agrees with me or believes it, America has drifted from God, our roots and our foundation. It is important to love America, but we must first love God. If we do not, our focus will be misdirected. “Love is patient and kind, not boastful, proud or rude; does not seek its own way; is not irritable and does not keep records of wrongs committed against it and will not allow a root of bitterness to spring up defiling many. Love rejoices when truth wins. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance or challenge. Faith, hope, and love last forever, but the greatest of these is love.”

Now is the time for love-filled and faith-filled people to stand up and lead the way out of this present darkness. Anger will fail – love will not.

People of faith with a God-centered worldview far outnumber those who are committed to the upside-down godless worldview. The sad fact is, however, these groups who oppose God and free expressions of faith are wielding far more influence over our national direction. I agree with C.S. Lewis who said, “We must not remain neutral in the titanic struggle for the hearts and minds of the human race.”

James Russell Lowell shared in poetic style, “Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil side, Then it is the brave man who chooses, While the coward stands aside.” This is not a time for the timid, but for the bold who are compelled by love, not hatred, anger, and wrath.

In his first inaugural address, George Washington shared, “The propitious smiles of heaven fall only on that nation that does not disregard the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.” One of our nation’s wisest spokesmen, Noah Webster said, “The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.” Our founding fathers’ three-branch model for our government was patterned after Isaiah 33:22. “For the Lord is our judge [judicial], the Lord is our law giver [legislative], the Lord is our king [executive].”

For years, some Americans were angry at another race of people and lowered their value because of prevailing prejudice. This was not only foolish, it was damaging and dangerous. Today the anger of many is again misplaced. Venomous wrath has been focused on those considered rich—on those individuals who have succeeded and earned material possessions. Many of these create the majority of jobs, opportunities, and investments while meeting many pressing needs and carrying the greatest tax burden. According to the Heritage Foundation, the top 10% of earners paid 70% of all federal income taxes in 2008. A whopping 49% of U.S. households paid no federal income tax at all. The investment of the top wage-producers benefits virtually every American, yet where is the gratitude? The fact is there is ever-increasing hostility.

The anti-God, post modernists, one-world government and leftist liberals have much in common with Islamic radicals in their opposition to everything that made America great. David Horowitz stated, “In word and deed both of these allies [radical Islamists and radical Leftists] make it plain that they consider everything about the United States to be evil and unworthy of preservation, that they wish to see American society and its way of life crushed by any means necessary, including violent revolution.” We need modern-day Daniels who, like the three Hebrew children, refuse to bow the knee to any idol or godless belief system and practice.

To help correct America’s course, those who love God and truly care about others must resist misguided anger and all who are controlled by ingratitude. People are being encouraged to hate the very people who can best help alleviate our economic woes, helping provide jobs and opportunity for vast numbers of people. Attacking productive people is actually a way to commit economic suicide. It diminishes the potential of every citizen. God is no respecter of persons, and in His eyes, we are all equal—but He never promised equal results, outcome or wealth. Wealth is not and has never been a problem for the poor or less fortunate. It is in fact a part of the only hope for alleviating poverty anywhere. Even if a person believes in socialism, they still have to have a source from which to take the means they wish to distribute.
It’s a historic, irrefutable fact that when the state, national government, or leader takes total control, wealth diminishes and is even destroyed, and the entire population suffers in bondage to a form of what amounts to another Old Testament Pharaoh or New Testament intolerable imperial rule. Yet many nations are continually drifting into this pit of hopeless despair. Much of our population and media controlled by misplaced, misdirected anger will help destroy the only possible way out.

Wealth is not the problem of the rich or the poor. Greed and envy are the issue. God is the answer to both greed and lack. God is love, and His love must be expressed through us. It can touch everyone in a positive way. Most people can’t seem to wrap their mind around God. What they need to do is wrap God around their mind. We have a desperate need for “people who have understanding of the times.”

The only way we will correct our course is to love that which is right and shun that which is evil. It is a great detriment to resent or hate others. If we put first things first loving God with all our heart, we will also love truth, sound principles and recognize positive, effective policies. As people of faith, we should not try to get people to oppose an issue such as abortion just because they hate it—but because they love and value life. We resist excess on the part of individuals and government because we love biblical justice and understand the primary role for government is protecting freedom and the innocent while also punishing evil doers. It must never be seen as our source.

We take a stand not because we hate what we are opposed to or because we are against the people doing it, but because we love righteousness and truth. This is the approach necessary to turn things ar capitalism, Christ, church, Christians, Christianity, Christian, Congress, Consititution, deceit, Democracy, desires, election, envy, false idol, freedom, God, government, Lord, leaders, truth, United States, wealthound. Bitterness defiles and destroys. Love heals and restores. It is time to stand for and speak the truth in love. In order to see the highway of success restored in America, we must first come to understand the importance of living on the highway of holiness.

What Does The Bible Say About Lying?

There is a plague that is grieving the heart of God because it is preventable and can be stopped. It has spread among all churches and is particularly rampant in society. Even God’s ministers are not immune and many of them are infected with it.

What is this evil plague? You may be surprised as it appears rather harmless at first glance. It is now so commonplace that people are deceived into just accepting it as normal, instead of recognizing and resisting it. This epidemic is the practice of lying and dishonesty.

What does the Bible say about lying? A lying tongue is not only something God hates, it is also something that is an abomination to Him.

Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

EXAMPLES OF DISHONESTY

As the moral climate of our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem. The business world is particularly plagued by this problem--men’s dishonesty with each other, meetings "forgotten", company theft, promises not kept, contracts broken, etc. Lawyers have increased in numbers over the last decade, mainly because of irresponsibility and broken contracts among men due to lying. A news organization recently did a survey here in America and asked people several questions to determine the percentage of people who lied or were dishonest about things. Some of the questions were:

Do you cheat on your Income Tax Return?
Do you compliment people when you really don’t mean it?
Do you tell your spouse to tell callers you are not at home when you are there?
Do you tell "little white lies" if it will keep you out of trouble?
Do you tell creditors that "the check is in the mail" when you have not yet mailed it?
Do you exaggerate in repeating things you have heard?

The results of this survey determined that nearly 80% of Americans are not truthful under certain circumstances.* (Documented Survey Stats Below.) This is understandable when we look at the morals of our society but what about Christians? Have they fallen into the habit of lying also? Also, what constitutes a lie according to the Bible? Anything that is not the truth is a lie and God’s Word the Bible tells us what is truth. The Bible is the standard or measuring rod we must use in determining truth. Sadly, Christians are also succumbing to this epidemic of lying. Lying to each other has now become so commonplace, Christians too, have become liars.

THE FATHER OF LIES

Have you been lied to lately? Was it another Christian that lied to you? A minister perhaps? Each of us have had our trust in people undermined, or in some cases even destroyed because of lies. We would all agree that lying is an ugly evil. The Bible tells us that lying began with the devil and that he is the father of lies.

John 8:43-47 says, "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."

The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16

Before we point our finger at another for being a liar that we feel God needs to deal with, let us examine our own lives to see if we are infected with the same disease. What kind of witness are we to those around us? Are we deceived and have we become liars ourselves? Let us first give a definition as to what a lie is according to Webster’s dictionary:

1.) To make a statement that one knows is false, especially with the intent to deceive.
2.) To give a false impression or action or false statement, especially with the intent to deceive.
3.) To make a false statement in order to evade the truth.4.) The invention of a false story or excuse in order to deceive.

Perhaps for a Christian, a Biblical definition of lying could be summed up in this statement:

Any time our word does not agree with God’s Word.

In Numbers 23:19 the Bible says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

When we do not keep our word we are guilty of lying. Over the last year I have lost track of the number of times Christians have failed to keep their word to me. I am not angry or resentful or bitter over this, as the Lord has worked those attitudes out of my life. I have learned to take every offense to Him in prayer and He then removes any personal ill I might have and He gives me a forgiving and gracious attitude toward others. However, since I began to notice how many of God’s people were not keeping their word, I received a prayer burden of intercession for this evil to be removed from God’s people.

I first began praying about my own life and asked God to expose any areas where I might be guilty of this sin. I have tried to obey Romans 12:17-21 which says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

Most of the time I would just forgive these lying offences and would just pray for them and try to "live peaceably with all men." However, in prayer, the Lord spoke to my heart that I must go one step further and "speak the truth in love" to my brothers and sisters if I truly loved them.

Ephesians 4:15-16 says, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.""

If we, as the body of Christ, are to mature and grow up we must conform to the truth which is Jesus. The devil is behind every lie and as Christians we are admonished not to lie to one another.

Colossians 3:9-10 says, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."

TWO ROOTS OF DISHONESTY

The two main reasons we lie are usually rooted in either fear or pride. Fear is the first reason. We are afraid of the consequences if we tell the truth. Yielding to fear shows a lack of trust in God to take care of the situation. If we yield to God and do it His way He will usually give us favor with those that we fear. The other reason is pride. We are prideful and concerned about what men will think of us (desiring man’s approval instead of God’s approval.)

Jesus always kept His Word. God still keeps His Word and is faithful to keep every promise He makes in the Bible. That is why He is reliable and we can trust Him. We are called to be like Him. The Bible says that out of a man’s mouth proceeds what is in His heart. If we tell lies or fib then it means that we need a heart cleansing.

Matthew 15:18-20a says, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man..."

We need to ask God to cleanse our hearts and begin reading and studying the Bible so that His Word resides in our hearts. As we keep His Word and water it with prayer it will produce good fruit in our lives. Lying is not only speaking an untruth; another form of lying is not keeping our word to others.

Luke 8:15 says, "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.""

LITTLE "WHITE" LIES

Let us look at some specific ways the devil gets us to lie. We will expose some of his devices. These sorts of lies are being practiced by many Christians. Now remember, we are guilty of lying when we do not keep our word. Even if these sorts of lies seem harmless and don't appear to really hurt anyone else, they are harmful to our own souls. The more we practice telling untruths of any kind, the duller our conscience becomes.

1.) "I will call you back tomorrow." (This excuse is often used with a deliberate intent to deceive. The person does not call back at the appointed time and will call back at a much later date with excuses of why they were unable to call which usually goes something like: "I just was so busy, I meant to call , but did not get around to it." We all have been guilty of this, but we need to realize when we say we will do something we need to keep our word. We do understand there are legitimate reasons that make it impossible at times to keep our word. This is not the case we are referring to here. It would be better to not make this promise or to say, "I will try to call you back tomorrow.")

2.) "I will be happy to do that for you." (Whatever promise was made, it was not kept and their word about the matter causes them not to be trusted. The Holy Spirit is trying to purge this lack from His people and is using a group of men known as "Promise Keepers" to help restore trustworthiness back in the heads of families by stressing that they need to keep their promises.)

We could list numerous examples but these two cover a lot of territory; any time we say the words "I will" we need to be responsible to do it. We all, on occasion, fail to do the things we have good intentions of doing or we are hindered in some way and can’t do them. However, if we are unable to keep an appointment we should be thoughtful enough to call and cancel, or tell of our delayed arrival. We are living in an age when there are so many uncaring attitudes expressed. As Christians, we can be good witnesses by being different.

One of the biggest faults of many Christians, and our society as well, is that we tend to over-commit and then we are unable to keep our word. It is disheartening to see this shift prevalent in businesses. They commit to the jobs, then, are not able to produce them on time and thus the standard for business practices is shifting to not expecting them on time. Business people must now factor in lengthy time delays just to compensate for people’s lack of business ethics.

People that tend to over-commit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They want people to like them so they offer to do things for them, and because they are unable to keep their promises to all they end up not being able to keep their word; thus they are dishonest. In business it is usually greed that tends to cause them to over-commit. They want more business and more money, even when they must work from a backlog that was promised timely.

As Christians we need to ask the Lord to forgive us if we are guilty of lying or deceit. It is a very serious matter with God when we lie. (We can read of the incident of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 in the Bible. They both fell dead when they lied to the Holy Spirit.)

The Bible also lists this sin of lying as one that can lead us to hell along with some other grievous ones.Revelation 21:7-8 says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.""

We can be overcomers through the power of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be like Jesus. We not only do not want to lie, but we also want to keep our word so that people know we are honest and trustworthy. As Christians, we want to represent our Father well in this life and be honest and free from fabrication and fibbing.

Being Authentic

I'm reading Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg and finding myself needing some introspection.  Why do we Christians so often put on the SMILE for everyone - you know, the "my life is perfect; my marriage is perfect; my kids are perfect; I love everyone and nothing can get me down" smile.  Is that really attracting seekers to Christianity?  Or is is repelling them due to the hypocricy and phoniness of it all?  I mean, these people aren't stupid - in fact many of them are highly intelligent.  So are we fooling them when we "act" happy all the time?  Like Stepford wives?  Like there is one mold for Christians and we're all going to fit that mold or die trying?  God made us all so different with different personalities, character traits, desires, and talents.  He has a different purpose for each of us.  So lets stop trying to be just like the Christian that everyone puts up on a pedestal and be authentic.  Here's an excerpt from the book:

. . .  authentic identity.  I can't tell you how many brand new Christians stop me after our weekend services to say that part of what drew them to Christ was the realization that there can be great diversity in the makeup of God's family.

 

I remember one man's saying, "I came to this church expecting the leaders to be pushing everyone into the same mold.  And I anticipated hearing that there was a thoroughly defined set of specs for how a Christian should look, act, talk, smell, dress, and think.  But guess what?  I found exactly the oppostie to be true!

 

He continued by saying, "I was shocked to learn that there was no single mold that everybody had to be crammed into."  Then he said something I hope I'll never forget:  "I discovered I didn't have to renounce my identity to receive and follow Christ.  It blew my mind to learn that God cares deeply about me, He loves the way I'm put together, and He wants to use me in a fashion consistent with the design He gave me."

 

One of the greatest mistakes a believer can make is to renounce or repress his God-given uniqueness in a vain attempt to appear more spiritual.  That error is deadly on two counts.  First, after ten or fifteen years of identity repression you can totally lose your understanding of who you really are.  Second, there are some people outside the family of God who will never see Him for who He really is until they watch Him living and working authentically in one of His unique sons or daughters - one just like you!

 

Do you want to be a contagious Christian?  Then stop apologizing for your God-given design.  Quit trying to deny your individuality.  Give up on trying to stuff yourself into someone else's mold of what a good Christian should be.  That's not the game plan God has in mind for you.

The Trouble with Occupy Wall Street

By James Robison and Jay Richards

 

 

For the past month, thousands of Americans have “occupied” a park near Wall Street in New York, as well as many other American cities. The so-called Occupy Wall Street (OWS) throngs have had a hard time agreeing on a coherent list of demands, but they seem to agree that America’s free enterprise system—or what’s left of it—has got to go. They look at America and see greed, inequality, and a top one percent of income earners who take more than their fair share, and leave the rest of the 99% percent, supposedly, in destitution and poverty. If there’s one policy the protesters seem to agree on, it’s that the government needs to confiscate the wealth of this one percent and give it, apparently, to the protesters.
We’ve encountered a few well-meaning Christians who agree with the OWS movement. This concerns us, because Occupy Wall Street has mixed up a few legitimate concerns with envy and economic confusion.
The protestors are right to be bothered by the cozy relationship between the federal government and some businesses and banks. During and after the 2008 financial crisis, Americans sensed that the rules were manipulated and suspended for the politically well-connected. We saw the government protect and bail out certain banks and businesses because they were supposedly “too big to fail.” Whatever you call this—crony capitalism, crony socialism, corporatism—it’s a problem.
Some businesses are only too happy to solicit government favors to protect themselves from competition and to regulate and restrict their competitors. And we saw several keep their private gains but pass their losses on to taxpayers. Politicians for their part often assume the authority to pick winners and losers in the economy, using other people’s money. This is wrong, and we ought to denounce it, just as we would denounce a referee who tried to change the rules to benefit one team in a football game or any athletic competition.
But cronyism is not an example of the free market at work. As Christian friend and economic adviser Dave Ramsey points out in a recent column, the OWS protesters don’t seem to realize that tea partiers and defenders of the free market oppose these policies, too.
OWS is also fueled by the fact that millions of Americans are hurting. Unemployment has been over nine percent for most of the last three years, and most experts think that won’t drop much for the next year. Many of the protesters are disillusioned college students who have tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, but can’t find jobs that pay well enough to repay their debt. Our hearts go out to them.
So what do the OWS partisans propose to do about unemployment? Instead of calling for policies that free up business and entrepreneurs to invest in the future, they have issued scatter shot attacks on free enterprise, business, corporations, and the wealthy in general. Most of their unofficial list of demands calls on Congress to expand its power over business, the economy, and our lives.
Where do they think jobs come from? It’s been said that few people were ever employed by the poor. The last thing businesses and entrepreneurs need is more discouragement from the federal government.
Just because a few businesses seemed to conspire with government to escape the disciplines of the free market, and a few may have broken the law, that doesn’t mean that business, free enterprise, or financial success is the problem. It doesn’t mean that “Wall Street” is the problem. “Wall Street is a street that people drive on,” Dave Ramsey notes.“The New York Stock Exchange is a building where people exchange stocks in New York. This is the flea market of the financial world.” Where do the occupiers think businesses like Apple go to raise the capital to create jobs in the first place? Without a stock exchange, all of us would be much poorer.
Unfortunately, the occupiers don’t seem to understand how a free economy works. They imagine that the only way for Peter to get rich is by robbing Paul. Poverty, they imagine, is a side effect of wealth. Market competition leads to mass destitution.
But as we explain in detail in our forthcoming book, Indivisible, free enterprise does not mean that anything goes. The rich are not free to steal and defraud others. A free market is played according to certain rules. It only exists where there is respect for the rule of law, enforceable contracts, property titles, and the like.
Sure, there are winners and losers when businesses compete for the same customer, but free enterprise is not a zero-sum game overall. It’s a win-win game, where the success of our neighbors often benefits us as well. That doesn’t mean we all end up equally well off. It does mean that we’re all better off in a system that provides opportunities, rather than guarantees or entitlements, and that rewards hard work, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
As Dave Ramsey says: “Sure, there are some scoundrels, but the vast majority of successful men and women got that way by working hard and serving people—lots of people.” Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who recently died from pancreatic cancer, did not get rich by stealing his wealth from the other 99% of the population. He got rich by hard work and ingenuity, which ultimately created wealth for himself and for others. The same is true for many, if not most, successful business people in this country.
Many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters have iPhones and iPads, and benefit in untold ways from the productivity of the reviled “one percent.” In fact, without modern technologies, these protests, staged from New York and Philadelphia to San Francisco and Seattle, would never have gotten off the ground.
Besides their economic confusion, many of the protesters are consumed with the sin of envy. Though their outrage is often camouflaged as moral indignation, if you read the comments of the OWSers, you soon discover that many of them hate people who have more than they do. They should remember what Jesus said: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
Ironically, compared to the poor in the developing world, most of the OWSers are wealthy. We’re not just talking about Hollywood liberals like Michael Moore and progressive evangelical Jim Wallis, whose annual incomes are already close to the top one percent of income earners in the US. The occupiers’ incomes, on average, are almost surely in the top five to ten percent worldwide. They have benefited from free enterprise, whether they know it or not. And now they seek to destroy it.
We should do what we can to make sure that everyone plays by the same rules in the market. Policies that privatize profit but socialize loss have no place in a free and just economy. The OWSers are right to be upset about cronyism and high unemployment. In a time of economic hardship, however, we must resist the false prophets of the politics of envy.
We suggest you take Dave Ramsey’s challenge seriously. “And stop complaining that companies are TOO RICH while also complaining that they aren't RICH ENOUGH to hire you! I've seen a lot of you guys. I wouldn't hire you, either. But if you take all of that energy and excitement and pour it into something new and creative, you'll get the chance to serve a whole lot of people really well, and over a decade or two, you'll get to become the very thing you're now protesting: rich people who actually earned their money.”