After hearing “So God Made a Farmer” by Paul Harvey the other day it reminded me of how much I miss hearing his voice. Here’s something else by him that you might have never heard:

If I Were the Devil

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man’s effort, instead of God’s blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one’s own life, and invent machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.

I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the Bible is for the naive;

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.

Following an article I wrote recently, Bro. William Harkness sent me this story. It makes a great point about the need to get involved:

Dear friends, our beloved nation is in a horrible condition. But merely complaining about it won’t change it. We have to be willing to sacrifice to change things. Edmund Burke, considered one of the greatest political thinkers of England in the 18th century said,”All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing”. You need to think about that! History is the record of struggle between good and evil. And it’s easy to see which side is prevailing. To turn the tide we need people with conviction, compassion, and courage to get involved. You don’t have to hold an office, have a title, or be rich and famous to make an impact. Just do what you can with what you have where you are! Believe it or not, little things can make a big difference. You can write a letter, engage others in conversation, start a blog, write an article, vote pray, etc. And, by the way–why couldn’t some of you run for office on the local level? Every little bit helps and there’s something for all to do. Think about it!

Well, I’ve preached about “The Most Dangerous Man in Town”(Houston), but maybe the time has come for a message on “The Most Dangerous Woman in the World”. And that dear friends just might be “Oprah”. In a recent article by James Emery White he said:

There can be little doubt about the power, the influence and the inspiration of Oprah.

Her career began with a local radio station when she was just 19 years old. Then, through hard work and talent, she climbed her way up through television as a newscaster and anchor, through Tennessee and Maryland, until finally, in 1984, she moved to WLS-TV in Chicago to host a local talk show, which became such a hit it eventually went national.

And the rest, as they say, is history.       

Now she is arguably the best-known woman in the world, with an influence that extends into television, magazines, movies, book publishing and the Internet. By her 20th anniversary as host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, she had become a billionaire and assembled a U.S. television audience of more than 49 million viewers each week—which does not include her broadcasts in 122 other countries. Forbes magazine has named her the most influential celebrity.

Her latest venture? Her own television network.

But Oprah is more than a celebrity. She is even more than a brand, or a business.

She has become a shaping cultural force.

Oprah can single-handedly turn a book into a bestseller; she has been sued for crippling an entire industry simply by publicly denouncing its product. She even launches words; the Wall Street Journal coined the word “Oprahfication” to describe “public confession as a form of therapy.” Jet magazine uses “Oprah” as a verb, with sentences like, “I didn’t want to tell her, but … she Oprah’d it out of me.” Even our political process has been altered, as politicians now hold “Oprah-style” town meetings.

But her most significant role may be that of America’s spiritual guide.

Much of her guidance is deeply Christian and highly commendable, pulling from her Baptist upbringing.

In her book, The Gospel According to Oprah, Marcia Nelson outlines some of the orthodox and laudable aspects of Oprah’s spirituality, including the themes of forgiveness and generosity, self-examination, gratitude and community.

But there’s more to her spirituality than a few broad, generic Christian themes.

It increasingly reflects currents of thought embodied by such authors as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson and, most recently, Eckhart Tolle, whose book A New Earth has seen nearly 5 million shipped with the Oprah seal on the front, thanks to a series of 10 “live” Monday night web seminars featuring Tolle and Winfrey on Oprah’s website. So popular were the webcasts that the first night brought down the server when more than 500,000 people tried to log on, and now millions have downloaded or streamed the first class.http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/164999-james-white-not-so-new-age-the-church-oprah-wan-kenobi.html

Be sure to go to the link for the complete article.

You did notice this didn’t you–“her most significant role may be that of America’s spiritual guide”. Whoa–that’s a scary thought! I guess we’ve gone from Billy Graham to Oprah? Well I feel a sermon coming on and it’s getting stronger and stronger. Maybe another day. Folks we are in serious trouble as a nation and anyone who doesn’t see that is part of the problem. We have Jr. High kids who know more about the Bible than Oprah does. Yet millions bow down before her altar and take everything she says as the gospel truth. Someone even wrote the book, “The Gospel According to Oprah”. All this is about as crazy as it gets. I’m starting to feel sick. I no longer feel a sermon coming on–I think I’m going to puke!

Just a side note. Something else caught my attention–it’s the word “Chicago”. I wish someone in the know would write a book called “The Chicago Connection”. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Oh, if we only knew what all goes on behind closed doors! Think about it! How about a sermon on “The most Dangerous City in the World”? I think I’ll forget that for now!

And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.—Psalm 55:6

Come on, admit it–that’s exactly how you have felt at some point in time. You just want to get away from it all–be left alone, escape to an island far away. But as appealing as that sounds there is great danger in it. So before you take off for parts unknown you better consider the consequences.I just read an interesting article by Jay Adams, entitled,”How About an Island in Scotland?”. He started by saying:

Did you ever get to the place where you said, “I guess I just don’t belong anywhere! I don’t agree with this, I don’t believe in that. Either I’m a downright misfit or a very difficult person to please!” Well, I am happy to tell you you’re not the only one who says such things. I’ve found myself uttering such statements from time to time, and I’ve heard others (even people who seem most easy to get along with) say the same as well. I guess we all reach that point at some time or other if we have any convictions at all.

What can you do about it? Recognize that there are others who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And then go on. You must stand for matters of principle and compromise only on matters of expediency. You must fellowship with all genuine Christians, but you cannot assent to their errors or cooperate in enterprises that you believe to be unbiblical. You must learn to walk the razor’s edge that keeps you from becoming sectarian while firmly maintaining your stance. That’s not easy, and it takes effort and skill to do it well.

One of the saddest books I have ever read is the biography of A. W. Pink who, it seems, withdrew more and more from the fellowship of others and eventually ended his life on an isolated island in Scotland, where he fellowshipped only with his wife and by mail with a few other devoted followers in various parts of the world. His story exhibits the ultimate degree of the problem. Read Pink’s biography. While you’ll grieve, it probably will do you good, serving as a warning to keep you from drifting too far down the road to isolation.

Then he added

The tendency about which I am writing is a kind of monasticism. I guess that there is a bit of the monk in all of us. You begin to see it when you reach that point where you just want to turn your back on it all and walk off the edge of civilization.

Well, perhaps you don’t have any idea about what I’m talking. You’ve never experienced the phenomenon. So much the better for you—I guess. But can one who has many convictions about many things have never felt himself out of kilter not only with the world but also with the church? I doubt it. So I‘m not sure that it is “so much the better for you.”

At any rate, we look forward to the time when our great God shall make all things new. It will be a time when “we all attain to the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:13). That is our hope. And in the light of present confusion, error and problems of almost every description, it is a wonderful hope that should sustain us. Indeed, those present problems should make us appreciate God’s promise all the more. Take heart! We’re all in this together—with Christ. He knows us and all our errors and problems and He still puts up with us (even with you and me) and fellowships with us. Thank God He hasn’t gone off to an island in Scotland!

Dear friends, I believe there is a lesson here for all of us. I’ve been there done that, but thankfully recovered quickly–however, I remain always in danger. You could say we are all always on “the razor’s edge”. And we are liable to go over the edge and isolate ourselves due to several things—the trauma of a personal fall, the embarrassment of a wayward child, conflict with enemies, disappointment with friends, pressure of duties, etc. So, we must ever be on guard against this terrible possibility. We all have time when we want to be alone, which is fine in moderation, but remember this–sometimes the thing we need most is the thing we want least. It’s still true that it’s not good for man to be alone. We need one another and none of has the right to be so selfish as shut others out of our life. You need to think about that the next time you are tempted to drop out of church, curl up in a corner, and wallow in self pity. That just makes things worse. Get up, get out, get going, do something for someone else–make yourself useful. That will make things better. It might not change your circumstances, but it will change you! Think about it!

The last three days of “news” on TV has sickened me—literally! Our nation is in serious trouble and yet some act as though “Happy days are here again”. The blind are leading the blind and everyone is about to end up in the ditch. If those who see the danger fail to speak out there is no hope of being spared. I read a lot of articles and sometimes the comments about an article are better than the author’s work. Here’s an example. This was the comment posted by a man I don’t know following an article that I don’t even remember. It speaks volumes about where we are today:

Marcus Tullius Cicero regarding the danger of internal subversion. In a speech to the Roman Senate, as recorded by Sallust, Cicero said:
“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious.But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague.”— Think about it!

Thinking we are safe when we’re not is the worst possible state to be in—it is the calm before the storm. And the enemy says,”Sleep on. All is well”.