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In
the last half hour 35 people in the United States have tried to kill
themselves. By the time you get ready to go to sleep tonight that number
will have risen to 790. Every 60 seconds someone in the United States
of America decides life isn't worth living.
This
evening, in a land blessed by freedom and prosperity, on a scale never
before known by any country,20 million people \-will swallow sleeping
pills.
12
million pounds of aspirin will be consumed to try to aleviate pains of
various sorts and sources. Admittedly some of the sleeping pills are
therapeutic and prescribed by doctors, and aspirin as a pain killer has
been used by all of us at one time or the other .... but not 20 million
sleeping pills or 12 million pounds of aspirin.
When
this kind of medicinal crutch is used on such an overwhelming basis,
there must be something radically wrong. Psychologists say this
something is guilt.
Now
you know and I know there are other· reasons, but guilt with its
acompanying tensions and anxieties certainly plays a major part. It is to this problem of mans' guilt and God's forgiveness I want to comment on. .
When
a certain Governor of Texas one day visited a state penitentiary, it
was his plan, unknown to the prisoners, to grant a special pardon that
day. As he talked with man after man they all vehemently declared their
innocence.
It was
societies fault; they were framed; no one understood them; they'd never
been given a chance. . . . Finally, just as he was about t leave, be
noticed one forlorn little man hovering in the shadows.
When he questioned him as to his crime and his guilt, the little man replied, "I'm guilty. They
let me off light for what I did. " The governor gave this man the
pardon with these words, "He was the only one 'worthy of pardon. H was
the only one who would admit his guilt. "
In
North Carolina there is a phrase oft repeated which refers to pigs in
the pig pen. They are referred to as being in "hog heaven." The
definition speaks for itself. The poor muddy, dirty, stinking pig
doesn't know he's muddy; dirty, and stinking. He doesn't know there is
something better. He doesn't know there is such a thing as cleanliness
and purity.
He's
in "hog heaven." Man is often like that, living in his earth-made pig
pen. Year after year he wallows in the mud and eats of the slop until
one day like the prodigal he returns home, to something better . ...
which was there, waiting for him, all the time.
There is an old Arab parable which speaks to the problem of man's doing nothing about his guilt and God's forgiveness.
It speaks to the spiritual limbo of far too many and the weak ineffective excuses which pass for reasons.
In this parable, one Arab sheik asks another for the loan of a rope. "I am sorry," replied the other, "but I have need of it to tie up my milk."
"Tie up your milk?" puzzled the first sheik.
"But surely you do not use a rope tie up your milk."
"Well," was the classic reply, "When you don't want to do something, one reason is as good as another."
When
any man does not want to give up his sins and take in God's
forgiveness...when any man prefers to live in a pig pen...when Christ
stands on the hill-top and a man prefers to hide in the shadows, it
might be said that one reason for so doing is as good as another.
Except that no reason which takes a man away from God and God's forgiveness is good reasoning. Got your doubts? What
then would you think of a man \who has a brand new truck parked in his
carport, a beat up fifty pound trunk on his front porch, and when he got
ready to move the trunk to a new house he shouldered it on his back and
walked to the new house?
What
then do you think of any man who has forgiveness and power of God
offered from on high and yet persists in carrying his own burdens, bent
down low:
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING TUESDAY MARCH 6TH THOUGHTS ENTITLED "Are You A Peacemaker or Peacebreaker?"
If only we could always remember Gandhi's words, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."
click on the following
Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Click
on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN
DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND
MARTIN LUTHER
To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and
appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his
strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
"When
it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions,
politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr
once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because
he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the
Almighty. As Wyrick
says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more
impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he,
president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was
doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between
both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.'
Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of
politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book
for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career,
Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."
Dr. Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"v. Neil
Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's
Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should
have a wide readership."
James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read
by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most
complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United
States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so
often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip
service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real
God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight
and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure
as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear
and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the
character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very
well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as
relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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