Family Freedom
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33Archive for November, 2007
Oliver “Buzz” Thomas in Op Ed Calls Debt Sin
“As a minister, I’m going to call it something else: Sin. That’s not a word that gets used a lot in our politically correct culture, but spending money that we don’t have and leaving the bills for the grandkids isn’t going to earn us one of God’s gold stars.”
Read the full column here.
Secular Newspapers Get It…Why Won’t Christians?
“Overspending is no different than being an alcoholic or drug addict” in its effect on a relationship, says Jan Dahlin Geiger, a financial planner in Atlanta. “What one person is doing could have a huge negative impact on the couple’s finances.” In the worst-case scenario, overspending can cause an irreparable rift in a relationship. That’s what happened with Ken Miner, 39, of Lenexa, Kan. Miner says his ex-wife’s habit of “spending more than I made” helped lead to their divorce over a decade ago.”
Read the full story from USA Today here.
Spurgeon Says Sell Home and Pay Debt
Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, was once invited by a wealthy man to come to preach in a certain country church, to help the membership raise funds to pay off a debt. The man told Spurgeon he was free to use his country house, his town house, or his seaside home. Spurgeon wrote back and said, “Sell one of your homes and pay the debt yourself.”
Spurgeon on Puffed Up Professing Christians
“There is another class of persons, happily fewer than they once were, but there are some among us still,—opinionists, who think they can do without holiness. These, too, it has sometimes been my misfortune to know. They have learned a sound creed, or perhaps an unsound one, for there are as many Arminians as Calvinists in this line,—they think they have got hold of the truth, that they are the men, and that, when they die, the faithful will fail from among men. They understand theology very accurately. They are wiser than their teachers. They can—
“A hair divide
Betwixt the west and north-west side.” Read the rest of this entry »
Whose Slave are You?
Whether you’re rich or poor, you can be enslaved to money. If you’re in debt, you already are:
“The borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)
Christians are called to be enslaved to no one (or thing) other than God:
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Romans 6:22)
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”(Luke 16:13)
I recently heard an excellent sermon by Paul Washer called “God’s Will for Slaves.” I encourage you to humbly listen to and hear the Word of God in this broadcast. Prayerfully, examine your hearts and answer the question…whose slave are you?
Crown Recommends One, but Separate Flesh…To the Same Caller!
On a recent broadcast, Howard Dayton of Crown Financial Ministries told a caller that it was important for couples to act as one flesh, because through marriage they became one flesh. Immediately after this admonishment, Dayton tells the husband/caller to open two separate credit card accounts, one in his name and one in the wife’s name. That way, they can keep track of what each is spending, separately.
Aren’t these statements contradictory? May we heed the warning of God’s Word:
“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8)
Crown Says Do Half and Half
In response to a military caller on 11/14/07 who wanted to know what do with his signing bonus, Howard Dayton recommended that he give generously to the Lord, save $5,000, and pay off all credit card debt. Then, Dayton recommended that the caller should split all future surplus into two: half should be put into savings, and half should go toward paying off the mortgage. Crown claims to have a biblical worldview, so is this recommendation biblical? Read the rest of this entry »
Crown Praises God for Caller’s Catholicism
On 11/12/07, Dayton asked a caller how “he recently met Christ”. The caller explained that it didn’t click at the Pentacostal church he’d been going to for a while, but finally, he went to a catholic church and said to God on the third church visit “God I’m yours, take me and do what you want”. Dayton was very excited and added, “God will sometimes put us in different churches, and it’s exciting to see that.” Really? Read the rest of this entry »
Spurgeon on Homemaking
“There were some women who supposed that, the moment they became Christians, they were to run about everywhere. “No,” says the apostle, “let them keep at home.” There is no gain to the Christian Church when the love, and the industry, and the zeal, which ought to make a happy home, are squandered upon something else. The young women of Crete appear to have been such that they needed to be taught “to love their husbands.” That expression does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. Christian women do not need to be told to love their husbands; but these Cretans, just brought out of the slough of sin, had to be taught even this lesson. Oh, what a blessing is love in the marriage relationship, and what a gracious influence love has upon children! How are they to be brought up aright except the whole house be perfumed with love?” Charles Spurgeon
Excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s Exposition of Titus 2:4-5
