Oh my, Someone else thinks Church is Boring.

CHURCH IS boring. I don’t ever recall hopping out of bed on Sunday morning jazzed about the sermon, even when the preacher was good. I’ve never driven to church in anticipation of hearing the choir or the worship band, even when they included remarkable musicians. When I went, it was to see my friends. I wanted to talk. Sunday school and Bible study were okay, but breezeway and parking lot conversations were the most invigorating. My utmost communion with the Body of Christ didn’t even happen on the church premises. That happened in some loud restaurant that offered free refills of Diet Coke that helped me power on past noon and large portions that would render me unconscious fifteen minutes after I got home.

For the rest of this rather truthful article go to, The Flabby Body of Christ.

Wow, What a Question!

Lover or Prostitute? The Question that Changed My Life
by David Ryser

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship;
it moved to Greece and became a philosophy;
it moved to Italy and became an institution;
it moved to Europe and became a culture;
it came to America and became an enterprise.

Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old–barely out of diapers–and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question,

“A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?”

I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued,

“But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

What do I mean when I say “really know Him?” Our understanding of knowing and knowledge stems from our western culture (which is based in ancient Greek philosophical thought). We believe we have knowledge (and, by extension, wisdom) when we have collected information. A collection of information is not the same thing as knowledge, especially in the culture of the Bible (which is an eastern, non-Greek, culture). In the eastern culture, all knowledge is experiential. In western/Greek culture, we argue from premise to conclusion without regard for experience–or so we think.

An example might be helpful here. Let us suppose a question based upon the following two premises: First, that wheat does not grow in a cold climate and second, that England has a cold climate. The question: Does wheat grow in England? The vast majority of people from the western/Greek culture would answer, “No. If wheat does not grow in a cold climate and if England has a cold climate, then it follows that wheat does not grow in England.” In the eastern culture, the answer to the same question, based on the same premises, most likely would be, “I don’t know. I’ve never been to England.” We laugh at this thinking, but when I posed the same question to my friends from England, their answer was, “Yes, of course wheat grows in England. We’re from there, and we know wheat grows there.” They overcame their cultural way of thinking because of their life experience. Experience trumps information when it comes to knowledge.

A similar problem exists with our concept of belief. We say we believe something (or someone) apart from personal experience. This definition of belief is not extended to our stockbroker, however. Again, allow me to explain. Suppose my stockbroker phones me and says, “I have a hot tip on a stock that is going to triple in price within the next week. I want your permission to transfer $10,000 from your cash account and buy this stock.” That’s a lot of money for me, so I ask, “Do you really believe this stock will triple in price, and so quickly?” He/she answers, “I sure do.” I say, “That sounds great! How exciting! So how much of your own money have you invested in this stock?” He/she answers, “None.” Does my stockbroker believe? Truly believe? I don’t think so, and suddenly I don’t believe, either. How can we be so discerning in the things of this world, especially when they involve money, and so indiscriminate when it comes to spiritual things? The fact is, we do not know or believe apart from experience. The Bible was written to people who would not understand the concepts of knowledge, belief, and faith apart from experience. I suspect God thinks this way also.

So I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God–much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don’t care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ–that’s pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don’t even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha’s question again one day, and considered the question, “What’s the difference between a lover and a prostitute?” I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, “What would happen if God stopped paying me?”

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.

Transformed

A simple, powerful message. Conveying a life changing truth need not take long. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make it come alive in the listener.

Helping People Help People

The vision I want to talk about in this blog is a really simple way of helping people. Lots of preaching out there about something something but I'm not sure if much rubber ever meets the road. This plan is practical, can be reproduced and it helps others without making people beggars. Even those who have or are at risk of losing jobs can dig in right away to do this. The only obstacle to success is people's unwillingness to try something new. Aren't you glad you aren't one of them? And thank goodness you only have to get a couple of others to join you. Surely you have that much influence in your life.

The Vision

Years ago, people died of malnutrition simply because they didn’t know that fruits and vegetables contained the vital vitamins and minerals that our bodies need for good health. And even though we now understand that we need them, not everyone gets the full range of vitamins and minerals that are the building blocks for our minds and our bodies. Even those who can afford and have available the 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables that we need each day, rarely take in those in quantities to ensure good health.

But this isn’t about supplying vital nutrients to those who have them easily available. There are literally millions of people (including widows, orphans, homeless, innercity kids, etc.) that do not have access or can afford to buy that much nutrition in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables. Is there a simple solution to this lack of equality in our world?

YES! It comes in the same way that we would supply a spaceship, concentrated supplements with all of the goodness of shopping carts filled with fruits and vegetables, packed into a bottle that fits in the palm of our hands.

Remarkably, this approach to nutrition is more cost effective than growing gardens in urban jungles nor do we have to deal with the daunting issues of freshness, quality, delivery and storage.

Caring for others and ensuring that everyone is given equal opportunity for healthy minds and bodies is a mandate that we can all take seriously. By simply learning to work together we can see this lived out on a global basis. I have no idea why the powers that be are not doing this today, but I also know that it doesn’t have to be left in the hands of anyone but us. We can make a difference!!!

HOW?

We simply need to do 2 things to make this a reality. Use the most advanced forms of food sourced supplementation available today and combine them with a sustainable means of delivering them to those in need.

WHY SUSTAINABLE?

Good intentions does not make something sustainable. How do we tell a mother with 4 young children that what we started in bringing them health is no longer available because someone has lost their job and can no longer supply the needed supplements? To bring hope and education and then not follow through seems a rather shortsighted gesture.

We need a sustainable plan. Sustainable means creating the necessary funds to ensure ongoing support without the threat of being interfered with by job losses and other priorities replacing the hope that is being provided.

This kind of guarantee of ongoing support needs to be funded through a business model and not a donation model. And this, for many, will be a significant paradigm shift. The time to learn and implement this model will take much less time than it takes to prepare, let alone, plant, weed and harvest a single garden. It simply takes a willingness to try a new approach.

There are 2 requirements that are necessary for this plan to work.

#1 – The desire to see people helped through providing good nutrition.

#2 – The understanding that this is something that needs to be sustainable.

Sustainability

There a 2 types of people that should be involved in the process of sustainability.

95% of these people should simply be good customers and 5% should be business people.

Good Customers: These are people that believe good nutrition is important and understand that it is as important to finish something they have started as it is to start to do a good thing. The simplest way for this to happen is by making enough money from giving this help, to ensure they never have to stop. This is like a sports fisherman that catches enough fish for his family and his neighbours.

Business People: These are people who take this matter of caring to a more developed level. They do this as their main source of income. They look after the good customers, the distribution of the supplements, have decent computer skills and the drive to ensure the ongoing fulfillment of this vision.

Which kind of person are you?

Do you see the vision of caring for others by providing nutrition in the form of supplements?

For those that say yes to this vision, I would suggest that you start as a customer. Begin providing help today by registering as an associate in my business of Mannatech and letting me take care of the details of getting those vital supplements to those in need.

Down the road you may want to learn and do more within the business model but the secret of success in this vision is by simply starting.

My goal will be to help you become sustainable in the giving of this care. Simply help me by sharing this simple means of caring for others once and awhile with some friends that you think would want to do the same thing. I will look after the details and you can rest assured that through this simple form of teamwork that we will bring nutritional equality to those who have no one but us to help.

To our own health and the health of others.

David
Write me at mannagrant@gmail.com to get started today.

I can immediately work with anyone that can legally work in any of these countries, United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

To understand the business model and the impact that we can have go on to my next blog titled, A New Paradigm for Helping Orphans.