The Bigot’s Creed

Believe as I believe — no more,
no less;
That I am right, and no one else,
confess;
Feel as I feel, think only as
I think;
Eat what I eat, and drink but what
I drink;
Look as I look, do always as I do;
And, only then, I’ll fellowship
with you.

That I am right, and always right,
I know,
Because MY OWN CONVICTIONS tell
me so;
And to be right is simply this:
to be
Entirely and in all respects
like me.
To deviate a jot, or to begin
To question, doubt, or hesitate,
is sin.

Let sink the drowning man, if he’ll
not swim
Upon the plank that I throw out
to him;
Let starve the famishing, if he’ll
not eat
My KIND and QUANTITY of bread
and meat;
Let freeze the naked, too, if
he’ll not be
Supplied with garments such as made
for me.

‘Twere better that the sick should
die than live,
Unless they take the medicine
I give;
‘Twere better sinners perish than
refuse
To be conformed to my peculiar
views;
‘Twere better that the world stood
still than move
In ANY way that I DO NOT APPROVE.

(Author Unknown)

Holy Man

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant inside who greeting him at the door. “I would like to see the wise Holy Man,” he said to the servant. The servant smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man. Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turned to the servant, “But I want to see the Holy Man!”

“You already have,” said the old man. “Everyone you may meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant… see each of them as a wise Holy Man. If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved.”

What is the message of this story for you?

• “Anticipation of something may be greater than the thing itself. Anticipation of looks is always a mistake.”
• “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
• “We see ourselves in everyone we meet.”
• “The man in the story got lost looking for a deep solution to his problem, when all along the answer was right on the surface.”

What do YOU see?

“A wise man learns more from a fool than the fool from the wise man.”

Rapture thoughts

“If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.”

ATTITUDE

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.

The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

from Strengthening Your Grip
by Charles Swindoll

Wanted: The Perfect Congregation

Is this a description of your congregation?

The perfect congregation pays the pastor 50 % more than the average salary of its members (and its members are all wealthy) and provides free of charge a new car every year. The parsonage has a Jacuzzi and provides large HD flat screen TVs in every room and the church pays for unlimited cable as a gift to the pastor. No one in the perfect congregation ever has an emergency later than 9 PM or earlier than 8 AM. No one in the perfect congregation ever quarrels with anyone else. The perfect congregation has a catered pastor appreciation dinner every year with caviar, filet mignon and lobster on the menu.

Maybe this description is closer to your perfect congregation:

The perfect congregation is 10 years old, with the fervent energy of a new organization, and it has 250 years of history in this town. Its members speak out on every timely and sensitive issue, and never disagree with each other. Its office is open from 8 in the morning to 10 at night, and its budget for administrative staff is $5,000 a year. This church has the highest possible moral ideals, and no one ever fails to live up to them, because that would make them hypocrites. It changes with the times and always does things the good old way. Its ministers are always available for meetings, (For more info on how to be the perfect congregation, follow this link)

Thinking:10 Commandments or 10,000?

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

For most people these are the standards to which we are called to live and conduct ourselves. For some, these constitute a set of rules that must be obeyed in order to earn the right to enter heaven. Others have found ways to make them “socially relevant”.

What do you think of this one?

GOD TEXTS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

BY Jamie Quatro

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.
2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
3. no omg’s
4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
5. pos ok – ur m&d r cool
6. dnt kill ppl
7. :-X only w/ m8
8. dnt steal
9. dnt lie re: bf
10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.
ttyl, JHWH.
ps. wwjd?

And then we have:

The Ten Commandments Southern Style
1. Just one God
2. Put nothin’ before God
3. Watch yer mouth
4. Git yourself to Sunday meetin’
5. Honor yer Ma & Pa
6. No killin’
7. No foolin’ around with another fellow’s
For more click here

North Georgia Emmaus & Chrysalis Community

The North Georgia Chrysalis community needs your help!

We need sponsors for youth. Youth must be 15 (by September 2011) to 24 years old and have finished their freshman year in high school.

We also need servants to serve on the boy’s flight. If you have been on Chrysalis or Emmaus, you are eligible to serve. Please email the lay directors (see below) or team selection: Kelly Meador (keketwin (a)yahoo.com) or Rob Simon (robsimon111(a)gmail.com).

June 02-05, 2011

Thursday-Sunday
Chrysalis #69/YAC #46 (all female)
Lay Director: Denise Hotze
watapaching(a) gmail.com

June 09-12, 2011
Thursday-Sunday
Chrysalis #70/YAC #47 (all male)
Lay Director: Michael Creighton
mzrtsinbad (a)gmail.com

Blessings ,
Board Rep for North Georgia Chrysalis