Click Now to Order

SIN 

Authorities in Uganda continue their efforts to control the recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus. They fear the disease may spread into neighboring Kenya through seven relatives of a woman who recently died from the virus. 

Sadly, this same woman unknowingly spread the virus when she fled a hospital and returned to her home region hoping to escape the disease. The woman died and spread the disease to at least three other relatives, who also died. 

There is no cure for the Ebola virus, which is spread through personal contact Ebola is frightening because there is no known cure, and the disease itself is not fully understood. So far the outbreak has claimed 113 lives in Africa. Officials insist the key to managing the disease is isolation of the victim, which breaks the cycle of transmission. No one knows how far the current outbreak will spread, or how many lives it will claim. 

Like Sin, Ebola spreads through personal contact, but sin is harder to control than the Ebola outbreak and impossible to escape. Though it infects everyone's heart, many people don't realize they are contaminated. Sin becomes a death sentence buried deep inside our being. The more we try to clamp down on sin, the more it tightens its grip. In a moment of pressure, or careless thought, sin gains a tighter hold on us. The ultimate result of sin is death, and isolation from God. 

Running from sin is not the cure, nor is controlling it. Jesus is the cure for this devastating illness. We no longer have to die from sin. Jesus has already died for us. Confession is the first step of the cure. The apostle John wrote that if we confess our sins, confess our inability to control the illness, Jesus will forgive us. He removes all evidence of our sin sickness. 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 

—AP 11-15-2000, Reuters 11-14-2000,11-13-2000, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

A new study conducted by The University of Michigan suggests that the common cold costs Americans far more than previously imagined. Each year, millions of people battle this common virus staying at home, taking pills, sucking lozenges, and spraying nasal decongestants in their noses. 

The study surveyed 4,000 homes by telephone nationwide. 75% of the households surveyed reported suffering from a cold within the last year, with an average of 2.5 episodes a year. The households were asked to report their doctor bills, cost of over-the counter medication, and the cost of prescription drugs. They also reported days of work or school missed due to a cold. 

The study found that Americans spend $2.9 billion on over-the-counter drugs and another $400 million on prescription medicines for relief of cold symptoms. Researchers discovered $1.1 billion dollars is spent every year on 41 million antibiotic prescriptions for cold sufferers, though antibiotics have no effect on a viral illness. 

The battle against the common cold costs the US economy $40 billion dollars annually, more than other conditions like asthma, heart failure, and emphysema. 

Mark Fendrick MD, from the Consortium for Health Outcomes, Innovation, and Cost Effectiveness at the University of Michigan says the cost of missed days at work and school due to colds is often overlooked. He adds some of the costs may be unnecessary. Fendrick said, “What was a surprise, is how often the public uses the health care system to treat a cold. From a bottle of cough syrup to missed time at work and school, the price tag of catching a cold really adds up.” 

—Archives of Internal Medicine, February 24, 2003, News Release, University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

I wonder if you could tally up the cost of sin what it would total? Personal pain. Betrayal. Eternal damnation. I don’t know what the total cost is, but I do know what its price was, Jesus’ blood. 

Romans 5:8 KJV “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

An Oklahoma woman dialed a wrong number and was arrested after she tried to set up a drug deal with her former parole officer. Patricia Michel was arrested on suspicion of the unlawful distribution of a dangerous controlled substance after she called her former parole officer on his cell phone by mistake. She apparently thought she was talking to her local drug dealer thinking he could help set up a deal so she could acquire drugs. 

Her former parole officer, Doug Canant played along with Michel's request, and then contacted drug enforcement authorities. Michel told him she did not have money to buy drugs because she was waiting from her tax refund, and wanted to exchange one type of drug for another. 

Drug enforcement agents acted on the tip from Canant and set up a deal. When Michel handed over two pills that were a controlled substance, she was taken into custody. The woman faces between two years to life in prison if convicted. If she receives parole, she may have Canant as her parole officer again. Canant adds, "It is a small town and there are only three of us (parole officers). It will be the luck of the draw." 

—Reuters, Wrong Number Leads to Woman's Arrest, March 18, 2004, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Patricia Michel’s sin found her out because she dialed the wrong number. Our sin will also find us out. Even if no one else ever knows; God knows. 

Galatians 6:7 NIV “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Australian scientists were trying to find a way to make mice infertile, but accidentally created a killer virus that attacks the mouse immune system. The same technique could also be used to produce deadlier forms of human viruses and biological weapons. The scientists added a gene involved in the mouse immune system to the mousepox virus, which is similar to the human smallpox virus that is widely used in lab research. They hoped this would result in infertility. They did not count on it killing every mouse infected with the pathogen, including those vaccinated against mousepox. 

—Indianapolis Star, January 23, 2001, pg. A3 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

It is not the first time man's efforts have resulted in an accidental discovery that leads to death. The original occurred in the garden where a fruit Adam and Eve hoped would give them knowledge brought death to the entire human race. 

Romans 5:14 NIV "Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

In Garrison Keillor's new book, he transports the reader to the mythical Lake Wobegon in the Summer of 1956. In one section of the novel, Keillor says something that most people have thought, but few have vocalized as succinctly. After gossiping a bit about all the men folk at Lake Wobegon who were caught cheating on their wives, he wrote: "Men believe in their hearts that God will make an exception in their case and look the other way." 

—The Atlantic Monthly, Sept, 2001, p. 70 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

As accurate as Keillor's assessment may be of what men believe, it doesn't reflect what will happen. God doesn't look the other way when we sin, neither does He make exceptions in our case. 

Galatians 6:7 KJV "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 

For more information on Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670030031/fm082-20 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

It took nearly two thousand years, but the final act of indiscretion by a wealthy older Roman man was recently uncovered. Archaeologists digging in the ruins of what was once the ancient city of Pompeii's "hotel zone" found the entwined bodies of a man and his young mistress, together with a bag of gold jewelry that they had tried to take with them as they fled in vain from the fury of the volcano Vesuvius in AD 79. Apparently, he lingered with her in her hotel room long after all the other guests heeded warning signs of an eruption. A flood of ash and mud descended upon them so quickly that the couple didn't even have time to put on their sandals. Scholars said Sunday, December 17, 2000 that the two bodies were found in a hospitium, a more modest two-story hotel, 100 meters from its far grander near-neighbor. 

"You could say it was a three-star hotel, as opposed to the five-star establishment," Antonio De Simone, who was in charge of the dig, said. "It was probably a discreet refuge for couples seeking privacy." The couple had been a rich businessman and a young slave girl (ancilla), who had clearly risen up the social ladder to become his favorite mistress. Professor De Simone said that the girl had apparently been "adopted" by her master at the age of 7, since the figure VII was engraved on a gold ring found on her finger. 

—foxnews.com, December 19, 2000. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

It wasn't the Y2K bug. It was the Y2K rodent-a squirrel-that knocked out electricity in much of Hickman County and part of Perry County on (the first day of 2000." The squirrel was just in the wrong place at an historic time. 

It tripped a main transformer at Centerville at 8:47 a.m. yesterday, said John Moulton, Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman. "There are a lot of trees there, they say, and a lot of squirrels," he said. "That happens from time to time." 

The electricity was crackling through the lines again at 9:42 a.m. The fate of the squirrel could not be determined yesterday but the assumption is that it made it no further into the millennium. 

We often guard our hearts against the most flagrant sins, but are caught off guard when "little" acts of rebellion short-circuit our relationship with God. 

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Prov. 4:23) 

—The Tennessean, 1/2/00 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Ed Rowell 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

New research suggests that the radar evading technology that cost over $40 billion to develop may be undone by something as common as a cellular phone. Roke Manor Research, a small subsidiary of German electronics giant, Siemens, announced earlier this year it has "rendered stealth aircraft useless." Engineers say they can use the echoes of cell phone signals bouncing off a stealth aircraft to determine its exact position. 

The Roke engineers came up with the idea during a brainstorming session. They reasoned that stealth technology was designed to hide from conventional radar which uses a single transmitter and one antenna which are located together. Cell phones use a bistatic system which separates the transmitter and antenna systems. Since a cell phone uses multiple antennas, the signals scattered by a stealth aircraft can be analyzed on a bistatic radar screen to determine location and velocity. 

The company has yet to build a working model, and some experts question the practical military value of such a system. Even though the idea is still in the developmental stages, you can be sure the military will look at this type of radar closely, developing new ways to avoid detection. 

http:www.popsci.com/popsi/aviation, January 23, 2002, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell 

Hopefully, our scientists will be successful in furthering stealth technology. But I know that we cannot hide who we truly are, not for long anyway. There is no stealth sin. 

Galatians 6:7-9 "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

When he appeared before the House Science Committee investigating ways to remove anthrax contamination from federal buildings, Dr. James Baker Jr., a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan and a military researcher on ways to neutralize biological weapons spoke of the effort to clean the Hart Senate Office Building. “We will never remove every spore,” Baker said “There will be no assurance of total safety.” 

—http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011109/us/anthrax_decontamination_3.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

Apparently, the Anthrax spores are more than half the size of a typical hole in envelope paper fibers and were not contained by the envelopes that carried them to their intended targets. They spread, and because of their size, scientists don't believe it is possible to completely cleanse the Hart Senate Office Building of the residue from the attack. The effects will linger forever. 

What are the lingering effects of a lustful look, or a flash of anger? What happens to a Christian leader when they give in to laziness and decide to relax instead of serve the Lord? 

King David knows the answer to those questions. 

It was the time of year when kings went out to war, but King David stayed home. Perhaps he felt that he "deserved a break today," so he kicked back, relaxed and began to enjoy all the rewards of his labor. He had come a long way from the feisty shepherd boy who picked up five smooth stones and would not allow "that uncircumcised Philistine" to taunt the army of God! 

He no longer slept under the stars, watched his family's sheep or ran errands for his father. Now he was his own man—he was the King. Neither was he the King's son's best friend who hung around the palace, played in the fields or played the harp for the amusement of others. He had arrived, and he did it in royal splendor. He didn't need to lead his army any longer, he had generals to do that. In the words of another man, Luke 12:19 NLT And I'll sit back and say to myself, My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!' 

Leisurely rising from a nap one afternoon, he took a stroll on his balcony when a beautiful woman caught his eye. He lingered and lust built in his heart. He sent a messenger to find out who she was. The messenger reported who she was, and inserted the name of her father and husband. David was fully aware that she was someone's daughter and someone's wife when he sent a messenger back to her home to bring her to his palace to consummate his sin. 

What are the lingering effects of a lustful look, or a flash of anger? What happens to a Christian leader when they give in to laziness and decide to relax instead of serve the Lord? 

A small sin can begin to define us, it can become our signature sin, or, by the power of the Risen Lord, we can experience freedom from the power of sin. When David confessed his sin before God, he asked for cleansing with hyssop—like a Leper (Lev 14; Num 19) who needed the cleansing touch of the priest, David asks for God to cleanse him. And He did. David's soul was thoroughly cleansed and his sin completely forgiven. 

Psalm 51:7 KJV "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Your personal sin doesn't just affect you-it affects people around you too. Robin Reid, the father of Richard Reid, the alleged "shoe bomber" admitted his personal culpability in his son's crime. He said, "Look at the terrible childhood he had … Look at the father he had. I have spent 18 years in total behind bars. That can't have helped, can it? Every time he needed me I was nowhere to be found." 

—Newsweek, Jan. 14, 2002, p. 19 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

1 Kings 15:26 NASB "And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin."
 
 

SIN 

Some researchers believe that the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill March 24, 1989 that spilled 11 million gallons onto 1200 miles of shore continues to have adverse effects on the ecosystem. Research chemist Jeffrey Short of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau said, "—it is very plausible that exposure to Exxon Valdez oil is having a material impact on many shore-dwelling animals and is contributing to their slow recovery in some parts of Prince William Sound," 

—http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/science/3869066.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

Like the lingering effects of this disaster, sin can ensnare a person and effects lives for generations. 

Matthew 27:25 (NIV) "All the people answered, 'Let his blood be on us and on our children!'" 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Anthony and Amy Duckworth pled guilty for smuggling cocaine into jail inside a Bible. Police authorities tracked the Bible back to WalMart where it was purchased and WalMart tracked the purchase back to the Duckworth's credit card. 

There is something offensive about criminals using God's word to accomplish their crimes. Too bad they hadn't taken the time to read the book they were smuggling drugs in. Perhaps they would have learned that their sins would find them out. 

—http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_fe_st/bible_stash_1 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

Galatians 6:7 (KJV) "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Years ago Carmela suffered from a terrible bout of the flu. She reacted by wanting to "seal herself off from germs" by jamming the shutters shut and sealing the windows with adhesive tape. Unfortunately, her solution to the problem created an even bigger one. 

Twenty-six years later, rescuers had to wear respirators to protect themselves from the foul smell in her apartment when they penetrated her barricaded door. Her hair was seven feet long and she weighed only 66 pounds. She had survived by eating food that her brother left outside her front door, but her health suffered because she shut herself off from the world. 

—http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3793807a4560,00.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

It is hard not to go into cliché overdrive here, so bear with me. We are called to be in the world, but not of the world. The problem with being a spiritual recluse is that we not only keep from avoiding sin, but we isolate ourselves into spiritual atrophy. 

John 17:16-18 (GW) "They don't belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. [17] "Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth. [18] I have sent them into the world the same way you sent me into the world." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

A Chinese man wanted by police on gun charges hid out in a cave for eight years before finally surrendering to authorities. The thirty-five year old man tunneled the cave out of a hill behind the bedroom of his house and put a wardrobe in front of the entrance as a disguise. The man would come out of the cave during the day to read, wash, and watch television, then retreat to the cave each evening. 

Authorities said the man told his wife he was hiding from debt collectors. Several of his accomplices had been sentenced to death, and authorities said the man told them he gave himself up because he was no longer able to cope with the "psychological pressure." 

http://www.sfwlink.com/out/45853.html. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Jeremiah 16:17 (CEV) "I can see everything you are doing, even if you try to hide your sins from me." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Reminiscent of the second plague, Puerto Rico's beloved coqui frog has invaded Honolulu. Apparently, the first pair hitched a ride from Puerto Rico to Hawaii with a shipment of tropical plants in the early '90's. Mayor Harry Kim declared the infestation a county emergence, clearing the way for the Federal Government and the State Legislature to step in and help. He says he needs $2 million to use a citric acid spray to help control the population. 

Apparently, these frogs are doing more than making noise at night; they are competing with some of the native birds for spiders and insects, disturbing the island's ecosystem. "I kick myself in the back every day for not getting started more aggressively," Kim said. 

—http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=2&u=/ap/20050120/ap_on_sc/hawaii_invasive_frogs Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

The spread of these nocturnal frogs reminds me of what happens when we harbor sin in our lives. It is easy to underestimate the problem in the beginning, but with time, it will overtake our hearts and control our lives. Soon, it will grow to such an extent that it is impossible to get control of it. 

Impossible that is, without God's help. But God doesn't want to help us bring the problem under control. He wants to eradicate it completely. 

Isaiah 1:18 (HCSB). "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

Nothing is supposed to stop the US Postal Service from delivering the mail—not rain, sleet, snow or hail, but mail delivery has stopped in the post office at Otho, Iowa. It turns out that black mold is the postal services' kryptonite. 

According to Cathy Ellett, the manager of post office operations, "Cleaning black mold is near impossible, once we walk away from black mold, the chances of going back are slim." 

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration says that black mold grows on surfaces that have constant exposure to water. 

—http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=5&u=/ap/20050124/ap_on_fe_st/moldy_mail Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

When left unchecked, sin will grow until it takes over our lives and forces righteousness out. 

Isaiah 5:18 (HCSB) "Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and [pull] sin along with cart ropes." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

On the old Andy Griffith show, Barney Fife practiced gun safety by keeping his bullet in his shirt pocket instead of in the cylinder of the pistol he always wore at his side. Something David Toumey might consider doing. 

Toumey was demonstrating gun safety on a Lake Monroe boat ramp at 11 o'clock one evening. When checking to see if the gun was loaded, it discharged and he shot himself in the leg. 

"It's an unfortunate accident," Toumey said. "I've always been very, very safe." 

—http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040908/ap_on_fe_st/coroner_shot_8. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

Now I don't want to have fun at Toumey's expense today. 

To tell you the truth, I believe him—I'm sure he's always been very safe and that he was sincere in showing others how to handle a weapon safely. The point is, even a gun safety expert could shoot himself. 

And even a righteous man, can sin. 

Romans 3:23 (NLT) "For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard." 

________________________________________ 

SIN 

A Minnesota motorcyclist opened the throttle and possibly set an informal record for the fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota's history. Two motorcyclists were racing on a highway in southeastern Minnesota unaware that a State Patrol plane was watching overhead. When one of the riders shot forward, the pilot, Al Loney, checked the motorcycle's speed with a stopwatch. 

Loney timed the racer through a quarter mile section of highway. The motorcycle covered the distance in 4.39 seconds, equaling 205 miles per hour. Loney said, "I was in total disbelief. I had to double check my watch because in 27 years I'd never seen anything move that fast." Although no official records are kept, authorities say it was the fastest ticket ever written in the state. 

Loney radioed a ground-based cruiser who intercepted the motorcyclists and arrested the faster rider. In addition to a ticket for 140 miles per hour above the posted speed limit, the rider was arrested on charges of driving without a motorcycle license and reckless driving. 

Kathy Swanson of the Office of Traffic Safety said unless the rider was wearing the kind of protective gear worn by professional racers, he was courting death at 200 mph. She added, "I'm not entirely sure what would happen if you crashed at 200 miles per hour. It wouldn't be pretty that's for sure." 

—Associated Press, Minn. Trooper Writes 205 Mph Ticket, September 21, 2004. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Numbers 32:23 (NASB)"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out."
 
 

SIN/CONFESSION 

Mina, a 36-year old Iranian woman is seeking a divorce from her husband of eight years because, "nobody, including me, my children and his colleagues, can stand him," she said. "My husband says he does not like water and does not want to take a shower—he doesn't even wash his face when he wakes up in the morning." 

When they were first married, he was obsessively clean, taking up to three showers a day, but now he is obnoxiously filthy. 

—http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=609&id=233822005 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

I can only imagine what it would be like to live with someone who never bathes, it must be unbearable. The only thing I can think of that would be worse, would be to live with someone who never confesses their sins, and allows the gunk of their sin to build up until they emit a spiritual stench from their souls. 

1 John 1:9 KJV "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

While being able to recall many of the events in one’s life would be helpful, the inability to forget what lies behind could become torture. How many of the events in our lives do we remember over and over when what we would like to do is put them in the past forever? 

I thank God for the ability to forget. I especially thank God that he forgets my sin. 

Psalm 103:12 (NRSV) “as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.”

What would cause a 24 year-old man to break into a gas station, drink some beer, smoke some cigarettes, and then dial 911 and turn himself in? Didn’t he know he would end up in jail? That is exactly what Matthew Robert Kiss knew. That is what he wanted. He wanted to see his brother who was already in jail and this is how he arranged a meeting. Charged with felony breaking and entering he is now in jail. 

--World Magazine, February 26, 2009, p. 16. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell 

Criminals are not the only people we have to wonder about their motives. The sheriff made sure there was no reunion for the Kiss brothers. At times I wonder about my own motives. Why do I do the things I do? Some motives can be traced, others can only be traced to our sinful nature.

Romans 7:15 (NASB). “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” 

In Seeking the Face of God, Gary Thomas writes, “The most dangerous Christians are those who have forgotten their tendency to sin-and Satan’s agenda to capitalize on that tendency.”

--Seeking the Face of God, 173. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Romans 3:23 (YLT) “for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God—“

Conventional wisdom has always held that if you are looking for a good investment in a down economy; put your money in “sin” stocks. The thinking is that though people will cut spending in some areas, they will continue to spend on activities like gambling, drinking and smoking. The current US recession is different. Sin has become a poor investment and the smart money is in values.

Comparisons between two mutual fund families have turned up some interesting statistics. The Vice Fund (VICEX) is a mutual fund that invests in industries like distillers, casino operators, and cigarette companies. Meanwhile the Ave Maria Growth (AVEGX) is a mutual find that limits its investments to companies that comply with certain Roman Catholics values. Side by the side, the Vice Fund has lost 42 percent of its value over the past year, while the Ave Marie Fund has lost 33 percent of net value. When those figures compare with the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, it shows the Vice Fund has averaged 4 percent worse than the S &P average. The Ave Maria Fund faired 9 percentage points better than VICE and 5 points better than the S&P. 

Charles Norton, manager of the Vice Fund says stocks have been dumped overboard this year, and one of first stocks to be abandoned was casinos. Ave Maria’s better numbers were produced not only by the companies they own, but also by what they avoid. The fund’s rules kept them away from problem companies such as AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, and General Motors. Jim Bashan , manager of the Ave Maria Growth fund says not only has the fund beaten the average this past year, but it done well since it started six years ago. In that period, the average loss in the S&P has been 7 percent while Ave Maria investors have seen a 23 percent gain. 

--In this recession, Sin is a loser, http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/in-this-recession-sin-is-a-loser.aspx; April 13, 2009,  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Now I don’t pretend to be a genius about investments—a quick glance at my 401K would prove the opposite, but one thing I know for sure, sin never pays off.  I’m not talking about the stock market now.  I’m talking about spiritual matters.

Hebrews 12:1 CEV Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us. 

Though there is still some question about the validity of the research, a new study suggests naming male children a common name might be doing them a favor. The study published in Social Science Quarterly by Shippensburg University professor David Kalist says giving boys odd or strange first names may point them toward a future behind bars. Research found names such as Ivan, Alex.  Ernest, Garland, Luke, and
Preston tends to be names associated with bad people. 

The findings are based on a study of 15,000 names given babies between 1987 and 1991.  The results suggest the more unlikely the name, the more likely a young man is to commit a delinquent act.  Kalist and his associate Daniel Lee say “unpopular names are likely not to be the cause of crime.” Instead, they say the social factors connected with having an unusual name “increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency.”

Top 10 ‘bad boy’ baby names; http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/31960846/ns/parenting_and_family/;July 17, 2009; Illustration by Jim L.  Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

An unusual name may make delinquent acts more likely, but ultimately the people with the names make the choice to commit the act and are responsible for their own behavior. Since Adam, all born have the “bent toward sin” but we can’t blame him for our sins. We are responsible.

Romans 3:23 (NET) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

Researchers have found that analyzing body language, eye movement, or other physical clues may indicate whether a person is telling the truth. A study from Israel suggests even handwriting style can reveal whether or not a person is being truthful.  Researchers in Israel asked a group of volunteers to write two short paragraphs. The first was to recount a real memory, while the other was to be a fictitious event. Subjects used a wireless electronic with a pressure sensitive tip. Then, computers analyzed the writing styles.

Scientists found those who wrote lies pressed harder on the paper, used longer strokes, and produced taller letters than those telling the truth. Professor Richard Wiseman , psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire said the differences were significant.  He said,  “We know that people hesitate more when they lie and some companies already use this fact to see how long it takes people to tick boxes when filling in surveys online.”  Psychologists have suggested handwriting may change when a person lies because the brain has to work harder to invent facts. 

How you write ‘shows if you’re a liar’, scientists discover, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6204919/
How-you-write-shows-if-youre-a-liar-scientists-discover.html;    September 18, 2009, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

The Lord doesn’t need lie detection, He sees everything in our hearts.

Psalm 17:3 (CEV) You know my heart, and even during the night you have tested me and found me innocent. I have made up my mind never to tell a lie. 

Hand sanitizing is in these days. Brookstone now offers a hand sanitizer dispenser that is so efficient you don’t even have to touch it for your little dab of sanitizer or soap. It is a hands-free dispenser.

--USA Today December 7, 2009 p. 6D Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
 

USA Today calls this a Christmas gift for a germophobe. That is not a bad thing to be during any flu season. 

What Christians need to be is Sinophobe. It is a good thing to be put off as much by sin as we are by germs. 

Romans 6:12 (NASB) “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,”

When caught in a less than honorable situation many of us blame it on the devil. “The Devil made me do it,” is more than words. It is an attempt to absolve ourselves of responsibility.

“Ex-convict John Stephens told a Floyd County (Ind.) judge that he had a full-time job and intended to turn his life around, but had slipped when he tried to rob the Your Community Bank. ‘If I hadn’t been watching the news and seeing [other successful] bank robberies,’ he said, he wouldn’t have been tempted.” 

--“News of the Weird,” The Salt Lake Tribune, January 27, 2010, p. a2. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
 

1 John 2:1-2 (NIV) “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (2) He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 

Isn’t it tempting to see God like we want Him to be, rather than how He has revealed Himself?  In an interview with Parade Magazine Elton John said, "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.” 

One of the easiest ways to commit the sin of idolatry is to remake God in our image.

--http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/2010/elton-john-web-exclusive.html accessed 2/21/10 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

For culture’s view of God—see Parade Magazine. For an accurate view of God, see the Bible.

Numbers 23:19 (HCSB) God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? 

In his book, The Prodigal God, Timothy Keller writes, “Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated virtually nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors can be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge . . .” 

-- The Prodigal God, p. 42 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Mark 10:17-22 (HCSB) “As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”   (18) “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God.    (19) You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.”   (20) He said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”   (21) Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”   (22) But he was stunned at this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.” 

How much oil does it take to close a beach? “Crisis on the Gulf Coast” screams the headline in USA Today. Another article talks about the devastating effects the oil spill has had on beachfront vacation communities. It sounds like there is a sheet of oil covering the coast from Texas to Florida.

However, an accompanying article admits that most beaches along the coast are not affected. Every beach is tainted by the few that are really experiencing on shore crude oil. 

--USA Today, June 25, 2010 p. 9a Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

How much sin is too much in a life? 

This is exactly how a little sin affects the whole person. It is why Paul urged us to “flee immorality.”

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV) "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Alan Campbell called the United Kingdom's National Health Service to set up and appointment with a specialist. The NHS told him he was dead. Even though the person on the other end of the line could hear him talking, she insisted he would have to return to his general practitioner for proof he was alive. 

--World, July 17, 2010 p. 19 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Is it possible to be walking around, fully alive, yet completely dead? 

Ephesians 2:1-5 (NKJV) “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,   (2) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,   (3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.   (4) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,   (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” 

A new study shows divorce is contagious and spreads through family, friends, and co-workers. The research conducted by three universities is part of an ongoing look at 12,000 residents in Massachusetts that began in 1948.  Results indicate people are 75 percent more likely to be divorced if someone they are directly connected to gets divorced. The odds of getting divorced drop to 33 percent when there are two degrees of separation; such the friend of a friend getting divorced.  Having children does not improve a couples chance of staying married. 

One of the primary researchers, James Fowler from the University of California, says people often respond to social behaviors like they would a virus.  Fowler told reporters, “We think of a regular contagion like the flu. You get a virus and you’re more likely to spread the symptoms to someone else. This is not just true for a virus. This is true for a lot of social behaviors.”

--New study says divorce is contagious, http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/07/08/new-study-says-divorce-is-contagious ;  July 8, 2010. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

The power and influence of sin is frightening. The only way to be free is to submit ourselves to the power of God available in Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:10-11 (CEV) “When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God.   (11) In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.” 

“New research reported on in The New York Times Magazine outlines extensive study by Yale University researchers into the degree that right and wrong is recognized by children as young as a few months.” 

--Bred In The Bone? World, June 19, 2010, p. 26. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

 The research has instigated new debate on the place creation, evolution, faith, and morality play in human development. 

Researchers exposed the babies to mini-dramas, both live and on film. Babies as young as 9-12 months old overwhelmingly registered their approval of the good characters. “This wasn’t a subtle statistical trend; just about all the babies reached for the good guy.”

According to Dr. Albert Mohler, it would seem to underline the fact that human beings are made in God’s own image. It also helps us to understand Paul’s simple statement, “all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.” 

Romans 3:23 (ESV) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” 

Albert Gonzalez is a cyber-crook. He had a website that specialized in selling the data bases of stolen credit and debit card numbers. After his arrest, he accepted a deal from the U.S. Secret Service to become a paid informant.  While working for the government, Gonzalez “hacked into 180 million accounts, stealing untold millions in the biggest credit-card theft in history.”

 --The Week, December 3, 2010 p. 12 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

A thief with an unconverted nature remains a thief.  Gonzalez is serving two concurrent 20-year sentences and if he had access to a computer would probably continue to hack accounts. 

2 Peter 2:22 (NIV) Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." 

In their book, Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith: An Evangelism Crash Course, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort write, “I was like the little girl who sees a flock of sheep in the meadow and says look at how white the sheep look. And against the backdrop of the green grass, they look white. But then it begins to snow, and now the sheep look dirty; they don't look so white after all. That was my story. As I compared myself to others, I looked pretty good. But compared to the pure white snow-compared to the pure white holiness of God-I was filthy and I needed a Savior.”

- Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith Kindle Loc. 1399-1402 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Romans 3:23 (CEV) All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 

In their book, Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith: An Evangelism Crash Course, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort write, “We all know that it's wise to keep a check on our flesh for skin cancer. What may look small on the surface may be a network of death beneath the skin. The same applies spiritually. One harsh word or thought may be the sign of something deeper that has death written all over it. One lust-filled glance may be quickly forgotten during the business of the day, but prayer tends to bring it to mind.”

- Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith Kindle Loc. Loc. 359-61 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Psalm 90:8 (CEV) and you know all of our sins, even those we do in secret.

 SIN

The recent wave of states that are increasing their tobacco taxes is having an unintended consequence. As some states raise their taxes to as much as $4.35 per pack, it increases the price of a smoke in those states compared to some states whose taxes are as low as $0.17 per pack. While that may encourage less smoking in the high tax states, another result is the increase in smuggling. Criminal gangs and drug traffickers are entering the cigarette smuggling business. The difference in price creates an underground business opportunity. 

--USA Today, April 18, 2011 p. A1 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

While that was not the intent of the tax increases, it is the result. Many times the choices we make as individuals have the same unintended consequences. No one expects the decisions they make or do not make to send them to eternal death. However, as the Bible says, “The wages of sin are death.” 

We need to measure all of the consequences of our actions ahead of time. 

Romans 6:23 (NASB) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

In New Mexico, Jerry Maestas drove around for three days with Amy Marquez in his car. Maestas says he thought she was asleep, but when her skin began to acquire a bluish pallor, he drove her to an emergency room. Turns out that she was dead. 

--The Week, April 22, 2011 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

According to the letter to the Ephesians, many folks are driving around dead. Paul says we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We may look alive, but until the spirit of God makes us alive, we are simply walking about spiritually dead. 

Ephesians 2:1 (NASB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 

China has recently seen an increase in food scandals as more safety reports continue to surface. One famous incident involved a house who found that a can of pork she purchased contained so much bacteria that it glowed in the dark. The rise in interest in food safety, and the continued appearance of new scandals, may actually indicate an increase in food safety in the country. Lester Ross, an attorney who deals with food safety in China believes this trend is positive. The more people become aware for the problem, the more likely that food will be handled correctly. The proliferation of food safety reports is actually having the effect of making food safer.
 

--American Public Media-
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/26/am-more-food-scandals-in-china-may-point-to-better-regulation/ Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Miguel Martinez

This is similar to the life of the Christian, as one draws closer to God, one’s awareness of sin actually increases. This in turn produces repentance, which allows one to again, draw closer to God.
 

1 John 1:8-2:1 (NASB77) (8) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1) My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 

The economic crisis in Greece continues to grow. One commentator suggests that there is a fatal flaw in the Greek system that has caused the crisis and is preventing a solution. He called the fatal flaw the ‘hamartia.’ 

--The Week, July 1-8, 2011 p. 14 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

‘Hamartia’ is the same word the Greek New Testament uses to describe the fatal flaw in the world system. It is translated, ‘sin.’ Sin is the flaw that condemns every human to death. There is no solution to sin except for the one supplied by Jesus Christ. 

Romans 3:23 (NASB) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

Some errors can have serious consequences. In Montana, a local phone book misplaced the listing for the Bar 3 Bar-B-Q restaurant. Instead of the correct place, they listed it in the category “Animal Carcass Removal,” not a very appetizing listing for a restaurant. The owner said the listing led to prank phone calls, mockery, and a decline in business, leading him to file suit against the phone book publisher. 

-- http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/09/oddities-us-odd-restaurant-animal-carcass-removal_8669006.html Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

As great an error as this was, there is a greater one. There is a sin that leads to death We all make mistakes, the Bible calls that sin. If the Risen Son of God does not pay for our sin, the result will be much worse than a lawsuit. 

John 5:16 (HCSB) Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 

For two years, Alf Spence, a 91-year-old British man mailed letters, bills, and postcards by dropping them into what he thought was a mailbox. Unfortunately, his mailbox was a receptacle designated for receiving dog feces. 

--The Week, September 2, 2011 p. 14 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Until a helpful passerby alerted him, Spence’s deteriorating eyesight caused him to toss his perfectly good mail into a filthy place. (See Matt. 7:6) Scripture instructs us not to yield our bodies to unrighteousness. 

Romans 6:13 (NASB) and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 

In Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash A Revolution In Your Life in Christ, Peter Scazzero writes, “According to Gallup polls and sociologists, one of the greatest scandals of our day is that ‘evangelical Christians are as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered and sexually immoral as the world in general.’”

--Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash A Revolution In Your Life in Christ (Kindle Locations 311-312). Illustration by Jim L. Wilson 

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (CEV) (1) You can be certain that in the last days there will be some very hard times. (2) People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud, stuck-up, rude, and disobedient to their parents. They will also be ungrateful, godless, (3) heartless, and hateful. Their words will be cruel, and they will have no self-control or pity. These people will hate everything that is good. (4) They will be sneaky, reckless, and puffed up with pride. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. (5) Even though they will make a show of being religious, their religion won't be real. Don't have anything to do with such people. 

A professional mover in England was cleaning a garage near Coventry when he uncovered a mysterious object wrapped in a black bag. After shaking it and looking at it, Sam Curry, 22, decided it looked like a bomb. He Googled it on his phone and discovered it was a WW II era German incendiary bomb. He called his dad who told him to get out of the house, “right now!” Running from the house, he called the police who safely removed the bomb. No one knows how it came to be in the garage in the first place. 

--World, November 5, 2011 p. 18 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

We have no more business playing with sin than Sam Curry had playing with that old bomb. The results could be devastating. 

1 Corinthians 6:18 (HCSB) Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 

A recently published study has found that nearly one in three people will be arrested by the time they turn 23 years of age. The data indicate a sharp increase from similar research conducted 40 years ago. The original study found 22 percent of youth were likely to be arrested before the age of 23. The new numbers say the current rate is 30.2 percent. Criminologist Alfred Blumstein, who took part in the earlier research, said some of the increase might be due to tough crime policies.

Forty years ago, crimes like drugs and domestic violence were less likely to attract police attention. The recent study asked children, teens, and young adults between the ages of 8 and 23 whether they had ever been arrested or taken into custody. The offenses included everything from truancy and vandalism, to shoplifting, assault and murder. Authorities say the higher arrest rates means many people now have criminal records that follow them into adulthood, and impact their ability to get loans, jobs, and housing. Blumstein says the new numbers are troubling, and adds, “There’s a lot more arresting going on now.”

--Study: Nearly 1 in 3 will be arrested by age 23, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-19/youth-arrests-increase/52055700/1; December 19, 2011,  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Genesis 6:5 (CEV) The LORD saw how bad the people on earth were and that everything they thought and planned was evil. 

Two of college football’s most successful coaches fell from their lofty status and perhaps damaged their life legacy. Jim Tressel lost his job at Ohio State when he failed to report knowledge of his players receiving inappropriate gifts and money. Penn State fired long time coach, Joe Paterno when he failed to take action on allegations that one of his assistant coaches was abusing little boys in the locker room. 

--World, Dec 31, 2011, p. 56  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Both firings resulted from something the coaches didn’t do, not because of something they did. Neither was guilty in the scandalous events that took place, they just failed to do anything about it. 

Sometimes we sin without doing anything when we should.

James 4:17 (ESV) So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Police in Butte, Montana say a man, who led them on a high-speed chase for no apparent reason, baffled them. 55-year-old John Hughes drove at speeds of more than 100 mph before police used “stop sticks” to deflate his tires and bring the chase to an end.  They were surprised to find that Hughes was not intoxicated and they found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his car. He told authorities he started the chase because he “just always wanted to do that.” 

Authorities said Hughes was very fortunate because high speed chases often end up in serious collisions or roll-over accidents.  A California man was serious injured when he rolled his car several times at the end of a chase.  Police said Hughes faces misdemeanor charges of reckless driving while eluding police. Sheriff John Walsh told a local paper, “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of anything like that.”

--John C Hughes, Montana Man, starts car chase with police as part of bucket list, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/car-chase-john-c-hughes-bucket-list_n_1252533.html ; February 3, 2012, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Galatians 6:8 (HCSB) because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 

A three-year-old British toddler was doing something as harmless as hunting Easter eggs in Somersett, England. He found a brown one but was having some trouble getting it in his basket. When the adults examined his egg they discovered he had found an unexploded hand grenade from WW II. An army bomb squad exploded the very unusual Easter egg find. 

--The Week, April 20, 2012 p. 12 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

God’s warning to Cain was Sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you. Peter warned that and adversary is trying to devour you like a roaring lion. Temptation is everywhere and we need to be alert. 

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

In an editorial in the weekly magazine, The Week, editor James Graff points to several recent studies that show parasites in our systems may provide evolutionary reasons for many human actions. For example, a microbe called Toxoplasma gondii, found in the brains of as many as 20% of Americans make us more fearless, more prone to schizophrenia, and more disposed to cats, in whose guts the parasites reproduce. 

In another study Graff quotes, “evidence suggests that people harboring the flu virus are more sociable—not because they want to infect their friends, but because the virus wants to spread.”

--The Week, March 9, 2012 p. 3 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

While this James thinks we may start to blame parasites instead of our genes or social pressures for the crazy things we do the other James, the brother of Jesus who wrote a book of the Bible, insists we do those things when we are carried away by our own lusts. This seems like an updated version of “The Devil made me do it.” 

James 1:14 (ESV) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

In 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck an uncharted reef adjacent to the small Island of Giglio, off of the coast of Tuscany, Italy.  However, this wasn’t the first time the ship had sailed dangerously close to the tiny Island. 

According to satellite tracking information given to the BBC the Costa Concordia sailed closer to the Island the prior August than it did on the day of the disaster.

--(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16606405 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Ed Peterson

Many times Christians believe they can dabble in sinful behavior and remain unaffected. We may be lured closer to sin thinking nothing will happen of consequence. However, if sin remains unchecked, we will face its destructive ramifications.

Galatians 6:7 (NASB95) “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

Recently a jury found a church administrator guilty of endangering an altar boy because he allowed the relocation of a priest, whom he believed was a pedophile, to serve in a location where children were present. William Lynn is the first church official to be convicted of a crime like this, solely for his administrative actions.

Sometimes our sins are not the things we do, but the things we don’t do. In this case, he failed to protect a child and shared in the guilt of the abuse.

--“Priest in Pa. guilty of abuse cover-up” Maryclaire Dale, page A7, The Arizona Republic, Saturday, June 23, 2012.  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Neil L’Hommedieu.

James 4:17 (HCSB) “So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”

People are not sinners because they sin; they sin because they are sinners. Because of the fallen condition of mankind, we cannot help ourselves. In Palo Alto, CA police made one of the largest methamphetamine busts in U.S. History. They solved the case by tracking an iPad stolen by one of the criminals.

Inside the apartment with the stolen iPad was $35 million worth of drugs. The father of the iPad owner asked, “They have $35 million, and they can’t go out and buy an iPad?” 

--News of the Weird, Funny Times, June 2012 p. 15 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The reason a crook with $35 million would steal a $500 tablet computer is because he is a crook, and that is what crooks do. The reason we sin is because we are sinners and that is what we do. Thank goodness for the grace of God that has paid for our sinfulness.

Romans 3:23 (ESV) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We may think we are getting away with something, but there is no use trying to hide our sin. Joel Peralta discovered that while pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays against his former team, the Washington Nationals. The umpires, alerted by Nationals manager Davey Johnson, discovered pine tar in Peralta’s glove. Pitchers illegally put pine tar on the baseball to increase the movement on their pitches making them harder to hit. The umpires ejected Peralta from the game. When asked how he knew the pine tar was there, National’s manager Johnson said, “well, he pitched here.”

It doesn’t matter how deceitful we appear to be, we can hide nothing from the Lord. He is aware of all our tricks. –Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

“Rays reliever Joel Peralta ejected for pine tar in glove”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/06
/joel-peralta-ejected-for-pine-tar-in-glove/1#.UBFvgrSvKSo  Accessed 7/26/2012

Numbers 32:23 (HCSB) “But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD; be sure your sin will catch up with you.”

Using a Popsicle stick and a razor blade, Carlos Garcia spent five months breaking the bar on his New Mexico jail cell and eventfully escaped. However, he had a change of mind and climbed back up the bed sheet and through the window into his second-story cell that he had just escaped from.

Garcia is a serious criminal, serving time for among other things, two murders.  There isn’t much in this story that I can admire, except for his perseverance. I can’t imagine the work it took to use such simple tools to disable a bar that keeps a window locked in a jail cell. Yet, he wasted all that work by changing his mind and climbing back into bed. Sin carries with it, the seed to its own destruction.  Even if he had escaped and avoided capture, he still wouldn’t be free because of condition of his heart–Jim L. Wilson

NM inmate uses Popsicle sticks in escape attempt http://news.yahoo.com/nm-inmate-uses-popsicle-sticks-escape-attempt-231822713.html  (accessed 8/30/12)

Proverbs 5:22 (HCSB) “A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.”

After an attack of conscious, Kent Clemens called 911 asking them to send the police over to his house and arrest him "for making a mistake." That was invitation the authorities couldn’t refuse. What was Clemens’s mistake? He had robbed a bank in Williston, North Dakota, telling the teller that he wanted $50.00 bills and that he had a gun.

Armed Robbery is a mistake, but it is much more than that—it is serious crime. While I affirm his decision to turn himself in, I’m struck that the way he downplayed his crime is often the way we downplay our sins—they are mistakes, bad habits or oversights when we talk about them, but the truth is, they are much more than that—they are sins against a holy God.—Jim L. Wilson

Documents: Man turned self in for ND bank robbery By JAMES MacPHERSON http://news.yahoo.com/documents-man-turned-self-nd-bank-robbery-203611113.html Accessed 
8-28-12

Ephesians 2:1–2 (HCSB) “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (2) in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.”

In Confessions of a Shopaholic, Rebecca Bloomwood sits with her editor, Luke Brandon, in front of the live studio audience of a morning talk show.  Promoting her popular articles as the Girl with the Green Scarf, she mentions her inspirations in writing financial advice for non-business professionals.  The audience laughs and claps as she captures their affection.  Sensing their enthusiasm, the show's host opens the floor for questions.  A hand rises.  Rebecca cringes.  Derek Smeath, a city debt collector, rises from the audience.  "I'm having trouble with debt," he says, "Miss Bloomwood's debt."  Her shock turns to fear.  Luke attempts to defend her, yet his defense only highlights her lies.  As the debt collector lists her debt, the crowd turns.  Where they once laughed with her, they now laugh at her.  Even Luke becomes speechless and withdrawn.  Rebecca's integrity and credibility as a reporter is gone in an instant. —Jim L. Wilson and Aaron Huntley

- Confessions of a Shopaholic, directed by P.J. Hogan (2009, Burbank, CA: Buena Vista, 2009), 01:13:04-01:16:08.

Though we try to keep our sins secret, eventually they become known and damage our relationships and testimony as believers.

2 Samuel 12:12 (HCSB) “You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.” 

A report published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, says although hunger has been considered a major health crisis for years, new trends indicate another health concern is growing. Nearly 500 researchers from 50 countries compared health data from 1990 to 2012 and found a major shift in global trends. Every country in the world, except sub-Sarahan Africa has seen obesity increase by an average of 82 percent. Researchers say the results is the health burden from obesity now exceeds that due to hunger, and the change is being blamed on lifestyles that allow people to become less active, while eating the same amount or more each day. The researchers say the problem has been slow to materialize, but will likely increase other health concerns in the coming years. Co-author of the study, Ali Mokdad, from the University of Washington says the increase in obesity is already claiming more lives, and causing an uptick in other health problems. He says, “We’re even seeing a large percentage of people suffering back pain now. If we lower the obesity rates, we’d see the numbers of noncommunicable diseases and pain decrease as well.”- -Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Global report: Obesity bigger health crisis than hunger, by Danielle Dellorto, http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/health/global-burden-report/index.html?hpt=hp_c1;Accessed December 14, 2012.

1 Corinthians 9:25 (ESV) Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

A smoke screen is an old military term meaning something intended to disguise, conceal, deceive or camouflage. Like a mass of dense smoke created by artificial means to obscure movements conceal an area or vessel from the enemy.  In short, something said or done in order to hide the truth. 

With the shocking announcement of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent resignation, the Vatican, an institution devoted to eternal light, has shown itself to be the all time master of smokescreens. 

Recently a Vatican spokesman revealed that Benedict hit his head and bled profusely while visiting Mexico in March; that Benedict has had a pacemaker for years and underwent a secret operation to replace its battery a few months ago. It was also uncovered that Benedict’s post- papacy lodgings have been under construction since at least last fall. 

Vatican secrecy is legendary and has had tragic consequences — as the world learned through the church sex-abuse scandal in which bishops quietly moved abusive priests without reporting their crimes.  Such “secrecy” is institutionalized across the board!

“You have to understand that, actually, every Vatican employee and official takes an oath of secrecy when they assume their job,” said John Thavis, author of “The Vatican Diaries,” an investigation into the workings of the Holy See. “And this isn’t something that is taken lightly. They swear to keep secret any office matters and anything pertaining to the pope.” --Jim L. Wilson and Ray Webb
 

Vindy.com; Associated Press February 15, 2013; http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/feb/15/secrets-revealed-after-popes-resignation/ (accessed 2-28-13)

The Bible teaches that one day everything done in darkness will be brought to the light.     Ultimately, everything that we do will be exposed on Judgment Day. 

Luke 8:17 (ESV) For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 

The danger of discovery often overcomes the desire to be bad. When the danger is removed or greatly lessened we may be more inclined to risk our desires. A new app has appeared that purports to allow users to post a photo that will self-destruct after 10 seconds, thus eliminating the possibility of later embarrassment. 

Craig Kanalley, writing in the Huffington Post reminds students, who are the biggest users of the app, “there is no such thing as temporary on the Internet or on phones. When you send something, to anyone, you should consider it permanent.” -- Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The Week, February 22, 2013 p. 38
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/snapchat-explodes-permanence_b_2639068.html

Galatians 6:7 (ESV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 

New York City has begun an ad campaign to discourage teen pregnancy. The ad pictures a tear-stained young child who declares to an unseen mom, “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.” 

“The ad is trying to shame teens into responsible sexual behavior” condemned Planned Parenthood. Richard Reeves writing in the New York Times asks the question. “What is wrong with shame? Shame is an essential ingredient of a healthy society, nudging people toward good behavior rather than compelling it.”

Shame makes a difference in society. “Shame made millions of people give up smoking. It was shame that changed attitudes toward drunk driving.” People should feel bad about some things they do. 

One other good thing that shame does, when it becomes unbearable, it can drive us to the cross and into the arms of a loving savior who will forgive us our sins and ……  Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, March 29, 2013 p. 12.

Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Which comes first, the sinner or the sin? Sometimes you just have to shake your head in amazement. Veniamin Balika, an Illinois truck driver found himself involved in sin with no idea where to go with it. He stole a truck containing 21 tons of Muenster cheese with no place to get rid of it. 

What do you do with 21 tons of stolen cheese? After you wonder what in the world you are doing with it, you try to sell it. Balika was doing just that when the New Jersey State Police arrested him at a N.J. rest stop. 

Be sure, sin is always as stupid, it is just that sometimes the stupidity is not as obvious.--Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

World, April 20, 2013, p. 18

James 1:14-15 (ESV) (14) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

In the movie Hellboy, a demon is raised by a scientist to be a member of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, which is charged with the defense of the US public against supernatural menaces. The forces of evil kidnap him, his girlfriend, and another agent after killing the scientist who fathered him. The evildoers then torture his girlfriend until he takes up the mantle of “the destroyer” the demon meant to usher in the apocalypse. In the midst of the torture, Hellboy agrees- and goes to unlock the key to the pit with his own arm- built exactly for this moment, when through the moans of demonic forces ready to attack on the other side of the door, Hellboy hears the other captured agent, “You have a choice, your father gave it to you.” He then tosses the crucifix Hellboy’s father always wore, and as it burns a cross shape in his hellish hand- Hellboy looks at the evil forces that are making him do this, and fights back. –Jim L. Wilson and Chris Tomlinson

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167190/plotsummary

We too have a choice; do we fall back into what we always do: sin. Or do we rise up above all our ancestor’s failures- and conquer this evil that constantly fights for our will? Reach out, to the cross of Calvary, and fight back against these evil-doers who seek your life, for it was bought at a price. 

Deuteronomy 30:19 (HCSB) I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 

In the AMC TV show “The Walking Dead,” characters are faced with a world with zombies, the walking dead. The show makes it very evident that the walkers have no capacity to love, feel, think, or consider anything of value or sustenance. The prerequisite for which they become a zombie is death—they must die first. At the point of death, the virus takes over their body, and with the spirit gone they become walking corpses. 

The walkers in The Walking Dead have no fear of what they are chasing after; all they know is that they are hungry for more of what they crave. This is true with someone who is spiritually dead isn’t it? There is no fear of God; only a desire to satisfy their craving which is sin. —Jim L. Wilson and Keith Holcomb

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/ (accessed 10/31/12)

Ephesians 2:1-3 (HCSB) (1) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (2) in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. (3) We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 

How often have you been fooled into thinking that sin will make you satisfied? That whatever consequences come, they can’t compare to the happiness that sin promises. We become blinded in our sin sometimes, don’t we? There’s a scene in the book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” where Edmund has just returned from Narnia with Lucy. Unaware that the witch has already met with Edmund, Lucy warns him that she is evil. Edmund admits to himself that the witch is probably up to no good. The witch promised him Turkish Delight (a special dessert), great power, rule, and reign under one condition: that he would bring his brother and two sisters to the witch. Nothing else mattered to Edmund at this moment. 

C.S. Lewis describes the appeal of sin through Edmund’s eyes in this way: “When [Edmund] heard that the Lady he had made friends with was a dangerous witch, he felt even more uncomfortable. But he still wanted to taste that Turkish Delight again more than he wanted anything else.” This line is subtle but very powerful and something that every sinner has felt. When sin is most appealing, we desire it above all else. This is the power of sin.—Jim L. Wilson and Keith Holcomb

Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, 128

Romans 7:14-20 (HCSB) (14) For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. (15) For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. (16) And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. (17) So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. (18) For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. (19) For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. (20) Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 

Sex scandals continue to plague the Catholic Church, as Pope Francis releases the names of over 400 defrocked priests involved in sexual abuses. While the Archdiocese of Chicago released documents withheld for more than a decade on 30 more priests. The intent of these admissions is for the victims to move forward and heal. Archbishop George said, "Telling the truth does not create an excuse for failure," he said. "But it makes a difference, as we go forward, to know in what the failure consists, to know that the truth has been told and that the Church is committed to accountability and transparency." --Jim L. Wilson and by Ron Williams

-- http://news.msn.com/us/chicago-archdiocese-hid-decades-of-child-sex-abuse
-- http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/17/pope-benedict-xvi-
defrocked-nearly-400-priests-in-2-years-for-molesting-children
-- http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/21/priest-abuse-files-public/4697591/ 

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV) Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 

Someone stole a bicycle belonging to Kayla Smith. Sometime later she was looking on Craigslist and saw her bicycle listed for sale. She called, met the seller, and asked for a test ride. Then she got on the bike and rode it away. 

Is it stealing when you take back an item that has been stolen from you?  --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, September 6, 2013 p. 4

Exodus 20:15 (ESV) (15) “You shall not steal. 

Research conducted at Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center contradicts a common belief that children are born as blank slates and learn right and wrong from watching other people. Researchers found that babies as young as three months can actually distinguish good from evil. The study used puppets to demonstrate good and bad behavior and allowed the children to choose which puppet they wanted to play with afterward. In one case, a puppet struggled to open a box, and another puppet helps it open the case. In the other example, while the puppet struggles with the box, a second puppet comes along and slams the box shut again. More than 80 percent of the time the experiment was repeated, young children selected the “good” puppet when presented with a choice between the good puppet and the bad one. Paul Bloom, an author and professor who took part in the study said, “Humans are born with a hard-wired morality, a sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. We are naturally moral beings, but our environment can enhance—or sadly degrade—this innate moral sense.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

What your baby knows might freak you out, by Kelly Wallace,  http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/living/what-babies-know-anderson-cooper-parents/index.html?hpt=hp_t1,  Accessed February 14, 2014.

Romans 1:20-21 (ESV) (20) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (21) For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

The winter of 2013 and 2014 was especially cold in part of the United States. Police officers in several cities, including St. Louis Missouri say one benefit of the cold weather is a reduction in crime. Police officer Brian Schellman told a local television station that weather is one of several factors that impact crime. He said in St. Louis, the number of murders, robberies, assaults, and arson all dropped during the cold weather.  He said theft from cars and stores was down, but to a lesser extent, mainly because warming up cars often created an opportunity for theft, and the weather did not reduce crime inside stores. Schellman said, “Weather is definitely one of the factors. We’ve had a lot of cold weather especially this past month, lots of snow and ice. Those types of climates keep people indoors.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Brutal winter putting freeze on crime activity, By Shawndrea Thomas, http://fox2now.com/2014/02/18/brutal-winter-putting-freeze-on-crime-activity/; Accessed February 18, 2014.

Ephesians 4:28 (ESV) (28) Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 

Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly shooting three people and terrorizing many others at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and the nearby Village Shalom assisted-living facility. Cross has a background of bigotry. In the 1980’s he led a KKK organization. 

What can cause a person to cross the line to blindly killing fellow citizens? While shouting anti Jewish slogans and “Heil Hitler” as he was arrested, he was killing a 14-year-old Boy Scout and his physician Grandfather and an occupational therapist visiting her mother at Village Shalom. 

The blindness of the act can be seen in that none of his victims were Jewish. The two males were members of a United Methodist Church and the female a Roman Catholic. 

While the common saying is “Love is Blind,” the truth is, so is hate. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Time, April 28, 2014. P. 18

Matthew 5:44 (HCSB) (44) But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, a senior research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship says his studies have convinced him that worship services in many churches does not mention sin, which is a major part of the Gospel message. Plantinga says some more traditional churches still include confession as a part of worship, but many others do not. He says leaving out the topic of sin in worship is not wise because people encounter sin and its consequences in their daily lives. Looking at the content of Christian Copyright Licensing International worship usage reports, Dr. Plantinga believes some churches leave out the topic of sin because they do not want to turn off non-Christians or new Christians. He says, there are “very few penitential songs.” And the “biblical tradition of lament, which is all through the prophets and the Psalms is gone, just not there.” Plantinga added,”…lots of evangelical churches these days are unrelievedly cheerful.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Evangelical Worship Is Too Cheerful, Neglects Sin, Theologian Says, By Napp Nazworth, http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-worship-is-too-cheerful-neglects-sin-theologian-says-116945; Accessed March 28, 2014. 

Psalm 66:17-18 (HCSB) I cried out to Him with my mouth, and praise was on my tongue. (18) If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 

Katy Waldman writing in Slate.com reacts to the blame given for the horrific actions of humans. “Mostly, people see acts of violence and evil ‘through their personal viewfinders.’ It is the video games. No, its mental illness.” She was responding to the accusation that the Internet was responsible for the action of two 12-year-old girls who blamed the “Slender Man” for their evil act of stabbing a classmate 19 times. These are a part of “our futile struggle to explain the inexplicable,” Waldman wrote. 

There is nothing inexplicable about human depravity. The depravity of human sin that comes from rejecting the goodness of a holy God. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The Week, June 20, 2014 p. 17

Romans 5:12 (HCSB) (12) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. 

South Korean Dr. Kim Seok-Kwun has conducted 320 sex change operations over the last 28 years. He asks, “Aren’t these God’s mistakes?” He says he agonizes over whether performing such operations was defying God but in the end he remarks, “I’ve decided to defy God’s will.” 

There is no ultimate relief for those who openly and defiantly rebel against the Judge of the Universe. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

World, April 19, 2014 p. 16

Proverbs 17:11 (HCSB) (11) An evil man seeks only rebellion; a cruel messenger will be sent against him. 

Minnesota police say they were able to arrest a man after he committed a dumb act that led them right to him. They say 26-year-old Nicholas Wig allegedly broke into a home and stole several things. Wig might have gotten away with the crime if he had not used a computer in the house to log on to Facebook, but then neglected to log off. After discovering the robbery, the homeowner found the social media site open. He posted to Wig’s profile and left his phone number hoping the thief might get in touch with him. When Wig responded, the owner told him he left a few things behind and that he wanted to get them back to him. Wig thought they might arrange some kind of exchange, but the homeowner contacted the police who promptly took Wig into custody. He was wearing the homeowner’s watch when the police arrested him, and authorities returned it. Wig faces up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines if he is convicted.– Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell 

Police arrest man they said forgot to log off Facebook on computer in home he was robbing, By Will Lerner, https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/police-arrest-man-they-said-forgot-to-log-off-facebook-on-computer-in-home-he-was-robbing-192406888.html, Accessed June 24, 2014.

Mark 7:21–23 (HCSB) For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

Dean and Cristy Parave promote fitness, and spouse swapping to Christians on their website. “I don’t think God would be mad at what we are doing,” Cristy said. “At first I was conflicted, but the more we looked at it, the more it makes sense to us.”—Jim L. Wilson

http://nypost.com/2014/09/25/these-christian-swingers-like-sharing-bible-verses-sex-partners/

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (HCSB) But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, (4) traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people! 

An Episcopal Bishop, Heather Cook, struck a cyclist with her car and fled the scene. While she was fleeing, 41-year-old Thomas Palermo, a married father of two, lay dying. Other cyclists tracked Cook down, confronted her, and she returned to the scene. The Diocese of Maryland placed her on leave and the Baltimore Police Department said it planned to bring charges. 

Even the men and women pledged to serve the living God must always be aware that they too can fall into sin. It is imperative that we keep our walk with the Lord fresh and new. --Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

World, January 24, 2015 p. 15

1 Corinthians 10:12 (HCSB) “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” 

A police officer arrested John Balmer in Florida Kmart store for possession of drugs. How did the officer know? Balmer was wearing a T-Shirt that said, “Who needs drugs? No, seriously, I have drugs.”—Jim L. Wilson

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/man-wearing-i-drugs-t-shirt-4934888

Numbers 32:23 (NKJV) But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out. 

In 2015, Amanda Knox was granted a not guilty verdict by the Italian Supreme Court. A tearful Knox said she is glad to have her life back after an eight-year legal drama that gripped many around the world. She was prosecuted after the body of her friend Meredith Kercher, 21, was found in 2007 in the apartment the two women shared. Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's Italian boyfriend, was convicted as well. He was cleared along with Knox on Friday night.http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/27/europe/amanda-knox/index.html

What is your reaction to being set free from the penalty of sin in your life?  We have been set free for a purpose.  Let our freedom lead us to responsibility! --Jim L. Wilson & Ron Wood

As believers in the atonement of Christ, we have been delivered from a penalty of Death because of our rebellion and participation in the Death of Jesus. 
 

Galatians 5:1 (HCSB) (1) Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. 

Before the end of the movie, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” the Dwarf king, Thorin Oakenshield, has a choice to make.  Will he stay in the Lonely Mountain protected by its massive stones gates or will he lead his Dwarven troops into battle and help the Men and Elves overcome the orcs that are gathering to take the Lonely Mountain?  The choice is an extreme challenge for him because he was already overcome by dragon sickness, a sickness that causes Thorin to desire, above all else, to stay safe in his mountain with all its treasure within, even if this means sacrificing his own friends and family who are fighting for survival at that very moment outside the mountain. 

In one of the pivotal scenes of the movie, while many of his friends and allies are dying right outside his mountain, Thorin finally overcomes his dragon sickness.  He remembers all of the times his friends and allies helped him in the dangerous adventures that brought him back to his ancestral mountain home, and with great effort, he throws off his king’s crown to the floor, symbolizing his decision to join the battle with his friends against the orc hordes.  This act leads to the armies of good into victory over the army of evil orcs. . –Jim L. Wilson & Peter Lee

As Christians living in a world of temptations, we also have a choice.  We can choose to keep to ourselves and distract ourselves with the pleasures of this world, or we can choose to throw off all of these worldly distractions and pursue Christ and fight for the advancement of His Kingdom in the world. Our non-believing friends and family are counting on us to share with them the gospel.  Let us not be entangled by the sins that prevent us from doing so

-  Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Movie,  New Line Cinema,  12-17-2014

Hebrews 12:1-2 (HCSB) Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, (2) keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. 

Eric Maddox, author and former Army Interrogation specialist who led the hunt of Saddam Hussein told an audience in Oakland, California that it was Saddam’s craving for a favorite fish dish that resulted in his capture. In a story reported by an Oakland, California newspaper, Maddox said he interrogated more than 300 people before he found the Iraqi dictator. Most were not helpful, but he never had to use severe methods. He simply told them he would let them go if they helped him find Saddam Hussein. He said four months before the capture; he questioned the leader’s chef, who revealed that Saddam’s favorite dish was grilled fish. Hussein’s inner circle feared visiting the fish market because they were afraid of getting arrested, so Maddox reasoned Hussein would find another way to get his fish. When another informant told him that an associate had built a fish pond and stocked it with carp, Maddox knew he was getting close. They found Hussein’s bodyguard near the pond and tracked him to Hussein’s hiding place.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Saddam Hussein’s appetite for fish led to his capture, By Mark Ellis, http://blog.godreports.com/2015/04/saddam-husseins-appetite-for-fish-led-to-his-capture, April 24, 2015.

Numbers 32:23 (HCSB) But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD; be sure your sin will catch up with you. 

When author, columnist and speaker, Jason Wright saw his friend’s mug shot, his thoughts turned to his own sinful nature. Though Wright knew that his friend would have to face the consequences of what he might have done, he also knew that he was also still a child of a living, loving God, who never stops parenting. Wright says, I knew that person to be genuine, funny, and a hard worker. Then, like everyone else, he is a sinner too. In his reflection, Wright said that while most of us don’t consider our sins crimes, they are no less sins, and still come from the darkest depths of the human heart. While he is not excusing anyone, Wright says that the truth is that none of us are any different than his friend. He said, “Every day I ask God not to give up on me yet. I made mistakes. I’m imperfect. And heaven knows I have a lot of work to do before I could ever be judged worth to live with God again. May we remember that all of us are sinners, even without our pictures in the paper.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

Do your sins have mug shots?, By Jason Wright,
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/04/17/do-your-sins-have-mug-shots, Accessed April 17, 2015.

Romans 3:23 (HCSB) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

An Unnamed Seattle woman was coming to the end of a successful drivers test to complete her driver’s education training. “She was doing great,” said a police spokesman.” Unfortunately, as she was parking the car at the end of the test she accidently pressed on the gas pedal instead of the brake and sent the car plowing into the front of the driver instruction school. 

“Since she drove through the window,” said the police spokesperson, “that was a fail.” 

If we were to live completely perfect lives, correct in all our actions, words, and decisions, we would come to the end of life realizing that we would be tripped up by one small sin. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The Week, October 30, 2015 p. 12

Romans 3:23 (HCSB) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

Kelly and Gareth Gravell found a 3-foot-wide metal ball on a Welsh beach while on a family outing. Erin, 6 and Ellis, 4 happily clambered over the object that their parents thought was a harmless barnacle-covered buoy that had washed up on the beach. A few days later local officials discovered that it was a World War II mine that had washed up. They called the Royal Navy to blow it up. Gareth Gravell commented, “Oops. Thankfully, they are fine and still here.” 

That is pretty much how many sins work. They seem to be harmless fun until one day we discover they are really as destructive as a WWII mine. We are not always as fortunate as the Gravell boys. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

The Week, September 4, 2015 p. 12

Hebrews 12:1 (HCSB) Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 
 

Steven Felton, 34, was arrested for 10 armed robberies. Multiple security cameras caught his bare face with him holding a pellet gun and demanding money. In his defense he claimed his “evil twin” had carried out the robberies. Neither the jury nor the judge believed him and he was convicted by the jury and sentenced to 62-124 years by the judge. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
 
While we don’t have an “evil twin” to blame, we do have another who takes the punishment for our sin

World, October 17, 2015 p. 16

Romans 7:15 (HCSB) For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 
 

Sin

Recently, some 20,000 people were evacuated from an area of Cologne, Germany, while authorities removed a 1-ton bomb that had been discovered during construction work. The bomb was leftover from the bombing of Germany by the allies during WWII. Just a few years earlier another 20,000 people in Dortmund were cleared out while experts defused a 4,000-pound “blockbuster”— a bomb that could destroy most of a city block. And back in 2011, 45,000 people were forced to leave their homes—the largest evacuation in Germany since World War II—when a drought revealed a similar device lying on the bed of the Rhine in the middle of Koblenz.

It has been over 70 years since the bombing of Germany, yet every year more than 2,000 tons of unexploded munitions are uncovered on German soil. Before any construction project begins in Germany, the ground must be certified as cleared of unexploded ordnance.

This is the way sin is in a believer’s life. It can be relatively harmless for a long time, but until it is repented of, it is a potentially damaging explosion. — Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

“Where WWII bombs still lie in wait.” The Week, February 12, 2016, p. 36-37

Galatians 6:7 (HCSB) Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap,

Sin

Authorities in the Chicago area say they are still searching for a man who allegedly took $75 out of a photo booth at an amusement park.  The booth is designed to take pictures of anyone who tries to manipulate or damage it in any way.   It snapped several pictures of the suspect which were left behind and retrieved when the machine was repaired. They have made the photos available publically in hopes that someone will recognize the man. Batavia police detective Kevin Bretz said, “I don’t think he paid for the pictures.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Watch the birdie! Photo booth snaps mugshot of thief in the act,

http://news.yahoo.com/watch-birdie-photo-booth-snaps-mugshot-thief-act-230355504.html, Accessed February 4, 2016.

Numbers 32:23 (HCSB) But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the Lord; be sure your sin will catch up with you.

Sin

In “Life Beyond the Law,” Daryl Watts writes, “As my six-year-old daughter’s birthday party approached, I tried to coach her on how to be gracious about gifts. Even as a young child, she already had a reputation for brutal honesty. I asked her, “What do you say if you get a gift you don’t like?” She replied as sweetly as possible, “I say, ‘no thank you.’” When I suggested that she should say “thank you” and that we would exchange the gift later, she was livid. She stood up and declared in the sternest voice that a kindergartener could muster, “That may be the letter of the truth, but it isn’t the spirit of the truth. . .believers must refuse the temptation to excuse their “small sins” as inconsequential—they must work to keep both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

Living the Sermon on the Mount, 18; 28.

Matthew 5:18 (HCSB) “For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished.”

For more information on Living the Sermon on the Mount, go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1523787473/fm082-20

Sin

In “A Life of Purity,” Dallas Bivins writes, “No one could compete with the Pharisees when it comes to pure doctrine. Now a pure heart, that's another issue. Pharisees could scale volumes of regulations while tripping over the law's intentions. Whether he spoke of murder, adultery, or marriage, Jesus challenged the core of their being. He took the known law from the Old Testament and focused it with laser-intensity, right into their heart.”

Living the Sermon on the Mount, 29.

Psalm 18:26 (HCSB) “with the pure You prove Yourself pure, but with the crooked You prove Yourself shrewd.”

For more information on Living the Sermon on the Mount, go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1523787473/fm082-20

SIN

Devonte Levoris Pace and two accomplices allegedly staged a holdup outside a bar and robbed the men in a car of about $600. Police promptly arrested Pace without any problem of identification. It seems Pace dropped his own wallet, with his ID in it, in the process of committing the robbery.

When we think we sin in secret we need to realize that God sees us and he has our ID. Be sure, your sin will find you out. –Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

World, April 16, 2016 p. 25

Proverbs 15:3 (HCSB) “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing the wicked and the good.”

SIN

“The life and career of the world’s greatest golfer fell apart with the swing of a club, and it wasn’t even his swing.”

Tiger Woods was on top of the world. He was the wealthiest athlete in America, a household name, and a hero to many aspiring golfers.  In April of 2009, Woods was photographed in the Oval Office during a visit with President Obama ,and in October of that same year, Woods was named by Forbes as the first athlete to make $1 billion dollars. He seemingly had it all.

On Thanksgiving 2009, Tiger Woods’ life changed forever. The world of the greatest golfer in history came crashing down when his then wife Elin Nordegren discovered that Woods had been unfaithful. Not only had Woods been unfaithful, but he had a hidden lifestyle that revolved around secrecy, sex, parties, and living life without boundaries.

Since the time that his secret life was exposed, Woods stardom has faded. He lost his marriage, most of his sponsorships, respect from the sports world, money, fame, and has yet to win another major championship in almost seven years. Woods had broken his vows and destroyed his life and career all for momentary pleasure. –Jim L. Wilson and Eric Gibbs

--http://nypost.com/2013/11/24/the-night-tiger-woods-was-exposed-as-a-serial-cheater/

Numbers 32:23 (HCSB) “But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the Lord; be sure your sin will catch up with you.”

SIN

Stephen Curry’s golden boy image may have taken a hit after his outburst in game 6 of the 2016 NBA finals. Curry received his sixth foul with four minutes remaining in the game. Obviously upset with the call, Curry proceeded to curse the official and throw his mouthpiece into the stands hitting a fan. Curry was ejected for his actions and cost his team a $25,000 fine. If they refused to pay the fine, the result would be the suspension of Curry, the team’s best player. Curry chose to pay the fine.

Curry’s actions have drawn a great deal of criticism because Curry is openly Christian and gives all glory to God for his ability to play the game. Whatever way you view Curry’s actions, as inexcusable for such a prominent follower of Jesus, or just proof that we will all still struggle with the flesh, there is no argument that his actions were definitely costly. –Jim L. Wilson and Eric Gibbs

--http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2016/story/_/id/16281805/stephen-curry-steve-kerr-golden-state-warriors-fined-25000

Romans 7:15–20 (HCSB) “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.”

Sin

At a computer security conference, the Apple Corporation announced that it is joining companies like Google, Facebook, and others who offer rewards to hackers who come forward with information about security flaws in their software. Apple said they would offer cash rewards of up to $200,000 for the insight into flaws in their computer code. Their goal is for individuals to come forward with the information so the company can fix the problem, rather than the hackers selling the secrets to others. Apple executives said they limit the rewards to people they have worked with before, but could expand the program in the future.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Apple to offer cash for reporting security flaws, http://www.klove.com/news/2016/08/05/apple-to-offer-cash-for-reporting-security-flaws(1).aspx, Accessed August 5, 2016.

Psalm 19:12 (HCSB) “Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.”

SIN

Robbie Richardson, a 6-year-old in Quincy, Mass. might be hard to live with. As soon as he got home from an automobile outing with his father, he called 911 and reported his dad for running a red light. “Daddy went past the red light,” Robbie told the emergency dispatcher. He gave the dispatcher a detailed description of his father’s car. The dispatcher asked the boy to put his dad on the phone. Dad explained that he had made a legal right turn on red.

The boy’s mom, Joleen, said her son was a good boy who “thought he was doing the right thing.”

While we do not want a tattletale in the passenger seat, we all might benefit from a good conscience. A believer in tune with the Holy Spirit has just such a conscience with her at all times. –--Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, June 17, 2016 p. 12

John 16:8 (HCSB) “When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:”

SIN

Authorities are advising residents to be on the lookout for a white sheep in an area between Haddenfield, New Jersey, and a neighboring community. They said the sheep is very skittish and runs away when approached. Local animal control officials said they have seen the sheep but it is very hard to catch because it has outrun them every time they have managed to spot it. A social media post regarding the sheep said, “Please do not attempt to catch the sheep, it may take it baaadly.” —Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

New Jersey town warns of 'skittish' loose sheep on the lamb, By Ben Hooper,

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2016/09/16/New-Jersey-town-warns-of-skittish-loose-sheep-on-the-lamb/8501474048006/?spt=sec&or=on, Accessed September 16, 2016.

Isaiah 53:6 (HCSB) “We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.”

SIN

According to the Greek story of the Trojan War, the Greeks gave a giant wooden horse as a peace offering to their enemies. The Trojans accepted the gift, and placed it within gates of the city. While they slept, Greek soldiers, hidden in the belly of the wooden horse emerged and opened the massive gates to the city allowing the Greek army to enter. The city was destroyed and many of its inhabitants killed.

Similarly, the biggest threat against your computer it is a “Trojan horse”—a dangerous program pretending to be friendly that introduces a harmful virus that gains access to valuable information. —Jim L. Wilson and Douglas Diggs

http://www.webopedia.com/Term/T/Trojan_horse.html

Christians must be on the alert of “Trojan horses” that creep into our lives—things that are harmless on the surface, yet can infect our souls.

Colossians 2:8 (HCSB) “Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.”

SIN

In the movie I Am Legend, one of the few survivors is Neville—a scientist trying to find a cure for a rampant disease that either killed or turned humans into dark seekers – zombie-like creatures that haunt the streets at night. Every night Neville locks himself inside an armored house to escape the dark seekers. He claims this disease is not God’s fault, but our own.

Neville soon discovers the cure for the disease. While dark seekers were trying to break into his laboratory, he yells at them, “I can help. I can save you. I can save everybody.”

However, the Dark Seekers didn’t want the salvation he was trying to provide. Their condition blinded them to the need for help. —Jim L. Wilson and Jeremiah Cannon

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/quotes

Romans 3:23 (HCSB) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

SIN

Tarek and Christina El Moussa of the hit reality show Flip or Flop were, by all appearances, the perfect couple. That was until reports revealed they had separated from each other during several months of season 3’s filming.

It seems that reality television is hardly reality at all. Producers of the show decided it would be better to keep the separation secret during this year’s season in order to keep up viewership. —Jim L. Wilson & Scott Gourley

http://us.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2016/12/flip-or-flop-christina-and-tarek-hid-break-up-for-months-001327509.html

1 John 1:7 (HCSB) “But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

SIN

A Canadian couple adopted a micro-pig. They were told the little piglet would grow to be about 70 pounds. Four years later piggy is 650 pounds and still growing. It weighs more than a polar bear and eats dozens of pounds of vegetables, fruit, grain, every week. It tops all that off with ice cream.

Sin is like that. We might begin with what we think is a minor sin only to watch it become a full grown monstrosity that overtakes our life, even unto death. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, February 3, 2017, p 12

James 1:15 (HCSB) “Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.”

SIN

A national pizza chain, Villa Italian has introduced an “alternative facts pizza.” It is described as a “presidential pie topped with bacon, pepperoni, ham, sausage, homemade sauce, and whole-milk mozzarella that will have ‘zero calories.’”

While this ad is obviously tongue-in-cheek, there are those who continually work to convince us that sin has no consequences. The truth is, “the wages of sin is death.” —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, February 3, 2017, p. 6

Romans 6:23 (HCSB) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

REBELLION

Bernie Madoff is the disgraced money manager serving a 150-year prison sentence for swindling investors out of $65 billion in the world’s largest Ponzi scheme. Once a schemer always a schemer, it seems. He is still running a racket. He has bought up every package of Swiss Miss from the commissary and if you want a pack of hot chocolate mix you must buy it from Bernie, at a higher price.

This recalls the old saying, “We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.” The Bible teaches that in our rebellion against God we have a natural tendency towards sin. It’s not just Bernie Madoff whose sinful nature overtakes him. Without repentance and turning to God we are all prone to give in to our sinful inclinations. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, January 27, 2017, p. 12

Romans 6:6 (HCSB) “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,”

SIN

There has been an increase in the number of Great White Sharks spotted along the Southern California coast in recent days. Recently a group of swimmers in the water at Capistrano Beach heard a helicopter loudspeaker broadcasting, “You are paddle boarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks. . . Exit the water in a calm manner.”

You can imagine the haste in which, as calmly as hurriedly possible, they found their way to shore. Paul warned believers that it is with that kind of single mindedness we should flee from sexual immorality. We might add it would be a good thing to flee all sinfulness in a like manner. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The week, May 26, 2017p. 9

1 Corinthians 6:18 (CSB) “Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.”

IMMORALITY

In the culture wars it looks like the church is losing. Our culture is moving further from Biblical morality. In its annual Values and Beliefs survey, the Gallup polling organization found that record percentages of U.S. adults believe it is morally acceptable to get divorced (73%), engage in opposite-sex sexual acts outside marriage (69%), engage in same-sex sexual acts (63%), have a baby outside of marriage (62%), commit physician-assisted suicide (57%), view pornography (36%) and practice polygamy (17%). —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

http://www.bpnews.net/48878/gallup-poll-records-humbling-moral-decline

1 Timothy 4:8 (CSB) “For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

REBELLION

Recently the American Academy of Pediatrics published an excerpt of a study about the cognitive development of children. “The report argued children under 14 aren’t cognitively capable of crossing a busy street because they ‘lack the perceptual judgment and physical skills needed to consistently get across safely.’” While this report is accepted as truth, society has decided that it is healthy to give puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to children confused about their birth gender. Any person questioning children’s ability to make life altering choices of a sexual nature are accused of bigotry and hatred.

The primary focus in our culture has become what pleases me. As our culture descends lower and becomes more fervent in hostility to God, the thing that pleases me will be whatever goes against God’s design. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

World Magazine, July 1, 2017 p. 7

Mark 10:6 (CSB) “But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.”

SIN

An unnamed Ohio woman called 911 and reported, “I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face.” Firefighters arrived to find the 45-year-old woman lying on the driveway with the serpent coiled around her neck. They couldn’t pry the snake off her nose and finally cut its head off with a pocket knife to free her. The 5-foot-long boa constrictor was one of 11 snakes the woman keeps as pets.

This is exactly how sin entraps us. We hold it a little close to the bosom and before we know it we are entrapped in its misery. Flee immorality, and flee snakes. It is the same message. —Jim L. Wilson & Rodger Russell

The Week, August 11, 2017, p. 12

1 Corinthians 6:18 (CSB) “Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.”

SIN

It started with something as simple as a pet owner who decided it was time to get rid of their pet snake. They released the snake into the wild to make its own way. Now there are an estimated 100,000 pythons loose in the Everglades. The giant Burmese python grows so large even the alligators cannot match them. Miami-Dade County officials have hired 25 python hunters to track and kill as many as possible. In seven weeks, they have removed only 149 pythons, just a fraction of the problem.

That is the way sin captures a life. It begins with a simple step of disobedience but soon we are entrapped by a plague we have no ability to overcome. Fortunately, God’s plan has proven more successful than the County officials in Florida. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

World Magazine, July 1, 2017 P 8

1 John 1:9 (CSB) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

SIN

94 percent of Americans think it should be illegal to text while driving. The National Safety Council estimates that 213,000 car crashes in a single year involved drivers who were texting. This number continues to increase. As almost all of us believe it should be illegal, many of the crashes must be caused by people doing something they believe should be illegal. In fact, according to one analysis, state anti-texting laws barely reduce the likelihood a teenager will text and drive. Cell phone researchers are coming to the conclusion that using a cell phone is such an ingrained habit that even a law against it or a personal belief that it is dangerous and wrong can change the activity.

In this way texting and driving has become another dangerous habit much like others we are unable to break. Like the apostle Paul we find ourselves doing the very thing we despise. We will need to overcome this bad behavior much the same way we have overcome other harmful habits, by strengthening the will and calling on the Lord for help. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

“A Deadly Habit,” The Week, November 8, 2013 pp. 40-41.

Romans 7:15 (CSB)

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.

SIN

In the movie Sixth Sense Bruce Willis stars as the character Dr. Malcom Crowe, a psychologist who takes on the young boy Cole Sear as a new patient. In one iconic and climatic scene, the boy reveals a tormenting secret, “I see dead people.” Crowe begins to probe the child with questions such as, “Do you see them in dreams?… Graves?” Cole’s response is shocking in that he claims to see them walking as all people walk, walking as regular people, seeing only what they want to see, not knowing they are dead. Cole says that he sees them everywhere and at all times. —Jim L. Wilson and Rob Berhorst

Those in Christ have experienced new life while those apart from Christ remain dead in their sins.

Sixth Sense, Copyright 1999, Spyglass Entertainment, Chapter 10, Bedtime Stories and Secrets 44:25-51:51.

Ephesians 2:1 (CSB)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

SIN

Victor Pratt invited his Arizona neighbors over for a barbecue. A rattlesnake invaded the cookout when it came slithering through the grass. Pratt decided to show his guests how to cook and eat a rattler. Catching it, he was posing for pictures when the snake escaped his grasp and bit him. The guests rushed him to the hospital where he received the anti-venom that may have saved his life. Pratt says he has learned his lesson: “Ain’t gonna play with snakes no more.”

When a believer decides to get involved in sin they can expect sin to react just like a rattlesnake. It is as ludicrous for a believer to cling to sin as it is for a cook to pose with a rattlesnake. The only proper response is to “flee immorality.” —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, September 29, 2017 p. 12

John 10:10 (CSB)

A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

SIN

After 40 years of telling their customers, they can have it their way, Burger King changed its motto to: "Be Your Way."

A spokesperson explained the motto change by saying, "they can and should live how they want anytime. It's ok to not be perfect ... Self-expression is most important and it's our differences that make us individuals instead of robots."—Jim L. Wilson and Danny Stoops

http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2014/05/20/burger-king-ditches-have-it-your-way-slogan.html

Judges 21:25 (CSB)

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.

SIN

In the movie Passengers (2016, Columbia pictures) a spacecraft traveling to a distant planet has a malfunction in one of its 5000 sleep chambers, waking passenger Jim Preston from his suspended animation 90 years early. After a year of living on the ship alone in solitude and hopelessness, he becomes captivated with another passenger, Aurora Lane, and begins an agonizing internal struggle debating waking her from her hibernation pod to share his plight. At one point he is engaged in a conversation with an android, his only companion on the ship.

“Let's say you figured out how to do something that would make your life a million times better, but you knew it was wrong and there was no taking it back. How do you do the math?”

The android responds, “Jim, these are not robot questions.” The android was saying there are questions whose answers cannot be preprogramed—they can’t be scripted.

--Passengers. Dir. Morten Tyldum. Perf. Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, and Michael Sheen. Columbia Colombia Pictures, 2016. DVD

Our internal struggles with our sin and the depth of our hearts are also complex questions that we cannot resolve and have no simple answers. The only answers come from God. —Jim L. Wilson and Phil Olson

Romans 7:18–19 (CSB)

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

SIN

At the end of hundreds of pages or seven hours (nearly ten in the extended editions) Frodo is finally inside of Mt. Doom, one toss away from being rid of the ring and finished with his arduous quest. But he can’t do it. Faced with the prospect of giving up his precious, he balks, and it is only through Gollum’s likewise selfish actions that the ring is destroyed. In the soft light of Rivendell, on the cold slopes of the mountains, even trudging up the erupting volcano, Frodo’s resolve seems concrete, but he fails in that crucial moment within the mountain.

His actions remind me of how we are with our pet sin. We detest it, but then cling to it in the midst of the one place that offers freedom from that slavery? —Jim L. Wilson and Danny Stoops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c24-0Amwyik

Hebrews 12:1 (CSB)

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,

SIN

We live in a time when people are taking sides. As we point at each other to determine who is the greater evil we forget one of the very basic teachings of the Gospel— “for all have sinned.” Writing in his history of the Russian prison system, The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, reminded his readers.

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. 

It is up to us to examine the line in our own hearts. Only Jesus Christ can erase that line. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10420.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Romans 3:10–12 (CSB)

as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away;

all alike have become worthless.

There is no one who does what is good,

not even one.

SIN

In a Wall Street Journal article, lawyer Mike Chase commented about the calls for criminal action in our current political climate. It seems that each side in the political debate is anxious to see those on the other side locked up. On his twitter feed Chase posts one statute or regulation per day and over 1000 crimes later he says he has not scratched the surface. There are thousands of federal statutes and hundreds of thousands of regulations with criminal penalties. So many in fact, the department of Justice has given up trying to count them.

“With all these crimes, it’s extremely unlikely that Robert Mueller wouldn’t be able to find some violation of some criminal law committed by virtually everyone he’s looking at.” That would most likely include you and me as well.

The Bible tells us that all have sinned. If a government prosecutor could find something to charge us with, it is almost certain that we have fallen short of the ideal established by an almighty and holy Creator. If the penalty of sin is death, we really do need a pardon. –Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2018 p. A17

Romans 3:23 (CSB)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

SIN

In the movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings there is a classic scene where Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Aragorn, and Gandalf the wizard are traveling through the Mines of Moria when they are suddenly attacked by a giant and maleficent beast known as a Balrag. After sending the others over a narrow bridge to safety, Gandalf stands in the middle of the bridge and fights against the Balrag with all of his might. Near the end of the epic fight scene Gandalf summons all his strength and thrusts his wizard’s stick into the bridge causing the Balrog and the surface below it to crumble and fall away into the abyss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kBN340vd4

For many men, the battle against lust is an incredibly difficult battle that at times also feels like it requires all of one’s strength. It requires great perseverance and strength, and ultimately as was the case with Gandalf’s victory over the Balrog, it requires supernatural power. Only through God’s strength can men attain victory over this menacing enemy. —Jim L. Wilson & Wade Harlan

1 Corinthians 10:13 (CSB)

No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

SIN

At the remote Russian Bellingshausen Station on King George Island in the Antarctic, Sergey Savitsky and Oleg Beloguzov have spent the last four years. One of the ways the men pass the long hours is by reading books. Beloguzov delighted in tormenting Savitsky by revealing the endings of books he was reading. Finally, the situation erupted into a fight, fueled by alcohol. Beloguzov was injured enough to be evacuated but is expected to recover. Authorities charged Savitsky with what they believe is the first-ever attempted murder in Antarctica’s history. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

The Week, November 16, 2018 p. 12

Mark 7:21 (CSB) “For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,”

SIN

The editors of the magazine The Week published a year end list of things to avoid next year. They give reasons to avoid ibuprofen, grilled food, neck ties, (they restrict blood flow to your brain) disinfectants, bottled water, and staying up late. One of the most interesting things to avoid was following sports. Following sports, researchers in the U.K. found, makes one miserable. The joy fans feel when their team wins is outweighed—2-1 – by the misery they suffer when the team loses. This effect is multiplied if you actually expect your team to win. —Jim L. Wilson  and Rodger Russell.

The Week, December 21/28, 2018 p.29

https://theweek.com/print/406693/82278/what-good-bad-2018

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (CSB)²² Stay away from every kind of evil.

SIN

Kelly Brown Douglas, the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary claims, “A good starting point for understanding what the Bible says about sex is the Bible.” Douglas says that Paul did not teach a dualistic understanding on sexuality, “pitting body against soul.” This was a misinterpretation made by Augustine that procreation is inherently sinful.

Douglas proposes an alternative option, “When sexuality is expressed in a way that provides and nurtures harmonious right relationship — that is those that are loving just and equal — then it can be considered sacred. It is only when sexual expression is objectified and thus disconnected from harmonious right relationship, loving relationship; it is only then that it is sinful.”

-- https://baptistnews.com/article/when-it-comes-to-sex-turn-to-bible-not-biblical-interpretation-scholar-says/. (Accessed October 28, 2018).

If by “right relationship,” Douglas means within the context of marriage between a man and a woman, then she offers a helpful correction to Augustine’s teaching. –Jim L. Wilson & Steven Cabrillos

1 John 3:13 (CSB) “Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.”

SIN

Ferdinand (2017), is a cartoon movie about a peaceful bull with a big heart that was born in a farm for Spanish fighting bulls. The bulls from the farm fought with each other trying to prove who was the strongest and bravest that would face the bullfighter to defeat him. Ferdinand escaped from the training camp in rural Spain after his father never returned from his encounter with a matador. At minute 1:05 in the movie, Ferdinand goes with a goat friend into the house of a Matador. They entered a room full of bullfighting trophies. In this scene, Ferdinand and the goat began to inspect the room. They saw several sharp swords, at the time that a piece of sad music begins to play in the background; he sees a bronze sculpture of a bullfighter wounding a bull with a sword. Suddenly Ferdinand slowly turns his eyes to the wall to find a picture frame with the horns of a dead bull in the wall. Ferdinand overcame with sadness contemplated the picture of a fierce bull killed by the Matador. Ferdinand's goat friend asks: Is that…?", "My dad," Ferdinand interrupted, "he was the bravest bull I knew," "he really believed he could beat the Matador." Then his eyes lift to see the huge wall filled with many bullhorns. Ferdinand said, "all of them did! the bull never wins.”

Sin can be very enticing and seductive, but it always comes with a very high price of destructive and hurtful consequences. All the people that commit sin end up discovering, as Ferdinand did, that the sinners never win. —Jim L. Wilson and Carlos Andres Rodriguez

Movie Ferdinand (2017) by the director: Carlos Saldanha, and writers: Robert L. Baird and Tim Federle, and Brad Copeland (screenplay). By Blue Sky Studio/20th Century Fox.

Proverbs 6:32 (CSB) “The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.”

SIN

In the Disney movie “A wrinkle in time” a young boy and his sister are taken on a trip to save the father from the destruction of “The It.”  Their guides fly them through the universe to a far away planet with beautiful landscapes such as they had never seen.  As they move through the scenery they are met with ever changing beauty and wonder.  In the sky lurks a large black cloud with tentacles that were reaching out.  As they got closer the cloud began to affect their flight.  They end up just below the cloud wondering what had happen.  The guide explains that this is “The It.”  A source of pure evil.  It reaches out across the universe to affect all that it can.  Once affected it is difficult for anyone to escape “It’s” grasp.  —Jim L. Wilson and Ken Dillender

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WRsZhvF3Y

We also are affected by “The It,” or what we like to call it, sin.  We move through a beautiful creation to find ourselves falling head over heels into the trap of sin.  It affects our lives, and once affected, it is very difficult to get away.

Romans 3:23–24 (CSB) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

SIN

Scientists from Purdue University are warning that cockroaches are becoming immune to insecticide. According to a study published in June in Scientific Reports, German Cockroach populations not only developed a resistance to insecticide but also picked up immunity to insecticides not used in the study. “This will make controlling these pests almost impossible with chemicals alone.”

World Magazine August 3, 2019 p. 15

Just as cockroaches become immune to insecticide, so do believers become immune to sin. We become so involved in those things that are unrighteous that we get to the point where we no longer even realize how impure we have become. When faced with sin the proper response is to flee. –Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (CSB) “Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.”

SIN

Video footage showed a man robbing a Laundromat in Missouri while wearing a t-shirt that said “It's not a crime unless you get caught.”  

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/security-video-it-isnt-crime-unless-you-get-caught/63-c02ff6c5-dbe7-4eda-b427-f15cac94d4e5

Sitting the irony of the crime aside, his t-shirt slogan is wrong—a crime is a crime is a crime. Just ask the owner of the vending machine this man vandalized to extract the $600.00 the robber took. He lost the $600.00 and is facing a $1300.00 bill to repair the damage. —Jim L. Wilson

Galatians 6:7 (CSB)

Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap,

SIN

Angel Cardenas, a local CBS correspondent with KMAX TV’s “Good Morning Sacramento,” found out the hard way that sin can never remain hidden for long. He was fired, recently, for climbing all over classic, privately-owned cars at the Sacramento International Auto Show, damaging one in the process. Cardenas playfully tells viewers “The only person out here is a media coordinator . . . no one is out here to tell me which car I can’t go in, cause some of these are off limits, so I’m just gonna live on the wild side.” After seemingly dinging the door of one of the vehicles, he gets inside and quips that “nobody’s looking,” then directed the cameraman to zoom in on the spot on the car. His blasé attitude to wrongdoing cost him his job.

Don’t we also have this kind of attitude toward our sin, in thinking that God does not see us. No sin is hidden from His sight. We must beware that our sins will always find us out!—Jim L. Wilson and Derick Wilson

Luke 12:2–3 (CSB)

There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

 SIN

“Tennessee police warn not to flush drugs down toilet for fear of creating ‘meth-gators.’” That was the warning from the Loretta Police Department, after investigators caught someone trying to flush methamphetamine down the toilet. The concern is that whatever people flush down the toilet eventually ends up in retention ponds for processing before going downstream. Even though “our sewer guys take great pride in releasing water that is cleaner than what is in the creek,” police said, “. . . they are not really prepared for meth.” The authorities are not only concerned about the effects on waterfowl, but once the water got further downstream near Shoal Creek and the Tennessee River in North Alabama, “it would create meth-gators.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/tennessee-police-drugs-meth-gators-toilet

We often forget that sin “always” has unintended consequences, many times not fully realized until the water has flowed down the creek. By that time, it is too late, and we might end up with “meth-gators.” —Jim L. Wilson and Derick Wilson

James 1:14–15 (CSB)

But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

 SIN

It was mark Twain who famously wrote, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” after a report circulated that he was seriously ill (when it was someone else) and had in fact died.

How surprised would you and your family be if your obituary appeared in a local newspaper—but you were not dead?

This happened to Charlie Donaghy in Northern England, when his obituary appeared in the Northern Echo, much to the great distress and consternation of his family. Especially when condolences and respects started flooding in.

The newspaper claimed to have triple-checked the report, but it was still wrong, and they had not checked with the family. They subsequently removed the story from their website and social media, and issued an apology and correction, but the inaccurate report still distresses the family.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/england-newspaper-obituary-still-alive

So, how would you feel if it happened to you? Well, it already has, though you may not realize it. If you are a believer in Christ Jesus, then you are dead to your former life, and alive in Him! Your obituary has already been written! —Jim L. Wilson and Derick Wilson

Romans 6:1–11 (CSB)

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 SIN

One of the necessities of sewer and drain systems is that they flow freely to move the waste down system, and not back up into homes and businesses, and potentially damaging the environment. But sometimes they get blocked.

It recently took Thames Water workers 3 weeks to clear a 40 ton “Fatburg,” in the London sewer system. The clog formed because of the fusion of grease, fat, oil, and unflushable items such as diapers, wet wipes, and cotton swabs that people should not flush down the sink or other drains.

“‘This was a massive and disgusting blockage that took a great deal of effort and teamwork to clear and get the sewer working well again,’ said Matt Rimmer, Thames Water’s head of waste networks.”

https://www.foxnews.com/world/london-sewer-fatberg-cleared

Because of our own complacency and dissipation, we can so easily let a “Fatburg” of various sinful behaviors, attitudes, and actions, which fuses and clings together and hinder our walk with the Lord. Best thing is to be very careful what we allow into our lives in the first place. —Jim L. Wilson and Derick Wilson

Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

SIN

Danny Vellow was leaving his home when, in the curbside bulk trash pile, he found a World War I artillery shell filled with more than 22 pounds of high explosives. “Lo and behold, I almost stepped on the bomb,” Vellow, a London, Ontario, native told the CBC. “I was like, ‘Holy heck, eh?’” Vellow wasted no time in contacting police who then called in a Canadian Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. They removed the threat.

World Magazine, June 30, 2018, p. 14

The New Testament calls us to have the same reaction to sin as Vellow had to the bomb. We need to remove it from our life as quickly as possible. Sin in our life is as dangerous as a WW 1 bomb in the street. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

1 Corinthians 6:18 (CSB)

Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

SIN

In Thailand, government officials have set in motion an unusual plan to curb littering in the nations’ Khao Yai National Park. The country’s Environment minister posted an announcement on Facebook saying he intends to send the trash to the homes of tourists who litter in the park. “Your trash—we’ll send it back to you,” he warned in the post. Officials say they have already boxed up and returned litter to one group of campers by mail. Littering in the park is also punishable by up to five years behind bars.

World October 24, 2020 p. 16

In the same way, our sin will find its way back to us unless we take care of it by repentance and confession. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Numbers 32:23 (CSB)

But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the Lord; be sure your sin will catch up with you.

SIN

A family in Torrance, California experienced what Alfred Hitchcock brought to the cinema—hundreds of birds infesting their home. In April of 2021, hundreds of birds entered the family’s home through the chimney. Local news outlets showed the video shot by the homeowners of the “shows the pulsating flock circling above the family’s chimney before many begin swooping down inside. Another clip shot later shows them up against a window inside the home, still flapping with determination.”

I can only imagine the feeling of helplessness of having birds overtake your home, and the damage they cause before leaving. This news story helps me understand the damaging effects of sin.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/we-lost-count-after-800-torrance-home-overrun-by-migrating-birds/

Galatians 6:1 (CSB)

Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

SIN

Wildlife officers in Colorado announced they were finally able to track down a bull elk and remove a tire that had been around the animal’s neck for at least two years.  Officials said the 4-and-a-half-year-old animal was first spotted about two years ago with the tire around its neck, but they had never been able to get close enough to remove the tire. When they finally saw and tranquilized the animal, they found that the tire had a thick metal bead which they could not cut through, so wildlife officers choose to cut some of the animal’s antlers away instead.  Wildlife officer Scott Murdoch said the elk was released at the scene, about 35 pounds lighter after the removal of the tire and antlers. He added, “It was not easy for sure we had to move it just right to get it off because we weren’t able to cut the steel bead of the tire. Fortunately, the bull’s neck still had a little room to move.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

 https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/12/Colorado-Parks-and-Wildlife-elk-tire-two-years/7351634052961/

Hebrews 12:1 (CSB)

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,