Archbishop Gregory Holley

Thoughts about the Tax Rebate

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. , Professor of Economics of the University of Georgia is attributed as the author of this illustration.  I cannot  verify its accuracy and have edited a portion of it for this post. While it may be "cute" it does illustrate a current issue in our nation and unfortuanately an attitude in society. Like my dad said, "Eat the fish, spit out the bones!"

"Suppose that every day, ten men go out for lunch and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate in the diner every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily lunch by $20."  Lunch for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat his lunch. So, the diner owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the diner, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two?

The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next day the tenth man didn't show up for lunch, so the nine sat down and had lunch without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important! They didn't have enough money among all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. "

Three Things That Matter Most

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In Luke the sixth chapter Jesus shows three descriptive types of His interests. First He went to the mountainside to pray showing His intimacy with the Father.  Following this intimacy came the connectivity to the disciples who were traveling with Him. And when time came He turned to make Himself available to the crowds. These choices might very well show us what matters most!

The three things at the heart of the life of Jesus are demonstrated in this passage. There was the "up" relationship with His Father.  Then there was the "in" relationships with the disciples.  This brought Him to the "out" which brought proper relationships with the throngs of people who sought to touch Him only to receive of Him.

Which brings us to our focus of the day.  The "up", "in", and "out" of our lives. Jesus taught readily that no student was above his teacher and the student, when fully trained would be like the master.   Our intimacy with God must be paramount for upon this principle rests the exactness of our daily walk. A teacher who does not know His student is chosen by the student to be that type of long distance teacher. Our intimacy with God's teaching brings us close to His voice and His closeness is not distant in relationship to any man.

It bring us to connectivity with our Christian family. The digital world which we live in will never take the place of flesh and blood relationships. We learn from each other by that knowledge of each other that is only learned by rubbing shoulders.  The Apostle warned in his day of those who would seek to stay away from the assembling of themselves from congregational activities. The time has come when this is the tenor of our age as well.

Then there is our availability to the rest of the human race as representatives of His Kingdom in the earth. Through Jesus' followers the love of God is available to all. Withdrawing from society brings not the ingredients of the plan of God which is to show Himself strong through those who believe.  So the "up", "in", and "out" of Jesus was and is the demonstration of what was to be our pattern of life! Have a great day and God bless you!

The Mouthpiece

Often the question is asked of how a man or woman becomes a preacher. Yes, many desire it because of noble reasons and some because of folly but there is as the old timers called it a “calling.” Today we blog about the Prophet Ezekiel who did not seek the position of being the mouthpiece of God. It wasn’t a television evangelist type of ministry. The society he was to minister to was far away from the desires of God and he was invited in a vision to eat word of the Lord which was to be preached.

As a result of the book of ‘lamentations and mournings’, which he had eaten, his own spirit was filled with bitterness. He was keenly conscious of the sadness of the burden of the Lord, which he must proclaim. Transported by the Spirit he found himself among the captives at Telabib by the River Chebar. To them he was to give forth what God had given him. But so great was his inward exercise that for a full week he sat looking on, dumb with grief, as he considered their present condition and realized the hardness of their hearts and their unwillingness to heed what he was sent to declare unto them. At the end of seven days God spoke again. Ezekiel 3:14-15

Solemn are the responsibilities put by God Himself upon the one whom He calls to be a watchman and to speak for Him to His people. It was undoubtedly this and the kindred passage in chapter 33 that the Apostle Paul had in mind when he declared to the Ephesian elders, “I take you to witness that I am free from the blood of all men.” While among them he had borne his testimony night and day with tears, and had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. [ Ezekiel 3: 16-21]

Though in an earlier dispensation, it was the same burden that was laid upon the heart of Ezekiel. Set apart by God and appointed to be a watchman in Judah, a tremendous responsibility upon him. He was to warn the wicked of the judgments coming if they continued to live in defiance of God’s holy law; and, likewise, he was responsible to stress the importance of continuing in the way of righteousness when addressing those who were endeavoring to act in obedience to the commandments of God. If he failed to do this, and the wicked persisted in their evil ways until overtaken by judgment, and the unwarned who had walked in righteousness turned aside to commit iniquity, they should die in their sins, but their blood would be required at the watchman’s hand. He would have to answer to God for leaving the people unwarned. It was a terrible responsibility, but the same responsibility rests on every chosen servant of Christ today. [Acts 20: 25-29]

In considering these verses, we need to remember that it is righteousness according to the Law of Moses that is in question. We do not have before us here the gospel of the grace of God. The time had not come for that glorious revelation. The Law, as we are told distinctly in the Epistle to the Galatians, is the very opposite of the gospel. Jesus fulfilled the Law and brought us His righteousness to make us the righteousness of God! [Leviticus 18:5/ Romans 3:19-26]

In the Old Testament dispensation, where there was real faith in God, it would be manifested by delight in His word and obedience to His law. But there might be outward conformity to the law without any true work of grace in the soul. Israel was under the government of God as His covenant people, and hence responsible to walk before Him in righteousness. If they did this, they would be blessed in temporal things. If they became willful and disobedient they would come under judgment. The ministries of the prophets were to call the people back to righteousness. The chapter closes by telling us of another vision of God in His Governmental ways, given to prepare the prophet further for the great task set before him.

No man is fit to go forth to represent God to other men if he himself has not been in the presence of God and received the gift of righteousness. Nor will one experience of the divine manifestation. One must needs be given new revelations from time to time of the glory, power, love, and wisdom of God, so that in freshness of spirit and vigor of soul he may stand before his fellowmen as one sent forth by divine command. Overwhelmed by the vision of Jehovah, he fell prostrate on his face. Strengthened by the Spirit he was lifted to his feet, and his commission given its final form. In the power of the flesh he was to do nothing; he was not to speak except as the words were given him of the Lord’s righteousness. [Ezekiel 3: 22-27]

Strength for the Journey!

In Vision the prophet heard the command of the attendant messenger of the Lord of hosts, bidding him to eat the scroll (KJV = roll) on which the word of the Lord was written. John had a similar vision on Patmos. He and Ezekiel are depicted as literally devouring the book. Job in fiery trials and afflictions treasured the words of God more than his daily food and Jesus declared that life proclaimed the strength of man was in every word proceeding from God. Only as we feed on the Word can we become strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Before Ezekiel went to give the word of God to others, he must eat the roll - - that is feed on that word himself. The testimony of the Lord must become a very part of his very being, so to speak, if he would so declare it that those to whom he ministered would feel the force of it in convicting power. [Jeremiah 15:15-16/ Job 23:12/ Matthew 4:4 Ezekiel 3: 1-3]

At first the prophet took the roll into his mouth, but did not seem to swallow it. In this he was like many who have a certain head knowledge of or intellectual acquaintance with the truth of Scripture, but have never really made it their own. We must not only taste its sweetness, but also feed upon it, receive it into our innermost being, that it may completely fill our lives. The believer must enjoy, meditating, inwardly digesting and then is ready to declare the whole counsel of God to those who are famishing for want of it. [ Psalm 119:11]

God would not have his servant under any illusion as to the possible effect of his message or of the attitude of those to whom he was sent. He was sent to his own people, the nation that had the law of God and had failed to obey. It was Ezekiel’s business to proclaim the message. Results could be left to God. It is even so today. The hearers of the message become the more responsible because of added light. The Word itself will be their judge in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. [ Ezekiel 3:4-7]

Ezekiel was sent of God, not so much to the remnant remaining in the land of Palestine, but to those who had been carried away as captives. One might have supposed their hearts soft and their consciences tender, and that in their distress there would have been a great turning to the Lord. But they became all the harder as they resented the suffering that had come upon them. Naturally Ezekiel might be inclined to faint under all this and to become discouraged when there was no response to the word; but He who commissioned him was behind his servant, and he undertook to strengthen him for the task and to make him as strong for God as the people were strong against him. He gave him strength for the journey! [Ezekiel 3:8-11]

This was a fresh revelation of the power of God as Governor among the nations, given to encourage the prophet as he was about to begin his ministry. He had to learn that there was no might in himself. The Spirit of God proceeding from the throne, took him up and placed him under divine control. This was ever true of our blessed Lord in the years of His humiliation. He ever chose to act, not in His inherent omnipotence as the Son of God become flesh, but He put Himself under the guidance and control of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who ‘drove Him into the wilderness,’ and it was by the Spirit of God that He cast out demons and accomplished all of His mighty works. [ Ezekiel 3: 12-15]

The ‘ noise of great rushing’ that stirred Ezekiel’s soul, reminds us of the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind at Pentecost, when the promised Comforter, descended upon the 120 disciples, baptizing them into one Body and empowering them for service. The book of Acts is far more truly designated as the Acts of the Holy Spirit than the Acts of the Apostles for it was the Spirit that empowered them and by the Spirit all testimony for Christ has been maintained throughout the centuries since. “Eat the Roll” for it will bring Strength for the Journey! [Acts 2:1-3/ I Corinthians 12:12-13]

Attraction to the Seed or the Harvest?

The following is a writing of the blogger's personal prayer time and it is presented to you ,my faithful readers, as a word of knowledge.

The seed of a good man is captured in a known object of desire. It is the preparation of the receptacle that brings forth the intended production of application for future benefits. It is evident that you have prepared the receptacles of desire for the future of your seed. I the Lord your God will sustain you during this period of growth. I have prepared the receptacle of your life for the seed that is now placed within. Have not I told you that the future of life will be a luminary event? Now be prepared to go through the growth of my choosing as the fruition of my seed comes to you.

Seed in itself is not the fruit of the vine yet many men create a desire and appetite for the taste of seed. Patience brings with it the fruit of a harvest of that seed that will bring about nutriments that is never dreamed of by the seed taster. Most of the life that you live in is driven by attraction to the seed and refusal to see past the seed into the harvest.

Look now into the harvest. See beyond the seed. See the production of product made from the harvest of the fruit of the seed. See the sustainment provided by both the seed and the harvest. Is the harvest the production of product derived from the seed or from the fruit? I show you the harvest and then I show you the product derived from the harvest.

Did not a great man find many uses for the peanut? Would any taste of the product and spend a great deal of time musing about the seed pressed into black dirt and cared for? Much less, is anyone tasting the product or using the outcome wondering aloud to those around about the shaking of the dirt from the roots of the harvest plant? The drying, the processing, the packing, the transportation of such is forgotten in the delacies of satisfaction.

I say to you, only you can know the bitterness of the day of sowing. Many of your day are sowing from a packaged mentality, sowing from a received interest of future gains. This in itself is not crippling. It is the ignoring of the process that incapacitates faith rendering it useless. If when you sow, you know there is a process to production and a pathway to delicacy then in your pathway you will be patient with growth.

You have chosen well the location. You have chosen well the seed. You have chosen well the harvest. Now I am about to show you a harvest you could not have chosen for you could not see the miracle of fruition. I show you a glimpse at times to cause your feet not to grow weary and your human likeness not to falter in plan but I steadily guide you toward the tidbit of the dream that you can see.

It is to the lover to romanticize the future while placing the seed of desire within. I have used that which you know to take you to that which you could not know. When you see what to you are fantastical visions of grandeur are they not the musings of love. Then as a guiding lover or observant father encouragement is given to keep the plant alive as the seasons change its productivity into patterns of behavioral dimensions.

Who would know the dimensional properties of the peanut? Only that one which you call a researcher. I call you unto the researcher of the product. How many different ways can I show you to prosper from the product you will possess? I say unto you the product is near unto fruition, just as the seed was planted and harvested, now the product is near unto its cycle stage.

Do you not see the product is but a seed unto production? How many uses can the product extend itself into? How many wasted moments are in a single focus vision when a product can spin into various functions? The warning is this. Some productions are intensely interesting to the producer while the intended functional use lies in another obscure area of the production seed. Stay open to the winds of production. We are into the warehouses and the shelves are ready. Now we fill those shelves with product from the harvest of the seed that was so carefully watched. Eventually you will walk through the inventory of processed harvest and be amazed that the thing you thought was small is big and the things you thought were big are small.

The Attraction of a Great Military Hero and Exectuive Genius

It has been proved that you cannot attract that which you do not dwell upon.  Leadership examples are studied fervently from all angles and moral leadership is on the decline.  In all executive fashion the attraction of wealth and fame have overshadowed principled thought processes until the study is made of the excesses of the production of wealth and not the production. This thread is designed to explore some of the greatest military heroes and executives of all time. The exploration begins with Joshua. [Joshua 1-6]

Walking in purpose from early age he grew from a birth in slavery to a stalwart character in human history. Denied the silver spooned beginnings of life he rose to the highest position in his day afforded to men and women of that time span. We too are blessed to live in a nation where men of low birth esteem might rise through the ranks to the highest offices of our land into positions of trust and honor.  Without regard we are attracted to the power of authority without learning the rise from obscurity to leadership.

It is quite certain Joshua, born in the land of Goshen, to parents held in slavery by the Egyptians, offered little or no promise.  No one took a glance as to this nobleman would be as he played in the dirt streets of poverty and abject discouragement. His eyes would have seen the bloodied backs of the men who failed in their master's eyes. His hands would have reached up to clutch the gnarled fingers of a mother's hands worn by grasping straw with which to make bricks not noting that the softness was gone by survival's thrust.

Yet the discouragement of meager beginnings cannot take away the need for discipline and routine of character management.  And no matter how it comes discipline is the resource of the arsenal of mental adjustments made through the course of life. We do owe more to adversity than we do to prosperity, yet the current climate is a rise to wealth without discipline corrupting the character. From boardrooms to cathedrals there is a softening of the way up to the lofty heights of authority leaving the character undisciplined  because of the unattractiveness of such. Joshua had no choice in the matter and thrived in abject poverty.

Growing up in home of moral and rigorous spiritual discipline Joshua was seasoned to the excitement of the elders hushed talk of a better way and possibly a military expert coming from Jehovah's army to provide deliverance. Hope was kept alive through the anchoring of knowledge gained from generation to generation and the stories of triumph in the legacy of family history. The current struggle was not dwelt upon while the fledgling leader was developed and soon when the lesson was ready the teacher appeared.

Moses, history records, came upon the scene from a different set of circumstances than Joshua. He had been born in the same poverty region and only through a mother's attraction to a better life was he hid from the authorities only to be found and catapulted into the wealthiest home of those who had enslaved the parents. Through a leadership school of completely opposite attractions the teaching of his mother brought him full circle until Moses was standing in front of the slaves proposing deliverance and choosing those who would fill his cabinet of leaders.

Now the time had come that that which Joshua had dwelt upon, the deliverance of his nation, would cause him to be attractive as a leader to the very one sent from an opposite spectrum. He would not automatically become the great military hero or executive of the new nation.  He would be drawing upon that which had attracted him all of his life and that which had disciplined him in poverty would deliver him to his success. We are much the same way in that what we dwell on will be the propellant which drives us to the goal we have sought. Joshua dwelt on the discipline and deliverance of a nation and now it would become his life work!

Next Tuesday: Remaining Attractive to the Leaders Above You   

Joshua: Attracted to be Chosen

Joshua stood, approximately 40 years old, in the crowd that day only to have Moses choose him and appoint him as his personal minister. Quickly taking up the cause the young and brilliant student became more an associate or assistant than a servant. This created a relationship  of trust in that he became the recipient of the wise strategies that would keep the fledgling nation free of enslavement again. It is a principle of leadership that senior leaders look and attach themselves to those they see in the ranks who have character, perseverance and loyalty.

It was Joshua who would lead the inexperienced troops into battle with the hardened inhabitants of Amelek at Rephidim. ( Exodus 17:8-16) When Moses went into what is termed as the Mount of God it was Joshua who was chosen to accompany. ( Exodus 24:13) In the darkest times of Moses when it was demanded that he come into the camp city to handle unresolved personal issues it was Joshua who stayed in the Tabernacle praying until Moses returned. ( Exodus 33:11) Is there any appraisal of the value of these trust building tasks that were entrusted to him by Moses?

Caanan's land laid before the desert weary Israelites.  Moses chose from the throng twelve men to go and spy out the new and wealthy land.  It is not surprising that Joshua would be among those chosen to bring a true and valiant declaration of what he had seen and experienced. After 40 days all of the spies returned and the majority sang in unison of the the impossibilities of taking the inhabitants of this land captive and enjoying the rich and plenteous wealth available.

The obstacles of the takeover were loudly reported and the Israelites would be unable to move forward.  A rising cry came from the camps for a return to Egypt and the slavery that awaited.  It was Joshua, along with his traveling companion Caleb, who courageously seized the opportunity to speak faith in God's ability to deliver the land into their hands.  From that point on there was never a thought of the ability of Joshua to stand in the face of men and follow God alone.

The attraction to be chosen continued in his life and he continued to rise to the level of the calling.  He was the voice of faith to a redundant, fearful, unbelieving group of desert travelers destined for the promise land  God had prepared.  Perhaps you are battling today to swim upstream knowing that your are doing what is right in the face of those who do not understand.  Perhaps you are in the minority believing that all will be well and you will be the recipient of favor.  Then you are in good company with Joshua!

Take heart!  Moses chose Joshua to lead the next generation! His stability and outlook on life brought him to the pinnacle of desire.  Rise up!  Your faith in God will bring you to a good outcome and your lot in life will be the desire of your heart.