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Don’t conform to the world

October

“Your body is yours! If you destroy it, you have to leave.”
Joyce Meyers verbalized those words on TV. People were stunned! Slowly, they
began to smile… then broke into laughter! The statement caused a delayed reaction!
Meyers’ statement was startling because ‘leaving’ means ‘dying’ and we don’t like to
think of dying, much less, talk about it!
Billy Graham said, “There is one thing that we all have in common; we are all going
to die!” But some die earlier than others. Why? Will you live longer if you have ‘faith’
in God? Jesus said yes, “…your faith has made you well.” Matthew 9:22 (NRSV)
The Greek word for faith: peitho –means ‘to rely.’ Rely on God! Get your ‘Mind
Body Spirit’ well! Read the Scriptures as an instruction book; it comes with a guarantee!
When we follow the Bible’s instructions, we are guaranteed an afterlife with God in a
place called heaven!
Alan M. Dershowitz (AMD), in his book, “The Genesis of Justice” writes that
Genesis, tells us stories about heroes who lie, cheat, murder, and get away with it!
“Genesis is the best moral teaching tool ever devised,” says AMD.
Dershowitz further elaborates, “Genesis challenges the person to ‘think for
themselves …” (Mind Body Spirit challenges members to think for themselves also!).
Then (like Captain Marvel) shazam!, God’s 10 Commandments (our instructions)
appear in the next chapter, Exodus.
To paraphrase Ecclesiastes, “there is not a righteous person on the whole earth, who
never sins” (Eccl. 7:20).
Recently, a well-known preacher in NC said “After I got colon cancer, I started
reading the Bible in a different way.” He noticed that the Bible even tells what to eat,
etc.
When he ate, as the Bible instructed, when he looked at the earth and its beauty, as
God created it, when he walked through its forests and on its beaches, when he breathed
fresh air and let the sunlight shine on him, then he began to understand what it means to
love others. Not only did he finally, truly ‘rely on God,’ he got well!
My friends, that is what Pastor Robert G. Whiting H.M. and I are striving to teach in
our Bible Study: ‘Mind Body Spirit.’ We had 23 persons arrive at Stone Chapel UMC
for our 1st class. Eighteen of them had never been in Stone Chapel before (it’s the 2nd
oldest Methodist church in the U.S.) and many of 18, were looking for a church to call
their own! Hallelujah!
Diet is NOT the focus of the class!
We focus on the total person: Mind Body Spirit and we are understanding, more and
more, Joyce Meyers’ statement! “Your body is yours! If you destroy it, you have to
leave.” We can destroy our Mind Body Spirit, but by NOT conforming to the world,
rather by being TRANSFORMED and striving to become like Jesus, we will have
communion with God now, and forever. Amen!