Good Morning Peeps! How are you doing this Friday morning, good I hope? Are you having a good week so far, I sure hope so? Have a good and very Blessed day today and rest of the weekend too! - May God Bless You and Yours In 2019 and Beyond!!! And AMEN goes right here….
#SalvationIsOnlyThruJesusChrist
“This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
***Remember, if you haven’t purchased it already, my newly published book “The Third Eye Perspective” book of Devotionals is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Xulon Press in Paperback, Hardback, also on EBook. and also in the December 2018 edition of the Christian Book Buyers Guide Catalog on page #7! You can also follow me on Twitter (CCBrown67) and Instagram (Doubletuff99)! Thank you!
The Third Eye Perspective:
By Carlos C. Brown
Thought For Today – “The Bullying Effect…“
Good Morning again Peeps! If you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 7:16 verse. It reads, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” In other words, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” Of course what is being referenced to here are people, not fruit trees. I got this one a few days ago and I just wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go with it. I have been listening to Pastor Ron Carpenter’s series on “Difficult People,” and let me tell you, this is a very powerful message series! There were multiple directions I could have gone with this one, and it was pretty hard to decide which one to pick. By a show of virtual hands, how many of you reading this has either been bullied in your past or are being bullied currently, or have done or are doing some bullying of your own right now, or known someone who has been or are being bullied right now? There are different kinds of bullying too, from just playing around like family or friends pranking each other harmlessly, to the serious type of bullying that results in some people trying so hard to escape it, that they end up taking their lives as a way out. I have a funny but not so fond memory of my uncle Danny whom I called “D.T.” As I have said on multiple occasions, I have the utmost respect and admiration for him even to this day! He had the biggest heart, and would share his vast and wide range of knowledge with anyone! I miss talking politics and sports with him sitting around on a warm spring or summer day for hours! He loved talking politics and sports with us! He taught me pretty much everything I know about Basketball, Football, and just sports in general. I credit him also for teaching not only me, but my cousins his children, and God knows how many others the game of Basketball and Football. He also taught me a lot about life. Things I didn’t really take to heart until later on in my life when I was older, and especially now that he’s earned his Heavenly wings. But he had this little thing he would do when I was a teen. Early on Saturday mornings, he would come to my grandparents’ house with his wife, my aunt Sandra. Most times I would still be in the bed sleeping soundly. He would sneak into my bedroom and with his middle finger bent or doubled over where it makes a point at the middle knuckle, then he would put a frog in my calf or thigh muscle! You talk about excruciating pain! I’m talking about “jump up in the bed so high that you hit your head on the ceiling” kind or pain. LOL! It felt like you had been shot or something LOL! It wasn’t so much the act itself that was so terrifying, it was the fact that you were deep asleep and wasn’t expecting it LOL! I guess that was his way of saying “you shouldn’t still be in the bed anyways, get up man and go do something productive like trying to get better in Basketball.” LOL! He did this so frequently, and so sneaky-like, that he scarred me for a long time on being able to sleep comfortably for more than an hour at a time despite him not living there. I would have nightmares at night and wake up looking around all crazy like thinking he was there! LOL! Until you’ve ever had it happen, don’t judge me for being over dramatic LOL! And AMEN goes right here!
What I described above does not fall under the bullying category, despite how painful it was. I took it as a joke which is what it was intended. I am sure some of you are puzzled wondering where I’m going with this message am I right? Well here goes…..all throughout the human existence, there has been an ongoing problem of one form or another of uncontrolled “Bullying.” In the Bible, despite being God’s chosen people, the Israelites were bullied by bad Kings/Rulers who should have never been on the throne in the first place because God never intended for them to have a ruler besides Himself. Look at what the Philistine giant “Goliath” did to the Israelite army until young David came along? The Bible says that he went out everyday taunting them over and over because they were “God’s Chosen People” and he also knew they were afraid of them due to his size and reputation as a warrior. (read 1 Samuel starting with 17th chapter). They (Israelites) were also bullied by Pharaoh when they were forced into slavery for 400 years. The Bible says, he rationed their food, their water, and even their rest and sleep, but worked them twice as hard and he should have under those circumstances. Of course I could name a few others who were bullied in the Bible but the one that really turns your stomach, is when the Roman soldiers bullied (tortured) Jesus Christ before they crucified Him on the Cross at Calvary’s Mt. The reason this is so significant, is that very same mentality of “Bullying” is happening still today. Just look around in the media, on social media, and even in your own communities? Bullying is so common that people have started to accept it just as part of life instead of everyone coming together and try to prevent it. Look around you, people are getting more and more bold with their bullying, especially cyber bullying. And racism that a lot of “naïve people” thought had magically gone away, has reared its ugly head from the shadows it had been hiding in. People of ALL races are being prejudice against other races for the stupidest and most pettiest reasons, that it is really sad. It is becoming normal to mock people and their heritage so much to the point that R-E-S-P-E-C-T of anyone or anything, but especially Religion, is becoming a thing of the past. The biggest problem, is even people of the Faith are causing more harm to the image of Religion than the non-believers! Think about the sacrifices Christians had to endure just to be able to practice it back in the Biblical days? Nowadays, you will have a hard time finding some proud Christians who openly and unapologetically will proclaim their Faith out of fear that someone will either ridicule them, or go looking in their life to find something that contradicts them as being “Holy,” aka “Bullying” them. Just for the record, “I” have NO problem proclaiming that “I” am a Christian!!! I will NEVER claim to be perfect at anything BUT being IMPERFECT! That is the ONLY thing I am perfect at! I make mistakes, I fall short of the Glory of God too, but I keep getting back up dusting myself off, and asking for Forgiveness and keep trying to do better and BE better! And AMEN goes right here too! I will NEVER deny being a Christian! I am NOT ashamed to claim it either!
Now that I’ve laid the groundwork for my message, let me get into what I like to call the “meat” of the message. In other words, “where am I going with this whole message?” The answer is simple, to encourage people to stop BEING bullies, and to stop people from bullying you if you fall under that category. And especially with Christian folks, I have been unfortunate enough to witness so-called Christian folk being the biggest culprits of the “bullying” to others. It is no wonder religion isn’t as important to God as our personal relationship with Him is. However, too many people have come to believe that just because they call themselves “Christians,” they have the right to judge other people, whether Christians or non-believers and that just isn’t the case at all. God does NOT give anyone besides Himself that right. If I’m being honest, I even had to realize I was one of them. I was raised up by some very strict and old fashioned thinking grandparents. I thank God everyday that my mother and grandparents were like that too. However, there is a certain stigma that comes with old fashioned thinking and upbringing. Part of it being that you tend to view almost anyone and everyone who doesn’t think what you think to be wrong, and at that very moment you are starting down the road of not only “judging” them, but also “bullying” them when you start to try and impose your way of thinking on them. A movie comes to mind, “Footloose” where the storyline is that a small farm town had outlawed any form of dancing in the town, due to Christian beliefs as it was hidden behind, but an accident the town’s preacher’s son had, that took his life. The son was on his way back from a party in another town and had been drinking, lost control and went off a bridge. Isn’t this also a form of “bullying?” Imposing your beliefs on someone else because of something tragic that happened to you, but not necessarily is part of God’s commandments. Why do you think there are so many Churches popping up all over the place in every city, town, and even state? “Religion” has become BIG business on the one hand, but on the otherhand it appears to be growing because differences of opinions and yes here’s that word again, religious “Bullying.” One group of so-called “Church Folk” who think they are better than another group of again “Church Folk.” They break off and start their own Church, then over time people from that Church will spilt off and start an even new and different Church or “Churches” for the same reason. Here’s the problem, none of this is based on personal relationships with God. I guess there isn’t anything wrong with attending Church services with likeminded people, AS LONG AS their line of thinking lines up with God’s. If that is NOT the case, then you can do all the shouting, praising, singing, etc… you want to, the presence of God will not be in that place. And AMEN goes right here too! God is looking for worshippers who are loyal, genuine, humble, free-hearted, giving, remorseful for their mistakes, loving and caring without bias. There is a saying that goes, “You can mistreat people and serve God at the same time.” That statement is about as true as anything in the Bible if you know how God thinks. He commands us to love thy neighbor, that brother and thy sister, thy mother and thy father and thy children and especially Him! Today, make the commitment to stop bullying other people and focus more on acceptance of people being different. The labels we place on other people not really knowing them personally, does so more damage to our own Spiritual relationship with God than just about anything else. Remember, God sees our hearts and could care less about what’s on the outside! Can I leave you with a question to ponder today if I may?
“Are you part of the problem, or are you part of the solution?” Can I get an AMEN????
“Today, choose to “Ride or Die” with Jesus Christ 110%! Afterall, isn’t that EXACTLY what HE did for US on the Cross?”
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