Ending Your Day Right (Joyce Meyer)

I noticed Joyce Meyer preaching on TV a few years back. A lady preaching on TV (and not overly made/dressed up) is not something you see all that often, so I stopped my channel surfing to listen. Another discovery - she made good sense - but I guess I was not ready.

Recently, I ran into Joyce again while channel surfing, and I stopped to listen. She's still making good sense. Now, when I see her, I stop and listen and take what she says to heart. She's got a very positive message and seems to always know what I need to hear.

A few weeks ago, I was bored during a Christmas visitation to my relatives and went to Walmart to get away - they don't have much to choose from around where I was staying. Walking by the book section, I noticed a couple of books by, you guessed it, Joyce Meyer. They both looked pretty good, but I was in more immediate need I guess of the one, Ending Your Day Right. I didn't buy it right then, but did a few days ago. I started it this morning.

It has a passages from scripture with commentary for every day of the year. I got caught up to today when I started it this morning. This is no pointless commentary, but stuff that would be important to just about anyone in some way, RIGHT NOW! Take a look and see for yourself.

There is also a companion, Starting Your Day Right, if you prefer to do your devotional reading in the morning - me, I am always too rushed then.

Mrs. Meyer has a website http://www.joycemeyer.org if you are interested in taking a look. There are free on-line videos of her preaching there among lots of other stuff. Try it out.

Called into Being

In a book I am currently reading, the author refers to our being created by God as our being "called into being" by God. I really like this expression for the process. It's almost like we were always around in God's mind, if only as a shadow or a glimmer.

The Fifth Revelation

Several years ago, someone introduced me to The Urantia Book. I had intended to read the entire 2000 plus pages of it, but never did. Recently, as I reevaluted my "search", I remembered it.

I went online to buy the book, but ran into another book made up of "a collection of key passages from The Urantia Book" compiled by Kelly Elstrott, The Fifth Revelation. At 300 or so pages, it contains mostly passages from The Urantia Book and some brief commentary. This sounded like a way to get a flavor of the whole book in a lot less time, so I gave it a try.

Much of what I read really spoke to me. I would recommend trying this shorter version if 2000 pages seems like a lot. There is something to this.

There is some controversy over the source of the Urantia materials. I don't claim to understand all the hoopla and think it not necessary to go there. Here's one of my reasons for feeling this way, quoting from page 303 of The Fifth Revelation:

"Like all other sacred texts, the contents should not be evaluated by relying on claims of authorship or authority, but rather upon the 'fruits of the spirit' which they produce. The new reader might explore the book as a fascinating piece of religious literature until such time as it spiritual quality authenticates its message and its source."

Which is really similar (if you look closely at least) to Matthew 7:15-20 if you prefer a biblical source:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits."

As I said, much of what I read in The Fifth Revelation really spoke to me, so I think there is something to this. I didn't see anything dangerous in it.

Will I now read The Urantia Book? Maybe some day, but I have many other things I want to read first, and it takes a long time to get through 2000 pages.

I should mention that I came across another (shorter) book based on The Urantia Book called, The Center Within: Lessons from the Heart of the Urantia Revolution by Belitsos and Harris. It is 290 pages and has quotes and lots of commentary. I plan to read it soon and will let you know what I think. If you get to it first, let me know how it went.

In case you have no clue what this Urantia thing is all about, Urantia is Earth and you should visit http://www.urantia.org for details. The whole 2000 pages and a summary is online there among other things. Good hunting.

The Unitarian Christian Journal (UK)

I have recently found the blog where the Unitarian Christian Journal (UK) is published. The address is http://www.unitarianchristian.net or http://www.unitarianchristian.info. These are two articles that I found especially interesting there:

(1) Friday, December 10, 2004
Unitarian Christianity: A Personal View

(2) Saturday, January 01, 2005
The Forward March of the Non Brigade

From (2) I quote:

"The Non Brigade – A group of people who negatively define themselves by what they don’t believe in - to them the Unitarian church provides nothing more than a forum for religious debate (or more accurately, carping about the perceived intolerance of Christians). Members of this group object to anyone with faith, fearing what they do not know or understand. These are the real obstruction to those Unitarians in both Britain and the United States who are working hard to re-establish Unitarianism as a radical, progressive alternative to 'mainstream' Christianity."

Take a look at the full articles. And there are lots more like this there.

New Beginnings?

in front of the Parthenon at Nashville (01/05)

First posting of 2005. Looking forward to a good year.
"Then shall your light break forth like the dawn..." Isaiah 58:8