Getting Owned...pwned??

Seeing the above video generates a bunch of laughs for me. Don't we just love it when we see people get "pwned (pronounced "owned"), especially when supposed evil-doers get their comeuppance? Marvin, aka Crazytrini85, is just as bad a sinner as the rest of us. The only difference is that he got caught -- and on national television! It must be the ultimate embarrasment to dishonor oneself in front of millions of people, to be exposed as an extremely perverted person -- the evidence so evident and damning it leaves absolutely no room for doubt.

I often post this video in the chatroom of my other website, Anime Squish in order to remind my fellow site members that if they are not careful to reign in their hormones and guard what they allow their eyes to see and ears to hear -- if they do not put a garrison around their hearts and minds they could end up meeting the same fate as Mr. Marvin you see up there. What begins as the private lustful entertainment in one's own mind, if not stopped, will soon turn itself into action. And why would we say it cannot happen to any one of us? Every action has always begun as a single thought that was nurtured and constantly revisited, and revised many different ways in one's mind.

Also, there is the cumulative-domino effect that sin has. Every sin leads to another greater sin. Check this out: Marvin Lakhan thought of meeting a teenage girl for sex. He added to his sinful thoughts what he would do to her when they were alone, added in a dash of Cool Whip, and topped it off with thoughts of bestiality. He wanted a fourteen-year-old girl to perform a sex act with a cat! Chris Hansen expounds on this and summarizes his intentions right before the cameras come out for Marvin to see. Marvin, naked and hopefully ashamed, can only nod in agreement. The evidence is overwhelming and damning. Marvin got his clothes back on, but he'll never get back his dignity, whatever respectability he might have held, and he'll never get back the time he was sentenced to prison for acting upon his lusts.

The Bible says in James 1: 14-15, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

Marvin Lakhan got pwned, alright. He was owned by his own sinful desires, which lead to being pwned by Dateline To Catch A Predator. After that he was owned by the police. And it doesn't end there. He will go to prison where he'll get pwned by Bubba the bootie bandit. Sad, sad, sad. If only he controlled his own lusts...

LORD, what are You going to do?!

That's the question we should have been asking all along instead of "What am I going to do?!" When we ask ourselves what we are going to do, we fret and worry because there is only so much we can humanly do. We become frustrated, angry, and we become filled with alot of anxiety because we know we are very limited in what we can do. However, when we ask the LORD, "Father what are You going to do?", then we have removed ourselves from the equation and have moved on instead to trusting God. When we ask God what He is going to do in our situation (while we trust and obey Him, of course) we have taken our eyes off our limitations and impotence and have riveted them to His infinite capacity and omnipotence! That is why I heard on the radio today from Charles Stanley. I was thinking, "Alright we need to fold now...Lord, please help us to find an apartment, yadda yadda..."

Perhaps God has allowed us to fall into this seemingly impossible, heart-wrenching situation because He wants to show us what He can do if we just put our trust in Him. I have learned not to sneer at whom God may use. Often times we think that He would surround us with our family, friends, and others who we have an affinity for. But hey, He just might even use someone we don't even like!

Charles Stanley can explain it better than I can. LISTEN TO THIS: CLICK HERE.

Becoming Rich...

Recently over the past several weeks, my wife and I have been searching for new ways to make money online. Last year I had tried an online business that eventually failed, due to lack of good advertising, meager efforts, and an onslaught of Nigerian scammers out there who were persistent in hijacking my auctions, emailing me their crap, etc. But, as we face the very possibility of bankruptcy and foreclosure, and after spending time praying, it is time to act and find a way.

So we have delved into the world of online affiliate-marketing. This is where you set up a blog or website, and then join affiliate networks such as Commission Junction and others like it so that you may advertise on their behalf using your own webspace. Let me tell you that even if there are many visitors to your site it really does not count unless they click on your ads. Or, you have a special agreement with the specific company you're advertising for. But, we have made some dollars with Google's Adsense. And I thank the LORD for every penny He has given us.

**Sigh**. A few months ago I was listening to the radio while driving to work. A radio commercial aired wherein a male voice was promoting a home loan business. It caught my attention due to our situation, and I thought I'd listen in just in case they might have something good to offer for a family like mine. Then, in the midst of the broadcast, the male voice said over the air, "If you are facing foreclosure or bankruptcy your only hope is God the Father. The bottom dropped out of my equilibrium. I had heard this commercial before several times. It was at that point that usually the male voice would speak the punchline of the company he represented, something that greatly promotes their business. But NO!! He clearly said that my only hope is in God the Father!!!

I don't know what anyone else may have thought of what I heard. Nobody else was with me at the time. But, I knew what I heard. My only hope is in God the Father. Yes, he could have said Jesus Christ. But hey, Jesus and Father God are one. I knew it had to be from God Himself because in saying, "God the Father", it denoted a relationship not based on servant-master, but rather parent-child, a relationship based on sonship. It meant closeness with the Father, obedience to the Father, and all other things that pertain a small child's relationship to their father. Therefore, what I really needed to do was to focus on my relationship with God as my Father. The Bible says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."

Ah, seek ye first the kingdom of God. This means that when we make God's desires our priority, He will then make our needs His priority. When we care about the things of God and put Him first in our lives, then He will give us great blessings. So, no matter what I try to do, I must keep in mind that I live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Yet, for all the stress we are enduring at this point, I somehow feel no worry (though I should be). I feel stressed, but I am not tearing my hair off. Unlike in 1997, I am not feeling as if it is the end of the world. I'm not worried that I'll be out on the street. And even if I were going to be, I do not feel worried. I know that the LORD, that God my Father will take care of me.

God has a great sense of humor. Earlier this week my wife found a $100.00 (one-hundred dollars) bill under her boot when she walked outside a gas station's little store. She couldn't believe it, but she thanked the LORD immediately for this provision. Happily she remarked that now she had some money to buy the kids their Christmas presents. I believe it was God's way to reassure her, saying that He will take care of us. Whether or not we foreclose and go bankrupt ONE THING IS CERTAIN -- God the Father will always take care of us.