American Idol? or Aliens examine our passions!

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6 NASB)

On board Starship Kollobbtsktsk:

Brig. General Yunge: “Status First Lieutenant Will-E”

Lieutenant Will-E: “We will arrive at the third planet from the sun in about 3 Kollobonian minutintsk. It is fortunate that the only beings on this planet who know of us are widely held as what they refer to as “whack-jobs and loons.”

Brig. General Yunge: “Precisely... Chief Religion Officer Joewerkinferit...what’s the status on the understanding of God on this planet?”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “We have discovered a copy of their primary Moral Law. It is called by modern theologians The Ten Commandments.”

Brig. General Yunge: “Summarize in layman’s terms.”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “It seems that the first four Commandments relate in general to the people’s relationship with God. The rest seem to deal more with their relationship with each other.”

Brig. General Yunge: “How are they doing following these Commandments?”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “They seem to break them all. Take the 2nd one for instance. It says not to create an idol for themselves. It says God is a jealous God and extends His punishment to those who do this for generations. Even with this very specific instruction, idols are everywhere. This is especially so in America, that powerful nation that houses Mark Applegate, the most brilliant, attractive and modest writer on the planet.”

Brig. General Yunge: “The houses have little shrines?”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “Not really shrines. It’s something much more sinister yet subtle. In fact, they often don’t realize they have them. Take Sunday, the day they worship God. Instead of being in their house of worship, many of them do peculiar things. Some walk around a neatly groomed field and whack a ball with a metal rod until it lands in one of 18 mini-shrines. Others offer sacrifices by casting them into a lake or river on the end of a string. Still others watch their metallic house shrine as it entertains them with sport. They have a place to worship God, yet they follow idols. Worst of all, I don’t think God likes it at all. In their sacred text it says in Revelation 21:8 ‘But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’ Idolaters aren’t just those who worship other recognized deities...they are those who make one up for themselves! It can be as subtle as saying about God “My god would never send someone to Hell...or...My god takes into account the good I have done with the bad, puts it on a scale and if I do more good than bad I go to heaven...or...My god adds new stuff to the Bible all the time as dictated by our current religious leaders.” These people might as well rename their god Yoda!

Brig. General Yunge: “Why doesn’t God come to Earth and show Himself as He is?”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “That’s just it...He did!”

Brig. General Yunge: “What did the people do when their Creator came?”

Officer Joewerkinferit “They killed Him!”

Brig. General Yunge: “Interesting! No wonder they have little shrines everywhere. They don’t fear their God.”

Officer Joewerkinferit: “I have read their book. They will fear Him later...when He comes back.”

Meanwhile...on Earth... writing genius Mark Applegate offers this commentary:

Ok...there is no such thing as aliens. I know... most of us have seen the poll that says more modern college students believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life than believe they will get Social Security benefits when they turn 65. Bad news...neither is true! Either way, it is a sobering reality to know that God is mad about the fact that we are idolaters. I have often failed on this one as well. I don’t have a Buddha on my mantle or a sacred cow on my fridge. I do, however, justify my personal sin by rationalizing it in my mind, making the God of my mind different than the one in the Bible. When we do that, we might as well be worshipping some dude name Frank. Don’t write this Commandment off as one that heathens do in other countries. Instead add it to the list of Commandments that both of us break. Look at the Commandments, and think of how frequently we break them. Then think of God coming to the Earth as a perfect, sinless man, dying on the cross as a substitute punishment-taker for the many sins (including this one) we have committed against Him, and rising again to defeat death. We should remind ourselves that He did this knowing what kind of folks we really are. What a great and merciful God we serve!
By the way...If you don’t know this God about which I speak, in a personal way, or if you have made for yourself one that is comfortable to you instead of one strictly expressed in the Bible, humbly call out to Him. Say to Him something like “God, I know I have blown it. I have broken every Commandment in the Book. You should throw me in Hell, and be perfectly justified in doing so. I ask you, instead, to forgive my sins. I know Jesus died as a substitute for the punishment my sins have deserved. I want to turn from my old life with me in charge and let you be my boss in every way. While I can never earn your forgiveness, I want to live for you forever. Amen.” There is no magic prayer or posture necessary, just a humble heart who wants to know God. Email me any time if you have questions. God Bless!

Weight updates: 214.8 down 2 lbs from last week. Total lost: 121. Goal: 24.8 lbs away. Ancient Chinese Secret to huge weight loss...The man who lose lot of weight must first be of really fat! No charge for the advice!

Bible verse: Colossians 1:21-2

3rd Commandment

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7 NASB)

I am finally starting to realize that I must be getting old. I have said and thought a few times recently something I believed reserved only for the elderly. I thought (and quietly verbalized) the infamous phrase “I wonder if that punk can hear that stinkin’ music” as his car thumped by. Irritating music, albeit disruptive to my fragile and tenuous thought process at times, doesn’t irritate me nearly as much as blasphemy...the violation of the Third Commandment. As we continue my perusal through the Commandments of Exodus 20, I would like to look this one over closely. If I sound a smidge on the Pharisaical side, pray about it...you’ll come around. In an understatement tantamount to calling my public speaking skill only slightly less intelligible than Ronald Reagan’s, I think God hates sin. This sin of Blasphemy may be the most popular one of our time. More than irritating God like a thumping subwoofer, I believe God becomes righteously furious at blasphemy. Briefly, I would like to point out a few ways we commit this sin, and then discuss its remedy with you today.
We all know examples of using the Lord’s name in vain. “Oh My Gxx” or “Gxx Dxxx!” are only scratching the surface. O.M.G., Holy Cow, Heck, Gosh, Golly, Dang, Jeez, Jeezo-Pete, Criminy, Lord, and Gahhh are some substitutes for Jesus, God, or religious themes we commonly sub for the real thing. I could go on all the way to the sports section of the paper with a complete list. These words are a natural part of our vocabulary. We piously use them as Christians, thinking that the action is what counts, not our intention. Luke 16:15 (NASB) states this clearly saying “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” Ray Comfort, in his television show “Way of the Master”, explains it this way. “Blasphemy is substituting a four letter filth word of disgust with the Holy name of God.” Rather than spouting out an angry synonym of excrement, we insert the Holy name of God. Have you also noticed that no one screams “Buddha!” or “Mohammad!” when they hit their thumb with a hammer?
Another manifestation of this sin in our culture is our willingness to watch blasphemous movies and television shows. Visit www.pluggedinonline.com for movie summaries including a count of times God’s name was used in vain. Examples... Evan Almighty used blasphemy 9 times (in a “family friendly” movie), and “Momma Mia!” does it 18 times. Rated R movies are infinitely higher. Would you pay $25 to watch a movie that called your Mom crude swear words? Why then would we pay to watch as people slander the Savior and Creator of the world? Interestingly enough, censors on television shows will often leave the God part and bleep the Dxxx part out. This example is amazing yet insightful commentary on the misunderstanding of blasphemy. The website www.hollywoodandgod.com is another excellent, and quite persuasive, website relating to this subject.
So...why on Earth do we do this? I believe it is clear to me the more I look at it. You can boil it down to two possibilities. Either we don’t fear God or we don’t believe in Him. I challenge you to find me a different spin. The early Jewish scribes of the Bible were so concerned with not spelling Yahweh’s name right that they spelled it YHWH, hoping that by abbreviating it with reverence, perhaps God would not hold it against them. Incidentally, these same scribes would destroy copies of the Law that were less than 100% perfectly written without “typos”, stray marks, or anything that would bring shame to God. Today we only care enough to slightly veil the word with a similar sounding word, and then pat ourselves on the back for our devotion to God. My... have we come a long way?? We show the extent of our true devotion to God in the little stuff like this. As for me...guilty again! I am zero for eight on the Commandments we have looked at thus far. I don’t use the really bad versions of the words, but the substitutes fly off my tongue with ease. I watch movies that freely blaspheme as well. Amazingly, Jesus Christ died for me anyway! What a Savior! I am thankful for the Ten Commandments as a gazing pool to see and dispose of self-righteousness. I need all the help I can get!
It is time for all believers to revere the name of the Lord. Join me in correcting this inadequacy in ourselves. God is Holy and deserves better. Be intentional this week in what you say. Take inventory and make corrections, for His name’s sake! Email comments or suggestions to markapplegate@alltel.net.

Diet update: Currently 216.8 lbs... I have lost a total of 119.2 lbs. God is good, all the time!

Verse of the week: Psalm 86:11.