HYPOCRISY--our greatest fault

So, I've been reading Matthew... it's a hard read for churchy Christians. I see myself in the mirror that is the Bible (James 1:23-25). Jesus slams the Pharisees and Sadducees so many times and I see so much of them in the modern church. They "bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders" and "all their works they do to be seen by men" (Matthew 23:4-5).

This seems like so many churches today: demanding things of people that are silly. For instance, that we need to dress a certain way, even speak a certain way, or play a certain kind of music in church, etc.

Matthew 23 is basically Jesus calling the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes on their hypocrisy. How is it the church still acts like the Pharisees, but doesn't see that it does? Jesus Christ Himself condemns this attitude and action. We need to read our Bibles!

My Friends in South Africa

I like to kind of toot my own horn and tell people that I know people in South Africa. But it's even more than just the pride of it, it's that these are some of th emost incredible people in the world: Dave, Jill, Hannah, and Luke Boman. Dave and Jill are some of the most genuine, Godly Christians that I've ever known.

So, they committed to being in Africa for a year and their visa is up in September or so. But these guys do some serious ministry with AIDS patients and with kids and adults in the slums (locations). They open their house to children who barely have homes and they take the kids to the beach to actually have fun once in a while.

This isn't about being cool in the Christian world. A lot of these people are dying--most people would mark them as useless to spend energy on. These are the least of these (Matthew 25:40, 45). This is what true Christianity is all about.