"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
Colossians 2:6-8 (New International Version)

Just as the Bible warns us not to be taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, in our relationship with God and Jesus Christ, we must be careful in our business opportunities.

There are a certain amount of things that we have to take by faith when it comes to God and Jesus because we can't know God's mind and we didn't live during the time that Jesus walked on the earth. There is also a certain amount of faith that we have to have in the person that is sharing a new business opportunity with us but we must also keep our minds and eyes open and do a little research.

Just as we need to read the Bible for ourselves and do some of our own studying so that we aren't being taught untrue things we need to do research on the businesses that we are looking at.

When someone is sharing from the Bible, make sure to read it yourself. Read the surrounding scriptures to make sure that a verse isn't being taken out of it's original context and someone is giving it a total different meaning than it was supposed to have.

When deciding about a new business, check into the people at the head of the company. Do some research on the company and the product. When we started looking at the nutritional supplement that we ended up with, I went to National Library of Medicine and looked up the fruit name, the scientific name of the fruit and some of the nutritional components of the fruit. I also researched some of the doctors that were saying this fruit has health benefits.

You cannot receive all of the answers to all of your questions, when it comes to God or a business but don't go blindly into either one. Be sure to learn what you can, use faith where there are no answers and always pray over everything.

One Nation Under God

Yes, I know these words were added to the Pledge of Allegiance after it was written but the thought was there when the United States was being formed.

"The country's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were firm believers in the importance of religion for republican government." --official Library of Congress statement

We’ve come a long way from the forming of the United States and we have lost sight of why they left England. The pilgrims left England to form a new country because they wanted freedom of religion. The thing we loose sight of though is that they didn’t want the freedom to choose between God, Mohammed or Buddha. They wanted to be able to worship God in the way they felt the Bible was teaching them, not to be told they have to worship God the way the Catholics did.

The Separation of Church and State was not meant to separate God from the United States. As John Adams stated, “The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

The Separation of Church and State was meant to give people the right to worship the One True God of the Bible, in the ways they felt the Word of God was telling them too. They didn’t want the country to be telling them that they all had to worship the same way the Catholics did. They wanted to have the choice to form Baptist churches, Presbyterian churches, Pentecostal churches, etc.

We need to remember and be thankful for the people that have given their lives in the armed forces to gain and protect our freedom and the freedom of others. Most of all we need to remember that our armed forces are currently voluntary. We need to support them and show them how much we appreciate and love them for putting their lives on the line to continue to keep us safe and to help others to find their freedom.

May we again learn to be One Nation Under God!

Photo / Layout: Nichols