July 3, 2008
This Friday we will celebrate the birthday of the greatest country on the face of the earth. Several years ago I sat down and wrote out fifty-one things that could help us be an even greater nation. Simple suggestions that make so much sense - and they make more sense now than they did when I first wrote them - it’s almost scary. Enjoy.
1. Eliminate the IRS and all tax forms. Go to a flat 10% tax on every income. (If it’s good enough for God, it ought to be good enough for our government.)
2. Eliminate “career congressmen.” No person should serve more than two consecutive terms.
3. Freeze the salaries of every government employee until we have eliminated the national debt. (No one gets a raise until our country can declare our financial independence.)
4. Give every person who has served or is serving our country, in our armed forces, a full year of not paying any taxes for every year they served our country.
5. Eliminate the stupid inheritance tax on all Americans which penalizes the spouses and children of hard working Americans.
6. Create an international tourist fee for every foreigner who comes to America (i.e., $20 for each day they are on our soil) to protect and replenish the resources they use (i.e., roads, parks, etc.) by reimbursing our government.
7. Begin a national savings program, once the national debt has been erased. Begin allocating 10% of our government’s income to fund a perpetual endowment for our country.
8. Eliminate all interest-free loans or grants to other countries.
9. Allocate 10% of our government’s income for an international benevolent fund for other nations. Countries can apply for help, in case of emergencies, and repay the amount loaned to them once they are back on their feet.
10. Make foreign countries pay the bill for our servicemen being on their soil, protecting their freedoms. If countries don’t want to pay, bring our people home.
11. Eliminate the United Nations.
12. Punish flag-burning and all other acts of treason by removing those persons from American soil and terminating their citizenship permanently.
13. Make abortion illegal except in cases where the mother’s life is in imminent danger.
14. Make all prisons just that - prisons. (No more country clubs with cable TV, books, magazines, movies, gyms, etc.)
15. Make all nonviolent prisoners part of a national clean-up program to clean up the nation’s highways and parks.
16. Make all interstate highways eight lanes.
17. Make all trucks, by law, use the two right lanes.
18. Eliminate all alcohol advertising.
19. Place a sin tax of 20% on every bottle of beer, liquor, etc. (cans, too) and designate all of those funds for social security. Do the same thing with all tobacco products and use the funds for highway projects.
20. Develop a federal law that mandates all work on roads, highways, etc., to be done only between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
21. Do not allow any person, except those born in the United States, to hold any government job.
22. Ban all political advertising on television except for three controlled debates where political parties can present their candidates (i.e., one in the spring, summer and early fall). You could do this on a national level for presidents; on a state level for senators, representatives for congress, governors, and on a local level for mayors, etc.
23. Ban all government employees from ever working in any capacity, for any foreign country after they have served our country.
24. Encourage home ownership and reward responsible financial management; pass a law eliminating property taxes for those who have paid off the mortgage on their home.
25. Restrict the use of Air Force One only to matters of national importance.
26. Require everyone who rides on Air Force One, except the President, his immediate aides and secret service agents to reimburse the government for the price of a first-class commercial flight ticket to the same locations (i.e. media personnel, lobbyists, etc.) because flying on Air Force One is about as first class as it gets.
27. Mandate all government purchases to find at least three bids before purchasing items to eliminate $400 hammers and $800 coffee pots.
28. Give Congress six weeks off each summer. Bring in some people from the private sector to fill in for them (i.e. farmers, painters, police officers, construction workers, etc.) and come up with solutions to our country’s problems. Their findings will not only surprise us, they’ll probably solve many of our problems. (The common sense of the common people always results in uncommon results.)
29. Eliminate the capital gains tax and only charge school taxes on those families who still have children remaining at home.
30. Allow people the choice to opt out of Social Security and have their own private retirement plan.
31. Place a sin tax of 20% on every pornographic magazine (i.e., Playboy, Penthouse, etc.), NC-17 movie, X-rated video, adult bookstore, strip club, etc., and designate all those funds for Medicare.
32. Provide school vouchers for every parent in America so their children can attend the school of their choice.
33. Make English the national language. (If people want to come and live in America, they can learn our language.)
34. Place a sin tax of 20% on the profits of every lottery, casino, riverboat, bingo operation, and horse track in America and designate all those funds for Medicaid and/or a fund to provide health care for indigent cases.
35. Equalize all trade with foreign countries. Do not allow any imbalance to occur between imports and exports.
36. Preserve and protect American jobs by passing a law that equalizes salary structures globally (i.e., if a company decides to do business in another country, impose tariffs (or penalties) on them if they don’t pay the same salary as they would in the United States. This will encourage companies to remain in America).
37. Institute the death penalty for every drug dealer caught on U.S. soil, and impound every possession they have, sell them and use them to reduce the national debt.
38. Enact a law that any person arrested for drunk driving in the U.S. forfeits their driver’s license and driving privileges for the rest of their life. Foreigners arrested for DWI should be immediately expelled from U.S. soil and all their possessions are confiscated and sold to apply toward the national debt.
39. Enact a law that any person serving in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of the U.S. government who abuses drugs or alcohol forfeits the privilege of serving the American people.
40. Preserve and protect the godly heritage of America by making it a felony to rewrite our history books or remove God from our institutions.
41. Return, by law, the Ten Commandments to the walls of every public school in America.
42. Return, by law, the privilege in every public school in America of beginning every day with prayer and the pledge of allegiance - like Congress does.
43. Make it a misdemeanor, in America, to do anything but stand at attention with your right hand over your heart during the singing or playing of our national anthem.
44. Do not allow any homosexual or lesbian to hold any government office. (If someone wants to live that way, fine. But you forfeit your right to hold a government job.)
45. Do not allow any adulterer or adulteress to hold any government office. (If someone wants to live that way, fine. But you forfeit your right to hold a government job.)
46. Preserve and protect the institution of the American family by formally recognizing only heterosexual couples who have been legally married. Same sex couples or heterosexual couples living together without the benefit of marriage should not be recognized as legitimate marriages in America and should not be granted special tax breaks or other privileges reserved for married couples in the U.S.
47. Federal funds should not be awarded to any state that does not balance its budget and end the previous fiscal year in the black. (Why give states more money when they can’t manage the money they already have?)
48. Develop a blue ribbon panel from the 100 most profitable companies in America each year to make recommendations on how to improve our country. (They could meet semiannually and work side by side with congressional leaders.)
49. Eliminate all vulgarity, sexual innuendo, activity or suggestion, and any nudity from all television stations, the internet, and radio programs. This can be done.
50. Reschedule the public school calendar so that very school follows the same format. Begin school on the Tuesday following Labor Day each September and end on the last Friday before Memorial Day each May.
51. Develop a Ten million dollar grant to be awarded annually to the individual, group, corporation or organization that comes up with the best idea to improve life in America.
Here’s one more idea: take time to pray for God’s supernatural blessings to be upon us, our nation and our troops all around the world this holiday weekend.
Happy Birthday America!!
© 2008. Barry L. Cameron
Posted in America, Common Sense, Improvements, Patriotism 
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June 27, 2008
You probably never thought of it this way, but the church is a lot like a dump and her ministers are a lot like trash collectors. In the same way a hospital collects sick people, the church (at least the one Jesus is building) attracts trash . . . and lots of it.
Contrary to what you may have previously heard or thought, the church is not a collection of super models, super heroes, or super anythings. Rather, it is a collection of outcasts, discards, rejects, losers, you name it. People who’ve messed up, given up, turned back, turned away, been hurt, hurt others, made mistakes, blown it, lost it, ruined it, you name it. The church is not a group of perfect folks who have it all together. Rather, it more closely resembles a ragtag group of fellow failures who have finally admitted they can’t keep anything together without Jesus Christ.
Now the church is not without a few perfect folks . . . at least they think they are. They are the church’s critics and every church has them. Those who usually trash the church do so because they expect to find perfection there. Even though they, themselves, are far from perfect, they expect and demand everything and everyone else to be perfect. Perfect preaching, perfect singing, perfect people, perfect programs, perfect everything so they can be perfectly happy. The only problem is that church doesn’t exist. Anywhere. There’s no such thing. Just as a hospital can’t be a hospital without sickness and suffering, disease and even dealing with dying, likewise a church can’t be a church, better yet, THE church without people with problems and lots of them.
If you want to find the biggest collection of misfits and malcontents on the planet, you don’t have to look any further than your local church. But that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The church is a trash collector. Jesus said in Luke 17:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.” He is the supernatural Recycler, redeeming what the world deems rubbish and giving new life to those who were as good as dead. (II Corinthians 5:17)
That’s exactly what we were. All of us. In I Corinthians 6, Paul reminds the church at Corinth of their trashy past. Here’s what he says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. AND THAT IS WHAT SOME OF YOU WERE.”
Now maybe your specific sins are not on Paul’s list there, but your sins and mine are definitely on the list that would have left us with a devastating destiny of being relegated to a hopeless heap of garbage . . . burning for all eternity. However, our Redeemer, the Supreme Recycler, stepped in and stopped all that. Paul told the people at Corinth that’s what had happened to them. After reminding them of their putrid past, Paul said, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” If you’re saved, the same thing happened to you.
Maybe you need to take another look at the church. And, instead of looking for and expecting everything to be perfect, thank God it isn’t. After all that’s why you can fit right in. Thank God He’s still accepting rejects, taking those no one else wants, and that He has given us a place, in the church, where redemption and recycling are the order of the day.
It’s been said, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” That’s certainly true with us. The devil wants to trash us. Jesus wants to treasure us.
If, for some reason, you feel like trash today, head to church this Sunday. If it’s the church Jesus is building, you’ll feel right at home.
© 2008. Barry L. Cameron
Posted in Redemption, The Church, Trash No Comments »
June 20, 2008
In 1975, a masterfully made, suspense-filled motion picture forever changed the way most people view swimming in the ocean. It was called JAWS and became the must-see movie of the summer. It was about a fictional town called Amity, Long Island, on the coast of New England. This small, summer resort town was being terrorized by a great white shark. Roy Scheider played Chief Brody. Richard Dreyfuss played the bearded marine biologist “Hooper,” and Robert Shaw (who is now deceased) played the salty fisherman “Quint.”
Musical composer John Williams came up with the most recognizable movie theme in all of motion picture history. It is only two notes (E and F), but the sound of “da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum” sent chills down the spines of millions of movie goers and to this day brings back memories of a shark fin slicing through the ocean waves with breakneck speed. The tagline for the terrifying film that caused hysteria among so many swimmers back in the summer of ‘75 was, “Don’t go in the water.”
Well, now that may all be about to change. Researchers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, may have found a substance that will work as a shark repellant. I’m not kidding. Marine biologists and others working on the project say that more study is needed. However, if this stuff works it could help protect divers, swimmers, surfers, and even sharks who are declining in number due to commercial fishing nets trapping them as they are attempting to harvest other fish.
Speaking of the effect this substance has on sharks, Eric Stroud, 30-year-old chemical engineer from Oak Ridge, New Jersey, said, “You introduce this chemical, and they all leave. It works very, very well.” Researchers are hoping to make a slow-dissolving repellent for use in fishing nets and bait, to help protect oil exploration equipment, submarines, boats, divers and swimmers.
“We have something that really works,” said Samuel Gruber, a marine biologist and shark expert from the University of Miami, “but research remains.” Gruber is among those conducting tests at the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas. Tests have already proven effective on at least four different species: the Caribbean reef, nurse, lemon and blacknose sharks. Researchers are wanting to test the proposed repellent on mako, oceanic whitetip and great white sharks.
The research was first presented in May of 2004 in Norman, Oklahoma at a meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Films were shown of sharks splashing on the surface of the water as they tried to flee. Eric Stroud said that a dose of 4 fluid ounces is enough to scare away the hungriest of sharks. And, by adding just a few drops a minute, keeps them away for up to two hours.
What is the substance made from that repels these sharks and causes them to instantly flee? DEAD SHARKS!
Ever wonder why we’re not reaching more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
“Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.”
© 2008. Barry L. Cameron
Posted in Evangelism, The Church, Witnessing 1 Comment »
June 13, 2008
They’d had too much to drink. At least that was the testimony of Rob Bennett who was explaining to authorities what had happened with his roommate. Apparently, the two had been hanging out in their house, drinking, when Rob’s roommate, Thomas, came up with an unusual idea for a game. Rob’s 59-year-old roommate set fire to a rug inside their house and then made a wager with Rob. Here was the deal, Thomas said, “Let’s see which one of us leaves first.”
As flames began to quickly spread, Rob ran to a neighbor’s house to call the fire department. By the time firefighters arrived, the house was completely engulfed with flames and Thomas was later found, still in the home, burned to death. He’d won the wager but lost his life. Coincidentally, their house was located on Fire Island in New York.
Obviously, what Thomas did was foolish and it was wrong. Dead wrong. But what he said made me start thinking . . . about John 15 . . . and what Jesus said to His disciples. In John 15:4-8, Jesus essentially said, “If you leave, you lose.” Unlike Thomas, Jesus hadn’t set a rug on fire as the result of a silly game. Quite the contrary, He’d lit a fire in the hearts of His disciples that would ultimately challenge and change the world.
Listen again to His words. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
It’s the principle and the power of remaining. Quite clearly, the “leavers” wind up the losers. Those who remain receive the rewards.
Several years ago I attended the memorial service of a dear friend of our family. As her obituary was being read, mention was made of the fact she had been a member of her church for thirty-two years. Thirty-two years! Think about it. She remained. For thirty-two years! Standing in the funeral home the night before, listening to the stories of lives changed by hers, it was obvious again to me that we were all the beneficiaries of the fact she remained . . . in love with her Lord, involved in her church, and intimately close to her family and friends . . . for thirty-two years!
Let me encourage you today to remain. God wants you to be faithful and fruitful for Him and for His glory. You can only do that by remaining. History is full of the sad stories of those who quit or turned back too soon. Don’t join the ranks of those who lived and died with regrets.
Instead, determine you are going to be one who remains.
© 2008. Barry L. Cameron
Posted in Faithfulness, Perseverance, Remaining, The Church No Comments »
June 6, 2008
In Matthew 23:1-4, Jesus rebuked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees because they put burdens on people instead of helping them deal with the burdens they already had. Consequently, the 23rd chapter of Matthew is one of the strongest rebukes in Scripture ever delivered by our Lord.
The reality of leadership ministry is that God has called us to be lifeguards, not umpires. Lifeguards protect, serve, help and lift people. Umpires are there primarily to make sure you play according to the rules. Unfortunately, many in leadership ministry, more often than not, resemble umpires instead of lifeguards. They unwittingly make life harder rather than better for people. Instead of helping those they lead, they unnecessarily hinder them in their walk with the Lord.
How do they do it? By sharing burdens rather than bearing them. Quite the opposite of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, who put more burdens on their people, Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2, that we should “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
The context is discovering someone in the act of a sin. The word “restore” is a word used to refer to mending or repairing. It was a word used for setting a broken bone or fixing a dislocated limb. “Burdens” refers to extra heavy loads people carry and have difficulty with. The idea Paul was getting at is that we should carry those burdens for an extended period of time. We should literally help people with and through their burdens.
If you are serving in leadership ministry, have you stopped lately to consider how “burdened” the people are you’re trying to lead? Physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, occupationally, mentally, spiritually, in their family, etc.? How do you think your ministry to them is being perceived? Adding burdens or helping remove them so they can be restored?
Burdens can be heavy. We’ve all heard the phrase: “The straw that broke the camel’s back.” Dr. Richard Swenson, in his book, A Minute of Margin, writes: “Camels make great beasts of burden. In hot weather, a camel can carry 350 pounds on a long journey. On shorter journeys in cooler weather (or in order to avoid customs duties), an animal can be loaded to 1,000 pounds. But once a camel is maximally loaded down, a mere straw will break its back. The problem is not with load. Camels love to carry loads. The problem is with over. As it turns out, camels aren’t too crazy about broken backs.”
“In Washington State, thirty-two dairy cows ate themselves to death after one of them shook lose a pipe on an automatic feeding machine and spilled tons of grain. The cows feasted to their desires, but soon found themselves in the graveyard. Does this mean that eating grain is bad for farm animals? No. Eating grain is fine: eating overload is not.”
Tragically, too many leaders, and too many of the people we lead, live in overload mode. Swenson continues: “Buy a satellite dish, and you can choose from 1,000 movies a month - a wonderful cure if your diagnosis is chronic movie deficiency . . . There are 450 English language editions of the Bible and 63,000 new books every year. A college student can choose from over 500 possible baccalaureate degrees. There are more than 60 kinds of Musak and more than 50 medical specialties.”
“The average grocery store has 30,000 product choices. There are 177 kinds of salad dressing, 184 kinds of cereal, 250 kinds of toothpaste, and 551 kinds of coffee. It is also reported that the average store has 22 doors of frozen desserts. Oreos now come in Original, Mini, Chocolate Creme, Chocolate Creme Mini, Reduced Fat, Doubled Stuf, Fudge Covered, Fudge Mint Covered, Double Delight Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Double Delight Mint’nCreme, and Double Delight Coffee’nCreme. Choice overload is also decision overload.”
Swenson goes on to say, “The plane carrying American pop singer Aaliyah and eight members of her entourage was substantially overloaded by several hundred pounds. It crashed on attempted takeoff in the Bahamas. This does not mean that we should avoid small planes. Nor does it mean we should avoid flying to the Bahamas. It only means we should not overload planes and then ask them to fly.”
Wonder how many people are one straw short of a break down? Spiritually, emotionally, maritally, financially, mentally, in their family? The old Finnish proverb says, “Happiness is a place between too little and too much.”
Those of us in full-time leadership ministry have an obligation before God and to the people we serve to be burden bearers instead of burden sharers. By that I mean we need to be helping people with their burdens rather than hindering them by sharing our own. I’m not suggesting leaders have to carry their own burdens all by themselves. I am suggesting leaders need to be prudent and purposeful in what, where and when they share and what, where and when they don’t. As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “there is a time for everything.” We need to exercise wisdom and restraint knowing the right time, the right place and the right words to share. Whining leaders won’t win followers.
Obviously, we should never compromise the Scriptures. Perhaps not so obvious, we shouldn’t complain about our situations or circumstances, especially to the people we have been called to serve. There’s a time and a place for that. For example, sharing the fact our home entertainment system is on the blink probably won’t encourage the single mom who doesn’t have a home of her own. Or asking for special prayer for our upcoming two-week cruise in the Caribbean might not lift the spirits of the fellow who just got laid off. There’s a time and a place for that and that’s probably not the time or the place.
It carries over to how we live and conduct ourselves as well. For example, it’s hard to build others up when we look like we’re on the verge of a breakdown. If we don’t look like we’ve gotten the victory, how will anyone else get it or believe it’s even possible? When people see us coming, it’s always better when they see a spring in our step and a sparkle in our eye instead of what looks like a wounded warrior, limping away from a battle. I’m not saying we should “fake it ’til we make it.” I’m saying we should be leaders who recognize the necessity of putting the needs and burdens of others above ourselves. That’s the role and responsibility of leadership.
Leaders have to decide if they are going to be burden sharers or burden bearers. True, it’s hard to help others when you’re hurting yourself. It’s also true burdened people burden people. So it’s absolutely critical we deal with our burdens first so we can help others with theirs.
How do we do it? Simple. We take our burdens to the Source: JESUS, and then, encourage those we lead to do the same. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We should make sure we are in the Word daily, for our own spiritual nutrition and well being. We should be in ongoing relationships with other leaders who can hold us accountable and hold us up when we’re down. We should take care of ourselves by eating right, getting enough sleep and exercising to adequately maintain the bodies God has given us, and we should avoid overload in every area of our lives.
The bottom line is this: we minister in a world that is woefully weary and heavily burdened. So, when they look to us for leadership, will we share our burdens . . . or bear theirs? The choice is ours to make.
Just know: Whatever choice you make . . . will make or break those you lead.
© 2008. Barry L. Cameron
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Posted in Compassion, Leadership, Ministry, The Church No Comments »
