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Good Morning Regular Joes and Janes

I think that the main stream media has a lot of influence on each of us, more than we suspect.  With a steady diatribe of blame being spewed forth everyday it is easy to fall into the blame game ourselves.  Big banks are bad, corporations are evil, Wall Street is out to swindle everyone, politicians are all corrupt, the government is taking away our freedom, big pharmaceuticals are out to drug us all and take our money and…….doom and gloom and we’re all going to die and there is nothing we can do about it.

Are all corporations evil?

Well ok, we all are going to die and there is nothing we can do about it because it is all in the Lord’s hands.  But, everything before that last line is really not true.  It is what some people want you to believe.  They would like you to sit back in your easy chair and blame others for your problems and believe that you are powerless.  And too many people buy into that lie and do exactly that; tune in, turn on, and drop out.  We sit and complain about our situation but won’t act to change it.  So who is really to blame?

I started out at the top talking about main stream media.  Are they so big that we can’t do anything about them?  No, first of all Rush Limbaugh, whether you like him or not, looked at the problem of only one view point being served and started conservative talk radio.  It doesn’t seem to have hurt him so badly.  Major media, all media, runs on advertising dollars.  If no one watches or reads, they will not be in business.  Why has Fox News been so successful?

Let the light shine in!

Banks are evil, big banks are evil.  Do you keep your money in a bank; have a checking account, a bank loan?  Who would perform that service for you if your bank was not there?  With all the new ‘regulation’ has it gotten easier for you to work with your bank?  Do you have more privacy or has the bank had to reveal more about their relationship with you to the government.

Wall Street is evil!  I have money invested as does everyone on Wall Street.  Did not Wall Street institutions suffer when the 2008 crash occurred?  Do you put money in a retirement plan of any kind?  Where is it invested?

Corporations are evil, look at WalMart!  Corporations are merely people working together to make money, (at least for profit corporations).  I have had a corporation before as a construction business.  If you don’t support a corporation or it is not well run and making a profit, it will cease to exist.  Money, profit, is what makes it possible for corporations to continue.  If you want to stop big, (or small) corporations, or any business for that matter, all you need to do is make it unprofitable.  The politicians know this and continually use the manipulation of tax laws to support one type of business and penalize another; which brings me to politicians!

The last time I checked we were still voting on who became a politician.  We complain a lot about politicians as a nation, yet in many elections 10% of the people decide who gets in.  If there is over 30% turnout in an election it makes the news.  If 50% turn out that’s Headlines!   One out of two sit on the sidelines and just complain or are asleep.  Maybe we, you and I are actually responsible!

All of the ‘bad’ entities we hear about on the evening news are really just made up of people.  People like you and I, different backgrounds, races, nationalities even, but just people.  Some of these people make bad decisions and some have no morals and make bad decisions on purpose. So what is the solution?

We have to be personally involved.  We are still a nation of laws, (although I will admit that is in the balance at the moment), and ‘we the people’ have the power to both enforce them and change them.  Ultimately all of the ‘bad and evil’ entities are made up of people who have human sin natures.  For years we have taken God out of schools and education, out of the work place, out of society as a whole.  We as Christians have sat back and said well I don’t agree but I am not willing to step out against it publicly.  Now we have a nation of people who have totally separated their faith from their daily life.  Is it any wonder that there is a lack of a moral compass in corporations, banking, and politics?

We are told by the media that we shouldn’t mix politics and religion.  We are told that a politician’s personal life should not be looked at before we vote for him.  We are told that what he does in his personal life doesn’t affect what he does in office.  Let me ask you; if you are willing to, let’s say break a solemn vow with the one you  supposedly married for life, what would you do with vows you make to voters that you don’t even know?

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  This is the problem with mankind and our human condition.  This is the root cause of the evil things that happen.  Politics, corporations, banks, pharmaceuticals, the media, are all just inanimate organizations of man.  They cannot be good or bad.  It is the individuals that run them that have responsibility.

i am the light of the world

Being evil or bad has always been associated with darkness.  Light is what will drive out the darkness.   Most Christians know John 3:16.  In verses 19- 21 it says: 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21.”But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

As followers of the Light, it is up to us, individually, one to one to share that light in the darkness.  That is the only solution to the “evil they”.  It has been a withdrawing over many years of those that bear the “Light” in the public arena that has allowed evil or darkness to spread.  Only stepping up to the plate and doing our job of sharing the light will change things back!

Corporations, banks, politicians and the media, are a reflection of you and me, everyone who purchases something, watches or reads, does business with the culture we live in and create.

So when you go out into the world today and hear someone talking about the evil _______, remind them of the needs of the individuals involved.

Regular Joe