"Prosperity preachers" proclaim that God wants you to have material wealth and happiness—right now. While positive thinking has its merits, does God promise prosperity, health, and happiness for you in this life? In the years ahead, this question, and the strength of your relationship with God and Jesus Christ, will become more profound than you may realize.

I thought I had heard it all on the CB radio until the other day when an argument ensued after a preacher/trucker began proclaiming his message of salvation on Channel 19 – the CB channel used by truckers to get traffic and "Smokey" reports.

Here is another classic dumb idea of mankind. It all started right after the flood of Noah. You can read about it in Genesis 10:8-12. Nimrod, the great grandson of Noah, began to have people look to him for guidance and protection rather than relying on God. He built the first city-states and set the Babylonish pattern for mankind from that point on.

God worked directly with Abram – who became Abraham – and with his descendants down to Israel's time. But, the people were not happy with that arrangement. We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 8:1-5:

Take a look at our society today. Sexual misconduct and perversion are rampant. Movies, magazines, videos and the internet are dominated by sexually explicit content. Many thinking people are alarmed by the "sexualization" of so much of our society.

Whenever I visit my doctor—as reluctant as I am about it—the nurse will inevitably take my vital signs, including my blood pressure. In an effort to skew the results in my favor, I typically close my eyes to envision a warm, white sandy beach, and the sounds of surf on a pristine emerald shoreline as I sit under a beach umbrella, savoring the bouquet of an ice cold beverage! Ahhhhh!