Human history is sprinkled with lights -- men, women, and children whose hearts were ablaze with passion for the Christ. Many are called "saints" and are remembered in our day. Untold millions of others, however, were unheralded in their day and are forgotten by history.

Those people, passionate for the Christ, were called by many names -- Catholic, Orthodox, heretics, Anabaptist, Quaker, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Jesus freaks, and on and on. One thing they all had in common -- a burning desire to follow and obey Jesus Christ!

Those passionate for the Christ move me, challenge me, inspire me. They are my best friends. I have gotten to know them through their books and quotations. I seek out their writings. I let them talk to me through the written word regularly. After writing the last line I noticed two quotation books on the shelves in front of me: "The Voice of the Saints" and "The Quotable Saints" -- books that contain the words of people who were passionate for the Christ.

The light shines brightly! Do we see it in our day? Some people say we are not a passionate people today, but I don't think so. Millions of men are passionate about watching 100 grown men playing a boys' game in an event called the Super Bowl this coming weekend. All over the world, grown men will be dancing in their living rooms, giving each other high-fives, and banging their chests together, in their free flowing passion over a boy's game. Boy, are we excitable!

But when it comes to the Christ -- people dutifully attend a Sunday morning meeting and passively listen to a lecture about God. Their faces look extremely bored, they yawn and nod off. And when the thing ends, they dart out of the door and rush away as fast as they can to go excitedly watch a ball game. Do you see any passion for the Christ in that?

Where is our good ole American excitability when it comes to Christ? It is flaming in the Super Bowl but frozen in church. And even in the excitable churches, I've noticed that many people leave and don't get excited about Christ again until the next meeting or conference pumps them up. But not with the Super Bowl. People will be talking about that all over the place for weeks and even months afterward.

Can you imagine someone watching the Super Bowl with a stoic, passionless expression, sitting like a statue? Well if the Bears and the Colts don't want that, why would God? What if the stadium was filled with frozen, emotionless people the entire game, who were determined not to show any interest at all? Sounds like church now, doesn't it?

Where is passion for the Christ in our day? It is very hard to find. Christians are excited about churches, pastors, prosperity, singers, TV ministers, religious trinkets, conferences, concerts, T-shirts, religious fads, right-wing politics, doctrines, and best selling books -- but what about Christ? Is there any consistent, heart-felt passion for the Christ in our day? Where? Do you Christ?

News Flash!!! Lady liberty can be a tyrant -- Xtreme freedom is cruel slavery. Millions in the so-called "free world" are in tedious captivity to cravings, compulsions, tormenting thoughts, anger, selfishness, the opinions of others, chemicals, depression, the media's brainwashing, insecurity, and self-destructive habits. Their political freedom is but a smoke screen to hide their inner bondage.

Outward freedom without self-control is tyranny -- the slavery to impulse and desire. Freedom without clear moral boundaries is anarchy. Genuine freedom is not the absence of responsibility -- it is the right and the power to live responsibly, the ability to overcome the torture of self-inflicted tyranny.

Glorious words about freedom -- celebrations, posters, fireworks, patriotic music, stirring speeches -- mean nothing if a person can't or won't control his or her self-destructive tendencies.

Where is freedom in America's urban centers where men, women, and children are surrounded by violence, disrespect, prostitution, hopelessness, intimidating gangs, drugs, sexual perversion, and desperation? Does that sound like "the land of the free and the home of the brave"?

Where is liberty in the suburbs with the same self-destruction, only hidden, "cultured", and contained behind closed doors? Looking "prosperous" is no substitute for genuine freedom from compulsion and self-destructive behaviors.

Are you free?

I saw a great movie last night called "The Maldonado Miracle". It is about a young boy who crosses the US border as an illegal in search of his father. The boy winds up hiding out in a small California desert town of about 400 people. His presence causes a "miracle" that changes the town forever.

"The Maldonado Miracle" contains no profanity, vulgarity, or cheapo sex. It does, however, contain tremendous inspiration, victory over hopelessness, courage to stand up for justice, compassion, romance, and humor. It stars Peter Fonda and Mare Winningham and was produced by Showtime.

On 7/17/06 I posted on this blog a review of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and My Top 9 Favorite Movies. Well, after last night I found another Top Favorite Movie -- "The Maldonado Miracle". It is a wonderful movie! Thanks Showtime.

I just read Jimmy Carter's book, "Palestine -- Peace Not Apartheid". I had heard that it is a very controversial book. They say that the directer of the Carter Center (and several others Carter Center employees) quit because of what Carter says in the book. But funny thing, I don't think I read anything in the book that I didn't agree with.

"Palestine -- Peace Not Apartheid" is full of accounts of Jimmy Carter's personal visits, conversations, and negotiations with top leaders from Israel, the Palestinians, and various Arab countries. He takes the reader on a step-by-step tour of the history of the Jerusalem area of the Middle East from Abraham's time until the middle of 2006.

Carter says that for peace to happen, the Palestinians must recognize Israel's right to exist and turn away from violence and that Israel must stop human rights abuses, stop taking Palestinian land for settlements and stop building their wall that also separates the West Bank Arab population, and return to their 1967 borders. He says that both sides have agreed to these points in official documents and that polls show that a majority of the people of both Israel and the West Bank want a peace settlement along these lines. Yet the leaders have been unwilling to sit down and make peace.

I found Jimmy Carter to be very balanced in his approach. He points out wrong on both sides, but he also offers real hope for a better future for both Israel and Palestine.

So why is Carter being so criticized for looking objectively at the conflict and offering viable options for peace? You tell me.

American media with their focus on mental poison, self-destruction, and moral decadence is terribly unfair to parents -- especially when they target children and young teens with vulgarity. Have you been to a PG-13 movie aimed at young teens lately? Talk about unabashed greed. The movie industry is filling young people's minds with filth for money.

Television is too. Shows that target children and young teens present casual, cheapo sex as as the normal way of life and profanity as the normal way to talk.

So what does that do for us parents? What are we supposed to do when the media popularizes a decadent show among children and young teens? It leaves us only two options: 1) You can tell your child that he or she can't watch that program and be perceived by your child as mean or unfair, which is very painful for the parent as well as the child. Or 2) You can compromise and allow your child to consume mental and spiritual poison because you don't want to hurt their feelings and all their friends are watching it.

See what I mean? Those are not good options. But American media pushes me, insults me, and forces me to option 1, because I care too much to sit passively by and allow my young teen to be brainwashed into self-destruction by American media.

It is terribly unfair to have filth pushed at our children. People would get up in arms if the media pushed religion on their kids but we sit silently by as cheapo sex is pushed on them by the media's greed. It is absolutely unfair! And it will cost our society greatly as brainwashed kids begin to live out the self-destructive lifestyles presented to them as cool.

The consequences are bad now, but just wait. The future will be far worse. Rampant STD's. HIV like in Africa. Most children will be fatherless. Rape, child sexual abuse, and other sex crimes rampant. Depression and suicide soaring because of the pain of sexual disorientation. Very few marriages will stay together.

That sounds awful. But that is what American media is planting in the minds of our children , young teens, and all the rest of us. We will reap what we sow.