There is a much more powerful motivation than simply the selfish pursuit of personal peace or affluence. We were built / created to serve. Just imagine:

A person pursuing emotional or physical healing because of the realization of how much more effective (s)he could serve others. We are not meant to be introspective, looking out for number one, protecting our little selves. The family unit of a father and mother caring and serving their children is not meant to be an end goal but a microcosm of how we are to interact with society around us.

A business (and I’m sure there are a few out there) with a compelling desire to find out and serve the needs of others. With this driving motivation product, pricing, and customer care would be second to none. Success and provision become a result and not a goal. We are not bowing our businesses down to gods of affluence.

♫Everybody knows ole Timmy and his tasty toes♫
♫Help to make the seasoning right♫
♫Tiny slots where his eyes used to glow♫
♫He’ll find it hard to sleep tonight♫

♫They know that Santa’s on his way♫
♫He’s bloated, hot, big and tasty seared to taste♫
♫And every mothers child is going to pry♫
♫To see if they can get a piece of Santa’s Thigh♫

♫And so we’re offering this tender plate♫
♫Two kids from some place we don’t know♫
♫Although we’ve been fed many guys many ways♫
♫It’s all delicious, and it’s Christmas, was that Gary’s mistress?, to you♫

The Selling Point: The salesman (in our case a demon), leads you to a point of identification with the idea, where it harasses like an unwanted longing. Often a bombardment of advertisements and sales calls begin to desensitize you to the wickedness of the idea. These salesmen aim at holding your attention to the idea showing you the selling points while concealing the downsides.

The Sale: You give in to the manipulation, you buy, you bite the apple. However, like someone who’s suffered abuse you feel controlled like the decision was almost made for you and out of your hands. And yet, the enemy, in your perspective, is still yourself and you blame your inner passions.

There to Stay: Nothing bought at this market is meant to give permanent satisfaction. Instead after the first bite a craving for more which leads to addiction and a loss of free will. The summarized goal of sin is this: Convince you that you are the enemy. Then take away your ability to choose. And with those two things in place – detonate you.

The Pitch Killer: I like the following verse: Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” The Bible affirms that bad thoughts / temptations do not originate from within and that fighting against ourselves (viewing ourselves as the enemy) is the wrong approach. Two steps are needed. 1. Disassociate yourself from the idea, recognize that you are not the originator. 2. Silence the demonic voice (the real source of the idea) in the name of Jesus Christ and feel it instantly go away. If the harassment comes back, which it often does, follow these two steps again. The important thing is to pay attention to your thoughts and deal with it at that level or the idea will take root.

How a person thinks in his or her heart is the issue behind Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). I don’t believe He was making it more difficult for us to live good lives but rather He knew that battles begin in the mind and He wanted us to have true freedom.

The whole democratic concept of voting initially emerges from the Old Testament (Bible) Exodus 18:17-23 & Deuteronomy 1:9-15. In both Biblical examples the people chose from among themselves those they wanted to lead / judge them. The United States democratic system of voting isn’t the result of random evolutionary progress, it is in fact Biblical. Of the 204“Founding Fathers” of the United States 199 were from various Christian denominations, three were Unitarian and two were Deists (In that day and age Unitarians and Deists were considered liberal Christians).

Patrick Poole in his essay “Islam and the problem of rationality” says the following regarding Muslim thinkers ideas on free will / cause and effect: “Occasionalism is the belief that in the natural world, what is perceived as cause and effect between objects is mere appearance, not reality. Instead, only Allah truly acts with real effect; all seemingly natural observances of causation are merely manifestations of Allah’s habits, for Allah simultaneously creates both the cause and the effect according to his arbitrary will. This view is best expressed by one of the Islamic philosophers cited by Ramadan, al-Ghazali (1059-1111), in his book, The Incoherence of the Philosophers.”

There is no room for free will in Islam. It doesn’t matter what you do or what you say or what you think. Everything has been predetermined and is controlled by Allah. This presupposition mirrors itself on government by not creating a framework for true democracy. People will have a leader who resembles the god they serve. Can lasting democracy be established in Iraq and Afghanistan through military or economic force? I don’t think so. What do you think?….