Jack Pelham

Is there any corruption in our governments and companies—or in the popular beliefs of the citizens—that would still be going on if someone weren’t profiting from it?

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Why do so many Christians today live in fear? Who can explain that? Popular belief says that every Christian, upon coming to Jesus, receives the indwelling Holy Spirit. And the verse above seems adamant that the Holy Spirit used to have some sort of transforming effect on those in whom he lived. It seems that it transformed people from their former slavery to a life of fear into the freedom of a life of confidence, as the to-be-adopted children of God.

It may seem to some that
I must have set out at first
To find fault with this world.
But that isn’t the case.

What I set out to find was the truth,
And it was then that it became obvious
That this world is awash
In lie and error alike,
And seems to be stuck in it—
Most of its people being
Blind to the simple fact
That their best hope of
Seeing anything fixed
Is that they should
First fix themselves.

I have observed that it is easier by far
To corrupt the character of people
Than to improve it.

And, perhaps, this is not better evinced
Than in the great popularity
Of ineffective self-improvement programs
That actually serve
By lowering the barre of society,
Rather than raising it.

No one can take in
The full scope of his weaknesses
All at once.

Come, and we shall bark at the man
Who approaches on our sidewalk.
We will snarl and bark
And put our feet up on the fence,
Pretending that we could not
Clear the fence if we wanted—
For we shall be kind enough
Not to terrify him too badly.

And we will tell him this is our yard and not his,
And that he’s walking on our sidewalk—
Which we deliberately keep outside our fence
As a courtesy to protect wanders like him
From our deadliness.

And we, noble fellow, do well to stand our post,
For if we didn’t, surely this man would
Kill our family, rob the house,
And probably burn it down
And eat our dog food—
Just as we can perceive that
His sinister intention has been
On every day he has walked by here.

So come, Sir Knight, and we shall bark as ever,
For having saved our domain from him thus far,
We shall by no means let him pass unwarned today.

In some, the heart is more generous than the schedule.
And in others, the schedule more than the heart.

One person may not have
All the heart he needs—
While another has more heart
Than he can use all by himself.

And when people like that
Become friends,
It makes them both
Better than they were before.

If they lose,
They will say there was cheating.

If they win,
They will say there was not.

Make no mistake about it;
Majority is the goal here,
And not justice.

Majority and not reform.

Give them the majority,
And they will care about
Little else.