ANIMISM - BELIEF THAT OBJECTS CONTAIN SOULS

At one time or another all of us have probably given inanimate objects  human characteristics. I know I have complained about how my computer  doesn’t like me, or how a chair moved into my way causing me to stub a toe.  Yes, we all do this, in literature it is referred to as personification and  even the greatest of writers use it. Hopefully we realize that those things  are not even alive, much less human and couldn’t possibly do the things of  which we are accusing them.

There are, however, people in the world, in this country, and probably even  some in the church who believe that objects or plants or animals have souls  and will be in heaven (though interestingly enough, never in hell). Many  people who believe in the doctrine of animism will often make statements  about how precious all life is, and we don’t argue that. They will go on to  equate the life of an animal or plant with that of a human, and there we  must draw the line. While it is true that we should never take any life;  plant, animal, or human needlessly as good stewards of God’s creation, we  must also realize that it was God himself who proclaimed man’s value to be  superior to that of any other of his earthly creations.

I heard a news report a few years ago about a boy who was lost in the woods  for quite some time. When the boy was finally located the rescue chopper  couldn’t land because he was in a part of the forest where some endangered  species lived and the landing could have harmed them. Fortunately, the boy  survived after rescuers hiked in to get him, but his life was needlessly  endangered to save an animal’s life. Only a few weeks ago people threw a  tantrum when police had to shoot and kill an elephant which had killed its  trainer and escaped from a circus. The animal was wreaking havoc around the  city and threatening other lives, and after failing to capture the animal  without harming it they had no choice but to protect innocent people.

Jesus compared a human with a soul to all of the material world and asked  the question, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world,  and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  (Mat 16:26). Objects living or otherwise that are not human do not have  souls, and are of less value than one human’s soul. Certainly we need to  respect life and all that God has created, but we have to remember the  eternal difference between humanity and the rest of creation.

ANIMALISM - DRIVEN BY PHYSICAL DESIRES RATHER THAN SPIRITUAL OR INTELLECTUAL

Don’t we all struggle with this from time to time? Paul explains his  struggles with the flesh in Romans 7. While we must continue in our fight  against the ‘animal instincts’ or carnal desires that we have and even  though we can never condone sinful behavior or attempt to excuse it based on  these universal desires, isn’t it comforting to know that even the apostles  had similar struggles? Some of my favorite scriptures are the ones where  Peter says or does something foolish and has to be rebuked by the Lord. I  don’t like them because I want to make fun of Peter or laugh at his  mistakes, but they are my favorites because they give me hope that I too can  be a great servant to God even though I constantly make mistakes. They also  give me hope that I can overcome those tempting desires and foolish human  thoughts.

More and more, Christians are giving in to the humanistic mind-set that we  are just animals and we can’t control some of our behaviors. “Teenagers are  going to have sex it is just a natural fact” or “I can’t help it, I am just  made that way”. Sound familiar? All too often, we Christians fall for this  palaver. We excuse or at least rationalize all sorts of sins based on these  faulty premises. Instead of giving up and giving in, we need to remember  that Paul, who struggled with this as much as we do, said there was one way  to overcome this and any other sin. (Phil 4:13) I can do all things through  Christ which strengtheneth me.

Well, there you have it you have the choice to try in vain to conquer these  temptations on your own, or you can successfully do it through Christ. I will be praying that you  make the right choice.

ANARCHISM - DO AWAY WITH GOVERNMENTS AND LAWS

Government doesn’t always do right, in fact, at times we may think that we would be better off without any government at all. We need to remember that God is ultimately in control and the government gets its authority from God. When government goes to far God corrects the situation like he did in the U. S. S. R. a decade or so ago.

In Romans 13, Paul deals extensively with the Christians duty to be subject to the governing authorities. In order to do away with all government and laws we would have to rebel against the existing authority, and that would be rebelling against God as well.

In truth, as Paul says, government should be there to punish the wicked and protect the righteous. It is most unfortunate that we are heading down a path that will eventually lead us to a government that will punish good and glorify evil. We are half way there already. Lest we think that we could then rebel against that government and get rid of it, let us remember that the same government that Paul told the Romans to be in subjection to later put him to death. Despite that turn of events, we have no evidence that Paul’s (God’s) teaching on the subject ever changed.

Anarchism cannot even actually ever exist. Even if all of man’s laws were annihilated, God’s laws will be enforced at the end of time. What is more, if we got rid of the laws we currently live under, there would be a new law; namely, ‘the law of the jungle’ or ‘might makes right’. Even when Government doesn’t do what it should, let us remember: it is ordained of God, and it is in existence to protect us from evil.

There are many who think they have done away with God’s laws by simply ignoring them, but they will be in for a rude awakening in the world to come. Let us be sure that we are not part of that number.

AMORPHISM - LACKING FORM

Some words can have more than one meaning or application and this is one of those words. It doesn’t really have any religious connotations, but we can make application. It technically refers to something like an amoeba or a cloud that can change shape and has no definite form. There are two ways we can apply this problem to the church, individually, and collectively.

1. There are some Christians (preachers, elders, etc.) who have no backbone, so to speak. These people will not stand up for the truth. They believe the truth, but they just don’t have the intestinal fortitude to defend it from attack. (Jude 1:3) Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

There are others who are just plain wishy-washy about what they believe. I do not mean those who are honest enough to change if they see that they are contrary to the teaching of scripture. I also am not referring to those sincere individuals who are struggling to find the truth on some issue. Even though both of these might seem to be suffering from amorphism, they are really just trying to define their form. Those I am speaking of are those who love the praise of men more than the praise of God and are thus willing to “go with the flow” even when the flow is going contrary to God’s will. Whatever is popular is what they believe. (Eph 4:14-15) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; {15} But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

2. Another danger that falls here is the belief that the church itself is amorphous. The number of ‘Christians’ who believe: that we are on our own and that the New Testament doesn’t lay a pattern or form for the church, is growing. Because of a desire to do things in a ‘new’ way these individuals are teaching that the only things that matter are loving God and loving each other. It is true that Christ Himself said those were the “GREATEST” two commandments, but he never said they were the “ONLY” commandments. The fallacy of this thinking lies in the assumption that one can love God without doing what God said do. Jesus said that our love would be expressed in the action of keeping his commands. (John 15:14) Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. And (John 14:15) If ye love me, keep my commandments. What’s more he made it clear that if the apostles, and by virtue of their teaching us as well, wanted to continue in His good favor, they had to obey him. (John 15:10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Many might say, “that is true, but Jesus didn’t command all the things written in the letters to the churches.” Another lack of knowledge is the problem here. There are two principles: The inspiration of the word, and the chain of authority both refute this illogical position. The apostles placed commands on the Christian individual and on congregations, there is no questioning that. (2 Th 3:4) And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. This passage as well as others shows us that the apostles certainly thought they had the authority to make commands and expect them to be followed. Where did they get that authority? It came directly from Christ and through the Holy Spirit. Christ gave the apostles authority to bind. (Mat 16:19) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The commands of the apostles bear the full authority and endorsement of Christ. Let us be sure that we are not a church without a foundation, or like the man who built his house on the sand ours too will crumble and fall.

AMERICANISM - DEVOTION TO THE U. S.

It is great to be an American. In some countries writing an article like this one could get me in big trouble with the government. I can’t think of a better country in this world than America. So, what is the danger. The danger is two- fold actually. One is that we push our Americanism on other countries and people, and the other is that we allow America to take the place of God.

The danger of devotion to the U. S. shows itself when one goes beyond liking the country and idolizes it. We may send missionaries to foreign shores and instead of teaching them Christianity, we may be attempting to teach them to think like Americans. It would be wonderful if all countries allowed religious freedom, but sometimes Americans equate freedom of religion with true Christianity. We need to remember that the early church had no such freedom and they were probably truer Christians than many of us. Paul admonished them to obey the governing authorities, even though those same authorities had arrested him. Peter and John explained in Acts 4 that if there was a choice between obeying men (governing authorities)and God, they would obey God. They never tried to overthrow the government, nor did they disobey any laws that were unjust, unless the law tried to keep them from doing God’s will. We need to draw a clear distinction between what is American, and what is Christian since they are not the same thing.

We should never put devotion to the U. S. or anything else before God. There are many who equate the writings and teachings of the ‘Founding Fathers’ with the teaching of scripture. There is a huge difference that we should recognize between the writing of wise but uninspired men and the writing of scripture by men inspired by God. One might try, as many have, to say that since we have freedom of religion protected (not granted) by the Bill of Rights, “all religions are equally valid” or “one church is as good as another.” That may indeed be the way things are seen legally in this country, but that is not the way the Bible views the subject. Jesus said he was “THE way” not “A way”, “THE truth” not “some of the truth”, and “THE life” not "an American way of life". He declared that not one single soul could get to the father and thus heaven any other way. He also stated in Matt. 16:18 that he was going to build one church that would be his. At last report in the city of Los Angeles there were over 600 different religious groups, and Jesus only founded one. Equal legal rights does not mean equal in God’s eyes. There are many other things about which we may be confused if we take the government’s word for it instead of God’s.

We must be careful to separate good from bad and line everything up against the word of God. It is great to be an American, but it is better to be a Christian. We are not to be American Christians any more than we are any other kind of Christians. We are to be Christians only and obey God only.

ALCOHOLISM - ADDICTION TO ALCOHOL

Hopefully, we all know that drunkenness is a sin. There are many passages of scripture to that effect: (Rom 13:13) “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.”, (Gal 5:19-21) “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, {20} Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, {21} Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” We are even told that drunkards will not enter heaven, (1 Cor 6:9-10) “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, {10} Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Our topic, however, is not drunkenness, or drunkards, but Alcoholism. Even though that term is never used in scripture, we can see the danger. A person may never get drunk a single time in his/her life and still sin in regards to alcohol. First, let me point out that being tempted is not sin. Jesus was tempted in all ways like we are, but He never sinned. There may be many who at one time were given to alcohol, are still tempted, but no longer yield to the temptation. We also need to understand that not all use of alcohol is sinful. Many of the medications that the doctors prescribe, as well as many that can be bought in any drug store contain alcohol. When these medicines are used as intended, they can be wonderful helps. Timothy was told by the apostle Paul to use alcohol for an illness from which he was suffering (1 Tim. 5:23). We need to beware lest we abuse these medications and sin. Finally, we see the danger of alcohol and what many call ‘recreational use’ or ‘social drinking’. God calls us as Christians to be different from the world, and the use of alcohol is one of the ways he wants us to be different. We need to apply the principles of scripture to this problem.

1. Alcohol controls us, or rather takes control away from us. (Eph 5:18) ”And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” Our life is to be filled with God’s Spirit and not alcoholic spirits. We belong to God and are to be under his control and no other. 
2. We may cause a weak brother or sister to yield to temptation which they cannot control. (Rom 14:21) “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”
3. We lose our influence with others. (1 Th 5:22) “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” For this reason alone we should avoid alcohol.
4. We can know a tree by its fruits. (Mat 7:19-20) “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. {20} Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Even though Jesus is specifically referring to people here, we can apply it to things as well. What are the fruits of alcohol, outside the controlled use by a physician we see drunk driving, rape, murder, child abuse, spouse abuse, and a plethora of health problems that are not even associated with drunkenness.
5. Considering its effects on our body, we should remember: (1 Cor 6:19) ”What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

With all of these and possibly others that I have not even mentioned, we should understand that anytime we are unable, or unwilling to give up some fleshly habit for the sake of Christ we are sinning. Alcoholism doesn’t mean drunk, it means placing a desire for alcohol above more important things like: God, family, or health. We should all wisely practice what the wise king Solomon advised, (Prov 23:31-32) “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. {32} At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Don’t even look on it, much less drink it.

ALARMISM - EXAGGERATED WARNINGS

Like Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf, we may yell and scream every time we hear some rumor about a church doing something it shouldn’t. If we do that often enough then like the boy in the fable, no one will listen when the real thing comes along. There certainly are wolves coming to attack the flock, but not everything that comes along is one of them. For the most part we avoid this, but on occasion we may be guilty of spreading slanderous rumors in an attempt to warn others of danger. We need to always check and recheck our facts before we warn.

I know of one case where a preacher led a song at the beginning of his lesson and it was soon ‘common knowledge’ that the church in question was ’having solos’. I know of other times when preachers while giving the view held by a denomination was later quoted as holding that view by someone who had not heard or paid attention to the ‘they say’ at the beginning. From personal experience, I have been accused of false teaching or easily could have been because of a slip of the tongue. One of the most notable was caught by my wife and I was able to correct it before we dismissed. In a sermon on the family, in an attempt to say that ‘a man and wife who did not have children were still a family’, I instead said that ‘a man and woman who were not married could be considered a family’. Oops! Needless to say, if my wife had not caught that and someone later heard the tape there might have been quite a stir.

I certainly am not saying that we should not warn of false teaching and apostasy, but rather that before we label someone or some church in that camp that we do the following.

1. Go back to the person you heard it from to make sure you heard them correctly. It may be you misunderstood.
2. Go to the individual, or someone from the congregation involved. It may be the person who told you misunderstood.
3. See what the results are. It may be that someone in a congregation has done something that the leadership does not approve of and actions are being taken to correct the problem.
4. Make sure that the event actually is contrary to scripture. It may be that something is different, but not sinful.
5. If there is a problem with a brother, before you go to anyone else it is your duty to go to him to try to correct him. Be sure you do so in a loving way.
6. Even after all of this don’t spread information to those who do not need to know. Sometimes gossip is true, but always gossip is wrong.

Here are some verses to think on:

1. (Ezek 3:18-19) When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. {19} Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
2. (Acts 20:31) Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 
3. (1 Cor 4:14) I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
4. (Mat 7:15) Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
5. (2 Pet 2:1) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
6. (1 John 4:1) Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
7. (Mat 5:23-24) Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; {24} Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
8. (Gal 6:1) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

AGNOSTICISM - BELIEF THAT GOD CAN NEITHER BE PROVED OR DISPROVED BY THE EVIDENCE

Believe it or not there are thousands, maybe even millions, of people who claim to believe in God, but who fall in the category of ‘agnostic’. It is possible that you may be in this group without realizing it, and that is a dangerous place to be. Most of the time when we speak of agnostics we are speaking of those who don’t believe in God, but who don’t deny the possibility of a supreme being. As Bible believers, we know that danger, but what about the Christian who just isn’t sure if God is up there or is believing because he/she has been raised to believe in God. We may be saying something to the effect of, “I believe there is a God, but there isn’t really any proof”.

As Christians, when we think, feel, or say things like previous statement, we are in essence agnostic. What we are really saying is: “If there is a God He may or may not be the God that the Bible talks about.”, “If there is a God I will not know until I die.”, and “If there is a God He was and is either unable or unwilling to give people enough information to make an informed decision.”. That certainly doesn’t bode well for being committed to Him, does it? The ‘agnostic Christian’ is a Christian for one simple reason, and that is “just in case”. They want to hedge their bet so to speak. If there is a God these want to be able to say, “I believed in you.” but at the same time live a life of worldliness.

Contrary to what agnosticism holds, God has provided abundant proof of not only His existence, but also creation, the inspiration of the Bible, and what it is he wants us to do. I can’t even begin to touch on all of these things, but you can get more information than you could study in a year from Apologetics Press in Montgomery, AL. Their phone number is (334) 272-8558 and they have a web-site www.apologeticspress.org where you can find out more.

Let me touch briefly on the proof of God’s existence. Hebrews says that every house is built by someone and that the builder of all things is God (Hebrews 3:4) . That statement itself does not prove God exists any more than my saying the sky is pink would prove that it is pink, but the logic behind the statement does. Let us observe. If I show you a beautiful picture, a computer, a car, or a house, you know that somewhere at some time someone made them. How do we know that when we didn’t see it? Simple, common sense tells us that where there is a design there must be a designer. If that is true with something as small and simple as even a paper plate, how much more obvious is it with something as large and complex as the universe? As intelligent as we are, able to make computers that are quite complex, we cannot figure out the complexity of the human mind. The brain of a man and the brain of other mammals are not that much different from all that scientists can tell, and yet one is able to speak, learn, teach, and invent while the other is not how amazing a creation we are. All of the planets in our solar system move around the sun so precisely that we are able to tell where they were 500 years ago or where they will be 500 years from now. That kind of precision and design demands that someone more intelligent and more powerful caused it.

Has God given us enough evidence? We must answer, yes. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” If we can see His handiwork every day, why do some of us still doubt his existence? It would make more sense to doubt my existence and assume that you are just accidentally receiving some jumbled letters that coincidentally got attached to an email addressing itself to you, than to doubt the existence of God. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Heb 3:12).

AESTHETICISM - FINDING VALUE ONLY IN THINGS PLEASING TO THE SENSES
How many once faithful Christians have fallen prey to this sinful attitude? Many live by mottos such as: “If it feels good do it”, “Drink Sprite because it tastes good”, or the beer commercial “Tastes Great, Less Filling.” Our society is obsessed with feeling good, looking good, sounding good, smelling good, and having things that taste good. Sometimes the church is the same way, churches hire preachers that sound good and don’t pay attention to what they are teaching. Christian young people date attractive non-Christians and even marry them without paying attention to what disastrous consequences may come as a result.

As Christians, we must realize that there are limits on these things. We must at some point “deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus”. It may not look good to be lugging around a huge cross, and it certainly won’t feel good, but if we want to please God rather than men we must. If Adam and Eve had been able to resist the temptation of aestheticism, we might be in the garden yet. Think about how Eve was tempted. Moses wrote this concerning it, (Gen 3:5-6) “’ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ {6} And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Look at the aestheticism there: looked good, would taste good, would make her smarter (i.e. sounds good). God wants us to enjoy life, but he doesn’t want us to be indulgent. There are some things that may please the senses and not be wrong under certain circumstances while excessive or improper involvement would be wrong. For example: sexual intercourse is both pleasurable and pleasing to God inside the marriage relationship, but it is sinful outside the parameters set by God. Paul tells us that God’s grace was sent for the purpose of “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” (Titus 2:12)

Don’t compromise with the world by excusing and rationalizing the selfish and fleshly sins of aestheticism.

ADVENTURISM - IRRESPONSIBLE POLICIES
Everyone should enjoy life and have some fun, especially Christians. Jesus came that we might have life “more abundantly”. It is a gift from God and we should make the most of it. Adventurism, however, goes well beyond enjoying life and into risking life. We all like new things from time to time; clothes, cars, computers. New things can be good, but they can also be bad. 

In the church there seem to be two extremes: 1) the group that will never do anything different than it has been done before (Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.), and 2) the group that wants to do or try every new thing that comes along (Eph. 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;). Some change is inevitable, some is an improvement, some is inconsequential, and some is inexcusable, and as Christians we must be discerning of the spirit of the change in question. Allow me to illustrate each of the four.

1) Inevitable- Children grow up you can’t do anything to stop it (without harming them) and none of us would want to. As a result, we have to change the way we treat them and teach them. Young people have to at some point become aware of their sin and then of their need for forgiveness. Our young men have to learn how to become part of the worship as new Christians, and eventually to be the leaders of the church.

2) Improvement - Our congregation changed the time of the Lord’s Supper from before to after the sermon. This may seem insignificant or even meaningless, but was in fact beneficial. We had had some arriving late and missing the Lord’s Supper at the beginning thus needing to be served at the end. It was also sometimes difficult for me personally because of my nervousness about my upcoming sermon. By moving the time to the end of the service we were able to help both situations.

3) Inconsequential - Do we have 1 song, a prayer, and then 2 songs, or should we have 2 songs, the prayer, and then 1 song? This change would not affect any thing of any significance whatsoever.

4) Inexcusable - Examples of this kind of change abound in society, and are creeping into the church as well. One of the most blatant is the changing of women’s roles in the church. This is accomplished by rebelliously ignoring or attempting to explain away Paul’s clear teaching on the matter. 1 Tim 2:12 “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” Could Paul have been any clearer on the issue of women preaching, teaching, leading prayer, or leading singing in the public assembly?

Adventurists throughout the brotherhood are crying, “Try it its new, exciting, different”. We need to be cautious. Remember that when Eve ate the forbidden fruit it too was exciting, different, and new. The consequences may be greater than you can possibly imagine. We shouldn’t resist change just because it is different, but rather weigh carefully the factors involved. Scripture must be our first line of defense, but even in areas that are not necessarily sinful we need to say as Paul did, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (1 Cor 10:23).

Sometimes a change that may be in and of itself inconsequential may become profitable and thus expedient in helping us to get out of a spiritual rut. We may know several songs, but it is good from time to time to learn a new one in order to break the routine. I recently had the habit on Wed. Night of singing the same song for the invitation. It was a good song and I didn’t even realize how much I had been using it until one of our members said, ”Could we please sing a different song tonight ?”. The same could be said of the ‘canned’ prayers that many lead.

Let us make every effort to change for the better each day, and never for the worse.