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According to a Gallop’s poll, money is the number one problem in a marriage.

Money is the leading cause of divorce.

Sixtyfive percent of all couples argue about money.

Since money is so central to problems in your life and relationships, you need to practice handling money properly.

First of all, you should keep good records.

You need to know what you own.
You need to know what you owe.
You need to know what you earn.
You need to know where you spend–where it goes.

How many times have you said it, or heard it said: “I don’t know where my money goes?”

Have you ever thought or felt you don’t have time for complete records–especially if you don’t itemize on your taxes?

Let me ask this. Do you have time to worry?

You simply must plan your spending. This is the major principle of budgeting. You have to know what you are going to spend.

Financial freedom doesn’t come from what you earn. It comes from what you spend. No matter how much you earn, if you spend too much you can not have financial freedom. If you plan carefully, you will have plenty.

Some of the most common reasons for financial collapse are the results of abusing your money.

You see it. You want it. You have to have it. It’s on sale. This approach to spending will ruin you.

You need to decide today to save for your future.

Stupid people spend as fast as they earn it. Statistics show that a high percentage of Baby Boomers will retire broke.

Look at this:

The average person in Japan saves 25% of their income.
The average person in Europe saves 18% of their income.
The average person in the United States saves a mere 5% of their income.

This isn’t a lack of income. This is a lack of responsibility. You see it. You want it. You have to have it. It’s on sale.

I guess those in the United States have decided they don’t have to worry about what they don’t have! Well believe me. They don’t have, and that makes them worry more. It’s a vicious cycle that has to be stopped.

John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest people on the planet. He said: “Save 10%; Tithe 10%; Live on the rest.”

Most of you would freak out if you had to try to live with 20% less income.

Do you believe in God? Don’t read the rest of this if you don’t.

Did you know God says the first 10% is his?

Do you think God needs your money? Of course not. So, what’s the reason for the tithe?

Hang on to your hat, I’m going to say something that may shake your world.

–If you say you are serious about God, and you don’t tithe, you are just kidding yourself!

Why do I say this?

What is money in your life, and what does having it mean?

That’s right, everything–security, shelter, food, clothing–just about everything that means anything to you circles around money.

The more you cling to money, the more you are claiming your own control over all the things in your life. Doesn’t that describe the place God should have in your life?

That’s right. You place yourself as God in your life. That’s the ultimate idolatry. In fact, Jesus told us to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He said that seeking money was the same thing the pagans were seeking. Furthermore, He said God would supply all the things for which we were seeking money in the first place if we did seek Him first.

Tithing isn’t because God needs money.

1) It’s an act of gratitude since everything you have comes from God or an ability God gave you in the first place.
2) It’s an act of priorty placing God as number one in your life.
3) It’s an act of faith. God said to test him and see if he wouldn’t bless us in our giving. This is the only time he said to test him.

You simply have to practice being happy with what you have. It is far better to be satisfied than always wanting. What you have is a gift from God anyway. You were never owed anything in the first place.

Did you know, if you live in the United States, you have more than 90% of the rest of the world?

If you learn to be content, you can enjoy what you have. Why do you think so many commit suicide when they get what they thought they had to have to be happy? They found it empty of happiness.

Make it your motto to Use it up. Wear it out. Make do, or do without.

Or, better yet, make it your motto to keep God as God and you as you, and to know that you ain’t God.

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Recently a friend sent me this Mondex PowerPoint file and asked me what I thought about it.

Basically, the Modex PowerPoint is about the new small transmitters that are placed under the skin to be used as a personal Id for security from everything to building access and account access, to physical location through RFID.

Watch this PowerPoint and then read my response: Mondex

Here’s what I have to say about Mondex:

Remember when the coming ‘mark of the beast’ was Proctor & Gamble?

Hitler has been the antchrist. Russia’s Kruschev has been the antichrist. Ronald Reagan has even been the antichrist.

All my life, I have heard this preacher, and that teacher proclaiming who fulfills the prophecies concerning the antichrist, and those that are cursed by receiving his mark on their foreheads.

Now, their saying Mondex chips.

This is what Jesus’s favorite disciple revealed to us almost 2000 years ago:

1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.

1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.

1Jo 2:20 And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all the things.

1Jo 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

1Jo 2:22 Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son.

It seems pretty clear to me that John tells us clearly that the antichrist they had heard was coming in the last hour was not just a single individual, and that he knew it was already “the last hour” since many antichrists had already come at the time he was writing. He even goes on to tell us exactly who the antichrist is: This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son. Preachers and teachers too often want to proclaim their guess about some prophetic, highly interpretive verse in Revelation, all the while ignoring these completely frank and extremely clear and unambiguous verses. I might add that John, who is telling us these things, is the same John who gave us Revelation to read.

So, to answer your question about what I think about this, I don’t think anything about it.

I’m not looking for the last hour, John said 2000 years ago: Little children, it is the last hour.

I believe many people get really out of whack worrying about prophecy and some new thing, while ignoring the plainly spoken sayings of Jesus. If we live our lives by His words, why would we worry about the future–regardless of who is right about prophecy?

The sum of all the prophets, prophecies, and preachers can not bring any greater truth or revelation than that of “Christ, and Him crucified.” In fact this is the result of all Paul’s ambition. No human wisdom. No remarkable insight. Paul finished it all by claiming to desire to know only this one thing: “Christ, and Him crucified.”

So, between John and Paul, I don’t concern myself with any of these new things. They are often fruitless toward winning others to Christ anyway.

That said, I have no condemnation of those that get caught up with these things. I just think their efforts would serve better preaching the gospel. Doesn’t that fix it all anyway?

Regards.

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• My wife loves antiques and Victorian furniture, I like modern furniture.
• My wife loves atmosphere at a restaurant. I like to see what I’m eating. It’s all about the food.
• My wife loves the site-seeing on a trip. I want to get where I’m going.
• My wife loves to see homes and interior design programs on TV–like HGTV. I like the History channel, the Learning channel, Sci-fi, and action movies.
• My wife loves a party: being social. I like quiet evenings alone.
• My wife drives the hottest Pontiac-Trans Am 2000 WS6 package. I drive a 1992 ranger pick-up.
• My wife works in at a Christian University. I supervise a fabrication shop [factory].

Yes. We have all the makings of a wonderful relationship marking a marriage that should last a long, long time.

Not according to online dating services.

Why do you suppose all these online dating services try to match up people with the same likes and hobbies? Hasn’t it been said forever that “opposites attract?”

It is my experience that there are some foundational elements in a relationship that have to be as identical as possible. But the rest of it is the spice of life, and variation is essential in the rest of it for sparks to fly.

What are the foundational elements?

Things like religion, child rearing, and fundamental concepts of right and wrong and of life style. If these don’t match, then the wrong kind of sparks will fly–believe me.

In fact, I have a rule of thumb for young people in a serious relationship: Multiply anything that bugs you, or you think is quarky about your partner, about 20 times or more. If you could deal with it at that level, then it passes the test.

So, keep life interesting with someone that intrigues you. But keep life stable with someone that has the same concrete in their foundation.

Regards.

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I love my wife of 23 years. Over those years I have discovered the secret to a happy marriage. I’m talking about marital bliss! It is holding true to this day, even after our daughter has married, started her own life, and left us to really know if we love each other or not.

In the early days, I recall after just a few short weeks of marriage, when my wife–possibly the sweetest person on the planet, incapable of harming or even wishing harm on anyone–threw her hair brush at me with all the fullness of a completely matured anger. No. Wrath is the word here. Yes, wrath is what I remember.

How did I react?

Well, in my ever polished constitution, and well rehearsed ability to turn any situation to my good, right or wrong–known to be genetic in men–I laughed at her as her anger had overcome her ability to actually throw anything with any degree of accuracy, and the brush had bounced quite harmlessly almost at her feet directly in front of her and well off target–presuming my head to be the object of her ill-aimed missile.

“Well . . .” Nothing else. “Well” is all I need to say here. You can imagine how this whole thing progressed.

To make this story short, and to get back to my discovery of how to actually have a happy marriage, I’ll just say that the ridiculousness of that day, what I had done to make her angry, her anger, the quarrel we had afterward, and my stomping off down the street: “never to come back,” is made all the more, and utterly ridiculous by the fact that neither I nor my wife can muster even a hint of a clue to what the whole thing was about!! And this isn’t only after these 23 years. We had this discussion just a few years after that day, and couldn’t revive as much as a whim as to what we were arguing about.

So what is it–the secret to marital bliss??

Ok, don’t laugh.

I know this will seem tongue and cheek.

Yes, it can even be produced quite humorously.

But give it a second to digest.

What is the secret to marital bliss?

The man has two things to do. The woman has one thing to do. Both have to do their part with one single, all encompassing key element at the heart of how they live and interact.

First, the man has to practice this phrase, and get it exactly right every time:

“OK.”

That’s it. “OK.”

But, it has to be said like this “ooOokAyee” –spoken like a sigh mixed with conviction, almost musically, and not too much emphasis on the ‘k’. It must not be defined too well. But, it has to pass as actually being responsive.

It can’t be like “mmooOokAyee”.

NO.

That is obviously the ole I’m-ignoring-you-as-I-look-over-my-newspaper-pad-response-to-anything kind of ‘OK’. That just doesn’t work, and is a primary ingredient for a failed marriage. Getting this right is absolutely critical. Don’t continue until you have it mastered.

Perhaps equally important, arguably more important, the man has to occasionally–albeit dutifully–perform in response to those times when his ‘OK’ was in response to a question that was actually asking him to do something. For example:

“Honey, will you pick up the dry cleaning for me?”
–”OK.”

As you can see. This just wouldn’t show the man in a good light were he to overlook the request. In fact, this would further magnify his lack of attention to his wife. This would foster a disdain in her heart for him, when the intent was to shine favor his way. Might I say on the side, “it all happens in her heart.” Remember that.

So, the second thing the man must do in this quest for bliss is fully related to the first–if not directly produced by it. Yes, indeed, it’s born to it.

Secondly, the man must practice this phrase, and have it down even more perfectly than his ‘OK’.

It is this:

“OO_[pause]_I’m sorry.”

This is critical. If there is failure in getting this correct in the absolute sense of correctness–no, perfection–then the marriage will fail. And even a perfect ‘OK’ can’t help, and will only make it worse. In fact, the more perfect the ‘OK’, the more critical it is that you have this polished.

“OO_[pause]” can’t be like the Simpson’s “DuOH_[pause”. It has the same shortness and intensity, but is expressed with a mournful remorse that is filled with exasperation. This absolutely must not even touch the sense that the man is spurning the moment. NO. This simply has to bear all the fullness of the honesty that can only be inherent in the greatest of hurts for having fallen short in an extreme endeavor in one’s life, yet expressing no hope or glint of desire for being excused. If you don’t have these language skills, your marriage will either fail or faint off into the abyss of grunts and shrugs when nothing else remains that won’t get you into trouble.

Believe me. If you can’t get “OO_[pause]_I’m sorry” correct, then you may just as well get separate bedrooms now. Grunts and groans can be mused to some level of interaction at a distance.

It isn’t required in quite the same level of perfection, but you want to combine this with the proper facial expressions and body language. Wolf packs have this down. Be properly subdued. Let her know she is ‘alpha’ dominant at this point if you can stomach it. However, this can be side-stepped to the degree you perfect your “OO_[pause]_I’m sorry.” The better you sound, the less body language required to make this work.
Practice these things often.

Ok, now we’re mostly there, but the woman’s part in this makes the man’s part in this possible. In fact, if the woman is unable to do this, the man will fail in his part and the marriage will fail. So, ultimately, the woman is in the control–no surprise there.
Every once in a while, even if it isn’t believed to be ‘exactly’ true in her heart, the woman MUST on occasion tell the man, “You’re right.”

If she works at it, she can find opportunities for this almost every day. It doesn’t have to happen every day, mind you, but the more often, the better.

This can be made much easier for the woman to do by finding the smaller, less important opportunities to do this. Then, it won’t have as much significance to her. This will allow her to get the words out more easily. What ever it takes, she simply has to find the strength to force this out as often as possible. This will bolster his confidence in the extreme, and develop an impervious sense of self esteem. After all, it’s all in his head not in his heart. So, while it can be made meaningless for her, it becomes powerful for him. Right?

Remember, the more often she tells him, “You’re right,” the better. It’s critical to the performance of his part in a perfect marriage and the reward is worth it.

Now, what’s left?

Well this isn’t actually an ‘action’ that either partner takes, but it is the glue that makes all the rest of it work.

Simply put it’s this: Nothing really matters that much.

So, get over it. Life is too important. It’s all small stuff.

Your personal happiness, your lives together, and your marital bliss is the important stuff.

As a friend of mine puts it: “suck it up.” I guess that sums it up.

Well,
Regards.

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