Term Papers and Essays That Your University Professor Will Love

(You’ll Get An “A” Just For the Topic)

The U. S. Constitution: A Twisted Document
The Constitution: Living or Dead?
George Washington’s Dark Side
The Aristocratic Roots of Capitalism
European Success with Liberal Democracies
The Influence of “Landed Gentry” on the Bill of Rights
The Unjust Demonization of Communism
Is Freedom Fair?
The Federal Government and Exploitation of the War on Drugs
Can the Religious Right Control America?
What’s Right With Castro’s Cuba?
Repeal the Second Amendment Now!
Marching Toward Utopia: The Redistribution of Wealth
The Role of the Media in Shaping Political Outcomes
The Social Burden of the Supreme Court
Electoral College or Popular Vote?
Religious Repression: The Social History of Christianity
Why Public Education Must Stay Public
Karl Marx: A Sympathetic Portrait
How Communism Might Have Succeeded In Russia
The United Nations: An Inevitable Hegemony
Waging Peace: Creating a New Army
The New Imperialists: American Business Takes Aim at Global Markets
Competition in Transition
Social Justice Uber Alles
Neo-Nazis by Other Names: Naming the Bigots
Why Terrorism? The Guilt of America
The Tyranny of the Majority
A Return to the Pristine Wilderness
The Plot to Keep the White House White

Signs of the Times

Sorry for the play on words, but did you ever notice how the signs posted around our environment are so relevant to real life? Although they were written for one purpose, it often seems like they cover a lot of additional territory as well. We have a sign in our church printing office, copied from an actual road sign in rural England that says, “Keep Thin.” I assume it means the same thing as “ Narrow Bridge ,” but it sure applies to our diet-conscious generation in America . Look at this list of common signs that regulate life in general.

Keep Off the Grass . Human beings and marijuana don’t mix.
No Parking Anytime. Don’t park by trouble, defeat, doubt, worry or fear.
Slow: Children Crossing. Be an example to the children. They’re watching.
No Driving On Shoulders . Stay away from life’s edges. You’ll slide off.
Sharp Curves Ahead. When life’s road bends, take it slowly or you will flip out.
In Case of Fire, Use Stairway. Old-fashioned ways may serve you best.
Take A Number. Don’t cut in line to get ahead. Impatience reaps a thin crop.
Caution: Wet Floor. You just can’t always go where you want to go right now.
Dead End. Nice street …waste of time. And, you’ll have to back your way out.
No Edge Lines. Don’t count on somebody else to always watch out for you.
Quiet: Hospital Zone. Healing in progress. Be understanding, not demanding.
One Way. You can’t always choose your direction. God’s way is the only way.
Hidden Drive. Prepare yourself for the unforeseen circumstances.
Construction Zone. All of us travel through an incomplete, imperfect world.
Run-a-way Lane. Make room for the out-of-control person. Don’t get run over.
Don’t Feed the Bears. Cute and cuddly situations may eat you alive.
Hazardous Materials. Why play around with tobacco, alcohol or drugs?
Stop! Look! Listen! Take responsibility for your own safety.
Scenic View. Taking in the scenery is part of the trip. Appreciate it.
Fasten Seat Belt. You are not above the law of physics.
Watch Your Speed: We Are. Eventually, lawbreakers get caught.
No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service. Maintain a certain sense of dignity.
Beware of Dog. Approach every unknown situation with a degree of caution.
Turn Motor Off Before Refueling . One spark may cause a great conflagration.
Bump. Nothing is ever 100% smooth. Expect some opposition along the way.
For Sale . Ultimately, all dreams get expressed in dollars and cents.
Read Before Signing. Whether or not you trust the person, read the fine print.
Walk/Don’t Walk. Wait your turn. Oncoming traffic may not see you.
Rest Area Ahead. Take a break when you can. Eventually, you will need one.
Check Out Time 12:00 Noon . You can’t stay forever. Move on.
Private Drive. Sometimes, it’s just none of your business.
Don’t Litter. Don’t foul up the lives of others with your garbage.
No Children Allowed. Preserve innocence. Keep grown-up issues from kids.
Express Lane Only. The simpler you keep your life, the easier it will be.
Batteries Not Included. Don’t look to others for motivation.
Pay Here. Eliminate entitlement thinking. Pay your own way.
Rental Car Return. Never forget the kindnesses others have given to you.
Handicap Parking. Give some advantage to the less fortunate.
Stop At Office. Directions and permission make your time more enjoyable.

These signs, and others, exist for our benefit. They warn, protect, and inform us about the conditions around us. As we travel farther down the road of life, the more we understand how important they are. Pay special attention to God’s signs he has posted along your path. His word will guide you through the dangers of life and you will see the sign, “Pearly Gates Just Ahead!”

Don't Underestimate God

Call it the tyranny of the urgent, tunnel vision or just the daily-ness of life, most of us are conditioned to think on a horizontal plane. We walk through life as though we were restricted by a set of blinders. We see little more than what we want to eat for breakfast, what we should do for a sinus headache or how to fight the traffic on the way to work. Occasionally, we venture a bit further and think about seasonal jobs like changing tires on the car or replacing the storm windows. But typically, we spend very few moments focusing on major themes of life and eternity.

Such spiritual myopia blinds us to the greater purposes of God. As humans, we jet through our routines on a straight line deployment, comprehending only the next task in the sequence. At the same time, God is busy being God and he fulfills the definition of God in everything he does. God does a billion things at once. He makes all billion of them relate to each other, he sets each of the billion things up, and he crafts each one in such a multi-faceted way that it accomplishes many things simultaneously. He calculates how the thing he does today will impact things that will happen next year or ten years down the road. He works above us, beneath us, behind us, before us and beside us, all on an infinite number of levels, and still manages to relate to us and our finite existence.

For example, when Abram responded to the call of God out of Haran , the greatest challenge in his own mind was to extricate himself from his country and culture and move out towards the promised land. But, as Abram methodically put one foot in front of the other, God was orchestrating an intricate plan that would culminate in the salvation of mankind. He was establishing a nation, surveying a land in which this nation could live, culling out the influence of a Lot , preparing a father for Isaac, securing a lineage for the Messiah, cultivating a friend and setting faith in sharp relief.

When you look too closely at Bible stories, you see only human history. That’s fine, but when you step back and take a look, you are struck by the transcendent plan of God at work. Isaac wanted a bride, but God wanted a Rebecca through whom he could put the attitude of the church on display. Jacob fought to win a wrestling match, but God is no WWF fan. He wanted to change a Jacob into an Israel . Joseph sought to successfully administer the Pharaoh’s kingdom, but God wanted to preserve the family of Jacob during a famine. Jochebed only followed her motherly instincts when she whispered and sang of the one, true God to baby Moses, but God used her to shape the convictions of a leader. Moses fled into Midian for his life, but God wanted to train him for the job of a deliverer. David wanted to protect his sheep from the lion and bear, but God intended to prepare a warrior to fight Goliath, and a king to rule over Israel .

Likewise, when you become too tied to the mundane events that monotonously stretch out before you, you lose awareness of the divine purposes working within you. Your personal assessment of the circumstances of life that drive your prayers and fuel your passions may be far too small. You may think you are merely singing in the choir, but God knows that you are strengthening the church and impacting others with your willingness to worship. You may feel you are plodding along in slavish obedience to the Bible, but God is using you to influence and inspire others who may never say a word to you.

The prayer warriors’ closet becomes God’s war room to win great spiritual battles. Sunday School teachers lessons get repeated by foreign missionaries. Simple acts of kindness set the stage for mighty revivals. Encouraging words are pivotal in salvaging someone’s powerful ministry.

We must develop a sense of the eternal in the temporal. Without it, we will succumb to the existentialist philosophy that increasingly defines our culture. It is a depressing outlook that limits all things to the here and now, the visible, audible and tangible. When we refuse to see God’s transcendent plan, we doom ourselves to negative, discordant and bitter lives. This is precisely why the Word of God teaches us to walk by faith and not by sight. Human sight and human understanding always underestimates the width, breadth, height and depth of God’s plan.

Stop viewing God from a limited, time-bound perspective. Remove your blinders. You will be amazed at all the things he accomplishes through your unremarkable, but faithful acts.

The Good Samaritan Paraphrased

A certain woman packed her kids into the passenger side of her rusty ten-year old Chevy truck, stopped to pump three gallons of gasoline into the tank, and lurched down the far right lane to the downtown concrete canyons of banks, loan offices and courtrooms. There, she fell among loan sharks, stone-faced bureaucrats and shady lawyers, who foreclosed on her mortgage, gave her the run-a-round, and finagled up-front payments and fees out of her until she had nothing left. Fighting back tears from the last encounter, she stumbled out of a glass and walnut paneled office and sank into a big leather chair in the waiting room to collect her senses. She awkwardly tried to keep the jagged rip in her dirty overcoat hidden, and almost managed to hold her frustration in check, but one tear escaped her eyes and dripped off her chin. Preoccupied, she didn’t notice that her kids were making too much noise for business offices.

About that time, a certain well-scrubbed and neatly dressed family walked by—-mom, dad and kids—-looking as though they had just stepped out of a storybook. With narrowed eyes, they steered around this obviously under-budgeted woman, making sure no one thought that they had anything in common with her. They quickly went on to their appointment to finance their new boat. As they passed by, however, the well-dressed lady did have a twinge of gratefulness that she could afford a nicer coat than the one the woman in the chair wore.

Not long afterwards, a type-A business man who strongly believed in making his own way in life, and didn’t mind expressing his opinions loud enough to be overheard came by. He glanced at the woman and registered a look of disdain. Leaning over to another person standing in line to roll over some money into another account, he said, “What’s the matter with people nowadays? They don’t want to work, they don’t want to make their kids behave, they don’t want to dress decent and they don’t have any respect anymore. They just want food stamps, ADC, welfare and grants. And we taxpayers support them.” The woman was sure that someone had shoved a white-hot knife into her heart, judging from the way she felt.

About that time, a sweet-faced lady knelt down by one of the kids and asked if he went to Sunday School. His little sister wobbled over and reached out to the lady with two grimy hands. The lady picked her up and said, “We have a class for you too! Would you like to go to Sunday School?” Then she looked over at their mother in the chair and noticed that all was not well. She said, “You look like you could use a friend. Is there anything I can do to help?”

And now you can guess why the woman and her kids ended up going with the sweet-faced lady to her church.

Love: A Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13

“Although I may be a gifted speaker and can pray in tongues anytime, anywhere, and yet I don’t love others, I am only making noise without substance. And though I seem to have an answer for everything and people come to me for my opinions, and I am a dynamo of spiritual power with many spiritual victories, and yet I have no love, I am a zero. And though my generosity is well known, and I have sacrificed all for God with wounds and scars to prove it, yet I have no love, God hasn’t profited from me at all.

“So, how can you tell whether or not you have real love? See for yourself how love behaves by the following list:

“Love smiles through the pain of being hurt, criticized, misunderstood and ignored without constantly complaining. Love never confronts anyone unless it is with a kind, well-considered word without blasting them out of the room. Love doesn’t judge or want what others have—-clothes, car, job, wife, husband, money, personality or even spiritual gifts. It doesn’t go around talking about God being unfair or people being uncaring when the real problem is envy and jealousy. It shuns the limelight and recognition. It doesn’t have “I” problems.

“Love declines to make a scene about everything and won’t make mountains out of molehills. It will not choose inappropriate and disruptive ways to make a point. It doesn’t have to be right all the time and it is slow to get stirred up about every tale spread through the ever-active grapevine. Love doesn’t wear its feelings on its sleeves, and it doesn’t assume that others are thinking, doing and intending the worst. It gives people the benefit of the doubt.

“Love suffers when someone fails or when tragedy strikes. It takes no pleasure in sin or wrongdoing of any kind. It is most interested in the truth winning out, even when the truth hurts. Love lends its shoulder to bear the burdens of others and never breaks their confidence. It believes the best in people and tries hard to trust them. Even when love feels someone is wrong, lying, or making a huge mistake, it still hopes for the best possible outcome. And when love is disappointed and crushed by bearing, believing and hoping, it endures the hurt and embarrassment with cheer and restraint, always continuing to be itself—-love.

“Three great forces motivate the church: faith, hope and love. These powerful attributes are the basis for everything the church is doing in the world today. But even when you narrow it all down to these three, at the top of the list you’ll find love.”

The Power of X

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:3

It all comes down to X. What is X? A reference to algebra or trigonometry? No. X determines the size and place of God in your life. X is knowing what to magnify and how much to magnify it. People who focus on right things and let them rule their lives will reap huge rewards. Those who focus on wrong things and blow them out of proportion will lose every time.

Here’s how it works. The lens power on a camera, microscope or telescope is usually expressed in terms of magnification. If you look at the markings on the lens of your camera, you will find out its power specifications. If the lens can magnify the object to be photographed by ten times, 10X will be written somewhere on the side. If it can magnify it by twenty times, 20X will be inscribed. Very powerful lenses can magnify sub-atomic particles to the point that they can be photographed. They can also enlarge stars and planets light years away that are imperceptible to the unaided eye and register their image on film.

What happens to a magnified image? Nothing! A magnified image does not really change at all. What is different, then? Perception. Magnification only alters the perception of an image. This perceived image is also called a virtual image because it is perceived by the viewer’s brain and cannot be reproduced on a screen.

From a spiritual point of view, whatever you magnify, you perceive as greater, more powerful and more important than other things. Eventually, you end up either worshipping what you magnify or in subjugation to it. Consider the following principles of magnification:

God cannot magnify Himself. Why? Because God is infinite in every one of His attributes. He cannot magnify Himself because he is already omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. By definition, these characteristics of God cannot be increased. Therefore, God’s real image and His virtual image are the same. So? That’s where you and I come into the picture. He leaves it up to us to magnify Him so that our perception of Him gets bigger. Magnifying God means more than just praising Him. It means fixing in our minds the biggest picture or understanding of God that we possibly can.

God magnifies men who do His will. “And the Lord said unto Joshua, ‘This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel , that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.’” Joshua 3:7.

God takes small, weak people and magnifies their image before others so that they seem bigger and stronger to them.

Men who magnify themselves are foolish. Of the antichrist, it is said, “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart.” Daniel 8:25. All those who magnify themselves think they are bigger than they really are.

Our greatest problems come from magnifying our problems. When your mistakes loom so large in your eyes that you cannot see the blood of Jesus, your X-power is too low. When your enemies seem greater than your God does, you’re looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Remember the spies who went into Kadesh-Barnea? They said, “We be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we… We saw the giants … and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:31-33. The evil spies reacted to their own perceptions, not to the reality of God’s might and dominion.

If someone were to hold a magnifying glass up to your face, what interesting things might they find? Warts and pimples? Freckles and wrinkles? Your imperfections would leap out at them and overshadow all of your better features. Even so, when we focus on our spiritual warts, they look bigger than God’s wonders. When we concentrate on our hurting, we forget about God’s healing. When we obsess on our weakness, we lose sight of God’s incredible strength. The greatest spiritual lesson we can learn, therefore, is to magnify God and minimize self.

I know…it sounds too simple. But, has an illusionist ever fooled you? Have you ever been totally thrown out of whack by a trick room built to mess with your eyesight and depth of field? That’s what I’m talking about. Our perception of God is invariably too small, too fuzzy or too warped. It is not His reality, but our perception of Him that influences us the most.

Look for God in every situation, and then, when you find Him, magnify Him! This is the true power of X. Got trials? Find God in them and magnify Him. Got blessings? Find God and magnify Him. Got battles? Find God and magnify Him. Got opportunities? Find God and magnify Him. Anytime God is looking too small to you, get a bigger lens. Throw more light on the situation. Get closer to the subject. You will discover God is in there somewhere. When you find Him, magnify Him. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “… with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body.” Philippians 1:20

Discover the power of X. Magnify God.

The Whole Enchilada

Okay, the whole nine yards. Lock, stock and barrel. Hook, line and sinker. Kit and caboodle. The farm. Dan to Beersheba . Soup to nuts. The whole shootin’ match. It all means basically the same thing: Take everything there is to take, all inclusive.

Today, the name of the game is options, the more the better. From color to size, from plain to fancy, from cheap to pricey, from thin veneer to the real McCoy, you can have it your way. Now, you can happily and proudly select your long-distance carrier, your cellular phone merchant, your natural gas company and your power service. A dizzying array of merchandise overwhelms the shopper who simply wants to buy some coffee, tea or soda pop. You can pick and choose whatever you like and leave out whatever you don’t. The customer has always been king, but now he is the absolute sovereign.

Religious merchandising types are now imposing their system upon spiritual commodities. Church startups today base their strategy upon market sampling, demographics and customer profiling. The principle seems simple: find out what the people want and then give it to them. Be sensitive, play it loose, cut the pressure, and please the customer. After all, if they don’t like what we give them, they’re sure to be out the door to the next churchy entrepreneur. And we can’t have that, can we?

Just think, if this philosophy had dominated the times of the disciples, the outcome would have been radically different:

The disciples would have worked an eight hour day, three days a week.
Home on weekends, summers off, paid vacations and nine holidays.
Foot travel limited to marketplace shopping.
First class tickets to Jerusalem , king size beds in upscale motels.
Peaceful coexistence with Jewish leaders.
Diet expanded beyond loaves of bread and fish.
No crowd control responsibilities.
No foot washing.
Extra pay for hazardous work.
Parity in discipleship rankings.

What about the early church? Stephen would not have preached until he was stoned to death. Ananias would not have risked his life to witness to Saul of Tarsus. The Judiazers would have dominated the early church councils. James would have capitulated before he was decapitated. Peter would have plea bargained his way out of prison. No long missionary journeys, no Mars Hill, no beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, fastings nor any other inconveniences. It is clear to me that had these conditions been in force during the early church, no one would have done the necessary work to establish the greatest organization on earth.

All the sweet successes we revel in today were borne on the backs of extreme sacrifice and reckless abandon to mission. The pioneers did not equivocate or hedge their way to victory. They embraced—-even welcomed—-pain and deprivation. They searched for the way to get the job done, not the way out.

If our generation keeps inching away from total discipleship to a contemporarily designed, cost-efficient, culturally approved, nominal Christian relationship, we’re done. What ever it took to get us here, will be needed to keep us here! True saint of God, accept the challenge of total mission. Take it all: the good and bad, the pain and gain, the beautiful and ugly, the tough and tender. The whole enchilada.

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things… I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:7-12 (NIV)

Things I Didn’t Think I Needed

I didn’t think I needed a life vest—-until I fell in the water.
I didn’t think I needed a helmet—-until I hit the rocks.
I didn’t think I needed new tires—-until I had a blowout.
I didn’t think I needed gasoline—-until my tank ran dry.
I didn’t think I needed to eat—-until there was no restaurant in sight.
I didn’t think I needed motel reservations—-until there was no vacancy.
I didn’t think I needed a road map—-until I got lost.
I didn’t think I needed an umbrella—-until I got caught in the rain.
I didn’t think I needed admission tickets—-until I was refused entrance.
I didn’t think I needed extra money—-until I went broke.
I didn’t think I needed a friend—-until I felt a suffocating loneliness.
I didn’t think I needed a helping hand—-until I couldn’t help myself.
I didn’t think I needed a smile—-until sadness overwhelmed me.
I didn’t think I needed a kind word—-until I sensed hostility all around me.
I didn’t think I needed encouragement—-until I failed yet again.
I didn’t think I needed family—-until life became terribly empty.
I didn’t think I needed faith—-until my five senses left me without answers.
I didn’t think I needed hope—-until bitter despair smothered me.
I didn’t think I needed love—-until it seemed like everyone rejected me.
I didn’t think I needed truth—-until confusion raged around me.
I didn’t’ think I needed forgiveness—-until the weight of guilt crushed me.
I didn’t think I needed God—-until I understood the brevity of my life.
I didn’t think I needed salvation—-until sin held me in bondage.
I didn’t think I needed the Bible—-until I yearned for spiritual food.
I didn’t think I needed a pastor—-until nobody gave me spiritual care.
I didn’t think I needed the church—-until I was washed up and abandoned.
I didn’t think I needed to watch what I was doing—-until my children did.
I didn’t think I needed to pray—-until everything fell apart.
I didn’t think I needed healing—-until disease invaded my body.
I didn’t think I needed deliverance—-until I knew I had no power to survive.

Isn’t it amazing? We know what we need to do, but we just don’t do it. We know we need all of these things, and more. Yet, we allow pride to rule our lives and throw us into disastrous situations.

It is time to stop engaging in fantasies about self-sufficiency and personal ability. Those who do not forsake their pride will spend the rest of their lives doing damage control. Doesn’t it make so much more sense to admit that we do have real needs and reach out to God for His divine help? To do so is not weakness. It is just being smart where it counts.