The First Commandment

On this website you will see ads for various self-help resources. That is good, as far as it goes. But be careful of what you pick up and read, please. Just because something comes with a label you like doesn't mean you will like what is under the label.

For example, from time to time you will see books by Wayne Dyer advertised. Since I am part of Adword advertising, if I have the phrases self-help or self-improvement, his books will appear. I cannot exclude his books without excluding others (such as the Good News Bible) that I want to keep.

I'm going to pick on Dr. Wayne Dyer for a little bit. I have seen criticism of him and his writings (by an anonymous person with an atheistic standpoint) because Dr. Dyer says God exists. Then I have read, from Dyer's own book, that the god he believes in is more of an 'energy field' that we make requests to. I think the anonymous atheist mentioned above has little to fear from such a god, save for the cringe factor of hearing the word.

Why do I say that?

Our atheist above rails against any belief system that imagines something bigger, and external, to himself. He further rails against any 'rule book' that might be associated to such a belief system. In fact, he rails against any non-human authority, be it Judao-Christian in origin, or Islamist, or, in fact, anything else that might restrict him from doing something he wants to do.

But Dr. Dyer's god places no such restrictions on anybody. it merely does what it is asked.

Right now, some of you are arguing that I have created a straw man, and, in fact, I have. In this particular case I know only that Mr. Anonymous criticized Mr. Dyer, and on the point of the mentioning of God. If I was going to knock him down and say, "Ta-Da!" you would be right to yell at me. (Oh, he may fall, but I am not going to touch him. He will fall, or not, on his own.)

What I'm doing today is apologise to you, dear reader.

As the heading at the top of the page says, I am learning to walk like a child of the King. This King has said:

"I am the Lord your God. You will not have any other gods before me."

All three of us, Mr. Atheist, Dr. Dyer and Mr. Madman Hansen, have put other gods ahead of the One True God. Mr. Atheist has placed the non-god of 'Self', Mr. Dyer, his 'Cosmic Energy Field', which is another way of saying 'Self'. And I, I've placed 'Getting Ahead, Making My Pile, and to Hell with the Rest,' in God's place. In other words: 'Self'.

I am the worst of all, because I should know better.

That is why I should apologise. Every time I've said to depend on something or someone other than the Lord our God to provide strength and help, I've pointed you away from the greatest help you can have.

Oh, I've given God a passing nod: "Make sure you know what He wants you to do." And, as far as it goes, it was good advice. But it didn't go far enough.

Folks, What I want you to do is this: Talk to God. Then: Listen! Do this with an earnestness of expecting an answer.

Yes, even you folks who might have more in common with Misters A & D above, I want even you to do this.

If you are an 'energy field' devotee, you might find your 'energy field' is not so impersonal.

As an atheist, if there is no god, you have nothing to fear in the exercise. You may even get a good laugh out of it.

Myself, I'm hoping that you might encounter a surprise, no matter to which camp you belong.

To tell you the truth, sometimes I'm scared to talk to God, especially when I have an idea that I'm not sure is the direction I should go, but I want to anyway. It's that 'self'-thing. If you fear talking, then listening, to God, do it anyway. I have found, even if the answer is 'No', the alternative is often far better that I would have hoped for. Example: being a loner or marrying my wife (ended up marrying); being a lone couple or adopting kids (adopted two great kids); entering old age quietly or being available to raise a grandkid (yep, more pitter-patter around the house). All of those choices involved me not giving of myself to others, or being a servant.

You get the idea, I hope.

How to earn the money we need ... that I haven't had so much luck with. Scratch that. There is no luck. What I haven't done so well with is listen, or even talk, to God about it. That will change. It has to. With God's help, it will.

With God's help, so can you.

Yes, you can!

PS: on my workstation at my day job (actually, night job, as I work the 'graveyard shift') I have a sticky-note that reads:

What is the point?

I know what the point is, the note is merely there to remind me:

I am here to serve.

Not very glamorous, perhaps, but ...

In service, we do our greatest work.

Yes, we do.


PPS: A new edition of my e-book "Yes, You Can!" will be out in the near future, edited and rewritten where necessary to reflect the above truth about God.

Look for it, soon! (As before, it will be freee.)