Not the Real Thing

 

Free over the air television in the United States is advertiser supported.

During the United States NCAA National Basketball Tournament (we call it “March Madness”), the television viewership numbers are enormous. As a result, companies pay large sums of money to run 30 second commercials for their products during the broadcasts. The link below is one of the commercials: for AT&T, American Telephone and Telegraph.

At every game during the tournament, vendors gather to sell memorabilia relating to the participating college teams: hats, caps, shirts, jerseys, sweatsuits, flags, banners, magazines, figurines, toys, and other doodads. Doodads, that is a good slang word meaning little ephemeral items that your children will insist that they must have but which they will discard, break, or lose as soon as they get home. In the South, we also call them doohickeys or whatchamacallits. Merriam-Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doodad defines doodad as “an often small article whose common name is unknown or forgotten: gadget.”

In the commercial in the link below, the vendor is obviously trying to avoid the cost of paying royalty licensing fees to the universities. He is selling counterfeit items. His main problem is that his counterfeits are glaringly obvious. The university names are spelled incorrectly, or the colors on the items are not the colors associated with the university. His counterfeits include: Unsee instead of UNC (The University of North Carolina), Gonzaza instead of Gonzaga University, Markett instead of Marquette University, Oregano instead of The University of Oregon, and Dook instead of Duke University.   

Not all counterfeits are as obvious as these and, sadly, they also occur in spiritual matters. There are spiritual counterfeits which have arisen from well-intentioned ignorance and stupidity, or from peculiar mis-readings of the biblical texts, or from secular concerns being forced into the scriptural interpretation (eisegesis).

            Eisegesis is reading a pre-held belief or agenda into the scriptural text rather than determining doctrine from the text outwards (exegesis). Theologically orthodox and conservative theologians reject this since it imposes ideas on the scriptures, rather than seeking to understand their original meaning. Eisegesis is usually well-intentioned.

            There are also more sinister counterfeits, sometimes resulting in enormous profits for the perpetrators. Some want to tap in to the eager Christian market without any actual personal input, no real study, no real discipline, no real cost to themselves. This is a form of the sin of simony. The results can be very doctrinally suspect and doctrine does matter.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usN32eMIc6k

            or, https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TGQy/at-and-t-inc-march-madness-jersey

Find a Penny

 

Find a penny and pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck. I heard this chant many times as a child in the southern portion of the United States but it is not restricted to the American South.

            The “lucky Penny” superstition has been known for thousands of years. Ancient peoples, just like many moderns, often believed in the power inherent in coins. Finding a coin was considered to be a sign of good luck, or of coming prosperity, because metals were considered to represent wealth and protection.

            Making a wish after throwing a coin into a fountain may have originated as giving a valuable offering to water deities.

            “A penny for your thoughts” carries the idea that your thoughts are valuable because the coin has value.

            After a coin flip, a coin landing with its head-side up (obverse) is considered to be a positive sign. A coin with the tails-side up (reverse) is considered to be negative. Some people will not pick up a coin from the street if the coin is in the tails up position. In American football, the referee determines first possession of the ball by the use of a coin flip.

            This may seem like a trivial and harmless holdover of an ancient superstition. Most people would view it in this way and, for the most part, it is. The children gleefully throwing coins into the fountain outside a restaurant and making a wish are totally innocent. Most adults have no idea of the origins of the superstition and have not given it a single thought, and probably never will. In its origins it is a demonstration of the use of Magick.

            Magick, as opposed to harmless stage magic (where you do not actually see what you think you see) is an ancient concept. The actual modern word, Magick, seems to have been originated by Aleister Crowley, an utterly evil and awful man who described himself as The Great Beast. His most famous quotation is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

            Magick is the intentional attempt to control reality by performing certain actions or saying certain words. It is an attempt to impose one’s will on the universe. It is an assertion of self as the master. If you gave them a coin, the water deities were obligated to grant you a wish. If you rubbed the lamp, the genie was your slave. If you said the correct words in the correct sequence, a demon could be forced to obey you.

            Simony is the practice of buying or selling objects held to be religiously sacred. It does not include the selling of modern Christian merchandise which, of itself, is not inherently holy or sacred.  Simony would be the selling, for personal profit, of materials or items or powers used in the official functions of the church. The word originates from Acts 8:18-24, where a magician, Simon Magus, offered money to Peter in an attempt to purchase the power to perform miracles. Peter angrily rejected Simon’s offer of money.

            The Bible clearly says that we are to avoid the intentional use of magic and the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-11, 18:2; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31, 20:6,27; Isaiah 19:1-4; Ezekiel 13:20-21; 2 Kings 21:6; Revelation 21:8.

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            Your innocent child can probably still enjoy throwing a few coins into a fountain.