Money Magazine has selected its top "Sin Stocks." If you're going to invest in companies that make money out of our propensity to sin, here are the top Seven Deadly Sin Stocks, the stocks that will give you the greatest return on your investment (Money Magazine (November 2002), 2):
1. Lust: Playboy Enterprises
2. Anger: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
3. Avarice: Trump Hotels & Casinos
4. Sloth: La-Z-Boy
5. Envy: Allergan (AGN) Botox injections
6. Gluttony: Krispy Kreme (KKD)
7. Pride: Fair Isaac (FIC) (credit rating company)
All we have to do is open a Wall Street Journal, read a tabloid headline at the check-out counter, or hear five minutes of Tom Brokaw or Bill O'Reilly to know that unclean spirits still stalk the Earth. Mid-twentieth century biblical scholars invested not a little time and gray matter trying to modernize all the biblical references to unclean spirits and stores of demonic possession into psychological diagnoses and their therapeutic cures. But after a half-century of world-wars, cold-wars, nuclear-wards, guerilla-wars, genocidal-wars, terrorist-wars, and now WMD-wars (WMD="Weapons of Mass Destruction"), who among us has any reason to doubt the straightforward biblical perceptions that unclean spirits and demonic powers roam in our midst? We may have a better grasp on how these evils come to bloom in the tortured minds of tormented men, women (and increasingly children), but in the end, the actions of these personal and social demons is nothing less than EVIL. EVIL and Life are so intertwined that EVIL is LIVE spelled backwards.
Many Americans have already lined up to receive their smallpox vaccinations, hoping to avoid the epidemic shrapnel of a terrorist launched biological weapon. Thankfully some unclean spirits can be vanquished by a pinprick. But there are hundreds of other far more insidious unclean spirits that lurk in our communities, our churches, our homes, and our hearts.
What unclean spirits have their hold on you? How do you release their grip upon your body, mind, and soul? The Roman Catholic Church in France revealed in early 1998 that it employs 95 exorcists, the highest number in a century. In the middle of that year, The New York Times (14 June 1998) reported on lay exorcist Baron Deacon, who stood in front of the US Capitol and attempted to exorcise the demons from Congress. By the way, he soon quit and acknowledged that the job was too big for him.
Of course, not even Jesus started by cleaning out congress, or the Roman Senate, or even the synagogue (that came at the end of his ministry). Jesus started one mind at a time, one spirit at a time, saving and healing person by person. Mark's text today focuses on the very start of Jesus' Galilean ministry, a ministry that begins with Jesus revealing three truths about himself: 1. Jesus had Attitude 2. Jesus had Aptitude 3. Jesus had Latitude
Jesus had Attitude. Jesus had an Attitude. Some saw it as an attitude problem. Attitude is another word for spirit. Jesus knew that the "Spirit of the Lord" was upon him, and Jesus squirted that divine spirit wherever he went.
Jesus' Attitude was one of unmistakable authority and righteousness. Mark's text repeats again and again how even the common crowd in the Capernaum synagogue could discern an undeniable aura of authority that enveloped Jesus, informed his teaching, and transformed his touch.
Jesus' whole and pure spirit detected the fissures and fractures in the attitudes of others, not to condemn them, but to help them. Part of Jesus' healing ministry was precisely this healing of the mind or change of attitude that followed in his wake. One of the reasons for the enduring resonance of Charlotte Elliott's "Just As I Am" is that it's one of the few hymns to mention healing of the mind as a consequence of salvation.
Jesus had Aptitude. One of the most momentous reactions to Jesus ministry was "He does all things well." Jesus' aptitude in diagnosing and treating those who were of diseased body, mind, and spirit circulated throughout Capernaum and attracted many literal well-wishers. Jesus' special aptitude, of course, came from his singular and authoritative attitude--an authority revealed by the Father in Mark 1:11 ("You are my Song, the Beloved") and broadcast by the unclean spirit ("You are the Holy One of God," Mark 1:24).
Jesus had Latitude Jesus always traveled in a heavenly trajectory. His life pointed toward the kingdom, and was open to receive any and all into God's kingdom. No one was outside the pale of God's love and concern. No one ever offered more latitude in life than Jesus.
Though Jesus walked the land of Galilee, he was always changing the landscape into the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was God's dream for creation being brought to life by Jesus' incarnation. The salvation Christ offers all people isn't just a spiritual pie-in-the-sky-bye-and bye. It's a gift that changes our lives and alters our minds here and now.
Closing
The word "orientation" literally means "turned towards the east." In Latin oriens means "rising," as in where the sun rises. Until very recently, it was a big deal to build Christian churches facing towards the East (find out if your church faces eastward). Churches are supposed to face Eastward, or the Orient. Why? Because every church is supposed to face the future, and the East is the direction of the return of Christ.
Churches orient us. The church orients us toward the Christ who has come, the Christ who is here, and the Christ who will come again. Have you oriented your "-itudes" toward the living Christ? Are your Attitudes, Aptitudes, and Latitudes facing in a Christward direction--toward the living Christ? If you are, then you're becoming the REAL PRESENCE of Christ in our world.
The Jesus "-itudes," the right Attitude, Aptitude, and Latitude, cast out unclean spirits, vanquished demonic powers, and banished the forces of evil and death. Our hope of escaping the evil that harasses our days and haunts our nights revolves around our willingness to put on the right "-itudes" and to release the resurrection powers of Christ in our life. Put right the world? Put on the right "-itudes." Will you embrace your identity as sons and daughters of God, and set your sights on making God's dream a waking reality in our world?
Will you give your "-itudes" the right orientation? Will you orient your Attitudes, your Aptitudes, your Latitudes toward the risen Christ? "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Live on in my love" (John 15:9). Are you living on in Christ's love, with Christlike Attitudes, Aptitudes, and Latitudes?