Life isn't fair, and it doesn't care about you. It will hit you hard, again and again and again, without reason, without warning, and without mercy. You can do absolutely everything right; play by the rules, work hard, be a good person, and still lose. The only thing you control is yourself; your thoughts, your reactions, your choices.
After getting Pope Francis's luggage loaded into the limo, the driver notices the Pope is still standing on the curb.
“Excuse me, Your Holiness,” says the driver, “Would you please take your seat so we can leave?”
“Well, to tell you the truth,” says the Pope, “They never let me drive at the Vatican, and I'd really like to drive today.”
"I'm sorry, Your Holiness, but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! What if something should happen?!” protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning.
“Who's going to tell?” says the Pope with a smile.
Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 205 km.
"Please slow down, Your Holiness," pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens.
"Oh, dear God, I'm going to lose my license -- and my job!” moans the driver.
The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio.
“I need to talk to the Chief,” he says to the dispatcher.
The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going 205 kph.
“So bust him,” says the Chief.
“I don't think we want to do that. He's really important,” said the cop.
The Chief exclaimed, “All the more reason!”
“No, I mean really important,”said the cop with a bit of persistence.
The Chief then asked, “Who do you have there, the mayor?”
Cop: “Bigger.”
Chief: “A senator?”
Cop: “Bigger.”
Chief: “The President?”
Cop: “Bigger.”
“Well,” said the Chief, “who is it?”
Cop: “I think it's God!”
The Chief is even more puzzled and curious, “What makes you think it's God?”
Cop: “His chauffeur is the Pope!”
🌸Behind the Scenes of Beyond Words and Time🌸
Meet Odogwu Emmanuel — as Gallery Assistant at Thought Pyramid Art Centre, he ensured every artwork was perfectly placed, every detail attended to, and every visitor felt welcome💜
Now to those who are asking:
“so where will they get money to run these Christian concerts?”
They will get the money the exact same way money is gotten to run other christian events. THROUGH FREEWILL DONATIONS.
Jesus held a special program with thousands of people in attendance. He never sold tickets or told anyone to bring something as payment for the teaching he was giving them.
So how did Jesus fund his ministry?
Through the same freewill donations.
He once borrowed a boat to address the audience Luk1:5-11. He once had a huge audience listen to him for hours and he got a free donation of 5loaves 2fishes from a young boy which he then multiplied to feed the people who were listening to him for hours. Jn6:1-14
He never sold tickets in the name of “if you want to hear this message, pay this money, because we will need to use it to cover food and logistics”. His logistics for ministry was always through freewill donations.
When Paul talked about a project for one poor church, he reached out the Corinthian church to kindly help with freewill donations. He never levied or ticketed anybody. 2Cor8:1-15.
When the same Paul and Peter went to minister somewhere and someone offered them money, they rejected it Acts8:18-22.
Because guess what?
When you sell tickets to a concert, you are saying you are selling a product and you are offering people access on the basis of money.
That’s insane. Totally insane.
Because the Christian gospel is not a “product” that is for sale and christians events do not give people seats on the basis of the money that they have.
James literally wrote against discrimination of poor people in Christian gatherings James2:1-5. So why will some people get vvip seats in a supposed Christian event on the basis of their wealth and some people will be barred from the event simply because they are too poor to attend.
How are there christians with a brain defending this?
Okay let me explain:
Since this is getting a lot of reaction and attention.
To those asking, “how will he pay his staff and workers? How will he pay instrumentalists?”
The first thing to set straight is that Christian events are NOT run like secular godless events.
In a secular godless events, you are charged a perfomance fee by the artiste because the motivation for the concert is PROFIT. That’s why they sell you tickets in grading from “general” to “vip” and “vvip”.
Now in contrast, christian events like church programs, concerts, etc are NOT set up for profit. Christian events are set up with the full motivation to GLORIFY GOD. They are not set up for money-making purposes, so the methodology can not be similar to the secular events which are set up for money-making purposes.
Paul talked about people who “peddle” the message of God for profit 2Cor2:17. Jesus went into the temple to chase away money changers and those who turned the house of God into a business center Mat21:12-13, Mk 11:15-18.
So I hope this makes it clear to you that Christian concerts cannot be run by secular concerts. The motivation is not the same, the purpose is not the same and the methodology cannot be the same.
Why is a “gospel musician” charging people money to come and worship God?
Selling VIP tickets like it’s a Davido or Wizkid show.
This is wrong. This is sad. This is disgraceful.