Do You Love Sin More than God?

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I
recommend to you.  He has given me permission to
copy his e-mails, and I'm sure he would be happy if
you would share this with people you know as well.

Do you enjoy watching television shows and movies
about evil people doing their best to create mayhem?

Wouldn't that time be better spent in prayer and
reading God's word?

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   FRIDAY MARCH 17, 2006
( Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 10:5 )

Why people love the "Sopranos."  People love the HBO
series the "Sopranos" for the same reason they love
"The Godfather" trilogy.  Even 34 years after it was
released, "The Godfather" starring Marlon Brando is
one of the most popular movies ever made.  So what
makes "The Godfather" movies, other organized crime
movies like "Goodfellas," "Donnie Brasco," "Carlito's
Way," and "Scarface" such a hit with people?  After
all, these are movies where the lead characters are
part of organized crime, men who spend their life
killing, stealing, cheating and destroying other
people's lives.  They are involved in illegal
businesses such as bookmaking, prostitution,
extortion, selling drugs, and any other illegal
activity you can name.

THESE ARE MEN WHO LIVE THEIR LIVES IN COMPLETE
REBELLION TO GOD AND HIS WORD, SO WHY ARE THEY SO
POPULAR?  PEOPLE LOVE SIN MORE THAN THEY LOVE GOD!!!

The popularity of these fictional crime bosses like
Tony Soprano can be directly linked to the popularity
of the real-life crime bosses like Charles "Lucky"
Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel who ran New
York in the '30s, to Al Capone who ran Chicago in the
'30s, to all the men who ran the various families
across the nation throughout the decades.  Men like
Giancana, Marcello, Trafficante, Genovese, Gambino,
Bonanno, Lucchese, Colombo, Accardo, and Gotti to
name just a few.  People have always had a fascination
with these men who loved to portray themselves as
"businessmen" and "family men," yet in reality lived
brutal and evil lives.

Hollywood and television are largely responsible for
how we look at these criminals.  They have glorified
and glamorized the lives of these men, often turning
them into sympathetic figures.  The movies and
television have showed the human side of these men
while almost justifying and excusing what their life
is really about.  Make no mistake my friend, these
are cold, calculating, evil, and brutal men who
without conscience or mercy spend their lives killing
and destroying others.  There is absolutely nothing
glamorous or redeeming about how they live.  There is
nothing special about them.  They are simply men who
have chosen to live a life of crime and live in
violation of society's laws as well as God's!

I am going to share some things from my personal life
that I have never shared publicly in all of these
years.  After the initial success of my marketing
business in 1979, I moved to Chicago in 1980 and
that become the headquarters of my fast growing
network of companies throughout the nation and
Canada.  A close business associate had introduced
me to a law firm in Chicago that I would use to
help me set up my various companies over the years.
The lawyer I met with was a man named Jack Cerone, Jr.
who actually specialized in labor law, so he
referred me one of his partners, Joe DiNatale, to
handle my legal needs.  Little did I know that Jack
Cerone's father was the infamous John "Jackie the
Lackey" Cerone who was actually the Don of the
Chicago outfit (what the Mafia is called in Chicago).

In 1985, my attorney Joe DiNatale would represent
Jackie Cerone, Sr. when he and several other leading
mobsters would go on trial in Kansas City for
skimming millions out of Las Vegas casinos.  Jackie
Cerone, Sr. was convicted in that trial and would
spend the rest of his life in a Federal Prison.  I
was very close to DiNatale in the '80s, and often
when we were alone at dinner he would share some of
the stories of what really went on in the world of
organized crime.  He often referred to it as
"unorganized crime," and in reality it was nothing at
all like the world portrayed in the movies or on
television.

These were mostly uneducated street criminals who
killed, stole, and cheated people as their life's
work.  Those who rose to positions of power usually
did so by attrition, since in the world they lived
in you either ended up in prison or dead.  Those who
were able to escape those two fates the longest
become the "boss."  Over the years organized crime
diversified from their traditional illegal businesses
into legitimate businesses that would become fronts
for many of their criminal activities.

However, in the '80s new laws that turned what used
to be 2-3 year prison sentences into 20-30 year
sentences, encouraged people inside organized crime
who once would "honor the code" and do their time,
to now cooperated and testify against those they
worked for.  Also, the new technology that made
wiretaps and tracking people possible, gave the
Federal Government tools to gather information they
never could in the past.  Today, the Mafia as we
know it still exists and always will to some extent,
but doesn't have anywhere near the influence it used
to and thankfully never will again.

When I was indicted in December of 1989 for
insider trading, I was denied bond for fear I would
leave the country and was held at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center in downtown Chicago to await
trial sometime in late 1990.  I was at the MCC from
the first week in January in 1990 until October of
1990.  It was there on August 20, 1990 that I
rededicated my life to the Lord and finally gave God
the one and only thing He had ever wanted from me,
and that was my life completely and unconditionally
surrendered to Him.  My friend, today that is the
only thing God wants from you, your life, completely
and unconditionally surrendered to Him.

God began to work in my life.  Within a week of
rededicating my life to the Lord, my attorney was
able to work out a plea agreement with the government
that called for me to plead guilty and spend the next
22 months at a minimum security Federal Prison in
Pensacola, Florida.  If you have never heard my
testimony, you can go to the links below and read all
about it.  It is a story I have told to millions
worldwide over the years as a tribute to God's
grace and mercy in my life, giving Him all glory and
honor for what He has done for me.  Let me encourage
you today that what God has done for me, He will do
for you!!!

http://www.weeklyplanet.com/2003-12-04/cover.html
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_testimony.html

While I was being housed at the MCC in downtown Chicago,
in February of 1990, the Federal government indicted
Ernest Rocco Infelise, who at the time was the head of
the Chicago Outfit, and several of his top lieutenants,
including reputed mob hit man Harry Aleman.  They were
obviously denied bond and also housed at the MCC
awaiting their trial, and were assigned to live on the
same floor I was on.  I spent the next 8 months living
with these guys.  There are no secrets in a prison
environment, and they found out that Joe DiNatale was
my attorney, so I was one of the few people on the floor
they interacted with.  Many nights we would be in dining
area, and they would talk about their lives and
experiences.  They would never get specific, but it was
enough to know that these were men who lived lives of
crime from their youth and really only knew and
understood that world.

Obviously, I was fortunate enough to never make the
choices to become involved in that type of life or
be part of the world of organized crime. However, I
have had enough contact with those who were in that
world to know there is nothing glamorous about it.
It is a very dark, cold, evil world that operates in
complete and total rebellion to God.  No matter how
much Hollywood cleans it up, no matter how appealing
they make it appear, it is nothing but a world of
destruction.  Those who choose to be part of that
world have their lives destroyed.  Those who get
caught up in their world have their lives destroyed.
At the end of the day, NOBODY WINS BUT SATAN!

I love you and care about you so much.  This message
today is really a warning to you.  A warning to keep
your guard up at all times and not allow Hollywood
and the television industry to cause you to fall into
the trap of glorifying evil no matter how attractive
they make it appear.  The media already does a
masterful job at glamorizing sin.  Sexual sins of
every kind are promoted as fun and exciting with no
consequences.  Drinking and drug use are also
glorified by the media.  So it is no surprise that
the media will try to sanitize sins like murder,
robbing, and whatever kind of evil one man can
perpetrate on another you can think of.

I will be praying for you today to take a stand in
your life from letting the world lie to you and lead
you into the trap of sitting back and giving approval
to evil by viewing it.  Yes, I know the "Sopranos" is
a fictional story, but what they portray is the real
life evil and horrors of those who are part of the
world of organized crime.  No, you are not going to
hell or a horrible Christian if you watch the
"Sopranos" and shows like it.  However, our goal as
we mature in Christ is to be more like Him.  The
Bible talks aobut the "renewing of our mind."  A
great computer term is "garbage in, garbage out."
Why would you want to pollute your mind with murder,
adultery, physical violence, and a myriad of other
sinful activities?

The problem with a program like the "Sopranos," the
probem with so much of what is on television today
and in the movies, is that they glorify and glamorize
sin.  Can you tell me anything glamorous about the
sins you have committed in your life?  Can you tell
me how glamorous the consequences of your sins are?
That is the point my friend.  Sin is NOT glamorous
it is destructive!  The consequences of our sins
are very real and very painful. Watching sin, even
in a fictional format, is not something a follower
of Christ should be doing.  Why do people love the
"Sopranos?" Simple, they love sin more than they
love God!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge