A Purpose of Nothing

By Anthony Gambrell

I was turned off by the church at a very early age. I can remember listening to preachers speak about love of Jesus and his charity towards others. But as I looked at them, I often wondered why they were driving the latest model cars (often a Cadillac) and their fingers were covered with diamond rings. It appeared to me that they were receiving all of the charity and their people were only receiving broken promises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 14, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462825691

Anthony Gambrell

Anthony Gambrell lives in Anderson S.C. and is married with three children. He is an author of both spiritual and science fiction books.

Book preview

A Purpose of Nothing

Anthony Gambrell

Copyright © 2009 by Anthony Gambrell.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

All about the Dollar

Separated

Disguise

An invisible Shield

Seeing is not always Believing

Follow the Leader

Sin City

The Leader and Their People

What Have We Become

A Glass House

Fed But Still Hungry

Around the World

and Back Again

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Final Words

I was turned off by the church at a very early age. I can remember listening to preachers speak about the love of Jesus and his charity towards others. But as I looked at them, I often wondered why they were driving the latest model cars (often a Cadillac) and their fingers were covered with diamond rings. It appeared to me that they were receiving all of the charity and their people were only receiving broken promises. They often spoke about giving to the church, yet I never saw them giving anything back to the church or the neighborhood. I am not saying that all churches are like this, but this was what I experienced early in my life.

Because of this I had thoughts about preachers that were not good and it kept me out of the church for many years. Whenever I went to church I would go with my grandmother and my mother never made me go, yet in some ways I think that this was a good thing for me. I was able to live a life that was not corrupted by things that were not true or what someone wanted me to believe. Not that I did not believe in God, yet I wondered why he would let those who represented him do the things that they did?

I do believe that children should attend church on a regular basis, for if they are only around negative things; their lives may end up being negative. Yet for me it was best that I did not grow up in the church, for I do not believe that I would be where I am today. Not being in the church allowed me to see it in a different way and for me this was something that I needed.

There was a time that I hated the church and because of this, I had neither faith nor belief in it. I had always believed in God, but not the church. I developed my opinions about religion at a very early age and some of them I still have today. From all that I did not believe, there were some things that I kept in my core and because of this I was able to understand God in a way that many people saw as being different.

To me the church was the opposite of everything that it claimed to represent and in some instances this is true today! There are too many churches that compete with each other and their only purpose is to be better than the church down the street and when this happens, nothing good can come out of it.

Once my grandmother stopped going to, I also stopped going. She and my grandfather would look at different preachers on television every Sunday morning and when I was not out shooting ball, I would lie in my bed and listen to them giving their sermon. Although I heard what they were saying, still I was so disappointed with the church that I did not want to listen. I could not hear God speaking to me because all that I heard were their voices and this irritated me to the point that I eventually closed them out.

I honestly can say that because of the things that I were feeling, I came to a point that I blamed God for the way that In was feeling and for the things that the preachers were doing. I would ask God that if he loved us so much, why he was letting his speakers lead us astray. So the same thoughts came into my mind about the church and I knew that it was many things, except what it was created to be.

All about the Dollar

To me the church was nothing but a black hole draining people of their hard earned money and making people believe that by giving their money, not only would God bless the but He would love them more. I saw so many people give their hard earned money through tithes, offerings and donations, yet like light that enters a black hole; there was nothing that was coming out of the church. Being young I did not truly understand any of this, yet I now know that some of the things that I believed are still true today. Like the world, money has a tendency to rule the church and because of this it has become a house of thieves. Not only stealing from its people, but also from itself and God. I have heard of many people leaving their churches because of money and this is really sad.

I know that mortgages and rent have to be paid; along with the electricity, water, air and heat. I also knew that your tithes were what you owed God; still I saw something that was not right when it came to money and the church. I never saw any sowing back into the community, yet the church always talked about helping those that needed help. There were three churches within walking distance from where I lived and there was one for blacks, one was for whites and the other were for both.

This showed me that no matter what color the congregation of a church might be, they still operated in the same way and that was to stay within its own walls and holding on to their money. Money is one of the main topics of a church and so many of them seem to hammer this into you until you give in. I have seen preachers try to make people feel guilty for not giving, even though they do not know their financial situation. Greed is one of the simplest things to have and the church has become a master of it.

They say that money is the root of all evil, does this means that the church is sprouting branches that are growing leaves that are no good?

If