Faith for Sale

WAIT!!! Before you turn your back and surf another hub, this title doesn't mean you will have to sell your soul just to be with the religious afiliation you like. There are many recruitments going on these days. I can see friends, missionaries from other churches, walking down the road, having house-to-house campaign just to attend their fellowship or convention.

All leads to the realization that what brought us together in one roof of the church is our belief.

But you can see in the marketplace that there are merchandise, like shirts, caps, mugs and all, aside from the book with biblical sayings, luring people to buy and literally WALK WITH FAITH.

Cups, food bars, candies, belts, t-shirts...from music, movies to sports equipment name it they have it!

Faith has become apowerful market to Christians who want to look more glamorous in the eyes of God.

People will notice that it's becoming a trend. Traditional believers oppose this new kind of evangelism, hence it is considered sacrilegious.. The market for Christian merchandise is growing every year. The survey five years ago stated that it has between 4 to 8 per cent every year, according to Britt Beemer of America's Research Group.

As a Wal-Mart shopper, I can see, whenever our merchant ship is transiting any US territory, that Christian merchandise are being sold in the said mega-retailer store. I bought a cup and a card with Scripture passages.

Christian Commercial Explosion

Christian books are among the bestsellers in the many bookstores. I just bought a book entitled "Maker's Diet" by Jordan Rubin, 24 years old, who marketed his faith-based nutrition plan thirteen years ago.

In the Maker's Diet, Rubin tells how he recovered from Chron's disease (vomitting, fatigue, weight loss due to digestive ailment) on what he calls a Biblically inspired regimen advocating organic food and irradicating pesticides and preservatives. He cited the 7 foods of the Book of Deuteronomy 8:8 such as wheat, barley, raisins,honey, figs, pomegranates and olive oil. Aside from organic food, regular fasting and plenty of rest, the book encourages the purchase of nutritional supplements from Rubin's company, Garden of Life, with which he started in his garage in 2000. Five years later, Rubin continues to be successful with the help of his wife and three children (now based in Florida). He published many books advocating natural and organic food for healing diseases based from the passages in the Holy Bible.

Teens of Today

The liberalization of Christian music paved the way to plenty of believers to come out of their comfort zone. Charting the Billboard nowadays are mostly Christian songs. Even teenagers with piercings can say that "even Jesus have piercing on his hands to save us." They enjoy wearing shirts with Biblical lines and learn how to respect others and it gives them lessons on not judging others.

So Christian enterpreneurs have found their formula to success. Books, T-shirts, gadgets, memorabilia and whatever the teachings from the Bible may lead them, they will continue to do it because commercial evangelism is the call of time. This is our time.

The Normal Christian Faith is a book that will give a believer sensible  guide on how to follow The Christian way, not only by mere words and thoughts but also in action. We can easily say that we are Christians, but are we practicing it daily?

We are all preoccupied in some ways that we seldom forget to show Christian acts at the right time. With the help of this book, we can correct our mistakes and renew our ties with our families, friends and neighbors. Being a Christian is not merely going to church. It goes deeper each day.