Membership

"Physical fitness can neither be achieved through wishful thinking nor outright purchase” - Joseph Pilates

"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end there of are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25

Joseph Pilates believed in his method of physical training with every fiber of his being: "I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier." - Joseph
Pilates

Pilates was a skinny, sickly child suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. His mother encouraged a strict regiment of naturopathic skills that transformed the child, developed the man and has influenced generations. There were no short-cuts. Physical fitness would not be achieved by luck or sincerity. It was not a commodity to be purchased and adorned. It took a deep inner commitment!

Spiritual health and balance is curiously similar. It cannot be achieved by luck or sincerity. It is not a commodity to be purchased and adorned. It takes deep inner commitment.

In 1859 Charles G. Finney, early American evangelist, studied these two verses in Proverbs and made the following statement:

“The original word denotes what lawyers express by saying a thing is right "prima facie"--on its face--at first appearance--as the case presents itself at first view and without looking at the other side. Unless objections appear, it is to be assumed as true. The word implies a want of certainty. It does not preclude doubt or further investigation. Indeed if the matter be one of any importance, there ought to be further investigation, notwithstanding all this appearance of being right. The original word applies naturally to an opinion adopted loosely, on a merely surface view and without honest and thorough investigation. It also implies a credulous state of mind as to this way that seems right. The mind is very willing to satisfy itself with a mere seeming.” – Charles G. Finney

On the other hand, in John 14:6 the New Testament states with precise clarity:

“I am the way the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” - Jesus Christ

John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not parish but have everlasting life!”

Ephesians 2: 8,9 states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELF, it is the gift of God NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.”

Finney ended his sermon with the following statement:

"My dear hearers, the time is short ere we shall know our fitness or unfitness for the eternal world, past all uncertainty, or mistake. No longer here; the places that know us now shall know us no more then. What is your state today? Do you say--I have examined my foundation; I have not been satisfied with merely seeming to be right? But even you, if this day were surely known to you to be your last, would say, (would you not?) I must be more certain. I must go over this whole ground again, for how can I rest while the least possibility of doubt remains!"

It is a lifetime membership, open 24/7, and the beginning of true spiritual balance! Cost? No, you are invited by a Friend Who paid the price on your and my behalf, His name IS Jesus. It is a matter of opening your heart and life to Him. Not mere mental assertion to His existance, but a deep inner commitment to follow Him and know Him better daily. The whole country, the whole world, should begin this journey; they'd be happier!