Souls for Sale?

FoxNews.com
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
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Some people in need of a change get haircuts.

Others might splurge on a new shirt or throw caution completely
to the wind and take a different way to work in the morning.
Gerald Fraller, however, sells his mortal soul on the Web. Literally.

Fraller, a 28-year-old guy from Tampa, Fla., is hawking his soul
online because, he says, it's worth more than anything else he's got,
TBO.com reports.

"I'm simply at a point in my life where I need a new direction
and I am selling the most valuable item I have to offer: my very
soul," says Fraller on his Web site www.winmysoul.com.

Wondering what exactly this soul-selling entails?

For just a dollar, interested buyers get one entry in a drawing to
win a legal contract entitling them to specifically designated
controls over and profits from Fraller's very existence, including
a percentage of his taxable income, the right to choose the first
name of his kiddos and an annual report on his life, among other
colorful benefits.

But before you go rustling up an effigy to burn in protest,
know this: Fraller is fully aware his controversial choice might
ruffle some feathers.

"I will be framing the best hate mail that I receive as well as
posting it (with personal information omitted) online for all to
see," he writes on his Web site.

An exact date for the soul sale has not yet been set, but should be
selected by Jan. 30, 2007.

And just in case Fraller gets a major case of seller's remorse and
finds his choice to pony up his very mortal being to be a little
too, well, uncomfortable, he's included a clause in the contract
that allows him to buy his soul back for a cool $1,000,000.
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Hopefully Gerald is simply having fun at other people's expense.
His offer is creative, to be sure. Anyone who'd seriously respond
to it deserves what they get.

If, by some slight chance he's serious, then he's totally misunderstood
what constitutes his soul. It has nothing at all to do with his income,
the names of his children, or how he spends his time.

Were he to truly understand the value of his soul, he'd instantly realize
that he's grossly underpriced it. For, what would it profit him to
gain the whole world, and lose his soul?

Were he to understand this in the light of truth, he'd also realize that
his soul isn't his to sell. His soul was purchased 2,000 years ago
"on a hill far away..."

But I have to admit. In my 46 years in ministry I've seen people
sell their souls for far less. Satan, is always standing by with his bid.

Has God Shown Up Lately?

Years ago, when I was a local pastor, one of my men asked
me in passing, "Pastor, if we get a chance, could we sing my
favorite song this coming Sunday night?"

Dryly (typical of my humor) I said, "I think not, Charles.
We don't worship you."

A couple of years later, during an interview with an editor of
a popular worship magazine I shared that encounter. Perhaps
misunderstanding my humor she asked in a rather condescending
tone, reminiscent of my mother's responses when I irritated her
as a child, "Then Eddie, JUST WHOSE favorite songs do you sing?"

Again dryly, I responded, "Mary, we sing God's favorites songs."

That obviously stressed her a little more, and she said, "Oh, I see.
And I suppose YOU KNOW which are God's favorite songs."

"Yes, Ma'am, we do."

"And exactly HOW would YOU know what God's favorite songs are?"

"It's simple, Mary. When we sing them, God shows up!" I said brightly.

Still miffed she pressed, "And just how is it that you KNOW God when
'God shows up'?"

I replied, "Why Mary. If you have to ask the question, it's obvious
that He hasn't shown up yet."

I pray he shows up in your life and mine today.