There's this guy named Bruce Wilkinson who stumbled upon a very obscure passage in the Bible (embedded amongst a load of ``begat''s) where some guy named Jabez prayed to God to increase his wealth and God complied.<sup>[1]</sup> There are literally three verses in the Bible that reference Jabez at all. So Mr. Wilkinson decided that it would be a good idea to publish a book called The Prayer of Jabez that encourages people to pray to God to increase their wealth. Prayers include asking for the value of your stock portfolio to be increased and such. It's been on the New York Times Hardcover Advice bestseller list for 45 weeks. Right now, it's at number two. Anyway, apparently, according to Mr. Wilkinson, this obscure reference in the Bible is more important than ``Do unto others ...'' and the other actually important teachings in the Bible. It really pisses me off to no extent, especially when you realize that in the zero-sum game that is today's stock market, when you make money, someone else loses money. Not that it's not the chance that they aren't intentionally taking, but when you think about it, these types of prayers come down to: ``God, please take someone else's money and give it to me.'' The next time you're in a bookstore, find one. It'll likely be right up by the registers (apparently, it's a big impulse buy) and give it a look-through. It'll make you want to hit someone.

^[1] 1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.