Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Stop Overindulging Your Children!!
Messages From Heaven: Stop Overindulging Your Children!!: What do your children really need from you? Love, guidance, shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and an education. That’s it. Every...
Stop Overindulging Your Children!!
That’s it.
Everything else is a want, a luxury: video games, iPods, cell phones, the latest fashion — whatever new item their friends have.
Today, far too many parents fall for the “nag factor.” They know their kids are bombarded by ads telling them to buy certain products and that many parents are buying those products for their children. They know the pressure that comes from their children’s peers, and so they buy their kids far more “stuff” than they can even use, all in the hope that their children will fit in and be accepted by their peers.
According to a recent survey of youth commissioned by the Center for a New American Dream, the average 12- to 17-year-old who asks a parent for products will ask nine times until the parents finally give in. For parents of tweens, the problem is particularly severe — more than 10 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds admit to asking their parents more than 50 times for products they’ve seen advertised. Kids have learned if they nag enough for long enough, parents will give in.
Parents, stop falling for the nag factor.
Refuse to Overindulge Your Kids.
Sadly, our self-absorbed society has told parents to help their kids feel good about themselves, that it’s the parents’ duty to make their children happy. But underneath it all, kids don’t need parents who make them happy. They need parents who will make them capable.
Dr. Connie Dawson, co-author of How Much Is Enough, writes:
“When parents give children too much stuff that costs money, do things for children that they can do for themselves, do not expect children to do chores, do not have good rules and let children run the family, parents are overindulging.”
Here are some other signs of overindulgence. As you read them, watch for your weak spot:
1. Giving them things or experiences that are not appropriate for their age or their interests:
- Allowing a five-year-old to dress like a pop star.
- Allowing a twelve-year-old to watch an R-rated movie.
- Removing curfew from a sixteen-year-old with a new driver’s license.
2. Giving things to meet the adult’s needs, not the child’s:
- A mom buying her daughter the trendiest clothes, because Mom believes it’s a reflection on her own style.
- A dad giving his son the “stand out” wheels at sixteen, so Dad’s friends — as well as his son’s friends — will think he’s “the man.
- A parent giving his or her children the best of the best in order to make the parent look successful.
3. Neglecting to teach children the life skills they need to survive in the “real” world beyond their home:
- Tying shoes and dressing four-year-olds who are perfectly capable of dressing themselves.
- Doing the laundry for teenagers who are more than capable and need to learn to do it for themselves.
I admit that I slipped into overindulgence in raising my sons in more than one area. It’s important to realize the harm this can do to our children. According to one study conducted in 2001, children who are overindulged are more likely to grow up to believe the following:
- It is difficult to be happy unless one looks good, is intelligent, rich, and creative.
- My happiness depends on most people I know liking me.
- If I fail partly, it is as bad as being a total failure.
- I can’t be happy if I miss out on many of the good things in life.
- Being alone leads to unhappiness.
- If someone disagrees with me, it probably indicates that the person doesn’t like me.
- My happiness depends more on other people than it depends on me.
- If I fail at my work, I consider myself a failure as a person.
So, for the sake of your children, stop overindulging them.
Instead, teach them the difference between a need and a want, and then make them work for their wants. For instance, rather than buying that new video game for your children, give them two options: Tell them they can place it on a wish list for a birthday or Christmas present, or they can do extra duties to earn the money to buy it themselves. If your children are willing to work for their “heart’s desire,” they’ll take better care of it, be more grateful for it, and think long and hard before turning a “want” into a “need” in the future.
Repairing the Damage of Overindulgence
Parents, you can begin to remedy the damage done by overindulgence by doing two things:
1. Help your kids cultivate patience. The truth is parents often prevent their children from learning patience. We’ve gotten just as caught up in our fast-food society as anyone else. We’ve forgotten that real life problems aren’t solved in fifteen minutes, that it takes time to find solutions to everyday struggles. We’re the ones who try to speed things up for our kids.
So don’t be so quick to solve your children’s problems for them. A bit of a struggle is good for them.
2. Give children opportunities to develop responsibility and to feel valuable. Your children need your help if they are going to learn necessary life skills. They need you to give them regular chores or duties and to hold them accountable for taking care of those duties. In so doing, you will help your children become adults, not just grown-ups.
All children will at times engage in a power struggle when it comes to carrying out chores or duties. But if parents give in and don’t assign age-appropriate duties for their children, their kids will grow up to be irresponsible, which is heartbreaking for the parent and tragic for the children. No matter the age of the child, any duties you assign them should encompass these purposes:
- Helping your child learn life skills.
- Helping your child become a valuable member of the family.
- Helping your child become a valuable member of society.
By giving your children opportunities to help and serve each other within the family, you’re preparing them to take care of themselves and go out and serve society.
Now that I’ve asked you not to overindulge your kids with their wants, I want to encourage you to overindulge them with love, real love. Love that molds and shapes them into the young men and women they are meant to become. Patiently help them develop patience, and with persistence and persuasion give them age-appropriate responsibilities. As you do these things, you’ll be preparing their hearts and minds to accept the responsibilities God has planned for them.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Messages From Heaven: It's All About Him!!
Messages From Heaven: It's All About Him!!: A little girl noticed that her mom was getting really stressed out around Christmas. Everything was bothering her mom, and she was very ...
It's All About Him!!
Evening came and the mom bathed the little girl, got her ready for bed, put her under the covers, and had her say her prayers. She would usually pray the Lord's Prayer, but on this particular evening, she amended it a little bit.
Her petition went something like this, "Father, forgive us our Christmases, as we forgive those who Christmas against us."
That is what happens when we lose focus of the real meaning of Christmas, isn't it? We get so caught up in the busyness of the season that sometimes we forget the wonder of it all: that deity took on humanity, that God became a man.
Scripture sums it up well in 2 Corinthians 8:9, which says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (NKJV). Jesus literally went from the throne of heaven to a simple little cave or stable.
Can you imagine what must have gone through Mary's mind that day when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her she would be the mother of the Messiah? Her head must have been swimming. "What about Joseph? What are people going to say?"
But God had it all put together, because the time was just right in every way.
There was one small detail: the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, as Scripture prophesied (see Micah 5:2). But Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph lived in Nazareth. So the Lord touched a little man who was big in his own mind.
His name was Caesar, and at this particular time in history, he was the most powerful man on Earth. One day, Caesar gave a decree that all of the world should be taxed.
In reality, he was nothing more than a pawn in the hand of God. The Lord needed Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, so He moved events.
Mary and Joseph made the difficult journey to Bethlehem, which was especially perilous for a woman who was as far along in her pregnancy as Mary was. But they did make it, and there, the miraculous birth of Christ took place, just as Scripture said it would.
This little baby grew up quickly, and although we would love to know more about his boyhood, the Bible offers only a few details.
But we do read of one day in the synagogue in Nazareth when, as the custom was, the time had come for Jesus to read. He walked to the front of the synagogue, opened up the scroll, and began to read from Isaiah: "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' " (Luke 4:18-19 NLT).
When He had finished, He sat down and said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (verse 21). He had declared himself the Messiah. His public ministry had begun.
This One who was sent from God was always in perfect sync with the Father. While He spoke with the learned spiritual leaders, He always had time for the outcasts of society — people like the woman at the well and the tax collector, Zacchaeus. People like you. People like me.
His ministry on Earth was only a few years, and then He was crucified. You can be sure that as He hung there on the cross, where all of the sin of humanity was placed upon Him, that this was God's most painful moment.
But then it was finished. He rose again from the dead, and after a time, ascended back into heaven, promising to come back to this earth. And we eagerly await that day.
This Jesus who was born in a manger, who walked this earth, who was crucified, and who rose again, is not some mere historical figure, although He was that. He is alive, and He is still in the business of changing lives.
That is the reason He came: to put us in touch with God, to forgive us of all of our sins, and to give our lives purpose and meaning.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The Danger of an Exaggerated End-Time Mentality!
Messages From Heaven: The Danger of an Exaggerated End-Time Mentality!: On a regular basis, whenever there are reports of moral collapse in our country or of wars and crises worldwide, someone will say to me, ...
The Danger of an Exaggerated End-Time Mentality!
Of course, according to one system of interpretation, that could be true and the Lord could return within the next few moments or years.
The problem I have is that I've heard Jesus is coming back any moment for more than 40 years.
Could it be that we have a wrong mentality about the end of the age? Could it be that we're missing something very important?
To be clear, I am not a preterist (meaning, that I don't believe most of the prophetic promises and events have already been fulfilled and that "the coming of Jesus" took place in the year 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed), and I do look forward to the return of the Lord and our eternal union with Him (see 1 Cor. 15:50-55; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 John 2:28-3:3).
And I am a classic premillennialist as opposed to a postmillennialist or amillennialist, although I am not a dispensational premillennialist—meaning I do not believe in a pre-trib rapture.
But the last thing I want to do is argue over these points, and I have worked with leaders around the world for decades without dividing over these issues. If you want to agree with me passionately or disagree with me passionately over eschatological details, have at it.
What I want to address here is a potentially dangerous mentality that breeds despair and hopelessness, that leads to capitulation and escapism, and that almost encourages believers to throw in the towel.
For example, in response to one of my articles about sex-change regret, someone commented, "More proof that the end is near. Right is wrong and wrong is right."
Someone else responded to my YouTube video on the apostasy of the PCUSA by saying, "The end is over the horizon...so near brother...more and more churches committing apostasy, it's ridiculous," while someone else wrote on Facebook, "We are witnessing the great falling away."
My problem, to repeat, is that I've heard this since I came to faith in late 1971, a time when the most influential, best-selling Christian book was Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth.
And while I have not held to a pre-trib rapture theology for more than 35 years, I appreciate the fact that my dispensationalist, pre-trib friends take the Bible seriously, that many of them have been great evangelists, that they recognize the importance of Israel today and that they really are looking forward to the return of Jesus (whereas lots of other believers hardly give it any thought).
But to say it again, I've heard that Jesus was coming back any second for more than 40 years, and every time something bad happens people are saying, "Armageddon is next!" or, "This is the final deception!"
What we do know is that so far, the end has not yet come, the harvest is still very ripe (and vast), there have been far worse times in human history than today (in recent memory, just think of World War II and the massive losses of life), and around the world the Spirit is being poured out mightily.
It is true that America today is in great moral and spiritual decline, but revival historians will tell you that we have had some very dark times before, and it was divine visitation that turned things around.
Where is it written that there will not be another, even greater awakening? Can you demonstrate to me conclusively from the Scriptures that God is finished with our nation and that no hope for revival remains?
It's interesting to note that over the centuries, even as early as the second century, Christian leaders were proclaiming that they were living in the last generation (or close to it), and so it's understandable that believers through the ages would have this perspective.
After all, we see the great suffering and sin of the human race, and if we love the Lord, we will live with at least some sense of urgency: there are so many lost, hurting people to reach and we have only one lifetime to touch them with the good news.
And all of us should long for the Lord's appearing (see 2 Tim. 4:8). In fact, if we're so at home in this world that we don't long for His coming, we need to examine our hearts.
But to repeat once more, the problem is with our mentality, with the idea that, every time there's an example of apostasy we say, "This is the great falling away!", or every time we see further moral collapse in our society, we say, "We're out of here any minute!"
Many believers had that attitude in the '60s and '70s, and rather than recognize that a great potential harvest was here, they thought, "The whole world is going mad!" And rather than stand against the flood tide of immorality that swept through our culture, all too many believers were waiting to be taken out, leaving it to the ungodly to write their revolution into law. We have been paying the price ever since.
As I understand it, the Scriptures indicate that the last days began with the death and resurrection of Jesus and will continue until the end of this age (see, for example, Acts 2:17-20; 2 Tim. 3:1-6; 1 John 2:18).
This means that we have been living in a transition age for almost 2,000 years, a time of already but not yet, a time when the kingdom of God has broken in and is expanding but will not reach its complete manifestation until Jesus returns, a time of great outpouring and a time of great falling away, in short, a time of parallel extremes.
And I expect those extremes to get more and more extreme the closer we get to the end. (Again, I'm quite aware of the different interpretations that can be put on these passages, so I'll say it again: I'm not here to divide over theology or to debate interpretations. I'm here to make a practical point.)
So I encourage you to remember that we are in the age of the Spirit's outpouring, the age of the harvest, that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to the Lord Jesus, that we are overcomers and more than conquerors in Him, that He who lives within us is greater than he who lives in the world, that our God sits enthroned in the heavens, and that, in the end, His ways will triumph over the entire earth.
That's why, no matter how bleak things look, my eyes are fixed on the Lord, and in Him, I am full of hope, confidence and vision. And should the day come when our strategy needs to change, I trust that our heavenly Commander in Chief will make that plain.
So, forward until He comes!
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Islam’s Agenda for America!
Messages From Heaven: Islam’s Agenda for America!: The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent My most important book, The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent—an informed response to Islam’s ...
Islam’s Agenda for America!
My most important book, The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent—an informed response to Islam’s war with Christianity, was released by Harvest Publishers early in this new year.
I began writing this book several years ago after Rebecca and I toured Turkey, visiting the cities where the seven churches of Revelation were located. Of course, those churches disappeared in the early centuries, but Turkey (biblical Asia Minor) maintained a distinct Christian presence until Islam came and conquered the city of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453. Churches were destroyed or transformed into mosques; Christians either converted to Islam or became slaves to Muslim masters, while others chose to die as martyrs.
Islam has triumphed in Turkey. While there are pockets of Christian believers, and a few public Christian ministries, the mosques, with their tall minarets, dominate every town—not churches. One day in Turkey I had the privilege of having a devout Muslim as a guide who was very kind and knowledgeable. He told me privately that Christianity showed its superiority over paganism by conquering it; in the same way, Islam showed its superiority over Christianity by being able to conquer and replace it. His point was that if anyone wondered whether Islam was superior to Christianity, all they had to do is look around and see Islam’s obvious triumph.
This troubled me deeply because it appeared as if the crescent was more powerful than the cross; it appeared as if Mohammed had triumphed over Jesus. As I reflected, I already knew that most of the countries in North Africa and the Middle East were at one time Christian—at least nominally, for example, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and of course, Turkey, to name a few. Today in these countries the church has, for the most part, been obliterated.
So, I asked God for wisdom to answer questions such as: what do the non-existent churches in these regions have to say to Western Christians? Does Islam’s impressive triumphs prove its superiority as a religion? And finally, what should we be doing now in light of Islam’s agenda for America?
Thus began the journey of writing The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent. I wrote with a burden to awaken our churches to the reality of what’s around us, and share what we can do to prepare for the terrible storm that I believe is coming our way.
If the levees had held, the ferocious hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005 might not have been the catastrophe it turned out to be. But when the levees gave way, there was nothing that could be done to contain the damaging flood.
Only the church can hold back the storm that, even now, is on our horizon.
Jesus speaks to us, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God” (Revelation 3:2).
Will the levees hold? If not, the history of the Middle East might become our history, too.
Preparing to Meet the Challenge of Islam.
Could Islam truly overcome Christianity and our churches be transformed into mosques? We sat down with Pastor Lutzer to discuss his new book The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent, and his burden about Islam in America.
Q: What troubles you most about Islam in America?
A: Most people don’t realize it, but the U.S. has basically entered into a covenant of submission to Islam. Hospitals and even some churches have removed crucifixes and crosses because Muslims complain that these symbols are offensive; public tax dollars are used to build prayer rooms for Muslim students in our schools; and there’s a push for civil cases to be tried under sharia law (without opportunity to appeal decisions at a higher, outside court), something that Muslim enclaves in Europe (the U.K. in particular) already have on the books. The list of concessions could go on and on.
But this pales in comparison to other concerns I have…
Q: Such as?
A: Freedom of speech is under attack. For years, Islamists have tried to get the United Nations to implement a Hate Speech law that would make all criticism of Islam a crime. This received new impetus due to an amateur video that supposedly triggered riots throughout the Middle East, including one which killed our ambassador and his associates in Libya. The man who made this video was publicly arrested and imprisoned (it is questionable whether or not this was for a parole violation!).
I decry the fact that anyone would mock another person’s religion, but by disregarding this man’s first amendment rights, a dual message was sent: the U.S. is complying with radical Muslim insistence that nothing should ever be done or said that’s offensive to them, and secondly, Americans might be punished for such acts. Think of those here in America (some of whom I know) who have thoughtfully exposed Islam and must now live in “secure and undisclosed locations.” Even without hate speech laws, the U.S. has chosen self-censorship and never speaks critically of Islam, but only praises its accomplishments. All of this is chilling.
Q: Frequently we hear that we have nothing to fear from Islam because most Muslims are peace loving.
A: I do not paint all Muslims with the same broad brush. Not all Muslims share in the Islamist agenda for America. However, this is of small comfort because the radicals set the agenda for Islam, not the peace loving Muslim family that lives in your neighborhood. In my book, I reveal the plans of the Muslim Brotherhood for America and how they intend to accomplish their objectives. I believe that if Christians knew about the infiltration of the Brotherhood into our national security, children’s textbooks, media, and finance, they’d be on their faces crying up to God.
Q: What do you say to those who’ve said that, “even if what you’re saying is true, it shouldn’t be said because it makes it more difficult for Christians to witness to Muslims?”
A: I respect the question. Yet, I believe that love and truth should never be enemies. I believe that the time has come to candidly expose Islam’s agenda for America without succumbing to or stirring up fear or hatred. In fact, the more we know about Islam (its treatment of women, how it holds its adherents in the grip of fear of apostasy, etc.), the more we should be driven to compassion for Muslims.
Q: So, what should the church be doing now?
A: That’s not easy to answer in a few sentences, but (1) we should be building a community of mutual respect with our Muslim neighbors, and (2) we need a concerted educational campaign in our churches and Christian schools to help us understand Islam, its founding documents, plans for us, etc. And finally, (3) we must work intentionally to develop courageous Christians knowing that our children and grandchildren might be called upon to die for being true to the Gospel. The lessons of the countries of the Middle East and the transformation that’s happening in Europe should not be lost on us.
The book I have written is expressly intended to prepare us for the challenging days ahead.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Pregnancy… Unplanned: What Do I Do Now?
Messages From Heaven: Pregnancy… Unplanned: What Do I Do Now?: The story has been repeated a hundred different times in a hundred different ways: an unwed teenager learns she is pregnant. But, on this...
Pregnancy… Unplanned: What Do I Do Now?
Rather than eagerly anticipating his wedding day, his heart is heavy—his dreams are dashed. Thoughts whirl through his mind as he tries to consider his options: What is he to do with the one who was once the “love of his life”? And what will happen to the child she is carrying?
Neither parent could have fathomed God’s plan regarding this
pregnancy. Never could they have known the path their lives would take,
nor the supernatural work God would accomplish through the child of His
making. This baby would be named Jesus . . . Jesus the Christ, the
Savior of the world! “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
An unplanned or unwanted pregnancy is a crisis for some and a “mere
inconvenience” for others. But regardless of the circumstance, the joy
of pregnancy and the pride of parenthood are painfully missing. Feelings
of guilt … hurt… anger… fear… all bond together like a ton of bricks
and press down heavily on the heart. Like Mary and Joseph (Jesus’
parents), you may not understand all that God has planned for you or
your baby, but you can know that it is God who formed your baby in the
womb, and He did so with a good purpose.
What God Says “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” Ecclesiastes 11:5
"Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies," Psalm 103:4
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
President Obama, You Have Crossed a Dangerous, Unprecedented Line!
I am referring, of course, to your signing an executive order Monday banning "discrimination" by federal contractors against LGBT people, allowing for no religious exemptions of any kind.
This was an outrageous act of discrimination against religion in the name of anti-discrimination—an act of bullying people of faith in the name of the prevention of bullying.
How can you, as a man who professes to be a person of faith and a follower of Jesus, throw religious Americans—in particular Christians—under the bus?
How can you attempt to force Christians, Jews, Muslims and others to violate fundamental aspects of their moral codes in order to appease a small but powerful special interest group, one that is not, in fact, suffering daily economic hardship by being fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation or expression?
Have you forgotten entirely that our nation was founded on the concept of religious freedom?
It was unfortunate that you did not reflect on the recent Supreme Court decisions that made clear that you and your administration have consistently overstepped your bounds. Instead, once again, you bypassed the will of the people, as reflected in their elected officials, and simply made a decision affecting millions of Americans.
Worse still, you ignored the appeals of trusted religious leaders, some of whom campaigned for you in the past and others of whom have been among your trusted advisors, deciding instead to side with radical LGBT activism.
These leaders made a righteous and reasonable appeal to you, writing, "Mr. President, you have spoken eloquently of your commitment to protecting religious liberty, our nation's first freedom. As you seek to promote the rights of LGBT persons, please also protect the rights of faith-based organizations that simply desire to utilize staffing practices consistent with their deep religious convictions as they partner with the federal government via contracting or subcontracting."
In response, you mocked these "deep religious convictions," and there are no words you can say to minimize the seriousness of your actions.
Mr. President, what was wrong with letting Congress make an informed decision on ENDA? Do you scorn the political process so much that you bypass it entirely?
You stated that, "I'm going to do what I can, with the authority I have, to act," but the implications of your actions are massive.
An organization like Prison Reform, which utilizes federal funds to help transform the lives of inmates, would suffer dramatic financial setbacks should they simply refuse to hire individuals who violate their time-proven, biblically based code of conduct.
Children supported by World Vision, with the help of federal funds, would be deprived of food and shelter unless World Vision leaders compromised their Christian convictions. (After much soul searching this year, they have made clear that they will not compromise).
Fine Christian universities, which provide important academic and ethical training for the next generation of leaders and which are also the recipients of federal funding, could suffer a massive blow unless they forsake the faith on which their institutions were built.
Mr. President, must you now even take the place of God and tell Christians what they can and cannot actively practice?
I concur with Peter Sprigg who wrote that, "This level of coercion is nothing less than viewpoint blackmail that bullies into silence every contractor and subcontractor who has moral objections to homosexual behavior. This order gives activists a license to challenge their employers and, expose those employers to threats of costly legal proceedings and the potential of jeopardizing future contracts."
In truth, this is not a civil rights issue, as if gay were the new black. As Catholic leader Austin Ruse observed, "the LGBTs are the most powerful aggrieved minority the world has ever known," while, in contrast, "Black Americans really were aggrieved: enslaved, not allowed to vote, discriminated against in housing, banking and much else, hunted down and lynched."
As our nation's first African-American president, you must surely see the difference. Or is it true, as your critics claim, that you really intend to declare war on religion in America?
It is one thing to treat all people fairly, be they male or female, gay or straight, young or old. It is another thing to trample religious freedoms under foot and to attempt to coerce, with the full force of the government, men and women of deep religious faith and commitment.
Mr. President, there are millions of Americans who pray for you on a regular basis, and I have often called on my radio listeners to pray that you would be the greatest president in American history.
Despite those prayers, you took it upon yourself to enact an order which declares that, in the workplace, sexual rights trump religious rights. What a terrible, tragic shame.
I do pray for you, sir, as my president, that God would grant you the humility to recognize the error of your ways. At the same time, I assure you that there are countless thousands of Christian leaders and people of faith who will neither abandon their convictions nor be silenced from articulating those convictions.
And so, perhaps, in God's providence, what you intended as a religious restriction will become the impetus for a religious awakening.
After all, you might well be the most powerful human being on the planet, but we will all bow down one day before the throne of God, and He will have the final say.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The HRC Is Inciting Fear and Hate!
Messages From Heaven: The HRC Is Inciting Fear and Hate!: The pictures are dark and ominous, the charges chilling: "There exists a network of extremists ... [who] spew venomous rhetoric, ou...
The HRC Is Inciting Fear and Hate!
Just who are these evil people, and what are they doing?
According to the Human Rights Campaign, the world's largest gay-activist organization, this "network" consists of American, conservative Christian leaders "who are working tirelessly to undercut LGBT people around the world at every turn."
I have made it onto this list—unfortunately, only with a "dishonorable mention"—adding to my already impressive resume of being marked by groups like GLAAD, which seeks to censor opposing viewpoints through its Commentator Accountability Project (which is why I have renamed them the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement), and the SPLC, which not only seeks to malign conservative Christians but also has blood on its hands. (Criminology professor Mike Adams has rightly dubbed them the Intellectual Poverty Law Center, evidenced in part by the SPLC's placing me on their list of "30 New Activists for the Radical Right," along with neo-Nazis, white supremacists and New Black Panthers. See also here and here.)
Not to be outdone, the HRC's latest report, entitled, "The Export of Hate," contains written descriptions of this alleged network of extremists as well as black-and-white sketches (or white on black sketches), depicting us with inaccurate and scary images. (About the only thing they got right in my sketch, on p. 22 of their report, is that I'm a male with a mustache.)
Given the fact that the HRC has an annual budget of roughly $45 million, one would think they could hire an artist who could actually draw, which suggests that the menacing images of this so-called "network" of "extremists" who allegedly export a "vicious brand of bigotry" are intended to incite fear and loathing toward us.
Why not simply report the facts?
Could it be that the HRC is describing its own work with the title "The Export of Hate"? Could it be that the HRC is guilty of spewing "venomous rhetoric"?
Other gay publications, like the flagship Advocate.com, are repeating HRC's claims, announcing "America's globetrotting extremists exposed" and stating that "the Human Rights Campaign has taken off the gloves to expose American extremist organizations and individuals in a new report about the homophobic hatred they spread around the globe." Indeed, "'The Export of Hate' profiles America's worst globetrotting homophobic offenders [with] a rap-sheet style that also puts them 'on notice.'"
Well, I'm here to the put the HRC on notice: Your fear-mongering tactics will be exposed and, speaking for myself (but with confidence that my words apply to others), I will not bow down to your bullying tactics or your rap-sheet nonsense.
Here are some salient facts:
First, there is no "network." Virtually all of the individuals and organizations listed work independently, and a good number of us have never met or worked with most (or even all of) the others on the list. This means that the HRC chose the term "network" quite intentionally to give the impression of some type of worldwide collaboration, when no such thing exists. (Shades of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.)
Second, the annual budgets cited in the report underscore the fear-mongering, hatred-inciting nature of the HRC's report, with chief offender Scott Lively's ministry listed with an annual income of $90,259, Peter LaBarbera's organization listed at $110,000 (surely way too high), and others listed at $54,494 and $26,569. Yet the HRC, which draws guest speakers like President Obama, Vice President Biden and Attorney General Holder to its annual fund-raising events, states that their report outlines "some of the resources at [the] disposal of this "network." What resources!
As for the larger organizations, like the ADF (the Alliance Defending Freedom) and ACLJ (the American Center for Law and Justice), with budgets in the 10's of millions of dollars, the quotes associated with them can in no way be construed as a "vicious brand of bigotry." (For example, the ADF's Benjamin Bull is excoriated for stating that "HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE FREQUENTLY BEEN A RALLYING CRY FOR PEOPLE INTENT ON IMPOSING THEIR WORLDVIEW ON OTHERS"; their emphasis).
Third, the HRC report blatantly misrepresents the truth in claiming that all of us on their list are guilty of exporting hate. Since I can't speak for everyone in the report (nor would I agree with the approach of everyone in the report, although some on the list are respected friends and colleagues), I will speak for myself.
According to the HRC, "in March 2014 ... Michael Brown made the trip to Lima [Peru]. Brown ... addressed the Peruvian Congress on 'the consequences of redefining marriage' and warned lawmakers to learn from the 'mistakes we've made in America' by allowing civil unions or full marriage equality."
My talk, which was also aired on national TV, began with these words (displayed on PowerPoint slides, before being translated into Spanish): "My purpose is not to demonize those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, nor is this about inciting hatred against anyone.
"It is very possible that you have family members or friends of colleagues who identify as gay or lesbian, and they may be some of the finest people that you know.
"That is not the issue. The issue is what happens when you normalize homosexuality in a society? What happens when marriage is redefined? In which direction will the nation go?"
And I simply reported the facts in terms of American culture and education and the media and religious rights in light of LGBT advances.
How then could a speech that began with these words and maintained a tone of civility and grace throughout, earn me a spot in the "Exporting Hate" report? How does this amount to spewing "venomous rhetoric" and equate to a "vicious brand of bigotry"? How does this put me in the class of the "worst globetrotting homophobic offenders"? (Again, I only use myself as an example; others on the HRC's list have been just as egregiously mischaracterized.)
I was invited by a Peruvian congressman to deliver the speech to congressional members, university chancellors and others, and Peru, it must be remembered, is a conservative Catholic country that has placed pro-life values at the beginning of its constitution. (For the record, I had to supplement my airfare, and I received no money for making the trip.)
Yet today, in the hate-filled climate created by groups like the HRC, if you say that you don't believe it's best for a man to "marry" a man (or a woman another woman), you are attacked in the harshest and ugliest terms imaginable.
That is the small-mindedness of gay activism. It cannot recognize any possible moral or social or cultural or religious argument against redefining marriage. Those who reject same-sex "marriage" are simply haters and bigots of the worst order.
The Advocate cited Ty Cobb, the HRC Foundation's director of global engagement, who stated that, "Hate is not an American value, and we must expose and fight these individuals and their extremist allies." He continued, "This is a destructive group of activists spreading anti-LGBT rhetoric, promoting laws that criminalize LGBT people, and seeking to restrict their speech and those who support them."
The truth be told, it is the HRC that is engaging in destructive activism by spreading misinformation and inciting fear, and it is the HRC that must be exposed.
Thankfully, they got one thing right in the report, stating that our "voices are being heard" and our "impact is being felt."
By God's grace, as we continue to speak the truth in love, the real bigots will be revealed.
Messages From Heaven: Some Honest Questions for Gay Activists!
Messages From Heaven: Some Honest Questions for Gay Activists!: I must say that as activists for your cause, you have developed many effective strategies, most of which involve a brilliant use of words...
Some Honest Questions for Gay Activists!
Given your careful and deliberate choice of words, I believe it would be very helpful if you could give us specific definitions to some key words and concepts, unless, of course, your goal is to stir up people’s emotions without any reference to truth.
Some of your colleagues have referred to me as a vicious homophobe, as one of the nation’s most virulent homophobes (and much more), but I’ve yet to hear a cogent, gay-activist definition of homophobia, which historically (since 1969) meant, “an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people.”
By your definition, what exactly is homophobia? What constitutes a homophobe or makes one homophobic?
Once on the radio, I dialogued with a gay-activist pioneer – really, an icon in the movement – and I asked him if I respected him as a fellow human being, sought to protect him against mistreatment and harm, but did not affirm his homosexuality, would I still be considered homophobic in his eyes.
He replied emphatically that, yes, I would still be homophobic. Do you agree?
If so, it would appear that your definition of “homophobia” would be the failure to affirm (or celebrate or support) homosexuality, which would be quite a change from the dictionary definition of the lexeme, not to mention completely unrelated to any kind of “phobia.”
To avoid potential misunderstanding, then, let me present this scenario.
Let’s say a lesbian couple lives next door to my wife and me, and the two women are raising a child together. My wife and I reach out to this couple, have them over for dinner, make sure their lawn is mowed when they’re away and even watch their child when they have an emergency.
At the same time, these two women know that my wife and I believe that their relationship is not valid in God’s eyes and that homosexual practice is sin. Are we thereby homophobic?
If not, then I would suggest you and your colleagues are throwing this epithet around as a tool of defamation even when it doesn’t truly apply. (In reality, there’s not a homophobic bone in my body, using the accurate definition of the word.)
If you have, however, decided to change the meaning of the word, you have now engaged in semantic dishonesty and are guilty of willfully using a dangerous weapon to disparage and discredit.
What about the word “extremist”? The Human Rights Campaign has just published a mini-book called “The Export of Hate” (replete with ridiculous, denigrating graphics), which alleges that, “There exists a network of extremists … [who] spew venomous rhetoric, outrageous theories, and discredited science.”
Now, I might mention the irony of calling an organization the “Human Rights Campaign” when the HRC has never done a single thing to help oppressed women worldwide, to feed starving children worldwide, to work for religious freedoms worldwide, to launch educational programs for the impoverished worldwide. To the contrary, it has worked exclusively to support LGBT rights, and those rights alone.
To the HRC leaders, I ask, why not call yourselves the Homosexual Rights Campaign – or would that have been self-defeating? But I digress.
I’m really wanting to understand what you mean by an “extremist,” which a major dictionary defines as “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.”
In your lexicon, am I an extremist if I state (as a biblical scholar) that the Bible clearly condemns homosexual practice, but the good news is that Jesus died for homosexual and heterosexual alike and offers us forgiveness of sins and new life? Does that make me an extremist?
If I quote a number of top LGBT scholars who agree with my view that the Bible condemns all forms of homoeroticism, does that make them extremists? Again, I’m just trying to understand what you mean by the term, since the HRC put me in their unfortunate and ill-conceived mini-book, branding me an extremist.
Is it only political and religious fanatics who believe that a child deserves a mom and a dad and who believe that we shouldn’t tamper with the institution of marriage? Is there any possible basis for these views that is rational and not fanatical?
And what about the term “hate”?
I know that some prominent judges have recently claimed that only anti-homosexual animus could lie behind the opposition to redefining marriage, and it would appear that you share that point of view.
But again, to be clear, let me ask you directly and forthrightly: Is it possible that I could not affirm homosexual practice without being motivated by hate? Is it possible that I could state that God clearly designed men for women and women for men without being motivated by hate? Is it possible that I could bemoan the terribly high rates of STD transmission among gay men without being motivated by hate?
I assume that folks from the LGBT community will post responses to this article here or on social media, and some might even respond with a blog, but since these really are weighty issues, and since gay activist organizations like the HRC and GLAAD and many others have used these terms so freely to vilify their opponents (not to mention allies like the SPLC who do the same), it’s only fair that you, as gay activists, provide simple answers to these questions.
So, please do define your usage of terms like homophobia, extremist and hater, not with misleading sound-bite clips used to demonize people of good conscience on my side, but rather with simple responses to my questions.
Or would that hurt your strategy?
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Taking It Easy with Time and Touch!
Messages From Heaven: Taking It Easy with Time and Touch!: Maybe it's because I just had another birthday. maybe it's because I'm a granddad several times over. Or maybe it's becau...
Taking It Easy with Time and Touch!
My words are dedicated to all of you who have the opportunity to make an investment in a growing child so that he or she might someday be whole and healthy, secure and mature. Granted, yours is a tough job. Relentless and thankless...at least for now. There is every temptation to escape from the responsibilities that are yours and yours alone. But nobody is better qualified to shape the thinking, to answer the questions, to assist during the struggles, to calm the fears, to administer the discipline, to know the innermost heart, or to love and affirm the life of your offspring than you.
When it comes to "training up the child in the way he should go," you've got the inside lane, Mom and Dad. No teacher or coach, neighbor or friend, no grandparent or sibling, counselor or minister will have the influence on your kid that you are having. So — take it easy! Remember (as Anne Ortlund puts it) "children are wet cement." They take the shape of your mold. They're learning even when you don't think they're watching. And those little guys and gals are plenty smart. They hear tone as well as terms. They read looks as well as books. They figure out motives, even those you think you can hide. They are not fooled, not in the long haul.
The two most important tools of parenting are time and touch. Believe me, both are essential. If you and I hope to release from our nest fairly capable and relatively stable people who can soar and make it on their own, we'll need to pay the price of saying no to many of our own wants and needs in order to interact with our young...and we'll have to keep breaking down the distance that only naturally forms as our little people grow up.
Time and touch. nothing new, I realize, yet both remain irreducible minimums when it comes to good parenting. Take it easy! Listen to your boy or girl, look them in the eye, put your arms around them, hug them close, tell them how valuable they are. Don't hold back. Take the time to do it. Reach. Touch.
Don't stand alongside your son or daughter like statues, unable to say what you feel, uncomfortable and distant. Take time to feel, to listen, to hold your child close.
When you are tempted to get involved in some energy-draining, time-consuming opportunity that will only increase the distance between you and yours, stop and think of the unspoken message it will convey. Ask yourself hard questions like, "Could my time be better spent at home?" and "Won't there be similar opportunities in the years to come?" Then turn your attention to your boy or girl. Hold nothing back as you renew acquaintances.
Take it easy!
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Jesus’ Selflessness!
Messages From Heaven: Jesus’ Selflessness!: 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with Go...
Jesus’ Selflessness!
This passage is so rich; we only have space to examine one jewel. It’s the phrase, He “made himself nothing” (v.7a). Notice, Jesus “made Himself.” He didn’t get a memo. He wasn’t pushed out of heaven. He was fully engaged in God’s whole plan!
That phrase there, “made himself nothing,” is actually the basis for a lot of false teaching. Some translations rightly put it, “He emptied Himself.” Then the question becomes, emptied Himself of what? Some falsely suggest that Jesus emptied Himself of Deity and that He literally became a first-century Jewish man; that there was no God, just Jesus, the man. But the Bible teaches the Incarnation of Jesus, 100 percent God; 100 percent man, undiminished Deity dwelling in humanity.
You ask, “Well, what did He empty Himself of then?”
Answer, at least five things:
- He emptied Himself of glory. In John 17:5, Jesus prayed, “Glorify me...with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He gave up the adoration of the saints and angels when He came into this world.
- He emptied Himself of independent authority. In John 5:30, Jesus said, “I can do nothing on My own.” He brought Himself into a different relationship with the Father, where ALL of His activities and actions had to be cleared in that unusual way. Though equal with the Father, now uniquely submissive to Him.
- He released the voluntary exercise of His divine attributes. Compare John 1:43–51 with Matthew 24:36 to see how Jesus sometimes was omniscient and sometimes not.
- He gave up eternal riches. I just want you to try to imagine for a moment the treatment that the Son of God, the King of the universe, gets in heaven. Yet 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “...though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Richard Dawkins Exposes the Immorality of His Athe...
Messages From Heaven: Richard Dawkins Exposes the Immorality of His Athe...: Giving further ammunition to those who say that atheists cannot fully value all human life, Richard Dawkins has now stated that it would ...
Richard Dawkins Exposes the Immorality of His Atheism!
It was just last week that the British scientist exposed the irrationality of his atheism when he claimed that nice, nonviolent practitioners of religion served as enablers for religious terrorism.
He first noted that, "It's very important that we should not demonise ordinary, law-abiding, very decent Muslims, which of course is the vast majority in this country" (speaking of the U.K.).
But that was only the prelude to the punchline: "[However] there is a sense in which the moderate, nice religious people—nice Christians, nice Muslims—make the world safe for extremists."
How so? He opined that, "the moderates are so nice we all are brought up with the idea that there's something good about religion faith. That there's something good about bringing children up to have a faith."
And, since faith can't be defended rationally (according to Dawkins), then, "Once you teach people that that's a legitimate reason for believing something then you, as it were, give a licence to the extremists who say 'my belief is that I'm supposed to be a suicide bomber or I'm supposed to blow up buildings—it's my faith and you can't question that."
This is complete bunk, not to mention utterly irrational.
To give one example out of millions, let me tell you the story of my Indian friend P. Yesupadam.
Raised an untouchable, he rejected his father's Christian faith and his nation's Hindu faith.
Almost dying of malnutrition as a boy, he learned to hate the caste system and, at the age of 11, he became a Naxalite, a Maoist communist. Soon he was a committed atheist (in keeping with his Naxalite philosophy), an alcoholic, and a violent man, engaging in acts of terror against the rich.
Then, in his mid-20's, he had a vision of Jesus and has since given himself to serve the poor and needy of India (and other nations) for the last 40 years–-building orphanages, schools (from nursery school to junior college and nursing schools), feeding programs, homes for the elderly, training centers to teach trades to the handicapped, also bringing the message of the gospel to the tribal regions.
Of the many orphans and needy children his ministry has fed, clothed and educated over the last 25 years, some are now doctors in America, some nurses and school teachers in India, and others pastors and Christian leaders.
The accomplishments are truly staggering to the point that, when he turned 60 a couple of years ago, government leaders came to the celebration to commend him for his humanitarian work.
Following Prof. Dawkins' "logic," we would have to say that "nice Christians" like Yesupadam encourage people to strap on a suicide belt and blow themselves up, together with their innocent victims.
To repeat: This is complete bunk and a demonstration of the irrationality of Dawkins' atheism.
Now, to add insult to injury, Dawkins has exposed the immorality of his atheism, stating that if a woman knew she was carrying a baby with Down syndrome, she should "abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice."
This is not just bunk. It is utterly rancid.
Aside from his claims that the baby would feel no pain in being aborted (he's quite sure about that?), he is doing the very thing that theists claim atheism can lead to, namely, devaluing of human life based on a survival-of-the-fittest mentality.
Really now, if you can determine that some people are not worthy to live before they are even born, surely it's not that big a jump to determine that some people are not worthy to live after they have been born.
Perhaps the very elderly and the hopelessly infirm, especially if their lives could be terminated "mercifully"? Perhaps those who are incorrigibly violent? Perhaps those who are seriously mentally handicapped?
Why not? Or, more specifically, based on what criteria do we judge who is worthy to enter this world and who is worthy to live?
Writing on LifeSiteNews.com, Dustin Siggins points out that, "Although it is widely believed that people with Down syndrome are doomed to a life of suffering, in one large survey 99 percent of respondents with Down syndrome said they were 'happy.' At the same time, 99 percent percent of parents said they loved their child with Down syndrome, and 97 percent said they were proud of them." (The siblings of Down syndrome children expressed similar, overwhelmingly positive sentiments.)
It is becoming increasingly clear that Dawkins is something of an embarrassment, even to other atheists (although he is still revered by many). The only question that remains is this: Are his irrational and immoral positions unique to him, or are they the logical outcome of his Darwinian evolutionism?
Monday, August 25, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!!
Messages From Heaven: The Reassurance of His Coming!!: Paul had to write this urgent second letter to the Thessalonians because they were greatly distressed by false teaching they had been gi...
The Reassurance of His Coming!!
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he [the antichrist] may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
When you come to understand through the study of Scripture what the antichrist can and will do, you will praise God for the “Restrainer,” the Holy Spirit. The antichrist will be the devil incarnate. His intellectual genius will be great. His authority will be overpowering. His hatreds will be extraordinary. His techniques will be superb. Men will be willing to die for the antichrist. Women will swoon and faint at his feet. Little children will breathe his name with praise. He will come as a great world leader, part of Satan’s master plan, which is tied to Satan’s master man.
He will turn this world into a vast concentration camp with all of the inmates numbered. Everyone must receive a number to buy or sell. No sign, no sell. No mark, no merchandise. He will be evil wickedness distilled, all of the Hitlers, Napoleons, Stalins, and Saddam Husseins melded into one man.
By computer, all people still on earth at that time will be registered. And they will be regimented with no escape. The more machines act like men, the more men will act like machines, and they will do that during the great tribulation. There will be days of torture and terror for those remaining here.
Will they then repent? Paul continues,
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
People who do not receive the Lord Jesus Christ now in our day and age will believe the lies of the antichrist. Once the Restrainer is taken away, people will be sitting ducks for delusion. They will willingly believe a lie.
“How is that possible?” you ask. We see it everywhere today. People believe untruths about a vast array of subjects, from questioning the inerrancy of Scripture to denying biblical Creation, to life in the womb and God’s definition of marriage. People today even question that there is absolute truth. Mark Twain once observed, “A lie travels around the world while Truth is still putting its boots on.”
Delusion will prevail once the Holy Spirit is removed. When that happens, and the antichrist is revealed and has had his day, God will then dispatch him. Remember verse 8:
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
“The brightness of His coming” refers to the Battle of Armageddon. In some translations, “lawless one” is written “Wicked One”—capitalized. In the original text, the word has a masculine, singular ending. Antichrist is a person.
What does “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth” mean?
From the Lord’s perspective, the Battle of Armageddon is going to be fought with a word that comes from Jesus’ mouth. Do you know what that will be? “Drop dead.” Christ will consume him with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming. You need not be disturbed, you should not be deceived, and you will not be disappointed. Jesus Christ is coming again.
TWO ASPECTS OF THE SECOND COMING
The Second Coming is not so much a point of time as a series of events that take place.
First, He’s coming for His bride—that coming will be sweet and secret.
And now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him. 2 Thessalonians 2:1
Earlier Paul had told them, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which remain and are alive shall be caught up to meet them in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Next He is coming with His bride. He comes first at the Rapture to take His bride out. After the tribulation, verse 8 says He comes back in glory and power with His bride to rule and reign.
First He comes sweetly as a bridegroom. Then He comes sovereignly as a king in all His majesty. This is when King Jesus is going to destroy the antichrist.
Look at the difference between the first time Jesus came and His Second Coming.
- When Jesus came the first time, He suffered in shame. The second time, He will reign in glory.
- The first time, they crowned Him with thorns. The second time, He will wear a crown of glory.
- The first time, He came to die in the sinner’s place. The second time, He will execute judgment on the unsaved sinner.
- The first time, He came to seek and save those who were lost. The second time, He’s coming in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the Gospel.
- The first time, He came in the greatest humility, riding on a donkey. The second time, He’s coming in power and glory.
- The first time, He was rejected of men. The second time, every knee shall bow. Even the knee of every unbeliever will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- The first time, He was judged guilty and sentenced to die. The second time, He will be both Savior and Judge. “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son” John 5:22.
But I am a glowing optimist. We will not be disappointed. You can bank on it. Jesus Christ, who came the first time, is coming again. “That same Jesus,” the angel said, “which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him return to Heaven.”
What does this mean to us? The days in which we live are actually glorious days. We’re living in the beginning of the end. These are not days to let up, back up or shut up until we’re taken up. We need to press the battle right to the gates.
I want to go up as a growing Christian. I want to be a better Christian tomorrow than I am today. I want to love Jesus more this afternoon than I do this morning. I want to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The great apostle Paul at the end of his life said, “I’m reaching for the prize of the high calling of God” (Philippians 3:14). At the end of his life, he’s still climbing. He’s still moving up. We need to be moving one step higher.
HOW DO WE MOVE “ONE STEP HIGHER”?
Intercession
If Jesus Christ is coming, we ought to be praying for unsaved loved ones that don’t know Jesus. We ought to be getting as many ready for the Rapture as we can by winning souls to Jesus Christ.
Soul-Winning
Be telling people about Jesus. We need to be winning souls.
Preparation
Teach your children. Build Bible truth into your children. Become familiar with Bible prophecy yourself and then teach them. This world is becoming so vile, so wicked so fast, they must be prepared for what is coming on the earth.
Comfort
There is great comfort in knowing that this is not the end. What you see today is not all you can expect. This is not all there is. Jesus is coming to this world and this world is coming to Jesus.
Thank God we can say, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Messages From Heaven: The Truth Shall Set You Free!
Messages From Heaven: The Truth Shall Set You Free!: God’s will isn’t just for you to be saved. Jesus didn’t come just so you could go to heaven. Heaven is wonderful, of course, and it’s the...
The Truth Shall Set You Free!
So why are so many still slaves?
You may say, “Well, we don’t have any slavery in America, Pastor!” Yes, we do. Some of us are slaves to our work. You know the drill: Work is all that matters to you. Even your time off is spent “on,” thinking about work, worrying about work. That kind of attitude is often called workaholism, but it’s more than an addiction—it’s slavery. You’re a slave to making a living when you should be free to make a life.
Others are slaves to things: You not only have things, but things have you. Or perhaps you’re a slave to other people. You have an inordinate desire to please people. What others think about you, what others say about you, what the world expects from you—that’s your master. Then there’s the deep-seated sin of slavery to ourselves. Perhaps it’s a selfish habit. Or fleshly pleasures that are out of bounds and out of the will of God.
There are any number of things you can be enslaved to. But let me share an incredible truth with you: You can break free.
I believe one of the reasons the Bible is such a magnetic and powerful book is because it is a book of liberty. In the Word of God we have God’s own Emancipation Proclamation. The Word of God tells us how to be free. It promises liberty. And it delivers!
[Pull quote] In the Word of God we have God’s own Emancipation Proclamation. The Word of God tells us how to be free. It promises liberty. And it delivers!
“But,” you ask, “why do we still sin? Why do believers break God’s laws?” I have a simple, homespun theory about that: We do what we want to do. Christians who want to sin choose to sin. And so often believers do it with their eyes wide open and minds made up, continuing to live under the power of sin in their lives. They are voluntary slaves!
Yet, in Jesus Christ that is never, ever the way to live. You have been emancipated and that is a fact! And in Romans 6, Paul points out our path toward freedom…
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness (Romans 6:11-13).
You are no longer in Christ a helpless victim constantly terrorized and victimized by evil. You are now a victor! Jesus Himself said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” and promises, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32; 36).
That is sweet release—true emancipation from slavery—whatever it is, however it binds you. You are free, my friend! “Praise God,” as the old hymn goes, “from whom all blessings flow!”
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Big Prayers—Big Peace!!
Messages From Heaven: Big Prayers—Big Peace!!: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...
Big Prayers—Big Peace!!
Throughout the day we need little arrow prayers—quick prayers in the car, in the office, in the kitchen. When we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), this connects us to the Lord in sweet communion. But these quick-fire prayers, though important, don’t yield the deepest peace.
Nor does ritual praying. Mindless repetition is unbiblical and won’t bring you peace. Little prayers yield little peace. Big prayers yield big peace.
If you want peace, you must pray biblically. Here’s a practical checklist: fervent prayer, by yourself, out loud, kneeling down, with a list. If you pray like that for five or ten minutes, a river of peace will rush down the parched canyon of your anxiety. Peace is coming like a flood to a person praying fervently to the Lord.
The enemy of your peace is anxiety. And if you are living crippled by anxiety, that suggests your prayer life could use some focused improvement. Review the past month of your life. Have you been fretting over some things? Fearful? Anxious? Worried? No doubt, those feelings increased as you moved further and further from your last, fervent prayer time with God.
On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your prayerfulness over the past month? A score of ten means you are rocking your world several times per day with faith-filled, awesome prayer. Zero means . . . zero. A prayer vacuum in your life. Perhaps you can’t even recall the last time you knelt down and prayed out loud fervently with a list.
On the same scale of one to ten, rate your anxiety level. Zero means you are calm. Nothing deeply divides you. Though bad things happen to you, they don’t rob you of peace. Ten equates to frequently freaking out, crippled by dividing cares, no peace.
Now notice the correlation. The lower your score in prayer—the higher your score in anxiety. The higher your score in prayer—the lower your score in anxiety. Where fervent prayer abounds, peace abounds.
If you want to lower your score in anxiety, the solution is to raise your score in prayer. This isn’t a mystery. It’s not a function of personality, as if some people are natural pray-ers and others missed out on that gene. Philippians 4:6 clearly links anxiety and prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” When anxiety goes up, up, up, you must pray it back down. Go back and review what you know to be true about God and His faithfulness.
One particular component of peace-producing, anxiety-destroying prayer is absolutely essential: we must pray with thanksgiving. At the root of human depravity is ungratefulness (Romans 1:21).
Thanksgiving will transform your prayers. When you go in a room by yourself, shut the door, pray out loud fervently with a list, and begin to thank God, you recall . . .
- who He is.
- all He has done in your life.
- the ways you have seen Him provide.
- His personal, intimate care for you.
It’s a holy exchange in prayer—anxiety for peace. Available for you today.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Thankfulness!
Messages From Heaven: Thankfulness!: Being thankful to God is the essence of worship. To be specific and thoughtful about our gratitude is not only well-received by the Godhe...
Thankfulness!
Thankfulness should not be just for those times that are going well, but should be our attitude regardless of our present pains or disappointments. The Bible assumes that if we are recipients of his grace and mercy, we have a lot to sing about as Psalm 96 would indicate. This Psalm calls us to "Sing to the Lord" (Psalm 96:1a). And the focus should not only be historical (i.e. what God did for us in years past), but our attention should also be on God's merciful involvement that is observed to be "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). That is why the psalmist calls us to sing to him "a new song" (Psalm 96:1b). The "newness" in view is not the modernity of the melody (necessarily), but it clearly has to do with the recent awareness of God's "marvelous deeds" and manifestations of his "glory" among his people and in our lives (Psalm 96:3). We could consume all of our time and attention focusing on the difficulties of the Christian life, but the Bible says that would be a mistake. Because God "is great" and "most worthy of praise" (Psalm 96:4), there are many good and awesome things of which we should take note, and then, in obedience to God's word, we must turn our hearts and our voices to him in joyful song. Psalm 96 ends as we might expect, looking forward to the day when God makes everything right (Psalm 96:13), but in the meantime we should never fail to find the "right" that he is doing right now and celebrate it with glad and sincere hearts.
While pain hurts, and few of us would choose it if we had a choice, God often chooses it for us, so we can experience his strong deliverance and learn to praise him more perfectly. Consider Psalm 102 (a psalm with a preface that reads "the prayer of an afflicted man") where we discover that amid the psalmist's pain he has learned to recognize God's providential rescue. More than that, he is resolved to utilize God's answer to his prayers as a springboard for liberal amounts of thanksgiving and celebration. He even directs it to be written down and memorialized so that others can join with him in worshipping God for his gracious relief. So when your stormy trial encounters those respites of peace and calm, let us follow this inspired example and share our incremental victories so that together many can rejoice in the deliverance that God is providing!
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Messages From Heaven: Something God Can't Do!
Messages From Heaven: Something God Can't Do!: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it wi...
Something God Can't Do!
While it may seem strange to think there is something God cannot do, Hebrews reminds us “it is impossible for God to lie.” God is truth. He is the standard of truth, and everything about Him is truth. It’s not simply hard for God to lie—that would be an issue of validity. It’s not unlikely that God would lie—that would be a matter of probability. It is impossible for God to lie—that’s an aspect of His inviolable attributes, something God cannot and therefore will not do.
Why do people lie? After a mistake, we may cover our tracks. In a pinch, we may omit damaging details. We may present ourselves or our situation far differently than reality—because that's what we want to be true. Not God. Even if God could lie, He would have no motivation. He can gain nothing by lying. Everything He wants to happen, happens. Every word He says is true. He’s afraid of nothing, and He’s right about everything. He doesn't forget anything. Nothing about Him ever changes. He is the Rock—He’s God!
Because He never lies, when God says something, you can be sure He’ll do it. So when He calls us “heirs of the promise,” He wants us to be convinced of His faithfulness.
When God fulfilled His promise to Abraham, He made room for you there, too. Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” So if by faith you have trusted in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life, you’re in on the promises God has made. Note how the writer of Hebrews confirmed our part in God’s promises by highlighting “the unchangeable character of his purpose.” While we may waver and wander, God is always on task and on track. Both His promises and His character will never change.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Satan, the ultimate antithesis of God. While God is the best truth-teller, Satan is the worst liar. John 8:44 says, “[Satan] is a liar and the father of lies.” He cannot tell the truth. Satan will never even mention the truth to you unless it is twisted by a deceptive lie. That was the tactic he used with Jesus when they met in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). The devil quoted Scripture to Jesus, but only to twist it for his manipulative purposes.
You can’t count on anything Satan tells you, no matter how loudly he shouts. But you can rest the full weight of your life on God and His Word.
What does it look like to stake your hope and confidence on God’s unwavering promises? One promise for you is “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Another is that “though the earth gives way,” God will be your “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1–2). Yet another that can steady your soul is knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Scripture is filled with promises that “Abraham’s offspring”—those who’ve received Jesus’ gift of salvation—can take to the bank.
One thing God cannot do is lie, and He is keeping every word He has spoken, right now. Let His unbreakable promises be your hope. Rest in the absolute reliability that “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”
Journal
- List some of the promises God is keeping right now. Which are the most precious to you?
- Why is it important that God cannot lie? What are some lies Satan may be trying to spin to you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)