Deeply Disturbing

When God created the world he created mankind in his own image, male and female he created them.

God created them male and female (Genesis 1:27).

With this blog we have discussed many topics. The headline we are looking at today is deeply disturbing.

In 2 Corinthians 7, the Apostle Paul speaks about certain “promises” which we have from God.  Those “promises” are recorded in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 …

“I will live with them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,  and they will be my people.”

17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

18 And,

“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty”

These are the “promises” Paul is referring to when he says in 2 Corinthians 7:1

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (NIV)

The New American Standard Bible reads;  “let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

  • Purify, Cleanse

From all

  • Contaminate, Defilement

The human appetite easily leads to contamination and defilement.
The goal is to perfect holiness which means to pursue holiness.
Holiness is separation from all that defiles the physical body and the mind.

I refer to this passage in 2 Corinthians because there are some bills in various stages of passing or not passing in several states and the mere fact that these bills are even being considered is deeply concerning.

In California it is AB 1266.
In New York it was S2406.
In Massachusetts it was HB 1728.
In Arizona it is SB 1045.
In Maine it was 1046.

WHAT are all these bills?

They are called the “Bathroom Bills”
What is a bathroom bill?

What they propose is that anyone who is transgender has a right to use whatever bathroom, locker room, changing area that they want too.
These bills basically say that there is no such thing as gender.

  • Public restrooms
  • High school locker rooms
  • Health clubs
  • Even dorm rooms

All would be accessible by anyone.

Any man could legally gain access to facilities reserved for women and girls simply by indicating, verbally or non-verbally, that he inwardly feels female at the moment.

American Psychological Association says there is no way to distinguish between someone suffering from “Gender Identity Disorder” and a sexual predator.

This means that high school sports teams can have any gender play on them.
A girl can play on a boy’s baseball team. That’s fine.
It also means boys could play on girl’s tennis teams or swim teams.
Which ALSO means coaches would then be required to allow that male individual to change in the female locker room.

In Washington State, parents became upset (as were the female athletes) when they heard that a male was naked in a sauna in the girl’s locker room. Because of state law, school officials could do nothing about it.

Massachusetts Family Institute says that:

  • HB 1728 says that “school children would be taught that they can change their gender.
  • This means that women only fitness facilities would now be open to anyone.

“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
 

HOW FAR REMOVED is our culture from the heart of God?????

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Filed under Christian Living, Disobedience, Family

Follow Who?


We live in a world that is on edge in 2 extremely important areas of everyday life. Financially our economy could cause great pain at any given moment. Just this week it was reported that more Americans are already living in poverty now than in the past 50 years. 50 million Americans are living in poverty. That about 1 out of every 6 people (United States of America – population- 311,591,917 (2011)

It was also recently reported that when Obamacare kicks in in 2014 that many health insurance policies will increase dramatically. Thousands of Dr.’s are threatening to retire or get out of medicine.

As of right now the mortgage debt relief act is set to expire in December 2013. The farm bill which sets the price of milk and dairy is also set to expire in December 2013. Both bills were to expire at the end of December 2012 but they both were extended for one year.  Could these bills be extended once again? Yes. However after one extension it is more likely that they will expire at the end of 2013, which sets up a chaotic 2014.

Let’s look at what could happen at the end of the year.

  • Your insurance premiums could go up about 30-40% and your medical care may decrease
  • The cost of milk could be $5-7 a gallon as well as cheese and other dairy products
  • If you short sell your house whatever debt relief you receive would become income and would become taxable. So if you have $100,000 worth of debt relief in a short sale, and if you are just in the 15% tax bracket, that means you will have a $15,000 tax bill after short selling your home. (This will lead to far fewer short-sales and MANY more foreclosures)

The 2nd area of everyday life that is extremely fragile is what is happening in the Middle East and in North Korea.

Syria- Iran – Israel – Hezbollah – Hamas – Egypt (Psalm 83 Nations) and now North Korea – China and Russia.

A fuse could be lit in any one of these nations and IF that fuse is lit it will affect people and economies around the world.

Here’s what has been bothering me for a while now. MOST people either are not aware of the financial condition of our country or the real threat of war and its affects or they have been aware and because something hasn’t happened yet, they are becoming more and more apathetic. In a time when Christians should be on the leading edge of being prepared to help people and to speak truth to them, it seems that again the church’s focus has drifted.

I am amazed at how many people who say they are Christians listen to and follow people whose voices have no connection to the Lord at all.

For some reason we want to know what celebritiesthink. Just because God has given them an amazing talent for singing or for sports or for acting – we listen to what they think about some pretty important issues in life. Issues that one has to ask “where is the source of this thinking?” If the source of their opinion is not from God WHY should it be followed?

In the day in which we live – WHOSE voice should we be seeking?

The word “mentor” is defined as “a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.” Scripture gives us numerous examples of mentoring.

  • The mentoring relationship between Eli and Samuel prepared Samuel for the tasks and responsibilities that were his after Eli’s death (1 Samuel 1–4).
  • Both Barnabas and Paul excelled in mentoring (Acts 9–15).
  • And obviously Jesus mentored His disciples (Luke 9)

Jesus made His style of mentoring clear: He led so that we can follow. He said, “If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Mentoring is a process dependent upon submission to Christ.
The mentor serves as a model and a trusted listener.
The mentor relies on the Holy Spirit to provide insight, to lead and teach.

The apostle Paul’s leadership model is found in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ” In Philippines 4:9 Paul explains, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice”.

If mentors expect others to follow their example, they must be committed to following Christ. 1 Peter 5:3, Peter commands church leaders to, “Be examples to the flock”. In Acts 20:17, Paul explains to the elders at Ephesus, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you”. In other words, Paul is telling the elders, “I showed you, now you show them.”

We live in a day where we need to be extremely careful what voice we listen to.

Many people have a lot of great questions, few people have great answers!

The question we all must answer is – WHO are you going to listen to and WHO are you going to follow?

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Filed under Christian Living, Church, Food, Government, Leadership, Middle East, Preparation