VIDEO The End Times “Gloom and Doom” Filthy Hippies!

April 9, 2019 By  Bradlee Dean

 

“Today’s Church wants to be raptured from responsibility.” -Leonard Ravenhill

Have you ever noticed that the age demographic of those who promulgate the “end time” message are, for the most part, a bunch of “free love” hippies from the 1960s and 70s who have lost hope in God, love for man (1 John 5:2) and love for their country?

Look at what their messages are and you will understand what I am explaining here. They are believers that just do not believe.

These hippies are continuously magnifying, through their lack of love (Matthew 24:12) though they talk much of it (Matthew 15:8), fear; a fear of the consequences of their dereliction of duty (1 John 2:4) in reaping the curse (Leviticus 26:14), a fear of man which paralyzes and, in the end, a snare (Proverbs 29:25).  In fact, it is a fear in which the Lord did not give (1 Timothy 1:7).

Trending: When a Homosexual Episcopalian Calls Trump’s Christianity ‘Hypocritical’

They continuously magnify lawlessness (Proverbs 28:4), magnify crimes against God and man, which merely exposes their hate and rebellion toward God and man presenting a message to the people that is a blatant failure to love God enough to actually obey Him (John 14:21).

Remember, it is the church’s obligation to deal with the wicked (Psalm 94:16) in keeping His commandments unto judgment in establishing peace (Deuteronomy 4:6; Isaiah 51:4) because they love.

These hippies have learned well from the world and the mainstream media in submitting to the wicked.  This is the world of which they have been commanded to come out (2 Corinthians 6:17).

These are also the same group of hippies that have convinced many in America to separate God’s law from His love, when love is the fulfilling of that law.

“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10; Leviticus 19:17

These same hippies have also attempted to abrogate that which Jesus did not come to abrogate but to explain!

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” -Matthew 5:17-18

They want to create, out of thin air, terms like “legalism” and “legalistic,” As if to suggest that when you obey God’s government that is somehow legalistic.  This mentality is brought to you exclusively by the hippies (Antinomians with no regard for law) that are responsible for the anarchy which you see today in America.

On a Personal note, I obey because I see what Christ did for me on Calvary (John 3:16) in covering my sins through His blood (Revelation 1:5) in living for Him who died for me (2 Corinthians 5:15).

What did He magnify in His incarnate life? The Law (Exodus 20), which drove me to the foot of the cross to meet my Savior from my sins (Matthew 1:21; John 16:8; Acts 20:21).

Jesus magnified the law of God.  Just look to the Scriptures. 

^“The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” -Isaiah 42:21

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” -Psalm 40:7-8

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” -Hebrews 8:10

Jesus clearly came to establish the law through faith.   

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” -Romans 3:31

After all, the law is the schoolmaster to bring men unto Christ (Galatians 3:24).

“The Law detects, grace alone conquers.” -Augustine

Scripture also warns of those who speak not accordingly.

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” -Isaiah 8:20

“Scripture is also clear that “Faith worketh by love.” -Galatians 5:6

Let me ask you, is it then love to withhold the faith which brings about the works? No, it’s just the opposite.

“ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does It profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  Somehow or another these hippies seem to overlook the scriptures that clearly expose their hypocrisies (Matthew 16:6) and inactions (James 2:14-17, 26).

“For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;” -Psalm 78:5-10

However, the hippies of today gather in the thousands and have become nothing short of a bunch of fear-mongering cowards (1 Timothy 1:7; Revelation 21:8) that capitulate and continue to spread nothing but what’s in their reprobate hearts, and that message is “gloom and doom.” How contrary to that of Scripture and the examples set forth?

Then again:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” -2 Timothy 4:3-4

They can only give what they have received, and what they have received is what they have to offer- and what is that? Hopelessness! It shows you what these hippies are feeding upon. It is the blind leading the blind, and it is why they are leading their followers, who should be following Jesus (John 14:6), into the ditch (Matthew 15:14).

These are the same unrepentant hippies (2 Corinthians 7:10) hippies that are fueling fear, which only oppresses the up and coming generations, in which they have, in so many ways, forsaken decades ago, twice as much the sons and daughters of hell (Matthew 23:15), just like themselves (Psalm 9:17).

These hippies do not preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23-30).  They preach “Get ready fearful flock, Jesus is coming back soon, come buy your new bunker from me.”

Gloom and doom, gloom and doom is what they proclaim, failing to lift a finger in obedience to the Lord or to help of their own posterity. How contrary to Scripture!

These hippies then wonder why they are a reproach, why they are despised by the younger generations and others that see through their facade of heretical teachings  Let me tell you why that is.  They have been subjected to everything and protected from nothing and these people do nothing but offer an unsettling fear (1 John 3:18).

Friends, these hippies are dead in their sins (1 Corinthians 15:17), they preach a false grace that is pushed as an occasion for the flesh to succumb rather than an empowerment that overcomes (Romans 8:37; 1 John 4:4, 5:4).

Remember,

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” -Romans 5:20

They know not the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ.  They know death not life, and they desire all that listen to their messages to embrace the same (Matthew 23:27).

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” -1 John 5:12

Where do you see or hear these hippies living in union with Christ (Romans 8:17), boldly proclaiming in power “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you”? (Luke 10:19)

When speaking of the revelation given unto the Church, Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Scripture tells us in 1 John 2:6,

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

Well then, what did Jesus do? He said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).

In following Christ, what is it that we see the Christ doing? Occupying! The Church is to emulate what Christ did and is doing today (1 John 4:17)!

Jesus said “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13).

It was Jesus that said, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).

It was Jesus that said “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 19-20).

I cannot find Jesus telling His followers to sit down and do nothing, that God is on His throne and He will do for them what they are unwilling to do for themselves, nowhere!

Furthermore, the Church is not to limit the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78:41)!

But I do find promises to those who disobey the Lord.

 “And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.” -Deuteronomy 28:63

And the reason why…

“I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you;” -Leviticus 26:13-16

These are the same people, in their unregenerate state, who look for another opportunity to capitalize on those who are foolish enough to listen to their heretical and unscriptural theology of eschatology.

Of course, they cannot pass by the opportunity as to why they should write a book every year highlighting when Jesus may be coming back.  They want to tell what Jesus Himself said that He did not know (Matthew 24:36).

Yet, these are the same “do nothing” hippies who are trying to convince you that you are going to be raptured from responsibility.  You can’t find that in the Bible either.

The good news is that you can find NO WHERE in Scripture where the Lord EVER failed a faithful man or a faithful woman of God, NO WHERE (1 Kings 8:56).

Finally, can you imagine our forefathers back in the 1700s saying, “This is it. It is all over with. Jesus is coming back to get us out of here”?

No, our forefathers, along with the Black Robed Regiment, 13 colonies and with less than 3% of the population, responded to God’s commandments. They took heed unto the Lord and He bestowed upon them the victory throughout the War for Independence. Remember our national motto, “No King but King Jesus” with the flags flying, “Appeal to Heaven.”

They saw their responsibilities and answered the call.

America, when we call upon the God of our fathers even now, in Jesus’ name, He will answer. Yet, we must all meet Him on His terms (Jeremiah 29:11-13). Our forefathers did not lay down, they stood up and played the men that God created them to be. They fought the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) and secured their posterity’s future. They did not fall to circumstance, they sought the Lord, He heard, answered, and set the record straight that He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).

The Lord showed Himself strong on their behalf. With this, our forefathers pledged the high cost of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, and paid with their blood to redeem us (in the natural-1 Corinthians 2:14) through their sacrifice (John 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18) and yet, we call them blessed.

The second President of the United States John Adams said, “Posterity, You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve its freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

The way in which we express our gratitude to those who gave so much is to honor them with our actions in living for what they died to give us (2 Corinthians 3:17).

^“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” -Jeremiah 33:14-16

Article posted with permission from Sons Of Liberty Media

https://barbwire.com/the-end-times-gloom-and-doom-filthy-hippies/

“Hollywood’s god is not the God of the Bible”

April  7, 2019 By  Shane Idleman

 

Alyssa Milano recently used Scripture to justify her support of abortion. On April 1st, she tweeted “I love God. I believe in God. But I don’t believe my personal beliefs of which we can’t confirm should override scientific facts and what we can confirm.” She included a quote from the book of John:

“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12).”

Unfortunately, misrepresentation of the Bible is common among the media and other groups who want to conform scripture to support opinions, when, in fact, moral values are designed to conform to scriptural truths. Personal opinions vary—truth does not. Watch these two short clips from Fox News this week when I discussed this topic: Abortion, God, and Hollywood and Were we Ever Really a Christian Nation?

Our culture’s false perception of God as a cosmic ball of love, or a doting grandfather desperately needs to be challenged. Unfortunately, difficult truths are often compromised, watered-down, or avoided altogether in the hope of “not offending.” As a result, the church is a mile wide but only an inch deep; judgment is never mentioned, repentance is never sought, sin is often excused, and lives are not radically changed. This leaves people confused and deceived because they believe in a crossless Christianity that bears no resemblance to Jesus’ sobering call to repentance. When we fail to proclaim God’s word faithfully, we run the risk of “encouraging sin” and “perverting the words of the living God” (cf. Jeremiah 23).

 

“To convince the world of the truth of Christianity, it must first be convinced of sin. It is only sin that renders Christ intelligible” (Andrew Murray; 1828-1917).

In other words, Christ’s shed blood on the cross only makes sense in light of the consequences of sin.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I Timothy 1:15).

Yet, many do not want to mention sin, repentance, or judgment because it’s not popular or marketable. They fail to realize that the good news about Christ can only understood with the bad news as the backdrop.

Romans 6:23 says:

“For the wages of sin is death…”.

This verse is not popular in many churches, nor is it preached from many pulpits. Telling others that the punishment for sin is eternal death (separation from God) is not pleasant, marketable, or palatable, but it is powerful:

“It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16).

But be encouraged! Romans 6:23 doesn’t end there. It adds:

“…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This is how people are truly saved, delivered, and set free from the bondage of sin and death.

We hear a great deal about God’s judgment and what can keep us from heaven, and rightly so, because “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). But we also need to reflect on God’s goodness, love, mercy, and grace. The important question to ask is what is the condition of your heart . . . has true repentance and a belief in Christ as Lord and Savior taken place?

Jesus healed my brokenness and restored my life, and He can do the same for you. If you take only one thing from this article I hope that it is this: There is a deep longing inside all of us that cannot be satisfied until we recognize our need for a Savior, repent of our sin, and turn to Him. Though the road ahead may be uncertain at times, the solid ground beneath will never shift. It’s not about religion but a relationship – it’s all about Who you know.

https://barbwire.com/pastor-tells-fox-news-hollywoods-god-is-not-the-god-of-the-bible/

Unshackled

April 7, 2019 By  Timothy Buchanan

 

Just when it seemed as if the world was spinning out of control and that the crazy and confused culture of subjective reality was about to prevail in the United States, it all began to collapse.  We have witnessed a repeat performance an ancient drama that has been played out again and again on the stages of human history. The tyranny of wickedness cannot triumph indefinitely.

The fatal flaw of all sinister ideologies and false religions—from mythology to Islam and from liberalism and socialism to communism—is that leaders become so obsessed with gaining power and control that they overplay their hands until righteous people, burdened by their shackles, finally cast them off.

The last gasps of the Obama administration were silenced with the release of Robert Mueller’s report concluding the Democrat-concocted Russia probe. New battles are now being waged in statehouses across the Midwest and South against infanticide. Now, humane restrictions on abortion and regulations ending taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood are being passed in one state after another. Court challenges are assured, but the brutality of abortion is finally being exposed and confronted.

In order to guard against a resurgence of liberalism, it’s important to recognize how American culture became so corrupt. Public schools and universities, along with Hollywood leftists and dishonest media have certainly been the prime movers, but widespread ignorance and apathy helped to pave the way.

One fundamental mistake is made repeatedly by many Americans, even some professing Christians. We foolishly confuse liberalism with compassion and kindness instead of seeing it for what it really is—the promotion of sin leading to misery and death. Once challenged and questioned, liberals invariably reveal themselves for what they are.

Teens and young adults raised in turbulent homes are inherently prone to cast off all restraint and adopt some or all liberal ideals. But unless they establish careers with the Public Broadcasting System, an animal rights non-profit corporation or some other self-affirming organization, life in the real world quickly demonstrates the lie that liberalism can lead to a blissful existence and personal fulfillment free from turmoil.

The most common means of influence used by progressives are deceit, distortion, division and destruction. Deceit and distortion are common tools of our news media. Perhaps the most direct methods of presenting false information is the use of euphemisms and our culture is saturated with it. Abortion is repackaged as reproductive freedom and women’s healthcare, perversity is framed as sexual orientation and illegal immigrants are called undocumented workers, migrants or refugees.

News media also hide relevant facts about crime in our neighborhoods, especially those committed by illegal aliens. Self-styled national and local journalists habitually neglect to reveal the immigration status of drunk drivers and sex-offenders when there may be clear cause to question it. Neither will media outlets divulge the sexual orientation of an assailant or victim when the one’s lifestyle may be a factor in a crime.

Predictably, media networks are duplicitous in their distortion. If a violent crime can possibly be considered a hate crime, the label will invariably be implied if it is revealed that the victim is gay, lesbian, a racial minority or some other preferred class.

Progressives are behind most all conflict and contention in the United States today. Democrats in Washington and the media gleefully instigate division between races, religions, the two genders and economic classes routinely exaggerating inequality, with no regard to contextual circumstances. In doing so, they present themselves as guardians of fairness while shielding themselves from scrutiny and personal accountability.

Under the auspices of breaking down barriers, liberals undermine the very foundations of righteous government and cultural wholesomeness surreptitiously using their positions to benefit themselves. Barriers protect the good and the innocent and impede the infiltration of evil. And even the most vociferous Democrat opponents of a wall along the Mexican border rest securely behind austere walls and steel fences for protection.

Americans are by nature, tolerant of different cultures and perspectives, even those which are fundamentally dangerous and destructive. But there must be a healthy limit to tolerance. There simply is no virtue or sanity in tolerance of vice, crime, corruption or terrorism, as intelligent thinking people readily acknowledge.

One principle of human nature is now working to reverse decades of deceit, division, death and destruction perpetrated by insidious liberal Democrats. Once someone comes to see and know the truth, he cannot un-know it. Radical liberal extremism is being expressed from one end of the United States to another. President Trump has helped to pull back the curtain behind which the  dark motivation of liberals has been hiding. At last, ordinary people are discovering numerous other destructive schemes within our culture and shouting them from the rooftops.

A pastor friend once told me:

“Outside of the protection of God, there is no absolute security.”

Evil makes empty promises, but delivers only death and destruction. By this we know the source and character of liberalism and other forms of tyranny. The only effective antidote to the deceit, division and destruction of human ideologies and the sole cure for death is truth.

For those who may ask, “Where is truth?” It’s right where it has always been—in the infallible Word of God. Wise men and women seek Him and henceforth they are unshackled.

https://barbwire.com/unshackled/

Abortion: A Deadly Battle for America’s Soul

God affirmed through the Founders that He endowed us with the “right to life.” He has never endowed us with rights to murder, truly a “right” human beings claimed for themselves

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April 9, 2019 By Dennis Jamison

 

Immediately at the beginning of 2019, the newly elected Democrats of 2018 took control of the House of Representatives and made known their determination to make funding for abortion a priority in 2019. The Democrat-controlled House immediately passed legislation to that indicated intent to directly support abortions worldwide, as well as the repeal of the Mexico City Policy, which is a U.S. government policy blocking citizens’ funding for non-governmental organizations providing abortion counseling, referrals, efforts to decriminalize abortion, or increase abortions.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Following the lead of the Democrats in the federal government, various states across the nation took up the battle. New York led the way.  On the 46th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, Governor Cuomo signed the abortion bill that permits abortions up to nine months, provides no stipulation that abortionists be doctors, and offers no protection for babies born alive. The new law also removed abortion from the NY penal code. Essentially, this bill legalizes infanticide!

Right now in America, there is a serious battle raging over the killing of babies by abortionists,  not even doctors, and abortion mills like Planned Parenthood. Jason Yates, currently CEO of My Faith Votes, issued a statement in the wake of the 2018 elections as conservatives and Christians were trying to put a positive spin on losing the Republican-controlled House:

…it is clear the radical Left is flexing its muscles and pushing an anti-life agenda. Conservatives across the country are painfully aware that elections have consequences. More than that, potentially thousands of unborn children are facing an increased threat to their lives. Christians must lobby their representatives, regardless of party, and urge them to protect life and refuse to fund Planned Parenthood or any group advocating abortion.

By late February, the United States Senate rejected legislation introduced by Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska that would have protected the lives of babies born. Yet in the crosshairs of immoral abortionists. U.S. Senators’ rejection of “The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (Senate bill S.311) is indeed a political action. It is an abomination upon this nation. Gov. Mike Huckabee, currently the Honorary Chairman of My Faith Votes, responded by stating that:

Ignorance, or pretense of ignorance, is not an excuse for the moral decline or rapid breakdown of our culture

It’s clear, our moral compass as a nation is severely damaged. It’s bad enough that states like Vermont and Illinois are following the lead of New York by introducing bills that would permit abortion up until birth, and now we are killing babies OUTSIDE the womb.

The only remedy for our nation is for Christians to boldly rise up and take action.

There is a movement in our country that is spreading like cancer and it seeks to destroy biblical values.

This is why we MUST mobilize 90-million Christians now to stand for life! We cannot wait.

Right at the beginning of the 21st century, the United States of America is facing a challenge to the heart of our culture, to the core of our existence as a free Republic. By the words of our own founding documents we are being judged in this incredible time. It matters not whether good people are aware of that challenge or plead innocence due to ignorance. Ignorance, or pretense of ignorance, is not an excuse for the moral decline or rapid breakdown of our culture. However, this breakdown is not only due to indifference, or to fear, it is clear there are people who attempt to do all they are capable of to destroy the foundation of morality in our nation. Gov. Huckabee is correct in pointing out the movement in America that is spreading like a cancer, seeking to destroy the biblical values that are at the foundation of America’s existence.

Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer

Yet, good people all across America are boldly rising up, and My Faith Votes is instrumental in the awakening and the arising of people of conscience. The recent release of the movie Unplanned is an example of truth exposing the deceit and inhumanity of abortion. Based on the book from Abby Johnson, who was a former Planned Parenthood clinic director, the movie puts pictures to the thousands of words that could be shared to help people understand the inhumanity, and evil aspects, of abortion. Another recent movie about the abortionist Kermit Gosnell was released in October of last year: Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer. The abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who were born alive and multiple counts of illegal late-term abortions. That movie was also based upon the non-fiction account of an abortionist and is stranger than fiction.

If Americans have not seen either movie, they should because citizens need to be aware of the realities of abortion. Such movies strike strong blows for truth against the power of the abortionist lies and propaganda and the pro-murder monster that has perpetrated the concept that mothers murdering their own children is humane. While “Progressive” propagandists seem to have worked overtime in convincing the American people that the life growing inside a mother’s womb is not fully human, light is shining upon the truth, and citizens who truly care are taking action. Featured in the movie, Unplanned, is a Pro-Life organization called 40 Days for Life, which is very active in the fight against abortion in our time. Another campus-based group is called Students for Life that grew from the foundation of previous organizations, but since 2005, has stood on its own with a full-time commitment to fight for life at colleges and universities.

Both of these organizations are truly dedicated to helping to educate the public about the realities of abortion, as well as advocating for the eradication of abortion in our time. 40 Days for Life is now considered the “largest internationally coordinated pro-life mobilization in history, helping local communities end the injustice of abortion.” 40 Days for Life started in 2004 in Bryan/College Station, Texas, by David Bereit. As of 2014, The organization had reported that there are official affiliate groups active in 25 countries around the world. Students for Life claims to be “the only national pro-life organization dedicated to training and equipping college, high school, middle, med, and law students.” They are directly fighting Planned Parenthood on the college campuses where the abortion activists target the young people with their propaganda, but also target them as potential business prospects.

America is being judged by the words of our own founding documents

Both of these groups take bold action, and local grassroots groups can be very important in taking action in rapidly changing situations. The organizations that are successful in taking action, usually rise to the public’s attention. Definitely, both of these pro-Life groups have risen to the public’s attention because they set an example of how the Christian community can respond to the evils of murdering babies in America. Also, through the recent movies, Unplanned, and Gosnell, the horrors and the tragedy of abortion are being exposed. Through such measures, the appeal to mobilize 90-million Christians to stand up and take action may “go viral”.

Well over 200 years ago, brave and brilliant men united together to take a bold stand against the tyrannical forms of government to formulate a new nation. As Abraham Lincoln stated, “a nation conceived in Liberty”. The Founding Fathers boldly affirmed self-evident truths endowed to humanity from our Creator certain unalienable rights: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This is the Manifesto for Freedom that our Founders were willing to give their lives to defend, to hold onto such truths. America and American citizens are being tested on whether we truly believe in these truths. Certainly, the Democrat leadership has taken a stand to demonstrate that these rights are no longer sacred, they can be given or taken by governments of men as they defend taking human life a legal act.

God affirmed through the Founders that He endowed us with the “right to life.” He has never endowed us with rights to murder, truly a “right” human beings claimed for themselves. America is being judged by the words of our own founding documents. The nation’s continued existence into this new century may very well be tied to how citizens look upon and defend the continued existence of the tiny children growing inside mother’s wombs.

https://canadafreepress.com/article/abortion-a-deadly-battle-for-americas-soul

VIDEO America’s Anti-Religious Bigotry – Why Christians Are Losing Their Country

AMERICA’S ANTI-RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY

Exclusive: Jason & David Benham blast ultimate goal of leftist

April 7, 2019

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

We’ve seen that to be true, which is why USA Today’s recent story grabbed our attention last week: “So Yale Law School endorses anti-religious bigotry now?”

Oh boy – what now?!

The story basically describes the digressive nature of the progressive movement’s goal to silence freedom of speech and slay freedom of religion. That’s why the ceiling consistently becomes the floor with these folks. First they want acceptance of their ideas, then appreciation, then celebration, then participation – and if you choose not to join the revolution, they’ll marginalize you, demonize you, and eventually criminalize you if they can (wow, that was a mouthful).

Because you can’t have free speech and free religion if you want to destroy American values, you need government coercion; and to get that, you need a crop of future leaders fully indoctrinated to hate freedom of speech and religion (well, at least freedom of speech and religion that’s different from theirs).

The article reported the Yale Federalist Society scheduled an event in February with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a premier legal organization with nine Supreme Court wins in the last seven years. But before the event took place, over 20 campus organizations condemned the group as “homophobic and hateful” because it has defended religious freedom – and won – on multiple occasions. Their most recent victory included the Colorado cake baker.

And, like a set of perfectly aligned dominoes, the dean of the school fell directly into line with the protestors. By late March, the school had adopted new policies that went even further than the protestor’s demands. Samuel Adkisson, himself a Yale grad, summed it up like this:

Under the guise of nondiscrimination, Yale Law School has announced it will blatantly discriminate. A student is barred from aid if she works at a synagogue that gives preference to Jewish applicants, but not if she works at an organization that peddles anti-Semitism yet hires all comers. A graduate is blocked from funding if she works for the Christian Legal Society, but not if she works for the Freedom from Religion Foundation. And a graduate is not eligible to receive loan assistance if she is a professor at Brigham Young University, but is eligible if she works for Berkeley.

Nice.

There are a couple key points I’d like to point out.

First, Lincoln’s quote was spot on – kids in college today do become leaders in government tomorrow. So it matters where we are sending our kids and what they are being taught.

Dr. Elton Trueblood, a former chaplain for Stanford and Harvard in the early 20th century, was asked what it would look like for Christians in America in the 21st century. His response was eerily prophetic: “By the year 2000, Christians in America will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant, militant paganism.”

He saw the direction progressives were taking our colleges, and his discerning reply was our warning. Now it’s here.

Second, those saying all we need today is more “conversation and dialogue” should understand that it requires shared values and common goals with those to whom we converse to move forward as a society. But that’s not what the progressive left wants.

A traffic analogy works well here. Traffic flows in America, despite the cars we drive, what we listen to on the radio or think about other drivers, because we all have the shared value that red means stop and green means go – and we all have the common goal of making it to our destination safely.

But if people don’t share those values or goals traffic would quickly become unsafe – it would turn into chaos. And that’s the ultimate goal of the left.

Which brings me to my last point. God is not the author of chaos and confusion, the devil is. At the bottom of this struggle on college campuses (not to mention mainstream media and Hollywood) is a spiritual battle between good and evil, right and wrong.

It’s not a Republican/Democrat thing, conservative/liberal thing, black/white thing, citizen/immigrant thing, or any other thing the left decides to foment. It’s a spiritual battle that truly rages behind the scenes.

Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
‘Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.’ (Psalm 2:1-3)

Matthew Henry, the 18th-century Bible commentator, said of Psalm 2 that people throughout history constantly seek to cast off “the bands of conscience and the cords of God’s commandments.”

That’s why conscience and conviction are in the cross-airs of the radical Left. It’s spiritual, even if they don’t know it.

And Revelation 12:17 reveals that Satan is behind it all:

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Those who choose to live by their conscience and conviction and honor God’s moral commands in today’s America find themselves directly in opposition to the dragon of Revelation – Satan himself.

Those on the radical left have no idea the spirit under which they are operating, so we are hitting our knees in pray more than ever for them to be set free.

Because the good news of the Gospel is still the good news – that Jesus defeated the devil at the Cross and is clothed with resurrection power.

Happy Easter.

https://www.wnd.com/2019/04/americas-anti-religious-bigotry/
—-

WHY CHRISTIANS ARE LOSING THEIR COUNTRY

Exclusive: Jesse Lee Peterson blasts left for attacking people for telling truth

April 7, 2019

America is a Christian nation, but that fact has been under attack by the children of the lie. The left has pushed immorality to the point we have so-called “same-sex marriage” and “transgender” nonsense trampling the rights of Christians. “People of color” and “women” join the attack on freedom of speech and our rights to self-defense. Good people are accused of “hate speech,” punished for telling the truth in public – or even in private!

Christians, men and especially white people are under attack. Christians are forced to bake “gay cakes” for homosexuals pretending to get “married.” Men are falsely accused of “sexual harassment,” “sexual assault” or of being “child molesters” – and they’re not allowed to say the women are lying! Children are abused by women, even killed in the womb, and the man can’t do anything to protect his children. White people are called “racist” just for loving their country, for telling the truth about “people of color,” or for standing up for white people.

A decade ago, the fallen messiah Barack Obama claimed America is “no longer a Christian nation.” He pushed homosexuality and transgender madness, and took up for Muslims at every opportunity. He was the first “feminist” president, and loved abortion.

Obama attacked whites and police, making blacks feel justified in their anger and false victimhood. He brought Black Lives Matter to the White House – a group worse than the KKK, founded by black lesbians, homosexuals and white “social justice warriors.” They killed the souls of black people by pushing anger, and their attacks on police resulted in an increase in murders around the country.

You cannot be a Christian and support the Democrat Party. After Obama, they’ve only grown more radical, electing far-left Muslims, homosexuals, and women – in order to attack a real men, President Trump. Donald Trump represents everything they hate – the goodness of America. The straight, white, conservative, Christian man of power built this country. But leftists don’t want America to be made great again, so they go after all males, white people, and Christians in order to take down Trump.

This week, they went after Democrat Joe Biden – Obama’s vice president. They accused him of sexual harassment with no proof. For years, Biden openly kissed and tried to flatter women and little girls in front of cameras – never trying to hide it. But now people impulsively judge him as “creepy,” watching suggestively edited videos that play on the imagination and people’s anti-male brainwashing. In the old days, men warned you to believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see.

But Biden as a hated “white male” is not welcome in the Democrat Party. They want a woman or a “person of color” to run for president.

Men have been trained by women to show affection, to worship women, make them feel special – but only with “consent.” Meanwhile, women throw themselves on men, hug and kiss men without permission, sexually assault them, and even rape men and young boys. Even Christians join in on this double-standard, in which every man is a suspected “rapist” or “child molester.” At our recent Men’s Forum at my nonprofit BOND, a home contractor said he wears a camera on himself all day to prevent being accused!

The city of Chicago recently elected a black lesbian for mayor. She’s pretending she will end the corruption in the city. But she herself is morally corrupt – she has no values. She’ll go after the Christians, white people and men, and only further destroy the city.

There are homosexuals who are stuck in that lifestyle but know it’s wrong. But this new mayor-elect, Lori Lightfoot, is promoting wrong as right. Similarly, Pete Buttigieg, a homosexual Millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is trying to run for president. The corrupt liberal media love him for being shamelessly homosexual. The mayor of Dallas, Annise Parker, is a lesbian with a pretend “wife.” Females on the Supreme Court and in Congress have conducted so-called same-sex “weddings.”

In Ireland, they have a homosexual prime minister who brought his gay “partner” to America for an official event with Vice President Mike Pence. This man, Leo Varadkar, gave a slap in the face to Christians, speaking against “discrimination.” The radical homosexuals are allowed to discriminate against Christians, but not the other way around. There is no freedom.

Christians have lost their countries because Christians are no longer any different from the world. They believe that they can be born again of God and continue to sin. The men are controlled by women – they kiss up to women in their personal lives and in politics. The whites are afraid to tell the truth to the people of color. The Christians have anger in their hearts, playing God – there’s no love in anger, but only fear, doubt, worry and insecurity. Christian parents are sacrificing their children to corrupt schools where kids come out liberal, turning away from God.

If you want your country to be right, you have to be right. As Christ said, you must become perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.

https://www.wnd.com/2019/04/why-christians-are-losing-their-country

Battle Scars

April 7, 2019  By  Rob Pue

 

As we endure life in this world, walking by faith and not by sight, walking in the Spirit of God and not in the flesh, seeking to serve the Lord and His Kingdom, doing that which He has commanded us — and entrusted us to do — it can get very lonely sometimes.

I think of the apostle Paul, whose letters — which he wrote from prison — are filled with sound doctrine and teaching; but also, his deepest personal feelings, as he endured great loneliness, being separated from his friends and fellow believers in Christ.

Look at Second Timothy 1.  He clearly missed his young friend, as he wrote:

“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.   As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. 

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, — and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. 

“But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.  Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.   By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

And then Paul added:

“You are aware that all who are in Asia abandoned me.”

Yes, Paul was there, writing to Timothy from prison.  He was jailed for preaching the Gospel of our Savior, and he was alone.  No one stood with him.  All had abandoned him.

Then in Chapter 4, we have this:

“Do your best to come to me soon.   For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.  Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry…. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.   Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.   Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.   At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!   But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

In Second Corinthians, Paul describes what Christian ministry is REALLY like.  Starting at verse 24:

“Five times I received, at the hands of the Jews, the forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

There are many today, who will tell you the Christian life is all joy and happiness.  “Just walk the aisle,” they say, “repeat the ‘sinners prayer,’ and MEAN IT,” they’ll tell you…  And “Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life!”  “Just ask Jesus into your heart and you will go from misery to ‘your best life NOW!”  But friends, this isn’t true.  This is a false Gospel…  The fact of the matter is, the Christian life is NOT an easy one.  It’s NOT all happiness and joy.  If you are TRULY living out your faith and serving Christ, you will find yourself in frequent persecution, you’ll be mocked and ridiculed.  You’ll lose your friends.   You may even find yourself being sued in court; you may lose your business, your home, your freedom, and yes, in some cases, even your family.

Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have NOT come to bring peace, but a sword.   For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.   And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

You absolutely will NOT fit in with the modern culture if you are following Christ today.  It is at that point you have a choice:  keep your mouth shut and practice your “religion” in secret, in which case you will NOT endure any persecution and you can just “get along” with everyone — or you can be a faithful servant, obey the commands of Jesus and season this world with salt — being a beacon of light in a dark and dying culture.  Yes, you HAVE that choice.  So, what will you choose?

Those who choose the latter often find themselves very lonely and very misunderstood.  Because they walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh, the world cannot understand them.    Spiritual things are spiritually discerned; and those without the Holy Spirit CANNOT understand.  It’s not that they don’t want to… they just don’t have the Holy Spirit inside them, and therefore they CAN’T understand you.

“Religious” people will not understand you either.  Many times, you’ll even be viewed as a “troublemaker” or a “crazy zealot” by those in your own church, if you dare step outside the box and actually DO the work Christ called you to.  You WILL endure hardship and you WILL experience persecution if you’re openly and faithfully and unashamedly living the Christian life.  Those who preach “health, wealth, prosperity, happiness, roses and rainbows” are lying to you.  You should ask yourself what their motivation is… and oftentimes, you’ll find it’s very simple: it’s so that THEY can be well liked and popular among the people… and well PAID.

How lonely it must have been for Jesus Himself — MANY times — as even His own disciples had a hard time understanding some of His teachings.  Yet He patiently taught them and explained to them the parables the world could not understand.  And though they walked closely with Him for 3 1/2 years during His earthly ministry, on the night of His arrest, they all abandoned Him, when He needed His friends the most.

Look at Luke 22.  Here, Jesus was on the Mount of Olives, following the Last Supper.  He went there to pray with His disciples.  But His disciples couldn’t stay awake and watch with Him even one hour.  How lonely our Savior must have been as He prayed:

“‘Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’  An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.  And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Not exactly “health, wealth, prosperity, happiness, roses and rainbows”… is it?  That was NEVER Jesus’ message.  That’s a false Gospel, that creates false converts, who quickly fall away.  As it has been said, “everyone wants to follow Jesus — until they find out where He is going.”  Now, I am NOT saying that the Christian life is miserable.  As a matter of fact, I don’t know how ANYONE can make it through this life without Christ.  There IS a peace.  Though the world around you continues to spin out of control into chaos and evil, as a true believer in Jesus, you DO have peace in your heart.

As Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Friends, we would NOT NEED “peace that passes all understanding” if the Christian life were EASY.  But BECAUSE we know Christ as our Savior, BECAUSE we have His Holy Spirit within us, we can have a peace of mind and heart that the world just cannot ever comprehend.  But it’s still, often, very lonely.

In the ministry work I do,  I get a great many phone calls, emails and letters from those who are seeking answers, and often seeking my counsel.  Some have grown children who have become wayward and left their faith behind.  Some have unbelieving spouses who are carnal and worldly, rather than spiritual.  Some deal with ridicule from co-workers.  Most all of them have very shallow “friendships,” with only a few at the churches they attend.  They often have NO ONE they can fellowship with, or commune with or talk to about the deep and rich things of God.  They feel so ALONE.

All of us, who carry the name of Christ and live out our faith — FOR REAL — have endured great emotional and physical hardships.  It often seems we’ve been in one battle after another, and we have the battle scars to prove it.  And it is when we are alone in the battle that things are most difficult and heart-wrenching;  when all have abandoned us, when even those we thought were our friends turn away.  This is also the time when the enemy likes to come and attack; and unless we remain in prayer and communion with GOD, we can easily become discouraged and depressed.

This is why we are exhorted — in the book of Hebrews:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.   And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

How sweet it is to have REAL, GOOD fellowship with like-minded believers.  Not shallow small talk, fake smiles and handshakes during “greet your neighbor time” at your Sunday service… but deep, meaningful fellowship and friendships with the saints of God.  How wonderful to have a support system like that.  It is so refreshing to our souls when we have friends we can be open, honest and transparent with as we share our Christian walk together.  We can “compare notes,” and we can relate to one another as we let our “Battle Scars” show.

When I quoted from Hebrews about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, I’m not just talking about GOING to church.  I’m talking about BEING the church — all in one accord — with fellow saints you KNOW are true believers and true friends that stick closer than a brother.

Some of the greatest times in my own spiritual walk have been with friends like this.  Recently, one evening, following a busy day at a Christian conference, I sat with a friend, one on one, and we just talked together.  We shared with one another our experiences in ministry, as well as the heavy burdens we both carry.  Though our ministries — and our battles — are different, and though some of our battle scars run deeper than others, they are all part of the same spiritual warfare we’re both involved in.

And then, after we talked a long time, we PRAYED a long time, with each other and FOR each other.  I’ve never felt such peace in my heart as I do at times like this.  As disciples of Jesus living in the times we are living in, I UNDERSTAND what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, — “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” —  how it is even MORE important as we see the Day of the Lord approaching.

The spiritual warfare continues to wage all around us.  Those of us who are engaged in this warfare NEED one another.  We need real, deep, intimate friendships; fellow believers we know we can TRUST in any and every circumstance.  We need to KNOW they “have our backs” in our times of need.  We need such friends we can talk to and pray with on a deep, intimate level — and not have to worry about gossip being spread.  We need MORE than shallow, vain, repetitious corporate prayer time.  We need more than “small talk” — we need REAL brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s like a little glimpse of heaven during these intimate times with our fellow believers.  As Jesus said in Matthew 18:

“For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”

If you don’t have this in your life, I encourage you to seek it out.  Pray that the Lord open those doors for you and then, even though you may have deep wounds and battle scars, let yourself be vulnerable enough to let them show, and let others know your needs.  Fellowship together, PRAY together…  build an intimate, close bond of friendship.  Because it’s HARD living a faithful and obedient Christian life.  And it’s even harder doing it all alone, with none who understand.  So, stand firm to the end, fellow believers… and if you need or want to talk with ME, I’d be honored to be your friend.  God bless you.

© 2019 Rob Pue, Publisher

WISCONSIN CHRISTIAN NEWS

PO Box 756

Marshfield, WI  54449

(715) 486-8066

www.WisconsinChristianNews.com

Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at (715) 486-8066 or email Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com.  Ask for message number 253.

https://barbwire.com/battle-scars/

Pray For Them

I’m at the point in my motherhood journey where the cutesy stuff just isn’t cutting it anymore. My kids are in high school and middle school now and that naive, innocent phase, as much as it stings my heart, is over. The world expands more and more each passing year and there’s not a darn thing I can do to slow it down. We spend a huge chunk of their lives shielding them from all the bad stuff, and then suddenly have to make an uncomfortable shift: teach them about all the things before the world does. To say I feel like I’m in a battle for souls is not an understatement.

There’s the natural teen stuff we all had to deal with like friendships and dating, but now we have all kinds of bonus issues like easy-access internet pornography, social media nonsense, and vaping. The quick, 5 minutes with Jesus stuff isn’t cutting it anymore. My kids are at Christian schools and the things they are having to deal with keeps me awake many a night. Even the ‘good’ kids are slip-sliding away into all kinds of gray areas that leave me questioning everything. They are inundated with Biblical truth and walking off into a totally different direction.

My son’s high school had their first suicide last week. I can’t even breathe when I think about it. Kids who he grew up with and have known for years are taking paths that I know they weren’t raised to take. So I cry out to God for an explanation and an answer… what can I do to keep this from happening? I’m a doer. If I can read it to them, type it out, teach it, put it on a notecard, I’m on it. My struggle is that I think if I can just convey the right information to them, they’ll want to choose God.

Today, the Lord just kind of flattened this right out of me… in a good way. I pulled out an old prayer I wrote for them a few years ago and read it out loud. Jesus is their Savior, not me.

This is irrationally hard for me to admit. My marching orders come from Jesus. I can’t control my way to Godly teenagers, but I can guide them and pray for them. Here’s just a bit of what I prayed for my kids today:

• Give them wisdom to not be unequally yoked in their relationships. Send them friends that will build them up.
• May rebellion never get a foothold in their lives. Give them a healthy understanding of boundaries and may ungodly things be unattractive to them.
• Show them it’s ok to be different. May they live supernaturally, not strategically.
• May they desire holiness over being popular or relevant.
• May they dwell on the the good things they have and not their weaknesses.
• May forgiveness, confession and compassion be a part of their daily lives as they learn to receive and give mercy.
• Give them a vision, a big picture to live for that goes beyond what they can see now. Assure them that momentary troubles are not permanent and that You have good plans for them.

I’m learning that the time to pray is when I least feel like praying. That’s ok. This is an offensive war we are in. Letting the days slip by without giving them the tools they need is my greatest fear. We can’t be ignorant of what is happening to our loved ones or think they are immune from the enemy’s attacks. None of us are. But thanks be to God that He has them in the palm of His hand and we can remove ourselves from the drivers seat.

Perhaps this is what our teens need most: parents with a single-minded determination to follow him. We will not do so perfectly, but our own stumbling progress toward discipleship puts us on the same road as our teens — and what a joy it is to be traveling toward Christ together.

MICHELE MORIN

Traveling the road together is a huge privilege. Scary as can be at times, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Don’t sit by while the world has it’s way with your kids or anyone close to you… know God’s word and pray it. Shout it out loud. Let the heavens know to whom you belong.

Pray For Them

Hills and Valleys

April 4, 2019

Psalm 22:1- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

It seems to me that our Christian culture has made it a sin to despair, to question God, to be just downright sad. However, the Bible is filled with mighty men of God who struggled with God, who questioned God, sought their own way, or just had down days. I don’t feel like Christianity should promote despair, but I also don’t think that it should try to make it seem like everything is awesome, every day of the week. This is an unrealistic goal which can cause us to be frustrated when we cannot achieve it, or to ignore these thoughts and push them away without dealing with them directly.

Now before we continue, I am not talking in this post about clinical depression that needs treatment from a licensed clinical psychiatrist, which I am not. Depression is a real struggle for many and I will not claim to have all the answers to it.

Let’s look in the Bible where men of God questioned God and their circumstances:

• John the Baptist was in prison and questioned if Jesus was the Messiah even after proclaiming it at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 11:2-3)

• Habakkuk 1:2- O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?

• Moses was frustrated with God and the Israelites many times. In Numbers 11:11 he said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people?

• Many of David’s psalms were filled with sadness and discouragement including Psalm 22

• In Psalms 73, Asaph questioned God about the prosperity of the wicked

• After the defeat of the prophets of Baal, Elijah suffered from despair, even wishing to die. In 1 Kings 19:4 he said “I have had enough Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

• Jonah rebelled against God, but after the successful saving of Nineveh, Jonah became bitter telling God “Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:3

Now it’s easy as Christians to quote the Bible where it says “the joy of the Lord is our strength” and “rejoice in the Lord always”. I’m not saying that these are not good goals, but as fallible humans we need to understand that we will have good and bad days, we will have strong faith mixed with weak faith, we will question God and we will be without any doubt. There are high and low points in our “climb up the mountain” as Christians. Just read Pilgrim’s Progress…

Martin Luther, the great reformer, struggled with doubt. It’s one of the key drivers of him questioning the church at the time to lead the reformation. At one point his doubt led to such great a depression that he wrote, “For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ was wholly lost. I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy of God.”

What is our end goal when we despair? If we question God or have sadness what do we do? We do not live in that state, we use it to propel us forward and out of it. We seek help, read the Bible, pray to God, and ultimately stand firm in our faith in who God is. It is important to not go through this alone, we need to find fellow believers we can be accountable with and who we can call up when we are struggling.

Feel free to read my previous post on “Wrestling with God.” God is a big God and He can handle our doubts, worries, anxieties, fears, and sadness. If we give them over to God, He can handle them where we, in our own strength, cannot. Once we rest in God’s sovereignty, we can realize that we do not have all the answers, and that is ok.

Back to Psalm 73, it is my favorite Psalm. The first half is the authors frustration’s with the wicked, but by the end it brings him to a place of confidence in God and His ultimate plan. How he may not understand everything fully, but his ultimate trust is in God.

23  Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24  You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25  Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26  My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27  Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28  But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

May the same be said of us, that we can use our dark times to help illuminate God and His power, that we can rest in the fact that He has everything under control. Our doubts and fears are not sinful in and of themselves, we should not feel unworthy for having them. But after we push through, get everything out in the open, and fall back on God’s sovereignty, we can get back to pursuing God. We can then truly claim that “The Joy of the Lord is my Strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Discerning Reflection: What do I do when I am sad, when I question God? Do I pray and turn to Him or do I turn away from Him? Do I feel shame for having those thoughts? How can I quickly turn around from these thoughts and who do I need to be accountable with to help me?

Prayer: Lord help me seek after you in the good and the bad times, help me understand that I will have high and low points and to not despair but to trust that you have everything under control.

Hills and Valleys

My Uncontrolable Sobbing While Watching Unplanned Scared My Wife

Mar 30, 2019  By  Dr. Michael Brown

 

This weekend, history will be made as the Unplanned movie will open in more than 1,100 theaters across the nation. And you can expect the backlash to be intense. And I mean very intense. The foundations of the pro-abortion movement, in particular, those of Planned Parenthood, will be challenged. Evil will be exposed and hope will be exalted.

By all means, make your plans to flood the theaters this weekend, not just for your own benefit, but to help send a message to the movie industry that this movie needs to be seen. That means it needs to be widely available.

If you’re not familiar with the background to Unplanned, it tells the real-life story of former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, who is now a pro-life champion.

Earlier this week, on my radio show, I spoke with Ashley Bratcher, the Christian actor who plays Abby in the movie. She explained what it took for her to become Abby Johnson, and as you’ll see, she did it with excellence.

I was able to watch an advance release of Unplanned in the privacy of my home, but I was caught off guard by one pivotal scene.

To be clear, I’ve been involved in the pro-life movement in varying degrees for many years. And I’ve often shared the horrifically-graphic, deeply-moving images of aborted babies.

Back in the early 1990’s, the day before participating in an Operation Rescue event in Washington, DC, we had an all-day prayer meeting at my house.

During our prayer time, I passed around one of those graphic pictures – the mangled body of a late-term aborted baby. And as each person saw the picture, each began to weep. “What have we done?” cried out one of my friends.

You could say, then, that I was emotionally prepared for whatever was coming in Unplanned. Except I wasn’t.

I had about 45-minutes free before going to teach a night class at our ministry school on a Tuesday night, so I told Nancy (we’ve been married for 43 years) that I was going to start watching the movie in my study while having my dinner salad.

You see, I thought the movie would proceed chronologically with Abby’s life and so, it would be awhile before any disturbing images might appear. That meant I could sit at my desk, have dinner, and watch the first part of the movie.

Without giving anything away, let’s just say that an important scene in the movie occurred earlier than I expected. (For those concerned about bringing children to Unplanned, first, there are far more graphic images of aborted babies found online than anything seen in the movie. Second, if your kids are old enough to have an intelligent discussion with you about abortion, they are old enough to see the movie.)

As the scene unfolded – it is something witnessed at Planned Parenthood clinics every day of the week and it was scientifically fair and honest – I was completely overcome, sobbing uncontrollably. Yet there was nothing manipulative or contrived about the scene in the least. Just the simple reality of an abortion. And I lost it.

For the next 15 minutes I tried to compose myself, shutting the movie off and distracting my mind (after first pouring my heart out to the Lord in prayer). Then, when I thought I was ready, I went to talk to Nancy, who hadn’t heard me tell her I was about to watch Unplanned.

I managed to get out the words, “I have to compose myself,” before completely losing it, sobbing and unable to speak.

As you can imagine, this totally scared Nancy, who thought someone close to us had just died. (What would you think if your spouse came walking into your room and was sobbing so intensely he or she couldn’t talk?)

When I finally did speak, I barely got out the words, “That movie,” before explaining the rest.

Then, a few minutes later, when I shared with my students about recent, aggressive, pro-abortion developments, one of the students asked if we could stop and pray.

We did, and the class never happened, as we spent the better part of the next 2 ½ hours in prayer, often weeping and wailing for the lives of the unborn.

Honestly, I am amazed that Pure Flix was able to get Unplanned into so many theaters, knowing how hotly opposed this movie will be.

In fact, I have learned that the number rose from 900 to 1,100 theaters (at last report) due to popular, advance demand. I also heard that one theater cancelled the showing but had to reinstate it after a local outcry.

Not everyone will be affected the way I was. But I’m confident that all who see this movie with an open heart and mind will be positively and deeply impacted for the cause of life.

Make your plans to be there this weekend. Perhaps this will be a turning point in the history of the modern, pro-life movement.

It’s way, way past time.

https://barbwire.com/my-uncontrolable-sobbing-while-watching-unplanned-scared-my-wife/

One Question, Four Answers

WHICH MOMENT OF JESUS’ LAST WEEK ON EARTH SPEAKS TO YOU THE MOST?

 

Mark 15:16-19 carefully details the mockery that Christ endured at the hands of a battalion of about 500 Roman soldiers inside the Praetorium. After He was falsely accused of leading an insurrection, the soldiers taunted Jesus by putting a twisted crown of thorns upon His head, wrapping a purple robe on His bloody body, placing a fake scepter in His trembling hands, and saluting Him with sadistic glee. Through enduring these various forms of abuse, Jesus as our high priest took upon Himself the shame of innocent victims living in a fallen world. Victims of verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse need to know Christ as not only a guilt-bearing Savior but also a shame-bearing Savior—one who identifies, empathizes, and heals.

—Mika Edmondson, pastor of New City Fellowship in Grand Rapids, Michigan and author of The Power of Unearned Suffering: The Roots and Implications of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Theodicy

 

Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane—“Not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39)—is one I think about often, as it reveals much about the nature of prayer. When we pray, we are not asking God to magically do things we want, but rather we enter God’s presence and ask that our hearts and minds be transformed. We’re tempted to see problems in the world as out there, in other people; it’s much harder to recognize the darkness, greed, hate, lust, and anger in our own heart. In prayer, we follow Jesus in asking for our own transformation—not to make us better people, but to make ourselves available to embody God’s love and compassion in the world.

—C. Christopher Smith, editor of The Englewood Review of Books and author of How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church

 

After all Jesus went through His last week on earth, He could have said “OK, Father, I’m done with them.” But that’s not who Jesus is. I find it moving that He took the time to come back to the disciples a second time after His resurrection—and in particular that He decided to give Thomas a chance to touch His wounds and believe. He could have been “done” with Thomas, but He proved Himself again. He did that so there would be a record of it for people like me. I appreciate that about Jesus. He knows us, and He loves us still. His love is never done.

—TaRanda Greene, member of Cana’s Voice and solo vocal artist. Her latest album is The Healing.

 

I can’t imagine being at the table with Jesus in the upper room. After He took the cup and bread, giving thanks, He said six words I can’t shake: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). I kind of think of communion now as part of a progressive dinner party that began in the upper room and ends in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. We attend the same meal those disciples did; we’re just down the street a little. Believers who come after us attend the same meal, but it’s held at another house. The body and the blood is timeless, and believers get to be there for the finale in heaven. We remember every time, but He remembers as well. It’s His covenant with us, and I can’t wait to find place settings with my name and yours at the ultimate Easter banquet.

—Sarah Harmeyer, speaker and founder of Neighbor’s Table

https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/faith-works/one-question-four-answers-holy-week