Fornication: Our Dark Little Secret

Leadership Show 1_2009

2009-06-06T10:32:00.001-07:00

The Divine providence of God through the Holy Spirit sees beyond our human consciousness to places we have yet to imagine.

ReEngage, Inc.

2009-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

As a direct result of my passion for those who have fallen prey to the sin of fornication and to those who believe that marriage is no longer relevant to God I have founded a non-profit organization entitled ReEngage, Inc. ReEngage, Inc. is an organization made up of concerned parents, educators, health professionals, clergy, and citizens who want to begin the process of repairing these broken relationships between not only fathers and their children but mothers and fathers. Our mission is to foster the reconnection of the absentee father with their children through outreach and counseling, education, and preparation.

Absentee fathers have become an American epidemic that reaches across racial, economic, and ethnic lines. We have irrefutable evidence that most of our other social problems in the black community stems from this phenomenon. Last year we set a record for births in America with 4.3 million, of those 4.3 million births 40% were to unmarried women. As we become a nation of more illegitimate births, separations, and divorces more and more of our children will face the real possibility of growing up without the financial, spiritual and emotional guidance of their fathers and this we must not allow to happen.

Let us be clear, the experiment of women raising children alone and the belief that fathers in the lives of their children is overrated has failed and failed miserably. The evidence is clear that children being raised by single mothers are not doing as well as children being raised by both parents.

Here are just a few examples of how horrific the results have been for our children.

* Children from fatherless homes are five times more likely to be poor, and ten times more likely to be extremely poor.

* Seventy percent of juveniles in reform school and long term prison inmates come from fatherless homes.

* Children from fatherless homes are twice as likely to be high school drop outs.

* Fatherless children have more emotional and behavioral problems.

* Girls from fatherless homes are three times as likely to be unwed teenage mothers. Adolescents in mother-only families are more likely to be sexually active, and daughters are more likely to become single-parent mothers.

* Boys from fatherless homes have a higher incidence of unemployment, incarceration, and noninvolvement with their own children.

* Seventy-one percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.

* Seventy-five percent of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes.

While these numbers appear as figures on a page they are actually people, primarily children who are suffering. We should begin to address the problems of crime, drug and alcohol abuse, educational failure, and teen pregnancy in a holistic way. For decades public policy has treated the black family as three separate entities. We have focused on the poor underprivileged children, the strong matriarchal black mothers, and the irresponsible black fathers. We must begin to reestablish and reappraise the role of fathers in the family structure. We should craft policies and strategies that treat the black family as a unit. We should direct our public policy to reinforce the institution of marriage and discontinue policies that reduces or diminishes the status of the father. Many of our policies have had the unintended consequences of rewarding behavior that is detrimental to the formation of families.

We must begin to reestablish and encourage the belief in marriage in the black community not purely for religious reasons, but for social and economic reasons as well. We cannot truly discuss the fatherless child without including a discussion on the state of marriage in the black community. As we begin to heal the relationships between the father and their children we must also begin to heal the relationship between male and female in the black community. Many women today view the role of the black male as that of surrogate parent, merely there to provide DNA for the creation of the child.

For decades we have become paralyzed by the argument of why we are in the state we are in. There are those who blame it on slavery, racism, and economics. While others say it is a moral or cultural issue. The time has come to stop focusing on the why and begin to focus on the what, as in what are we going to do about it? Regardless of whether the government or the larger society chooses to support our efforts the black community can no longer be excused for refusing to act. These are our children that are being deserted. I can’t tell you the times I have gone to meet with young black men and listened to their anger and their pain towards their fathers. They have every right to be angry you see when they were younger and needed a father to protect, support, and encourage them no one was there. Not only was there no one there but no one came and no one seemed to care.

Our mission is the following: To foster the reconnection of the black male with their children through outreach and counseling, education, and preparation.

We have the following goals:

1. Reduce the number of black children growing up in single mother households by reengaging the black male back into the family dynamics.

2. Educate black children to the consequences of having children without fathers and the benefits of marriage.

3. Work with established community and government entities to provide the needed services for these reengaged black fathers.

4. Provide counseling and support groups for emotionally damaged black fathers.

5. To prepare fathers for the reintegration process through parenting training, anger management, and ensuring their lifelong commitment in the child’s life. Our primary concern is the welfare of the child.

6. To provide mediation when possible between mothers and fathers to ensure the smooth integration of the father back into the child’s life.

7. Become a community clearinghouse for the qualified available research and programs designed to combat this epidemic.

8. Begin to utilize the steps created from the conference co-sponsored with area organizations and educators, clergy, and social service professionals.

We can no longer sit idly by while our children are being deprived and our nation is losing generation after generation of children. Black children just like all other children deserve and require a loving and caring relationship with their fathers, will you help us to make that day a reality for them.

Teenagers Are Fornicating Less

2007-07-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

And a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

I recently read an article stating that fewer teenagers today are engaging in sex. If this report is true, then Glory be to God. It appears that the young people are able to do what many thought was impossible, they are forgoing sex. This will come as a shock to many adults who promote the idea that teenage sex is inevitable and so we may as well not make any efforts to curb it. However, with this data many states have cut and curtailed their abstinence programs. The problem have with the studies that say abstinence doesn’t work is because they don’t take into account the 90% of other information that teenagers receive through movies, television, music, and video games. Abstinence education is just a small area in the child’s overall day. The important aspect of abstinence education is that it helps to shape attitudes not necessarily about sex, but also about marriage.

“You have to look at why sex was created,” Eric Love, the director of the East Texas Abstinence Program, which runs Virginity Rules, said one day, the sounds of Christian contemporary music humming faintly in his Longview office. “Sex was designed to bond two people together.”

To make the point, Mr. Love grabbed a tape dispenser and snapped off two fresh pieces. He slapped them to his filing cabinet and the floor; they trapped dirt, lint, a small metal bolt. “Now when it comes time for them to get married, the marriage pulls apart so easily,” he said, trying to unite the grimy strips. “Why? Because they gave the stickiness away.”[1]

While I would love to believe that all our children will grow up and save themselves for marriage, this is really not realistic. What is realistic however is that we can stress the importance of marriage to many children who have lost interest in it as an option, due to their own single parent experience. Why is stressing the importance of marriage important? Because study after study has shown that children do better regardless of economic conditions in two parent families. This should be something we want to promote as a society, for the well-being of the society. I find it interesting that we expect people who have been unable to maintain a committed relationship to develop that in our children, it’s not going to happen. Just as parents that did not complete their educations require help educating their children, so we should also help them prepare for marriage.

The institution of marriage is under an onslaught, but unlike my religious conservative brethren I don’t believe it is from gays. The current threat to marriage is and always has been heterosexuals, whether they are adulterers, pornographers, or other sexual deviants. The breakdown in the family and marriage has nothing to do with whether gays get married or not. While I find it personally offensive, my experience shows that the breakdowns in marriage are due to the partners in the marriage. I think the gay question is a smoke screen to cover the real issues which is that we are not preparing our children properly for marriage or adulthood.

For the first time, however, Virginity Rules and 700 kindred abstinence education programs are fighting serious threats to their future. Eleven state health departments rejected abstinence education this year, while legislatures in Colorado, Iowa and Washington passed laws that could kill, or at least wound, its presence in public schools.[2]

I find it hard to believe that with all the pressure our children are under to fornicate, that many find offering a counter message worthless. It’s as if we give freedom to the sex trade, but it is imposing on our freedom to offer another view. This is in part why the rest of the world finds our values so hypocritical, we allow promotion of and the selling of sex in every area of our lives, but God forbid if we show that there are other alternatives. This is crossing the boundaries of State vs. Church, we must not continue to buy into this for the sake of commerce. We are selling out our children for the sake of making money. What value are you willing to place on the lives of your children?

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/education/18abstain.html

[2] Ibid

Help For the Single Mother (Part 2)

2007-07-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1 Corinthians 13:11

The next idea I would like to share is about how we see our children. For many women, the child is an extension of themselves or the man who fathered of the child. In too many cases women are thinking, if I can’t have the man I will have the child; as if a child were some sort of consolation prize. I’m sorry, but too often we excuse women because they are women, I can no longer in good conscious keep silent. Women write and comment concerning my writings that I am bashing women, nothing could be further from the truth. What I am bashing is selfishness on the part of both men and women. Men for the simple fact that they are allowing their need for selfish gratification to cause them to create children they have no intention of raising and women because they selfishly have children for companionship, as if they were some kind of live doll. I know for a fact that there are women who know they are not going to be with the man that is lying with them, but for the sake of their own selfishness they want a child.

There is enough blame is this thing for everyone, but the real issue is what about the children. Who is concerned about them? Who is willing to sacrifice and lay aside false pride and selfishness to improve the lives of our children? I have women writing me saying how they are the ones who are there for these children and that is true, but what about the selfishness in putting them in that position in the first place? Where is being there for them then? I know we are slaves to our passions and we cannot control our urges, as if we were just beasts in the field with no self-control.

Women you should not look at your son as their father, they are not. They may someday resemble him, but they will always be their own unique person. God has made us all to be unique creations and worthy of love and acceptance.[1] There is a tendency to want to identify our children with the parent, especially if there is conflict in the relationship or if the biological parent has deserted the relationship. Unfortunately sometimes there is a propensity to demonize the father through the child. This can be done by denigrating the father in front of the child and expecting the child to co-sign with the assessment.

It has been my experience that no matter how bad a parent may be as a partner or as a parent, children will always rally around them. Many times I have witnessed where one parent will try to turn a child against the other parent and it backfires. Nobody wants to be told that the person they love is unlovable. It seems to be human nature that we want to kill the messenger instead of heeding the message. Children appear to be no different and maybe even more so.

The other way women can view their sons as the father is that they ascribe the same traits of the father to the son. “You are a liar just like your father”, is a good one and I am sure there are many more. Again, if there is a strong resemblance the tendency seems to increase. Many times we become what we are called or who we are identified as, especially when we are young. The attitude can be, what’s the use I will be called or accuse of it anyway. We must not break our children’s spirits. There are certain things we will have to break in them, but their spirit should never be one of them.

Take time out today to see your son as the beautiful, unique, and precious gift that God created him to be. Nurture his identity and special gifts. Water his creativity, so that they may bloom in due season.

[1] Luke 12:7

Help For the Single Mother (Part 1)

2007-07-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:15

While I believe in the Boys Town project, I am a realist and I don’t think we as a people have the courage or the will to make it a reality. Since it also does not appear like our young women are going to stop having babies. I have decided to put up some simple common-sense ideas to help single mothers trying to raise male children. I was recently contacted by a number of women who wanted to know what to do “after the cow has left the barn”, I was struck by the request because so often we ignore those who need the help most, because we are so busy concentrating on getting our point or agenda across. I would like to state for the record that I believe that my job on this earth is not to convert anyone to my religion. That is not what God has me here to do, what my job is in conjunction with God is to introduce the people I encounter to the One who sent me.

So many Churches today measure their success by earthly standards. How many “souls we saved”, how many are in Sunday school, and my favorite how much is in the “building fund”. I don’t believe that this is how God measures the success of the Church. Nowhere in the Bible have I located a passage that says convert anyone to anything. Jesus speaks of us being converted to little children[1], not little Baptists, or Methodist, or COGIC, but little children. I say these things to say that all I want to do is to introduce you to my Master; I am not here to judge anyone. I write the things I write out of love for my people, not out of judgment. It is my fervent hope and prayer that we return to our rightful place under God’s authority. The Bible talks about unless we are “born again”[2], we will not see the Kingdom of God. I don’t know of any Church that can give a man new birth, only God can do that.

So the first idea is your male child needs a male role-model around for learning what a man is. It doesn’t have to be his biological father. It doesn’t have to be a man around all the time, but it must be someone consistently in the child’s life. Someone he can count on to be there and someone he can trust and talk to. This role can be filled by an acquaintance, a teacher, or a relative. Who the person is not as important as what that person is and what they represent. The person should be a man of strong character with patience and love for children. I know it is hard to believe that are still Black men of this caliber around, it is just that they are outnumbered by the selfish ones. Any man will not fill the void, again it is not about just having someone there, it is about the character of the man there. So often, Black women are attracted to the men who are not good fathers, husbands, or providers; instead they are drawn to the flashy, smooth talkers. Look at the women of other races they will marry men who are not the best looking, best dressers, they will take the one who they know they can depend on, the one that will love them and provide for them. He may not be the most exciting and fun person, but he will not desert you when you get pregnant, nor will he desert his children.

So where are these role models? Where should you begin to look to find them? I would start at a church or a community center. I would contact male relatives that are being responsible. Remember this isn’t about you getting married or finding a mate, it is about you providing your son with a male to fashion himself after. It is to give him an outlet for his “male energy”. The reason most of our young men are in gangs or hanging out with the “homeboys” is because they don’t have any outlet for their natural male aggression. They end up channeling it in negative ways, but if they had been provided with a positive influence maybe it would have been different. I would contact Big Brothers or some other mentoring program. In our larger cities there are men who have volunteered to provide our young men with the positive role model. You have to look, but they are out there. In the rural communities there usually is a more extended family atmosphere in the community, so I have found it easier to locate role models in that setting.

I know that as a single mother you want to protect your child and I am not advocating just anybody for the role. Research has shown that boys that have regular, stable men in their lives do better. As mothers you must be willing and make the effort to provide that child what he needs. If that child needed a particular medicine what would you do to get it for him? It is the same here, he needs this companionship to mature into a strong Black man and isn’t this what you want for him?

[1] Matthew 18:3

[2] John 3:3

Boys Town 2007 Part 2

2007-06-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father,
And give attention to know understanding;
For I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law.
Proverbs 4:1-2

Now that we have gotten over the shock phase, let’s look at how we would create these schools. Let me say for the record that it is my firm belief that children of all races and economic status do better with both parents in the home, most studies will attest to this fact. So I am not advocating the complete isolation of the young men from all female contact, this would be just the other side of the same coin we have now. We would replace young men who have the emotional state of women with young men that would not be able to display compassion or tenderness.

Let’s begin with how we would house the young men. I think the school housing should be done as a two parent home. The homes would have house parents that would supervise the homes and the young men when they are not in school, physical training, and or other curricular activities. Preferably the couple would be a married couple, but that would not be a necessity. A married couple would help to teach the young men in a real world scenario how a man treats a woman he loves and it is a statistical fact that children from two parent homes do better than those from single parent homes.

An increase in the numbers and proportion of children born outside of marriage and a rise in divorce rates have contributed to a three-fold increase in the proportion of children growing up in single-parent families since 1960. These changes have generated considerable public concern and controversy, particularly about the effects of these changes on the wellbeing of children. Over the past 20 years, a body of research has developed on how changes in patterns of family structure affect children.

Most researchers now agree that together these studies support the notion that, on average, children do best when raised by their two married, biological1 parents who have low-conflict relationships.[1]

I don’t think we can stress enough the importance of marriage for these young men, due to a number of economic, cultural, and selfish reasons marriage is not highly valued in our community. We should begin the process to change this phenomenon, because the statics concerning the chances of children growing up in poverty in single parent families is well documented. However, studies show that it is not just purely economics; there is something inherent in marriage that transcends to the family. It is what I call one of the mysteries of God, God has sanctified marriage and He continues to support marriage.

Also, if income was the major factor behind the negative association between single parenthood and child outcomes, one would expect children of single-parent families who are not poor to have better outcomes than children of poor single-parent families. However, a recent study in Sweden—where the safety net is stronger than in the U.S. and where the poverty rate among single mothers is very low— found problems for children of Swedish single-parent families similar to those found for children of American single-parent families.[2]

Two opposite sex staff members could fulfill the same purpose only to a lesser degree. They could demonstrate to the young men inter-gender relationship skills that a lot of our youth do not presently have. They would learn the value of respect for women and see them as more than faceless bodies gyrating on the television. Under no circumstances should it be an unmarried couple or staff members who are romantically involved, this would only reinforce behavior we hope to modify.

Within the homes, the young men should be given instruction in cleanliness, trustworthiness, and thriftiness. They should be taught in life skills and be required to take an active role in the chores of the house. They should be required not only to have scholastic studies, but also spiritual and historical studies of their ancestors. At all cost we must provide a stable and secure home for these young men, they should learn conflict resolution at an early age.

[1] http://www.clasp.org/publications/Marriage_Brief3.pdf

[2] Ibid

Boys Town 2007

2007-06-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD;

neither be weary of his correction:

For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth;

even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Proverbs 3:11-12

As more and more of our young men fall prey to violence and our young women continue to have children outside the covenant of God, we must begin to look at some radical ideas to change the direction we are headed. What I am about to propose will be seen by many as controversial and maybe inhumane, but I believe it will help to bring our people back to their rightful place as strong men and women of God.

As the rates of Black on Black homicides increase annually and murder has become the leading cause of death for our young Black men, these rates appear to correspond to the rise in single mother households. This is not an indictment against single mothers, it is an indictment against the men who are willing to create life, but do nothing to sustain that life once it is born. Despite everyone’s calm demeanor and political correctness we are in a crisis that demands our immediate attention and our action.

What I propose is that we create residences for our Black male children born to single mothers staffed by Black male educators and social scientist. These would be homes that they would reside in once they reached an age where they could be separated from their mothers. They would remain there for possibly 10 months out of the year being educated, prepared, and trained in what it takes to be a successful Black man. They would be given a regular scholastic curriculum bolstered with history of our people and continent. They would be separated from their mothers and from girls of the same age. I guarantee if we had the courage and the will to do this, in one generation we could turn the fortunes of our people around; in two we would be the most successful minorities in this country.

This all seems so drastic; why do we need to resort to these measures?

In regard to the subtitle of the book, single motherhood is what hurts insofar as it often deprives children of important economic, parental, and community resources. Most single-mother families have low incomes or, following a divorce or separation, experience sudden drops in income. According to McLanahan and Sandefur, low incomes and sudden drops in income are the most important reasons that children in single-mother families fare worse than other children. Indeed, these two account for about half of the disadvantage in high school graduation, and somewhat less of the disadvantage in other outcomes.

Another factor behind the disadvantages faced by children in single-mother families is inadequate attention and guidance from the mother. Children need more than just economic security to thrive; they require parents who have the time to help them with their homework, read to them, and listen to how their day went in school. They also need parents who can supervise their activities outside of school. One parent alone does not have the time to do these things, whereas two parents working together often do.

Finally, children who live in single-parent families lack the community resources that other children frequently have. They are more likely to live in disadvantaged neighborhoods and to associate with peers who have negative attitudes toward school. They are also more likely to change residences, which disrupts their lives even further, since it usually means going to a new school and losing contact with old friends.[1]

The issues outlined in the above quote are all issues that have led to our no longer being competitive in education, invention, and science. It isn’t that single mothers are not trying to be good parents; it is just that they have the deck stacked against them going in. Most have to work for minimum or low wages; they have to work long hours and shifts that are not conducive to raising children. It is not that single mothers do not love their sons, but we are loving them to death right now. Maybe it is time to discuss alternatives to what we have been doing in the past and what we want to accomplish in the future. Do we want to continue down the path we are on condemning our children to a future of poverty and the cycle of lawlessness? Aren’t our children worth more than that?

I have deliberately not included statics supporting or refuting the benefits of same sex schooling, I have learned that no matter what numbers I pull out, opponents can pull out an equal number disputing my numbers. But this isn’t about numbers; this is about the things our young men need that don’t appear on any sheet of paper or scholastic test. Our young men more than anything need to learn how to be men and they will not learn it from our women. No other culture expects their young men to be trained by women in how to be men. We are the only ones in the world who are doing this.

The time has come to put emotionalism and sentimentality away and think about for a change what is best for our children. It is a selfish thing to have kids you know you can’t support, to sentence them to a lifetime of struggle just to survive. God have mercy on us…

[1] http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/textver/16.2.a/impact.txt

Single Mothers Raising Men?

2007-06-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today’s post will generate a lot of controversy but it is discussion that I think is way overdue. The question is can a woman raise a male child to become a “successful” man alone? Now of course the knee jerk reaction will be a resounding yes and there will be story after story of how it was and is being done. I applaud any and all single mothers that are raising young men alone. I pray for you daily. The question remains, is it possible for a woman, a single woman to raise a man on a consistent basis? The reason for this question stated this way is because of the numbers of young black men being raised by single mothers. Has this been positive for Black people or negative?

Due to the diverse myriad of information and scenarios, I am not going to try to answer this question in one post. I plan to continue this series periodically so that we are able to examine as much data and empirical evidence as we can. I am going to be proposing some controversial steps and ideas and I want to provide them with a full hearing. I ask that you be open minded and at least consider the proposals before dismissing them out of hand.

The rule of thumb has always been that a boy needs a man in the house to imitate and emulate the masculine skills needed to successfully navigate manhood in a hostile environment. With the landscape of the “family” changing daily, the question is this still a valid assumption or was it ever valid? We must begin by developing some common ground that we can proceed from or our debate will be grounded before ever taking flight.

Are men and women different and does being a man or woman require different skills to be successful? This is always a fly in the ointment for many, because we often times equate different with unequal. Men and women are equal in the eyes of their Creator and should be so in the world, with that being said men and women are different. Men and women were created to fill different roles and despite our societies insistence to the contrary the fact remains. Most women can bear children and have a more maternal or protective instinct of the family than men. Because we are a continuation of nature we can look to nature to get some ideas of the difference in roles between the species. Regardless of our desire to rid ourselves of our connections to our untamed neighbors we share a lot of similar behaviors with them. It’s funny in nature how it is often the mother that does most of the raising of the off-spring and giving them guidance in hunting, surviving, and development into adulthood.

As independent parents raising children without the presence of a father, mothers have long been treated with dubiousness, fear, and even contempt. Traditional theories contended that mothers who reared sons without the presence of an active father -- or who were married but “overbearing” or raising “mama’s boys” -- instilled lifelong psychic disability, schizophrenia, or, worst, homosexuality in their sons. More recently, society’s guardians have declared that mothers -- especially single mothers, whether unmarried and poor, divorced and employed, straight or lesbian, or as white and prosperous as Calista Flockhart and Jodie Foster -- are sending violent, drug-using hellions out in into the world, boys who present no positive maleness, all due to the combination of Mom’s presence and Dad’s absence. Since Freud, mothers have been inculcated with the idea that we need to cut our sons’ cords to make them men ready to take on masculine roles in the world, from working toward worldly success to making war.

We have been further told by Freudians, social psychologists, and the popular culture that our sons need their dads in order to become upstanding male citizens. If not for Beaver Cleaver’s mom and dad, June and Ward, where would Beaver and his brother, Wally, have been? Without Ward, wouldn’t the boys have missed the supposedly crucial opportunity to separate from June by identifying with a very present father?

According to Freud and others who followed him, June alone could not have achieved everything required to bring up “the Beav” successfully. During the first 3 to 4 years of Beaver’s life, he would have needed Ward to imitate, long for, and react to, in order to gain the prize of being like his father. This theory -- that boys acquire masculinity only with an in-house male in the mother’s bedroom -- has prevailed to the detriment of both mothers and their sons. It presumes that the earliest relationship between infant and mother is simply a caretaking one. The assumption is that the mother is only a need provider for her son, while he in turn becomes physically and emotionally dependent on her. Eventually, assuming there is a present father in the home, the mother must withdraw herself from the child if her son is to become independent of her and escape the dire fate of being a mama’s boy.[1]

Are these concepts accurate and have they served our community well in the past? Are there any lessons to be learned from the past? I believe we must begin to look at ourselves and ask some tough questions about what we truly believe and what we truly want. We cannot continue to live the way we do and allow the things we do and expect things to improve. On the contrary things are getting worse.

[1] http://www.peggydrexler.com/excerpt.htm

Are You Worth Waiting For?

2007-06-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and

unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

Titus 1:15

As I was on my way to work this week, I saw a young lady wearing a tee shirt that stated, “I am worth waiting for”. I have to admit when I first read it I was shocked; it’s not every day that you find our young women wearing the message of abstinence. Unfortunately for many of our young women the uniform of the day is a little more tawdry. As the day went on and I thought about the young ladies shirt, I was reminded of the many comments from folks that abstinence is unworkable, and impractical. Those kids are going to have sex and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

I began to think about that logic and those who are promoting it. The majority of people promoting this logic are people who themselves were unwilling or unable to remain celibate. I thought back into my training; there is a saying to find out who is behind something, follow the money. In this case, who would have something to gain from promoting this position, would it be God or Satan? If it were God then this would be in direct contradiction to His Word, which he said he would never do.[1] If Satan, then why are we promoting his agenda and doing his bidding? Am I foolish enough to think that kids or adults for that matter won’t fornicate? No, but I am not so jaded and cynical to give up on standing for something, God.

I believe that our women and our girls are worth waiting for. I believe that our children are our most precious resource and they should be protected, sometimes from themselves. Too often in our community our children are not being protected, they are being abandoned and forced to raise themselves. In many cases it is not even intentional neglect, but the byproduct of single parenthood. I believe the majority of single mothers want the best for their children, but because they are so over worked and stressed they can’t provide the attention and the care the children require. Our community is full of strong and beautiful women, who have been raising our children alone for years. I think though that it is time for our women to look at the bigger picture of what single parenthood does.

William Raspberry of the Washington Post writes

For the 2000 Census, the percentage of black families headed by married couples was 38. The only good news is that it was also 38 percent in 1990, suggesting that the trend may have stopped getting worse.

Now consider this: Fatherless families are America's single largest source of poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's "Kids Count" once reported that Americans who failed to complete high school, to get married and to reach age 20 before having their first child were nearly 10 times as likely to live in poverty as those who did these three things.

But while marriage may not be a cure for poverty, it does turn out to be a fairly reliable preventative . Isn't it worthwhile to spend more time and resources helping young people to understand the economic implications of single parenthood before they become single parents? Wouldn't it make sense to rethink our relatively recent easy acceptance of out-of-wedlock parenting?[2]

The conclusion is that if our young women choose to become pregnant without the benefit of marriage they are not only condemning themselves, but also their children to a greater chance of a lifetime of poverty. I don’t think that if presented with the evidence most mothers would knowingly place their children in the vicious cycle of poverty, but many of them do it. This has given rise to generations of families that cannot escape the cycle of poverty. We will not be able to break the cycle of poverty that plagues our community without addressing the epidemic of fornication. Any remedies that do not take this into account will be like placing a band-aid on a shooting victim, it helps but it ain’t going to stop the bleeding.

This bleak prospect for single mothers prompted US public affairs columnist Jonathan Rauch to suggest that "marriage is displacing both income and race as the great class divide in the new century". Indeed, research shows that the growth of single parent families accounts for virtually all the increase in US child poverty rates between the 1970s and early 1990s. Children growing up in single parent families are four times as likely to be poor than are those from two-parent families.

Today, almost two thirds of all poor children are in single-parent homes. Growing up in single-parent families also has negative effects on the social and economic outcomes of children. In addition to their high incidence of poverty and low income, studies show that children from single-mother families are much more likely to experience psychiatric disorders, ranging from hyperactivity, conduct or emotional disorders, and schooling problems than those living both parents. While children growing up in single-parent families are not doomed, the odds are certainly stacked against them.[3]

We as concerned parents and neighbors have to come up with a way to educate our children on the negative effects of fornication. The biggest hurdle is the fact that in our community it is not just our children that are practicing fornication, but our adults as well. It is very difficult to press the argument of abstinence when the adult is laying up with people they are not married to. I think what fuels a lot of the anti-abstinence argument is the fact that we don’t want to teach our kids about abstinence if it requires us to evaluate our own lifestyles. We should be more that just hearers of the Word, we should also become doers of the Word.[4]

[1] Matthew 24:35

[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/31/AR2005073101075_2.html

[3] http://www.nzbr.org.nz/documents/perspectives/perspectives-2004/Issue47.pdf

[4] James 1:22

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

2007-06-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

I recently was a part of an online discussion about abortion. I felt limited in how I could respond because it was not my blog and I didn’t feel it my place to fill up someone else’s space. However, after posting my comments I felt as though I had not expressed all or how I wanted to in that space at that time. So, I thought I would use this forum to complete my feelings concerning this very divisive issue.

First of all I want to state my opposition to abortion. I believe that it goes against the teachings of God and is a sin. Where it stacks up among other sins I do not know, but I base my feelings on the following passage from scripture:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before
you were born I sanctified you;
Jeremiah 1:5

With that said, I believe that everyone has choices in this world and it is not for me to make those choices for others. I believe that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ there will be no witnesses called. God will not ask me what I thought about your decisions; it will be each one of us alone before God. We all must search our own hearts in making decisions and there are few if any decisions that are as overwhelming for many women as the decision to have an abortion. It is a decision that has plagued many women for the rest of their lives. Even those who have gone on to have successful full term pregnancies afterwards are haunted by that faithful decision. I am not here to cast stones at anyone, for I am no one to judge another. My only hope and desire is that those in this position will find the support, love, and the wisdom to make the right decision.

I have lost two babies to abortions in my life that I know about. In each case it was a heart wrenching experience for my partners at the time and myself. In each situation I protested vehemently against having the abortion, but again each of us is responsible for our own decisions. The issue that I don’t think most women understand is how the abortion affects a lot of men. Of course for the most part unfortunately it is the man promoting the abortion for various selfish reasons, but there are many of us who deeply feel the lost of our unborn. Of course in both cases there were plenty of reasons for having the procedures; we’re too young, we aren’t established, we’re not ready, my career, and etc. It is in my nature to see both sides of an argument and it makes a lot of my decisions real torment; I go back and forth. Being the man of course limited my being able to offer anything more than an opinion, which was torture in itself. I would be reduced to a mere spectator in the decision on whether to keep my unborn child. Women, if you don’t know that was one of the most powerful feelings of powerlessness I have ever had. It was so difficult to be supportive and yet have feelings of anger, frustration, and fear.

Because of my beliefs, it was more than just the life of my unborn child that troubled my spirit. It was also the soul of my partner that caused me great alarm; I worried for their eternal life. It is amazing to me how we waxed so poetically about our love for one another, yet many of us care absolutely nothing about the eternal destination of our partners. If I truly love someone shouldn’t I want to protect their eternal life as much as I want to protect their physical life? If I could avoid placing them in positions that could jeopardize their souls by controlling my selfish desires, shouldn’t I want to do it? Do I love that person more than I love myself? I think so many of us err in our choices for partners because we don’t do the homework, we don’t ask the right the questions. Some don’t ask the right questions because they don’t want to hear the answer they are going to receive.

The women in each of these cases were “good” women. They were loving, kind, and considerate. They both in my opinion would have made excellent mothers. I don’t think that either took their responsibilities lightly or the dreadful decision that they would have to make. In each case the process of deciding was torment for both of us. It took us to the brink of terminating our relationship and back again. In each case the relationship was never repaired to its previous state. In both cases I lost not only the unborn, but my partners as well. In each case the lost was devastating.

The point I want to stress is that today I realize if we had remained in the state that God had intended for us, these decisions would not have been necessary to make. The attending loss of trust and intimacy would have not been necessary. There are those who will say, “Or you could have used a condom, but that is really not the answer. This is not the answer for me because it is merely treating the symptom and not the underlying cause. I know today that God’s plan is the best plan for my life; He gives me instructions not to punish me but to protect me. I can never articulate the pain and anguish that my partners and I suffered during these times, nor do I believe that any single mothers can articulate the struggle of her life trying to raise children alone. I know that raising children with two parents is a herculean endeavor. I see the hardship daily in the lives of all the single mothers I encounter. I have never met a woman yet who did not continue to be haunted by their decision years later to have an abortion. If we want to avoid the results, we must avoid the cause. We must remain pure at all costs.

To those who have had to struggle and make that dreadful decision my heart goes out to you, because I too am bruised and hurt. I want you to know that there is no condemnation at the cross, there is forgiveness and reconciliation. Come to the “Healer” and be healed, there is no sin so bad that it will not be forgiven. I first must ask for that forgiveness.

Fornication and Role Models

2007-06-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Luke 12:48

The following is a list of athletes and the number of illegitimate children they have fathered. I tried to locate a list of actors and politicians, but it appears athletes are the only ones anyone cares enough about to create a list for.

ATHLETES WITH ILLEGITIMATE KIDS

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS
Shawn Kemp - 7 illegitimate kids by 6 women. Gives his nickname of the Reign Man new meaning.
Evander Holyfield - 9 illegitimate kids. "Heck I'm not even mad, I'm impressed!"
Ex-San Antonio Spur Willie Anderson - 9 illegitimate kids. If only his field goal percentage had been as high as his impregnation rate.
Derrick Thomas - 7 illegitimate kids by 5 women. He died at 33. Let's just leave it at that.
Ray Charles - Not an athlete, but still had 9 illegitimate kids and 12 total, which is quite impressive. Being blind must have made it tough to get that condom on.
UPDATE: Don't know how we missed this - thanks to a reader for pointing this out to us - Calvin Murphy reportedly had 14 illegitimate kids by 9 women. Wow.

THE MIDDLEWEIGHTS
Larry Johnson - 5 kids by 4 women. 3 are illegitimate.
Santonio Holmes - 3 illegitimate kids by two women, before leaving college.
Former Celtic Greg Minor - 3 illegitimate kids.
Ricky Williams - 3 illegitimate kids. Maybe that's why he smokes so much weed.
Priest Holmes - 3 illegitimate kids. You best keep running Priest.

THE LIGHTNING FAST GROUP
Willis McGahee - 3 illegitimate kids in 2 years in Buffalo. Not a lot to do in Buffalo, except make babies. Lots and lots of babies.

THE GUYS YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT GROUP
Walter Herrmann
Peja Stojakovic
Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan
NHL player Daniel Alfredsson
NHL player Richard Zednik
Mike Miller

THE FAMOUS OLD GUYS GROUP
Steve Garvey - 2 illegitimate kids by 2 women.
Dr. J - 2 illegitimate kids by 2 women.
Larry Bird
Isiah Thomas
Jim Palmer
Pete Rose

THE GETTING A HEAD START GROUP
Gary Sheffield - Had 2 illegitimate kids by age 17. Added a few more later on in life.

THE THAT'S JUST WRONG GROUP
Elijah Dukes - recently impregnated a 17-year-old foster child.

THE QB KIDS GROUP
Matt Leinart - already has one, my guess is he's working hard on another.
Tom Brady - his is on the way.

GUYS WITH AT LEAST ONE ILLEGITIMATE KID
Antawn Jamison
Chipper Jones
DeShawn Stevenson
Cliff Floyd
Mark Messier
Brian Urlacher
Rae Carruth - Yes, he fathered an illegitimate kid before the incident where he had his pregnant girlfriend gunned down.
Oscar De La Hoya
Juan Gonzalez
Andre Rison
David Justice
Alonzo Spellman
Dave Meggett
Gary Payton - If the glove doesn't fit...
Stephon Marbury
Jason Kidd
Allen Iverson
Latrell Sprewell
Juwan Howard
Kenny Anderson
Scottie Pippen
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing
Randy Johnson - by reader request. We missed him.

This is just wrong. It is behavior like this that some say further reinforces the idea that “stars” are above the rules. If that were only true, the truth of the matter is that this is just a reflection of our society as a whole. These men are not in some isolated environment, but are merely acting out the same mores of the society. We as a community and as a nation have come to the place where we accept fornication as a way of life. We have lost the power to control our bodies, as if they were no longer connected to our brains, but a separate entity that does what it wants. I don’t believe that this is the way God intended for us to live. God did not intend for us to be slaves of our passions, but to be in control of them. Does this mean that we will live perfect lives? No, but it does mean that it is our duty to bring our minds and our lives under the obedience of Christ.[1] The apostle Paul writes, “It is our reasonable service”, to present ourselves as living sacrifices.[2]

The problem today is so many modern Christians say to God, “Oh God I will follow you and I will believe in you, so long as I can continue doing the mess I am doing.” They want to be Christians with no sacrifice. They want to continue living the way they want to, fornicating, gambling, lying, and cheating. Being a Christian is simple, but it is not easy. It requires that certain things I want to do, I can’t do. Not because they are forbidden by the law, but because they are no longer who I am. When the Holy Spirit truly abides in someone their behavior changes, they no longer want to do the things they use to do. Their desires change and reflect the desires of the Father, no longer seeking selfish pleasure.

I don’t fault these men, they are just men. But as a parent I realize that it is up to me to be the role model for my children, to teach them what is expected of a man in the sight of God. The message of what a man is supposed to be was perverted for me; I don’t want my children to get that same perverted message. I cannot allow the world to define what I am or what my children will become. Our society, especially in the Black community is being given these images that are direct opposition to what God desires for us to be. Our sons have been sold this “thug life” garbage and our daughters have been reduced to nothing more than faceless sex objects. Where is the outcry? It has become so common for our young women to have children out of wedlock that we don’t even think twice about it anymore. Getting married has become the unusual situation and fornication the norm. It is time we reverse this trend. But it has to begin with us as Black men getting back under the authority of God. A man first and most important job when he becomes married is to save his household. Men, let’s save our homes and our families…

[1] 2 Corinthians 10:5

[2] Romans 12:1

Where Do We Go From Here?

2007-05-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Knowledge without action is worthless. To know something is wrong and to not act on that knowledge is the condemnation of man. God has made it clear to all of us what he requires. The choice however is ours, God will never impose His will on us. Every command of Jesus was couched in the statement of “if”. If you want eternal life, if you want to be healed, if you want to follow me, then here is what you do. God requires our cooperation in the healing process.[1] There are many of us who will only believe if God continues to provide signs. There are others who profess belief if they are able to continue doing the things they want. Lord, I will believe in You and worship You, if I can continue to gamble, chase women or men, and do what I want to do. God is not to be bargained with like some Bob Barker in the sky.

I know that there are many who need to receive this Word. If you have found this place, it is not by accident. Regardless of what brought you here, there is healing here. There is a Word for you here. I pray that you would pass this site on to others, that others may find the healing that we all so desperately need.

Fornication is killing us as a nation. We have lost our moral way and now we are stumbling along blindly being overtaken by all manner of sin. Our children have rebelled against us and against God. We are in a very dangerous place when the sons of men have lost their fear of God.[2] The many problems that beset us stem from our refusal to obey God. Obedience to God is not optional for Christians. We do not get to pick and choose what we will follow and when. We should no longer allow the world to dictate to the Church what is acceptable.

I am exploring having this book edited and published. If anyone would like to support me in this project, please email me. I will need financial support to get this project published. I would like to be able to get this Word out to our young people while there is still time. Can we count on you to support us in this effort to stop this epidemic? I want every young person in America to have a chance to read this and know that they have a choice. Our communities and our young people need you. Can they count on you? We have let them down so many times, let’s put them first for a change!

Rodney.Knott@gmail.com

[1] John 5:8
[2] Romans 3:10-18

Chapter 9, Part 20

2007-04-06T06:12:00.000-07:00

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
and shall obtain favor from the Lord.”
Proverbs 18:22

According to the Word, a wife is a good thing and brings favor from God. I have researched and I have found no such verse for a “baby’s momma”, girlfriend, or life partner. This bond is so complete to God that it is described as two people becoming one person in heart, mind, and spirit.[1] Two separate entities being brought together and made one. Marriage was provided from God to give a stable environment to raise children, so that children would know security and be given the knowledge of God. One of the main ingredients missing in the lives of our children today is security. Ask any child today what they fear and they will tell you they live in fear of the unknown. Children are afraid that their homes are going to be destroyed not by terrorist, but by divorce. A large part of that is the relative ease that homes are disintegrated today, we are living in a transient society. There is no longer a commitment to anything or anyone. Many today do not even bother to get married to raise children and those that do seem to have little commitment to the family. For those that do not know; God hates divorce![2] God has never desired for us to be divorced. If it were not for the hardness of man’s heart, God would have never allowed it.[3] We have turned divorce into a cottage industry. The animosity of many divorces today should convince anyone of why God has such a hatred for divorce. Children being torn from parents, turned against parents, and sometimes kidnapped from parents. You have parents using the custody of children as a weapon.

Why is divorce so common today? I believe one of the reasons is that we no longer go to God for our mates. Today so many of our young women are going out into the world (clubs, hangouts, etc.) looking for mates instead of going to God. In the black community, it is particularly disturbing because most mothers were not very successful in their choice of men and they pass that on to their daughters. Instead of teaching them to look for a man that will cherish, love, and provide for them, they are being shown to go for the man with the flashy smile, clothes, and the smooth line. Most, black women today claim to want a godly man, but when given the opportunity continue to pick the worldly man. He is more exciting, as if life were nothing more than an amusement park ride. People are choosing worldly qualities over Godly qualities. They are choosing the superficial over the deeper elements of a person’s character. Many would not know a good man if he were to walk up and slap them in the face.[4][5] There are many who marry and do not even know the religion of their mate or even if their mate is saved. The Bible is very clear on believers marrying unbelievers it is to be avoided.

“Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers,
But a prudent wife is from the Lord.”
Proverbs 19:14

I find it disturbing how many people will meet and marry people from the club, the streets, or now the internet and know absolutely nothing about the person. It is like the guy who marries a stripper and then gets mad when she takes her clothes off in front of other men. Hello, remember you were her favorite customer. Or, the woman who cheats with a man that she knows is with someone else and then can not believe when he cheats on her. What are people thinking these days?

Today, there is a growing and common attitude that it is better to be with anybody than to be alone. Due to our society promoting these self-gratification values, people no longer can wait on God. If you want a loving, perfect mate, pray to God and wait for God to give you him or her. Sometimes it takes so long for God to respond because you are not ready for what you are praying for. Sometimes we are not ready for the blessing that God has waiting to give us and God would not send us a blessing that will make our lives worse. He would rather you do without until you are ready to receive it. When was the promise land given to Israel? It was given to them before the beginning of time. So why did they have to spend forty years in the wilderness? Because they were not ready to receive the gift that God had already given them, their faith was weak. So, it is with many of us, we would not be able to love and cherish the blessing God has for us, because we have too much “worldliness” on us. For many of us we are just too selfish to be with anyone from God. Many of us only need to look at the gifts God has already bestowed on us; what have we done with those? God may be in the process of burning some of that worldliness off of you and preparing you for His blessing. Be patient, it is always to God’s glory that we are blessed. To show the world how awesome, powerful, and good the God we serve is.

[1] Ibid.

[2] Malachi 2:16

[3] Matthew 19:9

[4] Figure of speech, I would never condone the use of violence against any woman.

[5] 1 Corinthians

This is the last post from my book. I want to thank all of the people who have come by and supported my efforts in getting out God's Word to those who are lost. I will continue to post to this blog with other information related to our fight. If this blog has helped anyone, please contact me at rodney.knott@gmail.com and give me your feedback. Thank you and may God get the glory...Glory to God.

Chapter 9, Part 19

2007-04-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Marriage

“Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each
man have his own wife, and let each woman have
her own husband.”
1 Corinthians 7:2

How do we break this cycle of fornication and sexual sinfulness? According to the Apostle Paul, we must marry. The answer to fornication is marriage. What a novel concept. As it was in the beginning, the way that God originally designed it in His perfect plan for us. Among its many benefits, marriage raises the earnings of men and motivates them to work more hours. It also reduces by two-thirds the likelihood that a family will live in poverty, researchers have learned. Could this be why so many single mothers and children live in poverty? Thousands of years later, how God designed it is still the right way. Man has continually tried to improve on God’s concept of marriage by instituting this “try it before you by it” idea. In other words let’s go out, sleep with a bunch of different people, and then decide whom we want to marry. There is only one small problem; it assumes that marriage is all about sexual gratification. We think that a good sex partner will make a good marriage or lifetime partner. And of course, this is foolishness, marriage is more than sex. In fact, sex plays such a small part of the overall relationship. Any marriage based on sex will not last very long.

Some may say that marriage cannot be the answer. Look at all the marriages that are ending today in divorce. However, the problem is not marriage, it is divorce. Divorce is causing so much pain in our society today. If we were to follow the teachings of our Lord, the only reason for divorce permitted by God is adultery.[1] We are not to divorce for any and every reason that we grant divorces for today. I can recall one celebrity who divorced his wife for irreconcilable differences; it appears she was taller than he was. I checked and she had not grown an inch in the marriage so she was that height when he married her. The teachings of Christ on marriage and divorce are pretty simple and straightforward. Marriage is until death do you part. We should take marriage very seriously; it appears that God does. Christ said that, “What God has joined together let no man pull apart.”[2]

What we have forgotten is that marriage is not an earthly or man-made institution it was created by God for man. Marriage was created and ordained by God to avoid the problems we are currently facing as a people and to a greater extent as a nation. We have become a community of fornicators. Man has so perverted the institution of marriage it should come as no surprise to anyone that it is no longer working. Marriage today is treated like some sort of business deal, a contract that can be broken or breached at anytime. This is not how God intended marriage to be practiced. God said that when a man and a woman are joined together they are no longer two, but become one flesh.[3] Marriage is not an external bond, it was designed to be an internal bond until death. Marriage has no power today due in large part to the fornication that is taking place prior to the marriage. As soon as the marriage becomes a little difficult, it’s over and on to the next one.

The world continues to display through the media the farce that marriage has become. All those role models and idols are shown with those huge weddings with all the trappings, the envy of all who see them. Yet, within less than a year for most of them they are separated or divorced. Again, the following year they show up “in love” with some new heartthrob or actress/model and the process begins all over again. I wish I could say that this only occurs in “sinful Hollywood” or the entertainment business but that would not be true. Unfortunately, in the “evangelical Christian” community divorce rates are just as high if not higher than in the “worldly” community. In fact, the “Bible belt” has a divorce rate that is higher than the supposedly liberal northeast. If the people of God are not upholding the teachings of Christ how can we expect the world to follow the example we are suppose to be setting. Why are so many “born again” Christians divorcing and remarrying? Maybe those claiming to have the in-dwelling Holy Spirit in them do not. The numbers on the divorce rates of “evangelicals” is staggering and I would ask anyone to check the figures for yourself. Do the research and I know the numbers will bear me out.

[1] Matthew 5:32

[2] Matthew 19:6

[3] Ibid

Chapter 9, Part 18

2007-04-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

“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.”
Hebrews 10:25

To exhort one another, that means to urge or advise strongly. We as a body of believers need to exhort each other more to follow the Lord. In our assemblies we spend more time worrying about who is sleeping with whom than uplifting one another. Our bodies of believers have turned into a body of gossipers and backbiters. It is no wonder our church bodies have no power to stem this epidemic. Instead of gossiping about each other we should be praying for each other and lifting our fallen members up. We want to just sit and talk behind each others backs. As the day of judgment approaches with all of its trials and tribulations for believers we need more than ever to exhort one another. We will all come under extreme pressure to compromise and adopt the ways of the world. It will take all of our faiths to be able to stand in those times.

We must remember that this body is all about relationships. From the relationship the Father has with the Son, to our relationship with the Trinity, to our relationship to each other. Our relationship with each other is suppose to be a mirror of the relationship we have with our heavenly Father. If we build better relationships inside the body of believers, the more likely we will follow the teachings of the Lord. As our relationships get stronger with our brothers and sisters in Christ, the stronger our resolve to do the right thing will be. We strengthen each other through our unity of purpose and faith. Let us begin to work on our relationships to affect change on the world. Our Lord said, “If we have something against our brothers we are to leave our gift at the altar and go and be reconciled to our brothers, then come back to the altar.[1] Let our church bodies be strongholds of righteousness that believers can run to and find sanctuary. Let them find exhortation and not fornication.

[1] Matthew 5:23

Chapter 9, Part 17

2007-03-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

Fellowship With Believers

“Now therefore you are no longer strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God having been
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ being the cornerstone.”
Ephesians 2:19,20

One of the best tricks the enemy uses against us is to isolate us from one another. To surround us with people who are not obeying the will of God. Their presence and encouragement makes it seem okay for us to follow our lustful impulses unchecked. It is like we are sheep and the enemy comes and attempts to separate us from the herd, because it is easier to pick us off one by one than in a group. The goal of the enemy is to divide us and then conquer us. There are countless numbers of us who say, “I am following the Lord in my own way and I do not need anyone else to believe”. Or why should I go be around all those “fake Christians” and hypocrites, giving my money to that preacher to buy a new car. The enemy knows there is strength in numbers. No one attacks an opponent that is numerically stronger unless they can separate them. Our Lord demonstrated this concept by using the parable of a king going to war but counts the number of troops on the other side. If the enemy has are more than his, then he makes peace with them.[1]

We all need fellowship and encouragement. This world is against us because we are followers of the Christ. If the enemy can not take us for himself, he wants to make us useless to God through sinfulness. Our witness is compromised by our being bound to sin. We must recognize that we cannot overcome sin of our own power. Our example Jesus, when tempted immediately relied on the Word of God.[2] The enemy wants us alone. Do not fall for this trick. Our Lord is married to the Church we all are the Church, not some building or cathedral. Even Christ continued to go to the synagogue and temple with its hypocrites and thieves. The kingdom of God is not a country, it is people, people who follow His Words and commands from all over the world. Surround yourself with these people and your desire to sin will diminish. Will these people be perfect? Absolutely not! But they just like you are at least seeking the truth and the will of God. You will be surprised how temptation lessens as you remove yourself from those worldly people and influences that you currently surround yourself with.

God has forced us to be with one another by giving each one of us only a piece of the truth. No one person has all the truth, could you imagine one human with that much power. We have come together each of us with our piece of the truth and when we put them together we have a better understanding of the truth and the true nature of God. We all need each other, it was designed that way by God.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free-and all have been made to drink into
one spirit. For in fact the body is not one
member but many.”
1 Corinthians 12:13,14

Though we are many, we are still one. We are made one by the Spirit. It does not matter where we come from, where we live, or how much we make in the eyes of God we are the same. It does not matter how we got here just that we are all here together now. We should stop concentrating on our differences and concentrate on our similarities. I guarantee you that we have more in common than we have different. It is alarming how we as a people are starting to discriminate against each other. Is there not enough strife in this world without us turning on one another? Instead of turning on each other we should be lifting each other up in prayer and in deed. Our survival depends on one another, do not let the enemy succeed in dividing us. He has already been successful in dividing us by nation, race, and denomination. The scripture says we are one body through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let us live as one body. We will never be able to stem this epidemic of fornication and sexual sin without each others help. We need to be not only one body, but one mind. We need the mind to stop our selfish sinful ways. That mind can only come from Christ.

[1] Luke 16:31,32

[2] Matthew

Chapter 9, Part 16

2007-03-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

“Not by might or power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of host.”
Zechariah 4:6

We overcome temptation not by our might or by our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. The tempter does not fear our logic, our common sense, or us. He fears one thing only and that is God, Almighty. The Bible says that the demons know that God is there, they just do not worship Him.[1] My mental acknowledgment of God gets me nothing. I must surrender to Him. In time every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess to God.[2] His Spirit knows no bounds or limitations, the only reason we succumb to the sins of the flesh is because we do not allow His Spirit to work in our lives.

The scriptures say that our condemnation is in the fact that God has sent light into the world, but men loved darkness over the light.[3] We preferred the darkness because our deeds were evil. We do not want to follow God, we want to follow our own perverted pleasures. We would rather fornicate than to allow the Spirit of God to overcome it. Let’s face it, we sin because our flesh enjoys it. If we did not enjoy it we would not be doing it. There is no temptation in a root canal, because it is very painful. The reason there is temptation in fornication and sexual perversion is because we think it is fun. The pleasure though is short-lived, but the consequences can last a lifetime. For many of us we are willing to give up all that God has for us for the temporary pleasures of sin. On the one hand God is offering us the world and we accept instead a few moments of selfish pleasure in fornication. Choose God that you may live.

“Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.”
Hebrews 11:25

We must always remember that sins pleasures are always passing. They never last. Those who trust in pleasure, money and worldly wisdom will find that they are standing in quick sand. They are trusting in false idols and in the end God will prove their foolishness. We as a people have sold out our heritage of God for the false idol of pleasure. The entire world today is about pleasure. You are not living if you are not seeking and getting pleasure. Nothing else in this world matters but pleasure seeking. Look at the television, movies, and music industries their only message is selfish pleasure. Seek your own desires and pleasures with no thought to the consequences. The youth of today have been given the mistaken belief that life has no consequences that they are able to do whatever they want without any repercussions. Well that is just not true. There may not be repercussions on television, but there are in God’s world.

The little struggles that we go through now are nothing compared to what God has in store for us.[4] We have been conditioned that life is about pleasure, if you are not feeling pleasure take something or do something until you are. Modern life is trying to lose its discomfort, well God has a purpose for discomfort. It is to develop our reliance and trust in Him and to build our character. Imagine life with only pleasure. Imagine a diet of only your favorite food day after day, I think that in a short time it will no longer be your favorite. It would be good for the first few meals, but eventually you would become sick of it, just as you would if pleasure were your only goal, what a hollow and shallow existence that would be. If you spend all your time doing what you want to do you will have no time to do what God has for you to do. Where have we gotten this misguided idea that all life is about our selfish pleasure? Those of us who choose to follow God should realize that our Lord told us that following Him would require sacrifice. Trials and tribulations build perfection in us through the working of the Spirit of God. These trials build up our faith in the Father. As we overcome temptations and trials our focus narrows to the One who gave us the power to overcome.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome
them, because He who is in you is greater than
he who is in the world.”
1 John 4:4

We will not overcome, we have already overcome through the Christ and His redemptive work. God has empowered us with everything we need to defeat the temptations of this world. It is time for us to claim our victorious lives and stop clinging to those defeated lives. You can overcome any temptation the world has to bring you if you only remember where your power lies, it is not in your own power or strength but in the Spirit of God.

[1] James 2:19

[2] Romans 14:11

[3] John 3:19

[4] 2 Corinthians 4:17

Chapter 9, Part 15

2007-03-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Resist Temptation

“No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man;
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted
beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13

Temptation comes to us in many ways and in many forms. Throughout the scriptures there is example after example of people carried away by sexual temptation. People who were not willing to take the way of escape God had provided them. They only saw the short term selfish pleasure laid out in front of them. Temptation can seem overwhelming at times, but remember our Lord faced it time and again with victory. Temptation never takes the first no for an answer, it continues to press us. Because of its continuous pressure we feel that we can not resist it. That the temptation we are pressed by is somehow greater than anyone else’s. The scripture says that our temptation is no greater or less than what the rest of the world faces. If you want to know what is wrong in the world look into your own heart, because we all face the same temptations. It has to be that way, God does not grade on a curve.

Why can we not bear the temptations that come at us? Why do we not see the way of escape that God has provided? Because for many of us escape is not what we are looking for, we are looking to fall. We have fallen so many times in our lives; we only know failure. We have lived defeated lives for so long and all we see around us is other defeated lives that we do not know what living victorious lives is. Temptation to us seem insurmountable and for some of us it is, but there is one who has already overcome the tempter. That one is Jesus Christ. If you want to resist temptation and live victorious lives, leave everything at the cross. Leave all your lusts and sinful thoughts at the cross of His holiness. There is freedom at the cross. The freedom at the cross is death. “If we are dead to sin how can we continue to sin”, the Apostle Paul asks?[1]

Many of us do not stay dead to sin. It is like when we were kids and we would play shoot ‘em up games, there were always the kids who would get shot and not want to stay dead. Remember you would have to stay dead for sometime or until the next game, but there was always someone who could not wait. Well unfortunately, there are many people who refuse to stay dead to sin; they have feet that are quick to sin. The psalmist says that feet that are quick to run to sin are one of the things that God hates.[2] He hates it because it shows a lack a faith in Him. You do not give God the opportunity to remove the temptation. For some it is not the lack of faith that God can overcome the temptation, it is that they do not want Him to.

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil
and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7

The scripture tells us that the way we resist the devil is by submitting to God. The way the Lord resisted the tempter was through the Word of God. He did not try to use His common sense, He immediately submitted to God. If we want victory over not just the temptation of fornication, but any temptation we need to submit to God. We need to submit our thoughts, our desires, and our wills to His perfect plan for us. If we submit to God the devil will flee. The devil flees not because of us or our power, but because of God. All creatures are subject to God. In God is our victory. We live victoriously through His Son who died for our sinfulness. By submitting to the Father we will find the temptations lose their frequency and their power. The reason temptations appear so overpowering is because we have not resisted them, we have no knowledge or experience for overcoming them. God allows us temptation for His glory, through our submission to Him. We glorify the living God by submitting to His divine power to overcome, not by relying on our wisdom. Remember Eve when she was tempted by Satan in the garden, she tried to outsmart the serpent with her own wisdom. That did not work out to good for her or Adam. If she had submitted to God, God would have defeated the serpent again. Temptation overcomes us by counting on our pride; it tells us you do not need to call on God for this. You can rely on your own wisdom to defeat it. When have you ever through your own wisdom and power defeated temptation? Surrender to God and win.

[1] Romans

[2] Psalms

Chapter 9, Part 14

2007-03-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me,
they are foolish children, and they have no
understanding, they are wise to do evil, but to
do good they have no knowledge.”
Jeremiah 4:22

We are a foolish people; we have lost our sense of righteousness. The scriptures tell us they will lose their understanding and their knowledge to do good. We have turned doing evil into an art form. We have devised new ways to do every evil thing; it seems that with every new technology we have incorporated it into our depravity. The scriptures also say that adults will behave as children, not just children but foolish children. We should stop the foolishness and return to God. We have lost not only our knowledge of God, but more importantly our fear of God. We walk the earth as if we were here for ourselves. “There are none who understand, there are none who seek after God.”[1] If we change our thoughts and seek after God, we will be healed. We must learn to hate sin as God hates sin. We should change how we think about our own conduct in relation to God. Let us take the beam out of our own eye before we start trying to do laser surgery on our brothers. It is not about not tolerating sin in others, it is about not tolerating it in ourselves. We want to be brutally honest with everyone else, but not with ourselves. We must learn to see ourselves as God sees us, full of our sinfulness. Not just holding up our “righteous” actions and hiding our dirty laundry.

God wants to heal His people, it is time to allow Him to. Are we not tired of living this way? It is time for a rebirth, a rebirth of our hearts, minds, and spirits.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is
good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2

We must begin to throw off the worlds thinking with its perversion of humanity. We should allow the Spirit of God to transform or renew our minds. Conformity to this world results in death and destruction. We begin to lose our distaste for sin; we begin to accept it as inevitable. Our aversion to sin lessens as we take on more of the world’s characteristics and less of our Saviors. We should change our plans and thoughts for God’s thoughts. He has a perfect plan for us, but He never makes us accept it. We always have a choice. If we choose His way, we will know what is good and acceptable. We should remember that the world does not change us overnight, a slow eroding effect breaks us down little by little. Before we know it things we use to never allow our kids to do are now allowed, because “everybody is doing it” or “their parents let them do it”. We know how it works, we have heard and given all the excuses. We should love our children enough not to let them grow up that way. Just as the Father loves us to much to leave us the way He found us. We should mature in the faith and stop following any and every false doctrine and worldly value that comes along. The world is full of philosophies and some of them sound “logical”, but if it goes against the revealed Word of God it is false. Our spirit should be guiding us not our logic. I realize how difficult for some this will be, my favorite television character use to be Spock from Star Trek. I admired that everything was always about logic forget your feelings, no emotions. But when I surrendered to God I gave up my logic first mentality. I had to learn to live by my faith, not by sight or my thoughts. God is not looking for a mental connection or a “Vulcan mind probe”. He is a spirit and He comes to us in our spirits, not our minds. You cannot think your way to God.

“Do not be deceived: Evil company
corrupts good habits”
1 Corinthians 15:33

Finally, as we change our thinking, we should also change some of our places and friends. It does us no good to change, but go back to our old places and friends. If we continue to hang out with our old friends, it is very good odds that we will fall. If we have friends that are fornicating, we must remove ourselves from this temptation. We should not play around with this or any other sin remove yourselves from the temptation. How many times do “so-called friends” pressure us into sin? We should remember that misery loves company. Those people whose lives are in turmoil want to put others lives into turmoil. We as a people have a history of keeping others down. The “lobster syndrome” every time someone attempts to change or raise his or her lives there is always someone trying to pull them down. When lobsters are in a tank, every time one tries to climb out the other lobsters pull him back into the tank. Let us stop the “hating” of our brothers success, let us stop the envy and jealousy.

We should change our thinking, our hearts, and most times the company we keep. Remember temptation lurks behind every turn. If you have already succumbed to the sin of fornication, then it will be very difficult to stop. If you have not begun, please do not start. Save yourself for yourself. You deserve a better life than the one that awaits you in that life of sin. God certainly thinks you are worth more.

Part of changing our thoughts is the realization that we have gotten to the point where we are confusing love and sex. The two are not the same. We speak of making love to people we do not even know. How can I make love to someone I am not in love with? For many of us we believe everyone we love we have to have sex with them. Do not get me wrong the act of sex can be beautiful at the right time and in the right context. Not every person that God places in my life is for me to have sex with. Many times I was to be a friend or confidant, instead I assumed because I was attracted to them that there had to be sex involved. By my having sex with them I polluted or corrupted the purpose for which God allowed the relationship. I put my will over the will of God. How many times have we had great relationships with people only to have those relationships ruined by the act of sex? Sex always brings another dimension to any relationship. Some people God places in my life to use me to give them direction or a word. Instead of giving them that direction or word, I give them sex and thereby destroying what influence I might have been able to have in their lives. Just because you love someone or someone says they love you that does not mean you are suppose to be with them in that manner. Look to God for direction and have patience. If it is of God, no power in heaven or on this earth can prevent it from happening. Learn to be friends first and then go from there. For most of my life, I was never able to have female friends because I kept having sex with them. Once that occurred that would inevitably end the friendship. We are so much more than sex organs and have so much more to offer each other. Let the true love of God reign in our lives and in our relationships. Sex is such a small part of our daily lives. Don’t believe the hype! We are sexual beings and God has provided us with that pleasure; but only to be experienced in the proper context. Even then, how much time out of the day do we honestly spend having sex? I would venture to say except in extreme cases very little. If aliens were to just monitor our television programs and music they would probably conclude that sex is all we do. Do not let the ruler of this world mislead you; we are more than food, clothes, and sexual pleasure.

[1] Romans 3:11

Chapter 9, Part 13

2007-03-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

Change Thoughts

“…casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
2 Corinthians 10:5

Overcoming fornication in our society is going to be difficult, it will require a change in our thoughts. Somehow, through the work of the ruler of this world fornication has lost all of its stigma. Not only is it not condemned, but in some circles it is promoted as an alternative lifestyle to marriage. This says that somewhere along the way our thoughts have been changed. We now accept as fact that our young people cannot stop fornicating, or for that matter neither can we. We have accepted defeat, without even putting up a fight. The scripture says that we must bring every thought of ours into the captivity of Christ. We should develop the mind of Christ. There has been a recent campaign that ask, “What would Jesus do?” The Bible states that it is not only `what He would have done, but what would He think.

Our thinking has caused us major problems. The world promotes “common sense”, but common sense is not of God. God provides wisdom to His people, common sense is of the world. Common sense tells us that our children are going to fornicate and there is nothing we can do about it, so we must make the best of it. Instead of stressing abstinence we need to stress safe sex practices and condoms. God does not see sin that way. He does not see it as we do not have a choice. We choose everyday either to obey God or not to obey.

Why are my thoughts so important? Why do I need to change them? Our Lord says that if we think about something, we may as well have already done it.[1]Before we do anything in this world, we think about it, it may just be a fraction of a second, but we do think about it. Therefore, if we think about something long enough, we will usually do it. The message of Christ is that our thoughts dictate our actions. If my thoughts are evil and sinful so will be my behavior, but if my thoughts are under the obedience of Christ my behavior should be also. Therefore, my thoughts must change for my behavior to change. With no change of heart or thought, there will be no change of behavior.

“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put
on the new man, which was created according to God, in
true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:23, 24

In the new testament there are a number of passages that speak about getting a new mind, new heart, and a new spirit. That in order for us to be able to obey God we must have a change of mind. We come to rely on our earthly mind, with its earthly wisdom. There are those among us who believe that technology is the solution to all of our problems. That no matter what we do today, by the time it causes a problem we will have come up with the solution through technology. Whether that be environmental, physical, spiritual, or social. For some technology is their god. But this is a false idol and will go the way of all false idols. It will leave them without a foundation to stand on. Many of us have come to rely so much on technology that we have stopped relying on God. But it is all distractions to take our minds off of our true purpose for being here on this earth. Our minds love the toys and the distractions because the minds we have are carnal minds. They seek the things of this world, all the nice gadgets we see paraded on the television. We have lost touch with things of the Spirit, the more we rely on technology the less we rely on God. Our spirituality has been reduced to astrology or some “psychic” hot line. You have people who will not miss their horoscope, but do not have time to see what the Word of God has to say to them that day. They are more concerned about witchcraft and all that than what their Creator has to say.

The minds of our people, our young people especially are being corrupted by the influence of the world, but also by a lack of counter-balance. They are constantly bombarded with these seductive images on the television and movie screen. Because we as men were not there for them in their childhoods and formative years their has been no one to say what is foolishness. They are being misled by the lies of this world, especially that there is no God or that He does not care about them personally. Our youth have been brainwashed by this “gospel of easy money” being promoted so vividly in movies, television, and in some cases the church. You do not have to work or go to school, just sling dope or take what someone else has. You do not have to get married or treat people especially our women with respect. You do not have to respect authority, not even the ultimate authority of God. And, the most insidious of all is you do not need to respect yourself.

“And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come
and strike the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4:6

I pray and claim this promise of God for all of our people. Unfortunately, a lot of our fathers have turned their hearts from their children. You have men who are not even willing to claim their children, let alone support them. All you have to do is watch one of those daytime talk shows when they do a “Whose the daddy?” show to witness the lack of love these young people have for themselves and each other. The young men talk about those young women so bad it breaks my heart to hear it. They felt that way even when they were lying down with those women and those women still allowed them to lay with them. How desperate were they for affection from a man, any man. The thing that the men do not get is that while the boys are hurt by their absence so are the little girls. Even their efforts to find a relationship with men are distorted; they choose to be with men who could care less about them. We, as their fathers have a responsibility for this.

We must change this mentality of everybody is a “playa”. This thinking is destroying us as a people. There is no loyalty or commitment to one another. Everyone is out to get what he or she can from each other. It is time for us to grow up as a people. This is childishness, only children think the world revolves around their personal pleasures. These are the values being taught our children to only be concerned about your own selfish pleasure at whatever the cost to others. We treat each other as objects and not as people. We should remember who we are and whose we are. Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, a child of the living God?[2] This is not the purpose of our bodies. Fornication is a sin against not just others, it is a sin against yourself. You are worth more than momentary sensory pleasures, you are worth Christ dying for.[3] This is not only how much He loves you but it also how much God wanted you reconciled back into a relationship with Him. Fathers love your children more than you love yourself. We have for too long been only concerned about ourselves. The world will never respect us until we began to put our children before ourselves. Everyone the world over seeks the best for their children, that their children will enjoy a better life than them. Do we desire that for our children and are we willing to do what it takes to make that a reality?

[1] Matthew 5:28

[2] Romans 3:16

[3] Romans 5:8

Chapter 9, Part 12

2007-03-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
2 Corinthians 3:17

Freedom from fornication and all forms of sin comes in the Spirit of the Lord. God gives us freedom from all sin; sin has been defeated. So why do we live such defeated lives? Maybe it is because we do not stay in the freedom that God gives us. We may be more comfortable in bondage than freedom. If there is freedom from God the only reason I am still in bondage is because I choose to stay in bondage. Who in their right mind would choose bondage over freedom. Let us look at human bondage, there were slaves who did not want freedom when emancipation came. For some reason they preferred the lack of responsibility of bondage. When we are in bondage (human) the master provides for the slave, all the slave has to do is follow the orders of the master. However with freedom comes responsibility. We have to make changes when freedom comes, we become responsible for ourselves and our own behavior.

We must find our freedom in the Lord and not in ourselves. Freedom in ourselves without God is only sin, for we are born in to our sin natures. It is only by living in the Spirit that we can find life. The Word says, “that we may have life and have it more abundantly.”[1] Before the freedom of living in the Spirit, I was only existing. I was living like an animal, just going through the motions of living. If you were like me you did not think about what you were doing, you just did it. We spend so much of our lives on automatic pilot, never realizing how are choices will effect our eternal consequences or not caring. “The consequences of sin is death.”[2]

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.”
John 6:63

Following the flesh brings us nothing but problems as well as both a spiritual and physical death. The Bible speaks over and over how God communicates with men through His Spirit. The Scriptures tells us that the Spirit gives us life. So we see that the Spirit gives us guidance, freedom, and life. All the things we need to overcome our fleshly desires. There is no magic formula to resolving this epidemic of fornication and lawlessness that we find ourselves in, it requires using the solutions that God has already given us. We first change our own behavior and then through us the world. It is going to require a complete change from all of us. It is the Spirit that brings about our change of heart and change of mind. It is time to stop relying on our own selfish desires and “common sense” wisdom. Let the Spirit live in you and it will unleash the power of God to overcome the world and all of its passions.

“The spirit of Egypt will fail in it’s midst”
Isaiah 19:3

Just as we have individual spirits we also as a people have a collective spirit. Right now our spirit as a people is not good. It is weighed down by our rebelliousness against God. Our deliberate disregard for Him and His statues has caused our spirits to fail. The spirit of our people was a beacon to people in our early times here in America. It inspired many other people not only in this country, but also in other nations. Despite our circumstances of slavery and prejudice, we stood together and we stood strong. We relied on the Father and He delivered us. We should once again bring together our collective spirit and uplift it to the Lord. The spirit of our people can only be elevated by our individually choosing to follow God. Through the process of individual choice, we reconcile our people back to God. There is a remnant that God has left among all of His people. Those of us that are left among the black people of America[3] The Christ says, “that there is no greater love than to die for ones friends.”[4] This people requires some of us to die to our flesh to save them. Are you willing? Just as some of us were willing to die for our equality, some of us must die for our reconciliation. Not a physical death, but a death to ourselves and our own selfish desires. We as a people made sacrifices for worldly causes (voting, integration). Are there any of us willing to sacrifice for our spiritual cause? We should begin the process of redemption through our faith. The redemption has already been done, we just need to accept it through our faith. Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for a people, for your people? The apostle Paul said that, “scarcely would anyone die for a righteous man, yet for a good man one might dare to die.” ”[5] The Christ says, “that there is no greater love than to die for ones friends.”[6] This people requires some of us to die to our flesh to save them. Are you willing? Just as some of us were willing to die for our equality, some of us must die for our reconciliation. Not a physical death, but a death to ourselves and our own selfish desires. We as a people made sacrifices for worldly causes (voting, integration). Are there any of us willing to sacrifice for our spiritual cause?

[1] John 10:10

[2] Romans 6:23

[3] Romans 5:7

[4] John 15:3

[5] Romans 5:7

[6] John 15:3

Chapter 9, Part 11

2007-03-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

Live In The Spirit

“Then I will give them one heart and I will put a new
spirit within them and take the stony heart out of
their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 11:19

God says in order to serve Him we will need a new heart and a new spirit. Our old heart has been turned to stone by our own sinfulness and the cruelty of the world, as well as our spirits. Our old spirits are incapable of following and worshiping God. They are corrupted by our sinful nature inherited from Adam. They do not seek the things of God, but the things of the world. That old spirit can never lead us to God it leads us to sin. The Scriptures say we must test all spirits, for not all spirits are of God.[1] There are many evil and false spirits in the world, sent out to mislead us away from God. Therefore, before we begin to live in the spirit we must make sure the spirit we are living in is the Spirit of God.

So how do we know what spirit is leading us? Or how do we test the spirits? The Word says, “by this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.” Therefore, any spirit that preaches the Word incarnate is of God and any spirit that preaches the world is of the world. Many Christians are being led astray by the enemy using the spirit of the world. They preach the riches of this world over the righteousness of God. You can witness this in the fact that many believe that the ends justifies the means. If a false testimony or witness brings in converts then it is acceptable. Not that they would condone dishonesty per se; but if it furthers the call it is ok. They would rather blame those who expose such false testimony than to rebuke the ones who have given this false testimony. When we become truly born again how we do things becomes as important, if not more important as what we do. They have their “sacred cows”, they ignore the sin and focus on the messenger. Forget the fact some sin has occurred, for them the ends justifies the means. In the Kingdom of God, the means is the end. Our Lord taught us it is not what you do, it is how and why you do it.[2] He never used dishonesty to further His teachings why should we?

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16

The apostle Paul says the way to overcome the sins of the flesh is to live in the Spirit. How do we live in the Spirit? First, we have to have the Spirit. We receive the Spirit when we surrender our lives to God. When we confess the Lord with our mouths and believe in our hearts He was raised from the dead we shall be saved.[3] At that time we are given the baptism of the Holy Spirit.[4][5] Therefore, faith is the key to our unleashing His power. I walk in the Spirit by faith. I no longer rely on my logic, on the wisdom of the world, or on what the people on television say. I put my faith in the Living God and Him only. I seek Him in all my decision-making. This has been what God has desired from the beginning, if Adam and Eve had sought direction from the Father, we would probably not be here today. Nevertheless, they relied on their own thinking and we see how that worked out. We should allow that Spirit to Guide us. If we do He will lead us into all righteousness and away from sin. With all the people that have been baptized why, is the fornication epidemic still raging? The key to “walking” in the Sprit is faith; we have no power because we have no faith. The Lord said, “if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of God”
Romans 8:16

God’s Spirit will touch our spirit and let us know that we are His. God sends out His Spirit for the purpose of guiding us. It is called the “Spirit of truth”.[6] He is to lead us into the truth. The truth is that we are the children of God, we are royalty. We are given the power to overcome the world and the sins of this world, even fornication. Let the Spirit of God transform you from a child of darkness into a child of light. Living in the Spirit is not something we do overnight. It is a matter of changing not only how we think and believe, but how we live. We are no longer to live for ourselves but for the Father. Our personal selfish desires no longer rule over us. We are no longer slaves to our passions and foolish pleasures but slaves to righteousness.[7] The Spirit, if allowed will compel us to follow righteousness. Throughout the scriptures the Spirit is spoken of as compelling whom God chooses to righteousness. It will compel us if we get out of the way and surrender to the Spirit of God. The Word says we are children of light, we need to walk as such.[8]

[1] 1 John 4:1

[2] Matthew 6:16

[3] Romans 10:9

[4] Acts 1:5

[5] Matthew 17:21

[6] John 15:26

[7] Romans 6:18

[8] Ephesians 5:8

Chapter 9, Part 10

2007-03-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:105

The Word of God guides us, it leads us in the direction we should travel. The Word and the Spirit are our guides to the Father. The Father does not provide guidance, He provides guides. The two will never contradict the revealed Word of God or vice versa. God will never be divided against God.[1] This world is full of darkness and evil lurks around every turn, but the Word is there for us to use. I pray that you will use it now. Let it guide you into the knowledge of the Father. The Word said, “No one can come to the Father, except through Me.”[2] If you want to repent from fornicating and stay pure for the Father you must have the Word. If you want to be able to resist the lure of the devil and stay pure for the Father, you will need the Word.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a
worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the Word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15

We are called to be not just readers and hearers of the Word, but studiers of the Word. We are to be able to present our selves to God unashamed because we have used our time wisely. Not with the distractions of daily life, but with study. Learning the Word, who the Word is, and why was the Word sent here. To be diligent is to persevere in study, to work carefully to learn. Are we actually reading and studying the Word? Or do we base our concepts and beliefs on others interpretations? The reason you have no power is that you do not know the Word. The modern Church and believers are being led away by the “easy gospel”. They have not taken the time to find out for themselves what God’s Word actually says. What did Christ actually teach? Be grounded in the Word and you will not fall for the false teachings and prophets.

The Word of God is foolishness to the non-believer, so how can we as believers allow the world to dictate to us how we should live. Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by the world. You are called by the Word to be set apart from the world. The trouble is that many modern Christians are not only in the world they are of the world. They have allowed the mores of the world to creep into their belief system. Remember the enemy does not have to get you way off, just a little off. Do not seek advice from a dying world. It may sound logical, but if it is not from the Word it is not from God.

The lure of fornication and sexual perversion is so strong today. It permeates everything in our culture. It is used to sell everything from hamburgers to toothpaste. If you are not “doing it”, you are not cool. You are missing out. You cannot turn on the television or go to the movies without promiscuity rearing its ugly head. According to a recent study at least 50% of our young teens (14-15) have already had sexual intercourse.[3] That number should be alarming to us as parents, people, and as a society. But it hardly gets a rise even from many evangelicals, there are more important issues. Well, I am here to say that this is unacceptable to our God. These figures represent the failure of all of us who were given the responsibility to raise these children. We are not training up our children they are raising themselves, many of these children with little or no parental supervision. In our efforts to get the “American Dream”, we have sacrificed our children. We truly have more, but we actually have less. The Word speaks of a man gaining the whole world but losing his soul.[4] The Father will judge those parents who have sacrificed their children for more of the world.

“and that from childhood you have known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”
2 Timothy 3:15

We are to be taught the Word from childhood. According to most modern Christians, teaching our children about how to succeed in the world is more important than giving them the teachings of God. It is more important for them to be materially successful than spiritually successful. And then we wonder why they make the choices they make. What other choices can they make with the information we are providing them. We are allowing the enemy unfettered access to our children. We are providing them with little or no defense except for catch phrases and slogans such as “just say no”. How can we expect them to say no when we do not say no? It is time for parents to step up and be parents once again. Your children do not need more friends they need parents. It’s amazing how so many look to the world for advice on how to raise their children. The ruler of this world wants your children, is it any wonder you are getting misinformation. The more advice the world gives the worst the circumstances become for our children. We have more children drinking, more children taking drugs, and more children pregnant than ever before. And the numbers are going to get worse because we have not mobilized to fight this epidemic. It is not going to go away on its own it only gets worse.

[1] John 8:36

[2] John 14:6

[3] USA Today 10/19/05

[4] Matthew 16:26

Chapter 9, Part 9

2007-03-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Word

“Now when the tempter came to Him, he said ‘If you are
the Son of God, command these stones become bread.’
But He answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:3,4

Our Lord demonstrates to us how we are to deal with temptation. When placed in a situation of temptation three times He dealt with it the same way every time. He used the Word of God. Throughout the scriptures the Word of God is described as a sword[1], but also as the Son of God.[2] There is power in the Word, the scriptures say that it lives as well. It is alive in the lives of believers. The hearing of the Word changes lives. Not the speakers eloquence or mastery of the language, but the Word itself. If you are a preacher and your skills as a speaker is the reason for your success, then you are in fact doing a disservice to your listeners and to the Kingdom. The Kingdom has and will never be about any one person, but about God. The Kingdom is not in word, but in the power of the Spirit.

Our first mistake when confronted with temptation is to try to use our intellect. We are going to outsmart the enemy. The enemy has been here since the beginning of time. How long have you been here? You are going to outsmart the devil who has been with God from early on, with your few years of knowledge. He is the one who taught you everything you know about sin. The Christ did not try to outsmart Satan with his intellect, even though he had all wisdom. He went immediately to the Word of God. Satan had no defense against the Word. When we find ourselves in a tempting situation, we should try to use the Word and we will witness how the devil will flee from us. We have not taught our children to use the power that God has given them, because we do not use it. God has placed all the tools we need to overcome any situation, the problem is we do not use them. We fall for the tricks of Satan to use out intellect. You will be like God. You do not need God’s help for this.

“Your Word I have hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11

The psalmist talks about placing the word of God deep within his heart to prevent him from committing sin. The Word of God has that power to free us from the temptation of sin. The problem is that the majority of us, evangelicals included either do not know the Word or we do no use it. I cannot win a battle with what I do not have or do not use. Are you hiding the Word of God in your heart? How much time are you spending in the study of the Word. A fire extinguisher on the wall does me no good for a fire if I do not take it and use it. God gives me the tools, but if I do not use them who is at fault? What is the power of the Word? In the beginning God brought everything into existence by His Word, then God said.[3] And that Word was none other than the Christ.[4] The Word carries the power of God that has overcome all the forces of evil, even death. There have been countless incidents where believers were confronted by evil and just the simple invoking of God’s Word caused evil to flee.

If you want to stop fornicating, if you want to stay pure then learn and use the Word of God. We of ourselves do not have the power to overcome sin. That power was given to the Word and that Word is Christ. As long as we continue to rely on our own strength and abilities, we will lead defeated lives. Why do we continue to live like peasants when we are children of the Most High God? We continue to live defeated lives when we do not have to. We live defeated lives by choice. We choose not to use what God has freely given to us. The question then becomes do we really want to live victoriously and do we want victory for our brothers and sisters? Victory is not coming, victory is here! God said, “His Word will not come back to Him empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.[5] That purpose is to free all those who are captive, to recover that which was lost.[6] Do not stay lost. Do not continue to live in spiritual rags when the Father has the robe of Christ to cover you with.

[1] Ephesians 6:17

[2] John 1:1

[3] Genesis 1:

[4] John 1:1

[5] Isaiah 55:11

[6] John 8:36

Chapter 9, Part 8

2007-03-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

“Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so
that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you
all the transgressions which you have committed, and
get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”
Ezekiel 18:30, 31

According to the scriptures in order for us to remain repentant we will need a new heart and a new spirit. Why is this necessary? Because our old hearts and spirits have been corrupted and perverted. Due to our worldliness, our love of this world’s pleasures, we are of no use to God. God cannot use us if we love the world or the things of the world.[1] Thank God that He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. One of the problems with the “easy gospel” is that the only thing we have to do to be reconciled with God is just to confess our sins, no change of heart is required. There is a difference between confession and repentance. Confession merely is an acknowledgment of what we have done, our sins. This is important but it is only half of the equation. One must go to the next step, which is repentance. We should go put away those transgressions, or sins. We can acknowledge we are fornicators all day long, but at some point we must begin to turn away from this behavior. Acknowledging our sin to God is like us acknowledging our image on a surveillance video. It is already known that this is us, we must take the next step and we can with the help of God. If the Spirit of the Living God is in you, you will change. We can delay it, but we cannot prevent it. God’s will; cannot be stopped. Our fighting against it only brings us more pain. God has a new life for us, as represented by the new heart and spirit, but for some unknown reason we want to continue living a powerless life.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise
as some count slackness, but is longsuffering
towards us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9

Our God loves us so much He would let us die in our sins, He wants to allow us every opportunity to put them away and come to Him. We should thank Him, not only those of us who are saved but also those who are unsaved. He is being so very patient with this sinful people as we continue to parade our fornicating ways in front of His Holy presence. However, the time is drawing near when He is going to come for His people. At this very day He is calling us to be holy, because He is holy.[2] I pray that we repent while there is still time. No one knows the hour of His coming, but the good servant will be ready whenever that day is.[3] If we are busy doing His will then it will not matter when He comes. Beware of those who come prophesying the exact time of His arrival they are not of Him. If we are not caught up in our sinfulness it will not matter what day it is we will be ready.

“Then God saw there works, that they turned
from their evil way; and God relented from the
disaster that He said He would bring upon them,
and He did not do it.”
Jonah 3:10

The city of Nineveh was a very sinful and rebellious place, some would say comparable to our current society. But when confronted with their sinfulness they repented by the grace of God. God was so moved by their change of heart that He allowed Himself to be changed. He did not do what He had said He would. The lesson for us today is that if we forsake our evil ways, God will restore us to our place of fellowship with Him. If we stop laying with anybody and everybody, God will forgive and forget. However, unlike the city of Nineveh we hear the call of God, the pronouncement of His condemnation of our fornicating ways and ignore Him. I wish I could stress enough the thought that the sin for us, is that we refuse to let God do what we know He can do. We refuse to let God change us. We will not use the power that God has given us to change.

If we repent of this evil and live in the spirit with God the societal ills that we suffer from will be healed. Our children will stop killing each other, the drugs will be removed from our streets, and we will be respected as a people. This is only a small partial list of things God is waiting and willing to do for us. Some would say that I am being too naive and oversimplifying the problems. That our problems are much more complicated than that. I say thank God that He has used simple things to confound the wise of this world.[4] Do not be fooled by the enemy into thinking that we are going to solve this by intelligence and common sense. All sin can only be defeated by the Spirit of God which dwells within all those who are true believers and followers of God. God is the only one who can heal this people. The question then becomes, do we want to be healed?

[1] 1 John 2:15

[2] Leviticus 11:44

[3] Matthew 24:36

[4] Matthew 11:25

Chapter 9, Part 7

2007-03-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

Repent

“If My people who are called by my name will humble
themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and
forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14

What does repent mean? Repent is to feel bad enough about our behavior to want to change it. The Spirit of God convicts us and we acknowledge our true nature. We accept that in and of ourselves we can do no good thing. Meaning, if you are in a fornicating relationship, you stop it. You do not try to justify it, you give it up. All those who are living together move out and get their own places, until marriage. There are people who are going to read this and know that God has been convicting them deep in their spirits about this very thing. Because of your selfish desires you have ignored it. How can you claim to represent the Living God and be living like this and expecting God to bless this union. The scriptures say that you are crucifying Christ all over again and putting Him to shame.[1] Christ has already died for you, so that you may overcome this and every other sin. It is not anything that you have earned it is something you accept. It is already done; either you accept it or you do not. It is like the teaching Christ gave to the young rich man. He told him to sell all that he had period. He did not try to coax him or convince him, He simply stated it and allowed him to choose.[2] So it is with us the Spirit simply convicts us and then it is up to us to choose.

True repentance comes when the damage to our relationship to God bothers us more than the damage to our relationship to men. Make no mistake sin damages my relationship with God. It puts a cloud between God and me. I can be of no value to God if I am living in sin. Many Christians today believe that they can be unfaithful to God in some areas of their lives and faithful in others. As if obeying God is something you can negotiate. The scriptures say “I desire faithfulness, not sacrifice, says the LORD”.[3] We have this foolish belief that because God needs us or loves us that we can do whatever we want and He still has to use and keep us. This thinking fails to understand that it is not our efforts that accomplishes anything. Consider all the great efforts of man to end hunger in the world or poverty. How are those great plans working out? It is God who does the accomplishing.

We miss true repentance when all we become is remorseful for being caught or for having made stupid mistakes and feeling disgusted. There is a point in everyones life sinner or saint when we realize that we do not do sin, but that we are sin. That we are born into a sinful nature and it is only the redemptive work of Christ that allows us to stand before our Creator. None of our efforts produce redemption, not even being sorry for our actions. We should get over our proper goodness and see ourselves as God sees us. When that state is reached you will want to be the opposite of what you were, but again by the grace of God.

“Come now let us reason together, “says the LORD, though your
sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they
are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.”
Isaiah 1:18

As the scripture says, God would like nothing better than to forgive us our sins and to renew His fellowship relationship with us. All He ask is that we acknowledge, confess, repent, and become willing to obey His Word. This deadly spiral that we are on can only be broken by the power of God. Only by the Spirit of God is sin overcome, we are not able to resist without help. This sin is so ingrained now in our culture and daily lives that only by the power of God will it end. So entrenched is the sin of fornication in our culture that we no longer even think twice when we hear of people living together without the benefit of marriage or when we see young unwed women with multiple children from different men. It has become commonplace in our community and there are few voices decrying this situation. Only God can forgive sin and renew our covenant relationship with Him. The Bible says, “that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags to God”.[4][5] We of ourselves cannot save ourselves, therefore all of our trust and faith must be in Christ. As Job stated, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand on the earth.”

Repentance is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Throughout the teachings of Christ, the message was and to this day continues to be repent and receive the Kingdom of God.[6] Our repentance is completed when we acknowledge what God through Christ Jesus has done for us. Someone died in our place pure and simple and God wants us to acknowledge that fact and not skirt around the issue. We are not to believe that we were innocent or that our behavior was not that bad, but that someone took our place on the sacrificial altar. So much of the world’s daily message is in denying and refuting this simple fact. If we accept what God has done, there comes a responsibility. We should change, we must repent. God’s saving grace only makes sense in that He is able to take an evil man and change him into a righteous man. It makes no sense in the circumstance of taking an almost righteous or a good man and making him better.

[1] Hebrews 5:6

[2] Mark 10:21

[3] Hosea 6:6

[4] Isaiah 64:6

[5] Job 19:25

[6] Matthew 4:17

Chapter 9, Part 6

2007-03-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Confession Of Sin

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:19

Confession of our sinfulness is a must to overcome this epidemic. Those who have given themselves over to fornication must confess their sinfulness and return to the teachings and authority of Christ. Let those who have sinned, stop sinning. Is there any doubt that fornication is a sin? So why do we continue in sin that grace may abound.[1] God forbid. We who are saved are supposed to be dead to sin, dead to the old man or woman. We are supposed to be new creations.[2] Yet we keep sinning. Why do we keep giving the old man CPR? We keep him on life support again and again. The Word says if I come before God and confess I will be not only forgiven, but also cleansed.

In confessing our sinfulness to God, the first thing we have to understand is that our confessions are not for God. The scriptures say that the “eyes of the LORD” are in every place and they see everything.[3] So why do I need to confess what God already knows? No. So some would ask why we need to confess at all. God already knows everything. The confession process is to help increase our faith relationship with God. Who we trust we confess our secrets to. If we do not trust someone, we do not tell them our secrets. We do not confide in strangers. For many people that is their relationship with God, they are strangers. They may know the Word of God, but they do not know God. As our relationship with God increases He begins to convict us of our sins on a deeper level. This forces us to do one of two things: either we run away in shame and continue to sin or we run to God and confess our sinfulness.

Confession also begins the process of transfer of trust from ourselves to God. As we trust more and more in God our willingness to hide from Him who we are diminishes; as if I could hide from Him anyway.[4] If we are to follow and obey God, we should start trusting in Him. We must become as little children. I often use the example of a parent leading a small child across a busy highway, the child will not question the wisdom of the parent even if they do not understand the situation. Though there are cars speeding by, the child will rely on and trust the parent. This is the type of faith that God is desiring from us. To offer Him blind faith. Why we as humans feel entitled to an explanation from God is beyond my comprehension. It is as if Gods every little movement must be run past us for our approval or acceptance. This blind faith only comes from total faith and trust in God.[5] Remember Jesus Christ told Peter, “What is that to you? You follow Me.”[6] We do not get to ask questions, we only get to follow if we choose.

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever
confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
Proverbs 28:13

Finally confession begins the practice of loosening the hold of the “old man”. As long as we pretend we have no sins, we stay bound to the dead man. None of our ventures will succeed with this attitude. No matter how much we plan, or how smart we think we are it all comes to nothing. The reason it is so difficult to let go of the dead man is that so much of us is entwined in him. He was who we were for so long. If we acknowledge his failures, we acknowledge our reliance on ourselves is a failure. If we have not allowed God to create a new man to replace him, where do we go? If we are still in the old man when he dies we die. By coming to God in confession we begin the change of the old to the new. The old man held all of our secrets, all of our sins. The things we were going to take to the grave. As we confess these deep dark secrets and sins the hold of the old man is loosened little by little. The thing about God is that He only reveals what we can handle at that time, He never gives us too much. Why must I die to the old man before I can take up the new man? Because we only have one spirit and that spirit cannot be in two places. We have to choose where we put it, where we put our trust. The reason many of us do not change is because we do not trust in the new man. The old man (life) may be messed up, but we at least have life, we know that life. Without faith in the resurrecting power of God we do not think there will be a new life. And let’s face it who among us really wants to die? I say to live, you must die. There can be no resurrection until someone dies. We want to go to heaven, yet we do not want to die. Christ says we must be born again, that means something has died.[7] Do not be afraid to die little ones for our God is more than able to raise us up as He raised up Christ. In order for us to overcome this sinful epidemic we must all confess and be born again. We must all die to our past lives.

True confession comes from conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. It is not by being troubled by the uneasiness of being reminded of the wrong I have done. It is a deep sense of remorse not towards my fellow man, but towards God. The psalmist declares, “Against You, and You only have I sinned.”[8] Are we responsible for the damage we do to our brothers? Of course, we are but it is the damage to our relationship to God that should trouble us the most. That relationship is our saving grace. It is more important than anything else we do in the Father’s name.

Confession begins the development of bringing that relationship with the Father back into its proper place. Before there can be repentance and forgiveness there must be confession. We must clean the slate and begin our relationship with God anew. God has done His part by providing the propitiation for our sins in Christ Jesus to bring our relationship back to its right state. Our work begins by acknowledging the fact that we needed a propitiation for our sins or that we are sinners. If we have committed no sin then there is no need for confession or redemption. Through conviction of the Holy Spirit confession is made to salvation.[9] I pray that the Holy Spirit may convict you of your sinfulness, that you heed the Word, and that you confess the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1] Romans 6:11

[2] 1 Corinthians

[3] Proverbs

[4] Psalm 139:7,8

[5] Genesis 18:17

[6] John 21:22

[7] John 3:3

[8] Psalms 51:4

[9] Romans 10:10

Chapter 9, Part 5

2007-03-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

If you want to see the power of God at work in your life begin to pray for others. Intercession is prayer on behalf of another. We need intercessory prayer for this people. Do you love this people enough to pray for them. We do not need any more marches and other public displays for the enrichment of those staging them. We need leaders who are willing to go before God and plead for this people, just as Moses went before God and pleaded for his people. That is the true nature of prayer. Because this is a hidden calling it removes false love and pride, but it brings forth great fruit. Because it is not inclined to pride and boasting, it touches Gods own heart. The Word speaks of Job, and how it was not until he prayed for his friends that his blessings came. The LORD restored Job’s losses two-fold when he got out of himself and sought the well-being of others.[1] Get out of yourselves and pray for these young people. Pray that the LORD God will have mercy on us and return us to His holiness.

When you do pray deeply you must be ready for the silence. God always answers prayer. It is just not always how or when we would like, but He always answers. God answers my prayers in three ways: yes, no, and wait. The hardest one for me is wait. It is at wait that the true saints continue to pray more fervently while the “so-called” saints bring out their own plans. Do you not know that there is growth in wait, wait fosters a closer connection to God. Remember when you first met your spouse or best friend. There was always conversation. We could not stand the uncomfortable silence. Then you reach a level of comfort where that uncomfortable silence became comfortable. No one has to speak constantly and there is no discomfort or awkwardness. In some rare instances, there is a connection that does not require speaking on many issues at all, you just know. There is peace, an understanding that was not there before. No one has to say anything you just know. God so wants that level of comfort with us. If you are truly in His will you will not have to keep asking, you just know.

Prayer is for the developing of our relationship with God just like everything else we are called to do. Prayer begins as our feeble attempt to reach out to God through our will and desires. It usually begins with a lists of needs to be filled like a prescription at a pharmacy. It usually begins with me doing most if not all of the talking and little if any listening. It often begins as something we do infrequently and for short periods. For many of us, it is from a fear of not doing it right. If your heart is pure and your goal is the seeking of God, there is no wrong way to pray. If you are faithful in your heart, God will lead you into the type of prayer that He seeks. For many though, due to their hardness of heart they refuse to heed the leading of God. They know better than God how to pray.

Mature prayer changes from my laundry list of needs to a changing of my will. Instead of me praying a few minutes in the morning or before bed like a child we pray as though it were the breath of life. We will always be in prayer in some form. For some the need for speaking at all will disappear. They will develop such a closeness to God that the level of communication changes. They will present themselves boldly before the throne and utter not a word. The Spirit will pray for them. The apostle Paul spoke about how the Spirit prays for us because we do not know what to pray. The Spirit makes intercession for us to the Father.[2] The Christ spoke of God being a spirit and those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth.[3]

Those praying to God for solutions will not last long in prayer. That is not the purpose of prayer, it is to bring a oneness with the Father and in that oneness are all the answers to all the questions. Are we seeking God in our prayers or are we seeking a rubber stamp on our own plans and agendas? How do we respond when God does not respond to our prayers as we believe He should? Prayer is never a destination we arrive at, it is a lifelong journey. As our journey continues our prayer life should exhibit changes. It should grow and mature as we grow and mature. We should not spend time with God because we have to, but because we want to.

[1] Job 42:10

[2] Romans 8:26

[3] John 4:24

Chapter 9, Part 4

2007-02-28T06:44:00.000-08:00

Many Christians look at God as some giant Santa Claus in the sky who they come to with long shopping lists of desires for themselves. God if you just give me a beautiful wife, a beautiful home, or a new car I will serve you. God is not Wal-Mart. The only purpose of prayer should be to develop a closer relationship to God. If you walk close enough to God He will know your needs. If you find God, you will find all of your needs and desires there. Instead of seeking goals and wants, we should be seeking God. It is only in finding God that all those things I seek will be found. He will keep you from the evil one. What happens to your prayer life when God does not provide you with these things you seek? A common mistake made today is that material well being is being interpreted as a blessing or closeness to God. Nowhere is this attitude supported in the scriptures. On the contrary Jesus Christ said, “blessed is the poor.”[1] But again the modern Church has translated this teaching differently. If all my wants are met when will I seek God? Your only goal in prayer should be to seek God and the well-being of others.

What is prayer? Very little teaching is done in the Church concerning this most vital aspect of the Christians life. There are a number of Christians who do not even know what or how to pray. Other than the example Christ gave to us and his disciples they do not have a clue. But in that example is everything we need to know about prayer. The key to all we want to accomplish as a people, as a nation is in prayer. Many in their egotistical foolishness think that the key to resolving the problems of the world are in activities or in technology. As if we need to do for God what He cannot do for Himself. Any work we get to do for God is not for God, it is for our instruction and development. It is to prepare us for Him and His Kingdom. Prayer is coming before the presence of God in humility, not to receive anything. It is the transforming of our will to His will. It is the coming before God with nothing and expecting nothing. There is a reason Christ said, “He knows the things you need before you even ask.”[2] If you do ask, it is in the asking that you are drawn closer to Him. Most of us would be apprehensive to ask a stranger for anything, but would be comfortable asking a friend or family member. God wants that type of relationship with us. This type of relationship can only happen when we allow ourselves to be known by our Creator.

There have been many volumes written about how Christ taught us to pray and in this short space I would not even begin to attempt to cover all the nuances of it. However, I think it is important to notice that nowhere in His example does it mention me! Where is there in the prayer the part where we pray only for ourselves? Throughout the prayer it is us and we, the Lord is giving us instructions to pray for others. Even in the final hours of His earthly ministry Christ prayed for the Fathers will to be done. It was always the Fathers will in prayer. It was through prayer that He and the Father became one. Our goal should be to gain that oneness with the Father.[3]

“Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
James 5:16

The scriptures tell us that our prayers are worth much. The action of prayer does not prepare us for greater works; it is in fact the greater works itself. Time spent in prayer is not wasted. It is saying through our actions that we cannot God, but You can. Not only can You, but we are going to let You. The passage speaks of action following our prayers but with no timetable attached. This has caused many a Christian to fall, their impatience. Instead of spending so much time in conferences and meetings about fornication and sin, we should be spending more time in prayer. Fornication is a sin against God as well as man and to alleviate it from our midst will require God's intervention. Prayer brings God into the equation and that changes any equation. The world may not see the benefit of bringing God into any situation, but we believers should have no problem with that fact. We can preach and have rallies from now until Christ returns and not make the problem any better. In fact we would probably make the situation worse. God and only God can turn this sinful epidemic around and break this viscous cycle that we find ourselves in. Prayer is our way of highlighting the problem, of saying to God; yes God we also see the evil in this and want it removed. Remember the work is the Lords, people who are in a state of sin are not fighting against me, they are fighting against God. The battle is the Lords not mine. I am merely a hired hand who has chosen work in the fields. We should not be like the world and take credit for what God has done. It is the labor of prayer by the saints of God that gets results. Prayer is labor. Labor is not about excitement, it is about accomplishing the job. God needs warriors, prayer warriors. Our people requires saints praying day and night for our redemption as a people.

[1] Luke 6:21

[2] Matthew 6:8

[3] John 14:2

Chapter 9, Part 3

2007-02-26T07:29:00.001-08:00

Prayer

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always
ought to pray and not lose heart.”
Luke 18:1

The next tool to overcome this epidemic is prayer. For some reason many in the modern church and many modern Christians feel that praying is doing nothing. The value of prayer is no longer recognized nor is its power. We have lost faith in its effect on our lives and on the world. Our Lord said men ought to pray always and gave a parable to illustrate the point. He spoke of a woman who cried out for justice from an unjust judge and because of her constant pleas he granted her request. He goes on to say, “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes will He really find faith on the earth.”[1]

So we are to pray continuously. We are to put our case for others before God day and night. This is part of our surrender to God that we do not rely on our own efforts. We should allow God to fix this fallen world and not think that our efforts will succeed without the guidance of God. We should not think that our wisdom and our ways are better than the wisdom and ways of God. God has a plan for this world and our job is to not attempt to substitute our plan for God’s, but to follow God’s plan. The problem for many is that God moves too slow for them. They require speedy results. The parable speaks of God bearing long with us or being patient with us. The thing is that we do not have patience to see God work. If God does not work on our timetable, we go with plan B. We have already discussed earlier how our plan B’s have worked out for us. For an example let us look at the abortion question, there are those who feel they have a right to bomb clinics and kill innocents. Where does God say that we have the right to kill to save? The people doing the violence proclaim to be born again Christians. They have replaced the Word of God with the passion of man. Is it wrong to abort a fetus? In my opinion, the answer is yes. God says to pray for them not to kill them.

One of the main reasons prayer has lost its power is because we have lost our faith in prayer. Our Lord was continuously in prayer.[2] The Bible speaks of Abraham who prayed and a whole family was healed.[3] Not only have many lost their faith in prayer, many no longer have the obedience to pray. So many today believe that Christ did not have any commandments, so there is no need for obedience. Many in the modern church should realize that there is power in obedience. We can do all the things that Christ said we would be able to do if we could only learn to obey. The reason Christ was able to accomplish all He did was that He obeyed the Father in all He did. He only did what the Father commanded Him to do. Today because of our “so-called” medical and social professionals, many have diluted the Word of God. There is now this “easy gospel” where if you do not agree with the Word of God keep shopping until you find a church that says what you want to hear. The pitfall of creating your own religion is you can make it anyway you want it to be. Prayer has become the lost gift of the church. In the beginning everything was done by prayer. The scriptures say that, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.[4] So we see that the earliest believers were steadfast in prayer and following the teachings of Christ through the apostles. Why do many today think it will be any different for us. I do not think we can overestimate the power of prayer for changing not just the world, but our hearts and minds.

Prayers most important work is not to change the world, although it does that. Its most important work is changing us. It is to bring our thoughts and hearts into the will of God, that we may serve Him and not the other way around. Many prayers today are not for us to be of service to God, but to have God be of service to us. Oh God we need this or that, we need a miracle or some blessing. The apostle Paul did not pray for wants he said, “…whatever state I am in I need to be content.”[5] Do not change the world God, change me. How many of us pray in this fashion? And we wonder why we do not have any power.

[1] Luke 18:7,8

[2] Luke 22:39

[3] Genesis 20:17

[4] Acts 2:42

[5] Philippians 4:11

Chapter 9, Part 2

2007-02-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

One of two things has to be taking place. Either we do not believe that God has the power to prevent us from sinning or we believe it and either do not care or will not allow that power to work in our lives. In order for this power to work we have to allow it to work in our lives, allow being the optimum word. We must cooperate with the Spirit to not only stop us from fornicating but every other sin that we are caught up in. If we know that God has that power but refuse to allow it to work, then we will face the ultimate judgment of God. When we begin this relationship with God, we are given the Holy Spirit through baptism. God interacts with us through His Spirit. This is why Christ said there is one sin that God will not forgive, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.[1] If there is no Holy Spirit, there is no God.

The beginning of our turning away from the world and our sinfulness is turning towards God. Christ spoke of us having a personal relationship with the Father through Him.[2] That as the Father and the Son are one, so we are one with them. It does not say that they are the same person; it says that they and we are one. Christ told us how God even has the very hairs of our head numbered, sounds as though God already has a very personal knowledge of us.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

Christ beckons us to Him so that we may find rest from the troubles of this world. He calls us to fellowship with Him and the Father. In order to halt this epidemic of fornication and lawlessness we must have this relationship. None of the man-made solutions; conferences, and wisdom will stop it. Man’s solution is to hand out condoms and birth control pills, which is basically admitting defeat to the enemy. We refuse to use the power that God has so richly given us. We surrender to the worldly wisdom of psychiatrist and social workers, looking to the world to solve the problem of sin. Sin is disobedience to God; period. It is not like just saying no, it is in our very nature. There is no man-made solution for changing our nature. Man reforms, but only God can transform.[3] Man’s reformation is temporary; we reform to accomplish some selfish goal. To get a spouse back, to get out of jail, or to be healed from some dreaded disease. On the other hand, God’s transformation is eternal. When God begins to do a good work, He will not stop until it is completed.[4]

What is a relationship? A relationship is the connection between people. That relationship can be by blood, love, or friendship. Blood relationships, we cannot do anything about. We do not choose our families. Love and friends though, we decide.

How do I develop a relationship? The closest thing we have to the relationship with God in the material world is the relationship we have with our loved ones. Let us use the relationship we have developed with our spouses as an example of how to build a relationship. When you first saw your spouse or loved one what did you do. For most of us we began by talking to them. We then chose to spend time with them. Followed by us allowing them to get to know us, and our getting to know them.

Well in a very similar way, that is how we begin a relationship with the Father. We begin by talking to God or communing with God. I say communing because in truth you do not even have to speak to God. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.[5] I go into this more in the prayer section. God is not impressed by our words, our eloquence of speech no matter how spiritual they may be. God is interested in our hearts. The true test of a deep relationship with God is not in word, but in deed. How often has someone told us they loved us only to disappoint us in their behavior later? We can make our mouths say anything. We want to be judged by our words and not by our actions. In our relationship with God, our words are meaningless. You cannot build a long-term relationship based on lies.

We should begin as a people to spend more time with the Father in true fellowship. We sometimes rely on those fleshly emotional outbursts as proof of our fellowship with God, but I would venture that in deep fellowship with God there are times of silence. We should look more for that type of worship and less to the type that excites our flesh. God is not swayed by our emotionalism; He is moved by our quiet obedience. The enemy has done a good job of distracting us with all the activities of this modern life. It is not the earthly pleasures that the enemy uses alone, he also uses our “churchly” activities. The harvest of the world is God’s, not ours. We pray to the God of the harvest.[6] The enemy in his cunningness has convinced many Christians that their many activities are needed for God to accomplish His mission. When in fact what God is seeking are people who will spend time in His presence bringing the concerns of others before Him. The work of man is for man. The work we are given is to give our lives meaning and to prepare us for our time with the Father. The work is designed to develop character and characteristics that we will need in His kingdom. We spend time with those we want to build a relationship with. Check your schedule. What you spend time doing is what you love, whether that be a person, place, or thing.

As you spend time with the Father you will begin to learn the true character of the Father. He will reveal Himself to you in ways you did not think possible. His Word says He will answer us and show us great and mighty things that we do not know.[7] If you want the Father to reveal Himself to you spend time with Him as His son did. Christ spent time with the Father alone and often. He remained in constant contact and dependence with the Father. Who knew the Father better than the Son and vice versa? In order for someone to get to know us we must be willing to open up and share ourselves with them. In addition, we must be willing to listen to them. When we meet our loved ones we could not do all the talking, we had to listen as well. Are you listening to the Father? In order to listen we must learn to quiet our minds and all the distractions of this world. The Father speaks in a still small voice.[8] He will not scream over the noise of this world. You should be willing to listen and seek Him diligently. The problem with many is that they require an instantaneous sense of gratification. The modern Christian knows little of discomfort, always looking for some sensory pleasure.

We love the noise, but not the silence. We enjoy the sensory pleasure of the music and the choir, but not the quiet of waiting patiently before Him. This true relationship is one, which can endure the silence with peace. The Word says be anxious for nothing.[9] Always, as much as you can be, be at peace within yourself. He who knows the Father knows peace, because the Father gives peace to those whose thoughts are on Him.[10]

[1] Matthew 12:32

[2] John 17:21

[3] Romans 12:2

[4] Philippians 1:6

[5] John

[6] Matthew 9:38

[7] Jeremiah 33:3

[8] Samuel

[9] 1 Corinthians

[10] Isaiah

Chapter 9, Part 1 How Do We Break The Cycle?

2007-02-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

How Do We Break The Cycle?

So how do we as a people begin the process of reversing this epidemic that has caused so much destruction and devastation in our communities? Can we stop what seems to be an insurmountable problem? Do we want to stop it? We in and of ourselves can not stem the tide of this epidemic, it will only be arrested by the supernatural power of God.

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds
on the things of the flesh, but those who live according
to the spirit, the things of the spirit.”
Romans 8:5

We who have been living after the flesh, how shall we now live in the spirit? We can not, without the power of the Spirit of God born in us through the death of our old nature or old man. It is this power of the redemptive work of Christ that frees us from the death sentence that we deserve. So what shall we do? We can begin to incorporate a few principals in our lives that can lead to change. A change that will not only benefit us, but more importantly our children. I pray that you will consider these principles with an open mind and begin to instruct others in their application. They are all spiritually based and come directly from the Word of God. I hope that they will help our people and our nation to turn back from the edge of the abyss that we seem intent on going over. If we want to live after the spirit there is work we need to be doing. Here are ten principals to developing a more spiritual way of life and hopefully a closer relationship with God.

1) Relationship with Christ

2) Prayer Life

3) Confession of Sin

4) Repent of Sin

5) The Word of God

6) Live in the Spirit

7) Change Thoughts

8) Resist Temptation

9) Fellowship with Believers

10) Marriage

I believe that if we as a people began to use these ten principals, we will not only stop this epidemic of fornication, but also the lawlessness that now permeates our communities. The time for doing nothing has passed for too long we have turned our backs pretending this was not a problem or a problem others had to fix. I once read somewhere, “How can one man lynch another man?” He cannot without the silence of other “so-called” good men. We can no longer be silent to this destruction. Our children’s very lives are at stake. Let us put aside our petty differences and come together with one voice to cry out against this tragedy.

Relationship With Christ
“But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8

Every time I read or say this verse my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude and conviction. When I could care less about God, when we were in the midst of our fornication, drug/alcohol abusing, adultery, lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, envying, murdering, and any of our other sinfulness, Jesus Christ died for us. This is the essence and beginning of our new relationship with the living God. We love Him because He first loved us.[1] All that we read, hear, and know about God is designed for one purpose. That purpose is to develop a relationship with God. Our purpose on this earth was and continues to be to fellowship with God. Did God need man to help the earth produce fruit? I think not, God wanted a species that He could commune with. It is no accident that we are the only species that aspires to know God. If evolution is true then show me the link between humans and the other animals. There should be some species that connects us to the rest of the animal world. As much as they try, the best they can come up with is the primates and they are a giant leap from man. Conveniently, of course there is not one, it has vanished.

Why is our relationship with God so important? The scriptures reveal that it is this relationship with God that gives us the power we need to overcome our sinful natures.[2] When Adam sinned, he not only broke his fellowship with God, but ours as well. We are born into sin and only God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can overcome that sin nature. We can never do it ourselves. If we could there would be no need for the ultimate sacrifice. How many times do we tell ourselves we are not going to continue in a particular sin only to find ourselves doing it again. And it seems that the harder we try to stop doing it by our own power the more we do it. The apostle Paul says, “That what I want to do I cannot do and what I do not want to do that is what I do.”[3] Our Lord understood this by His being fully human and suffering temptation. Through His own temptation He is our supporter before God, the Father. That is why He said that the Father would send a Helper with power. If God has the power to raise the dead, does He also have the power to keep us from stealing, lying, and fornicating? Of course He does. So if He has the power why do we continue to live in this sinful state?

[1] 1 John 4:19

[2] Luke 24:49

[3] Romans 7:19

Chapter 8, Part 6

2007-02-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

Ministers of God, we should recognize the damage that fornication is doing to our people. At the rate we are going today there will not be many men left in our communities. We have been an endangered species for some time now. They will either be killed or locked up for many years. We should change how we do things. We should get out from behind the pulpits and get out into the streets. We are at war and under siege. Unfortunately many of us have been cowardice instead of being warriors for God. The Lord says He is with us mighty warriors.[1] We should begin to take the offensive and take back our communities one soul at a time. We have surrendered too much of our communities to the enemy. We have allowed the enemy to keep us captive in our own homes and churches. We should start a nationwide effort to stop this lawlessness that has overtaken our communities. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to what is taking place before us in our communities. The change has to begin with the Church. Why the Church you wonder, because our fight is not against flesh and blood, but rulers of darkness of this world.[2] It is going to take an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to overcome this atmosphere of sinfulness and rebelliousness. It is not going to come from the politicians, police, or any government agency. It has to come from the people of God. We must overcome our fear and complacency. Remember these are our children, they are angry and some of them are frightening, but they are still our children and our grandchildren. It is time for us to step up as a community to show them the love they so desperately are seeking. Sometimes love is tough and comes with discipline, so we must be willing to do what it takes to save our children from themselves. To save our people.

“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and
people should seek the law from his mouth; For he
is the messenger of the LORD of hosts, but you
have departed from the way; You have caused
many to stumble at the law.”
Malachi 2:78

What is the message that you as a spokesperson for God are sending? Are you crying out against the sin that is being placed right before your eyes? Because of silence to the breaking of the law many are being led astray. The “easy gospel” has many in the Church on the fast track to hell. We should impart to the sheep of God, especially the young ones that obedience is love. We follow the Word of God not out of obligation but out of love.

“Again the kingdom of God is like a dragnet that was cast
into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which when
it was full, they drew to shore; and they gathered the good
into vessels, but threw the bad away.”
Matthew 13:46,47

In an effort to keep the seats full, many modern churches have cast such a wide net that they have allowed all manor of persons into the boat. In the parable all were gathered, but there was a separation once they got to shore. Because many modern churches now gauge their success by the world’s standards: most bodies in the pew, most money in the plate, or biggest building, there has been no separation. Now the pews are full of blatant sin. As the apostle Paul urged the church of Corinth in his first letter we can not allow blatant sin to go unchallenged.[3] Not only have some churches turned a blind eye to the blatant sin, they are putting those people who practice this blatant sin in positions of authority in the body. We are never to measure our success by the standards of the world. Following God must never be based on popularity or on numbers, it is based on the revealed Word of God. We are called to preach to a fallen world the risen Christ. This does not mean that we ignore sin in our midst, on the contrary we must be ever vigilant and vocal. This is not to say that we impose our will on others, God has never imposed His will on us. What gives some people the right to try to impose their version of the truth on others? This is why organized religion has done more to corrupt the world than to save the world. We do not impose the Word of God at the end of a gun. We present the Word and let God take care of the results. If there are those who choose to ignore the truth that is between their God and them. Who among us can judge the hearts of another? It is up to the mature Christian to teach the babes.

When the end comes there will be a separation of the wicked from the just. I pray that you will all be counted among the just, but that requires a complete surrender to God. As the Son completely surrendered to the Father so we must do likewise. Our Lord preached and walked among the sinners, yet did not sin. He confronted sin whenever He saw it and spoke out against it. Never did the Lord impose Himself on those He healed, he always ask what is it that you would have me do? We in the Church should do the same.

A church is a community of brothers and sisters who share love with one another and with Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church. Share the love of Christ and His hatred of sin. Christ is our example of how to love the sinner and still hate the sin. His example to us is not to judge and condemn others, because who are we to judge? The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is narrow, because on the one side we have sinfulness and on the other side is self-righteousness. Both are snares to the followers of Christ. For the Church, self-righteousness is the greater plague. In the days of our Lord they were known as Sadducees and Pharisees.[4] In their efforts to be pious they elevated the traditions of man over the commandments of God. They created all of these man made laws and gave them the same status as the commandments of God. True spiritual power is found in the heart of one believer who through the power of God’s Spirit is able to follow the teachings of Christ, not in all these rituals of the church with all there pomp and circumstance. It is when that one believer realizes and accepts his need for complete dependence on God that the true redemption takes place. Instead the Church has created stumbling blocks to keep the believers from the laws of God.

[1] Judges 6:12

[2] Ephesians 6:12

[3] 1 Corinthians 5:9

[4] Matthew 16:6

Chapter 8 Part 5

2007-02-16T07:16:00.000-08:00

“God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord
of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
Acts 17:24

So where does God dwell? If God does not dwell in temples or churches of stone, He must dwell somewhere. Does God need a building to dwell in?

“To them God willed to make known what are the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles! Which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
1 Corinthians 1:27

If I am not mistaken it says that God dwells in you and in me. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit lives in each and every one of us who have truly surrendered to God.[1] Therefore if I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and a part of God does live within me, why do I need the Church to justify me? The scriptures say that to us is given the mystery. So up until that time no one else knew that Christ lived in us. So what do we do with this precious knowledge? Does the modern church preach this knowledge? Unfortunately, many do not! Many are afraid that the Word of God is too dangerous for mere lay people to have without the guidance of the Church. Besides, who would fill all those mega churches? Who would pay for all those television personalities? In addition, of course we have all those private jets and limousines that need to be paid for. This is not how the early Church was created. In the beginning true believers met in their homes and shared what they had among each other. Do not think that I am advocating not attending church, for that would be the other side of the same coin. The Bible teaches us that we should not neglect coming together to worship and pray, but more importantly to exhort and encourage one another.[2] Imagine how different our lives would be as well as the lives of our children if we met like that today. You and your pastor would have a relationship like Christ with His followers. He would know you and your children and could truly minister to you in a very personal way. Remember the Kingdom of God is about relationships.

I may claim a relationship with Halle Berry, but if I have never spoken with her, never met her, or never spent anytime with her what kind of a relationship do I have? Do we even have a relationship? This is not a relationship; this is stalking! This is the type of relationship many of us have with our church and with God. We attend but we do not know anyone more than superficially. We do not talk to anyone or no one knows what struggles we are going through. God has a place for everyone, pray to God that He may lead you to the place He wants you to be. For some it will be to leave your current place of comfort and go someplace else. Be sensitive to His Spirit, it may be to help out a group of struggling believers to grow. I do not know what God has planned for you, but I pray that you are open-minded to what He is saying and where He is leading you.

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right
in the sight of God, to listen to you more than to God, you judge’,
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:19,20

We are called to simply preach what God has shown us and spoken to us through His Word. Instead there are many preachers who are preaching the world. They take isolated verses of scripture and interpret them to fit their worldly view of things. I have heard preachers read one verse and preach on it for an hour. I realize that the Word of God is profound, but I am not sure that each verse requires such an in-depth dissertation. The Bible much like any other book when taken out of context can be used to rationalize any number of behaviors. Many times this has occurred in our history, you have had men who have used the Bible to justify their desire to enslave their brothers or to say that some humans are more human than others. That is like the proposition that some tigers are more tigery than others, how preposterous would that be? Who would take any biologist seriously that made a claim like that? In my opinion if more of our preachers would stick to preaching the Word of God and not this “easy gospel” many of our sinful epidemics would not be epidemics at all.

[1] Acts 2:38

[2] 1 Timothy

Chapter 8 Part 4

2007-02-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

The whole basis of our spirituality is not theological, but relational. The key not only to our eternal, but carnal lives is our relationship with our God, through our risen Savior, Christ. Our Lord said, “At that day you will know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you.”[1] He goes on to say, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”[2][3] Many churches in an effort to keep or attract new members are preaching what I call the “easy gospel”. What is the “easy gospel”? It is any gospel that does not include the need for followers of Christ Jesus to obey the laws of the Kingdom of God. Grace can never be preached excluding the obedience that it must produce. Our Lord preached many times that those who loved Him would obey Him.[4] Where is the obedience today? Today it is for many all sizzle and no steak. We want to sing and dance and get the emotional high without the true life change. We want to still be able to fornicate, go to the casino, and cheat in business and still proclaim to be good Christian folk. The “easy gospel” allows that. The “easy gospel” preacher does not care about the final destination of the flock only that the flock follows him. Our Lord spoke of the “hireling” who when confronted by the wolf leaves the sheep to fend for themselves, because he really does not care about the sheep.[5] Only He is the good shepherd, because He died for the sheep. Do not be fooled by this “easy gospel” it is not of the Lord. It is not Biblically based; it is some watered down version of someone’s imagination. We can wax poetically all day about the merits and morals of this doctrine or that one, but in the final analysis, it will be our obedience to the Lord that will determine our fate.

If you have departed from the way it is not to late to come back to the truth, to preach the true gospel of our Father’s Kingdom. The gospel that Jesus Christ and His disciples preached. Each of us is responsible for the doctrine that we teach, if the doctrine you are teaching is not based on the Rock of the Word you might want to reconsider teaching it. Ignorance will not be an excuse with God. He will still hold you accountable. Many preach about a Christ who only wants worship and adoration with no consequences for sinful behavior. He does not punish sin and certainly does not have any commandments. If this is the Christ, you worship or preach, you are following a false Christ. I pray that you begin to start a real relationship with the true Christ in the scriptures. Not some make believe Christ from someone’s imagination.

“If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good
minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith
and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.”
1 Timothy 4:6

We who love the Church should begin to bring back the true doctrines of Christ and preach them no matter what the cost. That begins with one temple, one soul at a time. We should once again preach honor of the temple of the Holy Spirit. To no longer defile the temple with fleshly desires. To keep the temple pure and not follow after the world. For the world leads the way to destruction and death, but true gospel leads to life. Let us seek after life, for this is the will of God for all of us. Do not be misled by this “easy gospel” that lulls many into a false sense of hope. Christ never said the path would be easy, on the contrary He warned of its difficulty. He likened it to carrying a cross daily.[6] How anyone can take this saying and conclude that following Christ is easy, is beyond my comprehension. We struggle daily against the ruler of this world and against our own flesh. Also, we have it hard because we live in a country where you turn on the television and see all of this “stuff” and all these “celebrities” telling you to buy this thing or that thing. They induce the covetousness that leads many to sin. If this indeed were God’s country would be setting so many stumbling blocks in front of our brothers? It is amazing how we are care so much about the unborn and so little about the children that are born. We love the unborn until they are born.

[1] John 14:20

[2] John 14:21

[3] Galatians 1:7

[4] John 14:15

[5] John 10:12,13

[6] Luke 9:23

Chapter 8 Part 3

2007-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

Has fornication produced millions of mitigating circumstances? Of course it has and each and everyone of them are precious and of value to God. Nevertheless, this continual sinning against God must be halted. What kingdom is being preached that allows its citizens to blatantly break its laws. Do any of our churches preach that their members should blatantly disobey the laws of this country? Why then is it all right to preach that we can disobey the laws of God’s Kingdom? When Christ healed the afflicted his command to them was to go and sin no more.[1] Is that your message as a disciple of Christ? Part of God’s plan of salvation is the condemnation and repentance from sin. If every year you are blessing another fatherless child out of wedlock from the same mother, what then is your message? The apostle Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, that sin must be addressed.[2] Today we have church leaders openly preaching fornication, openly promoting young people living together out of wedlock, and elevating persons involved in these immoral relationships to positions of authority in the church. Just because our culture of today promotes this behavior as healthy and normal does not excuse the church from its responsibility to stand for God’s law no matter what the world says. The modern church should remember that it is through spirituality that we affect the world. It is through these spiritual gifts that God blesses the Church and through the Church the world. If the Church were to harness those gifts God has provided and through the power of the Holy Spirit utilizes them this world would be truly changed for the better.

Today just like almost 2000 years ago the gift of tongues appears to cause controversy for the church, especially in the black Church. Because of its being the focal point of the worship service in many churches, other gifts tend to suffer. The apostle Paul says the gift that should be developed and emphasized is prophesy. Which is the ability to explain and speak on the Scriptures, to use the Word of God to bring comfort, lifting up, and encouraging the listener. If there were more emphasis on that gift maybe, there would be more emphasis on the Word of God and also, on it’s ability to help a fallen world.

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds
of evil, for which some have strayed from the
faith in their greediness and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows.”
1 Timothy 6:10

There is a false doctrine being promoted by many preachers, it is known as the ministry of prosperity. It is a direct contradiction to the Word of God. It says that God wants everyone to be rich, resembling the preachers promoting it. The scriptures speak of knowing a tree by the fruit it bears. You know that these shepherds are incorrect because they are more interested in the wool from the sheep and not the sheep themselves. These ministers are more concerned about prospering their members than saving them. What shall they give in exchange for their souls? Instead of preaching the true gospel of Christ, they preach the gospel of the world. You have many of these mega churches and televangelists preaching prosperity and not the commandments of God. They seem unconcerned with how the sheep are living as long as they continue to produce wool.

[1] Matthew

[2] 1 Corinthians 5:5

Chapter 8, Part 2

2007-02-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

For example racism, except for a few smaller congregations no major denominations denounce the practice of slavery or its later counterpart segregation (Jim Crow). Moreover, many of those that did renounce slavery still thought that some men were more human than others were. It was not revelation of the scriptures that convinced them of their error; it was that the civil laws changed. If the secular world had not changed the laws, the church would not have changed. In addition, largely we are still a divided church along racial lines. How are we planning to worship the same God in heaven when we cannot worship together on earth? We are still caught up in carnality and flesh.

I know there will be some “church folks” who are going to attack me. They will say I am not from any denomination or seminary, and my past life was a sinner’s delight. However, what has happened is that the church has replaced what one learns from God, with what the church says about God. The church has mandated that every preacher must obtain a license. Christ was asked by what authority He preached and taught as well.[1] I don’t claim to be a spiritual giant or some biblical scholar. I am just a simple man whom God has placed a burden on to write about a subject, which is killing my people. Of course, God has never used simple, fallen men to deliver His message in the past. Besides, there is no way I could study the Word of God and come up with any spiritual truths without translations and instruction from the church, is there?

“And in vain they worship Me, teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men”
Matthew 15:9

Many churches have replaced the laws of God with the laws of man. It is now acceptable for Christians to accumulate great wealth, fight in wars, divorce for any and all reasons, and commit almost any sin in the name of following the orders of this earthly kingdom. We are placing the laws of man above the known teachings of God through Christ. So long as some worldly official orders us to do it, it removes our responsibility to follow God. We become absolved of any complicity in the matter. Well I do not believe that for a moment and any Christian truly familiar with the teachings of Christ would not either. True worship requires true obedience. Not to the laws of man, but to the laws of God. We continue to offer false worship in word only, but without any power. Without obedience there is no power. The modern church has lost its power due to lack of obedience. It is becoming obsolete for what God created it for through lack of obedience. The church does not teach obedience because it is not being obedient. Repent all you shepherds who are leading your flocks astray. Remember those sheep do not belong to you. The one true Shepherd will return and seek what is His. Let those with ears to hear, let them hear.

The problem with the modern church is its silence on so many of the issues facing many believers. By being silent it implies approval or unconcern at the very least. The church should once again condemn the sins of this world in a loud clear voice. This fornication should be condemn in no uncertain terms. This allowing our young women to have multiple illegitimate babies without any condemnation should stop. How can you as a shepherd continue to allow blatant sin to continue within your flock? You should begin to once again preach the Word of God, which is purity and abstinence until marriage. We now have deacons and church leaders who are living with women they are not married to and fathering children. I cannot remember the last time I have heard a sermon on fornication and the responsibilities of obeying Christ. It is getting to the place in this country where we have more people living in sin than living in marriage. The Bible teaches us that we must learn to abhor sin.[2] We are to hate the sin. Our Lord has said that we are to love everyone, so we love the sinner and hate the sin. In our effort to love the sinner, we have forgotten about the sin. It is like if someone steals something to eat because they are hungry; we want to acknowledge their hunger as a mitigating factor. However, before we consider that fact we must first recognize the sin. Stealing is against God’s law for any reason. It is not written that you must not steal for profit, it is written that you must not steal.

[1] Matthew 21:23

[2] Romans 12:9

Chapter 7 Part 9 & Chapter 8 Part 1 The Church

2007-02-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Children need our direction and our support. More than anything, they should have our time and our experiences. We should spend more time with them sharing how they might avoid our mistakes. We should have those who have fallen to come and share their consequences with the younger ones. Simply to show them that you can choose what you want, but these are the consequences. All we should do is present them with the truth and let them decide. No scare tactics or false promises, just give them the facts. I believe that if given the facts, the truth, our children will make the right decisions. The problem is that we hide those who have fallen and present a false sense of reality. People fall, we all do. Let the children see and talk to pregnant unwed mothers and talk to single parents. Let them see the struggles and hear first hand what awaits the choices they make. Let them see the results of fornication without moralizing, but in its pure form. It is funny how we use these techniques for the symptoms (drug/alcohol abuse, crime, and anger) but not for the true cause; fornication. We should be willing to try new approaches to break this cycle. The old ways are obviously not working.

CHAPTER 8

The Church*

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because
you have rejected knowledge. I also reject you from
being a priest for Me; Because you have forgotten
the law of your God. I also will forget your children.”
Hosea 4:6

I would be remiss if I did not make mention of what I believe has been one of the enablers of this epidemic of fornication. Unfortunately, it is the institution that should have helped to curb its effects. The church because of its failure to condemn sin has allowed the problem to escalate. Due to its public silence on this issue, many have taken that silence to mean there has been a change in God’s laws. In its efforts to embrace the world, some churches have forsaken the Word and the laws of God. The church was suppose to give the people knowledge of God and His commandments, instead the modern church has developed this doctrine of complete grace. In other words, they preach only part of the Gospel. They preach that Christ is savior, but not Lord. Yes, Christ died for our sins, but we must also obey Him. This complete grace is not the Gospel of Christ. The gospel of the early Church spoke of the Kingdom of God, that Kingdom has laws like every other kingdom. As citizens of this or any kingdom, we must obey its laws. It is that simple. Anyone preaching anything other than this should beware. Many of today’s mainstream churches preach this grace only gospel. It is easy and sounds nice. It is this preaching that allows this country to claim 90% believers in God, yet lead the world in all the sinful categories. We preach the dying, but not the living. The Bible says we serve the God of the living.[1] The church should set the example for the world, not the other way around. The modern church follows the lead of the world. True Christianity is not based on opinion polls or political correctness, it is based on the risen Christ. Is there any doubt that Jesus Christ left us with commandments? If so, why are we not teaching and obeying them? Has God suddenly for this age changed His mind after thousands of years? Has there been some new revelation that now discounts the commandments of God? The Bible that I read says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.[2] The church has allowed itself to be corrupted by the world.

* The term church is used to describe the mainstream church, there are many churches who are trying to follow the true teachings of Christ.

[1] Matthew 22:32

[2] Hebrews 13:8

Chapter 7 Part 8

2007-02-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

The ruler of this world is falling and he knows that his time in this world is short.[1] He is working to steal, kill, and destroy all those he can.[2] He is like a roaring lion seeking whomever he can devour.[3] My little ones do not fall for his tricks, do not allow the media to mislead you. Do not keep company with those who are chasing after the world. They will only lead you astray. The fallen of this world want to get as many as they can to join them. Once you have fallen, you are no longer important. You are only valuable to them so long as you have your purity, so long as you have something that can be taken. Once you lose it, you are now just another “hootchie”. It is exciting to have all the attention, but the attention you are receiving is not real. It is not about who you are, it is about what you have that they want and once gotten from you, you are of no more use. Do not surrender to the world, surrender instead to God.

You are the future mothers of our people. Be strong and be patient. God has a special person for you, someone who will love you and treasure you. Nevertheless, you must wait for them. In this microwave world it seems difficult to wait for anything. Why should you? Your future happiness will depend on it. The reason so many marriages are not lasting today is because many of the participants are arriving already defiled. Therefore they are defiling the perfect institution of marriage that God created. The institution of marriage is not defiled, but the modern participants are. Today not only is the institution of marriage under siege by the gay and lesbian community, but I believe a greater problem is the heterosexual fornication that is going on throughout our society. Where is the outcry of the religious right against fornication? Where are all the demonstrations and denunciations against this threat? Surely, it is a greater threat to the sanctity of marriage than gays. I would ask anyone to do a study on the number of divorces in this country compared to the level of fornication in each generation. I believe they will find a direct correlation between the rising divorce rate and the number of people who defile themselves prior to marriage. The reason our Lord taught against remarriage is because the person once having been with another has become defiled for the original marriage partner.

Also, because of the transformation that takes place during sexual relations there is a transfer of not only the sanctity of ones body, but also of ones loyalty and trust. That trust once broken is difficult if not impossible to recover. When a woman is intimate with a man, especially for the first time, she becomes very loyal and protecting of that man. She will defend him against anyone and everyone, even her family and friends. As the number of sex partners increases the loyalty factor decreases. Loyalty is a key component of marriage, without it the marriage is not stable. Marriage is a tough proposition when everything is done right in today’s society. There are so many obstacles to a marriage surviving, we need to give ourselves every chance to succeed. One of the most powerful tools we bring to a marriage is purity. Our loyalty at that time is unquestionably to our partners.

Parents teach your children purity. Do not surrender them to the world or the logic of the world. Do not let the world convince you that you can not stop them from “experimenting” or having sex. You can, it just requires your interaction and intervention. You will just have to get up off the couch and teach them and train them in the right way to go. Even if you were not pure, surely we can all understand and agree on the value of being so at the time of marriage.

“And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.”
Deuteronomy 4:9

Children are to learn from their parents. Somehow, today we have decided that this responsibility has fallen to others. Instead of teaching our children ourselves, we think they should learn from the television, or their peers, or the athletes and entertainers. We have neglected the spiritual upbringing of our children, we have "farmed out" the job to the schools, the media, anybody but us. The moral education of our children is almost non-existent today. The schools are no longer allowed to impart any values outside the “worldly” values of consumerism. The teaching of creation is all but outlawed. We have taken away the foundation of wisdom by allowing them to believe that the world came from nothing and is speeding along to nowhere. If this is what they have to look forward to it is no wonder they have no moral compass. I can understand the world promoting this view, but we have churches promoting it as well. They teach a watered down version of the origin of the world to appear logical to the world. Instead of changing the world we are allowing the world to change the Church to be more “modern”. Everything modern is not good, many people have replaced God with technology.

[1] Revelations 12:12

[2] John 10:10

[3] 1 Peter 4:8

Chapter 7 Part 7

2007-02-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

There are many of you who feel like you are in unbearable situations at home and you feel unloved and unwanted. For some of you those who are suppose to be protecting you are pressuring you to defile yourselves with them. And unfortunately for some your purity has been taken by these very same "protectors". Nothing could be further from the truth, you are beautiful and precious to God. Your heavenly Father knows your situation, He knows your pain. You may feel alone, but you are not. There are people who love you very much, especially God. Do not surrender to the tricks of the enemy. He will lie to you and tell you that you are worthless and nobody cares about you. There is no reason to stay pure, and besides everyone else is doing it. The world screams why should you be any different. Don’t you want to be popular and fit in? You are nothing special; if you want to belong, you need to defile yourself. This is your only worth; you are nothing more than a body to give for the pleasure of others. Well, you are special, you are one of our most important assets. The future of our people is in you.

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword, for I
have come to set a man against his father, a
daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Matthew 10:34,35

The Lord tells us that we must choose ourselves to follow Him. This means that if your family is not choosing to serve God, you serve Him anyway. If they are not going to church and obeying God, you do it anyway. Go with the neighbors or talk to a pastor, God will place people in your life for you to find Him through. Though you may only be children you are still responsible to follow God. Seek God in your lives and He will make His presence known. Many churches have youth outreach programs. Begin at home by developing a relationship with God privately. As I wrote to the young men spend fifteen minutes a day seeking God and your life will change. He will lead you through whatever situation that may appear impossible for you. With God all things are possible, nothing is impossible for Him. The Bible says that if you draw near to God He will draw near to you.[1] This world is dying every day, you do not have to die with it. Young people you have a tremendous struggle ahead of you, but with God’s help you can accomplish anything! Sometimes following God will be difficult, but the rewards are worth the effort. You will be a better person and your life will be better for it.

Marriage is God’s perfect outlet for our sexual desires. To look at the world you would not be able to tell. Our whole culture screams sex, sex, and more sex and there is hardly a dissenting voice. Many of the same people who preach abstinence are the same people who own the media outlets that promote this casual sexual atmosphere. They are hypocrites and God will judge them. It is unfortunate but for the sake of material riches you the youth of our nation have become expendable. You are bought and sold daily. On the one hand it appears that you have value, but underneath you are only a profit margin. The enemy makes it look like your opinions are important, but only in how he can corrupt you. The whole world is becoming a commercial, a slogan. The world is not some office on “Madison Avenue”. There is a God and He will give to everyone according to their choices.[2] I am not trying to frighten anyone only trying to give you the truth. There must be a change for our people and it must begin with you. Choose purity and choose life. Do not believe the lies of this world, it does matter that you remain pure. You will feel better about yourselves and the world around you. Everywhere you turn it is about sex, the world would like for you to believe that it is no big deal. It is not important if you stay pure, it is some old-fashioned thinking. Talk to your parents and grandparents the world told them the same thing years ago. But it is important, your future will be determined by your choices. You only have one chance to be with the one you love in a loving marriage with purity of body, heart, and spirit. It is no wonder so many of our marriages do not last we come into them defiled. Do not waste it away without thinking.

[1] James 4:8

[2] Matthew 16:27

Chapter 7 Part 6

2007-01-31T06:08:00.000-08:00

Young Women

“…’like mother, like daughter!’ You are your mother’s daughter,
loathing husband and children and you are the sister of your
sisters, who loathed their husbands and children.”
Ezekiel 16:44,45

Young women, the future of a people has never depended on a group more than we need you today. I know this may seem unfair; however, you are the ones who must begin to stop this epidemic. You should not imitate the world that is around you. You must choose purity over sinfulness, chastity over fornication. Our people must be rescued. The world wants you defiled because it is defiled. God has so much more planned for your life. You could be anything you want to be in this world, if you would only seek God and His righteousness. If you would only choose purity for yourself there is no limit to what God can and will do for you. This is the beginning of all that you desire. But it must begin with you submitting to God. The world wants you to believe that it is ok to defile yourself prior to marriage or that you do not even need to be married to have children. You look around and the television, movies, and music videos portray you as faceless objects. Gyrating bodies without human emotions and not deserving human respect. Do not be tricked by the world as it has tricked many of your mothers. The world wants you to believe that you are free to do whatever you want, but that is not true. True love of God means to obey God. Give God your body, your soul, and your heart. The Bible says this is only our reasonable service, nothing special.[1] The world tells you it is your body, you can do what you want with it. Pierce it, tattoo it, and give it to anybody and everybody without consequences. The world only gives us half-truths; it is true that God has given us free will to choose how we will live. However, there are consequences to our choices. If we choose to have sex without marriage or before we are ready, then we have children that we are not prepared to take care of, this puts us in a position to struggle when we did not have to be. Therefore, by our making that first choice all the other consequences followed. We must learn to choose wisely.

The pressure to follow the world is tremendous and every year it gets more difficult to ignore. Those without proper parental supervision and direction are really going to have a difficult time overcoming temptation. I can only imagine the level of peer pressure to defile yourselves that you encounter daily. Let me say for the record everyone is not defiling themselves despite what the media may report and you do not have to either. If anyone is trying to get you to give up your purity they are not your friends. If someone loves you they will not pressure you to have sex with them. Having sex with someone is not a sign of love, it is lust and of the devil. Sex is not a requirement of love, it is a gift of a loving relationship given to us by God. Sex can and should be a beautiful experience designed by God for the loving confines of marriage. Not some back seat of a car or with someone you hardly know. You are worth more than that. You are beautiful flowers allow yourselves to bloom and blossom.

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
pressing him to your bottle, even to make him
drink, that you may look on his nakedness!
Habakkuk 2:15

Do not allow people to cause you to sin through drugs or alcohol. It may appear cool and like the thing to do, but nothing could be further from the truth. There have been countless young women who have been taken advantage of while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Many of them regret the decisions they made to this day. Your purity is something you can never get back. Once you lose it, it is gone forever. Do not allow yourself to be placed in positions where these things can happen to you. There are predators in this world that only want to take the purity of others as some kind of sick game, you are not human to them merely an object for their own selfish desires and sexual pleasure. Think about it, if your purity were not of any value then why are so many people trying to get it from you?

[1] Romans 12:1

Chapter 7 Part 5

2007-01-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

You should not lose hope and allow the enemy to defeat you. Our people need you. It is too late for your fathers, but it is not too late for you. We should stop this epidemic of violence in our communities. We should no longer continue to kill each other indiscriminately. We should give life back its respect. This will only begin with having respect for others as well as yourself. We will not be able to respect others until we have learned to respect ourselves.

“Therefore know that the LORD your God, is God, the faithful God
who keeps His covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with
those who love Him and keep His commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9

Faith is the key to changing our lives. Without faith there can be no change, because there will be no reason for change. The Bible says that we can not please God without faith.[1] We must believe that God can heal us, before we can begin to allow it to happen. Change is difficult for most of us and involves a lot of fear. Why does it take so much pain? I hope you realize how much we need you, the survival of a people rest in your hands. You are our future, we only rise as high as you rise. You will rise only as far as you allow God to raise you. If you could only recognize who and what you are, you would no longer continue to live this way. You are the Holy temple of the Living God. You are not the lies that the enemy tells you that you are. The enemy tells you that you are unlovable and worthless. Whenever anyone tries to love us, we show them just how unlovable we really are. This is done by behaving in such a way that you attempt to chase everyone away. But God is faithful and will remain with you until the end, His love is eternal.

[1] Hebrews 11:6

Chapter 7 Part 4

2007-01-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children,
nor shall children be put to death for their fathers,
a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
Deuteronomy 24:16

Sons of anger, you will be responsible for your own consequences. While God knows that you have gotten a bad start, He still requires you to acknowledge and obey Him. There is a lot of rebelliousness in your hearts, you feel like the whole world is wrong. The trials and tribulations of this world again are not to punish you but to draw you closer to God.[1] The real sin is not that we do not believe that God can change us, it is that we know He can and choose not to allow Him to. That we choose to stay enmeshed in our sinfulness. We prefer the filth of this world to the purification of God. With rebelliousness comes false pride. Our lives are a mess, but we are doing fine. We refuse to acknowledge that we need help. We refuse to say that life sometimes is too much to bear. As boys, we are not allowed to express fear, or sadness, or even to cry. The only emotions many of us are allowed to express is anger and aggression. I can not cry, but I can kick somebody’s butt. We are taught to not let anyone hit us, we must always fight back. For many of us as adults all of our emotions can be summed up into anger. When we are in pain, or fear, or we are sad, we lash out in anger. Anger has always been an acceptable emotion. This unchecked anger is fueling the epidemic of violence we as a community are now facing. Hurt people, hurt people. When we hurt, somebody has to pay. Give that anger and pain to God, we as a people have suffered enough. You not only hurt others, but you damage yourself as well.

For many of us our lives are being led by false pride. False pride says we do not need help from anyone. Many of your lives are full of disappointments, yet you refuse to seek help. We continue to suffer, yet the One who can relieve our suffering, we refuse to call on. Unfortunately, many of us stay in pain far longer than we have to. There have been times in my life when I have had pain and I have known the remedy to stop it and have chosen to stay in the pain. I wish I could say that I immediately seek a remedy for the pain, but sometimes I do not. Our pride becomes our idol, we worship our ourselves. We worship our own intellect we become wiser than God. We think that our “street smarts” will overcome the world. All we have to do is to look at our past histories to see the foolishness of this plan. All of our plans have only brought pain and suffering for our loved ones and ourselves.

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”
Proverbs 28:26

We must transfer that trust from ourselves to Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus said, “Who among you can add one inch to your height by worrying?”[2] Therefore if none of us can do the least thing, how can we expect to do the difficult task of fixing our lives. It will only be by submitting to God that change will take place. How can God who has the power to raise the dead, not have the power to change us? Does He not have the power to stop us from sinning? It is not that God can not change us, it is that we will not allow Him to. Then the question that each one of us must ask and ultimately answer is, “Why will I not allow God to change me?” Why do we continue to live this way? This will be one of the most important questions we will ever ask ourselves and answer. The answer will hold the key to the rest of your young lives and your eternity as well. The Lord, your God does not require our belief to be God. We should understand God does not need us we need God! The Bible tells us we must trust in God with all of our hearts and not lean on our own understanding or ourselves.[3] This is very difficult for us because we know and trust that “old man”. Let’s face it he shares all of our secrets, all our good times, and all our hurts and pains. We have been with him through thick and thin. And now just because I say so you are suppose to just trust in God who you can not see. I know it sounds crazy, but it is your only hope. If there were another way I would tell you, but all I know is Christ and Him crucified for you and me.

All I ask is for now is that you take fifteen minutes a day out for God. Take fifteen minutes to read His Word and to pray. I guarantee it will change your life. That still leaves you with twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes to yourself. I know with all your "busy schedules" it will be difficult, but you and your family are worth fifteen minutes. Just consider all that God has done for you. If you love your children are you passing along the life that you want them to live? I have a young daughter and if I had continued to live the life-style I was living, I might as well have given her the addiction I had right then. Is this what you want for your children, your cousins, or your nieces and nephews? Read a chapter of the Bible a day; remember if you do not like the change in your life you can always go back to your old life. How are things going right now in your life? What do you have to lose?

[1] Romans 5:3

[2] Luke 12:25

[3] Proverbs 3:5