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Why God Created Fathers and Two Grieving Fathers!

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Next Sunday is Father’s Day when we honor fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers and maybe men who have been like a father to us. I’ve observed that sometimes we make more of a celebration on Mother’s Day than Father’s Day. Does that happen in your family?

Sadly, many families are fatherless and Father’s Day can be a painful time. More than 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father. Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent. It’s been said that if classified as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic worthy of attention as a national emergency.

My father was a California Highway Patrolman killed with his own gun when I was ten. My mother never remarried, so Father’s Day was always tough for me growing up. But I divorced when my own daughter was only two-years-old and I didn’t remarry until she was nineteen and headed for college. So both of us were raised in single parent households without a father. We were one of the statistics.

God’s Plan for Fathers in Families

Spiritual and Emotional Purpose

Fathers are created and commanded to share God’s love with their children, offering care, guidance, and protection from harm while helping children navigate life’s choices and challenges. They serve as a living example of God’s authority, provision, and protection, showing children how to balance strength with gentleness.

Fathers should be the first heroes a child knows, influencing their emotional, moral, and spiritual development.

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Pr. 3:11-12

To Reflect God’s Character

God is described as the perfect Father —a loving, merciful, just, and faithful disciplinarian. Fathers on earth are called to imitate this love and discipline, showing patience, kindness, and correction that builds character imitating God’s character.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Heb. 12:7-11

Practical and Relational Roles

God envisioned fathers to be providers and protectors, performing both practical and nurturing tasks. They’re expected to care for the family, make important decisions, and support their children in everyday life—from teaching skills to offering comfort and encouragement. Their presence helps children feel secure and valued, while their guidance and measured discipline shapes character and resilience.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Eph. 6:4

Identity and Development

Fathers play a crucial role in helping children understand their identity, particularly in terms of gender and personal development. Boys often look to their fathers for a model of masculinity, while girls rely on fathers to affirm their femininity and sense of self. This influence helps children grow into confident, well-rounded individuals secure in how God created them.

If we had more fathers taking on this role in their families, there would be far less identity and gender confusion among children.

 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Pr. 23:24

Biblical and Kingdom Perspective

From a biblical standpoint, God calls men to fatherhood as part of His plan for building and managing a family, reflecting His kingdom principles on Earth. Fatherhood is a responsibility that mirrors God’s governance, teaching men to lead, nurture, and cultivate a loving household while preparing their children for life and spiritual growth. Raising children to be progressively independent of their parents and permanently dependent on God.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Pr. 22:6

Summary

In essence, God made fathers to protect, provide, guide, discipline, and inspire, combining strength with love, authority and discipline with care, and practical support with emotional presence. Fathers should be a role model in the family, shaping children’s lives and reflecting God’s character in tangible ways that children can follow in their own lives.

Specifically to boys fathers are created to be the role model of masculinity, leadership, and spiritual as well as physical strength. A father of girls is to be the role model of the kind of husband she should one day seek who treats her with kindness, respect, and reflects godly life principles.
 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. Ps. 103:13

The Father of Lies!

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! John 8:43-45

I described earlier the ideal plan God had for fathers and families. But because of the fall when sin and evil entered the world in the Garden of Eden, our culture often follows Satan the father of lies resulting in abusive, abandoning, or absent fathers.

Maybe you had a father like that and it’s hard to think of God as a Heavenly Father. Please know that God is a loving caring Father who wants to help you carry your burdens.

God is Our Heavenly Father

The Bible Wisdom Hub has a great discussion of God, the Father, in the Bible. Here’s an overview and would make a great Bible study.

The term “Father” is mentioned numerous times throughout the Bible, carrying various meanings and connotations depending on the context in which it is used. In the Old Testament, “Father” often refers to God as the creator and sustainer of all things, emphasizing His authority, care, and love for His people. The paternal imagery is particularly prominent in the Psalms and the Prophetic books, where God is portrayed as a caring and protective Father to His chosen people.

In the New Testament, the term “Father” takes on a new dimension with the introduction of Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus frequently addresses God as “Father” in his teachings and prayers, highlighting the intimate relationship between believers and their heavenly Father. This relational aspect of God as Father is central to Christian faith, emphasizing the idea of God’s paternal love, mercy, and provision for His children.

The concept of God as Father is further developed in the writings of the apostles, particularly in the letters of Paul and John. Paul speaks of believers being adopted as sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ, emphasizing the spiritual kinship and inheritance that Christians have as children of God. John, in his Gospel and epistles, emphasizes the Father’s love for His children and the importance of living in harmony with God’s will as obedient children.

In the New Testament alone, Jesus referred to God as “Father” around 165 times. This emphasizes the importance of the father-son relationship between Jesus and God in Christian theology. The term “Father” is mentioned over 1536 times in the Old Testament, reflecting the significance of this relational aspect of God’s identity and His role in the lives of believers.

Whether as the Creator and sustainer of all things in the Old Testament or as the loving and merciful Father in the New Testament, the concept of God as Father serves as a foundational theme throughout the biblical narrative, shaping the understanding of God’s character and the believer’s identity as His children.

Overall, the theme of God as a loving and caring father is prevalent throughout the Bible, emphasizing the intimate relationship between God and His people.

My Earthly and Heavenly Father

In the opening, I mentioned that my beloved father was murdered. The next year, I was invited to a church youth camp where the Pastor’s wife and my camp counselor sat on my cot and said, “We know you’ve lost your earthly father. Would you like a Heavenly Father who will never leave you or forsake you?” They helped me work through my grief and brought something good out of tragedy as I accepted the LORD as my Savior. After all these years, I can still remember that moment of God becoming my Heavenly Father.

I pray that when I go to heaven, I will again be reunited with my earthly father, but I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father watches over me and guides me through my mistakes and victories, heartaches and celebrations, and literally led me to the godly man I married 33 years ago who became a stepfather to my daughter.

One of our grandsons had personalized bookmarks at every place setting at his wedding. On my husband’s bookmark our grandson wrote, “You must’ve been a great father to raise my awesome dad!”

Two Grieving Father’s Stories!

“𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦.”

Jeff Metcalf, father of Austin and his identical twin Hunter, spoke publicly after Karmelo Anthony was convicted of stabbing Austin to death at a Frisco, Texas track meet in April 2025. Austin was 17. What Metcalf said in the interview was not about the sentence or the verdict.

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Almost a decade ago, Jeff Metcalf was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors did not expect him to survive. “𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪g𝘩𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴, 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯.”

 𝐇𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝.

At a press conference after the murder, Austin’s dad tried to extend a Christian olive branch to the Anthony’s to say he forgave Karmelo and offered to pray with the family, but the Anthonys had the police remove him. The person who lost his son was then harassed, swatted 6 times, and the victim of DARVO, Deny Accuse Reverse Victim and Offender.

Watch this Christian father, Jeff Metcalf, speak to Rob Schmitt on Newsmax after the trial and contrast him with how the father of Karmelo Anthony is reacting.

Here is wise advice from a black man to black fathers, but it applies to every father and parent…

“Dear Black Americans wondering what to tell your sons after what happened to Karmelo Anthony:

This is what you tell them:

Do not be like Karmelo Anthony.

Do not bring a knife to school.

Do not bring a knife to a track meet.

Do not fight at school.

Do not bully, threaten, or provoke other students.

Stay out of trouble and walk away when you can.

Teach your sons to respect people of every race. Do not teach them to hate white people because of their skin color or because of things that happened in the past that today’s white children had nothing to do with.

Teach them self-control, accountability, and the value of human life. Being angry does not give anyone the right to pull out a weapon.

A school fight should never end with one child dead and another spending years behind bars.

Stop making excuses after tragedy happens. Start teaching our children how to avoid the tragedy in the first place.”—Terrence K. Williams, black comedian being quite serious.

One father will be visiting his son’s grave on Father’s Day, and one father will be visiting his son in jail. It didn’t have to be this way.

“The world needs more kind people in it. And if you can’t find one, then be one.” Jeff Metcalf

PS: There won’t be a Monday Morning blog next week as I’ll be spending time with our son who is coming to visit us for Father’s Day. Have a blessed Father’s Day. Remember to honor and celebrate your Heavenly Father EVERYDAY!

Please leave a comment here and I’ll reply.

June 15, 2026
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What Will Be Your Legacy?

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Yesterday was Mother’s Day. I enjoyed some of our Mother’s Day traditions with my daughter, two granddaughters, and myself getting a pedicure together. Something we started when the girls were just toddlers. Even though this year I was slightly limited with the surgical wounds on my left leg, I still managed to have a wonderful partial pedicure with the girls.

We also had a lovely dinner together. I brought the family’s favorite Chex Mix for snacks, which goes back to my mother-in-law’s recipe that our kids loved. There was always a big bowl of it when we visited her. I was surprised the next generation, my grandkids, also love this timeless treat! When asked what he’ll remember about family gatherings, my grandson held up the bowl of my Chex Mix.

So Chex Mix is definitely a traditional legacy building memory in our family. Even though my mother-in-law cooked it in the oven for an hour stirring every 15 minutes, which I did too for many years, I now have it done in 10 minutes in the microwave!

I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy recently.

My husband’s cousin Pete’s wife passed away several weeks ago. A godly woman that I, and many, agree epitomized a Proverbs 31+ woman. She was 92 years-old when she went to be with her Savior passing away quietly in her sleep. She and her husband had been married 72 years!! They had 5 children, 18 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren. Her name just happened to also be, Janet.

I remember vividly meeting Janet Hermanson over 30 years ago when Dave and I were newly married and attended a family funeral in Iowa where Dave is from and the Hermansons lived. Janet and her husband Pete picked us up from the airport and from the first greeting, I knew I was going to love my new namesake relative.

Janet welcomed me lovingly and graciously into the family and showed me how to make traditional Norwegian cookies, which I never was able to make as good as her. Janet’s warm welcoming kindness and hospitality rooted in her love for the Lord, for her husband, for people, her community, her state, and especially family and extended family made such an impression on me as a new wife.

I remember she had a “wall of brides” with pictures of her five children’s weddings. I was so impressed with this beautiful display of love that when our four children all married, I too created a wall of brides.

Because Janet and her husband Pete lived between Iowa and Arizona, we didn’t see them often, but they would always let us know when they were in our vicinity and we would get together as family loves to do.

Thanks to technology, Dave and I were able to listen to the livestream of Janet’s beautiful memorial service. Tears flowed as her brother-in-law shared fond memories of Janet before he read the verses about “The Wife of Noble Character” from Proverbs 31:10-31 and John 11 where Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus had died closing with …
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

There were fond memories shared from a son-in-law, and a daughter-in-law who admired all the many gifts of Janet, which she admitted could be a little intimidating. A grandson fought back tears as he shared his memories and those of his sister of their loving grandmother. A son shared how his mom parented with love and clever firm discipline. Many shared “Janetisms.”

One person said it seemed like Janet’s oven never turned off, as she always had her famous lemon bars, lasagna, cookies, cherry pie, and delicious treats coming out of her kitchen. She sewed, sang in the choir, helped others with tax preparation, was a bookkeeper on the farm and often went out in the field to help or drive truck or tractor, volunteered at church, supported 4-H, Sons of Norway, quilted, hosted family and friends, all while raising a family of five and welcoming dozens of nieces, nephews, and guests into her home.

She was witty, funny, spiritual, kind, godly, loved traveling, a loving wife sitting next to her hubby in their chairs even when they were no longer able to be in their home. Her children rose up and called her blessed and her husband praised her.

I could go on and on about sweet Janet Hermanson. Her memorial was a blessing to so many and her legacy filled the church.

Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
    but you [Janet Hermanson] surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Pr. 31:28-31

When I was sharing this story of Janet Hermanson’s memorial at the Women’s Revelation Bible Study at my church later that afternoon, the leader said she had just gone to the funeral of another Proverbs 31+ woman too!

Famous Legacies

Joni Lamb passed away last week at only 65. She was the President and cofounder with her first husband Marcus of Daystar Television Network back in the 70’s with the dream of using media to spread the gospel, which eventually became Daystar. A ministry that has blessed thousands over the years and many have come to know Jesus as their Savior. Joni helped build a platform that carried the gospel into homes across the world. She hosted conversations, encouraged believers, gave visibility to Christian leaders, and became one of the most recognizable women in Christian media.

With all the good it did, there was also controversy. But I want to focus here on the memory I came across on Facebook from Brooke Landreth who was a social media marketer and stylist at Daystar for 8 years. I’ve read many memories on Facebook from those who knew Joni, but this one especially touched me. Here is part of what Brooke wrote about Joni:

When I think about Joni, my eyes fill with tears because of the impact she made not only around the world, but on everyone she encountered, including me. Joni was someone whose presence made an impact simply through her ability to see people through God’s eyes. In the middle of the day, when I would pass her in the halls of Daystar, she would stop to give me a hug and always ask me how I was doing, despite wherever she was headed to next.

People were never the obstacle of ministry but truly the goal of ministry! And through her life, many encountered Jesus because of it!

She was a woman who was passionate about spreading the Gospel around the world and took a stand for truth no matter the cost. She brought out the gold in people through the words she spoke. She was a woman of generosity who often gave without expecting anything in return, and the unconditional love and heart she had for her family ran so deep.

I honor Joni for giving her life to the Gospel and for the legacy she is leaving behind. She will truly be missed by so many, but my prayer is that her children and our staff would carry the torch forward to bring Him glory!

I love you, Ms. Joni, and I will see you again in glory!

Charlie Kirk left a legacy of Turning Point USA as his wife Erika and the team carry on today. Charlie and Joni Lamb both have numerous videos and presentations that will be watched and shared for years to come to carry on their legacy, as will many others in public and private ministry.

Leaving a Spiritual Legacy

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” Luke 12:48

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

Whether we’re famous or known only to our family and friends, we’re all known to God. Each of us will leave a legacy of what we did with the gifts, talents, and family the Lord gave us while we were here on earth. I like this definition of a “Spiritual Legacy”:

“A spiritual legacy goes beyond material possessions, encompassing the beliefs, values, teachings, and love you impart to others, shaping their spiritual growth and life choices. It reflects the influence of your faith and character on family, community, and future generations, creating a foundation for others to follow. This legacy is often intentional, involving consistent actions, mentorship, and the sharing of spiritual truths.”

A spiritual legacy is the lasting impact of your faith, values, and character on others, especially across generations.

–Biblical and Faith-Based Perspective

In the Christian context, a spiritual legacy is deeply rooted in Scripture.

For example, Deuteronomy 6:6-7 emphasizes teaching God’s commandments to children, ensuring faith is passed down through generations. The Apostle Paul highlights generational faith in 2 Timothy 1:5, noting how Timothy’s grandmother and mother influenced his spiritual life. Proverbs 13:22 also underscores leaving a godly inheritance for children and grandchildren, emphasizing spiritual blessings over material wealth.

–Key Components of a Spiritual Legacy

  • Faith and Values: Demonstrating the importance of belief and moral principles in daily life.
  •  Acts of Kindness and Compassion: Small, intentional actions that inspire and positively affect others.
  •  Mentorship and Teaching: Guiding others in spiritual growth through example, prayer, and sharing personal experiences.
  •  Family and Community Influence: Passing down traditions, stories, and practices that strengthen spiritual identity and connection.
  •  Global or Cultural Impact: Extending influence beyond immediate circles through service, social justice, or humanitarian efforts. 

–Practical Implications

Creating a spiritual legacy involves mindful living, reflecting on your values, and intentionally shaping your actions to benefit others spiritually.

Spiritual legacy encourages personal growth, strengthens relationships, and ensures that your faith and principles continue to influence future generations.

Whether through prayer, teaching, mentoring, or example, a spiritual legacy is a lasting testament to the life you lead and the values you uphold.

I’ve always said that I pray my legacy to my family is that Mom, Grammie, Great-Grammie loved Jesus as her Lord and Savior and loved her family well.

To my friends, I pray I was as good a friend as you were to me.

To Woman to Woman Ministry and About His Work Ministries, I pray you’re always looking for someone to mentor and someone to mentor you.

For now, I’ll keep on writing this blog and making Grammie’s Chex Mix!

Have you thought about what your spiritual legacy will be?

PS: The above picture was AI generated from the context of my blog. I just shared it here for fun, this isn’t me or my grandkids or anyone I discussed in the blog but look at all the brides on the wall LOL!!

Please leave a comment here.

May 11, 2026
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Can I Have a Word with You in 2026!

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Here we are with the first Monday Morning Blog of 2026!

There’s something special about the beginning of a New Year. Some say it seems like January is the longest month of the year, but for me, I cling to every new day of January because the rest of the year flies by so fast. January represents a new fresh start. Many people even set new goals or resolutions like going to the gym, eating healthier, walking more, losing weight, going back to school, or fill in the blank.

A common goal for many Christians is to read the Bible in a year and to select a word to focus on for the year. God’s Word and a personal word. I do both and that’s what I’d like to challenge you with as we kick off this New Year.

Words Matter

Whether written or spoken, words are how we communicate. God created us that way and breathed His Words into His chosen writers to provide us with the timeless inerrant Word of God, the Bible, to communicate with us and guide our life (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Fourteen times in the Bible, the Lord cautions us, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

We should also choose wisely the words we speak, hear, and read. Words can communicate good or evil. They motivate or manipulate. Depict or deceive. Convey truth or lies. Facts or opinions. Help or hurt. Encourage or intimidate. Cheer or criticize.

Here are some examples of how Satan has used words in our current culture for evil.

  • Killing a baby in the womb is “reproductive healthcare.”
  • Drugging and mutilating children’s sexual body parts is “gender-affirming care.”
  • Defining marriage as only between a woman and a man is “homophobic.”
  • Same-sex sexual relationships are “gay.”
  • Pretending to be the opposite sex is “trans.”
  • Men playing in women’s sports is “inclusive.”
  • Hiring on basis of skin color and gender is “DEI.”
  • Merit is “racist.”
  • Masculinity is “toxic.”
  • Godless evil is “woke.”
  • Incoherent deception is a “word salad.” An example of a deceptive “word salad” was used during the inauguration speech of the new Communist Muslim mayor in New York City, Zohran Mamdani—“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Anyone calling this out for what it really means—replacing American entrepreneurial freedom of democracy with socialistic dictatorial communism like in Venezuela—is labeled “Islamophobic.”
  • Christians crowning themselves as God’s chosen people is “Replacement Theology.”
  • The Christian church succumbing to secular culture is “Progressive Christianity.”

I’m sure you could add many more to this list, but often Christians today are afraid to speak truth to lies because they fear the condemnation from man more than from God.

God’s Word Is the Bread of Life

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

In discussing John 6:35, our pastor gave the example of only opening your Bible on Sunday and maybe Wednesday night prayer meeting is like only eating a big meal on Sunday and maybe a snack on Wednesday, but no food the rest of the week. Our bodies would physically starve. Likewise, spiritual starvation occurs when we only partake of the Bread of Life, the Word of God, once or twice a week.

It’s hopeful to see many churches and pastors, like our pastor, encouraging their congregations to read the Bible daily in a year, especially this year. Why do I say especially this year? Because the world is getting darker and darker as we approach the return of Jesus, and it’s vital we understand what the Bible says about it.

We’re actually fortunate to live during the birth pangs of the end times. It won’t be scary or intimidating to believers if we have a firm faith foundation and understand God’s plan clearly explained and outlined in the Bible. Something you can’t fully appreciate by just reading a random Scripture. It’s important to see how the Old Testament is the foreshadowing of the New Testament and how all the puzzle pieces fall together in context as you reach Revelation.

The Bible explains and foretells everything we’re encountering in the world today. There’s no reason to fear or worry when you know your role in history and how God wants you to live under all circumstances and in all seasons.

I’ve read the Bible in a year numerous times and I’ve enjoyed reading different translations each year. Many of you have also read the Bible annually, but others might’ve only gotten as far as Lamentations or maybe even Isaiah and then put it aside as life happened. I want to encourage you to read it all the way through this year. We’re only five days in and you can catch up. It is doable. Here are some tips that have helped me.

  1. Have a designated time and place where you read your Bible daily and leave your Bible open in that spot.
  2. Even if you get behind, don’t lose heart. Catch up on the weekends, but keep going. It will get easier.
  3. Use a reading plan. I like YouVersion and CBN, but there are others and maybe your church is suggesting one. Our church handed out a plan for the year reading from the Old Testament and New Testament each day. Others like to include a Psalm or Proverb daily. Just pick one and get started.
  4. For the past two years, I’ve listened to the Bible using the CBN yearly plan. I asked for earbuds for my birthday and listen when I’m walking, at the gym, or doing household chores.

It’s popular today to listen to Podcasts and I’m suggesting you listen to Godcast instead! In biblical times, church and temple leaders read the Scriptures from a scroll to the people. People didn’t have personal scrolls like we have personal Bibles today. The Scriptures were passed down by word of mouth and memorization.

If you’re a highlighter or note taker, listening might not be as agreeable to you, but I think you’ll find it’s definitely doable to listen to the Bible in a year. I was out for a walk on December 31, 2025 when I shouted “Hallelujah” as I listened to the last words of Revelation 22 foretelling the return of Jesus.

  • Take the Read-the-Bible-in-a-year challenge with a group or a prayer partner so you can encourage and keep each other accountable.
  • Don’t spend a lot of time figuring out what to do. Just pick up your Bible and start at Genesis 1:1 and keep reading. God will bless your efforts and time in His Word!

Here’s a portion of a testimony from Janet Marie Watson, an Idaho Facebook friend. She posted this on January 1, 2026, encouraging her friends to read the Bible in a year. Shared with permission.

“Hi everyone. I hope you’re having a good start to 2026. I had to get on social media and say please remember to read your Bible. I have seen it change my heart and it changes my thoughts. Yesterday, I read the last portion of the 365 day Bible reading program I had last year. There is a thing we call discipline but I’m not sure this is as much a discipline as it is a determination. It doesn’t take long with daily portions. I read the whole Bible again. I have such a greater breadth to what I understand about God’s purpose and His larger picture. God has offered this to us as a personal gift.

If I got a personal letter from a great leader, I’d be reading it. I am reminded of 1 John 3:1. “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” . . .

So find a program that gives you manageable portions to read each day. This year, I’m going back to one I’ve used before. It’s got a portion from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms, and the Proverbs for each day. I hope this prevents me from reading the plagues of Revelation the last few days of December. But if not, I’ll be ok. And like I said, it has changed me. The Epistles tell me how to conduct myself. How to temper my heart. And after about 13 yrs of reading the Bible through each year, there are portions that jump into my consciousness when I am tempted to be things I should not be.

What’s Your Word for 2026?

Starting in 2018, I began praying for God to give me a word for the year. A word that would glorify Him and transform me into the woman He wanted me to be. A word to guide my personal interactions, my writing, my thinking, and my spiritual growth. Not an easy word or one I was already good at, but one that would challenge me and cause me to delve deeper into my heart and soul seeking God’s help to live out.

For example, I’ve never been a patient person so one year I chose the word “grace.” I wanted to be more grace-filled and less self-filled. A friend gave me a cross necklace with the word “grace” on it. I wore that necklace daily. Grace was such a difficult word for me that I actually kept it for two-years, but I haven’t mastered it yet. I still wear the necklace.

As I was praying about my 2026 word, I read James 1:3-4 NLT in the closing days of my 2025 devotional. “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

That word “endurance” struck a chord in my heart. My husband Dave had three major surgeries within a year. I became his patient advocate, caregiver, and maintainer of our home. There were times I didn’t think I had the energy or stamina to keep going, but God and love help you do what you think you can’t do. My endurance was tested, but God and love kept me going. I want endurance to come easier in 2026. While I almost chose “love” as my word, I realized that love fuels endurance so love will grow as I seek to endure well.

How about you?

 Do you choose a word for the year and a Scripture to go along with it?

Are you going to read or listen to the entire Bible this year?

What worldly words are you going to stop using or stop letting influence your thinking and emotions?

I’d love to hear your answers. Just hit reply and share.

PS: January 2025, I shared that I was praying every morning with Pastor Jack Hibbs’ 5:00 AM PT Lift Scripture Prayer time. He recorded daily on Facebook Live, YouTube, and several other places so you could listen anytime and leave prayer requests while praying for others. I only missed a couple mornings all year.

Pastor Hibbs felt the Lord leading him to do this for only one year, but one of the daily prayer partners who he called “Mr. Faithful,” James Choy, is carrying on the Morning Prayer time for 2026. You can find him @ 5AMBondservant on Facebook and Instagram if you would like to join us praying every morning. You’ll be blessed for sure.

Please leave a comment here.

January 5, 2026
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7 Ways Satan Stops You From Reading Your Bible

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Satan works overtime in trying to stop us from reading our Bible because he knows better than anyone that it’s God’s written Word, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). It’s our only offensive weapon in spiritual warfare. A treasure chest of wisdom, teaching, knowledge, encouragement, and equipping for service in God’s earthly kingdom. The Bible is a love letter to those who believe in Jesus Christ and a spiritual resource for seekers.

We may not even recognize Satan’s assault on our lives with deception, distraction, and discouragement. But when we become aware of the enemy’s tactics, we can neutralize him. Here are seven ways Satan tries to keep your Bible closed and strategies to outmaneuver him.

  1. Not Taking Your Bible to Church

      As the pastor prepared to start his sermon, he told anyone who needed a Bible to raise their hand and they’d be given one to keep. No hands went up! The parishioners knew that every Scripture the pastor used in his sermons was on a handout in the church bulletin, as well as projected on screens at the front of the church. Why would they need a Bible?

      Sadly, this has become the norm in many churches today. Congregants become passive instead of participants, as they’re spoon-fed Scriptures and feel there’s no reason to bring their Bible to church. Can churches still be considered “Bible churches” when no one opens a Bible, sometimes not even the pastor?

      Regardless if your church projects Scriptures on a screen, take your Bible to church and look up Scriptures the pastor uses in his sermon. Make notes in the margin or underline passages in your Bible that God uses to speak to you. If you’re not sure where a book in the Bible is located, check the Table of Contents. The more you interact with your Bible, the quicker you’ll learn your way around it. Some people put index tabs in their Bibles to locate the various books. You may prefer having a Bible on your phone instead of a hard copy, but still open and read from it.

      I’m fortunate to attend a church where people bring their Bibles. What a blessing to hear Bible pages turning and the joy this must bring to our Lord.

      As we grow in our maturity and relationship with Jesus, taking our Bibles to church, looking up Scriptures, writing notes in our Bible, reading along in our Bibles also sets a godly role model for our children and grandchildren. Flashing Scriptures on a screen or printing them in a handout often tossed after church, will never replace knowing and reading the written Word of God from your personal Bible.

      I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Ps. 119:11

      2. Dark Churches

      Several years ago, I wrote an article “Why Is the Church Going Dark?” The single most repeated comment was from people complaining they couldn’t read their Bible in dark churches. Even though churches may slightly raise the lights during the sermon, it often isn’t sufficient to locate or read Scriptures in your Bible. Many said they gave up and relied on the screens.

      Usually, the justification given for a dark church is to attract the younger generation. I haven’t seen any studies supporting that premise. Church youth rooms are brightly lit. We’re called to mentor the next generation using God’s Word to teach them the value of knowing and reading their Bible to develop their own personal relationship with the Lord. Sitting in a dark room looking at a screen, or maybe at their phones, robs them of the opportunity to discover and interact with the intertwining wonders, prophecies, symbolisms, and foreshadowing of Jesus in the Bible.

      Some parishioners say they prefer it dark so they can worship without being seen or distracted, but one of the purposes of church is corporate worship and fellowship with the family of God. Families don’t sit at home in the dark. If you attend a dark church and you can’t read your Bible, talk to the pastoral staff and ask them to turn up the lights during the sermon.

      Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Ps. 119:105

      3. Relying on Devotionals

      Like many of you, I enjoy reading a daily devotional in my quiet time with the Lord. But it can become expedient and convenient to read the devotional without ever opening your Bible. We might be tempted to let the devotional suffice as our daily Bible reading, especially when time is limited. If this becomes a regular habit, we could go days, weeks, months, or even years without ever reading from our Bible.

      Devotionals often include Scripture references without printing out all the specific verses. This sneaky way looks good, but also keeps your Bible closed, and that’s not good. One way to interact with a devotional is to look up in your own Bible all the Scriptures referenced and read them in context from the Bible. Ask God how He wants to apply the passages to your life, not just from the devotional author’s perspective.

      A devotional is inspirational, but it’s the author’s viewpoint and discernment on a particular Scripture or passage. Someone else’s interpretation of verses they’ve read in their Bible. God wants us to study, read, and research in our own Bibles. Never let devotionals replace devotion to your Bible. Devotionals have their place, but let it be said of us . . .

      I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Ps. 119:16

      4. Time Pressures

      We live in a fast-paced, urgent, and over-committed world. God definitely doesn’t want us racing through life with pressures that don’t offer an opportunity to sit for a moment and read a few words from Him before we head into our day. Satan does want us living over-committed and stressed. He wants us to struggle through days with a heavy burden that causes many to turn to unhealthy addictions instead of to God who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28

      Satan tells us to get up and get going or we’re a slacker and a loser. God says, give me a few minutes of your time and I’ll help you enjoy the day relaxed, refreshed, and productive. Some people, like me, wakeup with a to-do list on our mind or fresh ideas for a project. We’re tempted to make coffee or tea and get to work. Maybe you identify. I’ve learned if I take a few moments to open my Bible and ask God to reveal His plans for me through His Word, my day goes smoother and often a Scripture will be exactly what I needed.

      Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. Ps. 119:49

      5. Don’t Know Where to Start

      The Bible can seem intimidating when you first begin reading. It’s actually a compilation of 66 separate books! Maybe you’ve tried starting at the beginning in Genesis and the reading goes well until you get to Leviticus and Numbers. Satan plants doubt in your mind of why everyone is so inspired with this Book of animal sacrifices and genealogies. Soon the Bible is back on the shelf collecting dust.

      Instead of abandoning the Bible, reach out for help. Mentoring from a spiritually mature believer can offer suggestions and guidance like starting with a Life Application Bible, which offers explanations and ideas of how to personalize Scriptures.

      Unfortunately, there aren’t many Christian bookstores available to peruse and look at different Bible translations, but you can shop on websites with peak inside views to find a translation that resonates with you. When I first started reading the Bible, I actually chose an illustrated Children’s Bible and I recommend this even for adults. Jesus tells us to come to Him as little children. Eventually, you can progress to a more mature translation that suits you best.

      Joining a Bible study at church allows you to study and learn different books of the Bible with fellow believers who share wisdom and discernment in how to apply Scripture to life and world events.

      The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Ps. 119:130

      6. Feeling Like a Failure on a Reading Plan

      It’s a new year and you’re going to read the entire Bible in a year! You have the best of intentions. Maybe you select a daily reading plan with some of the Old and New Testament, adding in a Psalm and Proverb.  You’re excited and stay on track for the first few weeks, then life happens. You miss a few days and feel the serpent chiding with thoughts like, “You’re never going to make it through the year.” Or, “You’re so far behind, you’ll never catch up now. You might as well just give up.” Or, “Why do you want to do this anyway? It’s too much.”

      Sound familiar? It does to me. Here are some suggestions.

      • Join an online group reading the Bible in a year to provide encouragement that you can do it.
      • Put your Bible in a place where you see it as a reminder to pick it up and start reading.
      • Ask a friend or family member to join you. Doing things together is always better.
      • Some people are auditory learners and do better listening, so find a reading plan online that offers auditory daily Bible reading. I like to use my ear buds and listen to the Bible while I’m walking or on the treadmill. There’s usually sound effects and different people reading various roles with inflection and emotion. The Bible comes to life.
      • Even when you fall behind, keep going. No rule or statute commands reading the entire Bible in a year. Maybe it’ll take a couple of years. That’s okay. Every time you do read, God will speak to you in a new fresh way or reveal something you hadn’t noticed in the last reading of the same passage. An adventure with God. He’s not grading you on how fast you read; He just wants you to do it!

      I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. Ps. 119:147

      7. You Doubt If the Bible Is Relevant or Inerrant

      One of Satan’s most notorious lies to convince you not to read your Bible is to plant the seed in your mind that it’s an archaic book of fables written by men and has no use or relevancy in today’s modern culture. Sadly, even some pastors and theologians have fallen into Satan’s snare and abandoned the timeless inerrancy of the Word of God.

      G. Campbell Morgan once preached a sermon titled “Famine for the Word of God.” He said maybe there was someone in the congregation who, “You have become hardened to the touch of God, unconscious of the fact of God; and though His Word is living and quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, it fails to affect you.”

      When we stop reading our Bibles, we’ll suffer the fate of spiritual famine by losing our appetite for God’s Word, the bread of life (John 6:35). “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.” Amos 8:11 NLT

      Just as Jesus used Scripture to respond to Satan’s temptations in the desert before Jesus started His ministry (Matthew 4:1-11), the best way to combat Satan’s lies is with God’s own Words.

      God wrote all Scripture through human willing hands and hearts. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT

      Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word of God. In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. John 1:2 NLT

      Jesus and the Bible never change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Heb. 13:8 NLT

      No one should ever add or subtract from the timeless inerrant Bible. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. Rev. 22:18 NLT

      We never reach a place in our faith where we know it all. God’s Word is new every morning and every reading. Never let Satan lie to you that the Bible is intimidating because the truth is that God’s Word is always inspiring! f you want to hear God, you need to engage with Him through the way He communicates: Prayer and His Word, the Holy Bible.

      “If we want to grow in our love for the Lord, we must draw near to Him through His Word. As we learn to know Him intimately, our love will increase and we’ll desire to obey. Unless we invest in Scripture, our fervor for the Lord will fall short of what it could be. And if you ever feel disappointed that your love for Christ seems small, open the Word of God and obey whatever He says, He will abide with you and disclose Himself, thereby increasing your capacity to love and know Him more.” Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Magazine, April 3, 2018

      A revealing of Jesus, the Messiah. God gave it to make plain to his servants what is about to happen. He published and delivered it by Angel to his servant John. And John told everything he saw: God’s Word— the witness of Jesus Christ! How blessed the reader! How blessed the hearers and keepers of these oracle words, all the words written in this book! Time is just about up. Revelation 1:1-3 The Message

      Please leave your comment here.
      You might also be interested in my latest Crosswalk article as the summer starts winding down. 4 Ways to Get Back into Church and Spiritual Practices after a Busy Summer

      August 18, 2025
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      Legislating Morality: A Christian Duty

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      I’m going to do something a little different in today’s Monday Morning Blog. I want to share an article about a very important duty for Christians: taking a stand for morality in the public square. That means advocating and voting for moral laws while opposing immoral laws. Morality is NOT subjective to the individual. Morality is absolutely and unquestionably defined by the Bible not the government or a person.

      Today, we’re watching rampant immorality in the streets of every city often displayed by acts of violence most notably lately by young children. What kind of moral upbringing did these thugs get in their homes if any?! Yes, we can blame it on the parents, but we can also blame it on the church. When’s the last time your pastor talked about the blatant immorality in our culture today, often being re-enforced by immoral laws?

      Maybe you’re one of those people who say you don’t bother yourself with “political issues.” Well I’m going to challenge you. That kind of thinking is immoral. It’s exactly why we see random shootings escalating, violence against innocent people in the streets, and car jackings. Children groomed and indoctrinated in schools to irrationally and immorally think that they can do the impossible and change their gender. Sex trafficking of children in America is at the highest level in any country on our watch!

      I’ve mentioned before that I pray every morning with Pastor Jack Hibbs on his daily Lift Scripture prayer time. What an amazing way to start the day. Several days ago, he pointed out something very interesting in Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “citizenship” in the Greek in this passage is actually the word “politics.”

      Yes, we are citizens of heaven and one way we should be living that out on earth is through our politics. You and I can each make a difference if we step out of our comfort zone and into our Christian citizenship persona.

      Understanding Morals

      “Understanding morals is crucial for our daily lives as Christians. Morals guide us on how to live in the way that pleases God. They help us discern right from wrong, ensuring that we uphold the values and standards outlined in the Bible. By understanding the essence of morals, we align our actions and decisions with God’s will for us. The Bible offers wisdom and guidance in moral living and serves as a compass for us, directing our paths as we navigate through life’s choices. When we seek to embody these morals, we reflect God’s character and promote goodness in the world around us.”

      I could go on and on. We are becoming Sodom and Gomorrah in a country once known for its Judeo/Christian values and morals. Here is the article I wanted to share, “Why Legislate Morality?” that I received in an email from Kent DelHousaye, Director of Church Engagement for Idaho Family Policy Center. I hope you’ll ponder and pray about how it might apply to you and what you could do to be a changing force in your sphere of influence.

      Friends,  
      A common objection to the idea of promoting biblically sound public policy is that it’s not mission-critical or even worthwhile for Christians and churches to get involved in “legislating morality.” But is this objection accurate?

      In short, NO. This kind of thinking is just wrong. There are actually seven reasons why we SHOULD care about “legislating morality.”

      1. All legislation is moral. The only question is whose morality will be codified? There is always a moral agenda behind every piece of legislation, just as there are moral implications for every law that is adopted. The issue for us is simply whether we prefer a law that reflects a godly morality or worldly morality.

      2. In a relativistic culture, accepted moral standards are determined by the laws that are passed, so the laws SERVE as the moral code of that society. If we want the ethical code of our society to be God-honoring, then we must seek to pass godly laws.

      3. As Christians, moral neutrality is not an option for us. If we believe in the lordship of Christ over all things, then his lordship includes government and law. If government is God’s domain, then government and its laws must serve his purposes.

      4. Since the church is a bulwark against evil, abstention from the political domain is not an option for us as it cedes the public square to ungodly leaders who co-opt it and use it for their own unfettered wicked purposes in the world.

      5. Our political silence makes us complicit. Failing to speak up about evil and injustice in society undermines our credibility and our witness in the world. It implies that we are either indifferent to — or, even worse, on board with — whatever immoral laws are being passed.

      6. Passing godly legislation is not in itself the solution to the wickedness of the human heart. However, moral conviction is often shaped by moral instruction. In other words, adopting laws which teach society to do the right things can often lead society to desire the right things.

      7. Godly legislation is a form of evangelism. Passing God-honoring legislation glorifies God by putting his character and commands on public display for all to see who God is and how his kingdom works.

      Bottom line, all legislation legislates some sort of morality—so whose morality are we legislating? Last but not least, watch this clip of IFPC President Blaine Conzatti on the Canon+ Man Rampant show responding to the question, “Can you legislate morality?” I highly recommend you give it a watch and a share!

      Standing for morality,
      Kent DelHousaye Director of Church Engagement

      He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8

      To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. – Pr. 21:3

      The Lord detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue righteousness. Pr. 15:9

      Opening picture from the Idaho Family Policy Center article.

      Please leave your comment here.

      August 11, 2025
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      2025 A Year of New Beginnings!

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      Why do we get so excited about celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next? Maybe it’s because we have a fresh start to do those things we didn’t accomplish or finish in the past year. Maybe the past year had disappointments and heartaches. Maybe we didn’t finish or even start last year’s goals and we want to try again this year.

      Even if the past year was wonderful, we get excited about making new life history. This New Year, we’re excited to have a positive direction change in our nation. We’re glad the blundering administration’s four years are over and we can’t wait for the new competent administration to start. Many people today are counting down to January 20 like they countdown to Christmas. We have high hopes and expectations for President Trump’s promises and plans and his cabinet choices to start cleaning up the carnage left by the failed anti-American, anti-faith, anti-common sense Biden administration.

      Whatever our reasons, most of us are ready to “turn the page” of 2024. I’m personally embracing the motto “Revive in 2025.” That was the opening article theme of my December 2024 About His Work Ministries newsletter. If you don’t receive the free newsletter, you can sign up here and read the article here.

      Revive Your Bible Reading in 2025

      Each of us will determine what we want to revive in our personal life this year. For some, it might be reading the Bible in a year, which is something I’ve enjoyed doing for years. I’m praying for my daughter and granddaughter who are committing to this revival in their life in 2025. Each is using a different reading plan, and I’m cheering and praying for them to accomplish this worthy goal by the end of the year. Their lives are going to be abundantly revived and enriched by what God has to say and show them through His Word. They’re in for a huge blessing!

      Some of you might be committing to reading a Scripture a day for 365 days. No matter how you do it, gleaning the wisdom, encouragement, love, and guidance from letting God’s Word, the Holy Bible, speak to you daily will result in a spiritual and personal revival.

      I’ve found that changing up the Bible translation I read each year adds freshness. Last year, I listened to the Bible from Genesis to Revelation on my earbuds while working out at the gym. I finished the last chapters at the gym on December 31! Combining physical enhancement with spiritual enhancement put a new kick in my step. I followed the CBN annual Bible reading plan, which I’m doing again in 2025.

      There’s still time to start if you would like to read the Bible this year or maybe read the Old Testament or the New Testament.

      Revive Your Prayer Life in 2025

      At the beginning of 2024, the Lord told me my prayer life was going to deepen. I was curious to know what He had planned for me. Then I became involved with My Faith Votes (MFV) and soon I was enjoying prayer zoom meetings on Monday mornings with MFV action partners from across the nation, and during the week, with our MFV group here in Idaho. What an inspirational way to start the day praying with like-minded fellow conservative men and women as we called on the Lord with our petitions and praises for our country, state, and each other.

      Even as I continue praying and serving with My Faith Votes in 2025, God has more for me this year. On December 30, 2024, Hubby and I watched Kirk Cameron’s Takeaways program on TBN. A rerun we hadn’t seen, but God wanted us to see it. Kirk was interviewing Matthew West, a favorite Christian musician of ours who we’ve seen perform in person. Kirk and Matthew’s topic was prayer. Matthew has a new album out “Don’t Stop Praying,” and he and Kirk had an inspirational discussion about prayer.

      Matthew West says about his new album: “My new album #DontStopPraying is OUT NOW!! Each song in its own way is inspired by the different types of prayers we find ourselves praying throughout our lives. We pray prayers for strength when we are weak, prayers for a miracle when we need a breakthrough, prayers for purpose when we feel lost. Most of all, I wanted to make a record that echoed the call I have felt in my own heart to hit my knees like never before and never forget that the most important conversation I could have today, and every day of my life, is with the One who made me, knows me, and has the best plan for my life. I hope these songs inspire you to discover for the first time, or maybe rediscover, the power of a prayer.

      West is going to share some of his favorite “mission statement” songs on his Facebook page every day in January to kick off the New Year, which I’m going to listen to. He also has a prayer wall on his website.

      God was using Kirk Cameron and Matthew West to talk to me about enhancing my prayer life. Isn’t that just like God to show a past episode just two days before the start of 2025! It was obvious that God had new prayer revelations and plans for me in the New Year.

      Then January 3, God moved again. He woke me up early, and as I settled into my quiet time chair with a cup of coffee, I turned on my cell phone. Pastor Jack Hibbs was looking back at me on Facebook live. Apparently, Pastor Hibbs had started on January 1, at 5:00 am PT, 6:00 am MT, a 5–10-minute morning prayer group. You can tell he too is just waking up. With tussled hair, wearing a hoodie, and talking softly outside to not wake up the rest of the house, he shares a short devotional and Scripture based prayer. If you’ve ever heard Pastor Hibbs speak, his knowledge of the Bible, no notes, just talking directly to us, is amazing.

      Now, maybe you don’t want to wake up that early, and I don’t always either, but he’s recording live on his Facebook post and sharing on Instagram and X, so you can watch it anytime you want. The idea is to start your day praying with him and others. Here’s how he describes it for those who would like to join us.

      Beginning January 1, 2025, I invite you to join me for LIFT: Daily Prayer – A Global Prayer Meeting. I will be live on Facebook at about 5 am [PT] for about 5-10 minute daily. These will be rooted in Scripture and prayers for mercy, grace, healing, peace, guidance, and strength.

      If you miss the live prayer time on Facebook, it will be there for you to playback at any time. We will also share these on Instagram and X so you can watch and get involved on those platforms. We want you to share these videos and leave a comment with your prayers and prayer requests so that the community can pray with you. Let’s truly make this a Global Prayer Meeting together. See you tomorrow! Here is a link to my page. Please follow: https://www.facebook.com/RealJackHibbs

      As I write to you today, we’re only 5 days into 2025, but God’s already showing me two ways to revive my prayer life by listening to Matthew West’s prayer album and starting each morning in prayer with Pastor Jack Hibbs. Won’t you join me.

      Revive Your Health in 2025

      If nutrition and health is on your 2025 revival list, and you’re excited like I am about “Make America Healthy Again,” you’ll enjoy my latest Nutrition Nook article in Christian Living Magazine, Make Your Body Healthy Again in 2025.

      As a former Registered Dietitian, I always say, “Once a dietitian, always a dietitian.” I’m thrilled that the Trump administration will be looking into the thousands of toxins and additives in our foods that aren’t even allowed in other countries!

      Also on a side note, did you read the recent report by the US Surgeon General that alcohol has been linked to seven types of cancer? He wants alcohol labeled just like cigarettes, “Alcohol is a cancer risk!” Alcohol consumption is the “third leading preventable cause of cancer” in the country with tobacco and obesity taking the top two spots.

      The liquor lobby, manufacturers, and distributors distribute propaganda to the public that small amounts of alcohol are good for your health. A blatant potentially lethal money-making lie. The small amounts of antioxidants found in red wine for example are also found in larger amounts in blueberries and spinach, which are good for you, not harmful.

      Alcohol is a toxin and causes inflation. How could it be good for you when besides cancer, it also leads to obesity, lethargy, depression, sleep problems, and addiction?! If you drink alcohol, consider asking yourself, “Why?” With the high cost of healthy food today, maybe your 2025 budget could use the break of eliminating cancer-causing alcohol.

      How is God Reviving You in 2025?

      What revival plans has God put on your heart for 2025? Please share and let me know.

      You can leave a comment here.

      January 6, 2025
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      Vote To Let Freedom Ring and Remain!

      0

      Engaging in discussion regarding the people and platforms involved in the 2024 election can be frustrating and even divisive. This blog will post the day before we find out which side will govern our country for the next four years or maybe longer. It might take days in our current election chaos to know the outcome of the election. That says so much about the deterioration that has occurred at every level of government.

      What’s distressed me most this election season is discussions with fellow believers who have opposing worldviews. We read the same Bible and pray to the same God, so how can this be? I think the answer is the powerful influence the mainstream media, which has literally become a propaganda arm of the Democrat/liberal/progressive party, has effectively had on the minds and hearts of people who to me seem brainwashed and blinded by Satan’s lies. Yet, they’ll tell me I’m brainwashed as they defend the evil the Democrat party wants to inflict on us. It amazes me that they can’t see the moral, spiritual, and economical destruction that’s occurred in our country and our culture over the past four years. How could they call this good?

      I’ve also seen Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) at its worst exemplifying the power of propaganda and lies to influence intelligent godly people to hate and detest someone so much they would vote against Trump knowing the other side has an evil, demonic, anti-God agenda. They hate Trump more than they love America. Even Trump commented recently when asked why he thought so many people have such strong views against him, even to trying to assassinate him. His response is that only consequential candidates produce that kind of reaction in people. Many in the deep dark Washington swamp don’t want him in power because they know he’ll reveal and remedy the evil that’s taking place there.

      Speaker Johnson has warned that Republicans need to win the Senate and the Congress because if the Democrats win either one, they’ll immediately try to impeach President Trump. How crazy is that?!

      As we countdown to the election, here are links to the blogs the Lord led me to write about this election. Also, I’ll post the About His Work Ministries opening newsletter article “What Does It Mean to Think Biblically” because not everyone receives my monthly newsletter. (You can sign up at my website.)

      What Does It Mean to Vote Biblically? continues to receive more hits than any blog I’ve ever written.

      Don’t Be Fooled by the ‘Joy and Vibes’ Political Shield, which now has turned to ugly name calling, yelling, and angry tirades.

      What Does It Mean to Think Biblically Versus Culturally or Secularly?

      The opposite of thinking biblically is thinking secularly. Christians should vote their faith and values, but when we see the polls of Christians voting for a candidate whose platform is anti-biblical, anti-life, anti-Christian, anti-God, and anti-capable, it’s evident that many Christians aren’t checking with God or their Bible before selecting a candidate’s platforms and policies to govern our land. That goes for down ballot too.

      It’s blessed me to see many Christians during this election cycle who aren’t afraid to discuss politicized biblical issues like sanctity of life, marriage, sexuality, protecting children from pornography and gender mutilation, and God’s design for humanity. Social media is full of brave posts and conversations. Now many are speaking and posting biblical values publicly. Praise God!

      I even heard one pastor say, “Don’t be afraid to talk about politics and religion at holiday or family gatherings.” For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Tim. 1:7 NLT

      We need to speak God’s truth no matter the circumstances. It’s the fear of man rather than the fear of God that has sent many Christians underground and silenced them. This has congruently allowed a nefarious government to successfully enforce laws contrary to God’s laws. But God’s Word in Hebrews 13:6 NLT assures us, “So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?’”

      However, here’s what “mere people” will try to do when Christians don’t speak up and vote. Ohio voted to codify abortion into the state constitution and a judge recently ruled unconstitutional the state’s previous six-week abortion ban law, which had been the law in Ohio since 2019.  “Ohio voters have spoken,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins wrote in the filing. “The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion.” I would add, nullifying rights and protection of the unborn.

      Why weren’t there enough Christian Ohio voters to protect the unborn? Ohio, once considered a conservative red state, is now a “swing state.” Up for grabs politically and morally. How did the Christians in that state let this happen? How is it that after the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional Roe v Wade and sent the decision back to the states, that we now have more abortions not fewer? More precious babies killed in the womb before they have the right to life?

      Harris’ platform is to federally codify abortion in every state, which would strike down unborn baby protection laws like those we have in Idaho that bans all abortion. Christians need to vote against her and her radical platform.

      Pro-life activists and leaders in Missouri are sounding the alarm about Amendment 3, the “Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative,” on the ballot that would not only result in unrestricted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, but would also “go way beyond abortion” and enshrine transgender surgeries on children. Let’s pray Missouri Christians are sounding the alarm to vote it down.

      How are some Christians okay with killing human babies? Surveys tell us they are?  45% of Christians and 6 in 10 Catholics say they’re in favor of abortion and are voting for an unbiblical political platform?!

      The only answer has to be that some Christians aren’t praying and reading their Bible to help them think biblically. Their worldview is influenced by secular culture, not God’s Scriptures. They may go to Bible studies, attend church, and check the Christian box. But they’re not allowing the Bible to transform and renew their mind and heart, thus their thinking and actions. How can I say this? Because God would NEVER condone killing human babies that He creates in His own image.

      Randall Terry of Operation Rescue, along with several pastors, created TV commercials to depict the horrors of abortion and he’s paying to run them during prime time. Here’s the link to one that ran on The View, but warning, it’s graphic.

      Tools For Thinking Biblically

      Our Couples Bible Study group is viewing and discussing a My Faith Votes free online video series “Think Biblically” led by faith experts to help Christians stand firm on God’s Holy unchanging Word and think biblically about culture and politics. The video series is designed for churches, small groups, families, friends, couples, or on your own. The focus is to help Christians firmly align their beliefs with God’s Word and gain an understanding of how their views of culture align with a biblical worldview.

      A quote from Think Biblically website: “In today’s polarizing world, many struggle to anchor their views on the truth of God’s Word. Now, more than ever, Christians need to evaluate our nation’s issues through a biblical lens and stand with an unshakeable faith.”

      Another free resource, even after the election, is from Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of Billy Graham and daughter of Franklin Graham. Fearless Family: Eight-Day Election Prayer Guide to take a biblical look at the issues affecting the heart of our families. Cissie writes, “Today, we are surrounded by a culture, both inside the church and out, that continues to compromise on truth and morality. It feels as if the only sin in America today is to call something sinful! Marriage, gender, sexuality, equality, and justice are simple words that have been twisted and redefined in ways God never intended. People are choosing to be ruled by their feelings rather than truth. My grandfather once said, ‘The secret strength of a nation is found in the faith that abides in the hearts and homes of the country.’ We must have a strong faith if we want to have a strong nation!”

      What Does It Mean to Think Biblically?

      • We’re guided by God’s Word and His truths alone, not the latest cultural or political trend or talking points.
      • We will not bend to political or social pressure.
      • We will not break our vows, promises, and adherence to God and His laws.
      • We will stand for our faith and biblical values, even when they’re unpopular, especially when they’re unpopular.
      • We won’t be intimidated or coerced into denying the Gospel. We will be proud of our faith never apologetic for our Christian beliefs.
      • We will fill our minds with Scripture not propaganda.
      • Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
      • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Col 3:2
      • Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Pr. 4:23
      • For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb. 4:12
      • All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16-17

      “Our battle is not between political parties—it’s a matter of good versus evil. Truth versus lies. And God’s absolute truth never changes—no matter how our culture tries to redefine it.” Cissie Graham Lynch

      Please Pray and Vote on November 5th If You Haven’t Already!

      If you’re undecided about how to vote, listen to this message by Pastor Jonny Ardavanis at Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, TN “Pastoral Perspective on Politics.”

      Also join in a prayer group on Monday Nov. 4th as they take place online, in person, or in your own homes and churches. Pray for God’s will to take place at the voting polls. Election interference subverted. Truth and justice prevail.

      My hope for after the election is “Revive in 2025.” I pray God is preparing us for a mighty revival and just as we became brave and bold speaking against the evil that one side is trying to legitimatize, we would continue supporting biblical values and God’s good and gracious plans for the America we’re so blessed to call home. No victory is ever won easily. It takes diligence, persistence, focus, and God’s wisdom and discernment.

      This will be my last blog for the month of November. I want to thank you for letting me share what God puts on my heart each week. I pray no matter who wins this election, you’ll continue serving God wherever and however He calls you!

      Have a blessed Thanksgiving month. To God be the glory for the things He has done and will continue to do until His Son, Jesus Christ, returns.

      Here’s a beautiful song from Danny Gokey, My America. Listen, watch, enjoy.

      Please leave your comments here and I will reply.

      November 4, 2024
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      The Lies Satan Uses to Deceive Christians and Churches

      7

      You’ve heard it said, maybe you’ve said it yourself, “Christians and the church should stay out of politics.” Satan has used that lie effectively to transform America from a country that honored God and godly principles to electing a current administration that bows to evil demonic ideologies. It’s been a steady progression to a tipping point of a 2024 American presidential ticket with two progressive extreme left neo-Marxists! Both of the candidates on that ticket have demonstrated a lack of integrity, honesty, and morals, while embracing Marxist ideologies that attempt to replace God with government.

      By trying to become gods without submitting to the God, they rebel against Romans 13:1-2. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (vs. 1).  We’re only to honor government that acknowledges its authority comes from God. Those currently in power, and seeking to keep power, fall under the second verse.  2 “Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority [of God] is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

      God has more to say to governing rebels about their insolence.

      There are six things the Lord hates—
          no, seven things he detests:
      17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, 18 a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, 19 a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.       Pr. 6:16-19 NLT

      How did these kinds of people get into power? We let them! Christians and the church, which should’ve put on their armor of God to speak loudly and boldly against evil and demonic inroads in our government, instead chose complacency, apathy, and silence. What are some of those evil principles you might be asking. Here’s just a few demonic travesties the progressive liberal left champions . . .

      • Federally codify as a “constitutional right” the savage and barbaric murder-on-demand of human babies in the womb, even after birth, calling it “healthcare” or “women’s reproductive rights.” Some blue states, including Minnesota under Governor Walz, have already codified this in their state constitutions and at least two babies in Minnesota were left to die after birth. The destruction of human babies during abortion would be vehemently condemned on rats, but if you speak or pray too loudly to protect human babies from being viciously murdered, you might be arrested.
      • Allow malpractice doctors to hormonally and surgically mutilate and castrate minor children deceitfully calling it “healthcare.” Walz deemed Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for this atrocity on children. Walz will take your children from you if you don’t agree to letting your child’s body be permanently altered and made infertile.
      • Allow unvetted illegal aliens to invade our borders, obtain citizen benefits, vote in elections, and thereby facilitate child sex trafficking and smuggling of drugs killing thousands of children and adults. Harris, the “border czar” for the past 3 ½ years, encouraged and facilitated this invasion.
      • Voter fraud.
      • Incarcerating political prisoners, conducting legal warfare against political opponents, while letting criminals go free.
      • Children taught perverted sex practices in school starting in kindergarten.
      • Children brainwashed and indoctrinated in schools to believe the lie that they can change their gender and parents coerced into agreeing with it, never told, or threatened with loss of parental rights if they don’t agree.
      • Children exposed to obscene and pornographic books in school and public libraries.
      • Forcing people to take an experimental vaccine or lose their job or military status and closing churches, which Walz did in Minnesota during Covid.
      • Allow men to compete in women’s sports, undress and shower in women’s locker rooms, and use women’s bathrooms in schools where governors like Walz put feminine hygiene products in boys’ bathrooms.
      • Pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests encouraged not condemned, while pulling back support for Israel.
      • Promoting and financing a “climate change” “green new deal” scam/hoax.

      You might think what decadent country would allow such evil? You’re living in that country right now! Everything on that partial list is allowed and legalized, either federally and/or in blue Democrat run states.

      Yet, how many of you have heard a sermon on any of this evil? How many of you have spoken out against it? How many of you realize that every moral issue we hold dear as Christians is being politicized because Christians stayed silent and let it happen while falling prey to the lie from hell that Christians shouldn’t be “political” or participate in government. That’s like saying Christians shouldn’t be emotional, logical, moral, or take a stand against evil. Instead, Christians should relinquish religious freedoms of their families, friends and neighbors to the diabolical policies of an anti-God government without objecting. Wrong!

      Lies straight from the pit of hell. Satan wants Christians to cower as he exerts his authority and power on the world with no pushback from those who have the Holy Spirit’s power inside but fail to tap into it. Just like when the serpent taunted Eve with the famous question that led to sin creating death for us all, “Did God really say that?”

      Yes, God told us to combat evil wherever and whenever we see it manifested in our own lives, in the lives of others, and in the public square. Christians have civic duties and responsibilities. The lie that the church should restrict itself to solely preaching the Gospel, but not teach how to take the Gospel into the world to combat evil is from Satan’s playbook, not God’s Holy Book.

      God is in Politics!

      God created government and politics just like He created every element of our lives and the world. God and godly men got involved in politics throughout the Bible!

      From Genesis to Revelation, we see the history of good and bad governments and the destruction of society when an evil regime is in power. Often, a prophet of God gave wise godly political council to leaders like Moses whose father-in-law Jethro told him to establish a government structure. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments laws to govern the people. Daniel and Joseph found themselves in ungodly governments, but didn’t acquiesce or stay silent. Each spoke God’s truth to those in political power and ended up in high positions in government serving righteously. The prophet Samuel anointed Saul as King, but later spoke God’s truth boldly against Saul’s misdeeds. The prophet Nathan confronted King David about using his power in government immorally and Nathan counseled David’s son, King Solomon.

      I could go on with biblical examples throughout history. Here’s the point: we need godly men and women today who are willing to serve in government. We need churches encouraging Christians to get involved in developing and supporting righteous laws and combatting evil however and wherever the Lord leads, but especially using their God-given right to vote. There is nothing prohibiting a pastor from telling his congregation to vote their faith and biblical beliefs. He should be discipling and guiding them in what biblically based faith looks like. He can do that in a nonpartisan biblical way.

      God didn’t create us to be puppets at the mercy of whoever is in power when they’re evil. God is the ultimate power, but He gave us responsibility and authority to occupy this land until His return. We’re not one-dimensional human subjects or slaves to whomever is in charge. We the people are the government and with prayer and research, we determine who we want to oversee the government structure that works best for the citizens. We’re actually the boss, not the White House.

      Political Engagement is An Important Stewardship for Christians!

      We’re to infuse God and His ways into every area of life from the family to the frontlines of government. Nothing in the Bible tells us to stand down and submit to evil. Instead, we’re to take our biblical worldview into every corner of the earth and every activity under heaven, including politics and government.

      Many argue that politics is divisive and we only want unity in the church. People will always have different opinions over everything from the music to the color of the carpet or maybe even no carpet. It doesn’t mean we don’t talk about our differences and work them out and the same should be said of political views.

      The unifying factor is always the Bible. What does the Bible say about all the issues I’ve mentioned in this article? That’s what pastors and congregants should be talking about. Do we just acquiesce to the culture or do we use the Bible and biblical principles to create a revival in culture?!

      We’re in our current cultural evil wokeness because of apathy, crowdedness, fear, lack of knowledge, and unwillingness to get involved. The Bible counters every one of those weapons of Satan. In Everyday Brave: Living Courageously as a Woman of Faith, I give examples of fifty women in the Bible and twenty-eight modern-day brave women who understood how to put their faith into action and change history for the good of their families, communities, and in many cases, their nation.

      Pastor Jack Hibbs Gets It!

      I was thrilled to read in The Christian Post that Pastor Jack Hibbs at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California, one of the bluest and most progressive liberal governed states in the union, is implementing exactly what I’m discussing in this article. He’s not afraid and he refuses to back down and let California be consumed by the anti-Christ spirit that’s been ruling my birth state for far too long. Pastor Hibbs’ church is conducting a “Comeback California Tour” that seeks to equip churches legally and effectively to get involved in the political process ahead of the November general election.

      “For several months, I would say at least … four, five months, we’ve been putting our plan together, actual details, inviting the churches where we’re actually stopping, talking to the pastors,” Gina Gleason, who leads the church’s Real Impact ministry that’s devoted to equipping churches “to stand for righteousness in the public square,” told The Christian Post. Churches will also be able “to obtain voter and church-compliant election resources” and interact with local candidates.

      “California is at a crossroads, urgently needing the Church’s influence to reverse the moral decline and stand in the gap for our children, families and communities,” the website states. The events are an effort to “unite Christians to bring the values of Scripture and the light of Christ to our state, helping us rebuild and restore our communities,” it adds. 

      The “Comeback California Tour” is part of a broader effort by the California megachurch to get churches involved in the political sphere.

      That’s what I’m talking about! God created culture to be intertwined with the church. God created politics. Satan is using another lie to separate the Gospel and politics, which aren’t exclusive of each other. They’re dependent on each other. Many people still labor under the lie that the Constitution sets them apart but the Constitution and Bill of Rights were based on the Bible. Only man has tried to separate them. God established the law in the very beginning of time!

      I believe the coming election in November will determine whether America experiences God’s grace or judgement. Freedom or Marxism. I believe He’s looking to see how many good men and women there are in the church who aren’t afraid to mix the Gospel with government the way it was always meant to be.

      A false Christianity says we’re not to take politics into the church and Christ into government. There’s a mantel on believer’s today just as there was on Elisha, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the Old Testament Prophets, Deborah, Esther, Daniel, Joseph, David, John the Baptist, the disciples, and of course, Jesus Christ to witness to all people everywhere whether in church or the public square, “Thus sayeth the Lord. . .”

      Jesus didn’t solely preach the Gospel. He covered all of life including sex, marriage, family, gender, lying, finances, health, work, business, children, babies, prodigals, adultery, sin, government . . . everything!

      As Christians, we must be part of God’s solution to our nation’s problems, not cower as a silent majority letting our country be destroyed as our failed legacy to our children and grandchildren. We have a moral and spiritual obligation to speak out against evil and share the truth. Would we have been silent about slavery as so much of the church is silent about murdering babies or mutilating children?

      What gospel are we preaching when we let evil prevail? Silence actually enables evil. We’re complicit with evil when we do nothing. Because we know who God is, we need to care who the President of our country is because he or she will determine if we’re a country under God or under Satan! Morals or evils will rule in our land!

      You can be sure the other side is not going to stay silent. They’re going to get involved in the spiritual and political battle. I know what side I’m on and how I’ll be involved promoting good versus evil in this election, which will determine if we remain a free republic. Please pray for God to lead and guide you where He wants you to go and what action He wants you to take. If we don’t do something together, we’ll lose this nation we love and want to pass on to the next generations.

       O my people, listen to my instructions.
          Open your ears to what I am saying,
      2     for I will speak to you in a parable.
      I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
      3     stories we have heard and known,    stories our ancestors handed down to us.
      4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
          we will tell the next generation
      about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
          about his power and his mighty wonders.
      5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
          he gave his instructions to Israel.
      He commanded our ancestors
          to teach them to their children,
      6 so the next generation might know them—
          even the children not yet born—
          and they in turn will teach their own children.
      7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
          not forgetting his glorious miracles
          and obeying his commands.
      8 Then they will not be like their ancestors—
          stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
          refusing to give their hearts to God.       Ps. 78:1-8 NLT

      I hope you’ll listen to this short interview with Jason Yates of My Faith Votes and Eric Metaxas author of Letter to the American Church and the movie by the same name. Check out My Faith Votes to see how you might get involved in your state and the free video series Think Biblically for your small group, Bible study, or Sunday school class.

      After finishing this blog, I read the article by Mark Gerson: “The Solution to Woke Insanity Can Be Found in an Unexpected Source. Moses and Joseph both needed to be publically truthful and that’s what woke insanity also needs.” I didn’t want to make my article any longer by quoting this excellent article, but please take the time to hit on the link and read it. God just confirmed to me that my blog today was exactly the one I was supposed to write to you. Take your time. Read them both and then pray about what you’ve read.

      Please leave a comment here and I will reply.

      August 12, 2024
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      6 Ways to Respond to Vileness, Vitriol, and Violence

      2

      Last week, I wrote about a local business owner, Mark Fitzpatrick, who decided to counter “gay pride” month with “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” at his establishment, The Old State Saloon (OSS) in Eagle, Idaho. Here’s the link to that blog if you haven’t read it yet. I did preface there that while we don’t drink, many restaurants we eat at do have a bar, we just don’t imbibe. Old Sate Saloon is no different, so they have our full support. Mark is a vocal Christian and I’ve since learned there’s a Bible Study on Sunday mornings at OSS for people who might never set foot in a church. Their Facebook post today, Saturday, as I’m writing this week’s blog read: “Don’t forget! Bible study Sunday morning at 10 am. This week we have a special guest teacher, David McClellan, who will be covering Ephesians 3.”

      Their regular Sunday morning Bible study teacher wrote on OSS’s Facebook page: “Some people raise their eyebrows when they learn I teach a Bible study each Sunday morning in a Saloon. If you’re in the Treasure Valley, it’s 50 E State Street in Eagle. Start time is 10 am … we wrap up no later than 11. Everyone 21+ is welcome.” With that, he posted the opening meme in this article.

      Mark Fitzpatrick’s fun, yet bold and firm, stand for heterosexuality and his Christian faith has gone viral across the nation, but predictably it’s also brought out vileness and vitriol on the Old State Saloon’s social media pages. So far, praise God, I haven’t heard of any violence, which we’ve prayed against for him all month. Mark said in the beginning that he was surprised at the vile vitriol in social media comments on their Facebook page and they would be removing any offensive comments using slander, foul language, or profanity.

      I posted my last week’s blog, God Created Us Heterosexual and Idaho Celebrates That As Awesome, on OSS’s Facebook page, and as you might expect, the hate and vitriol flowed along with self-righteous comments. I’m sure many were also trolls with nothing better to do than write nasty, profane, and often heinous verbal attacks. I’ve learned to never engage with these sick people and just ignore them as they pour out their vitriol against my ministry, Christianity, and me.

      I actually feel sorry for each one as I read their hateful ignorant slander with blasphemous memes against Jesus and Christians. Tragic that they’re living a lie and resort to vicious vileness that I doubt they’d be willing to say to Mark or my face. I doubt some of them even read my blog because no one left a comment on my website post. They were looking for a bigger audience on OSS’s Facebook page, which has attracted hundreds of comments since the publicizing of Heterosexual Awesomeness Month special events.

      As I’ve been writing and speaking in the public forum for years, I’m not naive that people exist who troll on their phone or computers looking for an opportunity to spew vile words, while calling you hateful names and slinging accusations. They’re lost, deceived, maybe lonely, and either have never heard the Gospel or have rejected it. They need prayer, but not indulgence. They want you to respond so they can keep going, but when you ignore them, they don’t know if you’ve even read what they wrote. That surely frustrates them. What a sorry way to live!

      Satan’s Offensive Playbook is Vileness, Vitriol, and Violence!

      In the wake of the horrific Hamas attack on Israel, we’re watching violence on college campuses. Brainwashed kids protesting in favor of terrorists and creating mayhem are being allowed to setup encampments on the campuses, until they inevitably start destroying and defacing property. Sometimes they’re not even arrested or held accountable. It’s as if the college administrators are afraid of the students or think if they indulge them, they’ll get tired and go away. These kids obviously were never taught how to peacefully, politely, and intelligently express their viewpoint. Often, they have no idea what or why they’re even protesting. But they do know how to express vileness, vitriol, and violence!

      Vile language and behavior, profane vitriol, and destructive violence do not come from the Holy Spirit, Jesus, or God. That means the only other spirit in our world, a satanic evil spirit, is producing this behavior. Have you noticed on the news during clips of violent protests or gay parades and speeches, all you hear are bleep, bleep, bleep, because the media can’t let those vile profanities be heard on television. So, the protestors aren’t saying anything intelligent, just a series of bleeps

      Public TV also can’t show the true vileness of the lewd acts being performed in the streets during gay parades, often in front of little children, so you’re only seeing sanitized short clips, which are bad enough. And what about parents who expose young children to these vile obscenities and actions instead of protecting them from profanity and sexual lewdness?! These parents are letting their children be mentally and visually influenced by obscenity and immorality. Normalizing it as acceptable. After all, if your parents think it’s okay, it must be okay.

      The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise. Pr. 23:24 NLT

      Adults and children persuaded by satanic actions and rituals instead of godly purity and morals are opening themselves up to demonic behavior. I doubt the parents taking their children to gay parades or drag queen story hours are taking them to Sunday school. A power play of Satan versus God. We know who wins in the end, but how many souls will be lost along the way.

      The Bible tells of people possessed or influenced by demons. From these examples, we can find some symptoms of demonic influence and gain insight as to how a demon possesses someone. Here are some of the biblical passages: Matthew 9:32-33; 12:22; 17:18; Mark 5:1-20; 7:26-30; Luke 4:33-36; Luke 22:3; Acts 16:16-18.

      Demon possession is not always as dramatic as in biblical times, but it can cause the individual to say and perform evil acts. Judas being the main example. Or King Saul, after rebelling against the LORD, was troubled by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14-15; 18:10-11; 19:9-10) with the apparent effect of a depressed mood and an increased desire to kill David. There’s a wide variety of possible symptoms of demon possession, such as a physical impairment that can’t be attributed to an actual physiological problem, a personality change such as depression or aggression, supernatural strength, immodesty, antisocial behavior, violent anger, spewing obscenities, lewdness, and sexual depravity.

      In Judas’ case, he opened his heart to evil by his greed (John 12:6).  Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve (Luke 22:3). So, it’s possible that if one allows his heart to be ruled by some habitual sin, it becomes an invitation for a demon to enter, which always leads to ungodly behavior and a mindset against God as the apostle Paul told us in the following verses.

      21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. . . 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

      28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. . .  Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Romans 1:21, 24-29, 32 NLT.

      So How Should Christians Respond?

      If you’re encountering vileness, vitriol, or threats of violence on social media or in person, here’s how I try to handle it. Maybe it will help you too.

      • Don’t try to one up, reason with, or engage them.

      Attempting to change their mind is unlikely to succeed, but it will usually intensify the debate and consume considerable time and energy. Even though you’re sure you have the perfect response, in my experience, I’ve never seen anyone concede or surrender their opinion or verbal attack. Typically, they become more hostile while their vile vitriol escalates.

      • Ignore them.

      I know that’s hard to do because you want to help them see the truth, but they’re just looking for an argument and you’ll only become more frustrated and irritated yourself.

      • Delete their comments and consider blocking them.

      You’re not obligated to leave their vitriol on your social media and blocking them will prevent them from returning. You can also report them to the social media administrator. A troll is just looking for an argument and you have better things to do with your time.

      • In person, change the subject.

      Offer your point of view if you want, but if the conversation is deteriorating, tell them to have a blessed day and move on. Don’t ever let Satan cause you to match their vileness, vitriol, or violent behavior.

      • Pray for them.

      Hard as it is, Jesus tells us to love and pray for our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45). Maybe, just maybe, their eyes will open and the blinders fall off because they’re headed for a mental, emotional, and spiritual crash, if not already there. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Eph. 6:18

      • Our offensive playbook is the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

      Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Eph. 6:17

      The apostle Paul also advised, Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Rom. 12:18 NLT

      Please leave your comment here. I reply to all your comments and appreciate receiving them.

      June 17, 2024
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      What Is God’s Revelation in Harrison Butker’s Commencement Speech?

      6

      If you follow me regularly, you’re not surprised with the topic God has me writing about this week, as it has relentlessly filled the news cycles. Actually, there’s so much written about it, I wondered what I could share that you hadn’t already read or heard.

      But I think I might be able to offer a different perspective and how we as committed Christians can find hope and encouragement to share our own faith and beliefs as openly and honestly as Harrison Butker did, especially when like him, we’re speaking to our faith peers. The world notices when we speak out because typically, we tend to keep our beliefs inside the walls of our church. Or we let the atrocities and evil we see daily in our culture not affect us personally, emotionally, or spiritually.

      Even though we don’t all have a platform like Harrison Butker, a three-time Super Bowl Kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, God will reveal to us places and times we can be bold for Him. I don’t know much about football. I had to ask my husband if a “kicker” only plays on the field when it’s time to kick the ball. While his kick can determine the outcome of a game, he’s also only visible when kicking.

      Yet, Butker was quite visible when he gave a commencement speech on his own time at Benedictine College, not as a Chief’s Kicker, but as a Catholic man, husband, and father to an audience of Catholic graduating students. As a speaker myself, it’s imperative to know your audience and speak to issues that will affect, motivate, and encourage them. When I speak to a group of Christian women, I’m not addressing the secular world or media. I might speak about those topics and my thoughts on how we can be a light in a dark world or even change it, but I’m not expecting the secular culture to agree with me.

      I may however receive a negative response to something I write publicly. For example, I posted on a community Facebook group page about pornographic books targeting children in our local library that started a firestorm of positive and negative comments. I was surprised at all the negatives, but soon I knew I’d touched on a topic that liberals expect conservatives to just tolerate as “normal,” accept, and stay silent. Unfortunately, that’s been our typical pattern which is how we’ve arrived at orgy parades in front of children during a month devoted to sin, coming up in a couple of weeks. The left also promotes killing babies in their mother’s wombs as “normal healthcare,” so when conservatives speak out against anything evil, we’re the “radical” “extreme” ones.

      The next time I posted something on the community Facebook page, I was prepared for the pushback. I told the first person with a snarky comment that I was expecting this and they didn’t disappoint. I suggested they were the very ones who needed to hear my message most. The result was silence and no one else has posted a negative remark yet.

      Did Butker expect the firestorm he started? I rather doubt it. I’ve heard him interviewed before. He speaks out against abortion often and the left’s woke evil agenda. But this time was different. People in the media, who he wasn’t speaking to, felt they needed to chime in and critically attack him for having values different than the woke ones they’re trying to normalize. They got defensive because they expect us to literally let them call good evil and evil good, shut up, and take it.

      The culture, starting at the White House, has rejected God and God’s way of life and we’re watching violence, crime, broken families, single-parent families, divorce, Marxism, suicide especially amongst teens, addictions, dissatisfaction with how God made you, war on women, pro-terrorist support, and lies called gaffes from a president who lies every time he opens his mouth.

      Some criticized Butker’s speech because they said he was taking women back to the 50’s. That’s rich from the same people advocating the erasure of women and can’t even define a woman. They believe women should be more like a man or replaced by a man pretending to be “her”! Women should have abortions because the economy needs more women in the workplace instead of nurturing families at home. How absurd and evil is that!!

      The graduates at Benedictine College in Butker’s audience didn’t protest or walk out. They were respectful, applauded often, and gave him a standing ovation. That’s the difference between a Catholic or Christian College like ORU where they sang praise songs at commencement, and the elite indoctrination colleges where students tear up their diplomas, hold up signs for terrorism, yell, walk out, and disrupt the speaker. Which student would you want to hire? Which student would you be proud of as a parent?

      What’s All the Fuss?

      If you haven’t heard, the NFL Kansas City Chief’s Kicker Harrison Butker gave a commencement speech at a Catholic College where he spoke about not only his own Catholic faith practices, but also what were probably the same beliefs of every Catholic student in the audience. They had a common ground and common faith foundation, so he was mentoring and confirming how to live out their faith in the real world. Critics who weren’t students, and in most cases weren’t Catholic, were offended by his profession of faith and how dare him share it in the public square?!

      Every day the liberal news is full of glowing articles praising and glamorizing the antics of his fellow Chiefs player Kelce consorting with Taylor Swift. They think it’s big news that should interest us. They love writing about his childish antics like jugging a beer during his commencement speech. But when a clean cut, Catholic married father speaks on the virtues of loving, providing for, and cherishing your wife and family as a masculine husband and father, those same news pundits go crazy. How dare he speak of virtues like that to impressionable college students! How dare he say that God blessed women with the capability of birthing and nurturing children! How dare he declare that God created marriage to be between a husband and wife!

      The NFL had their “chief diversity and inclusion officer” issue a statement distancing the league from him, and as you read this, 150,000 people have demanded his immediate firing. Head Coach Andy Reed says no way. “I’m not losing a great kicker to this whole woke thing. Not on my watch… If they get rid of Harrison. They get rid of me.”

       Jason Yates’, CEO of MyFaithVotes, in an email to MFV Action Partners shared some points in Butker’s pro-faith speech that critics found offensive.

      On Biden: “Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.”

      On Women: “It is you, the women, who’ve had the most diabolical lies told to you. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world. But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

      On Men: “…the absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”

      On Pride Month: “I’m certain the reporters at the AP couldn’t have imagined that their attempt to rebuke and embarrass places and people like those here at Benedictine [University] wouldn’t be met with anger, but…with excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it. But the true God-centered pride that’s cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him.”

      Yates concluded with: “This attempt to CANCEL Harrison Butker is nothing but anti-Christian bigotry. We cannot allow Christian values to be pushed out of the public square.”

      God Will Use All of This for The Lord’s Glory!

      Do you respect the NFL that stood behind Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the National Anthem, hosting pride celebrations and jerseys, drag shows at games, silent when players arrested for spousal abuse, reckless drunk driving, murder…but one of their players speaks out for God and godly values and they disavow him? Is this an organization you care about what they think?

      Do you care what the gossiping liberal women on The View think?

      Do you care about liberal media’s meltdown over conservatives and Christians?

      Here’s my “view.” When the culture wants to cancel you, you’re probably doing something right! Wear it like a badge. It’s an honor when the world persecutes you for your faith because you’ve hit a nerve. They know in their core that what they’re doing and saying is wrong, but Satan has convinced them his ways are more fulfilling than God’s ways. In the end, everyone will answer to God for their choices and actions. Satan leaves that truth out of his crusade for perversion and sin.

      What Satan means for evil, God will use as good. Butker could literally be saying today, like Joseph said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Gen. 50:20).

      Benedictine is a small college, but just look at how many people are actually reading or listening to Butker’s speech that has gone viral. His enemies are listening to it, even though they take much of it out of context. His truths, even when ridiculed, are broadcast on every news channel, talk show, social media, written commentaries, and opinion articles.

      Even atheist liberal “Real Time” host Bill Maher defended Butker’s right to profess his beliefs and points out the hypocrisy of the attacks. Maher said, “I can’t express how much this guy is not like me. He’s religious. He loves marriage. He loves kids… And he’s now history’s greatest monster . . . Again, I don’t agree with much with this guy, but he said… ‘Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world.’ Ok, that seems fairly, like, modern. ‘But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.’ I don’t see what the big crime is. I really don’t . . . I find it very ironic that he’s saying, ‘You know what, in my world, you know, we like the women to stay at home and just have babies’ and the college kids and the young people find this absolutely abhorrent, but they’re demonstrating for Hamas, who make that the law! . . . It’s not just an opinion in Hamas, that you stay home and have the babies. They will enforce you [to do] that!”

      Rob Schmitt Tonight on Newsmax did an entire opening monologue defending Butker, saying the critics expect us to just stay silent when we’re offended. If you speak up, you’re vilified. We’re supposed to be tolerant to forceful indoctrination.

      Then Schmitt interviewed Christian Jason Whitlock who reiterated that culture has abandoned God. In the interview Schmitt admitted, “I’m not a particularly religious person, and I don’t really share that with many people. But I can see what’s happening to our society and I can see the general hedonism that we’ve moved towards, and I can see the decay. I can see the loss of the quality of life as we move more towards leftism. More towards where the state is the thing to be worshipped rather than something above. I can just feel the failings of that ideology. I don’t believe necessarily everything that he [Butker] said, I disagree with him on a number of points, but I would never be offended by what he said, and I would never stop him from saying them. There are people vilifying this man and when you listen to his speech, he’s just such a kind-hearted good person who cries talking about meeting his wife. Their anger is so interesting to me.”

      Jason Whitlock’s response addressed Schmitt’s admitted lack of faith! “Rob, I appreciate the transparency and the honesty. I do think that as time continues to pass, I think you’re going to come more and more into the understanding of why religious faith is so important and why Christianity is so important.”

      Whitlock was able to actually witness to Schmitt on TV and Schmitt was intensely listening. Hear the entire interview here.

      I hope that Butker is overlooking the negative criticism, while smiling at how often his faith values are being spoken over the airways and written in words.

      Could anyone speak their faith today and not be called offensive or divisive? Are the critics suggesting we should just stay silent when we’re offended? Butker believes, as do I, that the lack of faith in God and Jesus is largely responsible for the culture’s moral decline. Like many of us, he wasn’t afraid to say so. I applaud him!

      Here’s what we can never forget—good will NEVER unite with evil. There’s no grey area. So, for those saying his speech was divisive, it wasn’t divisive to his Catholic audience. It was marching orders to take your faith into everything God calls you to do. The only people who call it divisive are those who are complacent and tolerant of evil. That would not, and should not, be Jesus followers. Jesus came into the world to forgive us our sins not to be tolerant, complacent, or accepting of sin.

      Good can NEVER unite with evil. In today’s culture, everyone wants us to go along with evil, but we must speak up just as Butker did. Satan wants us to be quiet and let evil reign, but we must NEVER let that happen. Jesus had a dividing line. All Butker did was speak truth. Let’s pray more of us start following his example.

      I think his Chief’s jersey #7 is prophetic! The number 7 holds profound biblical significance, symbolizing completion, perfection, and rest. It’s mentioned over 700 times in the Bible — more than any other number, indicating its significance in biblical narrative and prophecy. This number’s recurrence is no coincidence — in fact, it reflects divine order and the spiritual completeness found in God’s creation.

      It looks like many people, especially women, are going to be wearing #7, since it’s reported that Harrison Butker’s jersey is the most popular in the NFL shop and women’s jerseys are sold out for now!

      For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. Philippians 1:20 NLT

      Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Johsua 1:9

      Full Text: Harrison Butker of Kansas City Chiefs Graduation Speech| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

      Better yet, listen to his emotion as he gives this speech. Harrison Butker | Commencement Address 2024 | Benedictine College (youtube.com)

      Do you agree with this article heading? Harrison Butker, Not His Critics, Represents the Mainstream!

      You might also enjoy reading one of my past blogs A Society Crumbles That Doesn’t Recognize Sin! — Woman to Woman Mentoring

      Please leave a comment here. I appreciate reading them and I always reply.

      May 20, 2024
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