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‘Maybe’ Is Not In God’s Vocabulary!

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I was praying last week with the Jack Hibbs LIFT daily morning prayer, which I’ve mentioned in blogs before, when he said something that caught my attention. He said you won’t find “maybe” used in the Bible. Actually, it’s in there but only three times, and never used by God or Jesus. Twice ‘maybe’ is used as a taunt to deny that God exists in 1 Kings 18:27 and Jonah 1:6, and another time in 1 Kings 18:5 by Ahab saying maybe they can find grass for the horses and mules. That’s it!

So think about that. God is never indecisive, wondering if maybe we should do one thing or another. His Word, the Bible, is always specific, confident, instructive, definitive, and direct. 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. 3:15-17

We’re the ones that interject maybes into the Scriptures and question the intent of what God is actually saying. Sometimes we want to give the benefit of the doubt or question His intent, but God says I tell you the Truth and you should absolutely follow it in your life. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

You might question that many people interpret the Bible differently. That’s true. The Bible might speak to each of us differently in our individual situation. But if we rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance in exegesis of Scripture in context, and not on what we want the Bible to mean, Christians will usually agree on the interpretation.

A good example of misinterpreting Scripture is people saying that God is the God of love, so you need to love everything everyone does because God loves them. That’s what someone wants the Bible to mean, not what God actually says.

If you counter and ask, “Where does God say, ‘maybe’ it’s okay to sin in this area because I love you?” Of course, they can’t find anywhere it says this because God hates sin. Sin destroys the ones He loves. What God does say is that He loves us all so much, He sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross for those of us who ask for forgiveness for our sins, repent, and become followers of Jesus for eternity. (John 3:16)

When you look at all the red-letter words of Jesus in the Gospels, you won’t find Jesus ever using “maybe.” His words when he preached and taught are full of unqualified, unambiguous, unquestionable, and unwavering wisdom, lessons, and truth to live by.

Jesus didn’t say ‘maybe’ He was the only way to heaven and there could be other beliefs or ways. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 No maybes.

Jesus didn’t say ‘maybe’ if you follow me, you might be saved. He said you will be saved. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” (John. 10:9)

Jesus didn’t say you should ‘maybe’ repent and turn from your wicked ways. He said you must repent to be His follower. “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” Luke 5:32

Jesus didn’t say ‘maybe’ that one sin will be okay because overall you’re a good person. He said go and sin no more. Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11

We’re the ones that try to soften the Gospel and Jesus’ own words by interjecting doubt or suggesting that ‘maybe’ Jesus didn’t really mean what He said.

Sadly, many pastors today want to make their congregations feel good about their sinful lives, insinuating that maybe it’s not all that bad if it makes you happy or it’s not hurting anyone. That’s a false gospel by a false teacher.

God is much more concerned with our holiness than our happiness.

Maybe In Our Vocabulary!

‘Maybe’ is noncommittal, non-decisive, and reluctant. Maybe we’ll come to your party. Maybe I’ll read the Bible. Maybe I’ll follow most of what the Bible says. Maybe we’ll go to church this weekend. Maybe we’ll come visit.

The Christian life is committed, decisive, and never reluctant. The antithesis of ‘maybe.’

God is looking for bold Christians who are fully committed and fully decisive in their spiritual and personal life. No maybes about it!

Our family rule at the Thompsons is let your yes be yes, and your no be no. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37 

‘Maybe’ and ‘try’ are ways to keep all your options open without making a full commitment. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. Or other times you don’t want to tell the person no, so you use ‘try’ or ‘maybe’. When I hear those two words, it means the person isn’t reliable. They’re not being forthright. I can’t count on them.

 When you ask someone about anything that has a yes or no answer and they answer with “Maybe,” or “I’ll try,” they most likely mean no. They’re just afraid to give the honest answer, “No.”

If someone says for example, “I’ll try to be on time.” I’ll counter with “That doesn’t sound very committed. Are you going to be on time or should I not expect you?” I want an answer I can depend on, knowing that circumstances can change but they’re going to make an effort. Just tell me yes or tell me no, but don’t say try or maybe.

A favorite stall of some is I need to check my calendar, but since most people today have a calendar on their phone, that’s pretty easy to check. I would prefer to hear, “We won’t be able to make it, but thanks for thinking of us.” Then they can always call later if their plans change and that’s always pleasant news.

There are certain situations where we want to pray before committing. That’s often advisable. In fact, many of us can think of a time we wish we had taken time to pray before saying yes. If that’s the case, then give a timeframe where the other person can expect you to respond. Stick to that time commitment.

Do you think that’s too strict or not flexible enough? Well, God is strict in His commands to us knowing that if we follow them with commitment, perseverance, and diligence, we’re going to be a better witness to others and live a fuller life in Christ.

How many of us who are married would’ve answered, “I’ll try” or “Maybe” when the pastor asked if we would love, honor, and cherish our spouse? If we want the ceremony to continue and the marriage to last, we say, “Yes” loudly, boldly, and committed.

Sometimes we say “maybe” because we’re really not sure what we want. It can mean numerous things, from “I’m not sure I want to do this,” to “I want to do that, but I’m not sure if I can” to “this doesn’t sound like how I want to spend my time” to any number of combinations that make us unsure.

Many times, kids that have lived with divorce and are trying to please both parents find themselves saying maybe or I’ll try because they don’t want to hurt either parent by saying no. Or even worse say “I’ll try” or “maybe” to both parents knowing they can’t be at both places. They live with that worry and angst hanging over them because eventually one of the parents is going to be disappointed when they don’t show up. It would’ve been better to tell one parent no but let’s make other plans to get together. That’s a hard lesson to learn.

If we can learn to say no when it’s not a sure yes, there’s clarity for everyone and actually much less stressful.

Like me, most people are looking for truth they can depend on. If we want to be good witnesses for Christ, we need to be the kind of people others can depend on to live by our words. Sometimes, we’re so uncomfortable saying no, we think we need to give long explanations to justify our reasons. That can lead to lying or making up a story. Not necessary. Not godly. Leviticus 19:11 commands “Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.”

When you know your maybe really means no, you’re essentially lying to the other person. That’s why “maybe” and “try” are not in God’s vocabulary, but “yes” and “no” are. God never vacillates in the way He wants us to live. He sets boundaries and guidelines for us. We need to go and do likewise.

Freedom isn’t the ability to say maybe. It’s the ability to say no or yes and own it.

Please leave a comment here.

March 24, 2025
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Vote To Let Freedom Ring and Remain!

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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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What Does It Mean to Vote Biblically?

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The 2024 election is quickly approaching on November 5th. Some of you may have already started early voting and good for you! For those who are still considering who to vote for and how to vote on your state bills, I wrote this blog for you.

I’m in leadership as an Idaho Area Coordinator for My Faith Votes. On our website, we offer a Pledge to Vote Your Biblical Values. I encourage you to take that pledge to vote in every election, be an informed and prayerful voter, and pledge, “As a Christian, I commit to voting for candidates and policies that uphold the sanctity of life, the traditional family, religious liberty, and justice for all. I believe that my biblical values should guide my choices at the ballot box, ensuring that our nation’s laws and leaders reflect God’s truth and righteousness.”

When we encourage everyone to vote their “biblical values,” that can mean different things to different people. It shouldn’t because according to Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ and the Word of God is timeless and universal. Unchanging. The Bible clearly states what we should champion and support or reject with our vote. By definition, our biblical values are based solely on Scripture and should reflect our biblical worldview.

 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. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT

We typically rely on instruction manuals, Google, or YouTube for how to use appliances, automobiles, take medication, operate machinery or technology, find destinations . . . the list is endless. Guidance is essential to assure we’re functioning correctly for our own good and not harm.

For the Christian, our Life Instruction Manuel is the Bible. Like every owner’s manual, the Bible must be read to be useful. It contains everything believers need to know to follow Christ, glorify God, and live fruitful and righteous lives in a culture that tries to tell you that your faith can be set aside when you do something as important as voting.

What does God say about platform and policy issues that candidates champion to govern our lives, the lives of our friends and families, our communities, our churches, and the future?  Are their platforms biblical or unbiblical? It doesn’t matter what our personal opinion is of them, it matters whether or not they will govern biblically.

Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries, wisely advises, “We can figure out which candidate is most likely to lessen evil when it comes to diminishing life, when it comes to diminishing liberty, when it comes to diminishing the value of property. We’re not seeking a perfect world. We’re not utopians. But we are trying to figure out how to lessen evil so that people can be more free.”

We vote as our civic duty as an American, but also as our biblical responsibility as a Christian. However, research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University shows as many as 104 million people of faith, including 32 million self-identified Christians who regularly attend church, are unlikely to vote in the upcoming 2024 presidential election mainly due to lack of interest. How could this be biblical when Christians could be the deciding factor in matters of life and death, good and evil? How can they stay home?

While the survey revealed some Christians don’t vote from complacency, it also showed many want instruction and guidance from their church on how to think about the issues from a biblical perspective. 

“Pastors often seek opportunities to have a positive influence in people’s lives and upon the culture, and to help the community in which their church is located,” the long-time researcher George Barna explained. “This research underscores the fact that simply encouraging people to vote in order to fulfill their biblical responsibility would not only be seen as doing their job while helping the community, but an estimated five million regular churchgoers would be likely to vote as a result of that simple exhortation. That, in itself, could change the outcome of the election by simply doing their job and getting congregants to fulfill one of their chief duties as an American citizen.”

When 45% of Christians and 6 in 10 Catholics say they’re in favor of abortion or are voting for an unbiblical political platform, it’s evident to me that pastors aren’t teaching biblical values and many Christians have not read their Bible. Culture, not the Bible, is shaping Christian opinion rather than God’s truths.

I’m not a pastor, but I am a seminary graduate and have been in ministry for thirty years. In this blog I’m providing Scriptures and resources for voting biblically in this election and every election. My blog would be far too long if I included all the issues, but you can hit on the highlighted links below to see the differences between the Democrat and Republican platforms according to Scripture to determine which federal, state, and local candidates will govern with more good than evil as measured by the Bible.

Did God Really Say?

Satan has used his most effective tool against living righteously since the Garden of Eden when he asked Eve, “Did God really say?” I’m here to tell you that God really did have something to say about many of the spiritual moral issues in our culture which we the church have let become politicized and are on the ballot on November 5th. I’m not talking candidate’s personalities. I’m talking about policies, which will become the law of the land if elected.

Do your own research. Read your Bible. Don’t let the biased media or even the candidates themselves influence your vote. Look at their policies and plans and your local ballot bills, then look at what the Bible has to say about each issue. That’s what should influence your prayerful vote as a Christian. Let’s look at a few of them.

ABORTION vs RIGHT TO LIFE is on the ballot in many states, and it’s also a Presidential issue because Harris has vowed that on day one, she’ll try to codify Roe v Wade into federal law. She and Democrat politicians tout the distorted lie that abortion is “reproductive rights” and “women’s healthcare.” That’s called twisting language that we see described in 2 Peter 3:16b-17.

Trump was the most pro-life President in history. He appointed three constitutional Supreme Court Judges who helped move the abortion laws from the federal government to the states. Sadly, because of the wide use of the abortion pill and “sanctuary abortion states” denying the sanctity of life and sacrificing babies to Molek, abortions have increased.

Harris has used Satan’s “Did God really say?” tactic to argue repeatedly that “you don’t need to abandon the principles of your faith or deeply held beliefs to support ‘abortion rights.'” She’s suggesting you can “choose” to kill babies guilt-free because it’s a woman’s right?! It’s Ok with God. Wrong!! That’s a nonsensical, unbiblical, demonic, and heretical lie. Harris denies that the government should protect a baby’s right to life even though the first “right” listed in our nation’s Declaration of Independence is the right to life, firmly rooted in the Judeo-Christian standards of morality upon which the United States of America was founded. Murder is a crime.

The truth is a Christian absolutely must suspend their faith in God and biblical principles to support legally or illegally killing babies. Kamala Harris has zero authority, faith, or knowledge of the Bible to speak on this matter and no person of faith should be persuaded by her. Yet she’s deviously planting doubt in many people’s minds, including pastors and Christians. It’s called syncretism!

She clearly told pro-life advocates they were “at the wrong rally.” These two young men bravely told her, “Abortion is a sacrament of Satan. Christ is King! Jesus is Lord!” They went there to represent God and counter her abominations with truth, but any Christians cheering and voting for a candidate stumping for the “freedom” and “right” to kill babies, are the ones at the wrong rally.

What Does the Bible Say About Abortion vs Right to Life?

When God creates each child through conception, there’s a flash of light and life begins. God gives him or her a spirit and soul that can’t be destroyed or denied. That’s a spiritual not political fact. Biologically, no person has ever been born without a spirit and soul.

Unborn babies are human. Humans are sacred! God declares in His Word the sanctity of life that He created in His image.

  • “You must not murder.” Ex 20:13
  • For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16
  • [Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Ps. 127:3-5
  • I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born. Ps. 22:10 NLT
  • “This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
  • I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself.” Is. 44:24
  • Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. Is. 49:1
  • “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jer. 1:5
  • As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Ecc. 11:5
  • “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Lev. 18:21
  • Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed. Pr. 31:8
  • There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. Pr. 6:16-17

You absolutely would have to abandon and deny your faith and God’s Word to be a Christian who supports or votes for abortion or any candidate promoting abortion! It’s a sin. Satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything God loves. It’s an abomination to God to shed innocent blood. If you’re still not convinced, please watch Baby Olivia.

If you know someone who has had an abortion, or maybe you have, God sees you and you can repent and ask for His forgiveness. He’s waiting with open arms of grace and mercy. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

For each party platform and presidential candidate’s position on abortion, go to ivoterguide Understanding Right to Life. On that link, you can also enter your address and view where the presidential, state, and local candidates in your area stand on this issue.

An article to read: Being Human: Abortion and the Church – Light Magazine

Please listen to this message by Pastor Keith Harrington of Rockharbor Church in Meridian, Idaho in his Truth Wars series titled Imago Dei (the image of God) and the Sanctity of Life and the testimony of a brave couple sharing their abortion story.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: This category covers LGBTQ+ and trans issues infringing on the religious freedoms of those who don’t agree. Protecting Title IX to keep men out of women’s sports and private areas. Sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. Defending family. Preventing schools from teaching sexual deviancy and promoting gender confusion. Protection of children from sex change indoctrination and castrating surgeries and drugs.  Bringing the Bible, 10 Commandments, and prayer back into schools. Allowing religious speech in the public square.

“Watchdog database Stop the Harm reported that just under $120 million in medical expenses were submitted to insurance companies for treatments designed to hide a minor’s gender characteristics in the United States between 2019 and 2023. The database, launched by the medical advocacy group Do No Harm, reported about 14,000 minors receiving such treatments within the four-year period. About 8,500 minors received hormone blockers and more than 5,500 minors underwent actual surgeries to hide their gender characteristics, the database reported.” 

Read more at World. These children have been permanently mutilated and castrated for life. This atrocity is happening at the nation’s largest children’s hospitals designed to treat and save children’s lives, not maim them for life at an age many are too young to fully appreciate or comprehend the damage being done to their bodies. Who could’ve ever imagined this travesty would happen in America, but the Biden /Harris administration has championed this by protecting the doctors and hospitals rather than putting a stop to the madness and Harris would not stop it either.

The Biden/Harris administration tried to change Title IX to include gender and allow boys to play in girls’ sports and be in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. Harris will not support girls. President Trump says he will ban ‘trans’ aka men in girls’ sports.

What Does the Bible Say About Religious Liberty?

Gender isn’t fluid, it’s God-given. To affirm radical gender ideology is to implicitly deny the workmanship and sovereignty of God. It’s to deny God and His Word. Government is ordained of God (Romans 13:1-7), but government cannot become God.

  • “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” Matthew 22:21
  • So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen. 1:27
  • That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Gen. 2:24
  • God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity:  Romans 1:18-32

Read this article discussing Harris and Trump’s positions on men playing in women’s sports. DAVID MARCUS: Kamala Harris can no longer hide from her dangerous stance on men playing in girls’ sports | Fox News

For each party and candidate’s position, go to ivoterguide Understanding Religious Liberty.

My Faith Votes!

I encourage you to go to My Faith Votes My Voter Hub where you can print out a copy of your ballot, Compare the Party Platforms, and download an important Presidential Election Candidate Comparison Guide Fact Sheet covering a number of current political topics. Also, find A Christian’s Guide to Today’s Issues: Abortion, Immigration, Religious Liberty, Gender, Parental Rights, Gun Rights, Government, Justice, which also includes Scriptures as I have done in this blog.

You can also become an Action Partner and pray weekly from zoom or your phone with other believers across the nation who work and pray together to be God’s hands and feet in returning America back to its godly foundation.  

iVoterGuide

iVoterGuide is Grounded in God. Rooted in Research. They’ve done the biblical ground work for you on important topics this election. In addition to Right to Life and Religious Liberty, which I discussed above, here are the additional issues I didn’t have room to include in this blog but are important in this election. They’re discussed in detail with Scripture. At each link, you can also find out the candidates’ positions both federally and locally. I hope you’ll take advantage of their wonderful research.

Understanding National Defense For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Rom. 13:4

Understanding Healthcare Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Tim. 5:8

Understanding EconomyAlso, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Jer. 29:7

Understanding Border Security No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. Is. 60:18

Let the Bible be Your Voter Guide!

Which candidates will protect the unborn through the elderly? Which candidates will support Israel?

We must as Christians do our part to ensure as much as it is up to us that candidates who protect biblical principles are voted into power. But we must always remember that our highest authority is God. The mandate in Romans 13 is simple: obey God, then man. When man’s orders conflict with God’s, we follow God. So pray, read your Bible, and vote how God instructs you in the Bible.

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

Please leave a comment here. I will reply. Thank you.

If you would like to listen to Pastor Keith Harrington’s previous week’s Truth’s War’s Message on things to consider when voting “Governing the Earth” click here.

October 21, 2024
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Jesus the Great Divider

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Were you surprised to see the title of this blog? We’re more accustomed to hearing about Jesus as the spiritual Unifier and Prince of Peace. Last week, some people found fault with my discussion of Jesus and politics. I always welcome dissenting points of view, but I do stand by everything I wrote last week in the blog The Lies Satan Uses to Deceive Christians and Churches. I always back my words with Scripture plus my understanding and discerning of both God’s Word and how the Holy Spirit guides me. I don’t come up with these topics on my own. I’m led by the Holy Spirit.

I’m sad and a bit disappointed when I learn that some people are afraid of sharing my blogs for fear of being censored. Fear is an extremely effective tool of the enemy. Unfortunately, many Christians stay silent in the face of adversity and even blasphemy against our Lord. Don’t you think we as Christians should be the ones telling everyone about Luke 12:8-10, which will determine where they spend eternity?

I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Luke 12:8-10

To His followers Jesus assures us . . .

11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:11-12

Back to the subject of today’s blog. How does Jesus divide? Well, for starters, He explains this clearly in Luke 12:49-53 where the heading for this passage in my Bible reads “Not Peace but Division”
49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

You might wonder if the division in the family examples mentioned in Luke 12:51-53 happened because some family members were Christians, and some were not. That does happen as we all know who have unbelievers or those with different faith beliefs in our families. It can make for awkward family gatherings when the topic turns to politics or religion. But that kind of spiritual division also occurs in families where all dissenting parties claim to be “Christians.” A perfect example happened last week when a group calling themselves “Evangelicals for Harris” (an oxymoron) ran an ad against President Trump with a clip showing Billy Graham at one of his evangelical crusades.

This group claims that hard-left neo-Socialist, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Kamala Harris, who supports murdering babies up to and after birth with abortion on demand, mutilating and castrating children, indoctrinating children in school with sexual deviancy and gender lies, invasion of America by illegals, authored the California grab and dash theft law, funded Antifa and violent protestors bailouts, “Better Reflects Christian Values.”

Some so-called evangelical “faith leaders” joined this blasphemous group for Harris, including Billy Graham’s granddaughter, Jerushah Duford, who is the daughter of Virginia “Gigi” Graham Tchividjian, Billy Graham’s oldest daughter. Duford participated in a virtual event sponsored by “Evangelicals for Harris” led by Ekemini Uwan who declares “whiteness is wicked,” police need to be destroyed and rebuilt, and churches should pay global reparations to “People of African descent.”

Billy Graham’s son and Duford’s uncle, true Christian Evangelist Franklin Graham blasted the fake “Evangelicals for Harris” organization for using footage of his late father in an attack ad against former President Trump who he argued if his father were alive, would support Trump.

Franklin tweeted, “The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image,” he wrote in a social media post. “They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”

The Evangelicals for Harris account replied, “Praying for you” along with a heart emoji beneath his post and later said in a retweet that Graham has “forsaken the gospel.” They need to look in the mirror!

The Billy Graham extended family is living out the division described in Luke 12:49-53 as perhaps many of you are too. The two sides cannot unify, agree, or have peace over the definition of what it even means to be an evangelical or a Christian, let alone politics. They’re divided.

Common Sense vs Insanity!

Evil has taken off its mask and openly rebelled against the Word and ways of God, especially in this election cycle. Good can never unite with evil.

As voting and professing Christians, we have a choice to limit evil. When a church, pastor, or Christian objects to the obvious evil on display in our culture today, we’re defending and representing Christ in the spiritual battle between good and evil in our world.

One political side rejects the biological and spiritual reality of male and female with irreversible biological differences, which in the beginning God created! So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27). How could a commonsense Christ-follower reject this biblical reality?

One political side rejects the biological and spiritual reality that God creates at conception a human being with a spirit, soul, and purpose! Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, (Jer. 1:5). How could a commonsense Christ-follower reject this biblical reality?

One political side rejects the biological and spiritual reality that “Pro-choice” is pro-murder. “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13). How could a commonsense Christ-follower reject this biblical reality?

One political side rejects the biological and spiritual reality that God created family! Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them (Ps. 127:3-5). How could a commonsense Christ-follower reject this biblical reality?

At the DNC Convention this week, anti-God, anti-family, genocidal Planned Parenthood is rolling in with a mobile health clinic offering free vasectomies, medication abortion, and “emergency contraception,” aka the morning after pill (EC)! The Democrats support Planned Parenthood, a huge donor.

One political side rejects Israel and champions anti-semantic, pro-Hamas policies. “3 I will bless those who bless you [Israel], and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Gen. 12:3). How could a commonsense Christ-follower reject this biblical reality?

How could a Christ-follower, Bible-believer be okay with the values, policies, and beliefs of the Democrat platform that completely contradict the Bible? Yet, there are those who profess to be “Christian” who would still vote for allowing the tearing apart limb by limb, poisoning by injection, or breaking the neck of God’s babies in the womb, gender and sexual mutilation of children, destroying the family, and abandoning Israel?! What Scriptures are they using to justify this barbaric, anti-God agenda?

Still some leaders in the Christian church tell pastors not to speak about these atrocities or choices. When the political realm comes into our Christian moral lane, is the church really being political if they resist or are they being biblical? As Fr Pavone of Priestsforlife.org says, “For a church to call this out it’s a church defending church.” I would add defending Christ who has already determined the dividing line between good and evil. No compromise.

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 John 1:6

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14

The Divine Divide

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Pr. 4:19

The biggest sin isn’t division, it’s what side you choose to take. No one can ride the fence on these issues because Satan is sitting on the fence. Jesus instructs us to pick a side. Every Bible-believing Christian must make the most important “choice” in life as to whom you will follow. We can’t follow a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of the world. We can’t go along to get along.

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. John 12:35

To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Acts 26:18

God actually created the concept of division from the beginning of time. In the beginning, God divided the light of day from the dark of night.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  Gen. 1:1-4

Then throughout Scripture, He refers to good as light and evil as dark. The godly who are saved, live by faith in the light spiritually and morally divided from the demonic lost in the dark.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Is. 5:20

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 1 John 1:5

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Eph. 5:8

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Jesus, the Great Divider Between Eternal Life or Eternal Death

Jesus put a line in the sand with the Gospel and finalized it at the Cross. He offers grace and mercy when we ask Him for forgiveness, repent from our sins, and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. But that choice is only offered to the living. There’s a great divide between Heaven and Hell.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Eph. 5:11

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. John 3:19-20

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. John 12:46

Sadly, some will still choose darkness or not live fully in the light and that breaks Jesus’ and our hearts. We can’t make the choice for them, but we can present the truth, live the truth, pray for their salvation and willingness to step out of the dark into the fullness of the light. As for each of us who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, there is no fellowship with the world’s ways as we remember this earth is not our eternal home.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 5:14-16

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Rom. 13:12

“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.” Pr. 4:18-19

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Rom. 13:12

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 1 Thess. 5:5

Please leave a comment here and I will reply on the website blog, so check back for my replies.

August 19, 2024
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5 Ways To Avoid Condoning Sin!

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God hates sin and we should too! He sent his One and only Son, Jesus Christ, to a bloody cross to offer believers forgiveness for their inevitable sins not for a free pass to keep on sinning. Yet today, we see sin glorified, accepted, legitimatized, and even legalized in our culture and sadly, few churches or Christians are horrified by this affront on God or willing to speak out against it. Do you think that might be overstated or not true? How many pastors today are teaching about what the Bible says about condoning sin? Or even what is sin. Some churches and Christians have let the culture normalize sin and have adapted to it themselves.

What Does it Mean to Condone Sin?

Condoning sin means accepting sin. God doesn’t want Christians condoning sin as it leads to pain, destruction, and separation from Him.

The dictionary defines ‘condone’ as to regard or treat something bad or blameworthy as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless. Condoning sin means you accept, allow, and yes approve of that sin in your life and in the lives of others.

 Sin is condoned in today’s culture. Many rationalize allowing sin to invade their own lives and the lives of others. Sins like murdering children through abortion, same-sex marriage, living together, gay or trans lifestyle . . . lying. A government that no longer respects God or His principles legalizes the mutilation, indoctrination, and sexual grooming of young children.

Some Christians are even afraid of speaking out against sin for fear of being called names or accused of “judging.” Recognizing sin for what it is–going against God and the Bible–is what Jesus, Peter, the disciples, and Paul spent their life doing to help people repent from a sinful life. We don’t say they were “judging.” We understand that they were trying to open peoples’ eyes to the truth that sin kills, and repentance saves. Yes, they all suffered for speaking out against sin, but many lives were saved because of their dedication to love people enough to help them change and turn from their wicked ways.

Yes, none are perfect and we all sin in our humanness, but our goal as Christians is to become aware of our sins, ask forgiveness, and as Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Jesus wasn’t judging her when He pointed out every sin she had ever done; He was offering her living water, which was Himself.

Paul wasn’t judging all the churches he wrote to when he pointed out their sins. He loved them enough to say the life you’re leading now is wrong and you must repent. Paul, Peter, the disciples, and Jesus never condoned sin and we as Jesus’ followers shouldn’t either! We take a stand for righteous living ourselves and encourage others to do the same. Their very life both here and in eternity could depend on it.

We don’t condemn, but we never condone sin regardless of how many sinful laws are passed! Christians remain steadfast to the truth in the Bible.

What Does the Bible Say about Condoning Sin?

There will always be sin in the world because Satan is the author of sin and as long as he’s allowed to roam around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, his intent is to entice with sin that opposes God’s ways. That’s exactly what sin is, going against God. You can profess to be a Christian, but if you’re willfully choosing to sin, you’re controlled by Satan not God. Sometimes we can’t see it in our own life, and we need other believers to gently, lovingly, and compassionately use Scripture to point out to us where we’ve slipped into Satan’s grip and bring us back into the fold.

Someone who had been previously married once asked me to condone her having sex with her boyfriend since neither of them were virgins anymore what did it matter? It mattered because God’s Word says sex is between a husband and wife. Again, like Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, the man you’re living with now is not your husband. That’s a sin.

Others want justification to live together for financial reasons. God can’t bless something He condemns for any reasons. Parents want to condone gay or transgender lifestyle because their children have fallen into that sinful trap, but it’s still heartbreaking sin.

The entire Bible addresses not living in or condoning sin but repelling it. Here are a few refresher verses, but there are so many more.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Pr. 6:16-19

Do you ever feel like God isn’t hearing your prayers? Could it be you’re condoning sin in your own life, the culture, or someone near you?

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Is. 59:2

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 6:23

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Acts 3:19-20

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Heb. 10:26-27

The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; 6 you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest. Ps. 5:5-6

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:6

But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 1 John 3:8-9 NLT

Following is where God through Paul clearly spells out His definition of sin and God’s response. God’s wrath against sinful humanity that we see tolerated today is reflected in these verses. Read them carefully.

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Rom. 1:18-32

5 Ways We Can Avoid Condoning Sin

1. Pray for God to Give Us Wisdom to Confront Sin

Many use Matt. 7:1 as an excuse not to confront sin in others because they consider it judging and God will be the final judge. It’s true that God will be the final judge, but we are His hands and feet on earth helping spare others of the final judgement of eternity in hell. We don’t judge by comparing them to ourselves or thinking less of them. We love them enough to want to see them repent, be saved, and live a life pleasing to God.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:1-2

2. It’s Biblical to Confront a Fellow Believer Who Is Sinning.

When we see a fellow Christian sinning, maybe cheating on their spouse or at work, using drugs, swearing, mistreating their family, sleeping around, we’re called on to lovingly confront them, pray with them, and encourage them to repent.

15 “If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ Matt. 18:15-16

3. We Can’t Condone Sin in the Life of Our Family, Friends, or Self.

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I shared that my daughter always felt loved, but I never condoned her living with her boyfriend. I didn’t treat them as a couple. Just because it’s our child who’s choosing a sinful lifestyle, it’s still a sin and an affront to God. We compromise our own faith when we accept or condone wrong behavior . . . especially in our own life. I acknowledged my sins to God and my daughter and asked forgiveness for the times I’d sinned while raising her.

We always extend unconditional love, but never bend in our beliefs. We pray for our family and friends like their life depended on it, because it does.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Eph. 4:15

4. Take Action!

It’s easier to look the other way and not get involved, but as we watch sin legalized, even codified, in our country, how can we as concerned Christian citizens condone sin? We must speak out against it. Vote against it. Support candidates who condemn legalizing sin.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Is. 5:20

5. Overcome Fear!

It can be uncomfortable to take action against sin because you’re taking a chance of being called all sorts of unpleasant names or rebuffed. But if you live so that everyone knows you’re a righteous follower of Christ, who cares what they call you? Our goal is to please an audience of One, Jesus Christ, not man.

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. 1 Pet. 2:1 NLT

Staying Silent is Condoning Sin

With every law passed condoning sin, it not only affects us, but future generations. Avoiding the confrontation of sin isn’t the way of the Holy Spirit. When you encounter sin, you’ll be convicted to say or do something. God will give you the opportunity and the words. It’s up to us to humbly, but boldly, follow the Lord’s leading. He will put words in our mouth. Yes, God is a God of grace, but Paul puts it best.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Rom. 3:23-24

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death [to sin]? Rom. 6:1-3

Why am I talking about sin today? Because we’re watching blatant sin exposed and indulged everywhere and the world is in turmoil. All the signs are here that the rapture could be coming soon. As the opening picture depicts, people get ready, Jesus is coming! Keep looking up!

Please leave a comment here and I will reply.

There won’t be a blog for the next two weeks, but I’ll close out the month with my newsletter. If you don’t receive my monthly About His Work newsletter you can sign up for free here.

July 8, 2024
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Jesus is Our First Love!

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I know I don’t have to remind you that this Wednesday is Valentine’s Day! A day we traditionally show that special someone how much they mean to us. It can also be a difficult time for someone who doesn’t have an object of their affection to dote on or to be the recipient of doting…but it doesn’t need to be a sad day for those who know Jesus as their First Love!

My First Prayer Garden

Almost thirty years ago, I realized that even though I was happily married after being single for 17 years, my love for my husband wasn’t to take priority over my First Love, Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are so clear about this. When we were first married, we vowed to each other that we would always put Jesus at the center of our marriage.

We love each other because he [God] loved us first. 1 John 4:19 NLT

I never wanted Jesus to say about us what He said about the church in Ephesus in Revelations 2:5 NLT “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”

The NIV translation says, “ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

Just as our earthly relationships take time, energy, and nurturing, I knew my spiritual relationship with Jesus required the same attention and devotion or it could become stale and routine. So I decided to approach my devotional time with Jesus each day with the same attitude I would lavish on my earthly love, Dave. I set about finding a special place to spend time with my First Love and I called it my prayer garden.

At that time, we were living in sunny Southern California, so I could have my quiet time outside almost every day. I’ll share with you in a moment how I have this date with Jesus now in our home in Idaho.

Thinking of Jesus as the lover of my soul and the One I love above all others, gave me the idea of creating a romantic atmosphere for my daily “Quiet Time” with Jesus. It needed all the touches of a special date. First, it must be quiet and free of interruptions, so that meant outside. Since my backyard was all cement, I arranged colorful potted plants in a shaded alcove of the patio and hung a hummingbird feeder. Our house overlooked a small lake, so I had a beautiful view. I placed a chair for Jesus and a chair for me with a small table in the center for a romantic fragrant candle. I later added wind chimes, and my son-in-law made a waterfall. Walla, I had a Prayer Garden.

The importance of having the chair for Jesus was to remind me that even on the days when I was rushed and missed our date . . . Jesus was still out there waiting for me. Every time I looked out at that prayer garden, my heart ached because I had neglected my First Love for whatever was happening in my life that day.

My Date Bag is Always Packed

Then I packed a date bag with my Bible, a journal, devotional, highlighters, pens, Post-it notes, current Bible Study, and oh yes, a lighter for the candle. One trip back into the house for something I forgot could be a major distraction.

First thing every morning, I grabbed my cup of coffee, my date bag, a blanket or sweater if it was chilly, and headed out for my date with Jesus in our Prayer Garden. Here is a major key to intimate time with my First Love—I shut the door to ALL interruptions. In those days, we didn’t have cell phones, so I let the answering machine take care of any phone calls and the family knew when I was having my Jesus date, the Do Not Disturb sign was out.

Now I was ready to read God’s love letter to me in my Bible, pray, journal, and work on a current Bible study. Most importantly, I could take time to hear God’s still small voice saying how much He loved me and telling me the plans He had for me.

When our date was finished, I repacked my date bag and put it back in the same spot every time by the patio door so it was ready for tomorrow’s big date. If the weather wasn’t good, Jesus and I curled up together on the couch and I played soft instrumental worship music in the background.

Idaho Dates with Jesus

When we were looking for a new home in Idaho, two things on my priority list were a writing room with an “ah ha” view and a place to have my special Quite Times with my First Love. As we toured homes, I was always looking for both, along with a kitchen with a scenic view, I could see the fireplace, and easily chat with visiting friends and family. In other words, don’t wall me in while I’m cooking!

Praise God we found the perfect home for us. Now that we live in Idaho with its four seasons, my Quiet Time locations change with the season. When the weather is nice, I’m out in the deck swing, and when it’s snowing or cold, I have a Quiet Time chair next to the fireplace with a beautiful forest view from our many windows. I still have my Quiet Time bag packed and ready to go depending on where I’m having my date with Jesus. It’s my most favorite part of the day!

At the end of our date, I sit back close my eyes and linger in conversational prayer being sure to let my First Love talk to me. He always whispers words of love and endearment as He reveals His plans, visions, and goals for us. Often, there are answers to prayers and previous questions. Many times, we just share a sweet silence.

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Ps. 46:10 NLT

Like any wonderful date, I hate for it to end, but I know my First Love will be waiting eagerly for our special meeting tomorrow.

To keep romance exciting, it’s good to vary the activities on dates, so I constantly add freshness to my Quiet Time with variety. Each Christmas, I pick out a new devotional for the coming year. Sometimes, I select one with an area for journaling love letters to the Lord. I start my Quiet Time date by praying the armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-18 and would never think of going into my day without this spiritual protection. I alternate working on my small group Bible studies or one I am doing for fun. Some years, I read completely through the Bible, and other times, I leisurely enjoy the Scriptures.

 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matt. 22:36-39

How about you? Tell me about your dates with Jesus.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here is a poem I wrote about my California Prayer Garden. Enjoy!

OUR PRAYER GARDEN

You wanted to meet me early in the morning

            In a place that was special to just you and me.

My heart was willing, and I had such a yearning

            To talk and be in your presence daily.

I began to arise just after the sun came up,

            And  searched for a place where we could meet.

It had to be quiet where no one would interrupt,

            For the time that we shared would be so sweet.

I moved from room to room,

            As I tried to find the aura,

For you and me to just commune

            Every day at the same hour.

As we began to spend our time,

            I felt you nudging as I would pray:

“Our get-togethers need fresh air and sunshine.

            Let’s be amongst the beauty of the day.”

Of course, it was there all along.

            The table, the patio, the view—

I had all the makings for a Prayer Garden,

            But flowers were sadly very few.

A “green thumb” I have never been,

            But I knew this was the spot for us.

And it would not be a Prayer Garden,

            Without the ferns, oleanders and hibiscus.

A shopping trip to the nursery was fun,

            Even though I didn’t know what to buy.

Some flowers wanted shade and others liked sun,

            So I just bought what caught my eye.

Soon my garden was worthy of comment.

            The flower beds were colorful and in full blossom,

 And the array of potted plants carpeted the cement.

            The transformation was truly awesome.

One final touch called out to me,

            Wind chimes to catch Your breath in the breeze.

A hummingbird feeder for quiet company,

            In the place where we will meet when ‘er You please.

Jesus, I know now why you sought a garden

            When you went to pray alone that night.

Amongst Your creation God’s presence is sovereign,              

            You just know God’s plans will turn out right.  Janet Thompson 7/17/96

Please leave a comment here to this blog. I always reply and enjoy reading your thoughts.

 I apologize that the link to reply to last week’s blog wasn’t working, but it is now if you would like to leave a comment or haven’t read it yet Respect Your Weapons of Fasting and Prayer!

One more thing. Thinking about those who might be alone on Valentine’s Day, many people in our churches can feel marginalized. I wrote an article for Crosswalk.com that I hope you’ll share with the pastors and ministry leaders in your church. It’s a slideshow if you read it on a computer. 13 Ways to Recognize the Overlooked People in Your Church.

February 12, 2024
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Breaking Up Is Hard to Do!

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I’m sure you’ve broken up with someone in your lifetime. Maybe you found someone you liked better. Or maybe you learned the person wasn’t who you thought they were. Or maybe they were even talking bad about you behind your back. Or just maybe you discovered your values were at odds with theirs and you weren’t willing to compromise on your values and morals.

On different occasions in my life, I’ve broken up for each of those reasons. When we become Christians, the Bible tells us clearly to leave the old life and ways behind and choose to follow Christ in our relationships, words, actions, thoughts, time, and money. It might even mean breaking off a close relationship because that other person is tempting and luring you to return to wicked ways you’ve already asked God to forgive you for and you don’t want to regress. You want to live a new life in Christ.

 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor. 5:17 NLT

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Rom. 6:6

Occasionally, God points out that something or someone has become an idol in our life. God warns us to have no other gods or idols before Him. We may need to break up or break away from anything that becomes more important to us than God or change our perspective and outlook on whatever is getting more of our attention than God is.

“You must not have any other god but me. 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” Ex. 20:3-4 NLT

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 1 Cor. 10:14

Breakups are painful. Hard to do. Sometimes freeing. Other times grieving. But often something you know you need to do to honor Jesus and your witness for Him. God may want us to use our breakup as a wakeup call to others. That’s the message I’d like to share in the remainder of this blog.

We’ve all seen the impact consumers can have when the woke agenda attempts to normalize sin and sinful behavior. Before anyone starts calling me names, I proudly identify as a Bible-believing Christian. My identity is in Christ alone. I’m not “homophobic,” I’m sinphobic! I think I coined a new word since spellcheck doesn’t like it. Webster’s Dictionary describes phobic as “having an intolerance or aversion,” and that’s exactly how I feel about sin. Anyone’s sin, including my own. But especially when the media, government, fringe groups, and even some pastors try to tell me I should be “tolerant” of sin, I’m gonna say a resounding, “No Way!”

Jesus was NEVER tolerant of sin. He spent time with sinners with the sole goal and purpose of helping them turn away from their sin and repent, not to celebrate, party, and revel in their sin or impose it on others. Jesus gave His life on the cross to free us from sin, not parade sin in the streets, teach it in schools, or ignore it in churches. He told the woman at the well living in sin with her boyfriend and the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” He went to Zacchaeus’ house and even to the Pharisees’ homes to share the truth with them in hopes some would be saved from their sinful, prideful lifestyle.

So that being said, here are a few breakups I’ve experienced with businesses who finance, support, encourage, and promote sin. Maybe you’ll want to break up with them too if you haven’t already. We can make a difference as we saw with what is now termed the “Bud Light” effect when the beer brand decided to make their mascot a lunatic and very sick man impersonating as a woman. Hubby and I don’t drink beer, but we cheered the effective reaction and response from the conservative population who support the way God created us as either a man or a woman and never the two shall exchange bodies!

Here’s Some of My Breakups and the Whys

#1 Breakup with Target-In 2004, the Target retail chain announced a new corporate policy that banned Salvation Army bell ringers and their collection kettles from Target storefronts. Next, they banned employees from saying “Merry Christmas.” Then slyly they stopped having separate areas for little boys’ and girls’ toys and bedding. Their woke agenda continued to get worse with a crescendo this year of placing obscene clothing in the front of their stores and next to the children’s section, even displaying alphabet mafia clothing for babies!!

That’s what happens when you take Christ out of Christmas; it’s a deep dive into hell. Needless, to say we broke up with Target many many years ago and have NEVER missed them!

#2 Breakup with Starbucks—My breakup with Starbucks was brought on by their huge financial support and endorsement of gay marriage. But that was only the beginning. They also support abortion, the alphabet sexual perversion, pronoun reassignment, gender mutilation and castration even of children, and the entire radical liberal agenda.

When we lived in California back in 2008, voters voted in Proposition 8, which “provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” It passed 52% to 48%, by a margin of about 600,000 votes. The Protect Marriage campaign supporting Proposition 8 constantly invoked the “far-reaching consequences” of legal gay marriage, particularly the implication that school curriculums would be required to teach that gay marriage is “the same as traditional marriage.”

Pollster David Fleischer, in his analysis of the election results, found that the greatest shift toward “Yes” among undecided voters was “among parents with children under 18 living at home—many of them white Democrats,” who feared the effects of legal gay marriage on their children’s public education. Evangelicals and Republicans formed the core of Proposition 8’s support. Sadly, the people’s will was overturned and gay marriage was legalized.

What these parents feared most has become our reality today. The Biden Administration labels parents who protest the sexual/pornographic indoctrination of their children as domestic terrorists. Many Evangelicals and Republicans today seem defeated and fear speaking out against the cultural demise.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, Starbucks announced it would reimburse travel expenses for employees who “need” abortions and cannot get them within 100 miles of their homes. They also provide insurance coverage for mislabeled “gender-affirming care,” which is actually gender annihilation, and cover travel expenses for employees who don’t have access to this horrible atrocity near their homes.

One article said, “Starbuck’s customers and workers tend to be more liberal.”

I’ve been laughed and scoffed at when I compare Starbuck’s logo signs with Asherah poles from the Old Testament. But after my breakup with Starbucks, that’s how I see them. Like an idol, the Starbuck’s logo sign used to magnetically draw me to pay an insane price for a calorie-ridden cup of coffee! Now I see that sign and pray for everyone still deceived into throwing money at a company whose values are the opposite of God’s.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. Judges 3:7 NLT

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21

#3 Breakup with Disney—I remember going to Disneyland as a child not long after it opened. I was so excited to take my daughter and then later her children to enjoy the “happiest place on earth!” Tragically, they’ve become the wokest place on earth with their corporate executives caught on video saying their goal is to include as much of the DEI and satanic agenda as possible by rewriting beloved children’s movies to depict gay, trans, morally sick people.

“Diversity” is a word you hear repeatedly along with “inclusive” and yet they now exclude conservatives, Christians, and godly values in all their movies and disgusting remakes of old favorites.

Diverse has become perverse!

#4 Breakup with Kohl’s—I was never much of a Kohl’s shopper, but like Target, they support the alphabet sexual agenda, especially during June.

#5 Breakup with Bed Bath and Beyond—I enjoyed this store because it didn’t matter how old the coupon, they would take it. Then they showed their true liberal loyalty by canceling Mike Lindell’s line of My Pillow because he was questioning the 2020 election. We stopped shopping at BB&B and threw away the coupons.

#6 Breakup with Maybelline— When they had a bearded man as a model for their makeup!

#7 Breakup with Fred Meyer/Kroger—Of all our breakups, this one is by far the hardest. We live in the mountains of Idaho over an hour away from major shopping. So, when we go down the hill to Boise, we appreciate one-stop shopping where we can get most of our needs from food to housewares, pharmacy and clothes. For twelve years, Fred Meyer was that store for us. We took advantage of their digital coupons, savings on gas, first Tuesday of the month and every Tuesday in December savings for seniors, and savings for Veterans on the 3rd Thursday of the month.

This is an extremely painful breakup for both of us. Here’s why we’re parting ways with our treasured Fred Meyer and all Kroger products, since Kroger merged with Fred Meyer. You may have a Kroger store with a different name than Fred Meyer.

The gay, trans, alphabet “pride parade” and “celebration” of their sinful and perverted way of life not only dominated the month of June in Boise, Idaho’s Capitol, but because of Covid last year, they moved their parade and festival to the second weekend in September. When I got home from our church Women’s Retreat that same weekend, my daughter told me what took place in Boise. First, she sent a picture of the Fred Meyer float with children on it, then the heartbreaking photo that Fred Meyer not only participated in the parade, they also actually put it on!

This year’s parade title was “The 2023 Fred Meyer Pride Parade.” The parade was at 9:30 Sunday morning, I imagine so Christians would be in church and not protesting this debauchery.

Mad and grieving, I dashed off two emails to Fred Meyer corporate. The only response was an automatic form email confirming they had received my “valued customer” comments. I don’t feel like a valued customer. I feel like a betrayed ex-customer!

#9 Breakup with Walmart, Albertsons, and Wells Fargo—We seldom shop at Walmart, but they were a sponsor of the Boise pride parade as was Wells Fargo where we had already closed my ministry account many years ago when they went liberal woke. I don’t shop at Albertsons, but they also had a float in the parade.

What Does a Breakup Accomplish?

When God told Abraham that He was going to destroy his nephew Lot’s town of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their horrible sin, Abraham asked God if He would spare it if there were 10 righteous men. God said He would. But the night before Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, two male angels came to Lot’s house and a group of despicable men surrounded the house demanding Lot send those men outside so they could have sex with them. Do you remember that? Sexual perverted sin has been going on since the beginning of time, but never in my lifetime was sin celebrated in the streets until now.

The picture opening this blog is not when Obama lit up the White House for the legalization of gay marriage. No, it’s the Boise Capitol during the September Fred Meyer pride event on Friday night September 8th and Saturday September 9th. Since it was illegal to have the lights on government property, they solicited donner money to set up lights across the street and shine them on our beautiful Capitol. That should’ve been illegal too!

My blood pressure is rising and tears flowing just writing about this. We must have more than 10 righteous people in Boise because God has allowed us to remain a red conservative state, but how long Lord will You wait for those righteous people to take a stand against this evil? People used to try to hide their sin, but the current culture wants to flaunt their sin and force people to accept and embrace it. Indoctrinate our children.

Gay marriage was only the beginning and would never be enough. When Satan gets a foothold, he never stops.

Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior? Don’t you realize God’s justice continues forever? All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you’re an expert at telling lies. 3 You love evil more than good and lies more than truth. Ps. 52:1-3 NLT

I want you all to remember what the Bible says in Romans 1:24-28 NLT

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

You may think I’m being too extreme, but God is watching where we spend our money and what we’re supporting. We can’t tithe on Sunday, proudly give to missionaries, and then throw money at businesses whose values are the opposite of ours because it’s more convenient or we like the products. That goes for our investments too! We must be good stewards of what God gives us. He’s watching. He knows. Do we speak one thing and do another?

As a cohesive likeminded group, we can make a difference. Many of the companies I listed, and others, are either going bankrupt or losing billions of dollars from conservative consumer pushback. When a restaurant in Boise was having drag brunches, I wrote about it and even stood up in church and told the congregation what was happening at this Italian restaurant. That restaurant is now closed.

If you’re thinking these breakups are unloving, 1 Corinthians 13:6 reminds us, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” When we know the truth, we have no excuse for not living it. God will keep us accountable.

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Phil. 2:1-2 NLT

Please leave a comment here. I reply to all comments.

September 18, 2023
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Three Lessons Beyond the Story of His Only Son!

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Last week, Hubby Dave and I saw the latest movie from Angel Studios, His Only Son. I was thrilled that just like Jesus Revolution, this new Christian movie stayed in theaters long after its Pre-Easter release and the five day expected showing. That’s because many Christians poured into theaters to support His Only Son.

When I looked over at Dave during the movie to see if the sounds he was making meant he was falling asleep, I discovered to the contrary, he was crying. The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac brought my tenderhearted husband to tears more than once.

If you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to give away too many details, but it’s the familiar story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his long-awaited son, Isaac, born to elderly parents. The son that God had told Abraham would bring descendants outnumbering the stars in the sky. It’s a beautifully filmed movie with superb acting as it brings the Bible story of Genesis 22 to life. If you haven’t seen it and it’s still in your theaters, I encourage you to go, enjoy, and maybe cry at a father’s love for his son, but his even greater love for the Father in Heaven who Abraham trusted and obeyed, even when asked to perform a seemingly impossible sacrifice.

Interwoven into the story was a brief glimpse of Sarah’s servant Hagar when Abraham and Sarah attempted to go ahead of God. In today’s blog, I want to fill in some of the blanks with lessons from the story of Hagar and Ishmael, discussed in conversation during the movie if you listen closely, but not depicted.

We can learn from the consequences of Abraham and Sarah’s poor decision about using Hagar to circumvent God’s plan. Consequences still felt in the Middle East today.

Who Was Hagar?

When we first meet Hagar in the Bible, she’s an Egyptian maidservant to Sarai (later called Sarah), the wife of Abram (later called Abraham). Sarai was infertile and desperately wanted a child. God had told Abram that he would have an heir, a son, and yet as time passed the aging couple still didn’t have a baby (Gen. 15:2-5).

Mistakenly, Sarai thought the Lord had kept her from having a baby so she came up with her own plan to give Abram a family. (Gen. 16:2) In those days, a maidservant had no rights and was required to comply with whatever her owners told her to do. When her barren and desperate mistress Sarai decides to use Hagar as a surrogate to provide her husband Abram with a child, Hagar has no option but to obey. Abram agreed and slept with Hagar and she became pregnant.

The movie alludes to this, but tastefully never shows Abram and Hagar in any sexual scenes, not even an embrace. This seems like an odd practice to us today, but it was actually an ancient custom in biblical times to ensure the birth of a male heir.

What Happened Next to Hagar?

When Hagar learned she was carrying Abram’s child, she felt superior to Sarai and the Bible says she “began to despise her mistress” (Gen. 16:4). Maybe Hagar was upset that her mistress forced her husband on her, or she felt rejected that Abram didn’t treat her as a wife, and she took her frustration out on Sarai. Whatever the reason, she wrongly thought that her pregnancy empowered her to treat Sarai with contempt.

When the relationship between the two women deteriorated and became hostile, Sarai complained to her husband. Abram told her that this had been Sarai’s idea in the first place and Hagar was hers to do with what she wanted. He wasn’t going to get involved with their dispute. Sarai took that as permission to mistreat Hagar, so pregnant Hagar ran away into the desert. But what she didn’t expect was an encounter with God, which we don’t see in the movie.

7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” Gen. 16:7-9

The angel of the Lord also told her she would have a son and name him, “Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.” (Gen. 16:11)

So obediently, Hagar returned, gave birth to her son, and stayed on as Sarai’s maidservant. Sixteen years later, Sarai, renamed by God, Sarah, finally had her own miracle son as God had promised, but like any older brother, Ishmael started teasing his little toddler half-brother Isaac. Sarah was having none of this and demanded that her husband, now called Abraham, send Hagar and her son away . . . this time permanently. The movie eludes during a conversation that this took place, but we don’t see it happening. We hear about Ishmael, but never see him.

The child [Isaac] grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (Gen. 21:8-10)

Abraham, now the father of both sons, protested but to his surprise, God intervened and incredulously told him to let them go. Listen in the movie for when Abraham discusses why he let them both go.

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[a] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” (Gen. 21:11-13)

Reluctantly, Abraham agreed and sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert with food and water.

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. (Gen. 21:14)

God has lessons for us to learn from every biblical story and He tells us the story of Hagar in the Bible so we can apply what she learned to our own lives. Here are three important life application lessons.

Lesson #1: God Never Rejects Us

Hagar must have lamented her painful mistreatment and abandonment. Why was all this happening to her? When her hurt and despair sent her fleeing into the desert the first time, she was surprised but also very relieved and blessed when God met her there. She realized that even in her lowly position in life, she was important to God and He hadn’t rejected or forgotten her.

It was hard to hear God wanted her to go back to Sarai and endure abuse, but then God gave her a name for her son, Ishmael. God said He would even multiply Ishmael’s descendants. Wow, that was quite a promise, which God did fulfill in later years.

Hagar agreed to God’s plan and called the Lord, “The God who sees me, for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Gen. 16:13)

God heard her cries of affliction. Amazingly, a slave girl was the first recorded appearance of God face to face in Scripture. Others had heard His voice or seen visions, but here was God in person.

Like Hagar, when it seems like others are rejecting you, God sees and hears you. Don’t let rejection define you; allow it to refine you. Hagar had the confidence and security in God to humbly return to Sarai and Abram and fulfill her role in biblical history.

Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! (Ps. 66:20)

The Lord will not reject his people; he will not abandon his special possession. (Ps. 94:14 NLT)

Lesson #2 God is Near to the Brokenhearted

When Abraham sent Hagar and her son Ismael into the desert, it looked like they would surely die when the supplies Abraham had given them were exhausted. Now her precious son who God had given her and even named would starve to death. It was too much for her to bear. She couldn’t watch as he curled up in a fetal positon under a tree, but she couldn’t block out his starving moans and wails.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[b] began to sob. (Gen. 21:15-16)

But, what was she hearing now? Could it be a second encounter with God?! Yes, He had heard the cries of her son and asked her what was wrong? The Angel of the Lord spoke to this distressed mother yet again and reassured her not to be full of fear or sadness. Just as He had promised, God reaffirmed that her son’s legacy would be a great nation.  

17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” (Gen. 21:17-18)

When we’re in deep despair, our tendency often is to shut out the world, and sometimes that includes shutting out God. But God is the one who understands our distress like no human can. Sometimes He will put people in our life and speak through them to comfort us, but what He longs for us to do is bend our ear towards Him and listen. Let His presence comfort you with the hope that He’s going through this with you and He always has a plan if we open our eyes to see our opportunities and listen to the wisdom He whispers in our prayer time.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Ps. 34:18)

Lesson #3 God’s Plan Is Always the Best One to Follow

When Hagar opened crying eyes, to her astonishment there was a well of water in the middle of the desert. Only God! She ran to fill her wineskin and gave her thirsty son a refreshing drink.

19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. (Gen. 21:19)

Bravely, Hagar believed God and trusted that even as a single mom rejected and stranded in the middle of nowhere, if God said it was so, then she would trust Him and obey again. God was faithful to His promise.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Gen 21:20-21)

While we often focus on Abraham and Sarah, God has a powerful lesson in the story of Hagar. Through no fault of her own, she became entrenched in the couple’s contrived plan to fulfill God’s promise themselves instead of waiting for God’s perfect timing and plan. We can’t outsmart or outdo God. His plans always are for good and will prevail, but we’ll pay a price when our impetuous and prideful thinking is that we know best.

22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.[a] 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. (Gal. 4:22-23)

Just as God promised, Ishmael became a great nation but to this day, his descendants continue to be in conflict with the nation founded by his half-brother Isaac.

Everyday Brave Hagar

I include Hagar in Everyday Brave: Living Courageously as a Woman of Faith because she didn’t let the hard life that she encountered defeat her. She had a personal experience with God and He protected and provided for her. She courageously understood that God was the One she could depend on and trust. He would make a way when circumstances seemed impossible.

Even when we don’t see God face-to-face like Hagar did, or maybe have trouble feeling His presence, our faith assures us of the truth that we’re never alone. God has promised to never leave or forsake us even when others disappoint or even abandon us. God is always just a prayer away.

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5b)

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April 17, 2023
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Words Do Matter! Go to THE WORD for Wisdom!

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Over the years, various professional groups have changed their “acceptable” terminology. For example, I remember when flight attendants were referred to as Stewardesses, but they prefer “flight attendant,” so we all changed our terminology to accommodate them.

Hairdressers now prefer to be called hairstylists. Beauty parlors are now hair salons.

Those were easy adjustments for us all to accommodate and respect the changes.

I’m old enough to remember when “black” was not an acceptable word to describe ethnicity. Until they started calling themselves black and it became an acceptable term. But even today, you see people struggling with using black and will instead say “people of color” or “African American.” I’ve heard some blacks offended by that last term protesting they weren’t from Africa they’re simply Americans.

Sadly, we’re often denoted and divided today by the color of our skin instead of our integrity and character. That’s racism. God and the Constitution say we’re all equal. Not equity, but equal!

Queer became an offensive word for that community who decided they were “gay.” But now, they’ve started calling themselves queer so it seems to be acceptable again along with letters of the alphabet they’ve adopted and terms they’ve created like “transgender” for cross dressers and a myriad of different gender terms, none of which you’ll find God using in the Bible.

The woke word police have bumped up vocabulary changes to the point that people can lose their jobs or be socially attacked if they use the wrong term or pronoun.

There was no universal agreement that certain people groups could change our language to the point where a minority of the population holds the majority hostage to their grammar and vocabulary rules because “someone” might be offended.

And for a reason I can’t quite understand, the majority are not speaking out that they’re offended by the woke word police. As a Christian, we should all be offended by any acceptance of actions or terminology that goes against God’s plan for men and women and adamantly offended when this tyranny is inflicted on our children.

You may have heard of Stanford University IT’s attempt to label words like “American” and “Hispanic” as harmful. After great pushback, they did remove American from their harmful list, but this means that students going to this university will come out brainwashed in woke permissible language and philosophy.

According to a report, “the list is a product of the “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative,” which aims to “eliminate” words that may be deemed “racist, violent, and biased,” the document reads. The index lists a wide variety of words — some of which are commonly used — and provides an alternative word and an explanation of why the language may be harmful. There are ten “harmful language” sections outlined in the document including: ablest, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriate, gender-based, and biased (e.g., disability bias, ethnic bias, ethnic slurs, gender bias, implicit bias, sexual bias) language. Stanford University Attempts To Ban ‘Harmful’ Words, List Includes ‘American’ | The Daily Caller

USC prohibits the use of the word “field” calling it racist.

The CDC has even come up with Preferred Terms for Select Population Groups & Communities. Where it might’ve been a one word description, they’ve written a paragraph for categories like, Criminals, Disability, Drug/Substance Use, Healthcare Access & Access to Services and Resources, Homelessness, Lower Socioeconomic Status, Mental Health/Behavioral Health, Non-U.S.-born Persons / Immigration Status, Race & Ethnicity (instead of Caucasian they want “white person”), Rural, Elderly, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity (you can only imagine the long list there including pronouns).

How Do We Respond as Christians?

In July 2022, I wrote a blog titled, We’re In A War of Words with the Devil! That war is escalating and every day we’re challenged to take up our cross and defend our faith in new ways.

The woke agenda is not biblical; it’s political and diabolical and designed to force us into a mold of their making, whoever they are whether it’s the liberal universities or the Marxist government. We need to resist for as long as we have free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.

For example, the Bible does not use the terms “gay” or “transgender” or alphabet initials, it uses homosexual, immoral, perverted, abdominal to describe anything other than God’s plan for only two genders, male and female, to have married sexual relations with each other! They reproduce baby girls and boys exclusively. No variations! So why would we verbally indulge the Devil’s work by using his terminology to acknowledge behavior and words we know are wrong.

God says,

 “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.” Leviticus 18:22 NLT

8 Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.[a]

9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 1 Cor. 6:8-10 NLT

9 For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. 10 The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders,[a] liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching 11 that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. 1 Tim. 1:9-11 NLT

There is nothing “gay” or expressing “pride” about sexual sin in any of those verses. Gay pride is not to be celebrated, yet we have an entire month in America dedicated to this sin!?

Why would we let the liberal government or Marxist woke groups dictate, even legislate, terms and words? As Christians we remain kind and respectful, but we shouldn’t be manipulated, coerced, or forced into reciting from a script we reject. Because trust me, when we do acquiesce, it will never be enough.

For example, the baker in Colorado who won his case that went all the way to the Supreme Court when he refused to make a cake for a homosexual wedding, is now back in court because he won’t make a cake for a gender change party. You know they’re taunting and harassing his faith and Christian beliefs.

Satan never gives up. He’s never satisfied until we comply and bend to his will; but Christians follow God’s will exclusively! At least we should, no matter the cost or pressure. We don’t bend and we don’t break! And when Satan whispers in our ear like he did to Eve, “Did God really say that?” we boldly confirm, “Yes He did!”

Please pray for baker Jack Phillips as he faces yet another legal battle to honor his faith and morals.

The Only Way to Know God’s Will is to Stay in THE WORD!

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.” Luke 11:27-28

If you’re not in your Bible daily, yes I mean daily, you’re going to be battered and bruised by the culture and the world. It will be hard, maybe impossible, to stay true to your faith and your Heavenly Father unless you talk to Him every day and listen to Him talk to you through His written Word and His still small voice. The voice that the culture wants to drown out with the noise and chatter of a world gone woke and wild.

It takes discipline to read your Bible daily, but you’ll be devoured by this world if you don’t. There are so many Bible-reading plans available. Maybe you don’t think you can read the Bible in a year, so just read a chapter or two a day. Or even just a single Scripture that accompanies a devotional you might even receive online. Find a way. I’ve used YouVersion, CBN.com, Our Daily Bread, and Daily Walk.

A friend emailed me just this morning “As I read the New Testament, I see God’s hand all over those lovely scriptures . . . I was a bit down and not until I immersed myself in study later in the morning did I feel the grayness go away . . . it happens to us all . . . but we can feel the Savior’s love through prayer and study and help lift us up in joy.”

Isn’t that beautiful! My friend experienced the world falling away as God’s Word filled her heart and mind.

Having a Word to Guide You Helps Too!

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that every New Year, I pray for God to give me a word of His choosing to guide me through the coming year. A dear friend and I compare notes and then remind each other throughout the year of how God is using our word in our lives. There’s always confirmation from the Lord and a verse to memorize.

As I prayed and read my Bible asking God to give me a word for 2023, I saw “wisdom” everywhere. As you can imagine, when I searched for wisdom in the Bible there are 219 references listed. But what finally confirmed that it was my 2023 word, was a small plaque that our son’s family gave me for Christmas with Psalm 90:12, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. [opening picture]

When I opened that present, I knew God was telling me I would need wisdom in the coming year. Wisdom would be my 2023 word and Psalm 90:12 would be my verse!

You and I don’t know how many days the Lord has allotted us, but we do know they’re not infinite. Much of what we do and say during our lifetime may be forgotten by many, but may it be said of each of us is that we loved the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and words.

If you don’t receive my monthly newsletter, here is a link to the January issue. My opening article “God Will Save Our Children, But we Must Do our Part!” encourages that the next generation is going to be the generation of revival. We need to pour our words and love into them. You can sign up for my monthly newsletter and to receive this weekly blog at my website www.womantowomanmentoring.com or send me your email and we’ll add you to the email list.

Following are some previous blogs I’ve written about my annual “word” and the importance of not allowing Satan or the government to hijack our godly words, thoughts, or actions.

2022 Trust  In a Word: TRUST God! — https://womantowomanmentoring.com

2021 Resilience (didn’t blog about this word)

2020 Glorify  God Wants a Word with You! — https://womantowomanmentoring.com

2019 Joy (mentioned in other blogs)

2018 Calm  How Can A Word Change Your Life — https://womantowomanmentoring.com

2017 Hope https://womantowomanmentoring.com/2017/05/i-didnt-see-this-coming/

PS We went with our seventeen year-old granddaughter this weekend to see Left Behind—The Rise of the Antichrist. I highly recommend this updated version, which is so applicable to today!

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January 30, 2023
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Woke is Just a Euphemism for Demonic!

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First, I want to say that Satan doesn’t want you reading this blog or me writing it. How do I know that? Well, I turned on my computer to warm up while I ate my bowl of oatmeal on a rainy Saturday morning and both screens were black, as in blank. I tried a few things and then called on my computer genius hubby for help and it took almost two hours to bring the screens back to life but there was no logical or technical reason for the blackout. Then when I went to complete the post after church the next day, it took us almost two hours again to get the computer screens aligned and working.

Saturday morning, while Dave was working on it still in his robe and slippers, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I went out on the deck and cried out to God asking Him why writing for Him had to be so hard??!! I even said, “Satan is winning?!” I woke up with ideas about what I wanted to write and then felt defeat overtaking me as my mind emptied of all I planned to share.

But here’s what I do know: I will not be defeated. I might cry and be frustrated, but as long as I have breath and a means to communicate the thoughts the Lord gives me, I will not stop. I claim Psalm 16:8!
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. Psalm 16:8 NLT

 And a huge praise for my husband’s willingness to persevere until we had some measure of victory.

So that being said, let me get into the meat of what I wanted to talk about this week, and brace yourself, it’s not pleasant but it is urgent.

When “Inclusive” is Abusive It’s Satanic!

If something in our life or culture is not from God, it’s from Satan!

Think about that for a minute. There are only two forces working in our world today, spiritual and satanic. Read the Bible for yourself. There’s either good or evil. Today’s culture and the liberal progressive Democrats have created a social and political agenda that discards and devalues God’s good and invites Satan’s evil to overtake America!

How can this happen in a nation with 210 million Christians? Because the church and many Christians are allowing it! Yes, God is in control, but we are His hands and feet on earth. My ministry is “About His Work!” Where I hope to be until He takes me home. Christians should all be about our Father’s work.

People have been bought, bribed, and paid to undermine our democracy. Whatever they don’t agree with is deemed racism as they denounce America as a failure. But the sole purpose of this fabricated race war and “inclusive” wokeism is to distract from their actual war on God.

Jason Whitlock who hosts “Fearless” spelled it out on Tucker Carlson. I hope you’ll take a moment to listen and think deeply about what he says here. FULL CLIP Tucker Carlson & Jason Whitlock This Is An Attack On God & Democrats Are Baiting Us Into.. – Bing video

A paraphrase of Jason’s comments is that America is the only country founded on biblical principles, almost as God’s experiment, and up until this administration, it’s been a success. But the atheist and people hostile to God want to end this biblical experiment so they’re waging an internal war to tear it down. That’s the real nuclear weapon!

Wokeness is a smokescreen and attack on God and believers regardless of skin color. We need to wake up and watch what they’re doing. They’re attacking God! Whitlock explains, “If you think they’re attacking you, they’re not. They’re attacking God and attacking a country founded on biblical principles! It’s the only biblical experiment that’s ever been tried by a nation and the results are better than any other country.”

“This is satanic what they’re doing!”

Which I’ve been saying almost every week in my blogs! Satan is real and he hates God’s people!

Yet, how many pastors or church leaders do you hear denouncing our country’s quick slide into the gates of hell?

When has your pastor from the pulpit, or you as a Jesus follower, taken action or even mentioned Satan unless talking about the Garden of Eden? I applaud your pastor and you if you’ve done more than just complain about how bad things are or how they’re effecting you personally. But many believers are doing nothing to speak out against the evil or tell their pastor that the congregation needs tools to stop the satanic overtaking of America, our families, our children.

Sadly, NC Pastor John Amanchukwu said about his fellow pastors, “The modern-day pastor today is more like a whimp than like a watchman because they won’t address Critical Race Theory.”

Pastor Mark Burns at a Flashpoint rally in Phoenix reminded us that the government should rest on the shoulders of the people not crush the people. CRT, racism, transgender agenda, and all wokeism is a war against Bible-believing Christians . . . ultimately against God.

Both of those pastors BTW are black!

The church was silent during the 50 years of Roe v Wade and many were silent when it was overturned?! How hard did anyone fight against same sex marriage, taking the Bible and prayers out of schools? Satan has watched our lethargy and apathy and taken advantage to go full speed ahead to attack all Christian values in America.

How many pastors are addressing the following issues destroying our culture, our families, our children?

  •   Desensitizing children with radical sex ed in the classroom—as young as elementary school.
  • Grooming young children to “explore their sexual identity” and “embrace alternative lifestyles” as part of classroom exercises.
  • Forcing affirmation of pronouns that destroy the biblical definition of gender as exclusively male and female.
  • Allowing boys in girls’ bathrooms, and vice versa.
  • Demeaning girls by letting boys who “identify” as transgender take over girls’ sports.
  • Indoctrinating children through teachers describing their own radical sexual identity and lifestyle choices in the classroom.
  • Confusing children by teaching them Critical Race Theory (CRT), woke history (with all kinds of politically correct rewriting), and often blatantly anti-American propaganda.
  • Labeling concerned parents as “domestic terrorists.

Satan is Coming to Your Town

Maybe you’ve watched the disgusting degenerate flaunting of men dressed up as women sexually and explicitly gyrating in front of children as they’ve moved out of the libraries and into restaurants for “Drag brunches,” which are of course on Sunday morning. Playing music during this sex performance that is so sexual, vile, explicit, and pornographic that when clips are shown on TV programs willing to expose this depraved behavior, they can’t even play the background music because it’s so X-rated. Yet little ears and eyes are sitting in these brunches watching and hearing all of this filth. These drag perverts get money thrown at them like strippers and even have websites where you can contribute to their satanic evil. It’s all for money!

Video of all-ages drag show in front of children ignites outrage: ‘This is clear child abuse’ | Fox News

You say to yourself what kind of parents would take their children to something like this and that’s a good question. Parents are threatened with legal action if they don’t let a minor mutilate their body, but there’s no problem with them taking their children to see live porn!

What kind of city or restaurant or local legislators would allow this pornography and child abuse? Your city and my city!!

A restaurant in our town, Asiago’s in downtown Boise is having drag Sunday brunches with children welcome! I’ve called and expressed my disdain and put their phone number on my social media and announced in church that this evil is happening in our Capitol city!

Matt Walsh with the Daily Wire is a brave man exposing the attack on our children. I implore you to watch this video of his podcast. It’s short, just click on it here. A Convicted Pedophile Grooms A 11 Year Old Drag Queen (Video) – Gospel News Network

Walsh also exposed that Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. was promoting and performing sex change mutilation on young children. There was even an admission caught on a “hot mic” that now that revenue has been lost from abortions, performing theses sex change operations on children would be an ongoing source of revenue because these poor children as they grow will need to keep returning for medical or psychological care for the rest of their lives!!!

Vanderbilt even put out a sick commercial telling parents they should “support” their young children’s desire to change their gender. Those in this abhorrent satanic “industry,” consider it a profitable business, just like the murder of innocent babies in abortions.

If your child said at any age that they wanted to fly, would you take them to a rooftop and say go for it? Parents are to be the protectors of their children not supporters of crazy dangerous ideas that are wrong and can cause permanent damage to them for the rest of their lives. Children aren’t allowed to vote, own a gun, drink, even get into an R rated movie without their parents and yet the Biden administration is supporting young children changing their gender preference without even consulting parents!! Or in some states, the children can be removed from parents who don’t go along with this insanity.

So called “gender reassignment” surgery, a synonym for child mutilation and castration, is also occurring for children under eighteen right here in red state Boise, Idaho at St. Luke’s Hospital! Hospital in Boise Offers ‘Gender Reassignment’ Surgery – Idaho Dispatch

Gender reassignment is an evil myth. You may try surgically or hormonally to change who God made you, but the gender you were at birth is the gender you are for life no matter how many attempts to manipulate your body parts that God fearfully and wonderfully gifted to you. It’s a dangerous fad and a result of our sick society that allows these confused children to be damaged for the rest of their life. It should be outlawed, but instead it’s protected and promoted by laws.

We need to teach our children to believe what God says about each one of His creations: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

You cannot be a Christian and support any of this satanic behavior even if it’s happening in your own family or with people you know. How do I know it’s satanic because it’s nothing God would ever support. He’s not saying, ‘Oh you’re right I really meant to make Johnny a Sally or Sally a Johnny. What was I thinking when I wonderfully created them in their mother’s womb? Ooops let’s change all of that!’ NO!!! He says instead, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.” Jer. 1:5 NLT

God never makes a mistake. Only Satan is the author of confusion, which we’re observing right now and the culture for the most part is going right along with it.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should or that it’s right.

The premise of BLM and Marxism/Communism is to destroy the church, its values, and the family. We’re watching this happen right before our eyes and too many in the church are afraid to speak the truth. As a consequence, the next generation…our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren…are suffering.

What Can Be Done?

Please don’t just passively read this blog and say to yourself it’s really terrible what’s happening in our society. Take action. Do something about it! We aren’t to be just hearers of the Word but doers. Once you’ve heard the truth, and if you’ve read to this point, you’re now quite aware of Satan’s attack on our society and you can make a choice to do more than simply put a “like” on a social media post or even comment to me, you can make a decision to do something right here, right now!

Pray: First pray asking God what difference can you make wherever He has planted you? Where does He want you to be bold, brave, courageous, and a responsible citizen and Christian? “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.” Joshua 1:9

Take Action: Whatever you hear the Lord telling you to do, do it. Just do it! Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

Vote: Both parties are surprised how many nonpoliticians who are Conservative Republicans, and many are Christians, have heard the call to run for office. As Jason Whitlock would say, they want to keep our great American biblical experiment succeeding by putting God and His principles back into legislation and ousting out of office the woke, demonic, progressive, devious politicians who want to inclusively destroy America!

It’s disgraceful how many Christians don’t vote; don’t be one of them. God gave us this country and He gave you the freedom to protect it as an American citizen. It’s shameful, lazy, and cowardly not to try and make your voice heard with your vote.

A sweet elderly lady in church who has had a stroke, her husband’s blind and deaf, came up to me last Sunday at church. She said she liked the things I often share in church. Would I please help them research who to vote for as Conservative Republicans. They don’t want mail in, they want to go fill out their ballots in person like they always have.

Don’t let this little lady shame you. Get out and vote like your life, your country, your family, the future of America depended on it, because it does! For those who say you don’t want to get involved in politics, politics will get involved with you!

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Thomas Paine, Dec 23, 1776

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October 24, 2022
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