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American Christian Voice Volume 12 No. 7 Contents Don’t Miss These! ABOUT US 4.Yak Bak 16.Would you like to join the ministry of the American Christian Voice? 27.Puzzle Page!! 36.Where you can buy a copy of the American Christian Voice... 36.Subscription Info FEATURES 6.Blacks and Politicians 7.Worry is Anti-Trust 8.Testimony: Sean Martinez 10.The only way to overturn Roe v Wade is to stop the exceptions! 11.The Disciple Making Parent 11.Ask the Rabbi 12.Reversing the Great Moral Decline 14.Rebuttal to “Was Jesus a Pacifist” from 11.6 14.Jesus, Guns, and Self-Defense: What Does the Bible Say?
16.‘Secular Pro-Life’ Launches Incentive to Raise Awareness of Non-Religious Pro-Lifers 16.Yes, There Are Pro-Life Atheists Out There. 20.Estate Planning Tips for Blended Families 23.America, blessed or cursed? 24.Gold Star Families Voices Act 25.Gold Star Family Inn 30.Can We Really Expect Teens to Avoid Pre-Marital Sex? 31.20 Reasons to Avoid Premarital Sex 32.Has Porn Ruined My Chance of a Happy Marriage? 33.The Love Required of God’s Children 37.What do you Mimic? 39.Fritz’s Adventure, Branson, MO 40.Reversing the Curse of Divorce HE is the 44.Marriage Seminar Schedule AllConsuming 46.I AM ALIVE! Fire! 47.A Call to Action
Blacks and Politicians
The only way to overturn Roe v Wade is to stop the exceptions! Jesus, Guns, and SelfDefense: What Does the Bible Say? Reversing the Curse of Divorce
Speaking About Toothpaste
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yak bak
.Feed Back From Our Readers
I really appreciated the “Great Divide” Issue! Never saw your publication before a co-worker handed me one. So I just signed up for the free subscription online. You accurately portrayed what the real problem is from the Progressive Liberal to the Compassionate Conservative. It clearly is spiritual and as the Word tells us, “We wrestle not against the flesh but against principalities.” That has never been more evident than now.
the amendment since 2008 by endorsing or opposing a candidate from their pulpits. They then recorded their sermons and mailed them to the IRS. But the IRS has not taken a single church to court.
Brian Canpher, Cleveland, OH _______________________________ As a “retired” missionary I can attest to the article from Walter E. Williams that there is no material poverty in America. For the majority of U.S. citizens living below the poverty line, they still qualify for free health care, foodstamps and even unearned income from fellow taxpayers. Their misery is simply a matter of comparison.
Jerry R. Bates, Springfield, MO __________________________________ You should be warned that bashing President Obama is a sin. Ironically, a “Christian” publication should focus on politics instead of character. President Obama was a faithful husband to one wife and the Christians’ darling Donald Trump legitimized his philandering by marrying them.
Kelly Steward, Paducah, KY _______________________________ I was so glad to read the article by James L. Garlow regarding church and state that I bought his book, Well Versed! I have cut out the following quote and hand them out to everyone I know:
Gene Carathers , Stilwell, OK
The First Amendment guarantees no governmental intrusion into the pulpit at all. None. The IRS has no authority to be the pulpit police, dictating what any pastor can say from any pulpit. And they know it. At the urging of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a group of more than three thousand Christian and allied attorneys, several thousand pastors have intentionally violated
Clare Ruth, Ellenton, FL It is time to educate the ignorant and uneducated masses that culture and public opinion created their own definition of what Thomas Jefferson meant by separation of church and state.
Gene, since all sins are equal, and only the consequences are greater, I would rather have Mr. Trump’s blended family than an antinationalistic, globalist as POTUS. ed ___________________________________ Thank you for honoring the Gold Star families. When a Gold Star family was booed off of a plane last month while going to collect their son’s remains, my blood boiled. If so many in this country do not even honor each other, how could they possible know how to honor God? Lorraine Nosilla, Marshfield, MO ______________________________________
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Thanks for sprinkling humor among the most serious of topics. A spoonful of Stevia really does help the medicine go down.
Clare, the Stevia comment is funny! Interested in a staff position as director of humor?ed _____________________________ The ACV keeps getting better and better! H.L. Ford, Saddlebrook, MO _____________________________ Why don’t you print more criticism of your publication than all of the “Trumped” up accolades? Sam Hendrix, San Diego, CA Sam, you are as funny as Clare! ed ____________________________
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The American Christian Voice Magazine is published with the primary purpose being to educate the body of Christ through informative articles (Intelligent), to edify the body of Christ through inspirational articles of Christian faith and courage (Inspirational), and to promote the message that disciples of Christ are not under the penalty of sin or condemnation of it (Fun!). It is because of what Christ has done... not what we do. Our obedience to Love Him and Them, to the law, and our good works: now is out of our gratitude for that precious gift of grace and salvation; not as a motivation to be in right standing with God. Now that Christ has cloaked us with His Righteousness, God the Father looks at us as Sons/Daughters, not the stranger stealing His wallet. We are in training now. We are dedicated to be Kingdom builders as we realize that our unity can only represent God in our diversity as we love the lost through Christ. Our focus is on, and to, the invisible church which Jesus said, “The gates of hell would not prevail against.” We report the good as well as the bad within our church family as a testament for the necessity of a Savior. Our observations are made from a fairly moderate to conservative viewpoint.
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panic among blacks over Trump unwarranted
BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS
Blacks and Politicians onald Trump’s surprise win has millions of Americans, many of whom are black, in a tizzy. Many, such as Kareem AbdulJabbar, are writing about what it means to be black during a Trump administration even though Trump’s presidency has yet to begin. My argument has always been that the political arena is largely irrelevant to the interests of ordinary black people.
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are schools with predominantly black populations. At many schools, students are required to walk through metal detectors and place their book bags and purses on a conveyor belt that goes through an X-ray machine. Armed police patrol the school to try to stem school violence. But even with a police presence, teachers, staff and students are assaulted. A policy that permanently removes troublemakers
Much of the 1960s and ’70s civil rights rhetoric was that black political power was necessary for economic power. But the nation’s most A new day dawning... troublesome and dangerous cities, which are also cities with lowperforming and unsafe schools and poor-quality city services, have been run by Democrats for nearly a half-century — with blacks having significant political power, having been mayors, city councilors and other top officials, such as superintendents of schools and chiefs of police. Panic among some blacks over the upcoming Trump presidency is unwarranted. Whoever is the president has little or no impact on the living conditions of ordinary black people, even when that president is a black person, as the Obama presidency has demonstrated. The overall welfare of black people requires attention to devastating problems that can be solved only at the family and community levels. Mountains of evidence demonstrates that outcomes are not favorable for children raised in female-headed households. Criminal behavior is greater, and academic achievement is much less for such children. This is a devastating problem, but it is beyond the reach of a president or any other politician to solve. If there is a solution, it will come from churches and local community organizations. Education is vital to upward mobility. Most schools labeled as “persistently dangerous”
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would make a greater impact on black education than anything a U.S. president could do. The fact that black parents, teachers and civil rights organizations tolerate and make excuses for the despicable and destructive behavior of so many young blacks is a gross betrayal of the memory, struggle, sacrifice, sweat, tears and blood of our ancestors. The sorry and tragic state of black education is not going to be turned around until there’s a change in what’s acceptable and unacceptable behavior by young people. That change could come only from within the black community. Using 2012 data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Law Street Media offers some sobering statistics in an article titled “Crime in America: Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities Over 200,000” (http://tinyurl.com/qeusjj4). The nation’s
most dangerous big cities are Detroit, Oakland, St. Louis, Memphis, Stockton, Birmingham, Baltimore, Cleveland, Atlanta and Milwaukee. The most common characteristic of these cities is that they have predominantly black populations. Another common characteristic is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations. Some cities — such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia — haven’t elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. Here are some indisputable facts: Crime imposes a huge cost on black communities in the forms of human suffering and economic wellbeing. It matters little whether the U.S. president is black or white, Democrat or Republican. It also matters little whether local politicians are black or white or Democrats or Republicans. What will matter is an unyielding black intolerance for crime, along with a willingness to allow policing authorities to do what is necessary to stop criminals from preying on the overwhelmingly law-abiding people of the community. In light of the many difficulties within black communities, focusing energy and resources on the election of Donald Trump is gross dereliction. Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
worry is actually a serious sin
Worry is AntiTrust What would parents do without worry? It almost seems as if it’s in the job description. “Parents Wanted. Must be able to perform sleepless nights and meaningless pacing, wringing their hands and biting their nails.” In Matthew 6:27, Jesus asked, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” Worry has no positive side effects. In fact, it subtracts moments from your life in heart stress and rising blood pressure.
And what’s with all the “God hates this and God hates that?” Why do we primarily define God on the basis of what God hates rather than what God loves; what God condemns rather than what God appreciates? Carlyle Stewart
Worry is anti-trust. If you’re worried, you don’t trust something: your kids, their friends, strangers, the church, even God. Can He take care of your children? Certainly. Jesus says, “I tell you, stop being anxious and worried about your life.” Pretty blunt. Stop it! Easier said than done, huh? Worry tests your trust, so hand your children to God and let him babysit your babies when you’re not around. He’s pretty good at it! From Max on Life
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VOL.12 #7 | WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM
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learn how to sow in order to reap
TESTIMONY BY SEAN MARTINEZ
Testimony: Sean Martinez The Lord knows my plans but am I willing to do my part. (Jeremiah 29:11) was born into a middle class family. My father worked very hard to put us 5 siblings in a Christian school. I was the misfit kid in high school finishing out in public school. I graduated a “C” average student. I worked hard on my grades but the work didn’t seem to pay off. No matter what, I never gave up and always did my homework. It wasn’t till two weeks after I graduated high school that my father asked me to accompany him on one of his many trade shows. I was not willing but I decided to go anyways. We were pulling into our driveway upon returning home, I asked him when “WE” would be leaving again. One decision changed my life and ultimately my course. Never give up! Don’t try to always figure it out... you will just cause yourself a headache. I discovered that I had an interest and a passion for business. I didn’t understand it, but I went along with it. Business made me happy, gave me a joy that helped me fit in (Proverbs 25:2). I traveled with my father for the next year learning and enjoying what made my heart tick. The following year in April, 1994, I went to China on a business trip with my father. I discovered during that trip I wanted go back to Beijing to attend school. Against all odds, I grabbed onto the opportunity and found myself on an airplane four months later. I later found out that the school registration date had passed and classes were full. It’s a good thing I didn’t know that at the time. Never give up! One month before my return, my best friend suddenly died back home. I was devastated. I locked myself away for 3 days until my friends planned a gathering the next night. I went... and thank God because I met my future wife. Never give up! My wife and I started immediately
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working together in business and were very successful. We made lots of money but never had extra to show for it. Things always seemed to break, get lost or slipped through holes in our pockets. We did business for the next eight years until God knocked on our door. Keep on keeping on! August, 2004 it all changed. We lost our small business. I thought I was also going to lose my family. During August, 2004 until December, 2006, even though God was quiet through this testing season, looking back I can clearly see that He personally walked and carried us through. In 2005, I was kicking and screaming towards God because I was sure He wanted to kill me. In 2006, I started to mature up and focus on a relationship with Jesus Christ as well as being led by the Holy Spirit. One day I sincerely prayed, “God, if you give me a second chance I will honor you this time no matter what”. Miraculously, in January of 2007, God gave me a divine idea to start a business. My wife and I did exactly step by step what we were led to do. We had no extra money or any particular know how. What we did have was “Obedience” followed by “Action” (James 2:14). By April 2007, we opened up a brand new business with “zero money” and all bills and expenses paid in full. This business was opened until the end of 2009, until my wife and I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to close it down. Always keep in step with God. During 2008 and 2009, God was stirring me up to another business idea on the side. I started devoting time and energy and found myself hardly sleeping because of the level of excitement to the fact that this new concept could help many people feel better and recover from all sorts of health issues. In 2010, I got serious and hired research people to help me develop this idea. By May, 2010, I launched my new company, Tuning Element, LLC. We immediately were
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successful. Immediately, we started to sow in larger amounts into the Kingdom of God (Galatians 6:7). With little understanding, I started to go on mission trips speaking the Gospel. As we increased, so has our ability to do projects. FYI: I never went on a mission trip for pleasure but rather obedience to God to honor Him. In the fall of 2014, Dr Brasovan from Chicago approached me to validate our results by a major university. Today, we have conducted a Phase I study with Missouri State University (MSU) and Phase II has begun. The results have been phenomenally devine. The things God will do for us if we will put Him first (Matthew 6:33). “With God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26. “And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” Galatians 6:9. Looking back in my life, all 3 of my early small business ventures were part of God’s plan. They all taught me separate lessons that I must learn to function today. Though my journey has been difficult, it has been worth it. Our Heavenly Father is only looking for someone that will trust Him. Someone who will be faithful. For those who fit this description and will do what He is calling and leading you to do He will give you the know how, send the connections, bring in the resources and supply you with the ability. Then, He will send you around the world to teach and preach the Gospel, build orphanages, water wells and do projects that you never imagined you could do. All this to cause you to eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). He is setting us up to look good. I am learning that this journey is not about me but all about Him. Remember to thank Him, praise Him and give Him all the glory. If He can use me, He definitely can use you. Sean Martinez Founder, Tuning Element LLC 4179730000 • www.TuningElement.com
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The only way to overturn Roe v Wade is to stop the exceptions!
BY MARY RATHKE
LifeSiteNews.com -- Did you know that Norma McCorvey – “Jane Roe” -- was told by her lawyers to say she was gang-raped, in order to make her case stronger to obtain an abortion? Today, her daughter is alive because the Texas Court protected them both from that abortion.
As a woman who was conceived in rape, I find myself sharing my story over and over again at many pro life events. I have to ask, “Are you prolife except in the case of Mary?” I know that about 60% of people who claim to be prolife are okay with exceptions, but after they hear real life stories like mine, only 1% will still believe in exceptions. Living in the great state of Michigan, I have learned significantly about pro-life politics surrounding this issue. Michigan has never passed a pro-life law with an exception. When the Michigan Legislature tried to pass a pro-life law in 2013, the Governor would not sign it because there was not a rape exception. So instead of submitting one, Right to Life of Michigan put together a petition drive. Once they had enough signatures, it was sent back to the Legislature. Of course, those on the left began to yell out, “What about in cases of rape?” Again, instead of adding an exception to the bill, those of us from Save The 1, who are conceived in rape, mothers from rape, or post-abortive from rape, held a press conference to explain that our lives matter. The discussion quickly shifted, and the bill passed – with no exceptions! This, my friends, is how we are going to overturn Roe v Wade -- not by saying abortion is okay in some cases, but rather explaining to everyone that we fight for life because we truly believe that every life matters. To further the discussion, Right to Life of Michigan has produced some beautiful 30-second TV ads which tell the stories of women conceived in rape. My friend Travon Clifton’s story and my own story are being aired throughout the state. Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing said, "Those in favor of abortion have pointed to survivors of rape to justify legalized abortion. There is a misconception that women who become pregnant from rape want to abort their
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children. This is a false stereotype not supported by fact." You can see more about what they are calling the “Compassion Project” by visiting: www.RTL.org. Besides the 30-second ads, our 5-minute stories can be viewed there as well. We cannot overturn a law that was based on a woman's claim of being raped, by continuing to allow rape exceptions. Instead of offering confused compassion to the rape victim by letting her believe that even pro-lifers think her child deserves death, we need to care for both victims, so they can both be survivors and overcomers. The woman needs real help to deal with her extraordinary crisis. We need to offer that help, counseling and support. The child simply needs life. We need to educate everyone that they can have compassion and understand -- even my life matters. Mary Rathke is a wife, mother of 4, ordained minister at Bay Valley Christian Church, and prolife speaker and blogger for Save The 1. She's also the President of HELP People Inc., serving the hungry and homeless. Her website is:
expressed her desire for many to see her tiny babies. Their humanity could not be more obvious. For more information on the development of babies at this stage – including amazing videos, ultrasounds, and photos – see The Endowment for Human Development:
www.EHD.org Eighty nine percent of abortions occur in the first trimester, when many babies look just like Riley and Annabelle. At only seven to eight weeks old, babies can touch their faces and their feet. At this stage of gestation, preborn babies can squint and roll over, and their hindbrain “presents striking resemblance to that of the newborn.” Annabelle was born after a miscarriage at eight weeks, five days, and she is incredibly beautiful. About Riley, Mindy writes:
He went to heaven November 6th but was born November 23. We are blessed to have www.MaryRathke.org got to meet our little one. Life is incredibly beautiful! We went to walmart, then at 1pm on the way to mom’s house i started having contractions. They got more intense. When i got to mom’s i got into the tub and had my beautiful amazing little Mom posts stunning photos of her babies, miscarried at 7 and Riley at 3:35pm. Home water 8 weeks, on Facebook birth is what i’d always dreamed of having and i finally got to. Seeing Riley has brought me peace and comfort. I love LiveActionNews -- Mindy Raelynne him and God will care for him for me until Danison has suffered through two tragic i can be with him again. baby Riley is miscarriages – one with the baby at seven estimated to being 7.5 weeks, Riley was weeks, and the other at eight weeks and born at 10 weeks. five days. In response, Mindy created a Since Riley waited for two-and-a-half Facebook photo album for each child, weeks in Mindy’s womb to be born, his skin where she publicly celebrates their short, is somewhat discolored, but he is still but much-loved lives. Mindy’s photos – beautiful, and powerfully illustrates the especially one of Annabelle – have been humanity of children at the youngest ages. shared on social media, and Mindy has
Baby Annabelle & Riley
WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM | VOL.12 #7
hap Bettis wants parents to know that “parenting is a commission to do all we can to raise our children to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The DiscipleMaking Parent book teaches why this is so important and it teaches how to actually go about so daunting a task. I am glad to recommend it as a resource that will prove helpful to any parent.
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The Disciple Making Parent
us. Their sin reveals our sin. Their questions reveal our ignorance. All of these are God’s prompts for us to grow. • The first battleground of family discipleship is not my child’s heart; it is my heart. Each parent must decide whether he is more concerned that his child is accepted into Heaven or “Harvard.” • Our goal is not “successful” parenting per se, but faithful parenting. • Having made the point that there are no guarantees, we must also make the counterpoint equally strong. God can and does use means. Because there is no guarantee of success does not give me the right to throw up my hands. A belief in God’s providence and promises does not give me a license to live passively. • Teenage rebellion is not a natural part of
growing up. It is a natural part of the sin nature maturing. • The more I realize my powerlessness in discipleship, the more I will spend time in prayer. • The finest art of communication is not learning how to express your thoughts. It is learning how to draw out the thoughts of another. • God gives us little children for a reason. Pain imposed when small is forgotten in the later years. Teens and adults whose hearts have been trained can more easily say, “Yes, Lord.” Discipline, then, is not fundamentally about having good children, but godly adults. Discipline is discipleship in action.
AUTHORED BY CHAP BETTIS
Top Quotes • As parents it’s easy to assume that if we give our children the right ingredients, keep out the wrong ingredients, and put them in the right environment for the right amount of time, we are guaranteed a certain result. Parenting doesn’t work that way. • We discipline our children not so that they will make us happy but so that they will serve Christ as adults. We educate them not so they can have a good job but to develop them to be the best follower of Jesus they can be. We work hard to prepare them not for graduation day but for the Judgment Day! • Children are God’s means to transform
book sampling & summary
The book review of The Disciple-Making Parent appeared first on www.Challies.com
Ask the Rabbi -Another look at Hanukkah
What was the Greek strategy for destroying Judaism? Surprisingly, when the Greeks attacked the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they didn't try to destroy it or burn it down. Rather, they defiled it. They offered pig sacrifices and brought a statue of Zeus into the Temple. The Greeks transformed the Temple into a house of idol worship. No longer did light stream from the Temple;
the word of God was silenced. The Greeks didn't want to totally destroy Judaism. Unlike Pharaoh in Egypt, Haman of the Purim story, or Hitler, the Greeks did not want to exterminate the Jews. Rather, it was "Judaism as a way of life" that the Greeks opposed. They sought "li-Challel" -- literally, to make it empty. They wanted to defile Jewish holy objects. To tear the heart and meaning out of Judaism. To take away the depth and reduce it to symbolism. To sap its spiritual core and to render it impotent. Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the unlikely, the improbable, the virtually impossible. It is the opposite of the stillprevailing Greek worldview which considers logic and the laws of nature as absolute. Hanukkah proves that in a world run by God, miracles can happen.
To contact Jeremy for ministry in your congregation, for a radio or television interview or other special event, or for information on his albums or teachings, please call or email:
The Tabernacle Branson’s Messianic Congregation 256 Church Road Branson, MO 65616 (417) 334-7373 info@thetabernacleinbranson.com TheTabernacleInBranson.com
VOL.12 #7 | WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM
FROM RABBI JEREMY STORCH
anukkah commemorates the historical victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks. The Jewish rebellion started in the year 168 B.C.E., after a century of Greek cultural assimilation. In the village of Modiin, Greek forces commanded the Jews to make offerings to a pagan god. One submissive Jew complied. This so angered the elderly priest Mattathias that he sprang up, killed the servile Jew, and led his five sons and handful of followers into the hills for a protracted guerilla war against the Greeks and their Hellenistic Jewish cohorts.
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although written by a Brit, the west is still the west in which religion was, he said, the first of its political (we would now say “civil”) institutions. It did three things he saw as essential. It strengthened the family. It taught morality. And it encouraged active citizenship.
Reversing the Great Moral Decline hese days if you let it slip that you’d like to restore the Judeo-Christian ethical underpinnings of American society, you’re likely to be labeled an extremist. You must want to forcibly convert the masses, outlaw other religions, imprison the atheists, ban secularists from the political sphere and achieve theocratic “dominion” of Christians over the apparatus of the state. Or something. Because, you know, your backwardness makes you susceptible to cultish thinking, and your hatred of “the other” makes you dangerous. The enlightened ones may take to calling you Anders Breivik when you’re away doing — well, they don’t really know what you do, but they suspect you might be at militia meetings with people called “Bubba” and “Jackknife.”
BY TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE
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Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says the social and moral decay on display in the English riots should not have come as a surprise: Britain is the latest country to pay the price for what happened half a century ago in one of the most radical transformations in the history of the West. In virtually every Western society in the 1960s there was a moral revolution, an abandonment of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint. All you need, sang the Beatles, is love. The Judeo-Christian moral code was jettisoned. In its place came: whatever works for you. The Ten Commandments were rewritten as the Ten Creative Suggestions. Or as Allan Bloom put it in “The Closing of the American Mind”: “I am the Lord Your God: Relax!” You do not have to be a Victorian sentimentalist to realize that something has gone badly wrong since. In Britain today, more than 40% of children are born outside marriage. This has led to new forms of child poverty that serious government spending has failed to cure. In 2007, a Unicef report found that Britain’s children are the unhappiest in the world. The 2011 riots are one result. But there are others. Whole communities are growing up without fathers or male role models. Bringing up a family in the best of circumstances is not easy. To try to do it by placing the entire burden on women—91% of single-parent families in Britain are headed by the mother, according to census data—is practically absurd and morally indefensible. By the time boys are in their early teens they are physically stronger
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than their mothers. Having no fathers, they are socialized in gangs. No one can control them: not parents, teachers or even the local police. There are areas in Britain’s major cities that have been no-go areas for years. Crime is rampant. So are drugs. It is a recipe for violence and despair. The young people who went riot in the streets were not, according to Rabbi Sacks,
People of faith, he discovered, make better neighbors and citizens. the most responsible party:
…They are the victims of the tsunami of wishful thinking that washed across the West saying that you can have sex without the responsibility of marriage, children without the responsibility of parenthood, social order without the responsibility of citizenship, liberty without the responsibility of morality and self esteem without the responsibility of work and earned achievement. What has happened morally in the West is what has happened financially as well. Good and otherwise sensible people were persuaded that you could spend more than you earn, incur debt at unprecedented levels and consume the world’s resources without thinking about who will pay the bill and when. It has been the culture of the free lunch in a world where there are no free lunches. What was achieved was nothing less than the re-moralization of society—much of it driven by religion. It was this that the young French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville saw on his visit to America in 1831. It astonished him. Tocqueville was expecting to see, in the land that had enacted the constitutional separation of church and state, a secular society. To his amazement he found something completely different: a secular state, to be sure, but also a society
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At the end of 2010, he published the good news. Social capital, he wrote in “American Grace,” has not disappeared. It is alive and well and can be found in churches, synagogues and other places of worship. People of Faith, he discovered, make better neighbors and citizens. They are more likely to give to charity, volunteer, assist a homeless person, donate blood, spend time with someone feeling depressed, offer a seat to a stranger, help someone find a job and take part in local civic life. Affiliation to a religious community is the best predictor of altruism and empathy: better than education, age, income, gender or race. Much can and must be done by governments, but they cannot of themselves change lives. Governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent. Alexis de Tocqueville saw it then, Robert Putnam is saying it now. It needs religion: not as doctrine but as a shaper of behavior, a tutor in morality, an ongoing seminar in selfrestraint and pursuit of the common good. Harvard historian Niall Ferguson “quotes a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, tasked with finding out what gave the West its dominance. He said: At first we thought it was your guns. Then we thought it was your political system, democracy. Then we said it was your economic system, capitalism. But for the last 20 years, we have known that it was your religion.” Our problems are fundamentally cultural, and even more fundamentally spiritual, because what are missing are the elements of culture that our Judeo-Christian heritage furnished and safeguarded. It does not take economists and the secretary of the Treasury Department to reverse a cultural deterioration. In fact, the technocrats cannot do it. It takes you and me, everyone, all of us. That’s both the great challenge — that our problems cannot be eliminated in one fell swoop by a package of policies or a set of decisions delivered from on high — and the great benefit of our circumstances. We don’t need to wait for others to fix it for us. Indeed, they can’t. Only we can. But we can. Little by little, collectively, we can.
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a different position
Jesus, Guns, and SelfDefense: What Does the Bible Say?
od has never been and never will be a pacifist. God worked with Israel in the Old Testament as both the church (His followers) and the state (a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil, Romans 13:4) They had both religious and civil responsibilities. That is why he commanded Israel to punish certain nations (Deuteronomy 9:4). In the New Testament however, the church and state are separate. God did not change, but the job description for His chosen people did change. Jesus Himself instituted and taught those changes – “Ye have heard that it hath been said….but I say unto you….” Christ was the “end of the law.” He fulfilled and completed the law. To try to live by the old covenant and the new one at the same time causes great confusion. (Augustine perpetuated this confusion with his just war theory.) The state still has the same responsibilities as listed above, but Christians are commanded to love and forgive. We read that in Matthew 5:43-44 where Jesus said "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Jesus also said in John 18:36 ”My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” You can see the reinforcement of this teaching in Romans 12 and 13: The Christian is to love (12:9-10), not to avenge (12:19), overcome evil with good (12:21), is to prefer others in honor (12:10), and use the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). The State is to be a terror to evil 13:3, is a revenger 13:4, executes wrath on evildoers 13:4, uses a sword of steel 13:4. Notice the use of third person in Romans 13 – Paul was talking to Christians about the responsibility of the state (1-4) and our responsibility to the state (5-7), not as the state. We support the state by prayer, financial support, and obedience wherever possible without conflict with God’s Word. Our mission is to disciple the lost and help change people’s hearts through the Word of God, not through the
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state. Every attempt at changing the conduct of people with laws instead of presenting them with the heart-changing Word dilutes the Gospel and defeats the true purpose of the church. This subject also applies to the article “Is It Biblical to Arm Ourselves for SelfDefense?” While Shane has some very good points about fear and trust toward the end of his article, I want to speak to a few errors. For example, he wrote that the clubs and swords would have been justified and that Scripture implies that weapons have a place in society. That is correct, but only when used by the state. Also, He says “Are we called to guard our families spiritually, emotionally and financially but not physically? This makes no sense.” Also, “It is taking a quantum leap to believe that Jesus is saying, “Do no good to those who are trying to physically harm your family.” That is man’s reasoning. No, it doesn’t make sense to us to let wicked people take advantage of us and our family, but that is exactly what Jesus said to do. It is instead a quantum leap to “fill in the blanks” and fit the Bible to our situation or circumstances and say that we can defend ourselves when Matthew 5:43-48 and the verses listed above clearly teach otherwise. What if God wants to show His love and forgiveness through you to those who would harm you or your family? Can I show love and forgiveness and pray for a wicked person as I point a loaded .44 at his head? Should Stephen the first martyr have fought back against the injustice of the Jewish mob that stoned him? Should the thousands of martyrs who died in Roman times fought back against the tyranny of the emperors? Indeed not. Jesus predicted suffering for His people in Revelations 6:10-12 and other places. As much as we would like to, we should not reason our way out of suffering and injustices. There are many stories and books written about people who returned good for evil and helped lead a soul to Christ as a result. Sincerely and with love, Gail Bear Harrison, AR
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Good Christian? Bad Christian? It all depends on who’s doing the evaluating. The reaction to Jerry Falwell Jr.’s comments on encouraging students at Liberty University to be armed in case there is an ISIS attack at the school has led to a great deal of theological and political angst. BY GARY DeMAR
BY GAIL BEAR, HARRISON, AR
Rebuttal to: ACV’s “Was Jesus a Pacifist?” Article Vol.11 No.6
Brian D. McLaren, described as “one of the most influential Christian leaders in America and . . . recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America in 2005” has written a long article condemning Falwell’s comments. There have been others. Peter Enns has written a muddled article for the Boston Globe. I’m not sure if Enns is supporting the Bible or condemning it. Jonathan Merritt, writing for The Atlantic, has also condemned Falwell’s comments. He at least uses the Bible in an attempt to make his case but does so selectively. McLaren’s long article about Falwell’s gunarming message didn’t spend much time actually quoting the Bible and arguing for his opinion based on engagement with specific passages: “For us, authentic Christianity is the loving, peaceful, just and generous way of life embodied in Jesus. It is characterized more by self-giving than self-defense, by pre-emptive peacemaking rather than preemptive violence.” “Authentic Christianity” includes the whole Bible. Being loving, peaceful, just and generous, and self-giving do not nullify our responsibility to be prepared with a good “self-defense” strategy if we are ever confronted with a San Bernardino type situation. Being armed and willing to defend ourselves, our family, and our neighbors is not being unchristian or even unloving. Self-defense can go a long way to protect the innocent from people who are intent on murder for whatever reason. How “self-giving” should Christians in Paris or San Bernardino have been when
do you really believe ISIS will respond to pacifism? confronted with the worst kind of human evil? Would it have been more “self-giving” by dying at the hands of murderers or would it have been more loving to stop those who were pumping bullets into people?
not. The homeowner does not have to ask any questions to find out. The homeowner can respond by striking the intruder “so that he dies.” If this happens, even if the attempt was only theft (unknown to the home owner), the homeowner is cleared of all guilt in the thief’s death.
Overhearing their conversation, Sheik Ilderim says, “Balthasar is a good man. But until all men are like him, we must keep our swords bright!” If all those in the world had the heart of Balthasar, then there would be no need to discuss what the right response is regarding self-defense. That’s why Paul writes, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom. 12:18) The story of David and Goliath is helpful since “five smooth stones” and a “sling” are the closest equivalent to a handgun we can find in the Bible. David seems to have been armed with his sling at all times. There was no way he could run home to get his sling when a lion or a bear was about to attack his flock (1 Sam. 17:31-37, 41-54).
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McLaren’s article is devoid of any actual biblical argument. Jesus tells us “Blessed Daytime is a different story because the are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9), but He victim can make a better assessment of doesn’t tell us what our response should be intent. If two people enter a building with when someone, despite our best efforts AR15s and other weapons, killing these to be peaceful, still wants to steal, people before they kill you and others rape, and murder. We need to is the right thing to do. Being look at other parts of the loving, peaceful, just and Always Bible for help since the generous, and self-giving do realize, though, not apply. To put it simply, whole Bible is God’s word and not just the that the man who there’s no time. words in red. attacks you, or James B. Jordan has some John Piper’s antihelpful comments on the your wife, has Falwell’s comments issue of self-defense: forfeited all his made it all the way to the editorial pages of the “Under pagan influence, rights to ‘fair’ Washington Post. The Western civilization has treatment. same is true of evangelical sometimes adopted a notion of preacher Robert Schenck. ‘fair fighting.’ There is no such All of a sudden the Post is thing as a fair fight. The notion of a fair interested in what the Bible says when fight is Satanic and barbarous. If a child or evangelicals come out against arming for a man finds himself in a situation where an self defense but have no use for the Bible on appeal to arbitration is not possible, he the subjects of abortion and same-sex should fight with all he has. If the sexuality. neighborhood bully catches your child on the way home from school, and your child For Further Reading: “A Biblical Response to cannot escape by fleeing, your child should John Piper’s Denial of the Right to Bear poke a hole in him with a sharp pencil, or Arms.” kick him in the groin. If the bully’s parents will not restrain him, call the police. There’s Jesus’ injunction to “turn the other “If you or your child has been trained in self cheek” (Matt. 5:38-39). Jesus does not say defense, of course, you may be able to to keep turning your cheek. His message is dispatch your assailant with a minimum of about not escalating the situation. There’s force. Always realize, though, that the man quite a difference between slapping who attacks you, or your wife, has forfeited someone across the face and someone all his rights to ‘fair’ treatment. Women wanting to take a baseball bat to your head should be prepared to gouge out the eyes or the head of your wife and/or children. of any man who attacks them.” (James B. Self-defense is a biblical option in such Jordan, The Law and the Covenant: An cases. Consider this passage from biblical Exposition of Exodus 2123 (Tyler, Texas: case law: Institute for Christian Economics, 1984), 111-112.)) “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no In the 1959 film Ben Hur, there is a bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the discussion between Balthasar and Judah sun has risen on him, there will be Ben Hur about seeking revenge, which is bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall another subject altogether and not a selfsurely make restitution; if he owns nothing, defense issue (Rom. 12:18-21): then he shall be sold for his theft” (Ex. 22:23). Judah: I must deal with Messala in my own way. The homeowner can assume that someone breaking into his house at night has nothing Balthasar: And your way is to kill him. I see but bad intentions. He may be armed or this terrible thing in your eyes, Judah Ben-
Hur. But no matter what this man has done to you, you have no right to take his life. He will be punished inevitably.
It’s possible that Jesus had the Old Testament case law in mind when offered this injunction to His disciples: “But be sure of this, if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into” (Matt 24:43). But of course you rarely know when someone is going to break into your house, therefore, you must be on guard all the time. The same is true in situations like Paris and San Bernardino. But being on guard are not enough if you are unarmed and have to face an armed intruder. In another passage, Jesus is teaching by analogy: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder” (Luke 11:21). A fully armed strong man is a deterrent to a thief. It’s the fact that the strong man is armed that protects the potential thief from being harmed. Another strong man will think twice about ever trying to rob or harm someone who is armed. Continued to next page
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The most famous New Testament passage is a command of Jesus for His disciples to sell their garments and buy a sword (Luke 22:36-38). Personally, I do not believe this is a good proof text for being armed, but it does show that being armed was a norm for that time, and Jesus does not object. Peter impetuously uses his sword against a servant of the high priest (John 18:10; Matt. 26:51; Luke 22:50) who had come out with a crowd armed with clubs and swords (Luke 22:52). In biblical terms, his actions were impermissible and under biblical law would have required some form of restitution of which Jesus immediately made (Ex. 21:22-25). Under normal circumstances, swords were permissible for self-defense, otherwise why did the “chief priests and officers of the temple and elders” have them? There is, however, something else going on here of biblical theological importance that has little to do with self-defense. However the sword passage is interpreted, at no time did Jesus condemn anyone for having a sword. The disciples lived in dangerous times (Luke 10:29-37). Furthermore, the Romans didn’t seem to have a problem with their subjects (the Jews) owning swords.
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ndoubtedly, conservative Christians largely constitute the pro-life movement in America. But too frequently the tendency is to assign this identity of “pro-life” solely to conservative Christians, when this is not at all the case. The perception that only conservative Christians are pro-life is a boon to the proabortion movement, which has developed the self-serving stereotype that the pro-life movement is not inclusive or diverse.
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One group – Secular Pro-Life – is working to change that notion by drawing attention to the fact that there are over six million prolife adults in the United States who, as non-religious individuals, do not fit the stereotype. In a recent blog post, Secular ProLife described the initiative – the Six Million Project – to raise awareness about pro-life adults who are non-religious: The campaign features photographs of prolife atheists, agnostics, and “nones” from across the nation. “Every week, we get an email from someone to the effect of ‘I thought I was the only prolife atheist!'” said Kelsey Hazzard, the president of Secular Pro-Life. “It gets lonely out there. Non-religious pro-lifers are not often acknowledged in the mainstream media. This creates a vicious cycle; people think they’re alone, which makes them less likely to speak out for life, which makes others more likely to think they’re alone.” To break this cycle, Secular Pro-Life is running Facebook advertisements targeted to non-religious audiences, directing them to the Six Million Project website. The site encourages visitors to share their own photographs and to connect with likeminded people through Secular Pro-Life’s Facebook page. “We want to organize as much of this sixmillion-member community as possible,” Hazzard added. “To be an effective pro-life advocate, you need a strong support system.”
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According to the Guttmacher Institute, 27.5% of American abortion patients have no religion. “The best possible source of support for these women, the best chance they have to find an alternative to abortion, is a pro-life friend who shares their secular values,” said Hazzard. “This is a project that will save lives in the long term.”
Yes, There Are ProLife Atheists Out There. Here’s Why I’m One of Them There was a time when the lines seemed clearer and the slogans said everything. Prolifers were Jesus-loving Pope-followers with a passion for sticking rosaries on ovaries, and atheists were quick to respond with “Keep your theology off my biology!” But then lines began to blur. Atheist and civil libertarian journalist Nat Hentoff said that “Being without theology isn’t the slightest hindrance to being pro-life.” Atheist philosophy professor Don Marquis declared abortion is “immoral” because it denies developing fetuses “a future like ours.” The host of CFI’s Point of Inquiry, Robert M. Price, author of books like Jesus is Dead and The Case Against the Case for Christ, called abortion “second-degree murder” on one of his podcasts. Well, at least we still have the “Four Horsemen” safely in our ranks, right? Not quite. Even our beloved Christopher Hitchens considered “the occupant of the womb as a candidate member of society.” He also argued that “the unborn entity has a right on its side” and identified himself as involved with the pro-life movement. What the heck are we atheists supposed to do with all our “Keep your rosaries…” stickers now? … Sorry, Virginia, there really are pro-life atheists. American Atheists President David Silverman wasn’t wrong when he told a reporter at CPAC once, “I will admit there is a secular argument against abortion” (even if he didn’t agree with that position himself). When I partnered with fellow atheists from Secular Pro-Life to bring a display table to the 2012 American Atheists Convention, some bloggers really wanted to believe we were lying about our atheism, but it turns out we’re all True Scotsmen. The latest Gallup poll suggests that 19% of those
BY KRISTINE KRUSZELNICKI
Here’s what Falwell’s critics miss: Armed people save lives by making evil people think twice about attacking a person or place where there might be some armed push back. One could say that it’s loving to be armed since it might stop someone who has evil intent from not following through with an evil act.
‘Secular ProLife’ launches incentive to raise awareness of nonreligious pro lifers BY LAUREN ENRIQUEZ
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Continued from page 15 The two San Bernardino Muslims who murdered 14 and injured 17 never would have gone to the community center if they had known the people had followed something like what Jerry Falwell Jr. was calling on the student body at Liberty University to do.
there is an intrinsic value to not kill your offspring identifying as atheist, agnostic, or of no religious affiliation also identify as pro-life.
placing restrictions on her medical options is always a gross injustice and a violation. On the other hand, if we are talking about two human beings who should each be
Before we address the question of bodily autonomy in pregnancy, let’s meet the second player. What does science tell us that the preborn are? To be clear, science doesn’t define personhood. It never could. When I debated Matt Dillahunty on the issue of abortion at the 2012 Texas Freethought Convention, I’m afraid that as a first-time debater I really wasn’t clear enough on this point — and was consequently accused of trying to obtain rights from science. Science can’t tell us whether it’s wrong to rape women, torture children, enslave black people, or which physical traits should or should not matter when it comes to determining personhood. Science may be able to measure suffering in living creatures, but it can’t tell us why or if their suffering should matter. However,
science can tell us who among us belongs to the human species. When
it
comes
to
normal
human
reproduction, sperm and ovum merge to form a new whole. They cease to exist individually and become a new substance that is not the mother and not the father but a new body altogether, one that is also human and has the inherent capacity to develop through all stages of development. As Christopher Hitchens aptly said: The original embryonic “blastocyst” may be a clump of 64 to 200 cells that is only five days old. But all of us began our important careers in that form, and every needful encoding for life is already present in the apparently inchoate. We are the first generation to have to confront this as a certain knowledge.
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While that number is likely a bit smaller among absolute atheists and freethinkers, my by-atheists-for-atheists organization Pro-Life Humanists is constantly growing, as every week I connect with at least one or two more pro-life atheists from around the world and across social media. Some are still closeted and think they’re the only prolife person in their local secular community. I am confident most of them are not alone. Our global atheist community is more diverse than we’ve been led to believe, and many pro-life atheists walk among us. Welcome to a new chapter in secularism! … Many people have a hard time understanding why I might be a pro-life atheist. Here are my responses to some of their more common objections: It doesn’t matter whether or not the fetus is a human being, because women have bodily autonomy rights and no human can have non-consensual access to her body. Well not so fast. If the fetus is not a human being with his/her own bodily rights, it’s true that infringing on a woman’s body by
entitled to their own bodily rights, in the unique situation that is pregnancy, we aren’t justified in following the route of might-makes-right simply because we can. Bigger and older humans don’t necessarily trump younger and more dependent humans. Rights must always be justified and ethically grounded lest they become a tool of tyranny.
But embryos and fetuses can’t be our equals — they’re not fully developed yet! They aren’t self aware or sentient! They can’t survive on their own! Well, of course they can’t. But why isn’t a fetus self-aware or sentient? Why hasn’t an embryo developed a functioning brain or the capacity to breathe on its own? Isn’t it merely because she or he is younger? Isn’t that just the way human beings at their age and stage naturally develop and function? While we wouldn’t give our car keys to toddlers on account of their current capacities, neither would we kill them for not having reached a developmental milestone yet. If we deny personhood and justify the death of a fetus simply because he or she has not developed to the point of sentience yet, that makes abortion the deadliest form of age discrimination. When we talk about rights and personhood, we leave the realm of science for that of philosophy and ethics. History is ripe with examples of real biological human beings whose societies arbitrarily decided they didn’t qualify as equals, on account of criteria deemed morally relevant. At one point (and still, in many ways, today), it was skin color, gender, and ethnic background. Now, we can add to that list consciousness, sentience, and viability. We haven’t evolved so fast in 50 years as to be immune from tribalistic us vs. them
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thinking. If science defines a fetus as a biological member of our species, is it possible that our society is just as wrong in denying them personhood? Furthermore, if self-awareness is to be the dividing line, anyone unconscious or in a coma might not be considered a person, while those in a heightened state of awareness due to drugs would trump the rest of us. If we determine that the ability to suffer and feel pain is what counts, then any born person with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain can be stripped of equal rights and killed. If higher brain function or a greater degree of health are what matter, then anyone with a higher IQ or a greater longevity and health than your own should be free to decide that your unfortunate quality of life makes your existence not worth continuing. Only the pro-life position — that all human beings should be granted the common right to continue their lives as human persons, regardless of their age, stage, gender, sexual orientation, race, or physical form and abilities — is truly egalitarian and fair for all human beings. But so what? Even if the unborn are human beings worthy of personhood even in their earliest stage of development, under normal circumstances, no one has a right to use someone else’s body against their consent. This is true. And, likewise, under normal circumstances no one should be killed for being too young to care for themselves independently. Unfortunately, pregnancy is completely unlike any normal circumstances or normal human relationship. What happens when both a woman and her developing fetus are regarded as human beings entitled to personhood and bodily rights? Any way you cut it, their rights are always going to conflict (at least until womb transfers become a reality). So what’s the reasonable response? It could start by treating both parties at conflict as if they were equal human beings. Human society has determined that parents have an obligation to nourish and protect their dependent offspring. The more vulnerable and dependent someone is, the more we are obligated to not abandon them. That a fetus is singularly dependent on one woman for the duration of nine months is not an argument for abortion, but against it. If an unrelated
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infant were abandoned on your doorstep miles from civilization with no one in a position to reach you and release you of your charge, would you not be obligated to at least provide basic life-sustaining care until such a time as care could be passed on to another person? Would this not be true even though you did not consent to the arrival of the dependent human, who was in fact forced upon you? Would you be any less obligated to try to keep this child alive if doing so was wearisome and taxing on your body, though not life-threateningly so? If this is true of one’s duty to sustain a vulnerable and dependent stranger until care can be passed on to another, how much more obligated is a woman to her own prenatal offspring? … And there you have an introduction to an abortion debate that is void of Bibles, popes, and rosaries. I realize that this brief secular case against abortion undoubtedly raises as many questions as it has answered. After all, if we make abortion illegal, won’t that make them more dangerous for women? Do we believe women who have abortions should face jail sentences? Should fetuses be counted in the census, and if so, what happens when a woman miscarries? Are we trying to put a stop to the work of Planned Parenthood and other women’s clinics? To adequately deconstruct these concerns would require lengthy articles unto themselves, which is why I hope this will be the beginning of ongoing dialogue amongst atheists on this matter. I understand some of the concerns that people have about the pro-life position. Can we grant fetuses rights without endangering and hurting the lives of women? Indeed, no one wants to see women injured or harmed in a dangerous illegal abortion! And therein lies a conversation that a civilized society must have if we are to truly treat every member of our species with equality. Can we legally condone one human being killing another human being because one might otherwise risk her life and health to do so? Or are there better ways to address the problems that drive so many countless women to feel they have no choice but abortion? Pro-life feminist Frederica Mathewes Green once said “No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.” Abortion advocates correctly
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perceive the trap, but they merely offer the woman a sterile knife to aid in the amputation. Real help does not sacrifice one human life at the expense of another but goes to the source of the trap to unscrew the hinge and free both. (After reading the comments, the words “pro-life feminist” were added to the beginning of this paragraph to make clear Mathewes-Green’s stance on the issue. Sorry for any confusion.) If we all work together to come up with real choices for women — better birth control, better maternity leave, subsidized daycare, a living wage, flexible work schedules, better schooling options, more attractive open-adoption and temporary foster care options, etc. — abortion may roll itself into the world of obsolescence, regardless of its legal status. That being said, if the pre-born are human members of our species and worthy of recognition as human persons, we have just as much of an obligation to protect them from the choices of other human beings and to ensure that violence against them is not legal and condoned. I’m an atheist and I’m pro-life because some choices are wrong, violent, and unjust — and I want to do whatever I can to make abortion both unthinkable and unnecessary. … [Note: The opinions expressed in this post are those of the writer and not my own. I realize I should’ve included this message earlier, but I didn’t. Oh well. Blog and learn.] This is a guest post written by Kristine Kruszelnicki. Kristine is the President of ProLife Humanists.
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"Familiarity with vice does not produce disgust, it produces attachment." (John MacArthur)
FROM EDWARD JONES FINANCIAL ADVISOR
Estate Planning Tips for Blended Families Most of us need to do some type of estate planning, but it’s especially important if you are part of a “blended” family. And the best time to start is now – before these plans need to be implemented. Estate planning can be complex, so you will need help from a qualified legal professional. But here are a few general suggestions that can be suitable for blended families: Update beneficiary designations – and think about multiple beneficiaries. Update the beneficiary designations on your retirement accounts and insurance policies to reflect the reality of your blended family. These designations can supersede the instructions you provided in your will. So if your will states that your current spouse should inherit your assets, but you had named your former spouse, or a child, as the primary beneficiary of an IRA, then your former spouse or your child – not your present-day spouse – will indeed receive the IRA. To ensure that “everyone gets something,” you could name your current spouse as primary beneficiary and your children from a previous marriage as equal contingent beneficiaries. But the primary beneficiary will receive all the assets and is free to do whatever he or she wants with the money. To enact your wishes, you can name multiple primary beneficiaries and designate the percentage of the asset each beneficiary will receive. Create a living trust – and consider a
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professional trustee. A living trust can help you avoid the time-consuming and costly process of probate, while giving you great freedom to determine how, and when, you want your assets distributed. After you pass away, the trust, if structured properly, can provide your surviving spouse with income for life; then, after your spouse dies, your children from an earlier marriage would receive the remainder of the trust. So far, so good. However, issues can arise if you name your surviving spouse or one of your children as the “successor trustee” who will take charge of the trust upon your passing. Your spouse, acting as successor trustee, could choose to invest only in bonds for income, but if he or she lives another 20 or so years, the value of the investments within the trust will probably have diminished considerably – leaving your children with very little. Conversely, if you name one of your children as trustee, the child could invest strictly in growthoriented investments, leaving your surviving spouse with greatly reduced income. To be fair to everyone, you may want to engage a professional thirdparty trustee. This individual, or company, is not a beneficiary of the trust, is not entitled to share in the assets of the trust, and, ideally, should have no “rooting interest” in how proceeds of the trust are distributed.
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Consider a prenuptial agreement – When it’s time to settle an estate, a prenuptial agreement can help avoid disputes among members of a blended family. If you and your new spouse have agreed to keep your assets separate so that each of you can pass an inheritance to your own children, you need to spell out that separation in your “prenup,” your will, your living trust and any other relevant estateplanning arrangements. Above all else, share your estate-planning intentions with members of your blended family. You may not be able to satisfy everyone, but through open communications, you can help prevent bad feelings – and unpleasant surprises. This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors are not estate planners and cannot provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your estateplanning or qualified tax advisor regarding your situation.
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united on the most essentials
Where do Protestants and Catholics stand together? • • • • • • • • •
The triunity of God The nature of God The revelation of God The person of Jesus Christ The saving work of Christ The Holy Spirit The glory and travesty of human beings The belief that God initiates salvation The conviction that God makes us his people, and the certainty that we have legitimate future hope • Stalwart defenders of the unborn Though there is no exhaustive agreement in each of these areas, there is an important measure of it.
Would you like to join the ministry of the American Christian Voice? The American Christian Voice Ministry Team is looking for retired persons who would like to join us in promoting this magazine in your area. We would send you approximately 75 copies of each issue that we publish. You can then distribute them to hospital waiting rooms, nursing homes, Christian Bookstores and any place magazines are displayed. You have the option to cover the cost that we charge ($25.00 or approximately 33 cents per copy) and just paper your travels with them or you are permitted to sell each copy to book and gift stores. An example: Sell each copy for $1.50 and the retailer would sell it for $3.95. You would receive $112.50 less your $25.00 and have $87.50 for gas and lunch expenses. (However magazines are normally sold on consignment.) As your ministry grows, you can order as many issues as you would like at $25.00 per box of 75. If you have been blessed by the ACV just think how rewarding it will be to bless others that would never have come across it otherwise! Just drop us a note with your first $25.00 check or call us with a credit card at: (417) 336-3636. Obviously you would not need to pay for a personal subscription anymore.
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america gets a new chance small country with a big statesman, surrounded by huge Arab enemy forces has stood alone for several years as their ally, the United States, has stepped back. The country is Israel and in this map, she is so
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statesmanship as he revisits all the facts. We can have hope as President-elect Trump in his policy statement on Israel addressed several key issues. These include:
small that it is hard to locate her. Yet, this democratic nation has been asked to give up land to accommodate their Arab enemies and buy peace. As you can see from the map, the Arab countries have plenty of territory. Israel is about the same size as New Jersey. The land grab has never worked and it will never will. You have heard it said that “If the Palestinians and other surrounding nations laid down their weapons, there would be peace. If Israel lays down her weapons, she will cease to exist.” As we open the United States to a new administration, it is imperative that we rethink what has been happening in Israel and know that against all odds, God has stood with them. Their neighbors continue to fight and to blow themselves up, while Israel brings the world amazing inventions in almost every field. Who is on the Lord’s side? How can a country so small stand tall amid turmoil and discontent all around? It is time for us to once again come to their aid. We must pray that President elect Donald Trump doesn’t see a two-state solution by taking land from this already small country. We pray that he studies the history and backs Benjamin Netanyahu and mimics his
• Recognizing Israel as a strong ally that does not need nation building but only support from the US • Standing against the move to boycott Israel’s products • Cutting off funds to the UN Human Rights Council who are predominately dictator led countries without regard for Israel • Supporting college students who stand with Israel • Recognizing that the terrorist led and funded Palestinian state would be a mistake • Seeing that Israel will be able to maintain defensible borders • Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel moving the US embassy to that city • And last but not least; counteract the moves of Iran to become a nuclear power. May God continue to bless Israel and the United States of America. Only God can help Trump to bring these insights to reality. President elect Trump has a huge mandate and only with God’s help can we move to accomplish the impossible. The Bible says that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. This makes our decision easy. Do we want to be blessed as a nation or cursed?
Special thanks to Kay and Joy for making the American Christian Voice available coast to coast!
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America, blessed or cursed?
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The Gold Star Families Voices Act – which was introduced in the Senate by Blumenthal and cosponsored in the House by Esty – now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) applauded Senate approval today of legislation to expand the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project to allow
for the sharing of information on the lives of service members who are missing in action or who have died as a result of their service. The bipartisan Gold Star Families Voices Act was introduced in the Senate by Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (D-KS) and led in the House by Esty, U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), and others. The bill, which was voted out of the House of Representatives earlier this year, was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 97-0 and now heads to President
Obama’s desk for signature. “The Veterans History Project is an incredible national resource that allows our men and women in uniform to share their stories with generations of future Americans. But that narrative – which is so critical to understanding and preserving our history – is incomplete without the voices of service members missing or killed in action,” Blumenthal said. “I am proud to join a bipartisan group in Congress – including Senator Moran and my Connecticut colleague, Representative Esty – in leading this effort to help ensure that those who made the ultimate sacrifice are never forgotten.” “We can only have a full understanding of the reality of war if we hear from those who have felt that reality most deeply – the loved ones of the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation,” Esty said. “I’m thrilled to see this legislation on the verge of becoming law. Once it does, I’m excited to interview Gold Star Families from our community like the Nolans, Kights, and Reichs to ensure their enormous contributions to our nation’s freedom and security are preserved for generations to come. Their stories will help ensure that future Americans honor and understand the sacrifices that our fallen heroes and their families have made.” Congress created the VHP in 2000 to collect and catalog the stories of American war veterans. The purpose of the VHP is “to preserve the memories of this Nation’s war veterans so that Americans of all current and future generations may hear directly from veterans and better appreciate the realities of war and the sacrifices made by those who served in uniform during wartime.” To date, the VHP has collected the
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oral history records of more than 100,000 veterans who have served in military engagements since World War I. The Gold Star Families Voices Act would allow the parents, spouses, siblings and children of servicemembers who are missing or killed in action to participate in the VHP by telling the stories of their loved ones. Blumenthal and Esty have also both introduced legislation to establish stamps that honor those who have died in service to their country. Blumenthal recently sponsored the Gold Star Families Voices Act, which would honor the sacrifice of Gold Star Families by re-issuing the “Gold Star” stamp that the U.S. Post Office Department first issued in 1948.
Gold Star Family Inn coming to Branson The Stonewall West Motor Inn is the designated home for the all new Gold Star Family Inn. The building will be remodeled and feature a number of micro, double and triple room suites provided by local and national businesses that will bear thier name.
We need an “Army of volunteers” for skilled labor as well as finances. You can be a part of this great project. There is a place for you and the gifts God has instilled in you to open in 2017. For more information call John at 417336 3636. Together we will restore honor to those that have been grossly ignored by a liberal, unhonorable culture. There is a fresh wind blowing. Be a part of it!
www.GoldStarFamilyInn.com
T
he term Gold Star Family is a end of World War II. The Gold Star modern reference that comes Lapel Button was established in from the Service Flag. These August 1947. flags/banners were first flown by Today, the nation recognizes the families during World War I. The flag sacrifice that all Gold Star Family included a blue star for every members make when a father, mother, immediate family member serving in brother, sister, son, daughter, or other the armed loved one forces of No one has given more for the nation dies in the United service to than the families of the fallen. States, the nation. during any Gold Star period of war or hostilities in which Mother’s and Family’s Day is the last the armed forces of the United States Sunday of September and Gold Star were engaged. If that loved one died, Spouses Day is April 5. The strength of the blue star was replaced by a gold our nation is our Army. The strength star. This allowed members of the of our Army is our Soldiers. The community to know the price that the strength of our Soldiers is our family had paid in the cause of families. The Army freedom. recognizes that no one has given The United States began observing more for Gold Star Mother's Day on the last the nation Sunday of September, in 1936. The than the Gold Star Wives was formed before the families of the fallen. Who hasn’t thought, “What can I do to honor these special families? How can we reach out to family members that have lost a loved one who has fallen in the service our country?” The number one request from the dying on the battlefields has always been, “Please take care of my family”. Our goal is to honor the Gold Star Families by providing one week in our Gold Star Family Inn located in beautiful Branson, Missouri. These rooms will be
nicely appointed suites that have all the amenities as well as free Gold Star Club tickets to the hottest shows in town to honor a fallen hero's family.
“A Buck in the Box in the Back” 100% of the proceeds donated to the Gold Star Club will be used to directly secure the facility to bless a family of the fallen. We all can play a small part of this by “putting a buck in the box in the back” the first Sabbath/Sunday of every month. All we are asking for is $1.00 per month. So, even at a dollar per person we can collectively make a difference! So… can we add your church to the list and have you join the Gold Star Club by signing up for the donation box and presenting it to your fellowship? Together we can make a difference to the families that made the greatest sacrifice of all! Your church’s name will be painted on one concrete block of the Gold Star Family Inn to encourage many other fellowships to join in.
Order your box today! You will be able to follow our progress and your involvement at:
www.GoldStarFamilyInn.com
VOL.12 #7 | WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM
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puzzle page
Online readers, we’ve included a link to printable PDF puzzle page!
ACROSS 1 Father of Cain 5 Pulls 9 Own 13 Mongolian desert 14 Strong rope fiber 15 Doorway sign 16 Poetic "evening" 17 European country 18 Reserve Officers Training Corps. 19 Samson's evil wife 21 Prophet swallowed by fish 22 Last word of a prayer 24 The Creator 25 Sports 29 Tell 31 Gross national product (abbr.) 34 Tiny particles 35 Plague of Egypt 36 Brand of sandwich cookie 37 Island off of China 39 Feeding troughs for animals 41 Skin 42 See ya! 44 Tylenol's competitor 45 Annex 46 Cold person's noise 47 Fisherman disciple 48 Youngest son of Noah 49 Seaweed
52 Statement of beliefs 55 Tonight Show host (2 wds.) 60 __ hoop 61 Helper 64 Type of tea 65 Russia 66 __ and the door shall be opened 67 Measure of wood 68 Gather 69 Account (abbr.) 70 Son of Seth DOWN 1 Mature 2 Bird; symbol of Holy Spirit 3 Cain's brother 4 Short 5 A tenth part 6 North American nation 7 Young woman 8 Wily 9 King when Jesus was born 10 Nerve fiber 11 Brief autobiographical sketch 12 __-a-sketch 14 Thailand once 20 Cowboy rope 21 The patience of __ 23 BB association 24 Merry 25 Blunder 26 Coral reef
27 Ethical 28 TV award 30 Type of car 31 Say "hello" 32 Mettle 33 Pretender 35 Secret of Samson's strength 36 Stare at 38 Filthy film 40 Kinky 43 Noah's boat 46 Unpleasant 48 Biblical seat of emotions 50 Kick out 51 Songbird 52 Crony 53 Tactic 54 Otherwise 56 Plague of Egypt 57 Economics abrv. 58 A Roman emperor 59 Chances of winning 61 Also known as (abbr.) 62 Incorporated (abbr.) 63 Medical practitioner
Dear Lord, Help me not despise the things I do not know or understand. ~William Penn
Answers to Sudoku Puzzle on Page 28
Answers to CrossWord Puzzle on Page 45
God Loves you just the way you are, not the way you should be. Because no one is as they should be. - Brennan Manning
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grace filled fellowships • Spiritfilled Davidic style Praise & Worship • Annoited Bible-based teaching • Fellowship after each service • Nursery & Children’s Shabbat School
PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA) WORSHIP SERVICES: Praise & Worship Sun. @ 8:30 a.m. Education Hour - 9:15 a.m. Liturgy &Traditional Service - 10:30 a.m.
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The only power sin has is the power you give it when you refuse to take hold of the sincrushing strength of the Holy Spirit.
Gateway Austin, TX Northwest Austin: McNeil Campus South Austin: South Campus Internet Campus: internetcampus@gatewaychurch.com www.GatewayChurch.com Gateway Branson, MO Located in the Vista Plaza Shopping Center on the backside 2005 West Highway 76 • Suite 106 Branson, MO • (417) 335-9915
His life is your life, His death is your death, His righteousness is your righteousness
S t i l l Wa t e r s International Ministries
Waking the World to their Loving Creator Okay, so we are not a typical church but we are a training ground to make disciples for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit! Come visit OUR FAMILY Sunday morning at 9:45 am and you will see what we mean.
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FRUSTRATED WITH RELIGION?? This fellowship offers no judgments (not our job). Ready for a mind blowing perspective on how to really find Joy in this life, right now! Your horrible past experiences will be broken off leaving a new opportunity to experience God on a level you did not think possible! -MEMBER
The basis for loving our neighbors, and for unity in Christ, is not proximity, understanding or commonality. We are one in Christ not because we are one in the same, but because Christ is the same. It is an impoverished theology that mistakes unity in Christ for sameness in Christ. - Leslie Leylands
"Sharing Freedom in Christ" Pastor: Andy Hassen • 1521 E. 24th Street N. Springfield, MO 65803
(417) 8316721 Sabbath School: 9:45 am • Worship: 11:00 am Wednesday night: 6:30 pm
www.SpringfieldCOG7.org
A week without a Sabbath is perpetual bondage. 28
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VISIT ONCE AND YOU ARE HOOKED ! ! ! 42 years of Healing Hurts and Building Dreams. FAITH ASSEMBLY 2 miles South of Beautiful Harrison, MO (2 blocks West of Hwy. 7) 9:30 A,M. Sunday School: 10.30 A.M. Worship; 6 PM. Praise; Wed. 7 PM. Training for all ages. Pastor Arlis Thrasher. (870) 7412635
Sudoku Answers to Page 27
Springfield Church of God (7th Day)
BY
don’t have attitude that it is impossible
Can We Really Expect Teens to Avoid PreMarital Sex? n the sex-crazed culture of today, this question still begs to be answered. “Can we really expect teens to avoid pre-marital sex?” The real answer to the question may, in large part, depend on who you ask. Or on what we believe to be true about sex, and where our ideas are founded. In a world that says sex before marriage is “normal and expected,” anything else is viewed as ancient and archaic thinking. “Did God really say….” the voices of our culture ask, lured by the same familiar voice that confronted Eve in the garden one fateful day. “Surely He did not mean…” Doubts start to rise and overshadow truth. We feel pressured to try and rationalize behavior or choices in order to find acceptance and update our thinking. To get with the times. To be more “relevant” for today. Though the Bible speaks with great clarity about the dangers of sex outside marriage, some still argue that if they’re in a “consensual, loving relationship,” it should be “OK” to have sex. And many will.But many others will choose to wait. No matter what we hear in the latest headlines or see in top Hollywood movies, the truth that no one’s really talking about is this: not everyone is saying “yes” to sex before marriage. Many teens, and young adults, are choosing to wait for marriage. And they’re setting new trends. Recent statistics show that the number of teens participating in sex has dramatically decreased over the last years, in fact it is lower now than 20 years ago. An article from U.S. News this past year stated, “Teens today are having less sex than their parents were at the same age, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC data released Wednesday show dramatic decreases in teen sexual activity since 1988, when the rate was 22 percent higher among males and 14 percent higher among females.” This may be attributed to the fact that families are talking. Conversations are happening, discussions on tough topics. Truth is being shared. Parents are praying. Young people are choosing to respect themselves and others. They are feeling empowered to say “no,” instead of being pressured into saying “yes.” They are believing God’s words to be true and are choosing to stand strong against the lies of the enemy. And really, maybe the questions we should be asking are these: Who will we
BY DEBBIE McDANIEL
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choose to listen to? Who will our kids listen to? The lies of our world and media messages? Or the Truth that sets us free? Raising kids in a world saturated with sex and technology demands more attention than ever from parents. Whether or not we decide to talk openly and honestly with our kids, our culture certainly will. It’s been talking, already, straight to hearts and minds, for a very long time. And as we know, it has quite a lot to say - about sex. The good news is, we’re not alone. God has a lot to say about sex too. After all, He created it. And it seems that the soundest of wisdom would come straight from the One who thought it all up. Many people falsely believe that the Bible is only a bunch of rules meant to restrict our fun and happiness. But God’s Word is what gives safe boundaries to live by. Christ came so that we can live abundant, full lives. And the only way to truly live that out is by living according to His words. He came to set free, not to enslave us to a standard we could never live up to. The lie says that we are most free when we’re just doing our own thing, living how we choose. But the truth is, we’re enslaved, living captive to sin, and we can never fully escape those chains of temptation and defeat outside of His power and strength. His Word isn’t based on changing trends. It doesn’t shift with the latest hot topics. It isn’t an old fashioned book with little significance for today. It doesn’t speak in shades of gray but with clarity and wisdom. It is living and active, relevant for our culture, even in this technology driven, sexsaturated world. Because our God never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Sex is a gift. And the best gifts in life often come with the greatest cautions. Enjoying this gift within the boundaries of marriage, the way that God intends, is worth the wait. Always. God’s Spirit is moving in this generation and He is raising up young warriors to be strong leaders in our world today, who understand the times, but base their relevancy, not on culture’s shifting sands, but on the word of God that stands forever. May He continue to fill them with courage to make hard choices based on His words of truth. May He guard their ways, leading them on paths of what is right, walking beside them every day, and covering their steps from behind. May He draw their hearts to want to know Him more, and give
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them a desire for godliness over the temptations the enemy will hurl their way. And in the times when they stumble, may they quickly find their way back to Him, knowing that His forgiveness is real and His love covers all. There is power in the One who breathes new life…who gives hope, forgiveness, and courage, to live differently…to live set apart. Let’s keep praying for our young people, sharing Truth and not being afraid to have hard conversations. Let’s keep believing that God has a future and great hope in store, that as they journey into a world that seems dark, we can know they are safe in His hands. For His power is greater.
10 Verses of Truth for Living Wisely: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 • “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Prov. 14:12 • “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Cor. 10:13 • “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;” 1 Thess. 4:3 • “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” 1 Cor. 6:18 • “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.…” Eph. 6:1011 • “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:12 • “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:17 • “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 • “…the word of the Lord stands forever…” 1 Pet. 1:25 Debbie McDaniel is a writer, pastor's wife, mom to three amazing kids (and a lot of pets). Join her each morning on Fresh Day Ahead's facebook page, for daily encouragement in living strong, free, hope filled lives. Find her also at twitter.
www.Crosswalk.com
wise foks warn against it... why? woman, committed in marriage, for the rest of their lives.
20 Reasons to Avoid Premarital Sex
od is clear that His wonderful gift of physical intimacy is to reserved for the boundaries of marriage. Inside of those boundaries, the sexual relationship is a gift that blesses a couple and a family abundantly. Outside of that biblical commitment, the sexual relationship is always destructive, empty, and sinful. God’s word for this is “fornication”—1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”
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In all of my counseling, I never meet people who are glad that they have committed fornication. After the fact, there is ALWAYS regret. Here’s a short list why fornication is always a really bad idea: 1. It breaks God’s laws and dishonors Him—search a concordance for the word “fornication.” We could stop here—it’s all we really need to know. 2. It presents huge physical risk—diseases and illness are rampant among those who engage in this lifestyle. 3. It presents huge emotional risk—a physical and emotional bond without a spiritual commitment is never a winning experience. 4. It presents huge spiritual risk—grieving the Holy Spirit and offending a holy God means we forfeit God’s best. We never win by dishonoring God. 5. It is awkward, guilt ridden, unfulfilling, and not representative of God’s original intent—hence a culture that continually seeks fulfillment with new partners and relationships. 6. It is disappointing at the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels—the only physical intimacy that exceeds expectations is that founded on long-term commitment and marital growth. 7. It creates a spiritual/emotional bond without commitment—this only breeds resentment, bitterness, and the feeling of being used. It says something like this, “I don’t love you enough to commit to you, but I love me enough to use you.” 8. It destroys trust—the best way to have trust in a marriage is to stay pure before
you get married. Learning to be committed to Christ (in purity) is the best way to learn to be committed to a spouse. 9. It creates resentment and frustration—it was designed to happen within a committed marriage of selfless love. Outside of that, fornication just breaks the heart and wounds the soul. 10. It leaves you empty and searching for real love—physical intimacy doesn’t create a loving, committed relationship, it’s the fruit of one. 11. It devalues the future intimacy of your marriage—intimacy is “just the two of us.” Premarital relationships destroy that before it even happens. 12. It prevents the greatest intimacy in marriage—the purest and most fulfilling marital relationship is that which is forever untouched by previous relationships. (If you have failed morally, don’t lose hope. Claim God’s grace, and begin protecting your future marriage today by abstaining from further fornication.) Jesus doesn’t shame you, but He would say, “Go and sin no more.” 13. It sets a person on a path of unfulfilling sexual experiences—fornication is a downward spiral of perpetually unfulfilling relationships. 14. It attempts to shortcut God’s plan for marriage and family—it turns God’s great gift of family and love into a cheap thrill and self-centered pleasure quest. 15. It prevents you from having the most fulfilling sexual relationship—while a person is sleeping around, they are NOT preparing for the wonderful lifetime relationship that God intended. 16. It enlarges sexual desires and makes them insatiable—thinking with your hormones allows them to become an unruly taskmaster. 17. It puts the flesh and hormones in control of your life—you are more than a chemical reaction that seeks gratification. Don’t allow your life to be directed by physical desires. Submit those desires to the Holy Spirit, and let them be fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s way. 18. It creates children without strong homes—God intends this relationship to create a family with a foundation of commitment and lifetime love. 19. It feeds the abortion industry—illicit relationship creates unwanted children which creates “the abortion industry.” 20. It cannot be done safely—no matter what culture says—safe sex is one man, one
If you have never committed fornication, God has a simple message for you—DON’T. (Eph. 5:3) If you are committing fornication, God also has a simple message for you—STOP. (Acts 15:29) God is the giver of the wonderful gift of marriage. He is the Creator of life, love, marriage, and sex. Obeying His plan is always right and always blessed.
BY CARY SCHMIDT
Premarital (or extramarital) sex is always a losing proposition!
And a life of wonderful, married intimacy is one more thing… WELL WORTH THE WAIT! Encouraging Words blog is the result of my daily ministry and family life—a meager attempt to share things that God is teaching me personally. My goal is simply to edify my church family and Christian friends. God gives me the privilege to be the Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newington, CT. I serve Jesus with my wife and best friend, Dana; our three children and our two grandchildren.
www.CarySchmidt.com
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a nonChristian perspective from terribly. Trophyism - “the
Has Porn Ruined My Chance Of A Happy Marriage? idea that beautiful women are
TRANSCRIPT OF RUSSELL BRAND
A NonChristian Perspective (VLOG transcript) What does softcore porn do to us? And what does porn in general do to men and women (regarding) how we relate to each other? Or how all adults relate to each other? Suppose the undercurrent is right. Sex is something we’re all interested in because of biological programming but our attitudes towards sex has become warped and perverted, and have deviated from its true function as an expression of love and procreation because our culturation, the way we have designed and expressed it, has become really, really confused. I heard a quote from a priest (John Paul II), “Pornography isn’t a problem because it shows too much. It’s a problem because it shows us too little.” I don’t think what that priest meant is that he would like to see more gynecological and more filthy shots of things. I think what he’s saying is that pornography reduces the spectacle of sex to a kind of extracted physical act. There’s a lot of statistics that we’ve got about pornography. The Journal of Adolescent Health talk about the effects of prolonged exposure to porn including an exaggerated perception of sexual activity in society (yeah, I think that a bit), diminished trust between intimate couples (I get that sometimes), the abandonment of hope of sexual monogamy (sometimes I wonder if it’s possible), the belief that promiscuity is the natural state. I don’t want to have that belief because I was obsessed with porn when I was a teenager. And it was nostalgic mad stuff that makes me sound old now because we had to find magazines under beds. So living in this culture now where there’s icebergs of filth floating through every house on wifi... it is inconceivable what it must be like to be an young adolescent boy now with this kind of access to porn. It must be dizzying and
exciting but corrupting in a way we cannot even think about. In fact Jill Manning, the sociologist says “The upper limits of the impact of this amount of porn haven’t been realized because these people haven’t reached sexual maturity.” But I think my own relationship with pornography is kind of the hub of my feelings of inner conflict and doubt. I know that pornography is wrong, that I shouldn’t be looking at it. Yet, a lot of people that are in it are doing so ‘cause of the wrong reasons: desperation, self doubt. I’m sure there are loads of other people that work in pornography that go “hey, I love it.” But there’s a general feeling when you look at your core that, “This isn’t the best thing for me to do. This isn’t the best use of my time now.” I don’t put that laptop lid down and think, “There! Productive piece of time spent connecting with the world!” I feel like if I had total dominion over myself, I would never look at pornography again. One day, at a time I will kick it out from under my life. One of the reasons that I sense that pornography isn’t good for me as an individual is because of the kind of conclusions reached by Gary R. Brooks who’s observed the consumption of softcore pornography like Playboy. He talks about the five main symptoms of looking at softcore porn. But softcore porn really is everywhere. 50 Shades of Grey is softcore porn. TV advertisements, billboards are full of softcore porn. And here are some of the effects of the symbolism of this culture: Voyeurism - “an obsession of looking at women rather than interacting with them.” I do that sometimes. I just think “That woman looks beautiful.” I never think “I hope she gets on well with that. I hope she doesn’t have diabetes.” What she’s like, her soul, another person in infinite space. I just think, “Well, she looks nice.” Objectification - “an attitude in which women are objects, rated by size, shape, harmony of body parts.” Guilty of that all the time because I’ve been acculturated and trained to. This is something I work on like “No, come on, see everybody as equal human beings.” But once that biological drive to procreate is connected with a culture of objectification, that’s a very hard equation to break. Validation - “the need to validate masculinity through beautiful women.” This is something that I’ve suffered
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collectibles who show the world what a man is.” Oh no, I’ve done that before. Fear of true intimacy - “inability to relate to women in an honest and intimate way, despite deep oneliness.” “Pornography exalts man’s sexual need over his need of sensuality and intimacy.” I think because I’ve been exposed to such a lot pornography from such a young age, it is clear that those phenomena I personally relate to. As I was reading, some of you were going “No, that’s a lot of codswallop.” Me, pornography is not something I like; it’s something that I haven’t been able to make a long term commitment to not looking at, and it’s affecting my ability to relate to women, to relate to myself, my own sexuality, my own spirituality. So I feel like 50 Shades of Grey, even if it’s from a female’s perspective, “Hey, it’s only a problem when we have women’s porn. Men’s porn is no problem.” No, men’s porn’s a problem as well. It’s like trying to solve the problem of racism by inventing a word for black people to call white people that’s equally as bad as the ‘N’ word. The direction we should be going in is how can we understand our sexuality, how can we express it lovingly in harmony with the principles that is there to demonstrate procreation and sensual love between consenting adults. There’s a cloud of pornographic information in even soft cultural smog like 50 Shades of Grey and dumb advertisements of lollipops and stuff. It’s making it impossible for us to relate to our own sexuality, our own psychology, and our own spirituality because it’s a powerful primal resource, whenever it’s plugged in, it’s jarring and distracting. I think what it is is the circuit in the mind that is connected to sexuality moves very quickly. The circuit in the mind that’s connected to love and compassion is a little bit slower. So if you’re constantly bombarded with great waves of filth, it’s really difficult to remain connected to truth. Try to have an idea of what you want from a loving relationship and what you want from sexuality. Do have a lovely weekend. I’m going to just shut this laptop now before it causes me any more problems. Russell Brand is a self described hedonist but sees the intrinsic value in avoiding pornography and to his credit is intellectually honest about the subject. ed
without this, everything else is vain in any of the The Love Required of God’s Children not essentials) –
A
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BY EDWIN BUDD
Part I which would you personally prefer to Introduction: Why is it important? attend? A new commandment I give to you, that you It’s sad for me to say this, but I have to love one another; as I have loved you, that speak the truth. Many church visitors have you also love one another. By this all will one “main criticism” – they perceive a lack know that you are My disciples, if you have of love towards them. I’ve also listened to love for one another.” ~ John 13:34-35 many members of churches who have felt ________________________ unloved at times in their life when they have police officer who would be “fearful” been down in spirit. of man would not be a very good Now, I realize officer. I believe it’s Now, I realize that the devil that the devil especially the same for any preacher especially takes advantage of our takes advantage of our of the Gospel. If you “fear” feelings when we are down, but feelings when we are men, you should quit there is a degree of truth in the down, but there is a preaching and find criticism being leveled at us. I degree of truth in the another vocation. have heard this feeling of a lack of criticism being leveled at Sometimes articles step love from very quality members us. I have heard this on the toes of those who of many churches – even feeling of a lack of love read them. This could be including officers of the church. from very quality such an article! This should not be, and I would members of many Over the past 38 years, like to address the subject of our churches – even I’ve observed many who duty to love one another in this including officers of the call themselves Christians. series of articles. church. This should not And I’ve seen actions that be, and I would like to show a complete lack of Christian “love.” I address the subject of our duty to love one have seen men who literally treat their another in this series of articles. wives like dogs – withholding from them the When you study any particular subject in “love” that Jesus commands they be given. depth, you can begin to think that what you Let’s explore the importance or necessity are studying is the most important thing in of love among the brethren. I want to begin the Bible. You feel if you could just get by asking each of you a question. It’s a everyone else to understand how very hypothetical question – but all too often it important that subject is, everything would has very real ramifications. be different. If you had the choice between attending a Such as…if we could just get people to church that was absolutely correct understand the sovereignty of God or the doctrinally, but weak in its members loving holiness of God. Or… if we could just have a one another OR attending a church greater understanding of the sufficiency of absolutely excelling in loving one another, Scripture and its teaching on family life – but a little weak in doctrine (but certainly what a radical transformation would take place in our homes and churches! If you’ve ever studied the topic we’re looking at in this article, “The love of the brethren,” you could very easily come to the conclusion that this is one of the most important themes in the entire Bible. Once we study this topic of brotherly love and see its place in the Scripture, hopefully we all will come to the conclusion of just how important a topic it is. It is one of the vital themes of saving religion. It goes to the core of whether or not we are really Christians. This Bible lays upon each of us the duty of “loving one another.” Certainly, this is a valuable topic we all need to return to from time to time. Want to hear more? To listen to my radio shows on revelation, go to:
www.EdBudd.net Also, I am available to speak in your church with no speaking fee desired. VOL.12 #7 | WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM
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BY TIM CHALLES
What do you Mimic? The Hidden Power in Every Idol We were made to mimic. God made us in such a way that we learn many of life’s skills by way of imitation. For good or
for ill we also learn character, or lack of character, by imitation. Parents who routinely blow up in anger cannot be surprised when they raise a brood of children who respond to conflict with screaming, yelling, slapping. Teachers who constantly grumble and complain cannot be surprised when they find themselves in front of a classroom of grumblers and complainers. It’s just how it works, how we were made. Who do you want to be? What do you want to become? Even as you grow older, you remain an imitator—you mimic what you revere so that in some important ways you actually become what you revere. As Greg Beale says, “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration.” This is a call for care, a call to pay close attention to who or what you honor, who or what you worship. Recently, my morning devotions took me to Psalm 115 which mocks man-made idols. Why? Because “they have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat” (4-7). These idols are pathetic, impotent, utterly unworthy of veneration. But the psalmist isn’t done yet. He has one more claim to make: All idols have a hidden power.
The hidden power of idols is what they do to those who worship them. “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (8). These idols have no power, they have no life, they have no purpose. And those who worship them mimic them until they are just like them, people of no power, no life, no purpose. They become every bit as ridiculous as those stumps of wood, those blocks of stone. D.A. Carson explains, “What you worship you soon resemble; more, you identify with it, defend it, make common cause with it—and if it is an abomination to God, soon you are an abomination to him.” Worship an idol and you will resemble that idol. Worship what is useless and you will become useless. It’s not just idols that are empty and powerless. It’s also the people who worship them. In the Western world we are far too sophisticated for carved idols, of course, but we have idols of our own, respectable idols suited to twenty-first century sensibilities. If we worship the idol of the perfect body, the sweeping curves or the chiseled abs, we will become as vain and self-focused as the models in the magazines. If we worship the idol of money, we will become as greedy, selfish, and cutthroat as the worst wolf on Wall Street. If we worship athleticism, we will imitate superstar athletes in their arrogance, their moral depravity, their self-obsession. If we worship the idol of power we will mimic
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the flipflopping, anythinggoes, popularityobsessed politician. On and on it goes. “We become like that to which we give our allegiance” (G.A. Cole). If we give our allegiance to something that is useless, empty, fleeting, then we become useless, empty, and fleeting. This is the psalmist’s surprising claim, his grave warning: It’s not just idols that are empty and powerless. It’s also the people who worship them. But there is hope. If we worship what is significant, we become significant. If we worship what is satisfying we find ourselves satisfied. If we worship what is eternal, we find life eternal. As James Boice says, “If we worship things that people produce, we will become as impotent and empty as those things, but if we worship God, by the grace of God we will become like God, and we will both ‘glorify God and enjoy him forever’.” Who do you want to be? What do you want to become? You will become what you worship, you will resemble what you revere. So, what captivates your attention? What dominates your thoughts? What moves your heart? Who or what do you worship? That is exactly who or what you are becoming.
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Fritz’s Adventure “Where Families Adventure Together” e had been wanting to see what all the excitement was about at one of the bewest attractions in Branson. So, we went to Fritz’s Adventure recently and when we first walked in we understood what all the buzz is all about.
W
(We the
The facility has 80,000+ square feet of space and that includes a 3story ropes course, city brick wall for climbing, towering tree house, underground tunnels, a maze through actual shipping containers, laser challenge, slides, poles for climbing, full size water tower to go inside of to explore and a zip line. There is also the three warped walls of different heights where we saw toddlers and grown men alike trying to scale them and a couple of guys actually succeeded. You’ll also find Fritz’s Outfitters retail shop and the Café which features a full menu of subs, hot sandwiches, pizzas, salads and more. There’s also party rooms available which would be an awesome place for kids’ birthday parties.
An airworthy plane to explore! Sales, and marketing Manager, Sarah Hammons, greeted us and took us on a guided tour. Sarah said, “The mission of Fritz’s Adventure is to help families re-engage, bond and thrive through adventure activities... and we are already seeing those results from our first week open.... a great place for families to make memories” The place was hopping and I can’t even imagine what Spring and Summer will look like since they have activities for little kids to teens to adults and grandmas and grandpas. They are open all year, rain or shine, have ability levels for all ages. To get down to the activity floor you can slide down a chute, take the stairs or ride the
Hammons said every detail is authentic, nothing made of plastic or an imitation. Although this is quite the adventure which probably will result in some bruised knees and scrapes, they stress that safety is the #1 priority and the Fritz crew works hard to make sure everyone has a good time and stays safe.
BY RONNIE PAGE, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, BRANSON DAILY INDEPENDENT
First of all, right next to the entrance is an actual air-worthy plane suspended overhead for visitors to climb into and play with the instruments and pretend to fly. And that was just the beginning of one adventure.
elevator. chose latter)
Fritz’s Adventure is located on the Highway 76 Strip next to Dixie Stampede and you can call 417.320.6138 or for more information, visit:
www.FritzsAdventure.com This feature story first appeared in the Branson Daily Independent.
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Reversing the Curse of Divorce FAMILYLIFE TODAY RADIO TRANSCRIPT
FamilyLife Today.com® Radio Transcript
Hosts: Dennis Rainey & Bob Lepine Guest: John Trent. From the series: How to Break the Cycle of Divorce Bob: If you grew up in a family, where divorce is a part of your background, and you find yourself in a marriage—things just aren’t going the way you hoped they would and there is pain—what do you do? John: Realize that Almighty God can reverse the curse. We need to be around people that can provide the kind of models we never had and, then, it doesn’t take a 180 degree change—or we don’t want to wait until we need a 180 degree change— but we want to begin doing those small things that can keep us between the lines, and keep us safe, and get us to where we want to go. Bob: If you knew a couple today, Dennis— a young couple getting married—she had grown up in a home, where her mom and dad had gotten divorced / maybe, he grew up in a home like that as well. But these are two young people who know the Lord / love the Lord. They are committed to one another / they’re getting married. Would you have any special word of counsel to them because they come from a background of family divorce that you might not have for couples who are getting married out of intact families? Dennis: Absolutely. In fact, this is a tough culture to begin a
marriage in,
regardless of how good or how not so good your home was that you grew up in; but I would strongly encourage them, before they get married, to go to a Weekend to Remember® , find someone to walk them through a good marriage preparation course, and then a mentor for the first couple of years of their marriage. I think all of those are vitally important, as a young couple starts out their marriage today. Bob: But you’d suggest those same things for a couple that grew up in an intact family; right? Dennis: I would. I would. Bob: Okay. So, now, back to my
Bob Lepine question—the ones who come from a divorce background—do you have any words of counsel for them that would be different than you’d have for the couple who grew up in intact families? Dennis: Yes, I would recommend that they spend some time—before they get married and, then, again, after they get married—addressing the issue of their family’s divorce and its impact on their lives. I think the tendency of young people
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today—who get married / when they fall in love—is they are in love with being in love. They minimize the impact of the home that they came from. In fact, in some ways, they may resent anyone talking about the past. But I think that’s all the more reason why the subject needs to be broached, before they get married, and have a common vocabulary for talking about some of the common experiences that they are going to have together because they will find that they approach marriage and raising a family in two different ways. Bob: We are talking this week with Dr. John Trent, who has written a new book called Breaking the Cycle of Divorce. And I’m guessing, John, that you would agree with Dennis’s recommendation because, if you wouldn’t, you’re off the show; okay?— [Laughter]—just wanted to make that clear, right off. Dennis: John knows how to play ball. John: That’s right. Dennis: John, welcome back. John: Well, thanks! It’s great to be here with you. And you know, that was a good question, though—and even a good follow-up is to say, “Well, what’s
different?” Now,
John Trent
obviously, if a couple came from two intact families, I’d put them through just as rigorous a boot camp as you can— Bob: Right. John: —just because—not to try to break down—I still teach the premarital class; but if they’ve grown up in a home of divorce— you’re exactly right—there is even more that has to be discussed. Bob: When you and Cindy were dating— John: Yes.
But Norm Wright— you’ve had Norm— Bob: Sure. Dennis: Sure. John: —on, I think, in the past. Dennis: Yes. John: Right
Bob: —when you decided, “Let’s get married,” did you guys sit down and open up the closet and say, “Let’s look at all the stuff that’s in here and how are we going to deal with this”? John: You know, when Cindy and I got married, our premarital counseling was the minister going, “Do you love her?” And I go, “Yes.” And he said, “Okay, well, what kind of songs do you want?”—that was it. Bob: Really? John: That was it. So, we had no premarital preparation. Bob: So, when did that stuff get opened up and how did it get opened up for you guys? John: We just did it the old-fashioned way, which is—six months into marriage, every thing is great except she’s crying at night. Bob: Wait for conflict to emerge. John: That’s exactly right. Now, thankfully, I think the thing that we did do, going into marriage is—even though neither one of us came from great modeled backgrounds— is we had a huge commitment to Christ and a commitment to do what it would take to really build a relationship that was going to be loving and lasting—and so like for example—we didn’t get to go to your conference because this was a long time ago. It was before you started doing yours.
weren’t perfect; but they were saying: “Here are some solutions. Here are some resources. Here’s the encouragement,”—and you pray together, and you sing together, and you spend a weekend together. I mean, I push more people—I should get a royalty, I think, for pushing people to your conferences, all over the country. [Laughter] You do such a great job, I think, of holding out that hope. That’s what a lot of us need—is we need to realize that “Okay, that’s one thing we can do to help break that cycle of divorce—is to be around people that they’re really making a commitment to reverse that.” Bob: Let me ask you—if you had a couple— John: Yes. Bob: —let’s say, instead of them being premarried, now, they are two years in. They come from divorced backgrounds. They’ve got conflict in their marriage. They go: “We don’t want to get a divorce. We want the cycle to end with us”— John: Yes. Bob: —“but there is pain here that we’re not sure where it’s coming from or what to do.” How would you begin to counsel them? John: Well, there are a couple of things. Number one is—I think it is hugely important for the average couple to realize
that history does matter. For a lot of us, we go, “Oh, the past—that doesn’t affect me,” Well, it does affect us. There is that sense, with me, when I finally began to look at “Who was my dad?”—now, not “Who was the idealized…?” but “Who was he really?”—you know? Then, for Cindy, as she began to deal with some of these things— so, number one is—you’ve got to be honest with where you’ve come from. The other thing that I think is hugely important is— for a lot of us, we really believe, I think, that what builds great relationships is something dramatic. It’s—now, I’m all for going to a conference. That can be a dramatic change kind of a thing but, then, we get home. The thing that’s going to sustain growth is really a two-degree change. Can I explain what I mean by that really quickly? Bob: Yes. John: Now, both of you are better than average drivers; right? Bob: Absolutely. John: Absolutely. Bob: I’m stunning! John: Much better than average. I am, too, even though I just went to traffic school again. But the point is that—it’s really interesting. There’s— Dennis: How fast were you going, John? John: Well, no, it was one of those red light camera things that are in Arizona. It must have been off—I’m sure the camera was off. Dennis: It’s a good illustration, though, that this kind of thing occurs in marriage. John: Oh, yes. Dennis: And there has to be some changes made. John: Oh, yes. But I think, for a lot of us, what we think is—the word, “righteousness,” in the Bible literally means to stay between the lines. The reason why you guys are good drivers is because you stay between the lines. Now, how do you do that? Well, you make two-degree changes. For the average person—I mean, if you think about it—if you’re driving home, what keeps you between the lines—you are consistently making small changes; okay? Well, I mean, go home—and make ten- or
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when we first got married, we went to a Norm Wright conference. That was one of the best things we could do. That’s why I believe your conference, Weekend to Remember, is so unbelievably helpful for couples today because, when we went to a conference, when we were young—guess what?—we were sitting around other couples, and we finally got to talking with them. They were just as messed up as we were. Bob: Yes. John: Yet, up, in front of us, were people; and they still had problems. They
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twenty-degree changes to the steering wheel—and you get picked up by the DUI taskforce; right? Well, because you—or do what I did—which was I fell asleep at the wheel, outside of Socorro, New Mexico. I went across six lanes of traffic. Does the drifting wake you up? No, it’s when your tires are hitting the side, and that terrible sound, and I woke up. Now, I think: “Man! I’ve got to make a huge change.” The problem is—if you’re at speed, and you yank the wheel 180 degrees, what happens? You roll the car multiple times, like I did. Now, that’s exactly what I see in couples all over the country. They come from a background where we think—we didn’t see an intact family—we didn’t realize, like you and Barbara have taken—I mean, seriously, you have to work on your relationship. Dennis: Right. John: Just because you run a great ministry and help people all over the country—I mean, you still have to work on your relationship. Cindy and I have to work on that. Well, one of the problems, when you grow up in a divorce background is, you don’t realize the two-degree shifts—the small changes—that have to go on all the time: the weekends where you guys go away; the times with Cindy and I, with our kids, where we’re praying; or we’re working through a problem. You don’t see that in a divorce background. What I challenge people to do is—go to a conference, like you guys—the Weekend to Remember— but then, go home and start making, all the time, little small course corrections. Can I give you a quick example of what I mean by that? Dennis: Yes, that’s what I want. I want a couple of the course corrections. John: Here is what I am getting at—I used to walk in the door—you know, you’re tired /you’re busy. I’d say to Cindy, “Well, how was your day?” She’d go, “Well, it was great!” Then, I’d take off and go do something with the kids or whatever. We were sitting down one time; and she goes: “Would you do me a favor? Would you just ask me three questions when you get home—just three questions?” I sat down and I said, “Well, that’s pretty small”; right? So, I sit down. “Well, first of all, ‘How was your day?’”—and she answers. Then, “Well, how did that make you feel?” Well, I mean, that one always works—“How did that make you feel?” Then, “What do you think you ought to do about it?” Well, now, just by going home and realizing, “I need to just do these three questions,”—that’s a small—
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that’s a small thing. For Cindy, one of her two-degree change things was for me to hold her. Now, I didn’t grow up in a touchy/huggy kind of home. I grew up in Arizona where it’s okay to hug your horse, not your kids; you know? So, I didn’t grow up with warmth/huggy stuff. Well, that wasn’t on my list of two-degree things but, for Cindy, it was. What we literally did—Cindy and I is—we literally came up with: “What are some small, specific, positive things that we could do for each other that help us stay between the lines?” Sentence prayers—I don’t know about you guys, but has praying together ever been a challenge? Bob: Sure. John: And the problem is, too, part of it is I’m a night person / Cindy is a morning. So, I’d want to pray at night—she’s gone. She’d want to pray in the morning, and I’m just— I’m so groggy. So, what we began to do is— every night—and this is just a two-degree change—but we began to say: “Well, you know what? Before we go to bed, whoever
is the first one to go to bed—her or I—we sit down, and we’re going to pray together,”—even if it’s just sentence prayers, not necessarily a half an hour or whatever. See what I’m getting at? That’s very much what I try to get people to do in this Breaking the Cycle of Divorce—is realize that Almighty God can reverse the curse—that we need to be around people that can provide the kind of models we never had and, then, it doesn’t take a 180degree change—or we don’t want to wait until we need a 180-degree change—but we want to begin doing those small things that can keep us between the lines, and keep us safe, and get us to where we want to go.
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Bob: Your mom had been through two divorces. John: Yes. Bob: Yet, she instilled in you the whole idea of the sanctity of marriage. John: Yes. Bob: How does a parent do that when their track record is blemished? John: Well, that’s a great question because you’re right. You might think that: “Well, there’s got to be some inherent disconnect. Here she is—telling us to do this, but she didn’t do that herself.” Well, her first husband walked out on her. She moved to Arizona—met my dad, and my dad walked out on her. Both of them were alcoholics. What a shock she would pick somebody from that—that was her background. She was somebody that was part of that curse, I think—where it just went on, generationally. Well, she just decided, “With my family, you know what?—things are going to be different.” She did a great job in her commitment to us—of demonstrating what real commitment was. Then, we came to know Christ—remember? I came to know Christ through Young Life. Our Young Life Leader, Doug Baram—who he and his wife—that’s whose house I used to go over and watch how he interacted with his kids, and his extended family, and things like this. Well, Doug led me to Christ and my twin brother, Jeff, to Christ; and my mom to Christ; my older brother, Joe, to Christ—led our whole family to Christ. Once we had that going for us too—I mean, that made Mom’s encouragement even more. But I think her commitment to us— and then, just telling us: “You know what? You’re”—she must have told us a thousand times—“You’re never going to get divorced. You guys are going—you’re going to have great relationships.” That began to put this positive future in our minds. I’m really thankful for what she provided as well. Dennis: In the spirit of keeping hope alive, here for an adult child of divorce—John, speak to the person who has just crossed six lanes of traffic— John: Yes. Dennis: —and it’s not a two-percent adjustment. They are listening to us today and they’re going: “Man! Would be to God if it was just a minor two degrees this way / two degrees that way, a little prayer together, some changing of how we have
hard at all. They just— Dennis: It seems like. John: Seems like—and that’s right—until you get to know them. Dennis: You don’t know the hard work Barbara and I do. [Laughter] You just think your work is harder than ours. John: I know; but you look at them and you think: “Oh, they have it so much easier; and Cindy and I have it so tough—she came from a tough background and I did too. You know what? Maybe, we just didn’t find the right person” and so, it’s “…and so, maybe…” Bob: Or it’s: “I just want the pain to stop.” John: Yes. And yet—and yet—“Please Lord,”—the person, who is listening right now—and they realize we are talking right to them. I mean, they’ve had to pull their car over almost because they realize this is who they are. I would just pray that they would realize that they are ten feet from shore. I mean, they are close to a church that can provide some help for them if they’d just reach out to that church. They could find another couple. They can grab a book. They can go to one of your conferences. They can, maybe, just get down tonight and say, “Lord, I feel like we are at rock bottom.” Well, that is a great place to meet Christ. I mean, that is a great place to be—is to just say, “Okay.” I can remember—it was during those early years of marriage, with Cindy and I—that I just realized: “We can’t make it on our own. Lord, we need You to reverse that curse.” Dennis: And it’s at the rock bottom— John: Yes. Dennis: —that many people find Christ. As you were talking, I was thinking about a passage that I don’t hear preached on near enough today—it’s Romans 12:1, 2—“I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. Don’t be conformed to this world”—stating that another way—“Don’t do as the world does.” How does the world do it?—it severs the relationship, it tosses the towel in, It calls it quits. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” And the hope of my marriage is with Jesus Christ being the Master and Lord— John: Yes. Dennis: —of Dennis and Barbara Rainey. I mean, we would not be married today—we are both two very strong-willed people. Even though both of us came from intact families—I’m going to tell you something— I think we worked every bit as hard, John,
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conflict— Bob: You’re saying, “They’re in the ditch, and they need a tow truck.” Is that what you are saying? Dennis: I’m saying—yes—maybe, they’ve had a head-on collision. They’re sitting there, wondering, “How do I make this work?” What advice would you give to that couple who are in crisis? John: Well, you know, one of the studies we bring up in the book—and you’ve talked about it here on the program—is remember—there was a University of Chicago study that asked couples, after they had divorced—five years later: “Would they have gone ahead and gotten divorced if they knew what they know now?” Almost—it is 70-some percent said, “If we had tried a little harder, we could have made it.” The average person drowns ten feet from shore—99.9 percent of people drown almost within reach of shore. I think, for a lot of people, when they were in that trauma—they’ve gone across six lanes of traffic, they are in the ditch, they are just— and they think, “Oh, nothing is going to help!” Yet, as difficult as it is—five years later, the average person that did divorce looks back and says, “We could have made it”— Bob: Right. John: —“if we had just tried a little harder.” Bob: Well, not only that, but in the state of Oklahoma, they did a study of people who were on the verge of divorce and decided to stay married. Those couples—five years later—rated their marriage, on a five-point scale, a four or a five— John: Yes. Bob: —the majority of them. These were folks who were right on the edge, hung with it, and five years later, they go, “We’ve got a great marriage.” John: Yes. I think part of that is—is because, once we hit that rock bottom and there is nowhere left to go—number one is—that’s where a lot of people turn to Christ. And we realize—I know, early on, in our marriage—you asked the question—Dr. Rainey asked me the question, “Do I ever think about divorce?” Of course, my first thought was, “No, I…”—but as I began to think about that, I can remember, when I was in my doctoral program,and was looking at all of my background, and all these divorce things, and all this stuff back here—you know, I think there really have been some times in my life, where I’ve thought: “It would be almost easier to just quit working. This is so hard.” I look at some of these other couples, and they don’t have to—seems like they don’t have to work
as you have. John: Yes; amen. [Laughter] Dennis: And I say that to say, “Marriage is hard work.” Even with Christ, submitting to Him, it’s not always easy because it means death to self. I would just challenge that person, who has thought about pulling off the road and doing some business with God—maybe, you just need to come to the conclusion: “You know what? You’ve done it your way. Where has that gotten you?” John: Yes. Dennis: “How has that worked?” Maybe, you’ve failed before in a marriage relationship. Where are you now? What’s your plan for making this marriage better than the last one? Well, it’s—there is none. You’re just Plan B. Instead, why don’t you submit to the One who can take two imperfect people and meld them into one? I think a part of the solution to that, Bob, is getting a copy of John’s book, Breaking the Cycle of Divorce, because undoubtedly some of those who are listening right now have that as a part of their background. It is a part of what is contributing to the thought of ending their relationship in divorce. Bob: And I just appreciate the fact that the book is not simply a study of this issue, but it comes from the heart of one who has had to walk through it—who has had to live through it and knows about his own past. You’ve learned this, not just clinically— you’ve learned this experientially. We’ve got copies of the book in our FamilyLife Resource Center. I do want to say, “Thanks,” to John for joining us again on FamilyLife Today. You’re a good friend, and I just appreciate your biblical-centric approach to addressing the needs of marriages and families. You’re a good comrade in the battle for the family today. John: Well, thanks. That’s high praise. The Lord bless you guys. Bob, thank you for getting to be with you too. It’s an honor to get to be here. Bob: We’ve got copies of John’s book in our FamilyLife Today Resource Center. If you’d
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REVERSING CONTINUED
Arab Spring or Conservative Fall?? like a copy of the book, go to FamilyLifeToday.com. Click on the search button and type in: Breaking the Cycle of Divorce You can order it from us, online, or you can order by calling 1800FLTODAY. Let me just say—if you want to do some preventative maintenance for your marriage—get out to one of our Weekend to Remember marriage getaways, as a couple, and spend a weekend talking about how you are doing, as a couple, and learning about what God has to say about how a marriage can thrive—what His intention for marriage was in the first place / His design for the marriage relationship. . Or you can request a copy of either book when you call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make a donation; and you can also request a copy of either book when you mail your donation to:
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I AM ALIVE!
with our spirit that we are children of God, and if we are children, then we are heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ….”
he tiny 29 day old dark brown baby boy, with thick black out of control wild hair, was placed into my arms when I was 7 years old. During his adoption, tears rolled down my cheeks as I experienced the excitement of meeting my little brother for the first time.
Adoption is an extremely selfless act. The woman who carried me for nine months and gave me up for adoption cared more about bringing life into this world than she did about her own inconvenience or unwanted pregnancy. Although I know nothing about her pregnancy or my birth, I do realize, after carrying four children of my own, that she valued the life that lived within her womb more than she did about choosing to eliminate, what I suspect, was an unwanted pregnancy, an inconvenience, or a problem for her. Instead, she chose life!
T
By Lauren Enriquez
Mom and dad’s decision to adopt their first baby came in 1967 after mom couldn’t have children because of a hysterectomy she had shortly after they married. Their first baby was 4 months old when they got him. Eighteen months later they adopted me, 2 months old, and seven years later they adopted my little brother. Because I’m an adoptee, many questions have been asked: “Who is your mother? Where were you born? What is your medical history? Do you have biological siblings? Why were you given up?” Although these are valid questions, they have never been important to me. From my perspective, one of the most important elements from being adopted is that I am alive. I’m a living, thriving, functioning, very healthy human being with a life that began at conception! Rather than being discarded and aborted when I was a baby in my mother’s womb, and forsaken as a piece of a throw away trash, I am alive and well today.
are
Jesus desired that we continue to obey the Ten Commandments. He said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:21) Those who are reading my words, remember this: Forty-seven years ago I was born because of one woman’s choice to not abort. Because of her act of unselfish love, I AM ALIVE! Dr. Marla is a radio host, motivational speaker, and a writer. She is available to speak at your next event!
No matter how abortion is evaluated, it is killing a living human being. Killing a living human being is murder. Murder is defined as “the killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the crime of killing a person with malice aforethought or with recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.” Abortion fits this definition—forcing a living being to cease to live—murder.
Long ago I came to the conclusion that my mom and dad that I grew up with are my parents. Since I can remember, my mom instilled within me the confidence to accept that I was adopted. She said to all us that we were “extra special” and “chosen” to be a part of her and my dad’s family. And although we were never in her womb, she was our mother and our dad was our father.
Millions of babies are murdered because of accidental or unwanted pregnancies. Although there may be an unwanted pregnancy, I would suggest that there are no “accidental” pregnancies. Scripture tells us that God formed and developed us: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:13-15). God also says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Not only am I a part of their family, but I’ve also discovered something even more significant than that: I am a child of God! I was not only adopted on earth into a wonderful loving family and became their daughter, but I was also adopted into the family of God when I decided to make Jesus my Savior. Romans 8:15-17 says, “…you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters], by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness
Many advocates of abortion have infiltrated our society by representing it as far less than what it really is—killing a living human being—murder. God established a set of rules, called the 10 Commandments, to help govern our lives and keep us in peace. When they are broken, peace is absent. One of the commandments says, “Thou shall not murder!” which means, Thou shall not kill a living human being by aborting one. Killing—murder—and
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abortion synonymous.
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A Call to Action
I
We have re-organized our non-profit organization and the new name is The Gold Star Group. It has four main entities of focus.
educate a national audience both online and on the street. Before you put this magazine down (or close the window if you are reading this online), could you revisit the centerfold and consider giving $10.00 either through our GoFundMe page (Honoring Those Who Gave It All) or our website:
www.GoldStarFamilyInn.com and be a part of restoring honor in our country to some very deserving families. The best way to serve the project, and get the
Now, we realize you are very generous and are currently supporting a host of good causes so we will only ask you for a $10.00 gift personally. We would like to add your name to a new tab on the website called “Friends of the Families”. This would be an encouragement to others to do the same. Check out the website to see if you would like to be liaison to get a box for your church. With over 20,000 regular readers at $10.00 each, it would be $10,000.00. That would be a great start! We are asking for a contribution not a total sacrifice. (Funny cartoon, right?)
1) The Gold Star Family Inn We are building a lodging facility in Branson, Missouri to gift a week in a high-end suite with tickets to the hottest shows in town to special Gold Star families. 2) The Gold Star School of Hotel Management This school provides low cost housing and schooling in all phases of Hotel management for families of up to four.
and our GoFundMe campaign will help secure the historic Stonewall Motor Inn.
BY JOHN G. SACOULAS
f you are like most folks (and if you are much like me I feel sorry for you. LOL) we are moved when we hear of a financial plea for a good cause and make a mental note to help but quickly forget to do so. Or we believe that the government can take care of it. Well, none of our projects get government assistance and we do not wish to be beholden to bureaucrats that tell us what we can and cannot do for our recipients.
please consider even the smallest of gift
The Salvation Army has a proven model of how spare change has created a charitable revolution. This is a great example how we all can make a difference. word out is to share our GoFundMe campaign (Honoring Those Who Gave It All) on your personal Facebook page
3) The Brammy Awards This black tie event is the annual fundraiser for the Gold Star Family Inn program. It is a peer-voted accolade to the best performers in Branson.
All the way from the Gold Star 75 year old gal I met recently that lost her father in WWII to the families that lost their loved ones in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf conflicts and Afghanistan, you can make a difference.
4) The American Christian Voice magazine The publication you are reading is a conservative Christian magazine designed as an intelligent, inspirational, fun way to
We have some major corporations lined up to sponsor the costs and remodels of the suites, operating costs will be covered by the “buck in the box in the back” program
Remember the oft’ told tale a younger man who comes across an old man pitching starfishes back into the ocean. The stranger observed literally thousand of marooned creatures on the beach. He asked the old man, “What possible difference do you think you can make? What does it matter?” The old man held up a single starfish, threw it into the sea and replied, “It mattered to this one.” Thanks for making us proud of our American Christian Voice family of readers!
Branson 417.334.7291 Ava 417.683.3612 Forsyth 417.546.4464 www.OzarksFamilyVision.com Our practice has proudly served the TriLakes area with a tradition of quality service and a friendly staff since 1978. The doctors and staff take great pride in offering every patient the absolute best in vision care. Our expert doctors and experienced staff will take the time to answer all of your questions, explain treatment options, and provide the highest quality eye health treatments available. At Ozarks Family Vision Centre we have a mission and we take that mission seriously. Come visit our modern facilities and you will clearly see what sets us apart. VOL.12 #7 | WWW.AMERICAN CHRISTIAN VOICE.COM
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