It seems John McCain (R) is getting a lot of praise for his choice in Sarah Palin as his running mate. Her pull: she didn't abort her Downs Syndrome baby and she's a woman.
I think McCain showed yet again, his liberalism in his choice, in that Palin is a feminist. She is a member of "Feminists For Life." She was leader of Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at her high school.
Palin just gave birth to her Down's Syndrom baby, Trig, in April 2008. This little baby is merely 16 weeks old! He needs his mommy, as do her other kids save only the oldest who is in the Army (ages: 19,17,14,7, 16 weeks).
How a woman dumps her five children, including a handicapped one, as well as her husband, to persue HER career is inconceivable.
A woman cannot work full time AND be a mother. Period.
No one would conceive of a man being both a full-time on-duty police officer AND firefighter. So why do people think a woman can hold down two full-time jobs and do well at either one? That's insane! When you consider being a mother is FAR MORE than full-time (actually its a 24/7 committment), its astounding anyone would consider shoving Mom out the door to work MORE.
A woman cannot be a proper full-time mother if she's not home. Its completely impossible. Just as she cannot be a full-time employee when she's not in the office, she can't be fulfilling her duty as a mother and wife if she's away. This should be common sense.
If anyone tells you a woman can work outside the home AND be a "great mom" they are either lying or deceived. NO ONE can do both well. One MUST redefine "great mom" or even "great employee". Because that woman IS letting someone down and someone is suffering for her choice.
Employment outside the home, particularly full-time, indeed leads to a high rate of divorce. We've seen this over the years.
It also emasculates the man and his God-given role to be the provider and protector of the family. In addition, it increases his adamic bent to be lazy.
This is nothing but feminism and is pagan at its core. Feminism is the idea that a woman can do whatever a man can do and can lead men. It has more to it than that, but that's sort of the lowest common-denominator and its cross-gender. It goes back to the Garden with Eve taking the lead and listening, then obeying the Serpent, the Devil.
Consider these other results of mom's working outside the home full-time:
Her employer now dictates her schedule, NOT the family and certainly NOT her husband. She is under the submission of another man not her husband, which directly affects her availability to her own family.
No one can serve two masters.
It affects her availablity for ministry in the local church. Guess who the church calls when Susie, who just had a baby, needs meal? The stay-at-home-mom! Why, SHE has the time...she does nothing all day, SHE can cook a meal! The burden of ministry falls in the lap of women who are already working hard at home in obedience to the Lord.
The ministry of the woman isn't finished when her children are grown up, either. Its not the time to run out and get a "real" job or finally find her purpose. Her next orders from God is to train the younger women to love their husbands and children. This assumes many women do not know HOW to love them, SHOULD love them, and need to be involved in a local church where they can have godly training. That means the older woman needs to be available.
Other things to consider:
People justify sending the mom out to work because of financial "need". I ask, define "need" specifically and biblically. In America, this is essential. Is "need" owning a home? Is it having a brand new car? Is it an HD tv?Is it private school? Is it three different sports or expensive hobbies? Is it summer camp or retreats?
Examples in real life
I personally know a family where the husband is a school teacher and his wife has stayed home the whole time to raise their two sons. They do not own a home, but rather have rented a pretty small and pretty old apartment even to this day.
The same thing is true for another family I know: the husband works for a city as a CPA, the wife stays home and home-school's the three children, and they have been renting a small, old, apartment for all this time as well.
Both families make due without getting the newest car or biggest tv. Both minister to other families in many ways, even financially. God has supplied all their needs, and then some, and they are content (even if at first it was a struggle to release the dream of owning a home someday).
Another family I know had the wife quite working in the school district to stay home and start homeschooling. This required down-sizing, so they bought a smaller house that needed much repair. The husband worked at a grocery store for years, and recently retired.
Staying at home and raising your own children CAN be done. It SHOULD be done. But it seems Christians do not want to follow the Lord's ways and trust Him, but rather do things the world's ways. Everyone suffers when that happens.
Tit 2:3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, Tit 2:4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, Tit 2:5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
These instructions are NOT optional. They are commands. Obey The Master, and He will reward you with peace and wisdom even though you don't deserve it. Disobey The Master, shove your wife out to work, and reap the heavy consequences of disorder, chaos, greed, worldliness, pragmatism, temptation, neglect, and little if any, ministry in the local church. Moreover, you are dishonoring HIM and maligning the Word of God when you do so.
(Proverbs 31, btw, is not a "Day in the life of a woman". Its an overall photoalbum of the ideal woman; it covers her LIFETIME, so please don't use this chapter as a defense of a career woman who can have it all (the feminist lie).)
I suggest the following articles:
http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/FEMINIST.HTM
http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/womensroles.htm
http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/ (Vision Forum has great help for both men and women, boys and girls, to fulfill their God-given roles, by supporting and nurturing their highly valued roles---as always proceed with caution as I don't know all their theology)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Bias Reporter Revealed
The snotty attitude and bias of this Associated Press reporter is so obvious, its not even funny. I wonder if Melissa would be just as snotty about a Muslim keeping his Quran on his desk:
The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
And despite all that, many in this conservative Panhandle community still wonder what, exactly, Davis did wrong.
"We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong," said Steve Griffin, Holmes County's school superintendent, who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls.
Source.
Despite "all that"? Hello? All what? Sensitivity training? A judge's biased opinion?Where's the Sodomite's sensitivity toward Christians? What happened to freedom of speech?
It seems Melissa's hard-to-miss attitude is saying: How DARE the superintendent keep a BIBLE on his DESK! The nerve! How narrow minded can these backwater hicks be? Its like he actually believes the Bible! Where's his Quran? At least we'd have respect for a man if he had the Quran. And where's his Obama poster?
Perhaps these liberals would be happy if everyone kept a jar of an aborted baby on their desks right next to the Communist Manifesto and a Quran while wearing a "Hope We Can Believe In" t-shirt. They can all ride their bikes to work, too, to save the planet.
The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the district on behalf of a girl who protested against Principal David Davis, and a federal judge reprimanded Davis for conducting a "witch hunt" against gays. Davis was demoted, and school employees must now go through sensitivity training.
And despite all that, many in this conservative Panhandle community still wonder what, exactly, Davis did wrong.
"We are a small, rural district in the Bible Belt with strong Christian beliefs and feel like homosexuality is wrong," said Steve Griffin, Holmes County's school superintendent, who keeps a Bible on his desk and framed Scriptures on his office walls.
Source.
Despite "all that"? Hello? All what? Sensitivity training? A judge's biased opinion?Where's the Sodomite's sensitivity toward Christians? What happened to freedom of speech?
It seems Melissa's hard-to-miss attitude is saying: How DARE the superintendent keep a BIBLE on his DESK! The nerve! How narrow minded can these backwater hicks be? Its like he actually believes the Bible! Where's his Quran? At least we'd have respect for a man if he had the Quran. And where's his Obama poster?
Perhaps these liberals would be happy if everyone kept a jar of an aborted baby on their desks right next to the Communist Manifesto and a Quran while wearing a "Hope We Can Believe In" t-shirt. They can all ride their bikes to work, too, to save the planet.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Theology in Life and Death: It Matters
This last weekend Greg Laurie spoke at his Harvest Crusade and talked about his son's recent death. Following his son's death my question was, what kind of Gospel was going to be proclaimed, given the Arminian (man-centered) view Laurie holds to. That didn't go over too well, considering his son had just died.
But as it turns out, I wasn't the only one who brought up this issue. In a Christian Post report on the memorial service of his son, it said:
"People are going to want to come and hear what he says" in the wake of his son's death, Flory [research associate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC, according to The Los Angeles Times] said. "I think there's a resonance there that he'll be able to tap into between his recent family experience and evangelical theology – 'I miss Chris, I love him, but I know where he is: in heaven.'"
As Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel mentioned at the memorial service, "Death is not a time of memories only. It's a time of questions ... questions about life, questions about death, questions about life after death."
This was my point: theology matters especially at the time of the death of a loved one. Its the time when others are most open to eternal things, so we better have biblical doctrine if we want to answer those questions. Its the darkest time a believer can face, but if he is anchored to Christ Jesus and the Truth of the Word of God, he will have peace, true peace, amidst the storms.
Sadly, the opportunity was more to promote Laurie's son more than Christ, in the weeks gearing up to the crusade.
"Christopher Laurie will also resonate in another way at the event. As Harvest's art director, Christopher had designed this year's crusade bumper stickers, posters, invitations, fliers and the Harvest Web site.
Those who attended Friday's memorial service were asked to "continue to pay tribute" by taking with them the Harvest bumper stickers.
"I don't think there's anything more that we could do that would honor Christopher and honor God by making sure people know there's an opportunity to hear the Gospel," said John Collins, an administrative pastor at Harvest. "
Elsewhere in his tribute to his son, Laurie said:
"He designed much of what we see around us in this year's Southern California Harvest campaign, including bumper stickers, posters and flyers. This is how he was serving God, by creating beautiful art that pointed people to the beautiful message of the Gospel."
"If there is one thing I'd ask people to do to pay tribute to Christopher and to serve God in this particular moment, it would be to make sure you get a Harvest Crusades bumper sticker on your car, and put up posters around Southern California.
There is a selfish reason for me asking this, for Christopher – or "Topher," as we called him – poured his life into that design. In fact, he designed my personal website, our Harvest webpage, almost all of my book covers, and so many other things. Every time I see one of those stickers on a car, I point it out to whoever is in the car with me and say, "Topher designed that!""
I thought a crusade was to proclaim Christ and Him alone.
So what happened at the crusade this past weekend? Laurie did talk about the death of his son--I guess that was hugely anticipated by many (almost seems morbid to me on one level).
It seems it was the typical Harvest Crusade message. Its good that Greg Laurie talked about trusting God with his son and not being angry with Him. I'm glad he's at peace with God's plan for that family, as hard "emotionally" as that can be. Truly we walk by faith and not by sight, holding on to His hand when things get so dark. HE is our Great Shepherd.
But what was the gospel that was proclaimed this last weekend?
Worldnetdaily reports:
Laurie told attendees they must make the decision.
"Heaven is not the default destination when you die. You have to choose it. Jesus Christ paid your way to heaven when he died on the cross for you, but you must make your own choice to follow Him," he said.
During the weekend, 11,084 people walked onto the field at Angel Stadium to make that profession of faith in Jesus Christ, officials from the crusade reported. The church's website also got 37,000 hits to the live stream for the event on Friday night alone.
John Collins, the Harvest Crusade's executive director, reported Christopher Laurie's "fingerprints" were all over the weekend's event.
This Jesus-died-for-you-but -you -must- cast -the -deciding -vote is typical, but its not biblical. This is the heart of the matter. Jesus Christ did not die for all people. He died for His elect, those whom He chose to save without thought to their actions or decisions. The reason He chose anyone is based solely in HIM and HIM alone:
Rom 9:11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls--
Rom 9:12 she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
Rom 9:13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
Rom 9:15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
Rom 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Eph 1:4 even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will
Eph. 1: 11 In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will,
Acts 13 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were APPOINTED for eternal life believed.
Scripture says Jesus came to save "His people"; He died for His church; He died for His friends. He really did accomplish the Atonement at the Cross: He really DID redeem all those for whom the Father gave Him.
We do not decide our eternal destiny, God does. Romans 9-11 and Eph. 1-2 make this very clear. There is no neutrality toward God and sin for any person at any time, ever. We don't just as easily "choose Christ" as not to "choose" Him. We are born dead dead dead in our sins and trespasses, born HIS enemy, hostile toward Him (see Rom. 1-3; Eph. 2).
The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Master, Sovereign Ruler, Creator, Savior, and Judge. It proclaims HIS finished work at the Cross and His resurrection from the dead. It proclaims God's wrath on the sinner and calls all men to repent from their sin and to Christ alone. It is not, however, centered on Man. We are not the center of the Gospel, Salvation, nor Scripture! Christ Jesus is!!
Christian Post reports (Harvest Crusade links to this report):
Despite what some newspapers had claimed following the departure of his son, Laurie emphasized that the headlines were not true.
“He’s not dead,” Laurie assured. “He’s more alive than he’s ever been before."
“I haven’t lost my son because I know where he is,” he also stated. “ And I’ll join him one day. And all believers will join loved ones.
“When you are a believer in Christ, you’ll never die,” he proclaimed
I understand what Laurie might be trying to say, but his son did in fact die. He's no longer walking this earth. His spirit went immediately to be with the Lord if he was saved, of course. In this we rejoice. But he did die. I think both need to be said, otherwise one ends up believing the same about Mary and thus pray to her because, as the Roman Catholics justify, "she's not dead." I mean, if he's talking to 11,084 pagans (at least), one has to be accurate with the Truth.
"Laurie’s sincere and heartfelt message seemed to resonate in the hearts of the crowds more than previous years due to the deeply personal side of this year’s sermon," the Post article reported.
This bothers me. Is a message more true because of experience? If we proclaim biblical truth is it "more true" if we live it out? Or is it true no matter our experience or not? This is a strange but Post-modern notion.
Harvest Crusade has kept a tally of attendance and "decisions" made this past weekend:
Total of 109,000 came, 11,084 "decisions for Christ". Considering the whole thing was more of entertainment ("stars" such as Michael W. Smith, Crystal Lewis, Leeland, Kantias, P.O.D., Kutless performed) and an opportunity to pay tribute to a young man, I wonder what people decided.
I think these events need to be scrapped and get back to the biblical way of evangelizing, starting with the actual Gospel.
But as it turns out, I wasn't the only one who brought up this issue. In a Christian Post report on the memorial service of his son, it said:
"People are going to want to come and hear what he says" in the wake of his son's death, Flory [research associate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC, according to The Los Angeles Times] said. "I think there's a resonance there that he'll be able to tap into between his recent family experience and evangelical theology – 'I miss Chris, I love him, but I know where he is: in heaven.'"
As Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel mentioned at the memorial service, "Death is not a time of memories only. It's a time of questions ... questions about life, questions about death, questions about life after death."
This was my point: theology matters especially at the time of the death of a loved one. Its the time when others are most open to eternal things, so we better have biblical doctrine if we want to answer those questions. Its the darkest time a believer can face, but if he is anchored to Christ Jesus and the Truth of the Word of God, he will have peace, true peace, amidst the storms.
Sadly, the opportunity was more to promote Laurie's son more than Christ, in the weeks gearing up to the crusade.
"Christopher Laurie will also resonate in another way at the event. As Harvest's art director, Christopher had designed this year's crusade bumper stickers, posters, invitations, fliers and the Harvest Web site.
Those who attended Friday's memorial service were asked to "continue to pay tribute" by taking with them the Harvest bumper stickers.
"I don't think there's anything more that we could do that would honor Christopher and honor God by making sure people know there's an opportunity to hear the Gospel," said John Collins, an administrative pastor at Harvest. "
Elsewhere in his tribute to his son, Laurie said:
"He designed much of what we see around us in this year's Southern California Harvest campaign, including bumper stickers, posters and flyers. This is how he was serving God, by creating beautiful art that pointed people to the beautiful message of the Gospel."
"If there is one thing I'd ask people to do to pay tribute to Christopher and to serve God in this particular moment, it would be to make sure you get a Harvest Crusades bumper sticker on your car, and put up posters around Southern California.
There is a selfish reason for me asking this, for Christopher – or "Topher," as we called him – poured his life into that design. In fact, he designed my personal website, our Harvest webpage, almost all of my book covers, and so many other things. Every time I see one of those stickers on a car, I point it out to whoever is in the car with me and say, "Topher designed that!""
I thought a crusade was to proclaim Christ and Him alone.
So what happened at the crusade this past weekend? Laurie did talk about the death of his son--I guess that was hugely anticipated by many (almost seems morbid to me on one level).
It seems it was the typical Harvest Crusade message. Its good that Greg Laurie talked about trusting God with his son and not being angry with Him. I'm glad he's at peace with God's plan for that family, as hard "emotionally" as that can be. Truly we walk by faith and not by sight, holding on to His hand when things get so dark. HE is our Great Shepherd.
But what was the gospel that was proclaimed this last weekend?
Worldnetdaily reports:
Laurie told attendees they must make the decision.
"Heaven is not the default destination when you die. You have to choose it. Jesus Christ paid your way to heaven when he died on the cross for you, but you must make your own choice to follow Him," he said.
During the weekend, 11,084 people walked onto the field at Angel Stadium to make that profession of faith in Jesus Christ, officials from the crusade reported. The church's website also got 37,000 hits to the live stream for the event on Friday night alone.
John Collins, the Harvest Crusade's executive director, reported Christopher Laurie's "fingerprints" were all over the weekend's event.
This Jesus-died-for-you-but -you -must- cast -the -deciding -vote is typical, but its not biblical. This is the heart of the matter. Jesus Christ did not die for all people. He died for His elect, those whom He chose to save without thought to their actions or decisions. The reason He chose anyone is based solely in HIM and HIM alone:
Rom 9:11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls--
Rom 9:12 she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
Rom 9:13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
Rom 9:15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
Rom 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Eph 1:4 even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will
Eph. 1: 11 In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will,
Acts 13 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were APPOINTED for eternal life believed.
Scripture says Jesus came to save "His people"; He died for His church; He died for His friends. He really did accomplish the Atonement at the Cross: He really DID redeem all those for whom the Father gave Him.
We do not decide our eternal destiny, God does. Romans 9-11 and Eph. 1-2 make this very clear. There is no neutrality toward God and sin for any person at any time, ever. We don't just as easily "choose Christ" as not to "choose" Him. We are born dead dead dead in our sins and trespasses, born HIS enemy, hostile toward Him (see Rom. 1-3; Eph. 2).
The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Master, Sovereign Ruler, Creator, Savior, and Judge. It proclaims HIS finished work at the Cross and His resurrection from the dead. It proclaims God's wrath on the sinner and calls all men to repent from their sin and to Christ alone. It is not, however, centered on Man. We are not the center of the Gospel, Salvation, nor Scripture! Christ Jesus is!!
Christian Post reports (Harvest Crusade links to this report):
Despite what some newspapers had claimed following the departure of his son, Laurie emphasized that the headlines were not true.
“He’s not dead,” Laurie assured. “He’s more alive than he’s ever been before."
“I haven’t lost my son because I know where he is,” he also stated. “ And I’ll join him one day. And all believers will join loved ones.
“When you are a believer in Christ, you’ll never die,” he proclaimed
I understand what Laurie might be trying to say, but his son did in fact die. He's no longer walking this earth. His spirit went immediately to be with the Lord if he was saved, of course. In this we rejoice. But he did die. I think both need to be said, otherwise one ends up believing the same about Mary and thus pray to her because, as the Roman Catholics justify, "she's not dead." I mean, if he's talking to 11,084 pagans (at least), one has to be accurate with the Truth.
"Laurie’s sincere and heartfelt message seemed to resonate in the hearts of the crowds more than previous years due to the deeply personal side of this year’s sermon," the Post article reported.
This bothers me. Is a message more true because of experience? If we proclaim biblical truth is it "more true" if we live it out? Or is it true no matter our experience or not? This is a strange but Post-modern notion.
Harvest Crusade has kept a tally of attendance and "decisions" made this past weekend:
Total of 109,000 came, 11,084 "decisions for Christ". Considering the whole thing was more of entertainment ("stars" such as Michael W. Smith, Crystal Lewis, Leeland, Kantias, P.O.D., Kutless performed) and an opportunity to pay tribute to a young man, I wonder what people decided.
I think these events need to be scrapped and get back to the biblical way of evangelizing, starting with the actual Gospel.
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