Abortion and the conscience of our nation

Well writing on my blog is kind of like playing golf - both rarely happen. But something has been kind of stirring in me, so I'm going to see if I can put it into words, and I might even write a letter to an editor or two - who knows!

I originally started this blog because I began to see in scripture how much God cares for cities, and expects His church to serve and care for the cities in which she is placed. Cities are fragile things. Many forces fight against them. Jesus Christ will eventually judge each one of them for how they have conducted themselves, and how they have stewarded the opportunities and resources He entrusted to them.

They can and should be entities wherein individuals and families and communities can walk out their destinies and callings with some degree of safety, a sense of belonging, and being a part of something bigger than themselves. But unless righteous foundations are built and protected against these hostile forces, ("If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?" = Psalm 11:3), chaos, disorder and destruction will take root.

One of the crucial aspects to that righteous foundation that most of my blog revolves around is healthy heterosexual marriages. Because radical homosexual activists have sought to redefine and neuter marriage, and because many have cowered under their hostilities and threats, I've had no choice but to be vocal about this issue. You can read all of my former blogs if you want to get a gist of my concerns about that.

But another crucial aspect of a righteous foundation is that of a sensitive conscience as contrasted to a hardened one. For any family, community or city, state or nation for that matter to thrive, its leaders must have sensitive consciences. They must be people who abhor evil in all its forms, and who value life in all its forms. The devastation that comes from leaders who have hardened hearts or "seared" consciences cannot be overstated. The apostle Paul wrote of this danger to his young protege Timothy, when he said, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron...." (I Timothy 4:1,2) The scriptures teach that demons hover over cities and one of their primary tools of destruction is that of spreading lies. And the people who buy these lies are those who have seared consciences. Over time these people have come to a place where their consciences have become deadened, and life has become cheapened. And sadly these people are often voted into high places of leadership and influence because of their gifting and image, rather than because of their character.

And no where in our society is this more prevalent than in those who call themselves "Pro-choice." There is no other way to explain how educated leaders of our society can be so passionate about making killing unborn babies legal than that their consciences have become so hardened over time that demons are now their mentors. I believe President Obama's (who I seek to pray for daily and his wife and his cabinet members and their spouses) primary mentors and instructors are demons. And the only way that could take place is because he has allowed his conscience to become stone cold through a series of small decisions over years. There is no other way to explain how a Black president could endorse full blown abortion when his own people are the greatest victims of this evil practice. Closer to home, the same can be said for Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Jerry Brown, and the Terminator, who as Governor made it easy for thousands of California babies to be terminated in his years in Sacramento.

Now for anyone that might be bored enough to read this, if you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you and I must not allow this sad reality to cause our consciences to be seared and thus justify maligning or somehow taking justice into our own hands with such leaders. Ours is to pray for them and to give ourselves to making disciples of those who still have ears to hear. I may send a letter in their direction in the next few days. But I will work hard to make it respectful and objective rather than emotionally based (always with the editing expertise of my wife and perhaps another person or two in our congregation).

Ultimately our primary enemy in the battle to save unborn babies is Satan and his demons, not any political figure. Paul was very careful (once Jesus Christ got a hold of him) to fight the battles he was called to fight with spiritual weapons (not carnal or fleshly ones) (II Cor. 10:4).

The chief of those weapons is intercessory prayer, bathed in love, and grounded in the word of God.

I need to bring this to a close. I want to end by saying, if you belong to a local Christian congregation, and you are not discussing this from time to time from your pulpit, you are not fulfilling your purpose as a Christian congregation/church. Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way, "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

May the Lord of lords restore to our state and our nation a tender conscience. May we - the church - learn to love the things He loves, and hate the things He hates, while there is still time.

Dinner Table Talk

Tonight at the dinner table with my wife, mother in law, and daughter I learned that none of them had ever read my blog. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I rarely mention it around the house. And I rarely write in it. One of the reasons I write with such rarity is because as someone has so aptly said, "History belongs to the intercessors." If I only have so much time during a day and I haven't prayed sufficiently, I usually am going to choose to pray rather than write. The writer of the Proverbs said in ch. 10 vs. 19, "Where there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise." Another Proverb has also challenged me in this regard, "In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." (14:23) I see prayer or intercession as the highest form of work and the most productive.

Now lest I mislead you, I do not pray as I should, though I pray every day and throughout the day.

Anyways you can learn a lot at the dinner table if you listen in between bites. :)

Jimmy Carter, Jesus, Lust and Gay Marriage

I'm not sure if it was while running for President or as President that Jimmy Carter decided to give an interview to Playboy Magazine. But I remember that one of the things people got all worked up about (besides the fact that he gave an interview to Playboy) was his admission or confession that he at times struggles with lust. I guess most men in public office do not make such admissions (until perhaps they get caught acting out on it with someone other than their spouse). But I want to ponder today the relationship with lust and gay or same sex marriage.

Webster's defines lust as "sexual desire often to an intense or unrestrained degree." Many writers I have noticed over the years, especially writers of old, have spoken in sober terms of the destructive power of lust. Shakespeare for instance wrote, "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action." But no one has quite shaken their hearers or readers like Jesus Christ when He said of lust, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." I can promise you when all those male disciples gathered on that mountain - and heard Jesus make this declaration, they all wanted to crawl in a hole. I'm sure their heads all dropped, as did their jaws because the average man unless he is transformed by Jesus Christ greatly struggles with lust. Many are consumed by it.

So in my 30 or so years of ministry - primarily working with men - this has been a major topic of discussion. Whether it is working with young men who some day want to be married, or already married men, lust has to be dealt with because - if it isn't it will very likely destroy any chance this man has of having a satisfying, harmonious marriage with a happy wife. Sooner or later unbridled lust drives a man to (at the least) a hidden life of pornography; at the worst one or multiple affairs. And the damage done by either of those is inestimable.

Because men are first aroused with their eyes, one of my main objectives when working with men is helping them learn to guard what they look at. Now because we live in a sex saturated society, gaining self control of one's gaze and thus thought life is a huge challenge. So I need all the motivation I can get. And it helps tremendously if the young or older man I'm working with fears God and agrees with His word (the Bible). And typically the men who get my time and attention are men who know that God created sex, God created the genders, God created marriage, God established a righteous standard for the way men relate to women, etc. The good news is I know hundreds of men around the world who are winning this battle, and who by God's grace have fulfilling and harmonious marriages with happy wives.

My question is: Who is going to help the gays who are marrying with this very real issue? Anyone who has researched the social science on promiscuity in the gay community knows it is a huge problem. Did you know that the dissolution rate of lesbian couples is more than four times that of heterosexual couples? Did you know that researchers have found that 43 % of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, and 28% had 1,000 or more partners? Lots more data like this in my files.

Lust is a huge problem in the gay community and many go into relationships knowing they will not be monogamous with one another. And one of the big reasons is no one loves these people enough to tell them the truth about the destructive power of lust. You see if you throw out what the Bible says about marriage (that is - that it is designed for one woman and one man for life), then a huge source of motivation (pleasing God) and the only real source of internal power (the Holy Spirit) is gone. Clergy who are willing to marry homosexuals and thus ignore the obvious teachings of scripture on the subject, would find it very awkward to then refer to it about the call to purity and fidelity in marriage.

One of the primary callings of a pastor is to shepherd the sheep. And a large part of that is helping people grapple with the only thing that can set them free - and that is the truth. (John 8:31,32). So it might feel like you are loving a couple of men or a couple of women by agreeing to marry them; but in fact you are just setting them up (in most cases) for failure and deep disappointment. When lust is not allowed to be on the table, because the sole authority on lust is not recognized or submitted to, then lust has free sway to do what it does best = destroy lives and relationships.

White folk, gay and marijuana activism

I haven't totally researched this out. Tis more of an observation over my 20 years or so living in CA. My question is: Why is it that white folk - probably mostly in their 30's to 60's have been primarily behind the push to legalize and legitimize gay marriage and marijuana use?? What is it about the way these folk have been raised and formed that cause them to be so passionate about these two causes? Is it because they are more educated than the rest of us?More purely evolved? No, I think not. I know plenty of white Californians in this age bracket that voted against prop 8 and will probably vote against legalizing marijuana - who are quite well educated. Is it because gay and marijuana activists think more about the future generations and seek to pour out their lives for them? Clearly not, because I have read and listened to their arguments and that is rarely on their radar screen. I detect far more selfishness and passion for their own rights, than selflessness and concern for the rights of all people - especially the coming generations.

Now it is one thing to fight for an end to discrimination against individual gays in our society. That is not what I am referring to.

No, what I am concerned about is: the activists who are determined to have every person in America have to admit that they are just as married as we heterosexuals are. Did they jump into this fight as a result of sitting on top of a mountain, praying over their city and State, looking at all its social, economic, and relational problems and wondering how they can make a difference? Or did they jump into this fight so their own selfish desires could be granted? And so everyone had to feel about them as they wanted to be felt about?

Obviously they would bristle at such a thought. And they would reply they are merely seeking justice and equality for all as our constitution grants.

Ahhhh, sigh. I guess I just long to see we white folk providing more real leadership for our state. And being more concerned about our responsibilities to the coming generations than for our own conceived or felt rights.

The very greatest need in my opinion for the coming generations besides personally knowing the Living God through Jesus Christ, is to have a female mother and a male dad, who love each other (as demonstrated by focusing on fulfilling responsibilities rather than demanding rights), and who can model for them what it means to be a healthy boy or a healthy girl, and what it truly means to be "married".

For you non caucasians, please know this is not in any way a slam on other ethnic groups. Quite the contrary actually.

Surprise, Surprise!!

I wrote a couple of days ago about my decision to not grant an interview to KSBY this last Thursday. Well much to my surprise, while I was out tending to my chickens (around dinner time), my wife yelled out the sliding glass door that I was on the evening news! How could that be? I guess unbeknownst to me, KSBY decided to show more footage of that actual interview last Wednesday, when Judge V.W. overturned Prop 8. So just to clear the record, that was a surprise to us, which I could probably cry foul about. But at least this time they showed a little more of the interview, for which we were thankful.

The KSBY reporter that interviewed me last week about Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to overturn the vote of 7 million Californians called and left a message on my cell phone while I was showering this morning asking me to be interviewed again today since Judge V.W. is going to make known his judgement today as to whether gay couples can go on and get married in CA - even though the case is being appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then most likely on to the Supreme Court. Our interview last week in my office, which my wife overheard while working in a back room, lasted perhaps up to 15 minutes. What they showed in their report in the news was hardly a sentence, and not one I would have chosen for sure. So we've decided t.v. interviews, which we have no control over what segment they show, and which will most likely always be a very small percentage of what was discussed in the interview, just aren't a wise way to communicate how we feel about marriage, and about the drive by some to re-invent it or broaden it, which always weakens it. I know this lady is only doing her job. I'm trying hard to do mine. And I don't think t.v. interviews help accomplish what I am after.

Sound bites rarely help thinking people effectively grapple with a given topic. They tend more I believe to inflame and divide.

Well not only have we decided to bring an abrupt end to my T.V. interviews (have only had two, and may have never been asked to give another), but we also decided on Monday to cancel our Tribune subscription. Monday's main editorial under the heading of "Perspective" along with their chosen cartoon in the middle of the editorial page totally blasted Christians as homophobic, mean spirited, and dumb (re: responses to Judge V.W.'s judgement against Prop 8). I'm sure there are some that fit that label. But that is no more fair than saying all Tribune writers and staff are leftist, socialist, anti God and family radicals. I didn't write them a mean letter. And I was very kind to the poor young man that works in subscriptions and had nothing to do with the choosing of that editorial and cartoon, but had to listen to my reasons for dropping my subscription. But I cannot subsidize a shrinking newspaper that continues to stand against much of what I stand for. Bye bye Tribune.

Well here we are almost a year and a half since my last post. I was pretty worn out after the prop 8 fight; a fight I did not relish, but felt was not negotiable. After California voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman (imagine that), I felt I needed to go back and re-commit to shepherding the sheep Jesus had entrusted to me. For quite a while I felt I needed to do more, pray more and talk less. Over the last few weeks the desire to write has returned. So now that I figured out how to find my blog and get back into it, I will probably be returning here somewhat regularly. For now, I'm going to bed. Good night blog, and anyone who for whatever strange reason might read it.