| by: Phyllis Schlafly eagleforum.org Article Link | February 15, 2012 |
| Proclaiming in a New York Times headline that "Obama Adjusts a Rule Covering Contraceptives," the pro-Obama media tried to dig the President out of the political hole he had jumped into. But calling Obama's revised rule an "adjustment" or an "accommodation" or other soft-sell word can't cover the fact that the revision is essentially the same as the original rule. Barack Obama and his Administration are the lackeys of the feminists. And furthermore, they must think the American people are too stupid to see through the deception he is trying to put over on us. A big New York Times editorial cried out that Obama's action means "The Freedom to Choose Birth Control." Poppycock. Every American already has the right to choose birth control, but that shouldn't give them the right to have somebody else pay for it, and that's what ObamaCare demands. The bottom line is that the ObamaCare insurance, which employers are mandated to provide and individuals are mandated to buy, will include birth control, the morning-after pill (an abortion drug), and sterilization, at zero cost to the individual without any additional premium, co-pay, or out-of-pocket expense. And yes, this mandate does apply to religious hospitals, schools, colleges, and charities, even though their religion teaches them that these acts are immoral and wrong. Obama's original rule called for religiously affiliated institutions to pay for these controversial services, which even liberal commentators denounced as a gross interference with religious liberty. It was even denounced by Chris Matthews, E.J. Dionne and Democratic Senators, and the ever-loquacious Joe Biden hid out in uncharacteristic silence. The debate about this rule went on within the Administration for several months. Obama eventually sided with the feminists (no surprise) against the warning of then Chief of Staff William Daley. After the firestorm erupted, Obama may have thought he could get the Catholic Bishops to go along with his accommodation (as a couple of liberal nuns did), but the Bishops saw through his duplicity. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops pointed out that the "adjustment" still includes a "nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients" and also that the many "self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate." The accommodation orders insurance companies to pay the costs of these birth control/abortion services, but you can be sure insurance companies will price their products to make a profit. It's obvious that insurance companies will distribute and conceal the costs so nobody appears to be paying for the controversial procedures. Since the insurance companies will not be permitted to charge different fees for different employees, all their customers will be paying something for the controversial services. In plain words, all religiously affiliated institutions and their employees will be paying for birth control/abortion drugs, but not "explicitly," as the Wall Street Journal delicately explained. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) summed up this issue: "The White House Fact Sheet is riddled with doublespeak and contradiction. It states, for example, that religious employers 'will not' have to pay for abortion pills, sterilization and contraception, but their 'insurance companies' will. Who pays for the insurance policy? The religious employer." The political donnybrook continues as many people are speaking out against Obama's rule, both the original and the revised version, because it is an outrageous interference with religious liberty. How dare Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tell religiously affiliated institutions that they must do something that violates their moral code? This issue has aroused people of all religious denominations to speak out. They now realize we have a President who made himself part of the organized attack on religion anywhere in the public square, an attack we see so frequently in the courts and in the schools. One of the shocking parts of this charade is the fact that the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains sent an email to senior chaplains telling them that Archbishop Timothy Broglio's letter criticizing the Obama rule was not to be read from the pulpit. Has anti-religious bigotry become so extreme, even in the military, that a chaplain's sermon is expected to be banned or censored to conform to Obama's prejudices?
| |
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Unbreakable Love – By: John D. Morris
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:23-24)
When the Pharisees asked for His view on divorce, Jesus replied by quoting our text, giving the Creator’s view on marriage and how men and women should approach it, if they are to function as they were designed (Matthew 19:4-5). He added, “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (v. 6).
In some special way, known fully only to Him, a man and woman in a marriage relationship can truly become one flesh, just as Adam and Eve were one flesh after Eve had been fashioned from Adam’s side. (Christ’s doctrine of marriage has no logical foundation, by the way, nor do we have any reason to marry, if Adam and Eve were not real, specially created people.)
Our text was also quoted by Paul as he more fully explained the marriage doctrine (Ephesians 5:31), prefacing it with a brief discussion of the relationship between the Lord and His Church (v. 30). Just as we are inseparably “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” He designed each of us to be inseparably “one flesh” with his or her spouse.
Paul uses a forceful word for “leave,” meaning to completely leave one’s parents and “be joined” to the spouse. This word is equally forceful and leaves no room for a half-hearted commitment.
Marriage partners, in the eyes of the Creator, should be inseparable, just as the bones and flesh of a body cannot be separated, and just as we cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:35-39).
A Compassionate Heart – By: Paul J. Twist
A compassionate heart is one indication of a spirit-controlled life, as we read in Galatians 5:22-23. A believer must not only show compassion to those of like social standing, but must reach out to the most unlovable with the love of Christ, whatever their need. Genuine compassion will tug at your heart to do all you can with no strings attached.
One winter evening several years ago, my youngest daughter Karen and a girl friend walked to a café near downtown Chicago to study and enjoy a snack together. They were students at a nearby Bible college. Approaching the café, they noticed an intoxicated man with no coat shivering on the steps.
Karen was wearing a new warm winter jacket and instinctively, her compassionate heart wanted to give the man her jacket. Her friend discouraged her. Police had been called and, arriving about the same time, also discouraged Karen from following the urges of her heart. “Most likely he wouldn’t even wear a woman’s jacket, or would sell it for more alcohol.”
But as the cold drunken man was taken away, Karen gave him her jacket despite the misgivings of those around her. She never knew what happened to him, but a compassionate heart doesn’t need to know the outcome of its generosity.
The cold man had no coat, Karen had other coats, her compassionate heart prompted her to share, and she did it. Whether the man appreciated her compassion is unknown, but we do know the Lord looks down and sees each act of kindness done in Jesus’ name.
The people who tried to discourage Karen saw the compassion of her heart displayed in an act of kindness. She could have shared with them what God said to Moses: “I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Romans 9:15b).
Don’t pass up your next opportunity to show a compassionate heart, and don’t be dissuaded.
Paul J. Twist
Saturday, February 25, 2012
On The Shelf – By: Judi Allen
My husband and I served for nine years in Belgium in a church-planting and discipleship ministry. Together, we worked many hours learning French, helping with the teens and children, conducting summer kids clubs, hosting home meetings, making contacts with neighbors, discipling college students, preparing for Sunday services, helping implement a city-wide evangelistic outreach, and many more ministries. The key word in all of that was “together.”
God taught me some valuable lessons during that time of frustration and discontent. The lessons weren’t new, but lessons I needed to learn. When we have been involved in what we consider “great things for God,” our pride makes it difficult to be involved in small things for God. Did I really have the gall to feel that God should only use me for “important” ministry? Pride gives us a rather exalted view of how important we are to the plan of God.
| A great resource to combat the lies of feminism! Link To Purchase At Eagle Forum |
If we believe God is truly sovereign, then He has the right to use us as He sees fit. God chooses where and how I will be used for His glory. If I approach my seemingly insignificant situation, acknowledging that God has put me here, it is then significant. Though we may not be accomplishing our goals, God is still accomplishing His plan.
Spending time, thought, and energy dwelling on what you want to be robs you of joy and effectiveness in what really is. God had placed me in a ministry that was different from the previous one. But it was still ministry; and God desired for me to be effective in it. I looked around and found outlets for ministry that brought great joy and a sense of being useful for God. It is an honor to be chosen for service, no matter what the service may entail.
Judi Allen – NW Independent Church Extension – Hobart, WA
(Adapted from Voice magazine, September/October 2011.)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Seriousness In Children and Teens
by: Jim Elliff
If God has ordained that the Word and the Spirit are the only hope for these kids, then we should not avoid the means God has promised to bless. Our Bible studies for young people should be more intense and our prayers more fervent for the Spirit's intervention. Children and young people ought to be sitting with their parents in worship services in order to avoid the distraction of other friends. As much as it is possible, we should not encourage young children to draw and play during the preaching of the Word since we are training listeners, not idle-minded pew sitters. And parents must show in their own enthusiasm their love and need for the Word. Pastors should seek to preach convictionally and refer often to the need of the children and teens to obey the Scriptures. And churches should weep for their children in corporate prayer. The answer is not in providing more fun things to do for the children. The answer is in the Word and the Spirit!
It is increasingly obvious that children and young people in many evangelical churches are anything but serious about Christ. There are notable exceptions, but in many churches a cursory look at the behavioral signals put out by the young people reveal a profound disinterest. On the one hand there is a sort of giddiness and silliness by some who believe that church is there only to provide them a place for enjoying friends and impressing the opposite sex. On the other hand, a complete boredom or disdain for worship and the Word is seen in their dull eyes and passive participation. This should grieve us.
A theological misunderstanding is to be blamed for much of this. We have failed to understand that children and young people are not God-lovers until the Spirit changes them. They are dead to God. Our attempts at getting these young people to "pray the prayer" when they were small have not necessarily made them children of God. Their behavior belies the true state of their hearts.
God has said that the only hope for them, therefore, is the regenerating work of the Spirit in the context of the preaching of the Word (James 1:18). However, our inadequate view of depravity and the inability of man has led us to resort instead to a greater confidence in entertainment to reach them and a minimizing of the use of the Word.
If a more intense and prayerful approach to our young people does not reach them, or if many refuse to participate because there is not enough entertainment to appeal to their love of pleasure, then we should not be confused. Our children are like all the rest of the world in their attitude about God (Eph. 2:1-3). They run from the light, just as Jesus said (Jn. 3:19-21).
Why must we assume that every great youth group has to be large and fun, when Jesus himself demonstrated that truth alienates and godly fellowship makes the unregenerate uncomfortable? Isn't John 15:19 just as true of youth groups as it is of the missionaries in Muslim countries? "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
If you are inclined to be angry at someone in leadership of your church because your child does not have fun in church, then first consider if the source of the problem is in the heart of your child. Please don't make the criteria for judging the success of a church's efforts at reaching children and teens the fun-value of the meetings. God did not command the church to provide entertainment for your kids. And if you must speak out about it at all, attempt to increase, rather than to decrease the intensity and effectiveness of prayer and Bible study as a means to reach the hearts of the children.
If you chose to do otherwise, you could be working against the Spirit.
Nothing is more appealing, on the other side of this issue, than those young people who are intent upon following God at any cost. The history of revival is filled with stories of such youth and children who demonstrated their faith by their deeds. In some cases, it was the youth who were the first recipients of the grace of God in revival. Somehow I cannot imagine that our emphasis on entertainment for the youth promotes the concept of authentic revival. And, frankly, I am saddened by church leaders who persist in believing otherwise.
Distributed by: www.worldviewweekend.com
|
Are You Ready For Marriage? By: Dwight Porter
Facts and figures tell the story of broken hearts in marriage and homes. A professor in the University of Southern California interviewed 100 marriages of 20 years of more. He concluded that only six couples were happily married. James Dobson declared that last year half of the brides at the altar were already pregnant. (How can this be with so much modern sex education?) Can you imagine the consequences of one half of all homes beginning with the biological pressures of a pregnant wife? Stop to think of the financial pressures of a new baby, not to think of the emotional strain of a baby at the most crucial time of the marriage adjustment.
Pregnant girls under the age of fifteen increased 600 percent in one year in California. The murderer Charles Manson was born to a 14 year-old prostitute. We wonder what is happening to our young people when one marriage in four involves a man who has been divorced and more include a woman in the same position. In millions of families one or both spouses bring the leftovers of another married life, with all of its habits, obligations, friendships, children and financial obligations. In most of today’s marriages step-children are involved. Facts and figures tell the story of broken hearts in marriage and homes. A professor in the University of Southern California interviewed 100 marriages of 20 years of more. He concluded that only six couples were happily married. James Dobson declared that last year half of the brides at the altar were already pregnant. (How can this be with so much modern sex education?) Can you imagine the consequences of one half of all homes beginning with the biological pressures of a pregnant wife? Stop to think of the financial pressures of a new baby, not to think of the emotional strain of a baby at the most crucial time of the marriage adjustment.
Immature Motives
Pregnant girls under the age of fifteen increased 600 percent in one year in California. The murderer Charles Manson was born to a 14 year-old prostitute. We wonder what is happening to our young people when one marriage in four involves a man who has been divorced and more include a woman in the same position. In millions of families one or both spouses bring the leftovers of another married life, with all of its habits, obligations, friendships, children and financial obligations. In most of today’s marriages step-children are involved. Facts and figures tell the story of broken hearts in marriage and homes. A professor in the University of Southern California interviewed 100 marriages of 20 years of more. He concluded that only six couples were happily married. James Dobson declared that last year half of the brides at the altar were already pregnant. (How can this be with so much modern sex education?) Can you imagine the consequences of one half of all homes beginning with the biological pressures of a pregnant wife? Stop to think of the financial pressures of a new baby, not to think of the emotional strain of a baby at the most crucial time of the marriage adjustment.
Pregnant girls under the age of fifteen increased 600 percent in one year in California. The murderer Charles Manson was born to a 14 year-old prostitute. We wonder what is happening to our young people when one marriage in four involves a man who has been divorced and more include a woman in the same position. In millions of families one or both spouses bring the leftovers of another married life, with all of its habits, obligations, friendships, children and financial obligations. In most of today’s marriages step-children are involved.
The most important lifetime contract for any human being is marriage. It is God’s plan, and if we enter into it with a light a frivolous attitude, time will prove its devastation with the lives of those who hold marriage less than sacred. It is God’s institution, ordained by Him. Most of us reading these lines have already learned by observation the heartaches brought upon innocent children because of the divorce of their parents.
The National Center for Health Statistics shows how common divorce has become in the US. The latest yearly count, for 1,079 totaled 1,181,000 new divorces. That was 4.5 percent above the preceding year and nearly triple the number reported 20 years earlier. Almost 1.2 million children joined the ranks of youngsters under the age of 18 who have divorced parents. Twenty three of every 1,000 married women experienced a new divorce. Twenty years earlier, the annual divorce rate was barely nine out of every 1,000.
Today’s average church is strangely quiet about the portion of Scripture that says “No” to divorce. The fear of offending and losing support closes that portion of the Scripture to the pews. Is God quiet? Has He changed his position on divorce? Do we want our children and youth to accept it? Silence on the subject says “YES” to the popular trend away from the sanctity of marriage. We will answer to God for not declaring His whole counsel.
Definition
What is involved in marriage? It is more than a legal and social contract; it is a covenant made under God in the presence of His children. It is more binding than any other legal contract. Marriage is God’s plan for a total commitment of the TOTAL person for TOTAL life.
Marriage is desired and designed by God. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have domination over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” Gen. 1:28. “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help fit for him” Gen. 2:18.
Marriage is determined by God. “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her into the man” Gen 2:21,2. This same institution is defended by God. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not ashamed” Gen. 2:24, 25.
We must be committed to building a Christian marriage. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” Eph. 5:25.
The man and woman who are going to get married should have identical convictions about God. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” II Cor. 6:14. Remember if your partner has no desire to please God, never will he or she desire to please you.
Mature Enough
Marriage is not child’s play. There is no such thing as automatic happiness in marriage. It is a relationship that must be carefully nourished and worked upon. Age demands great adjustment for both parties. Marriage is one grand adjustment to each other. The girl with the princess syndrome is in for one great shock and disappointment. Marriage does not give the dreamy-eyed girl a crown. God says she is to be a helper to her husband, meeting his needs. What a rude awakening that can be! Mistaken ideas of marriage can wreck any relationship within one year. The husband is to express and demonstrate love to his companion. Remember it is easy to be in subjection to the person who loves you. It is equally easy to love the wife who is in subjection. (This is God’s direction for both!)
Maturity or the lack of it is revealed more in marriage than any relationship. It is not taught by precept. It is realized as demonstrated by one to the other. Are you willing to assume complete responsibility for another person? If not, you are not in love and not ready for marriage. If the person you are keeping company with is not released from childish attachments, leave him or her alone with mother and daddy until ready to grow up. Are you ready to love and be loved with all of the potential of joy, happiness, sorrow, and heart break~ Are you equipped mentally and socially for a full time life of sharing all you have with another person? Have you been captivated by another individual? Is your supreme desire to make them happy and fulfilled for the rest of their sojourn on this earth? Are you willing to place the responsibility for their entire future in your own hands?
Are You Ready for Marriage? continued
The most important lifetime contract for any human being is marriage. It is God’s plan, and if we enter into it with a light a frivolous attitude, time will prove its devastation with the lives of those who hold marriage less than sacred. It is God’s institution, ordained by Him. Most of us reading these lines have already learned by observation the heartaches brought upon innocent children because of the divorce of their parents.
The National Center for Health Statistics shows how common divorce has become in the US. The latest yearly count, for 1,079 totaled 1,181,000 new divorces. That was 4.5 percent above the preceding year and nearly triple the number reported 20 years earlier. Almost 1.2 million children joined the ranks of youngsters under the age of 18 who have divorced parents. Twenty three of every 1,000 married women experienced a new divorce. Twenty years earlier, the annual divorce rate was barely nine out of every 1,000.
Today’s average church is strangely quiet about the portion of Scripture that says “No” to divorce. The fear of offending and losing support closes that portion of the Scripture to the pews. Is God quiet? Has He changed his position on divorce? Do we want our children and youth to accept it? Silence on the subject says “YES” to the popular trend away from the sanctity of marriage. We will answer to God for not declaring His whole counsel.
Definition
What is involved in marriage? It is more than a legal and social contract; it is a covenant made under God in the presence of His children. It is more binding than any other legal contract. Marriage is God’s plan for a total commitment of the TOTAL person for TOTAL life.
Marriage is desired and designed by God. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have domination over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” Gen. 1:28. “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help fit for him” Gen. 2:18.
Marriage is determined by God. “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her into the man” Gen 2:21,2. This same institution is defended by God. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not ashamed” Gen. 2:24, 25.
We must be committed to building a Christian marriage. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” Eph. 5:25.
The man and woman who are going to get married should have identical convictions about God. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” II Cor. 6:14. Remember if your partner has no desire to please God, never will he or she desire to please you.
Mature Enough
Marriage is not child’s play. There is no such thing as automatic happiness in marriage. It is a relationship that must be carefully nourished and worked upon. Age demands great adjustment for both parties. Marriage is one grand adjustment to each other. The girl with the princess syndrome is in for one great shock and disappointment. Marriage does not give the dreamy-eyed girl a crown. God says she is to be a helper to her husband, meeting his needs. What a rude awakening that can be! Mistaken ideas of marriage can wreck any relationship within one year. The husband is to express and demonstrate love to his companion. Remember it is easy to be in subjection to the person who loves you. It is equally easy to love the wife who is in subjection. (This is God’s direction for both!)
Maturity or the lack of it is revealed more in marriage than any relationship. It is not taught by precept. It is realized as demonstrated by one to the other. Are you willing to assume complete responsibility for another person? If not, you are not in love and not ready for marriage. If the person you are keeping company with is not released from childish attachments, leave him or her alone with mother and daddy until ready to grow up. Are you ready to love and be loved with all of the potential of joy, happiness, sorrow, and heart break~ Are you equipped mentally and socially for a full time life of sharing all you have with another person? Have you been captivated by another individual? Is your supreme desire to make them happy and fulfilled for the rest of their sojourn on this earth? Are you willing to place the responsibility for their entire future in your own hands?
Are You Ready for Marriage? continued
Many marry to gain their independence and control from parents. All they do is move under another set of rules and regulations. These people conclude anything or anybody is better than mother and dad. What a price youth pay for bitterness toward their parents to enter their heart and life.
Emotional twisted values can ruin any marriage. This is the crowd that has listened to TV and attended the Hollywood movies. They have been taught that the satisfaction of sex is the one purpose of marriage. Actually it is part of the whole and not the most important. Money matters cause more divorces than sex. Sex brings little satisfaction unless mutual satisfaction, love, and respect are established in a relationship. If you doubt this, see what happens to your sex life the next go-around after a heated disagreement.
Many have a twisted concept of marriage. They will make it because mother and dad did. Few marriages today are buoyant, refreshing and filled with desire to meet the needs of the other person.
(Have you read my definition of love in the free printed radio message, “Am I in Love?” Social pressures of others’ actions should not be a motivation for your marriage or an indication of your readiness for it.
The Word of God gives clear distinctives for the action of husbands and wives. Are you willing to hear and abide by them? If not, you have no help from God in your marriage. He does not bless or assist disobedient people. Until you are under His authority, you will not be under his direction. Want to go it alone? Look around! Many are and all can see the consequence.
Eph. 5:21-25, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
Eph. 5:28,29,31,33, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church; For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife, see that she reverence her husband.”
Eph. 6:14, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (Which is the first commandment with promise), That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Marriage Difficulty?
If you are one of the many involved, I would urge you to do the following:
1. Every day read a portion of the Bible together and get down on your knees and pray for definite requests shared with each other.
2. Study a portion in the Bible that give direction for each member of the family and determine with the Lord’s help to start acting properly. (It’s what you DO that counts!)
3. Be wide open with one another in all areas of your marriage. Talk everything over together. Keep no question, idea, attitude, action or reaction from one another.
4. Place your money in mutual accounts and discuss all expenditures together. Have NO his or her money!
5. Determine with God’s help to minister to your spouse. Make him or her the most important person in your life, second only to the Lord.
Some Questions
Are you ready for marriage? Face these questions and get them settled in your own mind and heart:
1. Are mutual interests more important than physical attractions?
2. Will marriage solve feelings of insecurity?
3. Should married people endeavor to change one another or accept each as they are?
4. Will two “opposites” get along well and make good adjustment?
5. How important is sex to a buoyant marriage?
6. Will the things that bother a person become dissolved in marriage?
7. Do engaged people have as much liberty with one another as the married?
8. Should a couple get married because of their pre-marital sexual relations?
9. Should emotional difficulties be ironed out prior to marriage?
10. Is there any scriptural allowance for a saved person marrying a non-Christian?
11. Does God choose a mate for us and all we have to do is locate that person?
12. How long after you meet a certain person will you “know” you are in love?
Do you believe every person should get married?
Should each partner realize their strengths and weaknesses prior to marriage?
13. Do you believe every person should get married?
14. Should each partner realize their strengths and weaknesses
prior to marriage?
15. How long should a couple wait for children after their marriage?
By: Dwight Porter (http://thehourofgraceandpower.org/Docs%20and%20Literature/Love%20&%20Marriage/Are%20You%20Ready%20for%20Marriage.pdf)
Emotional twisted values can ruin any marriage. This is the crowd that has listened to TV and attended the Hollywood movies. They have been taught that the satisfaction of sex is the one purpose of marriage. Actually it is part of the whole and not the most important. Money matters cause more divorces than sex. Sex brings little satisfaction unless mutual satisfaction, love, and respect are established in a relationship. If you doubt this, see what happens to your sex life the next go-around after a heated disagreement.
Many have a twisted concept of marriage. They will make it because mother and dad did. Few marriages today are buoyant, refreshing and filled with desire to meet the needs of the other person.
(Have you read my definition of love in the free printed radio message, “Am I in Love?” Social pressures of others’ actions should not be a motivation for your marriage or an indication of your readiness for it.
The Word of God gives clear distinctives for the action of husbands and wives. Are you willing to hear and abide by them? If not, you have no help from God in your marriage. He does not bless or assist disobedient people. Until you are under His authority, you will not be under his direction. Want to go it alone? Look around! Many are and all can see the consequence.
Eph. 5:21-25, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
Eph. 5:28,29,31,33, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church; For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife, see that she reverence her husband.”
Eph. 6:14, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (Which is the first commandment with promise), That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Marriage Difficulty?
If you are one of the many involved, I would urge you to do the following:
1. Every day read a portion of the Bible together and get down on your knees and pray for definite requests shared with each other.
2. Study a portion in the Bible that give direction for each member of the family and determine with the Lord’s help to start acting properly. (It’s what you DO that counts!)
3. Be wide open with one another in all areas of your marriage. Talk everything over together. Keep no question, idea, attitude, action or reaction from one another.
4. Place your money in mutual accounts and discuss all expenditures together. Have NO his or her money!
5. Determine with God’s help to minister to your spouse. Make him or her the most important person in your life, second only to the Lord.
Some Questions
Are you ready for marriage? Face these questions and get them settled in your own mind and heart:
1. Are mutual interests more important than physical attractions?
2. Will marriage solve feelings of insecurity?
3. Should married people endeavor to change one another or accept each as they are?
4. Will two “opposites” get along well and make good adjustment?
5. How important is sex to a buoyant marriage?
6. Will the things that bother a person become dissolved in marriage?
7. Do engaged people have as much liberty with one another as the married?
8. Should a couple get married because of their pre-marital sexual relations?
9. Should emotional difficulties be ironed out prior to marriage?
10. Is there any scriptural allowance for a saved person marrying a non-Christian?
11. Does God choose a mate for us and all we have to do is locate that person?
12. How long after you meet a certain person will you “know” you are in love?
Do you believe every person should get married?
Should each partner realize their strengths and weaknesses prior to marriage?
13. Do you believe every person should get married?
14. Should each partner realize their strengths and weaknesses
prior to marriage?
15. How long should a couple wait for children after their marriage?
By: Dwight Porter (http://thehourofgraceandpower.org/Docs%20and%20Literature/Love%20&%20Marriage/Are%20You%20Ready%20for%20Marriage.pdf)
One Secret To A Happy Marriage
Article Link (rippster4christ.blogspot.com)
Despite all of the books, videos, and cassettes in our Christian bookstores, Christian marriages continue to fall apart. With my own ears I heard a Christian psychologist, with the largest radio audience, state that the percentage of wrecked homes in the world is identical to that within the church. God’s statement in I Corinthians 7 is ignored. If we allow separation, it will be the first step in disobedience. Can I get a divorce? You are not to be separated as husband and wife, except for a temporary time, which is coupled with warning. Read it! The Bible is very clear about the husband and wife relationship!
There are few happy marriages in the day which you and I live. Why? That is easily understood. One condition ruins this thrilling relationship. It is SELFISHNESS! If a person disobeys God in his personal attitude and lifestyle, how can he or she expect God’s blessing upon their union?
Before I talk about adjustment in marriage, let’s consider a modern-day misconception about this God-provided union. It is the most wonderful, thrilling, intimate relationship outside of being sons of God. Today’s philosophy says that love doesn’t need a piece of paper. Marriage to many means the possibility of getting stuck in an unhappy relationship. Remember, for many, marriage is our last best change to grow into a fulfilled, mature person. Submission to God’s leadership is a proper step toward adjustment to each other. A built-in failure results from an immature concept of this relationship. If a wife believes the home revolves around herself and the princess syndrome is to continue through married life, a poor relationship will be of her own making. If each endeavors to usurp authority over the other, they deserve the ensuing war.
Marriage is not a guarantee of happiness. If so, marry your house, car, or TV set. Looking for a man or woman who will treat you perfectly? God help you if he or she has been found according to your evaluation. Is your love based upon your feeling, produced by your spouse? If so, your love will fluctuate with treatment, circumstances, or reactions. Love is a commitment on your part to provide all of the needs for the object of your affections.
Directions Are Clear
Scriptural directives are loud and clear for every spouse. Are you listening? Are you still reading? Here are some of them:
1. Each spouse is to submit himself or herself to one another. “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).
2. The wife is to submit to her husband as the final authority in every contested issue. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (v.22)
3. The husband is to lead in spiritual worship at home and is to have loving authority over his wife and children. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church; and he is the savior of the body”
(v. 23).
4. He is to love his wife, following the demonstration of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (v.25).
5. Children are to obey their parents. The responsibility for this obedience belongs to the parents as much as the children. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1).
6. Honor is given to parents by their children. This is deserved and merited by parents. “Honor thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise” (v. 2).
7. Parents are not to generate anger within their children (negative). They are to demonstrate, under the authority of the Lord, by their demonstration before them (positive). “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (v. 4).
8. As parents, the husband is to give definite honor and respect to his wife as one with a weaker body than his. If this is not practiced, his prayers will not be answered because of this disobedience. “In like manner, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered” (I Peter 3:7). The greatest verse for married couples is found in Ephesians 4:31,32. Read it carefully. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.” Don’t miss Colossians 3:13-15. “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
But I can never forgive him. Since when is adultery unfor-givable? If God forgives, and commands the same of you, then how can you expect His forgiveness if you fail to exercise the same? “Therefore, I say unto you, whatever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses”
(Mark 11:24,25).
One Secret
Now I have arrived at my subject matter. The secret of a happy marriage is ADJUSTING to one another. Few work at this because of preconceived notions about marriage. The wedding is over; and with the princess syndrome, the wife expects a life of continuing moonlight and roses. Nine chances out often, the husband will act and react like his father Why be-surprised? You mean you hadn’t noticed prior to your trip down the aisle? Husband, are you going to be surprised at your wife’s mental attitude after observing her mother prior to her daughter’s marriage relationship with you? The big adjustment begins right
after marriage. Two individuals walking down different roads, with parents completely different, come together for a lifetime. Not too many young couples are ready for such a change of life. It is a big one! They had better possess real love. Do you know what that is? (You should write for my free printed message, Am I in Love?)
Here are some of the great adjustments in marriage. Are you going to get through them with ease or make them insur-mountable mountains? Will you adjust to your spouse—the one that you cannot and will not make over anyway? Will you keep your attention on yourself and develop an attitude of sorrow and sympathy for the most important person in your life—YOU?
Advice and Counsel
1. When you get married, all of a sudden you are living together. Any other sexual relationship, independent of marriage, is fornication (if not married before) or adul-tery. God says NO and assures both of an entrance into Hell. (Galatians 5: 19-21)
2. The husband, realizing his financial responsibility, works hard to get established in his career. Many a wife con-cludes that his work is more important than she is. How sad! Here is another crisis.
3. When the first child arrives, the mother must take atten-tion from her husband for the new member of the family. This is a big adjustment for the husband, especially if the wife becomes neurotic about the welfare of the child. To allow a child to come between a husband and wife is the height of folly. God gives us children when He desires us to have them. “Lo, children are an heritage from the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalms 127:3-5).
4. Don’t minimize the in-law problem. You have married your spouse’s family. Adjust to their idiosyncrasies. They have been living in a different world. If they bother you, it is your fault. No one is to cause you trouble. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
5. Age takes its toll and demands tremendous adjustment. A husband in front of his wife in my office stated, “She is not the woman I married.” I proceeded to tell him, how could she be the same after presenting him three children. Living with him for all these years could change anybody. Husband, is your inference that you have not changed?
6. Age takes its toll in varied ways. Here is one of the greatest challenges in your marriage! Are you awake to the attitudes developing within your spouse? Better not
wait very long before you recognize them. In older age your concrete attitudes set up faster and harder. Are you still ministering to one another? A wide-open sharing of concerns is of great assistance during this time of adjustment.
7. At least once a month sit down together and discuss exactly how your marriage relationship is progressing. List your encouraging signs and those that give you a bit of concern. Ask your partner how you are doing, especially notice your partner’s suggestions for improvement. Better have some smelling salts in your purse. By the way, the timing of these sessions is very important. Perhaps it could be during a date, the time you get away for a few days, or after a nice cozy trip to the restaurant, but by all means, do it regularly.
Some Do’s
1. Realize that your most important relationship upon this earth (next to the Lord) is with your spouse.
2. Remember that in your marriage relationship you have the best and most effective demonstration before your children as to happiness, responsibility, and confidence. Why not assure your children at an early age that their mother and father will never separate until one goes to Heaven. Your children will soon be playing and going to school with a child who is not living with his or her father.
3. By your talk, appearance, and display of affection, prove to your spouse that of having made the right choice when he or she looks around.
4. The most important person in your household is your spouse! Be sure your entire pattern of activity revolves around him or her.
Some Don’ts
1. Don’t think complaining and nagging is going to provide what love will produce.
2. Don’t feel sorry for yourself in your spouse’s action or reaction. Keep busy meeting his or her needs. The returns will be great.
3. Stop reading fictional books, looking at soap operas, and dramatic TV series about love. They know nothing about it, since the only love in the world comes from God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
4. Don’t ever stop assuming personal responsibility for present relationships in your marriage. YOU are the first person to allow God to change. If he can change your heart, attitude, and actions, He can do the same for your spouse.
From: rippster4christ.blogspot.com
Article Link
Despite all of the books, videos, and cassettes in our Christian bookstores, Christian marriages continue to fall apart. With my own ears I heard a Christian psychologist, with the largest radio audience, state that the percentage of wrecked homes in the world is identical to that within the church. God’s statement in I Corinthians 7 is ignored. If we allow separation, it will be the first step in disobedience. Can I get a divorce? You are not to be separated as husband and wife, except for a temporary time, which is coupled with warning. Read it! The Bible is very clear about the husband and wife relationship!
There are few happy marriages in the day which you and I live. Why? That is easily understood. One condition ruins this thrilling relationship. It is SELFISHNESS! If a person disobeys God in his personal attitude and lifestyle, how can he or she expect God’s blessing upon their union?
Marriage is not a guarantee of happiness. If so, marry your house, car, or TV set. Looking for a man or woman who will treat you perfectly? God help you if he or she has been found according to your evaluation. Is your love based upon your feeling, produced by your spouse? If so, your love will fluctuate with treatment, circumstances, or reactions. Love is a commitment on your part to provide all of the needs for the object of your affections.
Directions Are Clear
Scriptural directives are loud and clear for every spouse. Are you listening? Are you still reading? Here are some of them:
1. Each spouse is to submit himself or herself to one another. “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).
2. The wife is to submit to her husband as the final authority in every contested issue. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (v.22)
3. The husband is to lead in spiritual worship at home and is to have loving authority over his wife and children. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church; and he is the savior of the body”
(v. 23).
4. He is to love his wife, following the demonstration of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (v.25).
5. Children are to obey their parents. The responsibility for this obedience belongs to the parents as much as the children. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1).
6. Honor is given to parents by their children. This is deserved and merited by parents. “Honor thy father and thy mother; which is the first commandment with promise” (v. 2).
7. Parents are not to generate anger within their children (negative). They are to demonstrate, under the authority of the Lord, by their demonstration before them (positive). “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (v. 4).
8. As parents, the husband is to give definite honor and respect to his wife as one with a weaker body than his. If this is not practiced, his prayers will not be answered because of this disobedience. “In like manner, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered” (I Peter 3:7). The greatest verse for married couples is found in Ephesians 4:31,32. Read it carefully. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.” Don’t miss Colossians 3:13-15. “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
But I can never forgive him. Since when is adultery unfor-givable? If God forgives, and commands the same of you, then how can you expect His forgiveness if you fail to exercise the same? “Therefore, I say unto you, whatever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses”
(Mark 11:24,25).
One Secret
Now I have arrived at my subject matter. The secret of a happy marriage is ADJUSTING to one another. Few work at this because of preconceived notions about marriage. The wedding is over; and with the princess syndrome, the wife expects a life of continuing moonlight and roses. Nine chances out often, the husband will act and react like his father Why be-surprised? You mean you hadn’t noticed prior to your trip down the aisle? Husband, are you going to be surprised at your wife’s mental attitude after observing her mother prior to her daughter’s marriage relationship with you? The big adjustment begins right
after marriage. Two individuals walking down different roads, with parents completely different, come together for a lifetime. Not too many young couples are ready for such a change of life. It is a big one! They had better possess real love. Do you know what that is? (You should write for my free printed message, Am I in Love?)
Here are some of the great adjustments in marriage. Are you going to get through them with ease or make them insur-mountable mountains? Will you adjust to your spouse—the one that you cannot and will not make over anyway? Will you keep your attention on yourself and develop an attitude of sorrow and sympathy for the most important person in your life—YOU?
Advice and Counsel
1. When you get married, all of a sudden you are living together. Any other sexual relationship, independent of marriage, is fornication (if not married before) or adul-tery. God says NO and assures both of an entrance into Hell. (Galatians 5: 19-21)
2. The husband, realizing his financial responsibility, works hard to get established in his career. Many a wife con-cludes that his work is more important than she is. How sad! Here is another crisis.
3. When the first child arrives, the mother must take atten-tion from her husband for the new member of the family. This is a big adjustment for the husband, especially if the wife becomes neurotic about the welfare of the child. To allow a child to come between a husband and wife is the height of folly. God gives us children when He desires us to have them. “Lo, children are an heritage from the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalms 127:3-5).
4. Don’t minimize the in-law problem. You have married your spouse’s family. Adjust to their idiosyncrasies. They have been living in a different world. If they bother you, it is your fault. No one is to cause you trouble. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
5. Age takes its toll and demands tremendous adjustment. A husband in front of his wife in my office stated, “She is not the woman I married.” I proceeded to tell him, how could she be the same after presenting him three children. Living with him for all these years could change anybody. Husband, is your inference that you have not changed?
6. Age takes its toll in varied ways. Here is one of the greatest challenges in your marriage! Are you awake to the attitudes developing within your spouse? Better not
wait very long before you recognize them. In older age your concrete attitudes set up faster and harder. Are you still ministering to one another? A wide-open sharing of concerns is of great assistance during this time of adjustment.
7. At least once a month sit down together and discuss exactly how your marriage relationship is progressing. List your encouraging signs and those that give you a bit of concern. Ask your partner how you are doing, especially notice your partner’s suggestions for improvement. Better have some smelling salts in your purse. By the way, the timing of these sessions is very important. Perhaps it could be during a date, the time you get away for a few days, or after a nice cozy trip to the restaurant, but by all means, do it regularly.
Some Do’s
1. Realize that your most important relationship upon this earth (next to the Lord) is with your spouse.
2. Remember that in your marriage relationship you have the best and most effective demonstration before your children as to happiness, responsibility, and confidence. Why not assure your children at an early age that their mother and father will never separate until one goes to Heaven. Your children will soon be playing and going to school with a child who is not living with his or her father.
3. By your talk, appearance, and display of affection, prove to your spouse that of having made the right choice when he or she looks around.
4. The most important person in your household is your spouse! Be sure your entire pattern of activity revolves around him or her.
Some Don’ts
1. Don’t think complaining and nagging is going to provide what love will produce.
2. Don’t feel sorry for yourself in your spouse’s action or reaction. Keep busy meeting his or her needs. The returns will be great.
3. Stop reading fictional books, looking at soap operas, and dramatic TV series about love. They know nothing about it, since the only love in the world comes from God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
4. Don’t ever stop assuming personal responsibility for present relationships in your marriage. YOU are the first person to allow God to change. If he can change your heart, attitude, and actions, He can do the same for your spouse.
From: rippster4christ.blogspot.com
Article Link
Love Or Lust? - By: Dwight Porter
Do you really want to know the difference? Will you accept Scriptural Truth if revealed to you? Are you one of the Americans that conclude sex sins are more tolerable today? The sexual freedom gained in the 60s by the pill has been lost in the 90s by AIDS. Have the Ten Commandments been changed or altered? Can the devastation upon the immoral partners be less in our sexually enlightened day?
All of us are involved in the consequences of illicit sex. In some inner-city high schools from 40 to 50 percent of teenage girls get pregnant within one year. Unless they get an abortion, most of these young mothers drop out of school, go on welfare, with most remaining in poverty for the rest of their lives. The USA has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized nation. Every year more than one million teen girls become pregnant (125,000) of them are 15 years or younger.) Who is going to pay the bill, now amounting to 16.6 million dollars? It will be federal spending for Aid to Families with Dependent Children. (The government has only our money to spend.) Can you imagine how devastating this is to unwanted children reared without a father?
An Explanation
1. Television is filled with sexual enticements. It has turned our living rooms into brothels with the majority of couples not married to each other. The soap operas are nothing by sexual fantasies. The semi-nude dancers on major stations are stimulating to youth and their parents. How Christians can endure such filth is beyond me. There are two people I know who will not be contaminated with such.
2. Hollywood movies must have cleaned up their act with so many Christians in attendance. The nudity and filthy language must be improved! No one watches them without contamination. “I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps.” (Job 31:1,4).
3. The beat of rock music produces rebellion. Its loud-ness is used to break down inhibitions. I heard a policeman for rock festivals answer the following question? If you had one piece of advice for parents sending their daughter to a rock concert, what would it be? “I would not allow my daughter to attend without a strong man to be her personal escort with the promise that never would he take his eye off her.”
(That does tell us something.)
4. Where are the churches, parents, and adults, who talk about sex being reserved for marriage only? Why does sex education completely by-pass moral responsibility? Why don’t we teach that sexual abstinence is worthwhile? Why cannot parents inform their children by example as well as precept? Why is the proper behavior pattern not established in our homes?
5. Many a husband and wife will answer to God for their forfeiting the leadership training of a father in their home, What kind of a marriage partner are we producing when the child has not seen genuine love and concern between their father and mother? Children usually reproduce the only home conditions they know.
6. Only a happy, fulfilled wife can prepare a daughter for marriage. Only a strong father, leading his family in Spiritual matters, will produce God-fearing children. The greatest security children will ever have is a demonstration of love between their father and mother. What can be expected of children who lived their most formative years in the midst of a frustrated marriage?
7. Most of today’s books and magazines are hostile to morality and decency. The average picture of a woman makes her an object to be exploited. The pornographic magazines in today’s book stores distorts the purpose of a woman.
8. The glamorization of the human body provides a distortion of God’s plan. Two persons are to control our body and we are not one of them. One is the Lord, Himself. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:19,20). The marriage partner is the other one in control. “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, hut the wife” (I Corinthians 7:4).
9. Few people today realize that adultery and fornication (an illicit sexual relationship among the unmarried) is absolutely contrary to God’s will. Only the marriage bed is undefiled. “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).
10. The silence of the church is a contributing factor to the moral decay of this generation. Are we intimidated by the many Christians involved in divorce? We must still declare a loud Scriptural “no” to sex sins, and declare the sanctity and permanence of marriage. What about the present generation of children and youth, who have not made such mistakes? Dare we fail to teach them the Scriptural position of love and marriage? As with John the Baptizer, our head can easily be served on a platter if we rebuke adultery. It is an honor to be resisted for Truth. We are in good company. “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John
15:18).
In Love
All sexual stimulation outside of marriage is lust, not love. How dare you insult a precious God-given expres-sion of love by an illicit relationship contrary to decency and righteousness? Love does not contaminate your partner. Love has respect and regard for the object of your affections. (You should secure and read my free radio printed message, Am I In Love?) In no way does genuine love poison, ruin, and generate guilt. Sex is a one man-one woman relationship for life in marriage only. In illicit sex, you are stealing the property of another person. You have ruined one another for their life’s companion.
Lust is not caused by outward stimulation alone. It is an appetite raging out of control within you. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of HIS OWN LUST and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14,15). Delilah is in most every office, bar, social club, and in a few churches. You are to get away from her. “FLEE FORNICATION.” Every sin that a man doeth is outside the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (I Corinthians 6:18). Joseph’s sudden departure cost him a coat. (This was the second one he lost.) Have you read the book of proverbs lately about the strange women?
Please Help Me
I’m taking for granted you desire deliverance from a mind polluted with lust. The following are for both men and women.
1. Stop being entertained by the glamorization of the human body.
2. Lust is within your heart and mind. Do not feed it by the garbage of what you read, look at, or listen to.
3. Keep your mind filled with that which is good. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever
things are honest, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS” (Phil. 4:8).
4. If you are in the midst of an affair, break it off immediately and cry out to God for forgiveness. He has promised it!
5. If you are allowing the advances of the opposite sex beyond decency and proper relationship, stop such action immediately. It may mean goodbye. God may have better things for you.
6. Spiritual strength comes from reading your Bible and bending your knees daily in prayer. Keep practicing Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. Thy word have I hidden in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms
119 :9, 11.
Tell me what you are looking at, reading and thinking about. I will know your destination. Many a couple have blown a lifetime of happy, fulfilled, and buoyant marriage because of allowing LUST to contaminate and ruin them. There are still a few young people who do not desire to marry public property. Are YOU one of them?
Purity is your personal responsibility. He has given you the ability with His help. “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure”
(I Timothy 5:22).
By Dwight Porter (http://thehourofgraceandpower.org/Docs%20and%20Literature/Love%20&%20Marriage/Love%20or%20Lust.pdf)
All of us are involved in the consequences of illicit sex. In some inner-city high schools from 40 to 50 percent of teenage girls get pregnant within one year. Unless they get an abortion, most of these young mothers drop out of school, go on welfare, with most remaining in poverty for the rest of their lives. The USA has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized nation. Every year more than one million teen girls become pregnant (125,000) of them are 15 years or younger.) Who is going to pay the bill, now amounting to 16.6 million dollars? It will be federal spending for Aid to Families with Dependent Children. (The government has only our money to spend.) Can you imagine how devastating this is to unwanted children reared without a father?
An Explanation
1. Television is filled with sexual enticements. It has turned our living rooms into brothels with the majority of couples not married to each other. The soap operas are nothing by sexual fantasies. The semi-nude dancers on major stations are stimulating to youth and their parents. How Christians can endure such filth is beyond me. There are two people I know who will not be contaminated with such.
2. Hollywood movies must have cleaned up their act with so many Christians in attendance. The nudity and filthy language must be improved! No one watches them without contamination. “I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps.” (Job 31:1,4).
3. The beat of rock music produces rebellion. Its loud-ness is used to break down inhibitions. I heard a policeman for rock festivals answer the following question? If you had one piece of advice for parents sending their daughter to a rock concert, what would it be? “I would not allow my daughter to attend without a strong man to be her personal escort with the promise that never would he take his eye off her.”
(That does tell us something.)
4. Where are the churches, parents, and adults, who talk about sex being reserved for marriage only? Why does sex education completely by-pass moral responsibility? Why don’t we teach that sexual abstinence is worthwhile? Why cannot parents inform their children by example as well as precept? Why is the proper behavior pattern not established in our homes?
5. Many a husband and wife will answer to God for their forfeiting the leadership training of a father in their home, What kind of a marriage partner are we producing when the child has not seen genuine love and concern between their father and mother? Children usually reproduce the only home conditions they know.
6. Only a happy, fulfilled wife can prepare a daughter for marriage. Only a strong father, leading his family in Spiritual matters, will produce God-fearing children. The greatest security children will ever have is a demonstration of love between their father and mother. What can be expected of children who lived their most formative years in the midst of a frustrated marriage?
7. Most of today’s books and magazines are hostile to morality and decency. The average picture of a woman makes her an object to be exploited. The pornographic magazines in today’s book stores distorts the purpose of a woman.
8. The glamorization of the human body provides a distortion of God’s plan. Two persons are to control our body and we are not one of them. One is the Lord, Himself. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:19,20). The marriage partner is the other one in control. “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, hut the wife” (I Corinthians 7:4).
9. Few people today realize that adultery and fornication (an illicit sexual relationship among the unmarried) is absolutely contrary to God’s will. Only the marriage bed is undefiled. “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).
10. The silence of the church is a contributing factor to the moral decay of this generation. Are we intimidated by the many Christians involved in divorce? We must still declare a loud Scriptural “no” to sex sins, and declare the sanctity and permanence of marriage. What about the present generation of children and youth, who have not made such mistakes? Dare we fail to teach them the Scriptural position of love and marriage? As with John the Baptizer, our head can easily be served on a platter if we rebuke adultery. It is an honor to be resisted for Truth. We are in good company. “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John
15:18).
In Love
All sexual stimulation outside of marriage is lust, not love. How dare you insult a precious God-given expres-sion of love by an illicit relationship contrary to decency and righteousness? Love does not contaminate your partner. Love has respect and regard for the object of your affections. (You should secure and read my free radio printed message, Am I In Love?) In no way does genuine love poison, ruin, and generate guilt. Sex is a one man-one woman relationship for life in marriage only. In illicit sex, you are stealing the property of another person. You have ruined one another for their life’s companion.
Lust is not caused by outward stimulation alone. It is an appetite raging out of control within you. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of HIS OWN LUST and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14,15). Delilah is in most every office, bar, social club, and in a few churches. You are to get away from her. “FLEE FORNICATION.” Every sin that a man doeth is outside the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (I Corinthians 6:18). Joseph’s sudden departure cost him a coat. (This was the second one he lost.) Have you read the book of proverbs lately about the strange women?
Please Help Me
I’m taking for granted you desire deliverance from a mind polluted with lust. The following are for both men and women.
1. Stop being entertained by the glamorization of the human body.
2. Lust is within your heart and mind. Do not feed it by the garbage of what you read, look at, or listen to.
3. Keep your mind filled with that which is good. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever
things are honest, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS” (Phil. 4:8).
4. If you are in the midst of an affair, break it off immediately and cry out to God for forgiveness. He has promised it!
5. If you are allowing the advances of the opposite sex beyond decency and proper relationship, stop such action immediately. It may mean goodbye. God may have better things for you.
6. Spiritual strength comes from reading your Bible and bending your knees daily in prayer. Keep practicing Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. Thy word have I hidden in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms
119 :9, 11.
Tell me what you are looking at, reading and thinking about. I will know your destination. Many a couple have blown a lifetime of happy, fulfilled, and buoyant marriage because of allowing LUST to contaminate and ruin them. There are still a few young people who do not desire to marry public property. Are YOU one of them?
Purity is your personal responsibility. He has given you the ability with His help. “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure”
(I Timothy 5:22).
By Dwight Porter (http://thehourofgraceandpower.org/Docs%20and%20Literature/Love%20&%20Marriage/Love%20or%20Lust.pdf)
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