Be a man, Biblically

Men, are you the leader of your family? Not a leader in the “Do as I say, or you’re going to get it!” leader, but as in a father leading his family to be Godly people way. Do you respect and honor your wife as your co-heir? Does SHE feel that she is respected, satisfied and happy? Does SHE feel you are a good leader, provider and spiritual shepherd for your family? Do your children see you as a role model of how a Christian, moral, honest, family loving man should act?

In relation to God, do you need to be drug to church? Does your wife have to leave you and take your kids to go to Church? What do you think this teaches your children? These are all question we as men need to ask ourselves and our families to get answers to. We as men cannot be truly Christian husbands and fathers unless we spiritually lead our families. If you don’t lead them society will, and we see what that leads to.

Men, ask yourself, “How do I change?”, “How do I become a man of God?”, “How do I become a better husband, better father and better man?” Men, these questions should always be on your mind. This change is done in the form of striving to change from a Godless, worldly (as in secular or of “this” world) man to a man of God. We are told to conform to the image of God in Romans 8:29,  “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” -  Ephesians 5:25

Below is a list I could not improve on from a sermon, “Marriage and Men”, by Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hills Church:

“Ephesians 5:25 calls men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. Men are not ready to be good husbands until they are a part of the Church and understand how Christ loves the Church by taking responsibility for her and sacrificing himself for her.

Men you need to understand that a wife’s fears (1 Pet. 3:6) are legitimate; men dominate the lives of women and children, for good or for evil. Honor your wife:

Honor your wife in marriage. Take a wife honorably. Establish right priorities, and be a one woman man—absolutely faithful to your wife.
Honor your wife physically. Be strong for your wife, not against her. Be protective of her and present with her.
Honor your wife emotionally. Be emotionally present and intimate. Take her on dates.
Honor your wife verbally. Speak honorably to her. Speak honorably of her, when she is present and absent.
Honor your wife financially. Provide for the financial needs of your family, organize your budget, and be generous towards your wife.
Honor your wife practically. Consider her needs and how you can serve her.
Honor your wife parentally.  Be “Pastor Dad” by shepherding your children (praying with them, teaching them about Jesus, reading the Bible with them, etc.).
Honor your wife spiritually. You initiate and lead prayer, Bible, chats, church attendance, etc. Take responsibility for your church.”

 “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.” -  (1 Pet. 3:7). Repent.

So men, humble yourselves, speak to your wives, speak to your children, man up and lead your family for good, not evil. You need to step up and not be little boys; do the job that was given to you by God and rise up and lead your Christian family. If you are not doing the job, repent; commit yourself to being a man and a family leader in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why I hate religion - Pastor Mark Driscoll

While the word "Hate" is strong, I find that the liberalization of Churches and of the interpretation of the Bible is killing Christianity, thus I am not fond of it. I love people, all people. I want them to come to Christ and if they are in Christ I do not want them to be lead astray.

The video below is form an excerpt of a sermon by - Pastor Mark Driscoll of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. I can't even begin to say how much I agree with this video. If only those who were damaged by Religiosity could have found a Church that teaches Jesus, who talk about Jesus and follow the Bible and not their made up version of what they want people to follow.

It is about Jesus and what HE did on the cross. Just like in the past when the Church kept the Bible from the common person, didn't want them reading it, so they could control the masses, today the truth is still being covered up. The Bible is there for us all to read, for us all to absorb, learn and meditate in. I ask you all to search, I mean seriously seek Gods word, pray and let that Truth poor over you and follow the narrow path it leads you on. The Bible will never steer you wrong, but be aware of those with something to lose, for they WILL steer you wrong.

Top 5 reasons Christians don’t defend Christianity: by John Christian Doe

5. They believe everything is okay. That society should dictate morality, what the masses believe is true and that is the way it should be.  Besides, what secular society likes is more fun, even though most of it goes against the Word of God right?

4. They don’t want to look un-cool. Christians are portrayed as buffoons and thoughtless followers on TV and movies. So they don’t want to look like what they see on TV. So at Church they are super Christian and in the world they are trying their hardest to blend with the non believers.

3. They believe they are saved because they said a prayer one time, so it’s not their fight. They believe that because they said this prayer and “got saved” they are good to go and there is no need to stand up and fight. Everyone else is on their own; they don’t want to get that involved. They believe that the gate is narrow, but WOW this path getting there is wide!

2. They really don’t believe this “God stuff” that much, but they hope some of it is true because that would be awesome. These guys are trying to cover all their bases. They want to be of the world, but if that God stuff is true, they hope that prayer they said was enough to get them on the “good” list.

1. They don’t know enough about their faith to defend it to anyone. Their biblical knowledge can be thoroughly questioned and shaken by a 5 year old. The extent of their Bible reading is on Bumper stickers, T-Shirts, Facebook statuses and what their Pastor has said in funny feel good stories on Sundays. They don’t know why there is only one way to God or why the Bible is the inherent word of God.  So when questioned by a non believer who pulled some verse out of context to refute Christianity, they say “I have faith its true” or even worse “I don’t know”.

Thanks for checking in and Let’s all keep growing in our faith!!

Have a little respect - Leave the War Memorial alone

I am appalled and yet not surprised. The open attacks on Christians is just par for the course now a days. If this was a Jewish or Muslim symbol there be no one saying a word.


"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it." -Matt. 7:13


Taken from CNN.com : "A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a cross displayed on public property for nearly a century is unconstitutional.

Three versions of the Christian symbol have been erected atop 822-foot Mount Soledad in the posh La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, since 1913.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument that the cross is solely a memorial.

Photo taken from CNN.com

The current 43-foot cross was erected in 1954 in honor of Korean War veterans and has been the subject of near constant judicial back and forth since 1989, when two Vietnam War veterans filed suit against the city, saying it violated the California Constitution's "No Preference" clause.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument that the cross is solely a memorial."
Read More >>

What I have learned from listeners...

What I have learned from some of my listeners of my Podcast who write in with questions is that they do believe in God, they believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior but when it comes to believing completely in the Bible, it then gets blurry. The secular movement to discredit the Bible as some old book with some good ideas but mostly outdated archaic gibberish has taken a foothold in many Christians.

Hollywood and the secular movement have really taken an aggressive stance and have attacked the intellect of the Christian. The Atheistic views of people like Bill Maher, Penn Jillette and others have a very large stage and they like to paint Christians as much less intelligent for believing what we do. They chose parts of the Bible and attempt to ridicule them out of context to make Christians look foolish or hateful. To the unknowing or immature Christian this can be devastating to their faith.

Secular Humanist or Atheist easily break apart a Christian who believes but has no idea why. They chip away at the Christian who does not know the facts of our faith and the evidence there is supporting what we believe. Many Christians just do not know about the very large amount of data there is supporting the inerrancy of the bible. The sad part is most of the information they get about the Bible (from a Historical standpoint) is from the History channel or from others attacking the Bible.

There is a very large void in Biblical knowledge in America, but even having knowledge of the stories of the Bible and not believing they are real is just not enough and it misses the point. This is where learning about not only the stories and lessons in the Bible but how those stories and lessons came to be. This, I think falls mostly on the Church, but ultimately it is our individual responsibility as Christians to study and seek knowledge of our faith daily.

This is where I truly believe the issue is, not knowing enough to overcome the mental block and ignorance of the Bible. Yes, it is true information and facts can only take us so far in faith, because you ultimately DO have to have faith. I think for some faith is only taking them so far because they are scared to ask the questions they need answered because that might make them a bad Christian. This is where my journey started. Questions…

I have been a Christian as long as I can remember, but I never really grew in my faith until I researched, studied and found the answers to the questions that are the concrete foundation of our Christian faith and the facts to back it up, we need to grow and defend our faith that is under attack right now in America. Let there be no mistake, Christianity and Christian values are very much under attack not only in America, but all around the world. Arm yourself with faith, love, knowledge and most of all Jesus.

Thanks for checking in >>John

The truth is hard to swallow

Below is a prayer Pastor Joe Wright gave when asked to open the new session of the Kansas House of Representatives on January 23, 1996. I find it a very insightful prayer, a kind of prayer that will bother those who do not want to admit to being a sinner. It will bother those who believe this countries moral compass is already pointing true north something I think even the most lukewarm Humanist would agree is not the case. It will bother those who deny Christianity, the validity of the Bible and Gods grace to justify their wrong doing.

The Secularist main stream and the Liberal media have cloaked a veil over our eyes to make people think anything is permissible as long as you feel it is okay. Day by day our children are being poisoned by moral neglect and an indifference to common decency. Some want to deny their accountability to God over their morality, belief and acceptance of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I think this line of thinking is akin to a teenager denying their parents authority over them, the old “You are not the boss of me!” argument. My children at one point truly believed that if they covered their eyes I could not see them because they could not see me. No matter how much they believed that I could not see them, it never changed the reality. So too is it with God. The truth is hard to swallow



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THE PRAYER

The response was immediate - with a number of legislators walking out during the prayer. In six short weeks Central Christian Church logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired Pastor Joe Wright's prayer on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other program Paul Harvey has ever aired.
In addition, Central Christian Church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

The prayer is reprinted below:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance.
We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there is some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state.
Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will.
I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ.Amen.

***text taken from http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/k/kansasprayer.htm
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Wright later explained, "I thought I might get a call from an angry congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent – all of us . . . The problem, I guess, is that you're not supposed to get too specific when you're talking about sin."

Quench that thirst America...

I was reading a recent article about the increasing secularization of American society and the falling Protestant majority. I would love to say I am surprised, but I am not. I see secularization of America happening everyday. In every facet of TV, video games, political correctness, down playing of the religious influence of holidays, politics, work places and endless examples showing the degradation of our religious values of our country.


We are falling into this Joel Osteen, Tony Robins self-important, feel good now lives, which I don't have a problem with completely, but we are forgetting the reason we are here on earth. We are not here to please every, need, want, and wish for our lives, but as my Pastor Mark Miller said in a recent blog, we "were bought with a price and do not belong to ourselves." God is able and he will provide what you need, and not always what you want.


Now on TV, Internet, Radio and books we hear of ways to fulfill the void in our lives. Those mediums tell us happiness is just a product, happy thought or purchase away. We have all fallen into these traps, I know for a long time I did. In John 6:35 the bible states:


"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

and in Isaiah 56:11


"They are dogs with mighty appetites;they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain."

We as a nation need to realize that the way to our true happiness is not through, product enhanced, self-centered ways that make us feel better temporarily, but through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and then rose from the dead so that we may have eternal life, so why would we not dedicate our lives to him and turn to him in our time of need?


Remember, the Lord is able and he has declared, "he who believes in me will never be thirsty." I have taken my drink, and I am happy to say, I will never thirst again. Thank you Lord.