Category Archives: Current Events

Transgenderism and Children: A Grave New Threat to Parental Rights

Current Events

 

A little over a week ago, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered testosterone injections for a 14-year-old girl who now considers herself to be a transgender boy, against her parents’ wishes. Even more frightening, her parents face legal penalties if they use the wrong pro-noun or dare to call her by her birth name.

John Stonestreet of  Breakpoint rightly pointed out that  “Just as same-sex marriage proved to be a grave threat to religious freedom, transgender ideology is proving to be a grave threat to parental rights.”

He’s right.

The stories that parents who are losing their parental rights in court simply because they do not subscribe to the pseudo-science behind transgenderism should send a shiver up the spine of every parent.

Recently, five mothers shared their stories for The Public Discourse. When their daughters and sons announced they were transgender, the heartbreak for their parents was only just beginning. Even though children usually make these announcements  after intense indoctrination via the internet, schools and trans-activists, the concerns of parents are ignored. Instead, they are often vilified and threatened with legal action.

The result for families is heartbreaking. Children are suffering through surgeries which remove perfectly normal, healthy sex organs while parents suffer an equally agonizing situation—being sidelined and cut out of these life-altering decisions.

Twenty years from now, when these kids are more unhappy than ever, twenty years from now, when these kids cannot have children of their own—where will all these trans-activists be? They’ll be long gone, like the dreams of healthy outcomes for thousands of children who have become prey to a dangerous and scientifically flawed ideology.

Parents, beware. Protect your kids from this madness. If you don’t, who will?

Links:

Canadian Court Rules Parents Can’t Stop 14-Year-Old From Taking Trans Hormones

  • Jeremiah Keenan  |   The Federalist  |  March 1, 2019

In Their Own Words: Parents of Kids Who Think They Are Trans Speak Out

  • Five Anonymous Moms  |  The Public Discourse  |  February 26, 2019

 

 

Devastating Distraction: The Snare of Offense

Current Events

I hope you guys don’t mind if I cut right to the chase today… because this is important.

Do you know what happened last week while our nation was arguing over  Civil War statues? While demons were pouring gasoline on racial tensions in the US and re-igniting our deep offense toward the Confederate Army (I can’t believe I just typed that in 2017) Oregon Governor Kate Brown quietly signed the nation’s most devastating abortion bill into law.

Last week, just days after the horrible events in Charlottesville took place, Oregon made sure it’s position was secure as the most radical provider of unrestricted abortions in the nation.  Oregon’s House Bill 3391-B compels insurers, public or private, to provide a whole swathe of “reproductive services” free of cost and regardless of income, insurance type, citizenship status, or gender identity. Because the bill prohibits insurers from shifting costs to customers in the form of higher deductibles or co-pays, private insurers will be forced to eat the costs — or, more likely, to distribute them among their customers through higher premiums. Medicaid (read: Planned Parenthood) will receive an extra $10 million from the state to cover the procedures. That’s ten MILLION DOLLARS of Oregonians money going to the murder of innocent babies up to nine months gestation for any reason, including gender selection.

Of course, the major media outlets aren’t talking about this American tragedy. No, they’re too busy trying to stir up an angry debate about slavery that was decided during the Civil War.  It’s as if we have forgotten who won the war! The outcome of the Civil War determined that slavery in this nation will not stand. And indeed, it does not. Christians all around the world should stand in stark opposition to the evil that is racism—and certainly slavery—but can I suggest that something even more sinister than racism is at the heart of our struggle over statues?

It’s curious to me that old statues getting the attention of popular preachers and teachers while abortion, the horrific murder of babies in the womb that is happening now gets little to no pulpit time. Oregon says that they’ll use taxpayer money to fund your sex-change surgery and your gender-selection abortion… and all we hear is … nothing. The silence is deafening.  Where is the outrage over that?  Black women are aborting their babies at an alarming rate compared to every other culture in America and we want to march about statues? We are losing thousands of precious black women every year in this country. Feminists? Where are you?

The standard by which we measure offense as Christians needs to be re-calibrated, and fast.

We have lost our way, men and women of God! We have made an idol out of our right not to be offended. Tell me, what good is going to come of this? Do we really want to teach our children to march in the streets because we are offended over statues while real, live babies are callously ripped from their mother’s wombs?

Listen. Offense is a trap; a snare set by the devil to distract us from what really matters, and boy are we stepping on almost every trap the devil is setting right now. It seems that every time I turn on the news, another trap is springing shut. SNAP! Can you hear it, too?

The Bible teaches us that we should be on guard against the snares of the enemy. One of those is  the snare of offense. At the risk of boring you, I looked something up. The Greek word for “offense” is skandalon, which literally means the part of an animal trap where bait is hung! In other words, an offense is literally a trap.

We need to understand this deep in our souls and guard against it, because if we’re in a battle (and the Bible clearly says we are), it makes perfect sense that the devil would choose to use offenses to trap and enslave us. Satan lays all kinds of traps for us, and I’m convinced he hunts among the hurting. Think about it— when people offend us, we get angry and hold grudges. Grudges lead to unforgiveness, which leads to broken relationships, or in this case, racial division.

The fact of the matter is that many offenses are going to come our way in this life. When they do, we get to choose how we respond.  We can choose to not be offended. In Colossians 3:13, Paul reminds us that we should be “bearing with one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

And there’s more: while we’re allowing ourselves to get drug into the swamp of offense, a coup is taking place. We’ve forgotten to keep our eyes out for the REAL enemy. Our enemy, the devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy. Right now, he’s taking direct aim at destroying our unity in Christ.

Offense is one of the enemy’s most powerful weapons, and its primary purpose is to keep us from growing in power and strength in the Lord. Offended people are ineffective in the spiritual battle that we have been called to engage in, because when we are offended, we focus on our own pain, often at the expense of others. The devil uses the snare of offense to take us off the battlefield and ultimately out of the war. His goal: to sideline Christians who would otherwise be effective witnesses for the Lord.

A heart that is easily offended is in trouble. It’s a biblical truth that the pure in heart hear from God more readily than those who are full of bitterness: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8, kjv). A heart that is full of offenses and unforgiveness isn’t a pure heart. If we want to hear from God, we have to refuse to allow offenses to rule and reign in our lives. Even big ones.

There’s no question: forgiving the big things is hard. But Jesus, who knows all too well the pain of rejection, doesn’t give us an option. He made it clear: we are to forgive anything against anyone.

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark 11:25

The next time you find yourself struggling with feelings of offense, ask yourself, “Does this offense warrant the emotional and spiritual energy I am giving it? Are there larger issues in play? Am I doing what Jesus commanded?” Jesus’ requirement that we forgive carries eternal consequences with it, and the devil knows it.
The devil loves it when we get drawn into offenses – because he’s got his sights set on a much bigger target: the human soul. He’ll use whatever he can to distract us from the goal of setting people free in Christ. And that’s the bottom line. Paul tells us to “be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). It’s the Holy Spirit that encourages that unity in the body of Christ. “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Christians who proclaim Christ, cherish truth and love others should also pursue unity, because we have been designed by God to be ambassadors for Him: witnesses to the world of the love of Christ. The apostle John makes clear what our aim should be: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35).
We must stop making government our god and return to our first love. Until we do that, healing will elude this nation. John Piper said, “The bloodline of Jesus Christ is deeper than the bloodlines of race. The death and resurrection of the Son of God for sinners is the only sufficient power to bring the bloodlines of race into the single bloodline of the cross.”
Let’s not forget what our call really is: to bring the gospel to a hurting world. We can’t do that until we’re willing to let the gospel eclipse everything else in our lives.
That’s something worth marching for.

Good Thing My Pastor is Reading His Bible

Current Events, Faith

It’s 3:35 pm, and after a day of setbacks and frustrations, I finally opened my Bible to write today’s passage. James 1:5 is all about asking God for wisdom. Wisdom, I think, was telling me to ask God for His help at 6am instead of 2:30 p.m. today.
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Have you noticed how hard the devil works to keep God’s people from becoming students of the Word?
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I have. I think it’s by design. I think the devil knows that a Christian who isn’t in the Word is weak. I think satan is smarter than I give him credit for most of the time.
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I can only speak for my own “quiet time,” but I have a feeling I’m not alone when I say that every day, I fight with the enemy of my soul for time alone with the One who made me. I fight my flesh to spend time in the Bible. I go to war just to prioritize prayer over parenting.
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There’s always something that disguises itself as being more important.
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Laundry calls. Kids argue. Phone rings. To-do list presses harder.
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“I don’t ‘need’ to read the Bible today,” I lie to myself.
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And so, after a compulsory prayer, I turn my attention to more important, more urgent matters. School. Social media. Housework. Bills. Oil change. Grocery store. Meal prep. Bedtime. Start again tomorrow.
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After days of this, (sometimes months… if I’m really honest), I notice my ability to discern good from evil has been compromised. Little by little, my spiritual eyes grow dim. >>Maybe God doesn’t really care about this and that. Less controversy, please. More peace.<< Yes. Peace is what I want most. The demands of a culture that stands in stark opposition to what God says is right makes even the most seasoned warrior prone to discouragement, I tell myself—as I glance in the direction of my Bible.
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“Good thing my pastor is reading his Bible so he can tell me what I need to know on Sunday,” said a generation of Christians in crisis.

Culture Creep and the Sidelining of Parents

Current Events, MomStrong Parenting, , ,
Something sad and fascinating is happening to parents in this postmodern era. They’re being lied to. They’re being told that they aren’t necessary and what’s worse they’re buying the lie! After all, they say the “village” can do it better. Well, I’ve seen the village. I don’t want it raising my kids.
I call it “culture creep.” I live in a rural (well, it used to be rural) part of Washington State. Slowly but surely, urban sprawl has reached my town. I like the convenience that comes with it; for example, we just got Red Robin and Walmart last year… but I don’t like the traffic. I loathe the congested streets and long lines at the grocery store. I miss the “small town” feel that it used to have at Christmas and the 4th of July.
culture-creep-heidistjohn
Culture is the same way. Except that from what I can tell, we’re not benefitting one bit. There are no perks. The culture has it’s own agenda. Look carefully. It’s creeping up into places where parents should not want it to go.
 
Slowly but surely, culture is shutting parents out of what should be the parent’s primary place: decision makers in the lives of their children. Parents have the right and responsibility to know what is happening with their children.
 
In August 2016, I learned that Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, in a effort to make their schools “safe spaces” for kids who identify as transgender, produced a training video, starring the district’s chief communications officer, Bob Mosier. The video surfaced a few days ago on The American Conservative, but was uploaded on YouTube in mid-July.

 In it, Mr. Mosier makes a few key suggestions to teachers and chaperones who take students on overnight trips—chief among them is the advice that if a transgender student wants to sleep with students of the opposite sex, just let them.
 
Oh, and pssst! By the way: since the school values the transgender student’s privacy, make sure no one tells the parents.
 
This is what I’m talking about.
Since when did we stop valuing a parent’s right to know what in the world is happening with their children? How can parents make wise decisions for their children if information is being purposely withheld from them? How can we protect our kids if we don’t know what they’re being taught or exposed to?
 
Parents today are being told that kids can make their own decisions (starting in elementary school) on everything from birth control to which gender they want to be. What used to be regarded as a parents responsibility is often seen as an infringement on the child.
 
Here in my state, simple tasks like looking at my 13 yr olds’ medical records require effort, persistence and even permission from my 13 year old. If we want to stay in the race and finish it well, we must refuse to be sidelined. Moms who go the distance possess a willingness to endure rather than become a passive onlooker in the lives of their children.
 
I understand that there are abuse situations that require different measures, but shutting healthy parents out of the lives of their kids is not the solution. Keeping parents from knowing what is happening with their children at school should not be commonplace! It should be a crime.
 
When the world says “give up” or “it’s not your business,” I challenge you to stand up for the sake of your child. Go ahead and risk being annoying. Be the mom who knows the names of your child’s friends. Be the mom who asks the hard questions and loves unconditionally.  Be the mom who refuses to be sidelined and instead guides her child in the way of Truth through every stage of growing up, including adolescence.
Our kids need their parents. They don’t need the government or the school system to teach them about the big things in life, they need their parents.
And parents? Today’s parents need the wisdom of Solomon. They need the wisdom that comes straight from God Himself.

A Strong Warning About False Teachers

Current Events, Faith, ,

 

A couple weeks ago, my heart broke as a woman who claims the name of the Lord Jesus invited her followers on social media not to “overburden” their conscience by hesitating to vote for a pro-abortion candidate.

In a Facebook post, this woman said,

“…I’d like to suggest that voting for a pro-choice candidate in this election, or any election, need not overburden your conscience.”

Through her blog, she went on to give a defense of her opinion that was utterly devoid of any evidence of Biblical truth, stating that abortion is a “debatable” topic and that government should make decisions on behalf of women and families.

“Given the complex nature of these and other issues, the degree to which the government should make decisions on behalf of women and families regarding pregnancy is, and should be, debatable.”

Debatable? Not according to God. Not when it comes to the murder of unborn babies. We can talk all day about what the role of government should be in the lives of the we, the governed, but abortion is another animal. Men and women, if you love God and know that you are going to stand before Him someday, your conscience should be terribly burdened by what is happening to our unborn in the name of “choice.” Anyone who suggests that God doesn’t care about it is not listening to the Lord—or cannot listen because they do not know Him.

God’s Word warns us against false teachers. If there was ever a time to be on the lookout for them, the time is now. We are living in a generation of biblically illiterate, immature Christians—people who, while claiming the name of Jesus, and wanting His mercy, forgiveness and salvation, do not wish to carry His cross.

This was evidenced by the thousands of people who cheered her post and encouraged her in her deception. These people are easy targets for wolves among the sheep, and they are blogging, pastoring and counseling God’s children away from, not into, what God says is truth.

Our hearts should break over what breaks God’s heart–and abortion is at the top of the list of things God says he hates. Here’s the Truth, according the the Bible, which is the believer’s final authority:

Proverbs 6:16-19  (NIV)
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes,feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Isaiah 49:1
Before I was born the Lord called me;from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. Every baby whose life has been snuffed out at the hands of another human being belonged to God.

Are we so foolish as to believe He will not exact wrath and pour out His righteous anger over us for NOT “overburdening” our conscience? God forms us in our mother’s womb and has spoken our names before we took a single breath. Oh, how we have sinned against the Lord in this nation by calling evil “choice” and excusing sin for the sake of convenience.

False teachers promise peace when God says there will be judgment—and teachers who suggest otherwise are wolves in sheep’s clothing. False teachers tell you that you can live in sin and that God will not discipline you. These are all false teachings.

Get in your Bible, Christian! Know the Word of God. Don’t be fooled by false teachers.

 In the end, we will stand before the Lord and give an account for the way we lived our lives. I, for one, am willing to carry the burden of the unborn on my conscience until the Lord comes and makes it right. As believers in Christ and in His gospel, we have no choice in this matter.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it best before he was executed at the hands of the Nazi regime:

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Click here for a companion podcast!

In Defense of the Children: Are We Protecting Our Most Vulnerable?

Current Events, ,

The world is on fire.  Our children are being sacrificed on the altar of tolerance.

According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. In the USA, where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion, there are over 3,000 abortions per day.  The rights of the baby, who has no voice are sacrificed for the rights of the mom.  Who decided that the mom’s voice was more valuable than the baby’s?

One out of 4 girls and 1 out of 6 boys will be sexually abused before they reach the age of 18 (a.).  Many more go unreported.

Recently the government decided to wage yet another war on our children.  They have invited every sexually perverted person out there to meet our children in the public restroom and have communicated to our children that they have no recourse.  What message is being sent to our kids?  That they don’t matter?  That they have nothing to say about the world around them?  That they are powerless?  That they are worthless?

Our school systems are failing.  Our kids are missing out on the joy of just being kids.  Play is a human right for children (b.)  Being able to ride their bikes, run, pretend, explore the real world around them, and not be hurried gives them a chance to learn in ways that work for them, which, in turn, helps them grow into healthy adults.

We are not the first culture to wage a war on children. For thousands of years, the children are the ones who seem to pay the price for each civilization’s foolishness.  They were the ones being sacrificed (literally) to the “gods” on the altar in cultures past.  They seem to be the first to be attacked and as developed as our country is, we are still not protecting our children the way we should.  We are sacrificing them on the altar of tolerance.

defense-children

Children are vulnerable.  They are depending on us to protect them and as a population, we are failing them miserably.

Here’s the thing:  children are NOT adults.  That means they are not ready for many “adult” situations.  Our culture is pushing them out in front of a moving bus all in the name of “progress.”

God has a very different view of children than the world does.  He clearly loves children.  He calls them a blessing.  He says they are of great value.

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”

  — Mark 10:13-16

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

  — James 1:27

We are in a battle of epic proportions. If our children are led astray by sin and wrong thinking,  future generation will suffer greatly for it.

This battle we are facing is a spiritual one.  It can’t be fought with earthly weapons. (2 Corin. 10:4) The enemy of our souls comes to kill, steal and destroy our children and us, but Jesus said that we can have life and have it more abundantly.  Jesus conquered sin and death through his death and resurrection and the victory is ours.

When the final curtain is drawn, will we have been found faithful to have protected the most vulnerable?  Will we have done everything in our power to be their advocates, to defend the defenseless?

I encourage you to take some time to think and pray about what that looks like for you.

As a mom, I never, ever want to be found sacrificing what I know is best for my children in order to please the culture.  We need to be warriors in defense of the children…our children and the others that God places in our lives.  We have an opportunity to invest into the next generation.  Let’s do it and do it well because they are worth it!

a. a “Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics.” U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 2011. Accessed: December 28, 2011.

b. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182

Dear Church: Please Stop Trying to Be Relevant.

Current Events, Faith, Marriage, ,

I received a message from a woman last week who was desperate to reach her wayward son. “I don’t want to offend him,” she lamented. “I don’t want him to think I’m irrelevant because I believe the Bible.”  She went on to say she was even more confused about how to reach her son because her pastor was unwilling to address cultural issues. You know,  we need to be careful not to “push anyone away.” Her pastor’s passive stance on issues that her family is facing confused her. Her struggle deepened. After all, what good mother would push her son away with Bible verses-n-stuff? Sounds a little “yesterday,” and “churchy” in today’s progressive culture, don’t you think? But is it?

I might be all alone here, but I think our struggle for cultural relevance is robbing the Church of the one thing that actually makes us relevant.  We sure can draw a crowd with our hipster services and feel-good gospel—but tell me, how’s that working for us?

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A few days ago, I read the story of a young Christian rocker named Trey Pearson. He has joined a chorus of other Christians in embracing his “true self,” by “coming out” as gay—leaving a devastated wife and broken family in his wake. In the name of being his “authentic” self, he has embraced what God says leads to death. With acceptance from people he thinks speak for Jesus, Trey has chosen to deny God and exalt himself. Trey said this was a “defining moment” for him – a moment when he finally found himself. Like so many before him, Trey has traded God’s truth for his own.

What’s a Christian to do? It’s a little bit of a crowd-shrinker I know, but here it is:  the answer is not to run toward “our truth.” The answer is to run away from it! The answer is to run toward the Way, the Truth and the Life— toward the One who died to set us free by His truth.

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My heart truly breaks for this young man, and for all those who will follow him. It’s age old spiritual warfare—SW101, if you will: Take out the pastor and declare open season on the sheep. Satan knows if he can take out a man or woman with a platform, he’s got a clear shot at those who follow that platform. So where were the true Christians when this man with a platform was engaged in one-on-one spiritual warfare with the enemy of his soul?

They were nowhere to be found. I noticed Trey was flanked by two of his “pastors” in an image on his blog. He talked about how these “pastors” were instrumental in helping him. A true follower of Jesus would have loved Trey enough to be honest with him. Honestly? The Christian life is about denial of self (Colossians 3:5) rather than the embracing of it. If we embrace our “true selves” then look out—because literally, all hell will break lose. In our natural self, we’re lost. But nevermind that. In the name of love, at least some of the Christians around Trey have sacrificed truth on the altar of compassion.

“Love” is taking on new forms these days. Except that it’s not loving to lie.

Dear Church, please stop trying to be relevant.

I was a pastor’s wife for nearly 20 years. As such, I can promise you right now that some church leaders are scratching their heads at this article, wondering how we got here.  So let’s be honest: we blew it when we ostracized a group of people because they sin differently that we do. When I was a young Bible college student, I knew heterosexual couples who were totally sinning on the weekends—but the guy who said he struggled with same-sex attraction got the boot. What a mess we made. Unfortunately, instead of recognizing our sin and  admitting that we are all broken in different ways, we’ve fallen off the other side of the narrow path. Now, we are sacrificing truth on the altar of mercy.

In the name of being culturally relevant and often, in direct rebellion against God, many churches have turned a blind eye to the sin of abortion, covered up the sin of its pastors and priests, hailed gay marriage as “progress,” and quietly condoned assisted suicide as “brave.” Even worse, we’re silent. When did we start believing that speaking the truth in love equals silence or timidity?

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

When did we forget the grace of Jesus on our own broken lives? When did we forget to talk about it? When did we stop believing it?

We may think we’re drawing people to Christ by quietly accepting this massive shift in the culture, but the evidence is clear: our silence is costing this generation dearly. Among the casualties of a “relevant” church is the inconvenient truth that, aside from rare chromosomal anomalies, our DNA is set at birth. We’re either male or female.

Bottom line? I don’t think the culture wants our wishy-washy “relevance.” They don’t need our fancy programs or big buildings. The youth of today are grappling with issues we could not have even imagined twenty years ago. They’re being bombarded by bold lies that are causing many of them to do irreparable harm to their bodies and minds. What is our answer? What do we say, Church? We say the truth—in love—and we leave the results up to God. That’s freeing, really; to know we’re not responsible for the response, we’re just responsible to bear witness to the healing grace of Jesus.  We are simply called to tell people that truth exists—and that God defines it.

This is the challenge of the Church today: to tell the truth, as it’s put forward in the Bible. To stand for righteousness. To proclaim the gospel to a generation who thought Barak Obama would bring them “hope and change.”

 Under the watch of the “relevant” church, devastating lies have taken root in the culture. The depth of deception we are facing runs deep and wide, but God’s Word tells us that the gate that opens to life is narrow. The road that leads to life is difficult. It requires that we come before the Lord daily and ask Him to help us live in His truth, not ours.

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

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The road is narrow—but it leads to life, and not just any old, run-of-the-mill life … abundant life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10

The thief is lying to us, as he has been doing since the Garden of Eden. Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will give you LIFE!” Life that’s worth living and worth sharing. Life that’s bold and courageous. (Joshua 1:7) Life that’s rich and abundant. So no. I’m not against using the technology and music of this age to reach people with the gospel. I love the concert-worthy music many of today’s churches provide and, dare I say, I enjoy a delicous latte on my way to Sunday School. These things are good; but I have to ask: In our effort to be seen as “relevant,” have we lost the thing that makes us truly relevant? Because the thing that makes us relevant doesn’t need the trappings of modern “Christianity.”

What good is an entertaining church service that fails to entertain the questions that this generation is asking? What good is it if we can’t articulate compassion and truth in a way that clearly addresses the message of the cross? The cross is hope.

…and hope does not disappoint. Hope has a name. It’s Jesus.

The truth of the gospel has not changed. The saving power of a relationship with Jesus is all the relevance we need.

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“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”Ephesians 4:25