Ancient Egyptian coins have Joseph’s name, likeness

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported several days ago that archeologists in Egypt have discovered coins from ancient Egypt that have the biblical Joseph’s name and likeness.  MEMRI got the report from Al Ahram, an Egyptian daily.  However, I could not find the original report to verify that.  These coins were in the possession of the Museum of Egypt but were stored in an area designated for charms.  Researchers and archeologists took a second look at the items and found that these charms were actually coins marked with their mint date and their value.  Historians thought until this discovery that ancient Egyptians only had a bartering system.  These coins prove that a monetary system was in existence and was thriving during the time of the Pharaohs.

Among the coins of the Pharaohs were coins that bore Joseph’s name as the minister of the treasury and his official likeness.  Dr. Sa’id Thabet, the leader of the research team, states that coins from the periods before, during, and after Joseph were made in several sizes and were minted using various materials like precious metals, ivory, and jewels.  The coins are either round or oval-shaped and, like modern coins, had two faces–an inscribed face with “the name of Egypt, a date, and a value,” and an engraved face with “the name and image of one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs or gods, or else a symbol connected with these.”

Out of the coins carrying Joseph’s name and likeness, one of them stands out the most.  It “had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain. …

“Joseph’s name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time.”

So once again, science has caught up to what is accurately recorded in the Bible, showing that the Bible is not a collection of fairy tales and figurative language.  Although some of the Bible is figurative, such as parables, it is literal in its historical accounts of what happened in those days and, therefore, we should take God’s principles recorded in it by his chosen men as being the truth.  God has shown by this discovery that he is true to his word.

Source: MEMRI

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Jesus loved people, he just didn’t trust them

Now when he [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,  And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.  [John 2:23-25]

This short passage reveals a lot to us about Christ’s way of thinking.  He did miracles in the midst of the large passover crowds in Jerusalem to help them out, and because of his miracles many people believed in his name.  Yet for all the people who believed in Christ’s name, he did not return the favor of believing, trusting, or committing himself to them.

A complete look at all four gospels shows us that this is his M.O.  When devils cried out to proclaim who he was, he shut them up.  When people he healed cried aloud in praise to him, he told them not to broadcast who he was.  Why? He knew better than to place any kind of faith in man’s faith and because of this, held back on revealing the totality of all of the power he possessed.  The fact that the people believed in his name, based on miracles they saw, shows that they lacked a wholehearted belief in him that included their will and heart in addition to their intellect.  Their belief was based on their own understanding, their intellect, and not in Jesus himself as Lord and God.  Their belief was shallow and based on circumstances, such as their feelings of euphoria at having witnessed miracles, and was not the true heartfelt faith of Christ and in Christ that prompts him to share more of himself.

Our Lord Jesus has the ability to see into men’s hearts to determine why we do what we do.  He saw into the hearts of these men and women and could see their thought patterns, their desires, their character, and the things they were zealously preoccupied with in their minds.  This gave him a complete spiritual picture of what mankind is like.  Where we often have to rely on what people say about an individual to determine what type of person they are, Christ did not have to.  Where we can easily be deceived by the outward actions of people, especially when they want us to think they’re good and not evil, Christ was not fooled by such actions.  The Lord determines what is in a person’s heart based on his heavenly truths, not on what is esteemed by the world.

Since the faith of the people he encountered was unstable, he knew it was wise not to trust them.  They also had wrong ideas about what the Messiah was supposed to accomplish, and Jesus knew this.  Jesus came the first time as a Messiah that “hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him,” [Isaiah 53:2].  He also came the first time to be a Messiah that “shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth,” [Isaiah 42:2-3].  Christ had come to do his work and share his truth without major fanfare and without blatant attempts to draw unnecessary attention to himself.  And our Lord knew this would be a source of frustration with the Jews, since they wanted a Messiah like Samson who would lead a revolt against any foreign power that would make them their subjects, especially the Romans.  They wanted a Messiah who they could force to be their king, as they wanted to do in John 6:15.  This is why even his own half-brothers did not believe in him.  They mocked the way he wanted to keep a low profile–”His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.  For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.  For neither did his brethren believe in him,” [John 7:3-5].

Because of our unstable nature, Christ knew his disciples would be faithful to him one minute and forsake him and deny him the next.  He knew those who would praise him with “Hosannas” one week would be crying out “Crucify him!” the following week.  Therefore, having this testimony in the scriptures about Jesus not committing himself to people should cause us to have a realistic, humble view of ourselves.  If Jesus cannot put his trust in me, I cannot afford to trust myself to do the right thing all the time.  I, like Peter, have denied Christ on occasion when I sought the approval or acceptance of men.  I have been guilty on many occasions of resisting or quenching the Holy Spirit in favor of my fleshly desires.  So, I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you haven’t placed your trust in me and that you are way more faithful and trustworthy than I could ever hope to be while I’m down here on Earth walking around in my corruptible body.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

can a person KNOW they’re really saved?

When the topic of a Christian’s salvation from sin arises in religious conversations, I’ve noticed that there is at times some confusion about what salvation is, how one gets saved, and if it can be retained.  Some religious leaders teach that salvation is an ongoing process while others say it is a one-time occurrence that never diminishes or goes away.  Whatever side of the argument a person chooses many times depends on two things–what is taught by their congregation and what version of the Bible they read.  Salvation, as taught in the Bible, is God’s rescue of an individual from their evil deeds, and the ultimate consequences of those evil deeds of being sent to hell, by receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior.

If one studies the world’s religions, one can find some common threads among those that are not based on God’s truth.  One of those common threads is the idea that a religious path requires some form of religious initiation ritual.  As New Ager Randall N. Baer said once, “Initiations are all the rage.”  But initiations are not the things God prefers.  God is concerned primarily with whether or not a person has faith in him and that a person’s faith is backed by obedience to him.  Why?  Because religious rituals can be done by people without any changes occurring in their sinful hearts.  And such rituals don’t bring salvation.  On the other hand, when one accepts God’s knowledge and carries out what pleases God from a desire to glorify him, then their faith is proven to God to be genuine.  This is why God was pleased with Abraham and was centuries later disgusted with the Hebrews.  Salvation was always an act that God planned from the beginning to bring glory to himself.  If  man could be saved by rituals, then he could walk around boasting about his great accomplishment of saving himself from his sins by his own righteousness.

But I’ll do a comparison of what we can find in the Bibles used by believers regarding salvation–

And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” [Luke 13:23, NASB]

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? [Luke 13:23, KJV]

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. [1 Corinthians 1:18,  NIV]

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV]

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. [2 Corinthians 2:15, NIV]

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: [2 Corinthians 2:15, KJV]

…you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,  and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge… [Colossians 3:9-10, NASB]

…ye have put off the old man with his deeds;  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge [Colossians 3:9-10, KJV]

As you can see, I used two of the most popular modern versions and compared them with what is printed in the Authorized Version, or King James Version (KJV).  The newer versions time and again teach that individuals are in a process of “being saved” or “being renewed” that has the believer looking to a future when they will actually be saved.  Their salvation, as taught by newer versions, is contingent upon whether or not they fulfill certain rituals like baptism.  This is not the original message taught by Yahweh, Yahweh’s prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Lord’s disciples in the first century A.D.  How do we know?  The majority of the manuscripts that were discovered in Asia, Europe, and Africa from the 2nd century to the Middle Ages, which are manuscripts that were used to make the KJV, mention nothing about salvation being a process.  These manuscripts are called the Majority Text for that reason.

Newer Bible versions are based on less than 1% of manuscripts, and these manuscripts were dug out of a trash heap discovered in Alexandria, Egypt.  They were rejected by those who put the KJV together since they disagreed with the majority of manuscripts found and taught things which disagreed with known scriptures quoted in ancient Israel documents or in writings of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th century believers.

But enough about manuscripts.  Back to the topic of salvation–would our just, loving, merciful God want us to be in a state of never being 100% sure of our salvation.  If we are constantly in the process of “being saved,” we would never be convinced of where we stand with God since that type of salvation is based on our outward rituals or works.  We would never be really sure we are really saved.  If salvation is an ongoing process how could we ever know how many wrong things we think, say, or do that would make God say, “Enough! You’re not saved anymore!”? And how many good works would we have to do before he would say, “Very good!  You’re saved now.”?  God knew before he founded the Earth that mankind would be unreliable, unfaithful, and untrustworthy by our very nature, so why would he institute the salvation he knew we would need based on our unsteady nature?

In the scriptures, we find plenty of witnesses telling believers that we can be assured of our salvation and that it’s a onetime occurrence that never ends.  For instance, salvation is also called “eternal life” or “everlasting life.”  If our new life is eternal or everlasting, that means that it has no end.  I’ve never known anything that’s eternal or everlasting to remain for only a specific amount of time.  Additionally, here are other witnesses from the scripture that lets us know we can KNOW, without a doubt, that we are truly saved–

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; [Hebrews 6:17-19]

All believers are the children of promise like our spiritual father Abraham.  When God made an oath to Abraham, and makes oaths to us to confirm his promise of salvation, he based those oaths on two immutable (unchangeable) things.  First, that God’s counsel does not change and second, that it is impossible for God to lie.  So if our salvation is based on these unchangeable things, our salvation is 100% sure and our hope in front of us of living forever with God in fulfillment of his promise to us is stedfast and sure, like an anchor.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. [1 John 5:13]

John tells us that he wrote 1 John so we can know that we know that eternal life, i.e. salvation, is what we possess at the moment we receive the Lord Jesus.  It is a present tense salvation that continues into the future tense.  But, of course, I’ll add that even if our salvation is sure, we are not to use God’s grace to do whatever we want.  Everlasting life is also a life that requires us to examine ourselves and prove ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The world’s love for hating all things Christian

As decades have come and gone, those of us who pay attention to the news have noticed that there has been an increase in hatred toward Christians, Christianity, and the Bible.  This hatred has risen in its intensity in recent years, manifesting itself in a number of ways, including increased sales of books on atheism/agnosticism, publicity of campaigns to blaspheme God, so-called “art” exhibits that promote defacing Bibles or that mock Bible characters, and ultimately violent attacks on church members by armed individuals.  Why is it that a rising number of unbelievers love to hate anything resembling Christianity?  I don’t believe it’s any one glaring factor, but a combination of several factors such as the following:

1.  There are plenty of false Christians walking around who claim Christianity, but do blatantly anti-Christian things. Whether it’s Pastor Steven Anderson in the Phoenix area who openly proclaims he wants President Obama to die, or Compton Pastor E. Joshua Sims who is believed to have embezzled $800,000 from his congregation, or the Illinois priest at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign who was selling drugs from his campus church, there are too many false Christians in too many places causing too many problems.  And because they are the ones who get a lot of media attention, they are the ones who make those of us who are the real Christians look bad.  Peter warns us in the Bible about such phonies:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you…  [2 Peter 2:1-3]

Since unbelievers don’t have discernment to distinguish between a true Christian and a false Christian, they automatically assume that anyone who claims to be Christian really is a Christian, when that’s not the case.  Because of them, the way of truth has been equated with evil and those of us who are truly obeying God’s commands sometimes suffer because of their wickedness.

2.  Unbelievers love sin and hate to have their sins pointed out. Because sinners think of sin as being fun, they hate it when Christians point out the fact that we humans need to be saved from our sins.  They hate being told that sin’s ultimate consequence is death and hell.  As Jesus so eloquently told us in his word, For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  [John 3:20] And since unbelievers hate to have their sins pointed out, they hate those who point out their sins.  The Lord brought this to light in John 7–The world cannot hate you [unbelievers]; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

3.  Unbelievers hate being told that Jesus is the only way to God. Such a claim that only believing in Jesus Christ brings salvation from sin is seen by unbelievers as being elitist, exclusionary, and inconsiderate toward the millions who follow other religions.  I’ve been asked a few times by unbelievers, “How can millions of people be wrong?”  They don’t see how the majority of the Earth’s population can be considered incorrect in not following the Lord Jesus Christ.  However Jesus told us, Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.  [Matthew 7:13-14] The idea taught by democratic philosophy that the majority rules or that the majority is right cannot be applied to spiritual matters.  We are taught on several occasions in the Bible such as in the story of Noah and in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that those who live righteous and are therefore spared God’s judgment are in the minority.

4.  Unbelievers prefer a god who is created in their own image. Humans feel more comfortable with a god who shares most of the character traits they themselves possess.  So unbelievers create for themselves gods who seek unjustifiable vengeance on those who rub them the wrong way, gods who look like them, and gods who accept them based on religious rituals that the unbeliever thinks up in their own mind.  The God of the Bible, Jehovah, expects us to be like him by relying on him to place his righteousness in us and not relying on our own efforts to make our own righteousness, since he prefers mercy over religious sacrifices [Hosea 6:6].  What Yahweh expects from us is humanly impossible for us to fulfill on our own and requires his lordship over us.  This is what turns the unbeliever off since they prefer to do things their own way and still be accepted as being right.

5.  Unbelievers are like their spiritual father, Satan. In the same way Satan wanted to have God’s throne and be worshiped, unbelievers want to be considered a god and to be worsiped.  In the same way Satan lashes out against those who stand in the way of his wicked schemes, many unbelievers are prone to lash out against anyone who they see as an obstacle to fulfilling their selfish desires.  In the same way Satan attacks, mocks, or belittles anything that resembles Yahweh, many unbelievers do the same.  In the same way Satan promotes lies and deceptions, his unbelieving children embrace and promote lies and deceptions in their false religious beliefs.

These are just a few reasons unbelievers love to hate all things Christian.  There are those who claim Christianity but have decided to compromise the principles taught in God’s word so they can be more acceptable to unbelievers who hate them.  But no matter how hard you try to please your spiritual enemies with ungodly compromises, they will still be unsatisfied and will still hate you.  These compromising Christians, if they are really Christians at all, will find out eventually that it is better to please God rather than man.   …[F]ear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. [Matthew 10:28]

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Binge drinking not just for the young

As reported on the NBC Nightly News on Aug. 17, 2009, a report in the American Journal of Psychiatry has shown that binge drinking has become a problem for adults aged 50-64.  The report states that 23% of men in this age group and 9% of women in the age group admitted to drinking five or more drinks in one sitting (the definition of binge drinking) during the past month.  The researchers in the study pointed out that this trend has serious health implications for the middle-aged and elderly involved in this trend.  Since they are not considered alcoholics and binge drink irregularly, if they have health problems arising from the bingeing, their doctors may not be able to screen them accurately for health problems that are exacerbated by the binge drinking.

The study also examined at-risk drinking in 50-64-year-olds, with “at-risk drinkers” being defined as those who have two or more drinks every day.  They discovered that 13% of men and 8% of women studied fell into this category.  With binge drinking comes negative risks for those who do it, “including accidental injuries, violent behavior, neurological damage and [heightened] blood pressure,” and a worsening of chronic health problems, especially in the circulatory system.  Men in the study who binge drink also had a higher rate of using illegal drugs and the women had a higher rate of abusing prescription meds.  The males in the study group were mostly unmarried and wealthy while the females tended to be gainfully employed.

Although it is not a sin to drink, it is a sin to drink to the point of intoxication.  The Bible calls it drunkenness and it’s a sin that mankind has participated in almost from the time he was kicked out of the garden of Eden thousands of years ago.  Proverbs 23, written eons ago, gives us a very modern view of the negative affects of abusing alcohol–

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.  [Proverbs 23:29-35]

We are warned that drunkenness brings woes, sorrows, fights, accidental injuries, and bloodshot eyes just in verse 29.  It bites like a serpent and stings like an adder because in the same way a snake’s poison gets in our bloodstream and corrupts it by causing sickness or death, too much alcohol in the bloodstream over an extended period of time can cause sickness or death [v. 32].  People who abuse alcohol are prone to engage in illicit sex and other risky behaviors since too much alcohol lowers the inhibitions and they follow the perverted thinking of their hearts [v. 33].  Too much alcohol also throws them off-balance physically so they can’t walk straight [v. 34].  Then when they become sober and see their physical wounds, they wonder why they never felt the blows they received if they were in a fight [v. 35].  Then they fail to learn their lesson after sobering up and look to abuse alcohol all over again [v. 35].

But those of us who are saved are commanded to “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit…” [Ephesians 5:18] because “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” [Proverbs 20:1].

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32447695/ns/health-addictions/ ; “Binge drinking a problem for older adults, too”

Jesus Christ claimed to be God

In an ongoing effort to discredit Christianity as being true, critics (especially atheists) have made the argument that Jesus Christ never said he was God.  According to the doubters, the claims that Jesus said he was God were added later by his disciples in an attempt to legitimize their religion and trick people into becoming Christians.  However, Jesus on several occasions made it clear that he was God in the flesh–

1.  Matthew 26:62-65: At Jesus’ trial before the hypocritical religious leaders, the high priest commanded Jesus, “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”  Why did he make this demand?  He was hoping that Jesus would admit to this claim so they could prove he was a blasphemer.  The Jewish leaders understood perfectly, based on their understanding of the Old Testament prophets, that one’s admission of being Christ and the Son of God meant that the individual was calling himself God.

Jesus responded by saying ”Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”  The phrase Thou hast said is equivalent to our modern phrase of agreement “You said it!” when someone says something we wholeheartedly support with enthusiasm.  It means that Jesus was confirming that the high priest spoke correctly when he demanded to know if Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.  Then he went on to say that they would see him seated at the right hand of the Father and returning to earth in the clouds, both statements being an acknowledgement of prophetic scriptures about the Messiah being God.  Jesus’ answer was met with the high priest’s accusation that Christ’s statements were blasphemous.  Blasphemy, in the context of this situation, was the sin of claiming to be God.

2.  John 5:17-18: When the Jewish leaders mistakenly thought that Jesus was breaking the sabbath, they were ready to kill him.  Then Jesus told them, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”  This statement from Jesus upset them even more; “therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” [emphasis mine]  The Jews knew all too well that Jesus was saying he was God because no one is equal with God except God, according to the prophets and psalms in the Hebrew scriptures.

3.  John 8:56-59: This situation happened when Jesus was arguing back and forth with the Jews “which believed on him.”  They claimed to be followers of Abraham while Jesus told them they were of their father, the devil.  Then Jesus went on to say he, unlike them, knew Abraham personally and had met him face to face.  The Jews responded with, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”  Then Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” [emphasis mine]  God is the only one who ever called himself “I am” which he first used with Moses when he spoke to him from the burning bush.  Moses asked God, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” [Exodus 3:13-14]

I am means he is the ever-existent being who has no beginning and no end.  The crowd knew what Jesus was saying, and that’s the reason they wanted to stone him right then and there, because his claims of being God were blasphemous to them and in their deceived minds he was worthy of being stoned.

4.  John 10:27-33: In this, his “Good Shepherd” sermon, Jesus made the statement to the crowd, “I and my Father are one.”  He was saying that he and God the Father were equals and were the same.  Once again, the crowd wanted to stone him and Jesus asked them why, when he had done so many good works in their presence.  They replied, “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” [emphasis mine]  So it was understood by this Jewish crowd that Jesus was clearly, without question, claiming to be God.

The Jews of Jesus’ day were blind to the truth that Jesus was the Christ and is Lord, just like unbelievers today are blind to that truth.  If the Jews knew the scriptures as well as they claimed, they would have known that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed their long-awaited Messiah, the Lord in the flesh because he fulfilled hundreds of prophecies while he walked among them.  The occurrences in his life and his actions were proof enough to show that Jesus is indeed Lord, even if he had never admitted to being God.  In a previous post, I highlighted 20 of the prophecies Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled, but here is a link that has an exhaustive list of hundreds more prophecies that Jesus fulfilled.  There is no possible way anyone else in history or in the future will even come close to fulfilling these Messianic prophecies.

The sin and shame of incest in society

The sin of incest has been in the headlines a lot recently because of several high profile cases and arrests.  Topping those headlines has been the Josef Fritzl case in Austria, a case which stunned the world because of the severity of the abuse suffered by Fritzl’s daughter.  There is also the case of the brutality of a 64-yr.-old man in Rome who sexually abused his daughter for 25 years and taught his son to sexually abuse his sister and his own four daughters.  Then there was the news report this week about Stacey Lannert in Missouri who was freed from prison after she served 18 years for killing her father because it is believed her father sexually assaulted her repeatedly.  And as if that isn’t enough, the government of Romania is considering the legalization of incest between consenting adult relatives.

Its definition and defilements

What exactly is incest?  According to God as he stated to Moses and the children of Israel, it is sexual relations with someone who is near kin to the individual (Leviticus 18:6).  God then proceeds to give specifics about the types of relationships he considers incestuous.  Incest, by God’s definition, is having sex with a parent or stepparent or parent-in-law (Leviticus 18:8, 20:11, 14; Deuteronomy 27:20, 23; 1 Corinthians 5:1), with one’s sibling or step sibling or sibling-in-law (Leviticus 18:9, 11, 16, 20:17, 21; Deuteronomy 27:22), with one’s child or stepchild or child-in-law (Leviticus 18:15, 17, 20:12), with a grandchild or step-grandchild  (Leviticus 18:10, 17), with a grandparent or step-grandparent (Leviticus 18:10, 17), with a blood uncle or aunt or uncle/aunt by marriage (Leviticus 18:13-14, 20:19-20), and therefore, by default, with a niece or nephew by blood or by marriage.

It is partially because of these sexual defilements that God punished the heathen nations who were against Israel, for he states, “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.” [Leviticus 18:24]

I suspect that incidents of incest are higher than we imagine because of the shame that the victims of it feel and since there is such shame about it, especially since many are victimized during childhood, it rarely gets reported.  I feel sorry for the children involved but I feel no pity for consenting adults who willingly enter such ungodly relationships.

Because God knows and wants what’s best for us, he gave these commandments against incest with severe punishments for violation of the commandments.  Those who are child victims of incest have been shown to have severe psychological problems, according to Kathryn Brohl and Kathryn Hagans who authored the 1991 book “Pockets of Craziness: Examining Suspected Incest.”  Victims have been known to have addictive behaviors to drugs, alcohol, and sex; they often have anxiety attacks; they suffer from depression that can lead to suicidal tendencies because they blame themselves; they exhibit dissociation behavior because of denial that can lead to memory lapses or lengthy periods of zoning out; they can also suffer flashbacks, compulsive behavior (like eating disorders, constantly cleaning, or cutting), mood swings, hallucinations, and abnormal phobias.

God intended sex to fulfill two purposes–1) for procreation between a husband and wife, and 2) as a way for the husband and wife to become one physically, emotionally, and spiritually as they provide pleasure for each other.  Using a child in one’s family to fulfill one’s ungodly lust is against God’s will and is evil.  God structured the family so that the weaker individuals in the family could be protected by those who are stronger.  Incest against a child violates this trust and fosters confusion and defiles the family structure.  Since God is not the author of confusion and is the God of purity, we can conclude incest is of the devil and is the result of man’s sinful nature.  I’m thankful that we live in a country where those who are victims of this behavior can get help.  This link to the Office of Victims of Crime under the U.S. Dept. of Justice lists organizations that can help you if you have been victimized by a family member.

As for incestuous relationships between two consenting adults who are close relatives, Richard Conniff published an article in Discover magazine in 2003 noting that:

“The great hazard of inbreeding is that it can result in the unmasking of deleterious recessives, to use the clinical language of geneticists. Each of us carries an unknown number of genes—an individual typically has between five and seven—capable of killing our children or grandchildren. These so-called lethal recessives are associated with diseases like cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell anemia.
Most lethal genes never get expressed unless we inherit the recessive form of the gene from both our mother and father. But when both parents come from the same gene pool, their children are more likely to inherit two recessives.”

This truth is also verified by Debra Lieberman of the University of Hawaii in an article at MSNBC.  She states:

“‘Close genetic relatives run the risk of having offspring that have a reduced chance of surviving ..’

While Lieberman cautioned it’s never plain when it comes to genetics, she offered a simplified example to illustrate the risks associated with incest.

‘Let’s say you get a bad gene, which scientists call deleterious, from your mom. But your dad’s copy of the same gene functions normally. The good version acts like a backup, effectively preventing disease the bad gene might have caused. ‘

But having a kid with your sibling, she explained, drastically increases the chances of getting two copies of the deleterious gene as compared to reproducing with someone outside of your family.

‘Each of you would have a copy of that bad gene, so there’s a good chance your kid won’t have a normal copy to work with,’ she said. Multiply that by any other deleterious genes sprinkled among an estimated 50,000 active genes in humans, she explained, and there are bound to be some life-shortening problems.”

Although Lieberman is an evolutionary psychologist who attributes this repulsion against incest to natural selection, I attribute it to God’s making it clear to us through what he has written in the Bible and through his placing some of his likes and dislikes in us when he created us.  If we rely on natural selection as an explanation, this overlooks the fact that well-known and advanced societies of old like the Egyptians, Canaanites, Greeks, and Romans practiced incest as if it were normal because they seared their consciences against God.

Why did God flip-flop on incest?

Many critics of the Bible point out that in the beginning God was okay with incest but later outlawed it when Moses came along.  It seems like this is what God did, but a closer look at scripture with an understanding of genetics reveals something different.  The website God Said, Man Said highlights the genetic fact that if the parents have a healthy gene pool, their offspring will also have a healthy gene pool.  Adam and Eve had such a gene pool and that being the case, their offspring could easily intermarry for many generations before the gene pool would become compromised and degraded.  Since Adam and Eve had to populate the Earth through the intermarriage of their offspring, God did not have a problem with incest in the Earth’s early years because genes were much more pure then than they were by the time Moses’ generation arrived.  As the generations passed and mankind and their genes became more corrupted due to environmental and other influences, God had had enough of the evil that incest brought about and instituted laws to protect mankind from himself.

The article at God Said, Man Said goes on to quote Drs. Henry Morris and Martin Clark from their book “The Bible Has the Answer” (2001) as follows:

“In later generations, brother-sister marriages would come to be recognized as genetically dangerous and would be prohibited as incest.’ Not only the Bible but also most other legal codes refuse to sanction marriages of close relatives. The scientific reason for this restriction is that children of such marriages are more likely to be deformed or sickly or moronic than those of other marriages. The genetic basis for this probability is that inherited mutant genes, producing such unwholesome characteristics, are more likely to find expression in the children if they are carried by both parents.

However, there were no mutant genes in the genetic systems of Adam and Eve, as these had come directly from the creative hand of God Himself. Thus no genetic harm could have resulted had Cain or some other son of Adam married his sister. In fact, it would undoubtedly have taken many generations before enough genetic mutations (which are random, and therefore harmful, changes in the highly ordered structure of the germ cell, brought about by penetration of the cell by shortwave-length radiation or some other destructive agent) could have accumulated in the human race to make such marriages of close relatives genetically harmful.

The Bible is thus always consistent, not only with its own statements, but also with all known facts of science.”

Bible critics often attack God as being contradictory when he brings about such necessary changes.  As God says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change,” [Malachi 3:6].  God’s character and nature do not change, but as explained at www.answersingenesis.org God has emotions and reserves the right to respond as he deems necessary to man’s actions since he created mankind.  Since he is righteous and just and loves the truth but hates evil, he responds favorably to situations and people who are in his will and unfavorably to situations and people that go against his will.

When God created man, he intended for man to have continual fellowship with him and to be welcomed in the Garden of Eden.  Then man changed and embraced sin, so since man broke God’s righteous contract, God changed his end of the agreement and kicked Adam and Eve out of Eden as punishment for their sin.  Then mankind spread throughout the Earth to become more and more sinful, so since man chose evil, God had to change his response to mankind by destroying all but eight people with a worldwide flood.  Then Noah and his family re-populated the Earth and mankind was doing okay until a later generation established a one-world government that sought to exalt itself to god status by building a tower to heaven.  So God changed his policy of allowing mankind to speak in one language by causing various tribes to speak in languages other tribes couldn’t understand and scattering man to different continents, and so on and so on…  These changes that God, as the supreme Creator and Ruler of the universe, brings about show us that change is not contradictory as God-hating critics would have us believe.

Therefore, since God has established incest as being wrong and harmful, it is in the best interest of any society to be against it and fight against it when it arises.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Should Christians always be nice to everyone?

I’ve noticed throughout my adult years that followers of Christ are judged among ourselves and by unbelievers around us using what I consider to be an unfair measuring stick.  We are often considered hypocritical based on misconceptions that people have about how Jesus Christ interacted with the people of his day.  It is often assumed that Christ only spoke calmly even with his sharpest critics and that his love was displayed in how he always treated people nicely no matter how they treated him.  His being nice to people, as thought in some circles, meant that he never was confrontational and that he never told people how wrong their actions or intentions were.  He just went around telling everyone that God loved them and wanted to be a part of their lives while he healed them and did other good works on their behalf for their benefit.

I will admit that many who have claimed to be Christians through the centuries have committed some unbelievable atrocities.  Some of them weren’t Christians at all, although they may have led others to believe they were, while others may have been Christians that made some unwise decisions that hurt their fellow man.  But for followers of Christ to be judged on how nice we are to other people, because it is believed Jesus was always nice, is itself a misguided belief.  Jesus encountered all kinds of people with different personalities, characters, and mindsets.  Therefore, he had to shape his message in different ways to reach different people and his message was not always nice.  Sometimes it was in-your-face confrontational, while at other times it was gentle and compassionate.  Sometimes he called people fools, while at other times he called other people blessed.  But whether he was nice or not so nice, he was always directing people’s attention to the Heavenly Father.

Here are a few examples of when Jesus wasn’t nice, confronting people about their wrong actions based on their wrong way of thinking:

• John 6:22-66 — After Jesus fed the 5,000 he crossed the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Tiberias) with his disciples to go teach in Capernaum.  The people who he fed realized the next day that he had left town, so they crossed the sea to Capernaum looking for him.  Upon finding him, they asked him, “When did you get here?”  Jesus knew that they weren’t looking for him because of the healings he had performed in their presence.  “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”  Jesus confronted them about only wanting a free lunch to fill their bellies by telling them to “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you…”  He then had a lengthy teaching on how he was the bread of life from heaven that could give them eternal life.  A lot of them were offended by what he said and “walked no more with him.”
• Luke 11:37-54 — Jesus was invited to a Pharisee’s house for a meal.  He went directly to the table to sit down to eat instead of going through the long, drawn-out cleansing rituals the Pharisees had established which they demanded to be done before meals.  The Lord then confronted them about how they were so obsessed with outward appearances that they neglected to clean up their wicked hearts.  He even called them fools.  Then he attacked all of the evil customs the Pharisees, scribes, and their lawyer associates were participating in that displeased God, while they argued with him on the points he made.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a very pleasant meal in the end.
• John 4:7-29 — The Lord and his disciples were travelling from Judea to Galilee by going through Samaria.  While the disciples went ahead to the next town to find food, Jesus stayed behind and met a Samaritan woman at a nearby well.  He then engaged her in conversation and even got in her business by mentioning all the men she had been with and the man who she was shacking up with.  In today’s times, Jesus probably would have been cursed out for not minding his own business at this point.  The Samaritan woman then tried to change the subject to religion and where the correct place to worship was, thinking to point out how the Jews were wrong.  Then Jesus proceeded to point out how wrong she was by telling her “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.”  He basically told her that her people were so off-kilter in their religious practices, they didn’t know what they were worshipping.  Not a very nice thing to say, but everything he said got her attention and directed her and her people to God in the end.
• John 8:31-47 — Upon finishing his teaching that he is the light of the world, Jesus spoke to the Jews who had acknowledged intellectually what he had said, but they had not turned their hearts to God.  After they made the claim that Abraham was their father, Jesus pointed out to them that “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”  In one fell swoop, he said they were children of the devil, had murderous hearts, and loved lies.  I guess he put Mr. Nice Guy on the back burner for a minute.
• Mark 3:1-5 — Jesus went to synagogue one sabbath and saw a man with a withered hand.  The Jews running the synagogue believed it was wrong to heal on the sabbath because healing was considered work and working was forbidden on the sabbath.  But Jesus asked them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”  When no one answered, he looked around on all of them with anger, because they hardened their hearts against God.  Yes, Jesus got angry and he let them know he was angry at them by giving them a mean look that clearly said he was angry.  Then he healed the man’s hand.

So the Lord Jesus wasn’t always nice to people and didn’t always walk around saying “Bless you, God loves you, and so do I,” with a smile plastered on his face all the time.  But when he put aside his niceness, he did it in love with the goal of pointing people to what God expected of them.  He didn’t do it to put others down out of hatred, but because he loved them enough to show them where they were, in relation to where God wanted them to be spiritually.  This is the same goal that we as followers of Christ should have.  Those who have the notion that Christians are supposed to be nice all the time are placing an unrealistic burden on us that we don’t have to accept.  It’s okay for us to get angry sometimes, as long as our anger stems from a righteous indignation about evil and is not an anger that arises out of our sin.  It’s great to be able to be nice to people when we can, but sometimes we have to take a stand and say “no more Mr. Nice Guy.” (or Mrs. Nice Girl)

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

The widow’s mite: a lesson on religious abuse

Chest with coins by Eric Schuh (www.freedigitalphotos.net)

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in any Christian church is familiar with the story of Jesus’ commenting on a poor widow giving her last mite to the treasury of the Jewish temple.  Throughout the years of my attending church services, this story has always been one of the ways religious leaders have tried to prompt or guilt people into giving as much as they can to the church.  When I came to the realization several years ago that Christians are no longer obligated to follow any religious law about tithing and I had to rethink my views on giving to the church, this is one story that presented a problem for me.  Expressing my views to other believers about tithing always brought up a discussion about the widow giving her last mite and how Jesus commended her for it.

Those who had been teaching me for years about giving to the church, would always tell me that the tithe was really a minimum amount and since Christians were under a new covenant, we should be willing and ready to give even more if called upon to do so.  According to what I was taught, this was the true moral of the widow’s mite story.  Since I didn’t see any other way to interpret this scripture, it seemed somewhat contradictory to me that Jesus would commend this behavior in one instance while he condemned this type of behavior in other instances.  For example, why would he rebuke the scribes and Pharisees for teaching that it was okay to financially neglect their elderly parents if the money was for the temple, then turn around and commend the widow for giving away her whole savings to the temple?

Time and time again I was told that she had enough faith in God to supply all of her needs, even if she gave everything to the temple.  But if this were the case, why did Jesus rebuke Satan when Satan tempted him to throw himself off the top of the temple?  When Satan told Jesus that if he threw himself over the edge, God would rescue him, Jesus responded with “It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”  While Satan thought he could get to Jesus by making Jesus question his faith in God, it turned out to be a matter of Satan twisting God’s word to try to manipulate Christ into doing what Satan wanted.  If Jesus told Satan we should not tempt God by ignorantly placing ourselves in a dangerous position that is not commanded by God, why would he commend the widow for putting herself in harm’s way by giving her very last mite away when she needed it for her very survival?  And wasn’t it Jesus who said that God desires mercy over sacrifice?  A poor widow giving away all her money didn’t seem to fit in with that doctrine.

Years and years I wrestled with these questions until I heard a sermon from John MacArthur that aired several months ago.  The answer was in front of me the whole time, but I overlooked it because I didn’t allow myself to see past what I was always taught.  John MacArthur highlighted the context in which Jesus observed the widow, which I neglected to do.  If I had done so earlier, I would’ve had my answer sooner.  When I finally saw what was revealed, I had to smack myself on the forehead for having missed it for all those years.  The story of the widow’s mite appears in two of the four gospels–Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4.  Here is how the story occurred in both scriptures:

And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.  And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.  And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Mark 12:41-44

And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.  And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.  And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. Luke 21:1-4

At first glance, he seems to say that her concern for the things of God and her faith was greater than what the rich men had.  But just before these verses, Jesus paints us a picture of what was accepted in his day that he found to be unacceptable and here it is–

And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. Mark 12:38-40

Jesus made this statement as a precursor to what was going on in the temple treasury.  He was upset that the religious leaders were taking advantage of widows by extorting from them.  By definition, extortion is not only forcibly taking something from someone for personal gain, it is also getting something from someone for personal gain using ingenuity or compelling argument.  Jewish leaders had for years been taking advantage of widows–taking their material possessions with the argument that if widows wouldn’t give up the goods, they were in violation of Mosaic law.  They were telling them lies under the guise of religion for their own personal gain.  It is at this point that we are presented with a real life example of what Jesus was upset about.  He points out to us how a poor widow, caught in the false teachings of an abusive religious system, was made to feel as if it was necessary for her to give her whole living to the temple treasury.

Instead of commending what was happening, Jesus was warning his disciples that this is how greed can be dressed up to look like good religion, when it, in fact, is false and abusive.  The Jews were so caught up in having a building for worship, they forgot about the things that truly matter like making sure one’s heart is right with God.  And because their focus was on maintaining a building, they established man-made doctrines to ensure that a building would always be around–even if it meant taking advantage of people.  However, Jesus’ focus was on the weightier matters of man’s spiritual state.  He even pointed out in the following verses how God was bringing to a halt the importance of a physical place of worship.  As they were leaving the temple the disciples commented on how beautiful the temple complex was.  Jesus’ response was that the day was approaching when every stone in the temple complex would be thrown down so that the temple complex would cease to exist.

The organized Christian church has fallen into the same rut as the Jews of Jesus’ day.  Our religious leaders have used their compelling religious arguments to extort money from us, even in some cases to the point of us neglecting to pay our monthly bills for our necessities, so we can prop up what they have determined for themselves to be God’s calling for their ministry.  I am not against churches having their own buildings for worship or against expanding necessary ministries and I am not saying Jesus was against it.  I am saying that in many cases Christian leaders want a pretty building or to establish a new program so badly that they will twist the scriptures to guilt people into giving.  If a church needs a building or needs to expand a ministry, my opinion is that they should go about it the correct way by being honest with people and by using church funds with godly wisdom so as not to enter into any agreement with any secular organization (including a bank) that would put them in a compromising position.

So the next time someone tries to compel you to give by throwing the story of the widow’s mite in your face, please keep in mind the true moral of the story is that Jesus doesn’t want anyone to take advantage of us.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Newsweek beats steady drum against true Christianity

If you’ve been reading Newsweek throughout January ‘09, you’ve probably seen the articles on religion that they have been running.  The articles caught my eye because they all seemed to have an underlying, subtle theme to them.  There are three that captured my attention, which I will highlight and give my opinions on.  After reading the articles, I got the feeling that the writers and the editors at the magazine don’t really care for true, Bible-based Christianity all that much.  But I’ m not surprised since they are a secular organization that, like other secular organizations, desires a watered-down version of Christianity or the cessation of Christian views altogether in modern society.

The first article I came across was by Tony Dokoupil and had the title “The Lost Shepherd.”  It was an update on how Ted Haggard is doing these days and was published in anticipation of a follow-up documentary about him which will air on HBO January 29.  In the article, the fallen evangelist who had an ongoing affair with a male prostitute and bought meth from him, tells of the struggles he has gone through since his admission to his non-Christian actions.  Haggard talks about his anger toward himself and toward his church (New Life Church) that kicked him out, his severance package from the church, how he and his family had no real place to stay afterwards, how he had difficulty finding a job to support his family, and whether or not he will return to ministry at any time in the future. 

In the article, Haggard is quoted as saying, “In my [resignation] letter to the church I said I was a deceiver and a liar, but I hadn’t lied about anything except to keep quiet about what was going on inside me.”  So I guess to him, his showing up on the national news when the story broke to deny the affair and deny that he bought meth weren’t really lies.  Yeah, right.  It’s interesting how we as sinful humans can sometimes downplay our sins so that we come across as not being such a bad person.  Although Haggard in the article claims to have only had sodomitic relations with Jones (the male prostitute) during his adult life, word has now come out that Haggard was also involved with a twenty-something male volunteer at New Life Church.  This has both been confirmed by the church, who paid for the young man to get counseling, and also by the young man himself.  I wonder how Newsweek feels now that it has been revealed that Haggard has been lying to them.  Do they still have sympathy for him?

But I have to admit that there’s a part of me that felt sorry for him and his family, especially his two teen sons.  But after the article stated he got a six-figure severance, and he lied to Newsweek and its readers about being with only one man, my sympathy meter dropped for him and leaned more toward his kids.  Could the church have done things a little differently so his basic needs were met?  I think in this case, when he received the $140,000 severance, it should have been plenty to sustain him enough to get back on his feet financially.  I’ve known families who make less than this in a year and are rather comfortable.  Nevertheless, all too often when we as Christians are faced with disciplining people in the church we either don’t do it at all or we overdo it.  This reminds me of Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthian church to forgive and welcome back with love the man who had repented of having an affair with his stepmother (2 Corinthians 2:5-11).  Paul went so far as to say that when we don’t forgive and love a repentant brother or sister, they can be overcome by too much sorrow, which then leads to Satan having an advantage over the congregation and the individual.  In the Haggard case, the advantage that Satan got was the ability for a secular journalist to come along and portray Christians as unforgiving and unloving.

The second article is from the January 26, 2009 Newsweek.  It is by Eleanor Clift and is titled “The Quest for a Spiritual Home.”  It generally talks about how many religious Americans have switched either their denomination or religious affiliation.  Then it focuses on Father Albert Scariato, a gay Episcopal priest who was once a Jew.  The article goes on to give details about Scariato’s migration from being Jewish to being ordained in the Episopal church after his gay lover died from AIDS complications.  He gave up his job as a radiation oncologist to go full time into the ministry, but still considers himself homosexual.  He faced some opposition to his ordination because of this, but his ordination still went forward.  At the end of the article, Clift gushes about how the Episcopal priest is ” known for biblically based sermons that can be applied to daily life and that convey a message of social justice. He spends much of his time ministering to the sick and dying, and reaching out to the poor.” 

This sounds like liberation theology to me, which is not the true gospel.  Although Jesus Christ was concerned about the social state of mankind, his message and the message of his apostles was that if you first address what ails man spiritually, then man can reap everlasting benefits in this life as well as in the life to come.  Or, as Jesus put it plainly, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these [temporary earthly] things will be added unto you.” [Matthew 6:33].  If we truly want to promote social justice or minister to the sick and the poor, then we should let our actions and our words speak about the love of Jesus Christ–how he came to save us from our sins.  But, of course, this is not the gospel Eleanor Clift or Newsweek want to promote in the article.  They prefer the false gospel that says you can continue in your sinful lifestyle and God will continue to bless your ministry by giving you lots of people to follow you.

The third article catching my attention is titled “Faith Beyond His Father’s” by Tony Dokoupil and Lisa Miller.  We are introduced to such individuals as Doug Paul and D. J. Glisson who grew up in traditional Christian churches but have now embraced a more liberal theology.  It highlights the conflicts the younger generation of churchgoers has with the older generation of churchgoers.  The younger generation, by being exposed to what takes place outside the church, is questioning the values they were raised under.  Some of them, like Doug Paul, are leaving their churches because they are “tired of the narrow lens through which [their] pastors view[] the world.” 

Although many continue to be pro-life, they feel many churches are not practicing what should be the focus for Christianity–improving the lives of those who are less fortunate.  The article also highlights how the views of the “Joshua Generation” tend to be less judgmental toward gays and gay rights.  In spite of their evangelical, conservative upbringing, they tended to vote for Obama over McCain.  Doug Paul even expressed his anger with his parents when their church had a banner displayed by the road near the church urging Virginians to vote for the ban on gay marriage.  He was upset that this particular church felt “that gay people preyed on children,” especially since he and his wife were about to host a gay visitor that weekend.  But if Doug Paul really did his homework, he would find that many gays and lesbians became homosexual because they were molested as children by either gay perverts or straight perverts.  Those who are abused as children tend to be abusers.  Even if they don’t prey on children physically, they can sometimes prey on children mentally by presenting their lifestyle as fun and harmless.  This, in turn, will ensure the strength of their gay rights movement in the future since more people who have the right to vote  and shape public policy will be on their side.

It’s not surprising to me that the so-called Joshua Generation (the majority of whom are not really like Joshua at all) would hold to these views.  This type of thinking was bound to happen eventually with the way Christians have compromised the gospel both in church and in their home lives.  Having grown up in the age of the self-serving prosperity gospel and the lack of genuine love in mega churches, it’s no wonder the young people are disillusioned by what they’ve seen, especially since the economic downturn highlights how fleeting material things can be.  So since the foundations of the gospel were not sufficiently laid in the young people’s lives, the secular media has pounced on the opportunity to highlight the flaws of the Christian church.  On the other hand, young people are exposed to more false doctrines these days than in the past with all the different ways messages can be delivered–whether it’s electronic, broadcast, or printed media.  When messages that rebel against God’s truth are joined with young people’s tendency to rebel against their elders, the result will be a generation that sees God’s commandments as being subjective.

Overall, the underlying themes about Christianity that Newsweek is promoting are:

• Christians aren’t progressive enough.
• Christians should be more like us non-Christians who care more about people’s rights than they do.
• Christians should lighten up on their anti-gay positions since gays are harmless.

These themes will become more prevalent as the years progress since we are living in the age that is preparing little by little for the coming of the Antichrist and his one-world religion, to which true Christianity is a threat.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–