ABANDONING GOD’S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE WILL BRING JUDGEMENT

Posted on by

Abandoning God’s design for marriage in not just bad for society it will bring God’s judgement on those nations that legislate for it.

The Bible clearly states that the beginning of wisdom is to fear God. It seems that even in churches there is no fear of God or they would not  sanction gay marriage. The Bible is clear on the harsh penalties leaders face that go down that path.

This article is by Creation Ministries International’s 

How gay marriage harms people

Three reasons that abandoning God’s design for marriage is bad for society.

Even now that same-sex marriage has become widely accepted in many countries, Christians cannot surrender. We must continue to lovingly and graciously stand for the truth. Also, if we want to be effective, we must learn to articulate the reasons why gay marriage not only violates God’s moral standard, but actually harms society. Indeed, a faulty view of marriage will create many victims.

The Bible says that marriage is rooted in God’s creation of mankind (Matthew 19:4–8). In Genesis, we read how God made Eve out of Adam’s own flesh as a helper suited to him, and then the text says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

man-woman-marriage

Throughout Scripture, it is clear that marriage is a lifelong, exclusive covenant union of two people—a husband and a wife—which forms the foundation for the family. That is, marriage is oriented toward producing and raising children, if God so blesses (Genesis 1:28; Malachi 2:15). God created us male and female to complement one another, and the production of children requires both a man and a woman. So there cannot be any such thing as gay marriage, because marriage requires husband and wife.

The reason, then, that the Bible opposes the homosexual lifestyle is that it violates God’s design for marriage and family. Two people of the same gender do not complement one another as husband and wife do. Their union cannot produce children. And homosexual activity is harmful and destructive to oneself and others. So there are good reasons why the Bible explicitly condemns homosexual relationships. See Does the Bible really forbid homosexual relationships? and What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?

Let me mention just a few of the problems with gay marriage and gay adoption, in particular.

Same-sex marriage debases true marriage, and thereby weakens society

If we abandon the Bible’s teaching on marriage and just make up new definitions as we go, then why couldn’t marriage be redefined in other ways? Why couldn’t it be more than two people, for example? Why couldn’t it be a temporary rather than a lifelong commitment? There’s a logical slippery slope from same sex marriage to polygamy, temporary marriages, and other corrupt practices, because the same wrong thinking underlies these ideas—that people rather than the Creator have the authority to decide what marriage is. Sadly, once the definition of marriage is separated from the Creator’s design, it becomes so flexible that it begins to lose any significant meaning. Indeed, many homosexual activists have admitted that their real goal is to destroy the institution of marriage altogether. They realise that championing same-sex marriage works toward undermining the norms of marriage (like monogamy, permanence and exclusivity) and ultimately even the very concept of marriage itself.

But healthy societies are built on healthy families. The more we move away from the biblical teaching on marriage, the more we’ll have broken homes, because other arrangements simply do not work as well as God’s design. Logic indicates that the undermining of marriage will lead to an increase in cohabitation, divorce, single parenting, abortion, etc., and various studies help to confirm this. The weakening of marriage will place a burden on society as a whole, because others will have to step in with time, energy, and money to try to repair the damage. They will have to minister to hurting adults and help to raise the children of broken homes, and those children will be more likely to get into trouble, causing further problems. This leads to my next point.

Same-sex marriage harms children

What’s wrong with same-sex couples producing children through a surrogate or adopting children?

The fact that many children require adoption means they are already in a less-than-ideal situation. The ideal is that children would be raised by their own parents. Children long for and tend to be healthier when raised by their biological mother and father.

The next best thing, though, would be for children to be raised by a married, opposite-sex couple, as opposed to a single parent or a same-sex couple. Adoption by a same-sex couple would give children additional difficulties to overcome instead of giving them the best chance for success. This is because same-sex parenting would deny children the ability to have a parent of each gender (both a mom and a dad). This isn’t good, because men and women parent differently. They bring different strengths and weaknesses to the table, so children learn different lessons from mom than they do from dad, and vice versa.

Same-sex parenting would deny children the ability to have a parent of each gender (both a mom and a dad).

If a same-sex couple brought children into the world through a surrogate, that would be even worse, because they would be creating children with the intention up front of separating them from at least one of their biological parents. Studies show that children do better if they are raised by their actual parents rather than one parent and one step parent, but same-sex parenting necessarily involves a step parent.

In fact, numerous testimonies from people who spent their childhood in a same sex household bear out these truths. For example, Heather Barwick was raised by her mother and her mother’s lesbian partner. Although Heather loves them both dearly, she writes about how the lack of a father in her home negatively affected her. She says, “My father’s absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad. I loved my mom’s partner, but another mom could never have replaced the father I lost” (Truth Overruled, 2015, p. 170).

According to the champions of same-sex marriage, though, two parents of the same gender should be just as good as having one’s own mother and father. This simply isn’t true. Advocates of same-sex marriage are primarily concerned about the desires of adults, but they largely ignore the fact that, in the process, they trample on the best interests of children.

Same-sex marriage undermines religious freedom

It should not be surprising that, once gay marriage is declared legal, those who oppose it are seen as enemies of the law. This is why, especially since the US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, those with moral and religious objections to same-sex marriage are increasingly being persecuted for simply following their deeply held religious convictions. See Gay Marriage—a big stick to beat the church with.

Religious adoption agencies are being forced to close if they will not place children into same-sex households. Christian schools are being threatened with loss of funding and accreditation if they do not allow their students to actively engage in homosexual practices. Professionals in the wedding industry and even pizza shops are being forced to participate in same-sex ceremonies, or face financial ruin. Even individuals like former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran and former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich are being hounded out of their careers for simply opposing gay marriage in their private lives. Kim Davis was sent to jail because her convictions would not allow her to sign a same-sex marriage license. And we’ve only seen the beginning of this tidal wave. All of the transgender lunacy we’re now facing is a result of this moral revolution as well.

Clearly, gay marriage advocates want more than the freedom to do as they please. The movement includes many bullies who want to force everyone to either join them or be destroyed. They talk a lot about love, but they don’t really understand it. True love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). Amazingly, in the name of ‘love’, the freedom to think and act like a Christian is being taken away.

Christians, on the other hand, are called to love our enemies. So we must continue to show love even to those who persecute us. We do not return evil for evil, but neither do we capitulate to their demands. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). And, because it violates God’s expressed will, Christians must continue to oppose same-sex marriage.

SIGN OF THE LAST DAYS? LARGEST ALIYAH FLIGHT FROM EUROPE.

Posted on by

The largest Aliyah flight from France and anywhere in Europe has landed in Israel on 10 July 2017.

Two hundred immigrants were aboard the flight, including 74 children and teenagers under the age of 18, reports Israel International News. The French Jewish community is the largest in Europe and the second-largest in the world outside of Israel, numbering nearly half a million Jews.

Airplane

French Jewish immigration to Israel has surged since the year 2012. 2014 marked the first time in Israel’s history that over one percent of a Western Jewish community made Aliyah in a single year, an achievement repeated in 2015 with the arrival of some 7,800 immigrants from France—the most ever. Over 10 percent of the French Jewish community has immigrated to Israel since the year 2000, half in the past five years alone.

For behold the days are coming ,says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah… And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it.”  Jeremiah 30:3

Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and gather them from every side and bring them unto their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land … and one king shall be over them.”   Ezekiel 37:21,22,23

 

 

WHY I LEFT THE MEGACHURCH I CREATED!

Posted on by

Listen to Francis Chan, author of best seller Crazy Love, tell why the church needs to return to church as it is revealed in the Book of Acts. As the world gets darker (Godless), church as it is today no longer works. We need persecution to refine the church, to get back to church being family.

WARNING: WAKE UP CHURCH DISCERN THE TIMES

Posted on by

Pastor Carl Gallups has connected the dots to see that events unfolding in the world are prophesied to occur exactly as they are happening in the Bible. Proof the Bible is inerrant and God is in control of history. It should be a wake up call for Christians but sadly the Bible also foretells a great falling away from the church in the last days which is also evident.

GOD IS RAISING UP INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THESE LAST DAYS

Posted on by

Listen to what God is doing through prayer to bring revival to the indigenous and island nations. God intends to use them in a major way in these last days.

Also, if you have not heard the 40 testimonies of indigenous Christians of all ages and Aboriginal communities from around Australia then you need to download then from the 40 Stories website. You will be encouraged to see what God is doing in using these testimonies to impact Australia for Christ.

PROPHESIED END TIMES EVENTS UNFOLDING

Posted on by

In the days and years ahead we should see the emergence of a Northern leader (King of the North) from the general region of the former Seleucid Empire – Turkey, Syria, Iraq as outlined in Daniel 11. Whilst Iran was part of the Seleucid Empire, it is Shia, and it is likely the Antichrist, the Northern leader,  will be a Sunni.

The title King of the North is used seven times in Daniel 11 (v.v. 6, 7. 8, 11, 13, 15) The first six times it refers to the various kings of the Seleucid Empire but in verse 40, the Antichrist as the last days Antiochus 1V Epiphanes.

Image result for map of the final seleucid empire and ptolemaic empire

Turkey has thrown its weight behind the Syrian rebels which puts the Sunni Turkey at odds with the Shiite power of Iran, at a time of growing Sunni-Shiite tension in the Middle East.

The Bible also tells us that we should see a Southern leader of Egypt that will clash with the Northern leader in what will lead to a large scale military confrontation. Egypt will fall to the Northern leader, Libya and Sudan (Cush) will then submit to the northern leader/Antichrist and his emerging empire. After this seven other nations from the region will willingly throw their support behind the norther leader/Antichrist and his emerging empire.

This revived empire (Ottoman) is what is prophesied in Daniel 2 as the feet of iron and clay and in Daniel 7 as the ten horns. This will be the final Antchristic empire that will crush the people of God throughout the region and in much of the earth before being destroyed by our Lord Jesus Christ.

The church is not prepared for Jesus second coming just as the religious leaders of Jesus day missed His first coming. They did not heed the Scriptures.

We need to get back to church as it was in the Book of Acts. Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love has got it right – see my recent post Church As God Intended.

For more get Joel Richardson’s book The Mid East Beast – The Case for an Islamic Antichrist.

IS THE APPEARANCE OF THE ANTICHRIST IMMINENT?

Posted on by

In the Book of the Prophet Daniel 7:7, we read of the system of the Antichrist. It is described using the metaphor of a beast, “dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong.” After its initial assault on its enemies with its iron teeth, it continues to trample even the residual survivors. Its hard not to see this being fulfilled right now throughout the Middle East. After Muhammad died and his successors burst forth out of Arabia, they rapidly conquered the whole Middle East and North Africa. Within ten years the very heart of the ancient Christian Church was ripped out.

All of the great former missionary sending capitals were conquered: Ephesus, Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria. Yet while a smaller minority of Christians managed to hang on in those cities, they have forever since been a struggling minority among their Muslim neighbours. Now the residue is even being trampled, and we read of repeated reports that speak of Christianity virtually disappearing from Iraq and Syria.

Yet despite the gravity of what is unfolding before the eyes of the world and the global church, I genuinely don’t think that most Christians have truly put the prophetic pieces together.

Before ISIS came, the Yezidis in Iraq numbered around 400,000.  As the mass graves continue to be unearthed and the bodies counted, some estimates suggest that as many as one fifth of Iraqi’s Yezidis were massacred under the exceedingly cruel hand of the ISIS Caliphate.

I am still amazed when a village of Chaldean Catholic Christians is decimated because of the name of Jesus, simply because they are not Muslim, and some American prophecy teachers and watchmen continue to claim that it is the Catholics who are the real threat. Could it be that the eastern beast is now knocking at the gates of the city while far too many of the “watchmen” are either determinedly perched on the western wall looking in the wrong direction, or are asleep entirely?  The way things are moving, I truly believe we may be far closer than most think. Let us all repent, for the Day of the Lord is indeed at hand

 

WHAT EVERY PERSON NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT DEMONS

Posted on by

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” said Satan to Eve.  Satan masquerades as an angel of light, lies to Eve and she believes Satan not God. Adam was given the headship role, so could have righted the situation, but chose to follow Eve and disobey God.

Satan and the demons that chose to follow him are still prowling around seeking to find those they can devour. Satan knows his time is short so the battle is desperate.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all stand.

Listen to Francis Chan teach on what you need to know about Satan and demons. Essential knowledge for these “last days”.

ARE YOU FREE FROM THE POWERS OF DARKNESS?

Posted on by

Are you free from the powers of darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places?

You can live in a free society and be more bound than someone who lives in a nation governed by a dictator or an oppressive government. True freedom can only be found in Christ.

No dictator, oppressor or pharaoh who has reigned is a greater tyrant than Lucifer. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot were evil, but Lucifer is the father of evil. It is better to live in an oppressed regime and have freedom in Christ than to live in a free society without the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Those who are bound by Lucifer’s oppressive regime are bound by their lusts, desires and affections. They are doomed for eternal destruction. They are not free, no matter what form of government they are under.

Are you thoroughly free? Are you enjoying the true freedom that can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

Jesus death and resurrection has enabled our Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit to indwell our spirit, to be our counsellor, comforter and teacher. This freedom therefore, surpasses the freedom that is granted by any document or government. This freedom is temporal and eternal. It is the freedom to become what you were created to be. The Holy Spirit will conform you to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. You can pray to your Heavenly Father and He will answer your prayers. You are empowered to express your conviction and your beliefs through everything you do: the way you treat your mate, the way you raise your children, the way you exercise your civic duty and the way you run your business or do your job.

The wonderful thing about this freedom found in Christ is that it is eternal.

You don’t have to worry about someone else taking it away from you. No government, person, angel or demon can take it from you. You are truly free at last.

My prayer for you today is that you will find or  be reminded of the freedom you have in Christ, found only in His precious death and resurrection.

CHURCH AS GOD INTENDED IT TO BE

Posted on by

Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, was drawing around 5,000 people and growing in 2010. But Francis Chan felt the megachurch he founded was not as God intended it to be.

Francis Chan, a bestselling author who heads We Are Church, speaks at the Facebook headquarters in California, June 22, 2017.

“I got frustrated at a point, just biblically, Chan said. “According to the Bible, every single person in the church has a supernatural gift that’s meant to be used for the body. And I’m like 5,000 people show up every week to hear my gift, see my gift. That’s a lot of waste. Then I started thinking how much does it cost to run this thing? Millions of dollars!”

“So I’m wasting the human resource of these people that according to Scripture have a miraculous gift that they could contribute to the body but they’re just sitting there quietly. … [T]hey just sit there and listen to me.”

Moreover, he felt the church wasn’t following God’s command to love one another — attendees would simply greet each other for 30 seconds and mainly hang out in cliques once a week.

“I was like, ‘God, you wanted a church that was known for their love. You wanted a group of people where everyone was expressing their gifts. … We’re a body. I’m one member, maybe I’m the mouth. But if the mouth is the only thing that’s working and … I’m trying to drag the rest of the body along, chewing on the carpet …”

His decision in 2010 to leave Cornerstone — which he started in his living room — came as a shock to many, including fellow evangelical pastors. In his announcement to the congregation at that time, he said he had been feeling a restlessness and stirring to let go of the megachurch and take on a new adventure.

He also indicated that he was wary of being “comfortable.”

In his talk at Facebook last week, he offered more details about why he made that decision to leave, including a desire to get away from the pride he began to feel as his book, Crazy Love, became a bestseller and as he became a popular sought-after speaker.

“I freaked out during that time in my life,” Chan recalled. “The pride … [going to] a conference and seeing my face on a magazine … and hearing whispers … and walking in the room and actually liking it.”

At one point, Chan felt convicted and realized he became everything he didn’t want to be. “Everything you (God) said you hated, that’s me right now,” he realized. “I gotta get out of here. I’m losing my soul.”

Chan stressed to the Facebook group that God hates pride and that one can easily lose humility.

Today, Chan leads a house church movement in San Francisco called We Are Church. There are currently 14 to 15 house churches, he said, and 30 pastors (two pastors per church) — all of whom do it for free. Each church is designed to be small so it’s more like family where members can actually get to know one another, love one another and make use of their gifts.

“We’ve got a few hundred people now and it costs nothing,” Chan explained. “And everyone’s growing and everyone’s having to read this book (Bible) for themselves and people actually caring for one another. I don’t even preach. They just meet in their homes, they study, they pray, they care for one another. They’re becoming the church and I’m just loving it and realising that these 30 guys [are] leading this and the women as well.”

The people who join include “guys coming off the streets, out of prison to doctors and people that work here (Facebook) or Google,” he said.

He’s hoping to double the number of house churches every year so that in 10 years, there would be 1.2 million people in We Are Church. And, he reiterated, it’s all free.

How would he compare the megachurch he once led to the current house church movement?

“This one guy put it like this: It’s like being adopted rather than being in an orphanage,” Chan said. “Church the way I was doing was like an orphanage. Here’s just a bunch of kids with one leader. And rather than saying ‘No, you know what, we’re going to put you in a home and these guys are going to actually know you and love you and care for you.’

“It’s just like family.”

Recalling a sober moment he had while at Cornerstone Church, Chan said he baptized a kid from a gang but that kid later left though he was quite involved in the church.

“One of my friends asked him, ‘Hey, how come you’re not at Cornerstone anymore?’ He said ‘I didn’t understand church. When I was baptised, I thought that was going to be being jumped into the gang where it’s like 24/7 they’re my family, because I didn’t know it was just somewhere we attend on Sundays.”

When Chan heard that, he said it made him sick.

“That makes me so sick that the gangs are a better picture of family than the church of Jesus Christ. I can’t live with that. … We’re going to do something different.”

While Chan said he loves what he’s doing now, he admitted that it wasn’t easy and that his former gig at the megachurch was easier in some aspects.

“Some days I think it was a lot easier when I could just preach, go back and drive off in my car and leave all of them like I will today,” he said to laughter among the Facebook employees. “I don’t have to care for your issues, you know? … I’ll never see you again.

“This is easy. But you have this circle here and you’re in each other’s lives and no offence, it’s not this Facebook — I can just put up what I want about myself. That’s kind of like the way church was. It’s like let me just show you this one side on Sunday morning and let me just show you the best pictures of me and my greatest accomplishments.

“But when it’s family, it gets messy. And you start finding out people’s dirt. Just like you know about your brother and sister every Thanksgiving. It’s messy because it’s family. That’s what Christ wanted. And so we fight for it. And it’s been a blast.”

As for what he does with all the money he earns through his bestselling books, Chan said he gives it all away.

He had prayed to God years ago, saying he was frustrated with the rich people in church who only give 5 to 10 percent of their money to church while living off millions. He prayed that God would either raise up a new generation of rich people who would actually live for eternity and give all their money away or make him rich.

“I’ll give it all away to show that you’re better than all of that,” Chan remembered praying. So when he surprisingly made a million dollars the next year through his book and continued to make more over the following years, he signed it all over to a charitable gift fund “so that I can’t even touch it. I can’t even buy lunch with the money … I can only give to charity.

“It’s been the best thing. Now I spend my days going and looking where are the needs around the world and how can I contribute to it?”