Opening Demonic Portals	Dream-Death didn't Touch Us	End of all Things is God's Glory
Scourge of Human Trafficking	Be Ready for the Lord's Return	Hidden Mysteries Revealed in NT
Honest Look at Recreational Dating	Testimony-Master of the Wind	Update on God's Work

The Reality of Eternity	One Person Away	Excuses
The Age of Feelings	Subtle Attack on Truth	You Keep Sabbath we Sunday
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Opening Demonic Portals

By Pastor Larry R. Lasiter

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert! Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written; ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy.’" (1. Peter 1;14-16

"I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and discipline. (ie, sound mind)" 2 Timothy 1:6-7) "Discipline" is sometimes rendered "sound mind." Both terms come from the Greek "sofromismos" literally meaning self-control. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit named in Galatians 5.

It’s vital that we do not give the devil an opportunity to gain power in our lives. Once he finds a place he will begin building a stronghold to imprison you. And if you are a true Christian who has received the Holy Spirit, then you are his foremost target. He already has the world and its inhabitants. As we read in the first Scripture, It goes without question that a person who is not "sober" cannot be "alert." The devil is like a lion "seeking someone to devour." God’s protection against him is "be of sober spirit", be of a sound mind. The devil and his demons are looking for a way into your life-and will find it if you fail to be alert, sober and of a sound mind.

In our second Scripture we find that we must "prepare our minds for action and keep sober in spirit." Only then can we be "obedient children" who are "not conformed to our former lusts." And it takes sobriety to "be holy in all of our behavior." No soldier who is preparing to engage the enemy is doing anything that will cloud his mind from being sober. For example, he may party until drunk or smoke weed until he mellows out when he is on furlough, but he knows that he will need a clear and sound mind when engaging the enemy if he hopes to survive. However, the soldiers of the Lord are never on furlough because there is no place on the earth that the enemy is not there warring against us. So we must be sober and of sound mind at all times. This is why the Bible teaches against drunkenness. No one drunk or high on drugs can be sober and alert.

Our third Scripture reveals that we must sometimes "kindle afresh the gift of God." In the context here this is likely referring to a Spiritual Gift which was given to Timothy. But the second verse is obviously speaking of the Holy Spirit which all Christians receive. The Holy Spirit frees us from fear, empowers us to be disciplined, and gives us a sound mind if we allow the Spirit to work unquenched.

Even demons who have been cast out of a person come back to see if there is an opening to enter back in, -"Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came;’ and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." (Matthew 12:43-45) Jesus reveals much here about demons. Even if cast out they will attempt to come back in. There’s something about water that causes them to be unable to rest. Perhaps it’s because the world before man was inhabited by angels and was flooded by God to punish the fallen ones who had rebelled. Genesis 1 verse 2 tells is that the earth was covered with water before man was created.

Jesus said that demons seek "waterless" or "dry" places to rest. The Greek word here literally means place "without water" so it’s not a metaphor. Interesting also is that demons need rest. When it comes back it’s looking for a vacant place. A vacant place can be a person who doesn’t have or has lost the Holy Spirit, or a vacant place can also include a vacant mind under the influence of an intoxicant. We learn that some demons are more wicked than others. And we learn that having found such a place the spirit will bring other spirits with it and that the last state of that person will be worse.

There are basic points to remember to ensure that we do not open a portal for demons.

1. Be Alert 2. Be Sober 3. Be of Sound Mind 4. Kindle the Holy Spirit

There are a great many portals in which demons can enter into the lives of people. There are the obvious ones that are easily seen, such as divination, witchcraft or other practices of magic, consulting psychics, conjuring the spirits of the dead, hypnosis, mental illness, etc. The Bible warns of opening the doors for fallen spirits by practicing idolatry, receiving false doctrines, lust of the flesh, being bound to unbelievers, sexual sin, drunkenness, unrighteous anger, bitterness, etc.

When you get to the root of all these vices you will find that in practicing them you lose your sobriety and or your soundness of mind. You cannot think and act in the Lord’s will if your mind has become unsound and open for dark forces to enter. Any of these sins will dominate, poison and cloud your mind. "For the mind set on the flesh is DEATH, but the mind set on the (Holy) Spirit is LIFE and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:6-8) James wrote that the "natural" and "earthly" (worldly) is "demonic." (Chpt. 3:15)

Notice that the mind set on following the lusts of the flesh is not only "death" but is "hostile towards God." I doubt if many of us see ourselves as "dead" and "hostile to God" when we allow sin to slip into our lives, but that is how God sees it, and it really is the truth. Loss of sobriety results in the loss of a sound mind which is sensitive and yielded to the will of our Creator. But any lust of the flesh, immorality, deceit, unforgiveness, malice and slander, bitterness, and all other carnal vices come from the god of this world and will cause the loss of a sound mind. An unsound mind cannot be subject to the will of God, which means the Holy Spirit cannot properly operate in a mind that is not sound. If sin is practiced the Holy Spirit will be grieved and can be quenched.

The Holy Spirit is given to "lead us in truth", to "to give us power over the flesh and sin", to "comfort us", to "bring remembrance of God’s Word", to "impart Spiritual Gifts", to "prophesy", to "warn us", to "direct our every step", etc. The Holy Spirit will not force control over us-the Spirit is sensitive and will draw back to let us have our way if we insist.

Henry Ford Illustration

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company and creator of the Ford Automobile, told a story of a time when he saw a Ford on the side of the road with the hood up. He could see the driver trying to repair the vehicle so he pulled over to offer his assistance. When Mr Ford asked the man if he could help, the man angrily replied, "Get back in your car old man! There’s nothing that you can do that I can’t do better! You go your way and let me take care of my own car!" Very quietly and graciously Henry Ford got back in his car and left the man to himself. The man didn’t realize that he had spurned an offer of help from the man who invented and created his automobile. In the same way we can spurn the Holy Spirit by not yielding and accepting help from our Creator and instead go our own way.

Galatians Chapter 5 names the fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are wonderful fruits which a Christian will bear as long as they do not give the opportunity for the enemy to plant the seeds of weeds in their life. The Chapter also names the deeds of the flesh-things you will do if driven by the lusts of the flesh rather than the Spirit of the Lord. "But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets it desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please. . . Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you,. . .that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:16-21)

The Apostle Paul is urging his fellow saints to not squander their freedom in Christ to merely be about serving themselves in the flesh. One deed of the flesh named here is "immorality." The New Testament Greek "porneia" is what is most translated as "immorality", though it is sometimes rendered as "prostitution," "fornication" and "idolatry." It literally means, "a surrendering of sexual purity." It is primarily used in premarital sexual relations and connotes the "selling off of your sexual purity" in exchange for fleshly gratification. Impurity, sensuality and idolatry then are closely associated with immorality.

The Devil is After Your Sexual Purity

There are many things which can be replaced, but your virginity -your sexual purity can never be recovered once it is surrendered. It is the one precious gift that can be given only once. God’s plan is for that gift exchange to occur after wedding vows when the marriage covenant is consummated. Virginity is to be preserved and reserved for your special love whom you will become "one" with. BEING FAITHFUL to your future mate shows that you are looking for, and waiting on that special person whom you will become "one" with in the consummation of marriage. The Bible says that when two are joined together they become "one." Today, most people think that the responsibility to be faithful begins with a "committed" relationship or at marriage. But God's will is that you be faithful always, even long before you meet your love. Then on your wedding day you can demonstrate your faithfulness by giving your special love the precious and virtuous gift of a pure and undefiled body kept only for them. Guard your heart always and flee immorality.

Never forget that demons of lust are constantly looking for an opportunity to tempt you. It is a sad truth that many young girls have lost their most precious gift of virginity due to loss of sobriety. Millions upon millions have surrendered their sexual purity under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Even more sadly, with lust in their own heart, many purposefully did so. It is commonly understood that people lose their natural inhibitions when inebriated.

To God, committing fornication or adultery is worse than being a prostitute, because a prostitute is practicing the sin for the need of money. Women, especially in times past, did not become a whore because of wanton sexual lust, but from financial need -still sin, but the motivation is different. "You are like a woman who commits adultery with strangers instead of loving her husband. A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you. You are a special (and worse) kind of prostitute. No one forced you to become one. You didn't get paid; you paid them! Yes, you are different." (Ezekiel 16:34 GTB) When you surrender control of your body to anything other than God you cannot expect anything good to come from it.

"Sorcery" is also mentioned as a deed of the flesh. Interestingly, the NT Greek word translated "sorcery" is "pharmakeia." In Paul’s day the word primarily meant "dealing in poison" or "drug use" and was applied to divination and spell-casting because Sorcerers used drugs with their incantations to conjure occult power. Sorcery is bypassing God’s wisdom and instruction to give power and glory to Satan. This obviously opens a demonic portal.

For the sake of time and space I will not elaborate on every deed of the flesh, but indulging in any one of them will open a portal for demons to enter. I will mention "drunkenness" because this causes the loss of sobriety, a sound mind, and will prevent you from being alert.

Though God does not forbid Alcohol use but He Condemns drunkenness

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18) The root meaning of the Greek word rendered "dissipation" is "to descend." Paul is making a contrast between being drunk and being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lifts us up to a sound mind while drinking to drunkenness causes us to descend into the land of shifting shadows where demons are lurking-seeking an opportunity. Interestingly, liquor was often referred to in the past as "spirits." As a young man I remember seeing Liquor stores advertising "Spirits & Wine." Of course alcohol is not a spirit but even Aristotle observed that people under the influence of alcohol act as if they are another person, or being controlled by a spirit. However, it’s not the alcohol itself but the loss of sobriety which opens the door for spirits to enter.

People who become drunk or inebriated by drugs often say and do things that they don’t remember when not "in their right mind." Sometimes we cut someone a little slack because they misbehaved while drunk. We understand that they were not of sound mind-and in fact sometimes delusional. I can personally testify that I have witnessed a person fighting "someone", "demons" or "things" that I could not see. I had always assumed that they were delusional which is bad enough, but when you consider the other alternative it’s even worse.

Link Between Marijuana and Psychosis

Alex Berenson is a New York Times Columnist and author of a number of books. His wife Jacqueline is a Forensic Psychiatrist and researcher at Columbia University. An essential part of her job is dealing with and treating patients who have committed homicides or other acts of violence-the criminally mentally ill. In conversation one day she told her husband that "in practically every case that I see people were using Cannabis at the time they committed these terrible crimes." Being a Liberal Columnist, Mr Berenson responded by saying that it sounded like nonsense to him. His wife then challenged him to research the data for himself. To his surprise he found that there was a proven and clear link between Cannabis and mental illness. And he also discovered a proven link between Psychosis (mental illness) and violence. Multiple studies showed that people who smoked marijuana, especially in their youth were at a high risk of developing Schizophrenia which is absolute torture for those who suffer with it. These people live in a state of paranoia. This made such an impression on Mr Berenson that he wrote a book that just now hit the shelves entitled, "Tell Your Children the Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence."

Another consideration is that many parents used Marijuana 20 or more years ago when they were young and do not believe its use is dangerous. The mind altering ingredient in Cannabis is THC. 20 years ago the percentage of THC in Marijuana was about 4% - today it can be as potent as 30%. Medical Marijuana has a low or no THC level to ensure that those who need it will not be mentally impaired.

The most obvious way that Cannabis fuels violence in psychotic people is through its tendency to cause paranoia. Paranoia definition: "Paranoia involves intense anxious or fearful feelings and thoughts often related to persecution, threat, or conspiracy which often leads to anxiety attacks. Paranoia occurs in many mental disorders, but is most often present in psychotic disorders. Paranoia can become delusions, when irrational thoughts and beliefs become so fixed that nothing (including contrary evidence) can convince a person that what they think or feel is not true."

Symptoms of paranoia and delusional disorders include intense and irrational mistrust or suspicion, which can bring on a sense of fear, anger, and betrayal. Some identifiable beliefs and behaviors of individuals with symptoms of paranoia include mistrust, hypervigilance, difficulty with forgiveness, defensive attitude in response to imagined criticism, preoccupation with hidden motives, fear of being deceived or taken advantage of, inability to relax, or are argumentative.

"Even Marijuana advocates acknowledge that the drug can cause paranoia; the risk is so obvious that users joke about it, and dispensaries advertise certain strains as less likely to do so. But for people with psychotic disorders, paranoia can fuel extreme violence. A Medical Journal in Australia found that most murders committed during a psychotic episode were people under the influence of Marijuana. 2 of 3 said they committed the homicide because of the delusion that the victim posed danger to them." (Wall Street Journal)

When sobriety is lost a person has opened a portal to being under the influence of someone or some thing. As a musician, in the past I played bars and clubs though I hated to. I’ve been around many drunks of which the vast majority were speaking and acting with unsound minds. Most were intoxicated with alcohol, others with illegal drugs. Some were given to violence, others became emotional basket cases. Seems as though they wanted to either fight or cry on your shoulder. Once, I encountered a man who believed that I was someone else who he hated and chased me with a knife. Lucky for me he was too inebriated to catch me. Often in the morning they could not remember what they had done and occasionally I would get an apology. But the next weekend, to put it in Yogi Berra’s terminology, it would be "deja vu all over again"

Sobriety lost due to drugs

In our prison ministry I met a man who was incarcerated for murder. He told me about his former life as a member of a street gang. He said that he used many drugs but that one became his favorite -Marijuana laced with an hallucinogen. He told me that he always woke up hours later completely naked with no remembrance. Once he awoke covered in blood that was not his own. Obviously, under the influence of this drug this man’s mind was not in control. We might suggest the drug was in control, but was it really? Under the influence this man drove, went places, talked with people, got into altercations, and did other things which he had no remembrance of when he became sober. Obviously there was a level of control over his body. And obviously still, it wasn’t his consciousness in control. We often winked at what drunks said and did saying "well, they’re just drunk-it’s the alcohol."

Sound Mind loss due to Occult and Sin

Many years ago when I was a young Pastor, a man and woman began attending our services. One day the woman told me that occasionally three spirits would appear at the foot of her bed -she wanted to know if they were angels or demons. They owned a small ranch and invited the congregation to come out for a cookout. While I was outside by the grill with her husband she suddenly ran out the front door holding her throat in a panic. I immediately discerned that demons were stirred up by us being there and had physically attacked the woman. Her husband and I took her into a room and I demanded that the demon depart. She began to shake and stammer in a foreign language and then the spirit suddenly burst out. I actually saw it as it flew out and went through the corner of the ceiling behind us. It appeared as a formless shadow.

For months there were no signs or evidence of demonic activity and she eventually asked to be baptized. It was at her baptism that a second demon manifested. As this demon manifested itself she became terrified of water to the point that it was impossible to baptize her. I was able to cast this one out as well, but she was never actually baptized. The third demon was the most formidable and far too wise and cunning for me at the time. Dealing with it was like trying to get a firm hold on a wet bar of soap. It eventually drew her away from us.

I later discovered that this woman had long been dabbling in so-called New Age Spiritualism and had a book on automatic writing. Automatic writing is when a person clears their mind to allow themselves to channel a spirit which will begin to use the person’s hand to write messages. This woman was constant trouble for me and the congregation as well, and though I loved her, I felt that she would not let me help her. She was given to lying, thief and deception -she was never of sound mind in Christ. And at some point she began protecting the third demon who had gained control.

About two years after she was gone, my family and I spent a day at beautiful Long Pool Park. As we were driving home I heard the Holy Spirit say "teach her." I immediately argued with the Lord saying, "Teach her?! I’ve tried and she has never received it! And how since I haven’t seen her in two years?! Am I supposed to just show up at her house?!" The next morning I came downstairs at about 9 am to see her sitting in my living room. She said, "You’re probably wondering why I am here. I was working in my garden this morning and I heard an audible voice say ‘Go to Pastor Larry and he will teach you.’" She said that it scared her so much that she dropped everything to come. Seems that she had been visiting Hebrew Roots Churches in Missouri and Arkansas with the intention of starting her own group. After counseling her on this matter she laid down the plan, left my home and I’ve never seen her again. I believe the Lord directed her to me for the sake of a young Christian man whom she and her husband were "discipling" -someone they could control, to be the "Pastor" of the new Messianic Church they were planning to start.

Devil and his Demons look for an Opening

I don’t believe that it’s just the alcohol, the drugs or other sinful vices that cause people to lose control and do things that they would never normally do. Consider that it may be demonic spirits who have found a portal through these vices who are actually at work. In the opening Scriptures we saw that what the devil is looking for is a person who is not mentally sober or sound minded. Demons will exploit a mind that is not sober. Consider that one of the appeals of drunkenness or of mind altering drugs is to escape reality. It is giving way to deception. It is boldly making the statement they you chose the lie over the truth. In doing this they reject their Creator and choose to serve the lusts of the flesh to their own doom, -"For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." (Romans 1:25) Saying that in doing so they "served the creature" obviously refers to a created being-either themselves, or Satan who is also a created being. In actuality, serving self is serving the Devil. One reason intoxication is wrong is because it causes the loss of sobriety which results in the loss of a sound mind, which opens the mind to demonic influence and sometimes control.

Rebellion, unforgiveness, immorality, anger, bitterness, etc

If practiced the deeds of the flesh will open a portal for demons. These sins may not cause you to lose your sobriety, but they will poison you and that will cause your mind to be unsound. Wickedness on the mind quenches the Holy Spirit from which a sound mind comes. The Bible says that a saint is a Temple of God and that if he allows his Temple to be destroyed - God will destroy him. Any of these vices has the power to corrupt you as a Temple of God. We must not allow sin to find a home in our lives.

Beware uncontrolled anger

Many years ago a man and woman began attending our services though they lived two hours away. The woman was as sweet a person as you could ever hope to meet. The husband was a sincere but highly emotional man who was prone to outbursts of anger. As a young Pastor I discerned that sometimes there was a spiritual entity that was with the woman. One day they asked to counsel with Treon and I and told us a very sad story. For years a demon terrorized their home. He would roar like a lion, throw furniture and even physically assault them and their two sons. The lying spirit claimed to be a native American who died nearby. It also claimed that it had taken part in the massacre of a neighboring tribe. Getting bolder the demon would get the woman out of bed and back to the time of the massacre to force her to watch. Finally, the demon choked her to point that she almost passed out and died, and that is why they decided in desperation to tell me. The demon also appeared to her and told her that it had caused the death of her oldest son. He had recently died in a car accident. The spirit told her that it appeared on the windshield as the boy was driving on a rural road which caused him to lose control and hit a tree.

She was not possessed, but oppressed, so I prayed over her and anointed her forehead with oil, saying, "May this anointing strike fear in any demon who sees it." The couple asked if Treon and I would come to their home and spend a night in their bed to see if anything would happen. We did, and as I had expected the demon failed to manifest itself. While on their property the Lord revealed to me that there had never been Indians living there, and that there had never been a massacre-it was all a lie from a lying spirit. Months went by without any sign of demonic activity, and the woman literally blossomed. Things were great until I left to preach outdoor crusades in Africa. I was gone for five weeks and when I returned I discovered that the demon had returned. This time it came with other demons including one that took mental control of the woman. Soon she subtly poisoned her husband against us and we never saw them again. It was years later that the Lord revealed to me that the portal was opened by the man’s uncontrolled outbursts of anger. That is how the demons gained entrance into the family. I still do not know how they gained access to the woman. Michigan Professor Richard Nisbett, the world’s greatest authority on intelligence, plainly said that he’d rather have his son being high in self-control than intelligence. He said, "Self-control is key to a well-functioning life, because our brain makes us easily susceptible to all sorts of influences."

Link Between Counter-Culture and Rebellion

Let us never forget that Satan was the first rebel, and that those who follow him become his children, -"You are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father." (John 8:44) "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God." (1 John 3:10) Since the Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft or sorcery, we should take seriously the dangers of lending ourselves to the practices of a counter-culture. A counter-culture is a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores.

Consider the evil of rebellion. It is the very act of rising up against your loving Heavenly Father and crossing over the battle lines to join the enemy who hates your soul. Satan is the destroyer who wants to kill, steal and destroy. You may say, "I am bought by the Blood of Jesus-filled with the Holy Spirit-the Devil cannot destroy me!" Perhaps not, but he wasn’t allowed to kill or destroy Job either-however he stole Job’s family, flocks and herds, servants, wealth and health. I am certain we have all been stolen from because we have opened a portal for the Devil and his demons. To be clear, the devil did not gain access to Job through his sin, but through his righteousness. God allowed Satan to test Job.

My teen years were in the late 1960's and early 1970's, so I was young when the hippie counter-culture was in full bloom. As a hippie and Rock and Roll musician I was active in America’s counter-culture scene. I wore my hair very long, wore the hippie clothing, smoked weed, and spoke the counter-culture language. In my day long hair was an outward declaration of non-compliance and rebellion. Since the Viet Nam War was raging long hair had become a symbol for anti-war or even anti-military. American soldiers were often berated when they came home-being spat on and called derogatory names such as "baby killers." The country was very divided and polarized.

As a hippie with long hair it was not safe for me to be alone in a rural area-hippies sometimes were victims of violence. In protesting the war we stood behind the facade of social morality, while in our actual practices most of us only wanted to party, get high and engage in "free love." We wanted to be different, to look different, to speak different and think of ourselves as being cool and on the edge. To be this way defiantly fed our pride and vanity. But this resistance to conform was rebellion. And to be in rebellion to our culture for purely selfish reasons is not God’s will, but is demonic, -"Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil." (Romans 13:1-3) Notice also, -"For rebellion is as the sin of divination (witchcraft), and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. You have rejected the Word of the Lord." (1 Samuel 15:23)

Seems as though every generation has a counter-culture of it’s own-sometimes multiple preferences arise as it is today. There’s the Gothic look with occult symbols, black lipstick, black fingernails, and all black dress. Then there’s the grungy skater look, the bad-ass biker look with the tattoos along with the skin piercing crowd. It all masquerades as style and fashion but it’s really meant to shock and raise the third finger to the compliant folks. Tattoos used to be far out on the fringe. Heavily tattooed people were attractions at circuses and carnivals, but now many people are getting inked. One of the more common among young women is a design on the lower back just above the hips -tattoo artists refer to it as a "tramp stamp." It is designed to sexually draw attention to the lower curve in the woman’s body. These things are outward declarations that you identify with a counter-culture group. Bold and edgy, yes, but also rebellion at the root.

The Apostles instructed the Church to be modest in dress, attitude and behavior-and to be humble in spirit. "Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness." (1 Timothy 2:8-10) Everyone lifts their hands in prayer and worship in the Crusade Church of God, but there are many out there who are too embarrassed to show such emotion toward their Father and their Savior. There must be no "wrath and dissension" among the brothers as well. We should all heed the words of the Apostle because they are inspired by God. Faithful women are to dress "properly", "modestly" and "discreetly." "Modest" is where we get the word "moderation." It is to be moderate and connotes "unassuming". "unpretentious" and "humble." "Discreet" means careful and circumspect, especially in order to avoid causing offense or to gain an advantage." Paul instructs the women to not braid gold or pearls into their hair or wear obviously costly garments in order to make a show of themselves.

The point is to be careful not to draw attention to yourselves so than Christ in you may shine brightly. You do not want to look like you stepped off a fashion runway, nor do you want to appear like you just walked off the set of Little House on the Prairie. Excessive facial makeup, tattoos or piercings that make you stand out and apart is not unassuming. It should go without saying that dress that is meant to stimulate others sexually is not proper because it is not modest or discreet. Mainly, let us all yield to the Holy Spirit and follow in humility.

Christians are to live, dress and speak Heaven’s Culture

"Kingdom" means "King’s Domain." A King’s domain is the place or territory in which he reigns. His Kingdom is the governing influence which impacts the place and people with his personal will, purpose and intent, which produces a culture with values, morals and lifestyle that reflects the King’s desire. Christians have been transferred into the Kingdom of Heaven whose King is God who desires His citizens to humbly conform to the Culture of His Kingdom.

We may have Presidents, Prime Ministers and Monarchs in the world, but Christians have only one true King who is presently in Heaven. All kings who have colonized have sought to establish their rule and culture in the places of there reign. The Bible says that Satan is the god of this world at this time. As king, he has established his culture upon the earth which is in rebellion to the Culture of Heaven. Jesus said that we are not of the world but have been called out of the world. Therefore, we are not to be conformed to our former practices learned from the Devil,-"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)

Story of Job

We learn from the Book of Job that it’s not always something we do or fail to do that allows the Devil to enter into our lives. Job was righteous in God’s eyes. When God asked Satan if he had noticed how faithful his servant Job was, the Devil complained, "You have put a hedge of protection around him -why wouldn’t he serve you?" Obviously, Satan had long been searching for a open portal to enter into and wreck havoc in Job’s life. In His infinite wisdom God opened the door so that the Devil could attack Job with the command to not take Job’s life. After Job proved himself to be faithful saying, "Though the Lord slay me I will place my trust in Him,- He will not forsake me in the grave but will call me forth to life." God then restored Job to health and wealth. During his trial Job’s wife and three closest friends placed the blame on him for his troubles.

So we should always remember Job and understand that when we see a brother or sister in severe trials we consider that it may be the only opportunity they have given to the Devil was being faithful. We may also consider the trials of Joseph who was falsely accused and imprisoned for ten years. In this world we will experience trials, -let it not be because we opened a portal for the forces of darkness to enter.

 

Death Didn’t Touch Us

Prophetic Dream By Elizabeth Lasiter

I had a dream of the Last Great Battle. Our congregation were all together as one body in a building that I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t the Crusade Church building. I looked out the window and saw a brutal army that seemed to be appearing as a mighty wall.

Everything in its path died, and it was marching directly toward us. The Army made it into the building and as the soldiers charged forward we all lined up and held each others hands.

We were without fear because we knew the glory that awaited us. I looked at Momma T (Treon Lasiter) and said, "I’ll see you in eternity." The army came through the hallway and ran towards us, but even still, we were at peace. Just as the enemy reached us we were suddenly gone. Death didn’t touch us. Thank You Lord for your everlasting love and mercy.

"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. . .We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 John 5)

 

The End of All Things is God's Glory

By Elizabeth Lasiter

These last few weeks the women’s group at my church has been focusing on a Servant’s Heart. Today a dear sister presented Jonah, as a sort of antithesis of what a servant’s heart should look like.

To make a brief story even briefer Jonah was called to bring the Lord to the cruel and idolatrous city of Nineveh. Naturally, Jonah jumped at the chance to serve the Lord and bring people to the one true God, so he packed his bags and set sail. Jonah was zealous for the Lord and his example led to the conversion of the whole nation of Assyria and Jonah was lauded as the Saint who brought God to the gentiles…

That story may be a figment of my imagination, but let’s just have a moment of honesty and admit that it’s how we feel things should go when we sacrifice of ourselves and obey God. While we’re being honest, let me admit that the book of Jonah has always annoyed me. No ending? That’s just cruel to a mind that wants to know what everything means and why things are the way they are. We are never told what becomes of Jonah, we are told very little of what happens to the people of Nineveh, we don’t know what the mariners do with the rest of their lives, we don’t even know what kind of fish rescued Jonah from a watery grave. How are we supposed to learn our lessons without the details?!?

In reality, Jonah was actually like most of us. He was stubborn, thought that Nineveh should get what was coming to them, he ran from the presence of God, he would rather have died than do what God was asking of him, he cared more about a plant that sprang up overnight than hundreds of thousands of souls, and was just generally someone with whom we probably wouldn’t want to be best buds. Some servant, right? But still, no ending is weird. As my sister was discussing how the book having no ending is probably genius and very purposeful, and looking at the book in the context of having a heart to serve, while Jonah is no example to follow, looking at the big picture, it was made very clear that the ending doesn’t matter.

In the famous sermon "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" which played such a pivotal role in my surrender to Christ, Paris Reidhead described his experience wrestling with God. He went to Africa thinking he would swoop in and bring the Word of God and the people would accept it joyfully and leave their sinful ways behind and flock to worship the One True God. What he quickly learned was that the people had already heard the way of salvation, but they loved their sin. The Lord told him, -"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The Heathen are lost. And they're going to go to Hell, but not because they haven't heard the gospel. They're going to go to Hell because they are sinners WHO LOVE THEIR SIN, and because they deserve Hell. But, I didn't send you out there for them. I didn't send you out there for their sakes."

And I heard as clearly as I've ever heard, though it wasn't with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this: "I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved Hell! But I love them! And I endured the agonies of Hell for them! I didn’t send you out there for them! I sent you out there for me! Do I not deserve the reward of my suffering? Don’t I deserve those for whom I died?"

Nahum 3 describes what a wicked, cruel, and blood thirsty nation Assyria was (Nineveh was the capitol city.) King Nebuchadnezzar carried out Assyria’s destruction in 612 B.C., but the events of Jonah happened around the early to mid 700’s B.C. It seems safe to assume that the conversion that is mentioned in Jonah, though genuine and widespread, didn’t last long. There are several examples in the New Testament of people having a redeeming experience, of coming in direct contact with Jesus himself, but they just didn’t have the staying power (think Luke 17). Love never grew. Like the plant in Jonah 4:6 that sprang up overnight, it withered away overnight and never took root.

A collision of these two examples, among so many other lessons to be gleaned, shows us that the result of obedience (or serving) is not the purpose of obedience. The ending doesn’t matter. The purpose of obedience is our love for the One who lived as a man even though He was a King, who didn’t count it robbery to make himself lower than the angels that used to serve him, who died so that we could live, who bore our shame and iniquity so that we could stand before the Father clothed in robes of righteousness. The purpose of obedience is that He deserves the reward of His suffering. Our obedience may yield a new life in Christ, it may give seeds that are watered and flourish years down the road, or maybe our obedience leads to someone, or an entire city flat out rejecting God. As co-heirs with Jesus, we are to never grow weary of doing good. Let us never grow weary of obedience because it doesn’t produce the fruit we expected.

Jesus told us in Peter that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Obedience is essential in loving God. Sometimes our obedience leads us into a trial, sometimes it leads us to a city like Nineveh that kills babies as a part of idolatrous worship, sometimes it leads us straight into a blessing, and sometimes it leads us straight to jail. The point is that the result of our obedience shouldn’t determine whether or not we are obedient, we trust that God knows where He is leading us, and that wherever that is, though it may not be safe, it will always be good.

 

The Scourge of Human Trafficking

By Rafael Romo, CNN

‘Woe, woe, the (Great Harlot) great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more,- cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen. . . and SLAVES and HUMAN LIVES." (Rev. 18)

There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today. According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children.

I was raped 43,200 times!

Karla Jacinto is sitting in a serene garden. She looks at the ordinary sights of flowers and can hear people beyond the garden walls, walking and talking in Mexico City.

She looks straight into my eyes, her voice cracking slightly, as she tells me the number she wants me to remember -- 43,200. By her own estimate, 43,200 is the number of times she was raped after falling into the hands of human traffickers. She says up to 30 men a day, seven days a week, for the best part of four years -- 43,200. Her story highlights the brutal realities of human trafficking in Mexico and the United States, an underworld that has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Mexican girls like Karla.

Human trafficking has become a trade so lucrative and prevalent, that it knows no borders and links towns in central Mexico with cities like Atlanta and New York. U.S. and Mexican officials both point to a town in central Mexico that for years has been a major source of human trafficking rings and a place where victims are taken before being eventually forced into prostitution. The town is called Tenancingo.

Even though it has a population of about 13,000 it has an oversized reputation when it comes to prostitution and pimping, says Susan Coppedge, who is now the U.S. State Department's Ambassador at Large to Combat Human trafficking, and previously worked at the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta."That's what the town does. That is their industry," Coppedge says. "And yet in smaller, rural communities the young girls don't have any idea that this is what the town's reputation is, so they are not suspicious of the men who come from there. They think they have got a great future with this person. They think they love and it is the same story of recruitment every time."

Karla says she was abused for as long as she can remember and felt rejected by her mother. "I came from a dysfunctional family. I was sexually abused and mistreated from the age of 5 by a relative,'". When she was 12 she was targeted by a trafficker who lured her away using kind words and a fast car. She says she was waiting for some friends near a subway station in Mexico City, when a little boy selling sweets came up to her, telling her somebody was sending her a piece of candy as a gift.

Five minutes later, Karla says, an older man was talking to her, telling her that he was a used car salesman. The initial awkwardness disappeared as soon as the man started telling her that he was also abused as a boy. He was also very affectionate and quite a gentleman, she says. They exchanged phone numbers and when he called a week later, Karla says she got excited. He asked her to go on a trip to nearby Puebla with him and dazzled her by showing up driving a bright red Firebird Trans Am. "When I saw the car I couldn't believe it. I was very impressed by such a big car. It was exciting for me. He asked me to get in the car to go places,".

It didn't take long for the man, who at 22 was 10 years older than Karla, to convince her to leave with him, especially after Karla's mother didn't open the door one night when she came home a little too late. "The following day I left with him. I lived with him for three months during which he treated me very well. He loved on me, he bought me clothes, gave me attention, bought me shoes, flowers, chocolates, everything was beautiful." But there were red flags everywhere also.

Karla says her boyfriend would leave her by herself for a week in their apartment. His cousins would show up with new girls every week. When she finally mustered the courage to ask what business they were in, he told her the truth. "They're pimps," he said."A few days later he started telling me everything I had to do; the positions, how much I need to charge, the things I had to do with the client and for how long, how I was to treat them and how I had to talk to them so that they would give me more money."

It was the beginning of four years of hell. The first time she was forced to work as a prostitute she was taken to Guadalajara, one of Mexico's largest cities. "I started at 10 a.m. and finished at midnight. We were in Guadalajara for a week. Do the math. Twenty per day for a week. Some men would laugh at me because I was crying. I had to close my eyes so that that I wouldn't see what they were doing to me, so that I wouldn't feel anything."There would be several other cities. She would be sent to brothels, roadside motels, streets known for prostitution and even homes. There were no holidays or days off, and after the first few days, she was made to see at least 30 customers a day, seven days a week.

Karla tells how she was attacked by her trafficker after a john gave her a hickey. "He started beating me with a chain in all of my body. He punched me with his fists, he kicked me, pulled my hair, spit at me in the face, and that day was when he also burned me with the iron. I told him I wanted to leave and he was accusing me of falling in love with a customer. He told me I like being a whore."

Mexican Corrupt Police

One day, when she was working at a hotel known for prostitution, police showed up. They kicked out of all of the customers, Karla says, and shut down the hotel. She thought it was her lucky day -- a police operation to rescue her and the other girls. Her relief turned quickly to horror when the officers, about 30 she says, took the girls to several rooms and started shooting video of them in compromising positions. The girls were told the videos would be sent to their families if they didn't do everything they asked. "I thought they were disgusting. They knew we were minors. We were not even developed. We had sad faces. There were girls who were only 10 years old. There were girls who were crying. They told the officers they were minors and nobody paid attention." She was 13 years old at the time.

In her nightmare world even a pregnancy was cause for horror not joy. Karla gave birth at 15 to a girl -- a baby fathered by the pimp who would use the daughter to tighten the noose around her neck: if she didn't fulfill his every wish, he would either harm or kill the baby. He took the baby away from her a month after the baby was born, and she was not allowed to see her again until the girl was more than a year old.

Karla Jacinto was finally rescued in 2008 during an anti-trafficking operation in Mexico City. Her ordeal lasted four very long and tormenting years. She was still a minor, only 16, when it ended -- but she has endured a lifetime of horror that will stay with her as long as she lives. Portions of Karla's story was independently verified to be true by an CNN investigation.

Karla is now 23 years old. She has become an outspoken advocate against human trafficking, telling her story at conferences and public events. She told her story to the U.S. Congress in May.

Her message is that human trafficking and forced prostitution still happens and is a growing problem in our world. "These minors are being abducted, lured, and yanked away from their families. Don't just listen to me. You need to

learn about what happened to me and take the blindfold off your eyes." Doing nothing, she says, puts countless girls at risk of being trafficked for years and raped tens of thousands of times, just like she was.

 

Be Ready for the Lord’s Return

By Christ Reynolds

When you look at the world we live in today, isn't it evident that things are only getting worse? In 2 Timothy Paul explains that in the end people will love money, pleasure, and even wickedness instead of the truth and God. As Christians, watching these things come about in front of us demands for us to preach that the time of Jesus's return is imminent. Therefore, the question we must ask ourselves is will we be found faithful when he comes?

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked what would be the sign of his coming, Jesus gave two example of servants being set over a household. In both cases, the master of the house returned when they were not expecting. He used this parable and the parable of the ten virgins to illustrate what he says in Mark 13, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come."

In Matthew 25, Jesus gives a clear depiction of two types of people, those who where faithful and those who where not. In both cases, He bases his judgment on how the person treated Him, witch made everyone ask "When did we see you and do these things to you?" His answer was that He considers our interactions with each other as though we where interacting with Him. When the apostle Paul was converted, Jesus asked "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?", again explaining that he considers our actions to others personal to Himself.

In Matthew 6, Jesus warns about doing good deeds in public as a show, but says we are to do them without concern for how we are seen by other people. He also commanded us not to pray in the open as a show, for God in heaven sees what is done in private, and judges us by what is in our hearts. In Matthew 7, Jesus says many will believe they have done enough to be found faithful. But He judges the heart, and if we hold on to any sin, even secret sins, we will be counted as lawless and we will not be welcomed into heaven.

In Luke 17, Jesus said that the day of his return people would be busy with their daily routine, the same way they were when Noah went into the ark. Concerning his return, Jesus told his disciples to consider how we can observe a fig tree and tell when summer is near. As believers, we can and should be able to know that the time of the Lord's return is very soon. But we must not forget that God knows us better than we know ourselves, and that He is judging us even now according to how faithful we are and how obedient we are to His will.

 

Hidden Mysteries Are Revealed to the Church

By Larry R. Lasiter

"As to this salvation, the Prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven - things into which angels long to look." 1 Peter 1:10-12

My aren’t we privileged?! Things which never entered into the minds of generations past are now revealed to the Church by the Holy Spirit which gives us the very Mind of God, -"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man. . .For to us God revealed them through the Spirit. . .Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. . .But we have the Mind of Christ." (1 Cor.2)

It’s amazing to know that the holy Prophets of old did not understand their prophecies pertaining to the Church age and the dispensation of the Spirit. Oh, but how they yearned for the revelation. Our text reveals that even the angels were left out of the information loop and longed to look into the mysteries freely given to the Church. "By revelation there was made known to me the mystery. . .which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. . .to bring to light. . .the mystery of the ages which has been hidden in God. . .so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." (Eph.3) Wow! Even the angelic hosts of heaven are learning the mystery of God from the Church.

There is a common belief in Christianity that to understand the New Testament writings you must first understand the Old Testament writings. But is this really the case? Perhaps the key word here is "understand." If the Spirit-filled Prophets of old could not truly understand what they were writing and why, but were "serving" a future generation to which the revelation would come, then we could not understand much of the Old Testament without looking through the Spiritual eyes of the Church -remember, the mysteries of God are revealed through the Church.

When God called me into this faith at the age of 19, I did not begin reading in Genesis but in Matthew. I began in the red letters of the teachings of Jesus. I think that is how most Christians began -in the New Testament before reading much of the Old Testament. So when we came to study the Old Testament we already had some understanding of the NT. I believe that it made it easy for us to see Jesus in the Passover account of Exodus, and the two chosen goats for Atonement in Leviticus, etc. We could understand the whole concept of the sacrificial system given to Israel -knowing that the New Testament taught us that the blood of animals only served to remind us of our sins but had no power to actually make true atonement for them.

Obviously, there are also things we would never understand without reading the Old Testament. But I believe in most cases the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures are revealed in the New Testament. Let’s look at a few examples: Without the NT writings, would we understand that the Passover lamb was a shadow of Jesus and was pointing to the true Lamb of God? Would we understand that the manna which God sent from above in the Sinai wilderness really represented Jesus, the true bread of life which would be sent later? The OT says to not muzzle your ox while it is working, but the NT says, -"For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about oxen is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written." (1 Cor.9) Meaning that those who are in ministry should be paid as they labor in the Harvest.

The OT forbade yoking two animals together which were not equal, but the NT reveals the true meaning - that the saints should not marry unbelievers. In the NT we learn that hatred breaks the sixth Commandment and that lust breaks the seventh. We learn that marriage between a man and a women is a type for Christ and the Church. The New Testament revealed who Melchezedek was. The NT reveals the existence of the Father-Jesus said that no one has seen Him or heard His voice until He said, "This is My Beloved Son" at the baptism of Jesus.

As Christians we love and value the rich and inspired writings of the Old Testament - we need and cherish them. But we cannot understand God’s plan without the New Testament. "The mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints." (Col.1) The OT helps us better understand the NT, but without the NT we cannot understand the OT. Let us look back through the Spiritual eyes of the New, for to us alone has revelation been given. WHAT AN HONOR! PRAISE HIM IN THE HIGHEST!

 

An Honest Look at Recreational Dating

By Larry R. Lasiter

To question modern dating is sure to invite criticism. The practice is firmly embedded in our culture today. But in the scope of history it is merely decades old and former generations would consider it to be absurd-because it would certainly lead to premarital sex and unwanted pregnancies. 4 of 10 babies in America today are birthed to unmarried women.

Jesus said that to look upon a woman with lust is breaking the Commandment against committing adultery. Fornication is sex outside of marriage, but adultery is being unfaithful to the marriage covenant. Consider that an unmarried person having sex outside of marriage is both committing fornication and adultery. Why adultery? Because that person is being unfaithful to their future mate whom they have not met and married yet. God gave the gift of virginity to be shared at the consummation of marriage. Let me be clear in that I believe that it is perfectly fine and appropriate for a group of young people to do things together -it is when two pair up and spend time as a couple that problems arise.

True Christians are called "children of faith" and the Bible says we are to live by faith. This means that being faithful stretches beyond being true and trustworthy to some "thing" or some "institution." It means that you, yourself are faithful, and that you live out your faithfulness as a way of life. Christians are betrothed as the bride of Christ, but the marriage and the marriage banquet is yet future. Though our marriage is yet future our promised Bride Groom demands that we remain pure and undefiled as we await that day. The Scriptures say that He is preparing a place for us, and we are to be making ourselves ready for Him when He comes. We are not to be giving our affections to others in the meantime. Modern dating does not paint this picture.

Dating violates the culture of Heaven and its King. God chose a bride for His Son (Eph 1/ 2 Cor 11) Abraham’s servant chose a wife for Isaac, whom we are named after. (Romans 9:7) In the cases where marriages among God’s people were not arranged by family, a man would ask the woman’s father for her hand and if agreed a betrothal or courtship period began. There is no pattern of recreational dating among God’s chosen in the Bible, but there is a demand for people to enter marriage as virgins, -"Suppose a man marries a young woman and later he decides he doesn't want her. So he makes up false charges against her, accusing her of not being a virgin when they got married. If this happens, the young woman's parents are to take the blood-stained wedding sheet that proves she was a virgin, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders. Her father will say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn't want her. He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a virgin when he married her. But here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!’ Then the town leaders are to take the husband and beat him. They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the young woman's father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives. But if the charge is true and there is no proof that she was a virgin, then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil." (Deut. 22:13-21) GNT

As Christians we understand that a Law to execute a sentence of death by stoning is not in our Covenant. But it’s clear that God expects those who enter into the marriage covenant to do so as virgins. Notice also that God referred to this impurity as an "evil" that must be gotten "rid of."

Dating is putting yourself in a place of temptation. We pray, "Lord, lead us not into temptation" yet run to it when we practice recreational dating. We run to a situation where we are looking at others in lust, surrendering to that lust to commit the sin of fornication and adultery, -"Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death. Do not be deceived. . . Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father." (James 1:15-17)

If anyone is determined to disagree and to argue in defense of dating, then that person must show that the practice produces good and comes down from the Father. Jesus taught that everything can be judged by the fruits it bears. We can look at people and things and examine the fruits that they bear, -"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:16-20) You will not find modern dating in the Culture of Heaven because it is not a part of God’s pattern of behavior. On the other hand, it is a part of Satan’s end time plan to kill, steal and destroy. The devil has long preyed on the innocent, especially babies as witnessed in the practice of child sacrifice in pagan worship.

What are the fruits of Modern Dating?

The fruits are only bad, there are no good fruits on the tree of modern dating. Most enter the dating scene while in High School as immature teens with no intention of being married soon, and are not financially prepared to provide for a family. Each January we attend the Right to Life March in Little Rock to make our stand against the scourge of abortion. There are always thousands there, mostly Christians. Lots of young people who practice recreational dating come holding anti-abortion signs. Yet the vast majority of women who get abortions consider themselves to be Christians. So what happened? Christianity teaches abstinence. Obviously, these "Christian" girls didn’t want to get pregnant-and the only way to do so was through sin. Sin found its opportunity in recreational dating. These girls put themselves in temptation’s way. Abortion is framed as a "women’s issue" but some men are deeply affected too.

Rudolf’s Story

"When my girlfriend’s pregnancy test came back positive, I felt extremely afraid. I was 20 and we’d been dating for two and a half years. The relationship, however wasn’t healthy. I was really insecure, jealous and selfish. We were constantly breaking up; we knew we weren’t good for each other, let alone good for a child. Both of our families were poor and I remember fearing that I wouldn’t be able to provide for the kid. I had no dad growing up, and I just kept thinking about how I didn’t want to follow in those same footsteps. I was worried about money.

At the time I thought the abortion was a mutual decision, but I wonder now if she felt differently and was just too afraid to tell me. I wish we’d had some time away from each other to think about it. We broke up about six months later, but the abortion haunted me for a long time. When I was younger I’d get high and think about the kid I could’ve had. It messed with me horribly-I felt like the biggest piece of crap in the world. That kid would be seven or eight now. What if they were a straight A student who went on to do something amazing?

How did my girlfriend and I get into this situation? It was from dating which in time turned us into a couple who thought that having sex was just what a boyfriend did with his girlfriend. For me, I just wanted to have fun and sex was a part of that. I see how reckless it was now. I knew then that together we were capable of creating a life. And I knew that if that happened our lives would have to change. But I didn’t want to face the truth, so I just put it out of my mind.

The abortion seemed to take all the joy out of my girlfriend’s life -she was never the same. Our society makes abortion a "women’s issue" but I can tell you that it has been a major issue for me too. When I see fathers with their children I am reminded that my child never had a chance to know me, and I’ll never get the chance to know my kid. It’s like my fatherhood was lost or stolen."

Amy’s Story

Amy began dating in High School and soon had a boyfriend. At first it was just flirting, holding hands and sweet talk, but it eventually progressed to kissing, then foreplay as they became more comfortable with each other. Dating by its every nature is progressive. People ask "what’s appropriate on a "first date, second date", etc. At age 16 Amy discovered to her horror that she was pregnant. She was terrified and wanted to keep it from her parents. It was as though every wall that surrounded her was pressing in and she felt that she must do something quickly before she started to show. To avoid the guilt and shame Amy made the decision to abort her pregnancy. She was a minor so she had to go before a Judge and make her case in hope that he/she would give her permission without parental consent. The Judge granted her permission and she aborted her baby.

Amy has deep regrets for opting for an abortion. "I didn’t want to think about it but I knew that I was actually hiring and paying a stranger to kill my baby. One night I was watching TV, and on the show a jealous mother was hiring a man to kill a teenage cheerleader to get her out of the way so that her daughter could get on the squad. I thought to myself how horrible that was-but then I realized that is exactly what I did -I hired someone to kill my baby. It was as if I had put out a contract on my baby’s life and hired a man to carry it out. Why did I do this? Because I was ashamed for getting pregnant. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, and I was afraid of what my friends would think. I considered suicide, and sometimes wish that I had. But mostly it was because a baby would be in my way-I wasn’t ready to be a mother and I didn’t want the responsibility of caring for a baby. Also, in the back of my mind I should admit, that I wanted to keep dating. My boyfriend broke up with me when I became pregnant, but I wanted another boyfriend and I knew that some boys wouldn’t date a girl who had a kid. That’s so ironic now as I look back, because it was the dating scene and the idea that I needed a boyfriend that got me into the mess which led me to take my baby’s life. "

Christians should ponder about the very concept of "boyfriend-girlfriend." What does it really mean? One thing we know according to statistics, is that when a male and female become a couple they become sexually intimate with each other. Like God says, you can’t bring fire to your bosom without getting burned. When I began this ministry I had four of my five children still in the home. My oldest daughter was engaged to marry a Pastor’s son in Missouri. None of the four who were raised under my Pastoral care ever had a boyfriend/girlfriend, nor practiced dating. They courted to get to know each other at Church and in public settings. And when they decided they wanted to marry they counseled with the Church and set a date for the wedding. I have officiated the three who have married, and each were virgins. They each married in the faith and have strong and happy marriages. They are all active in our ministry and faithful members of Crusade Church. People tend to believe this can’t be done in this day and age, but it can. And if the goal of every Christian is to keep themselves sexually pure they should not run toward temptation, -"Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:22) This is God’s way. Think about it- a recovering alcoholic should stay away from bars and any friends who would entice him to fall back. Someone who is trying to quit smoking shouldn’t keep cigarettes in the house or car because they would be enticed by them.

When a Minister says, "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride" it means nothing today. The average American has romantically kissed more than 15 people before they marry. The average American has had more than 7 sexual partners before they marry. In most every case it was through recreational dating. Everyone talks about making abortion illegal and I certainly would support that. But a law cannot solve the problem of immorality. Yes, we can teach our youth to obey God and to keep themselves sexually pure until they marry. But how will that really work if we fail to protect them from such overwhelming temptation?

Abortion-The Culture of Death

Since Roe vs Wade there has be 60 million abortions -there are about one million abortions in America each year. Babies killed by dismemberment by suction or instruments -some burned to death with a saline solution, and others by thrusting scissors into the base of the skull, spreading out the opening in order to suction out the baby’s brain. Most all these unwanted pregnancies are a result from the modern dating scene. Dating always escalates from simple fun to intimacy, to emotional pain, hardships and often death. Until this age of dating unwanted pregnancies were very rare. What do the fruits show? The god of death makes maximum use of dating.

About 93% of the women who have abortions do so for the sake of convenience - 25% Not Ready, 23% Can’t afford a baby, 19% Don’t want another child, 8% Just don’t want it, 7% Not mature enough, 4% Would interfere with School or work. 83% of women who terminate their pregnancy are unmarried. Social Media is filled with personal testimonies of extreme regret women experience from aborting their baby. So many women live the rest of their lives in hopeless despair and even suicide. It has driven some to drug or alcohol abuse. Men are the victims without a face or a choice. Most men agree with their girlfriend’s choice of abortion, but not all. Some experience the syndrome of "fatherhood lost" as Rudolf from Texas did.

Each year, between 800,000 and 1,000,000 unmarried women abort their babies, but there are more than a million and a half unmarried women who choose to give birth. So, about two and one half million unmarried women become pregnant each year in America alone. What are the fruits? Death to the babies for those who choose abortion. The rest are born into a home without a father, and usually into poverty. These babies are rarely raised by their mothers because they have to leave their children in the care of others to work. In the age of modern dating grandparents who have already endured the difficulties of raising children are subjected to the task of raising their grandchildren.

Rather than learn from the mistakes of casual dating, these single mothers continue to date often bringing strange men into the lives of their small children. There have been countless cases of these children suffering abuse, molestation and even murder by "mom’s boyfriend." Many unmarried mothers enter the welfare system which in turn places burdens on American tax payers who foot the bill for someone else’s lifestyle choices. Through dating the devil has lured people into temptation, lust, sin and death.

Let us consider the subject of recreational dating with an honest and open mind. And while we’re at it, let us think of all the people we know, perhaps even ourselves, who have practiced recreational dating and how it worked out. Almost all have deep regrets.

What do a couple do on a date? Sometimes they go out to dinner and then a movie. Sometimes they attend a party together. Sometimes it may be a sporting event and a dance as it was on my first date with Treon. Both of us were teens. In most cases both people are on the their best behavior and typically eager to agree. If one date leads to another and then the couple begins to date steadily, it usually progresses to premarital sex. When you put two young people with raging hormones together in a private setting the temptation will be too much. Put a boy and a girl in a car alone and say "be home by midnight" is a recipe for trouble. Of course the argument "why don’t you trust me?" is often asked, but the truth is most all wilt under strong temptation.

Consider that there are no good fruits. But there are sometimes terrible consequences, -unwanted pregnancies, abortions, betrayal and broken hearts. Do you know someone who suffered abuse in a dating relationship? Or became pregnant, had an abortion or birthed a baby to a broken home or a single mother? Do you know any grandparents that had to raise their kid’s kids due to dating? Do you know someone who became pregnant before they were financially stable enough to provide for the child? Single mothers often have to work more than one job and spend a considerable amount of time away from their children. And sadly, they miss out on watching their children grow up due to the responsibility of working.

After being burned so many times it becomes impossible to trust. Personally, I know of many young people who have gone from one broken relationship to another in the process of recreational dating. Young hearts broken again and again. Often very mean and hateful words are expressed which some never get over hearing. The purpose of recreational dating is fun, sex and companionship.

The motive for recreational dating is to have fun. A person will often date someone that they do not really know at all and have no intentions of eventually marrying. One of the goals of dating is to impress the one you’re out with, usually for selfish reasons. Men try to charm their date and women often strive to be attractive. Dating is progressive by nature. Each person has their own personal standards as to what is appropriate interaction and what is not on a first date, second date, etc., but both parties hope that they will become more and more intimate as time passes.

The problem with this is that there is no real commitment and the lives of those who date are littered with failed relationships and the pain that follows. By the time most people in America marry they have gone through a number of painful "divorces" without ever being legally married. They bring all this baggage from the past into their Marriage. The temptation to compare your new mate with those whom you were involved in before is extremely difficult to prevent. This can easily breed discontentment. Many face the end of their lives with a mountain of regrets. The best and only way a young person can prevent this is by living by God’s holy standard now. Many people are excellent daters. They have learned how to impress a date. But this is a "dating" behavior not a "marriage" behavior - it will not carry over into your relationship as mates.

You are Complete Alone

God made each of us 100% complete. You don’t need another person to complete you. Marriage is not 50-50 but 100-100. In Marriage, each person brings their completeness and joins it to one another. No one should marry because they feel needy, or feel incomplete. Your contentment, fulfillment and happiness cannot be dependent upon another person. Before you marry you are one, and after you marry you are still one. Marriage is not designed to make two, but to make two, one. Each person must be totally committed to the Marriage Covenant and fulfill their roles 100%. Marriage will never succeed where there is a weak commitment or where an independent spirit exists. A husband must love his wife as Christ loves the Church, lead her, provide for her completely and manage his household properly. A wife must honor and obey her husband and serve as his helper. This is God’s pattern for success. This is not to suggest that a wife cannot work or have a job, even a job which brings in more income to the family, but the husband is ordained with headship of his wife and family and is charged to manage it properly. See Proverbs 31 woman.

Consider the wisdom of God. Our Creator made Eve for Adam-the first woman for the first man. It was never God’s plan nor will for a man and a woman to date multiple partners before finally settling down and being faithful to a single mate. We find no practice of recreational dating in the Bible. When a person was of age and had a desire to marry, they along with family searched for a possible match. Even in recent history in America a young man and a young woman would engage in courting. The process of getting to know one another to see if they wanted to join in marriage. Recreational dating did not exist in the world until this present wicked End Time age. Dating is a part of the Devil’s plan to bring people to temptation in order to steal away their purity and innocence.

Why you do think that books are written explaining what men are looking for in a woman, or how women want to be treated - what sweet things they desire to be whispered in their ears? Men and women USE this material for their own selfish reasons and motives. They learn to act and say what they do, not because they are being honest and truthful, but in hope that it will bring them personal gain. Men keep whispering sweet nothings because they work for short term gain. These things are not called "sweet nothings" for no reason. It means that they are not truly spoken from the heart from pure motives, but, though sound "sweet", really mean "nothing." Women smile and flirt, entice with their eyes all for the same sad reasons. Women dress "for the occasion."

People who date usually begin at high school age, and date without any thought of Marriage. People who Court do so because they are ready to marry and are specifically looking for a mate who is also ready. The Bible teaches that the Church is the future Bride of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for His Bride.

You should never marry because you are looking for pleasure. And you should never marry for financial reasons. Momentary pleasures will fade with time and finances are extremely fickle and can change in the blink of an eye. Marriage should never be primarily based upon things or circumstances which can easily, and often do change. Unexpected things happen. The economy fluctuates and people lose their jobs. Sometimes a spouse gets injured or sick and can no longer hold a job. Like a sound investment in a new home, a good marriage will increase in value over time because it is not founded upon such loose sand. Momentary excitement and thrills will be replaced by deep commitment and a sense of oneness.

Deciding to enter into a committed relationship such as the Marriage Covenant is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. "Till death do us part" is a serious commitment. Before we enter into our personal research for a perspective mate, which we will call "Courting" for lack of a better name, we should think long and hard about the consequences -Jesus called this, "Counting the Costs." Notice Luke 14:28-30, "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’"

50% of first Marriages fail, 67% of second Marriages fail and 73% of third Marriages fail. The statistics are no better in the Christian Church. The data reveals that instead of learning from their mistakes, most people repeat them. These numbers clearly show that most people entering into their first Marriage are only half committed, and the commitment to second and third Marriages are even less solid. We need to ask ourselves "WHY" so many failures? What is the real problem? Is it disrespect for the holiness of the Covenant itself? Is it personal selfishness? Is it ignorance about how day to day married life would be? In recreational dating people become accustomed for "relationships" to not last. Those who date usually have had many "significant others" whom they broke up with before they married. Broken relationships is all they have ever known. So, it’s near impossible to enter into the marriage covenant with a "for better or worse, in sickness or in health, and until death do we part" commitment.

Your decisions set the course of your life. Your tomorrow will be no better than the decisions you make today. Good decision making results from a process of reflection and discernment. Good decisions are based on sound and accurate information. You cannot make a good decision by listening to your head only or your heart only; both must come into the equation when you make any significant decision. Think back on the regrets you now have and analyze the root causes and the fruits that sprang forth. And above all, do all things God’s way and for His glory.

OVERCOMING TEMPTATION

"Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Corinthians 10)

 

Testimony -Master of the Wind

By Earlene Donelson

Years back in early April, there was an outbreak of tornadoes across Arkansas. One of them touched down in Clarksville which is about four miles west of our house. I had seen on television that it had destroyed the county library there. Upon hearing this news I decided to walk out onto our front porch where my brother was standing to tell him about it. When I opened the door he quickly pointed west, and there in front of us was a tornado headed straight in our direction! There was no time for anything but a quick prayer for protection. As we stood helplessly watching, the tornado parted into two separate twisters, one headed north and one headed south.

All my life I had heard the story where God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, and now I had seen with my own eyes God split a tornado in two. Though we had strong winds as these two passed by we were completely protected and suffered no property damage. I praise the Lord! For He is Master of the wind.

UPDATE ON GOD’S WORK

Points of Truth Ministries reaches the entire world through our web site and YouTube Channels. But we have had direct contact and requests from the following countries -USA, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, Philippines, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, Nova Scotia, Jamaica, Norway, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria.

* In December 2018 we had 41,000 views of our "Is Christmas Christian" video on Facebook and YouTube..

* In December we had 23,478 visits to our web site, 2516 of those were new visitors. Top two articles viewed were "The Truth About Generational Curses" and "Should Christians Be Torah Observant?"

* We have a new congregation in Tabasco, Mexico-Warm Greetings to Fernando Peres Sanches and brethren!

* For those of you who have been supporting this work, we want to give you a big thank you.

 

The Reality of Eternity

By Larry R. Lasiter

 

According to Science, the Universe began about 14 billion years ago with a bang! The Universe and everything in it came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang. Space, time, and all the matter and energy within was created from nothing at a singular point, and then expanded and cooled, giving rise over billions of years to the atoms, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies spread out across the billions of light years that make up our observable Universe. It is a compelling, beautiful picture that explains so much of what we see, from the present large-scale structure of the Universe's two trillion galaxies to the leftover glow of radiation permeating all of existence. The Bible says it this way, in the beginning God said "Let there be. . ." and it appeared. "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." (Hebrews 11:3)

The idea of the Big Bang first came about back in the 1920s and 1930s, and was first discovered by Edwin Hubble.. When Astronomers looked at distant galaxies, they discovered something peculiar: the farther away from us they were, the faster they appeared to be receding from us. According to the predictions of Einstein's General Relativity, a static universe would be gravitationally unstable; everything needed to either be moving away from one another or collapsing towards one another if the fabric of space obeyed laws. The observation of this apparent recession taught us that the universe was expanding at a blinding speed, and if things are getting farther apart as time goes on, it means they were closer together in the distant past -all the way back to "nothing." Hubble’s discovery rocked the halls of Science in 1929 and because many wanted to rejected this model they tried in vain to disprove it. Those who believed in the big bang were accused of dragging Science back into the Dark Ages. To accept this creation model was to acknowledge that some "thing" or some "One" (obviously God) created the universe.

An expanding Universe doesn't just mean that things get farther apart in time, it also means that the light existing in the universe stretches in wavelength as it travels forward in time. Since wavelength determines energy (shorter is more energetic), that means the Universe cools as it ages, so things were hotter in the past. Trace it back far enough, and you come to a time where everything was so hot that not even neutral atoms could form. If this picture were correct, we should see a leftover glow of radiation today, in all directions, that had cooled to just a few degrees above absolute zero. The discovery of this Cosmic Microwave Background in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Bob Wilson was a breathtaking confirmation of a creation event.

Though God created the universe about 14 billion years ago, it is still expanding. According to Astronomers there are between 200-400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets in our Milky Way Galaxy. As galaxies go, ours is tiny in comparison to most. The size of the universe is incomprehensible! It is so vast that it must be measured in light years. Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second which covers almost one million miles very 5 seconds. Even at this unimaginable speed it still takes 9 minutes for light from our sun to reach the earth. When we gaze into the heavens we are looking back in time as the light of distant celestial bodies finally reach our eyes.

Since the universe is expanding it has a specific size and a specific age at any given moment. Science recognizes that the universe is mostly material-material that had a beginning and will have an end. But this material universe is expanding into "empty space." What is empty space? Is it timeless? Is it really empty, or only empty as in void of material things? Though the universe is measurable, "empty" space seems to be immeasurable. Has anyone ever suggested that the expanding universe may reach the boundaries of empty space and come to a crashing halt -or fall off the edge of empty space? I’ve never heard it questioned myself. It appears that the created, material universe is expanding into the eternity and infinite invisible empty space.

It seems logical that empty space is part of the eternal realm, which having no beginning nor end, is infinite. As massive and vast as the universe is, it is likely no more than a tiny speck in the infinity of eternity, yet this awesome Creator loves us. As Christians we understand that God exists in the realm of eternity. And that He has promised to give His saints eternal life. We were born into a material world in a material universe, so we tend to view things through that paradigm. But as we ponder the timeless empty space that our universe is expanding into we understand that there is so much more beyond this temporal. God is eternal -I believe that eternity is the default existence and that the temporary is, well. . . temporal. "The heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." (2 Peter 3:10) "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away." (Revelation 21:1)

Death came into existence through sin, but even death will one day be swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:54) God has placed eternity in the heart of man, "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart." (Ecclesiastes 3:11) All things which are not eternal, are eternally useless.

 

One Person Away

By Larry R. Lasiter

"Then the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’" 1 Kings 17:8-9

Because of sin in the land during the reign of wicked King Ahab, Elijah reached out his hand and shut up the heavens so that it would not rain. As a result a severe famine spread across the land and people began to starve. For a while Elijah lived near a brook and God commanded ravens to bring him food. It was after the brook dried up that God gave the instruction in our text for today.

God told Elijah that He had commanded a widow in Zarephath to provide for him, but when he arrived there it was obvious that she was unaware of it. Elijah asked her for a drink of water and a piece of bread, but she told him that she had only enough flour for a meal for herself and her son, then she was expecting to lay down and die from starvation. It must have surprised her when Elijah told her to make him some bread first and promised that her jar of flour and oil would never run out.

The woman was a Gentile and a pagan, not an Israelite and was a stranger to the God of Israel. Nevertheless, she did as Elijah asked and the jar never became empty. She also provided a room for Elijah during this period. God could have provided for His prophet without the aid of this widow, but He chose to use a person. Elijah learned that he was only one person away from what he needed to survive the famine.

One day the widow’s son suddenly fell dead. When the poor woman cried to Elijah, he laid the boy on his bed and prayed for God to restore life to his body. After entreating the Lord three times breath came back into him. The woman rejoiced and learned that she was only one person away from the miracle that she needed.

God very often provides through people. We are called to bless others and receive blessings from others. There is always a person who needs what you can provide, and there is always a person who has what you need. The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow -we get what we give. If we sow blessings we will reap blessings -"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. . . as it is written, ‘He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever." (2 Corinthians 9:6,9)

When we give to the poor we are giving to God and He will repay with increase.

 

Excuses

By Larry R. Lasiter

"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’" Luke 14:18-20

Those who refuse to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior offer a variety of excuses. Some argue the existence of God or question the theology that Jesus was the Son of God. Oftentimes the real underlying issue is not theological at all, but moral.

Josh McDowell, Christian author and apologist was once invited to speak at a university in Arkansas. There was a professor there who never missed the opportunity to belittle the beliefs and faith of his Christian students. When he heard that Mr. McDowell was coming, he stepped up his persecution as a pre-emptive strike and began to attack Mr. McDowell personally. Because of this, some of the Christian students set up a debate for them.

During the debate this professor threw insult after insult, mocked Christianity and Mr. McDowell personally, but Mr. McDowell calmly answered every question. Many who attended were terribly embarrassed by the conduct of this professor.

Later, back at his motel room Mr. McDowell received a telephone call from an apologetic woman who asked to meet with him. The woman told him that the rude professor was her husband who had once been a Christian. She said that the change which had taken place in him happened after he began having an affair with another woman.

It seems that the real issue with this man was not theological or scientific in nature, but moral. Since he was acting in immoral rebellion against God he had an underlying reason to speak out against a moral God and the morality of His saints.

In the Garden of Eden no one took the responsibility for the sin committed. The woman said -"The serpent deceived me", the man said -"the woman You gave to me made me eat it." There was no one admitting their sin: no one with a repentant heart. The woman blamed the serpent, the man blamed the woman and even God who gave her to him, but God held them all guilty. God punished the serpent, banished Adam and Eve from their Garden paradise, told the man he had to work the soil for his own food and introduced labor pain to the woman. Humble confession and repentance offers no excuses.

The Age of Feelings

Moving or Stationary?

By John David Brown

Have you ever been stopped at a traffic signal, just blissfully listening to the radio and thinking about your workday, or the milk and bread that you need to pick up from the store on your way home, when you suddenly get the sensation that you are moving? You quickly press harder on the brake, because it could be catastrophic to roll into the middle of a busy intersection. What is the next thing you do? You look outside of your car to see if you are really moving. But what do you look at?

You could just look at the vehicle next to you but ( you may be ahead of me here) you may not find the truth there. Why? Because it is a subjective rather than an objective measurement. It may lead you to a false and even dangerous conclusion. Let me explain.

If the car next to you appears to be going backwards, you may actually be creeping forwards, in which case you are in danger and must act immediately. However, the other car could actually be rolling backwards, in which case you are safe but need to warn the other driver. If it appears to be still, you may both be stationary. However, you could both be creeping in either direction at the same speed, which will give you a false sense that you are safe. How can you tell what is really happening?

What you need is a fixed point of reference. An objective standard. Something unmoving against which you can measure. Then you can know the truth and act accordingly. What we are describing is a principle that is not only necessary for negotiating traffic, but absolutely imperative for navigating life, and never more so than in this present age.

A World Gone Mad

Have you ever read the headlines or watched the evening news and wondered if the world has gone mad? It seems an inescapable conclusion, just panning across the current culture, that people have lost their tether to reality. Objective truths which for long ages have been widely known and commonly understood now elude our modern, highly educated, and enlightened thinkers who, "Professing to be wise, ... became fools..." (Romans 1:22).

The instances supporting this assertion are legion, but for the purposes of this article let's examine one current example to illustrate the point.

Male or Female?

Stretching back across all of recorded history, people have recognized and acknowledged the differences between male and female. It's a distinction which is obvious even to little children who know the difference between a mommy and a daddy. By the time that a child can utter their first words, they know whether their sibling is a brother or a sister.

Even without advanced degrees in biology, anatomy, and physiology, people from ancient times were somehow able to easily and successfully distinguish between the sexes. Our largely agrarian forbearers would simply point to the birds and the bees to instruct their little ones about these fundamental truths so obvious they were literally called "the facts of life."

As concrete evidence for whether those "primitive" people of ages past were calculating correctly, I would point you to the fact that we are here. That means that men and women successfully discerned the difference between male and female thereby producing fruitful marriages which eventually produced you and me.

Objectively, a person is male or female based, not on feelings, but biology, anatomy, and physiology. There are clear distinctions between people who have two X chromosomes (female) and those who have an X and a Y chromosome (male). These differences, though unseen by the naked eye, produce the manifold and more visible differences in male and female anatomy. Even more subtle differences in gender expression such as task versus people orientation, verbal versus visual affinity, linear versus non-linear thinking, can be largely if not entirely explained by physiological differences in male and female neurological (brain) development.

Until quite recently, if a person's subjective feelings did not match their objective biology, i.e. a biological male felt as if he were a woman trapped in a man's body, they would be diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, a dysfunction of perception. The goal of their treatment was to work towards correcting their subjective feelings to correspond to objective reality. This is akin to helping a person who has body dysphoria (say, believing that they are fat when they are dangerously thin) to retrain their perception so that what looks and feels like a healthy body to them corresponds to what actually is objectively a healthy body.

Man, I Feel Like a Woman!

In today's post-modern world, however, we have elevated subjective feelings above objective reality. Those presumably better educated and more "enlightened" thinkers from psychiatrists to surgeons have cast off the arcane restraints of objective reality and proclaimed that you are whatever sex you feel like you are at the moment. If your feelings are contradicted by objective measures such as biology, anatomy, and physiology, then the objective measures must be chemically or surgically altered to correspond to your feelings. Reality must be manipulated to conform to your feelings.

Of course, such cosmetic alterations cannot eradicate a person's biological sex. A man can be made to look like a woman, but he will still have an X and a Y chromosome. His brain will still be structurally and therefore functionally, male. He will not ovulate, nor be able to conceive and bear children. So that after multiple surgeries, prescriptions, and hundreds of hours of therapy costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, a person will still be the same sex they were before. While scientific advancements can make a man a clever and perhaps convincing imitation of a woman, it actually has no power to change a person's sex.

What is more shocking than medical professionals with strong financial incentives choosing to profit from supporting an objectively false delusion, is that all of society has immediately and indeed enthusiastically decided to play along. Perhaps feeling that they too are intelligent, enlightened, and well educated, professors, newscasters, actors, and legislators alike have decided that we must heartily praise the courage of those who bravely cast aside objective reality in service to their subjective feelings. A person is, they with one voice affirm, whatever sex they identify as, and anyone who does not acknowledge and indeed celebrate those feelings to be reality is a hateful, intolerant, bigoted transphobe.

Why Stop There?

But if subjective feelings are really the ultimate test of truth, and relying on objective measures to confirm reality is genuinely hateful, intolerant, and dare we say it, wrong; then why should we stop at applying it to gender identity? Why shouldn't we apply our enlightenment consistently?

Imagine going to a job interview for a neurosurgeon's position at Johns Hopkins and demanding to be hired because you identify as the most qualified candidate and you feel like a highly skilled surgeon. Never mind that you have had no medical training and are not board certified, that sort of objective reasoning is hateful and intolerant. Should you be given the job? Would you want that kind of "surgeon" to perform your procedure?

What if you go to the bank for a home loan to finally buy that Beverly Hills mansion you have always wanted? Would your banker be wrong for denying your loan on the basis of your negative account balance, poor credit, and complete lack of income? "But I identify as a billionaire. I genuinely feel like I am filthy rich!" you loudly protest in your moral outrage. Would you give a person like you that loan?

Or let's say that you were pulled over for reckless driving and explained to the officer that you identify as a good driver and feel like you were obeying the speed limit. Would he be wrong or hateful for pointing out that his radar clocked you going 30 mph over the limit? Should you get a ticket?

Of course these examples are patently absurd, and that is precisely the point. We already know that feelings are subjective and transitory and often don't correlate to the real world. We would be as foolish to navigate life by them as we would to negotiate traffic by them. What we need in making moral decisions as we do in our opening traffic signal example, is a fixed point of reference. An objective standard. Something unmoving against which we can measure. Then we can know the truth and act accordingly.

Jesus Is The Truth

Jesus made the boldest and most profound statement ever uttered. The magnitude of His claim is equaled only by the evidence He gave us of its unimpeachable veracity. "...I am the way, and the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6). Not only did Jesus claim to tell the truth, but to be the truth in His nature and character-the literal embodiment of truth. He challenged the hypocritical Pharisees who insisted on a sign (with no intention of actually conforming their lives to even irrefutable evidence) to test that claim by the evidence of His then future resurrection. "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and {yet} no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).

He also confirmed His disciples' faith by reminding them of the prophecies about Him, particularly the resurrection."...Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again" (Luke 18:31).

So Jesus, far from insisting that we rely on subjective feelings, pointed to the objective evidence of the ancient prophecies which were perfectly fulfilled in Him and the fact that He would physically rise from the dead to confirm our faith in Him and His claims. For any one of us, His empty tomb, and the detailed prophecies concerning His life, are readily available for us to examine. They are some of the most scrutinized, studied, and widely confirmed facts in all of history. The One who is the truth, showed us the way, and proved He is the life by conquering the grave. He gave us every reason to trust Him. Concerning the two sexes, Jesus said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?" (Matthew 19:4) Gender is a creation of God.

But How Can A Person Be The Truth?

Simply stated, in order for a person to be the truth, they would have to be God. Every created thing within the universe, and in fact the universe itself, is temporary and changing. This is the very definition of subjective, and the reason why subjective reasoning is unreliable. Only the One who created all things, who is unchanging and eternal, can be in His very person the objective measure by which all subjective things can be accurately known. Only the omniscient One can make detailed prophesies thousands of years beforehand and then fulfill them to the letter. Only the Author of life has the power to conquer death and raise Himself from the grave. That is who Jesus is.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was the life, and the life was the Light of men" (John 1:1-4)

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:15-17).

The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

As God, Jesus is a fixed point of reference, eternal and unchanging. There is literally nothing else- not ourselves, not our feelings, and not the prevailing opinion of the day- by which we can safely navigate moral intersections of life. In His example and His Word alone we find a solid, unwavering foundation for living. "Jesus Christ {is} the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (Creator) of lights (stars in the heavens), with whom there is no variation or sifting sand" (James 1:17).

We Are All Choosing A Standard

Ultimately, we are all basing our decisions concerning not just what is male and female, but what is good and evil, what is wrong and right, on some chosen standard. We can choose to be our own standard, which is the moral equivalent of looking inside your own car while navigating in traffic- how often have we seen that lead to accidents? We can look to the prevailing opinion of society, which is like driving with your eyes on the cars next to you- of course if they are careening towards a ditch, so are you. Or we can fix our eyes on Jesus, a true and unchanging standard, which is like keeping your eyes on the road- a proven way to arrive safely at your destination. What are you choosing?

So What Is Your Foundation?

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall" (Matthew 7: 24-27).

 

Subtle Attack on Truth

Taken from an observation of John MacArthur

"We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it," says Rob Bell, one of the founders of a prominent emerging church movement in Michigan. Within this movement, truth (to whatever degree such a concept is even recognized) is assumed to be inherently hazy, indistinct, and uncertain—perhaps even ultimately unknowable. Truth has always been under attack, and this is just one more movement meant to undermine God’s Word, denying its absolute authority.

Emerging church members claim to believe in the God of the Bible, yet still they say they are comfortably uncertain about what is true. Certain avant-garde evangelicals act as if the demise of certainty is a dramatic new intellectual development, rather than seeing it for what it actually is. Uncertainty is the new "truth." Doubt and skepticism have been canonized as a form of "humility." Right and wrong have been redefined in terms of subjective feelings and personal perspectives.

IT IS UNBELIEF CLOAKED IN A RELIGIOUS DISGUISE AND SEEKING LEGITIMACY AS IF IT WERE MERELY A HUMBLER KIND OF FAITH.

Refusing to acknowledge and defend the revealed truth of God is a particularly stubborn and pernicious kind of unbelief. Advocating ambiguity, exalting uncertainty, or otherwise deliberately clouding the truth is a sinful way of nurturing unbelief. It is unbelief cloaked in a religious disguise and seeking legitimacy as if it were merely a humbler kind of faith. But this is not faith at all.

Every true Christian should know and love the truth.

 

You Keep Sabbath - We Keep Sunday

By Larry R. Lasiter

In October and November of 2001 I had the privilege of holding crusades in Africa for five weeks. During that time I met with many evangelists and pastors. Most of these men were Sabbath keepers, but not all. On two occasions I met and had Bible studies with a man named Robert who pastors a Disciples of Christ Church which assembles weekly on Sunday.

One day Robert and I were experiencing sweet Christian fellowship, talking and delighting in the Lord Jesus and God's great plan of salvation. Obviously, we were very much like-minded. I think Robert was quite pleasantly surprised to have such fellowship with a Sabbath minister because most of them he knew felt more comfortable discussing the law than the gospel.

Suddenly, Robert declared, "You keep Sabbath, and we keep Sunday." I believe he felt compelled to make this statement because he could find no appreciative differences between us other than the day in which we worshiped.

I turned to my new friend and said, "Robert I'm sorry, but that is not really correct. We do keep the Sabbath, but you and your congregation do not keep any day."

I then told him that when I had walked to the outdoor market on Sunday morning I found only a few stands open for business. Then at about 1 p.m. I began to see many people walking from their churches, coming to open their stands for business.

So I said, - "Most of the people that I know who attend a Sunday church do not keep any day holy to the Lord. They merely attend morning services and then do whatever secular activities they want the rest of the day."

I then asked brother Robert if members of his congregation practiced what I had seen at the market. He put his head down onto a table top and said disappointedly,- "yes."

I then told him that Sabbath keeping is more than a day to attend worship services. And that the fourth Commandment stated not only to "Remember" the Sabbath, but to also "Keep it holy." That it is a 24 hour period of time that the Lord made for man to leave his secular works,- man needs this rest. I explained that the Sabbath is a divinely appointed time, sanctified and set apart by God for the holy use of assembly, fellowship, prayer, study and various acts of doing good to others.

And I told him how grateful I was that my Heavenly Father loves me so much that He has given me a weekly appointment to meet with Him.

I then said, - "Brother, God is always available for His children, but isn't it a meaningful thing that He made one whole 24 hour day "holy" and "sanctified" just for Him and us? God promises to be there when the saints assemble."

On the Sabbath, you don't have to invite Him, for His presence is already there, and it is He who is inviting you to join Him. I then said,- "Brother, I believe the sad truth is,- most Christians don't want to spend an entire day devoted to spiritual things. That is too long for them. After attending morning services they feel their "obligation" to God is fulfilled, so they are free to do the secular things which their hearts were already set on."

That is why so many will not accept Sabbath observance. They don't see the value of having time for the spiritual things of God because their hearts and minds are on the natural things of this world. They see Sabbath observance as a curse and a burden rather than a blessing and a delight."

I reminded this dear brother that Sabbath observance was not a "Jewish" thing, but was given to "mankind" at the end of creation week. Man went astray from God and this blessing, but when the Lord revealed Himself to the children of Israel, bringing them out of bondage in Egypt, He gave them this gift again, and did so even before the command to keep it was thundered from Mt. Sinai.

I reminded him of Jesus' Olivet prophecy (Matthew 24) where the Lord is instructing end-time Christians to pray that their time of escape from the Anti-Christ would not fall on the Sabbath day. I then asked,- "If the Sabbath was now like any other day, then why would Jesus counsel us to pray that our time of flight not be on the Sabbath?" Jesus was making a clear difference between the Sabbath day and the other days of the week, -a follower of Christ must ask "Why?"

Robert came to visit me once more while I was in Nakuru, Kenya. His home and church was perhaps 150 miles or so away, and he had to take public transportation on rough roads to come.

During his second visit he wanted to look closer at what the Scriptures said about Sabbath keeping. We carefully went through many Bible passages but I believe the last one made the greatest impression on Robert. It was Isaiah chapter 66, verses 22 and 23 which says,- "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me" declares the Lord, "So your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the Lord."

As a Bible student, Robert knew that this chapter of Isaiah was primarily about the Lord's return in glory and the things which will take place thereafter. The words that said "And from Sabbath to Sabbath, ALL MANKIND will come to bow down before Me" seemed to literally jump off the page to him. He began to realize that not only had the Lord preserved the Sabbath day until now, but will give it back to "all mankind" at the Lord's return.

After our Sabbath study we talked about many things, which as Christians we held so dear. I did not seek to force the fourth Commandment upon Robert. I viewed him as a dear brother in the Lord whether he came to the same understanding on this subject or not. I just knew how much a blessing the weekly Sabbath had been to me and my family for almost 30 years, and I wanted him to experience the same joy of entering into the weekly rest of the Lord.

Some time later I received word that Pastor Robert had told his congregation that he was convicted to observe the Sabbath day. After explaining this doctrine to the church over a few weeks, the congregation began to hold services on the Sabbath and they began to experience the joy of having a full 24 hour time period devoted fully to the spiritual things of the Lord.

After holding 34 crusades in 34 days my daughters Sarah, 23, and Jennifer, 21 (at the time) and I returned home to America. Soon I received a letter from Robert saying how much a blessing they have found Sabbath observance to be. He also told me that he had visited a church in Uganda and shared the Sabbath blessing with them. After much study and testimony this congregation also eagerly embraced this gift and entered into the Lord's weekly rest.

These brethren in Uganda, like Robert and like me, discovered the value of truly "keeping" a full day holy. And not just any day, but the one which the Lord has sanctified and made holy. This is one of God's gifts to you, if you will only receive it with gladness.

Questions and Answers

QUESTION: "I understand that Saturday is the Sabbath day commanded in the Bible, but Christians keep Sunday as their day of worship because Jesus rose from the dead on that day."

I would like to make two important points in regard to that argument, 1.The Bible does not teach that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, 2. But if He had it would not change the fourth Commandment or change the character of the Seventh day. It would not make the Sabbath unholy. If true it may not be wrong to honor that day but it certainly would give no license to dishonor the Sabbath day.

 

Although it is tradition to believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday the Bible does not support this belief, nor does it confirm Jesus’ own words. When asked what sign would be given to prove that He was the Messiah Jesus answered -"the sign of Jonah. . .so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt.12:39-40)

Three days and three nights cannot be counted from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. This is one of the major obstacles to Muslims coming to accept that Jesus was more than a mere prophet. Since Jesus was crucified on the "day of preparation" some erroneously assume it was Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath. But the Bible clearly shows that Jesus was crucified on the Passover which is always a day of preparation for the High Sabbath of the First Day of Unleavened Bread. The Passover falls on the 14th day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar and can be any day of the week.

Many believe that Jesus was crucified in 30 or 31AD -both of these dates had Wednesday Passovers. Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, put in the grave late that afternoon, remained in the tomb for three days and three nights until He arose late Saturday afternoon. Days in the Bible begin and end at sundown, so at sundown Saturday would dawn the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early Sunday morning while it was yet dark and found the tomb empty. The empty tomb was discovered early Sunday but Jesus had already risen the Sabbath before. If Jesus had stayed in the tomb until Sunday morning then it would count three days and four nights.

Many point to Mark 16:9 which reads "Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week He first appeared to Mary Magdalene." The original Bible manuscripts have no punctuation so translators must add it. If you place a comma after "week" then it would be identifying when Jesus arose. If you place the comma after "risen" then it would be identifying when Jesus appeared to Mary. Those who believe in a Sunday resurrection place the comma after "week" and those who do not place it after "risen."

Also, the Bible teaches Passover Observance as Christ instructed His disciples saying, "Do this in remembrance of Me." Observing Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread was observed by the early Church as witnessed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians,-"For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the Feast." (1 Cor. 5:7-8) In Chapter 11 the Apostle explains how to properly observe the Passover. There is no command or instruction to observe a Resurrection Festival in the Bible-this came to be practiced many years later. It was authorized by the Roman Catholic Church as "Easter" at the Council of Nicaea almost 300 years after Christ’s resurrection. "Easter" is the name of a pagan fertility goddess honored in the Spring.

Information

The Points of Truth Periodical is produced by Crusade Church/Points of Truth Minstries

The Church is located at 1711 S. Cleveland Ave, Russellville, Arkansas

Pastor Larry R. Lasiter

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The Ministry Mailing Address is Points of Truth, P.O. Box 102, Russellville, AR 72811

 

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