Trivia Q: What Other Serial Killer of 100's Never Made the News?

Kirsten Power's excellent article in USA Today is spot on.  Under what circumstances would the trial of a serial killer of hundreds of people NOT be on the front page of every single newspaper in America?

What if the serial killer's victims were all babies?  Wouldn't you expect that every single news show would lead their broadcasts with the update of the trial?

Maybe you've forgotten that Kermit Gosnell is that serial killer.  Maybe you didn't realize that the news media is ignoring the trial.  But why would they do such a thing?

Maybe it is because Gosnell was an abortion doctor.  Maybe they know that allowing the American people to see this level of evil might give a black eye to their "pet issue."

Call all local newspapers and media outlets and demand that they cover this.  

We need to know what happened here.  Gosnell needs to be held accountable not only in a court of law, but by the American people.  That can't happen if we don't know about it.

Further, our local, state and federal legislative bodies need to be held accountable too.  What have they done to prevent this from ever happening again?

Billy Graham's Last Message? Could Be...So Don't Miss It.

Connecticut Shooting - They Think They Understand the Problem

From Ray Comfort: 

Daily Mail: scientists are examining the DNA of Sandy Hook killer for an “evil” gene. It’s in all of us and it’s called “sin.” Blind world.

John MacArthur Exposes Post Modern Psychiatry

Following is from a message by MacArthur on "Spiritual Stability" based in Phil 4.


....

we are considering the theme of spiritual stability and we are looking at the text of Philippians chapter 4 where the Apostle Paul gives us the principles that create or generate a spiritually stable life.
You know, this entire society in which we live struggles with the matter of stability. It ought to be obvious to all of us that we live in a very unstable world. And we are in the midst of very unstable people. Our world is filled with anxiety. It is filled with an inability of folks to cope with circumstances in life. There are a myriad of solutions but not many that work any that work apparently as the society continues to escalate in its instability.

Sad to say our particular culture and maybe even sadder to say the church itself continues to direct people in the wrong direction to find the solutions to their anxieties and their instabilities. We have bought into the psychological lies that indicate that man can solve his problems through certain psychological principles, certain introspective self-adjustments. And those have proven not only to be unsuccessful but to be diversionary so that people pursuing the wrong thing and the wrong area come up with the wrong answer and not only that but they then therefore miss the right answer. The legacy of philosophy and psychology to this particular day and age has been to sell a whole generation snake oil...which doesn't do anything that it promises to do.

This was pointed out rather forcefully to me by an interview that I read with Dr. Robert Coles, C-o-l-e-s. Dr. Robert Coles is a social psychiatrist. He is perhaps as esteemed as any man in our country in terms of his area of psychiatry. He is an M.D., he is a research psychiatrist for Harvard University. He is professor of psychiatry and medical humanities at Harvard Medical School. He has written 36 books. He has authored 600 journal articles of one kind or another. And in 1973 he received the Pulitzer Prize. He is a very decorated esteemed and respected psychiatrist.

This interview points up the futility of his own area. While understanding superficially some things about Christianity, he will not call himself a Christian, does not believe he is a Christian and makes that clear in another part of the article. But his answers are very interesting. They asked him why he was not a surgeon. His answer, "I'm sloppy, not a great quality for a surgeon." He said, "When you get a combination of a befuddled slob who doesn't have the necessary toughness and is a little mixed up himself, you've got a psychiatrist." A befuddled mixed up slob with no toughness is a psychiatrist. The question is a mixed up psychiatrist? Coles, "Of course." Question: Is it futile then to search for ultimate answers in psychiatry or psychology? Coles, "The futility is in searching for ultimate answers in the entire secular culture. Psychology happens to be a temporary secular religion. How long will it last? Fifty years. Secular religions come and go. Today it's psychology, tomorrow it will be weight reduction or cholesterol or getting to the moon or Mars. Who knows what our culture will be preoccupied with next? But none of this is going to give us answers to the moral, spiritual questions that we ultimately hunger for. Psychology isn't equipped to answer those questions. Psychology gives us some information about the mind but the mind is not the soul." Question: Psychology then can help a person's mental health? Coles, "We shouldn't even use words like mental health. The question is not what is mental health, or do you have mental health. The question is what do you do with your life?"

Question: But even ministers today are becoming psychologists. Coles, "That is paganism." Question: Pastoral counseling is the term for it. Coles, "It's paganism. My mother was dying here in Massachusetts General Hospital. A minister came to see her. He wanted to negotiate her through the stages of dying. She wanted him to pray for her. She knew she was dying. He wanted to talk about anger and denial but she wasn't angry and she wasn't denying, she just wanted him to pray for her." Question: Is this all part of the same syndrome, we all want to worship the expert? Coles, "The secular expert. Who are these secular experts anyway? What do psychologists and psychiatrists know about the Christian life? What can they tell us?"

Quite an interesting response, isn't it? You get the feeling he's been dropping his bucket in a dry well and he's come to that conclusion. Where do you go to find stability in life? Where do you go to learn to cope? Where do you go to learn to deal with anxiety? Where do you go to deal with circumstances that you find debilitating you and pressuring you? Where do you go to get your life really stabilized? You hear people all the time say, "Well, I've just got to get my own life together." We are literally living in a sea of people who are emotionally unstable

Saved From What?

In Christianity, we often use the word "saved."  But many of us in the Church have allowed the real meaning of that word to change to fit better in a culture that doesn't like to face the truth.  But, it is absolutely essential that the Church takes back the word "saved" from post-modernity because ALL OF OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT!  It is literally a life or death situation.

The truth of the matter is that every person needs to be saved.  But from what?  We need to be saved from our sin.  We need to be saved from the punishment of our sin.  We need to be saved from God's wrath on ALL OF US because of our sin.

At the greatest possible cost to human beings, the Church has allowed the meaning of the word to change to something that is more socially and culturally acceptable.  We prefer to be saved from a void we are missing in our hearts.  It is common place to hear the words similar to "you have a God-sized hole in your heart that you need to let Jesus fill."  For certain, Jesus Christ can and will fill the void in our lives.  But, that is NOT why we need to be saved.

Just yesterday, I heard the truth put this way:

It is not "Oh Lord, I am empty, please fill me."  Instead the truth is "Oh Lord, I am an offense to You, please rescue me!"

Jesus Christ was beaten with whip of nine tails.  At the end of each tail was tied small bits of sharp bone or glass.  When the whip wrapped around Jesus' body, the bone stuck deep in His flesh and was ripped away as the huge, strong, professional Roman soldier drew back for another lash.  All in all, there were 39 of those lashes.  He was deserted by friends, mocked, spat upon, beard plucked, hit, smacked, struck, 2 inch thorns pressed into his brow, crucified and forsaken by His Father.

Jesus did not endure it so He could fill a void in our hearts.  He endured it so that we would not have to.  He endured it so that we could be SAVED from the same punishment (from the penalty of our sin and from the punishment from God).

HIS way will save us.  The culture's way will make us feel good for just a short season before our destruction.

The Bible says that those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus will be saved.  (Acts 3:19, Luke 24:47, Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3-5, Acts 17:30, 2 Corinthians 7:10, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 1:15, Acts 26:20, Romans 6:23).

The Church MUST get this right.  For it is the essence of the Gospel and Christianity.

 

What is the World's Creed?

I heard this creed quoted in a talk by Christian philosopher and apologist Ravi Zacharias.  With obvious sarcasm, English journalist Steve Turner wrote this "Creed" of Postmodernism.  It is, I hate to say, a true reflection of the prevailing thoughts and actions of the world's citizens.  It really could be our creed.

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
As long as you don't hurt anyone
To the best of your definition of hurt,
And to the best of your knowledge.


We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.


We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything's getting better
Despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.


We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.


We believe that all religions are basically the same-
At least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.


We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all
Excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors.
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.


We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.


We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky

And when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

Gay - Why Does It Matter?

I've noticed some Jesus followers who are confused about standing against homosexuality. The subject causes many of us to cringe because we fear the "intolerant" label. In particular, the pro-homosexuality argument based around civil rights has become a popular one that many Christians find it difficult to argue against.

It is vital for us to remember that God's commands to us are always connected to His love for us. In the case of homosexuality, this statement could not be more true. But, I rarely hear the anti-homosexuality argument put forth with this in mind.

Homosexuality is an extremely destructive lifestyle. God knows this. Because of His unfathomable love for us, He warns and commands us to forsake it and turn to Him. What God knows and His reasons for hating this sin are borne out by the facts. As Christ-followers, we must be diligent and consistent at presenting these facts to the lost world and to Christians engaged in this lifestyle.

Studies have repeatedly shown that the average life expectancy of men and women engaged in the homosexual lifestyle is more than 20-30 years less than heterosexuals. On top of dying at unbelievably early ages, homosexuals often suffer horribly in the time leading up to their death.

Sometimes it seems like the only ones who speak out against this sin proclaim their hatred for gays and lesbians. Hatred is not what is needed. The redeeming love of Jesus Christ is all that is needed. First, to ensure an everlasting peace for all who trust Him - homosexuals included. Second, to help the people caught in the darkness of this sin to move into the light.

Without Jesus, many will suffer. We must love by explaining the specific consequences of this sin (and all sin). We must present Jesus Christ as a way out. The risk of appearing intolerant is one we'll just have to take.

Christian Terms in a Post-Christian Culture

There is a not-so-obvious disconnect between those who have grown up in the Church and the culture at-large.  That disconnect revolves around our language - the terms we use and the meaning behind those terms.  Most Christians, as part of our everyday vocabulary, use words that we assume are universally understood.  But, I have found that most everyone else has no idea what we're talking about.  

That has not always been so.  It used to be that when a "Christian word" was used, even lost people would have a sense of what the word means.  But, it was also true that the larger culture was radically influenced by Christianity.  So, "Christian words" were the culture's words.  No more.  

Now, I'm not talking about words like sanctification or propitiation.  True, the lost world doesn't have clue what these words mean.  But, neither do many Christians.  I'm talking about the little, common words that are the most basic and essential words in the Christian's vocabulary.  

I'm talking about words like sin and grace and faith.  We use these words all the time without ever wondering if the lost world has a clue what the words mean.  Even worse, the lost world can often have a false understanding about what their meaning.

So, if we really want lost people to know the truth, we have to explain what we mean when we use words like sin, grace, faith, hell, repent, etc.  We must remain extraordinarily careful not to remove these words from our vocabulary.  For, they are the very words of life to the dying. However, they are useless and even harmful if we don't ensure that their meaning is clear.

Make sense?

 

Deserting Jesus

It is difficult to imagine anyone suffering a more gruesome physical death than the one Jesus suffered.

"They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him
and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again." - Mark
10:34

...and that is exactly what happened. The Bible records that he was beaten so badly that he could not be recognized.

Jewish law prescribed that a scourging was 39 lashes with a whip of 9 tails. Each tail was made of leather, with sharpened animal bones and iron balls attached at the ends. A Roman soldier, probably of great strength, carried out the punishment on Jesus.
He also endured this: slapped; hit, beared plucked out, splinters from the rough wood penetrated his raw flesh, 3-inch thorns thrust into His is brow, the sun burned His skin, no water, spikes driven through his wrists and through the thickest part of both feet. Amazing.
It is easy to focus on the physical part of what Jesus endured. But, that was not the worst part. The worst part was the spiritual/relational part. Think about it.
Jesus' own nation rejected Him. What if ALL Americans turned against you and demanded your death. His friend Judas, whom He loved, betrayed Him to His death. When He needed them most, ALL of His best, closest friends fled and left Him to face death alone. Peter even denied He knew Jesus.
Then, His own Dad- God the Father, deserted Him.

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" - Mark 15:34

There is nothing worse than separation from God. Being separated from God means that ALL the evil and depravity and curse and hatred and fear and bitterness are are ALL unconstrained and all-consuming. ALL love is absent when God is absent. It is too much for us to even begin to comprehend. Being separated from God is, without a doubt, the worse thing that could ever happen to anyone. In fact, all the evil things we've ever seen or could ever imagine combined cannot approach that level of awefulness.
That's what Jesus experienced. Much worse than we can imagine.

It had to happen. Jesus had to take our punishment.
When we think about Hell, what we think about is the fire and physical part. But, that is not the bad part. The bad part is the literal separation from our Dad - God the Father. This punishment is yours and mine. It is what we deserve.
God the Father has offered up Jesus. God is always just and He knows their must be punishment. But God is always love too. Justice requires our punishment. Love made Jesus a substitute.
What have you decided? Do you trust Jesus to be your replacement or are you ready to take your punishment? Easter is a good time to pick Jesus.