The Grace Shown by Ted Haggard's Wife

I was not planning to post anything about the sad and tragic fall of the Rev. Ted Haggard. Frankly, I did not know too much about him, his background, or his ministry and I didn’t want to add to the media buzz over the situation.

I changed my mind, however, when I read words attributed to his wife that absolutely floored me in the way they exhibit the ability to show grace in the toughest of times... and grace is of course what my blog is all about.

If you check out this Fox News story “Evangelist Admits to Sexual Immorality” you will find these words about a letter from Haggard's wife that was shared with his congregation:

“In a separate letter, Haggard's wife prompted laughter when she promised to remain with her husband and said church members no longer had to worry about her marriage being so perfect she couldn't relate to them.”

Yes, you read correctly, the words of Ted Haggard’s wife Gayle prompted laughter. I think the congregation laughed in joy that she could at this time of pain make light of the perception (or is it wishful thinking?) that preachers and their wives have perfect marriages that should be envied and serve as some kind of role mode to the rest of us. (Those of us who are preacher's kids know better.) To me, these words speak volumes about her and how powerfully she has allowed God to work in her life at this time.

While I’m on the topic, I would also like to point my readers to another bit of insight on this sad situation. See Gordon MacDonald’s leadership blog “Out of Ur” and his post “The Haggard Truth: Gordon MacDonald on lies all-too-easily believed” for some insight on the dangers of fame for Christian leaders and the impact when a Christian leaders falls.

“It seems to me that when people become leaders of outsized organizations and movements, when they become famous and their opinions are constantly sought by the media, we ought to begin to become cautious. The very drive that propels some leaders toward extraordinary levels of achievement is a drive that often keeps expanding even after reasonable goals and objectives have been achieved. Like a river that breaks its levy, that drive often strays into areas of excitement and risk that can be dangerous and destructive. Sometimes the drive appears to be unstoppable. This seems to have been the experience of the Older Testament David and his wandering eyes, Uzziah in his boredom, and Solomon with his insatiable hunger for wealth, wives and horses. They seem to have been questing—addictively?—for more thrills or trying to meet deeper personal needs, and the normal ways that satisfy most people became inadequate for them.”

.....

“More than once we’ve seen the truth of a person’s life come out, not all at once, but in a series of disclosures, each an admission of further culpability which had been denied just a day or two before. Perhaps inability to tell the full truth is a sign that one is actually lying to himself and cannot face the full truth of the behavior in his own soul.

But then all sin begins with lies told to oneself. The cardinal lies of a failed leader? I give and give and give in this position; I deserve special privileges—perhaps even the privilege of living above the rules. Or, I have enough charm and enough smooth words that I can talk anything (even my innocence) into reality. Or, so much of my life is lived above the line of holiness that I can be excused this one little faux pas. Or, I have done so much for these people; now it’s their time to do something for me—like forgiving me and giving a second chance."

The Devil must be celebrating big time over his ability to bring down a big-name Christian leader. Speaking of that, I highly recommend everyone read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis for a chilling insight into temptation. My reaction upon reading it was “If I was the Devil, that is exactly what I would do!” It really is worth reading!

The Screwtape Letters

C. S. Lewis

Best Price $3.33
or Buy New $9.56

On yet another related topic. Do you believe that the Rev Ted Haggard was a "bad apple" his entire pastorial career? Or.. do you believe that he was at one time living an upright life and being used by God? I don't know any of the people involved but my first reaction is to believe that he was a good man who was not vigilant and was undermined by the temptation of the Devil... just like in The Screwtape Letters. See a previous post of mine "Like a Roaring Lion... Er Shark".

Copyright © 2006 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

The Devil's in the Details-Scratch that-Weeds

Let me start by saying I am not really the “fire and brimestone” type. My nature really is to focus on forgiveness and grace and trying to discern God’s will for my life and act upon it. However, I was reading in Matthew 13 tonight and felt my eyes had been opened to Matthew in a fresh way. For some reason, I haven’t read the Parable of the Weeds or heard it preached from the pulpit in a long while.

What really jumped out at me is how it clearly refutes the notion of universal salvation that is so popular in these modern times. Too many people, in my opinion, have selectively read the Bible and concluded that there is no Devil and that God loves us all so much that He would never actually condemn anybody to hell. I will admit I have always preferred to look at salvation from the point of view of loving God so much that I want to spend eternity with Him. After tonight's Bible reading, I felt convicted to remind the readers of my humble blog that there really are dire consequences for not having a saving knowlege of Jesus. Here are the verses which contain Jesus’ own words.

Matthew 13:24-48 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Weeds

24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

28 " 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

29 " 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

...... I skip the Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast in verses 31-35.

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Note the sentence “The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.” Doesn’t the phrase “at the end of the age” sound a lot like a reference to the end of the world as we know it as revealed to us in the Book of Revelations? Is there any ambiguity in Jesus’ use of the phrase “weed out”? What word picture comes to mind with the phrase “fiery furnace”?

I was then reminded of another parable Jesus told, The Rich Man and Lazarus. Once again, the words of Jesus himself.

Luke 16:19-31 (New International Version)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell,^[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

29 "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

30 " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

I don’t know about you, but the use of the word “torment” seems pretty clear. It also seems clear from “a great chasm has been fixed” and “nor can anyone cross over from there to us” that once we reach our time of judgement, if we have not already accepted a pardon from Jesus in this life it is then too late.

For those of you who have already accepted Jesus, you may want to check out False Humility and False Love for encouragement to share your faith when the Holy Spirit presents the opportunity to you.

If you stumble upon this post and have not yet accepted Jesus into your life, I pray that the Holy Spirit will work in a mighty way in your life. I pray that you will be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life. I want to tell you that God’s grace is truly free. None of us are “good enough” to earn it. It is simply a gift to all who admit they are sinners, truly repent of their sin, and accept Jesus as Lord of their life. Jesus has already paid your price when He suffered on the cross.

And remember this (my favorite Bible verse)

Romans 10:13 (New International Version)

13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Copyright © 2005 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Like a Roaring Lion... well... Shark

Check out "The Enemy Prowls" on the "A Man Coming Alive" blog. The picture is of a great white shark trailing behind a lone scientist in a kayak off the coast of South Africa. Donny Prater makes an insightful comparison of the shark in the photograph to how the Bible tells us we should think about the Devil.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (New International Version)

8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

His post reminded me of a favorite book, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis which is an entire book devoted to how the Devil seeks to undermine us and keep us away from God.

An Honest Man is Hard to Find

The following article really made me think about the importance of truth. There are so many temptations to make our life easier in the short term by overtly distorting the truth, by omitting important details which might be embarassing, and even just allowing someone to come to the wrong conclusion about our reasons and actions.

God, mold me and make me into the man You need me to be. Give me the courage to always be truthful. Protect me from my pride and fear of embarasement. Amen.

The Truth About Deceit Most lies are pitiful attempts to protect our pride. By David P. Gushee

Bumper Stickers and a Crafty Serpent

I passed a car on the way to work the other day with a couple of bumper stickers that made me swallow hard and say a quick prayer for the driver.

The first bumper sticker I read said “Eve was Framed!” I take this to be a reference to the Book of Genesis and the story about the crafty serpent (the Devil) convincing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. This is often called the “original sin.” On this topic I would like to point to a few words that usually go unnoticed.

Genesis 3:1-6 New International Version (NIV)

The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Please note the words in verse 6 “who was with her.” Adam was right there while the serpent was tempting Eve and surely had an opportunity to jump in and say “No Eve! God said not to!” You can make an argument that the orginal sin was equally Adam’s for he was passive. His was a sin of omission before he too ate the forbidden fruit (sin of commission). At this critical point in the history of mankind, he did not provide spiritual leadership when he could have.

So... while Eve was not “Framed” she may have gotten too much credit for the fall of mankind. Adam played (or shall I say didn’t play) his part too.

Back to the bumper stickers...

As I passed the car I mentioned at the beginning, my eye veered a little to the left and found another bumper sticker with the words “Born OK the First Time” which I take to mock all Christian believers who professes to have been “Born Again.” This one really hit the pit of my stomach. I found myself wondering what happened in this woman’s life to make her so hostile to Christianity. Was she betrayed by a mother or father who outwardly claimed to be a Christian? I don’t know but it made me think about how everyone is watching us. We have to be ever vigilent and keep up our guard against any temptation which might cause us to fall short – and in so doing assist the crafty serpent of the Garden of Eden in keeping another from coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus. I fear I have fallen short too often myself. I thank God for the grace extended to me in spite of my weaknesses.

God, I pray for this woman I don’t even know. I don’t know what has happened in her life to cause such disbelief but I pray that You will put someone in her path that can be a shining example of Your love and grace. Stir her heart to want to know more about You and Your plan for salvation. Bring others into her life to “plant seeds” and still more to “water the seeds” when they sprout. Help us all to be alert to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to be involved in some small way in the lives of anyone around us who may be seeking You. Amen.

Safest Road to Hell

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

A Prayer to Start Each Day

I start my day with words like “Lord, today is Your day. Today is going to include temptation, and I know my tendency is to act in the flesh. I don’t want to do that. I want to walk in the light... in Your will. I want to act in Your Spirit. I want to respond as You would have me respond. So I place myself on Your altar, and I ask You to assist me as I accept Your power to hold me in Your will. Help me to live like that moment by moment, all through this day.

Charles R. Swindoll, The Mystery of God's Will

Are You Safer With the 11 Homeless Men?

I had a whirlwind experience the week before last in which I think God was trying to tell me something and prod me in the direction of ministry towards the homeless.

I am an adult Sunday School teacher at my church, rotating every third week. My spot in the rotation happened to fall on Sunday, January 1, 2006. About five days ahead of time, I decided that I had better get serious about preparing what I was going to say. I dug out the “Exploring the Bible” material we are using from Lifeway and began reading the teacher’s material. This week’s lesson was based on Romans 12:1-8. I was struck by the first verse:

Romans 12:1 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
A Living Sacrifice
1 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you (A) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, (B) holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. [a]

I found myself trying to think of what it meant to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” I came up with several angles to discuss including

• taking care of your body for it is the Temple of the Holy Spirit
• providing acts of service to serve God, and
• being physically present where and when God needs you to be.

After making a first pass through the material, I decided to take a diversion and go check my email. I didn’t have any personal email messages, but I did have an email newsletter from “Christianity Today Daily Newsletter-HTML” that caught my attention. The subject line read “Philip Yancey: What the Homeless Taught Me About Prayer – CTDirect”. Philip Yancey is the author of one of my favorite books, What’s So Amazing About Grace. Also, several members of my Sunday School class are active in the “Room at the Inn” program at my church in which we let homeless men sleep on our gym floor one night a week during the cold winter months. So... I decided to open the email and take a look.

There were several wonderful quotes in the article which lept out at me as being perfect examples of “providing acts of service” and “being physically present where and where God needs you to be.” Perhaps the most important one was this. Quoting a man named John who had 25 years of experience ministering to the homeless.

John said, "the best ministry I can offer is a long-term relationship. I hope that over the years and decades street people learn to trust me as someone who can handle their secrets. I hope that trust will gradually spill over to God. I tell people who encounter the homeless that eye contact and a listening ear may be more important than food or money or Bible verses. They need to connect in some small way with another human being, someone who sees them as a person of worth."

The article also quoted the experience of Mike Yankoski, a college student who took 5 months off from school to live on the street with the homeless and write the book Under the Overpass. According to Mike, a quarter of the homeless people he knows have an active Christian faith.

The article ended with a wonder short poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Make it so the poor are no longerdespised and thrown away.
Look at them standing about—like wildflowers, which have nowhere else to grow.

At this point I was excited that I had something new and not in the Lifeway book to interject into our Sunday School Class discussion on Sunday. I was to get more than I bargained for.

When Sunday, January 1st arrived and I got up to give my lesson on Romans 12:1-8 and facilitate discussion, I read a good portion of the Philip Yancey article. The article had the desired affect and really got some good discussion going. It just so happened that the leader of our “Room at the Inn” ministry was sitting on the back row. She spoke up and asked “Do you know the new thing we’re starting a new thing at “Room at the Inn” tonight? (emphasis on tonight) In fact, I didn’t know anything about it.

She went on to explain that our church had been selected to get the same group of 11 men for 6 weeks in a row who were part of a program called “Odyssey.” This program provides on-going mentoring, training, moral support, etc. to the homeless men and tries to get them off the street into regular jobs and housing. The work with them to get them off their addictions, how to behave in job interviews, skills like getting up everyday on time to get to work, encouragement to stick to jobs they do get (and not quit after two weeks), etc.

This was sounding more and more like “being physically present where and when God needs you to be” and I made a comment, only half joking, that “I guess I was supposed to get that email this week when I did.”

We went on then to talk about some of the other verses in Romans 12:1-8 that talked about “not being conformed to the world” but instead being “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We talked also about how we as Christians should “not to think of himself more highly than he should think.” Both of these points seemed made to order for the homeless ministry. The homeless no doubt need to “renew their mind” by focusing on God and God’s plan for their lives and we in the church should not look down upon our Christian brothers on the street and judge them.

I read from the Lifeway material a quote that “The safest, most wonderful place in the world is in the will of God.” I turned to them and asked them. “What do you think of that? Is that really true?” There was a lot of head nodding. I then asked “Where are you safer? In the room with those 11 homeless men at Room in the Inn tonight? Or... at home tonight watching football?” I saw several sets of eyes in the class get bigger and we got into a good discussion of what it meant to be “safer” and how God’s view and a worldly view could be quite different.

After the lesson was over and we dismissed with prayer, the leader of our “Room at the Inn” ministry came up and asked me if I would be willing to come back tonight and give a shortened version of the lesson which included our discussion of our bodies as a sacrifice, the renewing of our mind, and not to think to highly of ourselves. I remembered my joke earlier, “I guess I was supposed to get that email this week when I did.” I decided that for whatever reason, God must have wanted me to be with the homeless men that night.

I returned to church that night about 6 PM. The men and the volunteers formed a circle on the gym floor, we said grace, and had dinner. When the men were about finished eating, I got up to give my “shortened version” of the lesson. This group of men had been together for a while in the Odyssey program. As a result, they were not shy at all about talking about their struggles and the influence of God in their lives. As many of them had started their downward spiral due to “running around with the wrong crowd” they had a lot to say about being “transformed vs. conformed” in particular.

Since we as a church were to get the same group of men back for the next several weeks, we went around the dinner table to give our names and to introduce ourselves. I was taken aback at how these men were almost eager to tell their story of their fall. Several made a point to take the blame for their situation on themselves for the poor choices they had made earlier in life. Most also expressed a level of belief in God. Many quoted scripture by memory. I silently accepted Mike Yankoski’s assessment that at least one fourth of the homeless have an active Christian faith as likely to be true and even more so for this Odyssey group in front of me.

Several of the homeless men’s comments resonated with me in particular.

• Several admitted to being alcoholics, with one saying he had been sober for 3 years now. The other homeless men seemed genuinely happy for him in this accomplishment.
  
• Several talked about drugs, especially cocaine.
  
• Some had been in jail.
  
• Several had good jobs and plenty of money before their fall.
  
• One didn’t know where one of his children was.
  
• There were bouts of depression.
  
• Several with multiple divorces.
  
• A couple who went into a downward spiral after a breakup with a wife or girlfriend they really loved.
  
• There were several health problems.
  
• Many cited coming from Christian homes.
  
• One talked about his sour attitude when faced with the prospects of switching from a huge amount of money selling drugs to making only $7 / hour in an honest job. (He talked of being in possession of drugs worth $165,000 on the street.)
• Some were veterans.
  
• A general inability to “stick to things”... for example, getting a job only to quit shortly later.
  
• The all seemed to realize they had squandered opportunities in life.

Each of the volunteers from our church also talked about ourselves. All of them but myself had been working with the homeless for a while and made a point to emphasize that while they may not have “done drugs” or “been in prison” we had our own sins and faults and needed God’s grace too.

A week later, I remembered that comment about “I guess I was supposed to get that email” and my question to my Sunday School class about “Where are you safer? In that room of 11 homeless men?” Some might wonder if I guilted myself into this. Or... was the Holy Spirit really prompting me to get more involved with these men and to be “physically present” and lend an ear “where and when” God needs me to be? I decided to err on the side of action and came back for a second week.

Most of the same men were back this time. After dinner, some volunteers went off into a quiet room to talk to any of the men who wanted to talk and get prayer requests. Not as many as I would have hoped came by. Some of them got distracted by taking a smoking break and shooting some basketball in the church gym. We did get a few who had a lot to say. We got the following prayer requests:

• Strength (to persevere).
  
• Submission (willingness to submit) to God.
  
• That the men would stick to the Odyssey program and finish what they started.
  
• To be able to go back to school and learn a trade.
  
• To be able to “stay the course”.
  
• To overcome selfishness in their life.
  
• Avoid binge drinking.
  
• Avoid binge spending of all their money.
  
• To be able to stick with a job.
  
• To better understand themselves.
  
• A tranquil mind.
  
• Eliminate worry about the future.
  
• One wanted to be able to return to Florida where he was from.
  
• Healing from depression and self pity.
  
• Avoid being financially irresponsible.

I hope you will join me in praying for this group of men trying to put their lives back together and get off the streets.

God, I pray that if it is Your will, You will bless these homeless men. Put a barrier around them to protect them from the Devil’s temptation. Put good influences around them to encourage them when they are tempted to go back to the life they want to leave. Use this group of homeless men who are sticking together in a mighty way make a positive difference in their lives. Heal them physically. Heal their broken relationships. Give them wisdom in the handling of their personal decisions and finances. Give them a peace that as they seek Your will they should not worry about the future. Give them the strength to endure trials and grow in the process. Grow their faith and help them to put Your will first in their lives and learn to submit to You. Above all, lead any of them who have not yet accepted Your Son Jesus as their Savior to seek You. Draw them all close to You. I pray also for all the volunteers who are ministering to them. Give us all the strength and wisdom and patience to help them. Use us to be a blessing to them. This we ask in Your name. Amen.

Remember, Jesus Loves Pornographers

Check out this article "Can't Stop Looking at Porn?" on the MIT Technology Review site

A quote:

One of the most interesting pieces of technology at the XXXChurch is a program which will monitor all of the questionable websites that you go to, and then send the list to your "accountability partner." This works better than simply blocking the websites, apparently. It's the same technique that 12-step support groups use to keep people from drinking or drugging, except with the little technological assist.

Overall, hats off to Craig and Mike. Remember, Jesus loves pornographers.

(Added later) It is also significant that this initiative got positive publicity in a secular magazine associated with a major university.

The Sin of Being Too Busy

I got the following in an email today. I'm afraid I don't know who the original author is but as I read it I found myself thinking how true it must really be. I'm curious what you think.


Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep HUMANS from PRAYING."

"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and
knowing the truth."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate
relationship with their savior."

"Once they gain that connection with GOD, our
power over them is broken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have
their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so
they don't have time to develop a relationship with
GOD.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior
and maintaining that vital connection throughout
their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and
invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,"
he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow,
borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and
the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours
a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will
offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear
that still, small voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player
whenever they drive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and
their PCs going constantly in their home and see to
it that every store and restaurant in the world
plays non-biblical music constantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with
GOD."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and
newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order
catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter
and promotional offering free products, services and
false hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and
TV so their husbands will believe that outward
beauty is what's important, and they'll become
dissatisfied with their wives. "

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at
night."

"Give them headaches too! "

"If they don't give their husbands the love they
need, they will begin to look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from
teaching their children the real meaning of
Christmas."

"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about
his resurrection and power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect
on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks,
sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies
instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship,
involve them in gossip and small talk so that they
leave with troubled consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they
have no time to seek power from GOD."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength,
sacrificing their health and family for the good of
the cause."

"It will work!"

"It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing
Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed,
going here and there.

Having little time for their God or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of
Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been
successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

My Purpose This Week? And Yours?

My Sunday School literature asked a really deep question as I was reading tonight, “What purpose does God have for you this week in your family, in your job, in your social relationships?” For some reason, this really struck a chord with me. There are so many possible answers. Here are some answers I thought of:

• God wants me to be a good example for my children this week.


• God wants me to love my wife unselfishly this week.


• God wants me to honor Him in the way that I do my job this week.


• God wants me to show Christian love and respect to my co-workers this week.


• God wants me to be a Christian friend this week.


• God wants me to allow a Christian friend to hold me accountable for the way I live my life this week.


• As they have given me permission, God wants me to hold my Christian friends accountable for their lives this week, too.


• God wants me to avoid temptations which draw me away from Him this week.


• God wants me to be a good steward of the financial blessings He has put in my care this week.


• God wants me to live below my means and return a portion of my financial blessings to Him and the Church this week.


• God wants me to give thanks to Him this week.


• God wants me to praise Him this week.


• God wants me to want to have an even closer relationship to Him this week and not just because I want Him to do me a favor.


• God wants me to live my life this week so it is a positive witness to anyone who might be paying attention.


• God wants me to pray that the Holy Spirit would lead me to someone whose heart has been prepared to hear about Jesus this week.


• God wants me to pray that I will be ready and willing to respond when the Holy Spirit prompts me to take action this week.


• God wants me to offer encouragement to someone who needs it this week.


• God wants me to forgive someone who has done me wrong this week.

I would love to hear some of your responses.