I have counseled with many men over the years who have doubled or
more than doubled their income shortly after cleaning up the area of
sexuality in their lives.
Sex can make or break your spiritual
realm and other areas of authority that God has given to you. Both
contemporary and biblical examples demonstrate the connection between
sexuality and authority.
Gazing at creation, all around we see the results of the power of
God, who flung the stars into place, the planets into alignment and
brought about life—all out of nothing. Reading our Bibles, we see
stories of dramatic encounters with God and His miracle-working power to
heal, deliver and protect. We are assured of promises that through Him,
all things are possible.
Have you ever wondered, then, "Why do we
have doctors and medicine if God can heal?" "Why security if God can
protect?" Or even, "Why preachers if God can reveal Himself?" Ever felt
guilty for using some of these manmade creations, fearing a lack of
trust or patience in God? I have.
God Partners With People
Although
the Bible clearly illustrates God is all-knowing and all-powerful, and
that He did and continues to perform mighty miracles, it also uncovers
what may be an equally astonishing truth: God uses people.
Consider
just a few examples from Scripture. To protect His people from
impending disaster, God used Noah to build a boat. When Israel needed
deliverance from captivity in Egypt, God used Moses to bring them out.
To reveal Christ to people who did not know Him, He used the preaching
of Peter and Paul. In each instance, God chose to partner with people
for feats that He was more than capable to do all by Himself.
As
God is certainly aware His choice to use people brings plenty of
limitations. In almost every case, it means His desired outcome takes
much longer to come to pass. Or, unfortunately, because of human
missteps and mistakes, that it doesn't come to pass at all. At times, it
means people get hurt, they pass on, and consequently, that God's
reputation gets tarnished by it all.
We Are Christ's Body on Earth
But as an example of a
perfect delegator, God is willing to take these risks and more as an act
of love for us. In using people to do what He could otherwise do
instantly and flawlessly, He gives us a sense of worth, purpose and
affirmation. In the process of obedience, we are fine-tuned and
perfected. But perhaps most of all, God knows that flesh best relates to
flesh. That is, after all, why He came to earth through Jesus as a
human being. He knew He needed to become one of us, with all the human
limitations, in order to show us the way out of our brokenness. Now
today, as the body of Christ on this earth, in all kinds of ways, God
chooses to use people as His hands, feet, mouth and heart.
Certainly,
pray for God's instant breakthroughs and the manifestations of His
miracle power. But be careful not to reject the people He puts on your
path to help you. The answers to your prayers might come through
community, the talent of a God-gifted person or the story of someone
who's "been there, too."
The Shape of Water received 13 Academy Award nominations yesterday, one short of the record. The plot follows a mute custodian who develops a sexual relationship with a humanoid-amphibian creature.
Due to the film's graphic nudity, I will not see it. As to why it received so many nominations, I defer to a film critic who noted: "Perhaps the best argument in its favor is that, in a weird way, it's a film that speaks to our times. One could interpret The Shape of Water
as being about a mute woman who finds her voice with the help of her
gay and African-American friends to take down the sexually predatory,
bigoted patriarchy."
The atomic scientists behind the doomsday clock just bumped the ticking hands to two minutes before midnight.
According to their latest bulletin:
2018:
The failure of world leaders to address the largest threats to
humanity's future is lamentable—but that failure can be reversed. It is
two minutes to midnight, but the Doomsday Clock has ticked away from
midnight in the past, and during the next year, the world can again move
it further from apocalypse. The warning the Science and Security Board
now sends is clear, the danger obvious and imminent. The opportunity to
reduce the danger is equally clear. The world has seen the threat posed
by the misuse of information technology and witnessed the vulnerability
of democracies to disinformation. But there is a flip side to the abuse
of social media. Leaders react when citizens insist they do so, and
citizens around the world can use the power of the internet to improve
the long-term prospects of their children and grandchildren. They can
insist on facts, and discount nonsense. They can demand action to reduce
the existential threat of nuclear war and unchecked climate change.
They can seize the opportunity to make a safer and saner world.
I saw a very touching news item. A cancer charity is investing in
donkey therapy for young survivors of cancer. For a few months the
youngsters get to spend time with their donkey. Animal and human get to
know each other. In fact, donkeys are incredibly empathetic to human
suffering.
Over the weeks, alongside other young cancer survivors,
as they nurture and look after the donkeys the youngsters find time to
talk about their problems and begin their road to emotional recovery.
The charity is so thrilled by the results that it is looking to extend the project.
In my parish we have a donkey in a field next to us. Or we had one.
His name was Herbie and he was a beautiful creature. If I was having a
bad day I would go over and pet him. Herbie used to have a partner. They
were friends for years. When his friend died, Herbie stood next to the
body for a day, mourning the loss of his mate.
Donkeys are
incredibly sensitive and gentle creatures. I wonder if that's why Jesus
rode on one. But this opens us up to think about the creative universe
and how iit reveals God. The ancient Celts understood this very clearly –
seeing God in the whole of creation.
I own three cats. Cats are
graceful and gentle creatures and they have extraordinary powers of
empathy. Ten years ago my wife had a brain haemorrhage. She had to lie
flat for a whole year at home. It was torture. But my lovely tom cat
Lance spent each and every day on her pillow and would cheer her up,
groom her and give her a good purr. She says she would never have got
through the year without him. Now she is better he has gone back to
sleeping all day. Job done! Mission accomplished.
My little cat
Luna has become a pastoral star as well. People come to see me and
sometimes they are dealing with very upsetting issues in their lives.
One big fella came last week and he was crying. The next minute Luna had
jumped up onto his lap and began licking his bald head.
An estimated nine people were killed in a bombing on Monday afternoon
in Damascus. The shelling targeted the Bab Touma and al-Shaghour
districts, which are historically Christian areas, and several churches
were damaged as well.
At least 18 additional people in Old Damascus were injured in the bombings.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A bomb reportedly caused “severe damage” to the Maronite cathedral in
Damascus. According to Archbishop Samir Nassar, the bomb also knocked
out water and electricity.
This is not Archbishop Samir’s first brush with death this month: a bomb hit his bedroom Jan. 8. He survived unscathed due to an extremely well-timed trip to the bathroom before the bombing began.
The Maronites are an Eastern Catholic Church that is in full
communion with Rome. There are about 3 million Maronites in the world.
Although the church originated in the Levant, there are now significant
Maronite populations in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. The
Maronites have faced persecution throughout their history.
The Syrian civil war began nearly seven years ago, in March 2011.
More than 400,000 people have been killed. At least 4.8 million have
become refugees, and another 8 million have been internally displaced.
What began as demonstrations against the nation’s president, Bashar
al-Assad, has become a complex fight among the Syrian regime; moderate
rebels; Kurds; and Islamists such as Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic
State.
Concern is mounting rapidly among Christians over a new law that threatens to ban evangelism in Bolivia.
The World Baptist Alliance is the latest in a number of prominent
organisations to protest the legislation that brackets criminal groups
with religious organisations and bans people trying to 'recruit' others
to take part in 'armed conflicts or religious or worship organisations'.
It means that those holding evangelistic events could face imprisonment.
A national two-year study released this week offers a look at why young people are leaving the Church as early as age 13.
The study was released yesterday by St. Mary’s Press and the Center for
Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University (CARA).
Of those who left the Catholic Church, the median age for doing so
was 13 years old, the study found. Seventy-four percent of the 214
former Catholics interviewed said that they decided to leave the Church
between the ages of 10 and 20.
“We heard young people describe the beginnings of their questioning
and doubts as early as fifth grade, some even younger,” said John Vitek,
one of the principal authors of the study.
Speaking to Chilean university students and academics Wednesday, Pope
Francis said Catholic educational institutions play a prophetic role in
helping future generations tackle problems with an integrated,
inclusive approach.
“In our day, the mission entrusted to you is prophetic,” the Pope
said Jan. 17 to a crowd of some 2,400 students and academics at the
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. “You are challenged
to generate processes that enlighten contemporary culture by proposing a
renewed humanism that eschews every form of reductionism.”
This prophetic role on the part of Catholic universities is a key
motive in seeking out “ever new spaces for dialogue rather than
confrontation,” he said.
Last weekend, just days before Pope Francis’ visit to Peru, a fire
was set that damaged part of Cristo del Pacifico, a 120 foot tall statue
located in Lima, the nation’s capital.
According to RPP News, five fire department units responded and put
out the fire Jan. 13, which caused noticeable smoke damage to the back
part the the statue.
“So far the motive leading to the incident is unknown; but the theory
has come up that this may have been done because of Pope Francis’s
upcoming visit,” RPP stated.
Cristo del Pacifico is a 70 feet tall sculpture set on a 50 foot base
and can be seen from several areas of the capital. It was dedicated
June 29, 2011.
Recently I interviewed a person whose experience with gender-change
surgeries was so extreme, it gained him entry in the Guinness World
Records book for the most gender-reassignment surgeries for an
individual person.
Blair Logsdon's story is a cautionary tale for
anyone today who is considering the use of cross-gender hormones and
gender-change surgery to feel better about themselves.
Logsdon
underwent 167 surgeries from 1987 to 2005 in his quest to resolve gender
dysphoria with surgery. On a cold, snowy December morning in a Maryland
coffee shop, he shared with me his story.
The company water cooler, a symbolic gathering post for employee
chatter disguised as a refreshment center, has gurgled into a resting
place for analog office tools.
I read a brief story about digital chatter in the Jan/Feb edition of The Atlantic.
While reading the story, I could only respond with a deep "Duh!" This is the sentence that evoked my guttural response:
"Workplace technology is revolutionizing how we communicate in the office."
The horse left that barn many years ago.
Companies
discovered open office structures in the 1950s. Walk through any
collection of cubicles or divider-free tables and you'll find digital
walls guarding the mind-space of knowledge workers. The walls bear
striking resemblance to earbuds or, perhaps, headphones.
A model and former Miss Great Britain has defended her decision to select the sex of her next baby on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Danielle Lloyd spoke with presenter Emma Barnett about
her desire to mother a girl alongside her four boys. Admitting her
decision to pursue sex-selection would be seen by some as "a little bit
selfish," Lloyd expressed her "dream to have a little girl" and how she
feels "a bit lonely with having four boys because it's all football and
boy stuff." When Lloyd said she "would like to do girly stuff" as well,
Barnett challenged this by asking "But what if she's not a girly girl?
You can't decide their personality, you can decide their gender, but she
could be into football as well." Lloyd admitted this, but said "It's
about having a little mini me as well."
A Bristol city centre church is to open for worship for the first
time in 65 years with a mission to engage young and unchurched people.
St Nicholas church has been leased to Bristol City Council and has been used as a museum and tourist information office.
However, this autumn it will reopen under the leadership of Rev Toby
Flint, currently serving at Holy Trinity Brompton in London, home of the
Alpha course.
A Christian tourist from Northern Ireland is missing in
the Israeli desert, having left a trail of pages from the Bible behind
him, with search teams believing that he may have been suffering from
delusions known as 'Jerusalem syndrome'.
So, what is Jerusalem syndrome?
Let's face it: Jerusalem, with its political place as the divided
city at the heart of the world's most intractable conflict, and its role
as the Holy City for the three monotheistic religions, can be a
maddening place to stay, let alone live.
Jerusalem
But sadly, for some its maddening nature is literal, as those with
either no history of mental illness get swept up delusionally by the
atmosphere of the ancient souks, and those with a history of
psychological problems have them exacerbated by their trip, with some
troubled people making it their mission to visit in the first place.
"But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and
into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in ruin and
destruction" (1 Tim. 6:9).
How easy it is to desire to be rich. We
certainly do not desire to be poor, do we? But here in the Scriptures,
Paul issues a sobering warning to Timothy that those who desire to be
rich run afoul with all sorts of disaster. I don't know about you, but
this causes me to pause and examine my heart because "ruin and
destruction" are certainly not part of my long term financial goals.
Three Catholic churches in the Chilean capital of Santiago have been
bombed just days before Pope Francis begins his tour of the country.
The perpetrators placed incendiary devices in all three churches, and
in one left a direct threat to the Pope, saying the next bombs would be
'in your cassock'.
Chile's outgoing president Michelle Bachelet said the events were
'very strange, because it is not something that can be identified with
one specific group', the Catholic Herald reported.
She added: 'What I've been told is that, for example, [when the Pope
visited] Colombia, there were groups there with a little sign [in
protest]. In a democracy, people can express themselves as long as they
do so in a peaceful and appropriate way.'
Although authorities expect some protests over clerical sexual abuse
during the Pope's visit, this is the first direct threat of violence.
Evidence continues to mount that the world's most powerful search
engine is deliberately manipulating search results they deem
objectionable by providing sketchy fact-check reviews of conservative
websites while leaving liberal sites untouched.
For decades, China's population control policies have led to the
slaughter of millions of unborn children, promoted a culture of death,
aggravated discrimination on the basis of sex and punished parents for
having children. But in recent years, that has begun to change.
Between
1979 and 2015, the one-child-per-couple policy was one of the
fundamental state policies in China. This policy was enforced through
three different methods: abortion, fines and loss of employment. Forced
abortions in China have killed approximately 400 million unborn children in the past 40 years,
and created an extremely disproportionate sex-ratio—as many families
aborted daughters because of a cultural preference for sons. Enormous
fines were also imposed on the second or subsequent pregnancies. These
fines sometimes amounted to as much as six times the annual household
income from the previous year. Cumulatively, the fines brought in the
equivalent of over two trillion U.S. dollars to local governments in
China. As a result, the China Academy of Social Science has estimated that by the year 2020 China will have 30 million more men than women.
The
most effective method of the three punishments was the loss of
employment. Most local regulations required local governments and
state-owned enterprises to terminate the employment of employees who
violated the one-child policy and deprive them of their right to access
to social benefits. Private enterprises were encouraged to do so as
well, and most complied.
In the short span of three weeks, Cardinal Joseph Tobin has made
startling statements regarding the role of women within the Catholic
Church in a pair of interviews reported in high profile left-leaning
publications – The New York Times (NYT) and Jesuit America Magazine.
Nicholas Kristoff kicked off the NYT interview by zeroing in on a
favorite term, “gender,” in what amounted to a slight against
Catholicism. “One area where the Catholic Church seems to me antiquated
is gender.” Kristoff continued, “If Jesus trusted women like Mary
Magdalene, if Phoebe could be a leader of the early church, then why
can’t women be priests or cardinals today?”
How do you talk with someone who thinks talking itself is an attack?
That's a question that Americans need to ask of our institutions of
higher learning. One great way to worsen our already gaping political
divisions is to engage in what Internet chatroom denizens call
"nutpicking." That is, the deliberate search for the "nuts" on either
side of the political aisle to use as unflattering representations of
opponents.
It should go without saying that nutpicking is unfair and dishonest.
After all, we Christians don't like it when those in the media portray
Westboro Baptist members as typical churchgoers. Picking out "nuts" only
reinforces false prejudices and makes us less likely to give those we
disagree with a fair hearing.
But when it comes to many American college campuses, the nuts seem so
plentiful, you practically need a bushel basket—even in the heartland.
And they're peddling ideas that directly contradict what education
itself should be.
Unveiled on Wednesday, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts’ new state
budget proposal would block federal funds from going to health clinics
that provide abortion services.
Ricketts said that the move makes sense because of the values of Nebraska voters.
“Nebraska is a pro-life state, and the state’s budget should reflect those values,” Ricketts said in a statement on Monday.
The governor’s proposal takes advantage of a newly relaxed policy
from Congress last year that gives states more leeway in determining the
distribution of Title X funds, which are federal funds earmarked for
providing family planning and related health services such as
contraception.
“Thanks to action by Congress, Nebraska can now take new steps to
protect unborn life by ensuring that these dollars are not used to fund
abortion,” Ricketts said.
A recent study authored by John A. Barry of Institute for Women's
Health at University College London found that children overwhelmingly
chose to play with toys typed to their gender. Boys played with
male‐typical toys more than girls did, and girls played with
female‐typical toys more than boys did.
The study,
"Sex differences in children's toy preferences: A systematic review,
meta-regression and meta-analysis," which was published in Infant and Child Development, reviewed 16 studies, from 1980 to 2016, of 787 boys and 813 girls ranging in age from one to eight years.
Calgary city council will decide Wednesday whether or not to cancel a
private all-ages nude swim party at its Southland Leisure Centre after a
petition to stop the event went viral.
CBC reported last Friday
that Calgary Nude Recreation rented the city-run recreation center for a
“Naked Water Slides and Wave Pool” event on January 14.
But the nudist group encourages children at its gatherings, according to its Meetup page.
“This group is family oriented and kid friendly and open to people of
all ages, body types, all genders, sexual orientations, and anyone else
in between,” it states.
I stopped to look at a particular man the other day. But then I kept
walking. I saw him from a distance and kept my eyes on him until I stood
before him.
I was walking with a friend and we wanted to get home. We had just
gone to church and were busy talking to each other and thinking about
food.
He was sitting in front of an affluent shop. He was of an average
size, and sat cross-legged with his head hung low – so much so that it
nearly sat in his lap. A pile of books was on his right, a blanket on
his left.
Banners with the message 'Jesus loves every 1 of u' will be flown
over the UK this summer, with four pilots from across the country
commissioned by Christians especially to target large secular events.
The 'Fly Jesus' initiative
will be facilitated by Escalls Methodist Church in Sennen, Cornwall,
where the idea also originated of a 'Praise Bus' to follow the Olympic
Torch around Britain in 2012.
The new plan is the brainchild of church activist Christine Bonfield,
who says she had a vision from God who told her: 'Get a plane, tie a
banner with my message on it and fly the length and breadth of the
country.'
The estimated cost of the project is £150,000, with four pilots set
to fly the banners, which have been ordered from the US, on
single-engine planes across the UK starting from the South West, London,
Yorkshire and Lancashire over six weeks. Secular festivals will be
particularly targeted, along with Cornwall, which sees some 4 million
visitors every summer.
Two-thirds of Christians responding to a survey from the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service say they've been the victims of 'spiritual abuse'.
The figure comes with a health warning, partly because the
respondents might have been self-selecting – taking the chance to share
their stories for the first time – and partly because there's no agreed
definition of what spiritual abuse is.
Nevertheless, the study says, there are clear characteristics,
including coercion and control, manipulation and pressuring, control
through misusing religious texts and providing a 'divine' rationale for
behaviour. Often it's church leaders who do this, or people with
influence in the church. And it's not all one-sided – church leaders can
be abused too.
So how do we recognise spiritual abuse? The study doesn't go into
details, but here are some suggestions about what might count as abuse.
Though I often question Siri's IQ, I'm quick to acknowledge that something powerful happens when I ask her a question.
Bits and bytes fly from my phone like a carrier pigeon that returns in seconds with an array of answers sans feathers.
There's
plenty of discussions these days about the development of computer
reasoning. We've learned to program the IQ of computers, and reasoning
has advanced quickly as demonstrated by computer chess victories over
grandmasters.
Bishop Andreas Laun, Emeritus Auxiliary of Salzburg, Austria, today
put his name to the “Profession of Immutable Truths about Sacramental
Marriage,” bringing the number of signatories to six bishops and one
cardinal, a reliable source confirmed.
On Monday, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary of Astana,
Kazakhstan, Archbishop Tomash Peta, Metropolitan of Astana, and
Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, issued a “public
and unequivocal profession of the truth” regarding the Church’s teaching
on the indissolubility of marriage as a “service of charity in truth”
to the Church of today and to the Pope.
The incredible story of a 400-year-old Bible is set to be told at the
National Library of Wales after the sacred book was discovered hidden
away in the back of a church.
The leather-bound 1620 Llanwnda
Bible survived the invasion of Britain during the 1797 Battle of
Fishguard. During the fierce battle, the army of 1,400 French and Irish
troops raided St Gwyndaf's Church in the Welsh town of Llanwnda and used
pages from the Bible to start a fire.
The Llanwnda Bible was eventually discovered some 200 years later in the
1990s. "The story goes that the book was rediscovered at the back of
the church in the 1990s, and nobody realized what it was," said
the vicar of the church Sarah Geach, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Through the years, I have observed various kinds of leadership styles
and methods. Some are effective in certain contexts but greatly limit
their reach because of their limited perspective. The purpose of this
article is to explore the differences between what I call "lateral" and
"vertical" leadership.
By lateral leadership, I am referring to a
person who is horizontal in scope and perspective and functions more as a
facilitator of vision, ideas and abilities. By vertical leadership, I
am referring to a person who is vertical in scope and perspective and
has more of a narrow view regarding how to accomplish vision and with
whom they will work. Although serving as a lateral leader is more
difficult and time-consuming, I am convinced it is the more effective
way forward to implement mission for the 21st-century church and
marketplace.
Vertical leaders can also be very
effective—especially in emergencies and in the short-term. They can be
very convincing, dogmatic, entrenched in their own paradigm of doing
things and can attract loyal followers to their mission. The question is
not whether they are good leaders—the point of this article is the fact
that vertical leaders are limiting the scope of their mission because
they limit their team to the handful of those who rarely push back at
them in the decision-making process. Of course, even lateral leaders
have to make the final decision in the event they experience an impasse
with their team and cannot reach consensus.
We live in an age where many question Christianity. It somehow has
become fashionable to be an atheist. The mainstream media constantly
focus on negative news about Christians. Believers in God are told that
they are old-fashioned, outdated and simply out of touch with reality.
And many young people struggle, as they don't quite know how to approach
this fervent disdain.
This is why it is more important than ever
to educate yourself on how to defend the faith, how to rationally and
spiritually explain the Christian belief to those who, out of ignorance,
think that belief in God belongs to the past. Read The Culture War: How the West Lost its Greatness
and get the tools. Remember that atheism is a faith like any other, the
belief in "nothing" and the assortment that "the universe is empty."
None of them ever went out there to check, so how do they know there is
no God, angels or devils out there? They assume based on faith. Atheism
is a religion, they strongly believe that "God is dead" and mankind is
the only source of light, which is impossible to prove empirically.
