Newsletter Archive Home
Blazing Grace Newsletter, October 2006
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* The Third Road
* The Blazing Grace Radio Show
* Prayer Requests
* Ministry Update and Needs
* Final Words
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The Third Road
By Mike Genung
It was June of 2004, and I was going through withdrawals. The Los Angeles Lakers were playing the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, and we didn’t have TV service. In a sports-induced heat, I asked Michelle to call some friends to invite ourselves over to watch the third game of the series. (We husbands have a habit of letting our wives do the dirty work when it comes to social engagements.)
As we were driving over to their house I wondered if I hadn’t gotten carried away in shutting off the TV. We had made the decision to turn off all incoming channels to our home in 2002, partly so that I could live free from any temptation to view inappropriate content, and to keep those same programs and their corrupting influence out of our home and away from our four kids. We rented movies, but that was it; no news, sitcoms, Disney Channel, or sporting events. Our explanations of why we hadn’t seen certain programs were sometimes met with weird looks by friends, as if we had decided to live in a cave on a diet of crickets and honey. “Maybe having TV wasn’t so bad” I wondered. “Maybe we should consider getting basic cable again.”
After dinner and some engaging conversation with our friends, the anticipated moment arrived. The TV was brought to life, and the game started.
It was all downhill from there. The Pistons bludgeoned the Lakers, and I went into a blue funk (no more “engaging conversation” please, my team is getting slaughtered). The expectation of seeing my favorite team win another championship was shattered, along with any thoughts of getting TV service in our home again.
During station breaks, commercial after commercial showcased an almost naked woman with a warm, seductive smile hawking a product. After going two years without watching TV, the exposure to images like this was shocking; it was frustrating to have to endure a parade of sexual imagery just to watch a sporting event. As we drove home, Michelle and I agreed without hesitation to stay the course and leave TV service off. We would both miss watching certain shows, but for us the downside of having this world’s sexual sludge piped into our home was greater than the upside.
There was something else that bothered me that night. I used to watch commercials like that all the time when we had TV service before, and had written it off as “being normal.” If a woman had physically entered our home dressed and acting like the women in those commercials did, I would have been embarrassed (if not triggered), and my wife would have been enraged. Exposure to those images for the first 13 years of our marriage (and much of my single life) had hardened my heart; I’d been de-sensitized into silent agreement with our culture’s definition of what was normal. Prior to 2002, the chances are high I wouldn’t have been ashamed, embarrassed or angry at much of what I saw on TV. Compromise from God’s standards had been formed in me.
What else might our culture have desensitized us to in an attempt to normalize that which is not?
If a husband divorces his wife and she goes from him and belongs to another man, will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted?
Jeremiah 3:1
When a child’s parents divorce, something snaps inside of them. Deep, persistent doubts about self-worth spring from within (“wasn’t I good enough for Daddy to stay with us?”), setting them up for a search for love and acceptance in the wrong places that can last for years into their adult life. How old a child is when his parents divorce is irrelevant; I had moved out of the home when my parent divorced, and still struggled with these same fears, doubts and insecurities.
Today somewhere between 41 and 43% of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce;1 we are the world leader in ruptured families. As the Lord said it would be, our land is filled with the pollution caused from broken homes:
Three out of four teenage suicides occur in households where a parent has been absent."2
Among teenage and adult populations of women, parental divorce has been associated with lower self-esteem, premature sexual activity, greater delinquent-like behavior, and more difficulty establishing gratifying, lasting adult heterosexual relationships. Parental divorce typically occurs years before any difficulties are observed.3
Daughters of single parents are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a premarital birth, and 92% more likely to dissolve their own marriages.4
75% of children/adolescents in chemical dependency hospitals are from single–parent families.5
Boys living in a fatherless home are two to three times more likely to be involved in crime, drop out of school, and get divorced. Girls living in a fatherless home are two to three times more likely to become pregnant teenagers and have their marriages end in divorce.6
Almost 70% of the young men in prison grew up without a father in their home.7
Women who are divorced are 300% more likely to file for bankruptcy.8
Although we’ve heard the high divorce statistics for years, none of the above could be called normal. Traumatic and destructive? Yes, but divorce and its effect should never be considered normal.
"Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;
Jeremiah 19:4-5
Since the mid-70’s, we have burned at least 1 million of our children each year on the altar of abortion. Half of all pregnancies to American women are unintended, with 40% of these ending in abortion.9
Trying to convince us that reaching into the body cavity of a woman in order to kill her living child is normal is too big of a pill to swallow; like asking us to feast on elephant feces while saying it’s file mignon.
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Romans 1:22-24
The evidence that God has given us over to our lusts is everywhere:
The U.S. is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of porn in the world. The sex industry takes in 12 billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone; 57 billion a year worldwide. Our porn capital is located in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, and has more than 12,000 employees in its service. The cable companies of America’s families are getting fat on the profits from pornography, as are our hotel chains, car manufacturing companies, and other businesses. Porn is now more American than Apple Pie, and just as accepted; its sales volume shows that it’s far more popular than the NBA, NFL, or Major League Baseball.
And, the church is one of the porn industry’s biggest customers.10
It gets worse.
What many don’t realize is that the floodwaters of “normal porn” hide an enormous undercurrent of black sewage that is darker, more depraved, and even more secretive than the Apple Pie version.
On October 17th I did a search on Google News for pornography; here’s what rounded out the top ten results:
#1 “Man arrested on child-porn charges after internet sting.”
#2 “Child porn pervert spared jail.” ( From a UK headline.)
#4 “Request to dismiss child porn charge denied.”
#10 was about arresting a man with 2 counts of child porn.
Note that I didn’t do a search for child porn, just pornography.
24 hours later, it was reported that 125 persons were arrested on charges of subscribing to a Web site that depicted children as young as infants engaged in sexual activities with adults. Among those who were arrested were a Bible camp counselor, a Boy Scout leader and a middle school coach.11
Then on October 19th a Kentucky pastor was arrested for allegedly distributing and possessing child pornography.12
I had thought that this would be as bad as it could get, but I was wrong; this month a man was arrested on the allegation of distributing a home movie on the internet where he is seen having sex with his 15 month old daughter. 13
Once a society has set itself ablaze with the raging bonfire of sexual sin and depravity, it cannot be contained with a few buckets of water. If the fire is not completely quenched by means of a massive, united effort, that country will be engulfed and destroyed. The garbage can of history is filled with the wreckage of nations that have suffered this fate.
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper…
Romans 1:25-28
We hear often that homosexuality is normal, and that those who disagree with this progressive cultural standard are abnormal. Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts; it has been and will be voted on again in other states. (As I wrote this article, it came out that New Jersey is closing in on approving it.) Our government, business and education centers are teaching homosexuality as a valid lifestyle to our nation’s workers and students. Several members of congress are gay, and many in our government support the “new normal”. Junior high students in the public school system here in Colorado Springs and elsewhere are taught that homosexuality is a valid lifestyle alternative. Ford Motor Company gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups, forces its employees to attend "diversity" training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, sponsors Gay Pride Day parades and more.14 Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, just gave two large grants to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.15
And church after church is being divided over the ordination of gay priests and pastors. Our churches wouldn’t be splitting over homosexuality if there weren’t a large number of men and women in our pews who favor of the “new normal”.
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave.
Proverbs 22:7
A nation that is “given over to its lusts” is adversely affected in many different ways. A population without self-control has a hard time saying no to any of its whims and desires, with predictable results.
Today, total current US debt outstanding (consumer, government and business) is now well more than 30 trillion dollars—triple that of annual U.S. Gross Domestic Product. U.S. consumer debt alone is 10 trillion dollars. The last year the debt to GDP ratio was this high in the U.S. was 1929.
Some of our biggest corporations, many of which now support the porn industry and homosexuality, are having problems. GM lost 10 billion last year, while Ford just announced 2006 third quarter revenue of a 5.8 billion dollar loss. The loss of U.S. jobs overseas is well-documented; could our financial problems be somehow related to our current moral condition?
Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, that you not have it in excess and vomit it.
Proverbs 25:16
A nation that can’t say no to sex and spending is just as prone to over-indulge in food. More than 60% of American adults are overweight, as compared to 25% in the 60’s.16 Heart disease kills as many Americans as smoking; many are literally eating themselves to death. While this may not seem as big a deal as the other issues listed above, it contributes to the overall problem. Heavier people make more doctor visits and spend more time in the hospital (and die younger), with the result that the medical system is strained, creating higher medical insurance rates, putting more pressure on family budgets, and causing more debt. We all pay the price when our society indulges in “too much honey.”
For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 2:13
A friend of mine who’s a missionary to China recently told me that they’re free to witness about Christ to employees in the factories over there. Yet here, in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, we can get sued if we use the name of Jesus at work or school.
As we (attempt to) shove God out of our society, Satan rushes in to fill in the gaps. Have you noticed that if you walk in a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video Rental Store that more of today’s movies and video games are overtly demonic? TV shows are darker, and some of today’s music acts make 70’s groups like Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult look tame in comparison. Wiccan services must now be held in prisons alongside Christian ones.
Sick crimes, like this one posted on October 18, are becoming more commonplace:
“A suicide note in the pocket of a man who jumped off the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel late Tuesday led police to the grisly scene of his girlfriend’s murder, where they found her charred head in a pot on the stove, her legs and feet baked in the oven and the rest of her dismembered body in trash bag in the refrigerator, according to police and the couple’s landlord.” 17
Our nation is steadily transforming into a Sodom-like culture. Looking forward, there are three possible outcomes we can anticipate:
1. The Ugly Road.
God allows us to continue on our current downward spiral until we eventually collapse from the weight of our own sin. This path would take longer to complete, but would exact a higher total cost.
If we take the Ugly Road, what might we look like in 15 or 20 years?
* Gay marriage will probably be legal in at least half of the states, if not the entire nation.
* Drugs and prostitution might be legal, just as it is now in other countries. Prostitution, for example, is legal in Germany; an estimated 200,000 prostitutes ply their trade there. Should prostitution become legal in a nation the size of the U.S. we could easily see a “trade group” of one million prostitutes.
* Soft core porn will be seen on TV during the “family hour” and day time soaps, just as it currently is in Europe.
* With our social security obligations coming due, the national deficit will double from what it is today, putting us in international bankruptcy court.18
* We will see unprecedented levels of desperation and wickedness. The next logical graduation from porn movies is to live sex acts broadcast over the internet—with both adults and children as participants. As broadband technology progresses Cybersex will graduate to Virtual Sex, creating an experience even more addictive than what is available today.
* As God is pushed even more out of our society, demonic influence will increase, as will occult crimes.
* Christ’s people may one day find that the only place it will be legal to utter the name of Jesus is in church.
* In a society such as this, “lawlessness will increase” and “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
2. The Hard Road.
God intervenes with a major event that acts as a catalyst to bring the U.S. to its knees. This might be a terrorist attack, natural disaster, economic collapse or any combination of the three. This event(s) would be swift and severe; with tragic long term consequences.
3. The Third Road:
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2nd Chronicles 7:14
Much has been said about how our country starting going downhill in the 60’s when prayer was expelled from our classrooms, but might it also be vacant from some of our churches? Prayer meetings used to be a regular part of the weekly schedule, but in many of our churches of today it has been left out.
“Praying and seeking God’s face” in the corporate sense is more than a quick prayer on Sunday morning asking God to bless our time together. It is deliberate, consistent seeking of God’s face for the purpose of repentance from our national and personal sin:
I said, "I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned. "We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded…
Nehemiah 1:5-7
According to God’s offer in 2nd Chronicles 7:14, His people only need to “pray, seek and repent” in order for Him to heal our land. In today’s culture, I fear that doing something so simple might be much harder than it should be.
Why? On a recent broadcast of the Blazing Grace Radio show, David Kyle Foster of Mastering Life Ministries made a comment that “it’s difficult for those of us who live in Western Culture to get out of our heads.” The tradition of teaching on Sunday morning has been deeply ingrained into our perception of what church is about; suggesting that we depart from “the way we’ve always done it before” for something as intimidating as corporate prayer and repentance will rub against the grain for many.
God tells us that we should “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” in 2nd Timothy 4:2. We should preach all of God’s Word on a consistent, ongoing basis; however, this is not all we’re commanded to do.
Consider this: all of the moral freefall that’s been happening around us has occurred while some 300,000 US churches are preaching God’s Word every Sunday. If preaching was enough we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today.
If we’re serious about wanting God to heal our land, we would do well to learn from one of the greatest revivals in history:
Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. " Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish." When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Jonah 3:4-10
Note that the only “teaching” in this revival was when Jonah told the people of Nineveh “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Upon hearing this blunt appeal for repentance, the people of Nineveh took action. Their king didn’t order up a 10-part study on seeking God’s face, he ordered his people to hit their knees, go after the Lord hard, and “turn from their wicked ways.”
The book of Acts provides us with another picture of what “turning from our wicked ways” looks like for God’s people:
This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
Acts 19:17-20
Note that “many of those who believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. They didn’t huddle up for an exegetical study on Scripture related to the doctrine of repentance, nor did they hire a specialist from a para-church ministry to lead a seminar on 5 steps for the proper way to seek God’s face. They kept confessing their sins, and burned the things that were causing them to stumble in the sight of everyone. All hiding of sin was gone, and God blessed their efforts by “causing the word of the Lord to grow mightily and prevail.”
"Why do you call Me, `Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
Luke 6:46
Like the situation with Nineveh, our nation is corrupt and getting worse by the moment. Our church is corrupt; a body of believers with 50% of it’s men messing with porn can’t be holy in God’s eyes, and more are struggling with the other sins mentioned above.
If we’re serious about seeing God heal our land, all of us must all be intentional about “praying, seeking God’s face and turning from our wicked ways.”
Here’s what this can look like in your church and mine. For four consecutive Sundays, after the worship time is over, there would be no sermon; the time usually taken up for teaching would be used as follows:
First Sunday:
Before God, the body makes a firm commitment to seek His face and turn from sin. We begin by praying for our nation and the church at large. We confess our sins as a nation (many of which are listed in this article) as Nehemiah did, and we ask God would cause His churches all over the world to join us in doing the same. We confess the sins of our government, our schools, our businesses and our families; past and present. We confess the sins of the sex industry, gambling industry, and all other groups that have caused our nation to stumble.
We finish this first Sunday’s prayer time by asking the Lord to send out laborers into all of these harvest fields:
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."
Matthew 9:37-38
Second Sunday:
This morning, we turn our attention towards the church-at-large. We confess the sins of the body; such as not preaching all of God’s word; catering to men’s standards more than God’s, the ordination of homosexual priests, allowing the world to influence us more than the other way around, allowing ourselves to ensnared with tradition, not effectively confronting our sins…
Yet you said, 'I am innocent; surely His anger is turned away from me.' Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, 'I have not sinned.'
Jeremiah 2:35
At the end of our time together, we ask the Lord to prepare our hearts for the remaining two Sundays.
Third and Fourth Sundays:
This is when we who believe “come and confess and disclose our practices.” As with all four Sundays, this is done with the entire congregation; it’s not scheduled on a day in the middle of the week when 5-10% of the church might show up. We’re determined to follow through with every part of God’s requirements for Him to heal our land, no matter what.
Break your congregation up into groups of two or three; if needed, let people sit on the floor. Start your time with prayer, asking God to reveal the sins of His people. Several men or women could make public confessions to set the tone. Then, make your way through a list of issues for each person to examine his or her heart with, allowing your people 5-10 minutes to confess, discuss and pray about each issue in their group.
For this article, I have received permission to reprint the following from Evelyn Christensen19. It is a list of issues to work through for the purpose of cleansing our lives before the Lord, and it could easily be worked through over the course of two Sundays. You might also consider making your way through it alone with the Lord. I did so one night, and have to admit to confessing sin in many areas.
In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Do you worry about anything? Have you failed to thank God for all things, the seemingly bad as well as the good? Do you neglect to give thanks at mealtime?
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us
Ephesians 3:20
Do you fail to attempt things for God because you are not talented enough? Do feelings of inferiority keep you from trying to serve God? When you do accomplish something for Christ, do you fail to give Him all the glory?
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Have you failed to be a witness with your life for Christ? Have you felt it was enough to just live your Christianity and not witness with your mouth to the lost?
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
Are you proud of your accomplishments, your talents, your family? Do you fail to see others as better than yourself, more important than yourself in the body of Christ? Do you think as a Christian you are doing quite well? Do you rebel at God wanting to change you?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Ephesians 4:31
Do you complain, find fault, argue? Do you have a critical spirit? Do you carry a grudge against Christians of another group because they don’t see eye to eye with you on all things? Do you speak unkindly about people when they are not present? Are you angry with yourself? Others? God?
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19
Are you careless with your body? Are you guilty of not caring for it as the temple of the Holy Spirit in eating and exercise habits? Do you defile your body with unholy sex acts?
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29
Do you ever use filthy language, tell slightly off-color jokes? Do you condone others doing so in your presence, in your home?
Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Ephesians 4:26,27
Do you fail to see that you are a landing strip for Satan when you open your mind to him through transcendental meditation, yoga, psychic predictions, occult literature, and violent, sex-driven movies? Do you let Satan use you to thwart the cause of Christ in your church through criticism, gossip and non-support?
not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
Romans 12:11
Do you fail to pay your debts on time? Avoid paying them altogether? Do you charge more on credit cards that you can pay when due? Do you neglect to keep honest income tax records? Do you engage in any shady business deals?
not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:25
Are you irregular or spasmodic in church attendance? Do you attend preaching services in body only, whispering, reading or planning while God’s Word is being preached? Are you skipping prayer meetings? Have you neglected family devotions?
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices
Colossians 3:9
Do you ever lie? Exaggerate? Do you fail to see “little white lies” as sin? Do you tell things the way you want them rather than the way they really are?
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
1 Peter 2:11
Are you guilty of a lustful eye towards the opposite sex? Do you fill your mind with sex-orientated TV programs, movies, books or magazines? Their covers? Centerfolds? Do you indulge in any lustful activity that God’s Word condemns—fornication, adultery, perversion?
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:35
Are you guilty of being a part of factions or divisions in your church? Would you rather add fuel to a misunderstanding than help correct it? Have you loved only the ones in your own church, feeling those of other denominations are not worthy of the body of Christ? Are you secretly pleased over the misfortunes of another? Annoyed by their successes?
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Colossians 3:13
Have you failed to forgive anybody anything they might have said or done against you? Have you turned certain people off? Are you holding grudges?
He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
Ephesians 4:28
Do you steal from your employer by doing less work, staying on the job less time than you are paid for? Do you pad your expense account?
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Matthew 6:24
Is your goal in life to make as much money as possible? Accumulate things? Have you withheld God’s share of your income from Him? Is money your god?
So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23:28
Do you know in your heart that you are a fake, just pretending to be a real Christian? Are you hiding behind church membership to cover a life still full of sin? Are you faking Christianity for social status, acceptance in your church, community? Do you smile piously during the Sunday sermon but live in your sin all week? Are you the person in your home that you are trying to impress people you are?
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8
Do you enjoy listening to gossip? Passing it on? Do you believe rumors or partial truths about an enemy of your competitor? Do you fail to spend time every day reading the Bible? Do you fail to think on the things of God—only good and true and pure things—always?
On a personal note, this was the hardest newsletter I’ve written. As I was researching the various issues our nation is struggling with, I found myself getting depressed at what I saw. Thoughts like “this is going to come off as a gloom and doom piece and turn people off” rattled in my mind, and I considered changing the topic several times.
But just as the book of Jonah is more about Nineveh’s revival than their sin, so this article isn’t about the current mess we’re in; it’s about The Third Road—what we need to do so that God might heal our land. On one recent radio broadcast, Ted Roberts said that “without repentance there will be no revival.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. My prayer is that the Lord will move His people to aggressively “seek, pray and turn.”
Now the ball’s in your court. If the Holy Spirit starts bringing persons to your mind that He might want you to forward this email to, go with it. Or maybe He just wants some of your time with Him, alone, so you can quietly pray and work through everything here with Him—and He can show you what He wants you to do about it.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
Titus 2:11-15
Sources
1. http://www.family.org/cforum/fosi/marriage/divorce/a0037056.cfm
2-4: Fromwww.crown.org’s single parent statistics page, and http://www.fathermag.com/news/2756–suicide.shtml.
5. Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA
6. “Heading Toward a Fatherless Society,” by Barry Kliff, MSNBC News, www.msnbc.com, March 31, 1999
7. “American Agenda,” World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, January 12, 1995.
8. “Women Rank First in Bankruptcy Filings,” by Christine Dugas, USA Today, June 21, 1999
9. http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/presskits/2005/06/28/abortionoverview.html
10. http://www.blazinggrace.org/pornstatistics.htm
11. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/18/child.porn/index.html
http://www.turnto23.com/news/10110327/detail.html
12. http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5561111&nav=0RZF
13. http://www.local6.com/news/10097694/detail.html
14. AFA Action Alert 10-19-06
15. AFA Action Alert 10-25-06.
16. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030315/1249.html
17.http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_10_18.html#195997
18. http://www.minyanville.com/assets/File/Kotlikoff_USBankruptcy_paper%5B1%5D.pdf
19. Reprinted by permission of Evelyn Christensen Ministries.
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The Blazing Grace Radio Show
The Blazing Grace Radio show is Jayson Graves of Healing for the Soul, Rob McIntire of Freedom to Live Counseling, and Mike Genung teaming up to take on the topic of sexual addiction in the church. Jayson and Rob are Christian psychotherapist who specialize in treating men with sexual addiction issues.
Here’s our lineup for October:
October 7, 2006 - Interview with Sill Davis of Emmaus Ministries, Part 2
October 14, 2006 - A visit with our listeners.
October 21, 2006 - Ted Roberts of Pure Desire, Part 1.
October 28, 2006 - Ted Roberts of Pure Desire, Part 2.
The show is broadcast in Colorado Springs on KGFT 100.7FM, Saturdays at 11:00am. You can download mp3’s of the broadcasts without cost at the radio page, or listen to them in streaming audio at Oneplace.com.
We did have the show on KKLA in Los Angeles but have cancelled it at the moment due to a need for finances. It costs $400.00 per show to air the show on KKLA.
The broadcasts are available as a podcast through Itunes. If you have the Itunes software, the shows are listed under “Religion and Spirituality/Christianity.”
We’re interested in broadcasting the show in Australia, the UK, Canada, Ireland or Scotland. If any of you from these countries have suggestions on a station to contact, please email me.
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New Prayer Requests:
The following are a few of the prayer requests received this past month. When you have a moment, I encourage you to pray for a few of those who are there. These are real people with real marriages and families on the line.
Please pray for Paul and his wife. He is a Christian but struggles with problems of looking at pornography, flirting, talking with woman on the internet and there may be more. He is married and says he loves his wife, but... We are friends of both and love them. Thank you so much for your prayers!!
The Tysons
My name is Megan, and I have been married now for 5 years. Through out my marriage, my husband, Michael, struggled with pornography. Little did I know, he struggled with actual affairs as well, with dozens of women. He met "someone else" a few months back, and was ready to walk away from me, our two little girls, and all that he knew was right in God's sight. Over the course of the separation, the Holy Spirit has spoken deeply into his heart and there for life thanks to countless hours and people spending time on their knees praying to our faithful and Holy Father. He is doubting his decisions, and "feeling" he is being lured home. I am nervous. Yes, of course I want him home. I desire for this marriage to be restored beyond anything it was before the light was shed on this monster sin. However, he shows little signs of actual repentance and humbling. Holy Father...I am crying out. Please continue to soften his heart. Open his eyes to truth and give him a vision of what you are capable of-ANYTHING! Mute the enemies voice in his head and life, and give him and overwhelming flood of love, passion and hunger for You, that spills over into his family and towards the wife of his youth! Please give me discernment, wisdom beyond human comprehension, and a humble spirit as I am a vessel for you to help how ever I can, to lead your prodigal son home. To Jesus be the glory for the healing, restoration, and ministry that is birthed from all this suffering and pain. I love you so, my sweet Jesus!
I'm 18, and single. Fighting this war, its tough, and the loneliness and not being able to feel Gods love hits more true than ever. I don't know why I can't feel Gods love! I want to believe but I don't know how to make myself believe? How do you make yourself believe if you have no idea how to believe? I want to believe God loves me, but why cant I feel it, obviously cause I don't believe, but I want to believe, why can't I?!
Thadeus
My name is Britt and I'm 22 years old. My husband and I have been married for just over two years and we've been together for 6.
Last year 2 days before Thanksgiving I was clean out the computers recycle bin and I saw all these titles that sounded out of place. So I played them....there was over 30 hours of down loaded porn on our computer. I was devastated, it crushed me in a matter of seconds. I confronted him and at first he lied and then later confessed that it was all his and that he'd been looking at it for years. I had been broken into a million pieces. He promised me that he'd never do it again but because I no longer trusted him I started snooping and checking the site he had been on . I found nothing. I left town for ten days after the first of the year and when I came back I found porn everywhere. This was the last emotional straw for me. I attempted suicide and survived. It scared him terribly and he swore off it forever. Now here we are almost one year later and last night I found it again. I asked about it and admitted right away that is was his. He tried to make it better by saying that he rarely looked at it. But I felt that I could no longer believe anything he said. Less than 24 hours later, here I am. Asking for prayer over my marriage. And that God will guide me. I need to know whether I'm supposed to leave this marriage now. I need God to show me that. Please pray for me. My husband is very against going and getting counseling with me. I believe that he thinks he'll be judge.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your prayers.
God Bless you,
Britt
I was introduced to pornography when I was in elementary school; approximately 35 years ago. Although I became a born again Christian almost 30 years ago, I have continued to struggle in the area of sexual addiction/pornography/masturbation. My prayer request is for healing, restoration and freedom from these areas I continue to struggle with. I am in a men's group for sexual integrity as well as a divorce care class.
Rich
I'm addicted to porn and masturbation. I try not to, but I can't stop. I'm a 34 male I've never been in a serious relationship. I've only been with 3 people in my whole. They were all strange situations the first person time had sex I was 26 years old and she was a married 60 year old woman. I had an affair with her for 2 years. The next person was a prostitute. The last person was my own cousin. What is wrong with me? I just want to die. It seems like I'll never have a wife or even a girlfriend. I'm shy to the point of being scared around women. I come from an abusive childhood and was a drug addict for 13 years but God delivered me from the drinking and drugs. Please pray that I can stop this disgusting habit. A person can't feel good about themselves when they do this.
BH
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Ministry Update and Needs
Outside of the U.S. there are few resources for helping Christians cope with the problems of sex and porn addiction. The Lord has been opening doors for partnerships with us and others in Korea, Germany, the U.K. and South Africa; persons from other countries are also praying about teaming up with us. Please pray that God would build up these teams and provide their needs and that He would continue to open doors.
We are in the process of having the entire Blazing Grace website translated into German in order to provide these resources to the 100 million German speaking persons in Europe. There is a cost involved in having the site translated and having it hosted in Europe.
We have $2,400.00 of billboard expenses between now and the end of the year, and are also hiring a person to help with the office and other responsibilities next month.
By the beginning of 2007 I hope to be able to offer phone conference support groups for wives.
There is a group of ladies who pray for this ministry and each other by phone conference call every Tuesday morning. Prayer is a critical part to this ministry, and we want to add more conference prayer times during the week. Also, I email a weekly prayer update for those who are interested in praying independent of the group.
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Final Words
Unless our relationships are based on God they will end in frantic disillusionment. The cause of it is the demand in human nature for satisfaction. No human being can ever give satisfaction, and when I demand it and do not get it I become cruel and spiteful. When we are rightly related to Jesus Christ human love is transfigured because the last aching abyss of the heart is satisfied; but if the relationship with God is cut our relationship to others is embittered.
Oswald Chambers, from The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers
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I enjoy reading your feedback.
May God’s grace abound to you.
Mike Genung
All material copyright 2006 Mike Genung
