Thursday, April 30, 2015

Christian Values Under Attack!

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Christian Values Under Attack!

The college years are often some of the greatest times of challenge for young people brought up in Christian homes. A college degree is essential for so many occupations. Yet four or more years of college or university often tear young Christians away from their foundation, at times destroying values and beliefs taught them by their parents and their churches.
Is it possible to survive college and hold on to Christian values? If so, what are the keys? And what are the big dangers in college life?

Challenge number one: anti-Christian philosophies

No matter where you go, you will probably have professors who don't share your beliefs, and who may even be openly hostile to them. Humanism and the various forms of Marxism or Communism are still popular philosophies in the world of postsecondary education. And even though these beliefs have less popularity outside of college, you will still need to be prepared to face them.
When I went to university in England, I suddenly found myself in a radical political environment. Those who didn't seek radical political change in some form or other were definitely in the minority. “Leftist” groups of many different stripes seemed to abound. The ideas of famous German philosopher Karl Marx were everywhere. Having never studied Marx before, I became fascinated, and then somewhat pulled in, before I finally (thankfully!) rejected those ideas.
Marx taught that history is driven by conflict between social classes, not by national, racial or religious conflict. The opening words of his Communist Manifesto read as follows: “The history of all … society is a history of class struggles.” From this flows the idea that as lower classes rise up in rebellion against their oppressors, society moves forward toward an ultimate utopia free of class distinctions and injustice.
I came to see the falseness and futility of these ideas. It was the Holy Bible, the Word of God, that helped me to see it. The Bible makes plain that evil isn't determined by who has his hands on the means of production in society. People from lower classes can be just as evil, just as selfish and just as prone to mistreat their neighbors as those from the privileged classes. And overturning it all, as Communists desire, might lead to only loss of freedom, bankrupt economies and, often, far worse abuses of power.
Another very common, but unchristian, philosophy encountered in college is humanism. Essentially, humanists believe “the solution is within us.” They view human nature as inherently good and suggest that humankind's problems would be solved if only the good in us can be coaxed out. Most humanists deny any idea of the uniqueness of man or of life after death.
Again, humanism conflicts with what the Bible teaches us. The prophet Jeremiah made it very clear when he declared, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23) and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Of course, God knows this and is willing to help us change, once we make the choice to live the way He commands. King David of Israel discovered this and wrote of the changed heart in Psalm 51. Praying to God, he said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (verse 10).
The solutions taught on many college campuses are really misleading. Humanity can't make it without God's help, no matter how reasonable the proposed solution may sound or how radical it may be!

Challenge number two: drugs and alcohol

A recent survey found that 49.7 percent of college students reported participating in “binge drinking” (defined as five or more drinks in one sitting) in the two weeks prior to completing the survey. The same survey showed that 64.5 percent had experienced a hangover from excessive drinking, 55.3 percent reported having been nauseated or vomiting, 40.5 percent had “done something I later regretted” and 12.3 percent reported they had been taken advantage of sexually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Of all the students in the survey who had experienced unwanted sexual intercourse, 82.6 percent said they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when this occurred, while 76 percent of those reporting unwanted sexual touching said they were under the influence at the time (2001 Statistics on Alcohol and Other Drug Use on American Campuses ).
Abuse of alcohol and drugs is a big problem among college students. So what's a Christian to do? The Word of God makes it plain: “Hear, my son, and be wise … Do not mix with winebibbers [in other words, avoid the parties where people are getting drunk or taking drugs!] … for the drunkard … will come to poverty” (Proverbs 23:19 -21).
And don't forget that you can always get up and leave. If the drugs begin to circulate or people are getting drunk, the Christian can always say, “Thank you for the invitation, but I have to leave now.” You might be surprised to see others get up and leave with you!

Challenge number three: sexual immorality

Recent research shows fewer high school students are having sex now compared to 10 years ago and that the majority of high school graduates are virgins. But the picture changes drastically in college.
A report in the December 2001 issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that 71 percent of unmarried college students reported being sexually experienced. Breaking it down further, 64 percent reported one sexual partner in the 30 days prior to the survey, while 30 percent reported no sexual partners in that time. Presumably, the remaining 6 percent had been with two or more partners in the month prior to the survey.
College will present challenges to young Christians wanting to remain morally pure! Perhaps the greatest challenge to your character and determination will come in this area. How can you protect yourself?
First, choose your environment carefully. It may be wise to stay at home or with close relatives while in college. That way you can avoid the noise, drugs and excessive drinking you would have to face in many college dorms.
If you're going away from home, it's a good idea to find roommates with whom you share certain basic values. Look for people you'll get along with and who will commit to having no drugs, no illegal or excessive drinking and no boyfriend or girlfriend sleepovers. Sit down and discuss these things with potential roommates before committing to sharing a room with them.
If there's no choice but to live in a dorm, you might try to find one where other Christians are living. Fraternities and sororities are often the most free-living dorms, and should usually be avoided. But there are fraternities and sororities that are organized on a set of values, such as service to the community or basic Christian morality.
Anything you can do to be in the company of people who will help you maintain your Christian values is something to be pursued. The Bible tells us that “evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Corinthians 15:33), and, conversely, that “whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20, New Revised Standard Version). Like it or not, we're all heavily influenced by the company we keep.

A source of help: true Christian fellowship

One of the big keys to holding on to your Christian faith during the college years is the Church. Keep going to Church! In fact, during this time when your faith is being assaulted, you really need more time with like-minded Christians than you did before. Spiritual camaraderie and adding to your Christian knowledge offer tremendous encouragement.
Hold on to your source of strength during your college years. Take the time for prayer, for study of the Scriptures and for true Christian fellowship to help you through. Build the bonds in Christ, and survive the college years—with your Christian faith not just intact, but strengthened! VT

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Youth Violence:Where Does the Blame Really Lie?

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Youth Violence

Where Does the Blame Really Lie?

Posted by Howard Davis

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In the 1960s, Bill Roberts went from youthful innocence to the killing fields of Vietnam in months. Now, 30 years later, Bill has again felt an adrenaline rush like the deadly terror of guerrilla warfare he experienced long ago. This brush with death was not a war in Southeast Asia. It was in Portland, Oregon, a prosperous Northwest American city of one and a half million. And the enemy wasn’t Vietnamese guerrillas, but gun-toting gang members in a schoolyard.

Bill Roberts is now a school principal, caring for my children. He is still a soldier, but in a social crisis which has shed America’s innocence. His battleground runs throughout the underside of our culture. His war is the deadly explosion of youth violence that began some 20 years ago and is shouted in newspaper headlines around the country today.

Within the United States the prison population—which is comprised predominately of young men—is up to some 1,750,000, up from 750,000 in only 10 years. Youth violence now pulsates throughout American life. No one—rich or poor, white or minority, urban or rural—seems to be immune.

Easy targets for solutions are hard to come by because the American problem with youth violence is not primarily a trend fueled by desperation and poverty. It is mainly driven by a culture in which children treat human beings as if they are of no more value than the electronic video-game figures youngsters kill off by the hour for their self-amusement.

With the lines between fantasy and reality confused and blurred, some American youths have been sent the unmistakable message that it is entertaining to kill. The two teenage gunmen who killed and maimed 35 students and teachers at Colorado’s Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, were reported to have laughed at times as they roamed the classrooms and halls gunning down their victims.

Some have clearly begun to think that killing real people is no big deal. They have learned, after all, that the goal of life is self-amusement anyway.

Yet, strangely, many violent teens are possessed of a sense of invincibility. Not only do they have no fear of God, they have little fear or understanding that they could be killed as easily as the fictional characters on a video-game screen. Sadly, many will be.

Epidemic of violence

After a 15-year-old confessed to the May 1998 school shooting of 22 students and his parents in Springfield, Oregon, commentators pointed out that explosive violence had crept from the poor, inner-city communities in the 1980s and early ’90s onto the manicured lawns of suburbia and the rural settings idealized in the American dream. Not only is homicide now one of the greatest risks to our youngsters, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, it has progressively permeated the national landscape. The epidemic of gun violence began to peak among youth in the late 1980s, decimating a predominately poor minority generation of inner city residents, according to James Garbarino, director of the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University.

National Council on Crime and Delinquency President Barry Krisberg notes a difference in today’s profile of youth violence. Recent mass murder attempts and episodes “had nothing to do with drugs or guns,” he said. “Some were from affluent communities and intact families.”

In the last six years, 11 of 12 mass shootings with multiple victims happened in cities with populations under 80,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report nine of these were cities with less than a population of 52,000.

Initial studies indicate a shift in violent youth behavior from the low socioeconomic stereotype. Harvard School of Public Health professor Deborah Prothrow-Stith characterizes the movement of youth violence from poor urban communities to the rest of the population and regions as an effect similar to any other epidemic. “It’s the second wave,” she said. “First [it strikes] the most vulnerable community, and then it spreads.” There is also an explosion of copycat acts. In one study, 25 percent of young violent felons said they got the specific idea for their violent activity directly from television. “I can do that” is the remark attributed to the 15-year-old Oregon shooter in a conversation two months earlier to his school bus driver when he heard about the school massacre by two youths in Paducah, Kentucky.

Murders committed by teens age 14 to 17 tripled between 1976 and 1993 and then dropped somewhat, according to University of Oregon sociology department chairman Robert O’Brien. However, observers point out that upward trends in youth violence may be masked somewhat by imprisonment, aggressive policing and a dynamic national economy.

A childhood jungle

Youth violence is, at its core, an outgrowth of an American crisis of values. Successful parenting requires values flowing from a firm commitment to children—a commitment that requires time, attention and resources. In their absence, children grow up in a hostile jungle.

It doesn’t have to be so.

Consistent, nurturing guidance of children works. Demonstrating love works. These parental commitments help stop violence through prevention. They require a child-centered approach that touches the spirit of the child rather than a manipulation of material circumstances masquerading as attention. A central message of Jesus Christ regarding children is that they are to be loved because “of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). He showed that true love works. The explosion of youth violence is a clear warning that time is running out to begin practicing Christ’s approach.

Most youth violence comes from environments where violent adult behavior is modeled and acted out in what Barry Krisberg calls a widespread “nihilistic culture that does not promote community and social values.”

Not only are right values ignored, but wrong values are often celebrated. “Go to the movies and listen to the music,” says Krisberg. “It’s violent, it has misogynist content. There’s gross materialism and no ennobling values celebrated.”

A new battleground

The war of youth violence continues in many communities around the country. At Bill Roberts’ Portland school ground, a battle almost erupted because a 12-year-old student had grabbed a basketball away from a gang member.

A few days later, school was just letting out when the gang arrived with revolvers under coats and dozens of umbrellas tipped with blades. They were ready for the boy.

What surprised Roberts and led him to instinctively sense he might witness a murder was the bizarre readiness of this 12-year-old with no violent history to take on the gang single-handedly.

As the boy raced out the front door toward the gang, Roberts grabbed him, handing him to two assistants who restrained the youth in the principal’s office while Bill confronted the gang.

In schools across the nation, principals experience such potentially deadly conflicts daily. Although this situation passed without harm, Roberts is sure he will see similar problems again. And he fears America becoming another Vietnam.

The tentacles of youth violence have also traveled across the Atlantic and the Pacific into most other parts of the Western world. Take the United Kingdom as a case in point. In some British schools youth violence and disrespect for authority have clearly gotten out of control. One East Anglican instructor wrote an article entitled “How We Teachers Have Lost Control of the Classroom” (Sunday Telegraph). He said that there is only one target that matters: “reducing violence in schools.”

Need for spiritually motivated love Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose leadership helped the American military and its allies emerge victorious in 1991’s Operation Desert Storm, has said the problem of troubled youth is the greatest threat to the future of the United States.

Today’s youth violence has roots in a parental culture that has spiritually abandoned them. More money, expensive schools and government programs run by well-meaning bureaucrats cannot substitute for parental love. Western nations so often look to institutional programs for salvation from social crises, but this is one money can’t buy.

The 15 million children living in poverty are not alone in a landscape of emotional, interpersonal and spiritual impoverishment. Many children in the world’s more prosperous nations are growing up without enriching values conveyed by the intimacy of sacrificial parental love.

Many of them have no concept of the sanctity of life—even their own. “This is the way we want to go out,” read the suicide note from Columbine High School gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 13 others in a rampage of bullets and homemade bombs before they turned their guns on themselves.

Having had materialism substituted for love, many of today’s children possess no comprehension of an overriding purpose to life, no sense that life is about much more than today’s wants and needs. They have scarce knowledge of an Almighty God with endless love who holds out a special purpose and destiny for each person—man, woman and child alike. Regrettably, these devastating social trends affect almost all segments of society. Even professing Christians aren’t immune, with divorce and abuse characteristics often equal to the secular population. Too many political and religious leaders alike have largely abandoned belief in absolute standards such as those that flow from the immutable law of God that equally condemn abusive male authority and the sexual promiscuity that almost inevitably leads to single parenthood.

As a result, America’s children drink deeply of a chaotic jumble of relative values which mingles pleasure-seeking materialism with self-destructive and aggressive behavior.

Serious consequences

The Creator of all humankind said He would abandon the nation whose parents refuse to retain the spiritual knowledge flowing from the law of God and His authority to define right and wrong.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you… Because you have forgotten the law of our God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6, emphasis added).

Youth violence is not a mystery. It is a mistake, a sin and a tragedy for all concerned. But the good news is that the spiritual principles that have always worked still continue to work. Families, communities, societies and nations don’t have to be destroyed if they will only seek the spiritual knowledge that shows us how to truly express love.

Societies and national cultures can change. In the case of America’s crisis of youth violence, the problem begins in the home. It is here that parents must first learn about and then begin to nurture a family culture based on biblical values. Love, if it’s genuine, always works.

The Spirit of Violence

To many of today’s secular prophets, the frightening trends of youth violence are a harbinger of a coming social crisis of biblical proportions if not reversed.

A spirit of violence and death pervades American media and entertainment. Dysfunctional, violent and aggressive lifestyles increasingly bring to mind the decay of earlier civilizations and societies and the warnings of the biblical prophets.

While our youth may experience violence of epic proportions as the next century unfolds, this is no new story. The Bible describes periods of pervasive violence. Ezekiel prophesied to a generation in Jerusalem that was later wiped out in one of the most violent periods of Old Testament history: “Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness… The land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence” (Ezekiel 7:11, 23-24).

The social crises underlying the violence then and now are the same. The American problem can be traced in large part to a breakdown of family structure and cohesion. The Bible pinpoints this breakdown as a fundamental cause of violence: “…The LORD was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did not one God make her? …And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless” (Malachi 2:14-16, New Revised Standard Version).

A Generation of Abandonment

Some have described American children as “a generation of rage.” Surrounded with materialism, the typical child may look healthy materially—but so many are emotionally abandoned to somehow find meaning in things which destroy the mind, heart and spirit.

Parallel with children finding meaning in violent entertainment is a meltdown in fatherhood.

While the average American child watches 220 minutes of television each day, he spends only three to eight minutes interacting face-to-face with his father—if he lives with one. Some have made the point that in the absence of a father’s presence television is actually parenting many of our children.

Approximately one in four children grow up with a single mother; another quarter with a stepfather. But even those with natural fathers in the home are often profoundly alienated. Struggling with ignorance of child development and nurturing skills, many fathers are unknowingly laying the groundwork for a future national mental health crisis. Most people are unaware of the connection between deteriorating psychological health, the absence of strong nurturing fathers and youth violence.

An epidemic of childhood mental health problems leaves increasing numbers of children, especially boys, prone to violent behavior.

Kip Kinkle, the 15-year-old who admitted to gunning down 22 students in Oregon, was diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and learning disability (LD) when he was 11. New York developmental psychologist Myriam Miedzian noted Kinkle was “given easy access to guns but not to effective treatment.”

“ADHD is six to nine times as prevalent among boys as among girls, mental retardation nearly twice as prevalent, and autism three times and conduct disorder four to 12 times as prevalent,” says Miedzian. “As a result, boys are at greater risk for violent behavior.”

From 1975 to 1990, the percentage of youths in the United States in need of professional mental health services nearly doubled, from 10 percent to 18 percent, said James Garbarino, Family Life Development Center director at Cornell University.

Some psychologists estimate 40 percent of the jail population and 30 percent of delinquent boys suffer from learning disabilities. “Not only do most high-risk children go untreated, they see more than 10,000 TV murders by the age 18,” says Miedzian.

Not all of these trends in deteriorating youth mental health are attributed to genetic factors. Many now believe that young children, when lied to and disappointed enough by caregivers, exhibit a kind of schizophrenia. In a process called “crazymaking,” children who are told they are loved by abusive or negligent parents learn to disassociate themselves from primary relationships. This can happen to children of wealth as well as children of poverty. Some experts see those youth obsessed with television exhibiting characteristics of attachment disorder, with “the tube” becoming their main reference in life.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Rampaging girl gangs

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World News and Trends

Rampaging girl gangs

Posted by John Ross Schroeder, Scott Ashley 0 comments Estimated reading time: 1 minute

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Nick Peters reported from Washington, D.C., for The Sunday Times (of London) that “gun-toting girl gangs stake claim to America's streets.” Significantly, he notes, “the arrest rate for teenage girls is now twice that of teenage boys. In some areas of the country, girls account for nearly 25 percent of violent juvenile crime, including murder, robbery with violence—even rape.”
This article unwittingly revealed that the cause of much of this macabre behavior is the breaking of God's law in the home: “At the core of the crisis are home lives where violence, sexual abuse and drug taking are commonplace.” (Source: The Sunday Times .)

Friday, April 24, 2015

New York City Establishes Gay High School

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In Brief...World News Review

New York City Establishes Gay High School

Posted by Cecil Maranville, Jim Tuck 0 comments Estimated reading time: 1 minute

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Controversy exploded in the United States when New York City public education officials announced the opening of a new high school for “gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered youth,” which they designate by the acronym GLBT.
Named Harvey Milk High School, after an openly gay San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978, the school actually began in 1984. Now, however, officials, using taxpayer dollars, are renovating a building for the exclusive use of the GLBT school, which will open with 100 students this fall.
The school's first official principal, William Salzman, says, “The school will be a model for the country and possibly for the world.”
The city's rationale for creating the school is that children with these sexual orientations are not safe in regular public schools, where they suffer violent harassment from other students. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Associated Press, “I think everybody feels that it's a good idea because some of the kids who are gay and lesbian have been constantly harassed and beaten in other schools.”
However, not “everybody” feels it's a good idea.
Joseph Farah comments: “I don't believe this would be happening now without the U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating the anti-sodomy law in Texas. Now the homosexual activists are working at a fever pitch to transform Western civilization. Indoctrinating the next generation is an important step in that process…
“Do you see where our culture is headed? Do you now understand what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was warning about in his dissent in the Texas sodomy case?”
—Sources: Mark Goebel, “New York Expands GLBT Public School,” July 28, 2003, PlanetOut Corporation; Joseph Farah, “The 1st Homosexual School,” July 29, 2003, WorldNetDaily.com.

Friday, April 17, 2015

The Road to Infamy

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The Road to Infamy

article by Gary Petty

He was a successful businessman and a war hero. But then something went terribly wrong.

Things looked bleak for the fledgling American Revolution. After Bunker Hill the Continental Army seemed to lose every encounter with the British. The revolution was in need of a hero.
Ben, a Connecticut lad, was a leading merchant in the colony. He not only ran a successful mercantile, but owned a fleet of ships and was an accomplished sea captain. His sense of honor and business acumen gave him an aura of confidence. Acquaintances said he appeared arrogant, and he occasionally sought solutions through dueling.
As his business fortunes rose so did his resentment of British taxation. Smuggling was an acceptable means to evade taxation. Ben became an outspoken leader of the liberty movement. His articulate and passionate letters appeared in local newspapers.
When war broke out Ben was elected captain of the local militia. He promptly organized them into an effective fighting force and presented a bold plan for seizing the British forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. The plan was accepted and the expedition successful, although Ben was in constant conflict with fellow officers.
Because of the nation's lack of hard currency, Ben spent a large sum of personal money financing the campaign. Added to his financial hardships was the tragedy of his wife's sudden death. Ben contained his sorrow by dedicating himself to the revolution.
About this time Ben caught the attention of George Washington. The General saw through Ben's bluster and tactlessness and recognized him as a leader and good tactician. Ben had come up with a plan to invade Canada and make it a fourteenth colony. Washington gave him the pick of the army.
The hardships of the Canadian expedition were overwhelming. Upon reaching Quebec Ben's troops united with another column under General Richard Montgomery. In the ensuing battle Montgomery was killed and Ben wounded. During the harsh winter retreat, Ben's leadership held the army together.
Returning home, Ben found himself faced with charges because he had forced Canadian merchants to give food to his starving army. To his wounded pride this was a bitter pill. He demanded an inquiry, and, after an investigation, the charges were dropped.
Without a command, and on his own initiative, Ben constructed a small fleet of ships on Lake Champlain. In October 1776 he attacked and defeated a larger British fleet. A few days later Ben and a small group of men held off the British fleet from a scuttled ship while the Americans retreated.
By now Ben had been promoted to brigadier general. He was sure that he was next in line for promotion to major general. The Continental Congress, being politicians, felt that generals should be more evenly distributed from among all the colonies. New England, they felt, had more than its share. So the next major generals would have to come from the southern colonies.
Ben was livid and resigned in response to this decision. However, Washington convinced him to stay. Because Ben was instrumental in defeating a British force in battle, Congress was obliged to give him the promotion. But there was no army for him to command. Ben got into an argument with his commanding officer and was fired. He enlisted as a common soldier and was seriously wounded in the Second Battle of Saratoga.
As he recovered Ben was given command of the garrison in Philadelphia. Tired after having spent much of his personal fortune on the war effort, as well as having been wounded twice, Ben decided to enjoy the fruits of his labors. Ben lived extravagantly. It wasn't long until British sympathizers used his lifestyle to bring charges against him. He was commanded to appear before a court martial.
Ben was exonerated on all charges, given a mild reprimand to please the politicians, and given back his command. But this was the last straw. The young patriot, ablest of generals and loved by his men, became bitter, disillusioned, and it was at this point that Ben...Benedict Arnold...betrayed his country.
Mention the name of Benedict Arnold today and nobody remembers his victories and bravery, only the crime of treason.

The seeds of disillusionment

What causes a person to betray his own ideals? For a person to betray everything he loves and believes he must first feel betrayed.
Benedict Arnold felt stabbed in the back by jealous fellow officers. He had charges brought against him by British sympathizers. Congress refused to refund money he had spent out of his pocket for war expenses. Eventually, he convinced himself that the leaders of the revolution were incompetent and he lost faith in the cause of liberty.
Once we allow bitterness over another person's actions or words to set in we become consumed with self-justice. Arnold's disillusionment in the revolution was rooted in his concern with personal injustices both real and perceived. Always a prideful man, Arnold's pride became more important than his values.
Pride is a great deceiver. It makes us forget our goal and centers our attention on what we feel we deserve because of our own effort and sacrifice. It changes the focus from how we treat others to how others treat us. Issues are replaced with personalities. Character, the internal force to do right, becomes easily manipulated by a drive to be vindicated no matter what the price.
A wise man once wrote, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (Proverbs:11:2 NIV).

When you feel betrayed

All of us have been misused or betrayed by a family member, friend, employer, organization, even a church. We can internalize the hurt caused by others until the memory of betrayal controls our thoughts and emotions. At times we allow the faults or abuse of others to weaken our commitment to our own values or even our faith in God.
A Canaanite woman came to Jesus asking for her daughter to be healed. Imagine her surprise when Jesus ignored her. His disciples asked Jesus to send her away. Jesus finally addressed her by saying, "It is not good to take the children's bread and give it to the little dogs."
If anyone ever seemed to have the "right" to feel betrayed it was this woman. Jesus, the one many claimed was the Messiah, had ignored her. His disciples were rude and seemed prejudiced against Canaanites. She could have become disillusioned, claiming Jesus to be a fraud.
Instead, she answered, "True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Jesus commended her faith and healed her daughter (Matthew:15:21-28). The Canaanite woman's faith couldn't be swayed by the actions of others. She was too aware of her total dependency upon God.
If beliefs and values are based in spiritual reality, they can't be changed by the imperfections of people. Benedict Arnold felt betrayed by human beings. He responded by betraying his own values and ideals. He serves as a warning on the road to infamy.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

This Is The Way... "God Hasn't Told Me to Leave"

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This Is The Way... "God Hasn't Told Me to Leave"

article by Robin Webber

If you only have men who will come only if there is a good road, I do not want them. I want those who will come if there is no road at all.

Right now, the little country of Haiti is on the world's radar screen for at least a couple of weeks. Once again, this one-time financial jewel of the long-ago French Empire has had another change of government, which is about as common as the annual hurricane season.
The most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere is once again experiencing a frightening cycle of violence and destruction.
By the time you read this column, the nation of Haiti and its inhabitants may already be fading into the recesses of our minds as the bigger headlines of the American political season, a potential trade war between the European Union and America, issues over Iraq and the same-sex marriage phenomenon claim the bold type on our news pages. Awareness of Haiti's plight will again dim for perhaps a few more years until the next volcanic eruption of spoil, greed and corruption spews from a would-be dictator.
Values that guide beyond the bullets
But I've got a story to tell you that can't wait. It is a story of courage—of men and women with a calling that moves beyond common sense. This is a sense of duty based on faith toward God and devotion to those less fortunate. As I was thumbing through the front section of my Saturday newspaper, skimming over the headlines, I came upon an article that grabbed my attention. It made me ask, "What would I do?"
The article, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times of Feb. 28, is titled "Standing on Faith, Some U.S. Citizens Stay in Haiti." Times staff writer John-Thor Dahlburg guides us beyond the bullets, fires and throngs of angry people into the rock-solid value system that allows some to stand and not run.
Before I picked up the paper that morning, I was thinking of the fate of the Haitian people. I had heard that the rebel guerrillas were slowly but surely approaching the capital of this nation of 7.5 million people. As is often the case, a state of anarchy was created. A decade ago, in my own city of Los Angeles, when much of the city exploded in riot and anarchy ruled the darkness, violence spilled over into areas thought to be previously untouchable. I remember the next day as the freeways were clogged with cars trying to make it home to safety before darkness would once again unleash lawlessness. No cars were headed into the city—only out! Mr. Dahlburg's article speaks of people who never left the storm, and it spoke volumes to me.
Knowing why you risk loving
Dahlburg describes a political climate in which the embassies of nations have been shuttered for a week and all foreigners have been encouraged to evacuate. The U.S. embassy at the time of his report had sent all nonessential personnel away. Marines guard the premises in machine-gun nests. He then focuses our attention on what may be the largest professional base of U.S. citizens left in the country, missionaries. These are individuals emotionally tied to the people they serve and philosophically attuned to the risk they are undertaking.
Susan Hill, a Buffalo, New York, native and office manager of the largest nondenominational church in the country, put it this way: "If we leave, we are saying that our trust no longer is in our God, and the needs of the people are not important." Linda Counts, another church aid worker, who along with her husband, Tom, runs a free English-language school in the carport of their Port-au-Prince home, puts it bluntly: "What's keeping us here is knowing that if we walked out, things would just completely fall apart."
She knows firsthand what can occur when she and her husband go home for just two months' leave. One boy almost died during their absence because he was reduced to eating dirt.
Reporter Dahlburg quotes U.S. embassy spokeswoman Judith Trunzo: "First we asked people to consider leaving, then we asked them to make plans for leaving, then we told them to leave!"
Susan Hill told Mr. Dahlburg, "Not a single person wanted to leave. They were crying as they left." But the facts are that most of the larger religious organizations withdrew their missionaries and educators as the news grew worse and worse. Unlike the many missionaries who are supported by major organizations, Tom and Linda Counts remained. They support their English-language school through their own retirement account, which is monitored by a board of trustees composed of other family members. The board simply trusts their judgment. Reporter Dahlburg captures the Counts' determination: "When we said we are going to stay, the board said, 'Go for it!'"
"If you faint in the day of adversity"
Long ago a mission board wrote to David Livingston: "Have you found a good road to where you are in Africa? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you."
Livingston responded: "If you only have men who will come only if there is a good road, I do not want them. I want those who will come if there is no road at all."
If you will allow me, let's take Livingston's thought a step further. What if once you get there, having blazed the road, you now know the way out as well as the way in? In other words, you know right where the emergency exit is when the fires of life break out. Some people in Haiti recently had to decide if they would head for the exit to save themselves. God asks us to figure out what we are really made of.
In Proverbs:24:10-12, we are challenged to consider: "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?"
Long ago in Persia, a certain Jewess named Esther had to make a determination whether to hide behind her role as the queen of Persia, or stand up for what she was and make a difference for others about to be overrun by their enemies. Humanly, it had to be tempting to shrink away and slip out of sight into the confines of her palace.
But her cousin Mordecai reminded her: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther:4:13-14).
"The good Shepherd vs. the hireling"
The Bible is plain about the fact that the people of God have never been promised reserved seating in the soft-cushion section of life. On the contrary, they have been challenged to rise to the challenges of life and follow the example of Jesus Christ as found in His own words in John:10:11-14:
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own."
It's been said that dedication is signing your name on the bottom of a blank check and handing it over to God to fill in as it pleases Him. That's what each of us do when we commit ourselves to follow Jesus Christ. We not only accept His death for us, but also say we will strive to live His life in us—the life of one who cares for others, in spite of what it might entail for us. That life is exactly opposite of the life of the hireling who is looking for the closest escape route available. I think the people in Haiti that are acquainted with Susan Hill and Tom and Linda Counts know that they aren't "hirelings," because they are still there in the thick of the troubles.
Haiti can be a state of mind
Perhaps the bigger question is the headlines, or rather the "heart-lines" that you are making in your own life. For you see, "Haiti" can actually be a state of mind. Life can seem out of control and just as turbulent as any Port-au-Prince street scene you have viewed. Just like Haiti, it may seem as if the swirling state of affairs threatens to overwhelm you. And, right now, all you know is that you want a "one-way ticket" out of despair.
But what will you leave behind? All Linda Counts could remember is the little boy eating dirt. What will you remember? Or are you even thinking of that person—be it your mate, child, parent or good friend? Do those who need you know you are sticking with them for the long haul? And that nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to separate you from your care and concern for them?
Before you answer, allow me to acquaint you, courtesy of Dahlburg's article, with one more person with a story. Her name is Dorothy Diehl. She is a 59-year-old former supermarket manager from Bethel, Ohio, who now distributes Creole-language Bibles and operates a mobile health clinic in the Haitian countryside. She, too, has not had any seats reserved for her in the soft-cushion seating row of life. Dahlburg reports how Diehl had to run gauntlets of armed thugs to escort a departing couple to Port-au-Prince and how her Chevrolet's windshield was almost smashed in by youths as she left the airport.
Nothing is holding her there. She's free to decide whether to depart. But you see, she is waiting for notification from just one more source. In her statement we can hear the echo of the millennial refrain of Isaiah:30:21, "This is the way, walk in it." Dorothy Diehl says it this way, because her faith is bigger than her eyes: "God sent me to Haiti, and God hasn't told me to leave."
For her, it was for such a time as this that she came to Haiti. We, too, need to be sure we're waiting on God's voice. WNP

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Dealing With Money Problems

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/ or call 1-888-886-8632. Please follow this site here.

Dealing With Money Problems

Money in one form or another has been around and valued highly by most for thousands of years. But money, debt and finances have also been the source of many personal and family problems over those years. What does the practical wisdom of the Bible teach us about how to deal with money problems?
Skip, a Christian from California, relates this story:

"We were not making enough money to cover our needs. My wife had quit her job because I thought that I was the one who should be the principal income maker. Our income went from $14,000 per year in 1971 to $6,000 a year in 1972. We needed help.
"The first thing we did was to seek counsel. After that we both sat down and admitted that this would have to be a mutual effort. Together we would succeed or fail. Then we prayed, together.
"At this point we wrote down everything that we really needed to live. Since I had a job, I needed to get to work. I had a car and it needed gas, but I didn't need to stop before work for coffee. We wrote down exactly what we needed and did not need and discussed this with each other.
"Many things then became wants and not needs.
"We had no children yet, so we could evaluate a bit more ruthlessly on items like food. All expensive items were eliminated; basics became normal. Shopping is not a pastime if you are in survival mode! Soups and casseroles were standard, and nothing was wasted. Lunch was often leftover dinner from the night before.
"If you have a job, thank God and tithe on your increase! We did. I had trained and studied to become a teacher, but there were few, if any, openings in 1976 and 1977.
"It became disheartening, but with my God-given, vigorous good health and working at all the labor jobs that I could find, we managed to almost scrape by—actually going into the hole a little each month. Things got worse before they got better.
"And then that recession was over, and school districts started hiring again. I had gotten my credentials in 1975 but hadn't even looked for a teaching job that year. But as soon as I interviewed for a teaching job in 1978, I was told that one awaited me at the beginning of the spring semester 1979.
"Were there lessons I needed to learn before God answered yes to our prayers for a good job? They are too numerous to recite! But in retrospect, not having much money was a valuable training program for when we were blessed with more money. You can't really remember what you never went through."

Share Your Story

What Does the Bible Say About Money?

How long has money been around? Probably ever since there were more people than one extended family. The Bible tells about various financial transactions Abraham made about 4,000 years ago (Genesis 13:2; 14:20; 20:16; 23:9). It is obvious Abraham was a rich man, but he was also a generous, good man.
Does God object to riches?

Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

If God gives riches, obviously money isn't bad in itself, and He does not object to wealth.
What isn't good in God's sight?

Matthew 6:24, 33
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon...
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
1 Timothy 6:9-10
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Trusting in riches or wealth is wrong. Serving mammon (the New International Version translates this "Money") and not God is wrong. Greediness is absolutely wrong. But can we enjoy both God and the correct bounty of this world? We can if we do things God's way. Matthew 6:33 indicates that God can and will bless us abundantly if we get the right perspective in our mind.
Why aren't many of God's people rich or wealthy?

1 Corinthians 1:26, 29
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called...
that no flesh should glory in His presence.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

God has not chosen to call many of the "important" or famous people of the world now, but to use the weak and the poor to demonstrate that it is God who makes a difference in our lives. "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31).
Paul's instructions to Timothy tell us that some Christians were rich. But his warnings give some hints about the spiritual problems being wealthy can cause. Unfortunately when and if we strike it rich, we tend to take credit ourselves and not give credit to God. On the other hand, if we have had to struggle a bit, we have a much better chance of learning that the race is not always to the swift. As a result, we just might more easily and readily thank God.
Can there be real problems with having more than enough money?

Mark 10:21-27
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"
And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?"
But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."

What if God asks us to give up the good life? This parable shows a real challenge that a wealthy Christian could face.
The world around us bases financial decisions on self-interest—and even blatant greed. But what underlying attitude does the Bible teach?

Acts 20:35
"I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

The apostle Paul showed by his own example and by a quote from Jesus Christ that we should live a way of give, rather than basing all our decisions on what we can get. We can give to others in need and give gifts to show our love. We are also instructed to give tithes and offerings to God, since everything we have comes from Him in the first place (Malachi 3:8-9; Matthew 23:23). Offerings state to God that we know where our blessings really come from.

Using Money Wisely

Is there a correct sequence for living life?

Proverbs 24:27
Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house.

The New Living Bible translates this: "Develop your business first before building your house."
God anticipated that people could become infatuated before they had established a trade or profession. Worrying about having a good, solid job might seem somewhat mundane when you're in love, but you still need to earn a living! Get a good education, the best that you can, but don't end up being a perennial student with lots of smarts and no real wisdom.
Having good skills and good work habits will help in finding and keeping a good job. And work is a vital aspect of the training program God has for us in this life. See also our lessons on "Job Satisfaction and the Value of Work" and "Dealing With Unemployment."
What should we do to avoid money problems? How can we make sure we spend our money correctly?

Proverbs 22:3
A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

A major part of financial wisdom involves planning. Have a budget and follow it. We publish a practical and helpful booklet titled Managing Your Finances that will help you begin to formulate your own personal plan or budget. Seeking wisdom from God, His Bible and wise counselors can help us avoid problems or map out a way through those problems.
Does God encourage saving?

Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Saving for a rainy day (Proverbs 6:6-11) and providing an inheritance are two things for which God encourages us to save money.
What do we need to do to improve our financial situation and prepare for the future?

Proverbs 27:23-27
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds; for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.
When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field; you shall have enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the nourishment of your maidservants.

God encourages us to be diligent in our work and in attending to our personal property and financial situation. When we do, our fleeting life will not become a mad scramble to meet our needs in the retirement years.
What are some specific financial steps to take to avoid problems?

Romans 13:1-2, 6
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves...
For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.
Exodus 21:33-34
"And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his."

God expects us to pay taxes and obey the laws of the land we live in. We should also work hard to avoid accidents (usually involving cars, not oxen, today). But it is also wise, and often required, to have insurance in case of accidents. Insurance is also a cost that proves its value should you somehow run afoul of a litigious person who intends to sue you for everything you've got.

Avoiding Pitfalls

What does the Bible say about debt and credit?

Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Why does God state that "the borrower is servant to the lender"? Because it is simply true! Become frugal and ignore the pleas on TV that state, "You owe it to yourself!" You will end up owing everybody who talks you into believing that lie. If you don't need it, don't buy it. If you do need it, look for a sale. Sometimes, like waiting 15 minutes after a meal to have dessert, you find you don't really want it at all.
What is a credit card? A device that unlocks your personal wealth and gives it to others. Okay, most people in the Western world need at least one credit card to rent a car or establish a solid financial history. Credit cards can also be helpful to cover short-term costs for a legitimate emergency. But do not ever think that the company who gave you the credit card has your best interest at heart. Unless it is the interest you will pay!
If you are in debt, make a plan for getting out of debt as quickly as possible. Managing Your Finances has practical information on paying off credit-card debt, avoiding debt, a "buying self-test" and a sidebar on "credit counseling services."
Can money can be a test?

Luke 12:16-21
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
"And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'
"So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
"'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'
"But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
"So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

In this parable the person obviously was successful, but instead of thanking God for such a blessing and sharing it appropriately with others, he chose to really protect his investment like Fort Knox. God saw his plan and changed it by simply requiring that man's life that night.
All we have said about planning and even saving is true, but if it is all only for self, as this man's plan was, it can be all for naught. "One's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15).
What is it that people really want that money can't buy?

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Our consumer culture emphasizes what we don't have, but God wants us to recognize and be content with what we do have (Philippians 4:11-13). Being content, thankful and reliant on God will help us to have peace of mind. And isn't peace what people really want? You can have peace of mind and satisfaction that you have lived your life as God intended.
If we seek God's Kingdom first and foremost and if we diligently search God's Word daily, asking God to help us understand His truth, then we will be given resources now, brimful and overflowing, and eternal life later.
That is certainly more than money can buy.

Apply Now

There is much more to this subject than we could cover in this lesson. Our free booklet Managing Your Finances gives even more practical information that can really help. Click on the link to read, download or order a printed copy now.
Please especially read the practical and helpful chapter "Keys to Successful Money Management" and use the accompanying charts, "Determining Your Net Worth" and "Monthly Income and Expense Worksheet," to help you plan and manage your budget. Even if you have never planned a budget before, these tools can help make it simple and effective.
Also, if you are having money problems, then let our heavenly Father know about it now. Yes, He already knows, but He appreciates hearing your sincere prayer. And don't reject His response! Humbly work at what you can until your plans for financial success begin to pay off.
Questions about this lesson? Feedback about this lesson?
Related Resources:
Managing Your Finances
Managing Your Finances in Tough Times: Five Steps You Can Take
Five Steps to Teach Your Children Money Management
How can I avoid credit card traps and eliminate debt problems?
What can I do to increase my job security in an uncertain job market?
Successful Failure
Getting Control of Your Money
The Debt Trap: How Do I Get Free?
Will Global Economic Turmoil Precede Jesus Christ's Return?
Your Best Investment for Financial Security

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A Campus Dilemma: Mixing Alcohol with Education

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/ or call 1-888-886-8632. Please follow this site here.

A Campus Dilemma: Mixing Alcohol with Education

article by Graemme Marshall

A recent near-riot at the Queen's University's 'Homecoming' in Kingston, Ontario, Canada raises the question, should education be routinely mixed with alcohol?

A recent near-riot at the Queen's University's 'Homecoming' in Kingston, Ontario, Canada raises the question, should education be routinely mixed with alcohol?
The Kingston Whig-Standard's front page headline (September 27, 2005) reads: "Next year use water cannons, mayor says. City, police vow changes in '06". This appeared the day after a partying crowd of 7,000 students hit the streets. Some burned a car; others pelted police and fire crews with bottles.
The evening for celebrating the 'Homecoming' at Queen's University began with small front-yard parties that grew into a huge, lawless mob smashing bottles and leaving pavements covered in broken glass. The violent crowds hindered paramedics trying to reach a half-conscious young woman in the middle of an intersection who was suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Two mounted police took 15 minutes to clear a way for paramedics to find her. The number of people requiring treatment for avoidable injuries and drunkenness also created a major backlog of untreated patients at hospital emergency rooms.
A follow-up headline three weeks later read: "Police bill Queen's $84,000." Police delivered this expensive bill to University officials after making 33 charges for 22 criminal offenses. Kingston plans a tougher response for 2006. Current plans call for Tasers, pepper spray, tear gas, a riot squad of 60 officers and a dozen more on horseback.
Alcoholic 'rites of passage' are widespread in North American culture. School partying is viewed as the acceptable 'growing up' experience for college-age students. According to one California college, "Students generally feel that experiences with alcohol are part of growing up, and hence should be part of the social education that Colleges offer."
But is this practice all that beneficial to the participating students? Look at some of the most obvious consequences! Stanford Magazine has reported that the average college student spends $900 a year on alcohol—compared with $450 on books!
A 1997 Harvard School of Public Health report found that almost 43 percent of American college students binge at least once every two weeks. These students are more likely to sexually assault or harass their classmates, destroy property or disturb the peace (Stanford Alumni News, 2000).
The Denver Post reports that in December of 2004 a Colorado State University Sigma Pi fraternity was disbanded after a popular CSU sophomore was found dead from alcohol poisoning in the fraternity house. She had consumed as many as 40 drinks at parties before she went to Sigma Pi.
Pomona College—in the Los Angeles suburb of Claremont, California—conducted an in-depth study in 2002 of its alcohol culture. The report disclosed that first-year students are more prone to alcohol problems because they are often inexperienced, away from home for the first time and with the added freedom of college. Being under-age they tend to 'front load': to drink heavily in a short period of time before a social event in order to remain drunk throughout its duration.
Because the majority of them drink on campus, students in dorms live in an environment where alcohol is prevalent. Their sleep and study habits are affected. Their involvement in property damage and vandalism also increases.
Driving under the influence, or riding in a vehicle with someone else driving under the influence is another significant problem. The report states, "'Last year at Pomona College there were nine official outside agency response incidents involving alcohol where a student was hospitalized" (Committee for Investigating the Alcohol Culture at Pomona College, December 2003).
A respected authority makes plain the problem: "Alcohol is the third-largest killer in the United States, ranking behind heart disease and cancer. If traffic fatalities and death certificate diagnoses related to alcoholic use were included in the statistics, alcoholism would be recognized as our nation's number one killer" ( Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, page 326).
This quote and much more information is available in the informative booklet offered free of charge below . As explained in the section "Alcohol use and abuse," even though the Bible does not forbid all moderate uses of alcoholic beverages it does give very strong warnings against using them excessively.
Abuse of alcohol is a threat to more than just one's physical health. It is equally a threat to one's spiritual health. And it clearly has serious consequences for students who choose to mix frequent and excessive alcohol consumption with their education.
The Bible reveals many keys to having a long and healthy life, job success, financial security and happy families. We would like you to receive a clear picture of these blessings, along with useful information on making the most of your own and your children's educational opportunities. Be sure to request or download now your free copy of our booklet: Making Life Work . VT

Thursday, April 30, 2015

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Challenge number one: anti-Christian philosophies

Challenge number two: drugs and alcohol

Challenge number three: sexual immorality

A source of help: true Christian fellowship

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Where Does the Blame Really Lie?

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

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Friday, April 24, 2015

In Brief...World News Review

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Friday, April 17, 2015

He was a successful businessman and a war hero. But then something went terribly wrong.

The seeds of disillusionment

When you feel betrayed

Thursday, April 16, 2015

If you only have men who will come only if there is a good road, I do not want them. I want those who will come if there is no road at all.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

What Does the Bible Say About Money?

Using Money Wisely

Avoiding Pitfalls

Apply Now

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A recent near-riot at the Queen's University's 'Homecoming' in Kingston, Ontario, Canada raises the question, should education be routinely mixed with alcohol?

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