Proverbs 14:1...a wise woman builds her home but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

I read this today again. I have read it so many times I can't even count. But today I read it. I heard it in my spirit. I understood it in practical ways. So I am going to share it in practical ways.

A wise woman builds her home . . .

Well I do not think of myself as wise but I do know that I have done some things to make my home work well. I am a hard worker. I try to keep my house ready for hospitality. This does not mean it's always sparkling but it is in the kind of shape that people could come and visit pretty much anytime. I also don't panic if it is not perfect because people matter more.

I build by praising my husband. I remind him how much I love him and how blessed the girls and I are to have him. Then I foolishly tear it down by fussing at him and nagging him. I gripe when things don't go the way I want. I say things that don't edify him. My house ends up in screaming shambles around me.

I build by praying for God to love my husband through me, for God to grow and change him, to lead and guide him. Then I tear it down by demanding he change on my time schedule and exactly how I think he should.

I build my house by teaching my girls about Jesus, by modeling how a wife should treat her husband and serve others, should consider others more important. Then I tear it down by griping because I had to do such and such and I was already too busy or too tired. I tear it down by grumbling about opportunities to serve.

I build my house by being truthful so others can trust me. I tell the truth and pay my bills so that my husband is thought of favorably. I tear it down by being late on payments sometimes, exaggerating, causing myself to seem untrustworthy.

I build my house wisely many days but still after 29 years tear it down foolishly too.

My prayer . . . Dear God, help me to build my house to honor You. Help me to honor my husband. Change my heart and make me yearn to make my home a praise to You. Forgive me for my tear down days. Make them less and less. Thank You for grace that forgives me and changes me. Amen.

How do you build? How do you tear down? Are you wise or foolish?

Hundreds of thousands of mostly men, and some women, have died in combat on behalf of the United States of America.  And, many brave men risked their lives and fortunes just to even try this experiment in world history that we call "America."

This is what Memorial Day is about - Remembering the insanely high price of our lifestyles and political system and freedoms.  We memorialize our fallen heroes, and we should thank God for continuing to "shed His grace on thee," in spite of our free-fall into gross immorality.

People often confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  I had several people thank me for my service to our country today.  I am humbled and try to receive the thanks with the right spirit.  But, technically speaking, Memorial Day is not about me or any living veteran precisely because we are alive.

So, today, I hope at some point you stopped the cookout for a brief moment of reflection.  I hope you spoke to your children of the "real cost" of apple pie and burgers on the grill and open prayers to bless the meal, and picnic tables lined with food.  If you did not, be sure to make up for it tomorrow by reminding them of the little girls and boys whose Daddies never came home from war.  Remind them of the young wife who gave up her high school sweetheart to a sniper's bullet in a far-off land.  Remind them of the brother's life-long grief over his older brother, his hero, arriving home in a flag-draped coffin.  And, in our culture today, you'll also need to remind them of the child whose Mommy gave up her life for our freedoms too.

Very sobering, isn't it?  So many sons given.  

I heard a widow of the War in Afghanistan say on the news today that she did not think it made sense for Americans to say "Happy Memorial Day."  When you think about it, she's right!

Then again, she's only partly right.  For, you see, all happiness comes with a price.  Our Founding Fathers wanted to form a nation that held as a core value, "the pursuit of happiness."  But many of the signers of that very document paid for that right to pursue joy with their lives and fortunes.

So, in an odd sort of way, it is OK for us to wish one another a "Happy Memorial Day."  So long as we stop and ponder the price of our happiness, and then thank God for it.  We often say "freedom is not free."  So true.  But what we seem to have forgotten in America today is that happiness is not free, either.

Happiness, true joy, has sailed across nearly three centuries to get to us on a river of blood.

This all reminds me of the high price of my eternal joy.  If my happiness as an American came to me at the cost of blood, how much more costly is my joy in the living God?

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult [rejoice exceedingly] in hope of the glory of God . . . for while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:1-6).

Hallelujah!  Happy Memorial Day!!   

A friend of mind recently asked me how she could more effectively teach her children who God is, while reinforcing the importance of really knowing Him.  A more important question could hardly be asked!  So, here's my response to her, which I pray will prove useful to others raising and teaching children:

Let's begin by acknowledging how critical knowing God really is.  Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the One true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).  So, nothing matters more than knowing God!  

I am living in what I call survival mode right now. Struggling with losing a daughter to marriage...struggling to stay connected to my husband after 29 years of marriage...struggling with feelings of failure and loss that I cannot find words for. So...I am just sitting in the desert...waiting. I am waiting for the manna from heaven...for the drink of water from the well of life...waiting to not feel strangled and without air...to be able to draw a full breath without my heart breaking. The wilderness is unmapped, unknown. I do not care for it...but I do trust the God who created the wilderness just like he did the sky...ocean...forest. I trust that if he created the wilderness.....he is in charge of it. I know that he has not left me nor forsaken me...even if I cannot feel him around me.   I am waiting then on him. I choose not to trust my feelings...not to trust what is in front of me...not to trust my circumstances..but to trust in the great I AM...my precious Savior who has never forsaken me. He is with me..he is working all things to my good. He is busily conforming me to the image of his son. I choose to trust Him instead of me.  I am sure that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. He will continue to support me...to love me...to grow me. He is faithful and I am thankful.

I have debated and debated writing a blog about husbanding from a wife's viewpoint but decided that it may be helpful to say some things that are general about so many marriages.  I read all these marriage blogs about marriage that make it sound so perfect, so divine.  While I am thankful for good Godly marriages that shine Jesus, I am also well aware that marriage is as much about heartache and hard work as it is love and fluffiness.

Candice Cameron Bure, of childhood stardom, has been an outspoken believer in Jesus Christ for decades now.  She has published books, and is respected among conservative Christian circles.  I, too, have held her in high regard.  So, I want to begin this post by saying "thanks" to Candice for taking a very public and open stand for faith in Christ.

Given her strong faith in Jesus and her professed loyalty to the Bible as God's Word, I was taken aback by her decision to join the cast of ABC's hit show "Dancing With the Stars."  My immediate reaction was to want to scream out at her, "What are you thinking?"  I had to personally stop watching that show after season 2, as the Holy Spirit of God convicted me to "set no evil thing before my eyes" (Psalm 101:3).  And, the sight of barely dressed women frolicking with men who are not their husbands in dances that can only be described as "simulated sex" definitely fit the bill as an evil not worthy of my attention.  I confessed the growing struggle with lust that the show was causing in my heart to my wife, and we have not watched the show since.  This was one way I could "make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires" (Rom 13:14).  God is changing my life to His glory!

So, my first question to Candice is, "Even if you somehow manage to maintain a stance of purity of heart and body on this show, is it honoring to King Jesus for you to participate in such a show?"  1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Abstain from every appearance of evil."  By your presence on the show, aren't you contributing to the ongoing promotion and finances of this lust-fest, Candice?  Is this really something you think Lord Jesus would want you to affiliate and link yourself with?

Yet, I see tons of Christian women applauding you, and I have seen numerous morning news show clips where you told your professional dance partner on the show you would be "modest" and not be his little "sexy" dance partner.  So far, so good.

And this morning I awake to footage on ABC's "Good Morning America" of you wearing a dress that had your legs totally exposed and uncovered all the way up to your buttocks and groin area.  You might as well have worn a college cheerleader's uniform!

Candice, you are an attractive woman and I did not need to see that much of you.  It was not at all good for my heart and my own fight for purity of heart and mind and body.  So now I must say, "Thanks . . . for nothing."

And then the same clip on GMA showed you wrap that naked leg around your dance partner, who is not your husband, placing your groin against his while he carried you across the dance floor.  Is this your idea of "not sexy" and "modest?"  Do you know that the morning show talking heads used that clip as a launching pad for encouraging women to sometimes do something a bit risky or sexy with a man who is not their husband in order to create jealousy and re-ignite passion in their marriages?

Is this what you wanted, Candice?  Did you really lack discernment in such large measure that you expected different results from your participation in this sinful parade-of-a-show?  Christian women look up to you!  Young girls in churches are watching you!  Jesus warned, "To whom much is given, much shall be required" (Luke 12:48).  Is this activity of yours honoring such a sacred trust from the One who bled out on a tree for you?

So, on behalf of all us pastors down in the trenches who are fighting every single day against fornication (sex before marriage), out-of-wedlock births, fatherlessness, adultery and porn addictions, and all this not outside the church but inside, I say again . . .

Thanks for nothing.

May God grant you a repentant heart and restore you to a more zealous and Christ-exalting path to purity.  The cause of Jesus would have been far better served by your refusal to join the cast of "Dancing with the Stars."  Imagine the impact of your standing against any appearance of sin!  Perhaps the newsreels would then show you quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14-18?  

Therefore, having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).  

President Obama just made public his new budget proposal.  I'm not an economist.  I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to develop a budget for a nation as sprawling and, `rank`ly, out of control as the United States of America.  Once a government program is in place, it is almost always impossible to cancel or kill it.  The beast grows heads, and our federal government is Medusa on steroids!

So, I am not at all sure much of anything can ever be done about our budgetary crisis.  I don't think any political party can possibly rescue us from our certain demise, as our debt and continued spending is so astronomical as to be incomprehensible to us average folk just trying to hack out a living every day.

But our certain demise is not primarily about economics.  While I don't discount the critical importance of finances, either for us personally or for us nationally, the main issue always has been and always will be spiritual and ethical.

Jesus, the Son of the One True and Living God, said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34).  In the Bible the "heart" refers to our mind (what we think or believe), our will (what we desire), and attitudes (how we view ourselves and others, and our affections (what we love).  Our hearts follow our treasures.  Period.  So, how we spend time and energy and money and talents and what we fear and worry about reveal who and what owns our hearts.  We worship our treasures, essentially.

Now at this point I just want to take a few slices of the President's budget pie to show where the heart of America is.  OK?  Here goes.  Planned Parenthood, a horribly misnamed billion dollar murder machine, is earmarked to receive 2.86 million dollars.  This despite mass fraud, unthinkable tragedies like the Gosnell clinic, and repeated undercover work exposing their encouraging 14 year old prostitutes to go tell all their friends on the street to come get unlimited abortions, thus ensuring these often enslaved women stay chained to spineless pimps.  No attempts to rescue these women or report the obvious unlawfulness of everything going on in their entire world.  Just so long as you keep the money flowing, we'll pick your babies apart limb-by-limb and keep our mouths shut and eyes closed to your desperate plight.

Not mention Planned Parenthood of Northern New England openly promotes bondage and sado-masochism to teens on their website.  Read about it here: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/planned-parenthood-produces-video-promoting-bondage-and.  Our President thinks this is worthy of hundreds of millions of our dollars.  

Meanwhile, the President wants to cut funds to any and all abstinence education efforts.  Where is our heart, America?

Head Start seemed like a great idea back in the 1960s when it began as a governmental solution to poverty.  The mission statement of this government program is:  "Head Start promotes school preparation by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services."

Sounds super!  Only one problem: The latest HHS Study reveals this program is an abject failure.  It is not accomplishing anything it has set out to do.  Read more about that HHS study here: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/11/hhs-study-yep-head-start-doesnt-work/

So what do we do with an obviously failed, flawed and useless government program?  We increase funding!  President Obama wants Head Start to get $76 billion.  The whole project from its inception has cost $180 billion, but in one year, the President wants to give nearly half that again to this total loser of a program.  And why does Head Start not work?  Dare I say it?  Maybe it's because God Almighty gave children dads and moms to raise, train, teach and educate them and pulling them out of homes as early as possible and turning them over to the government violates this Divine design?!

Where is our heart, America?

Well, it is doing exactly what Jesus said it would . . . following our treasure.

"Oh Lord . . . in wrath, remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).

Jamie Coots, a preacher in a church in Middlesboro, KY, died recently from a snake bite.  Coots was a "snake-handler" and frequently used snakes in the church as part of a show of "faith."  This brand of Christianity is sadly still alive and well in the mountains of my home state of Kentucky, as well as Appalachia in general.  But Jamie Coots is dead.

You can read about his death here: http://rt.com/usa/snake-handling-pastor-dies-334/

In the article linked above, Coots, who was also on a TV show at some point, claimed God would never allow a true believer to die from a snake bite.  Yet, Coots' son, also quoted in the article, said their family had always believed that their faith was good to live by and good to die by.  

I'm confused.  If it is good to die by this kind of faith, then what kind of faith are we speaking of?  Because Jamie Coots, by his own definition, must not have been a true believer in Jesus.  His "faith" must have been a "dead faith," if you will pardon the pun (and I truly mean no disrespect to his grieving family).  The inconsistency in this warped Bible interpretation simply must be pointed out.  He died, in his own view, precisely because he did not have real faith.  So, how is this a good faith to die by?  Is it good to go to hell?  That is, after all, where unbelievers go (2 Thess 1:5-10; Rev 20:11-15).

Friends, this is the "word of faith" movement gone bad.  This is the "name is claim it" theology being exposed for what it really is - false.  First of all, Jamie Coots was breaking the law by handling snakes in a religious service.  My Bible tells me "to be in subjection to the governing authorities" (Rom 13:1) and to "submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution whether to the king as the one in authority, or to governors" (1 Peter 2:13-14).  That's not optional for Christians; it's commanded!

So, unless the governing authorities were asking Coots to violate a clear command of God in Scripture, then he was obligated to obey the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  And that's just where Coots and other who believe like him go awry - they claim a mandate to handle snakes based on Mark 16:17-18.  Now even if this portion of the text was original in Mark's Gospel (the oldest and best manuscripts have Mark ending at 16:8, so verses 9-20 were likely not written by Mark but added later by an ill-advised scribe), the fact is snake-handling is nowhere commanded.  Believers are not commanded to pick up snakes!

The Apostle Paul was bitten by a snake, and God did indeed preserve his life (Acts 28:1-6).  But note carefully that Paul did not intentionally pick up the snake or go looking for a fight with the slithering creature!  Can God preserve life whenever He wants and apart from the use of modern medicine?  Absolutely!  In fact God had preserved Jamie Coots' life in the past when he was bitten and refused anti-venom.  So, what happened this time?  Was Jamie's faith strong and sure in the past but waned during just this one instance?  Why could he not muster up the faith to stay alive this time?  Did his willpower just fail him?  Did he have a mental lapse?  Did he die in a moment of slight doubt?

This is the sad result of so much false doctrine that is makes my head spin.  Snake-handlers inevitably believe they can be saved one day and not saved the next day.  They believe this because they have a man-centered view of salvation and faith.  God has done his part, now it's all up to you to muster up faith by your own willpower and then to sustain it in an ever-growing state throughout your life.  Their faith is in faith.

But the Bible says faith is a gift of God, (along with everything else having to do with salvation), not of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8-9).  Jesus authors faith, not us (Heb 12:1-2).  God grants belief to sinners whom He saves (Phil 1:29).  Not even the righteous works we do (of which faith is surely one), are the ultimate ground of our salvation, but rather God's mercy and regenerating Spirit that come to us through Christ (Titus 3:4-7).  And saving faith is always and only in the perfect person and work of Jesus the Christ, whom God put on the cross to bear His wrath against our sins, so that He would be the just and justifier (Romans 3:21-26).

Would people watching Coots' play with snakes and survive bites be more likely to boast in the righteousness of Christ, or the strength of Jamie's faith?

Oh how I wish Jamie Coots would have been able to say with the Apostle Paul: "I know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day" (2 Tim 1:12).  Do you see Paul's saving faith rests not in his own ability to sustain it at a certain level, but rather in God's ability to keep him safe and saved now and forever?  Saving faith is always a total trust in God's power, God's ability, God's sustaining grace in Christ.  This is not faith in faith!  

Oh how I wish Jamie Coots could have cried out with the man in Mark 9:24, "I do believe, help my unbelief."  This is saving faith.  Never so arrogant as to rest on its own strength or human ability to sustain; but always seeking more mercy, more grace from Jesus.  It's all about Him!  

Word-of-faith and "name it claim it" and "faith healing" movements preach a false gospel.  Plain and simple.  They focus on man and his supposed abilities, even claiming man can create or shape his own future by his mere words.  But the gospel is that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3-4).  We're the sinners.  He's the Savior.  It's all about Him!

Sadly, the death of Jamie Coots serves as a harsh reminder that false gospels lead to more than just physical death.  After all, physical death will one day come knocking at everyone's door.  But for those whose faith is in anyone or anything other than the absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ, an eternal "death" awaits them in a place that makes a snake bite look like child's play.

People want to touch it...they run their fingers through it...they laugh when it springs back. Goodness... my hair has been a real source of wonder for those around me since I curled it....the only thing is...the curl is fake.  It is the result of a very costly well done perm.  It acts like a regular head of curl would act but there are distinct differences that set it apart.

Now. ..there is a head of curly hair I know that is real...Ruthie Hullette.  Her hair is formed in the most beautiful, tight springy curls. They lay around her face perfectly and scream "run your fingers through me and watch me recurl."

Now...to those differences...Ruthie gets up in the morning to curly hair that is lovely and ready for the day.  I get up and my family passes out with laughter because my "curls" are flat or standing straight up and out. Ruthie does not have to doctor her curls to make them beautiful...I have to use this jelly stuff that causes me to stick to everything and then a spray that makes my hair stiff enough to knock out Mike Tyson.  But when I leave my house it appears I have "curly" hair.

Isn't this how we live as Christians sometimes?  We dress up our temper...our attitudes...our lies...our worry...we put on enough christian gook to look really good and away we go.  We act like christians...we talk like christians...we lift our hands...we raise our voices. ..then we go home...wash all our christian away and live who we truly are.  No matter what I do I cannot fool my family...I do not have naturally curly hair.  They see it at its worst.

It is the same with God. PSALM 139 says no matter what you do or where you go you cannot outrun Him.  He knows the truth about you.  He knows who you are when your door closes.  He can make you real.  Do you yearn to be real or just appear perfect?  If real...take off your fake gunk and beg Jesus to make you genuine.  My fake curls are pretty but they do not last.  To keep them I have to redo my perm about every six months.  Ruthie never has to go back for curls.  Hers are the real thing.

Same way with your heart...fake has to keep lying. .keep patching holes.  It doesn't last.  Real is eternal...lasts forever....DEAR GOD MAKE ME REAL...

Apparently Americans are no longer free to get up and walk out on a performance or awards show or speech without being accused of all sorts of crazy vile things.  (Funny thing, I have people get up and walk out while I'm preaching nearly every Sunday.  Some return.  Others stay gone.  But nobody is accusing them of crazy vile things.)

Christian music artist Natalie Grant left the Grammy's early.  Perhaps nobody would have noticed had she not tweeted that her thoughts on the awards show would stay inside her own head, and that she was proud to sing for Jesus.

One might wonder what in the world any true Christian is doing at the Grammy's anyway.  Granted, they still do give awards to gospel singers, but it may be high time those gospel singers stage a mass exodus or walk-out!   When I was a kid, the Grammy's were by and large about good music.  Now the Grammy's are all about foisting the liberal Hollywood agenda on TV viewers around the world.  So, it should not have shocked anyone that the Grammy's used their platform this year to promote and celebrate and flaunt those living a homosexual lifestyle making so-called marriage vows.

And news media like NBC's Today Show were even taken aback by Beyonce's sultry opener.  Apparently it's OK for her to do this so long as it's not at 8 pm EST.  That's too early to simulate the sex act on a world-wide stage while wearing next to nothing.  (And as far as I know Beyonce still claims to be a "Christian."  There could not possibly be a looser use of the label.)

Now, for the record, I did not watch the Grammy's.  Haven't seen 'em in years and have no plans to ever watch them again.  My heart struggles enough with good old-fashioned lust without me setting that kind of filth in front of my face.  I do wonder, however, how many Christian men did watch and never admitted the internal lust that was boiling in them while they viewed that lust-fest.  God says, "make no provision for the flesh to gratify its lusts" (Romans 13:14).  We need to fight sin God's way!  We'll never experience victory over the powerful presence of sin in our flesh if we go on indulging ourselves right along with our depraved culture.

The morning news outlets, however, reported enough on the Grammy's for me to get the gist.  Rather than make this a lengthy diatribe urging believers in Jesus to "flee immorality" (1 Cor 6:18) and to "come out from among them and be separate" (2 Cor 6:17), I think I'll let Natalie Grant get the last word.  After all the hullabaloo, she posted these words:

I NEVER said I left during any particular performance. I only said I left early.
I never pointed out any one particular performance, I only said I had many thoughts about the entire show, which were best left inside my head and that is where they will stay. So those who say I condemned one performance but then condoned others clearly did not read the post.
What I DID say is this: I am honored to be a part of the Christian music community. I've had many people throughout my career ask why I never tried to go in to mainstream music and last night was a beautiful reminder that I love singing about Jesus and FOR Jesus.
I've judged no one. I hate no one. And I believe that every person has been created in the image of God. I will never stand on a street corner and wave a sign, I won't use my platform to engage in political arguments that will only divide and not unite. I will continue to pray that my life will be my message. I do have my own personal convictions that I live by, and I will continue to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord. (Philippians 2:12)
I was honored to be nominated for 2 Grammy awards last night. I'm so grateful that NARAS and The Grammys continue to recognize the contribution that gospel and Christian music make to the world. And I'm so thrilled for those who won in my categories. And I can say that with all sincerity.
My last thought:
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus for it is the power of God who brings salvation to ALL who believe."
Romans 1:16