ABCs "Good Morning America" ran a story this morning about the epidemic known as Farmville.  For those of you as blissfully ignorant as I, Farmville is an on-line game where players manage farms, crops, animals, etc. and earn virtual coins for harvesting crops, and so on. 

Apparently one can now pay REAL MONEY to earn virtual coins, too.  And experts estimate about 15% of players, or 12 million people, do pay their hard-earned cash to somehow "get ahead" of the fierce competition in the virtual famer's market.  And of course, this is making the gurus behind Farmville filthy rich ($450 million this year).

In past blog posts, I have come down particularly hard on young men's obsession with gaming.  While I do not back off of those comments, it appears I must now address 40-year old women, as well.  According to the GMA Reporters, the majority of Farmville players are women in their 40s.  And as with all video or computer-type games, many women are becoming addicted and spending hours upon hours clicking and staring, staring and clicking their lives away. 

Consider this comment from a former Farmville addictee, Marianne Thomas:

"I played in the morning, in the evenings, all during the day. I thought about my crops all the time. I gained probably about 10 pounds. I quit going to the gym, quit doing my chores, ignored my house," she said.

Now this is serious.  Do we really wonder why our nation's economy is tanked?  Young men sit in their cubicles on company time playing games, then go home and play more games, often involving their children in the GAMING IDOLATRY and justifying it as "quality time."  And now we have 40-something women (READ, wives and mothers) ignoring their homes because their fake crops need some fake fertilizer so they can earn some fake money. 

Our nation's people are losing their minds!  And many Christian women also engage in the Facebook / Farmville phenomenon in close-to-idolatrous proportions.  Christian wives and mothers, when is the last time you actually timed or tracked on paper how many hours you spend clicking and texting and clicking some more?  

Ignoring your homes, Christian women, is tantamount to neglecting your primary God-given duty (Prov 31:27-28; Titus 2:5). 

Does it strike anyone as odd that Christian women are now spending their money, time and talents managing a virtual farm in order to earn virtual money, all the while neglecting their husbands and children?  It should alarm us in the church to the point of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, because what I just described to you is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the Proverbs 31 woman, who does real work with her real hands, planting real crops in real fields and plying her real wares in real markets in order to bless and enrich her real husband and children. 

Don't take my word for it.  Stop right now and read Proverbs 31:10-31.  Seriously.  Read it.

Women of the Lord, you claim the Name of a Savior who said people would given an account on the day of judgment for every idle word spoken (Matt 12:36).  Today the implications of Jesus' words must obviously include people also giving account for every frivilous moment spent clicking our lives away in virtual world.

The psychologist's recommendations on GMA included tracking the actual amount of time you spend on-line, as well only having one computer in the home and placing it in the family room.  But friends, bad habits cannot simply be ditched, they must be replaced.  This is why Paul teaches Christians to "put off" sinful practices and "put on" godly ones (Eph 4; Col 3). 

May I humbly suggest some productive alternatives to Farmville?

1. Go plant an actual garden that will benefit your family and neighbors.
2. Given that FB and Farmville supposedly "connect" us, why not involve your neighbors and children in the gardening process?  Face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder, weeding the beans and picking the corn.  If we did more of this, we may actually have opportunities to truly get to know another person, or to speak to others of the things of God.
3. Read your Bible.
4. Teach the Bible to your children.
5. Sing some old hymns with your family.  Don't know many?  Go buy a hymnal and get busy!
6. Read a biography of an old saint of God and then teach your children about how God used that person.
7. Spend your web-surfing time for God's glory.  Log off Farmville and log onto www.persecution.com or www.4truth.net.  With so many God-honoring options on the internet, why waste time?
8. Pray.

O God, rescue our wives and mothers from a life of folly and frivolity.  Give them strength to log off for Your glory and the good of their homes.  Transform them from Farmville addicts to Word addicts.  In Jesus' Name, amen.             

Read more about the Farmville analysis here:http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/facebook-met-farming-80-million-play-farmville/story?id=10608972&page=1

A friend posted this to his FB page recently, and I thought it was well worth sharing.  Adapted from the Puritan Richard Owen Roberts, here are "20 Signs You May Be Backsliding."

1. Prayer ceases to be a vital part of your life.
2. The quest for biblical truth ceases.
3. Biblical knowledge is not applied inwardly.
4. Thoughts are predominantly earthly and not heavenward.
5. The church service loses its delight.
6. Spiritual discussions are a source of embarrassment.
7. More time is devoted to recreation and entertainment than the Word and prayer.
8. Sins can be committed without any violation of the conscience.
9. Aspirations for Christ-like holiness cease to dominate your life and thinking.
10. Your mind is focused on the acquisition of money and goods.
11. Religious songs can be mouthed without engaging the heart.
12. When hearing the Lord's Name taken in vain, you are not moved to indignation.
13. Watching degrading movies becomes entertaining and acceptable.
14. Breaches of peace in the church are of no concern.
15. The slightest excuse keeps you from your spiritual duties.
16. The lack of spiritual power is met with contentment.
17. Personal sins are pardoned by a belief that the Lord understands.
18. An adjustment to the world is made with ease.
19. Nothing is done to relieve the misery and suffering which exists around you.
20. There is no concern for the lost or sharing the gospel.

How are you doing, dear Christian?  May others be able to say of us:

"But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation" (Heb 6:9).

All across the country, the yellow buses are rolling again.  Children and teens are returning to school.  The vast majority will attend state run schools, otherwise known as the public education system.  90% of Christian parents will continue this year to send their children into the public education system for 8 + hours a day.  Some of these parents truly have no option (e.g. single parents whose churches will not help them to stay home if they so desire).  Other Christian parents have simply never been challenged to think more clearly and more biblically on the issue of childhood education.  Still others are just not willing to make the lifestyle sacrifices to either home school or find solid Christian schools as alternatives.  And a few Christian parents have been called by God to send their children into the schools as missionaries.      

I applaud and pray for those teachers, administrators and students who are truly living as gospel-centered missionaries in the public schools.  But, let's face it, few and far between are these warriors.  A 15-year old who cannot explain in clear language the basic gospel message, much less strongly defend the Genesis creation account against the Darwinian onslaught, can hardly be considered a missionary.  Same goes for teachers and administrators.  And yet, I am personally aware of some teachers and students who are genuine warriors for Christ in a system that is pagan / secular.  We have some in our local church, and I pray for them often.  They are on the front lines of the war for truth in America.  God help them and churches must love and support them.

That said, please allow me to chronicle some deeply troubling trends in our nation and its school system:

• Back in June, a teacher at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, FL was fired for having pre-marital sex.  The teacher admitted her sin when questioned by the Principal, but in no way repented.  In fact, she sued the school for letting her go.  Nevermind the application she completed to obtain the job clearly stated teachers were expected to live by the values of the Christian school, which the most casual observer would expect probably included extra-marital sex.  The teacher's attorney, Edward Gay, in his defense of his client on the Today Show, stated, "The teachers are serving a secular purpose, and therefore they are goverened by federal laws of discrimination."  Did you catch that?  Teachers serve a secular purpose.  Even teachers in a private Christian Schools?  The worldview underlying this assertion is loud and clear - EDUCATION IS SECULAR.
• President Obama's Race to the Top initiative (which is realy just President's Bush's No Child Left Behind with a new name, which is really just President Clinton's . . . you get the point) is centralizing an already far too centrally controlling system.  States now have to compete for federal funds for their schools.  And who is defining the rules of competition?  Who decides the winners?  Why of course, the federal government and the marxist education czar.  The federal government's standards must be met if a state wants money for education.  But, the federal government's standards have led our nation in the past 25 years to consistently be in the bottom 1/3 of the industrialized nations in literacy.  That's right - our kids cannot READ. 
• The NEA is one of the most marxist / socialist organizations in America.  October 1st is their official day to celebrate the communist revolt in China under Chairman Mao Zedong.  Of course, once an uproar began, NEA removed that day from its website calendar, but we're not fooled, are we?  After all, their recommended reading list for American teachers still includes the works of Saul Alinksy, a socialist who was also an avowed satanist.  Christian teachers have no business paying dues to the NEA.  Choose an alternative like the Christian Educators Association International.

Add to all this the fact that my 10-year old daughter just revealed to us that during the one semester she attended 2nd grade here in rural North Carolina, boys in the back of the bus would frequently pee (urinate for you technical types) in bottles while girls watched.  The whole system is in decay.  It is depraved and ruinous. 

Now, friends, I cannot speak for you, but the dangers of the public schools (and some private and even Christian schools) are simply too much for me to bear.  This is especially true and poignant every time I read Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6, so many of the Psalms and Proverbs.  I do not shy away from praying God will grant many of you Christian dads and moms the courage to begin the joyous journey of raising and educating your own children. 

For those of you who keep your children in the public system, please be reading their textbooks, countering every falsehood with biblical truth, opting your children out of so-called comprehensive sex education, or any sex education done by the state for that matter, and attending PTA meetings to fight for God's truth in this system that is in centrifugal decay.  For the glory of God and the good of your children, please do these things, at minimum!

Remember, it only takes one generation to go from lovers of God to lovers of idols (Judges 2:10).  Fight the good fight!                

The gray-haired prophet of God stood at the precipice of his life.  What would he say to God's people with his farewell address?  Would he go out "in a blaze of glory" and call down fire upon the disobedient sinners?  Would he belittle their new king?  Would he remind them of his great and mighty acts of power and deliverance?  What would be his concern as he retrospectively analyzed his life of service to God and God's people?

"Here I am.  testify against me before the Lord and before His anointed.  Whose ox have I taken?  Oy whose donkey have I taken?  Or whom have I defrauded?  Whom have I oppressed?  Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it?  Testify against me and I will restore it to you" (1 Samuel 12:3).

Would to God we actually had a few leaders in America who could end their terms in office with this statement.  No doubt some would try, and that even with a straight face!  But who among us citizens would take them seriously?

The 9th Circuit Court of Clowns has struck again.  (Seriously, California Legislature and citizens, please do your nation the favor of scrapping this whole court.  Wipe that slate clean and start anew.)  This time the Tyrants in black robes have rendered yet another foolish "judgment" (these justices are so morally relativistic one wonders if they can even use the word "judge" to describe what they do).  This time they have said the US Constitution gives Americans the right to be deceptive liars!

In a recent case, the 9th Circuit ruled that anyone can lie about military service and claim medals earned and awarded even if there is absolutely no basis for such claims in reality.  Read about it here:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38747876/ns/us_news

Having served as an Officer in the US Marine Corps, I can tell you I take great personal offense and displeasure in the lunacy of this ruling.  I recently decided it was "time" to display the medals awarded to me in what is commonly called a shadow box.  I placed the box on my den wall beneath my Dad's, who is a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War and obtained the `rank` of Sgt via a battlefield promotion.  A few years ago, I asked a friend with whom I served to ensure I had proper documentation available to justify each medal I have displayed in my shadow box.  I do not want anyone questioning whether I actually was awarded the medals in that box, not to mention if I ever wore them out in public. 

George Washingtonis on recrod saying: "Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." 

And again: "I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

Wonder what our 1st President and Commanding General of the Continental Army would think of some Enlightened California Judges ruling that our Nation's Founding document codifies the legal right of citizens to be brazen liars!

Oh wait, judges today do not care much what the actual Framers of the nation and its constitution thought or meant by what they wrote.  I mean, the Framers meant whatever the 9th Circus Court says they meant, right?  And clearly when writing the 1st Amendment, the Framers meant to secure the rights of citizens to use deception whenever it suits them.

Imagine a nation where you can no longer trust your neighbor's word.  Imagine a culture where you must verify in writing every business transaction because deception is rampant.  Imagine a nation where business leaders and government leaders and church leaders and school officials will lie to you at the drop of a hat.  Imagine an America devoid of "the most enviable of all titles."  Imagine a country with no honest men and women.  Imagine homes where children are encouraged to lie and where parents believe the word of their 8 year old over the word of adult teachers or pastors or family members.  Imagine a world where Christian parents lie to their children at Christmas, Easter and every time they lose a tooth but then later in life try to convince the children that lying violates God's law and ruins people and a society. 

Imagine America.  Imagine, America.  Imagine.

"You shall not bear false witness" (Exodus 20:16).

God forgive us.  "In wrath remember mercy."  We are a nation of codified rebels against Your character and Law.  Lord please grant to us more Samuels, for the glory and greatness of Your name.  Remind us liars of our drastic need for the Savior, Jesus, the One who said, "I am the truth."  Amen.

Several news sources have reported that Portia DeRossi, the famous (or infamous) partner (or wife if you accept the legality of gay marriage) of Ellen DeGeneres has taken Ellen's last name.  This was reportedly done as a 2nd Anniversary gift from Portia to Ellen. 

Rather than go into detail on the clear prohibitions of God's Word concerning homosexuality (not to mention the biblically inconceivable notion of gay marriage), I would simply like to ask:

Where is the feminist outrage at this dastardly deed done by Portia? 

Surely I am not the only one wondering about this oddity?  For decades feminists have been fighting hard against the "tradition" of a woman taking the man's name upon marriage.  (The fact that women for thousands of years have simply been shifting from one male name - their Dad's - to another - their husband's - seems to have totally escaped the feminists.  But I digress.) 

Really, why are feminists not bashing Portia for letting the team down?  I mean, how dare Portia not be a strong, independent woman?  How dare her not be progressive and refuse to take the name of her spouse?  Is she so insecure?  Does she really feel she needs to come under the protective umbrella of the DeGeneres name?  This is, after all, the symbolism inherent in the woman taking the man's name.  God created men to protect and defend women, and this responsibility, done God's way, is passed from Dad to husband (see Gen 29:15-30; Deut 22:13-29; Ex 22:16-17; Judges 14-15; Matt 19:3-6; Eph 5:22-33; 1 Peter 3:1-7). 

Clearly Ellen is supposed to be "the man" in this relationship, the fact that she cannot actually become a man regardless of effort or surgery notwithstanding.  The point is: Why no feminist outrage?  Is it because feminists actually want us all to become practicing homosexuals?  Or, do they want us all to become girls?  I mean, so long as sperm banks remain open, who really needs husbands and dads anyway? 

Friends, the inconsistencies of the feminist ideal and worldview are staggering, but not shocking.  They are not shocking because the Lord has told us already of the consequences of people suppressing the truth of His Being and His absolute right to rule His creatures.  When people rejected God, His Word, His Rule and His Christ . . . God

"gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen.  For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done" (Romans 1:24-27).

You see, feminism did not start in the 50s and 60s with Gloria Steinham or Betty Freidan.  It started in the Garden of Eden when the serpant Satan asked, "Did God really say?"  The tactics of hell have not changed much.  Apparently they do not need to because our sinful nature remains gullible and prone to doubt our Creator. 

But there is hope for the darkest sinner who will confess his or her filth and fall upon the mercy of Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the punishment of God due us when He hung on the cross.  Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth reminding them of how some of them had been involved in all sorts of sins, including homosexuality, and then concluded:

"And such were some of you [note the past tense, homosexuality is not an unchangeable character trait].  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor 6:11).

Mrs. and Mrs. DeGeneres, repent, turn to Jesus, and you shall live, and live abudantly.  Do it not, and you shall die in every possible sense of the word (Luke 13:3).       

The little postcard I loathe arrived in the mailbox today.  It was from the NC Division of Non-Public Education.  On the postcard, it "threatens" homeschoolers with a visit from a DNPE staff member if the postcard is not returned by the deadline. 

Now, the data they are seeking from my wife and me appears harmless enough.  Will we be running our home school on a normal schedule?  Are we keeping student records on file in our home, such as attendance (that one always amuses me, should we have a chart with blocks checked if our children woke up and rolled out of bed each morning?), and nationally standardized test results from the last year?  Then we tell them how many students are enrolled in our home school, sign and date, and the deed is done.

Simple.  As government redtape goes, it just doesn't get any easier than this, does it?

So, why am I left red-faced and chaffed every time this little card arrives?

Well, my answer is fairly straightforward: I do not believe it is any of the goverment's business how I and my wife are educating our children.  I do not think the state or federal government has any right to tell parents what their children must know at every "stage" of life (via standardized tests they foist on even home schooled kids).  Both federal and state governments in this nation have far over-stepped their bounds in the past 50 years.  I kindly request they get out my home with their attendance-record sniffing dogs. 

Fact is, folks, whether you choose to home school your children or not, we all need to realize what is at stake as the government usurps more and more rights of parents in this country.  Would it surprise you to know thousands of American educators at every level (K-PhD) truly believe they can raise your children better than you?  Would you be surprised that thousands of educators believe you should not have the right to raise and educate your own children, not to mention choose the methods of discipline for your children? 

"Leave the education of children to the professionals.  You take them to soccer practice and to get ice cream afterwards, we'll handle everything else.  And whatever you do, don't you dare, mom, think yourself wise enough to teach your child what is right and wrong, what is true science and what is simple human conjecture, what is absolute in this universe, and how all of  life is to be viewed and interpreted.  Leave that to us.  We're the experts."

This philosophy has permeated American culture so much that today, even after so many people have exposed the obvious, anti-Christian, secular humanist agenda of the public schools, 85-90% of Christian parents still send their children to Ceasar for 8+ hours a day.  While I do not think home schooling or public schooling makes a person any more or less Christian, I do lament that more Christian parents are not at least giving home schooling more serious consideration. 

Now again, even if you do not home school, surely you can see the peril of continuing to allow governments to interfere, intercede, and interrupt parental rights over children.  We must fight this attempt to replace parents with professionals.

The Word of God speaks plainly in this matter:

He [God] established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments (Psalm 78:5-7). 

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

Raising and educating and training children is a right and responsibility given by God to parents.  Would to God more Christian parents and parents-to-be would begin to view this responsibility for the amazing, gracious privilege it is. 

So, North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education, if you're listening, we're raising and educating our children just fine without you.  If for some reason we require your services, we'll let you know.  Thanks for your continued interest in our home school.  Be assured we are sprinkling some math and science (Answers in Genesis-style) into our Bible-saturated curricula.  

Soli Deo Gloria,

Keith McWhorter (Principal of Sovereign Grace School)

God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.
Eric Liddell

Rookie Quaterback Sam Bradford just inked a record deal that guarantees him $50 million.  It is now routine for the top QBs in the NFL to garner $15-20 million a year.  Salary caps?  What salary caps? 

Friends, as long as our culture worships sports teams, sports stars, and sports period, America will continue to witness  professional atheletes' gargantuan wallets expand ever more.  We love to make millionaires out of boys, and we'll pay hundreds of our own hard earned dollars to go watch over-grown boys rake in the dough playing a game. 

This is the new "manhood" in America.  As Voddie Baucham put it recently, we define manhood in our culture now with the three B's: ballfield, boardroom and bedroom. 

Now, I am not violently anti-sports.  I enjoy kicking back in the recliner to marvel at the skills of golfers as much as the next guy.  And, from time to time, I even toss around a ball in the back yard with my daughters, or kick a soccor ball, or throw a frisbee . . . you get the idea.  

Growing up, I loved football.  Only problem is, I should not have loved a game.  Liking it and loving it are two different animals.  But, in time God has brought me to see how warped my priorities were as a young man.  Like most kids playing high school football, I dreamed of the NFL.  Why?  Fame and fortune, why else?!  The American Dream . . . playing a game for a living and making sick money doing it. 

I am not sure how I tried to line up those aspirations back then with the words of Jesus: "You cannot love both God and money."  But one thing is sure, I was living out the truth of Jesus' words, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

And this is what so concerns me for Christian parents today.  Far too many are demonstrating to children by their actions (and behavior in the stands) that their hearts belong to sports.  Christian parents fill pews each Sunday and they've spent far more time traveling to ballfields, and coaching and watching and cheering than they have reading the Word, teaching it to their children, actually worshipping together in the home, praying together and serving their neighbors together in the Name of Christ.  We are making our treasure obvious.

Add to it the Christian parents who think little of allowing their child to skip a scheduled worship service or Bible study in order to practice or play a game, and you've got the makings for raising the next generation of American Dream-chasers.  But American Dream-chasers rarely turn the world upside down for Jesus.  In fact, several generations of Dream-chasers have gutted our churches leaving beautiful, empty, steepled buildings in their wake.

As I think of the NFL, a League where most games are played on Sunday, I wonder where all the Eric Liddell's have gone.  While I do believe there are genuinely born again followers of Christ in the NFL, I am just eagerly awaiting a bunch of them to get some spine and demand the NFL play their games on some day other than Sunday.  Where do these NFL Christians worship each week?  What local churches do they serve in and what ministries of the local church are benefitting from their spiritual gifts?  How are they living out 1 Corinthians 12?  Can they even live it out given their immensely demanding training and playing routines? 

I am afraid the pandemic of professional sports "owning" the Day of Corporate Worship in America is only deepening the horrific plague of "churchless Christianity" among young adults.  They worship just fine at the ballfield, thank you very much. 

But when their little boy or girl finally gets that college scholarship they have spent their entire youth pursuing on the ballfields, it will be worth it all . . . or will it?

"For how should My Name be profaned?  My glory I will not give to another" (Isaiah 48:11).

"Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!  I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from our children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done" (Psalm 78:1-4).

My family and I just returned from the Defending the Faith family apologetics conference put on by Answers in Genesis.  While I expect it will take me several weeks to process all I heard and learned, let me simply share some initial thoughts:

1.  Wow!  Those guys and gals at Answers in Genesis really know how to put on a conference.  The information was spot on and very practical, not to mention tremendously challenging.  And, there were sessions for children, teens and women.  

2.  Parents had better wake up in the American church.  If you are a parent and you simply cannot make a powerful argument for the literal six-day creation taught in Gensis 1-2, using the Bible first and science second, then you had better start making time to educate and arm yourself.  Otherwise, how will you equip your children to defend the biblical accounts against the unending onslaught of Darwinian evolution?  You do want to raise, equip, and train your children, right?

3.  The myriad ways Darwinian evolution is peddled to children and adults today is mind-boggling.  Every conceivable media source inudates our culture with the deceitful, bad science of evolution, not to mention the public school textbooks.  Add Oprah Winfrey's voice to the lovers of Darwinian theory, narrating nature films and promting them wildly, and we have the makings of a total war.

4.  What is really at stake in this clash of the titan worldviews (Bible v. Darwin) is the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Scripture.  Once the church (yes, the church is the guilty party here) began to do interpretive gymnastics to try and accomodate Darwin's theory into the biblical revelation, what really happened is the church substituted man's ideas for God's Word.  The locus of authority shifted.  We, dear Christians, must recover the Reformation principle of sola scriptura!        

5.  The symptoms of prattling away biblical authority in the matters of creation, origins and age of the universe and world are haunting us daily.  They include: gay marriage, normalization of homosexuality, radical feminism, pandemic divorce, single-parenting, intentional childlessness, racism, infanticide (abortion), euthanasia, abandonment of the elderly, apathy towards orphans, genocide, and matriarchy in the home, church, and nation, to name a few. 

Friends, may God open our eyes to see where neglect of the absolute authority of His Word is leading us.  May we rise up in our homes and churches and schools and cities to once again proclaim "the glorious deeds of the Lord."

Darwin and his followers have sold us a pack of lies, beatifully packaged in the wrappings of so-called "science."  I will have much more to say on these issues in the weeks ahead.  For now let me just remind us all that this war of worldviews actually started back in Eden:

Now the serpent . . . said to the woman, "Did God actually say . . ?"   

Satan is not all that creative.  Apparently he doesn't have to be.  He just changes the instruments he uses to get people to doubt the Word of God. 

What of you?  What of your children?  Can you all really defend the Word and contend for the truth effectively?  Are you all armed with true, Bible answers for the plethora of questions being asked to challenge the Word?  If not, or if you simply need to shore up some things in your lives and homes, may I suggest a dual emphasis as a starting point:

First, read and study Genesis as a family, and let the text speak for itself.  God's Word will not return void!

Second, purchase the series called Answers from Answers in Genesis.  The series consists of four children's books, three adult books, and three DVDs.  This series will put you on the path to being a family of Contenders for the Faith.   

Well, well, well, Colton Harris-Moore (aka the Barefoot Bandit) is no longer barefoot, though allegedly he is notoriously a bandit. 

While 80,000 + fans on Facebook glamorize, idolize and celebrate this thieving teen, it is worth noting none of them will sacrificially serve time with him (or for him) in his jail cell. 

His own mother has expressed pride in her son's criminal escapades, and this is what is saddest of all to me.  Colton and his boys-behaving-badly ilk are becoming a pandemic in America.  The Christian church has for decades been warning of the ugly and deadly repercussions of rampant divorce, single-parenthood, and absentee dads.  Recently, the absentee dad has been the subject of notable studies, but the results of those studies could not be more predictable.  Let me summarize them for you:

Children, all children, but especially sons, need Dads.

Earth-shaking, isn't it?  The Creator's design for the family - one dad and one mom married for life and investing themselves fully into raising their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord - really works. 

Colton's biological Dad abandoned him at age 2.  His step-dad died when he was 7, leaving him at the mercy (if such a word can be used of her) of his sin-sick mother.  Whatever she taught him, she surely did not emphasize the 8th Commandment.   

Now, do not get me wrong.  I am not saying single mothers (or dads) are always destined to fail.  Nor am I saying a boy in his teens (who everywhere else but the western world would be considered a grown man), does not stand accountable for his own actions.  Colton is responsible for his crimes and cannot excuse them away.  Ancient Israel tried that with God, but it did not work out well for them (see Ezekiel 18).

But dear readers, my concern is how many other Barefoot Bandits are waiting in the wings in America?  Fifty + years of ignoring and rejecting God's design for the home is just not working out well for our country.  This is especially alarming when one takes stock of the conspicuous absence of real men and real Dads in our culture. 

We are a Dad-deprived and men-deprived culture.  We are becoming a nation of boys stuffed into hairy, belching, beer-bellied bodies. 

Oh Sovereign God, raise up real men once again in Your church.  Grant to us Dads who will instruct their sons in what makes a man a man, in Your Holy eyes.  May our daughters, too, be blessed to be raised by Christ-like, sacrificially loving men who will model manhood for them day-by-day.  Turn our eyes to the Man of men, the God-Man Jesus, that we might live and move and have our being in Him.  For the sake of Your Son, Jesus, help men of Your church rise up and bless their homes with loving headship and heart-felt worship.  And give us grace to reach out in gospel love to the Colton Harris-Moore's in our own neighborhoods.  For it was for bandits, bad boys, liars and adulterers You died, precious Jesus.  And wonder of wonders, you are still saving sinners like me.  Be glorified in Your church, O Lord.  Amen.

For a much more intelligent discussion of the plight of men in America: http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/06/22/the-end-of-men-a-hard-look-at-the-future/            

To read up on the Barefoot Bandit: http://www.katu.com/news/local/63636867.html

From time to time I receive something so utterly ridiculous that I simply cannot pass up an opportunity to comment.  Sadly, these ridiculous things too often come from supposed Christian sources. 

 Recently, I received a book of advertisements for Christian products.  In that booklet, there was an ad for a DVD titled “At Jesus’ Side,” produced by Bridgestone Multimedia Group.  The accompanying description was as follows:

“A sure to become classic animated movie and family favorite.  At Jesus’ Side brings the teachings of Jesus to life for today’s families through the story of five misfit animals on a journey towards love and forgiveness.  Our hero, Jericho, is a vagabond street dog who befriends Jesus and follows him throughout the last week of his life, death and resurrection.”

 The DVD cover has a cartoon picture of Jesus hugging a dog while surrounded by various animals, including a giraffe, elephant, hedgehog, lizard and various dogs.  There is so much insanity here I scarcely know where to begin!  Is this what the church of the living God has come to – that we need to use some fairy tale, “green,” environmentally-friendly, animal-loving cartoon in order to teach the gospel to our children?  God help us.

 Dear friends, do not be misled by "green" versions of Christianity or the gospel.  While God does indeed command Adam, and by extension us, to exercise good stewardship over the creation, we dare not forget that “dominion” was part and parcel to that stewardship (see Gen 1:26; 9:1-3).  Rather than portray Jesus as a dog-lover, why not just let the Word of God speak?

I submit to you there’s more gospel in the first chapter of Leviticus than in 1000 of these idiotic DVD cartoons.  (By the way, go read that chapter and you’ll see God commanding lots of blood-letting of various animals in order to atone for the atrocity of human sin).  When will we wake up and begin to once again embrace the Reformation cry of sola scriptura? 

I am not against Word-centered resources to assist us in teaching the gospel to children, but parents, grandparents and teachers, I plead with you, make it the priority of your lives to open the Bible and by God’s grace “rightly divide” it.  The Word applied by the Spirit is enough; yea more than enough!  Put away all the foolish cartoons, and pick up your Bibles.

And if we simply insist on using dogs to help illustrate and teach the gospel, may I suggest we begin with the account of King David's kindness to the late King Saul's lame grandson, Mephibosheth.  Overwhelmed by the King's grace to a crippled man, Mephibosheth cries out, "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I" (2 Samuel 9:8)? 

Now, there's a lot of gospel in this story!  I love the summary sentence: "So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons" (v. 11).  

And if we still insist on using dogs to teach the gospel, may I then suggest we conclude the matter with the account of Jesus' merciful kindness to a Syro-Phoenician woman who took no insult to the Master calling her a dog.  No, rather than pander to her hurt pride, she comes to Jesus as a beggar and replies, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs" (Mark 7:28).        

These are stories worth telling, don't you think?  And unlike an animated film of a street dog that "befriends Jesus" (I gag every time I read it), the stories of Mephibosheth and the Syro-Pheonician woman are the very words of God.  Thus, they carry the full weight and power and authority of God.  They shall not return to Him void (Is 55:11).     

God give us Ezra’s in this day of utter silliness: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).