Following Jesus

Privileged Group Revealed

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They say that you can tell who the most powerful group is in a society by noticing who cannot be criticised.

This Instagram post by Israel Folau has been widely condemned as “homophobic”. Nobody from the “Drunk Community”, Adultering Community, the Liars Community, the Thieves Community or the Atheist and Idolatry Communities have made any complaints that we have heard about.

Just one noisy group whose directive has led to yet another public smack down.

So which so-called “victim group” wields more power than any other identity group in Australia?

Bill Muehlenberg: Israel Folau, the Apostle Paul, and the Gospel

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A great article here by Bill Muehlenberg about Rugby star Israel Folau’s uncompromising commitment to faith

So what does the Australian Rugby star and the great apostle of 2000 years ago have in common? Both are followers of Jesus Christ and both take their faith seriously. And they take sin seriously, speaking out on it when they can. Both have warned people that the consequences of sin is death and eternal judgment.

And both have been hated on for speaking the truth. Paul constantly got into trouble for sharing God’s truth with those who did not want to hear it, and so has Israel Folau. Indeed, I have written several pieces on the Australian sportsman already. See here: billmuehlenberg.com/2018/04/06/folau-and-unacceptable-truth/

And here: billmuehlenberg.com/2018/04/11/folau-hell-and-biblical-truth/

As to the Apostle Paul, let’s look at how he described his lot, as he spoke truth, shared the gospel, and warned sinners of their fate. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 we read:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

Hmm, it seems most folks really did not like it when Paul shared biblical truth. Most folks hated it, and they reacted to his preaching accordingly. And nothing has changed. For two thousand years Christians have been hated on for preaching the gospel.

That is always the way it is. As Jesus forewarned, people love darkness rather than light, and they will hate his messengers just as they hated him. This is as basic as you can get. Sharing Christian truth WILL always offend people. And it is Folau who is again feeling the heat big time for daring to share biblical truth in public.

He had recently responded to the news that Tasmania has passed new legislation making gender optional on birth certificates. To this he replied: “The devil has blinded so many people in this world, REPENT and turn away from your evil ways. Turn to Jesus Christ who will set you free”.

He also posted an image on Instagram with these words: “Warning – drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters – hell awaits you. Repent! Only Jesus saves.” Next to this image were these biblical truths and passages:

Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these , adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 KJV

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38 KJV

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:
Acts 17:30 KJV

Needless to say all the usual suspects were livid because of his remarks: atheists, homosexuals, those in the lamestream media, and so on. And his own in the sporting world turned on him as well. As one article reports:

Rugby Australia released a statement shortly after saying the post was ‘unacceptable’. “Rugby Australia is aware of a post made by Israel Folau on his Instagram account this afternoon,” Rugby Australia said in a statement. “The content within the post is unacceptable. It does not represent the values of the sport and is disrespectful to members of the Rugby community.

“The Rugby Australia Integrity Unit has been engaged on the matter tonight.” Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons wrote that Folau’s latest post should see Rugby Australia cut their ties with the 73-test Wallaby. “Israel Folau has to go, and will go,” the former Australian test player wrote. “Quick. Clean. Gone. At least until such times as he repents.”

“Rugby Australia simply has no choice. They cannot go through one more time the agony of last year when Folau’s social media comments trumpeting that gays would go to hell, saw rugby lose sponsors, fans and support,” FitzSimons said in the Sydney Morning Herald.

According to rugby.com.au, there was a reported clause in Folau’s contract negotiations last year that was specific to his use of social media. The tweet has been widely shared and commented on, with most people responding having a negative view of his comments.
www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12221212&fbclid=IwAR3Q-ryvFJSTXo7SIbD_1JiiXjNRVbwnlv4KMkO9gr5a6UA1dTrfOaTLEt8

So here we have the world turning on him – once again. He is not being a good boy. He refuses just to be a star athlete. When he just did sport, everyone loved him. But he also takes his faith seriously – much more seriously than his own career. And for that everyone hates him.

But as is usually the case, it is not just the God-haters who went ballistic at Folau. We also had plenty of trendy lefty Christians and members of the religious left strongly condemning him. ‘Oh but Jesus would never speak to people this way.’ ‘You need to be more loving and less intolerant and judgmental.’

Um, actually no one warned more about hell and judgment to come than Jesus Christ. And given that Folau did basically nothing but quote from Peter and Paul who were inspired by God to say and write what they did, these critics are simply out to lunch.

The truth is Folau may not always be as tactful or delicate as some of these craven Christians and men-pleasing believers want him to be, but he has courage and conviction. I will take that any day of the week over these milquetoast pansies who likely have never shared the gospel with anyone all their lives.

These armchair critics are a dime a dozen. They love to condemn bold and courageous Christians, while they grovel before the world, seeking to befriend it and get along with it. The Bible is quite clear about the sin of trying to please men while displeasing God. Consider just a few passages:

-Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their father to the false prophets.

-John 12:42-43 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

-Galatians 1:10. Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Sure, we all want to be tactful and careful as we share biblical truth in public. But we also need some Holy Ghost boldness here. If you see a little girl playing on the street and a big truck hurtling her way, if you cared at all, you would yell, scream, jump up and down and do all you can to save her.

You would NOT try to be polite, respectful and calm, making sure no one gets offended. You would act quickly and sound the alarm because a life is at risk. Folau gets it: all people are sinners and they are all heading to a lost eternity unless they repent.

They must be warned. They must be told. Sure, it is always nice if this can be done over a period of time with a nice relationship established. But we do not always have that luxury. Some of the people who read Folau’s warnings today may well be dead tomorrow.

In the same way hoping to build a relationship with the little girl first would be madness. Whether she is a friend, relative, or a complete stranger, she NEEDS that warning or she will die. All unbelievers need such warnings too. Yet most Christians have never shared their faith even once.

They are far too cowardly and too spineless. They would rather keep people happy, even if it means watching them slide into a lost eternity. I may not always do things as Folau does them, but I will give him credit. He has more guts than most believers.

And he seems to care about the lost a whole lot more than most believers. If these spineless wonders want to sit on the sidelines and criticise him, well, I am not really interested in what they have to say. They remind me of the woman who went up to the great evangelist D. L. Moody and complained about the way he evangelised. As the story goes:

The woman said to him, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism!” “Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do it?” Moody asked. She replied, “I don’t!” Moody responded, “Well, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it!”

Three cheers for Israel Folau.

Ann Voskamp” How to Give up “Devotions” & Look God in the Eye (Or: How to Walk 130 Miles with God for Lent)

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A very powerful message from Ann Voskamp about the power of the Bible.

When you first meet this guy named Joshua, you’d never know that he’s been in the mouth of a lion.What do you say to a man who’s walked out of the mouth of a lion? Only to give his entire life to the Lion and the Lamb?

You’d never have the faintest idea that lion teeth slammed down on his waist while he was just a kid sleeping out in the wilderness with his herd of goats.

Clenched between the incisors and canine teeth of the lion, Joshua found himself dragged into the bush, braced to be ripped apart for a pulpy nocturnal feast for the beast.

And in the split second that the lion dropped the mangled boy to get a better grip, the kid’s barking dog lunged in between the lion and the boy, growling and snarling, holding the lion at bay until near-by goat herders snapped awake and dragged the barely-alive Joshua out of the lion’s deadly reach.

Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company
Esther Havens for The Seed Company

The boy lived to become a scarred man. What do you say to a man who’s walked out of the mouth of a lion? Only to give his entire life to the Lion and the Lamb?

“Why?” I ask Joshua standing there in the wilderness, holding the reins of a camel. “Why — give your entire adult life, nearly the last three decades of your life, to translating the Bible into the language of your people?”

Joshua leans forward. “It is like giving them a weapon.” He points to a tree where women in these stacking rings of glorious, rattling beads are gathered under its branches.

“One of those women told me said “Now you have given us a weapon that we can use. Which is God’s Word. It’s like you have given us a spear that we can use to fight a spiritual warfare.”

Because you have to beat back your lion attacks, because “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Joshua holds up a Bible.How would everything in this tilting world stand stronger if the Word of God laid more open for us than closed?

“This is — powerful. The weapon is God’s Word. Now, we can be equipped. But the problem is now — we need the other bigger part of the weapon. The Old Testament. We also need the Old Testament.”

Read the rest of this article here

Decision Time

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Next Saturday there is a state election in NSW. State elections tend not to gain a lot of attention in Australia but this one is a turning point in the history of the nation.

In a few months there will be a Federal election which will pit a christian PM against an extreme left wing opposition leader. The choice in NSW will set the path for the general election later.

Here are the issues that the media are burying but are critical to our future.

Labor are set to legalise abortion if elected. NSW is one of just two states where abortion remains illegal, at least in theory. There is no doubt that this will change if Michael Daly becomes premier.

SRE or Scripture in Schools will be in the sights of a Labor Government. There is no doubt of that at all. For years the Teachers Unions have dominated ALP education policy. they will move quickly to keep christians out of schools.

The deceptive Safe Schools program will again be indoctrinating our kids against christian family values.

These three things by themselves will lead the Government in a path that takes the state further from Christian values.

Mario Murillo, in a recent blog, points out that in California, the people claiming to be christians voted for a state government that is as far left as anything we can imagine here. Political ideology outweighs faith commitments,

We need to pray about who we vote for, but we also must pray for the whole state, that righteous men and women will rise to power- in both the state and Federal elections.

MAKING SENSE OF HELL by Dan Hitchens

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From First Things

Eternal damnation has never been a wildly popular doctrine, but it seems to be coming under particular pressure at the moment. Public intellectuals like Stephen Greenblatt shake their heads at the teaching; eccentric theologians think up arguments against it; when Church leaders are asked about it, they often respond with ambiguity and embarrassment. No wonder the New Yorker’s Vinson Cunningham was recently moved to ask Catholics: “What modern believer wouldn’t want to cast off this old, sadistic barrier to faith in a loving God? What kind of deity draws such a hard line between his friends and his enemies, and holds an eternal grudge? Surely the loss of hell—even the idea of such a loss—should come as a bit of a relief.”

My gut reaction is sympathetic to Cunningham’s point, and such reactions shouldn’t be simply dismissed. But they should be tested. When an emotional response can’t be given a logical foundation; when it relates to something about which we are, necessarily, very ignorant; and when its implications are untenable—then it’s safe to conclude that the emotion is misleading.

Start with the logical foundation. Sin deserves punishment; in life we can always turn back toward God’s mercy, but the philosophers tell us that at death, the soul can no longer change its ways. Before death we can be swayed this way and that by our feelings and habits. But when the soul is separated from the body, this changeability ends and we are left with a single orientation. If we have turned toward God before death, we will find happiness; if we have chosen something else instead, we are in mortal sin, and our just punishment will continue for as long as we reject God—that is, forever. The inhabitants of hell go on choosing their fate: “The damned are so obstinate in their sins,” writes St. Alphonsus Liguori, “that even if God offered pardon, their hatred for him would make them refuse it.”

The attempts to pick holes in this argument are not, as far as I can see, successful: Interested readers can find a useful series of refutations here. The real objection, I think, is less logical than intuitive: Even if some punishment is necessary, isn’t hell excessive?

But here we are reduced to saying, “Surely…” about things we have not begun to grasp: the hideousness of sin, for example. Most of us, if asked to estimate how bad our sins are without the benefit of revelation, would say that although we hadn’t always conducted ourselves very honorably, we didn’t hurt anyone that much, and after all we’ve had a tough life and we’re pretty decent people overall. We would not guess, if we did not already know, that God came to earth and was humiliated and tortured to death for our sins. Do we really have a clue about the gravity of our offenses? Similarly, none of us have seen what a soul in mortal sin looks like after death, when its good impulses have fallen away and nothing remains but the desire for evil. I could opine on what strikes me as a fair punishment for unrepented mortal sin, just as I could opine, without googling, on the Olympic hopes of Azerbaijan’s national basketball team. But as it happens I know nothing about basketball, and I suspect most of our intuitions about the gravity of sin are worth even less.

Fortunately, we are not totally ignorant, because we have the guidance of the Church. Not just the authoritative teaching statements, though that is enough, but all the expressions of the Church’s wisdom through 2000 years: the standard interpretation of many, many verses in the Old and New Testaments; the sermons of the saints, with their terrible warnings about the next life; the ancient prayer of the Mass that we be “delivered from eternal damnation”; the mystics, including those of the last century, who saw things that nearly made them die of fright; Dante’s Inferno and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment.

And then there is St. Thomas More at his trial, saying that if he was not telling the truth “then pray I that I may never see God in the face”; the little children of Fatima doing their penances to help imperiled sinners, and in the process launching one of the great devotions of the twentieth century; the testimony of exorcists who, in the course of their liberating work, have spoken with demons about the next life; the countless holy men and women who have gone out to preach and care for the sick and spend themselves in love—not mostly, but partly, because they feared what they might hear on Judgment Day; the countless ordinary men and women who have forced themselves into the confessional—not wholly, but perhaps, on that day, mostly, because they believed they needed urgent rescuing. If Catholicism is the work of the Holy Spirit, then it looks like this is one of the truths He wants to lead us to.

Even non-Catholics will have to contend with Jesus’s words on this subject, which seem designed to make impossible the sort of creative rereading of which modern scholars are fond. He speaks, repeatedly, of the unquenchable fire. It is hard to downplay this and call it the fire of God’s love, because he also promises to tell the damned: “I never knew you.” He employs vivid images, like the narrow gate, but you cannot say his teaching is all metaphorical, because he describes literally the desperation of hell: “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Our Lord does not sound like he is referring to some process of difficult but healthy purification. He sounds like he is warning of a fate worse than death. Get rid of the doctrine of hell, and you will ultimately have to treat Jesus as though he does not know what he is talking about. For any Christian, that is an untenable conclusion.  

Is belief in hell a barrier to faith in a loving God? Apparently not, because the saints, whose lives were filled with the love of God and neighbor, saw the reality of hell more clearly than anyone. Perhaps this is not so surprising: It makes sense that those who truly understand the mercy of God also understand the consequences of rejecting it. 

Dan Hitchens is deputy editor of the Catholic Herald.

Consecrated Virgins

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From the ABC:

What is ‘consecrated virginity’ and why are modern women marrying Jesus?

RN By Siobhan Hegarty for Soul Search

Posted about an hour ago

Zara Tai closing her eyes, kneeling and praying at St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta.

PHOTO: Zara Tai received her rite of consecration of virginity at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta. (Supplied: Cyron, Captured Frames)

Zara Tai didn’t wear white on her wedding day, but then again, it wasn’t a conventional ceremony.

She wasn’t marrying a long-term boyfriend or even a high school sweetheart — this Parramatta-based town planner was saying “I do” to Jesus.

Ms Tai is one of nine women in Australia known as a “consecrated virgin”.

It’s a title bestowed to virgin women who promise to remain physical virgins, as brides of Christ, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Consecrated virgins dedicate their life in prayer and service to the Church, but unlike nuns and sisters, they live and work in the secular world.

“Consecrated virginity, as a concept, developed in the early Church at the time where Christians were being persecuted,” Ms Tai says.

“They were women who consecrated themselves to Christ in lieu of getting married [to men].”

Many of them, she explains, were martyred for their beliefs.

Fifteenth century painting of St Cecilia at the spinet by the Sandro Botticelli school.

PHOTO: St Cecilia, patroness of musicians, was a consecrated virgin before being martyred in 230 AD. (Getty: DeAgostini)

The rise of monasticism in the third and fourth centuries enabled women to join religious groups as nuns or sisters.

Some adopted the “rite of consecration of virginity”, as well their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

But gradually this became the only option for single, virgin women wanting to serve the church — as it had become difficult for women to live in the community without being married.

That was until 1970, when Pope Paul VI revised and reintroduced the rite and allowed it to be used for virgin women living in the secular world.

A modern way

Today, it’s estimated there are 5,000 consecrated virgins worldwide. Only nine are in Australia; the majority live in Europe, the US and South America.

A growing number of religious women are choosing this pathway over nunhood and Ms Tai isn’t surprised.

“In a religious order you might have some say in what you do, but you are under a vow of obedience, so if [the church diocese] wants you to be a teacher, a nurse or something else, you go off and do it,” she explains.

“But [consecrated virgins] have professions, we have careers … we have lives, basically, that are outside the structure of the church.

“It’s a modern way; it gives a lot of freedom to do whatever you like to do.”

'Consecrated virgin' Zara Tai wearing purple and white floral shirt.

PHOTO: Zara Tai says it was “in her veins” to become a consecrated virgin with the Catholic Church. (ABC RN: Siobhan Hegarty)

More than ‘permanently single’

Ms Tai’s journey towards becoming a consecrated virgin hasn’t always been easy.

It took 15 years from when she raised the idea with her local church to the day of her consecration.

One of the greatest roadblocks was the lack of historical religious knowledge.

“There was not much known about the vocation … some felt I ought to become a nun,” she recalls.

Even after her consecration, Ms Tai wasn’t embraced by all members of the clergy.

“Some priests have said, ‘Oh, so you’re a permanent single person?'” she says.

“That’s clearly not the case, I am married to Christ.

“They’re still fitting me into a box that is not [correct]. They obviously don’t know the history of the church.”

Zara Tai performing prostration, lying flat on the floor face down, during her consecration ceremony.

PHOTO: Ms Tai performed prostration, lying face-down on the floor, during her consecration ceremony. (Supplied: Cyron, Captured Frames)

‘Secret service of the church’

Ms Tai’s decision also drew questions from her family.

Born to a Chinese-Malaysian father and a mother of Maltese origin, she was baptised Catholic, but didn’t practise the faith in her childhood.

“I grew up with two brothers and was a typical tomboy, so going to church was the last thing on our minds,” she reflects.

“We were always at the beach, playing cricket or going on adventures — being religious doesn’t meld with any of that.”

Upon turning 15, Ms Tai felt “a big call to God” and began pursing a religious life.

But her tomboy traits remained. When she’s not working or studying theology, Ms Tai can be found kayaking, hiking or “bodysurfing with the boys”.

Zara Tai kayaking in the ocean, with Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier in background.

PHOTO: Ms Tai says becoming a consecrated virgin hasn’t affected her independence or freedom to travel. (Supplied: Zara Tai)

She says her greatest contribution is being where the church is not.

“A lot of people come to me for different questions, but they may not go anywhere near a church or a church official,” Ms Tai says.

“In fact, Rome has often called us the ‘secret service of the church’ because we are in all walks of life.”

In a time where religious institutions are criticised for female exclusion and male privilege, Ms Tai say consecrated virginity is “one for the women”.

“Sometimes I get asked: ‘Oh, you’re part of the hierarchy of the church — do you feel put down or submissive?’

“Absolutely not. In my experience, the diocese has given me scope to do almost anything I like.

“I belong to Christ and I’m totally happy with it.”

Breaking Christian News: Most Marriages Do Survive

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From “Breaking Christian News” comes this great encouragement. Obviously the stats are for the U.S. but the situation here is probably comparable.

DIVORCE STAT SHOCKER IS “GAME-CHANGING”: MOST MARRIAGES DO MAKE IT

Paul Strand : Feb 15, 2019 : CBN News

“We need to change the paradigm of how we talk about marriage—from marriage being in trouble and all this discouraging stuff to saying, ‘No, wait. Most marriages are strong and happy for a lifetime. That makes a total difference to a couple who can now say, ‘You know what? Most people get through this and we can, too.'” -Shaunti Feldhahn

(Atlanta, GA)—[CBN News] Most people believe only half of US marriages make it. But a leading researcher is announcing the true divorce rate is much lower and always has been. (Photo: Pixabay)

Shaunti Feldhahn received her research training at Harvard. She and her husband Jeff help people with their marriages and relationships through best-selling books like, For Women Only and For Men Only.

This Atlanta-based couple often quoted in their writings and at conferences what they thought was accurate research: that most marriages are unhappy and 50 percent of them end in divorce, even in the Church.

“I didn’t know,” Feldhahn told CBN News. “I’ve stood up on stage and said every one of these wrong statistics.”

More than ten years ago, she asked assistant Tally Whitehead for specific research on divorce for an article she was writing. After much digging, neither of them could find any real numbers.

That kicked off a personal, years-long crusade to dig through the tremendously complicated, sometimes contradictory research to find the truth. The surprising revelations are revealed in her new book, The Good News About Marriage.

The Real Divorce Rate

“First-time marriages: probably 20 to 25 percent have ended in divorce on average,” Feldhahn revealed. “Now, okay, that’s still too high, but it’s a whole lot better than what people think it is.”

Shaunti and Jeff point out the 50 percent figure came from projections of what researchers thought the divorce rate would become as they watched the divorce numbers rising in the 1970s and early 1980s when states around the nation were passing no-fault divorce laws.

“But the divorce rate has been dropping,” Feldhahn said. “We’ve never hit those numbers. We’ve never gotten close.”

And it’s even lower among churchgoers, where a couple’s chance of divorcing is more likely in the single digits or teens.

Hopelessness = Divorce

As the truth about these much lower divorce rates begins to spread, Feldhahn said she believes it will give people hope, which is often a key ingredient to making marriage last. She said hopelessness itself can actually lead to divorce.

“That sense of futility itself pulls down marriages,” Feldhahn said. “And the problem is we have this culture-wide feeling of futility about marriage. It’s based on all these discouraging beliefs and many of them just aren’t true.”

Christian psychotherapist Angel Davis has also written about marriage in her book, The Perfecting Storm. The Athens, Georgia-based therapist agreed with Shaunti Feldhahn’s warnings about hopelessness.

“The Bible says hope deferred, it makes a heart sick,” Davis said. “And we are so influenced by numbers and by culture.”

Jeff Feldhahn said anytime he tells people about his wife’s findings about how incorrect the 50 percent divorce rate actually is, they’re stunned.

“Their mouth drops open and they’re just shocked,” he said. “They go, ‘I can’t believe I believed this all these years. And I’ve heard it so many times. And I’ve heard it from the pulpit so many times.'”

Shaunti added, “This is a great chance to stand up and say. ‘We were all fooled. Not anymore.'”

Spreading the Good News

To that end, Feldhahn has been working to spread the news to pastors and other leaders as fast as she can. The news is changing Pastor Daniel Floyd’s counseling because he had bought into fictional research, he admitted to Feldhahn.

“I told her, ‘I’ve said this. I’ve taught this,'” the pastor at Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, recalled.

Floyd said he’s sure this news will change a generation of marriage counseling.

“I think it’s significant,” he said. “And it could change the conversation from one that is ‘Wow, it’s just the way it is, and half of you are going to make it, half of you are not,’ and change the conversation to know historically, an overwhelming majority have made it and you can make it.”

Psychotherapist Davis said this belief can change lives and marriages.

“We know in psychology that what you believe affects how you feel, and then it leads to action,” Davis stated. “So, when other people are accomplishing something we think is hopeless, it gives us hope. And then we start feeling different and start acting different.”

Feldhahn has more shocking research: four out of five marriages are happy. That number flies in the face of the popular belief that only about 30 percent of marriages are happy.

“Most people think most marriages are just kind of ‘eeh’—just kind of rolling along,” she said. “And they’re shocked when I tell them that the actual average is 80 percent: 80 percent of marriages are happy.”

Not knowing the true statistics often leads couples to avoid marriage and just shack up instead.

A Game-Changer?

Feldhahn said that couples who avoid marriage do so based on wrong assumptions.

“Like, ‘if I’m just going to get divorced and I’m not going to be happy, why bother getting married, right?’ And it’s based on a lie,” she said. “That feeling is based on a lie.”

Pastor Floyd said these new facts can be a game-changer for married couples.

“I think it really helps people in the challenging moments to say, ‘If I’ll just stick with it, then there’s a good chance I’m going to make it the distance,'” he said.

“With hope, you feel you can make it through, even though you’re in a tough patch,” Jeff Feldhahn said.

His wife also pointed to other research that proves most of the unhappily married can turn it around.

“The studies show that if they stay married for five years, that almost 80 percent of those will be happy five years later,” she said.

The Good News About Marriage also reveals the divorce rate among those active in their church is 27 to 50 percent lower than among non-churchgoers. Feldhahn’s hope is that once people learn the truth that they will spread it far and wide.

“We need to change the paradigm of how we talk about marriage—from marriage being in trouble and all this discouraging stuff to saying, ‘No, wait. Most marriages are strong and happy for a lifetime,'” she told CBN News. “That makes a total difference to a couple who can now say, ‘You know what? Most people get through this and we can, too.’

Family Camp

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Each year our church has a Family Camp. It is a weekend away with activities for all ages. We aim to learn about God and about each other.

This year’s theme was “Deeper Faith”. I encouraged all the campers to go deeper in faith, deeper in Scriptures, deeper with the Holy Spirit.

This year’s camp was smaller in number than last year’s, but that gave us more opportunity to share together. It also made the teaching sessions less formal and more interactive.

Everyone enjoyed the weekend immensely. One little boy when asked if he would come next time said, “I’m coming on Friday!” Well he might be a little lonely but it does give us incentive to plan for the next camp.

Leaving Rapture Culture Behind | Chris Williams

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Chris Williams writes:

Leaving Rapture Culture Behind | Chris Williams

Photo credit: Flickr, waiting for his word
Photo credit: Flickr, Waiting for His Word, no edits made. C.C. Licensing.

This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary miniseries “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” I’ll be tackling the topics of that series from a Christian perspective over the next few weeks, usually by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. This post is based on the next episode, “Apocalypse,” which will air on 4/10 at 9 p.m.

I think most evangelicals go through a Rapture obsession.

I remember when it happened for me. I was 15 and my parents had taken me to a dc Talk concert. During the show, the trio played a cover of Larry Norman’s “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” When the group got to the last verse of the song, what had been a light-hearted, energetic show suddenly chilled me to the bone:

The Father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?
There’s no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind
I wish we’d all been ready

I’d been raised in a Baptist church since infancy, so I knew that my family believed in the Rapture — the time when many Christians believe Christ will take His living and dead followers up to Heaven. According to that interpretation of Scripture, nonbelievers will remain to suffer through a period of suffering (the Tribulation) that culminates in the reign of the Antichrist, the battle of Armageddon, the fiery destruction of the planet and, ultimately, the Final Judgement. I’d heard about this for years, but this was the first time I began to consider its implications.

Would I be alive when Christ returned? What if I wasn’t truly saved? Would I be left behind? What would it be like for those who were? I had nightmares of friends and family suffering catastrophic war, giant locusts and continent-demolishing earthquakes.

A few months later, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published the first “Left Behind” novel. Like many other evangelicals, I devoured it. I also read other books that promised to unlock the code of Revelation, listened to church leaders theorize about the Antichrist’s identity — often the Democratic presidential candidate — and sometimes jumped if I heard something that sounded a little too much like a trumpet.

Left_Behind_film_poster

This wasn’t a new fad. Hal Lindsey ignited Christian culture’s end times obsession with his 1970 book “The Late, Great Planet Earth,” which theorized that the Rapture and Tribulation could play out in the ’70s and ’80s (spoiler alert: they didn’t). Russell S. Doughton’s “A Thief in the Night” and its three sequels depicted the Rapture and Tribulation for Christian filmgoers several decades before Kirk Cameron and Nicolas Cage were left behind. And any time a new war or global conflict occurred, writers found a new way to link those events to the Biblical warnings of trumpets, seals and horsemen — all for a price. Rapture culture is so pervasive that even Homer Simpson got in on it.

It’s easy to understand the evangelical obsession with the end times. We love doomsday stories, and Earth under the Tribulation is the ultimate dystopia. It’s the perfect plot for a movie, complete with apocalyptic weather, a world war and supernatural beasts; it’s no wonder Christian bookstores are filled with Rapture films and books. Plus, there’s a smug satisfaction evangelicals get from Rapture narratives. Not only do the bad guys get judged, but we don’t have to suffer; we get to sit on a cloud in Heaven watching the show.

Two decades after that concert, I’m a bit chagrined about how into all of this I was. Many Christians, including myself, actually believe “Left Behind” is way off base. The word “Rapture” doesn’t appear in the Bible at all. The idea of Christ coming to rescue believers before the Tribulation was popularized by an Irish priest in the 1800s. While Christians do believe Christ will return, judge the living and the dead, and bring Heaven down to Earth, we’re a bit muddy on how that all works. Some still believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture; others believe it might happen afterward or halfway through. Still others believe that Revelation is symbolic of events that have already happened, or is both a warning to the early church and a political allegory. The ominous number 666 conjures pictures of tattoo’d barcodes in some believers’ heads, while others believe it’s actually a reference to Caesar Nero, who was persecuting Christians around the time Revelation was written.

The truth is, I don’t know how the world is going to end. I also don’t know 

when

 it’s going to end, or if I’m going to be around to see it. I’ve stopped worrying or trying to figure it out. As a Christian, I rest in Jesus Christ and His finished work. If He chooses to take me away before things get bad, through death or Rapture, I’ll welcome it. But if it’s His plan for me to endure the Earth’s final days, I believe that He’ll give me the strength to do that as well. My job is not to try to predict events or look for hidden Bible codes. My job is not to fear the end times or pray for judgement. My job is to trust.

And to hope, which is something that goes missing in all the Rapture obsession.

In a culture that peddles fear and tension, end times theology has taken on a grim tone. Yes, the Bible says that things will get dark before Christ’s return. And looking around our world, it’s easy to see violence and disaster everywhere and wonder just how much worse it’s going to get. Admittedly, sometimes it feels like I’m just waiting for God to step in and say, “Time’s up.”

But what gets lost in the Rapture hysteria is that the promise of Christ’s return is not one of destruction, but of renewal. It’s a reminder that no matter how dark this world gets, there’s coming a day when Christ will make it right. This world might be destroyed by war, but it will be renewed by love. Oppressive regimes will be wiped away, replaced by a good king who’s died for his subjects. Sickness and death will be replaced by a life more vivid and vibrant than anything we can imagine. Revelation ends not with a war but with a feast. Not with enemies, but a family. Not with screaming, but with singing.

Photo credit: Flickr, Keoni Cabral
Photo credit: Flickr, Keoni Cabral. C.C. Licensing.

Contrary to media portrayals — and, very often, our own words — Christianity is not about licking our lips and waiting for our enemies’ annihilation. It’s about believing a truth so beautiful that we want the entire world to believe it: God has made a way for us to know Him. Many times when I was younger, I wondered why Jesus didn’t just take the disciples with Him to Heaven and end the story there. Why wait several millennia to return? It’s only been in recent years that I’ve discovered two reasons. One is that we know this world is a mess, and Christ’s followers are tasked with making it less messy. We have the job of preparing for the king’s arrival by pushing back the effects of sin. We’re called to love and serve others, live peacefully, take care of the planet, and pursue justice. And the other reason? Christians believe in “the more, the merrier.” We believe that the reason Christ hasn’t returned isn’t because He’s lazy or slow, but because He’s patient and has given us time to reach the world with His message. Those two things drive missionaries in every corner of the world and should be the beating hearts of our churches. That — not politics, morality or nationalism — is the heart of evangelicalism.

One thing that Morgan Freeman mentions at the end of the episode is that the word “apocalypse” doesn’t mean annihilation or ending. It’s actually a Greek word that means “unveiling.” And these days, when I look out at our world and think of what my faith tells me comes next, I’m no longer filled with fear, but with hope and expectation. For the Christian, the apocalypse isn’t the war to end all wars. It’s the wedding to end all weddings, and the start of the true story we’ve been preparing for all of our lives.It’s not an end; it’s the beginning of forever.

Only One Worldview Brings Life

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Any time any person (usually a christian) says “Changing this will lead to that,” they are scorned for espousing the slippery slope theory. Sadly, human nature being what it is, the slopes are often slipped.

We see this already in Australia. Just one year after the Same Sex Marriage plebiscite, which we were told would not affect anybody, we find that attacks are being made on the rights of religious schools to teach their beliefs about human sexuality. They said, “If you don’t like same sex marriage you don’t have to have one,” but already the pressure is building for schools and, soon, churches to buckle under and negate their own faith.

People around the world have been shocked by the decision in New York State to allow abortions right up until birth. A baby now has not even the right to live right until it is safely born. The city was lit up in pink in an obscene celebration of this event.

But it gets worse. In the state of Virginia similar legislation is being introduced. The Governor of that state has been reported to have coldly described a scenario in which labour starts before an abortion is completed. The baby is born naturally and then made comfortable while the doctor and the mother decide whether to kill the baby or allow her to live. In normal societies this is called infanticide and fills people with revulsion.

Whenever people decide to live their lives separate from God, it always results in a death culture. Whether it is the traditional pagan human sacrifice or its modern versions of abortion and euthanasia, humans will be sacrificed.

Fifty years ago this would have prompted outrage but now we are not surprised as the slopes continue to be slipped.

A number of times in the scriptures people are given choices and exhorted to “choose life.” Have you ever wondered why they had to be told to “Choose life”? Isn’t that a normal desire?

No. Sin, our built in rebellion against God always drives us towards death. A culture that ignores God will always, in the end, choose death- even the deaths of newborn babies.