Archive for the ‘moral relativism’ Category

The new mantra these days that you have your truth and I have mine is simply an extension of the 1960s, “If it feels good, do it.” So, should sin be redefined based on ever-changing times and pop-culture? What about the Law of Nature and nature’s God? Is there a moral standard? And now, we may soon find out if America is ready for an open-homosexual to be president – who, by the way, claims to be a Christian!

But feelings don’t change the truth. So the debate continues: Can we make up our own individual morality? Should the Bible be rewritten? The fact is God never changes, the human heart is wicked, man is sinful, and we all need a Savior.

John Stonestreet at Breakpoint is right, saying there’s an epidemic of self-centered faith in our culture as well as our churches.

If there were an Americanized translation of the Apostle’s Creed for today, it would be something like this: “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, who always supports my feelings.”

Enter openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, now a 2020 presidential candidate, who claims his homosexual lifestyle and marriage to a man has brought him closer to God. He also thinks God made him gay, so he obviously concludes homosexuality can’t be a sin.

The mayor may be most well-known for attacking the faith and character of Vice President, Mike Pence who responded with grace. Pete says he’s a Christian, but he doesn’t get to invent another doctrine or his own version of Christianity. That’s called idolatry. Either way, the media sure loves him.

They’re on board, promoting this new progressive 2020 candidate with glee. Senior editor of CNN, Kyle Blaine even sent an eye-opening tweet, saying:

This Buttigieg/Pence episode illustrates a core question many LGBT people have to confront at some point in their life: Can you be “friends” with someone who believes that something at the very core of who you are is wicked and should be changed?

First, there’s no “episode.” Buttigieg is good at insulting Mike Pence and others who disagree with his twisted theology, but Pence has not retaliated. He compliments the Indiana mayor as a “dedicated public servant.” The victim card may not work as Buttigieg intends.

CNN’s Kyle Blaine is actually suggesting every LGBT individual must question whether or not they can even be a friend of someone who is a truly converted Christian. What I mean by using descriptors is there are millions of pretend or “professing” Christians who do not believe the whole Bible nor do they live by its teachings.

What we’re talking about here are authentic, born-again Christ followers who trust Jesus, God’s Word, and understand holiness and sanctification. CNN and others continually provide a platform for people like Blaine who indirectly suggest a Christian is not worth befriending.

The truth is by nature, we are rebellious toward God. Scripture reminds us “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “our righteousness is as filthy rags.”

Author Peter Heck points out the fact teaching about the sickness of the human heart goes back before the early church to the Prophets. We all need redemption.

That’s not just “the gays.” It’s everybody. And since every human being is wicked at our core, we Christians believe that the heart of every human being must be changed; We recognize it for all mankind, including ourselves.

But many progressives cannot allow themselves to believe man is inherently evil. Even Jesus said no one is good except God alone. Man at his best falls short; we need a Savior, but this doesn’t bode too well with those who have redefined sin.

We are made in God’s image, but we each have a conscience and moral awareness. I don’t have a problem with who Buttigieg is; I simply disagree with what him doing whatever he feels like doing and calling it “Christian.” There are too many hypocrites and posers in American churches trying the same thing, the difference being their sin of choice is something other than homosexuality.

Human identity is much more than the sum total of someone’s sexual inclinations. Everett Piper of the Washington Times responded to Buttigieg this way:

[T]he “creator” whom you so boldly reference makes this pretty clear. There is no place in His entire biblical narrative where He defines us by our desires. All of us, however, are known by our choices. …You see, Mr. Mayor, this is a matter of your proclivities, not your personhood; If you want us to stay out of your bedroom, please shut the door. Stop opening it up and forcing us to applaud and celebrate.

When feelings trump truth, we’re in serious trouble. It has become trendy to ignore biological, natural roles our bodies have in procreation, as well as the historically accepted meaning of marriage between one man and one woman. But sadly, feelings have practically become the new authority or at least the measure of personal identity.

What may be most concerning however, is the biblical illiteracy in our churches as well as the radical shift in public opinion when it comes to God, government, and being gay. In all three, evil is being called good and good, evil. Our great grandparents and founding fathers would be extremely confused by today’s America; and perhaps indignant. One thing is certain: they would not remain silent.

Freedom Project Media video

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The Left may be godless, but they’re not stupid. Their deceptive and shrewd use of strategic words has helped them change public opinion, gain political power, and frame nearly every controversial argument or debate. They weaponize words such as choice, freedom, do no harm, inclusive, justice, fairness, affordable, tolerance, and nondiscrimination.

Liberal Democrats are now pushing the so-called ‘Equality Act’ which would give LGBTQ individuals – not equal rights, but special rights. There’s a difference. This bill would silence Christians in America. Don’t be deceived: there’s nothing equal about the equality Act.

Words matter, and the left knows exactly how to manipulate language and use positive-sounding terminology to sell their agenda. Semantics is part of the game for LGBTQ activists looking to steamroll citizens for their beliefs in the Bible, including marriage and biological sex.

The Equality Act – H.R. 5 and S. 788 – would actually amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by adding “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity’ as protected classes throughout the federal code.” This modified amendment would apply to employment, housing, rental, public accommodation and much more.

The bill would essentially state that religious beliefs cannot be defended in a dispute between gay rights and constitutionally protected religious rights. If you believe the Bible is true and agree with God-ordained, natural marriage, too bad. You lose.

The Heritage Foundation’s Monica Burke wrote an excellent piece for the Daily Signal in which she thoroughly explained seven reasons why the Equality Act is anything but. If the bill passes it would:

  1. Impose sexual ideology
  2. Compel speech
  3. Shut down charities
  4. Allow more biological males to defeat girls in sports
  5. Coerce medical professionals
  6. Lead to more parents losing custody of their children
  7. Enable sexual assault

The logical aim of their ideology is to eradicate God, His word, and biblical morality from our culture and country. Why? Because Christianity is one of the only obstacles in the way of the radical Left gaining complete power and control of practically every aspect of America.

Due to decades of leftist progress, activists have been emboldened and we’re now seeing open hostility toward Christians – in a nation founded on biblical principles.

We didn’t get here overnight, and this effort did not start with the LGBTQ movement. It goes back to the 1950s, when the unconstitutional Lyndon Johnson Amendment was used to silence Christians, nonprofits, and conservatives. Today’s liberals are simply taking another step.

The freedom of religious expression is one of our most basic and valued freedoms in our society.

Let’s go back a bit further – to America’s founding. The First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition.  It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others as well as restricting an individual’s religious practices. The key word here is ‘practice.’ Your faith is not something you do only behind church walls.

Don’t be so naive to think the Pelosi Democrats merely want to level the playing field. They’d snuff out Christianity if they could. They refuse to allow open discussion of biblical creation, human life in the womb, and of God’s design for marriage and gender roles.

Breakpoint’s John Stonestreet stated:

“The supporters of the Equality Act don’t want debate or discussion. The Equality Act is designed to effectively shut down debate about human sexuality, about gender, about same-sex attraction. That’s a national debate that we’ve actually never had.”

To clarify, discrimination is wrong, but disagreement is not hate. We should have the right to disagree with policies, ideologies, and behaviors that oppose biblical teachings. The Equality Act would elevate sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes, impose a nationwide bathroom policy, and it would defeat the purpose of having anti-discrimination laws.

Don’t fall for the lies of the left, and don’t buy into the so-called ‘Equality Act’ no matter how virtuous it may sound. We know what their end game is. What can we do? Fight for the truth, pray, speak, and vote. Then trust God regardless of the outcome, knowing judgment is coming soon.

Originally published by Freedom Project Media

Is God-ordained marriage being deconstructed  in America? In order to eliminate natural marriage in society, it must first be rendered meaningless. How could that happen? You might say ‘gays and lesbians pushing same-sex marriage for several decades’, and you’d only be partially right. Many factors lead to marriage being redefined.

Recent surveys done by Barna Research concluded that adultery, premarital sex and cohabitation have basically become the new normal in America. In addition, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, seventy-five percent of Americans say it’s okay to have and raise children when the parents are living together but not married. So how did we get here? 

Fifty years ago, a Gallup poll was done showing only 21% of Americans said premarital sex was acceptable; 68% said it was wrong. That was 1969. So what happened to change the attitudes of people about marriage over five decades?

Skyrocketing divorce rates among heterosexuals have added to the problem, as well as the increasing divorce rate among Christians. Did you know that since around the early 1960s, the divorce rate in America has increased over 100% to where now more than one out of every two marriages ends in divorce?

Bisexual, pedophile, and sexologist, Alfred Kinsey did much damage to people’s healthy views of sex and marriage in the 1950s. Dig up the truth about Kinsey sometime, not the whitewashed Hollywood version. He used children in his sex experiments as well as prostitutes. 

Planned Parenthood’s founding feminist, adulterer, eugenicist, racist, and atheist, Margaret Sanger promoted sexual freedom at a time when the word abortion was spoken about in hushes and whispers. She was among the first to promote monogamous marriage as a ball and chain! We’ve now reached the point where killing a baby in the womb is just another form of birth control.

The Feminist movement and cry for women’s liberation and equality sounded good in its early stages, but it is no longer about equal pay or equal rights. It has become a liberal, anti-family, socialist movement detrimental to God-ordained, natural marriage and healthy families. 

Then, a major cultural event happened fifty years ago, billed as “3 Days of Peace and Music” in White Lake, New York. Woodstock drew nearly 500,000 people in 1969. There were drugs, nudity, sex, rock and roll, and a lot of mud from the rain.

It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in pop music history and the peak of the hippie counterculture. Ideas of rebellion against authority, peace, love, sex, tolerance, and unity resonated throughout the country – bringing us to today’s godless culture in which two thirds of adults (65%) say it’s a good idea to live with one’s significant other before getting married.

But one of the saddest findings to me is that in a survey of professing Christians, almost half of them (48%) live with or have previously lived with their boyfriend or girlfriend. This makes me wonder if we’re all reading the same Holy Bible.

We didn’t see all the causes decades ago, but we’re sure seeing the effects today…

(Read the full post at DavidFiorazo.com)

If Jesus rebuked many of the early churches for straying, leaving their first love, putting up with false doctrine, or for being lukewarm, how could we, American Christians, think He wouldn’t harshly rebuke many of our seeker-sensitive, shallow, lukewarm churches today?

Some might claim the Church is thriving here in the United States of Entertainment. I would ask them why then doesn’t it translate out into society. Who is driving culture today, Christians or atheists and secular progressives? Biblical morality or godlessness?

The truth is too many professing believers have generally conformed to the world and have failed to defend and preserve culture through Judeo-Christian values. We are to be salt in society: to not only flavor and enhance culture but to influence it as well. Salt is a preservative, but it can also irritate, especially if it touches an exposed wound. Paul told believers at Ephesus to walk as children of light and,

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; (Eph. 5:11)

Too many in American churches do just the opposite! We accommodate popular sins (abortion and homosexuality). Why? Because the Supreme Court ruled they are legal, of course. But just because something is legal does not make it moral. Has the Supreme Ruler and Judge changed His mind on certain sins? Not at all!

We have watered down the Word of God and have lost our saltiness and power to transform society for good. Some larger churches have a reputation for being alive, but their discipleship and doctrine is rather ineffective. I attended a megachurch for several years and kept running into unregenerate and unconverted people, many of whom thought they were saved. 

God woke me up at 3 AM recently and this message is the result. My heart was heavy; we were wrapping up our Bible study on the book of Colossians – a church Paul commended for their faith and love, by the way – and we were examining the geography of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and many cities that had Christian churches in the first several centuries.

*The following is a partial transcript to the sermon from video:

In Revelation chapter two and three, Jesus harshly rebuked five out the seven churches within the same area. I couldn’t help but wonder what He would think of churches in America today. It’s a sobering thought.

Would Jesus rebuke us, Christians in the United States of Entertainment, the way He did several churches in Asia Minor? 

Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Revelation 3:2-3

This quote has been attributed to several people, one of whom is Dwight L. Moody:

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.”

We will all stand before the Lord one day and be judged for how we spent our time. Your husband or wife won’t be there, neither will your children, coworkers, or friends on social media. It will be you alone before Jesus. And that should sober up every one of us in this room.

Here are some important QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

  1. Is your life bearing fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ? JN 15:8
  2. Are we passionate about eternal and spiritual things? COL 3:2
  3. Who or what is our first love? What’s our main focus? 6:33
  4. Have you conformed to our culture – or to Christ? ROM 12:2
  5. Do we love this world more than we love God, His Word? 1 JN 2:15-17
  6. Are you prepared for persecution when it comes? 5:11-12

Are we, individual believers in Jesus who make up the church in America, succeeding at what’s most important? Are we loving the Lord God, loving our neighbors, preaching the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ alone, making disciples, raising godly children, impacting culture, and encouraging the faith of other believers?

Or are we just giving God lip service?

American churches, especially many of the larger, higher profile mega-churches, often have a good reputation simply due to their popularity, numbers or size (quantity). But this is often a very inaccurate picture of the overall health, discipleship, and maturity (quality) of a church. Is the body of Christ being built up in faith and equipped for ministry? (Eph. 4:11-12)

According to Barna research and several other studies and surveys, it appears American Christianity is producing the most biblically illiterate church members in history, confused about what the Bible teaches, unable to fully understand let alone explain and defend the essentials of the faith. What ever happened to discipleship? We can learn from the earliest Christian churches that it doesn’t take long to stray from truth.

Revelation 3:1  “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

Wake-up! Repent! Notice what Jesus also says to the church in Sardis:

5 He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

*We all have ears – but – are we listening? What is Jesus saying to the churches in America who have grown comfortable and complacent? What is He saying to individual believers? Do YOU have ears to hear from God?

Is your life bearing fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ?

We just finished the book of Colossians in our weekly Bible study and looking at the geography at that time, we talked about the many early Christian churches in Asia Minor which is modern day Turkey.

…The Colossian church was just 12 miles from the church of Laodicea and about 95 miles from Ephesus, a booming city at the time. Laodicea was also prospering and growing, located next to a new trade route, they had it made.

But that’s what lots of people would say about America, which is why we’re making this comparison today. We are prosperous, proud, and self-sufficient. Look at our big and many churches!

May we take to heart the warnings to the early churches:

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:

15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked; …19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

READ FULL POST, SERMON TEXT & SHARE!

Culture is shifting left, change is happening, and morality is declining at such a rapid pace in American culture, a culture in which moral relativism trumps truth and rebellion against God is at fever-pitch, it’s difficult to just report on one story in a particular category. So this week, let’s look briefly at three headlines and why they matter:

  1. California Passes Law Allowing 12-Year-Olds To Get Tax-Paid Transgender Treatments
  2. Male Rapist Identifying as “Female” Transfers to Women’s Jail – (What could go wrong?)
  3. Colorado Children’s Hospital Dumps Gender Designations to Satisfy Liberal Activists

How did we get here?

America has rejected God and absolute truth. People are simply doing what is right in their individual minds. But remember, just because a person sincerely believes something does not make it true, just, or right.

Let’s start with the children’s hospital. It’s bad enough some clueless and uninformed parents are now allowing their five-year old children to decide what gender they want to be, Children’s Hospital in Aurora, is removing gender markings off patient wristbands to satisfy the politically correct LGBTQ lobby.

Spokesperson, Dr. Natalie Nokoff has treated transgender patients for years and stated:

“We are seeing more and more patients who have diverse gender identities,”

I get it. More children are being encouraged to think they’re the opposite sex. But you don’t have to accommodate delusions and put kids’ health at risk just to satisfy the extremists. This is irresponsible.

Speaking of irresponsible and reckless, the next story is from England, where Stephen Wood, a man who identifies as a woman and goes by Karen White, is a convicted rapist and pedophile, most recently arrested for stabbing his neighbor.

Since he is transgender, they placed him in a jail for women even though he is a biological male and has had no chemical or surgical modifications. Wood used the opportunity to sexually assault four women in New Hall Prison. Apologizing for the mistake, a Prison spokesman reiterated that safety of all prisoners is a priority and they work to manage transgender prisoners with sensitivity.

Even after the incident, reporters and prison officials still used feminine pronouns – referring to Stephen as she or her. This is not only ideologically-driven and ignorant, it is a denial of science and truth, so unfortunately, we’re seeing tragic consequences of a society drifting further from a worldview based on the authority of God’s Word.

Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis explains:

“The Bible is clear that there are only two genders—male and female (Genesis 1:27). When you deny Scripture and blur the lines between the sexes, you create confusion and open the door (as in this case) for sexual predators.”

And the third story: you only need to be 12 years old in California to privately seek and consent to treatment for so-called ‘gender transitioning.’ Let’s put this in perspective.

You have to be 18 to vote in California, 16 obtain a driver’s license, 18 to buy a rifle, engage in consensual sex, or get married without parental consent, and 21 to buy a handgun, alcohol, or marijuana. But in the nation’s most progressive state, you only need to be 12 to get taxpayer-funded life-changing transgender treatments.

The new law describes it as “gender affirming health care, with consideration of their gender identity,” and includes Medi-Cal coverage for foster care youth up to 26 years of age. How do they prove these services are medically necessary?

According to Denise Shick at the Federalist, the law’s authors seem to mean well, wanting a safe and healthy home, free of abuse for those in foster care and for them to be treated with respect. Who would argue with that?

But are adolescents mature enough to make such drastic, adult decisions?

We know kids often emulate what Hollywood promotes as good, and according to the CDC, children in the age range of 12-14 are heavily influenced by their peer group and are more concerned about superficial things such as body image, looks, and clothes.

Teens and adolescants also experience more moodiness, develop eating problems, feel more sadness or depression, which can lead to poor grades at school, alcohol or drug use, unsafe sex, and other problems.

The article states:

Many studies have found that human brains take a long time to develop fully—as long as 25 years or more. That means that adolescents are at a distinct disadvantage in decision making. That’s why you see the immaturity issues…

Chronologically, adolescents are only about halfway to full brain development. Yet the new California allows—and almost compels—adolescents to make irreversible, potentially life-altering decisions!

One final point. According to the American College of Pediatricians,

“The vast majority of gender dysphoric children affirmed as the opposite sex go on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are permanently sterilized as a result,”

That means a wrong decision could render today’s kids incapable of having children of their own someday. How many pastors, Christian leaders and parents are speaking up about this destructive movement?

Will the adults in the room and across the country who are capable of making wise choices stand up for truth, common sense, and sanity against those who might mean well and against those who are driving this destructive agenda?

The Bible teaches that when mankind becomes futile in their thinking, their foolish hearts are darkened.

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:25); Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:25) and, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.(1 Corinthians 3:19)

Godless liberalism is driving the nation. America is reaping the lies and deception that have been sown throughout our culture over the last seventy-five years. Now on steroids, the LGBTQ agenda is taking the ship down with it.

The God of Truth is our only hope to reconcile sinful man to Himself, and for true believers in America to reclaim spiritual influence and salvage a drowning society. We must get back to the basics of biblical living, speak the truth (about creation, gender, marriage, etc.), and expose the darkness in part by pointing others to the truth of Christ.

This just in! Once again, researchers are thrilled about the possibility of life on Mars! Maybe. A recent report of water a mile underneath a slab of ice seemed to boost the odds of life on the red planet. One scientist from the University of Arizona stated if they did find life, it would be microbial, somewhere in the Martian crust.

My question is this: why don’t we use this same determined, scientific, optimistic approach to find human life on earth? We’re often told a heartbeat in a human mother’s womb is not a sign of life. Come on.

NASA’s John Grunsfeld commented on the report at a news conference:

“It suggests it would be possible for there to be life today on Mars,”

Researchers said in the journal, Nature Geoscience, that further exploration is warranted to determine whether microscopic life exists there. One of the lead scientists says the only way to know is to keep collecting rocks from Mars and doing soil analysis on the specimens. It is astounding and bewildering to me that scientists, university departments, NASA, and independent researchers have been studying for decades hoping to find evidence indicating any sign of a living organism on Mars.

What about human beings, and why all the confusion about a living, developing fetus in a mother’s womb? We know it’s certainly not just a clump of cells because dead things don’t grow!

Twenty-three chromosomes from the mother and twenty-three from the father are joined together at the time of fertilization. At this early point, the unique, genetic makeup of the individual is determined, and the terms “conception” and “fertilization” are interchangeable.

Please consider sharing some eye-opening information about a newly conceived baby:

  • Its DNA, everything she will grow into, was fully present at the moment of conception.
  • Her heart began to beat eighteen days after conception.
  • Her brainwaves were detectable forty days (six weeks) after conception.
  • Your baby could move and she could suck her thumb (and hiccup!) between six and seven weeks.
  • Eight weeks after conception, all of her major organs are developed.
  • A baby’s respiratory system begins to function, and she begins to breathe amniotic fluid at nine weeks
  • She can smile, suck her thumb, and clap at eighteen weeks.
  • A baby can feel pain at approximately twenty weeks gestation.

This last medical finding has led to what is called the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a U.S. Congress bill to ban abortions after twenty weeks, and especially late-term abortions.

A baby can feel pain, and a baby can feel joy. You may recall from the Gospel of Luke (1:43-44) when Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist said “the baby in my womb leaped for joy” when Mary visited her and was pregnant with Jesus. Since a fetus is in fact human, then destroying it is murder.

You may have heard the heartbreaking story earlier this year of 23 year-old Shelby Taylor who was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for throwing her newborn baby girl into a dumpster – umbilical chord still attached. Someone heard the baby crying and called police, and fortunately the baby is alive today.

But wait a minute! Millions of young women simply pay Planned Parenthood to remove their babies and it’s completely legal. Please understand that when God’s law makes something immoral, man cannot make it moral.

I appreciate what author and teacher, Peter Heck said about this:

“But it is also impossible to read this story and not acknowledge a mind-bending and confounding reality: had Shelby Taylor entered a Planned Parenthood facility that very day and had her baby girl decapitated and dismembered for a price, our society would justify that as a moral right of empowerment and liberty. But since she waited a couple hours and, with as horrible as her act of callous abandonment was, still gave her child a fighting chance at survival, she is going to prison for 25 years. This is not just morally incongruent, it is the height of absurdity…”

You do know what they do with all the baby body parts after ripping them out of a mother’s womb, don’t you? If they’re not sold for research they end up in dumpsters outside abortion clinics. Or perhaps you’re in denial like so many people whose consciences have been seared by a hot iron.

What does Scripture teach? See Jeremiah 1:4-5, Exodus 21:22-24, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 139:13-16, Luke 1:39-44.

The Bible treats babies in the womb as real persons. Verse after verse relating to pregnancy always refers to a living human being already in existence. It is crystal clear that God considers the unborn to be human beings who have value and should be protected.

As far as life on Mars goes – no confirmation yet. It’s pretty foggy and we may be waiting for a while.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Is. 40:31 

Two famous people took their own lives last week, and the same week, 850 others committed suicide in the U.S. alone. Every human being is equally valuable and created by God for a purpose, so how many more deaths will it take for us to admit we have an epidemic of hopelessness? Maybe it’s time we address it in a different way.

In less than twenty years, suicide rates in America have increased more than thirty percent in half the country; it’s on the rise in almost every state. Nearly 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016, and unlike the rich and famous, you will never know their names. 

TV personality Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade took their own lives, and both were famous and wealthy. Why are we surprised when things of this world fail to satisfy?

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. – and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s one of only three causes of death (Alzheimer’s, drug overdoses) that are increasing. Worldwide, someone dies by suicide every forty seconds! This is beyond tragic.

A recent CDC study suggests more than half of those who commit suicide did nothave a mental health condition. Over half. Some had problems involving relationships, finances, health, or substance abuse while others didn’t have any of these. But the end result was the same.

Books and articles have been written, studies done, articles published. I don’t mean to over simplify a very serious and complicated issue here, but as important as it is to diagnose and treat (counseling, meds, etc.) mental illness, it’s even more important to acknowledge the often ignored spiritual aspect.

There’s a reason we can be in a room full of people and still feel lonely. We’re just passing through this life, and our true citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20).

C.S. Lewis once stated:

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

…In a culture that has embraced narcissism and moral relativism in which there are no fixed absolutes, we end up seeking our own happiness and meaning. Most of us end up living by a morality of shallow self-fulfillment and temporary pleasure.

From the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly to the addict, the jobless, homeless, or hopeless, every human being is worthy of dignity and respect. It’s time we address the problem God’s way…

Read full post at DavidFiorazo.com

In the book of Deuteronomy, it says, “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.” (Deut. 22:5) But we’re being told some people are born the wrong sex. Does God make mistakes? What’s the truth? 

Truth is under attack. In this fast-paced information age of mass communication, technological advancements, scientific discoveries, and breaking news, people seem less informed, less secure, more distracted, and more confused than ever before. Why? They have rejected the one true God.

Jesus prayed for His followers:

 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:17

Revelation 1:8 states,

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

This covers present, past, and future. It’s interesting that according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the historical meaning of truth is:

“Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. …We rely on the truth of the scriptural prophecies; Veracity; purity from falsehood” (emphasis added).

Truth is the self-expression of God. Either His Word is right, or the world is right. Which is it?

Enemies of God have caused people to doubt the truth about creation, our origins and gender, life’s meaning, marriage, sin, eternity, judgment, and the deity of Jesus Christ.

But new research shows that even 40% of Christians are confused about truth and moral absolutes. It’s not surprising then, that Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 2016 was “post-truth.”

Many in this generation have grown up putting stock in feelings over fact; emotion, experience, and style over substance. This has led to the acceptance of moral relativism, a philosophy that asserts there is no established, absolute moral law that applies to all people, for all time, and in all places.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what happens to be popular today; it matters whether Truth exists and, if that truth changes. Jesus said He is the truth, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

One of the buzzwords today is “identity.” As Christians, do we identify with Christ or with the world’s influences?

Let’s talk about children and education for a moment. What are most children taught regarding their true identity?

Think about the theory of evolution and the belief systems of atheism and humanism which are all generally endorsed in public schools. Creation and intelligent design are rarely offered as a viable alternative.

Why not present the views including God as well as the views denying God and let students decide? It is intolerant and irresponsible of educators to refuse to teach the truth; a worldview believed by millions.

Imagine if children were taught they are made in the image of a loving God who created them unique and special, with purpose for their lives rather than being taught evolution; that they are random, cosmic accidents that evolved from nothing or from animals; that there is no future hope beyond this short life.

This is why kids fall for one of the biggest lies and delusions today that says gender is not binary; it is “fluid,” and people are not necessarily born male.

Genesis 1:27 states:

 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

WHY do you think there is confusion today about what bathroom people are supposed to use in public? Why wasn’t this an issue 100 years ago? 1,000 years ago?

Has God changed or has America changed?

Here’s a letter I received from a concerned mother:

I’ve been struggling. After the very first day of school, my daughter comes home from her first-grade class and says, ‘There is a girl in my class who is going to be a boy! She is going to take medicine and have [surgery]!’ The kids are forced to call the girl by her ‘boy’ name and she uses the teacher’s bathroom.

Check out her response:

“Shocked, I needed to take a breath. I told her, ‘No matter how much medicine that little girl takes or if she has surgery, she will still be a girl. God does not make mistakes and we are exactly who we are supposed to be.’ I’m upset that my child has to be subjected to this. We are moving both our girls to private school next year; I never thought this could have happened in a small Wisconsin town. What six-year-old wants to be the opposite sex?”

Good question. It is dangerous for parents and teachers to let young children make such culture-conforming, body-altering, life-changing decisions. The suicide rate for transgender individuals is over 40 percent!

Truth has never been so assaulted, denied, hated, and redefined to the point it is today. But truth doesn’t care about trends, and Christians are called to love others and be compassionate as we discuss these issues and share the gospel that can set people free.

Malcolm Muggeridge stated:

“One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we’ve developed to a very high level is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.”

We can be seduced by the world or sanctified by the truth of Christ. So let’s not conform to this world, let’s be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2a). How do we renew our minds? Meditate on God’s word.

Many people think the transgender movement has been more of a recent development in America, but it goes back to 1952 when the first alleged “sex change” was credited to a man named Christine Jorgensen. Remember, the “T” in LGBTQ has always been there, waiting in the wings as the groundwork was laid by moral relativists and same-sex marriage activists.

By 2015, the stage was set quite nicely for Bruce Jenner to catapult himself into a culture shaping icon by selling the public on his transition into Caitlyn. Transgender individuals had been quietly waiting for the right time culturally, politically, and socially, and the election of Barack Obama and his policies encouraged them, giving the green light to deny God’s truth, rebel against their Maker, and come out in full force.

Sadly, we now live in a society that largely thinks moral absolutes and truth are ‘so yesterday’ and unnecessary if they were ever relevant at all. But God never changes and He created the world including every all human being, either male or female, a fact which happens to be supported by biology, science, and most in the medical community.

Discuss this in public taking the side of truth however, and you will be attacked and accused of being hateful, intolerant, discriminatory or worse. They can’t refute the truth, but they sure can try to win via emotional appeals, swaying public opinion, and it that fails, by shouting down the opposition.

Ravi Zacharias put it this way:

 

“Truth cannot be sacrificed at the altar of pretended tolerance. Real tolerance is deference to all ideas, not indifference to the truth.”

The following is an excerpt from the new book, Redefining Truth.

Progressive pretenders fail to demonstrate the very tolerance they espouse. They declare diversity and insist they are inclusive. They tout tolerance and yet, they often refuse to put up with anyone who thinks differently from them. Rather than have a respectful debate, many of them prefer silencing us so they don’t have to hear the truth.

Leftists claim to be beacons of reason, tolerance, and love, but their actions often prove otherwise.

On May 22, 2017, Vice President Mike Pence was about to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame, but as Pence began speaking, about 150 people, half students and half faculty members, walked out of the speech. Planned in advance, both students and faculty filed out as Pence spoke. How disrespectful. He said,

“Far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness – all of which amounts to nothing less than suppression of the freedom of speech.”

Pence apparently intended to first draw a contrast between Notre Dame and other colleges, but this rude act seemed to solidify today’s caustic trends at most Marxist universities. At least they allowed the vice president to finish.

…Christians in America have decisions to make in this divisive environment. How do we respond? Yes, it’s true we may be hated for doing or saying the right thing, but when the world hates you, Jesus referred to that as a badge of honor  (Matt. 5:11). If we try to address a few of the most controversial movements of our day with love, patience, and sanity, this still triggers people…

We’re witnessing the attempted assassination of truth during times in which delusions and emotions rule over sanity and reason. The (biblical) Christian worldview and godless liberalism are polar opposites and cannot coexist. Sound extreme?

Christian business owners in Iowa, Dick and Betty Odgaard , for example, were literally minding their own family business, but they now wish laws were on the books protecting Christians from being sued by fascists. After a two-year court battle in which a gay couple cried discrimination, the Odgaards had to pay an excessive fine and were forced to stop hosting weddings. After months of negative publicity, hate mail, death threats, and loss of income, the Gortz Haus Gallery went out of business.

…Those entities which are educating and shaping young minds, conditioning public opinion, and forcing change on a docile citizenry are now helping roll out the “T” portion of the LGBTQ agenda. Transgenderism takes it much further than same-sex marriage ever could by changing our language and redefining terms that describe human beings. Though it will not change eternal truth, removing God and erasing gender distinctions will eventually change what it means to be human.

It’s all about marketing, perception, influence, and of course, politics. While many of us have been busy with our own lives in the last few decades, the Left has been quietly plotting, lobbying, and changing laws to protect individuals who identify as transgender under claims of “civil rights” or nondiscrimination laws.

Sadly, we rarely hear of the downside or negative effects and consequences of this gender confusion and rebellion being promoted today. Here’s one sobering fact: 41 percent of the transgender population will attempt suicide. Please let this sink in. When man attempts to replace God the Creator and redefine truth, there will always be severe repercussions for individuals and nations − and eventually, judgment.

This movement has not had enough resistance from the people. Activists have absolutely no hesitation pressuring politicians and using the courts to change public restroom laws and practices of the whole country by imposing the LGBT agenda and its will on the entire population.

You might be wondering how so many people in the country could fall for the lies, exaggerations, accusations, and promotion of nihilism (traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and useless; there are no objective moral truths). First, it’s part of the LGBTQ mothership, and second, it’s called deception.

Rather than calling it insane, we’d be more effective in society if we know and communicate the facts, and remain undaunted as we lovingly speak the truth. I feel sorry for those who are struggling, because most people who fall into this thought process and lifestyle do so because, for whatever reason, they are unhappy with who they truly are and do not like the person they see in the mirror. They fail to see they have value in God’s eyes.

This will be the defining issue for the next generation and beyond, until the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega.

Be assured that truth exists, truth is everlasting, and truth can be known. Just because people deny and reject the truth of God does not change what is, what has been, and what will be. It only changes our culture, laws, and other temporary things.

What is more tragic is when their influence changes churches in America as well.

 

Read more from author, David Fiorazo here:

More and more people think they have the freedom to do or be whatever they want regardless of truth or consequences, but this is simply due to our sin nature. It’s in our DNA. We want to be our own gods – especially gods of our own bodies – and we not only lack moral restraints, we are also being conditioned by a rebellious, permissive culture and a godless secular government.

In the last several decades, we’ve seen a public push by those on the left to accept evil as good in just about any form, and to accommodate behaviors we would have called “sins” fifty years ago. (or at least our great grandparents would have)

I can hardly imagine how hard this is on innocent children growing up in this world today. The moral confusion and social pressure are intense, and now there is the expectation that everyone else abandon absolute truth and comply with the gender theory claim that biological facts are now mere ‘social constructs.’

Do you think most people in Hollywood, the liberal media, public education system, or leftists in government care about truth or about the morality of this ideology? Tragically, some parents are imposing their own will on their children and encouraging them to “identify” as the opposite of who God made them to be.

Then there are sad, cultural indicators of how far we have fallen for the lies.

I believe National Geographic Magazine has revealed their allegiance to the humanist agenda by its child exploitation and promotion of sexual confusion in its January 2017 edition, “Gender Revolution.” Featured on the cover is a 9-year-old boy, Avery, whose mother says he identifies as a girl.

The cover caption reads: “The best thing about being a girl is, now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy.” According to Avery’s mother, he became depressed and angry after age three, but the “darkness lifted” when the child put on a princess dress.

As if to justify its actions, National Geographic editor writes, “beliefs about gender are shifting rapidly and radically,” but wait a minute; just because people’s opinions and beliefs are constantly moving does that change the truth?

On the Nat Geo website, they claim their exploration of gender “doesn’t come with a political agenda,” but their assumption seems to be ‘there is no God’ and the Bible is not true.

Since political issues are moral issues, do you believe their claim? Is National Geographic innocent and ignorant or do they have an agenda? Curiously, nowhere in the magazine or its online “research” do they even hint at a biblical worldview of gender and sexuality. The fact of intelligent design and the belief that God is Creator of mankind must have escaped their notice – or perhaps Nat Geo ran out of time in their “exploration” of the facts.

Sorry, Nat Geo, we know what our government schools did with Christianity; the same thing Hollywood, the media, and the Democratic Party did: they kicked out the God of the Bible. (Notice all other gods are welcome, but there is only one true, living God and His name is Jesus.

How can you do a thorough investigation on human life and development without examining as much of the evidence, history, science, and views about creation as possible? You simply cannot. To my liberal friends, is it possible there is at least some facts and truth about our existence we might be able to glean from the Bible? Then why throw out the entire worldview?

National Geographic’s advice to parents was to make sure “your young child’s environment reflects diversity in gender roles and opportunities for everyone,” and even tried to falsely claim that gender identity “can’t be changed by any interventions.” So don’t even try to encourage your child according to their God-given, biological sex. Wow.

Read More at DavidFiorazo.com