J. Lee Grady
We charismatics celebrate the Holy Spirit, yet our theology of the Spirit is often off balance. Two popular charismatic speakers stood on a stage two years ago and decided they should demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit. One guy pretended to throw an imaginary “fireball” at his friend, who promptly fell over as if he had been zapped by the divine power. Then, feeling equally playful, the guy on the floor stood to his feet and threw the “fireball” back at his friend—who fell after the “blob” of God hit him.
Everybody laughed and had a hilarious time at this outrageous party. There was just one problem. The Holy Spirit is not a blob, a fireball or any other form of divine energy that can be thrown, manipulated, maneuvered or controlled.
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How to protect your child’s heart and mind from the power of pornography
By Michelle Lippincott
The beautiful bride on the back cover of my Victoria magazine appeared carefree and radiant. Dressed in a strapless white gown, she was running down the beach followed by her exquisite wedding party. There was nothing indecent about the scene, but moments earlier when I asked my 6-year-old son why he was carrying around my magazine, he showed me this picture. And he looked ashamed.
That day, as never before, I realized the battle for a child’s mind begins very early. Although the picture that captured my son’s interest was not pornographic, it was a reminder to me that he will be a curious 9-year-old before I know it. It won’t be long before he discovers images far more tantalizing than the woman in the white gown.
Our culture feeds children a visual diet of images that arouse the imaginationimages that are not lost on young children. Socially palatable pornography is everywhere. It can be found on the cover of a magazine in the grocery store checkout line or the department store circulars stuffed in with the Sunday paper.
I know there are parents who will think my son’s interest in a perfume ad was no big deal. But experts have found that a child’s understanding of sex and sexuality is formed early on. Russell Willingham, pastoral counselor and the author of Breaking Free: Understanding Sexual Addiction & the Healing Power of Jesus (InterVarsity) has found that 40 to 65 percent of Christian men struggle with pornography, a struggle that often begins in childhood.
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Cleaning Out the Closets, Garage or Attic?
For several years, His Hands Ministry has quietly provided clothing, household items and furniture to those in our community that are in need. From clothing for a child that may of had an accident at school to furnishing a whole house after a fire, His Hands has filled the need. There is never a charge for any of these items and no qualifying for the service.
Several years ago, Decatur County Family Connection began a food pantry and clothing closet in an unused room in the Decatur County School Support Center. It soon became apparent that sorting and managing the clothing and household items was too big of a task and the room much too small.
Enter His Hands Ministry, Lenorah and Larry Chapman, more fantastic volunteers and a very generous community businessman with an empty store. The clothing and household items and furniture were moved to the new location. The Decatur County Family Connection Hunger Prevention Food bank was also moved to a new location in a building, that building also donated for use by another generous businessman.
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One difference between the therapeutic gospel and the liberating gospel.
Mark Galli
In a therapeutic culture in which psychology is the lingua franca, it’s easy to inadvertently subvert the gospel, to imagine we’re talking about the gospel when we’re really talking about the anti-gospel.
A few months ago when I was traveling, I attended a local church that was “the” evangelical church in that suburb. The text for the day was the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The preacher began by reminding us of the context—the search of a shepherd for a valuable sheep; the search of a woman for a valuable coin. We were then told that the father in the parable, when he saw his wayward son far off, did not see someone who was selfish or a loser. Instead, through all the junk, he saw something valuable: a son. The sermon concluded with a reminder that God gives us the ability to see the treasure, the value in everyone we meet.
I am one with this preacher’s motives and aims. But in his desire to proclaim the magnificent love of God, he inadvertently fell into language that actually proclaims bad news—all this talk of the intrinsic value in the object of love. This preacher did not go so far as to say it, but I’ve heard the following in sermons and read it in books by respectable evangelicals: “You are unique and valuable. You were worth so much to God that he was willing to die to redeem you, so you could be in his family.” And this: “We are worth the price God paid for us, the death of his Son.”
But of course this gets it exactly backwards. Unfortunately, in an attempt to convey the radical love of God, such well meaning Christians actually sabotage it.
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