Parachurch Ministries– Ministry beyond the church In the past, many members learned to minister to others as they ministered to other members and to those who came to the church for help. Today, church members are so scattered they rarely know each other well and few people come to the church seeking help anymore. As a result members get little experience in ministering to others and few church members have the experience to help. Many problems in small churches do not warrant separate programs to deal with them, however many problems formerly associated with the inner-city are moving to the suburbs as the poor move to the suburbs where rent is cheaper, housing is better, and there is less violence. Many suburban and rural areas do not know how to deal with the problems and many problems are too big for individual churches to handle. As a result, many churches today have withdrawn from ministry to those around them so many community needs are not being met. Parachurch organizations have grown up to help, such as Habitat For Humanity, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, etc. to carry on ministries and to meet the unmet needs in the community.
Sanctity of Life-A-4-U
While Roe vs Wade has fallen, the battle is not over. It merely means that the courts are free to protect unborn babies but it is up to the laws of each State and municipality. It is easier to influence State and municipal law makers than it is federal ones, but it still requires the diligence of voters to vote in lawmakers that will enact pro-life laws and judges that will enforce the laws. While some States have already enacted pro-life laws, many are in the control of pro-abortion politicians and voters will have to vote them out of office and replace them with pro-life lawmakers and judges. The abortion people will do everything they can to get around the laws such as setting up mobile vans outside pro-life States and companies that will pay for transportation to States allowing abortion. Pro-abortion people will also use the internet and mails to ship abortion materials putting women at greater risk because they won’t get medical screening beforehand and medical supervision during the abortion. There will also be a big Black market for abortion pills further endangering women. Therefore, it will be necessary to convince the girls that don’t want to have babies not to have sex, so they won’t need to have an abortion, or to give the baby up for adoption in cases of rape, incest, or accidental pregnancies. The bright side is that the pro-abortion people can no longer gag pro-life people in pro-life States enabling pro-life people to get the truth out about abortions and the fact that the baby is a living person. They will also be more free to counsel the girls and help them make good decisions. Pro-life people can also put pressure on companies that provide transportation and insurance covering abortions by boycotting them and letting them know that it doesn’t pay to support abortion.
Video-study course-Christian Celebrations-promo
I have a course on Basic Christian Beliefs for new Christians and as a refresher for long-time Christians, which is posted on Udemy.
It is available by posting the following link in your browser.
https://www.udemy.com/course/christian-celebrations/?referralCode=D706C0B4E96819B18699
Freedom of Religion-A-E
President Biden is threatening to withhold funds from Christian schools unless they allow Gay and transgender teaching in their classes. Those funds are paid for by taxes paid by all taxpayers, Christians as well as non-Christians, and are used for meals, transportation, and other non-instruction services provided to students that attend both private schools and public schools. Since the Supreme Court just ruled that the government can’t withhold funds from schools solely because they are Christian, the administration is seeking other excuses to withhold funds in open defiance of the laws of this country. Conservatives, especially Christians, believe that the rule of law protects everyone equally. As a result, they are under attack from many fronts today. Liberals from all areas including abortion providers, Gay privilege advocates, socialist government workers, and many others see individual rights as a threat which prevents them from imposing their beliefs on you. Liberal judges and politicians know that Christians won’t accept their beliefs voluntarily, so they try to use the government to force their beliefs on us with no regard for the Constitution or the laws of this land. Christians are being persecuted throughout the United States for practicing their beliefs and even exercising their rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Liberals have done all they can to remove the Ten Commandments from the public square, asserting that their wealth and political power give them the right to determine the law of the land. President Trump worked hard to restore the Constitutional rights of citizens and the rule of law to our country. He was limited by the limits placed on the power granted the President, however he was also hindered by the barrage of threats and lies which liberals use to intimidate those who try to expose them.
Politics-A-BJ
The administration continues to hammer away on the January 6 riot which is nothing more than attempt to demonize conservatives and threaten them in order to stop them from expressing their views. They are draining a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy in order to gain an advantage in the November elections, while ignoring the real needs of this country. They hope to divert everyone’s attention away from what is really happening. They are not addressing the failure of the economy or runaway inflation. They are not addressing the dangerous threat to our oil supply. They are not addressing continuous attacks against police, churches, and pro-life pregnancy centers. Most of all, they are not seeking to protect the lives of children in our schools. On the other hand, they are quietly sneaking in legislation promoting abortion, infanticide, and assisted suicide that threaten human lives in the womb and in society. They are pushing Gay privileges that threaten women in sports and jeopardizes their safety in public restrooms and locker rooms. Those privileges also threaten the rights of women, Blacks, and Asians in the job market. They are pushing gun control to disarm innocent citizens, defunding the police to hinder law enforcement, and pushing for less punishment of criminals to allow criminals freedom to burn, loot, and threaten innocent people without fear of punishment. They are striping away the protections from our Southern borders to allow criminals, drug dealers, human traffic agents, and terrorists to slip into the country along with the huge influx of illegal immigrants, allowing them to flood our country with crime, drugs, guns, undocumented workers, and people infected with Covid. They are also doing everything they can to strip away all protections in our voting system to allow unlimited fraud while claiming conservatives are trying to steal the elections by trying to limit voting to only legal voters. They were elected by the American people, and I hope that American voters are able to see through the smoke screen and realize what is really going on when they vote in November.
Fourth Sunday of Pentecost-June 26
Put out into the deep. Jesus challenged Peter to put out into the deep water and cast down their nets. They had been out all night and caught nothing so why should they go out again. Peter was a career fisherman and knew how to fish. He figured that Jesus was a teacher and probably didn’t know a lot about fishing, yet he was willing to trust Jesus and do as He said. As a result, they caught so many fish they had to call for help to haul it all in. The church today feels that unbelievers don’t want to know Jesus, yet many have never heard of Him and are seeking something that doesn’t move in our unstable society. The Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even satanic societies reach out to them and they join them in search of help, but none offer them what they need. Jesus asks us to put out into the deep and reach people where they live. He said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” He knows where the people are that need Him and He wants us to go tell them about Him. If Jesus asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense, maybe He just wants to teach us to trust Him.
Gay Rights-V-C
President Biden is continuing his attempts to make laws through executive order with no concern for the will of those who elected him. He thinks he is the king and can dictate whatever he wants. His recent order directed the Dept. of Health and Human Services to expand children’s access to gender transforming hormones and surgery while blocking attempts of parents and others to counsel them. Children are told their problems stem from being in the wrong body and that they can be solved by transitioning to the opposite sex. To assume all problems of childhood stem from being in the wrong body is insane. Children go through four stages of development. Two involve getting to know members of the opposite sex and how to deal with them. They are normal development and not signs that the person is really of the opposite sex and in the wrong body. The other two involve exploring who they are and seeking to develop their abilities through interaction with others of their own sex, which does not mean they should be the opposite sex and are in the wrong body. Children normally experience problems in growing up and should not be railroaded into mutilating their body because they are experiencing problems which children normally experience. The executive order also blocks parents and others from trying to help children deal with those problems and work out solutions. Parents are responsible for their children’s care and should be allowed to help them deal with problems they experience. Children are incapable of understanding the risks and consequences of gender altering hormones and surgeries and should not be allowed to make those decisions on their own. The order is so insane that radical feminists are joining conservatives in opposing it.
Third Sunday of Pentecost-June 19
Not just for Pastors-Many people think that only preachers can lead people to Christ, but Jesus said to His disciples, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. While there have been times when evangelists like George Whitefield and Billy Graham have risen to call God’s people to repentance, the main response has come mainly from within the body of believers. Few outside the church responded until revival had swept through the church and unbelievers saw the change in the life of believers and wanted that life. When the church has had a highly trained and highly paid clergy, the church has generally not been very effective in reaching the lost because members leave evangelism to the clergy. The greatest inflow of unchurched people occurred during the early church before they had paid clergy, during the Wesleyan revival when Wesley organized small groups of converts under lay pastor’s, and in the American wilderness when believers gathered to pray and study the Bible while waiting for the Lord to send them a pastor. Although John Wesley and George Whitfield preached extensively and circuit riders rode throughout the American wilderness establishing churches, members of those churches continued to reach out to those around them, inviting unbelievers to hear the traveling preachers. It has been said that church isn’t a haven for saints but one beggar telling another where to find bread.