Strong Man Of God Blog

            This edited 2010 Commentary followed immediately after one I wrote as the Lord led challenging men as fathers to step up and accept the divine assigned responsibility to protect our children starting as they are unborn in the womb.¹  Transparently owning my own shameful failure to do so as an unsaved teenager, I also urged fellow aspiring strong men of God in the image of Jesus Christ to stand up for and defend the right of the unborn to live.²  Continuing in that vein, this post puts the failure of men guilty of not protecting our children in its proper spiritual context as part of the ongoing rebellion against God, His design and order of the family.  It also warns about the unfolding consequences that will continue to intensify and calls professed Christian men to the cause and work of restoring men.³

Originally Published February 2010

            A man's responsibility to protect his children from conception to the age of majority is bound up in God's design of the human family.  We do the mothers of our children no favors to remain with them--it is God's will that we do so!  He holds us accountable to walk in His design and fulfill the purposes of our creation plainly spelled out in His Book of beginnings.  There, it is written: "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…,'" (Genesis 1:27-28a, NKJV).⁴

            Man and woman as husband and wife in the lifetime bond of marriage is God's original and enduring context for the bringing forth of children.  Formal marriage of the first couple took place after God created the woman and brought her to the man (Genesis 2:18-23).  He then presented His will through Moses: "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh," (Genesis 2:24, NKJV).  Any doubts about whether the first couple was truly married or not is dispelled in the next verse, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed," (Genesis 2:25, Emphasis mine, NKJV).

           In the rebellion against God and His Anointed that has intensely gripped our world over the last generation, living together without formal marriage has become so common we have considered it normal.  But man's rebellion does not alter God's original design.  Therefore, every man and woman living together without the benefit of formal marriage is sinning against the Lord.  Every man and woman having sex outside of marriage is also sinning against the Lord.  This is so, whether they consider themselves Christians or not!⁵  Since God will never let sinful men mock Him, the harvest of consequences from the seeds of rebellion have long been showing themselves in our nation and world.

            Never before heard of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS sprang up in the latter third of the 20^th century in the heat of the so-called "sexual revolution."  The trail of broken relationships and shattered lives through break up and abandonment circles the globe at this hour.  Irresponsible men now, even brag about the number of children they have by different mothers.  Meanwhile, fatherless children bear more fatherless children that are deeply bitter, hate-filled and ready to make everybody feel their pain!  And this is all good?  I don't think so!  We are killing ourselves doing things our way and it is time to admit failure.

            To reverse the present course of self-destruction we are on, mankind must turn back to God, our Creator and Judge--His will, way and Word while there is still time (Acts 17:24-31; 2 Peter 3:7-9)!  This, of course, includes restoring marriage and family as He designed them.  Whatever God does in the original is "very good" by His own testimony (Genesis 1:31).  What we have done in one generation rebelling against God's very good way of marriage and family is not good at all.  In fact, it is plain evil!  Leading out in this turn back to God must be every man that calls himself a Christian and that aspires to be a strong man of God in the image of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-15).

            Indeed, if you are like me, you had your time in the rebellion, contributed to the folly of today by fathering children out of wedlock and are filled with deep regret over the burgeoning consequences.  I began to turn away from my participation in the rebellion when I became a Christian on Easter 1977 (Romans 6:21; Titus 3:3-8).  Now, it's time we Christian men man up and lead the repentance charge back to God in all understanding that unless we do, our children may well be the generation that experiences the full outpouring of His foretold wrath on those in rebellion against Him (Psalm 2:1-5; Isaiah 13:11-13; Romans 1:18-32; Revelation 6:12-17).  I am doing my part through this Ministry in seeking to restore men and their families as God designed.  I challenge you to join me!

1 See the January 21, 2018 repost, Protecting Our Children, under the category, Biblical Worldview.

2 Learn  about  the  strong man of God in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.  It is available at all major internet booksellers, by order at your favorite brick

   and mortar bookstore or in the Strong Man Store.

3 Read the July 27, 2014 post, God Of Order and November 16, 2014, Christian Women And Restoring Men, both under the category, Instruction.

4 God’s purposeful design of male and female bodies to procreate is incontrovertible evidence of procreation being a part of mankind’s purpose shared in common with all

   of the other creatures of this physical creation after their kind.  See the May 1, 2016 post, Natural Bodies By Divine Design, under the category, God’s Creatures.

5 Read the two-part repost beginning February 11, 2018, Christian Singles Having Sex, under the category, Black History.

            It has been very hard serving incarcerated Christian men here in the Northwest and not being able to spiritually father the sons I make among them beyond prison walls.  Also, a frustration and regret is not being able to offer or direct releasing Christian inmates to much in the way of Christian run transitional housing and resources.  As it concerns spiritually fathering the many men as sons I have served on lockdown, up until the present moment the Lord has commanded me to direct those that release to the churches and pastors they find (supposedly led by Him) to pick up where I left off as I have written is their responsibility¹ in an attempt to build cooperation and avoid any conflict.² 

            Cooperating with willing churches when it is possible is important to this Ministry because the men are able to see a unity of Kingdom purpose and experience a consistency of biblical teaching they need to help them stay on track after prison.  So sadly, there are not many churches I can enthusiastically recommend and of course, keeping it real, some released Christian men do not wish to continue growing in them.  Nevertheless, for the incarcerated Christian men that would benefit from Bible teaching, Kingdom focused churches when they release, I wrote this edited 2013 Commentary to challenge these churches to step up to do more for them by way of intentional transitional ministry.

Originally Published July 2013

           Concern for the eternal souls of men initially took our Ministry into the prisons to preach the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring strong man of God instruction that many might be saved and taught especially from among the black American community.³  Over the years, however, we have painfully discovered that there is a shameful lack of transitional help from the Christian community and churches many of our incarcerated brethren from all hues must cope with upon release.  While there are a number of excellent ministries laboring to turn this around, relatively few churches are interested in this admittedly at times messy and risky business.

            I write to remind us all that our Lord’s messianic mandate which every real Christian also shares is not only “to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound,” but also to minister to Him by ministering to “the least of these” He calls “My brethren,” (Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 25:31-40, NKJV).  Now, I know that some of the incarcerated brethren of Jesus are guilty of some serious and even repulsive crimes.  They were guilty before God and man.  In the case of our God, they have received forgiveness upon their heartfelt confession and repentance (Psalm 51:1-17; 1 John 1:9-2:2) and endure His punishment through man by way of prison.

            Nevertheless, if God--who is the ultimate Judge--sees fit to release men who have served their punishment back into society (Psalm 146:7c), it becomes necessary particularly for the Body of Christ to do all that we can to help our brothers (and sisters) make a smooth transition.  This does not mean that the churches replace the important role family and the larger community has in doing their respective parts.  However, we in Christ have a unique role as spiritual family that embraces our brother in love and helps meet his basic spiritual and tangible needs until he is able to get on his feet to support himself.  Churches are equipped by God for such a ministry as this (Acts 2:38-47).

            Now, all of the reasons most churches do not want to get involved with jail, prison and transitional ministry readymade for them by the Lord, only He knows.  Apparently, though, He is not accepting those reasons since many others in the work besides this Ministry continues here in the Northwest and nationally to appeal to churches on behalf of incarcerated Christians.  Our Ministry still envisions one day bringing willing Portland, Oregon area churches together to raise up an ongoing transitional work that includes a residence for temporary housing after release, services, continuing basic Christian instruction, mentoring and accountability groups.⁴

            We have the collective means to make transitional help available to our Christian brothers that are incarcerated.  The issue is will our pastors led by God concerned for the incarcerated give visionary leadership to their congregations to get behind His will?  When the Lord in His Word repeatedly stresses His heart for those in prison, Holy Spirit led believers cannot just ignore this.  We cannot ignore or escape the fact either that before meeting Christ we were all imprisoned by sin until He set us free!  How can we so easily forget or do we actually believe the lie that we are somehow better than those incarcerated?

            I tell you the truth from history, present reality and God’s prophetic Word; American Christians are just a relatively short time from experiencing mass incarcerations for the faith!  Arrest and imprisonment for the faith as persecution is prominent in the New Testament and to this hour around the earth!  It continues until the Lord returns (Mark 13:9-13, 14:43-46; Acts 5:12-18, 16:16-24; Revelation 2:8-11, 13:1-10).⁵  Shouldn’t we begin to show a little more empathy for the incarcerated and especially those that are Christians now, since many of our number will one day be among them (Hebrews 13:3)?  The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"

1 Read the March 3, 2019 post, The Need For Spiritual Fathering, under the category, The Cause.

2 While  a man may have many godly men instruct and speak wisdom into his life, after his own father or seasoned Christian man that led him to Christ, a local church

   pastor or his equipped and trusted designee ought to be among the very few authoritative spiritual fathers he has in Christ (1 Corinthians 4:14-17).

3 This  Ministry  has  been conducting its evangelistic outreach, Strong Man Of God Rally since 2009 and through its Strong Man Institute, what became the published

   2014  Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study  since  2008  in Northwest prisons.  Also, the Ministry is carrying out its Books To USA Prisons Project to place copies

   of The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics in federal and state prison libraries chaplains maintain for inmates in all fifty states.

4 Visit the About Us Page on our Web Site.

5 I  write about the reality of Christian suffering for the faith and the need to gear up for it as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Jesus Christ

   in  my  book,  The Strong  Man Of God: Back To Basics.  It is available at all major internet booksellers, by order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore or in the

   Strong Man Store.  Additionally,  I h ave written many blogs discussing this prophetic reality; most recently, Standing In The Evil Day, posted on November 25, 2018,

   under the category, Encouragement.