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While men may continue to debate the purpose of earthly prisons to punish or restore, in my blog, God Soft On Crime?, February 7, 2016 under the category, The Cause, the Lord led me to clearly assert from His perspective it is both. It is the perfect will of God that sin driven crimes be justly dealt with in ordered, human societies. While there is room for mercy, crime in major part must be deterred by appropriate punishment to include incarceration. That said, men commit crimes (some repeatedly) because bound by the same spiritual, mental and emotional ties as other sinners, they breach their conscience and natural self-control. God wills to liberate and restore such men too!
For the record, because men are fallen sinners that in natural pride craft laws and sentencing guidelines, they can and do err with bias and being overly harsh in sending citizens to prison for crimes committed. However, keeping it real, those not breaking the law do not typically face prison sentences (Romans 13:2-3). So, while it happens that those who have not committed a crime are wrongly accused, tried and sent to prison (though consider is anyone truly innocent outside of Christ in the eyes of the ultimate Judge and Warden?--Romans 3:9-20), it is primarily those guilty of breaking the law that have this experience.
Christians are not normally supposed to be among those found guilty of crimes and sent to prison since we are being regenerated as the people of God and honor His higher Law as well as the just laws of men through the inner working of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25; Titus 3:1-8; 1 Peter 2:13-17). Yet, professed Christians prior to incarceration are also well represented in American prisons. Those I minister to, I remind the punishment they endure is Poppa’s woodshed and He wants them to get their lesson (Hebrews 12:5-11)! The Lord wants all incarcerated men to get their lesson because in Christ, His heart is to restore, not crush men’s lives (Lamentations 3:27-42).
Not inferior in the least bit to mortals in mercy, God gives sinners many chances to repent from their sinful deeds before bringing judgment as I am a witness. The Lord’s penalty for sin is death which He has every right as Creator-Judge to carry out on the spot! However, since Eden this has not been done by Him except on occasion as a sober warning and deterrent to all who would consider His typical mercy filled delay to judge, unwilling weakness (Leviticus 10:1-3). When we sin, though others may not see it right away, we can be sure our sin will find us out; God’s judgment overtakes the guilty (Numbers 32:20-23; Psalm 90:8; Galatians 6:7; 1 Timothy 5:24-25).
By the time a man ends up in prison even if it occurs as a result of his first crime, the Lord gracious and merciful has already given him as a sinner many chances to repent and be set free from ties that bind. These ties are common to all mankind and encompass every pathos of the soul and sinful work of the flesh including not looking to or trusting in God (Job 3, 10:1; Psalm 42:1-6a, 77:1-9; 142; Romans 14:23b; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 5:19-21). In our day, the tendency is to separate sin and evil crime; sinners and evil criminals. But in God’s eyes, what starts in the heart of the sinner as sin is evil whether it leads to crimes defined by human law or not (Mark 7:20-23).
Thus, the man that seeks to medicate himself through drunkenness and/or drug abuse (sorcery) to dull the misery of his life, for example, is bound up by the pathos of his soul, his evil conduct in response (having rejected the more excellent way of faith in Christ) and the consequences of violating any human laws as a result in the process. Upon arrest on whatever charges, the man is now bound with physical ties of various types (among them shackles) and incarcerated. In God’s permissive will another bound up prospective strong man of God in the image of Christ is put on lockdown; taken away from freedom, family and his other life goods now to be plundered by the evil one stronger than he who first began to bind him up (Matthew 12:29).
Whatever the mix of ties that Satan has used to bind up those that end up being incarcerated--including in extreme cases, demon possession wrongly labeled by skeptics as just mental illness, they too can come to enjoy the difference between them and us who are faithful Christians (Luke 8:26-39). For we are living by faith in Christ as freedmen, daily put the flesh to death, walk in the Spirit, armor up resisting the devil with perseverance and confess our sins to God as they occur or are revealed in all repentance (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 6:15-22, 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 6:10-18; James 4:7-10, 5:7-11; 1 John 1:8-9).1
Otherwise, the only difference between the incarcerated and those bound up on the outside is that those on the outside have not yet breached their conscience and natural self-control to the point of criminal acts or been caught. They will with all, still have to face the Judge (2 Corinthians 5:10)! Even so, let faithful Christians be warned that with sinful men what is legal today will be a crime tomorrow (Daniel 6:1-17; Luke 22:47-54; John 15:18-20; Revelation 2:8-11).
1 For this reason, I appeal to you to support our Books To USA Prisons Project to provide another resource through my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics God can use to show unsaved men on lockdown how to become faithful Christians and aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ! To learn about the project and to give go to https://thestrongmanofgod.org/Give.
As God’s preacher, I am compelled by His love to contend for the souls of humanity bound by Satan’s ties through preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I fish for men as a first priority because we are His chosen leaders in the human family as He constructed it. Among men are those for whom I am deeply burdened because of our shared experience of being born black in America. If it is true that Satan binds men with spiritual, mental and emotional ties that are common to the human experience, then why have black American males historically had such an extraordinary and disproportionately difficult ordeal in terms of dysfunction, criminality and incarceration?
Nearly two million men are presently on lockdown and just at fifty percent or more of them is black American. They are there for murdering or harming mostly one another through gang and other crime related violence along with all manner of conscience and natural self-control breaching lawless conduct. They are there not only because of a cycle of poverty, low educational attainment, unemployment, fatherless households, culturally conditioned poor choices or the very real white controlled societal apparatus still adverse to them, but also their own self-sabotage as I wrote in June 2015 blogs reflecting on the state of black Americans one hundred and fifty years after slavery.
However, even the foregoing does not get to the root ties Satan has used to bind the black male soul so tautly there is self-hatred enough not only to self-sabotage, but as well, lash out violently on our own people. Again, these root ties are common to mankind, but have been applied during the excruciating events of the black American historical experience; root ties that are the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism. By stating this, please do not hear me to be making excuses for the evil behavior of black males as criminals--set free by Christ, I no longer embrace victimization--or somehow diminishing the pain of those hurt by them.
Nevertheless, I can testify to the fact the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism as root ties that at some point have bound nearly every black male soul are actual, understandable and hallelujah, removable! As a result of the work of Sigmund Freud and those that have come after him since the turn of the last century, the soul business has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the West. Exploding in the middle of the last century, the troubled souls of mostly whites have paid educated persons to help them identify and cope with any number of mental and emotional maladies through counseling, therapy and drugs. It is even trendy to have a “therapist.”
If the souls of white folk cannot “just get over it” (whatever it is that leads to seeking help), why do the souls of black males have to? Because of the stigma of perceived weakness as a man that remains to this hour though, many pride filled men do not voluntarily present themselves to the soul doctors for help. For black American men, it is also the sense of final capitulation in seeking help after clinging so long to the delusion self-remedies will finally successfully handle the root ties that bind their souls. Besides, if the dismissive attitude from guilt toward the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism by white professionals dominant in the soul business is anything like white society at large, why should a troubled black male soul bother?
Among the root ties Satan uses to bind the black male soul as continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism I have identified in my research and from personal experience are anger, victimization, powerlessness and frustration. Examining just anger for a moment, hostile, violent and subtle oppression as a bully creates anger in its object in short order. Imagine being oppressed almost 400 years with very little relief. Now, imagine being threatened to suppress that anger short of being killed by the bully and add to the mix other sources of anger such as an absent or neglectful father. Any normal human being without any intervening positive coping mechanisms such as Christian forgiveness would be beyond angry (Matthew 6:9-15, 18:21-35)!
I bring up the issue of the continuing mental and emotional legacies of slavery and racism in a number of published works in my “Journal” on our www.fromslaverytovictory.org Web Site. The site beginning on its Home Page points the willing toward the biblical worldview and truths that can begin to bring help, healing and hope to the seeking soul. Too, I mention the legacies related to barriers to black male professing Christians aspiring to become strong men of God in the image of Jesus Christ in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics with an eye toward future elaboration.
In light of all of the trouble black males are having with the police among other white authority figures and their non-coincidental high rate of incarceration, this Black History Month I plead with my brothers by race to recognize we need help; help only God the soul’s Creator can provide through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Genesis 2:7; Psalm 139:13-14; Luke 4:16-21; 1 John 5:4-5). He alone has the superior power to one by one break every chain as ties Satan has used to bind our souls and enable us to live victoriously as aspiring strong men of God in Him going forward!
The Lord’s call to passionately return to the work He originally commanded His disciples as one of the major outcomes of repentance and revival is to guilty Christian leaders too so they can get out in front and lead the way! For it has been the failure to faithfully lead God’s people by biblical precept and example that has brought them, the churches and the nation to the present crisis.1 Passivity on the one hand and the pursuit of selfish ambitions on the other in satanic captivity to religion has caused these leaders to stubbornly resist God’s longsuffering call to repentance and revival until now as I have seen and is historically displayed by ancient Israel’s leaders in His Word.
Generally speaking, intense enthusiasm or passion for a cause is a common trait among men from ancient times and certainly the majority of godly men in the Bible to include, of course, Jesus Christ, the Strong Man of God they unknowingly or knowingly sought to emulate (John 2:13-17)! To lack zeal for the Lord’s cause is one of those clear indicators of being devoid of the Holy Spirit in either never having had His indwelling presence or in quenching His fire through unbelief and disobedience (John 3:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). Both cases exist among professing American Christian leaders because the Holy Spirit is largely irrelevant to the existence and activity of manmade Christianity the religion.
As I have witnessed and found validated by research, the typical American church is led and attended by men that can only be described as passive. Passionless leaders routinely go through the motions of conducting services and presiding over the traditional annual whatever activities mostly women enjoy, while the relatively few men that attend or participate mimic their disposition. David Murrow calls the situation a “leadership crisis” and cites a 2002 George Barna survey that showed that while 92% of 2,400 Protestant pastors called themselves leaders, a specific definition of leading and having spiritual gifts tied to it or a vision dropped the percentage down to the single digits.2
I have also witnessed and read the statistics many times over of Christian pastors that are filled with energetic passion to fulfill their visions of achievement and greatness in raw selfish ambition. Not souls for the Kingdom, but warm bodies to fill seats and offering plates to enable these men to realize their definition of success (which is typically to gain recognition and a brick and mortar legacy by exceeding the congregation size and empire expanse of another pastor) is their priority. Never mind there is no divine mandate whatsoever for pastors to do this in the New Testament, though this sinful ego pride of leaders is portrayed in Scripture (1 Samuel 15:10-12; 2 Samuel 18:18).
Both passive dispassionate and energetic selfishly ambitious pastors have equally resisted the Lord’s call to repentance and revival through me because many say, “the Lord has not said anything to me.” Of course, historically, the prophet comes mostly after God cannot get through to the people and their leadership because they have resisted Him first (Ezekiel 2:1-5, 3:4-7)! The leaders do offer guidance that is supposed to help me gain their ear such as abandon the Lord’s futile calling and carry on as they do to have success. But if I do that, would I not foolishly become guilty of the very things the Lord sent me to cry out against and warn about the consequences (1 Kings 13:1-32)?3
Indeed, it is for the Lord today among church leaders that are guilty as it was in days of old among Israel’s flesh driven religious leaders. Those weak and passive leaders too caused the people “to err” (you consider it a good thing that women rule over men, but the Almighty regards this as utter weakness--Isaiah 3:12, 9:13-17, NKJV) and looked upon their service to God with contempt (Malachi 1:6-14). The selfishly ambitious back then as well were always seeking for a way to fulfill their desires for success and wealth by laying out self serving visions and protecting evil rulers in their sin to be king makers and for gain. They also schemed to bilk the people and profaned God and His service as though He was unable to see any of them (Psalm 94:4-9; Ezekiel 13:1-7, 22:23-29).
The failure to lead as Holy Ghost gifted and called visionary leaders with ambition to fulfill the divine cause in the churches is truly a long standing crisis that has now brought the whole nation to the brink of sudden, catastrophic judgment! Therefore, professing Christian church leaders that are guilty must lead the way in all heartfelt repentance and plea for revival (Joel 2:12-14). Those that do not will suffer with all and endure complete humiliation in their experience of God’s wrath when it falls upon the nation (Ezekiel 13:8-16). You were given the opportunity to “stand in the gap” when God called, but you refused bringing not rapture, but wrath to yourselves (Ezekiel 22:30-31, NKJV). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the September 20-November 1, 2015 blog posts addressing pastors, other church and wider leaders.
2 David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going To Church, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), p. 71.
3 Related snares set out by these leaders include the counsel to “get to know” each one personally so that supposedly they can discern my authenticity (which in the
end, does not seem to matter since they still refuse to repent or support the Ministry) and using the old adage, “you catch more flies with honey than you do with
vinegar.” To both the Lord’s Word shows neither He nor any of His faithful prophets in any generation ever sought the approval of men for the privilege of communi-
cating the divine message or softened it for the sake of acceptance. Truly, their harshest words were reserved for Israel’s religious leaders (Matthew 3:1-10, 23:27-
33). God validates His sent ones and with His Word, confirms their message to be either accepted or rejected! Yes, I painfully know this means a hard road for
the faithful prophet to the shame and condemnation of unrepentant, professing Christian religionists and their leaders.
With this edited 2013 Commentary, I launch the New Year by connecting back into the one just ended to wrap up the Lord’s charge to pastors for now, while also speaking to men in the pews. Of my saddest experiences serving the Lord in local churches over the years has been the countless times I have witnessed professed Christian men fail to accept calls to leadership; instead, letting our sisters (some sensing the inappropriateness of this; others like Eve caring nothing about divine order) take them. Worse, naturally, has been seeing men be purposely overlooked for leadership in favor of women by pastors for any number of reasons to include rewarding faithfulness to them, not God.
Originally Published January 2013
A pastor friend recently suggested that perhaps a reason many women are more visible in church leadership roles today is because they are eager to step up while the men lay back. In a complicated mix of sound reasons including rank rebellion against God's Word, no doubt, my friend is right. Indeed, as the Lord has led, I have spent the last two Commentaries speaking to pastors and Ministry leaders about our stuff.1 But make no mistake about it; the men in the pews are the objects of God's concern too. Surely, our God is not pleased that professed Christian men are refusing to step up and take hold of leadership responsibilities in the home and local church.
In support of faithful pastors everywhere and the righteousness, instruction and truth of God’s Word, I am challenging the professed Christian men reading this who are guilty to repent from every self-permitted reason in disobedience for not stepping up to lead as God has called you. For our Creator made the divine intent very plain from the beginning in Word and deed that men are purposely chosen to lead among equals (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:7-3:21; 1 Timothy 2:13). To refuse to lead as God has ordained is sin as seen in how the Lord spoke to Adam at his fall and because it is the creature rejecting his Creator’s will to His face (Genesis 3:17a; Isaiah 29:16, 45:9-10)!
While it is evident women are also eager and ready to lead, God has elected men to do so in this present age beginning in the home. After this, men are to lead at every level of human social organization and exclusively of those who approach to minister to God in leading public worship (Genesis 8:20; Exodus 28:1; 1 Chronicles 23:13; 1 Corinthians 14:26-40; 1 Timothy 2:11-14; Hebrews 5:1-6).2 Why God has done this is bound up first in His sovereign will that none of us creatures has any standing to challenge (Romans 9:20). As well, He has done this because the leadership of men is tied to the eternal destiny of man as the highest creature of God and ruler over all the works of His hands (Hebrews 2:5-13).
No secular or religious authority on earth has the right to change God's election of men to lead. Therefore, those that have undertaken to do so have put themselves on a collision course with the already simmering wrath of God. Pastors and elders, this means every one of you also no matter how much you call yourself after the rebellion of this world system "setting things right in equality and fairness." As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, you have no authority to ignore or change God's Word.3 You must obey it as supposedly you are teaching others to do or like all of the disobedient, suffer the consequences too (Isaiah 24:1-6; Jeremiah 25:30-38; Romans 2:5-11).
I fully feel your pain as it concerns the tug and pull of the hostile world culture surrounding us that is constantly calling into question the will, way and Word of our God. They may say His Word is outdated, but you, man of God and faith, shepherd under Christ of His flock are to stand faithful. Or did you not know from the beginning that you were called to war and the rank of a captain in God's army at that (2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Ephesians 4:7-16, 6:10-20; 2 Timothy 2:3-4)? Certainly, you are not ashamed of Christ and our peculiarity as the people of God are you (Mark 8:34-38)? Therefore, you capitulate and surrender ground to the enemy every time you pass over a man reluctant to lead and instead call on the eager woman causing both to sin (Matthew 18:6-9).
As for the professed Christian men in the pews, do not wait, but hasten to your pastor and elders seeking assignments of leadership responsibility; being willing to train appropriately as preparation.4 No more laying back in fear like the men in Deborah's day when it was time for war; step up boldly to read Scripture or pray (Judges 4:4-10). A pastor should be overwhelmed with the ardent response of men aflame, ready to serve for Christ! Woe to him if he does not call upon or permit such ones to serve that seek to obey God in motive and gifting (1 Corinthians 12:18-21; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). Also men, no more passive labor in the Gospel cause of Christ, but diligent effort to witness and win souls because the Holy Ghost empowers your own (John 20:19-23; Acts 1:8, 2)!
Your experience then, sir, should be like that of Job's reflection of his own in Job 29 before his trials. In the grace and strength God supplies to your life, you are blessed above all of the unsaved. In your irrefutable standing as a godly leader, you are respected in the public square and looked well upon by the less fortunate whose cause you have served. As a man of royal command possessing God's wisdom, your counsel is sought and your words are waited for. Such men aspire to be strong men of God in the image of Christ (Matthew 4:23-25)! Oh, that this were so! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Refers to the December 3, 2017 post, Pastors And Developing Men, under the category, The Cause originally published as a November 2012 Commentary and the
September 27, 2015 post, Empire Building On God’s Program, under the category, Call To Repent originally published as a December 2012 Commentary. For the
point being made, the December 2017 blog reposts directed to pastors, Developing Men: The Equality Trap and Pastors As Developing Christian Men both under the
category, The Cause, are also now included in this reference.
2 Read the three part January 2015 blog series, Worshipping God Without God and the post that follows it, Final Considerations On Worshipping God all under the cate-
gory, Call To Repent.
3 The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is available through all major internet booksellers, by order from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and in the
Strong Man Store.
4 This statement is made with the presumption that Kingdom activity and ministry is involved. Frankly, I do not blame men for not being interested in leading some of the
self-serving, non-Kingdom related programs and activities the churches of manmade religion come up with.
I took my stand at the outset of 2017 as commanded by the Lord and empowered by the Holy Spirit to “wage war against and pull down strongholds of deceit” in arguments raised up to redefine and marginalize men.1 After this, I held up Jesus, Son of Man and declared the value of men.2 Continuing now in steadfast resistance to deceitful, worldly feminism and compromising churches attempting to placate and accommodate it, I again hold up Jesus Christ and show the value of men at this moment in 2018. Beginning with this edited 2011 Commentary and posts to follow leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I declare with clueless Pilate: ‘“Behold, the Man,”’ (John 19:5, NKJV)!
None of this is about marginalizing women as some mistakenly surmise. But in the face of a world defying and many in the churches corrupting and even wickedly rewriting Scripture to sustain deceitful feminism, God Almighty seeks to fully portray the truth of His salvation and restoration that is both corporate for His creature “man” as well as individual among mankind that are willing to embrace them through faith in Jesus, Son of Man! Because of what man the creature by divine design is embodied in the first and second Adams, delightfully known to Satan, but unforeseen to human rebels are the many ruinous consequences of marginalizing men in the wrap up to this present age.
Originally Published November 2011
The rebellious attempt by radical feminist besieged Western cultures to eradicate gender distinctives in mankind is leading to a severe, unintended consequence. Short of this severe consequence is the unfolding lack of employment for men in jobs that capitalize on their divine design to envision and boldly embark on the risky venture to construct or accomplish what they saw in their minds. Such men sit on the sidelines while what jobs are available in the service sector, for example, go to women in the name of a twisted, worldly brand of equality. Without a change of some kind soon, distraught unemployed family men that understand their responsibility to provide will revolt.
The phrase in Genesis 1:26a is brief, but thoroughly pregnant with instruction: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,'" (NKJV). God, Creator of the heavens, earth and all they contain, on purpose made only one creature specifically named to be man in the image and likeness of God. Among the many transmittable attributes of deity man was to enjoy from the stated intent of God is the visionary leadership of his Creator. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a visionary is one marked by foresight and has visions. His visions are of fantasy and dreams; existing only in the imagination and not very practical or I might add, always doable.
How do we know God is a visionary leader? From cover to cover the Bible declares the visionary leadership of God! For example, Isaiah the prophet writes, "For thus says the Lord Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other,'" (Isaiah 45:18, NKJV). When and where did God envision His creation along with His purposes for it? From eternity where He dwells and in His own mind which He has gladly revealed to His sons in Christ (Psalm 90:2, 93:2; Isaiah 57:15a, 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16).
Genesis 1:1 is the declarative statement of God acting to bring His creative vision to fulfillment. For while men may have many great visions and dream fantastic dreams, only God can and has brought all of His to pass. Even so, God has willed to impart His visionary leadership ability to man and particularly in this age, men. As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, men and women are different by divine design with men made to prominently display God’s ruling function.3 Men are wired in every part of their existence right down to hormones to fulfill this function. This important ruling function in the image and likeness of God includes visionary leadership.
The history of mankind cannot be revised on this score. It is the visionary leadership of men from Adam to this hour that has conquered lands, built civilizations, dared to walk on the moon and pushes the boundaries of cyberspace. This historical reality is so in spite of the presence of sin in men. Rather than limiting a man's desire to dream and bring to reality, sin with the help of Satan has only corrupted and deceitfully influenced his imagination. As a result, God has stepped in at times to judge the vision inspired works of men and redirect their efforts such as at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
The point is that while in general women by divine design are excellent managers of what exists, men have been the historical practitioners of visionary leadership that dreams and brings what does not exist into reality. Properly informed by the Holy Spirit an aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ exercises his visionary leadership first in the home, then the local church and beyond. What is the "Great Commission" of Jesus Christ first given to 1st century men but the continuing fulfillment of God's vision to finally have saved mankind dwell with Him forever (Matthew 28:16-20; Revelation 21:1-8)? Truly, wired for visionary leadership mostly men from that time until now have bought into and risked their lives to fulfill God's vision to the ends of the earth!4
Certainly to unemployed men the truth of God given visionary leadership should inspire a turning to Him for an entrepreneurial vision that will enable you to support your family. But soberly, this truth is also a warning to our rebelling nation: stop the evil experiment of redefining men and women! Not only is this leading to an eventual revolt by beleaguered men, but the severe, unintended consequence of our nation's economic ruin in the shadow of God's coming wrath (Proverbs 29:18; Isaiah 3:12, 24:1-13; Revelation 6:5-6). Professed Christians and their churches that have supported this feminist led rebellion against God will not escape (1 Peter 4:17-18). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the January 22, 2017 Blog, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, Pt. 3, under the category, The Cause.
2 Read these series of posts under The Cause category January 29-February 12, 2017 and June 4-25, 2017 respectively.
3 The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is available through all major internet booksellers, by order from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and in the Strong Man
Store.
4 Such a man in modern times was Dr. Billy Graham who departed home to the Lord this past February 21, 2018. Read my November 4, 2016 post honoring him.
I am pleased to share this week that the special Crowdfunding Campaign for our Books To USA Prisons Project I spoke of in my January 24, 2016 blog entitled, God Cares For The Incarcerated under the category, The Cause, will launch tomorrow, February 1st at 10AM PST on the Christian run, We Raise Web Site. Our campaign goal is to raise $9,000 in 45 days to send 2 copies of my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to over 800 select State and Federal prisons across the United States. Our board of directors as well as every part of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. is involved with Strong Man Ministries leading out.
We need as many Christians as possible to help us who remember what it was like to be a lost sinner and all of the many ways God used (including books) to tug at your heart and present the Gospel to you. We are especially appealing to those that have read The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to step up and help us since you know firsthand not only that the Gospel is plainly and purely presented, but also God’s design and program for biblical manhood throughout eternity! Just this past week I received a letter from an inmate quoted from previous correspondence he sent and presented on the We Raise Web Site. In his new letter Troy Bayless writes: “I truly believe the message of the book is foundational and needed for all men.”
Troy is an example of an inmate we have corresponded with after his initial contact letting us know he had read the book. We have also sent him with others our printed Strong Man Of God Monthly Newsletter as a form of continuing ministry into his life. Here is what he had to say about that:
I want to thank you for continuing to send me the Strong Man Of God Monthly
Newsletters. They have been a source of strength and understanding of who
God calls me/men to be, incarcerated or not.
Having read about the Books To USA Prisons Project in the newsletter, Troy also offers his sincere commitment to pray for and when he is able financially, to support it as he has previously done in making a small, unsolicited donation to help underwrite the cost of mailing out the newsletter to him. Troy and many other inmates who have come to or rededicated themselves to Christ as a result of what He is doing through Strong Man Ministries and my book, are the fruitful reasons I am boldly asking for your help not only to raise the funds we need to carry out the Books To USA Prisons Project, but also all of our continuing God ordained work as a faithful partner or friend of the Ministry! Learn how to do that on the Give Page.
This project is definitely not about my ego as the book’s author, but another way to reach the many incarcerated men like Troy with the Gospel and the Lord’s foundational instruction on biblical manhood as I wrote in the already referenced blog! Willing men in prison can be saved and their lives turned around by the Lord! If you doubt that, I have to wonder how it is you believe you were saved since as a sinner in the sight of a holy God, you stood no more worthy of salvation than the worst incarcerated offenders (Romans 3:9-20, 23)? Indeed, the Lord Jesus came to earth to call lost sinners to repentance and salvation, not the righteous (Luke 5:27-32, 19:1-10)!
Because they fully know they are sinners, amazingly, I have witnessed more hearts among the incarcerated ready to receive God’s grace in the sweet Gospel than in most of the churches I have been in over my lifetime! Therefore, in remembering where God has brought you from as a “redeemed sinner,” I appeal to you in His love and all care for the lost everywhere including the prisons largely neglected by professing Christianity, stand with us to pledge your support in funding our Books To USA Prisons Project beginning tomorrow. While you can make a pledge as low as $5, I want to challenge you to pledge the largest possible amount not thinking that many others will also be making pledges.
Your pledge can only be made by credit card because no charges are processed until our fundraising goal is met. In fact, if we do not reach our fundraising goal, we will not receive anything and your credit card pledge is cancelled. At first glance, this policy by We Raise might seem to be unfair. However, they believe and I do too that we are raising funds for a project in which we have already counted the cost. If our fundraising comes up short of what the project requires, then it cannot be done. Because they have strict accountability, investigated us and required that we submit a budget, you can be assured your support is going to go fully to support the Books To USA Prisons Project.
You can investigate We Raise and their operating organization, Wheat Ridge Ministries out of Itasca, IL as we did to learn more about them and how they securely handle your credit card as a donor on their We Raise Web Site. After you have done what you need to do including sought the Lord in prayer, make your pledge as early as possible since the sooner we reach our fundraising goal the better--the end of the 45 day fundraising period on March 18th will be here before you know it! Thank you in advance for any consideration you give or pledge made to help us with our Books To USA Prisons Project.1
1 As of the close of the Crowdfunding Campaign March 18th, we did not reach our goal. However, a Designated Gift Campaign on this Web Site is underway until we reach our goal. For More Information Go to the Books To USA Prisons Project Page.
As the Lord leads, I write on this twelfth day of February, Black History Month and the birthday of Abraham Lincoln to first acknowledge in the positive that leaders can and should lead their nations into God’s blessing through obeying and trusting in Him (1 Kings 9:1-9; Psalm 33:16-22)! Mr. Lincoln is just such an example of a leader when as a professed Christian white American, man of character and President of the then, divided States of America, he courageously set my slave forefathers free with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This act subsequently helped bring the Civil War over slavery between Northern and seceded Southern States to an end and reunite the nation.
At a time when both sides in the war were praying for God to bless them with success, He showed as Lincoln also acknowledged who was actually on His side as the just One!1 Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ came to Israel at first on a mission “to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” (Luke 4:18, NKJV). When He returns to rule the earth as King, the Lord will deliver the remnant of Jacob from “the fury of the oppressor,” (Isaiah 51:9-16, NKJV). This is fully consistent with the Lord’s attitude toward oppression elsewhere written in His Word accessible to any that will objectively read and take it to heart (Exodus 2:23-3:9; Psalm 10:12-18; Lamentations 3:34-36; Acts 10:34-43).
Leaders can get their nations in trouble of the worst kind when they operate in the sinful flesh and blatantly disobey God’s Word. I wrote about king David’s fiasco (1 Chronicles 21:1-17) as an example in a December 2022 post.2 Another of many Bible illustrations is found in 2 Chronicles 21. King Jehoram had married into the family of wicked king Ahab and followed after their ways. He also murdered his own brothers to eliminate them as rivals. God responded in judgment that brought trouble on the land of Judah and the king personally; sending him a memo in the only recorded letter written by the prophet Elijah. Jehoram died as Elijah foretold and was buried without honor.
It was leaders north and south among the thirteen colonies who passed up the opportunity to do the right thing at the end of the Revolutionary War for “liberty” and extend it to all that incited the Lord’s anger. Having sent awakenings before and after that war along with raising up abolitionists as prophets who cried out against slavery and were rejected, He brought judgment and His will to bear in the Civil War (2 Samuel 2-3:1).3 As I have written in other posts, my forefathers were only supposed to be enslaved with hard labor a little while not perpetually for sin in their native land and to humble their hearts before God as was also the case with Judah (Psalm 107:10-12; Zechariah 1:1-6, 12-17).4
The Lord’s good intent is seen in His entrusting slaves brought to the New World to people as masters who largely professed to be Christians, supposedly feared Him and obeyed His Word (Colossians 4:1). But the many guilty leaders flagrantly chose not to heed His Word and no amount of denial about or dressing them up can alter the historical facts. For in an effort to deflect the tarnish of a heritage filled with the sinful and racially bigoted abuses of their colonial and after forefathers, many conservative white Christians today are rightly targeting the deceit embodied in progressivism’s liberal Critical Race Theory, but wrongly denying the hard truths still preserved in the historical facts.5
This approach finds no favor with God since it too, is deceitful and foils the humble repentance He requires to receive His forgiveness taught in Scripture as not only Daniel demonstrated in the Blog cited in the foregoing footnote, but others as well (Nehemiah 9:1-37; Psalms 32:1-5, 51:1-17; Isaiah 59:1-15, 66:1-2; Jeremiah 3:21-25, 14:17-22; 2 Corinthians 7:8-11). God punished the whole nation for the wicked decision of its leaders to deny freedom to all as He also answered the cry for it by humbled Christian slaves, their ostensible brethren (Psalms 103:6-14, 107:13-16, 39-43; Philemon 8-21). Therefore, let the guilty leaders of a now, divided America repent; carefully considering that only those fully obeying His Word as it is written and trusting in Him are on God’s side (Luke 11:14-28)!6
1 Read the President’s exact quote regarding someone’s assertion God was on the side of the Union North.
2 See the December 11, 2022 post, Christ Persecuted To His Birth, under the category, Instruction.
3 All Israel in the cited Scripture knew God had anointed David king of the nation instead of Saul (1 Samuel 16:1-13) and should have rallied to him after Saul’s death. Howe- ver, they resisted His will. In the same way God’s will for men to enjoy freedom was well known to the nation’s founders who gave it to themselves and those that were white skinned, but not all despite declaring and enshrining in their founding document “that all men are created equal” by God, “their Creator!”
4 Read the two-part post that begins February 21, 2021, Willful Ignorance Destroys, under the category, Black History and particularly the second part that addresses God’s purposes behind slavery.
5 See the two-part post that begins January 16, 2022, Arriving At These Times, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Call To Repent. With relatively few exceptions, pro- fessed Christian white America’s form of slavery was openly over the top violently brutal, oppressive and sexually exploitive in rebellion against, transgression and perver- sion of all the spiritual principles, morality and ethics found in God’s Word. This not universally confessed and repented of evil has contributed to the rejection of Christian- ity by untold negatively impacted, demoralized and embittered black males to this very day!
6 As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, professed Christian men as husbands, fathers, pastors, elders and ministry leaders are to set an example of obedience as Christ did with His help. When we do not give heed to “the whole counsel of God,” just like leaders of nations we can be sure His judgment will catch up to us too (Acts 20:26-27; James 3:1, NKJV). Pick up a copy of my book at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore, the Strong Man Store and the FSTVEP Resource Store on The From Slavery To Victory Education Web Site I urge you to visit to get more of a biblical worldview of black history as part of American his- tory.
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