The Scourge Of Racism
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With the Lord’s permission, as my tip of the hat to Labor Day this year, I am giving the faithful readers of this Blog a break with me from some of what I know has been some heavy reading this summer. Receive this brief, edited 2011 repost as a word of encouragement with my deep gratitude for taking time to read this Blog in whatever regularity you do. Have a great Labor Day!
Originally Posted September 4, 2011
The road to compromise is paved with small steps away from God’s Word. I have been there and done that! This is why I have personally sought to be faithful to God and His Word in even the small things as the Holy Spirit has given me help. In The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics I write about how important it is for us to faithfully practice the spiritual disciplines of the faith with the same intensity and commitment of an athlete.1 If I stand in the small things, I will stand in the big ones. If I take small steps away from God’s Word in compromise, I will eventually take a big one. This is an appropriate application of the teaching of our Lord Jesus found in Luke 16:10. Stay faithful!
1 The book is available at all major internet booksellers, by order at your favorite brick and mortar bookstore or in the Strong Man Store.
Rather than fear of judgment where there is mental and emotional torment, God would have His sons relate to Him in “perfect (complete) love” that involves full obedience to His will, way and Word (John 14:15; 1 John 4:17-19, NKJV). This is also the heart of godly fathers toward their children. However, if His sons who claim to love Him do not obey, then as the perfect Father, God who loves us, chastens us as even we human fathers do out of love for our children (Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11-12, 13:24; Hebrews 12:3-11). Therefore, if a man wishes to minimize the fear of God’s judgment as chastening in his life he should repent from sin and live in obedience (Revelation 3:19). For this reason, pastors, elders and leaders that bristle at God’s call to repentance from your compromises and defiant corruptions of His Word to have your own way in putting women in authority over men in the churches should reflect deeply on God’s advance announcement of judgment. If not impostors, are you not sons of God too with those you shepherd supposedly under Christ in the churches? If you are so big in your own eyes the judgment of God elicits no fear in your heart when you know that you are guilty, then, you are too big! As it is written, ‘“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble;’” the humble submit to God in repentance (James 4:6-10, NKJV). Pastor, elder, and leader: your proud resistance of the Holy Spirit is not only bringing judgment on you, but also ultimately--if you care--all of the men and women of the church who are following your compromised lead. Consequences for your disobedience are already negatively impacting the few men in the church you are supposed to be serving. Indeed, because of you they are confused and compromised! They are confused because if they are students of God’s Word to any extent, they read and plainly understand what it says concerning the service of women in the local church. But you are clearly not obeying it for any number of fallacious reasons--if you have said anything at all. Many of these men have such a regard for their pastor (or their positions) they will tolerate without open question his disobedience in putting women in authority over men as pastors, deacons, worship and ministry leaders. At once such men become compromised by their silence or enthusiastic support for their pastor’s disobedience. They know what the Word says, but most just simply look the other way assuming God must be okay with it. Some comfort themselves that God will deal with the pastor if he is wrong. In truth though, God holds us all accountable for what we know. Therefore, pastors, elders and leaders too are to be rebuked even publically for “sinning” and we are not to share in another man’s sins (1 Timothy 5:19-22, NKJV). In line with the apostle Paul’s instruction, of course, a number of men who want to be true to God and obedient to His Word feel forced to leave the church after properly confronting their pastors and there is no repentance. This is very sad since these men are being demanded to choose between submission to disobedient pastors and the Word of God. Ironically, nearly all of the disobedient pastors will attempt to force submission to themselves by misapplying the Scriptures that righteously teach submission to church leaders. However, undoubtedly, Scripture is assuming the obedience of the pastors. When they are not obedient, God is to be obeyed (Acts 4:13-31, 5:17-32). I sorrow greatly for the sincere men that become disillusioned because of pastoral disobedience to the point they leave churches and many never return. These are grown men not fools or children easily duped. And while they should continue to seek out other local churches where the leadership is submissive and obedient to Christ and God’s Word, those churches are getting harder and harder to find! I sorrow also for the confused men and compromised sons of God still in the churches where God’s Word about the order of His house is not obeyed because it opens the door to their willful disobedience in other areas, more compromise and perpetual weakness in Christ. Truly, both Christian men and women that look the other way in the face of clear pastoral compromise of God’s Word because “we love our pastor,” are allowing themselves to be led astray and are opened to still greater corruptions from such men. For if a man will compromise one part of God’s Word to serve his purposes, what other parts of the Word will he not fear God enough to avoid compromising? On top of this, these church members become followers of the pastor in a cult of personality and idolatry instead of Jesus who is Lord of His Church and governs it in accord with the written Word (Psalm 40:6-10; Matthew 5:17-20; Colossians 2:6-10; Hebrews 10:5-7). We have seen the scandalous ruin of pastors and collapse of churches time and again in these latter days that have been caught up in the cult of personality. Not even the godly pastor can follow behind to clean up the mess without great difficulty lest he run off the many that became complacent under the previous leadership believing the new leader leads them astray though he teaches the Word of God uncompromised. Therefore, from the pulpit to the pews our strong man of God cause and message calls for soul deep repentance in God’s house to properly and fully restore men in order, peace and obedience as befits the lives and assembly of the sons of God.
God’s Coronavirus judgment has brought the unsaved world and all professed Christians to a spiritual crossroads. From His perspective anchored in the Bible, the issue for the unsaved is will they repent of sin and turn to God through faith in the Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation; for guilty professed Christians it is will they repent from all sin in disobedience to His written Word objectively presented and easily understood by the willing? The closeness of the foretold state of being irreversibly deceived and hardened in heart and more devastating warning judgments leading to God’s Day of cosmic shaking wrath demands an urgency of the now in making one’s decision!
Regardless of the natural origin of the Coronavirus, it is ultimately of the sovereign God who by “the Word” and “Son of His love” “created all things,” (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:13-17; Revelation 4:11, NKJV)! Too, the rapid global and yet, controlled spread of the virus can only be accurately described as being of biblical proportions as even many unsaved secularists have done recalling the plagues referenced in the Bible that were set in motion supernaturally by God (Exodus 9:1-7). Nonetheless, these unsaved secularists joined by some professed Christians refuse to take to heart what they are seeing and actually acknowledge the Almighty God; turning to Him in all humility and fear leading to repentance and faith to be saved from His coming wrath (Psalm 145)!
Instead, unlike Pharaoh’s magicians only initially arrogantly confident in ignorance up against the power of God (Exodus 5:1-2, 7:8-13), after nearly two thousand years of the knowledge of God spread throughout the earth in the Gospel science willfully leads the charge to defeat the Coronavirus in the best tradition of pride-filled man versus nature movie epics.1 Rather than humility and fear, emboldened and cocky because of all of its past successes in microbial warfare God in grace and mercy has granted (Psalm 103:8-10), science entities such as Pfizer have run television commercials trumpeting “the power of science” alone to prevail yet again in the Coronavirus pandemic.2
The grace of God continues to be manifested to whatever extent the Coronavirus abates along with other present plagues of His warning judgments and those to follow. The Lord’s warning judgments are merciful because they precede the full outpour of His wrath upon all sin hardened mankind that refuse as Pharaoh to obey His commands. In the case of Pharaoh, it was let Israel go from Egypt; with all guilty humanity it is the command to repent and believe the Gospel to be saved from His wrath on the Day of judgment as He led me to write in recent posts (Exodus 6:10-13; Acts 17:30-31).3 Truly, these days are to God as those of Noah before the flood (Genesis 6:5-13)!
God also commands the world under Satan to stop troubling Israel so the people might serve Him back in their land and brings the severe plagues to come, His wrath and final war of the ages at Christ’s Second Coming to fulfill this part of His will (Isaiah 51:17-52:3, 66:15-16; Ezekiel 38:18-23; Joel 3:1-17; Zechariah 12:1-9). Indeed, God’s plagues on Israel’s behalf will bring Him glory a second time like they did at first with Pharaoh as I wrote in a previous post.4 For just as Pharaoh who hardened his heart required escalating displays of God’s power, so too, those today that trust in science among their many false gods He will utterly humiliate and defeat (Exodus 7:1-7; Job 9:4-13).
Pharaoh’s magicians were able to match God in only the first two of His ten plagues (Exodus 7:19-8:7). On the third plague when God brought forth living lice from dust, Pharaoh’s magicians had to give it up declaring, ‘“This is the finger of God,’” (Exodus 8:16-19, NKJV). Nevertheless, his heart irreversibly hardened, Pharaoh refused to repent! Again, my God is so gracious and mighty He has had the coming severe plagues and His wrath prophetically laid out with specificity for all to read in the last book of His written Word since the end of the first century (Revelation 8-9, 16). Amazingly though, despite seeing the fulfillment of these foretold plagues and powerless to avert them, just like Pharaoh, irreversibly hardened hearts will still refuse to repent (Revelation 9:20-21; 16:8-11)!
This post is yet another display of God’s grace who in love seeks to save not destroy mankind (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-11; 2 Peter 3:9). Today is the day of decision as we all stand at the spiritual crossroads the Lord has brought the world to through His Coronavirus judgment. As it is written, “behold, now is the day of salvation.”5 And, ‘“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,’” (2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:15, NKJV). No one knows when hereafter the Lord will suddenly and finally let stubborn hearts unwilling to repent irreversibly harden over as He did with Pharaoh in prelude to His coming severe plagues that prove their condition. Has not the Coronavirus judgment well alerted us to suddenness? Let the guilty then, be diligent to repent!
1 If after asserting the divine prophetic will Christ fulfills and commands, the apostle Paul declares that the Gospel has been preached to the whole world even still in the
first century, then, what is the reality nearly twenty centuries later (Mark 1:14-15, 16:15; Romans 10:14-18; Colossians 1:3-8, 21-23)? Western societies have been so
saturated with the Gospel to this hour rejection within them cannot be truthfully characterized as anything but “willful” and rebellion (Psalm 2:1-3)!
2 View Pfizer’s April 2020 television commercial touting their fight and all of science against the Coronavirus entitled, Science Will Win, on YouTube. In it, the company
says science is “the most certain thing there is;” a statement as arrogant, brazenly anti-God and secularly atheistic as can be made by mankind!
3 See the April 5, 2020 post, God Is Speaking and Does Anybody Repent Anymore? posted on April 19, 2020 both under the category, Call To Repent
4 Read the September 29, 2019 post, God Almighty In A 21st Century World, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
5 I made my decision long ago; “ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around” (Joshua 24:14-15)! Truly, understanding the times is why every aspiring strong man and great
woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, is moving in the urgency of now, to proclaim the Gospel
about and witness Him as remains our mission till the end! The day mankind can decide is now. The Day of God’s wrath is too late since He as Judge renders His de-
cision (Joel 3:12-14). Get a print copy or digital download of the book at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com and Apple
(digital only). You can also purchase a print copy in the Strong Man Store.
After addressing the strategic use of television specifically to advance the evil cause of rebellion against God and His Anointed, He now leads me to speak to the use of the medium by professing Christianity.1 With a degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting, graduate degree in Communication and over thirty-five years in the field mostly heading up a small media ministry in the express will and facilitation of the Lord, He has qualified me to speak and so, I do in this urgent latter day post. In days soon to come, Christian broadcasting will be globally targeted for eradication which is why it must be maximized now in its use for God’s causes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
To the credit of the initial Christian visionaries that understood God’s purposeful, creative hand in, vision for and use of the unfolding means of mass communication over the past century, there is such a thing as Christian broadcasting. For while the pioneers of radio and television broadcasting desperate for program content were initially welcoming of what was called religious programming mostly from Christian churches and their denominations, by the middle of the 1960s this began to slowly change due to the rising costs of production and air time and commercialism as well as the cultural shift toward secularism hostile to Christianity.
Television in particular--which provides pictures and sound--had such potential for good in the Kingdom cause of God to disseminate the Gospel of His Son and biblical instruction throughout the earth. This meant not only the opportunity to have men stand to preach and teach God’s Word, but to also be creative through such arts as drama. I feel blessed to be part of a unique generation that grew up watching the low tech clay animation of Davey and Goliath that presented important high moral lessons. The show was produced by the United Lutherans and featured the memorable hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, written by their famous founder, Martin Luther, as the theme music.
Nevertheless, the staple of Christian television fare has been worship services by large churches along with the preaching and teaching of their well known clergy. These churches and their denominational entities also provided holiday specials and helped to sponsor the televised specials of Evangelists such as the now departed Billy Graham, who was a trailblazer in the use of radio and television. Others in the Christian television vanguard include the also departed Paul Crouch, founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Together, these have all given Christian television its global presence.
Christian television’s global presence has not come without some scandal. Most Christian television networks feature so-called televangelists that dominate their programming schedules because they pay for the air time. But this has led to much and in some cases, questionable fundraising due to extravagant lifestyles bred of success.2 There has also been sensational heretical and conflicting teaching as well as sinful cultural compromises such as with feminism that allows women to take authority over and teach men.3 Nondenominational stations and networks that dominate the Christian broadcasting landscape are hesitant to deal with these issues (if they in guilt too will at all) because of the loss of income involved in removing paying customers from the air.
While all of the foregoing damages the integrity of Christian television, the continuing Babel and cultural compromises undermine what is supposed to be its unified message and imagery of the Christian Gospel in action (1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1-6)! The biblical Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) is not heard enough, though, the Christian programmers, television stations and networks all claim they exist to preach it globally; endlessly raising money supposedly to this end. Instead, unlike worldly programmers of sin who do all say and show the same thing, many professed Christian preachers pitch their own conflicting takes on the Gospel and God’s Word as they compete for followers and dollars (Acts 20:30); exporting their Babel and unbiblical compromises to the nations!
As television is supposed to do, this televised unbiblical and confused state of affairs precisely mirrors the spreading harlotries and spiritual dysfunction in American Christianity; a situation that no one of sound mind and Word should attempt to defend. For whatever good there may currently be in Christian television, it has so much greater potential in saying the same thing as it concerns the soul saving Gospel message and being consistently biblical as a divinely useful tool of dissemination. It is to the glory of God that there is indeed, some good on Christian television. Of late, TBN, for example, has made major creative inroads in children’s, youth and ethnic programming on several dedicated networks.4 CBN has the only major professionally produced Christian News program on television.
Even so, repentance from tolerating Babel and compromise is absolutely needed to most effectively use the medium now. Enemies of the cross are shortly to target Christian television and all Christian media in the ramping up of foretold global persecution (Matthew 24:9). This is because in modern warfare, the means of mass communication are seized or knocked out as a priority. Christian persecutors up to and including the Antichrist will be allowed by God to finally silence all means of humanly communicating the Christian message (involving the Gospel, biblical truth and prophecy) in opposition to their own (Daniel 8:23-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Revelation 13). But God will get His message to the world by an angel one last time before bringing His wrath (Revelation 14:6-7)!5 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the October 14, 2018 post, Grasping For Normal, under the categories, Bible Prophecy and Call To Repent.
2 Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker with their PTL empire at its height in the mid-1980’s have been among those so charged and are a tragic and globally known example.
Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PTL_Club.
3 The Lord leads me to explain why this compromise has been disastrous in the churches and for the Christian witness among the unsaved in many posts especially
under the categories Call To Repent, God’s Creatures, Instruction and The Cause as well as 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.
4 The leading Christian network in the world shows flashes of the creative possibilities in television with original programming such as productions Drive Thru History
that has its host travel to key New Testament locations in the expansion of 1st century Christianity to explain events in an entertaining way and Creation In The 21st
Century upholding a biblical worldview of creation by interviewing Christian men and women of science and using well done displays, graphics and on location foot-
age. The Gospel is preached by such heavy hitters as Billy Graham in a “Classics” program that replays his crusades, Dr. Charles Stanley, Dr. David Jeremiah,
Greg Laurie and Dr. Michael Youssef to name some of the relative few that stand flat footed to regularly include it in their preaching and teaching. Learn more about
TBN at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Broadcasting_Network.
5 Read the September 13, 2015 post, Praise For The Lord God Almighty!, under the category, Glory To God!
Over the past thirty years mainly, I have been on a God stirred quest to understand myself as a fallen mortal man that was created in the divine image and likeness and with assignments from Him I knew very little about. I have written about how teaching on the topic was quite limited in the churches I had attended from the time of my full surrender to the Lord in February 1979 until the early 1990s when my then, pastor, in a small Fort Worth, Texas church, began a purposeful presentation on the family. At about the same time I was introduced to Promise Keepers and a growing national movement of men on a similar quest I later found had issues that I have also written about.1
The major crippling issue of our national Christian men’s movement and in the churches that welcome the associated ministries in to teach and train their men is the hypocritical attempt to fit the square peg of the Bible’s instruction on God’s order, the roles and responsibilities of men into their round hole of practice dictated by feminist ideology. I was never comfortable with this burgeoning situation, but had included women in the incorporation and oversight of Open Door Communication Ministries for example, in an effort to be open-minded. Meanwhile, I also continued my personal quest to learn from God’s Word what a man is for my own need and to teach men as a pastor.
Illuminating instruction from the Lord through His Word brought me to the inescapable conviction that man and womanhood were not just some add on church discipleship topics, but essential doctrine that flows powerfully out of God’s purpose to save mankind both in time and for eternity! In the grip of this conviction in 2002, I felt led by the Lord to write a little booklet titled, Man, published by the Ministry’s Publishing Division. Shortly thereafter in May 2003 though, I was brought to a spiritual crisis by not being able to reconcile the biblical doctrine on men I was learning with the church practice I and other pastors were hypocritically allowing as I later wrote in a 2007 article.2
Confiding my dilemma to a pastor mentor, he confirmed the need to make a decision about what I would do since I was so deeply conflicted. I went home that day and prayed; finding myself once again in another of those true disciple, cost counting moments that test the depth of our commitment to Christ as Lord and the Word of God as the final authority of our lives. He honestly warns anyone that would be His disciple up front it requires a willingness to deny self to the point of suffering and death and urges “count the cost,” (Mark 8:34-38; Luke 14:25-33, NKJV).3 For those that are initially willing to follow the Lord no matter the cost, crisis comes when that cost gets painfully real!
Especially before me that day was His question: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul,” (Mark 8:36, NKJV)? Too, His soul piercing charge, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes...,” was potent in the moment (Mark 8:38, NKJV). I repented of my compromise, unwillingness to teach, contend for or implement the “whole counsel of God” in His Word as it is written concerning men (Acts 20:27, NKJV). Deciding to proclaim and teach only biblical doctrine on men led to the establishing of Strong Man Ministries on October 1, 2005.
I was also led by the Lord to write The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics first published in 2011.4 Many men to this hour have been reached with the Gospel and instruction on biblical manhood to the glory of God! However, none of this has taken place without cost. Not only have I had very few invitations to speak at or bring instruction to Christian men’s events or churches, but I have also been purposely rejected from serving as a pastor because of holding true to God’s Word as it is written. Humanly speaking it hurts, particularly as professed Christian folk as the unsaved try falsely and carnally to make it something about me when they are the ones guilty of compromise (1 Peter 4:1-5). I stand firm there is no temporal worldly profit worth being unfaithful to God’s Word for!5
Now, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I challenge every professed Christian man, pastor, elder, church and men’s ministry leader who have corrupted yourselves through compromise of the Word of God and what it says about His order of mankind, the roles and responsibilities of men to repent! Truly, are you really willing to gamble your eternal soul on the patently false supposition that the immutable God, Christ Jesus our Lord, has changed His mind about anything written in the Bible as His words (Matthew 5:17-20, 24:35; John 1:1-5, 14; Hebrews 1:1-4, 13:8-15)? “Yeah, but look at all of these mega and other large church pastors; their success clearly says God is okay with this,” someone will say. Get in your Bible sir; success is not necessarily an indication of God’s approval!6
Indeed, in His Coronavirus judgment God has shut down the churches of even the most successfully high flying pastors. He shows no favoritism! Pastor, I know the pride and fear that wells up in you to even think of having to admit you were wrong, misled and hurt people who trusted your subjective conviction that God was okay with your disobedient compromise of His Word. But this you must do if you will please Him and do His will since you already know remaining proud, defiant and stubborn in the face of His Word and call to repent will continue to be resisted by Him with more judgment (Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 3:31-35; James 4:4-10).7 You cannot prevail against God! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Read part one of the three-part post, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, under the category, The Cause that begins on January 8, 2017.
2 See the part two conclusion of the September 2007 FSTVEP Journal, If Not The Church, Then Who? 3 Read the two-part post beginning August 18, 2019, Lined Up Behind Jesus, under the category, Instruction.
4 A print copy or digital download of the book published by the Publishing Division of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. with fresh editing in 2019 for greater clarity
and updated web addresses in the footnotes is available at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com and Apple (digital only).
You can also purchase a print copy in the Strong Man Store.
5 This does not mean I cannot be (and have not been) tempted to evil compromise--only God holds that distinction (James 1:13)! Satan, the tempter is wily and relentless
in his attempts to get me to sell Christ and His Word out (and you too, if you are truly in Him). The truth is, we all have been tempted by the satanic deceit of feminism
from whatever weakness or desire of the flesh to believe the lies God is no longer honoring His Word as it is written, biased males from Moses and to include Christ for
centuries have misunderstood or purposely misinterpreted the Word to subjugate females or blasphemously, God made a mistake and is wrong (Genesis 3:1-6; Isaiah
29:16, 45:9-10; Romans 9:20; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; James 1:14). And now, having ignored the Lord’s warnings not to be deceived in these latter days and without repen-
tance, many guilty are enduring the consequent fruit of their sinful compromise (James 1:15-18).
6 Large numbers and the majority can be wrong in God’s economy as was the case with Israel’s ten out of twelve spies when they assessed their prospects of taking the
Promised Land (Numbers 13-14). Also, as it concerns success as an absolute standard of divine approval, read how successful Solomon was and how God dealt with
his disobedience in the end (1 Kings 9-11). Finally, for anyone that would suggest “The compromise has existed a long time” (over half a century intensely). “Surely, God
has not waited until now, to actually do something about it?” Please read of His longsuffering shown to Israel in sin over extended periods beginning in Judges before
bringing remedial judgments. He waited in the case of king Manasseh’s sins over a century before finally bringing severe judgment upon Judah; in the meantime, send-
ing His prophets unheeded to warn and call the people to repentance (2 Kings 21:1-18, 23:26-27; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16).
7 This means that unless those sponsoring calls to prayer, repentance and revival at this time or going forward are willing to confess and repent from all God considers sin
including capitulating to feminism and the related compromise (and in many cases, serious corruption) of His Word to justify it, their efforts are in vain. Again, someone
will say, “Those who have corrupted themselves do not wish to repent from what they believe is right.” Then, the Lord from His Word has already made clear neither will
He relent from carrying out His foretold judgment (Proverbs 14:12; Jeremiah 15:1-9; Ezekiel 14:12-23)!
The Lord and necessity stirring my heart, I write today celebrating the thirty-second year since this Ministry began operations October 1, 1985 and to follow up a post I made back on July 9, 2017 entitled, Laboring To Restore Men under the category, The Cause. In both instances I hope that you will allow the Holy Spirit to stir your own heart to come along side of and financially support the Ministry that has made possible this biblically sound, instructional, thought provoking, challenging and edifying weekly Strong Man Of God Blog as well as all of the resources including my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics that are available at this critical hour in world history.
If I could sum up the history of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. as the organizational parent of Strong Man Ministries and source of all our other activities in a phrase, it would be “faithful and fruitful.” How glad I am that this phrase finds great favor with the God of the Bible and indeed, He gets the glory that the Ministry can be described in this way since He made it possible (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 31:23, 124; John 15:1-8)! Through so much adversity mostly from carnal, religious professed and compromised Christians, God has enabled us to persevere to do His will in faithfully proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost while also teaching and warning those in opposition face to face and using many media tools which today incorporates the internet.
Tens of thousands of human souls here in America and many parts of the earth have been reached by this Ministry in thirty-two years. We will not know the full extent of the fruitfulness our God has caused us to have until standing before Him to receive the rewards of service in the Day of Judgment (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). All of what has been done to date has been done with very limited human and financial resources--again, to God’s glory! When I look back over the years, I am amazed at all of the expensive media stuff from billboards to national radio broadcasts God has made a way for us to do with little or no money declaring His uncompromised Word.
Following the conventional market driven wisdom of doing non-profit and Christian ministry, we certainly would not be proclaiming God’s uncompromised Word as it is written. Doing so, of course, is the primary reason relative few Christians have stepped up to support us. Market driven non-profit and Christian ministry sees needs or surveys what people’s felt needs are and seeks to create products and services to address them. Having Marketing in my educational and work experience, I initially saw the unmet need in 1985 for Christian media programming targeting black Americans. I set out to meet it through founding this Ministry and raising funds from Christians to make it happen.
However, after six months, it was clear I was running into the same religious brick wall I had been introduced to as a baby Christian that lacked with other things, Kingdom vision among many black American Christians and churches; toleration of the sin of racism among my white brothers that could not fathom helping me help anyone.1 Thirty-two years later, this state of affairs largely remains intact--though I thank God for the exceptions to it that have supported us. Also, in market driven wisdom I have had my share of closed doors among major publishing entities that equally reject authors that they do not believe have content people--Christian women in particular--will buy.
Praise God, rejection has not been the whole story! At the end of that first six months He answered my “why” prayer by plainly making known my calling to me modeled after that of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-3:11, 16-21, 33:1-9). Then, I understood, though I never dreamed I would be suffering faithfully with God’s help at this despised task so long. For I am treated as an enemy by many of those I have been sent to serve in the love and mercies of God. My messages are not my own; they originate with the Lord who does not do marketing surveys to determine what may be popular or controversial (avoiding controversy because of God’s Word has never been possible for His faithful servants including the Lord--Luke 6:26; John 7). He cares that the lost hear the Gospel to be saved; those professing to know Him obedient to retain what they have (1 Corinthians 15:1-2)!
Not the lost nor even the baby or weak in faith Christian, but the faithful who appreciate faithfulness and fruitfulness as God does are those that we seek to help support this Ministry in its work! Where are you? Or do you also as so many in line with the world today no longer see the proclamation of what is considered the intangible Word as of utmost importance in the human condition, but only what is tangible in ministering to physical needs? The Lord preached the Gospel and met physical needs, but clearly made the need to be restored to God the priority (Matthew 4:1-4, 12-5:6, 6:25-34; John 6)! We will not fraudulently change or add to our God ordained mission as a first priority to tug at your heart over human physical needs just to get your money.
The mission objectives of Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. through its varied ministries has remained preaching the Gospel, teaching God’s Word uncompromised, helping willing churches do their work and being faithful representatives of Christ in the world to whatever end He has willed. Please support us because of these Kingdom rooted mission objectives and the still Heaven esteemed values of faithfulness and fruitfulness this Ministry exhibits.2 You can give securely now on our Web Site, https://www.thestrongmanofGod.org/Give.3 Otherwise, send your cash, check or money order made out to Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. to: P.O. BOX 56704, Portland, OR 97238. Your gift is tax-deductible and a letter receipt will be sent. Thank you.
1 See my two part August 21-28, 2016 blog, Christianity The Religion Of Men, under the category, Instruction and the October 2, 2016 post, Gifted With A Prophet’s Heart, under the category, Call To Repent to learn about some of my early experiences with Christianity as manmade religion.
2 To see a summary of our recent faithfulness and fruitfulness click the Learn More link on the Operational Needs Page.
3 This Ministry does not see or handle your debit or credit card information and uses PayPal as its trusted, exclusive online payment processor.
As the Lord has led me to write many times, removing the artificial and stuffy inventions of manmade Christianity that serve as barriers to unsaved folk coming into the churches to hear about Him is a good thing. However, many in recent years have gone much further than this and are among other things, altering biblical Christianity’s core message, the Gospel (if not eliminating it altogether) along with the Lord’s commandments and instructions to make the faith more amenable to especially those born after 1980. Tinkering with or setting aside the biblical Gospel no matter how noble the motive is still to fall under the apostle Paul’s God approved anathema (Galatians 1:6-10)!
Departures from God’s Word to accommodate human worldly interests and tastes are legion. They come complete with light, video and sound worship extravaganzas and dress code fit for the Holy One? I mention a few of the heretical departures from God’s Word in this edited 2012 repost that along with tinkering with the Gospel is clear evidence of widespread succumbing to worldly peer pressure by many professed Christians and their church leaders to fill large meeting venues. In the end though, besides the temporary display of the ability to draw a crowd by the leaders, what will the ostensible crowd of Jesus followers have to stand firmly against the world when they are still of it?
Originally Posted April 22, 2012
The pressure to conform to someone else’s standard of whatever begins early in life when as newborns, in spite of our best efforts to have our way, those giant people called parents insist that we behave as it pleases them. Then, it is siblings and finally school age peers that start applying pressure for us to share their interests, likes, dislikes, etc. Not only did I experience the foregoing for myself, of course, but as a parent I had to endure what I now know is every parent’s nightmare, the dreaded: so and so’s “parents let them do it.” This is followed by the not so subtle, “they have one.” This may be funny because at whatever level, you can relate to peer or other pressure to conform.
However, the issue turns deadly serious when others are attempting to pressure us to do evil. Contrary to worldly standards of political correctness and tolerance, evil is whatever goes against the written Word of God--period! Knowing my own exasperation at times with the yielding of my children to worldly peer pressure, I cannot imagine God is very pleased with how easily His children cave in to it. Oh, we try hard to rationalize and justify our worldly compromises even using Scripture at times and saying, “I don’t see anything wrong with…” or “that was back then” as if God changed; seeking any tiny sliver of release to line up with the world’s standards and what we want to do.
A major example of compromise is the removal of the Gospel for salvation from sin as the central theme of witnessing and preaching. As their defense, many corruptly cite the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Yet, he did not mean that he changed the Gospel, adopted worldly practices or did evil to bring about the good of saving souls in his witnessing. He did mean that he began his work where the people he was dealing with were at in their spiritual, cultural or occupational lives so he could connect to them. He then proceeded to work the Gospel into his conversation and preaching to the end of some believing and being saved (Acts 13:4-12, 16:20-34, 18:1-11). The Gospel is God’s first priority for preaching (Acts 2:14-41; Romans 10:13-15)!
Another example is how--contrary to Scripture--many professed Christians do not believe all of Scripture’s ancient commands and instructions are still valid lest the world be offended (Isaiah 40:8; Mark 13:31). Among these are God’s order of mankind and the related roles of men and women in the home and churches (Ephesians 5:22-24; 1 Timothy 2:11-15).1 And very popular at this strategic moment is the false teaching and inspired movement that makes Christ a fulfiller of personal dreams and selfish ambitions contrary to His demand of self-denial to follow Him (Matthew 16:13-27). Selfish ambition is a flesh work whose practitioners will not inherit God’s Kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21).
The fact today is that many professed Christians and their churches are downright worldly as the norm! This is purposeful on the part of guilty leaders to fill seats and offering plates. It is also an effort especially of younger congregants to show their observing worldly peers they are still just like them. Nope, Christianity has not made these folk change one thing of this world that is precious to them. In so doing, they deceive themselves into believing they have made God more appealing and the Gospel less judgmental of people’s lifestyles. The truth is, they love not being left out of the world’s fun and having to stand out as weird in its eyes. That is classic submission to peer pressure.
God the Father would remind His wayward children that we are His peculiar people who are not to be ashamed of Christ or the Gospel (Mark 8:38; Romans 1:16; 1 Peter 2:9-10).2 He has called us out of the world no longer to conform to its standards, but in all self-sacrifice, His and supplies the Holy Spirit to us to make it happen (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Peter 1:13-16)! The ways of this world are of the sinful, selfish nature we enter it with; ways parents are hard pressed to restrain as we develop and peers work hard to get us to indulge.3 The ways of this world are also deadly as a holy God has already condemned them. He calls us out of the world to save us from that condemnation (1 John 2:15-17).
Therefore, the Lord commands the guilty young and old to repent from the demonically deceitful doctrine that you can have God and the world too! Come out from under the condemned false teachers that with syrupy sweet words make God’s whole reason for existence to be all about you (2 Peter 2:1-3). They prep you for the fire that waits for all who fail God’s final exam in not loving and walking in the truth of His Word (2 Thessalonians 2:9-15; Revelation 14:9-13). God is the Creator; you are the creature. God is the Savior; you are supposedly the grateful saved creature that is eager to please and serve Him in doing His will,4 not He to serve you in doing all your bidding! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 As an unforeseen and unintended consequence I am sure, these guilty Christians find themselves on the side of the world in rebellion against God and His Word (they
may not see it that way, but God does--Psalms 2:1-3, 50:16-23; Matthew 12:30; John 14:15). They must also accept responsibility in this for such developments as
today’s gender identity confusion and the transgender movement. Sin, like seeds planted in the ground, always produces a crop of consequences because a holy
God will never be outsmarted by any of His creatures!
2 Read The Peculiar People, posted May 22, 2016 under the category, Instruction.
3 Fellow Christian Baby Boomers will recognize the frontal assault here on the worldly notion that sin is only learned behavior as captured in the lyrics of a song from one
of our favorite bands from back in the day and world, Earth, Wind & Fire. In That’s The Way Of The World, they sang, “Child is born with a heart of gold, way of the
world makes his heart grow (so) cold.” However, the Word of God is clear that we are born sinners learning only how to fine tune our methods as we get older (Psalms
51:5, 58:3)! For this reason, the wisest sinner that ever lived charged parents not to spare the rod (Proverbs 13:24, 22:15, 23:13-14). God also “now commands all
men everywhere to repent” and believe the Gospel to receive among other benefits, deliverance from His eternal rod of punishment for sin and a new nature wrought by
the Holy Spirit (Acts 17:24-31; Titus 3:1-8; 2 Peter 1:1-4, NKJV)!
4 This is the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.
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