In watching the destructive collapse of Western civilization under the weight of rebellion against God and His Word, one of the saddest spectacles is the marginalization of men and their absolutely essential role as fathers in the family. Yes, throughout the centuries many mothers have had to step up in the absence of their husband/fathers and done well under the adverse circumstances. However, in what is to be this short-lived day of the woman and overt rebellion against the God designed family of a man, his wife and children endorsed even by many compromising churches, men as fathers are being purposely devalued leading to the destruction of the family as we have known it for millennia. The Lord led me to blog about this and to encourage aspiring strong men of God fathers in 2013. I post it again now as the rebellion continues unabated.
Originally Posted June 16, 2013
Happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers reading this blog! By God’s design only human males can be fathers. As a critical partner with their wives in the preservation and expansion of mortal humanity (without conception and births, death would soon overtake and destroy mankind from the face of the earth), men as fathers are indispensable. But the indispensability of men as fathers goes well beyond biology to family and societal order, stability, direction and spiritual condition. In God the Father’s image, men are designed to lead their families as husbands and fathers. If they lead well, the family and families that make up a nation goes well.
However, if the men lead poorly, then the family and families that make up a nation suffers. The latter case is the present reality in our nation and many other Western nations that have independently decided fathers are only absolutely needed for the biological creation of children and are quite worthless otherwise. I offer a number of statistics in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics that show how our nation is being devastated by a redefining of what a man, woman and family is contrary to what God in His Word declares they are. Social engineers and legal authorities know about this devastation but most insist on trying to fix the problems of re-definition within the context of the rebellion that is causing it!
In their redefinition of a man, for example, men are being demanded to financially support the children they create (those that are not destroyed through State sanctioned abortion, that is), but leave the rearing to the State and mothers--isn’t that taxation without representation all over again? The result is that irresponsibility by men is being encouraged by the State which has for the sake of an anti-Christian secular worldview, inserted itself into the fathering role and responsibility. Thus, our problem in America in major part is not that married men are leading poorly as much as it is absent and irresponsible men are not leading at all thanks to the State--though as the Lord has led, I teach all men lead by their example whether they intend to or not.
Also, in the moral and spiritual climate of rebellion against God, His Son, Jesus Christ and Word, many well off feminists do not even care for the financial support of baby’s daddy since they purchase his sperm from a bank in total detachment. So deep is the anti-male authority influence of feminists on our 21st century culture (including the biblical worldview that fathers are the head of their daughters until marriage), in its many acts of creative license with the birth narrative of Christ, the 2006 film, The Nativity, written by Mark Rich and directed by Catherine Hardwicke has teenage Mary initially angrily questioning her father’s will for her to marry Joseph. This feminist attitudinal insertion is completely opposite of the New Testament Mary who finds favor with God expressly for the humility and submission she no doubt displays prior to and after hearing God’s will from the angel (Luke 1:26-38)!
Tragically, relieved of their duty from nearly all quarters many men are living large in a sinful male’s utopian world of irresponsibility that is destroying children, the fatherless, families and our nation in the process. God in His Word teaches why the role of fathers is so important. As God the Father showed with Adam in the beginning, a father gives visionary leadership to his children (Genesis 1:26-28). Where there is no such vision in a family or a nation from the father or leader respectively, they throw off restraint, chaos ensues and they perish--think high rates of child sexual exploitation, teen promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency, school dropouts, gang violence and deaths, suicide etc. (Proverbs 29:18).
God as a Father to Adam not only initiated his existence, but led, taught, provided for and protected him in Eden (Genesis 2:7-25). While children with godly fathers in the home may still rebel because of sin, men are to do with their children as God did with Adam so they have a leader to look up to, instruction with discipline, certain provision and security. When Adam sinned, God the Father pitied him and did not treat his sin with the instant death it deserved, but killed an animal shedding its blood instead and used its skin to cover his fallen creature against the day in love when He would provide an eternal atonement (Genesis 3:17-19, 21, 5:1-5; Psalm 103:13-14; John 3:16). So, men are needed to be firm yet merciful and gracious authorities to their children.
To the child with a natural father (or mother) that has forsaken him, God offers Himself a Father (Psalm 27:10, 68:5). As His tangible love, Christian men are to be mentors and spiritual fathers to the fatherless who allow it. In the day of rebellion as we now have, God sends forth His prophet to call men and their children to reconciliation to avoid his curse on top of all of the destructive natural consequences already doing their work (Malachi 4:5-6). Are we listening in the churches since our assemblies are suffering all of the same devastation as the world due to straying from God’s Word and the priority of teaching men their roles and responsibilities?
To the faithful godly fathers doing it God’s way with a made up mind, stay the course. Do not yield to the fathering instructions and ways of this condemned world system taught even in compromising churches. God’s example and instruction in His Word as well as your very real daily experience with Him as your heavenly Father are perfect. If you remain faithful the Father of fathers will bless and mightily reward your faithfulness here and now and with immortal glory in the Day of Christ. Such is the joyful hope and expectation of every aspiring strong man of God father!
In his aloneness, mortal Adam fully equipped by God for procreation yearned for the corresponding companion that would be found to help him fulfill the divine ordained mission (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:7-20). When he saw the wife God created from him, for him every part of his inner being as well as hormone in his body was set ablaze with joy and marriage was instituted by the Lord (Genesis 2:21-25)! As richly satisfying as relationship in marriage was to be, God’s priority is the mission He gave Adam and his wife reflected in her name (Genesis 3:20) and that continues to this day in spite of a raging rebellion against it that has only intensified since I posted the following blog last year. Sadly, we should only expect this rebellion to continue intensifying.
One of the saddest evil developments among many of Christianity since the first century is the form of it as a religion invented by men. I have had to contend with this powerless, manmade evil from my infancy in Christ and in accord with my calling, gifting and ministry from the Lord in over forty years of service; writing much about Babylon in this blog.1 Not only is corruption of and willful disobedience to God’s Word with confusion characteristic of it, but false piety ostensibly informed by Christian love and enforced submission to men as leaders acting in the flesh of whom Scripture is quite clear are not pleasing God (Romans 8:8). (Does God in Scripture really require unquestioned loyalty and obedience to disobedient leaders--2 Corinthians 1:23-24, 11:1-21; Galatians 1-2:16?)2
Leave it to children to show the way of God as even the Son of God affirmed they do in their natural behavior. In this edited 2011 post, I reference the Lord’s instruction of His pride and selfish ambition filled disciples using the naturally humble hearts of children as the example of impossible conversion apart from God’s supernatural work their own hearts would need to enter the Kingdom. Such genuine humility of heart is characteristic of a man converted through the new birth of biblical Christianity. Too, like a child’s heart displayed by the children around Dale Ostrander who prayed for him as he drowned, a converted heart is willing to believe God--not as the religious who eloquently pray out loud, but act in their own power to accomplish their will (Matthew 23:14).
This Thanksgiving I am grateful for the children who remind us of what biblical Christianity is and the God of my salvation who makes it possible for me to walk it out in the authentic power of His Spirit; the life of an aspiring strong man of God in the image of Jesus Christ! Have a great Thanksgiving.
Originally Posted August 14, 2011
Speaking to men in Matthew 18:1-4, the Lord Jesus answered the question of His disciples, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” (NKJV)? He referred them to a child and indicated unless these tough guys were to be converted and become like “little children” in humility and faith, they could not “enter” or be considered “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” That’s a hard one for proud men to swallow. But this past week the news was filled with a miracle story that verifies the humble and trusting heart of a child is great before and honored by God.
Dale Ostrander was on a beach outing with his youth group in Long Beach, WA. He got sucked under by a rip tide and pulled out over a hundred yards from shore. Another youth, Nicole Kissel, tried to help him back, but when she turned, Dale was gone. Rescuers searched for over 20 minutes for what surely would be and was the drowned, lifeless body of Dale. But while the rescuers were on their way and during their search for Dale, on their faces in the sand weeping and calling on the name of the Lord were members of Dale’s youth group. These children not only believed that God could save their fellow youth, but passionately asked Him to do so with the humble, trusting hearts of children. And what was the result?
Even the most cynical of newscasters throughout the TV News media called Dale’s return to life “a miracle.” But not only did Dale come back to life, he is expected to recover.3 God is receiving glory all over the planet because some kids had the audacity, humility and faith to believe God can do anything! In my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics,4 I tell men in order to receive its contents they must have the heart of a child as Jesus teaches in Matthew 18:1-4. The Dale Ostrander August 2011 return to life on the prayers of children is overwhelming evidence of the blessings and benefits of why. To God be the glory and thank you children for reminding proud, self-reliant adults and men--religious or otherwise--in particular, of the heart that pleases God!
1 See for example, my August 23, 2015 post, Babylon Is Falling, under the category, Bible Prophecy and August 21-28, 2016 two-part, Christianity The Religion Of Men,
under the category, Instruction.
2 Protestants certainly cannot believe this without hypocrisy since our whole existence is a repudiation of corrupt 16th century Catholicism and its leaders famously galva- nized by heralded reformer, Martin Luther--a Catholic priest!
3 Dale Ostrander lives today and continues a progressive recovery from certain death.
4 The book is available in print or digital download formats at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com and Apple (digital only).
You can also get the Hard or Soft Cover print versions of the book in the Strong Man Store.
It is staggering to me now, looking back, how it is many so close after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not among the many moral issues related to Civil Rights galvanize against abortion as it made its way to the 1973 Supreme Court decision. Who could be more disenfranchised than an unborn child targeted for murder? Important figures in the Civil Rights Movement actually endorsed and advocated for abortion to make it as it is to this day for them a matter of women’s rights. Like ancient Israel forced to turn back from entering the Promised Land and wander in the wilderness because of unbelief, so, the Civil Rights Movement turned left away from biblical morality on abortion and other issues into the spiritual wilderness of sin seeking allies of mortal flesh rather than God (Numbers 14:11-25; Proverbs 14:34).
Even the most casual reading of the Bible will yield the straightforward understanding that human life is precious to God, humanity’s Creator (Genesis 4:8-15; Exodus 20:13; Mark 10:17-19). So, in this edited 2010 Commentary I have combined with a similar 2012 blog, I declare that men in the lead and women are to protect their children whose existence actually begins in the mind of God long before conception which He is also intimately involved with (Isaiah 45:1-7)! Therefore, in a biblical worldview, not only is abortion murder for the guilty parents, but also all who advocate for and perform it as accomplices. They will be held accountable by God in this life and on Judgment Day unless they embrace their only recourse I write about in this post.
Originally Published January 2010
Here in Portland, Oregon, Planned Parenthood the birth control and abortion provider is soon to finish construction on a new facility in an area that has been traditionally populated by black Americans. This is strategic on their part since black females have more abortions than any other racial group.1 Yet, the silence of most black clergy and open advocacy of others has been shocking. In the peaceful protests I have attended it has been primarily our white brethren that have represented the very clear scriptural mandate to revere human life (Genesis 9:5-7); life that begins at conception in the handiwork of God our Creator (Psalm 139:13-16; Zechariah 12:1).
Abortion as a concept at its root is not a black or white racial issue nor is it about women's rights. Men and women from all hues should be vitally concerned about what is very thoroughly a spiritual and moral matter. Men--especially those that aspire to be strong men of God in Christ's image--ought to be deeply affected by the slaughter of defenseless human lives. God has wired us with a heart like His and holds us responsible to defend the defenseless (Psalms 68:5-6, 82:1-4). But with steely precision abortionists around this nation routinely kill the unborn men have fathered for the sake of parental convenience. I know all about the convenience thing.
As a teenage father before I came to Christ, I either pushed for or passively offered no objection to the killing of my children on a number of occasions with different females.2 Years later I still wonder at times how I could have been so selfish and deceived. Then I remember the deceitful craftiness of the god of this world and my own fallen nature as a sinner and come to my senses. Spiritually speaking, we kill our unborn because we are dead in our sins to God and purposely deceived. It is not rocket science to understand the matter-of-fact reason we do so either: if there is no baby, then there is no responsibility or possible change in life plans.
Satan’s deceptive spin last century that morphed abortion from an issue of biblical morality into one that has to do with a woman’s rights over her body is of the success he enjoyed with Eve in Eden (Genesis 3:1-6a; 1 Timothy 2:14). And if they are not the instigators, just as Adam did not intervene while Satan deceived his wife and passively followed her lead in disobedience (Genesis 3:6b), so, many men today are doing the same thing in the decision to kill their unborn children. But now, made alive by God to God through faith in Christ, I have received forgiveness and instruction from His Word to fulfill all of my responsibilities as a father to my children (Ephesians 2:1-10).
In a truth I fully explain in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, none other than God the Father Himself has shown us men what a father is and does.3 Besides initiating Adam's existence, the Father also led, taught, provided for and protected him. In protecting Adam, God put him in the Garden of Eden as a shelter among other reasons and watched over him (Genesis 2:7-18). Even when Satan came to the garden please note he was not allowed to touch Adam or his wife, but only to deceive them if he could (Genesis 3:1-6). If it had been left up to the devil he would have killed the two humans where they stood (John 8:44). But God protected them!
God has given all men the responsibility to protect the lives we initiate through our seed released in the sexual intimacy of marriage or otherwise as well as those that are adopted. Our responsibility begins the moment of conception and continues until the new or adopted life attains the age of majority and departs from under our protective care (Matthew 1:18-25 2:13-15, 19-23; Luke 2:41-52). When men demand or passively allow the death of their children through abortion, it is a purposeful rejection of the responsibility that God has assigned to and holds us accountable for. We may only drop them off at the clinic, but we are just as guilty as the women for the murder that takes place.
So now, in these latter days Satan has gotten us to do legally what he was forbidden to do thousands of years ago in the garden: murder human life! For the record, only the bodies of the unborn are destroyed. God takes their spirits and souls back to Himself in Heaven to await the resurrection (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7). However, the parent's lives are eternally destroyed without repentance. Therefore, let every man and woman reading this who is guilty turn to God in all confession and repentance from your sins. By faith receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ believing that He died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day. All who sincerely do this will receive God’s forgiveness, healing, instruction, a restored mind and heart with eternal life!
Unlike in our former godless and selfish mindset, God expects His sons and aspiring strong men in the image of Christ to welcome the pregnancy of our wives with joy and thanksgiving to Him! His sons are never to father children out of wedlock. However, if this should happen, in repentance He wills that you embrace your child and the mother in marriage if possible. In all instances, we are to fulfill our responsibilities to our children to include protecting them with the wisdom, help and strength God supplies. Also, brothers, stand up like men indwelt by the living God and speak out against the slaughter of the defenseless unborn in the protecting responsibility He has given us. The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 "Abortion Number For African-Americans Rising," Life In Oregon, April-June 2008 Issue, p. 7. Also, see black Abortion Facts on theurbanprophet.org Web Site. The
facility referenced was completed and remains a hub of activity.
2 That God may always be glorified in His amazing work to save and transform sinners through my life; I share my shame at having been an unsaved, unmarried and ire-
sponsible teenage father of two children that lived, but others that were murdered in their mother’s wombs. I am not just some moralizing preacher who knows nothing
at all about the real fear and selfishness that goes into the decision to abort or after birth, abandon a child God has charged men in the lead with the responsibility to pro-
tect.
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.
While I have a few critics, the Lord controls when and how I occasionally respond and does not allow that I should waste the precious time He has given me to run my life and ministry race doing so more often. However, this is one of those times. Indeed, because I am getting older and this Ministry has not garnered the kind of worldly defined success and support of many other Ministries (I don’t compare myself to others as Scripture warns--2 Corinthians 10:12-18), some would urge me to quit since I do not ever intend to soften the messages God gives me to proclaim or corrupt and compromise His Word seeking to get better results (Ezekiel 33:1-9; 2 Corinthians 2:12-17, 4:1-2).
Like the children I talk about in this short, edited 2011 post, my zeal and energy level remain high after over 40 years of service to the Lord to include thirty-four years leading Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. as its Founder/President. The children run with natural youthful energy; I run with the supernatural strength of Christ! Until the Lord takes away my strength or physical faculties, I intend to keep running my life and ministry race whether full or part-time until I finish with my last breath as is presented in the newest short video to soon be added to this Ministry’s fundraising platform dedicated to raising my 2020 full-time salary.1 I appeal to God’s faithful to come to my “aid” at this “opportunity” (Philippians 4:10-20, NKJV)!
Originally Posted October 30, 2011
Yesterday, I was pleased to fulfill part of my commitment as chaplain to the Alberta Park Panther Football Team by attending a couple of games. The 7th and 8th grade players had just finished winning a close game and yet, what did I see not long after? They were mostly out of their uniforms playing more football on adjacent fields. And then there was the 3rd and 4th grade level of the team. They were so eager, so teachable, so trusting as they listened to their coaches and were likewise full of seemingly boundless energy. As were these boys, so is the aspiring strong man of God in the image of Jesus Christ of all ages (Mark 10:13-16)! Get my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to learn more about how and why.2
1 Go to FundRazr Salary Campaign.
2 The book is available in print or digital download formats at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com and Apple (digital only).
You can also get the Hard or Soft Cover print versions of the book in the Strong Man Store. Additionally, listen to the recent energetic interview, Jim Ramos, Presi-
dent of Men In The Arena conducted with me about the book’s content on his Podcast.
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 20th 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.
Join The Strong Man Of God Resources Conversation!
Get Your Copy Of The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics Today!
Your purchase supports restoring men, families and communities through Strong Man Ministries!
Purchase It Now
