General

War has been with us as long as city/states have existed. Human beings fight because fallen people are selfish and like to conquer others.

Behind human wars is a satanic war mentioned in the Bible in Ephesians 6:12. Paul explains: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Recently, another kind of war has entered American politics called “The War on Women.” Progressive politicians have used this phrase in the past two election cycles to make it appear that conservatives and people of faith hate women and are trying to suppress them.

That’s not true–just like the promises of the Affordable Care Act (which is quickly becoming history’s most famous oxymoron).

Let’s discuss the real war on women taking place in America and around the world.

First, we must be clear that the so-called “War on Women” that Sandra Fluke and the 2012 Democratic Convention made famous is a crock that was cooked up to win votes.

Here are the facts: American single women tend to vote for liberal causes and American married women vote for conservative ones. This is understandable. In today’s world, single women are more dependent on government and more self-oriented in their lifestyles. Married women, with husbands and children in tow, possess greater family support and have learned through experience that life is not about them.

So, there is no “war” on American women in general. Single women lean left and married women lean right.  Let’s get rid of the nonsense of an overarching “War on Women.”

But worldwide, and inspired by the satanic realm, there is a very real war against the female gender. This is the true war on women that we ought to be praying and fighting against.

I will list, in order of severity, the real war on women that we must engage and win.

1. The Abortion War

Modern-day abortion is, by far, the world’s greatest holocaust. In the past forty years, it is estimated that 27.5 million female unborn babies have been killed in the United States–never to see the light of day. That’s like systematically killing all the residents of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, and Austin, Texas–the nation’s eleven largest cities.

Imagine the “fearfully and wonderfully made” women lost to American society whose beauty, creativity, mothering abilities and vocational gifts were lost to eternity on the pro-death altar of the sexual revolution.

And that’s just America. Possibly a half-a-billion to one billion women have been killed through the carnage of abortion worldwide. That’s like dropping atomic bombs on the entire continent of Africa and killing every single living person.

Abortion is the real war against women–and, of course, it includes an equal amount of men.

2. The Islamic War

There are about 50 Muslim nations in the world containing 2.3 billion followers of Islam. Let’s assume that 1.2 billion people in these nations are women, and that half of those women live in suppressive Muslim states (The Middle East and North Africa in particular).

So, today, in the modern world, at least a half a billion Muslim women live in subservient slavery where they are treated as property and sexual objects.  That is the true state of Muslim women who live under the teachings of the Koran.

We might be able to excuse this type of authoritarianism if we read about it during the time of the Dark Ages or maybe fifteen hundred years ago when Islam began.

But in 2014?  A half a billion Muslim women cover themselves from head-to-foot, are not allowed outside by themselves, do not go to school, are not allowed to drive, and are treated as a piece of meat by their husbands?  In our time period?

This is shocking even to contemplate because the Western world has been blessed by the Christian worldview which gives equality of value of women and has liberated billions of women worldwide.

But not in Islam. Women are still in chains. Where is the outcry? Where is the tear-stained scream for justice and civil rights for the women living in oppressive Muslim states?

3. The Sex-Trafficking War

The U.S. State Department estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. Eighty percent of those trafficked are women and girls, mostly for sexual exploitation. These figures overlook the millions more victims who are trafficked annually within their own national borders.

So, let’s say conservatively, that at least 480,000 women–really young girls–are used as sexual slaves for lusting men in the international arena each year. That’s equivalent to the entire city of Seattle being forced into prostitution. Those figures do not take into account the sexual slavery taking place within domestic borders.

Whichever figure you choose, the outcome is the same — far more women and girls are forced into brothels annually in the  21st century than African slaves were shipped into slave plantations each year in the 18th century.

Sex slavery is bigger today than racial slavery in the past. And the problem of sex slavery is getting worse. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is one of the fastest-growing organized crimes, generating $27.8 billion each year—most of it involving the abuse of women.

Sex-trafficking is certainly a satanic tactic to to hurt and destroy women.

4. The Inflation War

You may have never thought of this, but current American monetary policy is also a war on the female gender.

If you go back two generations, you find that a majority of women in American preferred spending most of their lives as wives and mothers who believed the greatest vocation was the care and nurturing of the family unit. Those generations were indeed blessed by the godly women who were not forced into the work world to provide for their families.

I grew up in the world of stay-at-home moms. My maternal mother was one. My mother-in-law was another. My wife also preferred to be a stay-at-home mom who tended the family fires and even home-schooled her six children.

The strength of America was built upon this foundation of many generations of stay-at-home mothering.

This changed when a Republican president, Richard Nixon, took America off of the gold standard in 1972. Then both Republican and Democratic administrations carelessly inflated the money supply for the next forty years. This caused the price of everything to rise–forcing many women into the work world where two incomes were required to pay the rising bills.

Most of us have never thought about the sudden emergence of two-income homes because it’s all we’ve ever known. Dad works and mom works (whether she wants to or not). But this is a recent phenomenon. Fifty years ago, only 7% of married women worked outside the home. Today, the number has “forcibly” risen to nearly 60%.

According to one study, about half (51%) of respondents say that children are better off if a mother is home and doesn’t hold a job. Nearly three-quarters of adults (74%) say the increasing number of women working for pay has made it harder for parents to raise children, and half say that it has made marriages harder to succeed.

Wrong-headed inflationary policies are another form of war on women in America.

5. The Hollywood War

A cultural dimension of the real war on women is the Hollywood-inspired portrayal of females as sex objects. For two hundred years of American history, the Proverbs 31 model of womanhood held the day where faith, chastity, hard work, and family were the bulwark upon which a great society was built.

But starting with Marilyn Monroe, and then exploding into the starlets, models, and porn stars of today, women have been relegated today to the status of sex toys to meet men’s lusts. This is a huge step backwards into the female slavery of the Dark Ages and Ancient Roman obsession with sex.

This is not liberation. It is a sexual targeting of women.

6. The Advertising War

Finally, the Hollywood stereotype of women has been fueled by modern-day advertisers. A false image of “beauty” has been forced down women’s throats, telling them they must have a certain hairstyle, curves, bikini-body, breast implants, or plastic surgery to “compete” in today’s oversexed world.

This is also a lie– an expensive and depressing one. A woman’s beauty is her uniqueness and godliness, not whether she looks like Marliyn Monroe or Scarlet Johansson.

How many women are beaten down today by the advertising hype? Probably millions. Or maybe, they’ve just given up. This is yet another form of the devil’s war on the female sex.

Conclusion

Let’s reject about the phony war on women and focus like a laser on fighting the real one.

•  Give your effort and time to see the abortion holocaust halted (the repeal of Roe v. Wade).
• Pray for and share your faith with oppressed women in the Muslim world, believing that God can bring about an amazing deliverance.
• Support organizations that are freeing women from sex trafficking.
• Vote for political leaders who will restore us to sound monetary policy.
• Influence Hollywood to produce films that showcase Proverbs 31 women, not sluts.
• Reject the advertising lies, and encourage female freedom to be “beautiful in Christ.”

Yes, there is a global war on women (and human beings in general).  We must know our true enemy. We must resist his fake rabbit trails and understand his actual strategies.

Let’s help liberate the women of the world.

 

“Open Doors USA recently released its widely cited 2014 World Watch List—a report that highlights and ranks the 50 worst nations around the globe persecuting Christians.”

“The one glaring fact that emerges from this report is that the overwhelming majority of Christian persecution around the world today is being committed at the hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures, and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia and Indonesia); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait) and Muslims claiming “grievances” against America (fill in the blank __).”

“A common denominator, a pattern, exists, one that is even more extensive than Open Doors implies. According to that organization’s communications director, Emily Fuentes, ‘of the 50 worst nations for persecution, 37 of them are Muslim,’ or 74%. In fact, while this number suggests that the other 13 countries making the top 50 are not Muslim—for example Kenya and Ethiopia—those doing the persecution there are.”

“In other words, those persecuting Christians in 41 of 50 nations are Muslims; that is, a whopping 82% of all persecution around the globe is being committed by the adherents of Islam—sometimes in Christian majority nations; for example, the Central African Republic which, after the 2013 Islamic takeover, now ranks #16.”

“As for the top ten absolute worst nations, where, according to the 2014 World Watch List, Christians suffer “extreme persecution,” nine—that is, 90%—are Muslim.  (Indeed, Open Doors’ global map of Christian persecution can easily be confused with a global map of the Islamic world, with the exception of China (ranked 37, “moderate persecution”) and some sporadic countries dominated by crime and godless tyranny, Columbia, North Korea, etc.).”

“Similarly, a recent Morning Star News report listing 2013’s ten most horrific anecdotes of Christian persecution around the world finds that nine out of ten—again, 90%—were committed at the hands of those professing Islam.”

Ibrahim concludes, “Time is not on the side of Christians living amid Muslims; quite the opposite. Since the 7^th century, when Islam came into being, Muslims have been invading and conquering Christian lands, so that more than half of the territory that was once Christian in the 7^th century—including all of North Africa–are today the heart of the ‘Muslim world.’”

“Muslim persecution of Christians exists in 41 nations today as part of a continuum that started nearly 14 centuries ago.  The very same patterns of Christian persecution prevalent throughout the Muslim world today are often identical to those from centuries past.  The facts speak for themselves.”

You might want to take a quick look at the maps above. They show what missiologists call the 10/40 Window where Muslim nations are in the majority from North Africa to Indonesia. These are the nations where the greatest “hate” thrives It’s not just the jihadists. It is Muslims of all backgrounds and stripes.

This is because the Koran condones the hatred and conquest of those who do not submit (infidels). It has done so for centuries. During the Middle Ages, after the Muslims had pillaged the biblical lands and began to invade Europe, Christians made the mistake of responding in kind.

We call that era “The Crusades”–and it became violent, vindictive and evil. At least today we admit it. During that terrible time, Christians lost sight of the fact that truth is peaceful and self-controlled.

Muslims never learned. They are not relaxed in the truth and thus peaceful in its application. When you know the truth about God, life, sin, and the need for salvation, then you can “love your enemies.” You’re not motivated to persecute or hate.

Muslims need to find the “Prince of Peace”  and become established in the truth. Then they will be following the example of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Secularism

Secular governments are second worse in persecuting or hating others. Secularism simply means “worldly,” and is a philosophy that denies God’s existence while elevating dictators into places of government authority. Tyranny and persecution follow.

Communist China is a large-country example–a nation that persecutes Christians and many others. North Korea is the poster-child in the 21st century of a hateful, persecuting nation due to its god-like worship of Kim Jong Un and total rejection of biblical values.

But secularism is also becoming stronger in Europe and America. As it rises, tolerance of Christians and others is falling. We see this today under the Obama administration where the Affordable Care Act is trying to force Christians (such as the “Little Sisters of the Poor”) to go against their God-given conscience in the name of the aims of the state. This is just the beginning of a rising tide of Christian persecution and suppression that bodes ill for the future.

Remember: Truth is peaceful, not forceful or hateful–and even works to “love its enemies.”

Dr. Martin Luther King would not be pleased with the current secular death spiral in the US.

Richard Sherman

For those who are non-football fans, Richard Sherman is the All-Pro cornerback of the Seattle Seahawks who are headed to the Super Bowl. He is considered the best at his position in the NFL.

Sherman was raised in Compton, California when drugs and gangs ruled the streets. His Christian parents kept him and many others away from those things but the hateful and violent environment left its imprint. Sherman went on to play football at Stanford (an elite academic college) and was drafted by the Seahawks in the 2011 NFL draft.

I like Richard Sherman. He’s smart, articulate, confident and playful. He does much good in the community and is an energetic, fun loving guy.

But at the end of the NFC Championship Game, won by his Seahawks (in which he made the final game-winning play), Sherman ripped into his opponent in an explosion of emotion and boldly declared himself the best at what he does. You can see the rant here (viewed by 60 million Americans).

Some commentators and athletes defended his action. They say “trash talk” is normal in sports and people should be “authentic” in what they say and do.

Nonsense. Hitler, Stalin and Mao were “authentic” and so were the Ku Klux KLan and the leaders of the Inquisition. So what. They did what wrong. They expressed hate, condescension, anger and even violence toward their enemies.

Yes, football is a violent sport. But it can still be played with classiness, verbal self-control, and even graciousness (outside of the tackling and physical punishment). We all know many superb athletes who do just that (like Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson–opposing QBs in Super Bowl 48).

Sherman made a mistake. In an adrenaline-charged moment he snapped and came across as an arrogant hater (which is not his real persona). He also went against another wise truth:

“Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth–a stranger, not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).

I’m glad he apologized. He would be wise now to elevate the “content of his character” to that of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and let his play (and conduct) speak for itself.

We should do the same in the game of life. Ditto Muslims and secularists.

Loving your enemies is the greatest mark of strength. Thanks Dr. King. It only comes through the power of Jesus Christ enshrined in the human heart.

 

Since the recent sexual revolution, it has become  increasingly acceptable to sneer the family values that prevailed during the 1950s. 

Some commentators look down on the quaintness and naivety of “Leave It To Beaver,” “Father’s Knows Best,” and “Ozzie and Harriet”–as if those wholesome family-oriented shows are something to flee like the plague.

I grew up during that time. It was not perfect (which is true of every period), but there was something about the family love of that era  that should not be laughed at.

Ozzie and Harriet were right. Family is your greatest treasure. Are you nurturing and appreciating the family heritage God has given you?

Some sermons you never forget. They impact you, etch your mind, give you insight that last a lifetime. It is rewarding for me, as a public speaker, to meet people who say that they never forgot a certain message that I gave which touched their life.

Today I’d like to honor Oren Paris, one of the early leaders of Youth With A Mission (and father of singer Twila Paris), who gave a message, probably thirty years ago, that I never forgot.

His text was Psalm 16:6: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful heritage.”

I don’t recall many details of the message. But I remember good ‘ole Oren, a winsome and passionate southern preacher (he started YWAM’s work in Arkansas) talking with near awe and deep gratitude for the multi-generational family God had given him.

He had good reason to be proud. His family lineage included many followers of Jesus, including quite a few Pentecostal preachers who shared God’s love for generations. They include Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM who is Oren’s cousin and his brother Leland who was Youth With A Mission’s North American director for many years and now works extensively in North Korea.

Oren’s family line also included a few scoundrels and prodigals as all families do. He was honest about them all.

But what struck me was Brother Oren’s incredible delight in his family. Many times in his message he exclaimed what a beautiful family inheritance he had! He was grateful for his forefathers, enamored with his immediate wife and children, and excited about their future.

Oren treasured his family heritage. He is now in heaven with many of those ancestors while others from his line carry on here on earth.

I was deeply impacted by his love of family and set my heart to treasure my own–just like Oren.

However, that revelation was harder for me because of my own background. Yes, I did grow up in the era of Ozzie and Harriet when American family life seemed wholesome and strong. But as many families know (including Oren’s!), mine experienced some difficulties.

If you count multiple generations, those trials included the sudden death of loved ones, incarceration, divorce, suicide, health problems, adoption, and even estrangement from relatives. (One Boehme relative “left” the family two generations ago and was never heard from again. I still pray for his possible children and grandchildren because God knows who they are.).

I also didn’t have any Pentecostal preachers in my background, but many good Lutherans! So I think I sub-consciously believed that our own family problems out-weighed the positives. I didn’t default to thinking of my heritage as “beautiful.”

Maybe you can relate. Possibly you were abused as a child, a victim of alcoholism, or divorce. Maybe you grew up poor, lived in a bad neighborhood, or endured various family crises that damaged your view of the “heritage.”

If you feel that way, what you went through is real–but it is not the full picture God wants you to have of the family he gave you.

Let’s back up for a moment and ponder our beginnings. Most believers accept that life started with God creating the heavens and the earth. In our minds-eye, we can see the Master Builder speaking into existence the universe, designing the plants and animals, and putting in place all the stars and planets.

When we think of creation, we naturally gravitate to God making stuff–of which we are a part.

On the other hand, if we get our idea of origins from a secular science class, the emphasis is different, but really the same. There’s no mention of God, but just a “Big Bang” that created the universe billions of years ago and evolved into what we see today.

Evolution teaches a slower and de-personalized life process, but the overall emphasis remains: The emergence of stuff. But here’s where we need a higher view. Is life really about the “stuff” around us?

I think not. Here’s a more accurate picture.

Once upon a time, only the Godhead–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–existed. “They,” the unexplainable Three-in-One, were not only the “First Family” but the Creator of what we now see and enjoy. And, the essence of the Godhead is relationship–Three-in One–loving, enjoying, appreciating, delighting and caring for each.

It is the biblically-understood Trinity that provides the only meaningful explanation of love and relationships. Evolution does not. If we are just a mass of matter, where does love, feeling, sensitivity and altruism come from? From amino acids? It makes no sense. Nor does belief in a single God who has no other relationships and doesn’t need any (such as the Islamic “Allah”).

The biblical truth about the Godhead answers the mystery. Love and family originate in the heart and mind of the eternal, omniscient, omnipresent Trinity (First Family). And the Triune God decided many years ago to multiply it.

Creation was not primarily a Big Bang of stuff. It was an Explosion of Love that the Godhead released into the universe. The stars, planets and earth were simply the backdrop. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so desired to share their family-love relationship with others that they decided to create a universe and world where their love could be multiplied.

Thus, with the heaven and earth as a necessary environment, God had made man in his image, with the ability of mind, emotion, and freedom–the ability to enter into loving relationships with God and also with other human beings.

It was all about love. It’s still all about love. The goal of missions is love through reconciliation to God. The means of salvation was love, provided through the gruesome death of the Son.

This makes sense because God is love (1 John 3:4)

And God’s structure for experiencing, nurturing and multiplying his love explosion is the family unit. Genesis 1 tells us how God created the environment,  but Genesis 2 describes God’s real intention–creating human beings to share loving relationship with him–with the nuclear family the centerpiece.

Family–with God and other humans–is the crux of it all.

If we really understand this concept, that God created us for love and placed us into families to nurture and discover His love, then certainly “our heritage will be beautiful to us.” And the closer we look at our immediate families, we will see the hand of God in their formation.

The time frame of Ozzie and Harriet was simply a good “picture” of God’s desires for mankind–loving, caring parents, obedient children, and family nurture, unity, gratefulness and appreciation–all things that ultimately bring glory to God.

Those family attributes still exist today, but our God-denying secular culture is chipping away at them on many fronts. The AP recently did a story on how the nuclear family–especially marriage–is dying in America. You can read the sad tale here. It was also announced this week that 50% of African American youth and 40% of white American young people have been arrested. 70% of black children are born out of wedlock.

The devil is trying to destroy the family because it most represents the purpose of God.

So how can we treasure the family God has given us? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Pray for a God-given revival of loving, nurturing families.. I take a prayer walk everyday and pray for different themes. One day the prayers focus on families all over the nation and world. I also pray for for all my family members on all sides of the Boehme-Cookson family.

2. Pour great grace and love into your family relationships. A friend of ours once said that “this generation needs a lot of grace.” Lavish it into the lives of your parents, children, and grandchildren. Grace and love are the primary currencies of God-oriented families.

3. If your family is fractured, work to repair it and draw in others in need. One family on our street adopted four foster kids. We have many friends who have adopted children or are foster parents. YWAM Adoption Ministry and Streams of Mercy are good ministries to those in need of family. Support them. Join them.

4. Get together often to love one another and create rich and meaningful memories.

My most special memory this Christmas was our entire family watching a four minute video that our son Nathan produced called “Home for Christmas.” The clip was a reminder of our family heritage. It showed our old home being built, then some snippets of past Christmases we enjoyed together.

When we viewed it on Christmas Eve, we experienced a “God-moment” as every single family member (and a few additions) wept openly over the love we’ve shared over the years.

Tears of joy and remembrance.

The video is here for you to enjoy. I know it’s not your family, so the heart tug will not be the same. But put your own family faces into the reel and think about God’s love explosion that produced your unique family.

Ozzie and Harriet were right. Treasure the family God has given you.

And shout with all your heart: “Indeed my heritage is beautiful!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disputing the Big Bang – The Family Love Explosion of the Godhead