Pastor's Blog

What Is Your Ideology?

Isn’t it amazing how quickly the world changes?  When I review the past several decades, I am reminded how transportation, medicine, communications, education and the geo-political shift of nations have evolved to where we are today.  The most alarming change of all is the shift in an acceptable ideology.  Isaiah declared that in the last days, “men would call evil good and good evil,” but I never expected this swing in reason and ideology to be so drastic so quickly!

For those of you who have studied the origin of what I call “backwards thinking,” realize that this shifting ideology is rooted in Marxism and the Political Correct movements of the 20^th Century.  Bill Lind explains that, “Cultural Marxism of Political Correctness, like economic Marxism, has a single factor explanation of history. Economic Marxism says that all of history is determined by ownership of means of production. Cultural Marxism, or Political Correctness, says that all history is determined by power, by which groups defined in terms of race, gender, etc., have power over other groups.  Nothing else matters.”  

To a degree, we have failed in training our sons and daughters to embrace the Judeo-Christian ideology and establish convictions that are based on God’s Word. We have allowed the “secularist” to dull the tips on the arrows in the quiver -- our children.  Most young people today, who have grown up in Christian homes and attended church all their life, embrace many of the lies of political correctness.  They are sent to universities where a Christian world view is not tolerated! 

Jesus says to the shifting ideology of today’s progressive movement,  “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  Why do you not understand My speech?  Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.”

 

Pastor's Blog

Hope for Our Children  (part 2)

Pastor Steve Nash

What is it that brought millions of immigrants to our shores?  I’m sure there were many reasons,  but we can all agree that one predominant aspiration was that many mothers and fathers who found their way to Ellis Island came because they wanted new hope and a brighter future for their children.

My grave concern is that the very reason many came to these shores (our children) is about to be lost forever.  Let me explain it another way.  We’ve had great hope for our children’s economic prosperity.  That hope today is fading like a setting sun.  We are selfishly saddling them with a national debt (nearly 18T) they will never be able to bear.  We long to have our children enjoy a healthy spiritual and social life.  Those values we feel important for a healthy society are constantly under attack from many fronts and we are rapidly losing ground in that battle.

Did you know that 75% of our youth believe there is no such thing as “absolute truth” and that all truth is relative?  Did you know that 83% of our High School students have been sexually active?  Did you know that 40% of our 8^th graders have used illicit drugs?  Did you know that 78% of our inmates grew up in a single parent or no parent home?  We are told by the Psalmist that “children are a gift from God,” yet we have aborted 55 million since 1973.  If the child survives the mother’s womb, many of our young ones feel they are a burden to their parents, not a blessing from God. The main reason we are gradually increasing in our population is not because of the natural pro-creation of the American family but because of immigration, both legal and not.  Couples living together outside of marriage is a growing trend that keeps the divorce rate at about 55%.  We can agree that divorce or illegitimacy is not a healthy upbringing for any child.

Children are more afraid of the divorce of their parents than they are of the drug dealer or physical abuse.  Some researchers on the family feel that divorce is more damaging to a child’s heart than even sexual abuse.  I don’t know if I agree with that, but nevertheless, such findings reveal the seriousness of a broken home.  Divorce is a sin against the child but few parents seek the forgiveness of their children after the home has been broken apart.

Today’s child is forced to grow up too quickly.  By the influence of the media, peer pressure and lack of a healthy family environment, today’s child loses their innocence and becomes a product of society’s demoralization.  Suicide, addiction, self abuse and violence are too often the outcome for the children God has blessed us with!

We have a wonderful missionary outreach program called “Save the Children” that encourages us to sponsor a child in a developing country, but what about our own?  Do we spend the time, show interest in their lives and equip them with spiritual and moral safeguards that will enable them to survive the constant attacks on their mind, spirit and body?  What is invading or permeating the mind and heart of your child?  Too many parents provide the sports, dance lessons and other club involvements for their children but neglect the most important need – the spiritual.  These parents run their children all around during the week for these appointments but fail to bring them to church!   Doesn’t the Proverb exhort parents to “Train up a child in the way they should go?”

What can we do to raise our sons and daughters the way God would have us? First of all, have them!  Many parents don’t want the responsibility of any children so they choose not to have a child.  The root problem here is “fear” and “lack of responsibility.”  Secondly, teach them!  Do not leave that responsibility to other people or influences that may not embrace your belief system.  Thirdly, demonstrate to them that they are secure in their family life and you will always be there for them when they need your help and advice.  Lastly, learn from them.  Didn’t Jesus constantly use children as an object lesson to teach profound truths to the adult?  “For such is the kingdom of heaven!”

Our children need not be part of the sad statistics I quoted before.  Our children must be special and equipped to make a difference in their generation.  The other day I asked my 24 year old 6^th child if she believed she was part of the “terminal generation.”  She indicated that she was determined to be a beacon of hope to her generation and leave the time table of God’s coming to Him.   May God help us to raise sons and daughters as sharp arrows who are able to pierce the darkness and turn many of their generation to righteousness!”

Pastor's Blog

Did You Remember the Kids?

Pastor Steve Nash

The Lord has blessed my wife and me with seven children.  We had so many to look after when coming in and out of stores, homes, churches, etc., only to discover that we had made the horrifying mistake of forgetting one of the kids!  It is a frightening experience to pull in the driveway and discover you left a child at someone’s home or back at the church.

It is embarrassing to have someone from church pull into the driveway, with one of our kids we left behind.  They understood because it probably happened to them in the past.  I’m sure some of you have done the same.  We finally got into the habit of counting to seven and then continuing on to where ever we were going.

Our generation needs to be more alarmed about the heritage we are leaving behind for our children.  What are we handing down?  What kind of torch are we passing on?  Are the hopes for our children better than what we have received from our parents?  I don’t think so.  Consider the 18 Trillion dollar debt, the social and moral landscape, the geo-political position of their country or the spiritual condition of this nation.

Did you know that:

·        85% of our youth believe that there is no such thing as “absolute truth,” and that all is relative?

·        Did you know that 86% of our H.S. graduates have been sexually active?

·        Did you know that 44% of our 8^th graders have used illicit drugs?

·        Did you know that 80% of our inmates grew up in a single-parent or no-parent family?

According to Psalm 127, children are a gift from God and blessed is the couple that has many.   Do American couples consider Children as a gift from God?  Since post WWII, children have often been viewed as a burden, not a blessing.  They are sometimes considered a financial burden.   They are sometimes considered a hindrance to the aspirations of the working mother (1950’s 8% double income, 2010 80% double income).  Children are sometimes considered a disturbance to the “peace” of a couple.  Divorce has been a “plague” upon our nation more than any other disease.

More children are scared by divorce than by drugs, promiscuity and sexual or physical abuse.  Some researchers on the family feel that divorce is more damaging to a child’s heart than even sexual abuse.  Divorce is an assault, a transgression, a horrible sin against the children we say we love so much.  If that tragedy has visited your home there needs to be forgiveness and healing and the grace of God. 

Children are a “gift from God” and if they have survived the most dangerous place on earth (mother’s womb) there are so many more pitfalls along the road of young life.   More than 55 million children have been lost to abortion since 1973!  Today’s child is forced to grow up too quickly.  The child’s innocence and purity is being attacked by society’s demoralization.

Today’s child is forced to grow up too quickly.  What is invading and even permeating the mind of your child?    What are the assaults upon your child’s body?   Is your child growing spiritually?  Are they living out Prov. 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all…?!”  The local church can help provide the spiritual opportunities for your children, but it must be going on in the home as well.

What can we do to raise-up sons and daughters so that they might “increase in wisdom and stature and favor with God and others?”  Have them!   Teach them!   Show them!  Win them!  Lead them to Christ!  Pray for them as Job did for his children.  Direct them to a better life than most experience by gaining and retaining God’s favor over your family.

Our children need not become part of the sad statistics I quoted earlier. Our children can be different and make a difference as they grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  May God help us to raise sons and daughters as arrows from the quiver who pierce the darkness and turn many to righteousness.  Let’s not leave them behind because we have simply forgotten them!