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Curse of Cohabitation

It’s official. What you’ve suspected by personal observation is now confirmed by statistics. Unmarried couples are living together longer, and more of them are having children. All of this brings a powerful, evil curse on the couples and our nation. More on that in a moment.

Nearly half of women in the 15-44 age group say that their first “union” was cohabitation, not marriage. And that’s just stats through 2010. Only 23% say that their first “union” was marriage! Most cohabitation couplings are not permanent. The average length of staying together is only 22 months, during which one-fifth gave birth to a child. For those without a high school diploma, 70% of women cohabit.  It may be concluded that it’s not the rich and famous, such as movie stars, who are tipping the statistics. It’s the working class and poor who are perpetuating more poverty and misery by bringing into the world more children who can’t be cared for properly.  Furthermore, according to statistics, this underclass is more likely to enter into a second or third cohabitation, meaning even more misery and more illegitimacy.

But there’s another issue besides economics and lack of vocational opportunity. Curses. Every cohabitation adds to the mix of generational evil. The more partners in fornication, the more likely the spiritual contamination. Look at it this way. With one marriage partner you have two bloodlines of curses to deal with. With two cohabitation’s, it’s four; with three cohabitation’s it’s six and so on. And that doesn’t include all the hook-ups along the way. Ever partner in cohabitation needs to read my new book CURSE BREAKING, especially chapter three about the Curse of Illegitimacy. Those ten pages will shake up any couple living in sin, and awaken them to what is happening to their offspring.

The Pope is an Exorcist

A week ago Sunday, Pope Francis was reported as having performed an exorcism in St. Peter’s after celebrating mass. Word traveled quickly, along with photos of the Pontiff laying his hands on the head of the man who was struggling and grimacing. The unidentified man fought the Pope’s gesture, and then slumped in his wheelchair. Word got out later that the man in question was a married, 43-year-old male from Mexico. When headlines blared, “Pope Performs Exorcism,” the damage control people at the Vatican swung into action. “It wasn’t an exorcism, the Pope was just ministering to a needy soul as he would under normal circumstance,” came the explanation from church officials. But the controversy did not stop there.

No amount of spin control could contain the story. Father Gabriel Amorth, the priest known as the exorcist of the Vatican weighed in on the issue. Father Amorth, a great man of God whom I’ve had the honor of meeting and spending time with at the Vatican, declared that Pope Francis was indeed performing an exorcism. In fact, Fr. Amorth claimed that he had done exorcisms on the same man, casting out four demons. No matter what the press says, I have confidence in Fr. Amorth. It’s sad that church officials want to be so politically correct that they can’t be honest when describing the ministerial activities of the leader of the Catholic Church.

Vatican theologians have since argued about whether the whole thing was misunderstood or that the Pope was merely praying some benign prayer of liberation. But why couldn’t he perform an exorcism? Francis is, after all, the Bishop of Rome and therefore as a bishop he is also an exorcist if and when he chooses to be one. How tragic that a rite of prayer that was so normal for the first four centuries of the church has become taboo today, even by those who have a codified ritual to celebrate the practice. I pray that in the Pope’s duties for the church that more demons manifest, forcing the Pope to act as he recently did. Only this time I pray that the queasy consciences of Vatican officials don’t prevail.

Greed Doesn’t Pay

Last week David Gonzales had a chance at more than $2 million. He ended up with $127,000, still a good amount but almost 90% short of what he could have had. It all came down to greed. Gonzales wasn’t a Powerball winner walking away with a ticket from his local 7-Eleven store. Gonzales was renovating an old house in a small Minnesota community and removing some insulation. Approximately 70+ years ago the owner had stuffed newspapers into the ceiling, along with an assortment of whatever printed matter was available. While pulling out the paper, Gonzales spotted a First Edition Superman comic book from 1938. Thinking it might have some value he did a little research and found a similar comic book had recently fetched $2.16 million.

But before Gonzales could get his comic to auction, he and a relative argued over its value and how to split the money. During the “discussion,” the comic got ripped. The “funny book,” as we called them when I was a kid, had survived decades unharmed in that ceiling, but one greed-driven dispute rendered the back cover torn. The result was a high bid of only $127,000, not the millions Gonzales expected. There has been no word as to whether the greedy men made up or whether this ended their familial friendship.

Proverbs 15:27 declares, “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house.” In this case, the house of Gonzales was not only troubled, but effectively had a windfall stolen. Through the years I’ve heard many horror stories of families torn asunder by the reading of a will or the appointment of a certain executor of an estate. Everything in the family seemed fine until grandma was dead and it came time to count the financial leftovers. “The love of money is the root of all evil,” 1 Timothy 6:10 warns. As the Gonzales family looks back on their comic book misadventure, things now might not seem so comical.

Mixed Martial Arts Mix-up

I admit it. I am not a fan of mixed martial arts, MMA for short. The scene of two thugs, more brawn than brain, in a wire cage pounding each other bloody has a gladiatorial feel to it. If you’ve never seen MMA, the slugfest allows punching, wrestling, kicking, both standing and on the mat. It’s no-holds-barred fight. Perhaps I’m old school. I know that even some Christians watch it. Even do it. That’s between them and the Lord. But here’s what really concerns me. You might think it’s the kind of “sport’ designed for hulky he-men. You’re wrong. Even women do it, a cat-fight on steroids.

The latest MMA controversy isn’t about broken bones or life-long injuries but is focused on Fallon Fox, the first transsexual fighter in the MMA. Fox, 37, was born male but went to Thailand to have his genitals removed and receive sex reassignment surgery. He, now a she, turned pro a year ago and debuted by knocking out his/her opponent. Since, some potential female antagonists have opted out of fighting a woman who was once a man. Others welcome the chance to fight Fallon who has become a celebrity on the MMA circuit.

Celebrity? Is this what our culture has come to? If you’re not shocked and outraged you should be. As I said, I don’t care for MMA, but how fair is it for women to grapple with someone with the muscle strength and body type of an athletic male? Sex-altering surgery is an affront to God. It’s saying that God created a mistake. I understand there may be many psychological factors affecting one’s perceived sexual identity, and I have sympathy for such gender-identity confusion. I have counseled such people, and I have seen them set free. I offer them God’s grace and deliverance to bring their mental state in line with their physically created reality. I recommend they get serious psychological help. I don’t suggest they get on a plane to Bangkok and then sign a contract to pummel women with the body (minus genitals) of a man.

Paranormal Activity

READ WITH CAUTION/ADULTS ONLY

Catching ghosts on camera has become big business. Examples: the four-film “Paranormal Activity film series (a fifth edition will be released this fall); popular ghost hunting shows that draw huge audiences. The idea is to operate a light sensitive camera, preferably one that films in the dark or near-dark. Set it up and wait for the ghost to mutter or show up with some shadow or strange light exposure. The “Paranormal” film series is based on pseudo-documentary stories of hauntings by a demon out to get a family. Director Oren Peli says of his films, “If something is lurking in your home there’s not much you can do about it.”

When an Australian man living in Tasmania decided to do some ghost busting he got an unusual surprise. His camera caught not a ghost but his 28-year-old, live-in lover, with whom he had a child, having sex with his 16-year-old son! The woman at first denied the relationship, but when confronted with the video footage she relented, saying she was “ashamed and embarrassed at her conduct.” Unfortunately for her, in Tasmania the age of consent is 17, and she was forced to plead guilty to five counts of sex with a minor. She’ll be sentence next week, and I, for one, hope she gets the proverbial book thrown at her.

A couple of thoughts. First, the indiscriminate sexual coupling that is part of our age leads to such moral oddities. As for the man whose son cuckolded him, should he be surprised? If this woman was willing to shack up with him and have an illegitimate child, what morals would seriously hold her to any vows of fidelity? The son was one more conquest, one more erotic pleasure divorced from morality. Second, what if there is a real ghost in the house? The man must have suspected one to have sought to film a poltergeist. That ghost-demon must be laughing now at the misery it has caused. The moral of the story for this Tasmanian man? Avoid fornication, get your son to church, and get an exorcist to cleanse your house. Contrary to what director Peli says, you can do something about getting out the ghosts

Boston Bomber Admirers

Dzhokhar Tasarnaev should be one of the most hated men in America, but instead he’s one of the most admired – by a certain group of people. Dzhokhar is the younger of the two brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bomb. As you may recall, his older brother was killed in a shoot-out with police. Dzhokhar fled and ended up bleeding in a boat, where authorities found him. Since his incarceration a small but vocal group of girls has been filling social-media sites with claims that he has been unjustly accused, and even framed. Some of the young women reason, in the words of one tweeter, “I knew he’s innocent. He’s far too beautiful.”

Good looks trumps guilt? Kill and main dozens of people, murder a policeman, and if you’re cool enough you get off in the minds of the texting generation? What kind of misguided romanticism propels such thinking? Is it the celebrity thing? If your face is in the media you somehow get a pass, like Beyonce illegally in Cuba? Think girl-friend batterer Chris Brown. He’s back on top, his popularity never significantly suffered, and now he’s once again with Rihanna, the woman he beat.

American culture is truly out of control when young females pine after a killer. I know that misguided women sometimes fall in love with psychopaths in prison. But this was a very public crime, a terrorist act. I shudder to think if Bin Laden had been sans the beard and menacing gaze. If he had worn the loose locks, and beguiling gaze of Dzhokhar, would he too have been an icon of passion? I hope not. The love letters on twitter to the Boston bomber are yet one more sign of the fall and decline of Western civilization. How many more alarms do we need before we turn to God in penitence?

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Abortion Agenda

What’s the agenda of those who are pro-abortion? (It isn’t pro-“choice” if the baby doesn’t have a choice.) The passage of a recent Arkansas’ law banning abortion at 12 weeks is telling. The so-called Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act would ban abortions after about 12 weeks when the fetal heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound. By what moral insanity would that not be considered reasonable? If the unborn child has a beating heart, it’s alive and should have the right to live. Right? “NO!” if you are the Center for Reproductive Rights or the American Civil Liberties Union. They want the baby dead, if the mother chooses to kill you, and they have filed suit to stop the Arkansas’ ban. A U. S. District Judge has granted their injunction until a legal challenge can be tried in court.

You may wonder if the Arkansas’ law is unreasonably restrictive, but it’s a lot more liberal than I would countenance.  It allows exceptions in a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest (I wouldn’t) and if the life of the mother is truly in danger (I would). It even allows abortion if fetal problems can be detected. And with those lenient guidelines, the pro-abortion crowd still isn’t happy. They want abortion any time, for any reason. So much for making it, in Bill Clinton-speak, “safe, legal, and rare.”

The Arkansas law makes it clear there is no compromise with the pro-abortion left, including the President and his administration. Now, North Dakota may be banning abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy. Good. We must not let up the pressure until abortion is illegal at all times, everywhere, except when it is a true medical procedure to save the lives of mother and child and only the life of the mother may be saved.

Brother Obama is Watching

Big Brother Obama is watching, and in more ways than we imagined. Every day brings revelations that would make Richard Nixon embarrassed. First it was the Associated Press news organization whose phones have been indiscriminately tapped. Had the same thing happened under Bush it would be the lead story on every news network. In the name of national security the records of AP employee phone calls were monitored at office, at home, and on cell phones. Such blatant disregard for the laws of privacy is without excuse. Remember, this is the same Justice Department that selectively chose to disregard the Defense of Marriage act because it was politically incorrect. Gays, who might have applauded this decision, might wonder about the consequences of a homophobic government employee listening in on private sexual conversations.

The other headline is about the IRS refusing to even consider applications for non-profit status of conservative actions groups, while rubber-stamping any organization that was left-leaning. This abuse was so bad that for more than two years, not a single conservative, Tea-Party-style organization gained IRS approval while any group with “progressive” in its name sailed through. Since this discriminatory action took place as the 2012 Presidential election was in full swing, we can reasonably assume that it severely hindered the fund raising ability of anti-Obama groups and possible swung the election to Big Brother.

This is scary for Christians. Think of what would happen with the same IRS tactics applied to the application of any religious group that sounds remotely evangelical. What buzzwords would be used to persecute the church? Bible, faith, born-again, Calvary, new creation, Baptist, Pentecostal? Perhaps the President didn’t actually know this was going on. Even so, he has stacked every government agency with extreme left-leaning surrogates who hold an aversion toward politically and socially conservative organizations and individuals. This Obama mind-set has unquestionably filtered down from the top and pervades the thought processes of countless government functionaries. That has been somewhat the case with every administration and is part of politics; but this President has taken it to new extremes that are frightening for religious liberties. If Big Brother Obama is watching us that closely we need to pray harder than ever for our leaders, and look over our shoulders more frequently

Brewing Babies

Imagine a baby being born to a man and woman, loving each other in the bonds of Holy, Christian matrimony, and agreeing to bring a life into the world the old-fashioned way, “making love”.  Better imagine it quickly because that concept is fading, going the way of phone land-lines and driving without texting. In our Brave New world you don’t need a mommy with an ovary and a daddy with sperm to create life. Now, anyone who wants a baby can get one, especially in Portland, Oregon.

Portland is now the top market in the world for surrogacy, thanks to the Oregon Reproductive Medicine clinic. They are known for their high success rate of uniting egg and sperm.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender travelers are coming from all over the world to obtain what love and marriage used to provide — a bouncing baby boy or girl.  Apparently there are lots of young healthy women in the area willing to donate their eggs and many more willing be a gestational carrier, a baby-brewer.  The cost? Only $90,000. A bargain, compared to the $170,000 they’d pay in New York or L.A.

Any couple who has ever had a child knows that there is more to becoming a parent than waiting for a baby to cook in a hired oven. The joy of sex in marriage that results in child-bearing. The months of prayerful anticipation, watching mommy’s tummy grow larger. Even those moments of, “I want pickles and ice cream, right now, at 3:00 a.m”.  The labor, cutting the umbilical cord, the first breath and cry of life conceived by two people who are co-creators with God in this endless process of life.  Technology has now depersonalized the conceiving and gestational process, reducing it to an economic transaction, a masturbatory offering, and a petri dish. Is anyone asking what we’ve lost and what the eventual spiritual consequences will be when the child discovers how the Portland stork delivered him?

Swearing

I came across an interesting study (Oxford University Press) on the subject of swearing, the verbal use of some profane oath or word to shock, exclaim, or register disgust. The root of swearing is, of course, in the ancient effort to solemnly declare something of sacred or social significance. It was the affirmation of some important promise, enforced by strong language such as invoking the name of God or some deity. Swearing today is more often just lazy language, a failed effort to express one’s self properly by resorting to verbs and adjectives with almost meaningless repetition. Listen closely to teens in a shopping mall or hear a college conversation and be appalled at how often references to various bodily functions, including sexual activity, are reduced to one-word epithets hurled aimlessly.

I read this study to try to understand why people voice such offensive indelicacies, and I was surprised to learn that most of our modern swear words began in the 18th and 19th century. Literal taboo topics were reduced to words used to shock, offend, or simply swear. The effect of any outrageous act depends somewhat on culture. The news media had to explain to Americans the horror of then-President Bush having a man from Iraq throw a shoe at him. The word “bloody” never quite affected the USA like it did England and Australia. But certain things about swearing are universal. Profanity generally refers to denigrating something sacred whereas an obscenity or swearing involves the use of words that contain oaths or offenses designed to insult.

Sadly, today you don’t have to listen-in-on a barroom conversation to hear swearing. Highly offensive words can be heard by some Christians in casual conversation. “Hell” (Do they really want to send someone there?) and “damn/damned” (Can any believer arrogantly assume a right of perdition reserved for God’s judgment?) as well as a liberal sprinkling of “F” words is not uncommon. I suggest that some Christians have become too much like the world, indolent in their use of descriptive words and insulting to the Holy Spirit. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel (5:34-37): “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

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