A Southern Boy Moves West; Comparing Life in Alabama and Utah

    In April of 2020 my family and I moved from our home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to the town of Logan, Utah in the Northeastern corner of the State. Although I'm sure that I have much more to learn about the culture and customs of in the Inter-Mountain West, I thought that I would mention some of the differences and similarities that I've learned so far between the IMW and the South in general. 

The People

    Like Alabama, the majority of Utahans are conservative, freedom loving Americans, and are big proponents of the 1st and 2nd Amendments. For the most part the people in Utah have been very friendly, much more so than my Southern stereotype had imagined. Many of them seem more than anxious to talk to someone with a Southern accent (although I wonder if they are secretly deducting IQ points as I talk). This conversation starter has allowed me to share the gospel with many people and for that I am thankful. 

    The people in the South, however, still seem to have a greater level of overall empathy towards their fellow man. Southern hospitality is a real thing, and although Alabama has its fair share of jerks and village idiots, people really do look out for one another. Southerners as a whole seem to be much more outgoing and gregarious than any other culture that I have been exposed to, so much so, that other cultures might find it offensive if they haven't been around it. This cultural contrast can also be offensive to Southerners who are exposed to other cultures who are not so outgoing and gregarious as they are

   

    The thing that I love the most is that in spite of all of the cultural differences, the Christians within these cultures are the same with very few exceptions. I feel at home and loved with my Christian brothers and sisters in both Utah and Alabama. As a Baptist pastor, that's a big deal. Unity in Christ transcends all cultural and ethnic barriers. 

Climate

    I don't think that the climate could be more different between the two States. For the most part, Alabama is hot and humid, while Utah is cold and relatively dry. I didn't have to live in Utah to realize that it's hot in Alabama, but now that I have that point of contrast I have been reminded that IT IS HOT. Living in Utah has shown me that we never really had winter in Alabama. We just had some cold snaps between Summer and Spring. This point was driven home when we recently traveled South to visit our friends and family for the Holidays. My son and I went deer hunting and were swatting mosquitos the size of hummingbirds. Needless to say, I don't miss them. 

    In contrast, Northern Utah is COLD. I have lost count of the single digit lows and sub-freezing highs that we have already had thus far. This Winter I have also seen more snow in two days than I've seen in the past two decades in Alabama. People get excited and go crazy if the weatherman so much as mentions the word "snow" in the South. Upon a prediction of snow, Alabamians will also raid the grocery stores and buy up all of the milk and bread (a phenomenon that I still don't fully understand). In Utah, the snow actually reaches the point of becoming a lamentable problem. I never thought in a million years that my to-do list would include shoveling snow out of the driveway or buying snow chains for our van. 

    Overall, my family and I enjoy the weather in Utah much better. We can always put on some more clothes or throw another log on the fire. But those hot and humid days in the South will have a person begging God for mercy. The summers are actually nice here in Utah. Not to mention the fact that all of our sinus and allergy problems went away within a few weeks of moving here, a problem that immediately returned during our holiday visit to the South. Just make sure that if you make a visit, that you remember to pack your Chapstick and lotion. 

My Son Wesley shoveling snow

Geography

        Alabama is a beautiful state. One will find the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to the North and the white sandy beaches of Gulf Shores to the South. However, the thing that I miss the most is all of the forests and trees. There is almost a nostalgia about them for someone who grows up hunting, camping and playing in the woods. I miss seeing all of the Oaks, Pines, Sweet Gums, Cypress, Maples, etc. This may be a strange analogy, but the trees are almost like a blanket. I literally can't sleep without a blanket. It doesn't matter how hot it is, I have to have one in order to cover up. The trees are like that cover because they surround you on all sides, literally everywhere you go. You don't really notice it until you are in the wide open West. I also imagine that it would be easy for someone who moves to Alabama from the West to feel a bit claustrophobic. 

Taken from 30 feet in a tree, hunting near Moundville, AL on the recent holiday visit. 

    Utah is also a beautiful state. To be honest, I think that where we live in the Cache Valley is one of the most beautiful places that I've ever seen. The valley is about 4,500 feet in elevation, with 6,000-10,000 foot peaks on all sides. It's breath taking, like something from a Thomas Kincaid painting. It's really hard to present it in a way that does it justice to those who have never been there. 

Sunrise in Cache Valley (courtesy of Cache Valley is Beautiful FB Group)

Religious Culture 

    We live in the heart of Mormon country. As a Baptist Pastor from the South, I had a stereotype in my mind about the huge Temples and large worship centers. However, in the Cache valley (among other places) the streets are numbered as a grid system. Once there are 400 people living within a certain area they build a Mormon church for those 400 people, and that church is considered their "ward". Our house is technically located in the 12th ward of the Mormon Church. In this way it's very similar to the number of local evangelical churches in the South. There are actually some places that I have been able to stand  and see three Mormon churches from that one spot. The local Mormon churches vastly outnumber the handful of Christian churches in the valley. 

A typical LDS Ward 

    

    For the most part, sharing the Gospel has been a very pleasant experience here in Utah. The Mormons seem to realize that there is a noticeable difference between what they believe and what we believe. Many of them have enough curiosity to listen and have a dialogue. In the South everyone seems to think that they are saved for one reason or another and it's hard to talk them out of it. Please pray for us as we try to reach the Mormons with the Gospel of Christ. 

Pray For Cache Valley 

 

    

 

Which America Do We Want to Live In?

    There are only two types of nations, ones that value righteousness and those that don't, those that collectively fear the Living God and the principles in His Word and those that don't (Proverbs 14:34. Psalm 9:17). Oswald Chambers once said, "The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else." (The Highest Good; Pilgrim's Song Book, 537). This is echoed by Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion." In other words, if the citizens of a nation aren't led by a fear of God, then they can be controlled by the fear of other things, whether real or imagined. If government leaders can cause their citizens to flee in fear, they can also lead them to flee in the direction that they want them to go. The same ones that cause the panic offer the cure. This means that ultimately nations will either value freedoms that are granted to us by the Creator, or they will value "safety" given by their respective governments.  

    2020 has revealed a great transition in American thinking through the reaction to Covid-19. Let me preface by saying that Covid-19 is real and it has killed people. I sympathize with those people who have lost loved ones. There are people that I knew on a first name basis that died with the virus. This is not ignoring their death or mocking the grief of their loved ones. However, there are also 1.35 million annual auto related deaths worldwide every year. That comes to 3,700 deaths per day. While I also sympathize with those deaths, I'm going to continue to drive a car, and I'm not going to feel guilty for doing so. The Flu kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. every year. The CDC estimates that the most recent Flu season killed between 24,000 and 62,000 people. There were no businesses shut down, no mask mandates and no hysteria. Why is that? For one simple reason, we weren't told to do so. 

    For those who have fully bought into the media fear mongering and government mandates, I would simply ask, why? What have any of them ever done to earn our unyielding trust? Who honestly thinks that our health and well being is their number one priority? This is the same CDC that is tainted with a history of scandal and incompetency (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/11/cdc_centers_for_damaged_credibility_142622.html#!). These are the same politicians that just approved a bill that sends millions of U.S. tax payer dollars to Pakistan for gender studies. This is the same media that just praised actress Ellen Page for coming out as a man, when she is obviously still a woman. It's also the same fact checkers that miraculously didn't fact check that particular story.  Again, what have they ever done to earn the level of trust to be able to scrap the Constitution and shut down our businesses and churches, and force us to treat one another like lepers? Who are they to decide who is essential and non-essential? 

    Perhaps the most amazing thing about all of this is how Corona mandates have been turned into a cause. We are being conditioned to believe that our freedoms are selfish. Forget the fact that 130,000 restaurants have permanently closed this year, putting millions out of work (that's just one industry). Ignore the astronomically high rate of suicide, drug overdose, isolation, unemployment, etc., we're not loving our neighbor if we're not wearing a napkin on our face. However, when we read Marxist theology, it all begins to make more sense. Saul Alinsky in his Marxist masterpiece, Rules For Radicals, spoke of what he called the "Tenth rule of Ethics" to which he wrote, "do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments." In order for communism to take over a country, the middle class must be destroyed. But in order to destroy the middle class, the people must be convinced that what they are doing a noble thing. But I digress, that is another blog for another day. 

    Someone will immediately point to the risks associated with Covid, which actually proves my whole point. Freedom has always come with risks. When our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they were signing their own death certificate, as it was an act of treason against Britain. Fighting wars = risks, starting a business comes with risks, so does marriage, children, confiding in a friend, driving down the road, purchasing a house, falling in love, flying in a plane, eating solid foods, etc. Here is the difference between a God fearing people and a wicked nation; God-fearing people leave the risks up to God, the godless trust their government with the risks. And if a government can control the risks, they can also control the rewards. The righteous value individual freedom, the wicked pursue the false idol of "safety". They "flee when no one pursues." It's quite poetic that the nation that murders over 3,000 babies a day is afraid of death. 

    We must individually decide which America that we want to live in. Do we want to enjoy God given freedom, or do we want a false sense of security. Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." This decision can't simply be made at the ballot box. It must be made in the prayer closet, at the church house, in the home, and in our daily lives. It is possible to enjoy freedom and care nothing about personal holiness. Such will not work, for God is not mocked. Which America do you want to live in? I choose freedom. My life, death and everything between and beyond is in God's hands. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" But I would close by asking, if God be against us, who can be for us? We need to repent and seek God's face in prayer. 

    

    

 

Abortion; Empowerment for Women?

 

Introduction

    Without a doubt, abortion is one of the most passionately heated topics of our time. There has been much said about regulations such as term limits and methods of abortion, or whether or not Roe vs Wade should be overturned altogether. And even if abortion were to be outlawed, there is still the debate about whether or not there should be exceptions in the cases of rape or incest, which account for a total of 1.5% of all abortions according to the Guttmacher Institute. While all of those debates have their place, they are outside the scope of this discussion. 

    Abortion itself has become a staple in the feminist movement. Proponents claim that abortion is a means of empowering and liberating women, while any anti-abortion rhetoric or legislation is patriarchal and oppressive. However, the exact opposite is true. Choosing life is actually much more empowering and liberating for women than choosing abortion. Abortion robs women of their power, destroys little women in the womb, cheapens true bodily autonomy, and gives men an avenue by which to oppress women. This paper will focus on the empowerment that comes with choosing life and the bondage that comes with choosing abortion. 

Real Empowerment, Real Heroes

    It was the Spring of 1984 when Cheryl Heath secretly walked into a Florida medical clinic in order to get a pregnancy test. This teenaged girl was terrified because she was weeks late on her period, and being pregnant would be a fate worse than death at this point in her life. She had no real family support, no direction, and the potential father was no longer in her life. Unfortunately, her fears were confirmed. She was pregnant. 

    Cheryl could’ve had an abortion and avoided nine months of carrying a child, labor and delivery, and not least of all, telling her mother. However, she didn’t do that. She made the hard decision and chose life. Cheryl gave birth to a son in November of that same year. Her son was immediately taken out of the room at birth because Cheryl had given him up for a closed adoption. He had been adopted by a couple from Mississippi who could not conceive children on their own. The reason that I know this story is because I am the son and Cheryl is my mother. We were miraculously reunited in 2012, and despite the long distance we have a wonderful relationship. 

    Many abortion proponents would yawn at such a story because it doesn’t fit their narrative. According to them, the freedom to abort babies is “central to women’s empowerment” and one of the few “strategic life choices which are critical for people to live the lives they want” However, this mentality is the exact opposite of powerful and heroic. The headlines will praise the firefighter who risks his life by rushing into a burning building to save a helpless child, not the one who sits in the safety of the fire truck and lets them burn to death. The former shows real empowerment. Even the fear of sacrifice and death can’t deter the heroic firefighter. 

    On the other hand, wouldn’t it be asinine to praise the firefighter who fearfully sits in the truck, and then talk about his freedom of choice as empowerment? Truly empowered people don’t feel as if they have to take the easy way out. My mom is a real hero. She did the hard thing and gave me the gift of life. Not only that, through her sacrifice she was able to give a child to total strangers who at the time couldn't have children of their own. She also gave a husband to my wife and a father to our three children, not to mention the gift of their very existence. That’s real female empowerment.  

Reunion with Cheryl, March of 2012

Real Bondage, Real Slavery

     In a recent interview with The Guardian, famous Fleetwood Mac singer and abortion rights advocate, Stevie Nicks, talked about the early days of her career when she was dating Eagles singer, Don Henley. She became pregnant in 1979 and chose to have an abortion. This is what she had to say about that event, “If I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac. There’s just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. And there were a lot of drugs, I was doing a lot of drugs … I would have had to walk away.” Earlier in this same interview she stated that “Abortion rights were my generation’s fight” The incredible irony in these statements is that Nicks is bragging about her empowerment, based on something that she couldn’t do. She openly admits that she could not raise a child because she was a slave to drugs, and to her career. This isn’t a story of empowerment, it’s an admission of weakness. The story would have been much more powerful and praise worthy if Nicks had gotten clean and been a mother to her child. What a story of empowerment that would have been. However, instead of taking a chance of sacrificing her career, she chose to sacrifice her child on the altar of her career. 

    Forty one years later, the glory days of Fleetwood Mac are long gone. In fact, it’s been almost two decades since they released a studio album. Now at age 72, Nicks lives alone and childless in her Santa Monica mansion, when she could be enjoying a house full of grandchildren. 

     The mistake that Nicks and the feminist movement make is that they equate empowerment with the ability to make a choice, instead of the moral fortitude to make the right choice. The renowned German philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel wrote extensively about this form of “empowerment”. He said, “The common man thinks that he is free when he is allowed to act arbitrarily, but this very arbitrariness implies that he is not free.” In other words, the truly empowered person doesn’t need permission or popular support in order to make their decisions. Their choices are based on internal convictions, rather than external circumstances. This is very telling, considering that the very essence of bondage is to be controlled by external circumstances. Yet, feminists have found a way to champion this bondage as a form of empowerment. Hegel went on to say, “A person who does something perverse gives the greatest prominence to his particularity. The rationale is the high road which everyone follows and no one stands out from the rest.” Put into modern terms, if the decisions that we make are dictated by immediate gratification and the easy way out, or if our movement is backed by the media, the vast majority of academia, and society as a whole, then we’re not the resistance. To walk down the smooth path in lockstep with popular opinion regardless of its morality, and then claim the empowerment status of a martyred rebel is the epitome of arrogance and hypocrisy. This is real bondage.

Real Oppression, Real Victims

    In 1939, Adolf Hitler authorized the T4 project, which allowed German physicians to legally exterminate Jews, mallatos, those with mental handicaps and anyone else that they deemed as  “life unworthy of living”  In similar fashion, blacks in the United States were once viewed as sub-human. Sadly, at one time it was official U.S. policy that blacks were only ⅗ human and were treated as such. In order to give slave owners a tax break, “Congress settled upon a formula that prefigured the Three-Fifths Compromise both in the ratio of 5 to 3 and by substituting the anodyne “other persons” for “slaves.” All of these atrocities were committed legally and with the blessing of the majority of society because the targeted groups were viewed as less than human. Fortunately, there were people in both instances that rose up against the law of the land and the status quo in order to challenge these inhumane policies. They are heros. 

    We currently find ourselves in a similar situation, both in the U.S. and abroad. There is an enormous percentage of the population who are being murdered in the womb, both legally and with the blessing of much of society because they are viewed as less than human. That this is a reality is even admitted by feminists like Dr. Sally Markowitz, “I am proposing that feminists override the fetus's right by the right of women to live in a sexually egalitarian society? This is a difficult position for feminists but not an impossible one, especially for feminists with utilitarian leanings” With this statement, Markowitz warns pro-abortion advocates that use oppression by men as a reason for supporting abortion, to be ready for pro-life advocates to use the same argument about babies being oppressed in the womb. Her only solution to the problem, to state that women’s rights are more important than baby’s rights. She goes on to say,  “it may not make sense to count fetuses as an oppressed group. A disadvantaged one, perhaps.” I would say that being dismembered and sucked out of your mother’s womb and thrown into a dumpster is pretty oppressive. 

    The point here absolutely cannot be missed. Just like Hitler authorizing the killing of those that fell short of his master race, and just like slave owners in America mistreating and murdering their ⅗ human slaves, the pro-abortion crowd kills babies in the womb because they are treated as sub-human. The Nazi’s were viewed as more important than the Jews, the slave owners more important than their slaves, and now adult women are deemed more important than their babies. History is repeating itself and according to the Guttmacher institute, over sixty million babies have been aborted in the U.S. alone since 1973. The cry for women’s rights completely ignores the rights of the little women in the womb who have their own distinct DNA, as well as their own heartbeat. This is real oppression.

Real Power, Real Influence

    The feminist movement has become so radical about women’s liberation and abortion rights that it has decreed that mothers are slaves and need to be “freed from the servitude of motherhood” This line of thinking is a relatively new phenomenon, less than two centuries old. According to the Encyclopedia of Motherhood, “during the 19th and 20th centuries, feminist movements have strongly reclaimed the right to freely decide about one’s body, especially concerning access to abortion.” This is in direct contrast with all of prior history. According to Dr. John Byron, it was a travesty to be a barren woman in the ancient world. He writes, “So often the situation is not appreciated for the potential disaster that hung over a childless woman. Without a child of her own, the status of a wife in antiquity was ambiguous.” This is because children were celebrated in the ancient world, and throughout history. It’s also the result of women realizing where their power comes from. 

    It’s unthinkable that the feminist movement has become so radical that in trying to keep up with men, that they have forsaken and demonized literally the only thing that women can do, that men can’t, bringing life into the world. In all of human history, there has never been a single man that has given birth to a child. What greater place of power and influence could there be? There has never been a king, president, doctor or anyone else that didn’t have a mother who brought them into this world. 

    It would have been unthinkable even two hundred years ago for a woman to hire someone to murder their children in the womb for the purposes of independence, career or anything else. So either today's feminists have it completely wrong, or they are literally the only ones in history to get it right. I’m going with the former. Only the modern feminists would celebrate a woman for working forty plus hours a week for an employer, and yet criticize that same woman for choosing to have children, and opting to raise them and serve her husband instead. 

    Another reason that motherhood has been overwhelmingly celebrated down through the centuries is that throughout history it was just expected and assumed that the children would grow up and take care of their elderly parents. This was especially true in the case of a widowed mother.  Here in America, we have been somewhat shielded from this way of thinking over the past seventy five years or so. Many have bought into the nursing home mentality. However, one thing is for sure, elderly women don’t sit around the bridge table at the nursing home and brag about all of their aborted children that won’t be coming to visit them. That’s because motherhood is real power and influence. 

Real Independence, Real Autonomy

    In 2016, my wife and I lost our baby at twenty five weeks. She had to sign papers that would give the doctors permission to induce labor and “terminate the pregnancy”. It was so difficult for my wife to sign the papers after reading those words. Even though the baby was deceased, it went against every God-given maternal instinct that she had. In the end she tearfully signed, and after eighteen hours of labor she gave birth to a stillborn girl. The nurses took the baby out of the room in order to clean her up, and later rolled her back in on a bassinet just like they would do for a healthy baby. They had also put a little pink dress on her. My wife held our lifeless child and loved her no less than if she had been born alive. It’s one of the hardest things that we have ever had to go through. Needless to say, that abortion is a crime against nature. If it hurts that badly to lose a child, I can’t imagine how overwhelming it would be to know that I was the one responsible. 

    So what would put a woman in a position to even have to make such a decision as aborting her own offspring? Although many reasons could be listed, one of the main ones is men. Many times men have a huge impact on whether or not a woman aborts her baby. “They exert their influence by withholding support, denying paternity, threatening or committing violence, or abandoning the woman.” And, according to Emily Freeman, “men’s denial of paternity or discontinuation of the relationship becomes a catalyst for what was to follow [in reference to abortion].” 

    I have experienced this very thing first hand during my time as a sidewalk counselor at two different abortion clinics. I have personally seen young men grab their tearful girlfriends by the arm and all but drag them into the abortion clinic. I’ve also seen fathers and grandfathers doing the same thing with their young daughters and granddaughters. There have also been many women tell me that they would keep their baby but their partner would not support it, and would leave them if they didn’t have an abortion. 

    This brings up a major point in the abortion debate that the feminist crowd has absolutely hijacked, a woman’s bodily autonomy. This is really the battle cry of abortion rights today. However, the ironic thing that has to be pointed out is that if a woman really had power over her body, she would never be in such a position in the first place. In many cases, women are treated as sex objects and exploited by men, who do not even care enough about them to support them and help raise their child. Instead of being able to say “no” to the man, she says “no” to the voiceless child, which in many cases is just saying “yes” to the man twice whether she wants to or not. This isn’t empowerment, and it isn’t bodily autonomy. The only bodily autonomy that is violated in abortion is the preborn child’s. This is why it’s so outlandish that feminists like Markowitz claim that “Anti-abortion policies promote oppression by men”, when the exact opposite is true. Abortion actually gives men another avenue by which to legally oppress women.

Conclusion

    Contrary to the feminist narrative, abortion rights in no way empower or liberate women. In fact, abortion harms women, destroys little women in the womb, cheapens bodily autonomy and gives men another avenue by which to oppress women. Make no mistake, abortion isn’t about a choice, it’s about avoiding the consequences of a choice at the expense of the innocent. I can’t think of anything that’s less empowering than that. 

Bibliography

 Berenbaum, Michael. “T4 Program”, The Encyclopedia Britannica, September 10, 2018

  https://www.britannica.com/event/T4-Program

Byron, John. 2010. “Childlessness and Ambiguity in the Ancient World.” Proceedings 30: 5.

De Beauvoir, Simone., The Second Sex (New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House Inc. 1949)

Freeman, Emily, Ernestina Coast, and Susan F. Murray. 2017. “Men’s Roles in Women’s Abortion Trajectories in Urban Zambia.” International Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health 43 (2)

 

Hegel, G.W.F. Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Kabeer, Naila. “Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment.” Development and Change 30, no. 2 (Winter 1999)

Kaye, DK. “Community perceptions and experiences of domestic violence and induced abortion in Wakiso district, Uganda”, Qualitative Health Research, 2006, 16 (8)

Lewis, Jan Ellen.. 2017. “What Happened to the Three-Fifths Clause.” Journal of the Early Republic 37 (1)

Markowitz, Sally. “Abortion and Feminism.” Social Theory and Practice, (Spring of 1990) vol. 1, no. 16

McReynolds-Perez, Julia. “Abortion as Empowerment: Reproductive Rights Activism in a Legally Restricted Context.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 17, no. 2 (Spring 2017)

O'Reilly, Andrea.. Encyclopedia of Motherhood Volume 1 (Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2010)

Stevens, Jenny. “Stevie Nicks On Art, Ageing and Attraction”, The Guardian, October 14, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/14/stevie-nicks-on-art-ageing-and-attraction-botox-makes-it-look-like-youre-in-a-satanic-cult

Why Isaiah's Prophecy is Relevant To Us Today

    It was the year 742 B.C. The Northern Kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) has formed an alliance with their enemies, the Syrians, in hopes of conquering the Southern Kingdom of Judah and taking control of Jerusalem. Although their initial attacks fail, they know that victory is just around the corner. 

   Gone are the days when King Uzziah ruled Judah with strength and integrity. His grandson, Ahaz, now sits upon the throne. Unlike Uzziah, Ahaz is a weak, sinful king who has no desire for the things of God. Ahaz is so terrified of Ephraim and Syria that he forms an alliance with the wicked Assyrians in an attempt to secure protection. 

   It was during this attempted siege that God sent Isaiah and his son Shearjashub ("a remnant shall return") to prophecy unto Ahaz. Earthly speaking, Isaiah had very little good to say to the king. The Word from the Lord was that although Judah would survive this onslaught from Ephraim and Syria, that they would eventually be destroyed by their current allies, the Assyrians. In fact, all of these Kingdoms would be destroyed within 65 years. 

    This scene gives us the backdrop for Isaiah's famous prophecy of the birth of Christ in 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The name Immanuel means "God with us." That this verse is referring to the birth of Christ is without dispute. Matthew gives his own commentary on the matter in 1:22-23, as the angel is speaking to Joseph in a dream concerning Mary, "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring for a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

    So how could this possibly be good news to Ahaz, knowing that the kingdom of Judah would eventually fall to the Assyrians? The message from Isaiah was simple, Judgment is coming, but so is the King and the Kingdom. This is why Isaiah 7:14 is still so relevant to us today. We know that judgment is coming. We see this in our own country, America. This is why we can never look to the kingdoms of this world for satisfaction. Judgment is coming, but so is Christ. Ahaz would have recognized this as good news if he wasn't so concerned about his earthly throne. 

    Isaiah's language gets even stronger in 9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice henceforth even for ever." This is a clear reference to Christ's Kingdom upon the earth, where He will rule and reign in perfect peace. No one will vote Him out, defeat Him, or scare Him into resigning. There will be no media propaganda to slander Him, nor any other branches of government that He will have to answer to. He will reign in supreme righteousness and justice. 

    We can be sure that if Christ came the first time of a virgin like like Isaiah prophesied, then He will come back a second time just like He promised. This world will never be our home. This is why we must put our hope in the coming King, and coming Kingdom. Judgment is coming, but so is the King. Are you ready? 

    

        

What I've Learned Through My Wife's Chronic Pain

Cedar-Sinai, Los Angeles

        On March 19th, 2007, my wife and I found ourselves face to face, reciting our wedding vows to one another. The vows were typical of what one might expect to hear at a wedding. However, there is one line that has now become an everyday mantra for me, the part where I said "in sickness and in health." It really didn't seem like that big of a commitment at the age of 22 when I uttered those words to my 19 year old bride. But that would all change. 

    April the 14th, 2019 was homecoming at the church that I had Pastored for close to seven years at the time. It was a great day. The church service was wonderful. We had a fantastic gospel trio singing for us, and not to mention the fact that the food and fellowship was out of this world. However, during the day my wife Leah developed a headache. So that night she took some Advil and went bed early. We didn't think a whole lot about it. When someone gets a headache, they take some medicine and sleep it off. Who hasn't had to do that at some point in time? Little did we know how this headache would change our lives forever. 

    Over the next few days her headache only intensified. On Friday of that week I took her to the local hospital in our hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They admitted her and over the next few days treated her for migraines, but to no avail. She was then transferred to UAB in Birmingham. After several days of testing they confirmed that she had a CSF spinal fluid leak, which was causing brain sag. This diagnosis was the beginning of a nine month journey that took us all over the country seeking help.

    Our first stop was Los Angeles, where after several weeks of testing and procedures they were able to seal the CSF leak. However, her pain was the same. The doctor concluded that when her brain was in that sagging position, it had caused a storm in her brain, "migraine brain" he called it. This took us to the Mayo clinic in Florida, where the doctor was unable to help. In January of 2020 he had her transferred to an inpatient head pain clinic in Ann Arbor Michigan. For the next two weeks they threw everything at her headache, but nothing touched it. Four days before we were scheduled to be released, the doctor called us into his office and I'll never forget what he said. He apologetically told us that the CSF leak had caused a secondary condition known as NDPH (New Daily Persistent Headache). He told us that it's incurable and may or may not go away on it's own. He instructed my wife to "think happy thoughts, surround herself with positive people", then he looked at me and said, "and don't ever let her be alone." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he meant. We reluctantly packed up our things and left. All of the flights were booked up so we rented a car and began the 900 mile drive to Alabama. That was the longest ride ever.  

    For those who have never experienced chronic pain in a loved one, I'm not sure that I can accurately explain how drastically it affected our lives. My wife went from being super active, to almost completely bed ridden. She went from being with me in church all of the time, to hardly ever being able to get out of the house. She was an involved homeschooling mother to our three children, until it just became too much. I lost count of the times that I was awakened in the middle of the night from her shaking the bed while weeping and writhing in pain. There were many nights that I would get up and rub icy hot on her neck and back, or walk to the deep freezer to get another ice pack for her head. My efforts seemed so petty and powerless to give her the relief that she needed. 

    However, the silver lining that came a few months after the Michigan diagnosis, is that through divine providence we learned that one of her main migraine triggers is the high humidity in the South. The Lord also opened a door for me to Pastor a wonderful church in the mountain desert of Northern Utah where it's much drier. To be clear, even after the move she has never been pain free. But most of the time she stays under the migraine pain level and has been able to be more active than she was in Alabama. Everyday is still a battle, how big the battle is depends on how she is feeling that day. While we know some of her triggers, some days are still a mystery as to why she feels so bad. 

Enjoying the Snow in Salt Lake City 

    My wife has now had a chronic headache (singular) for a year and eight months. I think that this whole situation has changed us more than we even know, and I wanted to briefly share some things that we have learned.  

    God's Grace is Sufficient- It's so much more than a cliché. When you go to bed at night completely maxed out (her from the pain, and me from the added responsibilities), feeling like you literally can't do this another day, and yet the next day you wake up refreshed and ready to face the day, then and only then will you know what sufficient grace means. God's sufficient grace is like the widow's cruise of oil. It never ran out, and it gave them their daily supply without excess. 

    God's People Are The Best- The expenses that we acquired during the nine months of Leah's medical trips were astronomical, more than I make in a year's time as a Pastor. However, God's people gave and gave and gave, when I never asked for a dime. There were total strangers and churches that I have never heard of that sent us money. At one time I know that I had mailed out over a hundred thank you cards and I'm sure that I missed some. Not to mention those that let us stay in their house, or gave us a ride to the airport, or ran errands for us, etc. It's one of the most humbling things that I have experienced and I'll go to my grave being grateful for what those people did for us (I'm literally weeping as I type). We didn't owe anything after it was all said and done. 

    Even Well Meaning People May Not Understand- I used to be harsh in my judgment of certain people and their health conditions. I kind of had the mentality that most people don't get better because they don't want to, or maybe they are a hypochondriac. I sort of felt that same judgment from people whenever they would see Leah on one of her rare outings, or if she took a minute to smile for a picture that went on Facebook. The truth is that when a person has chronic pain that never gets better with rest or medicine, your life begins to take on new meaning and goals. If you are going to hurt all of time anyway, the question then becomes, how can I live my life as normally as possible and not end up dead or in the hospital. I definitely have more compassion for others than I did before this happened. 

    God is Sovereign- Someone once said that we make plans and God laughs, or as Proverbs 16:9 puts it, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." We were content in the place where we had grown up and had built a network of family, friends and business relationships. I was also happy at the church that I was pastoring, less than two miles from the house where I grew up. We had been through a lot together as pastor and church and had built a great relationship. I had even made the statement from the pulpit that if God wanted me to leave, he would have to drag me out kicking and screaming. He evidently took me up on the challenge. In all honesty though, I have learned that God is in control, Romans 8:28 is still true, and I don't want God to change His Holy mind. There is no more comforting truth in the universe than knowing that He is in control of all things.

     My Wife and I Are Both Idolaters- It's not a typo, you read that right. There is a reason that John closed out his first letter with "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." This has been the biggest struggle that my wife and I have had to come to grips with. I don't think that I could've even typed these words a month ago, but the Lord is setting us free of some things. On Leah's end, she has had to lay down the idol of her health. There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel good and live a "normal" life, but with it being out of reach it can become all consuming, especially at the age of 33.  She has had to come to the place where everyday she worships God in spite of the pain, instead of the result of miraculous healing. 

    On my end, I've had to lay down the idol of the "perfect marriage" and an ideal life. When I promised both Leah and God that I would love her in sickness and in health, I meant it with all of my heart but I didn't really believe that I would be called to active duty in my 30's. Her head issues have caused me to move my family almost 2,000 miles away from family and friends that I know and love, take up the slack with house work, errands, chores, homeschooling three kids, etc. The truth is that by God's grace I've been able to handle most of it. However, the dark and honest part of that is I haven't always done it with a good attitude. In fact, my attitude has been down right sorry more than I care to admit. It's been more of a duty to God and wife than a joy at times. But the Lord set me free from that and I'm writing now with full joy in knowing that by serving my wife and family, that I am serving Christ. I'm also thankful and blessed to have a wife that is willing to serve God through the pain, and by God's grace I plan to serve Him through the pressure. 

    

    

    
    

    

 

When God Doesn't Make Sense

    There will never be another John the Baptist. He was a one of a kind. To put into perspective just how special he was, consider this; he is the only person in Scripture to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, the one who was chosen to baptize God incarnate, the only OT prophet who was also a NT preacher, he was also the only person in the NT other than Christ who could read OT prophecies like Isaiah 40:3 and know for certain that it was talking about him. Even in the words of Christ, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." (Matthew 11:11). Needless to say, that John the Baptist was breathing rarified air when he walked this earth.

    Surely someone of John's caliber would merit special treatment from both God and man. However, nothing could be further from the truth. John was trained in the wilderness, and lived a lifestyle that most would consider impoverished. He also landed in prison when he called out Herod for his adultery in marrying his brother's wife. At one point John was so discouraged that he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the Messiah or should they look for another? (Matthew 11:13) This was an amazing statement coming from the same man who declared, "Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). 

    Unfortunately, things only got worse for John. One day as he sat in prison, Herod was throwing himself a birthday party across town. He had invited all of the local politicians and lords, and had undoubtedly pulled out all of the stops. For their entertainment, Herod's stepdaughter Salome (who was also his niece), put on a provocative dance that left them lusting and in in awe. She pleased Herod so much that he offered to give her anything that she desired, up to half of his kingdom. Of all of the things that she could have asked for, Salome and her mother Herodias demanded that the head of John the Baptist be brought to them on a platter. For Herodias was still angry about John calling out her adultery. 

    Herod reluctantly gave in and immediately sent an executioner to the prison. Putting myself in John's shoes, I wonder what he thought when he heard the commotion as the guards walked to his cell. Perhaps he thought that Christ and the disciples had come to rescue him. But it was not so. This was not an escape but an execution. After John was beheaded, Salome paraded around the party with his head on a platter. 

    What a spectacle, this prophet of God being violated and humiliated like this. Where was God? Why didn't Christ come to save him if he really loved him and had the power to do so?  What sense did this make? Put simply, to the human mind it makes no sense. There are three things that are indisputable about this situation. First, Christ had the power to make John rich, keep him out of prison, spare His life, or literally anything else that He wanted to do. Second, Christ loved John dearly. Third, He purposely chose to allow both his arrest and his execution without so much as an explanation or a prison visit. Makes perfect sense right?

    If someone were to stop reading the story here, they might get the idea that evil triumphed and the good guys lost. However, if we keep reading we find that Herod was terrified when he heard about Jesus, along with His preaching and miracles. Herod was afraid because he thought that Jesus was actually John the Baptist resurrected. This wasn't true, but it became true later. The important that needs to be understood here is that in the end, both Herod's worst nightmare and John's greatest hope both came to pass. 

    Allow me to explain. Ever since the fall of Adam, man has always been saved by grace through faith. Even with Abraham we find that the Gospel was preached unto him (Galatians 3:8). The OT saints were saved by faith in the coming Messiah, and we are saved by faith in the Messiah that has come. However, God is so Holy that He must judge sin and cannot allow unjustified sinners into His presence. And even though the OT saints had been forgiven, their sins still had not been paid for by Christ. So when OT saints died they couldn't go directly into the presence of God in Heaven. Instead, their souls went to paradise in the center of the earth. This is clearly seen by the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. When Christ died on the cross for sin, He descended into paradise, and when He arose from the dead, they arose with Him! Matthew 27:53 says that they "came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Forty days later they ascended to Heaven with Christ. 

    Some of the readers may already know where I'm headed. These saints that died before Christ, arose with Christ and went into Jerusalem and were seen by many. Although it doesn't say, we can be confident that John the Baptist was among this group. It also doesn't take too much of an artistic license to assume that Herod saw him walking about among the living. I imagine that Herod was shaking in terror as his worst fear had come true. In my "sanctified" imagination I can see John winking at him. 

  In the end, Herod's greatest fear and John's greatest hope can be summed up in one word, Resurrection. This is where the Christian's hope lies. Although it might seem cruel to us that Christ allowed those horrible things to happen to  John, the x factor is that Christ has an eternal perspective. Everything that happens to us is for our good and God's glory (Romans 8:28), but most of that will only be revealed in eternity. Paul said, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (II Corinthians 4:17). Put simply, temporary suffering here equals eternal glory on the other side. It may be that when we stand before Christ as He issues out crowns and rewards, that we actually wish that we had suffered more. 

    When God doesn't make sense, we must humble ourselves enough to accept that the eternal God of the universe has far more wisdom than our four pound brains can comprehend. We must also trust that God loves us and in His sovereignty, He is working on our behalf. Admittedly, this is easier said then done. Even the great theologian, Jonathan Edwards struggled with this very issue. John Piper made reference to him while trying to bring clarity to God’s sovereignty in our suffering. He said;

 “It is not surprising, then, that Jonathan Edwards struggled earnestly and deeply with the problem that stands before us now. How can we affirm the happiness of God on the basis of His sovereignty when much of what God permits in the world is contrary to His own commands in Scripture? How can we say God is happy when there is so much sin and misery in the world? Edwards did not claim to exhaust the mystery here. But he does help us find a possible way of avoiding outright contradiction while being faithful to the Scriptures. To put it in my own words, he said that the infinite complexity of the divine mind is such that God has the capacity to look at the world through two lenses. He can look through a narrow lens or through a wide-angle lens. When God looks at a painful or wicked event through His narrow lens, He sees the tragedy of the sin for what it is in itself, and He is angered and grieved: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 18:32). But when God looks at a painful or wicked event through His wide-angle lens, He sees the tragedy of the sin in relation to everything leading up to it and everything flowing out from it. He sees it in relation to all the connections and effects that form a pattern, or mosaic, stretching into eternity. This mosaic in all its parts—good and evil—brings Him delight." (John Piper. Desiring God, Revised Edition (pp. 45-46). The Crown Publishing Group.)

    When God doesn't make sense, just remember that He doesn't have to. When I drive my young children on a trip, I don't always honor their pleas of "are we there yet." I know where we are going and how to get there. God is in control and we would sleep a lot better if we would just trust Him. We see how John was completely vindicated, and one day we shall be as well. On the other side it won't make any sense that God would be so gracious to sinners like us. Then we will be glad that God doesn't make sense.

     

 

Modern Day Satanism

    Would you be able to recognize a Satanist in 2020? What would that even look like? Honestly, I've never seen anyone dancing around a fire in black robes chanting "hail Satan". However, I'm fairly sure that stuff happens in the backwoods of nowhere from time to time. Seriously though, how could we even begin to identify a modern day Satanist? The answers may surprise you. 

    Keep in mind that Satan is the master of deception. He's not walking around looking like the famous cartoon image with horns, a pointed tail and carrying a pitch fork. In Heaven, Lucifer (Satan) was God's most powerful creation. Lucifer is often called a fallen angel, but he was much higher in rank than that. He was the "anointed cherub" (Ezekiel 28:14). There are millions of angels, but there are only five cherubim mentioned in Scripture. Lucifer was the highest ranking Cherub, literally God's choice servant. 

    The name Lucifer means "Light bearer", which speaks of his natural attractiveness. Scripture also tells us that he was "full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty" (Ezekiel 28:12). Needless to say that Satan and his followers aren't going to come across as hideous creatures that are easily recognizable. Satanists and their movement are going to be popular and attractive in most cases. So, the question remains, how can we tell? What tools can we use in order to identify modern day Satanists? 

    First, It's important to remember that everything that Satan does is an attempt to overthrow God. He was thrown out of Heaven for his rebellion. In Isaiah 14:14, Lucifer is quoted as saying, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." So ultimately, Satan wants to be God. This brings up our first point, the most obvious characteristic of a Satanist is a worldview in which they believe that they can live as their own God. In other words, they are their own authority.

    

    Yesterday it was announced that actress, Ellen Page (now Elliot), has come out as transgender. She came out as being a gay woman in 2014, "married" a woman in 2018, and has now claimed that she is in fact a man. Well, actually it's even more complicated than that. Page claims to be a he/him they/them non-binary. Which actually means that she isn't a man or a woman. Confused yet? In order to actually make these things true, however, Ellen would have to possess creative power, which is an attribute that only belongs to God. He very clearly made them "male and female." He also plainly stated that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman. It was the first human institution enacted by God, with it's purpose being to honor God by procreation and the raising of children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The nuclear family has been the bedrock of civilization since the dawn of time. If the Biblical family goes, society goes with it. Yet, Ellen Page has decreed that it's ok for her to redefine marriage. And now she claims that she is now a he/him. Forget the fact that she has no power to change the XX chromosome in her DNA, or that she doesn't have male genitalia, she hath declared it, therefore it must be true. This is Satanism 101, and can easily be recognized even if you didn't know that she is also a professed atheist and pro-abortion feminist (which are other forms of Satanism). 

    At this point I can hear some of the readers screaming that Ellen isn't a professed Satanist, or that she is a nice person and gives money to charity, or whatever. Here is the second thing that needs to be understood about Satanism, many Satanists may not even realize what they are doing, therefore it's not necessary to profess to be a Satanist in order to actually be one. This truth is almost as old as time itself. When Satan appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden He lied to her and told her that if she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that she would not die as God had said. He also explained that God knew that if she did eat that she would become a God just like Him, and He wanted to keep her in her place. This was enough to convince her to eat. It wasn't that she was intentionally bowing down to Satan, but she took Satan's word above God's Word, which is a form of worship. Her motive however, was to become her own God. She was not satisfied with the God who had given her everything, she wanted more. This brings us to the third point, self-worship is a form of Satan worship, because it attempts to steal worship that only belongs to the Lord.

    When it comes to Satanism, it's also important to remember that there is nothing new under the Sun. Satan has no new lies, just new people to fool with the old ones. In this story of Eve and Satan, we see the beginning of just about every form of Satanism that we see today. Placing Doubt in God's Word (Yea hath God said?), rebellion (which is a form of witchcraft, I Samuel 15:23), ungratefulness (which is the seed of all rebellion, Romans 1:21), lies (you shall not die), Feminism (God want's to keep you in your place), self-worship (I want to be my own God), Sin (Eve chose death, rather than life), lustful deception (it was pleasant to the eyes), and a sensual wisdom (a tree desired to make one wise).

    Finally, it needs to be understood that, man was created to worship, therefore if he isn't worshipping God then there is only one alternative (you guessed it). This is why people in a third world country who have never seen a church, missionary, or any holy book can carve out their own gods and worship. It's ingrained within us. If someone suppresses the truth of the living God, if they ignore His creation, His Word, and His rules for human sexuality, then they will be given over to a reprobate mind and the darkness of their own heart according to Romans chapter one. We are seeing Romans one on parade in America today, where sin and Satanism are celebrated. Within an hour of Ellen Page claiming her transgender status, every news source and info sight on the internet had changed "her" to "he" in reference to Ellen. It reminds me of Orwell's novel, 1984, where the ministry of truth would change news and history in order to reflect their current "reality". We need to pray for our country. 

    The most liberating truth in all of the universe is to come to the realization that we are all sinners who deserve the wrath of a holy God, a God who must punish sin. But that this Holy God is also so loving that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth through the womb of a virgin. He was truly God and truly man. He lived the sinless life that we could never live, fulfilling the righteous demands of God's holy law. He then died on the cross for our sin, shouldering the wrath of God that we deserve. He then rose from the dead three days later, and He offers complete forgiveness and cleansing to all who will repent and believe in that finished work. Everyone needs to be saved from the bondage and penalty of their sin. For our hearts are "desperately wicked and deceitful." (Jeremiah 17:9)