Bragging of sexual conquests, suggestive jokes and innuendo, and sexual one-upmanship can all be a part of demonstrating one’s manhood–especially for young men eager to exert their masculinity.

But how does masculinity manifest itself among young men who have pledged sexual abstinence before marriage? How do they handle sexual temptation, and what sorts of challenges crop up once they’re married?

“Sexual purity and pledging abstinence are most commonly thought of as feminine, something girls and young women promise before marriage,” said Sarah Diefendorf, a sociology graduate student at the University of Washington. “But I wanted to look at this from the men’s point of view.”

Studying a group of 15 young evangelical Christian men, Diefendorf learned that support groups and open discussions about sex with trusted companions were key in helping the men during their pre-marital years. But once married, they faced trouble.

Instructed by the church to keep problems “in the dark” after marriage, the men reported feeling like they couldn’t discuss sex with their friends and didn’t know how to comfortably broach the subject with their wives. The newly wedded men also expressed surprise that sexual temptations continued to taunt them.

Diefendorf presented her findings Aug. 17 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco.

At the start of her study, in 2008, the men were in their late teens and early 20s and part of a support group for young men who had pledged to remain virgins until marriage. The group was affiliated with a nondenominational evangelical megachurch in the southwestern United States that had about 14,000 attendees at Sunday services.

Over the course of a year, Diefendorf attended their meetings and conducted one-on-one interviews and focus-group meetings with the men.

The men talked about sex as both “sacred”–a gift from God meant for the marriage bed–and “beastly” if it occurs outside of marriage.

“To maintain this gift from God, they believe that they must control sex before marriage,” Diefendorf said. The support group is one way for the young men to explore their sexual urges, she said. Many of them opened up to struggles with pornography and masturbation, which some considered as “destructive” and a threat to their commitment to abstinence.

“People think that evangelical support groups are just about suppressing men’s natural urges, but really they are caring, supportive and safe space that allow men to have a remarkably open and frank discussion about sexual desire,” Diefendorf said.

Besides the support group, the men sought out accountability partners to help control their behavior. One of them, for instance, had an accountability partner who would text-message him each night, “Are you behaving?” Some of them used software to track which websites they visited and shared the results with the partner.

A few years later, in 2011 and 2012, Diefendorf followed up with the men. Fourteen of them were married, and she wanted to find out how the men’s views of sex and masculinity had changed since marriage.

During a focus-group meeting in one of their homes, it soon became clear that as taboo as sexual activity had been before marriage, it was now taboo to talk about sex, because it was seen as disrespecting their wives.

“After marriage, the church culture assumes that couples become each other’s support, regardless of the issue at hand,” Diefendorf said. “There’s little support in figuring out sexuality in married life, and these men don’t know how to talk to their wives about it.”

As one of the men put it: “For me to come home from work and say, ‘hey, did you like it last time?’ I mean that would be–that would be such a weird question for me to ask.”

The newlyweds also revealed they continue to think of sex in terms of control, and how the so-called beastly elements of sex–temptations by pornography and of extramarital affairs–do not disappear with the transition to married life.

“Before you get married, the biggest thing you struggle with, usually, is premarital sex,” one of the men told Diefendorf. “But once you are married, you can’t be tempted by that anymore, so you get attacked by completely different things. …Essentially Satan has to find a new angle to attack on.”

They wished for more guidance from the church, and someone in the group said he’d cheer if his pastor decided to talk more about sex.

“While the whole point of these support groups is to honor sex in marriage, these men have gotten so used to thinking about sex as something negative that they bring those concerns with them to the marriage bed,” Deifendorf said. “Once they’re married, these men struggle to manage those concerns in the absence of the supportive community they once benefited from.”

She hopes that her study leads to more positive discussions of sex and how it is healthy, especially within the context of abstinence-only sex education.

“There’s an obsession with virginity in this country,” Diefendorf said. “And we forget to have informative, successful conversations on sex.”

A Texas mother and son are giving all the glory to God for the young man’s miraculous recovery.

In May, 17-year-old Cory Almanza was critically injured in a car accident that would have killed most people. His mother, Ruby Flores, remembers getting the call that every parent dreads.

“Just love your kids as much as you can, while you can, because you never know what tomorrow brings,” she said.

She even recalls realizing she might be saying goodbye to her beloved son.

“When we arrived at the hospital he wasn’t responding,” she said. “And they took me straight back to the room to see him because they didn’t know what was going to happen next.”

Almanza prayed for God to spare her son’s life. As it turned out, Cory did survive. But he was in a coma; he could not communicate at all.

“We were in the hospital for, like, a month and a half, and he was in a coma the whole time. He didn’t respond,” Flores said. “No parent wants to see their children hurt, especially in that situation.”

Finally the doctors said there was nothing more they could do for Cory, so they sent him home, still in a coma. Flores never stopped praying for her son’s recovery.

Then came the miracle. Cory finally came out of his coma.

“We were just sitting there talking to him. We always do. And he just kept following our voices, looking at me and his sister talking.” He was just following us, and it was amazing. And I was just, ‘Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!’ That’s all I could say,” his mother recalled.

Since that time, Cory has improved dramatically. His mother said Cory can be used by God to encourage others.

“He can talk and express himself, let everybody know what he’s been through and how the Lord has blessed him,” she said. “He can be an inspiration to others that are in his situation, not to give up, but just keep fighting.”

Cory is still at home recovering. He’s not the same young man he was before the accident, but he’s getting stronger every day.

He especially wishes he could rejoin his high school football team as they prepare for the upcoming season. His mother recalled a visit from a few of his teammates.

“His friend told him two-a-days [practices] were starting,” she said. “And he said, ‘I want to go! I want to go!’ And [the friend] said ‘No you don’t; it’s hot!'”

If you’re familiar with my writing and areas of interest, then you may know that I get a thrill from finding parallels between our physical and spiritual lives. Most recently, I’ve been pondering a few similarities I see between Christian evangelism and, for lack of a better term, fitness evangelism.

How people come to accept and follow Christ and how they come to embrace and enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle may have more in common than we think.

Merriam-Webster defines evangelism as “the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ.” I would argue that what I am calling “fitness evangelism” is “the winning or revival of personal commitments to health.”

Before I go on, I want to make it very clear that one’s choice whether to accept or deny Jesus Christ as Lord is the most important decision he or she will ever make. 1 Tim. 4:8 clearly says that physical training has “some value,” but “godliness has value for all things.” The reason I emphasize fitness and enjoy helping others establish healthy workout and nutrition habits is because being in top physical condition:

• Honors and glorifies God (1 Cor. 6:19-20; 1 Cor. 10:31)
• Enhances and improves our emotional, physical and spiritual well-being (3 John 1:2; Prov. 17:22)
• Prevents illnesses and diseases that can cut our lives short (Prov. 23:20-21)
• Enables and equips us to handle the physical tasks of everyday life (Prov. 31:17)
• Sets a positive example for our children, friends and others around us (Eph. 4:15-16)

Having a physically healthy and fit body should never supersede our desire to purify our hearts and sanctify our souls as we pursue spiritual intimacy with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now, going back to “evangelism,” what isn’t so succinctly spelled out in dictionaries is the method one should employ when going about the act of evangelizing, a verb meaning “to try to convert (a group or area) to a different religion (especially Christianity).”

I do not wish this article to become a thesis opining the proper tenets of Christian evangelism—we can leave that to the preachers and theologians! However, I do think there are some general guidelines associated with spreading the Good News of Christ that can be applied to our mission to help our loved ones become healthy.

Because acronyms are fun and ever-trendy teaching tools, I’ve created “WHIP” to aid us in “evangelizing” those friends and family who need to start, perhaps for the first time in their lives, taking their physical health seriously.

W: Walk the Walk, Save the Talk

Maybe you’ve chatted a lot to your husband, best friend, grandmother, etc. about a certain type of exercise you’re really into nowadays, such as Zumba, CrossFit, Pilates or indoor cycling. Or maybe you’re seeing results from a new nutrition plan you’ve been following and love to talk about how much better you feel now that you’ve given up eating or drinking X, Y and Z. Surely my enthusiasm will rub off, and they’ll want to do what I’m doing!

I’ve thought that before … many times.

When you read the Gospels, you will see that yes, Jesus taught and preached to throngs of people, but He also simply walked a walk that was consistent with His message. As fit and healthy individuals, we don’t have to rely solely on speaking eloquently or passionately in order to attract the interest of our audience. If we continue to abide by our convictions imparted by the Holy Spirit and informed by the Word of God, our loved ones will see and experience the fruit our lives produce and, prayerfully, be inspired to adopt such a lifestyle.

H: Have a Positive Attitude

Don’t give up on those you love. It may be frustrating to continuously watch them make poor food choices while dining out or when you see nary a vegetable in their fridge and only processed junk food in their pantry, but a pessimistic attitude will only perpetuate the problem, and may in fact discourage them from considering a healthier lifestyle at all.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11, ESV).

I: Invite Them to the Gym/Park/Trail/__fill in the blank __with You

Have you ever invited someone to a Christian concert or special sermon series at your church? This probably didn’t require you to lay out the Romans Road to salvation. All you did, I’m assuming, is say, “If you don’t have plans this Saturday, I’d love for you to come hear this band with me!” Or, “My preacher is starting a series on Heaven and Hell this Sunday. It sounds like it’s going to be really interesting. Want to go with me?”

Is there a 5K or a mud run coming up soon in your city? Does your gym offer free passes to first-timers? If so, invite your friend or family member to go and participate with you. If necessary, ease any concerns or fears they may be feeling by assuring them that you’ll remain with them for the duration and go at their pace. For most of us, the first step toward a new routine is the toughest one to make, and having a friend there to support them and hold their hand, literally if need be, can make all the difference.

P: Pray Persistently

This one goes along with “H” in that it’s imperative that we stay the course of our loved ones’ path to health, most of all spiritually. Sometimes it is challenging to, as they say, “let go and let God,” because as prideful human beings we oftentimes would rather arrogantly go to the ends of the Earth to fulfill our desires than humbly go to our knees in prayer to seek God’s will and ask Him to intervene.

Keep the people you’re rooting for and hoping to positively influence at the top of your prayer list. Ask the Lord to convict them and direct them toward a firm decision to eat healthier foods, stop eating excessively and/or emotionally, and exercise on a regular basis. He knows what is best for them and how to lead them out of their complacency, apathy, stubbornness, what have you, and has lovingly placed you in their lives to intercede for them during your quiet moments of prayer.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16, ESV).

Stay fit, stay faithful.

Diana Anderson-Tyler is the author of Creation House’s Fit for Faith: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Total Fitness and her latest book, Perfect Fit: Weekly Wisdom and Workouts for Women of Faith and Fitness. Her popular website can be found at , and she is the owner and a coach at CrossFit 925. Diana can be reached on Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

Pope Francis said on Monday the international community would be justified in stopping Islamist militants in Iraq but that it should not be up to a single nation to decide how to intervene in the conflict.

The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in an hour-long conversation with reporters aboard a plane returning from a trip to South Korea that ranged from international diplomacy to his health and future travel plans.

During the media encounter that has become a tradition at the end of his foreign journeys, Francis, 77, also said he planned to visit the United States next year and that he was ready to go to China “tomorrow” if the communist government allowed him.

He said he realized he had to slow down and be more “prudent” with his health and that he has learned how to handle the superstar status he has gained since taking office last year by thinking of his errors and his own imminent mortality.

Francis was asked if he approved of U.S. strikes against Islamist State insurgents who have recently forced Christians and other minorities to flee their homes in Iraq.

“In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is legitimate to stop the unjust aggressor,” he said.

Proclaiming a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria, the militants have swept across northern Iraq, pushing back Kurdish regional forces and driving tens of thousands of Christians and members of the Yazidi religious minority from their homes.

The pope was careful not to give the impression that he was giving an automatic green light for military strikes, but he did not rule them out. He said the situation was grave and the international community had to respond together.

“I underscore the verb ‘to stop’. I am not saying ‘bomb’ or ‘make war’, but stop him (the aggressor). The means by which he can be stopped must be evaluated. Stopping the unjust aggressor is legitimate,” he said.

“One single nation cannot judge how he is to be stopped, how an unjust aggressor is to be stopped,” he said. He said the United Nations was the proper forum to consider whether there was unjust aggression and how to stop it.

Willing to Go to Iraq

The pope disclosed that he had considered going to Iraq after his return from Korea, but decided against a visit for the time being. “At this moment, it would not be the best thing to do, but I am willing to do it,” he said.

He has sent a senior cardinal to Iraq to visit refugees and distribute Vatican charity funds and sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the need to stop the bloodshed.

Francis said he wanted to go Philadelphia in September 2015 for a meeting of Catholic families and hinted that the trip might well include a visit to the White House and Congress in Washington D.C. and the United Nations in New York.

That trip, which would be his first to the United States, could also be expanded to include Mexico, he said, but no decision had been taken.

During his five-day visit to South Korea, Francis sent several signals to China, which does not allow Catholics to recognize the pope’s authority, saying the communist government there should not fear Christians because they did not want to “come as conquerors” but be integral parts of local cultures.

On the plane, he said the Vatican was always open to dialog with Beijing, calling the country “noble and wise”, but said that the Church needed to carry out its mission in freedom.

Poking fun at himself several times, Francis said that his custom of not taking vacations outside the Vatican was one of his “neuroses.” He said he had slowed down for the summer by reading more, sleeping more and listening to music.

“Now I have to be more prudent, you are right,” he told a reporter, who reminded him that he had been forced to cancel several events at the last minute in the past few month because of minor ailments or illnesses.

Francis said he did not let fame go to his head by thinking of his “sins and mistakes” and remembering that “this will last a short time, two or three years, and then we go to the house of the father” (God).

The pope, who stood for the entire, hour-long conversation, then made a chopping gesture with his hand and a whistling sound as if to say death comes sooner or later for everyone.

Editing by Crispian Balmer

© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

A 9-year old boy is making news headlines across the country for wrestling a 9-foot long, 400-pound alligator—and winning.

“It really amazed me what happened. At first I thought someone was just playing with me, and I didn’t know what happened,” James Barney Jr. said in a press conference.

“I reached down to go grab it, and I felt its jaw, I felt its teeth, and I didn’t know what to do, so I immediately reacted and hit it a couple times. So then it was letting go a little, and then finally I had enough strength left to pry its jaw open a little.”

Watch the boy share his amazing story below.

Deep in my heart there is a stirring—not just a stirring that resembles a late-night craving for ice cream or the feelings of boyish infatuation with a high school crush, but a true “depths of my soul” type of stirring. This stirring is for the church of the living God to rise up and take her rightful place.

This stirring is nothing new in the hearts of those focused on the bidding of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Jeremiah felt that stirring when he said: “I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was upon me. I was filled with indignation at their sins” (Jer. 15:17, emphasis added). The prophets of old looked at the state of Israel (picture of the modern church) and grieved over the glory that could have been if only they had embraced their God with the same passion they embraced the idolatry of their day.

I look at the state of the church and feel the same stirring in my heart for the return of God’s glory to His bride, the church. When will we see our nation shaken by a fresh move of God’s precious Spirit? When will the culture around us be forced to recognize a holiness that is truly “otherworldly”? When will we come to a place of desperation for God’s outpouring that makes us willing to abandon our own plans and dreams to fall prostrate before an awesome God and cry out for His divine intervention?

As I meditated on these questions, the Holy Spirit quickened within my heart something so simple that it literally shocked me. He said, “If the true Gospel were preached and lived with boldness, then My power would be seen as tangibly as it was seen in the book of Acts.” Wow! I was then taken to Acts 4:29–30, where the apostles and early church prayed, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word” (v. 29). Through this passage, the Holy Spirit revealed several important things to me that would become the basis for this book.

The first thing that is obvious from this passage is that threats against the real Gospel are inevitable. In the New Testament, Jesus clearly warned that because He was hated, His followers inevitably would be hated too. Persecution and resistance have been the hallmark of Christianity from the beginning, going all the way back to Herod’s attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, to the cross of Calvary, to the terrible persecutions of the Roman Empire, and all the way forward to modern-day martyrdom that continues at unprecedented rates all over the globe. It was in response to such threats and persecution that the early church prayed for boldness. Perhaps if we began to preach the real Gospel in all its fullness, we too would be forced to cry out for boldness. Perhaps if we weren’t so comfortable with our walled bastions of seclusion or “pitter-patter” messages that placate the spiritually complacent, we would be forced to cry out for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit.

Second, boldness is a function of the unction. What I mean by that is simply that boldness is not a conjuring up of some sort of fleshly hype but a release of something within. It is an internal combustion in the spirit man that releases unusual courage and clarity. This can be seen clearly when Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7 and preached the Gospel with great boldness, even while sealing his imminent doom. He had such clarity of purpose that he physically saw the Lord Jesus giving him a standing ovation from the throne room.

When we lack boldness, it is because we lack intimacy with the Holy Spirit. As we go about our duties and maintain our busy lives and ministries, there is often a deep neglect in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Peter, however, was not too busy to go on the rooftop to pray at lunchtime and thus had a vision that changed the course of the church. Thank God for that time of prayer and rest! Without it, the Gentile church would not exist. We need to get back to the place of true fellowship with the Holy Spirit and His daily revelation of the Word so that we can walk in this supernatural boldness to preach the Gospel in all its fullness.

Finally, notice that in verse 30 of Acts 4, we see the mention of healing power and miraculous signs and wonders. The convincing proof that we are not preaching the Gospel fully is the lack of healing power and miraculous signs that follow the preaching of our modern gospel. If this gospel were the real Gospel, then it would be followed by evidence of God’s power by way of healings and miracles. Because of our thirst for influence and lack of hunger for true righteousness, we have handicapped the church from its greatest evangelism weapon—the supernatural.

WHAT IS THE HALFGOSPEL?

Bear with me for a moment as I outline for you what I describe as the “halfGospel.” I capitalize Gospel here because it still has remnants of the real Gospel and still produces fruit of some measure. Please do not get the idea that I am against everybody or everything. This is not an attempt to throw out all the amazing things that are taking place but to readjust our thinking to be more effective in our pursuit of saving souls and building the kingdom of God.

It is not that we are preaching a false message as much as we are holding back critical elements that give the Gospel power and punch. We have embraced the idea of motivational speaking in an attempt to always be “life-giving,” but we have abandoned the convicting power of the Gospel. Inspiration without conviction will lead to carnal and unbelieving churchgoers who never turn from sin and always need affirmation of their true standing with God. This sort of gospel has produced a movement of false grace in order to soothe everyone’s guilty conscience; however, if the convicting work of the Holy Spirit were allowed to go forth in full measure, people would turn from their grievous ways and feel the true liberty of Christ that comes only from walking in His holiness and staying free from the world. As 2 Cor. 3:17 reminds us, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (NKJV).

Conviction comes effortlessly as we highlight the full counsel of God as revealed in the entire Word of God and hold back no portion of the Holy Bible in order to appease people. Nonetheless, we have seen a shift in recent years from preaching the Bible and expounding its eternal virtues to presenting interesting topics to spark the curiosity of man and backing them up with a favorable scripture. This sort of topical preaching has grown our churches but has utterly failed to mature the body of Christ. In a day where churches soar to grander heights of attendance then ever imagined, our anemic message has produced giant nurseries where people are never weaned from the milk of the Word—and the leaders actually want it that way. God forbid that church members actually grow up in Christ and start doing something other than warming a pew!

HALF-STRENGTH

The halfGospel is not only an incomplete message, but it is also a message diluted in strength and handicapped from its true life-changing power. The popular theology of our day instructs leaders who really want to grow that preaching anything controversial or confrontational is completely taboo. After all, we wouldn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, would we? Heaven forbid! John the Baptist’s call to repentance and the message of Jesus to give all to the poor and follow Him are considered not relevant in today’s world and thus are not preached or even mentioned.

Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matt. 11:6, ESV). Nevertheless, we continue to hear promises of blessing without any warning of offense against Christ. Prominent red-letter statements in the Bible like “Fall on the rock and be broken, or it will fall on you and crush you” (Matt. 21:44, paraphrased) are laughable when put in the context of the watered-down theology served weekly at many of our “model” churches.

We must be very wary when parts of the Word of God are deemed irrelevant or not relatable to today. Some have declared the Old Testament outdated and weird, while others have dared to declare Jesus’ words as “under the law” and not really what we should be preaching today. Not only is such intellectual and theological dismissal of any portion of God’s infallible Word dangerous, but it will also lead to weak and impotent sheep whose only desire is to feed on the portions of Scripture that appeal to their intellects or can be twisted to justify the workings of their flesh.

Let us go back now to the topic of conviction and put it in the light of a gospel that is half-strength. Somehow we have managed to create an atmosphere of preaching that not only assumes everyone present is a believer but also affirms all present as being right with God and having no need to do anything in order to pursue repentance and holiness. While it is true that God’s grace is undeserved and no works are needed to receive it, faith is required (Eph. 2:8); and faith without action is dead (James 2:17).

There was a time when we would not serve communion in a church without first warning of the grave repercussion of eating and drinking unworthily of the Lord’s Body and Blood. This was immediately followed with an altar call for salvation and recommitment. Now we see trendy times of communion that fit neatly within the context of our run sheet. Believers and unbelievers alike are given extra encouragement that they indeed are worthy to receive the Body and Blood, when in fact many are not. To affirm the righteousness (or right standing) of everyone in a room of more than 10 people you intimately know to be believers is to risk reinforcing many in a state of being unsaved, in sin or backslidden. All of this, in the name of making people feel welcome and comfortable, is why the Gospel has been stripped of its potency to radically change lives.

HALF-COST

Unfortunately, we have become expert salesmen at presenting the Gospel. We have deemed it necessary to build in extra incentive in order to get people to accept and believe in the product we are selling. For the sake of nickels and noses, we have propagated a “halfGospel” that is no longer built on sacrifice and suffering but boasts immediate prosperity and earthly enrichment. This goes against the very core of what Jesus, the apostles, and the early church stood for in their application of the true Gospel message.

When we sell the Gospel at a discounted cost, we get people in the church who want to pay little or no price. We must be faithful to warn of the hardships, persecutions, alienation, and other forms of sacrifice and suffering that come with taking up your cross and following Jesus. In Luke 14:28, Jesus said, “Don’t begin until you count the cost.” But in fear that we might not gain a new member or might cause someone to reject the Lord, we have repackaged the Gospel and sold it at a discounted rate.

HALF-IN, HALF-OUT

The final element I will highlight in diagnosing the issue of the halfGospel is the level of commitment required to pursue true holiness. In the modern church today, there is more talk of grace than ever before. Grace is an amazing thing, but it must be balanced with truth. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NIV). In John 17:17, Jesus also prayed, “Make them holy by Your truth; teach them your word, which is truth” (emphasis added).

Wow! This shows us that very simply put, righteousness comes by God’s amazing grace, but holiness, the pursuit of being like God, comes only through the revelatory truth of God’s Word. God’s Word gives us the standards that help us get free and stay free from the snares of the enemy. If these standards are not articulated, however, then freedom does not come and people are inevitably caught up by the “snares of the fowler” and dragged back into the bondage of sin that once held them captive.

A huge misconception and popularly taught message today is that people will be changed by the grace of God if they just hang around long enough. While there is merit to being in God’s presence and change happening in our lives, the real roots of pride, perversion and greed will never be uprooted without the full measure of God’s truth being proclaimed and applied.

The definitive issue that illustrates this point best is that of homosexuality. This abominable sin is aggressively asserting itself into every aspect of culture and, sadly, even in the church. Because of the prevailing winds of opinion, not only have many church leaders chosen not to address this important issue, but they have also become extremely leery of anyone who would take on this topic or even mention it from the pulpit. How can we expect to defeat this horrible bondage that has wrapped its icy tentacles around so many of this generation if we refuse to address it head-on?

The halfGospel always finds ways to excuse and justify lack of conviction. It would even paint those who lovingly point out the awful deceptions of the enemy as being hateful, legalistic or out of touch. Oh, that God would raise up men and women who would once again preach the full Gospel of righteousness through repentance and holiness through consistent application of God’s Word!

ACTION STEPS

Now that we have clearly outlined the problem of a halfGospel, here are some action steps that we can take to ensure the full Gospel is preached:

• Seek God, not man’s approval–for any true minister of the Gospel, the priority must always be to hear the heart of God and not the applause of man.
• Diligently study God’s Word–while books and resources are helpful at times, we must get back to the original DNA of the Gospel as outlined in God’s Word, not as interpreted by man.
• Rely on God’s Spirit, not personal gift or intellect–the early apostles relied completely on the Holy Spirit to speak and work through them for the saving of the lost. We must return to this pattern in order to see New Testament results!

Joel Stockstill is a well-known prophetic voice, youth pastor and author of the free e-book halfGospel, from which this article is excerpted. To download the entire e-book for free, visit .

I just celebrated the 24th anniversary of my marriage to Jenifer. When we made our vows to one another at the ripe old ages of 22 and 21, we had good intentions but no clue about what true, committed love was all about. 

I suspect that the word “love” is to blame. The fact that this word is used so broadly in our culture subliminally trains us to throw it around casually. I love guacamole. I love my wife. It is a travesty that the English language allows me to use the same word to characterize my enjoyment of a tex-mex side dish as I use to describe my devotion to my wife.

Ask the average married person if they love their spouse and the answer will be a resounding “yes.” Dig a little deeper and ask them why they love their spouse and you will hear a variety of answers, most of which deal with personal satisfaction: “She makes me feel good. She brings out the best in me. She makes me happy.” (I would say the same thing about my guacamole.) They are saying some form of, “I love what you do for me.”

Let’s be honest. This type of affection has less to do with love for the other person and more to do with love of self. “I love you for the way my life is better and richer when I am with you.” While there’s nothing wrong with that (just as there is nothing wrong with good guacamole), marital love must be called to a higher standard if it is to go the distance. Let me explain…

If you love someone because they “make your life better,” what happens when they are no longer making your life better?

What if your husband is starting a business and is so focused on work that he doesn’t have time to invest in the relationship?

What if your wife is so focused on the needs of your young children that she doesn’t have the energy to give much attention to the marriage?

What if your spouse becomes emotionally disconnected because of one of the millions of things that can happen in married life?

What if somebody gets really sick and has absolutely nothing to give? Cancer? Alzheimer’s? It happens all the time. Lives are devastated, and significant adjustments to life must be made. Some make them and endure. Others decide that, since they are getting nothing in return, it’s just not worth the effort.

Those married people whose “I love you” means “I love how you make me happy” are the same ones who will one day lose interest and say things like: “I still love you, but I’m just not in love with you.” In other words, “You’re not doing a very good job of making me happy anymore.” This is what love means for many in our culture. God help us. 

We Must Call Love to a Higher Standard

God gives us a better picture of what true love looks like. Throughout Scripture, we see His selfless, sacrificial, never-ending, extravagant love. In the Old Testament, He showed it to the Israelites who rejected Him time and time again. Yet He remained faithful. In the New Testament, He demonstrated his love to us through the sacrifice of Jesus.

He loves and pursues us, never giving up on us even when we ignore Him. Even when we sin against Him. He lavishly gives us His love even though He gets nothing in return for His efforts. Sure, He gets our worship, but the Bible says that the rocks will cry out in praise if we don’t, so we honestly aren’t all that important.

God gives us a love that never gives up no matter what we do. He gives it to us as a gift through Jesus and then He enables us through His Spirit to do likewise. “We love because He first loved us.” 

When you say, “I love my spouse,” what are you really saying? Are you saying that you will love them no matter what you get in return? That’s the love that God has for you. That’s the love that He calls you to give to others. That’s the love that will truly change the world.

As the family minister at my church in Atlanta, I had the chance to teach on these things a few weeks ago. If you want to hear this developed a little further, I invite you to watch the video…

Loving Like God Marriage from Barrett Johnson on Vimeo.

Barrett Johnson is the Minister to Families at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Atlanta. He is also the founder of INFO for Families and the author of The Talks: A Parent’s Guide to Critical Conversations about Sex, Dating, and Other Unmentionables.

The Bible describes two believers who committed suicide: King Saul and Judas. For sure Judas went to hell. Peter said about him in Acts 1:16-18: “‘Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus–he was one of our number and shared in this ministry. With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines spilled out.”

This Scripture implies that Judas was not saved.

The other story is about King Saul. He was mortally wounded in battle, so to avoid torture he killed himself. From David’s words about Saul, it appears that Saul went to heaven. He says in 2 Sam. 1:23, “Saul and Jonathan—in life they were loved and gracious, and in death they were not parted.”

We know that Jonathan was godly, so if Saul and Jonathan were not parted in death, this would mean Saul is with Jonathan in heaven. I should also note that this passage may simply mean that they died together in battle, not necessarily that they are still with each other in death. At any rate, Saul killed himself only because he was trying to avoid torture, and he was going to die soon anyway.

The way I explain suicide is this: I tell believers to fear God enough not to take the risk. You could lose your soul by committing suicide, so it’s better to simply play it safe and trust God to make you happier. I lean to the idea that most cases of suicide lead to damnation. I wouldn’t bet on anyone going to heaven who committed suicide. I think the odds are against the person. Besides, suicide is the ultimate statement of unbelief. People commit suicide because they don’t have faith that God will help them, and we are saved by faith.

We have received many angry emails over my answer, usually because someone has lost a close friend or relative to suicide. Here is a sample email that represents many irate emails along with my response.

Reaction: I may be reacting in the flesh and you probably won’t even get this, but I cannot sleep until I write this. Maybe I should write it and then click delete. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that I am so very grateful to have and grow. I lost a dear childhood friend today to suicide. He was an awesome athlete in high school. He was an awesome Christian who did not mind showing it to his peers. He was an All-American High School Honor Roll student. His entire family are Christians.

I was disturbed today, that my little sister said he is going to hell. I do not believe this. I do not believe the sure ticket to HELL is to commit suicide. My God is more loving and merciful than that to his people.

I am disturbed at your opinion about suicide, also. I do not believe it has a place on the net for those people searching for answers and comfort at a time like this. It is an opinion not an answer. No where in the Bible does it say suicide is a sure ticket to Hell. I cannot find anything in the Bible that says you go to hell for committing suicide.

I would like to encourage you to take your opinion of something unknown off the Internet. I think it is very damaging to those who have a personal relationship with God and those who I hope come to know him.

Ann

Tom’s Response: I sympathize with your grief, but it would be a mistake for me to tell people that they can make heaven and still commit suicide. God is merciful, and if people make heaven despite suicide, wonderful! But there is no Scripture to prove you can, so I believe it is best to fear God so much that you would never commit such an act. Peter says, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinner” (1 Pet. 4:18).

Committing suicide is not a sure ticket to hell, because there is no ticket to hell. It is the other way around: Jesus is the ticket to heaven. However, Jesus said many will say that He is Lord, but He will reply, “Depart from me.” Faith is not simply mentally agreeing to the facts of the gospel, but being changed by the gospel. And then one must continue in faith and not give in to unbelief. There is no “once saved, always saved” promise from God. Even if it were true that someone was saved, that does not mean that his or her salvation is “unconditionally secured.” One still must persevere and trust God to the end, not end their lives through suicide.

You said that my answer is “very damaging to those who have a personal relationship with God.” How could my answer damage someone’s faith?

Maybe what you mean is that someone like yourself who lost a friend through suicide will not be comforted with this article, because I refuse to license suicide as a gateway to heaven. For sure my answer won’t comfort you.

The article is meant to discourage suicide–not to comfort those who lost loved ones through suicide. I’m not thinking of you when I write this article but those who are contemplating this act.

I do understand your grief, but imagine if I told people that they could still make heaven and commit suicide. That message may be what they wanted to hear so they could be given a false sense of security that they will leave their unhappiness here and enter glory in the next life.

A similar message is given to suicide bombers in the Islamic faith. They are told that if they kill themselves and others through a Jihad they will enter a wonderful heaven full of virgin wives. This false doctrine gives people courage to go through such a diabolical act. It should go without saying, but any Muslim who murders others through suicide will not make heaven, for the Scriptures say, “No murderer has eternal life” (1 John 3:15).

I think there is a delicate correlation between that and Christian suicide. As long as people think they will enter heaven by such an act, perhaps we unwittingly give people courage to go through with it. I refuse to give anyone such false hope.

Despite what I said, my prayers are with you.

Tom Brown is the founder and pastor of Word of Life Church in El Paso, Texas. He and his wife, Sonia, host a weekly television program, The Bondage Broker, available online.

As a young child, I often heard my mother say that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem. She knew how important that was. She grew up in a large Moroccan Jewish family and immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s. Most of her 21 brothers and sisters immigrated to Israel. I’m proud of my heritage. I have generations of family members in Israel. I love the Jewish people. In fact, I’m making my eighth trip to Israel in September.

However, I am concerned. Does God still have His hand on Israel and the Jewish people? Will He ever let them go? Over the past several years, the Israeli people as a whole have become more and more secular, drifting away from the God of Israel. You might be thinking, wait a minute, we’re talking about God’s chosen people. Yes. But we all have the ability to drift away from the promises of God.

A writer for the online magazine Israel Today said, “For many decades, Israelis have been led to believe that the Israeli-Arab conflict is no more than a national struggle over territory and that it will be better for all if God remains in the background.” This of course is a lie. There is a glimmer of hope that this is changing.

I interviewed an Israeli Defense Forces soldier who was wounded recently in the war with Hamas. Sgt. Major Jeremy Gimpel told me that he is seeing manifest miracles and God’s providence once again over Israel. He said the protective shield over Israel right now is not so much the one that intercepts incoming rockets; rather, it is the protective shield from the prayers of people around the world.

During the war with Hamas, an Iron Dome commander explained that a missile was fired from Gaza, which could have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians.

The commander said, “We know where these missiles are going to land down to a radius of 200 meters.

“We fired two interceptor rockets. They both missed. This is very rare. I was in shock. At this point we had just four seconds until the missile lands. We had already notified emergency services to converge on the target location and had warned of a mass-casualty incident.

“Suddenly, Iron Dome (which calculates wind speeds among other things) shows a major wind coming from the east, a strong wind that … sends the missile into the sea. We were all stunned. I stood up and shouted, ‘There is a God!’ I witnessed this miracle with my own eyes. I saw the hand of God send that missile into the sea. If that Hamas strike had succeeded, it would have been the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.”

Also, Col. Ofer Winter, commander of the Givati Infantry Brigade, described a mysterious fog that favorably covered him and his troops as they advanced on an enemy position in morning light after their nighttime raid was postponed. Winter labeled the covering as “clouds of glory.”

I believe God is stirring in the hearts of the Israeli people.

Does God still have His hand on Israel and the Jewish people? Yes. Will He ever let them go? No. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, also pray that Israel remembers what Deuteronomy 20:4 says: “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” It’s something we should remember as well.

Take a few moments to watch and listen (below) to a portion of the interview I did with the wounded IDF soldier.

John Riley hosts Afternoons with John Riley on American Family Radio.

The 25-mile strip of land, in-between the Mediterranean Sea and Israel’s southwest border, known as the Gaza Strip, has been home to over 10,000 rockets launched at Israel since 2006 and, in return, has suffered billions of dollars of damage.

As a result of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, the territory was designated to be a part of a Palestinian State under the same Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank. Hamas, however, won local elections in 2006, and subsequently kicked the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in 2007. They have been ruling the area Hamas is a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood organization that is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Japan, and Egypt.

Their charter calls for the destruction of Israel, and their spokespersons and clerics regularly espouse their commitment to this goal.

The primary reason that Hamas rules Gaza is not to provide a better life for its inhabitants, but to have a base from where they can build the military capability to destroy Israel. If their intentions were otherwise, Hamas would have used the $100 million worth of cement and construction materials they received to build much needed housing for its ballooning population. Instead, Hamas chose to build an underground network of tunnels designed to deliver hundreds of terrorists inside Israel. Some of the tunnels were large enough for trucks to drive through them, and many were equipped with supplies for sedating and transporting kidnapped Israelis.

In fact, a major terrorist attack was being planned for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on September 25. If Israel had not entered Gaza and discovered these plans, over 200 terrorists would have sneaked into Israel through the tunnels intent on killing thousands of Israeli civilians and kidnapping others.

Hamas also demonstrated callous disregard for their people, allowing some 160 children who had been used for child-labor to die while building the tunnels and by executing some 17 men who had overseen the building of the tunnels so they could not provide intelligence to Israel. Life has little meaning to Hamas fighters who glorify death in the cause of Jihad.

Complicity of the UN

With inhabitants numbering around million people, Gaza is an overcrowded area with one of the highest population growth rates in the world. Most of the inhabitants are considered refugees by the United Nations, which provides them with schools, sustenance, hospitals and the like. Hamas does provide some social services, but the presence of the UN relieves Hamas of fighters who glorify death in the cause of Jihad.

Unfortunately, the U.N. also perpetuates the sorry state of affairs in Gaza. First, they refuse to treat Palestinian refugees like all other refugees, and provide for their resettlement, thereby keeping Palestinian refugees in an ongoing state of limbo. In addition, Palestinian refugees are the only refugee group whose children and grandchildren are also awarded refugee status.

So, while there are only 30,000 original refugees from 1948 alive today, the UN is caring for some 5 million Palestinians, keeping many in “refugee camps” rather than providing for their absorption into host countries.

Also, the U.N. in Gaza cooperates so fully with the Hamas government that at times the lines are blurred between the two. For example, the U.N. Development Program office in Gaza allowed “non-U.N. employees,” without any paper trail, to oversee the procurement and use of the concrete that was then used to build Hamas tunnels. When rockets were found in U.N. schools, they were conveniently turned back over to Hamas, and the U.N. published as fact the civilian casualty figures provided by Hamas.

Not only did Hamas control reports of civilian casualties, they controlled the foreign press itself! Now that journalists are safely outside of Gaza, some are complaining that Hamas threatened and prevented them from giving an objective report on the ground. So, they are putting footage on YouTube that proves Hamas fired rockets next to hotels and U.N. buildings, and that Hamas operatives wore civilian clothing so their casualties were counted as civilian.

There has been nary a word out of the U.N. denouncing any of this.

Israel’s Military Operation

Hamas was behind the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in June, and then launched some 200 missiles aimed at Israeli population centers, causing Israel to take military action to stop the rockets, destroy the tunnels, and restore calm. Over the course of the month-long operation Hamas fired over 3,000 rockets at Israel endangering the lives of 6 million civilians.

Israel uncovered over 30 tunnels and destroyed about half of Hamas’ missile stockpiles that were found in homes, mosques and schools. Hamas alleges that out of the 1,800 people killed over 70 percent of them were civilians, but Israel says that some 900 combatants were killed while firing on Israeli troops in Gaza.

During Operation Protective Edge, Israel repeatedly stated that the people of Gaza were not their enemy. They went out of their way to warn the inhabitants of buildings and neighborhoods with leaflets, text messages, telephone calls, and a “knock” on the building with an empty shell before they would fire at a target. Many missions were also aborted because civilians were seen in the vicinity.

The truth is, had Israel not gone to such lengths to save the lives of civilians, urban warfare in a city as densely populated as Gaza City would have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Nevertheless, the images of dead children broadcast on both TV and social media would drown out any attempts by the spokespersons of the Israeli government to explain their regard for civilian lives.

Everyone involved has paid a hefty price because of the terrorist regime ruling Gaza. While Hamas suffered a military defeat; the people of Gaza lost homes, businesses, and a future; and Israel’s reputation suffered greatly in the public arena of images vs. words. Unless the West places conditions on their funding–conditions like demilitarization of Gaza, an end of Hamas rule, and education to prepare the people for peaceful coexistence with Israel–it will happen all over again sometime in the future.

Susan Michael is U.S. Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Visit them online at , creator of .