Outstanding! I can't wait until that day when all the saints of all the ages sing to Jesus (Rev. 4:1-11).

The misses and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last week. I made this video in honor of the occasion. It's hard to believe it's been 20 years. God has been good, though. Through it all He has proven Himself faithful! "May you rejoice in the wife of your youth" (Proverbs 5:18).

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks; Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-24).  John Piper of Desiring God Ministries writes, “We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war.” I think therein lies the problem. Most Christians have no idea we are at war. Our prayer lives reflect this. If you don’t believe me just attend the so called weekly “prayer meeting” of any given church.  Such meetings are more akin to organ recitals than Spirit led, gospel drenched warfare praying.  It seems we spend far too much time praying for Aunt Lucy’s stubbed toe or Brother Joe’s bursitis than we do missionaries on the mission field, our spiritually troubled nation, or those who are lost and on their way to a Christ-less eternity. It’s as if the devil has somehow shrewdly distracted us from engaging him with our two primary and successful weapons—prayer and the preaching of the Gospel. Paul wrote, “and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). 

The church, like the ancient Jewish Temple, is to be a “House of prayer for all the nations” (Mark 11:17). However, the truth is the church has become selectively worldly.  Today’s gospel seems to be more about health, wealth, and prosperity than humankind’s only hope for forgiveness and eternal life.  That which “is foolishness to those who are perishing,” has become foolishness to those who claim to be followers of Christ rather than what it really is—the power of God unto salvation.  The church seems to have grown weary of warfare praying and gospel preaching.  

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). When I think about the America in which my precious little boy is growing up, I shudder. In fact, I almost get sick to my stomach. I literally fear for his spiritual safety. There is a war raging and everything godly is in its crosshairs—particularly as it relates to the family.  The Bible refers to this conflict as a struggle against all things evil. It is a war with far greater consequences than any man-fought battle. No believer is exempt from this war. We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. There is no in between. There are no sidelines. There is no break. Your options are battle stations, battle stations, battle stations or “shipwreck in regard to your faith” (1 Tim.1:18). The war is to extend God’s kingdom and destroy the kingdom of Satan and sin. But it appears the church is losing the battle, at least in America.

America is in a spiritual and moral freefall. To use aviation speak, we are in a graveyard spiral. We think we’re flying straight and level when in reality we are in a tailspin quickly approaching our demise. Just look around you. The clash between a biblical worldview and every other worldview is reaching a lethal level. A satanic anti-Christian spirit is growing increasingly hostile towards true believers. The family is under attack. There is a movement afoot to radically redefine marriage to accommodate the homosexual agenda. The thing that frightens me is the true church seems silent on this issue while the pseudo-church embraces and even promotes this lifestyle and agenda as something godly. Those who do speak up are quickly demonized as bigots, liars, and hateful fear mongers. It sort of makes one wonder how they’d label Jesus, especially since they often build a straw-man argument that He never taught on such matters. It has gotten so bad that the lines between scripture and reality have blurred to the point most so called Christians can’t or won’t even take a biblical stand on the matter.