The True Reason for Christmas

Many people do not even know what Christmas is all about. They have not been introduced to the truth. Instead they simply believe that Christmas is just a gift giving holiday that comes after Thanksgiving which is based upon some magical character called Santa Claus. But, Christmas is and will always be the celebration of God sending His Only Son to earth to save mankind, i.e. save all who will believe on Him, from their sins and unrighteousness. For, God sent the greatest gift that anyone can ever receive – the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Have you told anyone about the greatest gift and about the real reason for the season? Or have you just enjoyed the holidays because it is simply a winter holiday that gets you off work and allows you to meet with your families in order to share gifts? Do you even know why you are giving and receiving gifts at this time of year? What is this season all about?

Christmas is about Christ. Specifically, it is about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, being born as a baby in a lowly manger long ago. The Word of God tells us that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to register for the census which was demanded by Caesar Augustus.  Because Joseph “was of the house and family of David, (he went to Bethlehem) in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her (Mary) to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” – (Luke 2: 4-7. NASB).

Why We Give Christmas Gifts

We give Christmas gifts to each other for two reasons. First, because the wise men who came from the East travelled a great distance to show their honor and love for the Christ child with their gifts. They came across mountains and deserts putting themselves and their caravan at risk in order to bring their gifts of love to Jesus Christ. Upon arriving, and “After coming into the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” – (Matthew 2: 11. NASB). Those gifts were large and expensive, but were given for the Christ child’s earthly future and were also given as symbols of the ultimate gift that Christ would give the world upon His death on the cross. But the main reason that the wise men gave those gifts was because they came from their heart. Their hearts were focused on God’s gift to mankind, and they wanted both God and the parents of this child to know how much they appreciated this gift of the Christ-child, which brings us to the second reason that we give gifts at Christmas time.

The second reason we give gifts, is because God gave us the ultimate gift -- His Son, so that someday each of us can either make a decision to choose to believe on Christ or not. If we believe and accept God’s gift, we will not have to die a second time and then spend eternity in hell. Instead of dying a second time, believers will be able to enter into eternity with God and Christ. Obviously, all of us will die a first time, because no one will live forever here on earth. So, after living our lives here on earth, some of us dying at a young age and others dying later when in their hundreds, we all know that we will die at some moment in time. But, on judgment day, those that have not believed on Christ as their Savior, will die again a spiritual death that leads to eternal damnation. However, those who believe in God and who accept God’s gift of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, will not have to die a second time. For Christ conquered eternal death through His resurrection from death. Christ died a cruel death on the cross taking our sins upon His shoulders so that we can be made righteous before God. Christ then arose from the grave conquering death and giving those who believe on Him and who repent of their sins the right to live eternally with Him and His Father in Heaven after leaving this earth. The Scriptures tell us that believers will live eternally with God. Indeed, in one of those Scriptures, the Apostle Paul tells us that “knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” – (II Corinthians 4: 14, 15, NASB). How thankful we should be for God’s glorious gift! But how do we thank God for the gift of eternal life?

The least that we can do to thank God and Christ for the gift of Salvation, is to tell the world, i.e., our friends, family and neighbors, of the gift that God and His Son are offering to everyone. For, once a person has accepted the free and merciful gift of God to believe on His Son and to turn from his past life of sin into a new life, he is made new. We know this because the Scriptures tell us: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold the new things have come.” – (II Corinthians 5: 15. NASB). But those who have repented of their sins and have asked Christ to come into their heart, know that they are a new creature because of what Christ does to their life when they ask Him to come in. There is such a miraculous change in the one who accepts Christ as their Savior. What a powerful and wonderful gift true believers have been given!!! How can we keep such a wonderful gift to ourselves? We must share this gift with the world. In fact, Christmas time is a wonderful time to share the Gospel message in so many different ways.

Celebrating The Gift of Christ

Christmas is a time to celebrate the gift of Christ and His offered Salvation. Christmas is a time to share the Light of the World, i.e., Jesus Christ, through both our actions and our words. Indeed, Christmas is a time to tell the Christmas story to everyone who will listen. But how can we share the Christmas story and not make Christmas just a secular holiday? Well, we can share the Christmas story through a nativity scene on our lawns. We can share the Christmas story through the giving of gifts, expressing our Christian love to family, friends and neighbors. (The gifts do not have to be expensive, but rather gifts that are needed, that can keep someone warm on a cold night, that feed someone who would otherwise be hungry or who would not have a Christmas celebration without our love and our gift. For, our children and loved ones, the gifts can be a way of saying how much we listen to their needs and wants, as well as a way we can show our love and appreciation of them.). We can share the Christmas story with our children as we make sure that they know the true meaning of Christmas.

There is nothing more wonderful than a parent knowing that their child has made a personal decision to accept Christ’s gift of Salvation. This Christmas, our family has been given a Christmas miracle in relation to Salvation. The entire family, parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles and even our close friends had been praying that our youngest grandchild would ask Christ into his heart. The other three grandchildren had already asked Christ into their hearts at some point in time and have been baptized. In fact, we have been praying for this grandchild’s Salvation for the last five years. But, Salvation is not the type of gift that we can personally give to another person, child or grandchild, because Christ offers the gift and only that person or child can make the decision to open that gift and choose Salvation or not. However, the gift that believers can give to our children is the gift of telling them the truth and of sharing the Gospel message, of living in such a way that they see there is a difference in the life of those who are saved, and of praying daily for their salvation. Now, we know that our grandchild received the greatest gift that a human can receive.  We are truly blessed and we can rejoice at this Christmas, because everyone in our family has now received Christ’s gift of Salvation.  Furthermore, knowing that our grandchild has accepted Christ’s gift of Salvation makes all of us feel that we have also been given an extra special Christmas gift as well, for now we know that no matter what happens to each of us, that one day we will all be together in heaven.

Many Christians, though, will not truly celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, because they have failed to share the reason for Christmas with others. Moreover, many Christian parents have failed to teach their children the real meaning of Christmas. Furthermore, they have failed to or have chosen not to take them to Sunday school or have failed to teach them about Christ at home. Other non-Christian parents still do not know the real meaning of Christmas. That is because they do not know the story of Christmas. All they have been taught is the story of a mythical Santa Claus that they have now also passed on to their children. Santa Claus and getting gifts has become the most important thing to children throughout the world who do not know the reason for the season. As a result, because we have failed to mentor our children in the truth of the season, we now have many selfish young adults who have grown up expecting to be handed everything that they want. They have not been taught that love means sacrificing for others’ happiness. For, when we sacrifice our hard-earned money and our time to buy gifts for those we love and for those who need our help in some way or another, we receive the greatest kind of happiness. God expressed His love by making the ultimate sacrifice when He sent His Son to earth to die for our sins. The least we can do is to sacrifice our time and make the effort to teach our children about Christ, to share the Gospel message with others, and to mentor those who need our help. Only then can we experience true happiness on this earth.

The Light of the World

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – (John 3: 16. NASB).

As a tiny baby, born of a virgin mother, Jesus came into the world to experience all the things that humans experience in the way of emotions and hurts, so that He could speak from that experience and share the hope of eternal salvation with us. Unlike us, though, Jesus never sinned. We on the other hand, cannot get through a day without sinning in some way or another. But, since God cannot look upon sin and unrighteousness, there is only one way for humans to be made righteous and sinless so that they can someday spend eternity with Him. That one way, is through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. That one way comes when a person truly believes that God sent His Only Son to share the truth, die for our sins, and arise on the third day having conquered eternal death and having overcome Satan’s plan for the destruction of human souls. Only when a person calls upon the name of Jesus Christ and asks Christ to come into their heart while believing that He is the Son of the Living God will that person be given the greatest gift of all—Salvation!

“Jesus answered and said to them. ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’ … Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’ … ‘For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.’” – (John 6: 29, 35, 40. NASB).

Salvation means having that internal peace that passes all understanding. Salvation means that we no longer walk in the darkness of this world. Salvation means that we have the assurance of eternal life lived with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but have the Light of life.” – (John 8: 12. NASB). Later, when He was telling His disciples of His upcoming death on the cross, Jesus said, “He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” – (John 13: 45, 46. NASB).

At Christmas time, people put lights all over their homes and on their Christmas trees to shine out into the darkness. Few people recognize the significance of those lights at this particular time and season. Christ came into the world as the Light of the World. So, when an individual asks Christ into their heart, they are given an internal light that should shine out upon the world in their actions and words. The saved should represent and shine the light of Christ out upon the world and on others who still need to come to the saving grace of Christ. At Christmas time, though, we have tried to shine the light of the Christmas season out into the darkness through the light of Christmas bulbs. Sadly, many Christians do not understand that their internal light can be brighter than any house decorated with Christmas lights. For our Salvation and the light of Christ in our hearts has more illuminating power than the many Christmas bulbs shining throughout the world. Christians can and should illuminate the world with the joy, peace, and love of knowing Christ. We can share our internal light of Christ all year round, if we will just take the time to share that light with others.

Sharing the Light

Whether it is Christmas time, or some other season of the year, Christians have a responsibility to share the truth of the holiday seasons with their children and with others and to share why a particular holiday is being celebrated. Instead, many Christians just think that the rest of the world will see the truth on their own. But most people aren’t able to see the truth, because they have been blinded with the secular celebrations that Satan uses to continually deceive them. Satan’s deceptions are why we have a Christmas season with many people not even understanding why it is called Christmas. It is also why the celebration of the resurrection of Christ in the Spring is simply thought of as the day when the Easter bunny comes to bring children baskets. Christians, though, can countermand Satan’s deceptions by spreading the truth. We must start doing better by sharing with others the reasons for the season and the truth of the Gospel message. In fact, Christians have a responsibility to not only mentor others in the Gospel message, but to also mentor our children in the knowledge of God and Christ. We all have a responsibility to share that same information with our friends and extended family members. If you don’t share, they will end up living in darkness eternally.

This Christmas day, take the time to share the reason for the season, i.e., the truth of the story of the Christ child’s birth over 2000 years ago. Give the gift of hope. Give the gift of love. Give the gift of the Gospel message to as many people as you can. You can do it! You can share Jesus with others. You can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  Merry Christmas!

The Mentoring of Our Children in a Politically Correct World

In case you are wondering why I have recently missed a week or so here and there with writing and posting my blog, it is because my husband and I are gradually moving from our temporary dwelling to our new home about two hours away. Both my husband and I are really busy. In fact, my husband will be retiring at the end of the year, so he is still working while trying to help me pack up our things for the final move. At the same time, along with packing up our household articles, I have been working with my publisher on the editing of my book on Christian mentoring, and I am presently working with my publisher on the design layout for the book. I am very excited about the publication of this book and have been working on it every minute that I am not working on packing or on writing this blog. When the book gets closer to the publication date, I will give you all more information about it. Needless to say, though, at present I am very busy, and sometimes it seems that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished. That is why I have had to miss publishing my weekly blog once in a while.

I hope that you all will hang in there with me, though, and that you will continue to follow my blog, because I truly believe that what we learn about Christian mentoring can make all the difference in how the rest of the world perceives Christ and our Heavenly Father. I also believe that Christian mentoring is extremely important and that active mentoring can help others understand who their Savior is and can give those with whom we share the Gospel a chance to receive Christ into their heart, so they too can have an eternity of beauty and happiness with God the Father and Christ the Son.

(Remember that this blog is separated into topics so that if you do not have time to read the entire blog at one sitting that you will have easy breaking or stopping places. I hope you enjoy this one.)

Active Relational Parental Mentoring

Active Relational Christian Mentoring makes a difference in how the next generation lives and in how they perceive God and His Son, Jesus Christ. For, without the daily mentoring of our children, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, etc., this world will continually get worse from every perspective. It will get worse when our children are not being taught the truth in every area of life including the truth about our country being a Republic and not it not being a Democracy. It will get worse when our children become brainwashed with the ideas and philosophies of socialists and communists who want our country to be destroyed. It will get worse when political correctness stifles conversation and the freedom of expression. Even if we disagree with the opinions and expressions of others, our constitution gives everyone the right to express their opinions and to say what they think. It is only through parental mentoring on the truth of the Bible and the truth about historical basis of our country and what it stands for that the next generations will be able to have the same freedoms that we have enjoyed. Stifling the truth through political correctness or through what is no longer taught in schools cannot continue, if we want our nation to not disappear. That is why parents must step up to actively mentor their children in truth.

Without Active Relational Christian Mentoring our young people will be emotionally and spiritually lost. In fact, our country has already changed from the God fearing and loving country of my youth, to a country that ridicules and makes fun of those who believe in Christ. Sadly, this world and even our nation will get worse, if that is possible, because people are not being mentored in the truth of the Gospel message or mentored in loving each other as they love themselves. How do I know this? Well, the Bible tells us that there will come a time when this world will be focused on selfishness. Moreover, there will be an end to this world as we know it. In fact, here is what Jesus told the disciples would happen in the end times. Jesus said, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.” – (Matthew 10: 21. NASB). How sad!

Why will the world get worse? It will get worse when all the values, integrity, and love dissipate. It will get worse when there is no longer a godly foundation on which people can build their lives. For, without a foundation on which to base their lives the next generation will have nothing to hold on to, and so people will start floundering around looking for things or reasons to make living their lives meaningful and worthwhile. Young people today, including people in their 40’s and 50’s, have a hole in their soul that they can’t seem to fill with drugs, philosophies, and other false religions, even though they desperately try to fill that God-shaped hole with those things and many other things as well. But, the main reason that things in this world will get worse is because parents are failing to teach their children the importance of knowing God and of remembering the great things that God has done and will still do for His children.

Passing the Knowledge of God and His Truth on to Our Children

Even back in the book of Exodus, God told the people that without parents teaching their children what they had seen and experienced with God during the Exodus, that the next generation would forget what the truth was. That is why God told Moses to urge the parents to teach their children all the truths about God. God also wanted the Israelites to recount the stories of God’s greatness to their children, so the children would not forget the wonderful things that the Lord had done for all of them. People need to be continually taught and reminded about what God has done in their lives, because people have very short memories in the long run. 

So, Moses told the people to:

“… listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the Lord your God. Just obey them. …

You must obey these laws and regulations, when you arrive in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The Lord my God gave them to me to pass them on to you. If you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, ‘What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!’ For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on Him? And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as the body of laws that I am giving you today? …

But be very careful not to forget what you have seen the Lord do for you. Do not let these things escape your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.”  -- (Deuteronomy 4: 1, 2, 5 – 8, 9. NLT).

God gave those of us in the United States of America a great nation, and because our nation was founded upon the truth of God we have had other nations wondering how our nation has been so wise and prudent. But, if we are not careful, we will forget what we have seen the Lord do for our nation. Unfortunately, we are allowing God’s blessings to escape our minds, because we have failed to pass them on to our children and grandchildren. Parents in the world today have forgotten to pass on the truth and the laws of God as well.

Unfortunately, when there is no foundation of truth and when people do not know God, they will fall for anything and become subservient to false ideas and false philosophies that create hopelessness and fear. Consequently, because of their ability to fall for anything, the next generation is now setting themselves up to receive the Antichrist with arms outstretched. For, the Antichrist is the greatest liar and deceiver of all. In fact, when the Antichrist comes, “this evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them.”  -- (II Thessalonians 2: 8-10. NLT). Because of their hopelessness, people will quickly latch on to the Antichrist’s lies in the hopes that he has the answer to their dilemmas and that he can answer those life questions that are plaguing them and making them so lonely inside.

If we ever had any doubt about the floundering direction of the next generation or of their ability to be gullible and to fall for false ideas and beliefs, all we have to do is look at the protests and riots that occurred for many days and for even a couple of weeks in some areas after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton out to be the next president of the United States. We heard statements from the protesters like, “I am so scared!”. The young people, ages 14 to 40, were crying and demanding to have safe zones at their colleges so they could cry, receive hugs, and cuddle with puppies to make themselves feel better. But, when asked directly why they were so scared, they could not tell us, because they could not articulate their fears, ideas, or feelings. 

However, those in the gay community could articulate that they were in fear that Mr. Trump would take away their long sought after laws of protection, because the false media had put ideas in their heads that had never been articulated by president-elect Trump when he was running for office. But because they had put so much hope in president Obama and his clone, Hilary Clinton they could not imagine a nation that was still going to be free for gays. How sad, that they had put all their hope in a single human. They had fallen for many lies, because they had no foundation or godly foundation on which to stand, nor did they know the difference between falsehood and truth, or between truth and the propaganda that had been perpetrated by the news media on the unsuspecting and unknowledgeable people of these last two generations.

Signs and Symptoms of Selfishness and the “Me Generation”

Because parents, including Christian parents, have not mentored their children in the truth of the Bible, in morality, in etiquette, in common kindness and caring for others, in integrity, in respecting other people’s right to have an opinion even if it differed from their own, and in humility, our young people of the current college age generation and the upcoming high school generation have fallen for the liberal socialistic views of what has become known as the “me generation”, for their focus is on themselves and no one else. Consequently, this “me generation”, egged on by their liberal teachers and professors, feels that it is their right to protest and even to riot to get their disappointment or point across, while Christian based older generations have accepted the outcome of the election, even if they were disappointed. That is because the older generations know the history of this nation and know that our nation is a Republic and that is not a democracy of the majority or of mob rule. Sadly, most people think that our nation was built as a democracy, because they have not been taught correctly in school. Besides not having a godly foundation, many do not have an historical foundation either.

The older generations, those in their 50’s and above, are more likely to have a foundation of life based upon God and their church. But, the younger generations do not have a godly foundation, nor have they ever been deprived of anything that they wanted. Sadly, the last two younger generations believe that they can have whatever they want whenever they want it, and that if they don’t get what they want they can just throw a fit and stomp on someone else’s rights in order to get what they want. But, where did they get this idea that they deserved to get what they want no matter whose toes they step on? Well, they got it from their parents, who have given them whatever they wanted, and from their teachers, and professors who teach them that they are entitled to whatever they desire.

Instead of parents teaching their children that life is not always easy and that they must work hard to get what they want, children have grown up believing that they should automatically get a free education, for don’t most parents pay for their child’s education even when they can’t afford it? But, when parents simply cannot afford to send their child to college, shouldn’t those that still want to go to college have been taught that they simply must get a job and work while going to college? In other words, they should have been taught to not only have a work ethic, but to put themselves through college. Unfortunately, many of those that should have worked along the way to pay for their own education, simply put aside the idea of working for an education and instead they have embraced the government loans which have to be paid back shortly after graduation. Obviously, there has been a great surprise for many of those who accepted or took out the government loans. They found that they desperately need a job after graduation in order to repay those loans, and that not every graduate can get a job. Why can’t they find a job?

Many students simply cannot find their ideal job. Moreover, many other students have been surprised to learn that all educational pursuits do not automatically lend themselves to a great job upon graduation. For example, if you major in basket weaving, you might not be able to find a great job. Furthermore, some jobs are harder to obtain because too many people have majored in that particular educational area. In addition, students have discovered that their expectations to start at a salary equivalent to what their parents are now making is often unrealistic. They forgot or did not realize that their parents have spent many years working hard to reach the plateau they are on with their present salary. Thus, when some students graduate and cannot get a $75,000 to $100,000 job, but are still expected to start paying back their gargantuan student loans, their little perfect world comes crashing down. But still, it couldn’t possibly be their fault for not knowing what would ultimately come, could it?

Even though they may have chosen the wrong major, only went to classes sometimes, or partied hardy, their “me generation” views on life could not possibly be wrong. So, instead of accepting a job at a lower salary, many of these students have refused to give an inch, because they feel they deserve that larger salary. To that end, they have again simply called upon mom and dad to help them out and have gone back home to live with their parents. Some have even politicalized their selfishness and their failed work ethic to protest having to pay back their loans, saying: “It isn’t fair!” Yet they are the ones that got to spend four or five years living off the government’s or taxpayers’ money.

Why do these students have such selfish liberal views? Well, it starts at home with being given basically everything they ever wanted without having to work or appreciate what their parents were sacrificing to give them what they asked for. Then add to that the liberal education they received and they come out of college with selfish liberal worldviews. How do they get these worldviews? Well, it is because they do not question their liberal professors’ opinions and ideas. It is so much easier to just embrace their liberal professor’s socialistic or atheistic views on life and society when they do go to classes than to think for themselves. That is because studying and inquiring on their own in order to come up with the truth requires effort, and it is so much easier to just accept and gradually come to believe what the professor is telling them than to work at discovering the truth. But, if their parents had taught them the truth and had prepared their children for life by giving them a godly foundation while instilling in them a work ethic, these students would not have automatically accepted what some authority figure in charge of their grades was telling them.

God Told Parents to Teach Their Children

God knew that without parents adhering to His laws and commandments He had given them and without their reverence and love for Him that life on this earth would be extremely hard and that their children would fall away and accept false gods and beliefs. In fact, God said, “Oh that they had such a [mind and] and heart in them always [reverently] to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children forever!”  -- (Deuteronomy 5: 29. Amplified). But, many parents have not passed on God’s truth to their children. Consequently, things have not gone well for those students who have not loved the Lord and who do not keep God’s commandments. Yet, they wonder why they have a hard time in this life. But, it is simple, they do not have the godly foundation of truth on which to build their lives, so they simply believe anything that comes their way, or they believe anything that seems to be beneficial to themselves.

Many students come out of college unprepared to face the cruel world, because they were indoctrinated with the belief that the government should take care of them just like mommy and daddy had attempted to take care of them by handing out money without any expectations for their child’s personal growth. Enter Bernie Sanders for president. Bernie appealed to these liberal socialistic minded youth, because he was going to give everyone a free education or wipe out their debt by taxing the billionaires and others who he believed had made too much money. Bernie wanted a higher tax on those who made over $250,000 dollars. That is not rich in today’s economy, but it is certainly richer than those in poverty. So, Bernie wanted to take from the rich to give to the poor. That sounds good to the “me generation.”

Because many of our youth have not been taught to care about others the way they care for themselves, and because they were not taught to respect a strong work ethic; nor were they taught to have gratitude or kindness in their hearts for anyone, let alone those that started companies when they had nothing and then through hard work finally succeeded, they think only of themselves. Their idea of hard work is to get the government to just give them some of what someone else has worked so hard for. So, thinking only of themselves and without love for others, they flocked to Bernie Sanders rallies, determined to vote for him so they could get what they wanted. But Christ said “that you (i.e., we) should love one another. (Christ said,) Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another.” – (John 13: 34. Amplified). Sadly, these students and graduates believe that they deserve to have their schooling paid for by the taxpayers. So, without love for others and by only thinking of themselves, they are determined all the more to get what they want.

Mentoring Responsibilities of Parents Versus the Power of Teachers

Why do our children fall for these liberal views and the socialistic words of their professors instead of thinking for themselves and determining to work out their own problems? Well, besides students' failing to question and research the truth, many parents forgot a couple of very important parental responsibilities that have also contributed to the generation of young people today who protest and riot when they don’t get their way. What are those parental responsibilities that have been neglected? First parents have not established a godly household with Christ at the center. They have not taught God’s laws or the love of God. Why? Well, it’s so much easier for many parents to sleep in on Sunday morning than to take the children to Sunday school and church. Haven’t they already put in a long week of work and don’t they deserve time to themselves?

Time spent talking with and instructing our children on every aspect of life, including their spiritual life, is the second thing that parents have forgotten do. It is so much easier for parents to spend time for themselves than to spend quality communication time with their children, which is what every child wants from the person who claims to love them. But without that communication and quality parental time, our children are not being taught right from wrong, truth from fiction, work from laziness, values from the things that are valueless, ethics including a work ethic, integrity, responsibility, kindness and care for others and how to think of others before one’s self. Consequently, we have many children and at least two generations of some college graduates who are be extremely selfish and thoughtless.

James, the brother of Jesus, said, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. … For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” – (James 3: 13, 14, 16-18. NASB). 

We have seen recently after the elections what disorder and evil can do to towns where young people got out and protested, because they didn’t get what they wanted. Why have our children left their jobs and classes to protest? Well, parents have not mentored or taught them about truth, love, and wisdom. Furthermore, we have even seen some adults, who should know better, write filthy graffiti on someone else’s building that disrespects our president elect. What kind of example is this supposedly upstanding citizen setting for our children and college students? Someone certainly abdicated their parental responsibilities when bringing him up. Now, he is the one setting a bad example for others, and so it goes on and on.

By abdicating our parental responsibility of sharing God with our children, of not teaching our children the important things in life like truthfulness and integrity, and by not spending time talking with our children, we have simply given our children over into the hands of the public-school teachers and college professors; many of whom have hidden agendas and are actually anxious and excited to brainwash the minds of their classroom children and our youth with ideas, beliefs, and philosophies that will change the way they perceive the world forever. These teachers and professors are teaching a totally different worldview than the one that this nation was built upon. This nation was built upon a worldview that gives God the glory and loves others as they love themselves. But, now our children are taught nothing about the true beginnings of this nation. Instead, brainwashing our children is now an accepted form of teaching, as is the inclusiveness of political correctness, which has allowed those with a worldview based upon hate to be accepted into the classroom. This means that those who hate our God, hate our country, and hate Christians and Jews are now being allowed to teach and brainwash our children under the guise of political correctness and freedom to express hate.

Who is Teaching Our Children?

Because, our society has allowed almost anyone to get a teaching degree without first checking on their beliefs and philosophies or their truthfulness and integrity, we have many teachers that are teaching radical ideas as well as their own personal philosophies to our children. In fact, in any given school district, we may only have a few good teachers mixed in with the many bad teachers who will use propaganda and personal views to permanently damage the minds of future generations. How do I know this? Well, I was a school teacher for 17 years and I saw what bad teachers did to the children’s minds. I also saw the number of bad teachers increasing throughout the years as people went into teaching simply to have a job, rather than for loving to instruct the students in truth, knowledge, and inquiry. Then as values were no longer allowed to be taught in schools, we started to see a new generation young teachers without any personal values actually teaching our children. However, in some cases the new teachers that are being allowed into the school districts simply do not have values that mesh with the values of a Christian nation.

Some of these questionable teachers are being given more and more power every day over the minds of our youth. This is because parents are not standing up for their basic rights to determine who teaches their children and to determine what the teacher is allowed to put into the minds of their children. For example, more recently the national news has reported that the school districts of San Francisco have gladly embraced a class curriculum designed by a Muslim teacher who wants to teach hate against President-elect Donald Trump under the guise of pointing out Trump’s supposed hate of Muslims and blacks (Remember, though, that it was the media that came up with this idea of Trump being a hater in the first place; the idea perpetrated by liberals in order to keep Trump from being elected president. But, Donald Trump has never said that he hated Muslims or blacks. He just said that he wanted to ban Middle eastern people, some of whom may happen to be Muslim, from coming into the United States until they can be extremely vetted and prove that they are not affiliated with ISIS and that they are not terrorists. Yes, Muslims come from the Middle East, so he used the word Muslim. But, Trump never said or even implied that he hated them. But the false media told the public that Trump was raciest.). However, this Muslim teacher has accepted the liberal media’s version rather than the truth, and she believes that Trump is a hater of blacks and Muslims. More importantly, she believes that it is her responsibility to teach the high school students that their new president elect is a hater. So, she is in essence teaching her students to hate their new president. Isn’t this the type of hate rhetoric that goes on in the Middle East against the different tribes? Isn’t this the same type of rhetoric that some terrorist groups use to persuade people to join their organizations? Why is it okay for her to teach hatred toward our president? More importantly, why are parents allowing their child to take her class?

Although this teacher’s class, that is based on a curriculum that teaches that Trump hates certain people, is an optional class for high school students, many students are excited to take her class. Furthermore, interviews of students who have been in her previous classes have shown us students who have failed to develop a tolerance for the views of others and now have specifically a lack tolerance for the views of Donald Trump and conservatives. Sadly, these students have not been taught to inquire and investigate the truth, but have instead drunk the cool-aid of her hatred and will thus go off to college spouting hatred of their president while being willing to adopt even more of the false philosophies of their liberal professors who also espouse some type of hate. Just as importantly, is the question of why parents are not standing up against this type of indoctrination? If this type of curriculum continues and then moves into other school districts throughout the nation, just think of what that will mean for future generations. For, an entire generation will not only accept socialism, but will also embrace the propaganda of their teachers, the media and others. We will then have a generation that will easily succumb to the lies of the Antichrist when he arrives on the scene, because they will not be able to distinguish between truth and the lie. What can and what should parents do in situations like this besides pray for our nation?

The Mentoring Responsibilities of Parents

Well, first and foremost, parents should actively mentor their children in understanding and inquiring into others points of view, while teaching their children about God and the truth. Then parents need to mentor their children in the willingness to accept others points of view without having to accept another person’s point of view as their own or without hating the other person for not believing the way that they do. Above all, parents need to mentor love and respect of others to their children. But, they also need to teach their children how to look up information and how to determine the truth of each issue. For, without a godly foundation of truth based upon the truth of the Word of God, there is little chance that their children will not be influenced by their teacher’s views. Obviously, there is a difference between respecting a teacher’s viewpoint and just accepting that viewpoint because the teacher is the authority figure holding grades over the heads of the students. Our children need to be taught how to search out the truth of any statement or opinion.

Only by laying a good spiritual and biblical foundation of truth, righteousness, integrity, honesty, love, and humility can parents expect their children to be able to engage in a conversation with others without being trampled upon or made fun of. Peer pressure and teacher or professor pressure causes many students to reject their parental upbringing, if the parents have not laid that foundation of respect, love and truth in their child’s life.

How do parents lay a foundation of respect, love and truth? How do parents ensure that their child will not fall for anything or will not hate those who do not believe the way that they do? Well, first parents must take their parental responsibility seriously. Parents must talk to their children everyday about what has been talked about in school or about what they have learned, especially when looking at ideas that may not be what the parents believe. Parents then have to be willing to step up and correct misconceptions by their students or through research correct information that may have erroneously been taught or left out.

Parents, must also be willing to discuss the foundation of our nation with their children, rather than just assuming that it is being taught in school. In other words, parents must be willing to actively mentor their children in all subjects that are important to the development of an honest, unselfish, truthful, citizen of the United States. More importantly, parents must mentor their children in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior so that the child has every opportunity to knowledgeably and then longingly accept Christ as their personal Savior. Obviously, every person has to make that decision for themselves, but if they have not heard the Gospel message and if they have not been taught from the Bible, there is a good chance that they will personally reject the greatest gift that anyone can receive – Salvation. Instead, teach them that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, what whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  -- (John 3: 16. NASB). Talk to your child about eternal life and the sinfulness of humans that must be covered by the blood of Christ in order to go to heaven.

It is only when our child truly accepts Christ as their Savior, that parents can feel secure in sending their child off to college. For, it is then that we can feel that our child has Christ as his/her protector. But, parents need to do more. Early on, parents need to make sure that their children go to a church that teaches the Bible and to a church that will give their children a foundation of godly truth on which to stand when they are away from home. At home, the parents also need to live God’s truth so that their children can see how that truth is applied to their lives every day and not just on Sunday. Only then will parents know that they have done everything to give their child a firm foundation on which to stand when the winds of evil come their way, or when different ideologies and false teachings are thrown at them in college and throughout life. Christian parents know that only true salvation along with scriptural facts based upon God’s Holy Word will give their young person the truth and the ability to stand up for what they believe no matter how persuasive that atheist or liberal professor may be.

As parental mentors, parents must also be willing to be engage in the process of helping their child find a college that doesn’t just have only liberal or socialistic professors. There are many good colleges out there, but there are also many bad colleges that have a reputation for trying to change the way a student thinks and that will attempt to change what the student believes. Those colleges want their graduates to regurgitate their professors and the political correctness police’s ideologies, biases, and radical thinking. They do not believe in inquiry or in student's learning the truth, but only in graduating them with the ideas and beliefs that the liberal college espouses. Parents should not support these types of colleges by giving money or by sending their child there. In fact, parents need to check into the philosophy of the college’s leaders or administration, because in many cases a parent could be sending their child off into the lion’s den. Your child could be eaten alive with liberal socialist views that go against the truth of God’s Word. So, it is important to know what these scholastic lions believe and if they will try to influence your child to believe what they do. Parents must be careful to give their educational money to only those colleges that actually teach and inquire about the the truth.

Although, your students will be out on their own when they go to college, it doesn’t mean that your parenting is over. In fact, if you care about your child, you will always be a parent mentor, but you will just parent in a more subtle and adult way. I am retired, but my mother still parents occasionally when she thinks that I need some information that I may have missed along the way. I know that she loves me and only wants what is best for me, so I listen even if I don’t always agree. But that is what being a parent is all about. It is showing our children that we care, that we are there for them, that they can use us as an excuse to get out questionable situations, that they can ask our opinion even though they may not take our opinion. But most of all, we are to teach them that they must respect the opinions of others even when they know or believe that the other person is wrong. For, they are to love others as they love themselves. Moreover, we are to teach them that they do not have to be scared, because God will always be there to guide and protect them if they lean on Him and their Savior, Jesus Christ.

If you are a new parent or even if you have high school age children, it is not too late to communicate with your children and teach them to think for themselves. It is never too late to teach them about God and the truth of His Word. It is never too late to share the Gospel message if they have not yet accepted Christ’s gift of Salvation. Remember, too, that if you have laid a firm foundation of values, ethics, truth, love, integrity and humility that your child will return to those ways even if they deviate in their early adult life. For the Bible tells us that we are to “Teach y[our] children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.”  -- (Proverbs 22: 6. NLT). But, we cannot abdicate the responsibility of teaching our children the right path. For, if we do, we will have children who will fall for anything.  My dad once told me that it is important to have a good foundation of truth and to know what and why we stand for something. For, if we don’t have that foundation and if we don’t stand on that foundation, we will fall for anything. So, become an active relational Christian parental mentor and teach your children about God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the truth. Then you can rest assured that your child will know the truth and will not be swayed by false beliefs and ideologies that will hurt them in the long run. We can make a difference in our nation one person or child at a time. You can do it! You can be that Active Relational Christian Mentor who helps another person become all that they can be for the Lord, for themselves, and for their family.

The Power of Prayer and the Election

I am going to deviate from my discussion of the Second Coming of Christ to speak on what has been a miracle election in our country. This national election for the president of the United States has been an event that is unprecedented in the history of our country, and I cannot let it go by without saying something about it. I will show you through biblical scriptures how and why the media did not get what they wanted or what they predicted. I will also show you why they now cannot understand how Hillary lost and how Trump became our president elect.

(Again this is a rather long blog, however I hope that you will take the time to read it. I have divided it into sections and topics so that you can have starting and stopping points if you cannot read the entire blog in one setting. I hope you enjoy it!)

The Power of Prayer

Over the years, I have studied about the importance of prayer in not only the small everyday things in our lives, but also in the large events of which we may feel that we have no control or at least very little control. Christians know that prayer makes a tremendous difference in how we get through life, and it makes a difference in even such things as a presidential election. Certainly, without prayer this election could have turned out much differently.

In studying about prayer, I have discovered that as Christians we often fail to pray and ask for God’s will to be done in our lives. Furthermore, we often only pray when we don’t know what else to do or when we think praying is a last resort. However, we should be praying every day and several times a day. In fact, the Apostle Paul told the Philippians and us that “in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”  -- (Philippians 4: 6. Amplified). This means that we should pray every day and continually talk to God about our needs, wants, and desires. For, prayer is us having a personal conversation with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our intercessor before God the Father.

Prayer is God’s gift of communication to us so that we can talk to God on a moment by moment basis. Indeed, God wants us to talk to Him and to express our needs while at the same time showing God that we are relying on and trusting Him for His perfect will in our lives. Moreover, God wants us to not only pray for the small things in life, but also pray for help with our personal problems and for our nation. In fact, God said to the Israelites in the book of Second Chronicles, “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” – (II Chronicles 7: 14). The Israelites needed help in restoring their land and God wanted the people to pray and return to Him.

Christians are God’s adopted children. Just like the Israelites, we are His people. This means God will also hear our prayers, if we humble ourselves as we seek God and turn from our wicked ways. That is why, when Christians all over this nation, humbled themselves and prayed for Trump to win over Hillary, that God heard our prayers and was willing to give us a second chance to right the direction of our country. I know the unsaved liberal media will never understand this, but prayer is the reason that Trump won.

Unfortunately, many people give up praying when they can’t see that they got what they asked for from God. But, prayer is not just about getting what we want, it is about praising the Lord, acknowledging His greatness, and expressing our gratitude for everything in the world that He has given to us to enjoy. Prayer is also about expressing our gratitude for each day that we live and for the provisions and the protection that God has blessed us with throughout each day. There are, however, those times when Christians should come together and pray specifically for the greater good of our nation or for the greater good of something that will benefit someone or will provide help when someone is in need. That is why Christians often come together in church services to collectively pray for the needs of others.

We can individually or collectively pray to God for His will to be done in our lives when we don’t know what to do or when we need God’s help, just as when Christians across our nation came together and prayed for Trump to win. (We do not all have to be in the same room or pray at the same time, but it is important that we do set aside time to pray specifically for our nation or any other national or world need, which is what Christians did in praying for this election). We recognized that it was important for us to pray and that we can’t just sit back and let others do all the praying. So, authentic Christians everywhere prayed for God to save our nation.

Christians trusted in and had faith that God would hear their prayers, but Christians understood, too, that God might have chosen to not answer our specific prayer about Trump. For, we know that that as a nation, we have fallen so far below God’s standards, and that God could have chosen to punish our nation with a socialist/would be communist, such as Hillary. (In case you didn’t know, “progressivism” is just a new word for socialism and socialism is just one step from communism.). We are so thankful that God chose to give us a second chance. Now, it is up to president Trump and the new congress to turn our nation around before it falls off the economic and moral cliff. But, we can’t stop praying now, for we have to continue to pray for the renewal of our nation and its safety. It is also up to Christians everywhere within our nation to stand up for their faith and not let the bullies take away our freedom of religion. For, it is the bullies of political correctness and liberalism that are trying to change our country. But, to keep the Christian roots of our country, we will need to keep in constant prayer and listen for the Holy Spirit’s direction and God’s words for our lives and for the nation.

As followers of Christ, we are to trust in the Lord, and pray through Christ, who is our intercessor before God. Christ presents our prayers and the Holy Spirit touches our hearts with the answers to our prayers. Jesus said, “And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.”  -- (Matthew 21: 22. Amplified). Christians everywhere believed that God would save our nation, and they prayed in faith, believing, that God would give us a second chance.

David in the Older Testament certainly believed in faith that God would answer his prayers. In fact, we have many of David’s prayers of faith in the book of Psalm. For, David relied on God to keep him safe as he ran from the enemy.  One of the prayers of David found in the book of Psalm is filled with not only supplication, but is also filled with adoration, glory, and honor to God. This particular Psalm gives us an example of a beautiful prayer that David sent up before God, starting with David’s preamble to his prayer. David prayed, “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and distressed, needy and desiring.” – (Psalm 86: 1. Amplified). Notice that the first thing that David did in his prayer was to humble himself before the Lord.

Next David tells the Lord that “I trust in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, without fear or doubt].”  -- (verse 2). Then David, glorifies and honors God by praising Him for Who He is.  David says, “For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.”  -- (Verse 5). “For You are great and work wonders! You alone are God.”  -- (Verse 10).

David also comes to God in supplication asking for God’s help. For, in this prayer, David makes a request of God to: “Preserve my life, for I am godly and dedicated; O my God, save Your servant, for I trust in You, …”  -- (Verse 2). David had been continually pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him. In fact, there were many times when David prayed for protection from King Saul and his enemies, and God answered each and every prayer. Ultimately, God not only answered each of David’s prayers, but God also arranged for David’s future. For, God had a plan for David’s life. David later became King of Israel after the Philistines killed King Saul in battle. So, God not only protected David, but God set up David as King of his own nation. That nation, Israel, will continue through to our Savor, Jesus Christ, when He comes back to earth to rule. 

In this particular case, God not only answered David’s prayer for protection, but He gave him much more. Moreover, David knew that it was God Almighty who had his life in His palms. Indeed, David understood that He first needed to come before God in humility and love, before he asked for anything. If we do the same then we, too, will receive answers to our prayers.

Not all answers to our prayers, though, will be what we may want to hear. For, God has a plan for our lives that we cannot see. Although God’s plan for us personally may not be to make us a King or Queen, we need to trust in God and acknowledge that His plans are greater than ours. (See Isaiah 55: 8, 9). Furthermore, we also know that the Holy Spirit will touch our hearts to give us comfort or to instill God’s answer in our minds or in our lives. However, whatever the answer, we know in faith that God will help us through any situation. For, God wants to be there for us, but we have to first acknowledge Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, through prayer, trust, and faith. We first need to become a child of God’s. Then, we have to allow God to lead us as we live for Christ.

We should always have trust in God and faith in the fact that God will do what He feels needs to be done to bring to fulfillment His plans for our lives and for the lives of those around us. We also must realize that prayer is not magic or something that is superstitious. Rather, prayer is communication with the powerful One and Only God of the Universe and beyond. So, we are to pray to God and talk to Him just as we would talk to a best friend, while at the same time remembering to give God, and His Son, the glory and honor that they deserve. David expresses His love and honor of God and His Son beautifully when he says, “But You, O Lord, are enthroned forever; and the fame of Your name endures to all generations. … When the Lord builds up Zion, He will appear in His glory; He will regard the pleas of the destitute and will not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for the generation yet unborn, that a people yet to be created shall praise the Lord.”  -- (Psalm 102: 12, 17, 18. Amplified). Then David continues in the next Psalm, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is deepest within me, bless His holy name!”  -- (Psalm 103: 1 Amplified). How many of us can say that we have prayed something similar in our prayers to the Lord, or how many of us have put our compete trust in the Lord?

We must pray with thoughtfulness and discernment

Prayer is powerful. But, this does not mean that we will always get what we pray for. Nor, does it mean that in getting what we want, that we will not have other issues for which we need to pray to God. However, it does mean that God wants to hear from us, and He will answer our prayers with a yes, no, or not at this time answer. But be careful for what you pray. King Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah, prayed for God to extend his life. He was dying and he wanted to live. So, God told His prophet, Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father; I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your life fifteen years.”  -- (Isaiah 38: 5. Amplified). But one of Hezekiah’s sons that was born to him during those extra fifteen years became Hezekiah’s successor. That son was ruthless, and he spent fifty-five years undoing all the reformation that had been done in Israel by Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s son took Israel back to idol worship and even killed God’s prophets.

We, too, need to be careful for what we pray. For, we have also seen how in praying for diversity and for a president who represents a different ethnic culture that like God’s gift to Hezekiah God may give us what we have prayed to receive. But, it was not until that president, who was in office for as little as eight years, was able to undermine the democracy of our nation, and bring our nation back to the brink of civil war between the races through his executive decisions and in looking the other way and leading from behind that we finally became aware that we need to be more discerning and be more willing to look beyond the political correctness of society to what is actually best for our nation. Yet, in a rush to be politically correct and embrace diversity, we embraced this president’s original idea of change, without really knowing what his ideas for change would be about.

The change that our president instituted turned out to be a personal ideological change that has nearly destroyed the fabric of our nation. So, be careful for what you pray, and first look into the background of every presidential nominee before just accepting a nominee simply because they will be the first black president or will be the first woman president. There is more to a person than their color or gender. It is the values, morals, and ethics, as well as the ideological beliefs of the nominee that will be what the nation gets from the person they choose. Those of us who lived through the Clinton presidency certainly remember the lack of values, morals and ethics that both the Clinton’s presented in their lives, not to mention the ideological beliefs that Hillary has always espoused which could change our nation into a socialistic/communistic nation. There will come a time for the first woman president, but let’s pray that the woman we choose to run for president will be highly moral, ethical and truthful as well as for the democracy of our republic.

Because we do not like to hear the word “no”, sometimes we become unhappy with the answer that God gives us to our prayer. It is the “no” and the “not at this time” answers that bother us the most, because as self-centered humans we want what we want when we want it. But we need to learn to thank God for the “no” answers as well, because God can see down the road and He knows what a “yes” answer could do to our lives. We also need to learn to rely on and depend on God for His omniscience, superior knowledge, wisdom, and His plans, which can be a hard thing for us to do. Moreover, it is especially hard to accept the “no” answers if we have not fully turned our lives over to Christ, the Son, and God, the Father. But, we need to put our faith and trust in God for all things and understand and trust that He knows what is best for us.

Making a Difference

This brings me back to this election and the prayers that were said by Christians everywhere for our nation to turn around before it runs off over the cliff. Christians everywhere not only prayed for our nation, but many also finally got the courage to get out and vote, whereas in the past many had meekly sat around and failed to vote out of apathy and frustration. Many Christians also prayed for other Christians and for all the people who had failed to vote in the past to get out and vote, because we knew that it would take as many people as possible actually getting out to vote in order to get Trump elected. Indeed, the Christians that turned out to vote made a difference in the election. Moreover, this was an important difference to make. Why?

Unfortunately, our country has been going downhill since the 1960’s. Moreover, like a roll of toilet paper that rolls faster and faster when it gets closer to the end of the roll, our nation has been rolling ever faster downhill toward socialism (progressivism) and debauchery, as all morals, values, ethics, and truth have been pushed aside as if they are trash. As the Supreme Court has been eroded with liberals and our other courts with even more liberals and ungodly men, Christians have been relegated to being ridiculed and to receiving lawsuits against them for attempting to stand up for their faith, the constitution, and their rights. That is because the liberal agenda and the ALCU has stomped on the rights of Christians in the name of inclusion and political correctness. But, with this election Christians saw a chance to put someone in office that might be able to bring our country back to some semblance of truth and back to the use of the constitution as the founding fathers intended it to be used. Because Christians prayed and got out to vote, we now have a chance to add a Supreme Court justice to the bench who believes in a constitutional justice and who knows that God is our benefactor. But without Christians coming out in droves to vote in this election we would not have gotten a chance to right our nation’s downward spiral.

The media, though, cannot understand how they lost, because they used deception and slander to put down Donald Trump. Then they brought out the big guns and attempted to ruin Trump’s character by releasing a locker room type tape that showed Mr. Trump talking badly about women. Last, but not least, they encouraged women to come forward to say that he is a sexist so that other women would not vote for him. (No one knows if these women are being truthful or not, but at least one woman was proved false in her allegations.) However, their ploys failed, because most Christians could see through their shenanigans. Moreover, the other candidate was morally and ethically corrupt, and many people just could not vote for the other candidate. So, the explanation for Trump’s success is simple: Christians prayed, believing that God would give our country a second chance, and believing that God would encourage those who had never or who had not voted in a long time to come out and vote. In this way, God created the miracle through His followers. God made Trump the president elect.

Another reason that Christians came out and voted in this election was that Christians everywhere had finally realized that they had given up control of their country to the liberals. Over the years many people had failed to get involved in voting and guiding the direction of our country. Instead, we just sat back and allowed the secular world to control our lives and the nation. But, in this election, Christians not only decided to get out and vote, but they also decided to pray. Consequently, Christians everywhere saw the power of prayer and the power of standing up for what we believe in. According to the polls and to the lying media, president elect Trump did not have a chance to win. So, how did it come about that a man who had never been in politics and had basically no backing from the political establishment could and indeed did become the president elect of our nation? In order to understand this phenomenon or this unprecedented occurrence we will need to turn to the Bible.

God puts leaders in position and removes

leaders from their position

.

First, let’s take a look at the Older Testament and the book of Daniel. In the second chapter, Daniel wrote: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever! For wisdom and might are His! He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings.” – (Daniel 2: 20, 21. Amplified). Here we discover that it is God who puts leaders into their position and it is God Who removes them. In fact, God uses the leaders and kings that He sets up to benefit a nation or to discipline a nation. But, to better understand this, let’s look a little closer at one of Daniel’s prayers and the answer that he got from God to enlighten a particular king.

Long ago, Daniel, the prophet, prayed to God and was given the answer to King Nebuchadnezzar’s question about his forgotten dream. It seems that after King Nebuchadnezzar awoke from a dream and couldn’t remember what the dream was about, that he asked all the wizards and the magicians in his country to tell him the dream. But, no one could tell the king what he had dreamed, so King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to kill the people whom he thought should be able to tell him his dream, including Daniel and his friends. But, Daniel was able to come up with the answer to the king’s dream through his faith and trust in God. So, how did Daniel find out what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed? Well, Daniel and his friends, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah started their quest for an answer by praying to God. Then God revealed the unknown dream to Daniel in a night vision. After getting the answer, Daniel first praised God before he told King Nebuchadnezzar his dream.  Let’s read what Daniel said to God.

“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,

For wisdom and power belong to Him.

It is He who changes the times and the epochs;

He removes kings and establishes kings;

He gives wisdom to the wise men

And knowledge to men of understanding.

It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;

He knows what is in the darkness,

And the light dwells with Him.

To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,

For You have given me wisdom and power;

Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You,

For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”  -- (Daniel 2: 21-23. NASB).

Notice that in Daniel’s blessing of God, he acknowledged that it is God and God alone who establishes and removes kings or leaders of kingdoms and nations. Looking back through the centuries, including all the centuries during biblical and up through medieval times and then into those centuries that have brought us into modern historical times, we can see both good and bad leaders that that were allowed to come into power for a period of time. Some of the leaders were good, but some of the leaders were down right evil. However, we can always have faith in the fact that God has been and always will be in control of this world, even when some of the leaders or kings that He has allowed to reign or to have leadership positions were evil or ruthless.

Why does God allow these evil leaders to have power over us? Well, God does not condone these evil leaders and there is no evil in God, but God does allow Satan’s evil leaders to have leadership positions in order to fulfill God’s plans in spite of the deception and evilness surrounding those that Satan and the evil and undiscerning humans have promoted to leadership positions. God allows these leaders to rise to their positions so that even through this hardship, people will turn to God and Christ and come to know that God and His Son are there to help and protect them.

People just need to have faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and turn to Him for help and protection, no matter who has been placed in power. Remember that God has told us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, … For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” – (Isaiah 55: 8, 9. NASB). Moreover, we need to remember that God has also told us that “I know the plans that I have for you,… plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  -- (Jeremiah 29: 11). Knowing that God is the sovereign truthful, kind, and loving God that He is, should at least help us to understand that, as humans, we can’t possibly see or understand the workings of the mind of God. We just have to believe that whatever leader that comes into power, is there because of God’s ultimate good plan for humanity, even if it seems that life has gotten hard. For, God wants as many people as will to come to the saving grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. But, for some people, it will only be through trials and hardships that they will stop and think on and then accept the Gospel message of Salvation. Although we may not understand that plan, we must trust in God’s plan. For, God wants humans to be saved and spend eternity with Him.

God Disciplines through the Leaders He Allows to Have Power

Sometimes, though, God will allow bad leaders into power when a country needs discipline or needs to turn back to Him. In modern times, God can bring about this discipline by allowing an unjust or even an ideological leader who can help to humble a nation after encouraging the people to express their own hate, lust, and idol worship in the name of tolerance, inclusion, and political correctness. Then, in humility and pain, people will eventually see that they have been deceived and that they have gone against truth and God's laws. It is then that they will turn to God and ask for God's help. Are we not experiencing hate, lust, and idol worship within our country today?. Indeed, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. But, when people do what is right in their own eyes and dismiss or eliminate God from their daily lives and their government, God will start the discipline process by allowing foreign nations to overtake the nation or by allowing chaos to reign from within the nation. We are experiencing the beginnings of chaos, which has been silently promoted by our sitting president who seems to want the chaos to reign. Let us pray that our new president can stop this chaos and institute a more godly nation under God before further discipline from God.

Throughout history, we can find leaders who have engaged in evil while other nations and their evil leaders or groups of people have taken over a specific nation for the express purpose of oppressing the people. This may be hard to understand, but if we look at the book of Judges in the Bible we can get an overview of what happens when God allows evil leaders or other nations to take over a country for a time period. In looking at the book of Judges, we can begin to understand the reason behind God’s plan to discipline a country.

The book of Judges is the recorded cyclical history of Israelite people falling away from their faith in God by worshipping idols and doing other evil things against God and His laws. It is cyclical because the people failed to learn their lessons and ended up repeating the same mistakes over and over again. In this particular book of the Bible we see that God disciplines the people and their nation by allowing them to be oppressed by another nation or group of people for a period of time. Sadly, the Israelite people experienced this type of discipline over and over again, as each new generation of people failed to remember what previous generations of Israelites had to live through for their failure to live for God. Consequently, God would punish them, too, by allowing another ungodly and evil group of people to overcome the Israelites for another period of time.

Each time the Israelites would be oppressed, it would take 20 or more years of oppression before the people would cry out to the Lord and ask for His help. They would finally repent of their misdeeds and their failure to worship God alone. Then they would promise to worship only God again and also promise to turn from their evil ways. In His graciousness, God would accept their repentance and would send them a deliverer who would help the Israelites to overthrow their evil oppressors. Obviously, the Israelite people would be thrilled and so would again return to worshipping God and living for Him for a while. But, as time went by the people of the next generation would again forget Who gave them their freedom, and they would forget all about their true Lord as they again lived only for themselves. Why did the next generation forget about God and do only what each deemed right in their own eyes? Well, it was because the parents did not mentor or teach their children Who God is. They did not teach their children to love God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. Does this sound familiar?

Throughout the book of Judges, is recorded the phrase: “And the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, …”. – (Judges 4, 6, 13). Gradually, the Israelites would return to worshiping idols and living for themselves rather than living for God. Another phrase that is often found in Judges is the phrase: “In those days … every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  -- (Judges 21: 25). (Does this sound familiar to you?) But, God would only tolerate so much, before He would again discipline the people. As discipline and punishment, God would once again allowed ruthless oppressors to overtake and suppress the people for a period of time. When the people could no longer stand the oppression, they would cry out to the Lord for help. Then the cycle started again with their repentance -- being delivered from their oppressors -- living for the Lord for a little while -- but finally again doing what was right in their own eyes, as they worshiped other gods besides God -- which led to them again being oppressed for years -- before they again repented and cried out to the Lord for help. Then the cycle would start all over again with their repentance. In fact, there are seven distinct cycles of sinfulness, oppression and redemption throughout the book of Judges.

Sadly, the Israelite people did not seem to learn from their past mistakes. (Does this, too, sound familiar about some people and our nation today?) For, time and again the Israelite people would suffer defeat again and again because of their rebellion against God. But this book in the Bible is not atypical to what has gone on throughout all of the world’s history. Rather, the book of Judges is just a microcosm of or an internal look at what can be seen deep within the hearts and lives of many people throughout history and even yet today. Does this type of personal and national rebellion against God remind you of where our nation might be heading today?

Obviously, God raised up our nation to be a beacon of hope and salvation to the nations of the world. We are to be an example to the rest of the world and are to individually be active relational Christian mentors to others, including to the leaders of other nations, but especially to our children. Our nation was founded on God, and our founding fathers based our Constitution on God’s laws, values, morals, integrity, ethics, etc. But, where has God’s laws, values, morals, integrity and ethics, etc. gone?

In being a Christian nation, we have had 240 years of God’s blessings and protection. But, like the people in the book of Judges, we have begun to think only of ourselves and to worship things, false gods, and ideologies other than God. We are now allowing “every man to do (did) what is right in his own eyes.” Furthermore, as a nation, we no longer respect God, with many people wanting to do away with worshipping God altogether. Moreover, we have allowed a few leaders, such as the Clinton’s and Harry Reed to destroy the concept of ethics, truth, and justness by accepting their terrible behaviors as the norm. Such things as promoting rioting, promoting shakedowns, and promoting chaos to get their way tells us that we have fallen far from the goodness and truth that God expects us to adhere to.

There are, however, many Christians who have finally had enough of the murder of unborn babies, the immorality daily expressed, the shakedowns and blackmail of individuals who get in the way of these evil leaders, as well as the evil that permeates society, and the socialistic ideas that leave God out of the picture and put down those who aren’t in the elite. Christians have had enough! So, this election was about bringing our country back to its Christian roots and about bringing all of us back to serving God. It was also about bringing back an economy that supports the middle-income people rather than just the elite. We also recognize that we need leaders who can change this nation back to a nation that protects its citizens, supports the faith of those who desire to worship God, and quits killing unborn babies. In other words, we recognize that we must discipline ourselves before God disciplines us and we are overrun by oppressors. Furthermore, we have to again become the Christian example that sets the standards for other nations as well. We have to again become an example and role-model to other nations.

We have to again become a melting pot of Americanism rather than just an America that is divided by ethnicity and race. The only way that we can do that is for Christians to again get involved in not only spreading the Gospel message, but to also become Active Relational Christian Mentors who are willing to reach out to help and empower other individuals to become the best person they can become.

Just as importantly, we have to refute the lying media and the intolerant people who are teaching our children that President elect Trump is a racist. Just because Trump wants to beef up our borders and deport the criminals does not mean that he is racist. But, in this politically correct society that believes their view of the world is more important than anyone else’s view of the world, it is hard to find the truth. That is because many people just latch on to what the media says whether or not it is the truth. In fact, people no longer research to find the truth or try to seek out the truth in their daily lives. They just accept what they hear some commentator on the news espouse. Worse still we, as a society, are allowing teachers with hidden agendas to indoctrinate our children into hating our president elect. Shame on us! What happened with teaching our children to have respect for the position of the President of the United States, whether they like the president or not? As parents, we have abdicated our role as parental teachers and mentors to our children. Now, is the time to return to our mentoring.

We Must Continue to Pray and to Mentor our Children

Christians must also continue to pray for our country and for the wisdom of President elect Trump, because he and our country are in a very vulnerable position. The world is watching how we handle this election and they are seeing a nation that has demonstrators against the outcome of our election process. So, Christians everywhere, must pray for president elect Trump’s protection and for the Electoral College not to be swayed by those who would attempt to blackmail them to get them to change their vote to Hillary. God hears our prayers and like the Psalmist may we pray: “May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. … He will answer him (us) from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. … Save O Lord; May the King answer us in the day we call.”  -- (Psalm 20: 5, 6, 9. NASB).

Prayer is Powerful! God wants us to pray. So, lift up your voices in prayer asking that Satan will not be allowed to derail what our prayers have already accomplished. Remember that we are to: “be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  -- (I Peter 5: 8. NASB). Satan wants to devour Christians and this election, and he is using all those misguided and unethical individuals to attempt to do so. But God is more powerful than the devil. We just have to let God know that we are not going to pull our heads back into our shells and allow things to return to what they were before President-elect Trump was elected. Instead, we are going to continue to pray for our country while giving God all the glory, because the next two months or so are very crucial to the ultimate health and restoration of our nation. We cannot allow the liberal progressives to take back our nation. But, it is only through our trust and faith in God, shown through believing our prayers will be answered, that we can with God’s help and power stop Satan’s evil agenda. We need to pray, too, that our children are not indoctrinated or mentored by liberal teachers or brainwashed by those with hidden agendas. Parents need to know what our children are being taught and then correct what the teachers have said if it goes against the truth. We have to mentor our children in truth, values, morality, integrity, love, and etiquette. You can do it!

Parents everywhere should be standing up and demanding that our children not be indoctrinated, but rather given all the facts that are pertinent and necessary to their mental growth. They should be taught the truth about our Constitution, the true history of the world and our nation, mathematics, science and health, etc. But they should not be influenced by their teacher’s personal beliefs. Sadly, we have relegated the teaching of our children to a society that has a totally different worldview than those who believe in God and truth. Unfortunately, we have allowed the liberals to negate our parental teaching. Moreover, these teachers have taken on the role as active mentors to our children in order to change our children’s worldview to their teacher’s worldview.

As Christians, we are going to have to stand up for the truth and mentor not only our children, but mentor others who have been indoctrinated with hate for those who don’t agree with them. It is ironic that those who think that they are teaching tolerance are actually teaching hate and disrespect for others that don’t agree with their views on life and their views on politics.  But if we remember our history, that is exactly what Hitler did with the youth of Germany. He indoctrinated them with hate for the Jewish people and hate for the Christians who supported the Jews. We cannot let something like that happen in our country! We must not let some politically correct and misguided teachers indoctrinate our children and turn them into self-righteous hate mongers. So, we must continue to pray for our nation, our children, and the teachers who are attempting to share the truth.

Yes, Christians everywhere need to continue to pray for our nation. The enemy of hate and chaos is roaming everywhere inciting our youth and indoctrinating them with hate. We just saw God answer our prayer to give our nation a second chance, but we cannot stop praying now. It is more important than ever that we pray for the safety and peace of our nation, the safety of our president, the president’s wisdom to do the right things, and to pray for congress to come to together to accomplish the things that can get our nation back on track. We just saw how powerful the prayer of righteous people can be when we humbly come before the Lord repenting of our sinful ways and asking for help and restoration. For, the scriptures tell us that “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (For example:) Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. (see I Kings 17:1 & I Kings 18: 42-45). And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual]. – (James 5: 16-18. Amplified). As God’s children, we can pray for this hate to stop! We can pray for the wisdom of our president elect. We can pray for congress to make the right decisions and pass the right bills. We can pray for a new health care program that negates most of Obama Care. We do not have to stop praying, because God hears our prayers!

 We have just seen what collective community prayer can accomplish. Let’s not stop now! We must continue to collectively pray for the safety and peace of our nation, for the well-being of our new President, and for the comradery of congress. We also must reach out to our children and mentor them in the truth so that when their school teachers and the news media try to indoctrinate them with false news and opinions, as well as indoctrinate them with the teacher’s or the media’s personal worldviews, that our children can see and discern the difference between the truth and someone else’s narrative. This means that we each have to become Active Relational Christian Mentors to those around us and especially to our children. So, go to it! You Can do it! You can be a great Active Relational Christian Mentor who teaches the truth and is an example of an authentic Christian who loves Christ and prays to God through Christ each and every day.