What makes us different from the world?.. What sets us apart?.. What is it that gives us notoriety?.. And in the end, what makes people hate us? You heard me right; people HATE us. But why??? How can a group of people dedicated to a life of meekness, sharing, love, truth, humility, and self control be sneered at and abhorred by the rest of the world. A world that on any census would admit that the Christian way of life would fit their ideal idea of how the world should be. You would think that at the very least logic would move and lean towards this way of life. Meanwhile, in these days of political correctness, Christianity has become, in a word, "passe" and the "ideal" now is all people are naturally good and everybody's truths are valid; you believe what you want to and I will believe what I want to (it may be a sin to you but, not to me). The thought that there is only one right way to live is considered intolerant and absurd. We sit back and let the ignorant run and mediate our lives, our teachings, and our country. All the while we silent multitude hold back while we are mocked, while we are despised, and while our ideal way of life is considered too ideal. We strive for perfection and admit that we fall short of it. Even through all this, we still love the ones who hate us. How can there be so much animosity toward us??? Simple, the world is sin. Not just sinful, but sin. From that day in the Garden of Eden on, the very fabric of the world and ALL that comes from it was corrupted. This world naturally leans away from God and therefore, as a character trait, habitually sins over and over again with hardly a care. In a nutshell, the world is heading to hell in a hand-basket. Those who follow Christ do not follow this pattern. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Cor. 5:17. When we accepted salvation our hearts were made new and molded to a new pattern; the original pattern. Our old ways of acting, responding, and thinking are gone and have been replaced by a new path and desire. A path that causes us to seek out and strive for a righteous path of life. "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph. 4:22-24. This is why it is futile to understand the logic of the world's attitude toward Christians. We just aren't thinking on the same wave length.

What can we do then? Too long have we sat silent allowing the corruption of the world to reign. We cannot go down without a fight. What do we have to fight all the evil in the world? "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Cor. 10:3-5. Our combat can take place on many fronts. Most wholly, our life. We are to walk in the fruits of the Spirit and let their attributes show and flourish. We are to stand firm in our beliefs that we say we hold so dear; to love the unlovable and our enemies, to continue to help the needy, and to be faithful to God and other believers. Many talk about being true to yourself. The world uses this phrase to say that it doesn't matter what everybody else says and thinks, it's your thoughts and beliefs that matter. With a Christian, being true to yourself has an all together different meaning. "You are not your own, you were bought with a price." Sense you are no longer yours but God's, you should be true to God and all that is His. All those that have given themselves to Jesus are (or should be) of one mind. Therefore, we should be true to others of the faith. We must band together for we all have the same purpose that has been placed in our hearts by the Father Himself: we are to have a personal relationship with and a knowledge of Him, and to spread that knowledge of Him and the salvation that comes through His son to the rest of the world. In the listing of the Godly attributes in the armor of God, there was only one weapon listed: the sword of the Word of God. However, words are meaningless unless they are attached to something substantial. If you would remember that the sword was held secure in the Belt of Truth. That's our weapon. We know that all we love, all we work for, all we believe is founded in truth; the ultimate truth. And of this truth there is only one. There is only one way these can work though; we cannot be silent.

Our war is a righteous one. Our goal is simple, to bring the rest of the world to a knowledge of the truth. But truth cannot be brought about by our continuing silence. We are, in a sense, all prophets of the word of God; professing His plan and unending love to the world. All of nature is said to worship the Father. The bible says that if we keep silent, then the rocks and stones themselves will sing of His praises; for God's majesty is so great that it cannot be contained. I for one don't want to hand my job over to a rock. Our mission is clear, we cannot let the world take over. If only we can round up the courage to someday stand up for our beliefs; to stand up for truth and for values and for our God. If we could brave all the controversy and hatred to yell from the roof tops that there is ONLY ONE way to heaven and it is through the blood of Christ Jesus. To one day stand up and say "I know what is RIGHT, I know the TRUTH, and I know that no matter what you say, or what you do, or what laws you pass, that it cannot be silenced! This TRUTH will NOT go away and it cannot be stopped! We can be crushed down, we can be mowed over, but we will not go away! You can take our Lord out of our pledge, prayer out of our schools, and our commandments out of our courts, but I tell you WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY!!!"

Safe Sex... (don't worry, it's not really about that)

What is the most intiment thing a person do or be in. And I'm not looking for the safe Bible answer from anyone. It's sex, plain and simple. Don't get up, turn away, or say "this is not what I came for." Listen long enough, and you'll see that this is the heart of what you need. Sex is scientifically, emotionally, and spiritually the most important thing that drives us and all of creation. It also is the strongest drive after air, water, and food. There are two primary reasons for sex: for one, the shear pleasure and experience of it as well as the hopes of ensuring that it is a good enough experience so that we might continue doing it, and two, to produce offspring or fruit from it, and not just that, but good fruit so that others might see and that we could pass it on to the rest of the world. Even the first command that the Creater gave to His creation was to go forth and multiply.

Jesus is the bridegroom and, likewise, we are the bride of Christ. Now we look at that and mainly think of the responsibility, love, and accountibility that should be between a husband and wife should be emulated in our relationship with God. This is true, but we should also look deeper. The relationship that we share with our Father in heaven is suposed to be closer than a brother, more intimate than lovers, He is the lover of my soul, to be of the same mind and body. It is writen that all of creation testifies to the glory of God. From this, we can say that everything around us can give us a glimpse of God's mind, love, and how we can incorporate it to bring us closer to Him. And that includes sex.

Now let's look at the relationship of lovers; just what's so special about sex? We will start with the surface and move on deeper. First, it is a private act, this is not something that is ment for you to draw attention to yourself, it is a private act between you and your lover. It is not ment for you to share your most private of moments, vulnerabilities, or short-commings with the rest of the world. This part is linked to your prayer walk with God and your giving of yourself to others and the church. It is so private, that even you shouldn't dwell and think highly of yourself for it. Math. 6: 1-4 says "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them.... So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored be men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." The prophet Daniel lived this as he did his prayer everyday in the quiet of his bed chamber, in secret from the rest of the world. The way God looks at the actions of the hypocrites and the Pharasies' blatent and proud displays is just how one would look at exobitionists. This flashy outward display is ment to bring them glory, taking away from what was ment to be shared only with their lover / God.

Now let's think deeper. When a person gives themselves to sex, they are taking a big risk; they have to step out of their comfort zone, way away from their normal, safe existance. First off, you have to get naked. Yes, I said it; completely uncovered and exposed. Without this, it's pritty difficult to do it right. When you come to God, there are no lies, no hiding places, no excuses; just the bare truth, the mess that you are, you. Before God, you stand plain and honest; the only way you can to your lover. God takes you in without any of the bells and whistles, no excuses to make you look taller, thinner, or smarter, no makeup, just you and the ragged mess that you are. Only when one accepts you and loves you like this, can you have a relationship and go futher. In sex, you truely release yourself, many for the first time. You free yourself to be vulerable, happy, pained, in pain, exposed, joyful, intence to where you can just shout out, pass out from exhaustion, free to be broken, to be healed, to allow yourself to be touched deeply, to have all emptiness inside you filled, free to cry. In this, you allow all your boundries to be broken and risk pain and rejection. But, with Christ there is no rejection, He takes your pains on himself. He loves you in spite of who you are, with a love that can never die, that can only become deeper, that can never be earned, but is given freely. In this, the vessel Mary is a great example. When told that the Holy Spirit would come apon her and that she would bare the child of God, she humbled herself, letting the Lord have His way in her life simply saying "I am the Lord's servent." There was no arguement, no excuses, just naked and true in the eyes of God, ready and willing to take on the shame and whispers and the burden and pain of bringing God in flesh into the world of men. For it says that she loved God and knew the scriptures; she knew full well that the Messiah was called to be sacrificed, beaten, ridculed, and killed at the hands of His own people. Yet, she was willing to be broken, to be exposed, to have her heart renched, for her love of God was so strong.

The highest aspiration of sex is to become one with your lover; when the boundries of flesh are melted away and you are continuous with eachother, to be as the other. We are called to be mirrors of Christ to the rest of the world. We ask to be faded away and for God to be seen in our place. Acts 3:12 mentions Peter's speach to onlookers after healing a crippled begger: ..."Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Jesus says "I am the vine, you are the branches. Apart from Me, you can do nothing." And also, "If you've seen me, then you've seen the Father." If we are to have this intiment relationship with God, if we are to be one in the same, then we need to live our lives so that we can say this. When Jesus spoke, He spoke on every level; that's why we can use God's Word in so many applications. Not only was he saying that He and the Father were the same, but also, "look at what I teach, look at what I do, do this; let your words and actions be in agreement with one another. Be imitators of God. The old name Christian means "little Christs". So our life should be lived in such a way that you can insert "God" in the place of your name. That's a pritty big and scary statement, but it can't just stop at a statement. The bible says: "...If you know these things, blessed, happy, and to the envy of all men are you if you do them." Our goal is to be one with the lover of our soul.

Once you are filled with the Holy Spirit and are forever bonded as one being, what comes next? You Glow! It's gunna show. You will be a new creature. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Cor. 5:17. "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph. 4:22-24. Your view of the world and the world's view of you will be different. Before love, you were flowing through life blindly nieve with the rest of the world; satisfied, or not, with what it had because you and it had yet to have experienced such an intimacy. Once you have lost your old self, your eyes become open and all can see the difference in you; your glow of newness. In fact, you will positively gush with this change. To those who have also crossed this barrier, it will be understood. Others will ask what is different, why the change, the joy, the smile? This is not a secret to be kept. It must be spred. Knowlege is power; love is knowlege; God is love. In this love, be permiscuous. God gives it to you freely; it is free love. So take this treasure that He has shared with you in secret and use it to bless others and to help others to find their way to God so that He can plant a seed in their life.