Links & Quotes

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

[VIDEO] Great challenge from John Maxwell about being our best.

It doesn’t matter what you do … Your Job Is More Important Than You Think.

“You see Agape is all giving, not getting. Read what St. Paul says about it in First Corinthians Chap. 13. Then look at a picture of Charity (or Agape) in action in St. Luke, chap 10 v.30-35. And then, better still, look at Matthew chap 25 v.31-46: from which you see that Christ counts all that you do for this baby exactly as if you had done it for Him when He was a baby in the manger at Bethlehem: you are in a sense sharing in the things His mother did for Him. Giving money is only one way of showing charity: to give time and toil is far better and (for most of us) harder. And notice, though it is all giving—you needn’t expect any reward—how you do gets rewarded almost at once.” —C.S. Lewis

Parents and teachers, this is good advice from Tim Elmore on working with ‘difficult’ students: How To Lead An Outlier.

David Wilkerson has a solid word for those in a difficult marriage: Is There Any Hope?

John Stonestreet addresses Generation XXX: Responding To Our Pornified Culture.

Don’t let him get away with it! How Harry Reid Is Trying To End Debate In The Senate.

Links & Quotes

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

Some wonderful quotes from Dr. Seuss.

“Pride is ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration on the self.” —C.S. Lewis

Because he is not defending the Constitution of the United States of America … A Coalition Of Civil Rights Leaders & Pastors Want To Impeach Attorney General Eric Holder

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. It is good to remember his words: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

“If I would have my family ennobled, I must honor the Lord in all things. God may allow the wicked to win worldly honors; but the dignity which He Himself gives, even glory, honor, and immortality, He reserves for those who by holy obedience take care to honor Him.” —Charles Spurgeon

9 Ways To Fight The Temptation Of Pornography

[VIDEO] Funny! What if buying coffee was like buying ObamaCare?

Links & Quotes

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

Some thoughts on creativity: 8 Creativity Lessons From A Pixar Animator

Tim Elmore on how to connect with others: Who Do You Connect With When You Teach?

“Thy poor prayer would have no force with Omnipotence if force were needed; but His love, like a spring, rises of itself and overflows for the supply of all thy needs.” —Charles Spurgeon

[VIDEO] Comedy from Ken Davis: Why I Don’t Have A Cat

Insight from Mark Driscoll: 5 Things To Look For In A Good Bible Teacher

“Don’t pray for sermons, let sermons come from your prayers. So, as long as I’m meeting with God, I will always have something to say.” —Chilly Chilton

Michael Hyatt’s excellent advice to leaders: 5 Reasons You Should Smile More As A Leader

Encouragement from Max Lucado: A Passion For The Forgotten

John Stonestreet on the dangers of pornography: The Root Of Sexual Exploitation

Only a little time left to download a free song from U2 and help end AIDS: Fight AIDS With (Red)

“The fundamental issue for any of us is to feel loved. If we feel loved by the significant people in our lives, we are more likely to reach out potential for God and good in the world.” —Dr. Gary Chapman

An interesting study on missionaries and societal success: The Truth About Missionaries

Porn Is Hunting Your Kids

I’m a techy guy: I love every time I can integrate a new gadget into my daily routine. I’m also a learner: I love the almost immediate access I can get to dictionaries, encyclopedias, histories, biographies, books and other study materials online.

But there is a huge danger lurking in all of this technology—PORNOGRAPHY.

Check out this infographic that Best Counseling Degrees put together…

Teens Online Infographic

Click for a larger view

Here’s the important thing to remember for anyone on the web, but especially for those of us who are parents: Pornographers are hunting for your kids. Porn is not passively waiting for someone to find it. The pornographers are finding more and more aggressive ways to get your kids hooked on their intoxicating drug.

One of the most heart-wrenching statistics I’ve heard recently comes from Josh McDowell, who reports how many people who are now addicted to porn, saw it accidentally for the first time. In other words, they weren’t looking for porn, but porn was looking for them!

Parents, we must confront this atrocity head-on:

  • Talk to your kids. Now! If they know how to get on the internet, they’re old enough to hear about what porn is and why they must avoid it.
  • Check out the helpful resources that Josh McDowell offers at Just One Click Away, or the resources at uknowkids.com.
  • Install a monitoring application on all your web-enabled devices. I like to use X3 Watch.
  • Set limits on how much online time is acceptable, and establish a time each night when all electronic are turned off (this goes for you too, Mom and Dad!).

The Bible says that the devil prowls around like a lion. One of the places he stalks freely is the online digital world. Parents, watch out and keep your kids safe!

Understanding Sexting

uKnowkids logoSexting is something parents MUST be aware of. It is beyond unhealthy and unsafe, it is an outright danger to your son or daughter!

In case you haven’t heard the term before, sexting is the sending of suggestive sexual messages, or suggestive, nude or semi-nude pictures via text. It galls me to think that we’ve given our kids cell phone so we can keep them safe, and that same cell phone is being used to rob their innocence, put them in embarrassing situations, and placing them in very dangerous places.

In Understanding Sexting I read some alarming statistics:

  • 28% of teens admitted to having sent a sext
  • Three-quarters of teens that sext also admitted to having sexual intercourse
  • Kids involved in sexting are twice as likely to experience psychological distress, including thoughts of suicide
  • Sexts are quickly becoming the preferred way of cyber-bullying

uknowkids.com has made available a very easy-to-read guide on the topic of sexting. Understanding Sexting can be read very quickly, and it will help you as a parent to be aware of the dangers your kids face, give you some discussion-starter ideas with your kids, as well as sharing some technology tools we can use to keep our kids safe.

“The single biggest deterrent to this risky behavior is parental involvement.” Understanding Sexting

Understanding Sexting is a FREE e-book from uknowkids.com. Click here to be taken directly to the download page.

Don’t turn a blind eye to this dangerous use of technology that your kids are probably holding in their hand right now. Read this book and talk to your kids. Let’s keep them safe!

You may also be interested in my book review of From Santa to Sexting.

Pornography Robs A Man Of His Humanness

Last week I shared some thoughts from Oswald Chambers on dealing with temptation.

In our internet age, where pornography is so easily accessible, this is a temptation that way too many people battle so often. This is a temptation that you can defeat, but you cannot defeat it on your own!

Here are some very insightful thoughts from Ed Welch, a Christian counselor, that may help you be victorious in your battle with pornography—

FLEE!!

Many times pastors point to passages of Scripture that tell us to fight the enemy. Put on the full armor of God! Take your stand! Storm the gates of Hell! You are more than a conqueror!

Those are all true, but

There is also a time to run away from a battle. 

Flee from sexual immorality … Flee from idolatry … (1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:14).

These two enemies usually form a two-headed monster. Look throughout the Bible and you will see that when the Israelites worshipped anything other than God, they did it with idols and illicit sexual practices.

The Greek word for “sexual immorality” is porneo. This is where we get our word pornography. And isn’t pornography nothing more than idolatry of the naked human body?

Porneo is defined as:

  • Prostituting one’s body to the lust of another
  • Unlawful sexual activity
  • Being drawn away by another into idolizing something illicit
  • Defiling yourself sexually

What do we do with this? FLEE!!

You cannot fight the two-headed monster of Porneo with your willpower. You must run away! 

Porneo is not something to be tamed or controlled. It’s a monster from which you must flee! 

This is not a temptation you can control. It’s one you must avoid at all costs! 

Look at Joseph: He left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

Don’t resist the urge—FLEE!!

Don’t take a cold shower—RUN AWAY!!

Get out. Stay out. Get as far away as possible from this two-headed monster.

You cannot win this fight; you must by all means avoid this battle. 

6 Quotes from “Porn-Again Christian”

Earlier today I posted a review of Porn-Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation. Here are some of the quotes from this book that really caught my eye

“Simply, according to God, marriage and sex are related, connected, and exclusive.”

“The cold hard truth is that most guys’ struggles are only known by their fellow Christian buddies and unless Christian dudes man up and stop arguing about stupid secondary theological issues and spend their energies holding one another accountable to get dominion over their underwear, then Christian friendship is nothing more than Christian fakery.”

“The act of lusting after the unclothed body of a woman is not a sin. The issue is which woman’s unclothed body you are lusting after. If she is your bride, then you are simply making the Song of Songs sing again to God’s glory and your joy. If she is not your bride, then you are simply sinning. It was God who clothed our mother Eve after her sin, and it is Eve’s daughters who undress themselves for themselves for the camera in violation of God’s desire that the female bodies he formed be seen only in their full glory by their husbands.”

“Pornography has the sad effect of objectifying people into objects with parts, thereby divorcing a person from their body and consequently diminishing their dignity.”

“The Bible is emphatically clear that God’s men should abstain from certain sins that war against their souls. First, God’s men should not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Second, God’s men should not covet their neighbor’s wife, even if her clothes leave little to the imagination (Exodus 20:17). Third, God’s men should not participate with prostitutes who use their bodies as a commodity to be rented for a good time or a good photo (Proverbs 23:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:15-16). Fourth, God’s men should not be polygamous, because their father Adam and Head Jesus each had one bride (Eve and the Church). Fifth, God’s men should not be fornicators who slide their hands, which God made to lift up in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8), up the shirt of their girlfriend, even if she asks (1 Corinthians 6:9-13).”

“Eve may or may not have been beautiful, but to Adam she was glorious because she was all he had ever known. Practically, he had no standard of beauty to compare his bride to—she was his only standard of beauty. In creation, we see the wise pattern that for every man his standard of beauty is not to be objectified, but rather it should simply be his wife. This means that if a man has a tall, skinny red-headed wife then that is sexy for him, and if his neighbor has a short, curvy brunette wife than that is sexy for him. Pornographic lust exists to elicit coveting and dissatisfaction that no woman can satisfy because she cannot be tall and short, endowed and waifish, black and white, young and old, like the harem laid out in pornography.”

Christian men, you MUST read this book!

Porn-Again Christian (book review)

The title of this book should let you know that it’s a PG-13 topic. And by that, I mean that Dads should be discussing these topics with their sons by the time they are 13 years old. Mark Driscoll is simply brilliant in Porn-Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation.

The Bible has the best ideas for not only safe sex, but for the most enjoyable sex. In fact, as Pastor Mark points out, the Bible is more explicit on the topic of married sexual relations than most pastors are!

God is the Creator. He only creates what is good. satan is a counterfeiter and a plagiarist. Anything that is good and will bring glory to God (like a marriage that is sexually satisfying), satan will pervert and distort and mar in his attempt to keep people from glorifying God and finding their fullest satisfaction in Him. This book uncovers the lies and calls biblical truth to the forefront.

Porn-Again Christian is written directly to Christian men. It is a wake-up call for these men to become real men and take the biblical lead in maintaining purity, in increasing the level of intimacy in their marriage, and in teaching their children the difference between God’s truth and the devil’s lies.

Guys, there is no excuse for you to not read this book. You can click here to get the ebook version for FREE. The book is not very long, and you should be able to read it rather quickly. Look up the Scriptures Pastor Mark shares in this book, and then be the man God created you to be: the man who will say “No!” to the lies this culture has bought into about sex and pornography, and who will say “Yes!” to the fulfilling, satisfying relationship God intended your marriage to be.

Dads, this would be a great resource for you to use with your teenage son (and perhaps even your pre-teen son, if you deem it necessary).

C’mon men, let’s do it God’s way!

P.S. To whet your appetite for this book, I have shared some quotes that really caught my attention.

Freedom Begins Here (book review)

Freedom Begins Here is not a book for everyone, and I actually hope it’s NOT a book for you. It’s a book for those trying to break free from the powerful hold of sexual sins.

Pornography is a multi-billion dollar business: People are getting rich, and people are being destroyed. What may have started out as a quick peek has turned into a crippling bondage for millions of people. If you feel trapped by addictions to porn or other sexual sins, but you’re ready to break free, this is a great place to start.

This book is a 30-day devotional. These devotional thoughts don’t hem-and-haw around the issue, but address it straight on. It’s addressed in a way that doesn’t make light of the addiction, but doesn’t make the addiction hopeless or fatal either. At the end of each day you will be given a reflection and a prayer, to help you think about the freedom principle you’ve just read.

Don’t stay trapped. Don’t let pride tell you that you don’t have a problem. Don’t let shame tell you that you can never get free. You can be free!!

Get this book and get started on getting free!

I am a Gray Communications book reviewer.