Turning Point with David Jeremiah

[Judy Harder]

Culture Threat #5: The Attack Against the Bible

Dear Friend
I never thought I'd see the day when the Bible would be pushed to the edge in public education and out of the decision-making processes of our official institutions. But what grieves me most is that the Bible's status has been downgraded and its message diluted in the last place we should expect it: in the Christian Church itself.

Under the threat of execution, Iranian Pastor Yusuf Nadarkhani has refused to recant his Christian faith. Imprisoned since October 2009, this pastor has risked his life to take a stand for the truth of God's Word. As his unwavering conviction is proclaimed across the globe, I wonder:

How did the Bible lose its centrality in our lives?

Many Christians have grown afraid to utter the words "The Bible says . . ." or "God says . . ." or "Jesus says . . ." On one hand we have people in repressive nations laying down their lives to expand the Bible's influence, and on the other we have modern churches being willing to allow the Bible's influence to recede toward the vanishing point, even in their own lives.

As a Christian I am never free to move God's Word to the edge of my life, regardless of what those around me or in authority over me may do. While the church should be influencing the culture, we are allowing the culture to seduce and diminish the church.

If enough Christians restore the Bible and the One it tells us of to the center of our lives, our society and its culture may yet be transformed.

Take a stand for the Bible with me - today!

What you can do:

Prepare:

Recognize the dangerous consequences of treating the Bible as irrelevant in your life and your church.
Agree with Peter and the other apostles: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
Read Chapter Six of I Never Thought I'd See the Day! and learn five ways Christians are contributing to the marginalization of the Word of God.
Pray:

Pray for strength and peace for believers who are being persecuted around the globe.
Daily commit to keeping God's Word central in your life.
Pray for believers to take a stand for the Bible in their communities.
Participate:

Be responsible as a steward of God to uphold His Word in every dimension of your life - in private, in public, at home, and at church.
Spend time with a skeptic and strengthen their confidence in the Bible.
Listen and watch I Never Thought I'd See the Day! on Turning Point Television and Radio.
I want to help you know what God's Word says about the cultural and spiritual changes impacting America and the Church today and also know how to live faithfully in the midst of them.

Order I Never Thought I'd See the Day! now, and discover the extraordinary opportunity to help reverse the destructive trends and call America back to faith in God, back to the solid foundation of His Word.

God bless you,

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, October 8 & 9

Day of the Incarnation: God Has a Plan

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

Recommended Reading
Galatians 4:4-7

Deism is the worldview that says the universe was created and set in motion by God who then abandoned it, exerting no control over its outcome. Deism compares God to a highly-skilled watchmaker who creates a mechanical marvel, then winds it up and sets it to ticking before walking away.

There is no biblical or other revelation to support such a theory; those that hold it do so on the basis of reason alone. Besides being unsupported, it is a highly impersonal, even depressing, view of God, creation, and human existence and destiny. The Bible's view of God is totally different: He created us in His image with a plan to spend eternity with us. In spite of the disruption of sin, the second member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ, came to earth to "fix" the problem of sin and bring us back into relation with God, making it possible for God's original design for eternal fellowship to be ultimately realized.

The day of the incarnation--when God became a man to dwell among us--is the day God proved His promise: "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5b).

The atonement is the real reason for the incarnation.
James Montgomery Boice


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 8:40-11:54

[Judy Harder]

Monday, October 10

Matthew, Mark, Luke, & Ringo

Listen to the statutes... teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
Deuteronomy 4:1, 9

Recommended Reading
Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Recently comedian Jay Leno asked his television audience to name one of the Ten Commandments. One person ventured: "God helps those who help themselves." Leno asked if anyone could name the four Gospels. No one could; but responding to another question, almost everyone in the audience could name the four Beatles.

As biblical instruction wanes, large numbers of young people are biblically illiterate. Our society is developing a profound ignorance of Jesus. Many don't understand the term "Good Friday" or the meaning of our basic Christian vocabulary--grace, sin, redemption, and salvation.

The number of people who read the Bible "occasionally" has declined from 79 percent in the 1980s to 59 percent. Only 16 percent of Christians say they read the Bible daily.1

Read your Bible every day. Teach it to your children. Don't depend on others to do it. Offer to lead Bible classes at your church, and volunteer to work in the children's ministry. Reversing the tide of biblical illiteracy is going to take all of us doing our part.

Many Christians expect the world to respect the book they neglect.
Quoted by E.C. McKenzie


1"Clayton Hardiman, "Bible Literacy Slipping, Experts Say," at Religious News Service, posted at home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/literacy.htm.


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 12:1-13:35

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, October 11


Ironic, Isn't It?

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Hebrews 13:4

Recommended Reading
Hebrews 13:1-6
As ironic as it sounds, many cohabiting couples end up in court when their relationships end. According to CNN, large numbers of unmarried-but-living-togethers are trying to prevent future problems by signing "Cohabitation Agreements" to outline what will happen should they split up. These are legally binding documents for couples who cohabit but don't marry. What happens, for example, if they buy a house together? A car? What about insurance matters? These become legal issues that must be resolved in something akin to "divorce court."

No matter how hard our society tries, we can't get away from our need for hallowed and happy relationships. There's a desire in each of us to be loved and connected with another person, and marriage is a God-designed, purposeful plan. Yet many people are seeking temporary connections with others and avoiding God's plan for a committed marriage--missing the joy of oneness that God designed. But it only leads to more trouble.

Follow God's plan and keep marriage honorable among all.

Marriage is a partnership between one man and one woman... Nothing could be clearer in the Bible as to what constitutes a marriage in God's sight.
David Jeremiah


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 14:1-16:31

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, October 12
Marriage at the Cross-Road

...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28

Recommended Reading
Song of Solomon 1:1-4
Believe it or not, there's some good news about marriage. A recent poll commissioned by the Alliance Defense Fund shows that Americans still believe in traditional marriage. Sixty-two percent of respondents agreed with the statement: "I believe marriage should be defined only as a union between one man and one woman." Only about a third disagreed.1

But it's not enough to simply agree with the values of traditional marriage. We've got to practice what we preach. We must think of marriage as a ministry, as a lifelong act of service. We're not married in order to be happy but to make the other person happy--to serve rather than to be served.

Ask yourself: "How can I serve my husband today? How can I affirm my wife? What little act or attitude could make the difference?" The desire to serve ourselves has overtaken God's plan to serve one another through a committed marriage. Let's enrich traditional marriages with the traditional values of the Cross.

Many Christians seem to get their notions of love from the Love Boat instead of the Love Book... Make the Bible your guide.
Jim Binney in The Ministry of Marriage


1"Most Americans Still Believe in Traditional Marriage" by Stephanie Samuel in The Christian Post, June 17, 2011.


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 17:1 - 18:43



Thursday, October 13
Wrong Way!

And He led them forth by the right way...
Psalm 107:7a

Recommended Reading
Psalm 107:1-8
Just after five o'clock on the morning of July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan, 31, took off in an old secondhand plane from New York City on a nonstop solo flight across America. He was bound for Los Angeles. Turning into a cloud, Corrigan's plane disappeared into the eastern sky. Twenty-eight hours later, he landed--in Dublin, Ireland. "I'm Douglas Corrigan," he told onlookers. "Just got in from New York. Where am I? I intended to fly to California."

He was known for the rest of his long life as "Wrong Way Corrigan," and he blamed his error on a faulty compass.

If you're an aviator, a hiker, or a soldier, you want a compass that works with precision, one that reads truly in the storms when the landmarks are altered, the sky is darkened, and the stars are blackened in the heavens.

It's sad to come to the end of our days only to realize we've gone the wrong way. God alone is our moral compass, and the Bible gives us the true directions for life.

Chart and compass come from Thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
Edward Hopper, pastor and hymnist


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 19:1-20:47

[Judy Harder]

Friday, October 14

America the Changed

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord . . . .
Psalm 33:12a

Recommended Reading
Acts 4:27-31
In an 1892 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the majority opinion cited numerous examples and proofs of America's Christian heritage. In 1954, California Governor Earl Warren, who went on to become the chief justice of the Supreme Court, said that America is "a Christian land governed by Christian perspectives." But in 1992, when Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice referred to America as a Christian nation in a speech at a governors' conference, the media outrage was so strong he was forced to retract his statement and apologize a few days later.

Somewhere between 1892 and 1992, it stopped being acceptable to refer to America as a Christian nation. Yes, constitutionally America has no established religion. Nor is America a theocracy. Yet the Judeo-Christian principles of the Bible have characterized this nation since its founding--though it is considered politically incorrect to say so today. Jesus called the Church to be salt in the world to preserve goodness and create a thirst for God (Matthew 5:13).

If you are a Christian, do not be afraid, let your voice be heard in the public square lest it become illegal for it to be heard it at all.

May God pity a nation whose factory chimneys rise higher than her church steeples.
John Kelman


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 21:1-22:71

[Judy Harder]

Culture Threat #6: The Attack Against Morality


Today many obvious violations of God's absolute moral code are not only committed openly and without shame, but even enshrined into law. And lawmakers are being urged to enact laws legitimizing even further violations.

The consequences will be impossible to imagine.

While many Americans may participate in gambling, prostitution, abortion, pornography, and other legal behaviors that soil the American conscience, most seem to realize there's a disconnect between what is legal and what is truly moral.

The loss of a moral compass in society at large is troubling, but it is even more troubling when followers of Jesus Christ - those who are called to be "salt and light" in the world (Matthew 5:13-16) - lose theirs. We need to draw a line in the sand and close the "morality gap" - the distance between what we know God expects and what we are willing to allow as acceptable behavior.

The most concise summary of God's laws for those who claim to follow Him was given by Jesus in Matthew 22:37: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." 

I never thought I'd see the day when America's moral compass would lose its orientation. But it has happened. Let's create a thirst for God in those whose lives we touch by living lives that demonstrate His nature to a wayward and searching world.

What you can do:

Prepare:

Read Matthew 5:3-16.
Know how to defend the attacks on morality in our culture by doing what you can to positively affect the legal process.
Read Chapter Five of I Never Thought I'd See the Day! that examines the consequences of morality in decline. Now a #1 New York Times Bestseller!
Pray:

Ask God to convict people of their sin and for them to respond in repentance.
Pray for our nation to return to her moral bearings rooted in God's Word.
Pray for Christians to be "salt and light" as we live in the world but are not of it (Ephesians 5:8-11).
Participate:

Get involved in reversing attacks on morality that impact your community.
Diligently study God's Word and understand His call to holiness in your life.
Listen and watch I Never Thought I'd See the Day! on Turning Point Television and Radio.
I want to help you know what God's Word says about the cultural and spiritual changes impacting America and the Church today and also know how to live faithfully in the midst of them.

Order I Never Thought I'd See the Day! now, and discover the extraordinary opportunity to help reverse the destructive trends and call America back to faith in God, back to the solid foundation of His Word.

God bless you,
David Jeremiah
 

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, October 15 & 16

Day of the Cross: God Provides Redemption

In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:14

Recommended Reading
Colossians 2:13-14
Some theologians limit the purpose of Christ's death on the cross to being an example of sacrificial love, an illustration of His words in John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus proved that such costly love was possible when He illustrated it by His own sacrificial action.

Jesus certainly was an example of love and other godly attributes as well--imitated by the apostles (1 Corinthians 11:1). But something more profound than an example happened on the cross: Jesus Christ paid a ransom price to redeem mankind out of the marketplace of slavery to sin (Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:6). The most important transaction in history took place: Jesus exchanged His innocent life for our sin-stained life, dying the death we deserved that we might, by God's mercy, be spared the judgment we richly deserved. Because God was pleased with Christ in every way, the Cross turned away the wrath of God (Romans 5:9).

Take a moment today to thank God for the Day of the Cross and your redemption from sin.

The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.
C. H. Spurgeon


Read-Thru-the-Bible
Luke 23:1-John 3:21

[Judy Harder]

Monday, October 17

God's Book

. . . these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God . . .
John 20:31

Recommended Reading
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
The day after Christmas 2009, Amazon.com announced that Kindle had become the most gifted item in Amazon's history. With Kindle available at the click of a button --we have more secular and religious reading choices than ever before. But as we pursue knowledge, will we make time to read God's Book?

The Holy Bible still tops the best-selling books lists. Yet our insatiable quest for experiential knowledge can keep us from this source of Truth. The Israelites were not judged because they elevated knowledge, but because they elevated experience over knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Jesus rebuked the leaders of Israel in His day because they had "taken away the key of knowledge," misleading people from the truth of Jesus' words (Luke 11:52). Proverbs 1:7 clarifies our search for truth: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."

In your personal reading time, are you pursuing the world's deceptive system of discovering truth? Or are you conforming to the Truth? Whether you read the Bible electronically or by turning its pages, make it your source of knowledge and truth.

The Christian is bred by the Word, and he must be fed by it.
William Gurnall


Read-Thru-the-Bible
John 3:22 -5:18

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, October 18
Pushed to the Edge

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ . . .
Romans 1:16

Recommended Reading
1 Peter 2:6-8

We've all experienced it: A clique of "cool kids" at school decides to reduce our significance. We aren't welcomed or included. We may even be called unpleasant names. In the workplace, a particular employee might not be invited to significant policy meetings or is excluded from social gatherings. This treatment is what the Bible is experiencing today in our culture. God's Word is being "marginalized"--pushed to the edge of our families and even our churches!

The gradual process of marginalization happens so slowly that we almost don't notice societal shifts till after the fact. We wake up one day and the Bible has moved from a central position of education and authority to a shelf next to books by leading atheists, trivializing its content and intimidating its readers.

You and I can't control how others view or treat the Bible. But there's one place we can stop its marginalization: our own lives. When we do that, the Bible will gain new traction in our homes, churches, and communities. Don't miss the significance of living in this particular moment of history. Nothing could be more dangerous than to wander thoughtlessly down the path of marginalizing the Bible.

Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them.
Author Unknown


Read-Thru-the-Bible
John 5:19 - 6:71