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Vain Imaginations
Not long ago, I attended a retreat at which a college student, freshly discovering his call to an intercessory prayer ministry, spent hours every night praying by name for everyone on the retreat. The last morning when I ran into him, he said, “Sue! As I was praying for you, I received a word from the Lord for you.” Uh-oh. I’d heard this before. And every time I had taken it to the Lord, asking if there were anything to it, the answer was no. My defenses up, I smiled and said, “I’m listening.” He got a very thoughtful look on his face and said, “I have to get it…
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Teaching Teens about Rape Culture and Modesty
Today I'm happy to feature a guest contributor, Laura Hercher, one of my students, talking about something that has certainly been in the news—rape culture. Her thoughts address the intersection of rape culture and what churches teach teens about modesty and personal responsibility: As someone in a ministry position and involved in a church, I find there are many ways I can work to combat rape culture. The biggest way is to prevent it from continuing into the next generation by teaching youth how to think about these issues. I think one of the most powerful ways we can do this is by changing the way we teach youth about…
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Dis*trac*tion – Good, Bad and Staying On Task
Distraction = American English defines as “something that gets your attention and prevents you from concentrating on something else OR an activity that you can do for fun or entertainment ” Our 11 yr. old granddaughter rattled off her list: technology, people, sound, noise and hunger.We all know about distractions. Most of us can name our most persistent ones. I was bombarded by distractions while trying to write this blog about "distractions"! Often not inherently bad, they become a bothersome interference if they take you off focus and prevent you from staying on task…social media, busyness, too much sugar, criticism, daydreaming, volunteering, unsolicited emails, global crises news and even reading,…
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“The Confessions of St. Augustine” (A Conservative Christian Goes to College, part 18)
“Whom could I find to reconcile me to you? Was I to seek the help of angels? By what prayer, what sacraments? Many people in their attempts to return to you and not being able to do so by their own strength have, so I hear, tried this way and have fallen into a desire for strange visions and have become, rightly, the victim of delusions…. They were seeking a mediator through whom to become clean, but this was not he. It was the devil” – “The Confessions of St. Augustine”, Book X, Chapter 42.[1] World Religions Class. It was time for our book reviews to be presented in front…
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ABCs Part II: Battle Lustful Thoughts!
Satan can relentlessly bombard our minds with impure thoughts, and if we chose to dwell on these thoughts, they would form an impure image in our minds. We will then feel pressure (i.e., lust) to satisfy this image via some form of sin (James 1:14,15). If we follow through in obedience to this temptation, we are actually performing an act of worship to that image (i.e., the idol) in our minds. Recall, we were commanded not to worship idols (1) due to the spiritual law that whatever we chose to worship, we fellowship and join with, resulting in becoming just like what we are worshipping over time (Exodus 20:4. Psalms…
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ABCs Part I: Avert Your Senses!
Men receive a chemical high from sexual images because adrenaline is released and locks into memory whatever stimulus is present at the time of the emotional excitement. This is visual sex and it is highly addictive! Men are addicted after the first lingered look and feel like they cannot stop looking due to this chemical addiction!
