Daily Devotional for Thursday July 18, 2019

The world we are living in for this season. Part Two of Three

(John 15:19)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, open my eyes to see this world clearly, and show me what You want me to do to serve You in these times we live. You and You alone will have the last word Lord. Let me see this lost world through Your eyes and with Your heart and help to lead the lost and hurting to find Your hope, strength, peace, and salvation! In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!

“...but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world...” John 15:19

The world we are living in for this season. Today is Part Two of a very different 3-PART Daily Devotional series on recent major events and news stories in the United States and around the world that are shaping the culture we live in today. DO NOT MISS PART THREE TOMORROW!

It is critical for Christians to clearly understand the culture around us so that we can be the Lord’s agents of change as He has commanded us to be. May the Lord guide us each day by His Spirit as we faithfully serve Him!!!

*There is now an IRS recognized “church,” The Church of Cannabis.” I wish I could tell you that I am kidding. The only “sacrament” of this church is of course smoking marijuana. While it is easy to dismiss this “church” as nothing but a unique mockery, there is an ever growing “Christian cannabis movement” here in the United State. These are people who proclaim to be Christians, yet also regularly smoke marijuana. They boldly state that there is nothing wrong with a Christian smoking marijuana.

Amazingly, one of the issues I have been challenged on constantly over the years is the smoking of marijuana. It has become even more of an issue as many states have now legalized marijuana. You can go to my Daily Devotional archive and type in the keyword “marijuana.” All of the Devotionals I have written on this issue will come up so you can research the Biblical case that a Christian should NOT smoke marijuana. DD Archive: https://liveprayer.com/devotional-search.cfm

*Pornography is now being called a mental health issue by all recognized mental health organizations. It is not only a degradation of God’s wonderful gift of sex created for a man and women in the bonds of marriage alone, but it does incredible harm to those who view pornography. It often hurts them from having a normal, enjoyable sex life with their spouse. After finances, sex is the second issue that most married couples have problems with at times during their marriage.

As “innocent” as it may seem, viewing pornography is very destructive since it presents perverted images of the most intimate contact between a man and woman. Like alcohol, drugs, gambling, food, shopping, and many other issues, pornography is an addiction and a bondage that requires the power of God to set a person free and help them heal from the harmful effects of porn.

*Lazy and irresponsible politicians in state offices across the nation are now turning their states into drug dealers. Colorado, which has already legalized recreational marijuana, has now de-criminalized “magic mushrooms” which is a hallucinogen. It is not enough for people to legally numb their mind with alcohol, abuse of prescription drugs, but now they add another legal drug to disrupt your mind. It is bad enough that states are in the business of helping destroy the lives of their citizens with tobacco and alcohol, they are now in the gambling and drug dealing businesses, creating a new generation of addicts.

*A Missouri megachurch pastor with 20 years in the pulpit has resigned and renounced the Christian faith. Sadly, pastoral burnout is a real issue within the church. Drug and alcohol abuse amongst pastors is on the rise, as is clergy committing suicide. Pastoral care is a world where you need to have serious structure and accountability, since after so many years the mental toll becomes too much to handle without proper management. Sadly, in seminary where they give you all the tools you need to be a powerful and credible servant of the Lord, they DO NOT prepare you for the emotional and mental issues a pastor faces as the years pile up.

*Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had a rabid anti-semite Muslim imam open a session of the House of Representatives in prayer to the imaginary non-existent God of Islam! I am well aware the House is a place of politics, it is not a church. However, the history of that body has been the surrender to and acknowledgement of the God of the Bible upon Whom we are totally dependent. Calling on the name of an imaginary god of a satanic false religion is pure blasphemy.

*In the past few months, Tim Conway and Doris Day both died. Their deaths continue to mark the passing of a time in our country when life was much simpler, much more innocent, and most people acknowledged Almighty God and lived by some measure of Biblical Truth.

*PBS children’s cartoon character Arthur recently came out as “gay” and got married in a same-sex union. The Alabama PBS affiliate refused to air the program. God bless them! Whether you enjoyed the work of Tim Conway and Doris Day who recently passed away, they mark the ending of an era when no program would even joke about putting such sinfulness on TV.

I remember the old Dick Van Dyke program with Mary Tyler Moore where despite their characters being married, they slept in separate beds! Trust me, as someone who has lived on the front lines in the battle of our culture for the past 20 years, I am well aware time does not stand still. The point is, our nation was around for several hundred years where the majority embraced a Christian worldview. Seeing God minimized and marginalized in our nation has been the most dramatic and damaging change over the past 50 years.

*All European countries have been overrun by Muslim migrants from Syria and Northern Africa over the past 5 years. The massive invasion has been very detrimental to all aspects of daily life in these countries. Muslim migrants in France arrogantly state that France no longer belongs to the French. Since Islam was birthed 1400 years ago, their stated goal is to conquer and take over every place they settle in the world. A fact to understand, Muslims have NEVER assimilated in any western nation where they lived...EVER!

I love you and care about you so much! This is a challenge to stay educated about the world we live in but are not part of, in order to the best ambassadors of Christ we can be as we share His love and hope with this lost and hurting world!

DO NOT MISS PART THREE TOMORROW!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller