"Pastors of Porn"... what?

How about that for a title grabber? I’ll get to that one in a minute.

This morning I woke up (now that is something to be thankful for) in the same bed next to a beautiful wife of 17 years and two wonderful kids. Not that I was in any pain, but I really felt drained and I almost stayed in the bed, but I needed to get up and take my meds, etc., and see them off to school. After everyone left I cleaned up the kitchen and headed to my perch - that is my special spot on the couch (with the table, bible, books, writing pad etc, which doubles as my office). This is the most convenient place in the house where I can get vertical or horizontal with the greatest of ease. I did what I have done in the past many times, but do not recommend as a cure all, but it is still fun – I set the Bible in front of me and blindly opened it up. Guess what was there when I opened my eyes – Jeremiah 29. Some of you may know this chapter by one of its most famous verses
(29:11), “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you,
says the LORD, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace
and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome”.
Wow! How about that for a message from God Himself to little ole me? And guess what? It’s for you too. And there is more.
Jer. 29:12-14 Then you will call upon Me
and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you
search for Me with all your heart. I will be
found by you, says the LORD…”
That supercharged my day.

I went ahead and read some more and had some good prayer time. I got a few things done during the day. I don’t know if it was just me, but man it got hot. I went outside for about 15 minutes walking the dog and started feeling sick I got so hot. In the shade it probably was not bad at all. I probably should have had my big wide brim hat on, too.
The family made it home, we ate supper, cleaned up and then Bryan and I did something we have not done in a long time – played pitch and catch with the baseball. He threw and I did the catching. I have learned what I can and cannot do in this arena. We were doing fine until he decided to beam one at me and hit me in the shin. I repeated to him to slow it down, but you know boys, they like to throw’em fast. It got dark and we went inside – lucky for me. I have been on the mild side as far as pain during the day. Later on and into the early morning it started up again. Praise God for help.
The bunnies are formulating a conspiracy, I think. Not only will the buck try and bite me if I stick my hand into his cage, but now the doe next to his cage will do the same. She jumps at me with both front paws up in the air and lands on the hay as I put it into her cage - as if to say, “you can just leave it right there”. I like to remove any left over hay from the previous day off of the cage floor – that is when the she-beast attacked me and bit my hand. Here I am looking at her thinking to myself, “Don’t you realize you are a potential meal?” They are probably just defending there little space. Any way…
The reference above about the ‘Pastors of Porn’ came from a news story about two young preachers who are reaching out to those working in and producing pornographic movies’ etc. They literally go to porn industry expos around the country, buy a booth along side the porn people and then hand out Bibles and share the Gospel. Talk about attacking the gates of hell! They have even developed a relationship with one of the more famous male stars and have debated this very topic with him at Universities across the country. That is the forum God has chosen to use them in and I applaud their efforts to go for it. They said that the more vicious e-mails towards what they are doing don’t come from the non-believers, but from people in the Church world. That figures.
My take on porn is this – it is a very sad thing. I think of how much time, energy and money is put into something that not only has no value, but also removes value – from both those who view it and those who do it. It is degrading and debasing to the human soul. It is a cancer in our society that is destroying otherwise healthy minded kids that do not realize the power of the poison they are dabbling in. If I were in charge, it would be completely outlawed. Do not be confused, this is not an issue of free speech or freedom of expression. Our founding Fathers did not have porn in mind while penning those concepts to paper. What these guys want is freedom from – from responsibility. I heard on the radio today that the State of Alabama has outlawed so called ‘sex toys’. Go Alabama. That means that the seedy little shops that sell them (along with tons of porn movies and mags) will close down, too – hopefully. This is a big can of worms and I could keep on typing.
May God raise up righteous minded men and women who will serve in offices of authority - and also many behind the scenes like you and me - who will speak out about things such as porn and pray for its demise. America needs to remain a beacon of hope and promise to the world, not a purveyor of smut and filth. God help us.
Wednesday night Church was awesome. Pastor Ralph shared. Here is one nugget I wanted to pass on to you. He said, “we are to be sanctified, which means ‘set apart unto God’, in order for the blessings of God to come to us. There are people that God may have to separate you from and others that God may want you to hang around with more, in order for his blessings to flow”. My take on it is that God has to get us into the right environment in order to mould us and change us. For me, it took going off to College and getting around Christians my age in order for me to see that it was possible to live for Jesus. And who knows, this cancer thing may also be used of God to get me in another place where God can use me more effectively. All I know is that with God, the Sky is the limit.
The weekend is upon us. My prayer for you is that you have a wonderful weekend with your family and may you get done everything you need to get done – and be able to relax, too.
God bless you and in turn go out and be a blessing.
George