WHEN THE TRUTH STARTS TO COME OUT

I have spoken out against the homosexual agenda for many years, especially where the Biblical text stands.  Within the last year I released several articles dealing with a pamlet called The Politics Of Homosexuality.  This pamplet was the starting point for a moment that has been associated with destroying much of what the world considers the norm dealing with sexuality, family life and marriage.  The article that I am about to present to you came across my desk several weeks ago.  I am very appreciative of those who forwarded it to me.  It is a story that is rarely told and needs to be heard and read.  For all the homophobia mess that many claim leads to those of the same sex persuation being mistreated there are stories like this one which get surpressed.  It is the other side of the coin.  It is the side that I have personally noted in personally dealing with those who are locked up in homosexual behavior...anger and violence.  Please read this with an open understanding that not everyone in the same sex movement shows this kind of behavior but I'm afraid that it is stories such as this that get covered up while those who are intellectually honest about the issue are called names in the media.  Let me further say that I am not, nor to I agree with Catholism, but I believe that what Biship Thomas Paprocki brings out dealing with what happened is important.  My special thanks to CNS.com for this piece.

Bishop: Catholic Mom Murdered by Gay Man ‘Died a Martyr for Her Faith’

July 11, 2013 - 9:37 PM

By Michael W. Chapman

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                                                                                                                                          Bishop Thomas Paprocki,
                                                                                                                            head of the Catholic diocese of Springfield, Illinois.

(CNSNews.com) – A Catholic mother who  

was brutally murdered by a gay man because
she challenged him about his homosexual lifestyle
“died as a martyr for her faith,” according to
Bishop Thomas Paprocki, head of the Catholic
diocese in Springfield, Ill., who also said the
woman’s “murder was widely ignored by the
media,” apparently for political reasons.                              



The woman, Mary Stachowicz, a 51-year-old mother of four children and devout Catholic, was beaten, stabbed, raped, and strangled to death by then-19-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez on Nov. 13, 2002. He then wrapped her body in plastic and stuffed it under the floorboards of his apartment. After his arrest, Guttierrez gave a videotaped statement to police saying “he attacked Stachowicz after she confronted him for being a homosexual,” reported the Chicago Tribune.

According to the defense attorney, Stachowicz apparently had asked Gutierrez, “Why do you sleep with boys?”

Bishop Paprocki spoke about Stachowicz and her 2002 death during a discussion about same-sex marriage sponsored by the Jesuit Alumni in Arizona group, in Phoenix, on May 31 of this year. In his opening remarks, the bishop talked about the extensive coverage by the media given to the murder of Matthew Shephard, who was killed partly because he was gay, and contrasted that with the minimal coverage given to the Stachowicz case, a mother killed because she shared her Catholic beliefs with another person.

As the bishop said: "A Google search on the Internet for the name 'Matthew Shepard' at one time produced 11,900,000 results. Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old college student who was savagely beaten to death in 1998 in Wyoming. His murder has been called a hate crime because Shepard was gay.


Mary Stachowicz (1951-2002)

“A similar search on the Internet for the name ‘Mary Stachowicz’ yielded 26,800 results. In 2002, Mary Stachowicz was also brutally murdered, but the circumstances were quite different.

“Mary, the gentle, devout 51-year-old Catholic mother of four urged her co-worker, Nicholas Gutierrez, 19, to change his gay lifestyle. Infuriated by this, as he later told police, he allegedly beat, stabbed and strangled her to death and then stuffed her mangled body in a crawl space in his apartment, located above a Chicago funeral home, where they both worked.

“I know about Mary Stachowicz, not from the Internet, but personally, because Mary was my secretary at the parish where I was pastor before I was named a bishop.

“She worked part time at the funeral home and part time at the parish. One afternoon, she didn’t show up at her usual starting time. This was unusual because she was always on time. A call to the funeral home disclosed that her car was still in their parking lot and her purse with her car keys was still at her desk, but there was no sign of Mary.

“As Mary’s family and friends prayed and worried about her disappearance, Gutierrez prayed with them. Three days later, her mutilated body was discovered in a crawl space in his apartment.

“Both murders were senseless and brutal, and I condemn them both unequivocally. However, the fact that there are over eleven-and-a-half million more Internet stories about Matthew Shepard than Mary Stachowicz indicates where popular sentiment lies today on the question of same-sex relationships.

“Shepard’s story has received such widespread attention because his homosexuality was the chief motive for his murder.

“Mary’s murder was widely ignored by the media, despite the fact that she died as a martyr for her faith.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines martyrdom as “the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. "Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God." (2473)

Nicholas Gutierrez was convicted of the murder of Mary Stachowicz and sentenced to life in prison in 2007. In July 2010, Bishop Paprocki gave his official approval, imprimatur, to a prayer that describes Mary Stachowicz as “pure of heart and devoted to chastity” and that if it is God’s will, “she be glorified by the Church” as a saint.

MERRY CHRISTMAS OR NOT?

When Tragedy Strikes

 

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. ¹⁷ Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ²⁰ “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, ²³ and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

                                                                                                            Matthew 2:13-23

INTRODUCTION

We often celebrate this time of year focusing on a new born babe in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger surrounded by animals, angels, shepherds, majestic wise men, Joseph and Mary.  The scene is often paraded as a moment of divine holiness and hushed amazement.  While I am sure to a degree that when the shepherds found Him on that day and later when the magi bowed before Him there may have been a true sense of awe, but awe must end.  Once I made the statement that Christmas was as much bathed in blood as it is in majestic magnetism.  When I said that people were appalled and nobody spoke to me after the lesson.  It’s a thought that we just don’t want to come to grips with.

VIOLENCE AND THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Anyone who is familiar with the Christmas story knows that the story presented in Luke captures what most of us are familiar with.  The announcement of the conception from Gabriel the archangel to Mary the virgin; the discovery that she is with child; the reason for the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem; the birth of the Christ Child; the angels’ announcement of the birth to the shepherds and their journey to Bethlehem finding the Child laying in the manger.[1]  But Matthew presents a story of conflict.  We have Joseph who is engaged to Mary thinking about privately divorcing Mary when he discovers that she is pregnant; until God intervenes and reassures Joseph that everything is okay.[2]  We have a troubled king and city when the magi appear announcing that they have arrived to worship the new born King, giving the idea that He has already been born.[3]  Then there was the conspiracy to assassinate this new born once the location was discovered.[4]  Finally the fateful night when an angry king ordered his men to go to the small town of Bethlehem, only ten miles from Jerusalem, and kill all the male children two years old and under.  But God had warned Joseph to run for it.  He along with Mary and the Child hid away in Egypt for a time before returning to Nazareth.  That night the Christmas story was bathed in blood.

Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15 where the prophet Jeremiah foresaw this awful event:

Thus says the Lord,
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”

 It must have been a horror and tragic moment.  Both Matthew’s quote and the actual quote from Jeremiah note that the women of the city refused “to be comforted for her children”.  That night the cobble stone roads of Bethlehem ran red with blood.  No matter what the parents did to protect their children the soldiers carried out their orders with strict, cold procession.  Government sanctioned slaughter of the young, an inexpressible plight of humanity.

 Today

As I set here and attempt to write this my mind continues to go back to the horrible moment that the students and staff faced at the elementary school at Newtown, Connecticut last Friday, December 14^th, 2012.  So much is so fresh and yet my heart goes out to the morning parents of twenty dear children who saw the horror and felt the pain of death before they felt the loving arms of a God who created them and loves them.  My heart sinks deep as I hear of the heroism of teachers, aids, and administrative staff who knew they were facing death but did what they could to comfort and hide children as a mad man took what appears to be anger against his mother out on a school full of children.  It is unspeakable to discuss the sickness and sadness that I feel for the families when I read and hear these stories.  We can go the distance to discuss all the different things that went on that day and all the terror that was experience; but ultimately we are helpless to prevent such activities and cannot bring back those who have been lost. These parents find themselves in the same helpless situation and we as spectators find ourselves in the same disturbing trance unable to help in anyway.

                                                                                                       

Meanwhile our politicians want to argue restrictions and laws on various issues from gun control to mental health issues.  The problem is that we are attempting to do something that cannot be done.  Our President said, “These tragedies must end.”[5]  I fear that any leader who makes these kinds of statements may be showing the same disillusionment that caused the heartbreak to begin with.  Just as those in the days of the first century could not stop it, nor can we.  We are left with several questions; where was God in the situation?  Why didn’t He intervene in either of these situations or in the tens of thousands similar to them?  Why did He allow them to happen?  If God really exists does He have the power to stop these unfortunate circumstances?  There are no easy answers, nor can we simply fluff off the pain which madmen such as these causes.  But we can be assured that at the worst possible moment, when the instance was at its darkest for those of the youngest victims, while the face of a madman was the last thing they say, God’s loving arms were the first thing they felt passing into eternity.  His face was the very thing they looked at and touched.  God was there, He cares.  We are told by Peter to casts “all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”[6]

MERRY CHRISTMAS?

So can we have a Merry Christmas after all of this?  With our country tearing apart at the seams and such senseless violence how can we?  This is where faith comes in with the comfort of the scriptures.  The Psalmist writes, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”[7]  The rod and staff were instruments which shepherds used to correct sheep and fend off enemies.  In the same way we find comfort in God through His word as He discusses His work in the world.  We also see that He controls events that go beyond our understanding for His purposes.  We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when Matthew quotes Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet.  God is clearly in control and what He does is always in conjunction with who He is.

So can we have a Merry Christmas?  Yes, we can.  Because Christmas is much more than a story of a baby in a cradle, rather it is a story of the God who would become the Man who would be born of a virgin.  By entering this world salvation would come through His death on the cross and His bodily resurrection from the dead.  Without that Christmas morning salvation could never come to the souls of those who turn to Him to escape from the damnation of their sins.  Christmas means hope, even when tragedy strikes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Steven Swaim

President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

All Bible passages are from the New American Standard Version (NASB)

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[1] Luke 1:26-56; 2:1-20

[2] Matthew 1:18-25

[3] Matthew 2:1-3

[4] Matthew 2:4-9

[5]http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/politico/RSS_POLITICO20121216_Obama___These_tragedies_must_end_.html

[6] 1^st Peter 5:7

[7] Psalms 23:4

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A REAL MAN?

(A Father’s Day Message)

¹¹ And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. ¹³ And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. ¹⁴ Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. ¹⁷ But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰ So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹ But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; ³⁰ but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Luke 15:11-32

I am blessed to be a father.  James is my joy and often inspiration.  Mary and I are presently praying for another hoping to get someone who has the same loving spirit as he does, but we know better.  Being a dad is a great thing which has difficult but has rewarding responsibilities.

The other day is an example of that responsibility and reward.  I was getting ready to go out and get a movie then swing by to pick up a pizza Mary had ordered.  We had just returned from a very long but enjoyable trip to Houston.  James was running around in his diaper being mister happy go lucky.  When he heard I was leaving he wanted to go.  Since he wasn’t ready Mary tried to get his attention with toys and books.  This didn’t work.  Immediately after I carefully closed the door, James started to the door, crying out my name wanting to go.  My heart broke and I quickly turned around to reenter the house.  I told Mary that I just couldn’t do it; I wanted him to come with me.  We dressed him and all of us went to get the movie and pizza.  It was a fifteen minute outing that meant the world to my little boy.

Today fatherhood is something that is ignored, made fun of, or even idolized to the point of unrealistic expectations.  What we forget or choose to discount is the importance of the father’s role in the life of children.  In the urban communities where welfare has a tendency to be dominant, some federal regulations don’t even allow for a husband/father to be living under the same roof as the women and children.[1]  NOW (the National Organization of Women) considers the father to be obsolete or even a hateful aristocrat that is abusive and should not be allowed in the home.[2]  However we are finding out something that the Atlantic Journal figured out back in 1993, Dan Quayle was right, fathers are very important to the full development of the child.[3] 

This article I am writing is a great segue into our thoughts on the upcoming series on same sex issues which I have been working on.  The real question I wish to explore has little to do with fatherhood, though it will deal with it, but more on what it means to be a man.  Today our society will tell us all kinds of things such as being a real man (husband/father) is being tough, or being able to be sensitive, or is even determined on how long you can last in bed.  As embarrassing as it can be, the world’s ideas and God’s design is very different.  Being a good father/husband/man doesn’t mean that we order our women around like a group of prostitutes, enslaved to meet out every desire.  It also doesn’t include being passive and allowing whatever to go on in our homes, under our roofs.  Nor does manhood have anything to do with our sexual lives.

In the passage above we read the story of what is commonly known as the “Prodigal Son.”  As my pastor, Bob Whitten has pointed out for years and as Dr. John MacArthur has titled one of his books, it is more about the loving father than the wayward son.  There are several things to note about the son.  First, he falls into the world’s way of thinking about manhood by believing that money (v. 12), popularity, and sex (v. 13) is the way of true manhood.  The way he speaks to his father in verse 12 gives the idea that he wants independence from the family, another misnomer that can be made dealing with manhood.  The idea of squandering his estate in verse 13 shows signs of financial immaturity and “loose living” lends itself to the idea of moral improprieties which may have occurred.  He is caught up in the racket of misidentification.

There is an older son who falls into worldly thinking on masculinity as well.  He believes that faithfulness should be rewarded and that disloyalty should be punished (v. 28).  He is also shortsighted, believing that the here and now is what matters not what is to come (vv. 29-32).  The brother is just as faulted in his thinking as the errant younger.

However, true manliness is found in the father.  First, he evidently is full of patience by allowing his son to do what he does.  There is no indication of protest in verse 12, though there may have been and just not recorded.  Second, he is a person of great inward strength, he waits daily for his son, not trying to rescue the son from his situation but allowing the son to return to him (v. 20).  Third, verse 20 also brings out that he is a person of great love (“compassion”).  He is overjoyed to see his son’s return.  It notes that the father “embraced him and kissed him.”  Fourth he is a person of forgiveness.   He allows his son to return as his son, not as a lowered helping hand on the family estate (vv. 21-32).  Last he is a person of solid sound advice (25-32).

When the true nature of this parable is unraveled, the father represents God.  The wayward younger son is the Gentile nations.  And the older faithful brother is Israel who has had the commandments of God from the beginning finding themselves jealous of the Gentiles who are grafted into the Kingdom through Christ.[4]  The idea is the gospel; God will receive all who come to Him in total repentance through Jesus Christ His son.  Not by works which they have performed.[5]

So what is real manhood?  Well, first it is found in being a born again believer is Jesus Christ.  Real men do humble themselves to make things right and the first place to start is with God.  Paul writes we are enemies against God until peace comes by believing in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection as the atonement for our sins.[6]  Second, real manliness can only be demonstrated with patience.  People make mistakes, they falter, and they fail.  However, while we should be concerned, sometimes the best thing is to let mistakes and godless decisions be made in hopes that lessons will be learned.  This doesn’t mean we should never intervene, but like the loving father we should be willing to wait for the right moment to surface.  We should be men of strength and perseverance, always waiting with a watchful eye.  And when the time allows be a people with sound, solid, Biblical advice.  We need to know what to say and when to say it.  That leads us back to the first thing we talked about, having a personal relationship with God through Christ.

Let me know what you think.

His Servant Together With You,

Steven Swaim

President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

(All Scriptural Quotations are from the NASB)tes:

Luke 15:12 Lit living

Luke 15:15 Lit was joined to

Luke 15:16 I.e. of the carob tree

Luke 15:17 Lit himself

Luke 15:18 Lit before you

Luke 15:20 Lit his own

Luke 15:20 Lit fell on his neck

Luke 15:29 Or disobeyed

Luke 15:30 Lit living

Luke 15:31 Lit are always with me

Cross references:

Luke 15:12 : Deut 21:17

Luke 15:12 : Mark 12:44; Luke 15:30

Luke 15:20 : Gen 45:14; 46:29; Acts 20:37

Luke 15:22 : Zech 3:4; Rev 6:11

Luke 15:22 : Gen 41:42

Luke 15:24 : Matt 8:22; Luke 9:60; 15:32; Rom 11:15; Eph 2:1, 5; 5:14; Col 2:13; 1 Tim 5:6

Luke 15:30 : Prov 29:3; Luke 15:12

Luke 15:32 : Luke 15:24

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[1] http://www.welfareinfo.org/

[2] http://www.now.org/nnt/03-97/father.html

[3] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/04/dan-quayle-was-right/7015/

[4] Romans 9-11

[5] Ephesians 2:8-9

[6] Romans 5

WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE ARE MORE COMFORTABLE INVITING PEOPLE TO CHURCH OR JUST DOING A GOOD WORK THAN IN SHARING THEIR FAITH IN CHRIST WITH OTHERS?-Part 4

This is part 4 of a 4 part series based on a question which was asked dealing with my blog on “When Did We Start Confusing Community Service With Evangelism?”

2^nd Peter 1:10-11

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

Reason 4-They don’t share their faith because they have not really believed

I have always said if you are a Christian and you share Jesus with someone, when that person comes to Christ you will never be the same again.  I not only believe that statement, but I stand by it because I have lead people to Christ.

Several years ago in 1982, right before I graduated high school, I attended Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.  One particular Sunday morning God got a hold of this small congregation and lit a fire within His people.  It was a move of God that I had never experienced before, and to this day have not seen anything like it.  Suddenly people were inviting folks to church and were going out and witnessing on the streets.  That night I was scheduled to preach since the pastor was home sick.  I invited a friend to come with me who I knew was lost.  My friend was a year younger than I was and got along with me very well.  After preaching I gave a public invitation where people were allowed to come to the front of the auditorium and state their need for Jesus as Savior.  Many people came forward to accept Christ including my friend.  My friend graduated in 1983 and became an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician).  He was buried in February, 2012 after dying from bone cancer.  You never know what may happen to someone later in life.

Christians cannot get around the idea that we are witnesses of light to a lost world in darkness.  Our Christianity invades our every perspective in every area.  When I came to Christ I went from being pro-abortion to being pro-life.  I went from saying let everyone live like they want, to everyone should be living for Jesus.

I believe there are two major indicators that can help people know whether they are Christians or not.  They are the most basic of indicators.  One is church attendance.  I plan on dealing with the link between church attendance and salvation in a later blog.  The second is the willingness to share the faith.  When you come to Christ your life still has moments and places of self-absorptions.   God has to constantly work on those areas, but over all you have a different prospective on life and a deeper concern for the eternal dilemma others are in.  You care about the eternal destiny of those you know and don’t know.  There should be an increased desire to reach people with the gospel. 

There are two ways in which people will decide to reach the lost; missions and witnessing.  Mary and I choose to support missions work because they can reach people groups that we could never reach.  Witnessing is the act of sharing our faith in what we say, how we treat others, what we do, and the willingness to point out when people are wrong while discussing the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

My concern rides that if people are allowing the world to dictate to them if they should be a witness; if their fears dominate their love for the lost; and they show consistent signs of laziness on their part, there is a very real possibility that they are lost.  In other words they do not know the Savior.  I cannot share with you what I do not have.  If you need ten dollars but I do not have it, I cannot give it to you.  The same is true of faith.  If you have no faith, you can’t share it.  If you don’t know Jesus as Savior, you cannot introduce Him to someone else.

There is a story which is told about W.A. Criswell the late pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas.  The way the story was conveyed to me is there was a gentleman who got into a heated debate with Dr. Criswell.  In the midst of this fiery exchange the gentleman told Dr. Criswell that he is narrow-minded because he believed that only Baptist was going to Heaven.  In term Dr. Criswell quipped back and told him that he was more narrow-minded than that; he (Dr. Criswell) believed that only half of them were going.

The idea that the story conveys is that not everyone in a church pew or on a church membership role is a Christian.  They may be a Christian by name but not by ownership.  Another thought is that they make a profession but don’t have the possession.

Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 warns, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

The key is that many people will do things that are spectacular, fun, and impressive.  They will speak eloquently and discuss things that seem to make sense to the hearer.  They may even be the cream of the crop; the best of the best; the very people we look up too. They may be the most impressive preacher(s) we have ever heard.   But they won’t be believers.  They will have made a great show, however they will be people of “lawlessness.”  They will have broken the two hinge commandments.  Love God with every bit of their being[1] and love their neighbor as themselves.[2]  How is this “lawlessness” reflected?  They did not love God enough to repent of their own sin and turn to Jesus Christ as Savior by believing on Him alone.  And they did not love their neighbor enough to tell the good news of what happened to them.  They did not do the will of the Father.  What is the will of the Father?  For us to confess our sinfulness to Him, turn from our own ways; turn to Jesus Christ believing He is the only way to eternal salvation as a result of what He did on the cross and the fact that He is bodily rose from the dead.  Then we are to share this with everyone we come into contact with.  This is one of the reasons for John MacArthur writing his book The Gospel According To Jesus.  “In Matthew 7, the Lord gives us a glimpse of the coming judgment and the tragedy of those who will stand before the throne with high expectations but only a verbal profession or mere intellectual knowledge.”[3]  While I may not totally agree with everything he states or the way he states it the point of the book has to be taken.  Just because people say they are believers doesn’t mean they are. 

Out of all four thoughts on this subject this is easily the most dangerous one.  Not only is the eternity of those who are outside the church walls threatened, but those within the walls are as well.  I cannot emphasis enough that the reason so many people show so little concern for the eternity of others, is because they do not have eternal life.  It is eternal life that only comes from Jesus Christ and needs to be seen as well as heard by the rest of the world.

I will end with a final thought next week called, “What do we do now?”

His Servant Together With You,

Steven Swaim
President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

(All Bible quotations are from the NASB)

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[1] Deuteronomy 6:5

[2] Leviticus 19:18

[3] John F. MacArthur, Jr.  The Gospel According To Jesus.  Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1988.  Pg. 188

The Forgotten Mother

(Genesis 29:31-32, 35)-NASB

“³¹ Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, ‘Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.’

³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.”

The history of Mother’s Day can be traced back as far as the ancient Egyptian pagan rituals were mothers were considered blessed by the gods by having children.  In modern America, Mother’s Day can be traced back to Julia Ward Howe in 1872.  Julia Ward Howe is best known for writing the song The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  But the holiday that we celebrate was inspired by Anna Jarvis which was instituted in 1912.  Today it is a multi-billion dollar business which has everyone from the florist, to the chocolate candy manufacturers, to the restaurant industry cashing in heavy.[1]

Today I would like to speak about mothers.  Their importance in our lives is extreme.  If a child has a good mother, but a bad father, he or she is more likely to develop a strong moral compass.  William Ross Wallace in his titled mother’s day poem said it best, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World.  There is something extremely innate about the tie between mothers and their children.  I know that so much of what I have gone through in my life would have little meaning had it not been for my mom.  At the same time I look at the life of one of my nephews who is setting in prison for at least 15 to 30 years for aggravated assault, kidnapping, and robbery.  His life has been filled turmoil and the main source of irritation has been a single mother who never cared to have anything to do with him.  One moment of showing love to him from her would change everything.

The Bible is replete with mothers of all kinds.  Good ones, bad ones, funny ones, strange ones, smart ones, and of course foolish ones.   Most people when they focus on a mother for a study will look at Eve, or Hannah (Samuel’s mother) or Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mom) or Mary, mother of Jesus or even Timothy’s mother and grandmother.  But there are other women in the Bible who give us a clear picture of the needs and hopes that moms have as well as the insight into what is or is not a good characterization of a mom.

One such mother in the Bible that I believe is often overlooked is Jacob’s wife, Leah.  The story starts in Genesis chapter 29:18 where Jacob confesses his love for Rachel, Leah’s younger sister.  Evidently, according to Laban, Leah and Rachel’s father, the older sister has to be given away in marriage first.[2]  None of this is explained to Jacob up front; so a deal is made between that Jacob would work for Rachel for seven years.  The way the deal goes is that at the end of the Jacob would get Rachel as his wife and he would be allowed to go back to his home in Canaan where his father Isaac and mother Rebecka lived.[3]  As a side note Laban is his uncle.[4]

The Bible says that seven years past like a brief moment in time.[5]  Finally the time has come, the wedding feast is thrown, and the bride enters the tent to spend the night with the groom.[6]  Sounds cool and appear to be the perfect love story, however the next morning Jacob wakes up to find that Laban had given him a special wedding gift.  The bride was not Rachel, but Leah![7]  The passage that follows breaks out into all kinds of outrage and anger.  Jacob is beside himself.  So a new deal is made and Jacob would receive Rachel upfront for an additional seven years of labor.[8]  This sets the scene for what is about to happen for the rest of Jacob’s life.

There are three things to note about Leah from the quoted scriptures above.  First, she was not the most loved person around.  Verse 31 states that she was “unloved.”  Not the greatest feeling.   The Bible gives us some small details about Leah.  Not only was she the first born,[9] but she is also someone with very week vision.[10]  Some theologians believe that the comment about her eyes may have a lot to do with her overall physical appearance.[11]  In other words she may have been a very weak looking person.  According to those who believe this is true, Rachel may have been a fairly big bone woman giving her the appearance of being stronger.[12]  This would make sense considering the fact that what was needed for that time period was be strength, not beauty.  If the appearance issue is true it would have even more to do with feeling unloved since most men may have gone after Rachel to court rather than Leah.  We have to take one more look at this issue of being “unloved.”  How do you think she felt when her dad slipped her into Jacob’s tent rather than letting Rachel marry him.  Talk about a shotgun wedding!  This takes the cake.

The second thing we see is that Leah knew she was not loved in verse 32.  This shows up at the birth of Reuben.  The meaning behind the name Reuben is given, “…‘Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.’”  She could tell that Jacob didn’t love her.  She longed to have his affection.  Her father had betrayed her with the treachery on the wedding night.  Jacob had never showed interest in her before, what was to say he would now.  However, because a son was involved maybe things would be different; or at least that was her hope.  Feeling unloved did not keep her from loving, serving, or staying with Jacob.  Some may contribute this attitude with the day and age they were living, which may be true.  That being said, I believe that there was something deeper at work, something that kept things intact at the worst possible moments, which leads us to our third point.

Leah evidently had a relationship with God.  This can be seen from three different angles.  First, according verse 31 it states, “Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved,…”  While we know that the Lord sees everything (the doctrine of omniscience)[13] I think that He shows careful attention to His child.[14]  This would be an example of it; the Lord saw her situation and responded in a way that would give her some assurance.  The second way we can see she had a relationship with God is found in how she names her children.  With Reuben she talks about the Lord seeing her circumstances and with Judah in verse 33 she names him out of praise to God.  I believe this shows an acute awareness of the presence and person of God.  She knows He is present with her during her time of difficulty.  Last, we see that she had a relationship with God based on what her sister, Rachel, did that she didn’t do.  In a later chapter God instructs Jacob to leave.[15]  As they prepare to leave Rachel sneaks back to her father’s house and steals some idols that they worshipped.[16]  Leah did not do this, but Rachel did.  On a circumstantial level alone there appears to be a much deeper relationship with Yahweh.

While overlooked, Leah plays a very important part in all of our lives.  Not only does she reflect the qualities of faithfulness, a relationship with God, and endurance, but she is a person of importance historically.  Through Leah comes Judah; from Judah comes Boaz; from Boaz comes King David; from King David comes King Solomon; from King Solomon comes a whole host of family which leads to Joseph and Mary.  And from Mary comes Jesus the Christ, Savior of the world.[17][18]

From a mothers hand and heartache comes the gospel message of salvation and hope.  Little did she know that it would come to this, but I am certain that she continues to praise the God who included her son in His lineage.  From Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross along with His great and glorious bodily resurrection we find salvation.  The ugly that we see come from Jacob, Leah, and Rachel’s lives are only representative of the ugly that God sees in our lives every day.  He is displeased with us and with our rebellion against Him, but He loves us.  Because of that love, He became a man, suffered on a cross because of our sin and rose from the dead three days later to give us hope and salvation if we just ask Him for it.

There are two points I wish to make regarding Leah’s life and Judah’s legacy leading to our Savior.  One, you as a mom may feel that your days are spent in loveless, worthless, daily, endless junk.  Remember that it is a relationship with God that sustains you.  Two, you don’t really know who you are raising.  If you read the rest of Genesis you will see that Judah was not the brightest nor was he the most morally spectacular son.  However, he was the most repentant and in the end the wisest.  While Joseph, his half younger brother, shines the most at the latter half of the book, if you read it carefully it is Judah who begins to display leadership toward doing the right thing.   So don’t despair, that child who you cry over today, may be the leader or raising the leader who God uses to share the gospel in the most dramatic way ever seen.

God’s Blessing On All The Moms!

Steven Swaim
President and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

Please feel free to share any of my material with friends and family.  Invite them to visit this website.

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[1] http://www.dayformothers.com/mothers-day-history/

[2] Genesis 29:26

[3] Ibid, 29:18-20

[4] Ibid, 27:43

[5] Ibid, 29:20

[6] Ibid, 29:21-24

[7] Ibid, 29:25

[8] Ibid, 29:30

[9] Ibid, 29:16

[10] Ibid, 29:17

[11] John H. Walton, The NIV Application Commentary-Genesis.  Zondervan, Grand Rapid, MI, 2001.  Pg. 586

[12] Ibid

[13] Proverbs 15:11

[14] Romans 8:28

[15] Genesis 31:11-13

[16] Ibid, 31:19

[17] Matthew 1

[18] Luke 1:26-38