The Family

Have you ever wondered why God set up the family the way he did? Have you ever wondered why the god of this world goes to such extraordinary lengths to destroy the family? This is worth exploring.

Ephesians 2:4,5
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) [sōzō - made whole]

Sōzō in the Greek means to be made whole. To be saved is generally not understood today. We are born into this world just body and soul, without spirit, and when we are born again, when we are saved, made whole, we receive God's gift of holy spirit. It is this gift of holy spirit that makes us whole, having three parts again instead of two. That is what it means to be saved, sōzō, made whole.

Dead in sins in verse 5 is simply a reference to man being just body and soul, without spirit. Quickened is Old English language meaning to be made alive. When we receive this spirit and become whole again, we are made alive and, therefore, we are no longer dead. We are saved, made whole, by grace. By grace means it isn't something we work for or earn. Someone else paid the price so that we could have it for free. It costs us nothing. It cost God everything.

Ephesians 2:6-8
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved (sōzō - made whole) through faith [believing]; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

How do we get this gift of spirit? How are we made whole? It couldn't be easier.

Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved [sōzō - made whole].

Eternal life is a gift from God, and it's a gift he freely gave. After the fall of man back in Genesis, man was in such a mess that there was literally nothing he could do to get himself out of that mess. It took God coming up with a plan to get the job done. Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of that plan, and on the day of Pentecost it became available once again for man to be made whole, to be a three-part being of body, soul, and spirit. Who is welcome to receive this gift of holy spirit? Well, anyone. Jesus Christ paid the price for everyone.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

When you were born the first time, a seed from your father impregnated an egg in your mother. The seed was fertilised and a few months later you were born into the world, body and soul, but because you had no spirit you had a big empty hole inside you. I remember that hole inside me while I was growing up. Sometimes I felt so empty that life didn't feel worth living. That hole has been filled with the gift of holy spirit. There is nothing missing inside me now, I've been made whole.

When we are born again, seed is also involved, only this time it is God's seed, which is incorruptible, and it is that seed, that holy spirit born within us that fills that hole.

1 Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

This seed born within you, this holy spirit that makes you whole, is seed from God. Just as seed from your earthly father made you your father's child, so the seed from God makes you his child.

Romans 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

As God's seed is involved, that makes this a family thing. Christianity therefore is not about candles and alters, meaningless ceremonies and mindless rituals, it is the way of a Father with his children, it is a family thing. That's why God set up families, so we could learn about him being our Father as we grew up. Children find it easy to relate to God as their Father when they grow up in strong loving families.

It is available to have strong marriages in loving relationships that last a lifetime. This is not make believe, this is not a fairytale, this is not science fiction, this is the truth. The bible also explains in detail how to achieve it. As an example, here are a few keys to a successful marriage and family life. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive biblical study, nor is it intended as such, but it will serve to contrast a few differences between God's way of doing things and the world's.

Ephesians 5:22
Wives, submit [hupotassō] yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

The Greek word hupotassō means loving obedience by proper arrangement and deliberate decision. Wives, by their choice, by their freedom of will, are to submit to their husbands. That's part of God's plan for a successful, loving, strong marriage relationship that lasts a lifetime.

Ephesians 5:23,24
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of the husband, and in the marriage relationship, the husband is the head of the wife. Just as God designed Christ to be the head of the church, he also intended man to be the head, the leader in the marriage relationship. The wife is to be a companion for the man, as well as his helper and assistant. That is a woman's job description in the marriage relationship. Husbands' and wives' responsibilities in marriage are equal in importance, but not in authority. Men are to lead, that is how God designed marriage. Well, someone has to lead. Without leadership, businesses fail. Without leadership, military forces are destroyed on the battle field. Nothing in life works without leadership, and the same is true in marriage. Ladies, the relationships you long for are only available in this context. Men, take charge, be the leader, grow a pair of balls and do your job.

Ladies, if all this seems rather alien to you, consider this: if the man is the head then he is responsible before God for the marriage, not you. Men, don't throw your responsibilities back in God's face and dump your job on your wife. It is your job, it is your duty to keep your family safe and protected, cared for and loved. A woman is inspired to submit to a husband who takes care of her, not just physically, but who takes care of her heart, encourages her and loves her as Jesus Christ loved the church.

Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

These verses compare the love that Jesus Christ had for the church with the love that a husband is to have for his wife. Jesus Christ gave his life for his church and make no mistake men, marriage may require a sacrificial love. Are you willing to put yourself in harm's way if necessary to protect your wife and family?

In the family of God we are all children and God is our father. We are to care for each other and look after each other as brothers and sisters with God as our father. As we live life here on earth, we are to live as a family, caring for each other as children of the living God. When new people are born again, we are to look after them as babies in Christ. If we can learn to love each other with this kind of love, life will be sweet and the family will grow.

Now, all this should give us a clue then as to why the god of this world goes to such extremes to destroy the family. If people grow up with no concepts of true family values, it is almost impossible for them to relate to God as a father. Additionally, if people in any culture or civilisation cease to have families, birth rates will fall, and that culture or civilisation will go into decline. Astonishingly, the world markets this particular brand of genocide as birth control.

So in this context, what resources are available to the god of this world to help destroy the marriage relationship, lower birth rates, and edge our civilisations into decline? Homosexuality serves his purposes very well. The more semen ejaculated up the backsides of men, the fewer eggs are fertilised in women and the fewer children are born. How the god of this world must laugh when he sees a nation's semen stolen from the wombs of its women and pumped up the backsides of the male populace. How God must vomit when he sees christians ordaining homosexual ministers and lobbying for homosexual marriages. As it is written, the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Much of what we call the western world will effectively disappear within our lifetimes if we do not wake up and reverse our direction. If a nation does not produce X number of babies per capita, that nation will go into decline, and if the trend is not reversed that nation will eventually become extinct. Government funded birth control is in reality a taxpayer funded form of genocide. You know, we pay for it - the government steals our money through illegal taxes, and then uses that money to exterminate us.

In Europe, the indigenous peoples of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain will most likely not exist within a few decades. Europe is on the verge of civilisation change. Europe and America are awash with resources and abundance, but what use is that if we are running out of people? The one truly indispensible resource without which no culture or civilisation can possibly survive is children. Unless we change, there is no future for us as peoples. What can we do about it? Well, God is still there, he hasn't gone anywhere. The promises in his word are still available to anyone who believes them.

We just do not understand how far down the way of death we have gone in our so-called developed world. In its reliance on immigration, as well as its promotion of homosexuality, Europe is financing its own extinction. America will not be far behind either unless they change their course.

Here is some current hard data on birth rates from around the world and the news is sobering. By the time you read this, these figures will probably be worse. We are running out of babies much faster than we are of oil. The replacement fertility rate, the number of babies you need for a stable population, is 2.1 babies per woman. Some countries are well above that. The global fertility leader, Niger, is 7.60 babies per woman, Uganda 6.69, Mali 6.44, and Somalia 6.35.

So, the Muslims are doing just fine. What about the rest of us? Scroll down to number 123 and you will eventually find the United States, with a replacement birth rate of 2.06 births per woman. Ireland is further down, at 2.02, the United Kingdom 1.91, Norway 1.77, Canada 1.58, and Germany 1.41.

Interestingly, as fertility shrivels, societies get older. Japan and much of Europe are set to grow older than any functioning societies have ever been at any time in recorded history. And we all know what comes after old age, don't we? Unless we can find the will to change our ways, we will cease to exist as peoples.

There was and is no population explosion in the developed world. It was a media lie. Birth rates are declining all over the western world. In 1968 we should have realised that Paul Ehrlich's so-called population explosion was in reality a massive population readjustment. Of the increase in global population between 1970 and 2000, the developed world accounted for less than 9 percent of it, while the Muslims accounted for 26 percent of the increase. Between 1970 and 2000, the developed world declined from just under 30 percent of the world's population to just over 20 percent. We are dying.

Can these trends continue for another few decades without having serious consequences? The grand buildings of Europe may still be standing in years to come but the peoples who built them may well be gone. We are living through a remarkable period of self-extinction, suicide if you like. A society that has no children has no future. I'll put it another way - homosexuality is a terminal disease. It used to be a criminal offence to be a homosexual. Who changed those laws? Who promotes homosexuality in our schools? Who threatens anyone who stands against homosexuals with prosecution for violating their human rights? If we can spotlight those responsible, could we perhaps then unveil what is really going on around us?

Our enemies love birth control. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Ted Turner, for example, have donated billions to spreading the gospel of contraception, abortion, and feminism using the United Nations and US Aid. Rockefeller funded the invention of the pill and the IUD and also owns the rights to the abortion drug RU-486. In the last 50 years, billions of public dollars in America have been spent on family planning that is designed to limit population. Of course it is, why else would we spend so heavily on so-called family planning if it were not to control birth rates? But it isn't about family planning, it's about genocide, it's about a war against populations.

In July 2003, speaking to the United States Congress, Tony Blair remarked: As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible but, in fact, it is transient. The question is: What do you leave behind? Tony Blair knows Europe is on the verge of caving in. He should do, he was a big part of our continuing demise. Instead of hanging traitors, we now make them prime ministers and presidents and pay them huge sums of money from the public purse so they can change laws that protect us and introduce laws that steal our prosperity, destroy our families, and make us sick. Trade laws and immigration laws were put in place to protect us. Someone once went to a great deal of effort to put them there. The ones who benefit from them being dismantled are our enemies.

As I said earlier, genocide comes in many different guises. Take the condom for instance. A few decades ago, the media screamed safe sex at us while condom factories sprang up everywhere. Well, I have some news for you. Condoms were not designed to keep you safe, they were designed to stop you having babies. They are a part of the devil's genocidal plan for the western world. It's been working too. Care to read the birth rate statistics I've listed above one more time? Of course, condoms are big business. Any idea who built the factories that produce them and who profits from them? Do some research and you may be surprised to see whose pockets are being lined at our expense. All roads lead to Rome, as we were once fond of saying.

So, what else can the god of this world do to break down the family unit? The strength of any nation is a strong middle class. How you build a strong middle class is by having strong families - men and women who marry, remain devoted and true to each other their whole lives, and who raise strong children. The god of this world knows this and has consequently declared war on middle class families. Ever noticed all the homosexuals living together, both working, both driving the latest fancy cars, wearing all the latest fashions, infesting night clubs and cruise ships, enjoying one long party, while your average working man with a wife and family can't afford to take his wife to the local restaurant for a meal at the weekend?

That isn't the way God set life up but it is the way the god of this world manipulates things through government, social security, and illegal taxes. Women leave their husbands because the government offers them free housing, free money, free furnishings, free everything. How does a working man compete with that? In case you didn't realise it, the government has no money of its own, what they have they steal from us. Ladies, do you really trust the government to look after you? What are you going to do when the government runs out of stolen taxes and has no more to give you? Do you think your men will have you back?

The god of this world has other powerful weapons with which to attack the family. Let's look at another - disciplining children. God has plenty to say on this subject.

Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Foolishness is bound, packed into the heart of a child. That is what the word says. The only way to get that foolishness out of the child is with the rod of correction (the rod being a figurative usage for discipline). The rod of correction could be a small wooden spoon lightly tapped on the back of a child's leg or hand. In the case of teenagers, it could be curtailed privileges. Whatever works, we are to discipline our children to get the foolishness out of them. That is how children grow up able to handle life responsibly so they can deal maturely with the challenges that will come their way.

The world, however, maintains that spanking teaches violence. No, it does not. That is the opposite of what the word teaches, therefore, it is a lie. Using the rod of correction properly teaches consequences. The world also maintains that if you discipline your children you do not love them. Here is what the word says.

Proverbs 13:24
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Contrary to the world's depraved standards, the word is clear - if you do not discipline your children responsibly, you do not love them. That is the truth. Any parent who loves their children will discipline them so they will grow up strong and able to handle life, with the foolishness that was in their hearts removed. Parents who do not discipline their children, hate their children. That is what the bible says.

The United Nations hates children. They are passing laws through the International Courts to make it illegal to discipline children. The United Nations hates your children with a passion you do not understand. Undisciplined children lead unproductive lives and contribute nothing to themselves or the communities they live in. The United Nations knows this. Everyone can see the fruits of the United Nation's stand against disciplining children, which they push through the courts in the guise of protecting their human rights. It does not protect them at all, it destroys them. Undisciplined children have no self-respect, no respect for adults, no respect for their own parents, and no concept of consequences, because the foolishness they were born with is still packed into their hearts.

Proverbs 19:18
Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

There is no such thing as ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), a term the world uses to label unruly children. That is more of that brown dribbly stuff from the rear end of male cows. If you want to call it something, call it CSUNB, Consequences for Swallowing United Nations Bullshit. If children are fools, don't listen to their parents, and have no respect for authority, it is because they were not raised properly. In other words, it is the parents' fault, not the child's. And don't go blaming God either. If you listened to him and did things his way you wouldn't have the problems.

Now, let's put spanking into perspective here, it certainly does not involve harming children. A light tap on the back of a hand or the leg with a wooden spoon, coupled with the word 'no' is sufficient to get a young child's attention. Don't use your hands as they are supposed to be a safe, loving refuge for a child to go to when they need comfort and love. If they associate a wooden spoon with disobedience and a little smack, often just the brandishing of the spoon will get their attention and will be sufficient to drive the foolishness from their hearts. That is loving children. If you don't do this, you do not love your children. Thus saith God, and he knows what's best for us. He loves us and cares about us, which is why he teaches us how to live life and raise families. The god of this world comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy. Who are you going to believe?

Proverbs 13:24
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The UN tries to convince us that disciplining children is child abuse. No, it is not. The world may take some horrific child murder and twist the facts to enforce legislation that removes the rights of parents to discipline their children, but that's just how the devil works. The god of this world is quite happy to send some possessed bastard to murder a few kids so the United Nations can force legislation through the international courts to remove our rights to love our children and discipline them. The United Nations are child abusers of the most vicious kind. It is the United Nations we should be taking to court for child abuse, not loving parents who love their children enough to discipline them. Actually, if we really understood the United Nations, we would freeze their assets, confiscate their property, and kick them out of our countries at the point of a gun.

Responsible adults respect consequences. Responsible adults understand that the more severe the mistakes they make in life, the more severe the consequences will be. Why is it that the United Nations does not want our children to learn this? Children need to learn about consequences. What chance do children stand in this world without ever learning that? Teaching a young child that fire burns and that they must stay away from the cooker while mom is cooking is not abusing a child's human rights, it is protecting them from possible serious harm. That is what parents are supposed to do, it is their duty as parents. If a child ignores the warnings and insists on trying to climb up on the cooker while mom is cooking, it is time to brandish the wooden spoon, not listen to the UN, stand back and watch our children spill boiling water over their heads.

The UN exhorts us not to break our children by disciplining them. Yeah right. Disciplining children does not break them, it protects them. Allowing children to grow up the UN way, as savages, will break them. Children need love and affection, yes, but they also require structure, boundaries, and effective discipline. They need to understand that there are consequences for every wrong action. How else could anyone possibly grow up to be successful in life?

While we are on the subject of the family, let's handle another weapon in the devil's arsenal that is clearly directed at the breakdown of the family unit - feminism. Feminism teaches women to hate men, practice witchcraft, and become lesbians. And I don't care if I make you mad. I have the word of God backing me up. I'm telling you the truth. What do you have backing you up? The United Nations? Hollywood? The homos? The BBC? Fine, if that is what you want to believe, go ahead, walk the world's ways and see where it takes you.

The god of this world is the real power behind sexual and homosexual liberation. Through media control, we are conditioned to regard sex as merely casual recreational activity rather than as an expression of love resulting in children. Feminism pretends to be about giving women equal opportunities, especially in the workplace, when in fact it was primarily devised to foment hatred for men, promote lesbianism, and break down families. The social stigma now attached to motherhood is so repulsive to some that being a homemaker has been compared to being an inmate in a Nazi concentration camp. This is psychological warfare of the most vicious kind.

Feminists also like to spotlight things such as the statistical pay gap between men and women, and scream about oppression and tyranny. In America, reports state that for every dollar a man earns, a woman earns 77 cents and that women coming out of college earn less than men do. This is true, but what the feminists do not tell you is why this is so. Most of this gap is due entirely to factors that are a matter of the choices that women make about their work. For example, women overwhelmingly choose to work in such jobs as social work, teaching, government, non-profits, and humanities, rather than in higher paying technical jobs in engineering and business. The jobs they choose offer plenty of personal rewards, but on a strictly statistical basis, they lower the baseline income that is factored in for all working women.

Additionally, women tend to choose part-time work over full-time work (resulting in lower overall job experience and resulting pay), they leave work earlier in life to spend time with family, and spend more time away from work during their careers for things such as having babies. All these factors weighed together give women a lower average pay than men statistically. Add it all together, and upwards of 70% of the so called pay gap can be directly attributed to the freewill choices women make and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with employers being tyrannical and oppressive towards women. The differences are not part of some diabolical scheme to undermine women by short-changing them in their salaries, rather, the feminists are the ones devising diabolical schemes by twisting statistical data to further the god of this world's agendas.

In the last four decades, we have experienced an unprecedented breakdown in the family. It is well known that most of our social problems - crime, educational underachievement, alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide - are symptoms of the breakup of the family. Instead of seeking rest and fulfilment in marriage and raising children, more and more of our best women are wasting their lives in jobs that can never give them the fulfilment and joy that a strong family life could. In our day and time, women have never been so liberated and women have never been so miserable. All the world offers women is money, a shit life, and then death. Come back to God ladies, it's where the abundance is.

Are there any other weapons stocking the devil's anti-family arsenal? Oh yes, plenty. Take adultery for example. The problem is endemic and yet it is considered by most as normal social behaviour.

It doesn't take much to expose adultery for what it is. Did you know that adulterers were stoned to death in the old testament? That's right. Adultery is a crime. It may not be a crime in our societies, and may carry no legal consequences, but it is a crime and it carries consequences. God told Moses to have adulterers stoned to death. There must have been a very good reason for that. Today it is promoted on TV, in movies, newspapers, magazines, and music, but is that really so surprising?

Look, adultery is not just a little problem, it is a big problem. Married couples wonder why their lives are miserable and threadbare, yet they lie and cheat on their partners, betraying the oaths they made when they married? I am sorry if this is news to you and you have been caught up in this, but now is your opportunity to change, this is your opportunity to get off the way of death and get onto the way of life where you can live in true abundance and with true power. Make the decision to change and you will be forgiven. Here is what Job said about adultery.

Job 31:9-12
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;

Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase [adultery will make you poor].

Adultery is not open to debate. If you saw it for the monster it really is, you would run as far away from it as fast as your little legs could carry you. Yes, I understand that emotions can be very powerful here, particularly if your marriage is in ruins. If that is the case, don't lie, don't cheat, talk to each other, and if there is no future in your relationship, divorce and then you will be free to start over. If you want your marriage to work, then make it work. Adultery is not an option either way. Adultery is the coward's way out and it will ruin you. God does not want folks lives ruined by the devil, which is why he took the time to warn us about this in his word.

And don't use grace as an excuse to sleep around with other men's wives. If you think grace allows you to sleep around and it's okay with God, then why don't you tell your children and your wife what you're doing, and tell the children of your partner and her husband what you're doing? The word says to put away lying and speak every man truth with his neighbour. Don't use grace as an excuse to sin or you will pay dearly because the devil will have direct access into your life through a break in the hedge of protection around you.

Romans 6:15
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

I am not teaching this to make anyone feel bad or to make anyone feel guilty, I am teaching this so anyone caught up in this can get back onto the way of life and enjoy God's abundance. No matter what you have done in the past, no matter where you have been, you can get onto the way of life at any time. The devil wants us miserable, sick, and dead, and he does everything within his power to lead us away from God's protection. God wishes above all things that we prosper and be in health, that we enjoy abundant and prosperous lives in every category.

God does not care about your past. Jesus Christ, who always did his father's will, even cared about those who had committed adultery. So do I, which is why I'm teaching this stuff. I care about people enough to want to help them.

John 8:3-5
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

First of all, Jesus did not know ahead of time that this was going to happen. These religious bastards burst into his meeting dragging this poor woman with them, and confronted him in public, looking to incriminate him in his words. They didn't care about the woman, but Jesus Christ did.

John 8:6
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

Look at these religious leaders' attitudes. They did not do this to help the woman, or to do anything for God, or because they loved people, they did it to tempt Jesus Christ. That was their motive, that's what was in their hearts. This thing was done out of jealousy and hatred for Jesus Christ. They were looking for an excuse to accuse him so they could prosecute him.

Jesus Christ's response, however, was to sit down and doodle in the dust on the ground with his finger. More than likely he was thinking, running scriptures through his mind, pondering how best to deal with the situation while waiting for God to let him know what to do.

Another interesting point is that these religious leaders were technically right. Moses does state in the old testament law that such women were to be stoned. These scribes and pharisees were quoting accurate scripture and it was in context. Jesus knew that and he knew that to contradict them would be to contradict the bible. That's what those religious leaders were hoping he would do. However, let's look at this from another point of view. The word is a heart thing. We have to learn to look on the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Forgiveness has always been available. Even Adam and Eve were forgiven and went on to enjoy prosperous lives in fellowship with God. Forgiveness was available to people who broke old testament law. David was forgiven after his affair with Bathsheba. Forgiveness has always been available, it is available today, and it will continue to remain available. The word must be understood in that light. It does not matter to God where a person has been, or what they have done in the past, he is only interested in where they are now and where they want to be in the future.

These religious leaders, although they were right, were wrong because of their attitude of heart. Whose side do you think God was on? The religious leaders? Or that poor woman? If God were on side with the religious leaders, Jesus Christ himself would have agreed with them, picked up a stone and been the first to throw it at her.

Think about the woman too. Put yourself in her sandals. What must she have been going through? Caught in the very act of adultery. More than likely, they set her up. She had been literally dragged out of bed by those bastards, hauled to the temple, and paraded in public. She was facing the death penalty - death by stoning. The public humiliation and the threat of death must have left her feeling pretty wretched. Did God still love her? Let's find out.

The scribes and the pharisees pestered him until he eventually stood up and turned in their direction. Note that he didn't hit them with his more usual response, it is written, and then quote scriptures. He didn't have any scriptures on this occasion because there were none. Instead, he went for their consciences.

John 8:7-9
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

They left, one by one, until they were all gone. Jesus didn't tell them they were wrong, he didn't quote scriptures at them, he didn't lecture them, he simply told them that whoever among them was guiltless should be the first to stone her. I'm not so sure that is what the woman would have wanted to hear, and at that point she probably expected rocks to begin splintering her bones. However, they all left, one by one, until Jesus and the woman were left alone in the midst of the people. I'll bet you could have heard the proverbial pin drop in the temple that morning.

John 8:10,11
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

See, God does not care about your past, he only cares about where you are now and where you want to be. This woman obviously wanted to change. She wasn't hardhearted and calloused. She didn't have an attitude. She didn't strut around the temple screaming at Jesus, or calling God names. She was genuinely sorry. I'll bet she was praying to God silently the whole time, telling God what a wonderful believer she was going to be from then on. Here you can see God's love, forgiveness, and mercy. God understands us, he's on our side, and he's there for us when we come back to him regardless of anything we've done.

Psalm 103:14
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

We are all human. God knows that. We all sin, which simply means to miss the mark. No one is perfect. We all get it wrong at some point. Jesus Christ took care of everything we've done wrong in the past, everything we may do wrong today, and everything we will ever do wrong in the future. The key is our heart. Are we willing to change? Jesus Christ dealt with the root cause of the sin problem, and once we come back to God, all those old sins of ours no longer exist. They are gone, forever.

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

This verse says east and west, not north and south. If you go far enough north and cross the pole, you will start going south. Unlike north and south, east and west never meet. It is a physical impossibility. Either you are going east or you are going west. If you are going east, you are travelling away from west. If you stop and go west, you are now heading away from east. There is infinity between them. It isn't that God is simply hiding his eyes from our sins, pretending not to see them, they really do not exist anymore. Jesus Christ did a thorough job of getting rid of them.

Hebrews 10:12,17
But this man, [Jesus Christ] after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

God will remember our sins no more because they no longer exist, and when God forgives, he also forgets. When God has forgiven you he will never bring it up again. Why? Because our sins no longer exist. They were dealt with. They are gone. There is nothing to deal with because they are not there. They are as far away as the east is from the west. There is nothing to remember because they don't exist.

Colossians 2:13,14
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Whether you believe in God or not, whether you are a christian or not, God's forgiveness is available. The question is, do you want it? God isn't the issue here. If you want it, make your peace with God and change. It's a new day. You can have a new life starting right now, and it will cost you nothing. As soon as you make the decision to change, you are forgiven. It is as easy as children apologising to their parents. How can it be so easy? How can it cost us nothing? Well, it cost God a lot. How much did it cost him? Only his son, and he willingly paid that price for you.

Want a new life? Want abundance and power in your life? Want to put the past behind you and move on? Every day can be a new day, just like it was a new day for that woman in the temple. It can even be a new day for you homos and lesbians, if you want it. Yes, God will even forgive you if you change. Which life do you want? One is the way of life and the other is the way of death. The choices are clear. Take your pick.

Chapter 23 - Military Intelligence