January 2016

January 2016
Praying to the
Saints
What Does
Scriputre Say?
Satan’s Schemes
God’s Plans
Feeling
Disconnected
from God?
There May be a
Reason!

Faith Filled Family
CONTENTS
FEATURES:
THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW.........................07
Could you life be better? If you find yourself spinning
your wheels in frustration after salvation, there may be
a reason... and you’ll love the outcome!
SINLESS AFTER SALVATION ...............................14
This article discusses the myth that after we are saved,
God doesn’t see the sin in our lives- that no matter
what we do, we are covered by the blood of Jesus, so
we are free to do what we want- or are we?
I KNOW YOU BUT WHY SHOULD I OBEY YOU?.18
Many people know God.. or know of Him. However,
there is an importance and a blessing for obedience.
Find out what you may be missing!
GOD? YOU ARE MY GOD!....................................24
There is only one God in existance, not many. Some
people who are newly saved believe that there are
other Gods that they can worship, or that God is part
of a more universal scheme of thing. Learn why there
is only ONE God.
STAINED BY SIN.....................................................29
After we are saved, we are not excluded from temptation
or from the wiles of the enemy. The only difference is
that we are now the victors in this situation, given the
full auhority of Christ to live as overcomers.
WALK, RUN, OR MOVE BUT GET OUT OF THE
WAY!........................................................................37
This article teaches how to avoid falling into sin, and
the dangers of habitual sin. Learn how to break the
bondages of sin and live a life full of victory.
THERE IS A ROAD AFTER SALVATION................42
Salvation doesn’t end with accepting Jesus, nor is
is a happily ever after scenario. Our walk with God
just begins at salvation, and the road ahead is more
majestic than you ever thought possible- but only if
you allow God to work in you.
DON’T JUDGE ME! JUDGMENT IS FOR THE
CONDEMNED.........................................................50
Many people are deceived into believing that judgment
is reserved for unbelievers. However, scripture has a
different take on this subject. Discover the truth on the
subject of judgment.

PRAYING TO IDOLS IS O.K. AS LONG AS THEY
ARE HOLY...............................................................60
This article discusses the debate between praying to
the saints and praying directly to Jesus. Find out why
and how two faiths clash on such an important topic.
SIN NO MORE!........................................................64
Satan deliudes us into believing that grace covers all
sin- a half truth wrapped in a lie! Grace covers sin, but
habitual sin has some dire consequences!
SEPARATED BY SIN...............................................70
Feeling disconnected from God? Can you no longer
hear His voice? There may be a reason for that. Find
out how to acheive victory in this area.
SATAN’S SCHEMES, GOD’S PLANS.....................74
Ever feel like you are in a constant battle regarding
your future? God has plans for your life- big ones!
However, so does Satan. Uncover his deceptions.
NTERVIEWS:
EPIC SERIES CONTINUES WITH GREATEST
STORY EVER TOLD...............................................10
Interview with actor Dan Cade on the movie A.D.
IGNIGHTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH GET YOUR
SOUL ON FIRE........................................................20
Interview with Ivy Adjivon on her latest book.
FRYE FAMILY BAND..............................................32
Our music spotlight highlights an entire family that
sings together. It discusses how they get along, and
their passions as individuals.
ELMER TOWNS DISCUSSES HIS LATEST BOOK,
THREE SEARCHING KINGS..................................46
Elmer Towns discusses the significant behind his latest
book, Three Searching Kings. This book is definitely a
thought-provoking must read!
TIM SCHUSTER INTRODUCES COUPLES TO
BETTER HALVES....................................................56
Financial freedowm for couples is possible!
WHY DO GREAT MEN FALL?.................................78
Interview with Dr. Wayde Goodall
IN EVERY ISSUE
BOOK REVIEW THREE SEARCING KINGS..........49
Faith Filled Family

EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER
Michelle Danko
mcdanko@eyeworship.org
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER
Vernita Simmons (Interviews)
vsimmons@eyeworship.org
Kathy Smith (Features)
kathy.smith@eyeworship.org
Lynn Dunn (Current Events)
ldunn@eyeworship.org
EDITOR
Jill King
jillking@eyeworship.org
Matt Poe
mattpoe@eyeworship.org
SALES
Mark M. Danko
mmdanko@faithfilledfamily.com
IMAGES:
COVER PHOTO
Stonme@Dollarphotoclub.com
PHOTOGRAPHERS
HalfPoint, Chromatika, Zurijeta, bereta, Creativa, Bartek78, Kozzi
Inc., Pixbox,77, Janaka, Szakaly, AntonioGravante, Peidmont
Photo, Kevron2001, Mokee81, Andy Dean Photography, Ronstik,
Elnur, Farina 300, Arosoft, Flkmik, Hirgon, Zatletic, Shipfactory,
Badman Productions, Diandaduda, frameangel, Jankana, Stuart
Miles, Shock, Altinosmanaj, Junpinzon, IKant, Welcomia, David
Castillo Dominici, Rugdal, outsider, and Jordache@ Kozzi.com
Fakezzz, Vayagerix, Igor, Tornasdelamo, Boggy, Ilyarexi, and Mauro
Rodrigues @Dollarphotoclub.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND FEEDBACK:
For subscriptions or feedback, please visit our website at :
www.faithfilledfamily.comIinfo@faithfilledfamily.com
© Faith Filled Family Magazine, November Edition, Yumpu 2015
All material is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part without the written permission of Faith Filled
Family is expressly forbidden.

Publisher’s Letter
BELIEVING MYTHS CAN AFFECT YOUR ETERNAL
LIFE!
So now you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart, but the
journey doesn’t end there, it’s just the beginning.
If you expect that life will be glorious from here on in, you
are mistaken. We still have an enemy that will persecute
and tempt you.
The good news is that you now have authority to overcome
the enemy and live a life of victory that you have never
dreamed possible.
In this issue, we give you the truth about life afer salvation
and give you both the tools to live a life of victory, and
debunk myths that may separate you from God.
Make this New Year one of walking in victory beyond
what you could have ever imagined! Live a life filled with
passion and purpose making this year the best ever.
Be Blessed!
Michelle Danko
Publisher
Faith Filled Family Magazine

The Time For
Change is...
By Michelle C. Danko
Congratulations! You are saved and are spending an eternity in Heaven! There is nothing more precious
than giving your life to Christ. So, now what?
After you accept Christ, your life will be transformed. After salvation, you should experience
change if you are plugged into a church that is alive for Christ, read your Bible, and pray. Attending
church will surround you with a support system of people who will build you up in the Word,
encourage you, and disciple you. They will be an encouragement through times of trial. We need fellowship
with other believers! Reading your Bible will nourish your soul and help you grow. Praying will
help you develop a relationship with God. All of these things are designed to help you mature in your
faith walk. However, there is an enemy who will try to get you back into his realm, and often he will tell
new believers that they can do anything they want- all they have to do is ask for forgiveness- full well
knowing that sin will separate them from Christ, and they will never walk in the fullness of Christ.

What you don’t know: Satan is a
thief, liar, and destroyer. He will
go through great lengths to pull
a new believer away from Christ
because it’s easy. New believers
aren’t grounded in the Word
yet, so they may not know how to
fight back against the wiles of the
enemy. Satan’s most common
trick is to deceive believers into
thinking that they can do anything
they want after salvationtheir
life doesn’t have to change,
they don’t have to give anything
up, or they don’t have to change.
The grace message has been
destroyed and perverted to suit
this train of thought.
The truth is that grace and the
blood of Jesus wash away sin
if you repent. The truth is that
you have to mean it when you
repent, and the word repent
means that you intend not to
sin again- there is remorse. A
hardened heart after habitual sin
causes us to mouth the words,
but not be sorry anymore. Then,
we are separated from God.
Also, many new believers are
tricked into believing that God
is a loving God (which He is).
So, as a loving God/Father, why
would He punish His children? If
He loves us, He won’t punish us.
The believer cannot understand
that even though God loves us,
like a loving Father, He wants
the best for His children. God
doesn’t punish in anger, but out
of a fatherly love and concern.
His thoughts are, “Don’t sin,
because if you sin, by your
actions you are circumventing
all of the good things that I want
to give you because I love you.”
For parents, it is the equivalent
of seeing your child’s potentialwhat
heights they could go if
only they followed the same
path. A good parent wouldn’t
stand by and tolerate their
children destroying themselves
and their future. They would try
to intervene because they love
the child and want what is best
for them. God is the same way-
He knows what plans He has for
you because He created you.
He will not stand idly by and
let you destroy yourself without
saying something through the
Holy Spirit. He will try to speak
to you in a multitude of ways.
However, God has given you a
free will- the power to choose
your path- and if you don’t yield,
then He will give you over to your
temptation.
What you don’t know: Satan
doesn’t want you to walk in the
victory of Christ. Why does
Satan care so much? If you
knew what God’s plans for you
were, if you knew how to walk
in victory in all areas, and if you
knew the quality of life you could
have, you would never backslide
into your old way of living. You
would do damage to Satan’s
kingdom because in your joy,
you would tell others what God
has done for you- with great
enthusiasm. You would, at the
very least, be stealing people
out of the kingdom of darkness
and bring them into the light of
God. Their eyes will be open to
the truth and they will no longer
be deceived. Instead of being
broken, defeated and in despair,
they will be joyful, happy, and
know what love truly is. In short,
they will be victorious and whole.
Now who wants that kind of life!?!
Satan’s lies are meant to keep
you where you are, and if you
believe that you can do anything
you want after salvation, you
are being deceived. The result
will be that you will never grow
spiritually as an individual. If
your character never changes,
and you never grow, then you
are ineffective in the Kingdom.
God can’t promote bad habits/
character, so that will hold you
back from victory, and if you
don’t read your Bible, you can’t
fight back against Satan. You
won’t know who God says you
are, nor will you fully walk out the
plans that God has for you. You
are simply stalled out.
You can choose to live life
with your wheels spinning
getting nowhere, or you can
walk in victory over ever
situation. Christians from the
newly saved to fully devoted
followers of Christ all experience
persecution and temptations.
It’s unavoidable. However, it’s
what you do in these situations
that determines the outcome.
Your choice determines whether
you advance ahead, or remain
stuck. God will always give you
chances to get out of the ditch,
but it is up to us as to whether
we will hold onto that “tow line to
safety”.
If you are spinning your wheels
in frustration, God may just want
you to learn something and grow.
It may not be easy- as change
often never is- but it is for your
victory.
God is always on our side
cheering us on and helping us
when we cry out. Our choices
in life are up to us. We can
stay just saved, and live a just
saved life. However, the true
fullness of joy comes when we
live a life for Christ. God never

intended for His children to be
Sunday Christians. Christianity
is a lifestyle- it’s what you do
everyday. So yes, you can’t
lie to your spouse or your boss
anymore, you can’t manipulate
people to get what you want, you
can’t cheat the government, you
can’t speed in your vehicle….
You can’t be like Satan and do
what he does. However, you can
live a life of significance. You
can love your job, you can help
others, you can have more than
enough financially, you can be
promoted, you can have God’s
unmerited favor… You can be
happy.
The choice is yours, and the time
for change is now.

Epic Serie
Continues w
Movies
Greatest St
Ever Tol
By Kerry Nenn
“A.D. The Bible Continues” takes viewers
through the exciting and turbulent events following
Christ’s crucifixion. Picking up where the
hit series “The Bible” left off, the story depicts
the era of Roman oppression and the struggle
to control the Holy Land. Faith Filled Family’s
interviews with actor, Dan Cade, and costume
designer, Luciano Capozzi, provided an inside
look at the filming and fashion of the series.
Actor Dan Cade plays the role of Cassius, a
Roman general under the order of Pilate. Cade
shared insights into this unique experience,
which he considers one of the best of his life.
What was the biggest challenge about playing
this character?
Probably trying to be extremely terrified, but not
showing this too much. Being really terrified of
Pilate and what would happen if I betrayed him
but make it downplayed. Trying to look brave as
a soldier, but underneath I am extremely terrified
I will be killed by Pilate.
How did this compare to your previous
work?
Filming in Morocco in the Sahara was very different.
The sets were very realistic of biblical
times. It was very physical, with a lot of fight
scenes and a lot of physical interaction with the
other actors. Other roles I have played were
less physical. We were in a very hot climate with
biblical costumes, wearing sandals and walking
around on stones, representing the time and
place accurately. This made it more physical
and more painful, but necessary for the character
and very authentic.
In what ways did you see God at work
during this production?
I remember one instance where
everyone was on set and the clouds
opened up and light was shining
straight down on the set in those beautiful
surroundings. We thought of this as
a symbol that God was in the series.
Just the way the whole production came
together. The magnitude of it. There was so
much passion from cast and crew, and unity.
Everyone believed in the production and God,
and it all came together. That’s how I saw God
at work.
What did you learn during the creation
of this series?
Through my own personal research
as well as through the vision of the
producer, director, and the script, I
learned a lot about the time period.
I learned a lot more about the actual
story and the apostles. I learned how
the Romans and the Jews confronted. I
felt I was able to relive the biblical times –
how they moved, ate, and went about daily
life and how they would cope in those circumstances.

s
ith
ory
d

Professionally, I learned how to develop skills as
an actor – hitting my mark. I learned about showing
subtext and always being truthful in the moment.
To really be in character in biblical times with what
it was like – to show that as an actor – it developed
my performance and skills.
A real test of me as an actor were the physical
scenes. I had to react to physical violence and
make it look truthful. I was under the pressure
of a heavy costume, with all the padding as well,
and needed to be able to control all that and make
it look real. Something like that fine tunes your
acting instrument.
Anything else you think readers should know
about “A.D. the Bible Continues”?
This was one of the best experiences of my life,
professionally and personally, to go and relive that
biblical time. Not many people get to do that. I was
on these fantastic biblical sets as a character and
got to relive that. It was an amazing experience
and journey to go through. It was magnificent. As
an actor, for me, it was one of the peaks so far of
my career. It is very high quality work and one of
the best things I’ve ever done.
I hope they do something very similar again and
I can work with them again. These are very passionate
people. What they did to create this show
and everything involved in it - costumes, set, cast,
crew, post-production – was all very impressive. I
would very much love to work with them again.
Where can we see you next?
My experience with this series has given my career
a great boost in the U.S. It was fantastic for me as
an actor. My next project is currently airing on TNT.
The series, “Legends,” from the producer of “24,”
tells the story of a deep-cover agent whose undercover
operations involve a full transformation into
that character. I play the main character’s tech
guy, Steve. “Legends” can be viewed on Monday
nights at 9pm on TNT.
Designer Luciano Capozzi’s costumes for the
series were featured in a special exhibit presented
by the Museum of the Bible in Santa Clarita, California.
The exclusive Costume and Artifacts display
showcased Capozzi’s work throughout the
month of November. Capozzi offered Faith Filled
Family Magazine an inside look at the inspiration
for these exquisite works.
What was involved in the research you completed
for this project?
Certainly the philological study about the costumes
of the Temple of Jerusalem, the study of
the various fabrics and embroidery typical of the
Middle-Eastern area and also the very important
work of synthesis that was necessary to emphasize
the different ethnic groups in the history.
But also the use of colors, that especially for some
crowd scenes I wanted to modulate as a lyrical
composition.
Which costume design was the biggest challenge?
Probably the costume of Mother Mary. Even though
I used faithful known iconography, I didn’t want a
trivial result, but rather a more pictorial image (with
an important colors palette and almost sculptural
volumes). The paintings of Antonello da Messina,
and those of Mantegna were important sources of
inspiration.
What inspires your work?
The details of a painting or a photograph, the
details of a fabric, or of a color, are usually the first
visual impulses that inspire my work. Obviously
to talk with the director about my first sensations,
helps me to understand the parameters where I
can move and develop them.
What would be your dream costume design
project?
It’s a really difficult question...I have many dreams
.... I love to venture myself in epics, historical or
fantasy movies. I’d like also to prepare again some
Victorian costumes... but since I started my career
my biggest desire was to create the costumes
for a film based on a Tennessee Williams script,
where the costumes are really a second skin for
the characters, or a beautiful melodrama, like a
Douglas Sirk movie, with flaming colors.
How did your experience working on “A.D. The
Bible Continues” compare to previous work?
I have always worked for the international co-productions,
but this was my first time in Morocco.
Especially during these sad days it’s impossible

not to think how it was interesting, and also exciting
(even if not always easy) to work with many
people of different nationalities, religions and cultures.
In this case any difference was a quality
addition and also an enrichment for each of the
crew.
Produced by Light Workers Media, the 12-part
series “A.D. The Bible Continues” aired on NBC
and is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD.
We would like to thank Dan Cade and Luciano
Capozzi for taking the time to share their experiences
working on this impactful series. More
behind-the-scenes info is available at http://www.
nbc.com/ad-the-bible-continues.
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Sinless
Salvation
By Kerry Nenn
After
“Therefore, my dear friends, as
you have always obeyed--not
only in my presence, but now
much more in my absence--continue
to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling,” Philippians
2:12
Paul was writing these words
to the church in Philippi. These
were believers. They were
apparently already saved, but
Paul instructs them to continue
to work out their salvation. You
mean, it’s not a one-time thing?
Aren’t we cleansed of all unrighteousness
the moment we
accept Christ and are forgiven
of our sins? Aren’t we covered
by his sacrifice once and for all?
Yes, we certainly are. Forgiven.
Saved. Heaven-bound. Our sins
are now drowning in the sea of
forgetfulness, as far from us as
the east is from the west.
Then what is Paul talking about?
Sanctification. The truth is not
that we will never sin again once
we are saved. We are perfectly
redeemed by a perfect Jesus.
We are made perfectly holy
before our Judge by Christ’s sacrifice
for us. Perfectly forgiven –
yes. Perfect? No.
Through our belief in Christ as
savior, we will no longer suffer
the wrath we deserve for our
sins. Unfortunately, though, this
does not mean we will never sin
again. This is far from the truth.

In Romans chapter 7, Paul writes
about the internal battle between
doing what he knows he should
do and what his sinful nature
wants to do. We are told in verse
20 that “it is no longer I who do
it, but it is sin living in me that
does it.” Even though Paul knew
Jesus personally, he admitted
that he (as well as you and I) still
sin. Even though we have been
made right in God’s eyes, we still
do wrong. We still have things to
work on.
Let’s be clear. We can do nothing
to save ourselves. We can’t work
really hard and eliminate our bad
behaviors and become “sanctified
enough.” It is only through
Jesus that we can receive salvation.
We are told in Ephesians
2:8-9: “It is by grace you have
been saved, through faith, and
this not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not by works, so that
no one can boast.”
What we’re talking about here
is the process of growth after
we have received salvation. We
continue to work out our salvation
as God continues the sanctification
process in us.
Most of Paul’s writings are to
churches who had already
accepted the gospel Paul had
shared with them. They were
already following Christ, but
needed additional instruction.
Clearly, they were still struggling
with sin.
Why else would believers in
Ephesus (and by extension,
we today) need to put on the
full armor of God? We are in a
constant battle. When we drop
our shield of faith, the fiery
darts of the enemy get through.
We worry. We fear. We start to
believe lies, and these lead us
down paths to further sin. We
drop our sword, the Word, and
fail to learn God’s commands for
how Christians should behave.
We are told to put on this armor
so we can stand and resist evil.
Without a suit of armor, evil and
sin can devour us.
Instead, we pick up our shield of
faith. We study God’s word. We
ask him to search our hearts to
reveal any offensive way in us
so he can lead us in his ways.
(Psalm 139:23-24) As we pray
this type of prayer, the Holy Spirit
reveals sin in our lives.
Through this process, salvation
not only takes away our sin in
the form of forgiveness, it makes
us more aware of our sin in the
form of sanctification. As we
draw near the Lord, we discover
just how much we sin. We see
what wretched souls we are, in
desperate need of grace every

single day. As we seek to be
more like Jesus, we realize more
and more how much we aren’t
like him. We pursue Christ, and
the great Potter continues to
shape us into the likeness of his
son.
Of course, we never get to that
perfect shape. Not in this lifetime
anyway. By God’s grace and
Jesus’ sacrifice, we are seen
and accepted as perfected in
God’s sight, but in this imperfect
life we continue to sin.
Does this mean we are loved any
less? No. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus. (Romans 8:31) Take
David for example. The man
was far from sinless. Liar, adulterer,
murderer. He is described
as a man after God’s own heart.
How? He loved the Lord, but his
sanctification continued throughout
his whole lifetime. The same
is true for us.
Why else would we be instructed
to “grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18)?
If we attain perfect knowledge
and grace to never sin again
the moment we are saved, we
wouldn’t need to grow any more.
Instead, Jesus asks us to “take
up our cross daily” Luke 9:23.
Following Jesus requires daily
crucifying ourselves and our
sinful tendencies to pursue him
instead.
Paul talks about this again in
Romans 6. We are told in verses
11-14, “do not let sin reign in your
mortal body so that you obey its
evil desires. Do not offer any part
of yourself to sin as an instrument
of wickedness, but rather
offer yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from
death to life; and offer every part
of yourself to him as an instrument
of righteousness. For sin
shall no longer be your master,
because you are not under the
law, but under grace.”
This reveals that sin is still
around after salvation. It suggests
we have the option of
offering parts of ourselves to sin
and that we could obey its evil
desires. Why else would we be
told not to do so? The good news
is that last part. Sin is not our
master, because we are under
grace. We can have victory over
our sinful desires as God continues
to sanctify us when we offer
every part of ourselves to him.
Jesus’ prayer for us also reveals
our need for sanctification.
Shortly before he was crucified,
he prayed for the disciples and
all future disciples. He asks the
Father to “Sanctify them to live
in accordance with the truth;
your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
In the preceding sentences,
Jesus points out that he is praying
for those who are not of this
world, for those who are already
believers. They are saved, but
still need sanctification. We are
saved, but still need sanctification.
This happens through God’s
word. As we seek to live daily in
accordance to God’s word, we
are sanctified.
Those who are convinced we
sin no more after salvation have
swallowed a myth. It’s an appealing
myth. Much less is required
of us if we don’t need to continue
to work out our salvation. We
can simply drift on through life
without a second thought about
our actions, our motives, our
pursuits, or our desires. That’s
the myth. The truth is that God
tells us these actions, motives,
pursuits and desires are all to be
for his glory.
That means we have to be more
intentional than simply drifting.
As we focus our lives on Christ,
intentionally following Him, God
continues our sanctification. As
we bring our sin to him and seek
him daily, with fear and trembling
before an awesome holy God,
we are changed. We are made
more like his son. We grow. We
learn. We still sin, but as we
behold him, we are being transformed.
And we all, with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the
same image from one degree of
glory to another. For this comes
from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2
Corinthians 3:18

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I Know You But...
Why Should I Obey You?
By Vernita Simmons
Having a personal relationship
with the Lord is essential
in times such as these.
Add to this, such a relationship
is unlike any you’ll ever have.
First of all, it’s must be an intimate
relationship between you
and the Lord. In a word….. It’s
real. It’s authentic, because it’s
from an undisputed origin……
God. Obviously, there’s a bond
so sacred, that you’ll let nothing
separate you from Him. And of
certainty, Jesus died for us to
have a relationship with Him.
Therefore, such a fellowship
isn’t contingent on rules and regulations,
policies or procedures.
Certainly, God want you to stay
close to His heart ~ to love Him
so much that the very thought
of sin would make your flesh
cringe.
Now, there are some who don’t
feel this way at all. They have
convinced themselves that to
know God, obedience is not
necessary. Undoubtedly, they do
what is right in their own eyes
and rationalize such actions. In
those days there was no King
in Israel. People did whatever
they felt like doing. (Judges 17:6
MSG). You see - When there
is a lack of knowledge and no
vision the people perish. They
lack a sense of accountability
because they disregard godly
principles which are in place to
lead and keep them onto the
path of righteousness.
When visibility is unclear, you
are void of wisdom and thus,
your decisions are not sound.
This can result in you becoming
reckless and careless. The governing
laws means nothing to
you. In essence, you really don’t
know God for scripture states;
If you really love Me, you will,
keep and obey my commandments.
(John 14:15). Furthermore,
if you love God, you will
do what He instructs you to do.
But, when you are spiritual blind,
there is no intimacy, there is no
connection because the Lord
Jesus Christ does not abode
within you. The proof that we
love Him is in our ability to keep
His commandments.
And His commandments are not
grievous. (I John 5:3). The prin-

ciples of God will not bring you
trouble. In other words, they’re
not annoying. And God’s form
of discipline is necessary but is
not exasperating to a degree of
being overbearing. However;
people know right from wrong
but yet feel it’s not an option to
live in adherence to what God
requires. This leads to the realization
of their actions and we
hear such statements; “I am a
good person.”
“God loves me just the way I
am.”
“Accept as just as I am!”
Yes, God does love you,
however; you have deluded
yourself if you believe you
can live any means you
deem and yet know God.
Precious – you don’t have a
clue who Jesus is! Thus, the
enemy has blinded you that
you may not believe. And
because you have chosen to
go the wrong way, you disregard
the warnings and signs of
the truth. All you pay attention is
to that which pleases your flesh.
Among them the god of this
world, Satan, has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving to prevent
them from seeing the illuminating
light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ, who the image of
God. (II Corinthians 4:4). Your
mind has been infiltrated with
thoughts and images which are
in direct violation of what is pure
and righteous.
Surely, to know to good and
refuse to do so is sin. (James
4:17). And you may be a good
person but that doesn’t exempt
you from obeying God. With
such an attitude, it is clear you
have strayed from God, just as
Israel had when Isaiah declared
to them; But we are all an unclean
thing, and all our righteousness
are as filthy rags; and we all do
fade as a leaf; and our inquiries,
like the wind, have taken
us away. (Isa. 64:6). And any of
your so-called “righteous acts”
are in the eyes of are repulsive.
And your attempt to compensate
your good works for your willingness
to obey the Lord is meaningless
indeed. It leads down
the road to indulging yourself in
your own self-effort while making
excuses for behavior which are
erroneous. This carries you further
from God. This heresy renders
any such works unclean
and unacceptable.
One of the worst “state of
mind”......you can be in is
when you expect people to
accept you as you are. The
phrase; “Well……..Nobody’s
perfect!”…… is outdated, outsourced
and has been swept
away with the wind. If there is
some habit or behavior you need
to change, I advise you to go to
God and ask Him to help you in
that area of your life and change.
If you have a nasty attitude and
proclaim; “accept me just as I
am”—News alert! No one has to
put up with you and your nasty
attitude. If you are a chronic
complainer and enjoy dwelling
on the negative; you need
help. For example: (If it rains
and the sky is gray-you allow
the rain to dictate how your day
is going to be). Surely, I don’t
allow the weather to dictate how
I feel. The joy of the Lord is my
strength. My joy is contagious;
therefore, I say to you, get a life
and follow me as I follow Christ.
Undoubtedly, whenever Christians
appear on the scene we
should effect change.
In the final analysis, it’s time
you dump the excuses into the
trash and stop using “I’m not
perfect as a self-righteous
excuse”. Jesus said to be
perfect as I am perfect. You,
therefore, will be perfect,
growing into spiritual maturity
both in mind and character,
actively integrating godly
values into your daily life, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matt. 5:48). He’s not
speaking of sinless perfection.
Jesus expects for us
to become mature in him. We
mature in stages and you need
to reach the level where you
grow up and become a mature
person. The Lord expects you
to be in compliance with values
which reflect who your heavenly
Father is. This involves submitting
to the will of God daily. It’s
not a pick and choose a principle
that accommodates your lifestyle.
This is about being sold
out to Jesus and leaving that
sinful lifestyle behind you. This,
in my conclusion, to know God is
to have an intimate relationship
with Him. It is to emerge yourself
in being all that is righteous,
holy, gracious, merciful and
loving. It’s a change of heart and
attitude which brings God honor.

Books
Ignited by the
Holy Spirit
Will Get Your
Soul on Fire!
By Micayla Greathouse
Ignited by the Holy Spirit is an
inspiring book that was published
in March. Author, Ivy
Adjivon, wrote this after a very
critical, life changing moment. In
this interview, Ivy sits down with
FFFM and gives us an in-depth
look at her story and the premise
of the book, as well as the
necessity of the Holy Spirit in the
lives of believers.
Tell us a little bit about yourself--what’s
your story; how
did you become a Christian?
Actually my Christian life
started from childhood because
my entire family was Christian.
My grandfather was a great
minister in his day. I spent a lot
of time with my grandparents
and really learned about the
Lord, experiencing God in such
a special way. At the age of 12,
I actually gave my life to the
Lord and surrendered to Him.
I’ve had an opportunity to have
a great Christian life, and being
one who likes to know things,
I kept searching and searching
and I have had some great revelations.
Can you tell us a little bit
about the book for people who
haven’t read it yet?
That experience was one that
I was inspired to share. A few
years ago, I had woken up early
in the morning, about 5 o’clock in
the morning, and I just wanted to
say a few words of prayer to my
Heavenly father. When I started
praying, all of a sudden it felt like
an electrically charged blanket

had engulfed my entire body. It
was a wonderful sensation that
kept moving up and down my
body and I was just amazed at
that. In the midst of this experience,
I also became enlightened,
“my eyes of understanding were
opened”, and I could simply
know, without having to rationalize.
There was no fear, no anxiety,
no pain, nothing disturbing;
just an awareness of truth and
comfort. It’s truly inexplicable.
And so I had that experience
and it was a wonderful morning.
Shortly after that, I got ready for
work, in my field of healthcare,
and went to the building I would
be working at that day. The work
that was supposed to take me
about 12 hours to complete, was
finished in 6 hours. On that day, I
in actuality realized that the Holy
Spirit is a helper. And so I finished
the work in half of the time
because I was very happy; I was
inspired, and I left work feeling
that very way.
Leaving that day, I got on a
highway which had limited visibility,
so my view was already
obstructed. I had no idea that
there was an express road that
bisected that very highway, and
before I knew it, I found myself
right in the middle of the intersection.
There was a car coming
straight at me. I couldn’t speed
past it, I couldn’t stop to avoid
it, and I knew it was over. In
Ignited by the Holy Spirit, I wrote
about that experience because
what happened next can only
be described as astonishing and
ever since then my life has never
been the same. Yet it is not what
happened in that encounter that
was the most astounding part of
the experience, but rather who I
came to have a greater understanding
of: the Holy Spirit. In
Ignited I share about Him, and
His tri-fold ministry. Indeed, that
is the heart of the book.
What a cool story. Was it right
after that incident you decided
to write about this, or when did
the book idea come about?
After that incident, I kept having
different wonderful experiences
with the Holy Spirit and the Holy
Spirit spoke to me. He made it
clear to me that these experiences
should not be sporadic.
They should be a daily occurrence
for believers; however,
a lot of people do not know the
Holy Spirit. They don’t understand
that He is the God at work
in the present life. They don’t
understand that we need to be
open to the Holy Spirit; we need
to get filled by the Holy Spirit and
experience power from the Holy
Spirit; such that we may speak
with power, and authority,
in order that we might
touch lives and change
lives. Most people do
not understand that, so
the Lord spoke to me to
write the book and tell
the story of my experience
so that Christians
will really get to know the
Holy Spirit and fellowship
with Him on a daily
basis. That is how the
idea of the book came.
What do you think
was one of the biggest
challenges you faced
in writing this book?
When I was writing the
book I think my biggest
challenge was how to
explain the experiences
to people and help them
understand that He is real, not a
figment of our imagination. The
Holy Spirit truly being a guide,
being a helper, being a comforter,
being a teacher--He’s
real. When people are going
through tough times, I wanted to
share with them, that He is tangibly
available. Trying to convey a
reality of what that looks like was
my biggest challenge.
What was one of your favorite
parts of writing this?
My favorite part was the opportunity
to give people insight about
the operations of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is Jesus at the
present. He is here to help us,
and to guide us. When the Holy
Spirit starts working with us, He
helps to guide us into all truth.
It’s so hard for people to lie to
me because if they lie, I know.
There are times I tell them the
very truth they’re trying to conceal,
because the Holy Spirit

eveals it.
Your book came out earlier in
March. Now that it’s been out,
have you had any feedback
from people who have read
your book?
A lot of people that have read the
book, hold on to it wanting to be
able to refer back to it again and
again. There is a school that is
teaching young children to read
the book and pass it on to someone.
They come back and say,
“my mom is reading it. My dad is
reading it. My aunt is reading it,”
and they are passing it on to different
people. What I keep hearing
is “I didn’t know this aspect
of the Holy Spirit.” The feedback
I tend to get is that people don’t
realize that salvation is the first
step, and receiving the Holy
Spirit is the second step. A lot of
people only think about salvation
and do not realize there is a
second step. When Paul went to
the disciples and actually asked
the disciples if they had received
in the Holy Spirit, they didn’t
even know there was anything
like that. That is true today - there
are people that have believed in
the Savior, but they are unaware
that there is a next step where
they need to be sealed with the
Holy Spirit.
Click Here to Purchase at
Amazon.com
Click Here to Purchase at
Christian Book Disctributors
About how long did it take you
to write the book?
It was amazing, I think I got it
done in about a week.
To hear the rest of Ivy’s story and
see how the Holy Spirit plays
such a big part in our lives, be
sure to check out her book.
A special thanks to Ivy Adjivon
for taking the time to speak with
us!

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God? You are My
God!
By Katie Hamilton
The human brain is a
crowded place. Think
about it. At any given
moment, you can be contemplating
what you’re going to have
for dinner, how cold it is outside,
and that job performance review
you’ve got coming up tomorrow.
It’s like Grand Central Station in
there. Sound familiar?
God made our minds with the
capability of handling thousands
of thoughts, feelings, and ideas
all at the same time. But, the
problem is, we let our brains get
so crowded with the “here and
now” things of this world, that
sometimes we don’t leave room
for God. This is where the sin
of creating a false god can easily
creep in. When God slips down
a few notches on our priority
list, and we allow other things to
become more important than He
is, we are in danger of creating a
false god.
This very thing happened to the
Israelites in Exodus 32. It can
sometimes be hard for modern
readers to relate to the Israelites
of the Old Testament, but in
reality, we share a lot in common
with them. They made some
huge mistakes, repeatedly turning
their backs on God. But,
through it all, He loved them, just
as He loves us.
Let’s set the stage. In the chapters
leading up to Exodus 32,
through God’s power, Moses
led the Israelites out of slavery
in Egypt and sent them on their
journey to find the land God
promised them. To rescue them
from slavery, God performed
numerous miracles. He sent
plagues on the Egyptians to
punish them for enslaving His
people. The final and most terrifying
plague was when He killed
every firstborn son throughout
the entire country.

God spared only His chosen
people, the Israelites, from these
terrible plagues. In Exodus
11:6-7 (NIV), it says, “This is what
the Lord says…‘There will be
loud wailing throughout Egypt—
worse than there has ever been
or ever will be again. But among
the Israelites, not a dog will bark
at any person or animal.’ Then
you will know that the Lord makes
a distinction between Egypt and
Israel.” It took such drastic measures
to finally change the heart
of the Egyptian Pharaoh. After
his people had suffered through
the plagues, Pharaoh eventually
agreed to free the Israelites
from slavery. Moses gathered
the people, they collected their
belongings, and they left.
But, that’s not where the story
ends. The stubborn Pharaoh
refused to be defeated; he
decided to pursue the Israelites
and try to force them back into
slavery. He and his men chased
the Israelites all the way to the
Red Sea, and there, the situation
looked bleak. The Israelites
were trapped. How would they
get across the sea in time? In
Exodus 14:10 (NIV), it says, “As
Pharaoh approached, the Israelites
looked up, and there were
the Egyptians, marching after
them. They were terrified and
cried out to the Lord.” It seemed

imminent that he would catch
them, and that they would again
be in bondage.
God had other plans. He
instructed Moses to hold his staff
out over the water. When he did,
God literally parted the sea so
that the His people could walk
through it on dry land. Exodus
14:21-22 (NIV) says, “Then
Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and all that night
the Lord drove the sea back with
a strong east wind and turned it
into dry land. The waters were
divided, and the Israelites went
through on dry ground, with a
wall of water on their right and
on their left.” God performed a
miracle to allow them to make it
safely across. Then, when Pharaoh
and his men tried to follow
them, God closed the sea back
up; the Egyptians were swept
away. The Bible says, “The
water flowed back and covered
the chariots and the horsemen—
the entire army of Pharaoh that
had followed the Israelites into
the sea. Not one of them survived”
(Exodus 14:28 NIV).
So, the Israelites had witnessed
some pretty amazing demonstrations
of God’s power. They
had seen miracles on several
occasions that God had performed
specifically on their
behalf. You would think they
would have incredible faith and
would be devoted to the God
that clearly loved them so much.
However, that was not really the
case.
The Israelites of the Old Testament
were a very fickle people.
They were constantly complaining
and constantly unsatisfied.
In the chapters immediately
before our text, Exodus 32,
Moses had been communing
with God on Mount Sinai. God
asked Moses to meet with Him
there so that God could give him
specific instructions on how to
lead His people and how to build
His temple.
Meanwhile, the Israelites were
left waiting for Moses to come
back, and they got a little impatient.
In Exodus 32:1 (NIV), it
says, “When the people saw that
Moses was so long in coming
down from the mountain, they
gathered around Aaron and said,
‘Come, make us gods who will
go before us. As for this fellow
Moses who brought us up out of
Egypt, we don’t know what has
happened to him.’”
They became tired of waiting on
God, so they thought they’d take
matters into their own hands.
Their priorities shifted from
focusing on God and what He
was doing in their lives to focusing
on their immediate selfish
need for satisfaction. Instead
of waiting for the true fulfillment
God would bring them, they
were willing to settle for a cheap
imitation—a false god.
The Israelites don’t really better
their image in the verses that
follow. Exodus 32:2-4 (NIV)
says:
“Aaron answered them, ‘Take off
the gold earrings that your wives,
your sons and your daughters
are wearing, and bring them to
me.’ So all the people took off
their earrings and brought them
to Aaron. He took what they
handed him and made it into an
idol cast in the shape of a calf,
fashioning it with a tool. Then
they said, ‘These are your gods,
Israel, who brought you up out of
Egypt.’”
Can you imagine the pain that
God must have felt when He saw
this? There were His people,
His children whom He loved and
rescued, deliberately turning
their backs on Him and worshipping
an object for something He
had done for them. They had literally
seen the miracles He had
worked on their behalf, yet they
willingly chose to ignore Him in
favor of a false god.
This hurt God tremendously,
but it also made Him furious.
In verses nine and ten, He told
Moses, “I have seen these
people…and they are a stiffnecked
people. Now leave me
alone so that my anger may
burn against them and that I may
destroy them.” God doesn’t like
it when His children put other
things above Him and give those
things the love and attention that
He deserves.
Now, it’s easy to look at the children
of Israel in this story and
think, “Wow, how ungrateful they
were! I’d never do that to God.
I’ll never bow down to anything
other than Him.” But, be careful
before passing your judgment on
them. While you may never bow
down to a golden calf, you may
have fallen prey to worshipping
the false gods of modern times.
Think about where your mind
tends to go when you are
bored. Do your hands immediately
wander to your phone, to
check your email or social media
accounts? Maybe your mind
goes to that new vehicle you
want or a new purse you saw at
the store. You focus on the next

material item that you think will
make you happy. Perhaps your
thoughts fall into the habit of worrying
about your job--the new
project your boss asked you to
do or the fact that you didn’t land
a crucial deal for your company.
Here’s a scary thought: when
your mind is left to freely roam,
does it tend to go to a person?
Do your thoughts always seem
to revolve around your spouse,
your children, or your friends?
Do you focus on what they need,
what they want, and how you
can best please them?
The truth is, there is nothing
inherently wrong
with any of these
things. There is
nothing inherently
wrong with enjoying
technology, wanting
nice things, being
concerned with your
job, or wanting to
serve the people
you love. The problem
is when these
things rise above
God on our priority
list. When we begin
to make something
or someone more
important than God
and give those
things or people
more love than we
give Him, we have a
serious issue on our
hands. In fact, we
have created a false
god.
In Exodus 20:2-4
(NIV), God clearly
states, “I am the
Lord your God, who
brought you out of
Egypt, out of the
land of slavery. You shall have
no other gods before me. You
shall not make for yourself an
image in the form of anything…
You shall not bow down to them
or worship them; for I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God…”
These two commandments are
the first two statements God
made when He gave Moses
the Ten Commandments. He
directly warns His people of the
dangers of false gods. These
commandments were not just for
the Israelites; as God’s people,
they are for us, too.
Here are some ways you can
fight against the temptation to
worship a false god.
First, pray. Ask God to open
your eyes to possible false gods
in your life. Be prepared for Him
to answer, too. He might reveal
some things to you that make
you uncomfortable, but trust that
He is only doing it because He
wants what is best for you. He
might show you that you are
making something or someone
into a false god, but you don’t
want to have to sacrifice that
thing or person. However, you
have to remember that God
wouldn’t ask you to give some-

thing up if it wasn’t what He knew
was best for you.
If He asks you to sacrifice something
or someone in your life, it
is because He knows that your
focus needs to be shifted back
to Him because you can’t make
it without Him. As our Father, He
knows how desperately we need
Him, so He wants to remove distractions
from our life so that we
can be closer to Him. He’s not
asking you to sacrifice this false
god out of cruelty; He’s doing it
because He knows in order for
you to have a happy, healthy,
successful life, your top priority
must be Him.
After God has shown you some
of your false gods, pray again,
but this time for forgiveness.
Acknowledge your sin to God
by confessing to Him that you
know it is wrong to put anything
or anyone on a higher level than
Him. Then, ask Him to forgive
you from this sin and to equip you
with His strength and wisdom to
fight against it in the future. He
will help you defeat this issue,
if only you allow Him to do so.
You have to give Him back His
rightful place as the main focus
of your life. Once you do that,
you will feel His Spirit with you
again, giving you exactly what
you need to fight the temptations
and trials that come your way.
After careful prayer and allowing
God to resume His place
as the center of your life, it may
become necessary for you to
purge. Again, while there is not
anything wrong with things like
relationships, technology, or
material items, if these things
become temptations for you to
worship them as false gods, you
should eliminate them from your
life. You don’t need those triggers
that cause you to fall back
into sin.
This is a very difficult process.
When you become so used to
something or someone, so much
so that they are your entire life’s
focus, to remove them from your
life seems an impossible task.
When they are finally gone, it’s as
if a gaping, vacant hole is left in
their places. But do not despair.
God will fill that empty hole. He
will honor your sacrifice because
it is a direct expression of your
faith in Him and of your desire to
make Him top priority of your life.
When you make such a sacrifice
as a way to honor God, it does
not go unnoticed by Him. He
will fill the space left by whatever
idol you removed with His glorious
peace.
Finally, in fighting the battle
against worshipping false gods,
you might consider partnering
up. This means finding someone
with whom you can share
your struggles and who will hold
you accountable when you’re
tempted to put something or
someone above God. Your partner
can be a spouse, a trusted
friend, or a mentor. Whomever
you choose, be sure that the
person is someone with whom
you feel comfortable enough
to share your temptations and
who will give you sound, Biblical
truths about how to fight this
battle. It’s intimidating to think
that someone else will be able to
see you in all your vulnerabilities
and weaknesses. But, if your
partner is also closely following
the Lord and seeking to do His
will, he or she shouldn’t be judgmental
towards you, because
this is against what Jesus wants
His people to do. If your partner
is walking with Jesus, he or
she should only seek to help you
draw closer to the Lord.
In today’s world of constant
distractions, it is easy to slip
into the sin of creating a false
god. Sometimes, we may do it
without even realizing it. However,
what’s important is how
we respond to our sin. If you,
like the Israelites, find yourself
becoming impatient, distracted,
or frustrated with God, don’t
follow their example. Don’t allow
yourself to give anyone or anything
the attention that only God
deserves.
Remember what He has done
for you in the past and why He
deserves your complete love
and devotion. Then, pray for His
wisdom and His forgiveness on
this issue. After this, it may be
necessary for you to purge some
of the false idols out of your life
and to partner up with someone
who will help you remain
accountable during this process.
It’s always painful when we
become aware of our sin and
have to deal with it. But, when
you begin to feel overwhelmed
or discouraged as you try to
make this change in your life,
go back to the Father. Remember
that He loves you more than
you can ever imagine. The only
reason He asks to be the main
focus of your life is because He
knows He is the only one who
can protect and provide for you.
When you consider His tremendous
love for you, and act out of
gratitude for that love, you’ve put
Him back in His rightful spot as
the one true God of your life.

Stained By Sin
By Michelle C. Danko
There are those who say that everyone sins- you can’t avoid it! This idea embraces the “do what
you want to” attitude because it doesn’t matter anyway. It says that you can do what you want,
but ask God for forgiveness, and your sin is washed away. This ideology has further gone on to
distort the Word of God to justify a lifestyle when the lifestyle should change according to the Word of
God. Grace covers sin, but not habitual sin. Habitual sin God will eventually give you over to because
your heart is hard and non-repentant. Grace cannot cover a hardened heart, nor can grace remove
the stains of sin.

Temptation is everywhere ranging
from looking at ads with
scantily clad, seductive models
(because sex sells!) to eating
too much pie before going to
bed. There are those who say
that you cannot overcome temptation
and that you will sin, so
why bother trying? However,
this ideology does not take into
consideration that part of the
fruit of the spirit is self-control,
long-suffering, and discipline.
Self-control, long-suffering and
discipline all work together in
overcoming temptation and lead
to victory. After awhile, Satan
stops tempting you because
God will remove the draw from
your life. Some things that hold
believers in bondage are easily
broken, and some we have to
work out on our own. However,
God will not tempt us beyond
what we can handle, and there
is always an out.
Self-control, when dealing with
temptation, involves consciously
not giving in to being tempted
in the first place. It doesn’t feel
good to our flesh, and our flesh
rises up against it, but it can be
overcome. Self-control says,
“This is not good for me, it is
against scripture, it displeases
God, I need to get rid of it in my
life, and I’m not going to give in.”
Self-control acknowledges that
even though the flesh wants to
do something, that “thing” is not
godly, and shouldn’t be done.
When we successfully exercise
self-control, we immediately feel
good about ourselves because
we know what we’ve done is for
our own good. Falling into temptation
always makes us feel bad,
and that’s where Satan wants
us- defeated. Satan will use
condemnation and judgment to
make us feel bad. This keeps us
right where he wants us.
Long-suffering (perseverance)
knows that temptations done
just come once but many times.
Satan isn’t done with you after
round one, and will try to tempt
you again. Long-suffering coupled
with self-control says that
you will avoid temptation indefinitely
because it is the right thing
to do. It is a resolve not to sin…
ever.
Discipline helps the believer to
take measures to avoid temptation.
In the case of looking lustfully
at someone, discipline tells
you that someone who is scantily
clad is up ahead, and you should
not look. Avert your eyes away
from the person and avoid sin. It
is teaching your body to submit
to God’s way even though the
flesh (Satan’s way) may scream
for you to take just one look.
Discipline crucifies the flesh.
The truth is yes, we are born
with a sinful nature, but we have
a choice as to whether or not
we indulge in that sinful nature
or not. Things of the flesh only
satisfy for a moment and then
you are left with the remnants of
dissatisfaction. People describe
themselves as feeling unclean,
not pure and dirty after awhile.
Some claim that they know
they are sinning, but can’t overcome
it. This is untrue and a
weak statement. It is contrary
to what God says about you,
and how He designed you. He
gave you a spirit of self-control,
and He gave you a choice (free
will). It is your decision to sin,
and it is your decision not to discipline
yourself. God doesn’t
lie, but Satan sure does! Satan
tells you that you simple cannot
overcome the temptation of this
sin- that you are in bondage to it.
There is no scripture to support
it, and it is this very sin that will
separate you from God.
How do you know if you are separated
from God? Those who
have ever had a God-encounter
know what it is like to be in His
presence and how it can change
you on the inside. Sin changes
you on the inside, too. You can
tell when someone falls away
because there is a hardness
about them. They can no longer
feel God’s presence- they feel
disconnected. They can’t hear
from Him, or feel His love. They
are separated by sin.
The good news is that you can
repent and turn back to God.
However, it does involve turning
from sin as well. The rewards
are well worth it, though, as
anyone who has gone through it
can attest. The victory is amazing,
and the freedom is liberating.
Not only are your prayers
being answered, but you can
hear from God, He can give you
direction, and you are not walking
in obedience. No more disconnection.
There are those that use the
phrase, “God cannot be in the
presence of sin” to mean that
since we sin anyway in some
way, shape or form, God can’t be
with us anyway, so why bother?”
to justify their sin. Yes, God
cannot be in the presence of sin,
but His blood covers our sins,
and when we repent, we are
washed clean. God does not

keep a record of wrong-doing
once we repent, so in His eyes,
the sin never happened. We are
clean. Therefore, He is not in
the presence of sin.
Sin does separate us from God
and as a result of unrepentant
sin, our hearts can become hard.
Falling into temptation no longer
bothers us due to a hardened
heart, and this is why so many
people can keep doing ungodly
things and show no remorse.
Even if you are saved, you will
be far from God and never live
out a life that He had meant for
you. People say that if Christianity
is just a bunch of rules and
the “giving up of fun” then they
want no part of it. Yet they fail
to see why living a life in Christ
is worthwhile. Living a life with
Christ means that you don’t
gratify the flesh, which some
don’t see the point of, but it also
means living a life filled with the
love of Christ (which does satisfy),
and a life, in short, of victory.
People that follow Christ
and live for Him live a life that
most worldly people envy as
they continue with their walk.
The world cannot understand
how such seemingly effortless
favor can exist, nor how Christians
can walk with such peace
in the midst of trial.
Personally, giving up a life in the
flesh is a small sacrifice from
what God has given me. The
world has no peace in crisis.
They know fear, condemnation,
judgment, unrest, and a world
that cannot meet their needs.
Their thirst is never quenched.
God meets the needs of those
who believe in Him, but His
request is that we are obedient,
and sin no more.

MUSIC SPOTLIGHT
Frye Family Band
Written by Sharon S. Johnson
Family time. How do you spend
it? Maybe a night at the movies, a
day at a football game, or maybe
once in awhile just a good old
day of hanging out in the living
room chatting, snacking, playing
and laughing.
These days it may seem hard
to carve out family time. With
Suzy’s soccer practice, Davy’s
dental appointment, Mom and
Dad’s date night, and a flurry
of other seemingly endless
activities, it can become quite
a creative challenge for family
members to meet up at the
same place at the same time
with energy left to do more than
just fall asleep.
Well, today I have the opportunity
to learn more about a family
that spends its family time in a
great way—as members of a
band! I’m talking about Frye
Family Band, and it’s my pleasure
to get the scoop from Tom
Frye (with some shared insight
from daughter Maggie) about
how the members of this family
are “doing life together” in this
special and powerful way.

What
i s
the best
thing about
being able to work
together as a family of
musicians? Are there any
challenges, and if so, how do
you overcome them?
TOM: It’s honestly difficult to list
all of the “best things.” But, probably
at the top would be the fact
that music is so personal and performing
music together is a fairly
intimate experience. So playing
music with the people you love
the most, I believe, provides a
greater opportunity to connect
with each other and with our listeners.
The biggest challenge
right now is working around all
of our unique schedules. With
two in college and one in high
school, finding available dates to
write,
rehearse
and perform is
quite a task.
Can you talk about the
strengths that each family
member brings to the group
both in terms of musical ability
and in terms of other personal
characteristics and gifts.?
TOM: It has been interesting to
watch each of the kids strengths
play out to compliment the music
and ministry. We honestly did not
set out to be a family band, and
I didn’t choose their instruments
for them. But as they grew, they
found their place based on their
interests and the band’s needs.
MAGGIE: Dad is the driving
force of the music and of the
family. He is not only a diligent
songwriter, but also a committed
husband, father, team leader,
and co-worker among the many
other roles he fills. Dad is not
only a member of the Frye Family
Band, but also the team leader of
the Worship team at Westchester
United
Methodist
Church. Though
he is a hard-worker,
Dad is also always ready with
comedic relief, and those who
know him well are not surprised
by his quick sense of humor
and plethora of “dad jokes.” He
enjoys reading (especially history),
black coffee, and being
outdoors.
TOM: Kaylyn is a Junior at Trevecca
Nazarene University in
Nashville, Tennessee where she
is studying Music Business. She
has always been our administrative
one, and assists with administration,
booking, and also
sings both lead and background
vocals and plays upright bass,
as well as bass and rhythm guitars.
Though Kaylyn is a little
more quiet, we realized when
she left for college that we laugh
more when she’s around. She
can be unassuming, but quickwitted,
and delivers one liners
in a way that has been known to
defuse obvious tension.
Maggie is back with us after a
year of studying songwriting at
Hillsong College in Sydney, Australia.
Maggie sings lead and

ackground vocals, and plays
keys, hammer and lap dulcimer
and ukulele. Over the years,
many people have referred
to her as “smiley.” Her genuine
smile and love for people
are very engaging, no matter
whether she’s on stage or talking
one on one with people following
our concerts. Maggie is a
gifted writer and I am excited for
the new insights she will bring to
our concerts and songs yet to be
written.
Jonathon is a high school senior
and has a love for both music
and sports. With his sisters in
college, Jonathon has moved
out from behind the drum kit to
play bass guitar, keys, ukulele,
and recorder, as well as sing
background vocals. He has also
been delving into songwriting
himself. Jonathon also loves the
tech side of things. He’s a huge
help setting up and dialing in the
system. Jonathon also loves
clowning around and making
people laugh. But, unlike his
sister Kaylyn, he is anything but
inconspicuous.
We call my wife Lisa our cheerleader.
As wife and mother, she
has heard the same concert hundreds
of times. But she’s almost
always there with us to help load
in, load out, help with the merchandise
table, and take her turn
driving the family van. Lisa is not
one to be in the spotlight, but she
does on occasion speak during
our “Family to Family” events.
Eric Reynolds is the only nonfamily
member of the band. He
sat in with us on occasion over
the last few years, but with the
girls in college, he has performed
almost every concert with us
over the last year and a half. Eric
will continue touring with us now
that Maggie is back, allowing the
rest of us to mix it up a little more
musically.
What led you to start the
band? Was there a specific
set of life circumstances that
pointed you and the family in
that direction or was it started
because everyone had an
interest in serving the Lord
through music and worship?
TOM: People often ask how I/we
got into music. My short answer
is always “kicking and screaming.”
I always loved music but,
struggling with issues of fear
and insecurity, I never imagined
actually performing my music.
However, after many and varied
affirmations I reluctantly began
to say “yes” when opportunities
arose. We have always been a
family that “does life together”
so, as I had the opportunity to
sing, the family would come
along and the kids would regularly
join me for a song or two.
As each of the kids grew in their
ability and interest and slots in
the band became available, they
were there to step in. So the
band really wasn’t planned – at
least by me.
How long has the Frye Family
Band been in existence? What
were the ages of the children
when you began?
TOM: Kaylyn and Maggie first
joined the band in early 2009.
Kaylyn was fourteen and Maggie
was thirteen. Jonathon joined
the band the following year when
he was thirteen.
What role do you feel that
music plays in helping your
family as well as others face
the challenges in life? Similarly,
what role do you feel
music has in helping families
celebrate the goodness of
life?
MAGGIE: Music has always
been something our family had
in common. Whatever else filled
our schedules, music was something
consistent that brought us
together. I think it is not just the
music itself that has been good
for our family, but the common
ground: laughing together, challenging
each other, working
together. There are many families
who have seemed encouraged
by our family working and
having fun together, but one
family was always particularly
special to us. We met them several
years ago while singing at
their church, and their story so
touched us that they inspired
the song “Sara Dances” from
our Under Indiana Lights album.
They have dealt with more sickness
and physical hardship than
most families can imagine, and
they are a true example of overcoming
challenges as a unit.
The song, which focuses on the
Hope of Christ rather than the
trials of this world, is a reflection
of their moving story. They have
been an inspiration to us. It was
encouraging to our family and to
theirs to be able to share the joy
of music, and it was overwhelming
and humbling to play and
record “Sara Dances” for them.
What impact do you believe
or see that your service to the
Lord through the band has had
on others who have a chance
to experience the music? Are
there any specific examples
that come to mind?
MAGGIE: Music is powerful. It
was used to spread heresies
throughout the early Church.

It often preceded armies as an
intimidation tactic. The subject
of music has spurred feuds and
festivals, it has brought division
and unity, it has been used to
pierce and to soothe. Because
it is so powerful, it immediately
connects people. “Oh! You play
music? What kind of music do
you play?” is something we hear
a lot. Anything that connects
the world to the Church should
connect the world to Christ, and
this is our true hope, no matter
what kind of music we are playing.
The fact that we play as a
family stands out to most people.
Younger people are surprised
that we can stand to be around
each other long enough to play
music together, while older
people often express their desire
to share a similar connection
with their families. It is our desire
to positively impact and inspire
individuals, and particularly families,
who will build churches that
unite communities to change the
world.
I read that the title of your new
EP, Reclamation, is based on
the concept of spiritual identity
theft--the enemy coming
to steal, kill and destroy, as
is referenced in John 10:10.
Can you talk about how that
shaped your creation of and
selection of songs for the
album?
TOM: Songwriting, at least for
us, is about processing our experiences
or responding to those
things God is teaching us. When
I first became aware of just how
irrational my fears were, I knew
that the only way to overcome
them was to look to scripture
for truth. It became evident as
I studied and memorized those
scriptures, which speak to God’s
love for and view of us, that my
insecurities began to fade. This
journey was the focus of much
of the writing on the last two projects.
The songs on Reclamation
are more about responding to
that truth—a truth that I not only
seek to embrace, but instill in my
wife and children.
You mention past struggles
with fear and insecurity, and it
is great to learn that turning to
scripture is what helped you
to start to overcome in that
area. How do you cope when
fear and insecurity try to creep
back into your life?
TOM: It all comes down to who
we believe. Are we going to
embrace those voices – internal
or external – which affirm our
fears, or are we willing to accept
the truth of how God views us?
As, His child (1 John 3:1) who is
greatly loved (Ephesians 2:3-5)
and created for a purpose (Ephesians
2:10). This comes very
unnatural at first, as our fears
can seem so real and the truth
too good to be true. But, in the
same way we need to trust God
for salvation, we also need to
look to Him to find our true identity.
This is often a difficult process
as it is all too easy to allow
our fears, failings, or false perceptions
to define us. Scripture
tells us, “As a dog returns to its
vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
(Proverbs 26:11 NIV) Our folly
can come in many ways, from
the various forms of addiction to
the broad spectrum of harmful
and habitual attitudes, including
blinding pride, crippling fear, and
everything in between.
I often say, “There is comfort in
the familiar even when the familiar
is not comfortable.” In the
familiar, we know how the game
is played, even when the rules
keep changing. This is why, I
believe, even in the angst of the
familiar we can so easily find
ourselves settling. Long after we
have broken free, the familiar
can still hold a dangerous allure,
which - in moments of extreme
emotion - can exploit our vulnerabilities.
In the same way the
former Hebrew slaves reached
a point in the wilderness where
they actually longed for the diet
of slavery (Exodus 16:3), so too
can we come to a place where
we begin to recall our days of
slavery to sin with fondness.
This is why it is important for us
to renew our minds (Ephesians
4) through memorizing scripture
and never forget those times
when God’s provision was particularly
evident.
Can you discuss more about
the importance of family and
why it is important for families
to see themselves as “a ministry?”
TOM: Though we are not all
called into vocational ministry,
we are all called to serve others.
As believers, we are also called
to “make disciples” (Matthew
28:19), and I believe discipleship
starts in our homes. Psalm 127:4
tells us that “children are arrows
in the hands of a warrior.” The
implications of this truth are – at
their core – a call to discipleship.
A warrior’s arrows are meant
to be sent into the heat of the
battle and pierce the heart of
the enemy. Before being sent
however, the arrows must be
prepared (discipled), to ensure
they are able to fly straight and
accomplish their purpose. Discipleship
is – I believe – about
doing life together; working,
playing, serving, and worship-

ing together. When we do these
things, discipleship is as much a
byproduct as it is an intentional
act of raising children of purpose.
I believe it is in our homes
– where our children not only
see us at our best, but at our
worst – that discipleship is best
accomplished.
***
Wow! Those are special and
powerful words on which to
conclude my interview. Special
because they have relevance
to me personally for where I am
in my own walk with the Lord.
And powerful because the message
about discipleship within
the family is one that all families
can potentially use as a model
for structuring their time, their
homes and their lives.
Now, maybe you and your family
don’t sing or play instruments,
so forming a band is not likely
in the cards for you. Your special
family time may be the time
spent around the dinner table
discussing everyone’s day. Or
it could be time spent doing
something beyond your wildest
dreams. But no matter. As your
family explores ways to have fun
together, support each other,
and lift each other up, you’ll discover
that bond, that activity, that
niche, that special time spent
with one another that enables
you to survive and thrive as a
family unit. You’ll be doing life.
And like Frye Family Band, you’ll
be doing it together!
CLICK TO PURCHASE 101
DEVOTIONS FOR BUSY
FAMILIES AT:
AMAZON
CHRISTIAN BOOK
DISTRIBUTORS
CLICK LINKS BELOW TO
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AT:
ITUNES

Walk, Run, or Move
BUT
Get Out of the
Way!
By Heather Bolinger
“I have set before you life and
death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that
you and your children may
live!”~Deuteronomy 30:19
“Abba, I did it again… and this
time, it’s harder for me to repent.
Not because I don’t care; but
because I do. How can I repent
for something I strongly feel like
I am going to keep doing? What
kind of daughter would I be to
blatantly take advantage of Your
grace??... Abba, this is too much
for me to handle… if You want
me to move, I need You to make
it happen… I need You to change
my heart… I’m too weak… help
me…”
It’s the cry of a struggling heart;
when you want to be faithful to
God’s will, but the pull of temptation
grabs hold and doesn’t want
to let go. I wish I could say it
came from someone else; or that
it was something I had read in a
book. But, to say that would be a
lie. This was the cry of my very
own heart when I found myself
bound in sin beyond any level I
had ever known before.
What makes this even more
shameful is that it wasn’t sin I
experienced before receiving the
saving grace of Christ. It wasn’t
sin I became entangled with as
a new Christian. No, this was
sin that caught me by surprise;
because I thought I was beyond
falling into a pit such as this.
I wasn’t far from God when it
happened. I had felt the depth
of His comfort, been blessed
by His limitless provision and
allowed His Holy Spirit to bring
me to new levels. I was serving
in my church, aware of my

calling and dedicating myself
to Him for the glory of His kingdom.
I had already experienced
levels of attack I was sure would
break me; and watched as He
strengthened me through it and
helped me obtain victory.Yet,
there I was, immersed in behavior
unbecoming of someone who
calls themselves a follower of
Christ. Pride truly does go before
destruction; and arrogance
before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
I have no excuse for my behavior.
There is no “yeah, I know I
sinned; but…” All I can say is I
am glad I’m not alone. Paul, himself,
spoke of his own struggle
with sin (Romans 7); and I find
encouragement in knowing that
even those, who witnessed the
miracles and sacrifice of Christ,
battled against demons as well.
Yet, it was those very struggles
that God eventually used to
help strengthen their witness to
others.
We don’t get very many descriptions
of the sins of the apostles.
Outside of their abandoning
Christ, the betrayal of Judas,
denial of Peter, Thomas’s doubt,
James and John’s pride, Paul
murdering Christians… ok -
maybe there’s a few. But, there’s
one scripture that is just detailed
enough to grab our attention;
yet vague enough to give us
something greater than knowing
the details - Paul’s “thorn in the
flesh” (2 Corinthians12:7-10).
People have wondered, for over
2000 years, what that proverbial
thorn was – that “messenger of
Satan”.Was it a physical attack
on his body? Was it an attack on
his mind? Or was it a deep, personal
battle with a certain kind of
temptation?
Yet, despite the fact that we
have been robbed of that juicy
detail, we cannot help but gravitate
towards this scripture. Why?
Because we can all identify with
his plight. By not knowing what
his specific “thorn” was, we have
the chance to see beyond his
problem and realize that we, too,
have a thorn in our flesh. We
can relate; and in relating to his
struggle, we find comfort in his
cry.
“What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this
body that is subject to death?
Thanks be to God, who delivers
me through Jesus Christ our
Lord!” ~ Romans 7: 24-25
Amen to that! Thanks be to God;
Who came down to rescue us
from our own sin, through Christ.
I cannot even begin to count how
many times I have needed to be
rescued. Forgiveness is a gift
we could never earn – a grace
that none of us deserve. Yet,
because of God’s loving kindness
and mercy, He freely offers
it to anyone who is willing to ask.
“If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.” ~1 John 1:9
Forgive… purify… words that
echo in the heart of any repentant
sinner. Oh, to be cleansed
of all unrighteousness! To be
made as if I had never sinned!
My spirit leaps within me when
the reality of that level of grace is
understood! It gives us peace. It
gives us confidence. It helps us
move forward and leave the past
behind... as long as we remain in
balance.
“What shall we say, then? Shall
we go on sinning so that grace
may increase?By no means!”
~Romans 6:1-2a
It’s interesting to note that all-toofamiliar
battle with staying in balance.
The human tendency, to
go from one extreme to another,
is a weakness the enemy is
more than willing to exploit. We
are given the law and Pharisees
emerge, adding one more rule
after another; only to become
pompous and boastful of their
own goodness – at least in the
eyes of other men. Then, Christ
comes and we are given grace;
only to have a new group emerge
saying “Now that our sin brings
on God’s grace, let’s sin a bunch
so we can get a bunch of grace!”
Oh, for the day when the scale
of grace and self-control work in
harmony. Yet, in a world bombarded
by the enemy’s attacks
from all sides, the implementation
of that concept is few and
far between. Thus, we must continue
to strive for better understanding
of them both; lest the
enemy have his way, completely,
and we become lost.
Why is this so important – walking
away from sin and temptation?
If God’s grace covers all
sin, then why does it matter if we
sin; as long as we ask for forgiveness?
The answer to that question
depends on whether we are
looking at ourselves or at others.
“All these blessings will come on
you and accompany you if you
obey the LORD your God…”
~Deuteronomy 28:1
When we look at how sin affects
us, individually, we must remember
that we can only see once
piece of the puzzle; while God

can see the entire picture. He
wants the absolute best for our
lives; so He covers us with His
Grace - His umbrella of protection
- and lets us know how we
can stay there. Underneath that
umbrella, we may still get hit with
a little rain; but it’s not as cold
and it’s easier to dry off once
the storm passes. We can travel
a greater distance, in less time,
because we are not wasting that
time shielding ourselves from
something the umbrella can protect
us from.
However, whenever we sin, we
are stepping out from underneath
that umbrella and opening
ourselves up to a shower
of attacks from the enemy. It
affects us more, the pain lasts
longer and it slows down the
progress we want to make in life.
It separates us from God, makes
it harder to hear His voice and
makes us more vulnerable to
future attacks. All of this, in turn,
creates a chain of seed sowing
that leads to a reaping we would
much rather avoid.
“Do not be deceived: God is not
mocked, for whatever one sows,
that will he also reap.” ~Galatians
6:7
It doesn’t matter what we call it
or how we try to explain it away;
if it goes against God’s word, it
is sin. Nothing more and nothing
less; and we need to stop saying
“I know what the bible says,
but…” There is no “but”; if He is
telling us not to do something,
it is for good reason. We either
choose to listen or we don’t; and
when making that decision, we
must ask ourselves how much
we trust in God’s love.
Everything He asks us to do is to
bless our lives, help others and
protect us from that which would
cause us harm. When we go
against God, we are hurting ourselves;
if not visibly, then spiritually.
Not only that; but when we
begin to look beyond ourselves,
we begin to see how our sin
affects others.
“You are the light of the world…
let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good
deeds and glorify your Father in
heaven.” ~Matthew 5:14-16
Why are we told that faith without
works is dead (James 2:17)?
Why does Paul say we will
“know them by their fruits” (Matthew
7:16) or that awe-inspiring
miracles, unmatched wisdom,
selfless sacrifice and boundless
faith means nothing without
love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)? It’s
because people are watching –
and they are not moved by mere
words.
We are the light of the world; and
those who are looking are drawn
to those who profess Christ –
Who is the Source of our Light.
They want to know if we are real
– or just another bunch of hypocrites.
What does it matter if we
talk about our faith in Christ’s
love; but do not show it? Actions
speak louder than words. What
are your actions saying?
And, this is the crux of the search
for balance between Grace and
self-control. Self-control says
that when we claim Christ, we are
stepping up to the plate and representing
Him. It doesn’t matter
if we don’t want to. It doesn’t
matter if we would rather quietly
live out our lives until God takes
us on to His glorious salvation.
The moment someone knows
we are Christian; they want to
know what that looks like. We
are meant to be in the world, as
a light; not of the world (1 John
2:15-17&Romans 12:2), soiling
Christ’s good name (Hebrews
10:26-29).
On the other hand, Grace says
that this is not about condemnation
- all have sinned (Romans
3:23); and Grace reminds us that
God is there to forgive. It tells
us that He remembers we are
dust (Psalm 103:14); and, therefore,
He has compassion on all
those who fear (reverence) Him
(Psalm 103:13).
This is where we find a seed
that links grace with self-control;
fear… reverence… respect. And
that is a matter of the heart. It
starts with understanding that
God will not be mocked. I could
not have participated in my sin,
thinking “God is a forgiving God;
so it’s ok. He’ll forgive me.” God
IS a forgiving God; but whatever
we sow, we will also reap. If we
sow an arrogant attitude of “I can
just give in to sin because God
HAS to forgive me”; then we will
be sorely disappointed when we
see the havoc that attitude will
reek on our lives.
However, God has compassion
on us because He knows we
are bombarded nonstop, day
and night, by attacks of doubt,
greed, depression, perversion,
lust, arrogance, fear, anxiety…
The devil never sleeps; and he
certainly never leaves us alone.
He wants to wear us down -
tire us out; all in the hope that,
little by little, he can widen the
gap between us and the One

Who loves us. But, because of
God’s grace, we no longer have
to remain in bondage to these
attacks!
“No temptation has overtaken
you except what is common to
mankind. And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted
beyond what you can bear. But
when you are tempted, he will
also provide a way out so that
you can endure it.” ~ 1 Corinthians
10:13
A way out… What is this way out?
I mean, obviously, it’s through
Christ; but how do we put it into
action? How do we escape from
this cycle of sin; especially those
sins that have shackled themselves
to our lives with no sign
of letting go? What are the steps
that we need to take in order to
truly repent – ask for forgiveness
and turn our backs on that which
has drawn us away from Christ?
In my time, devoted to seeking
God about these very questions,
I found an answer in someone
who lived long before Christ
even walked the earth. Someone
I would call a chief of sinners;
but God called a man after
His own heart. David.
When we look at David’s life,
we see someone God used
in amazing ways to save his
people - in battle, in leadership
and by the line created to Jesus
Christ. However, David did not
just walk out his kingship in dignity
and honor. He lied, cheated,
stole and murdered (to name a
few). He took another man’s wife
and, to cover up his adulterous
affair, he sent that man to the
front lines of battle to be killed.
This isn’t someone I would call
a “man after God’s own heart”.
That, however, is why I’m not
God.
You see, despite David’s massive
failings, he did have a heart
for God – a heart that chased
after God’s heart. He may have
sinned in several ways; but he
wanted God’s approval so much
that he hated even the thought
of disappointing Him; which
was eventually what led him to
repentance. It is that very desire,
to be close to God, which gave
us the amazing prayers, praise
and remorse that we find in the
book of Psalms.
One Psalm, in particular, I found
to be very telling of David’s true
heart – the heart that reached
beyond the moments of temptation,
sin and betrayal; and
straight to truth and humility.
That is Psalm 51 – a true prayer
of repentance.
“Have mercy upon me, O God…
For I acknowledge my transgressions
…
Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow…Hide Your face from
my sins…
Create in me a clean heart…
renew a steadfast spirit within
me…
Restore to me the joy of Your
salvation…Uphold me by Your
generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors
Your ways, And sinners shall be
converted to You…
Open my lips, and my mouth
shall show forth Your praise.”
If you read the entire Psalm, you
can hear the sorrow in David’s
cries for compassion. He is open
and honest; bearing his very
heart with no excuses. In this
prayer, we see that God doesn’t
desire sacrifices as much as a
repentant heart. Sacrifices were
meant to cover the sin; however,
without remorse, the sacrifice
meant nothing in the eyes of
God. Yet, mercy and grace were
found in heart-felt repentance.
God desires truth; and, with
truth, He gives us the grace of
His wisdom. He opens our eyes
to what we were missing before.
Then, He gives us what He
knows we cannot obtain on our
own – victory. We come to Him
in truth, acknowledge our sin
and ask Him forgiveness; but,
look at the depth of what this
prayer reveals about the grace
of our God. David doesn’t say
“God, I have sinned, please forgive
me and I will straighten up
my act and do better.” You see,
David understood something
that many of us miss for a long
time.
Every good thing comes from
God – and that includes change.
David says “have mercy”, “I
acknowledge my sin” and “forgive
me”. Then, he asks God to
do what he knows he can’t do
on his own… “make me to know
wisdom… wash me… create
in me a clean heart… renew a
steadfast (loyal) spirit in me…
restore…”
My friends, we were not meant
to do this on our own. By ourselves,
we are nothing more than
creatures full of sin. God is the
only sinless One. He is the only
One with the ability to forgive,
cleanse, change, renew and
restore. So, if we want to truly
repent, we must first agree with
God that we have done wrong
and admit we can’t change without
Him.

In many of my journal entries,
during that time when this persistent
sin was ever-present at
my door, I started by thinking
“I can kick this! I love God so
much; I know I can keep myself
from falling into this sin.” Yet, for
the next year and a half, I tried;
only to fail time and time again.
It wasn’t until I stopped saying “I
can do this” and started saying
“God, I CAN’T do this without
You! Please, give me what I’m
missing!” that I really started to
see victory.
I had to let go. I had to release
my own expectations that “I
should be able to control myself”
and realize that self-control is a
fruit of the Spirit, provided BY
the Spirit; and without the Spirit,
you will bear no fruit. Then, when
freedom finally came, my loving
Father proceeded to reward me
for it!
I took one small step towards
Him; and then another, and
another, and another. I heeded
His direction and let Him work
in me and through me more and
more. But, He is the One Who
gave me a new perspective,
changed my heart and renewed
a willing, persistent spirit in me.
Then, He restored to me the joy I
had lost, strengthened my walk,
blessed my life and started using
me to teach others. He placed
HIS words in my mouth, opened
my lips and began using me to
encourage those who were still
struggling.
But first, just like David, I had
to humble myself and realize
that I couldn’t do this on my
own. It was in those moments,
of yielding my will (bit by bit) to
His, that He blessed me with a
deeper understanding of the war
between control and submission.
He showed me that I don’t
even need to start with full surrender.
He understands the pull
of this world. It’s more like stepping
out in faith as the man, who
stood before Christ, did; when
he said “Lord I believe! Help me
in my unbelief!”
God is not looking for perfect surrender,
in order to help us overcome
our battle with sin. All He
desires is a heart willing to say
LORD, I surrender! Help me in
my resistance!
About The Author
Heather Bolinger is a devoted
daughter of God; a wife, mother
of 3, step-mother of 2, writer,
bible teacher, public speaker
and co-founder (with her wonderful
husband) of Single Hope
Ministries. Her passion, calling
and focus are to be God’s vessel
to minister to the broken hearted,
provide direction to the lost and
bring hope to the hopeless.
You can connect with Heather
on www.facebook.com/foreverchanged1Sam106

There is a Road...
After Salvation
By Gabrielle Elisco

I
remember consoling a friend in
high school who had recently
lost a grandparent. A small
group of girls sat around an
array of desks in attempts to
comfort her while offering the
typical “ought-to-say” phrases
when someone has lost a loved
one. “She doesn’t feel pain anymore.”
“He is in a better place
now.” In response to such
offers of relief, the hurting girl
answered, “She went to church
every single Sunday, I know
she is in heaven.” Not another
word was muttered among the
group. I glanced at the other
faces to see if any other expressions
matched my own. Though
I could not see my own face, I
image I looked rather perplexed,
perhaps even slightly disturbed.
The faces looking back at me
were quite indifferent, most nodding
their heads in agreement
with my friend’s response. Was
this her way of bringing comfort
to her own heart insisting that her
loved one really was in a better
place? Or did she truly believe in
a God who would send His son
to die a gruesome death just so
we could attend church as our
only effort to be accepted into
His Kingdom?
This teary-eyed teenager is one
heart of many that believe good
works are the entry requirement
for Heaven. Of course,
Christians believe that Jesus
came, died, rose, ascended,
and will return again one day.
They believe His sacrifice on the
cross was the payment for our
transgressions. Though when
it comes to entering heaven, a
simple “good” moral standard of
living will suffice for our Creator
to extend His arms and welcome
us into our eternal home. If this is
true, why did Jesus come? Why
was He born unto a virgin, tested
by Satan, performed countless
miracles, arrested, tried, found
guilty, persecuted, pierced, and
crucified? Why did this blameless
Savior have to be subject to
the treachery of hell to defeat the
grave if all that is required of us
is to throw some change in the
offering at church or give help
to a friend in need? How, then,
do we obtain such salvation that
dismisses us of eternal damnation?
If Jesus descended from
Heaven to die on rugged wood
for you and I, just maybe this salvation
derived from His work, not
our own.
Jesus wasted no words when
speaking to the multitudes
regarding salvation. In John
3:16, Jesus states, “For this is
how God Loved the world: He
gave His one and only Son, so
that everyone who believes in
Him will not perish but have eternal
life” (NLT). In another verse,
“Jesus told him ‘I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one
can come to the Father except
through me” (John 14:6 NLT).
Jesus did not give stipulations
nor alternatives to the people
regarding their salvation. There
was no grey area, or sliding in by
the skin of your teeth. The way is
through Jesus, through His sacrifice.
If Jesus is “the way,” how
do we take that way? God retains

no hidden details, as every
answer can be found in His love
letter to His beloved children. He
describes what taking the “Jesus
way” means in Romans chapter
ten. “If you openly declare that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved. For
it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with
God, and it is by openly declaring
your faith that you are saved”
(Romans 10:9-10 NLT). Declaration.
Belief. This is the way.
Salvation is defined as declaring
Jesus Christ is your Savior,
your Lord and King, and equally
believing such in your heart.
There is no well-versed prayer
or specific way in which to do
this. The sinner on the cross
next to Jesus said, “Jesus,
remember me when you come
Considering the righteousness
Jesus gave us in exchange for
our sin, how often do we still
measure our works to scale our
Christianity, or better yet our
salvation? There is no attainable
amount of works or good
deeds you and I could complete
into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).
And because our Savior is the
very epitome of love, through his
blood, sweat, and suffering, He
offered compassion and empathy
for this sinner and confirmed
He would join Him in paradise.
to even compare to one lashing
He took when He scarified Himself
for us. Though so often it is
as though we are saying, “Lord,
your sacrifice was not enough. I
must do more.” In case you have
yet to realize, you are a sinner,
and you fall short of God’s glory

every day, just as I do. This
comes as no surprise to our
Lord. For Jesus Himself said,
“…I have come to call not those
who think they are righteous,
but those who know they are
sinners” (Mark 2:17 NLT). God
already knew you would never
measure up to the atonement
only His Son could accomplish.
That is why He sent Him. And
it is only through Him that we
are made righteous to enter into
the gates of Heaven. It is only
through his blood that we are
able to as Ephesians 2:5 states,
“…even though we were dead
because of our sins, he gave us
life when he raised Christ from
the dead. …For he raised us
from the dead along with Christ
and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms because we
are united with Christ Jesus.”
Was there a task list you graciously
checked off before Jesus
did this? Of course not. So why
then, must people consider their
own works are the conditional
basis for their salvation? Faith
in Christ is the sufficient righteousness
needed to enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven. Though
it has been established, that
salvation is achieved by faith,
does this mean works are dead?
According to James 2:17-26,
“So you see, faith by itself isn’t
enough. Unless it produces good
deeds, it is dead and useless…
How can you show me your faith
if you don’t have good deeds?
I will show you my faith by my
good deeds…You say you have
faith, for you believe that there
is one God. Good for you! Even
the demons believe this, and
they tremble in terror…So you
see, we are shown to be right
with God by what we do, not by
faith alone.”
After paragraphs convincing that
our own works are not subject to
our salvation, we learn now that
faith without works is useless.
So, why is it that we are told only
belief through Jesus will reward
us with salvation when in fact
our faith alone is dead without
works? Once we have been
accepted into the Kingdom of
God, that is our home. This life,
this earth, this body is no longer
your home. Heaven is. “Above
all, you must live as citizens of
heaven, conducting yourselves
in a manner worthy of the Good
News about Christ” (Philippians
1:27 NLT). And as citizens of
Heaven, we are to make sure
we have many neighbors in our
eternal home. Once you have
opened the door to your heart
for Christ to enter, He infiltrates
your mind, body, and spirit. For
that very reason, you will produce
works. You will continue to
fall short and sin, that is inevitable,
but you now have the everlasting
grace of a mighty Savior
who has already wiped your
slate white as snow. Our good
deeds are a result of who we are
in Christ and Him dwelling within
us, they are because we are
saved, not in efforts to be saved.
Finally, if we receive salvation
through faith in Christ, can it
ever be taken away from us? Sin
is what always has and always
will separate people from God.
When Jesus conquered sin and
its consequence of eternal death,
He paved a bridge between
God and His people. He is the
Intercession that was needed to
cancel the debt of sin once and
for all. Because of Jesus, sin can
no longer separate children from
their Father. Of course, once you
have become a new creation in
Christ, you view sin differently.
“Well then, since God’s grace
has set us free from the law,
does that mean we can go on
sinning? Of course not! Don’t
you realize that you become the
slave of whatever you choose
to obey? You can be a slave to
sin, which leads to death, or you
can choose to obey God, which
leads to righteous living. Thank
God! Once you were slave of
sin, but now you who wholeheartedly
obey this teaching we
have given you. Now you are
free from your slavery to sin and
you have become slaves to righteous
living.”
(Romans 6:13 NLT)
Once slaves of sin, now slaves
of righteousness. What a sweet
exchange. What then can separate
us from God?
“…And I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from
God’s love. Neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor
our worries about tomorrow—
not even the powers of hell can
separate us from God’s love. No
power in the sky above or in the
earth below—indeed, nothing in
all creation will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
(Romans 8:37-39 NLT)
Nothing can separate you from
the Father’s love. His Son is
the only way, the only truth, and
the only life. He is not only the
way toward salvation, but He is
redemptive salvation in and of
itself.

Books
Elmer Towns is the cofounder
of Liberty University,
the largest private,
non-profit university in the world.
Elmer is dedicated to serving the
Lord and is a teacher that loves
to teach. He has authored many
books and his most recent one is
Three Searching Kings.
Please tell us a little about
Three Searching Kings. How
long did it take you to write it?
I wrote this book in 2 periods of
time. Several years ago I heard
a sermon at Thomas Road Baptist
Church where someone said
that there were 100 Wisemen
who came to Jerusalem because
all of the city was upset over
their appearance. I knew historical
research differed so I did the
research and began writing to
prove that there were probably
three kings that came to Jerusalem.
Then most of the material
in the last chapter the next
place in the Towns auditorium at
Liberty University where a visiting
scholar from the Near East is
lecturing on the myths and reality
of the three Magi. That was
done years ago.
Two years ago I took a sabbatical
and during that time I rewrote
the book and brought it up to
date.
How did you come up with the
title?
For the longest time I called it
Three Denied Kings and was
searching for a title. One day
over the phone I was talking to
someone and I forgot the word
denied and out came the new
word searching and that was it.
Is writing your career?
No, I see myself as a teacher
who loves to teach, but I do
research to prepare myself to
teach. Therefore when I do the
research for a class, I love to take
advantage for all my researching
so I write it up into an article then
a book. Sometimes several articles
become a book. Researching
and writing is an extension of
my teaching career.
How many pages are in the
book and what age is it suitable
for?
The book has 191 pages, and it
is suitable for teens and adults. I
think teens today would be interested
in observations about the
study of the plants and stars.
JElmer Towns Discusses His Latest Bo
Also, they might be interested
in faceted of historical research
as well as cultural research. But
then again many will be interested
in the insight it brings to
the story of the three Magi.
Where can the book be purchased?
It is for sale Barnes and Noble,
Target, Walmart, LifeWay and
Amazon.
Do you have a website where
others can keep up with your
books or a Facebook page?
By Lisa

ok, “Three Searching Kings” quez
Stillwell
My website is: elmer.towns.com
Who designed the cover of
your book?
The cover was designed by the
artist at Heritage Builders Publishing.
What was the hardest part of
writing your book?
It was not a hard book to write. It
flowed very easy. Once I established
there were going to be
three men who had a heritage
and/or past lineage to be the
kings of their country, all I had
to do was to get the three men
together and tell the story of how
they learned more about the
Baby King.
Did you learn anything from
writing your book? If so, what
did you learn?
Writing fiction is liberating
and you feel free. When I am
describing a church or pastor,
I am locked into the historical
situation. However, when I
am describing people from history
using my imagination, I can
dress them according to the situation.
I can move them according
to the story, and I can arrive
at conclusions that are predicted
in the thesis of the book.
I learned from this book that all
of us are like the Magi or Kings.
We are on a journey that is driven
by our dream. We are searching
for the ultimate in life which
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as
the Magi went searching for the
Baby King, so we must dedicate
our life to Jesus and spend our
resources, physical strength and
time searching for Him and worshipping
Him.
Lastly, what is your favorite
line in the book and how has
that been a guide to you?
My favorite line is the last one
in the book. The three searching
kings dedicated the most
precious thing in their life to the
Baby and went on a thousand
mile journey to worship the Baby.
When they found the Baby King,
they not only worship Him, the
Baby King changed their life.
Then the very last chapter of the
book says, “They worshipped
Him, and thereafter they served
the King that they worshipped.

And in so doing, they thereafter
attained kingly qualities, which is
one reason they are called Three
Searching Kings.” Page 187
Thank you so much for letting
Faith Filled Family interview you.
We pray that the Lord will continue
to bless your endeavors
as you serve Him. Thank you
for sharing your writing talent for
others to enjoy!
Please see the review on this
book from the publisher and
this was sent out to everyone
on my email list of over 1600
addresses.

BOOK REVIEW
Three Searching Kings
Written by Elmer Towns
Published by Family
Heritage Publishers
Price: $16.95
There has been much controversy
about the three Wisemen
who brought gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh to worship the
baby Jesus. Were they kings?
Were there three? What nation
did they represent? How old was
Jesus? And what happened to
them when they returned home?
Elmer Towns has based his
novel, Three Searching Kings,
on historical research and constructed
answers surrounding
the three Wisemen. According to
church tradition, they were: Melchior
from Persia, Belshazzar
from Ethiopia, and Gasper from
Europe. Each Wiseman represented
the three sons of Noah.
They are a picture of all nations
coming to worship the baby born
to rule the world.
Technically, none of the three
were kings, but each had mixed
blood flowing in his veins and
each could potentially be considered
for the throne in his
home country but circumstances
blocked their path to the throne.
However, each represented their
country’s tradition of bringing
gifts to a neighboring kingdom
when a potential successor was
born. Hence, potential kings
brought gifts to the baby who
was the potential King of all
nations.
But it’s not a simple re-telling
of the Christmas story. Each
of the three is realistically
tempted to leave his search
for the baby to return home to
ascend the throne and realize
his life-long dream of becoming
king. The enticement represents
the three-fold temptation
of the lust of the flesh (pleasing
the body), the lust of the eyes
(getting money or stuff), and
the pride of life (power). Just
as each believer is tempted
to satisfy their desires in life
by these three desires, so the
three kings faced decisions to
turn away from their search for
the baby King.
So the reader identifying with
each crisis will face the ultimate
decision in life. “Will I worship
the baby King of all kings, or
will I spend my life satisfying my
desires?”
There is a Hebrew servant who
serves the three potential kings.
He’s placed there by God to help
them learn things they couldn’t
otherwise learn and do things
they otherwise wouldn’t do. To
tell you who he is will spoil the
ending. But he does show up
2,000 years later.
A masterful blend of historical
tradition, fiction, and Biblical
truth.
To purchase go to http://www.
amazon.com/Three-Searching-Kings-Elmer-Towns/
dp/1942603002. Pre-order purchase
price is $16.95.
CLICK HERE TO
PURCHASE AT:
AMAZON
ITUNES
OTHER

Don’t Judge Me
Judgement is for
the Condemned
By Charlaine Martin
W
hen I was a teenager I loved playing the board
game with family and friends called “Monopoly”.
I was reminded of this game when sorting
through storage the other day when I found my
Dad’s Monopoly game from the 1930s or 1940s.
It was fun collecting properties while buying out
other players in hopes of having a monopoly on
the imaginary city. There were some interesting
cards to be drawn, one of which was, “Go to Jail,
go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect
$200.” No one wanted that card because, while sitting
in jail for the required time, people could buy up
the lucrative properties. But every once in a while,
someone was lucky enough to draw the “Get Out
of Jail Free” card. This card could be held until the
unfortunate event came when one would have to
go to jail. He or she could triumphantly pull the “Get
Out of Jail Free” card, placing it in the middle, and
continue gathering wealth. This card was a onetime
use, though. Do we as Christians sometimes
think that our salvation is an all-time “Get Out of
Judgment Free” card? We do get a piece of Heavenly
real estate as believers. Right? Do we even
face judgment since Jesus paid for our sin and we
accepted Him as our Savior? These questions are
certainly food for thought. Although as Christians,
Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is sufficient to pay
for all of our sins for all time, it’s unreasonable to
think we don’t face judgment at all.
Judgment- What is it?
We see in the Old Testament all sin has a consequence.
Since the time of Adam and Eve, the
penalty for sin was death. The first sacrifice for
sin was made by God when He provided clothing
from animal skins for Adam and Eve (Genesis

“Jesus’ shed blood
on the cross is sufficient
to pay for
all of our sins for
all time, it’s unreasonable
to think
we don’t face judgment
at all.”
2:21). This led to loss of fellowship with God, loss
of Garden of Eden privileges for their own safety,
enmity between the woman and the serpent, pain
in childbearing, and hard labor (Genesis 2). People
were required to atone for their sins as prescribed
in the Law of Moses (Exodus 30:9-10), although
they performed sacrifices before that time. There
must have been an oral history given regarding
sacrifice for sin before Moses wrote it down for
Israel. Each sin anyone committed required a certain
sacrifice. The penalty for sin was death and
only blood sacrifice could atone for sin (Romans
6:23).
A major judgment on human beings was the worldwide
flood when Noah built an Ark as God told him
to do (Genesis 7). He took his family and two of
every kind of animal, with 7 pair of those to be sacrificed
later. Wickedness had become so rampant
that God wiped out all wickedness known at that
time (Genesis 6:5-7). The wide-spread sin grieved
God, but He spared Noah and his family because
of Noah’s faith.
The angels were also judged, something not considered
much when we think of judgment. Lucifer
was an angel who served God in His court. However,
Lucifer was very beautiful and proud. As a
result of his pride, he and one-third of the angels
who followed him were cast out of heaven (Isaiah
14:11-13). He is considered the Prince of the Air
and the Prince of this dark world (Ephesians 2:2,
6:11-13). Lucifer was the serpent in the Garden of
Eden. He and his followers will be judged again
by God and cast into the Lake of Fire, which is
the second death (Revelation 20:10). There is an
interesting point with angels. Scripture does not
say they have salvation offered to them as we do.
They are curious about such things and long to
look into this phenomenon we are privileged to
experience (1 Peter 1:11-13). (Graham)
When Israel sinned by following other gods, the
Lord God warned them about impending judgment.
They could have avoided it by repenting,
that is, turning back to Him and leaving their idols
behind; however, they did not. When the kingdom
of Israel split under Rehoboam (1Kings 12:17) and
Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:20), the ten tribes of Israel
continued in spiral downward until they were taken
captive first by Assyria in 722 BC (2 Kings 24:12-
14). Judah, the remaining two tribes, were faithful
for a while longer, but were taken captive around
586 BC by Babylon at the time Assyria was also

conquered (2 Kings 25:1-3). (New Open Bible, I)
God’s chosen people broke their covenant with
God from their side of the agreement, but God
offered a new covenant that would include not only
the Jews, but the Gentiles (non-Jews) as well. He
also told them a Messiah was coming through the
prophets.
At just the right time, God sent Jesus, fully God
and fully man to pay the penalty for sin once for
all (Romans 3:24-26). Those who accept this
gift of salvation have eternal life in Him with God
(John 3:14-16). New Jerusalem is described as
that place where God’s people will dwell forever
with Him. There will be no pain, no crying, and
no evil will ever enter (Revelation 21:2, 20-27).
Those who do not are judged guilty and cast into
the Lake of Fire with Satan and his demons. This
is the second death (Revelation 20:11-15).
Christians, those who have spent a fair amount
of time in Bible study, know at least some of the
history and types of judgment and atonement.
Unfortunately, the notion of judgment for believers
is rarely discussed.
Judgment- Who is it for?
I remember sending my kids to their rooms when
they misbehaved. I made sure each one understood
what they did wrong, what they should do
the next time, and sent them to think about it.
The timer was set so I did not forget about them.
Almost every time, while I was occupied taking
care of some task, a little voice would quietly
ask, “Mommy, can I come out now? I promise to
behave.” Of course, they were allowed to come
out when the timer rang. They were my children
before they misbehaved, while they were in timeout,
and after they came out. They would have still
been my children even if they kept doing things
they should not do. I would love them regardless,
but seeing them continue in disobedience would
grieve my heart terribly. Somehow, separation
for a time was helpful. At other times it may have
been losing a privilege that helped. Our heavenly
Father who redeemed us through Christ still loves
us when we sin, but it grieves His heart. He disciplines
us when we sin because He loves us. What
He desires of us is that our love for Him shows in
our behavior. Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching. My Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with
them.” John 14:23 NIV
Judgment is for all people of all time. With the first
judgment for us as believers, Jesus paid it all. We
will not be condemned as those who do not believe
in Jesus as Savior. We are saved by grace. That’s
the good news. The solemn news is that we are
held accountable for what we do in Jesus’ Name.
We wrestle with our old sin nature in this life. Paul
refers to this in Romans 7:18-25. It is by the power
of God we are rescued from our slavery to sin.
The first judgment for believers is that of self-judgment.
We are to examine ourselves with sober
judgment (Romans 12:2-3). By assessing our
thoughts, attitudes, and actions we may take every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2
Corinthians 10:4-5). We are also to offer ourselves
as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God,
which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1-3).
We serve a Holy God who wants loving obedience
from His children. We must take up our cross daily
to follow Christ. Every day we make a decision to
follow Him or follow ourselves. We cannot do both.
The second is judgment by others both Christian
and non-Christian. What we do affects other
people around us. What we say we believe and
what we do must not conflict with each other. For
other Christians, we either show them how to live
godly lives or we lead them astray. For the non-
Christian, we either show them Christ’s love that
they might come to know Jesus as Savior and
Lord or we discourage them from knowing Jesus.
We either build the kingdom or prevent others from
entering it.
We also have a heavenly audience- the angels
(1 Corinthians 4:9). Angels do not understand the
grace we have and marvel at it. They long to look
into this (1 Peter 1:12). That audience in the great
cloud of witnesses is described in Hebrews 12:1.
Those believers who have gone on before us are
also cheering us on in this race called life. What we
do is witnessed by God, the angels, and believers
who have gone to be with the Lord already. We
certainly would not want to be disqualified.
Another part of the judgment is by authorities in the
church. If a church member is committing grievous
sin, refusing to repent, the leadership of the church
may practice church discipline in accordance to
Matthew 18:15-20. A Christian who is unsuccess-

ful seeking resolution with another Christian may
also bring the individual to the attention of the
pastor and elders and go through the due process
to either ensure the cooperation of the individual
or expel them from the fellowship of the church.
This person would be treated as an unbeliever at
this point. Of course, church discipline should be
handled prayerfully and carefully, but firmly.
When we die, all will stand before the Great White
Throne. Those whose name is in the Book of
Life are saved. Those who are not will perish in
the Lake of Fire with Satan and His demons- the
second death. They will be no more. We will go
before Jesus Christ for rewards as if we were in
an athletic competition going before the Judge of
the Race rather than coming before a Judge in a
Court of Law (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). The judgment
Christ makes is a determining of how we’ve
lived our lives for Him. What have we done with
the talents He entrusted to us? According to 1 Corinthians
3:10-15, our works will be tested by fire.
Either they will burn away like chaff or they will
withstand the test, deserving an eternal reward.
Some will enter His presence as if escaping a
fire with no reward, while others will have heavenly
treasures to show for what they’ve done in
His Name. Some believe there will be shame as
our works are brought out before everyone present.
Some Christians believe there will be shame,
because either there is nothing for us, or not as
much as we had hoped. We all still enter the Lord’s
rest for eternity.
Judgment- What should we expect?
The sins we commit cause a downward spiral into
one big mess. All sin boils down to idolatry of self.
We set ourselves up as the standard setter and
judge. When we continue to sin, we begin to feel
the effects before we are willing to acknowledge
them. Here is the trend:
• We lose fellowship with God, not salvation. Our
prayers either cease, God refuses to answer our
prayers, or both.
• Pride and self-righteousness set up in our hearts.
We begin to ignore what the Bible says. It shows in
our attitudes and behavior.
• We lose fellowship with our brothers and sisters
in Christ. We stop spending time with other Christians
at church and other places. Sometimes,
we fear of what they might say or we respond to
something they have said.
• Our relationships with others suffer. Irritability,
anger, and unforgiveness move in.
• Our health, work, finances, and other areas of life
suffer. We lose blessings because we’ve lost fellowship
with God, other Christians, and have alienated
other people by our attitudes and behavior.
God allows us to feel the natural consequences of
our sin.
• We grieve the Holy Spirit when we don’t confess
our sin and ask forgiveness. Eventually, there may
be a sin unto death.
What do we do now?
One of the issues Chuck Swindoll brings up in his
book, “Grace Awakening” is many Christians tend
toward either being grace killers or grace abusers.
In other words, we are likely to gravitate toward
being hypercritical of others- legalism, or “God
is love” so we don’t want anyone to feel bad- liberalism.
Learning a healthy balance is a fine line
(Swindoll) Elise Morgan, in her book Naked Fruit,
suggests that becoming more like Christ is a process.
When we bear the fruit of love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control, although not always in a
neat, tidy manner, we show Whose we are. God
uses our personalities, through which we show this
fruit. It’s about living right, not always being nice.
Spiritual fruit is the evidence of spiritual growth
(Morgan). For those who live according to the
flesh, they show such things as sexual immorality,
impurity, debauchery (i.e. excessive indulgence
and sensual pleasures) idolatry witchcraft, hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and
so on will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians
5:19-25). We are like a tree, planted by streams
of water, which yields fruit in season, whose leaf
does not wither, and whatever we do will prosper
(Psalm 1:3) We are blessed abundantly! This is
the result of meditating on and living out the Word
of God. It is vital to our walk with the Lord that
we prayerfully examine ourselves with sober judgment
allowing ourselves to be shaped and molded

more into the image of Christ by our Creator.
Believers sin from time to time. Our old nature gets
the better of us every once in a while. Most of the
time, we repent by apologizing to God and those
we offended, request forgiveness, and change our
behavior accordingly. Remaining in sin is a huge
problem. Once we realize we are struggling with a
sin issue, these are the things we need to do to be
back where we belong:
1. Count the cost of following Christ (Luke 14:25-
33). Think through what you need to give up to be
a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ. Then
begin the cleansing. Take your list and begin
changing your life one thing at a time.
2. Remember those who are watching you (Mark
9:42). Nothing is more humbling as a parent than
when we see or hear our children imitate us!
People are watching us to see what following
Christ really means. You may be the only person
who shows them Jesus.
3. Take the time to confess sin to someone safe.
We are told, “Therefore confess your sins to each
other and pray for each other so that you may be
healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful
and effective.” James 5:16 NIV. Find another
believer who is wise and discrete with whom you
can share this sin issue. Pray together for your
release from this sin’s bondage and for your spiritual,
physical, and emotional healing.
4. Forgive and ask forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15;
Mark 11:25; Ephesians 4:32; 1 John 1:9). First,
forgive others who have hurt you. Maybe your
sin is related to past pain. Maybe people hurt you
because you were struggling with sin, not understanding
how to help you. Forgive yourself. We are
all sinners saved by grace. Extend a bit of grace
to others and yourself. Then ask forgiveness from
those you have hurt as a result of your sin. Make
restitution if necessary.
5. Get help making these changes in your life
(Galatians 6:1-2). Some sins are extremely difficult
to let go of alone. You may need your pastor,
a counselor, a doctor, or other professional to help
you.
6. Make a plan and follow it. Maybe you made
a plan with a friend or your pastor. Get busy by
prayerfully asking the Lord to lead you away from
your sin issue and to do what is right.
7. Get back to basics. Go to a healthy, thriving
Bible-based church. Read your Bible again, pray
again, spend time with other Christians again. Surround
yourself with God’s presence, His people,
and His Word again.
Living the Christian life is not easy, but it’s worth
living because Jesus gave us this new life. We may
live in this world, but this world is not our Home.
By the grace given to us through Jesus Christ, we
have a heavenly home waiting for us. Yes, there is
heavenly real estate waiting for us. Let us enter it’s
gates rich with rewards from what we have done
for God’s Kingdom. We want to hear, “Well done,
good and faithful servant. Enter My rest.” May we
cast many, many crowns at Jesus’ feet as a result
of what we’ve done in His Name.
Resources:
Angels by Billy Graham. Copyright 1994 by Bill
Graham. Word Publishing Dallas, TX.
Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll. Copyright
2003 by Charles R. Swindoll Inc. W Publishing
Group Nashville, TN.
Naked Fruit by Elisa Morgan. Copyright 2004 by
Elisa Morgan. Fleming H. Revell Grand Rapids,
MI.
“Book Notes from The Judgments (Past, Present,
and Future)” By J. Hampton Keathley, III Biblical
Studies Press, www.bible.org 1997.
“The Judgment of Believers” Bible study
notes from Apt to Teach www.apttoteach.org/
BibleInsights/1Corinthians/PDF/1Corinthians3-
17thejudgementofbelievers.pdf
Charlaine Martin is a freelance writer and personal
trainer with Totally Fit 4 Life. She holds a Bachelor’s
Degree in Management with an emphasis in
Christian ministry and exercise science. She lives
in the Thumb of Michigan with her husband. Charlaine
has three great adult children who are married
and five active grandchildren.

Finance
Handling your own personal
finances can sometimes
be a nightmare.
As a single guy with only few
expenses, I still stress out when
I sit down to balance my checkbook.
Handling the finances for
your house with your spouse can
lead to even more headaches as
you try to balance finances for
an entire home with someone
who cannot read what you are
thinking.
Money affects nearly every
aspect of an individual’s life, and
if the finances get messed up,
then the household will be in a
state of unrest.
Better Halves not only addresses
financial woes and teaches how
to recover from them, but they
also address other areas that
often times get over-looked by
most debt reduction programs.
Tim Schuster of Better Halves
explains how…
So tell us about yourself.
I grew up with parents who
divorced when I was young. And
then I watched both of my parents
re-marry and divorce again.
In fact, my dad divorced twice
more. Watching your parents go
through four divorces is difficult
– and it raised many questions
for me in my adulthood. My wife,
Kelsey, and I have noticed in our
relationship with each other and
our finances that much more is
happening than simply “how to
do a budget.” Money, for us, is
an invitation to reflect on what
is important in life, the quality of
our relationships, and how we
want to be part of what God is
doing in the world.
What is Better Halves?
Better Halves is a learning
experience for couples and it
starts with the crazy idea that
money is primarily emotional.
Before we do the practical stuff
of budgeting we believe it’s
beneficial to start there. And, of
course, that money is emotional
is not a “bad” thing. We can actually
use it to our advantage. So
we’ve created
a workshop
where we train
pastors and
counselors
and pre-marital
educators
to lead groups
of couples
through a
series of
activities and
exercises.
And Better
Halves is
also delivered
in a small
group program
for groups of
3-7 couples in
six sessions.
one that matches a variety of
learning styles. Also, guys like
it! Guys are often known as the
ones who don’t want to go to the
marriage thing, so we knew we
were on to something when the
guys found the experience
enjoyable!
What was your involvement
in getting Better Halves
When we
started Better
Halves we
didn’t want
Introduces C
to create just
another dude
on a DVD –
and we didn’t
want a long deck of PowerPoint started?
slides. We realize that everyone I’ve had the opportunity to sit
has a unique learning style. For with couples as they talk about
adults, learning often means their finances. I’ve seen many
absorbing a new piece of information
and then having the space which they can discuss finances
couples find new language by
to reflect on their life experience – including the deeper meanings
of money and our under-
in light of this information. In this
way, we’re able to pursue a very lying values that shape our
holistic approach to finances – decisions. I’ve watched spouses

turn toward one another in new
ways – ways that are absolutely
profound. Then I was fortunate
to play a role on the team that
has taken those experiences
and translated them into a curriculum
we call Better Halves.
It seems that Better Halves
takes a very holistic approach
to finances. Why do you think
into new thinking. In our opinion,
money is connected to almost
every area of life – and because
of that, there is an opportunity to
use money as a way of personal
development, spiritual formation,
and marriage enrichment. If we
are successful, we will show the
world that money is not separate
from life – it is the real stuff of
life, and it includes relationships,
There are really amazing people
who have done great work helping
people get out of the trap of
consumer debt. We love hearing
those stories of freedom. With
the Better Halves program,
we’re interested in this, too – but
we’re also very, very interested
in seeing the “underlying issues”
as an opportunity to grow into
a deeper awareness of what
Tim Schuster
ouples to Better Halves
By Brandon Knight
the emotional and spiritual
aspects of our lives matter
when it comes to finances?
So much of the resources on
finances out there are, in our
opinion, overly practical. They
go too quickly to debt reduction,
budgeting, and saving. We don’t
think our way into new behaviors
as much as we behave our way
our quest for wholeness, our
desire for an integrated life, and
how we participate in this world
with our resources.
Why do you think other
resources just address the
“here’s the steps to get out of
debt” aspect rather than these
underlying issues?
is happening in our relationship
with our finances and each
other. Once you’ve had a taste
of this, it’s hard to turn back. For
instance, we ask people about
their earliest memory of money
– and the stories really help surface
new insights that just can’t
be ignored. It’s about creating
a life of wholeness rather than

wealth.
Obviously this program is
for married couples, but is it
geared more for newlyweds,
couples who have been married
for 10+ years, or any
couple at any place in their
marriage?
We don’t recommend the Better
Halves workshop or small
group program as a first date!
But any time after that … couples
should consider it. We believe all
couples deserve a place to dig
into the deeper stuff of finances
– and everyone deserves a
community to wrestle with these
topics. We partner with churches
who see Better Halves as a
tool for their pre-marriage seminars
as well as churches who
do marriage retreats and small
groups.
What is the Couple Checkup
and why do couples have to
take it before participating in
Better Halves?
We’re really fortunate to partner
with PREPARE-ENRICH,
a company with a shared mission
of making people stronger.
They have a “do it yourself”
assessment called the Couple
Checkup – and we’ve worked
it out so that couples can take
the Couple Checkup prior to
attending the workshop or small
group. It serves as a great primer
to the experience.
Are there any other ministries
you are engaged in?
In addition to my role at brightpeak
and the Better Halves
team, I’m the founder of thisis-
MIDTOWN.org, a group that
helps other groups that are leading
initiatives to make the world
a better place. It’s a really fun
project to be part of.
How can someone get enrolled
in Better Halves?
We have very big goals for this
program. We can’t do it alone. We
need hundreds – no, thousands!
– of facilitators in churches and
other communities across the
country to get trained to facilitate
the Better Halves experience
in their context. A couple who is
interested should either consider
leading this themselves – or find
a pastor or leader to get trained
to lead it. Check out betterhalves.com.
Thank you for your time! Any
final comments?
Thank you!
Brandon Knight is a young gun,
a martial artist, and a freelance
writer. He resides in northwest
Indiana and recently began
seminary through Moody Theological
Seminary. Brandon has a
passion for preaching the Gospel
and seeing it transform lives. He
loves Jesus, comic books, and
the Chicago Cubs.

When a pet owner dies or becomes disabled, what happens to their pets?
According to the ASPCA, 8 to 12 million dogs and cats enter shelters nationwide every year and 5 to 9
million are euthanized (60% of dogs and 70% of cats). Of the animals surrendered to shelters, 2% to 3% are
relinquished due to the death or disability of their human caregivers.
“Orphaned” pets do not adjust well to the experience in a shelter—they refuse to eat, they are despondent,
and they are often labeled “unadoptable.” Sadly, many healthy, adoptable pets are euthanized simply
because their pet owners did not plan for their continuous care.
Pet owners should identify committed caregivers who can care for their pets, maintain written care
instructions and set up a finance plan or set aside funds to cover the expenses for the continued care of
their pets.
For more information, to volunteer or to donate please visit www@2ndchance4pets.org.
2nd Chance 4 Pets is a 501c3 all-volunteer nonprofit advocacy organization. Our team is working to reduce the number of pets
euthanized due to the death or disability of the pet owner. For more information, please visit 2ndchance4pets.org. Our tax ID
number is 13-4280812.
www.2ndchance4pets.org

Praying to Idols is O.k.
As Long As They’re Holy
By Michelle C. Danko
The topic of praying to false
gods and deities should be
an obvious error, but is not
always the case. The Catholic
faith has been questioned for
their praying to the saints by
Evangelicals who feel that they
are worshipping the dead. They
claim that they are in no way
worshipping or praying to the
dead, but rather that the saints
intercede on their behalf. Then
we have Christians who are
doing mash ups by taking bits
from each religion and creating
their own while deceiving themselves
into believing that each
religion holds a nugget of truth
when in fact some do not point to
God. Many have scripture that
supports their belief, and they
can articulate it with great validity.
However, the bottom line is:
What is the truth?
Catholics are dismayed and
somewhat hurt by the perception
that they worship the saints
when indeed this is a false perception.
Catholics do not worship
the saints, but rather pray
for the saints to intercede on their
behalf. Catholics believe that
the people in Heaven are alive
(Matthew 19:29, 25:46, 10:17-
22, Mark 10:30, Luke 10:25-30,
Luke 18:18-30, John 3:15-16),
but not alive in the sense that any
conjuring takes place. Regarding
praying to the Virgin Mary,
many Catholics believe that she
was without sin as God could not
inhabit a body where sin existed,
and that as Jesus’ mother, she
had a special place in Heaven.
They ask her to pray to Jesus for
them, but they do not worship
her.
Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary
because they believe that she is
alive, and interceding on behalf
of the sinners, the unsaved, and
on behalf of the sorrows of the
world. When Catholics pray to
God, they believe they are uttering
a petition to God. When they
pray to the Virgin Mary or to the
saints, they believe that they are
making an earnest request for

prayers to be answered. They
believe that Mary was a devout
prayer warrior, and that is why
we see an emphasis on Mary.
This belief stems from a scripture
found in Luke 1:46-49 wherein
Mary says, “My soul magnifies
the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior. For
He has regarded the lowly state
of his maidservant; For behold,
henceforth all generations will
call me blessed.” The interpretation
is that Jesus is magnified by
Mary’s soul, and since the soul is
eternal, she enforces her eternal
ministry by saying that all generations
will call her blessed. They
refer to Mary as “the blessed
Virgin Mary” due to the scripture
that says all generations will call
her blessed.
The challenge in theology begins
here between Evangelicals and
Catholics. The argument is quite
intriguing, and their interpretation
of scripture even more so.
The scripture provided above,
when you look at it in context,
can be interpreted to mean that
Mary is expressing her thanks to
the Lord. She is visiting Elizabeth
who is pregnant with John
the Baptist, and Elizabeth calls
her blessed among women to be
carrying Jesus- which she is. All
generations will call her blessed
means that all generations will
see God’s promise come to
pass through her. By the birth
and resurrection of Jesus, all
generations will be blessed as
a result of her obedience. So
Mary is indeed blessed because
she is carrying the messiah, but
may or may not in reality be that
exalted. We really don’t know.
It’s left to interpretation.

The larger clash between the
two faiths comes in praying to
the saints. The Catholics see
the saints as interceding and
alive in Heaven. Some Evangelicals
see this as worshipping
the saints, and others see it as a
scriptural error. From an Evangelical
point, they see it as praying/talking
to the dead- which
the Bible expressly forbids.
If we turn to the Bible, God finds
communicating with the dead
to be detestable. However, the
references made to this include
necromancers, soothsayers,
etc which in today’s day and
age would be the equivalent of
mediums, sorcerers, fortune
tellers, etc who contact the
dead and who believe that the
dead speak to them. There is a
belief that once we die and our
body ascends/descends (as the
case may be), that communication
with the living is no more.
Angels have been recorded to
communicate to the living, and
they still do. However, they are
not people. People are different
in Heaven, and from what we do
know, according to the Bible, do
not communicate with the living.
Only Satan uses this tactic of
communication.
In the Bible, we do not see
anyone praying to the saints
including Jesus. He always
prayed directly to the Father.
We know that God is omnipresent
(everywhere) and is able
to hear our prayers. Catholics
have a different argument
based on Revelation 5:8 which
reads, “When He had taken the
book, the four living creatures
and the twenty-four elders fell
down before the Lamb, each
one holding a harp and golden
bowls full of incense, which are
the prayers of the saints” that
the saints take our prayers to
God. Evangelicals would say
that the prayers of the saints
refer to God’s children (us) and
the twenty-four elders could be
angels or anything else for that
matter- not saints specifically.
The Catholics believe that this
scripture means that the saints
hear our prayers. However, the
scripture reads “elders”. We do
not know whether they are one
and the same.
We do know, definitively, that
the Bible refers to Jesus as our
mediator/intercessor.
“For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy
2:5
“He is able to save forever those
who draw near to God through
him, because he always lives
to make intercession for them”
Hebrews 7:25
“Who is he that condemns? It
is Christ that died, rather, that
is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us.”
(Romans 8:34)
“I am the way, the truth and the
life; no one can come to the
Father except through me” John
14:6
“I pray not for the world, but for
them which you have given me;
for they are yours.” (John 17:9)
These verses all describe Jesus
as our intercessor, and it is
through Jesus that we receive
our salvation. We know that
Jesus hears our prayers and
takes them to God. He mediates
on our behalf. Our sins
are covered by His blood, and
through Him we are sanctified.
Jesus, Himself, doesn’t answer
the prayers, but God our Father
(as part of the trinity) does. No
where does it say that Jesus
doesn’t hear our prayers, and
the idea of yet another intercessor
implies that our prayers are
petitioned to God through Jesus
with saints interceding between
us and Jesus. So if we believe
this theology, then there is an
intercessor for an intercessor.
Catholics equate their praying
to the saints for intercession
with Evangelicals asking others
to intercede for them in prayer.
Evangelicals take the scripture
of “Again I say to you, that if two
of you agree on earth about anything
that they may ask, it shall
be done for them by My Father
who is in heaven. For where two
or three have gathered together
in My name, I am there in their
midst.” Matthew 18:19-20 to
illustrate the power of agreement-
not intercession. Intercession
in Evangelical circles
is praying in the Spirit, or when
we receive a word of knowledge.
Then we are interceding
on someone’s behalf, but it is
usually in conjunction with not
knowing what to pray for (use
the gift of tongues), interceding
on behalf of someone (again in
tongues), or when receiving a
word of knowledge and praying
it out. Word of knowledge
comes from the Lord, and all of
the gifts of the spirit are outlined
in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.
Despite the different interpretations
in theology- which may or

may not be accurate- if you want
a true depiction of how to pray, I
would suggest looking to Jesus
who was God’s son. Jesus
always prayed to God. The
Bible never mentions Him praying
to any other figure or person
for intercession. He never mentions
for us to pray to anyone
other than Him, and Jesus is to
be our example of what to follow
on earth.
While it is easy to see both
opinions on scripture, it is just
as easy to refute them which
causes a rift in theology. To the
Evangelicals, Catholics worship
images because they pray to
them. Their interpretation is that
you cannot communicate with
those no longer are on earth,
nor should you worship (pray)
to images or use images in any
way. Catholics, on the other
hand, adamantly claim that they
do not worship idols, but they do
pray to the saints for intercession.
Furthermore, many also
pray to specific saints in certain
areas of their lives for things
such as healing, protection, etc.
because God gave them specific
talents and gifts here on earth. It
is the equivalent of Evangelical
ministers with a healing anointing
praying over an individual.
This issue is a heart issue
because whether you are a Catholic
or Evangelical you can get
on the wrong side of this equation.
If your belief is in the individual
for healing (for example)
then you are in error whether
they are dead or alive. Only one
person heals, and that is God.
Your ultimate focus needs to be
on Him, and anything that takes
your focus off of Him is an idol.
So what is the truth? Both seem
plausible, and it’s easy to see
both sides of the argument. It
ultimately boils down to staying
true to the Bible and the revelation
that God gives you on the
subject. If you are confused,
then ask God to reveal the truth
to you in your Spirit. Ask for
scripture that proves God’s Word
because His Word is always
truth. Let God guide your heart
into His truth and you will never
fail.

Sin No More
By Brenda Stapleton
As Christians, we sometimes
struggle each day
with decisions we make.
As you live for the Lord, and
through the Lord, questions
begin to arise by the very definition
of “what is sin?” Even a
Christian, committed to a life of
study and prayer, will find themselves
under the pressure of
Satan, who tries to change their
perception of what “is” and “is
not” sin, and either way, it will
not affect their spiritual life. A
person can become confused,
and while they struggle, Satan
secretly plants a seed against
the teachings of the Lord. These
teachings become distorted and
the people who come in contact
with this person, are also affected
by these insecurities and vulnerabilities
when they begin to
question sin in their own lives.
It is these times, when people
begin to commit sin, and they do

so without even knowing they
do. These people struggle with
sin, and with the result of sinning
without intention. Most of
all, a strong Christian becomes
a weak link in the chain, and
Satan has a foothold in the lives
of those on each end.
As a believer, to act in accordance
with forgiveness and
mercy, can feel somewhat nondeserving
at times. I personally
feel, I have no right to ask for
forgiveness for a sin I have committed
once before. Then again,
do I ever have the “right” to forgiveness?
I refuse to begrudge
myself the kindness, I would
insist to others, our loving and
guiding Father would allow,
when prayerfully requested. I
ask the Lord of forgiveness,
and in my heart, I am looking
forward to the next day, with
blessings, with a momentum of
slow and steady, and seeing no
opposition, my outlook to erase
sin from my life, is strength filled
and Satan free.
There’s just one thing I find in

times such as this, and I find in others as well. I
find sheer will and determination on my part. This
is one of the first of Paul’s foundations. He wrote
about it in the Book of Galatians. In Galatians 3:3
~
“Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of
the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of
the flesh?”
Paul, too thought at the beginning he could do
it on his own. His answer came that he needed
Jesus Christ to change him, that his willpower
wasn’t enough. He wrote about this by chastising
the people there for trying to live the Christian life
“by means of the flesh, or by the human life.” We
are changed by God, by conviction. This conviction
we find on ourselves. Maybe your sin is pornography?
This is a growing habit in society, and
most people find it less sinful as long as it is kept
behind closed doors. However, does God not see
us? That is where the guilt comes in. The most
important factor in dealing with sin, if finding the
reason for the sin in the first place. What drives
you to sin? You know pornography is sinful, yet
it still pulls at you. So, what is pulling, and what
is pushing you? Satan? No, Satan may be presenting
the package, because Satan knows this is
your weakness, but you have the guilt. Ask yourself
what is the driving force? Pray about it. God
changes us, and with change, comes wisdom to
grow.
For some, people claim pornography is a stress
reliever for other factors in their life. Therefore, it is
up to you to choose those stress releases that are
healthy. What are they? What do they look like?
You are not the only person who has stress. Find
others around you, who are present in your life.
Take the time during prayer and verbalize your
transgressions, and stand in judgment of yourself.
If you need to see a minister, a preacher, or
a priest, then do so. Have them listen to you, and
ask them to be an accountability partner to help
you as you conquer this dilemma. Ask others,
what do they do for stress release, and ask them if
they have ever had a sinful habit? You do not have
to confess your sin to them, unless it is something
you want to discuss. Confess your sin to God, and
listen in prayer for guidance.
Maybe you feel like talking to others would be too
much for you. Is this something you want to work
on in a positive and safe manner? There are many
places you can go to for help. There are counselors
you can go talk to, and there are some inpatient
centers now, that are completely voluntary if you
feel you might be a danger to yourself or another,
because of so many stressors. You may decide to
just “stop”. You may think you are that strong, but
you don’t have to go through something like this,
and sacrifice your health or another healthy part of
your brain or body to do so. Paul thought he was
strong enough, too. What I am saying is, you may
be that strong, but by putting so much stress on
yourself, you are adding stress what started out
as stress release. Doesn’t sound really effective in
the long term, so why put that pressure on yourself,
when you do not have to.
As a Christian follower of the Lord and Savior,
the first thing I have forgotten is the strength to
overcome Satan, and to erase sin from my life has
nothing to do with me, and everything to do with
HIM. Just as Paul pointed out in Romans 7:18-25
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me,
that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to
do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do
not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not
want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what
I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it
is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at
work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there
with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s
law; but I see another law at work in me, waging
war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from
this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to
God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our
Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to
God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the
law of sin”
Therefore, helplessly I stand wrought and dismayed
the next day, and praying once again, for
grace, asking merciful Jesus, grant me forgiveness,
for as you know, once again, I have sinned.
Not because it was Satan who caused me to fall,
but it was me who failed to reject the deceitful
nature of pleasure offered. It is I, who has sinned

against the Lord, not Satan. It is I, who is to blame,
not Satan. It is I, who because of my habitual sins,
am here feeling ashamed and lost, and in great
need of your mercy and grace. It is not something
we should ever expect to receive. Are there times,
that we do?
I believe one purpose of seeking forgiveness when
we sin, is to keep us mindful of the fact that we do
not deserve this incredible gift we’ve been given.
As with the Parable of the Pharisee’s being good,
and the Tax Collector’s admission, and simply
being merciful in Luke 18:9-14
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness
and looked down on everyone else,
Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a
tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and
prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other
people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even
like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give
a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at
a distance. He would not even look up to heaven,
but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on
me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than
the other, went home justified before God. For all
those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Do we habitually sin, because we believe in HIM,
or have we developed a false sense of security,
because the Lord has time and time again, presented
HIMSELF in our lives? Have we so often
felt HIS presence near, and has it made us come
to expect HIM to be there, or do we believe in HIM,
and the word of the Bible? Maybe it is because we
expect God to grant us all of those things we know
HE will, as if by believing in the Lord, we have
begun to take forgiveness for granted, and whenever
we sin once again, we feel an overwhelming
sense of “knowing it will be okay”, because HE is
our Father. And as a Christian, as a child of the
Father, as a believer of the Lord- we ask for forgiveness,
and we know, we are forgiven. Why,
because the Bible says it; because God tells us
in the Bible; because as a Christian, we know that
unintentional habitual sin is different from intentional
habitual sin; because as a Christian, we
know that sin in our lives, is getting less and less,
because we believe in the Father and we believe
in the word, in which HE has told us.
There’s a difference between believing the word
of the Lord, and believing in the word of the Lord.
If you believe the word of the Lord, then going
through the motions, so to speak, saying you want
the Lord to forgive you of the sins you have committed,
even though you have no want to cease
commission of them, is believing the word. Believing
in the word though, this is knowing with every
fiber of your being, the reason behind the forgiveness.
It is more than because you asked. It is more
than recognition of the sin itself. It is knowing we
do not deserve it. It is knowing the reason the Lord
“will” forgive us, is because we believe who HE
died for our sins, all of them. Every sin erased,
and every person made whole and clean. You are
just as sinful as the idolaters, coveters, adulterers,
murderers, and so on. And until HE perfects us,
we’ll always be that way, as in all this we should
remember that the Lord already knows all the
sins of our life and forgave them all at the cross.
There’s nothing we can do that isn’t covered by
His love, because of this, He is able to see us as
we will become, not as we still are, as with 2 Corinthians
5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation
has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Believing in the word, is realizing no one is anymore
of a sinner than another.”
One thing to remember, is true believers are always
threatened by Satan. People who read the Bible,
and study the word, those are the ones Satan
seeks to find fault in the truth, and as they will
become insecure in the teachings of God. Satan
infects teachers often. Teachers reach groups at
a time, and this is where congregations fall. Spiritual
knowledge is at the mercy of Satan the most,
because it is the purest form of knowledge. The
deeper the knowledge, the truer the self, the more
spiritually sufficient we are? Yes, the more vulnerable
we are to becoming infected by anything
falsely wavering from the word, whether it is physically
or behaviorally presented, Satan can really
put on a show.
Some people will ask, if you are a Christian, how
do you know if Satan is working in your life? In
John 1:5-10, Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgive-

ness
“This is the message we have heard from him and
declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness
at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him
and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live
out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from
all [b] sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If
we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to
be a liar and his word is not in us.”
If you are a Christian, you will reach a point where
you do not sin. Pardon the cliché of “practice makes
perfect.” However, perfection in Christ, perfection
in prayer, perfection in practicing the word through
study and commitment, and yes, perfection will be
achieved. As a Christian, John stressed the fact if
you treat sin, with indifference, then your Christianity
should be questioned. John did not believe
you committed sin, more so than as a true Christian,
you suffer sin, and Satan is a major player in
the game of suffering.
Satan cannot force us to sin. He can tease us, and
make sin seem so tempting. Now, some people
are still inclined to give Satan all the credit. How
many times have you heard, “The devil made me
do it?” What a response, in order to remove guilt,
justify any actions, or a responsibility to the teachings
of God - all of which may cause a person to
endure much suffering. Scripture tells us to resist
the devil and he will flee from us. Live your life with
wisdom, live through the word, and allow yourself
to be filled with the Spirit, and this will deter Satan.
Satan’s purpose may be to enter our lives, and the
lives of others by attacking the word of God, and
his teachings, but Satan has a purpose, just like
anyone else. Satan doesn’t want to pull us away
from God to have Christianity fall as a whole. Neither
is Satan’s purpose to inflict pain and suffering
on our human bodies through disease, fatty
burgers and ice cream, preservatives, sugars, and
fats. Some people may see disease, and remind
you of Job’s spiritual growth, or Paul’s thorn in the
flesh. Yes, these trials of the body were in direct
relation of Satan. That is not to say all are though.
It is all too easy to say, “Well, I was trying to quit
drinking, but the devil got the best of me.” Is this
true? Maybe, but it is often just the blame gameblame
the devil, rather than take accountability for
ourselves. Rather than a personal examination of
ourselves, our spirituality and a direct confession
of our weakness, which takes more faith and integrity
than any other process, it is so typical to blame.
You will live through the suffering; although, there
are times it will not be so easy. You must trust God
to bring you through. There is something to so true
in the book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10, Verse 13
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as
is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
I am not suggesting; God will bring you through the
trial unscathed. You will face trials in your life. You
will be tempted. As many trials as you will face, it
is up to you to overcome the trial itself. You can
not turn away from it, or go around it. However,
the suffering will come to a bearable end. Call to
the Lord when in need. HE will be there. HE will
hear your pleas, and you will live through the suffering.
Those who feel God will assist them in the
trial, also look to be miraculously healed in their
time of need. These are not the ways of the Lord.
Learn the spiritual lessons, grow in Christ, mature
in fellowship, and trust the Lord as you undergo a
transformation of a spiritual change. Luke 18:15-
17
“And they were bringing even their babies to Him
so that He would touch them, but when the disciples
saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus
called for them, saying, “Permit the children to
come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom
of God belongs to such as these. “Truly I say
to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of
God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Just as there is no one too young, there is no one
too old to suffer unto the Lord. Come to the Lord,
and you will be welcomed; come, as if you were a
child, and receive your Father’s gift.

Separated By Sin
Some Sin Even the Blood Cannot
Cover
By Julie B. Cosgrove
Several decades ago, a self-help book popularized the phrase,
“I’m okay, you’re okay.” It promoted tolerance and understanding
to the extreme. We each had a “right” to be who we
wanted, live the way we wanted and think the way we wanted. This
sentiment has filtered into our society, tainting it with a “this is the
way I am so accept me” attitude. It seems recently, the ripple effect
has edged into the Christian community.
One popular bumper sticker proclaims, “God isn’t finished with me
yet.” Another states, “I’m not perfect but being perfected.” Facebook
posts spout that Christians are sinners just like everyone else,
only they have been forgiven. The church has been referred to as
a hospital for those who know their souls are sick. There is truth
in all of these statements, but there is also a hidden plea for overtolerance,
not just amongst our fellow believers but by the world
who views us as hypocritical because we don’t walk like we talk.
Paul knew this problem. He mourned that he wanted to “do good”,
but because of his human nature he still had a tendency to “do
bad”. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want
to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:19
But, he didn’t stop there. He proclaims, Thanks be to God, who delivers
me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (vs. 25) Paul told the Roman
Christians everyone has sinned. No one can achieve the loftiness
of the glory of God by anything they can do, say or pray without
the intervention of the perfect sacrificial lamb, Jesus, to intercede
for them. Scripture tells us Christ lived to die for us. Because of

our naturally sinful nature, due to
the fall from grace by Adam and
Eve, only a holy God in human
form could be qualified to give
Himself up as atonement for the
rest of the world.
Heretics in the early church mistook
atonement to mean they
could live a sinful life as long
as they confessed their sins on
their death bed. Sort of a haveour-sin-cake-and-eat-it-too
philosophy.
Paul tried to correct
their understanding. However,
today in the wake of the “I’m
okay, you’re okay” movement,
this falsehood has once again
surfaced. Believers shrug their
shoulders and reply, “I’m still
tainted by being on earth. I’m
going to sin. I can’t help it. That’s
why I asked Jesus into my life.”
They act as if Christ is their “get
out of jail free” card in their back
pocket. The Christian should
be saying, “I’m not okay and

neither are you. But I am trying
to change. That’s why I need a
Savior. How about you?”
By our very nature, all human
beings fall short and sin. That
doesn’t mean it is our blanket
excuse to keep on doing so.
Somewhere along the line, we
are to strive to sin less, prompted
by the Holy Spirit we have asked
to dwell in us. Paul also tells the
Roman Christians, Do not conform
to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will. Romans 12:2
He explains in his second letter
to the Corinthians, And we all,
who with unveiled faces contemplate
the Lord’s glory, are being
transformed into his image with
ever-increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit. (3:18)
Yes, Christ accepts us as we are,
but He never said to stay that
way. Often, during His ministry
on earth, Jesus told the recipient
of a miracle to “go and sin
no more.” Granted, no one will
obtain a pure sin-less nature as
long as they walk on this planet,
but should not we be striving
towards that goal? To expect
God to always wipe the slate
clean and have it not affect our
actions or thoughts is to teeter
on a dangerous precipice.
Why? We never know when
Christ will return and the Bible
clearly states we will be accountable
for our actions at the end
of the age. Ttue, if we receive
Christ as our Savior, he covers
our sin with His blood, so that
God sees us veiled in Christ’s
mercy. Christ stands between
those have proclaimed Him to be
Savior and God the Father. The
Father “sees” us through the veil
of forgiveness and allows us to
enter into His presence draped
in the mercy of Christ’s sacrifice.
However, if we have not been
a good witness, if we have not
served others before we serve
ourselves, if we have not studied
Scripture and made the honest
effort to live a godly life, we will
have to answer as to why. For we
must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so that each
of us may receive what is due us
for the things done while in the
body, whether good or bad. 2
Corinthians 5:10
Let us remember that our God is
a holy God. Even though He is
long suffering and slow to anger,
He cannot, by His very nature,
be in the presence of sin. Sin
separates us from God. It blocks
us from having a full, loving and
rich relationship we were meant
to have with our Creator. When
Jesus took on the sins of the
world on the cross, God had to
look the other way. How it must
have broken His heart. Why
would we not think the same
occurs when we continue to sin?
We break His heart in two ways
when we do not repent of our
sins and endeavor to live a more
blameless life, walking in love
as Christ loves us. First, we
cheapen the purpose of Christ’s
sacrifice if we consider it as a
“king’s x” card to slap down each
time we sin without any desire
to improve. There is a difference
between simply asking forgiveness
and striving for true repentance.
Secondly, if our sinning
continues, we cannot receive
the full benefit of His blessings.
Guilt creeps in. Like a rebellious
child, we avoid close contact.
We don’t want Daddy to know
what we did. We separate ourselves
from Him. When we turn
our backs on Him and try to hide
our sin, just as Adam and Eve
did, it grieves Him. Our Father
God wants nothing more than to
be in relationship with us.
Once we accept the Holy Spirit
into our lives, our sinful nature
begins to decrease as the light
of Christ shining through us
increases. Or at least that is
the way it is supposed to work.
Not to say our works will save
us, but out of gratitude for the
fact we have a bridge to the
Father through Christ’s suffering
and death on the cross, should
we not strive to become more
Christ-like?
Perhaps we would draw more
people to Him if we stood out
from the crowd a bit. Maybe
more would notice a peace, a
deep happiness and a purpose
that envelopes us. They would
look in puzzlement at us who
do not need crutches such as
drugs, alcohol, wild behavior
or illicit sex to be content or fill
the void in our lives. They would
notice we are the first to forgive,
to lend a hand, and to not hold
a grudge. They would see us as
honest, trustworthy and reliable.
Maybe they’d wonder why negative
grumblings do not come out
of our mouths, but marvel at our
positive attitude even during
times of stress and tragedy.
By glorifying our Lord through
our attitudes, good works and
love, they may just realize “I’m
okay, you’re okay” is a falsehood
and want what we proclaim
instead.

Satan’s Schemes
God’s Plans
By Krissy Nelson
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to
the full.” John 10:10
Jesus warned us about Satan’s plan. And in
doing so referred to him as “the thief”—rightfully
so. The devil has a very specific agenda and
it’s precisely what Jesus said it was: to steal, kill
and destroy. He wants to steal your birthright from
you—your inheritance as a beloved child of God.
He wants to kill you physically, emotionally and
spiritually. He wants to strip you down until you are
utterly paralyzed and gripped by fear, lacking identity
and purpose. He wants to destroy your destiny!
And how does he do this? It’s simple, really:
deception. It was his trick in the Garden with Adam
and Eve when he deceived them into questioning
what God had told them; and it’s his trick today.
Satan wants to deceive you.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the
wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to
the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat
from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1 NIV
Though subtle, the devil’s deception in the Garden
had huge ramifications, as we well know. But what
we sometimes forget, or maybe don’t even realize,
is that his tactics really haven’t changed much in
the thousands of years since the Fall.
In reality, there isn’t much the devil can do to the
children of God except to lie. Though we forget
this sometimes, the devil can’t physically touch
us… but he can sure lie to us and convince us
that he can. He can’t physically push us off the
road marked out for us (Heb. 12:1), but he can
sure lie to us and make us think he can. He gets
us so gripped by fear that we stumble and fall over
our own insecurity, confusion and doubt. When

the truth of the matter is that we are “more than
conquerors in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:37). And
“No weapon formed against us can prosper! (Isa.
54:17). The only ammo the stupid devil has is his
lies and the only way he has authority over us is
if we give it to him! Do you hear that? The devil
doesn’t have any authority of his own so he wants
to steal yours! He uses deception as a means to
rob you of your power, your influence and your
authority. All of which was purchased for you by
the blood of Christ.
Satan doesn’t want you to realize you have
authority over him:
We touched on authority already but I wanted to
go a bit deeper with it. Part of our journey in Christ
is the revelation of the authority we have as His
sons and daughters. Romans 8:11 tells us that,
“The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead

lives in us!” Think about that for
a moment… that is some power!
That means we carry the power
over death inside of us as the
temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor.
6:19). We are very special creations
in the Kingdom of God.
We are the very image bearers
of God Himself (Genesis 1:27).
And when we are redeemed
through the blood of Christ we
are essentially given the keys to
the kingdom. Anything we need,
we simply ask… and we ask it
in the Name of Jesus and God
hears us and freely gives. (John
16:23). Asking for things before
God in the name of Jesus is a
way of acknowledging and honoring
the sacrifice Jesus paid on
the cross when He became sin
and bore the punishment for sin
upon Himself in our place (2 Cor.
5:21).
Jesus’ Name is a trigger word to
the ear of the Father. He tunes
in to our heart in asking and He
gives, in His time, the answer to
our prayer.
Then a beautiful cycle begins,
everything the Father has, He
freely gives and everything He
gives to us we freely give back
to Him. He gives us our destiny
and purpose and we lay our destiny
and purpose upon the altar
and surrender our lives—mind,
will and emotion—back to the
Father. He gives, and we give
back. We give back, and He
gives more. It’s a powerful cycle.
And it’s a powerful revelation for
us to tap into. We honor Him with
our entire life and begin to see
more and more that that is precisely
what He did for us upon
the cross of Calvary. But what’s
more is that Jesus did this for us
while we were yet sinners (Rom.
5:8)! When we, mankind, didn’t
deserve it one bit God gave His
all for us so that we could be
saved from the power and grip
sin had over the children of God
once and for all.
Satan wants you as his slave.
For centuries the children of God
were imprisoned to the grip of
sin. They were shackled to the
lies of the enemy. They were
paralyzed and gripped by lies
that they would never be good
enough, that God didn’t really
care about them. “Did God really
say. . .” hung over the heads of
the children of God for centuries.
The ultimate temptation—to
question the word of God and the
reality of His promise and provision
over their lives—haunted
God’s people to the degree that
they could never quite seem to
overcome. Generation after generation
would turn to God for a
moment but ultimately turn away
from Him over and over again.
And why? Because they lacked
the revelation of the power of
God in their lives. They were
bound by law and if they couldn’t
dedicate their entire life to following
every single letter of the law
then they could never be clean
and pure enough to enter into
His presence.
What a sad thing! I can’t imagine
a life without the presence of
God!!
So Satan will use this even today
to trick us into feeling like we are
failing before God. “Look what
you did… you blew it! There’s
no going back… You’ll never be
good enough… God can’t love
you now… If you can’t be perfect
why even try? You should
just quit!” All lies spewed into
the hearts and minds of people
every second of every day. All
rooted in this generational reality
the people of God walked
through for generations before
Jesus.
Thank God Jesus came and
prepared a better way. That
now through grace perfection is
irrelevant! Through God’s amazing
grace when we mess up we
know that we have an intercessor
sitting at the right hand of
God who empathizes with us in
our weakness! And through our
weakness He is made strong in
us!
“For those who are led by the
Spirit of God are the children
of God. The Spirit you received
does not make you slaves, so
that you live in fear again; rather,
the Spirit you received brought
about your adoption to sonship.
And by him we cry, ‘Abba,
Father.’” Romans 8:14-16
Satan doesn’t want you to see
that a way was made for you.
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way the
truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father but through me.’”
John 14:6 NIV
A way was made for us to
come near to God and thus be
empowered by His presence in
our lives. Through the blood of
Jesus we are made clean, we
are restored to the original purpose
of the children of God—to
bear the image of God—and to
shine (John 8:12)!
“But now you have been united
with Christ Jesus. Once you
were far away from God, but now
you have been brought near to

him through the blood of Christ.”
Ephesians 2:13 NLT
So all of this leads back up to the
tricks and tactics of the enemy
to “steal kill and destroy”. He
doesn’t want us to know that
you have a way to the Father!
He wants you isolated and alone
cowering in shame and guilt. He
doesn’t want you to shine a light
in the darkness because he is
darkness. And he operates in
darkness. When we walk into a
room radiating the glory of God
he has to flee! He can’t stand it!
Satan doesn’t want you to
know who you are.
He doesn’t want you to understand
that you are a child of
God, you have power over all
darkness, and you have the
spirit of God living in you! He is
terrified of you! Are you hearing
this? As a child of God you make
the devil scared! He wants to do
everything he can to convince
you that you are weak, that you
have much to be afraid of, that
your voice doesn’t matter and
here’s a big one, he wants to
convince you that the little things
don’t really matter much to God!
He doesn’t want you to know
that when you offer a hug to
that woman at the grocery store
who looks burdened and overwhelmed
that God sees that
and smiles! He doesn’t want
you to realize how important
your joy is. Simple everyday joy
through smiles and the peace
that comes from God—the devil
is terrified of it! He can’t understand
it because it causes otherwise
miserable people to be
happy! The world can see joy,
and its something they desperately
want but have no clue how
to obtain. Even the blind can see
joy. When you are shining the
light of Jesus you are illuminating
and embodying joy to a dark
and depressed world and they
want it! The devil doesn’t want
you to know how world changing
your joy is!!
“So all of us who have had that
veil removed can see and reflect
the glory of the Lord. And the
Lord—who is the Spirit—makes
us more and more like him as
we are changed into his glorious
image.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT
So today choose joy. Choose
peace. Dive into scripture so you
can get to know who God is in a
deeper more intimate way—His
nature, His heart, His voice—
and spend time in His presence
daily. John 15:4 says, “Remain
in Me, as I also remain in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit
by itself, unless it remains in the
vine, neither can you, unless you
remain in Me,” (MEV). Its through
this process that the power living
in side of us grows and when
we resist the devil—his lies, his
deceit—he not only backs off, he
runs scared!

Why Great Men
by Saviela Edwards Thorne
Books
“It seems we
hear of so
many more
that have fallen
because of the
various social
networking
technologies,
the media, and
the quickness
of how news
can travel. ”

Fall
In a society where there is a rise in
immorality, Dr. Wayde Goodall, Dean,
accomplished author, pastor, and mentor
provides a comprehensive look into Why
Great Men Fall. This book not only offers
15 winning strategies to rise above it all
but most importantly introduce us to the
One who can keep you from falling. In
my recent conversation with Dr. Goodall,
he shines light on some very serious
issues Great Men are facing today.
In wake of the Ashley Madison scandal, highlighting your book
could not come at a better time. What are your thoughts on
the scandal and the effects it has had not only on society as
a whole but on families as well?
I am saddened about the whole Ashley Madison scandal as there
will be tremendous, far-reaching negative consequences for so
many. Involvement in this sort of activity could destroy families,
careers, goals, dreams, reputations, and even a lifetime of achievement.
This scandal reminds us, once again, of the incredible subtlety
and determination of the enemy of our souls to heap temptation
and ruin on people. Through social networking and the so-called
“confidential” sites, people can participate in a seemingly endless
amount of degrading and demonic activity . . . everything and anything
the mind can imagine. The “Ashley Madison” scandal is just
one example. There are likely many similar sites.
Since the time of Adam and Eve, society as a whole has had a sin
problem. In fact, we all have several things in common:
(1) God deeply loves us (John 3:16),
(2) Everyone is created in the image of God (Gen 1:26),
(3) All of us are sinners (Rom 3:23, 1 Jn 1:8), and
(4) Everyone needs forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
Participating in sinful behavior of this sort always hurts families.
Some marriages will end. Many children have been hurt and are
being hurt by the lust and selfish behavior of one or both of their
parents.
On the bright side, some of these wayward spouses and family
members will seek godly counsel and make the decision to seek His
forgiveness and His miraculous ability to restore.

The Ashley Madison scandal
has brought a lot of light
on the unfaithfulness of men
everywhere. Why would you
say these well-known and
established men turned to this
online site to fulfill forbidden
desires?
The statistical information that
we have indicates that more
often a man will become involved
in an adulterous relationship.
What is not spoken of as often
is that the gap between men and
women has been rapidly closing
over the last few years.
In my chapter called Entitlement
(I.e. I deserve this), I discuss the
idea that many rationalize and
decide that they can participate
in certain wrong (sinful) behavior
because of “who they are.” In
their minds, their position, power,
authority, influence, etc., gives
them the “right” to do whatever
they please. Many of these men
are not accountable to anyone,
and there is no one speaking
into their lives and asking them
the hard questions. Likely this
was part of David’s thinking in 2
Samuel 11, when he saw Bathsheba
bathing from his rooftop
and sent messengers to bring
her to him.
Men are, also, chemically wired
differently. They have a much
higher level of testosterone that
promotes risk taking, achievement,
and muscle and bone
mass. God wired men to lead in
healthy ways, to be godly examples,
and to take risks to earn a
living, and to protect their homes
and families. Many use their
talents and abilities and do the
opposite. Some like a challenge
and the rush of doing something
wrong and/or risky. They can
allow temptation to grow in their
minds to the point where they act
out and often become addicted
to their sinful behavior. Men and
women are created in the image
of God and each has his or her
own unique characteristics and
gifts., but every good gift of God
can be misused.
It’s evident that we are currently
facing a downfall of great men
especially within the household
of faith. What compelled you to
write this book and what kind
of feedback have you received
from men who read your book?
A missionary led me to Christ
when I was 21 (in the Navy, stationed
on Guam). One of the first
pastors that I met (a few weeks
after I became a Christian) left
his wife and four children for
his secretary and told his congregation
that it was “the will of
God.” Even as a new Christian
I thought, how is this possible?
This can’t be the will of God. This
pastor is obviously deceived.
Fast forward a few years and a
large part of my career involved
helping leaders and ministers
in restoration through counseling
and coaching. For over 30
years, I’ve been asking the question
why do men (and women)
in leadership (or who seemingly
have very successful lives)
make the decisions to do things
that can quickly ruin their lives,
their families, and their careers?
Why do they give up so much for
so little? What causes a person
to think he can have hidden sin,
Godless behavior, or flirtations
with something so dangerous –
and that no one will discover his
activity? These questions (along
with many others) troubled me.
As I began to research the
uniqueness of men, how God
created them, how they think
and what motivates them – I
also compared today’s statistical
information with men and women
in the Bible. I discovered that
there are numerous examples in
the Scripture of godly men who
made tragic, sinful decisions.
I also discovered that God
restored them – if they sought
his forgiveness and their hearts
became hungry for Him.
My hope has been that this book
would not just serve as a warning
to men who have strayed from a
godly life but would be a book of
hope and encouragement. Men
can understand that within their
uniqueness there are areas that
need to be watched carefully . .
. and that everyone is tempted.
If we submit to temptation and
sin, we can make the decision
to seek God’s forgiveness and
restoration. There is hope for
anyone who turns from sin and
returns to God.
As I’ve spoken on the topics in
Why Great Men Fall, I’ve seen
many men become encouraged,
as they receive knowledge that
God not only will forgive and
cleanse them, but he offers
hope, restoration and victory. A
tremendous sense of guilt and
shame is lifted from these men
as they give the weight of their
sin to the Lord.
It seems we hear of so many
more that have fallen because
of the various social networking
technologies, the media, and
the quickness of how news can
travel. I also believe that the
tempter knows that his time is
short and he is targeting leaders
like never before. This is not

to say that he doesn’t tempt all
of us – he certainly does – however
he also understands that if
he can bring down a leader – he
can impact masses of people
with discouragement, confusion,
and fear.
In your book you described
15 strategies to rise above the
“great fall of men.” What would
you consider to be the #1 reason
great men fall?
I believe that the #1 reason
“Christian” men fall is that they
have drifted from God and their
hearts have become cold. At one
time, they might have had a deep
passion for the Lord and likely
they had a strong devotional and
prayer life. However, as they’ve
become successful in life or
“just too busy” – they’ve forgotten
the One who gave them their
success. Success can be our
enemy if we permit our achievements
to go to our head.
This book is not just for leaders
(“great” men), or for non-Christian
men although both groups
are prime targets for the devil.
All of us could be caught in the
sin trap. The Scripture informs
us that before we become Christians
we are part of the kingdom
of darkness (Colossians 1:13).
Without Christ people are slaves
to sin (see Romans 6:17), however,
when we become a Christ
follower we become part of the
Kingdom of God and we are
“slaves of righteousness” – no
longer bound to sin (Romans
6:18).
As a pastor, you stated in your
book you have counseled
many men and have seen firsthand
how an affair can destroy
a great man. In your sessions,
what have you found to be the
common denominator in men
of God who have an affair?
“Men of God – who have an
affair” have permitted a temptation
to turn into a behavior.
David, a man after God’s heart
(Acts 13:22) was tempted as
he noticed his neighbor Bathsheba
bathing. He could have
walked away immediately – but
he continued to look. He thought
through how to commit adultery
with her, made the plan, and did
what he was temped to do. The
result was tragic.
Another example is the man of
God – Joseph. Even though he
had many reasons to become
angry and bitter he chose to
do the right thing. He had the
opportunity to commit adultery
with his boss’s wife, but he made
the decision to run instead. He
removed himself from temptation.
He said, “How can I do
this great wickedness and sin
against God?” (Genesis 39:9).
The most common denominator
for men of God who have an affair
is a heart that has drifted from its
hunger, sense of passion, and
daily devotion to Jesus. Their
focus on the Lord, dependence
on His Holy Spirit, and walk by
faith has greatly weakened, and
for certain, the enemy takes
advantage of this condition.
Flirting with words, looks, emotions,
casual touching, hugs,
and a “friendship” that gets out
of control are often signals that
men play around with. Every
person needs to decide, for him
or herself, that they will build
boundaries around their lives.
Many men cross over emotionally
and begin to use words that
can be called flirtation or worse.
Of course, pornography only
increases temptation and is no
question a gateway to an affair.
Can you describe and elaborate
on compartmentalization
and why this can be both a
blessing and a curse?
Everyone has the God given
ability to compartmentalize. We
can shift from a discussion on
one topic to another topic that
has nothing in common with
the previous discussion. Doctors
can examine one patient
with symptoms of a disorder and
can quickly transition to another
patient that has an entirely different
physical challenge. Counselors
compartmentalize by talking
to different patients about different
issues. We can use this ability
to multitask or to move from
one responsibility to another
– i.e., shifting from one “mental
room” in our minds to another.
It seems that we can also compartmentalize
sin. I have known
of pastors and leaders who have
viewed pornography or were
involved in sinful activity – that
were seemingly able to mentally
put that memory aside (for
a time) and preach, pray, lead,
and counsel. Although, we don’t
“forget” our sinful behavior – we
can move from bad to good activity
by closing the “mental room”
of our wrong behavior.
In your book you mentioned a
study conducted by Howard
Hendricks who had studied
237 men and how he found
“not one of 237 had accountability
relationships with other
men.” How vital is accountability
partners and how likely
is it that an accountability part-

ner can dramatically decrease
the chances of men having an
affair?
We need people of the same
gender who can be trusted with
confidentiality and can listen to
us as we live our life of faith.
Accountability is built around
trust, honoring one another, the
ability to keep a confidence,
and the courage to permit our
accountability partner/s to ask
us the difficult questions.
Questions like; how are you really
doing? Have you done anything
recently that you are ashamed
of or have you sinned? Have
you looked at pornography? Are
you doing anything that you are
trying to hide from your wife or
that you would be embarrassed
of if she or your children found
out? How can I pray for you in
areas where the enemy is tempting
you?
Asking these kinds of questions
and having true accountability is
very healthy. There is a unique
power when two or more agree
on anything. Jesus sent the disciples
out two by two. Great ministry
often happens when people
join together in prayer with focus
and determination to advance
the Gospel together. Also, we
can support, pray for, and protect
each other when there is
healthy accountability. Personally,
I have several men who
know me very well, and they can
sense when I’m overtired, overcommitted,
or have unhealthy
stress. When they see issues in
my life – they talk to me. Also,
my wife is my greatest accountability
partner and keeps an eye
on me, and speaks into my life.
In Chapter 6, The Sex Issue
– A Magnet for Women, you
discuss how studies are proving
that Cybersex is one of the
most common types of affair,
mainly because most men see
it, as “no one else is involved.”
What is the current statistic of
cybersex affairs and how can
one protect himself or herself
from falling prey to this addiction?
The research estimates that at
least one in every five adults is
on-line, and more importantly,
two out of every three teens are
on-line. Patrick Carnes, Ph.D.,
an expert on sexual addictions,
estimates that between 3 and
6 percent of adults are sexually
addicted. Another finding estimates
that 1 in 10 Internet users
can be considered addicted to
cybersex.
With Cybersex, one can visit
the triple X bookstore (of the
80s) in the privacy of their own
home, smartphone, office, or
library. Contributing to this is
every form of media communication
that is sexual. This
includes commercials, shows,
movies, or even sporting events
(cheer leaders, sexy commercials,
etc.) where very frequently
sexuality and sexual language is
included. Televisions, movies,
smartphones, blogs, blasts, and
the Internet, are all part of the
equation. Today a person can
have a sense that he or she is
anonymous (although nothing is
hidden – even on the internet).
Cybersex is accessible and
affordable. People who don’t
make a conscious decision NOT
to view pornography or become
involved in cybersex – will very
likely find themselves trapped in
this destructive lifestyle.
There are protective firewalls
that can be added on to our computers.
Our personal passcodes
can be shared with our spouse,
business partner, or administrative
assistant. Nothing should
come to our computers that we
are ashamed of. Our computers
should be located in a public
area in our homes or offices
where most anyone can see the
screen if they desired.
I’m a writer and speaker. I’m on
the Internet most every day. I
have NEVER looked at cybersex
sites or pornography on my (or
any other) computer. I receive
numerous emails with attempts
to get me to respond in some
way to an unknown sender, or to
open a site that I am not familiar
with. I delete all such attempts.
Self-determination, with the
Lord’s help, not to participate in
these types of activity is a great
deterrent.
The point – we are not forced to
read or look at this invasion of
our privacy. We can say “NO!”
by hitting delete, or we can walk
out of a room where racy or
raunchy material is presented
on T.V., in a movie, or through a
conversation or jokes.
Integrity and honestly in a
marriage has proven itself to
keep a lot of men from cheating.
What advice would you
give a wife who suspects her
husband is struggling from a
pornographic addiction?
Dr. Kimberly Young, a pioneer
in Internet addiction research,
informs us that additional signs
may accompany a secret pornography
habit or other online
sexual activity. Our spouse’s
demands for privacy (won’t

let you look at his computer or
phone), we discover evidence
of lying, his interest in sex has
declined, and he doesn’t seem
to desire growth in the marriage
relationship.
On our computers the history file
gives information on the times
and locations of Web involvement
for the past few weeks. If
the history file is empty – this
could be a sign that our spouse
has cleared the browser because
he’s hiding something. There is
also a cache file on PC’s and
Mac computers where one can
see downloaded photos and etc.
When a wife suspects pornographic
activity (or addiction) she
should find a time when her husband
is relaxed and a conversation
is going and ask, “What are
you doing while you are online?”
If he seems upset or avoids the
topic, you may want to review
the history files on the browser.
By clicking the “history” button
(on the toolbar), you can see the
history (If you have Microsoft’s
Internet Explorer).
Many men make irrational
decisions in the moment of
anger. What advice would you
give a man who typically acts
out of impulse and makes
unwise decisions due to his
uncontrollable anger?
Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to
become angry. (Jas. 1:19)
I believe that Moses lost control
of his anger because he was
experiencing a great deal of
stress. God recognized this and
gave him instruction to speak to
(not to hit) the rock that would
overflow with water. In an angry
way, Moses hit the rock thereby
insulting the people he was
leading. This decision cost him
greatly.
Negative feelings can be
resolved or ventilated without
“losing it” with someone who
gets in our way, “in our face,”
or insults us. We can decide
in advance to think before we
react. When I feel like responding
in an inappropriate way, I
tell myself, “Slow down. Calm
down. Don’t respond now.” We
can calmly tell the other person,
“I’d like to discuss this another
time” or “I’ll have to think about
that.” Often, walking away from
an aggressive person is the best
response. It allows both of you
time and space to calm down.
We should then pray about
what’s happening and ask God
to give us wisdom. We can also
get the advice of a friend who has
wisdom about how to respond . .
. or can advise us if a response
is even necessary.
We can take the energy out of
resentment by praying for the
other person (Matthew 5:44).
Often when we pray for someone,
we can see more clearly
why he or she is so offensive or
defensive. There are very good
reasons why people do what
they do.
At times, we can go back to the
person who has offended us with
an attitude of “it’s no problem, no
big deal” . . . we have forgiven
them.
I personally believe that respect
and honor has a lot to do with
a man’s desire NOT to cheat
because he thinks about who
will be affected by his decision.
Do you believe a man’s love
for his wife and family and
especially God will keep him
from cheating?
I do. The greatest protection
from the enemy’s temptations is
our love and passion for Jesus
Christ. “There is no temptation
that has overtaken you that
is not common to man. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be
tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation he will also
provide a way of escape, that
you may be able to endure it” (1
Corinthians 10:13).
Secondly, our love for our wife
and children is a tremendous
protector. My wife and my adult
children are my very best friends.
My wife, Rosalyn, knows everything
about me. I am transparent
with her and if I’m struggling, I
talk to her. She listens, advises,
and prays for me. We have a
healthy marriage and understand
each other’s unique
needs. Our grown children look
up to us and, because of that, I
have endeavored to think things
through more carefully before
making decisions. I would rather
die than disappoint my Lord, my
wife, or my children by sinning in
this way.
If you could say one thing to
a man who is “stuck” in an
adulterous relationship what
would you say?
To the Christian man I would try
to develop a relationship of trust
and find a way to reason with
him about the deception he’s
involved in. When I feel he’s
listening to me, and trusts me,
I would ask him to discontinue
his relationship – in every way. I
would also give him a plan about
how to walk away from that

ehavior and return to a committed
walk with God. It is also critical
to pray for this man.
“Come now, let us reason
together, says the Lord: though
your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”
~Isaiah 1:18
What’s next for you? Will there
be another edition or a part II
to Why Great Men Fall?
I continue to write books that I
sense will help Christians and
non-Christians alike. I frequently
speak on the topics I write about.
The principles I give in Why
Great Men Fall are truths that
endure from generation to generation.
There is a real possibility
that I will write a follow-up to
Why Great Men Fall where I will
continue the discussion about
how to build fences at the top
of the cliff, versus having a fleet
of ambulances (or a Hearse) at
the bottom of the cliff. I would
also like to create study guides
for leaders, men’s groups, and
personal devotions.
Please provide your final
thoughts and desire for your
book to accomplish.
My goal is that men will understand
that temptation is not
unusual, because it happens
to everyone. If they have succumbed
to temptation, fallen,
and sincerely repented, they can
be forgiven – and restored. Also,
every man needs to understand
that he has feet of clay. Greater
men than us have fallen to lust,
and if it can happen to them, it
can happen to us. The critical
piece is that we need to be
aware of the enemy’s schemes
and keep our focus on the Lord.
Building healthy boundaries in
our lives is essential.
“If the Lord delights in a man’s
way, he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not
fall, for the Lord upholds him
with his hand.”
~ Psalm 37:23-24
Purchase your copy of “Why
Great Men Fall” by Dr. Wayde
Goodall at http://www.nlpg.com/
why-great-men-fall
Click Here to
Purchase at:
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