Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Push Back - Part Thirteen

Joseph Herrin (08-28-2013)

















The previous post that spoke of the church’s avoidance of pain, relating it to the subject of childbirth where so many women today are encouraged by obstetricians to use spinal blocks, pain medications, and even to give birth by caesarean section, struck a chord with many female readers of the blog, eliciting some insightful responses. Following are a few of the comments received.

Dear Pastor Herrin,

Your series Push Back has been a real eye opener. Yesterday I read an article about how gay rights activists use the African-American civil rights movement as their inspiration, they were influential in keeping a well-known gospel artist Donnie McClurkin from performing at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington because he is vocal about how God delivered him from homosexuality and that it was a sin. The boldness and unapologetic way he stood up for Christ and your recent posts have ministered to me. I have struggled with a sodomite spirit since I was a child. I was exposed to pornography by my birth parents starting at the age of 2 and I was molested by a church member's relative when I was 7. Because of the pornography and molestation I became promiscuous at an early age. I struggled with lesbianism until Yahweh sent my Godmother to teach me the Biblical teachings of Yahweh and I admit I caused her great pain. Even though she didn't birth me in the natural, she birthed me in the spirit.

Your series Push Back has been especially forcing me to grow and deal with some things in the spirit that I have avoided because the pain has been so great and I have tried to avoid my issues. When I gave birth to my daughter, my gynecologist was a lesbian. I wanted to give birth naturally, but because my daughter was two weeks late I was induced. I had an epidural because I didn't think I could handle the pain. After my epidural, I developed a fever of 102 and had an infection which led to my daughter's heart rate going high which led to my cervix swelling shut, which led me to have an emergency C-section. When my daughter was born she had a fever and had to be on antibiotics for 2 days. I was unable to breast feed her because I was on antibiotics and pain medication because of my C-section. Afterwards, no one told me that I lost a lot of blood during my C-section and that an epidural puts your bowels to sleep. I didn't have bowel sounds or movement for six days. My colon started to die and I became extremely sick. I had to have emergency surgery where they found 4 perforations in my large intestine, they found that parts of my colon had died and other parts were starting to die and was leaking bile into my stomach. I spent 6 days in ICU (including my 29th birthday), I had to have an ileostomy (which was reversed 4 months later) and I was never able to breast feed because of the powerful drugs I had to take, not to mention the financial toll it has taken on my family. I know that I have to deal with these issues and allow healing to take place. I used birth control and the morning after pill in the past, all these I have never dealt with until I read your series. It has provided so much hope and correction and delivering me from things that I have held onto because I felt that they are too painful to deal with, but I know that there are people like you, Donnie McClurkin, gcmwatch.com, and other ministries that speak the truth and encourage the saints to seek Yahweh and that Yahweh has the power to heal and deliver. Thank-you Pastor Herrin.

Sincerely,

A Sister in Christ

Brother Herrin,

I can totally relate to this post. I have two girls and my first one was born in a hospital and the second was a home birth. The difference was night and day. While researching for my home birth I learned the exact same things that you stated about the part of hormones during labor, and that was so amazing. I think one of the other ways that fear of the pain of childbirth is so great is from the flood of lies in the world through media. Movies and TV shows over-dramatize the labor experience as a situation that people have to freak out about. Spiritually from my experience, it was a wonderful time to fully lean on the Father for everything and trust in the fact that He provided me with everything to bring my child into the world. Now I am working on having that mindset everyday and it seemed so much easier to be in that place in labor than it is not being in labor!

Jane

Brother Joseph,

This series has been very enlightening. I wanted to share my experience regarding natural birth. I have only one son, born through a C-section I wasn't counting on. I was given the drug to stimulate contractions because I had none, which was excruciatingly painful, so much so that I couldn’t hardly push and made it even worse. It took four+ hours of that pain without the pain relief of the epidural (at the end I was begging for it!) until the monitoring showed the heartbeats of my baby were not right and the C-section was decided.

After the birth, the baby just didn't latch to my breast, he just kept crying and sleeping, sleeping and crying, and I had no colostrum or milk for days. The worst thing they did at the clinic was hand me a baby bottle with formula. My son never wanted the breast again! Of course I only learned about the side effects of the epidural AFTER the birth.

If I had to live through this again, I would reject the uterine stimulants and pray for the contractions to come naturally and I would try not to get the epidural shot unless the doctor said a C-section was absolutely necessary (if my baby's life was at risk).

Carina

These testimonies reveal the powerful influence that society has upon the church. It is hard to conceive of a more important event in the life of a woman than giving birth to children. Yet, in this matter the church follows the pattern of the world, and the counsel of medical practitioners. Birthing children is often done for the convenience of the doctors involved, rather than with the health of the mother and baby in mind. Women are “scheduled” to be induced to begin labor at a time when it is most convenient for a doctor and medical staff. The woman is placed flat on her back with her legs in the stirrups so that she will be positioned for the obstetrician’s convenience. There are numerous natural birthing positions for the woman, but they are not as convenient for the attending physician.







   










Some Natural Birth Positions

One website relates the following information.

It amazes me everyday to see and hear about women who lay flat on their back while giving birth!

Sadly, though it’s not their fault – it’s what they’re TOLD TO DO! Seriously, it goes against basic anatomy!!! …

You see our birth canal is actually shaped like a “J” … not a straight line... The baby doesn’t just slide straight down and out. It comes down, then up and over the pelvis.

















Look at the picture carefully and you’ll understand how that works. Actually, it seems utterly crazy to lay flat on your back with your legs up - expecting the baby to come out at all!

In fact, choosing to lie on your back as your main childbirth positions closes up your pelvic area by about 30%.

Plus if you think about it – you’ll also have gravity working against you. This means when you’re trying to push bub out, you’re pushing down and then UP before he comes out – Can anyone say CRAZY!!!!!
[Source: http://traceyrose.com/childbirth-positions/]

A woman lying on her back to give birth makes delivery far more difficult for her and the baby. Why then is this the common way women in the Western world give birth? It is because it is the most convenient position for the attending physician. He/she can stand up straight. He/she doesn’t have to bend over, or get down on his/her knees. To do so would be undignified for one who is a “professional” caregiver, and usually one of the more affluent and educated members of society.

If you think about it, almost all non-emergency procedures done in a hospital are performed at the convenience of the medical staff. It is little wonder that so many doctors recommend that their patients are either induced, or give birth via C-section. The incidence of C-section in the United States was 4.5% of all births in 1965, when rates were first measured. The rate reached 32.8% in 2010 and 2011. That is nearly a third of all births. This is insanity. Cutting open a woman’s abdomen to deliver a baby is major surgery. The inner body is exposed to all manner of infectious elements, and fever resulting from an infection is a common result.

A woman receiving an epidural early on in labor dramatically increases the chance that she will have a C-section. Some studies have been done on the reason that C-sections have increased so dramatically, and one of the factors cited is for the convenience and profitability of the doctor.

Incentives to practice in a manner that is efficient for providers
Many health professionals are feeling squeezed by tightened payments for services and increasing practice expenses. The flat "global fee" method of paying for childbirth does not provide any extra pay for providers who patiently support a longer vaginal birth. Some payment schedules pay more for cesarean than vaginal birth. Even when payment is similar for both, a planned cesarean section is an especially efficient way for professionals to organize their hospital work, office work and personal life. Average hospital payments are much greater for cesarean than vaginal birth, and may offer hospitals greater scope for profit. 
[Source: http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10456]

Despite such policies being a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, whose primary tenet is “First, do no harm,” physicians are performing alarming numbers of these surgical procedures to the great detriment of mother and child.

As was mentioned in the previous post, there are a great many chemical interchanges between mother and baby during labor and delivery when it occurs naturally. There are numerous biological and mental/emotional benefits as the mother experiences the pain of childbirth, and then experiences the joy of seeing a child enter the world.

John 16:21
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
[NKJV]

This is a profound matter, going all the way back to the third chapter of Genesis where Yahweh declared that pain in childbirth would be the experience of the woman in this world. It is a serious issue for Christian women to seek to alter the natural order established by God. They do so to their own detriment, and to the detriment of their children.

Although I am unable to locate a study on the issue, the rise in the incidence of C-sections parallels the rise of homosexuality in America. Before you roll your eyes, and declare that I have truly gone crazy, I ask you to consider this matter prayerfully. Beginnings are a very important time in the life of an individual. Seemingly small alterations from the normal order of things at the beginning of a matter can manifest in large ways later in life. I am NOT suggesting that C-sections are wholly responsible for the parallel increase in homosexual behavior. Nor am I stating that everyone who was born by C-section will succumb to homosexual sin. What I would suggest is that Satan works along many lines, and that the increase in birth interventions, including pain relieving procedures and C-sections, have played a part in making a generation susceptible to gender confusion.

Certainly the outpouring of pro-homosexual propaganda by the government and the media bears a lot of responsibility for the increase of same sex attraction. Yet, Satan will wage an assault along numerous fronts in order to achieve his purposes. One of the fronts along which Satan has attacked is designed to erode away the profound gender identity of the woman as a mother and nurturer that is deeply rooted in the soul of a child that experiences natural childbirth and is nursed by their mother. By replacing natural childbirth with unnatural medical interventions, and then further disrupting the bond between mother and child by reducing, or eliminating breastfeeding, the gender distinctiveness, and feminine role of the mother, fails to solidify in the child’s mind.

There are many things passed between the mother and child during labor and birthing. That which is communicated between mother and child is both physical, pertaining to the human body, as well as mental and emotional, pertaining to the soul. On the physical level, that which is passed between mother and child includes hormones such as oxytocin. Wikipedia contains the following statement.

Oxytocin plays roles in sexual reproduction, in particular during and after childbirth. It is released in large amounts after distension of the cervix and uterus during labor, facilitating birth, maternal bonding, and, after stimulation of the nipples, breastfeeding. Both childbirth and milk ejection result from positive feedback mechanisms.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin]

Notice that it is stated that oxytocin is released in large amounts AFTER the distension of the cervix and uterus during labor. Due to medical interventions, such as C-sections, many women never experience this release of oxytocin. The mother’s blood supply is tied to the baby through the umbilical cord. Whatever is released into her blood is consequently passed to the child during labor.



















Conversely, if these beneficial hormones are hindered from being released to the woman, the baby is affected. Little consideration has been given by the medical profession to understand how the presence of pain in labor produces positive consequences for both mother and child. It is assumed that pain is negative and to be avoided, but this is not true. When Yahweh pronounced His judgment upon the woman in Genesis chapter 3, He was telling her what would be the natural course of bringing new life into the world. All things have been designed by Yahweh with purpose. When humanity seeks to circumvent Yahweh’s they introduce chaos and disorder.

In 2003, Lisa Diamond, PhD had an article posted in Psychological Review, where she sets forth a model for sexual attraction that involves the hormone oxytocin. A reviewer of her study states:

Sexual desire is driven by the gonadal hormones of estrogens and androgens. Animal research indicates that attachment is mediated by the neuropeptide oxytocin...
[Source: http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb07/lovesnot.aspx]

“Attachment,” another way of describing bonding and attraction between individuals, is “mediated,” by oxytocin. Understanding that oxytocin plays a large role in shepherding a person’s attachment to other individuals, both male and female, is it not proper to question what effect occurs when a mother and her baby do not experience one of the greatest releases of this hormone that one can know in life, a release that is triggered by the pain of labor and the experience of natural childbirth? What effect does this deprivation of oxytocin have on the child? Studies have shown that a baby born to a mother who used some form of pain medication, or who was birthed by C-section, will have difficulty bonding with its mother, and nursing may become problematic.

How many Christian women today are feeding their infants formula instead of breast milk? What are the consequences of doing so? Every decision a Christian makes bears consequences. The Bible states:

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.



















If a woman interferes with the natural bond between mother and baby, whether her child be a daughter or a son, the consequences later on in life can be immense. Breastfeeding is about much more than passing nutrients to the child. There is a familial bond being formed. An image of the woman/mother is formed in the mind of the child as one who is nurturing, life-giving, and protective. Gender roles are being developed as the mother establishes a pattern of femininity in the eyes of her nursing children. The following insightful statements are found on an Internet website.

In the Book of Ruth, a Jewish woman, Naomi, experiences the loss of her two adult sons, both of whom die childless. One of her daughters-in-law, the Moabite Ruth, remarries a relative of her late husband and has a son named Obed. Because Naomi has left no biological descendants, however, she adopts Obed as her own; the neighbours even declare, “There is a son born to Naomi.” To cement the mother-child bond, Naomi [takes] the child and [lays] it in her bosom and [becomes] nurse unto it.

Now one might wonder how Naomi could nurse a baby when she had presumably borne her last child decades earlier. This occurred through a process called relactation, whereby a woman’s breast can be stimulated by a child’s sucking to produce milk again years after giving birth. In some poor countries today grandmothers may nurse a grandchild if the baby’s mother dies. Even in the modern United States , feminist sociologist Pauline Bart – who is Jewish herself – writes of having milk reappear in her breasts after suckling her granddaughter.
[Source: http://cynicsunlimited.com/2007/08/06/breastfeeding-in-the-bible/]

The idea of various women in a family sharing the duty of nursing a child may appear abnormal to people in western cultures, but this merely reveals how far society has deviated from that which God views as normal and healthy behavior. What is abnormal is going down to your local Walmart and purchasing a case of infant formula whose major ingredients are likely to be corn syrup solids, some derivative of highly processed cow’s milk, and a variety of vegetable oils. Another common ingredient is cupric (copper) sulfate. The government lists cupric sulfate as a hazardous material. It is used as a pesticide. The Material Safety Data Sheet for this chemical says, “Do not ingest” also warning that it is a carcinogen (causes cancer). Yet this chemical is included in the list of ingredients for most of the mass produced infant formulas. For more information on the deleterious effects of infant formula, and the benefits of breastfeeding, see the following links.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/infant-formula
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/therapeutic-action/breastfeeding

The act of an infant suckling at its mother’s breast causes a release of oxytocin in the mother, which in turn releases milk from the breast. Oxytocin is passed from mother to child through breast milk. It is the effect oxytocin has upon an individual that makes it so beneficial in establishing gender identity and the nurturing, comforting, protecting persona of the mother. Oxytocin is a “feel good” hormone. It has been described by many as the “trust hormone” because it engenders a sense of trust between individuals when it is expressed. Oxytocin is a “bonding” hormone, as it fosters a sense of oneness with the individual a person is with when it is manifested.





















Take away the interchange of chemicals and hormones produced by natural childbirth, and rob a child of the experience of nursing at its mother’s breast for a normal period of time, and there are bound to be consequences. In the Bible, women weaned their children at a much older age than most women do today, usually after 2-3 years of breastfeeding. It is uncommon to hear of a woman who nurses her child past one year of age today, and many do not make it nearly that long. The number of women who have forsaken homemaking to pursue a job, or career outside the home, makes nursing their children impractical. Many children are given infant formula from the time of birth, never experiencing the health producing benefits of nursing at their mother’s breast. What is perhaps even worse, is the gender confusion that results when the mother does not present herself as the role model God intended her to be.



















There is a growing trend for men to be stay-at-home caregivers, and the responsibilities for nurturing the children are increasingly being shared among parents. What is being patterned in the child’s mind when the father is holding the child and feeding it formula through a bottle? Such behavior was unknown in the Bible. A child received milk from the woman’s breast. If a mother had problems providing milk, or the mother died or was absent for some reason, another lactating woman would be sought out to nurse the child. This is what occurred when Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby Moses. She sought out a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, not knowing that the woman selected was Moses’ own mother.

A study conducted in 2011 by Statistics Canada reported that men now account for 12 percent of stay at home parents. The change has been swift. The same report stated that in the 1970s one in a hundred stay at home parents were men. Today that number is one in eight. (Source below.)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/number-of-stay-at-home-dads-on-the-rise/article2065381/

To their own hurt, the church has failed to contemplate the consequences of departing from the divinely established order while conforming themselves to the ways of a world that lies in spiritual darkness. The role of being a keeper at home was assigned by God to the woman.

Titus 2:3-5
Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home...

Without a doubt there are many factors that have contributed to the gender confusion present in society today. Christians, however, are not without responsibility. When the church conforms itself to the ways of the world, they are opening the door for a world of ills to enter. It is needful for those who fear the Lord to stop what they are doing, and to begin examining all of their life decisions carefully. All things need to be tested, even those decisions that seem totally insignificant.

As I look back upon my years of being a young father, and I consider the decisions and actions I made, there are many things I regret. I wish I would have been more aware of the consequences of every life decision. I regret that I did not seek the counsel of Yahweh in every decision, both large and small. As a minister whom Christ has appointed as a teacher to His body, I desire to spare others from similarly having the experience of looking back on their past with regret.

I had no teachers in the church to tell me that I should seek God about the method of childbirth I should recommend to my wife. I had no one to explain to us the ill effects of institutionalized childbirth, or the benefits of natural childbirth. There was no influence exerted by the body of Christ to cause us to consider our ways carefully. Life seemed to be separated into spiritual and secular realms. Pregnancy and birthing children was viewed as part of the secular realm. Counsel was sought from medical professionals instead of God. What folly!

I believe that many of those who have fallen prey to homosexual temptations and desires in this hour were rendered more susceptible by the decisions their parents unwittingly made years earlier. This does not absolve the individual practicing homosexuality of responsibility. Rather, it suggests that there are others who also share responsibility. I am reminded of the following words of Christ.

Luke 12:47-48
“And that servant who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few.”

Ignorance does not absolve one of culpability. God’s people should inquire of Him about His will in all things. Did you do evil in ignorance? It was still evil, and evil affects the lives of others. If there is one thing I would say to Christians in light of these things, it is “Consider your ways!” We need to STOP, and INQUIRE of Yahweh before we ACT.



















There is an account given in the book Joshua, chapter 9, of a group of people who lived within the land of Canaan. They heard of the fame of Israel, and heard of their conquest of other peoples and cities. These people feared that they too would be wiped out by Israel, so they used deception to secure their deliverance.

These citizens of the city of Gibeon put on old clothes. They put patched wineskins on their donkeys. They carried with them moldy bread and provisions. They made it appear as if they had traveled a long journey of many weeks, or months, to reach Joshua and the elders of Israel. They then asked Israel to make a covenant of peace with them. Joshua and the elders were fooled by the disguise, and they made a covenant to not destroy the people, believing that they came from a far distant land. Soon afterwards the deception was exposed, but the damage had been done. The covenant had to be kept.

Yahweh was seeking to teach His people an important lesson. They should have inquired of Him before acting. Yahweh would have exposed the lie. He would have told His people what to do, if only they had inquired. Christians today suffer many hurtful things because they do not seek Yahweh in all of their decisions. The answer may appear obvious to you. It may be something that you do not think requires deliberation. You need to inquire of God anyway.

There are many decisions you will make that will bear great consequences on the lives of your children. The most dangerous path is simply to go with the flow. It may seem to be the path of least resistance, but when the whole world is driving furiously toward moral collapse and a fiery judgment, it is unwise to follow them unheedingly. Question everything. Seek counsel daily from the Father.

A matter that seems so innocent as whether to follow a doctor’s prescribed advice for a pregnancy and birth may bear profound results for both your own life, and that of your child. Remember the reproach that is contained in Yahweh’s description of the life of King Asa.

II Chronicles 16:12
And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek Yahweh, but the physicians.

Of how many Christians can it be said that they did not seek Yahweh, but the physicians? Do not let this be the final testimony of your life.


Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Monday, August 26, 2013

Push Back - Part Twelve

Joseph Herrin (08-26-2013)























Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Every day there is a new onslaught of propaganda by the advocates of homosexual behavior. This morning the news headlines were hyping the performance of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the Video Music Awards that were broadcast last night to tens of millions of viewers. The duo were nominated for six video awards, including Best Video with a Social Message for their song Same Love which they performed during the broadcast. The power of deception in this song is profound. Having Jennifer Hudson, a singer known for her Christian faith and good-girl persona, join them at the end of the performance was a triumph of wickedness. The song even includes scripture quotations to promote behavior that God abhors.

Following are two links. The first is for a video of the performance of the song at the VMA awards. The second is the official music video on YouTube that has more than 70 million views. The lyrics to Same Love are just below the video links.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/948771/same-love-live.jhtml#id=1712039



http://youtu.be/hlVBg7_08n0



Same Love

When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay,
'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight.
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She's like "Ben you've loved girls since before pre-k, trippin' "
Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she?
Bunch of stereotypes all in my head.
I remember doing the math like, "Yeah, I'm good at little league"
A preconceived idea of what it all meant
For those that liked the same sex
Had the characteristics
The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don't know
And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
I don't know

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
My love
My love
My love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm

If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
"Man, that's gay" gets dropped on the daily
We become so numb to what we're saying
A culture founded from oppression
Yet we don't have acceptance for 'em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment
The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins
It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference!
Live on and be yourself
When I was at church they taught me something else
If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed
That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned
When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless
Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen
I might not be the same, but that's not important
No freedom till we're equal, damn right I support it

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
My love
My love
My love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm

We press play, don't press pause
Progress, march on
With the veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
Till the day that my uncles can be united by law
When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up... sex

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
My love
My love
My love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm

Love is patient
Love is kind
Love is patient
Love is kind
(not crying on Sundays)
Love is patient
(not crying on Sundays)
Love is kind
(I'm not crying on Sundays)
Love is patient
(not crying on Sundays)
Love is kind
(I'm not crying on Sundays)
Love is patient
(not crying on Sundays)
Love is kind
(I'm not crying on Sundays)
Love is patient
Love is kind

It should not surprise the Christian that Satan will quote Scripture to advocate behavior that is detestable to God. He did so when he tempted the Son of God in the wilderness. Yahshua never fell for these deceptions, but the same cannot be said for many Christians today. Christ answered Satan’s quotations of Scriptures with other words from the Bible that demonstrated that the behavior Satan was advocating was contrary to the will of God. This is a good tack for the disciples of Christ to take today. If a homosexual advocate tells you that love is patient and kind, suggesting that it is unloving to condemn homosexual behavior, you might remind them that in the same passage the apostle Paul also wrote “Love... does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6).

Furthermore, the Bible describes homosexuality as unrighteousness.

I Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals... shall inherit the kingdom of God.

All of these verses come from the same book in the New Testament that Macklemore and Lewis cite in their homosexual advocacy song, which Jennifer Hudson assisted in proclaiming at the VMA awards. All of these individuals are guilty of practicing deception to justify a behavior that God condemns. Yet, they have the temerity to say,

And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago

Here is a literal (non-paraphrased) rendering of the words of the Bible.

Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.























The subtle message of the line I’m not crying on Sundays is a defiant proclamation that the person choosing the homosexual lifestyle will not be deterred, or disturbed, by the preaching of the Bible by people in church. Tragically, many will believe, and even sing along with, the words of this song, confessing that:

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to

Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Satan knows his craft well, and he is wrapping millions in chains of bondage that they cannot break. All the while he has fooled them into thinking that they are fighting for their “freedom.” In their spiritual blindness, they are actually fighting to remain prisoners of their sinful passions. Christ came to set men free: free from the shackles of sin - not freedom to sin.


















I have not enjoyed writing this series, and I am eager to bring it to a close. Yet, there are things that needed to be expressed, and some things that must yet be set down, before I can conclude. I want to turn at this time to the spiritual significance of homosexuality. I believe that every sin of the flesh has a corresponding sin in the spiritual realm. The Bible reveals many of these parallel transgressions. Not surprisingly, sexual sins of the flesh are frequently linked to spiritual transgressions. Throughout the Bible we find that God relates spiritual idolatry to the physical sin of adultery.

Ezekiel 23:37
Thus they have committed adultery with their idols...

Ezekiel 16:30-32
“How languishing is your heart," declares the Yahweh God, "while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot. When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot. You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!”

Hosea 3:1
Then Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods...”

We should not be surprised to find that sexual sins are symbolic of spiritual transgressions that pertain to the relationship between God and man. Yahweh has created this physical universe to reveal the hidden things of the spiritual realm. The relationship between a husband and wife, and the act of procreation that brings forth offspring, offer profound parables of the relationship between humanity and the Creator. The apostle Paul wrote of the divine mystery contained in the intimate union of a man and his wife.

Ephesians 5:25-33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.

Paul declares that we are members of Christ’s body. Eve was formed from a remnant portion of Adam’s body that was removed while he slept. Adam declared, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Adam had to be cast into a deep sleep in order for Yahweh to remove a portion of his body to form the woman. Similarly, we find that the Son of God, the Last Adam, had to sleep in the dust of the earth in order for a bride to come forth. Christ surrendered His flesh and His blood in order to purchase a people for His own possession. He can now say, “This is flesh of My flesh, and bone of My bone.”

The book of Genesis reveals the origins of the sexual union, and the process of bringing forth offspring. After the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, Yahweh pronounced His judgment. This judgment is often referred to as “the curse,” but the word “curse” does not accurately describe God’s words. What He spoke was actually the salvation and hope of mankind. There would be a long season of toil, and the man and woman would both know pain and sorrow, but the ultimate end of their experiences would be life.

Genesis 3:16-19
To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Paul said the mystery of the man and the woman is great. In it is contained a revelation of the relationship between Christ and His church. As we look at the words above in light of the relationship between Christ and His church, some profound insight comes forth. The only way in which the church can bring forth mature sons is through pain. Suffering has become a necessary component of birthing spiritual offspring.

Philippians 1:29
For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake...

I Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Despite the fact that the church can only bring forth children through experiences of pain, she must still choose for Christ to rule over her. We find that there remains a remnant to this day whose desire is toward their heavenly Bridegroom. These ones choose for Yahshua to rule over them that He might obtain the sons that He desires. Yet, many eschew the pain and suffering. Many in the church do not share the Son of God’s desire to have mature sons in His image. Therefore, they eschew suffering, choosing pleasure without pain.

In the natural realm, there are various ways in which men and women choose the pleasure of sexual intimacy without the pain that is incurred in bringing forth offspring. Many women enjoy the pleasures of sexual intercourse and then abort the baby in their womb. This has occurred more than 50 million times in America in the last 40 years. More babies have been aborted in America than there are people in Canada, and more than twice the population of Australia.

Many women who do have babies are opting to escape the pain of childbirth by having medical procedures such as C-sections, or epidurals (spinal blocks). Science is only now coming to understand the changes that take place in a woman’s body as she undergoes the stress and pains of childbirth. There are chemicals produced, and an interchange with the baby, that effects its future growth and well-being. Babies who are born through natural childbirth are on average healthier, and even have a greater bond to the mother, than those born by C-section or with the use of pain drugs. As you read through the following, I invite you to be alert to the spiritual parallels within the church.

Natural childbirth, also known as un-medicated birth, has many hidden benefits that more women of childbearing age should be aware of. In our society, giving pain medication for labor is so normal that most doctors assume a laboring woman will want it, and most mothers-to-be expect it. In fact, depending upon the hospital and region, pain medication rates are as high as 90 percent, with the vast majority of women choosing an epidural.

Generally, if there is a way around it, most women try and avoid the pain. Why be a martyr and suffer needlessly they ask? And that is exactly how I used to think right up until I got pregnant with my son. I always assumed I would just get an epidural. Like other women, I was terrified of the pain and I never even considered delivering naturally until a friend, who had given birth naturally, began listing its virtues.

Despite being in the natural health field, I had not really heard much discussion regarding the benefits of avoiding medication during labor. In retrospect, I should have made the connection since an epidural is a drug, and most drugs have side effects. However, the fear of labor pain was simply too strong to allow me to entertain any other thoughts. Yet, when I started to do some research on my own, which included reading books on midwifery and talking to women who had chosen natural childbirth, I started to realize there was another side to the story.

Due to the medical institutionalization of birth in North America, most women forget birthing is a natural experience that, in most cases, does not need medical intervention. Women have been delivering babies naturally for millennia. It is what our bodies were designed to do. Of course the reality that pain is involved in the process cannot be ignored. For this reason, the vast majority of women choose pain medication...

Let’s look at the main reasons many women choose to have a natural childbirth.

Labor is Often Shorter

Epidurals and other pain relieving medications often lead to a slower delivery. Pain medications often interfere with the body’s natural way of laboring and can slow down contractions. This increases total laboring periods. In addition, women often do not feel their contractions and do not know when to push. By not pushing at key times, or with adequate strength, they are not able to facilitate the laboring process. They miss important opportunities to work with the rhythms of their bodies.

Epidurals Often Increase Use of Medical Interventions

Because epidurals disconnect women from the natural pushing action and prolong labor, doctors are prone to intervene in the slowed birthing process and may give a pitocin drip (a uterine stimulant) or use a vacuum or forceps to move the fetus through the birth canal. In addition, fetal monitoring may be necessary to study the fetus’s heart rate. This usually requires an instrument to be attached to the baby’s scalp. If there are issues related to the heart beat or other complications, a Cesarean-section may be done.

Although epidural use doesn’t always cause these complications, it does increase the likelihood that interventions will be used.

Breastfeeding is Facilitated

Research shows babies born through natural childbirth are more alert and show more interest in breastfeeding once delivered. Many women don’t realize the pain medication they receive is also passed on to their baby. Because of this, many babies are born slightly “drugged” from the pain medication. This can interfere with their innate suckling behavior that normally expresses itself shortly after birth. It is not unusual for babies, exposed to an epidural, to have difficulty with latching on and an uncoordinated suck/swallow response for hours, or even days.

When videotaped studies of newborn babies have been done, there has been a marked difference between those born to mothers who received pain medication and those who didn’t. The fact that neither mom, nor baby, is medicated means natural instincts can emerge and the bonding that normally manifests between a mother and her baby can take place.

Natural Childbirth is Often Healthier for Mom and Baby

Because an epidural slows down labor, a woman is much more likely to be given a pitocin drip (uterine stimulant) to speed up contractions. The resulting contractions begin to come on so strong and fast that a woman has very little time to recover between them, leaving less oxygen to reach the fetus. This could damage the fetus’s brain cells and possibly lead to neurological problems.

Epidurals in birthing women also increase the chance of fever which increases the likelihood antibiotics will be prescribed.

Faster Recovery Time

Women who planned natural childbirths often feel great for a short while after delivering their babies. Because no numbing drugs were used, and no tubes or needles were stuck into their body parts, naturally birthing moms can get up shortly after labor if they desire, and walk around or take a shower.

The euphoric feeling in which many naturally birthing moms experience is caused by the release of endorphins in the body during labor. Endorphins are calming and pain-relieving hormones the body naturally produces when dealing with pain. Tests have shown a woman’s body will not release nearly as many endorphins if a pain medication is utilized.
[Source: http://naturallysavvy.com/Nest/the-benefits-of-natural-childbirth]

Like women in America, more than 90% of the church is seeking to avoid the necessary pain that accompanies the birthing of new life. Whether the life is a newborn baby, or a spiritual son or daughter of God, pain is both normal and necessary. The avoidance of pain ALWAYS results in negative consequences. One consequence is that the delivery takes longer. The mother, by choosing to ease her own discomfort and pain, actually prolongs the time that the baby within her womb must struggle through the process of birth. There is certainly a spiritual parable here. It takes much longer to produce spiritual offspring in the image of Christ when pain is avoided.

A second consequence is that unnatural medical procedures are often called upon to facilitate the birth process. In the spiritual realm the doctors are often the ministers. Even as the use of forceps, or pitocin drips, can result in harm to the baby, so too do the efforts of ministers who seek to bring forth offspring without the church having to suffer.

















A third consequence is difficulty in breastfeeding. Like babies born to mothers who took pain drugs, many new Christians are born “dazed,” not fully alert. They are disoriented, and have trouble finding their way spiritually in life. They may lack a healthy appetite for the life sustaining milk of the word of God. They may look for sustenance in inferior manmade sources even as many parents supply their newborns with infant formula rather than the mother’s breast milk.

Will not a spiritual child that is birthed in pain have a greater love for the church who labored to bring it forth? Will there not be a greater affinity between the new convert and the church who laid down their life, and embraced suffering, to secure its new birth? When the church avoids the pain of the cross it also lessens the bond of love between members.

One of the primary losses to the church when it seeks to avoid suffering, is that it cheats itself out of the “euphoria” that results after one has passed through a difficult trial. The Scriptures state that “for the joy (euphoria) set before Him, Christ endured the cross.” There is great joy that results, both in this age, and in the ages to come, for those who have endured suffering in obedience to Christ. Those who strive to avoid this suffering are casting away an immense joy that far surpasses the pain of these momentary and light afflictions.

















I found it interesting that the article above contained the following line:

Why be a martyr and suffer needlessly they ask?

The word “martyr” is a Biblical one. Those who are called to be disciples of Christ are called “martyrs.”

Acts 1:8
“And you shall be My witnesses [Greek - martus, martyrs] both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Yahweh told the woman that bringing forth new life would be accompanied by pain. Can a woman cheat God and there be no consequences? There are always consequences to our decisions. In relation to natural birth and its associated pains, more consequences are being discovered all the time. The following quotation reveals a couple more benefits of natural childbirth.

Experts generally agree that most healthy, risk-free women should deliver their babies vaginally rather than by cesarean section, as it has benefits for both the mother and baby, like shorter hospital stays and fewer infant respiratory problems.

Now, Yale researchers said they've found another potential benefit of vaginal birth, claiming it triggers the production of a protein in babies' brains that may improve brain development.

Giving birth via c-section, on the other hand, may impair its expression...

Other recent studies on the impact of different birthing methods have focused on immune system function.

A 2010 study in the journal PNAS suggested that as babies travel through the vagina during birth, they may pick up certain bacteria that could help protect them from future diseases.
[Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/natural-birth-protein_n_1756911.html]

With these words I am seeking to establish in the reader’s mind the significant parallels between this natural creation and the spiritual realm. Yahweh has designed the entire male/female relationship and reproductive process to show forth profound spiritual truths.

Men and women in the church show little differentiation from those in the world. A pleasure seeking, pain eschewing people are demonstrating physically what is occurring unseen in realms of the spirit. Abortion, adultery, homosexuality, all have their parallels in the spirit. In the next post, I will begin to examine the spiritual significance of homosexual behavior and what it reveals about the church today.


Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Ten Questions Christians Can’t Answer

Joseph Herrin (08-24-2013)

















As I was doing some research on the Internet today, I came across a video titled Ten Questions Christians Can’t Answer! The video was made by an individual who holds the view that Christianity is false, and that the Bible contains many glaring errors. I decided to take a look and see what these impossible questions might be. I did not find any of them to be unanswerable, though I suspect that the video’s creator would not like some of the answers.

As I read through some of the comments after the video I found that most “Christians” who were commenting were doing a poor job of answering any, or all, of the questions. Therefore, I have to conclude that the title of the video is largely accurate. Most Christians cannot answer challenges to their faith. A great many Christians do not know their Bibles.

What I decided to do was to take the first question and provide an answer to it. I will then list the remaining nine questions, and invite the readers of this blog to submit an answer to one of them, or more than one if you are so inclined. I will then choose the best answer(s) for each question and post them in an upcoming blog. If you want to view the video yourself before submitting an answer, you can find it below.

http://youtu.be/tu3NomBg5EA



Following is question #1 from this video, followed by my answer.

Question #1: When Noah’s ark landed, how did the kangaroos make it back to Australia?

Joseph’s Answer: The Bible declares that the continents were divided AFTER the flood.

Genesis 10:25
And two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided...

Chapters 6-9 of the book of Genesis recount the story of Noah. In chapter ten we find a genealogy of nations that resulted from the three sons of Noah. This section is often called “the table of nations.” Chapter 10 of Genesis tells us that Peleg was a descendant of Shem, one of the sons of Noah. Peleg was born four generations after Shem. The Bible provides an exact time-line in Genesis chapter 11, verses 10-19. We are told the following:

Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood...

Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah...

Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber...

Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg...

Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu; and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.

Adding 2 years plus 35 years plus 30 years plus 34 years we arrive at Peleg who was born 101 years after the flood. Peleg lived 239 years, so sometime in the second, third, or early part of the fourth century after the flood of Noah, the earth was divided. This was plenty of time for the animals Noah brought onto the ark to multiply and disperse across the face of the earth before the earth was divided.

Both the Bible and science agree that the earth used to be one super-continent. This continent is often referred to by geologists as Pangea, or Pangaea. This name is derived from the Greek “Pan” meaning “entire,” and “Gaia” meaning “earth.” Following is an animation of what the separation of the continents is envisioned to have looked like.











Science often develops theories that contradict the narrative of the Bible, particularly when it comes to the span of time in which an event took place. For example, science would say that languages developed over thousands of years when the Bible says that the different languages came into existence suddenly at the Tower of Babel when Yahweh confused the languages of men and divided them into families. Similarly, science says that continental drift began about 200 million years ago and that the continents drifted apart over the course of millions of years. The Bible, however, states that there was a single landmass as recently as 4,500 years ago, and the earth was divided into continents rapidly.























Although present scientific theories differ widely from the Biblical account on WHEN the continents were divided, scientific theory and the Bible agree that all the continents were previously joined together. This explains how kangaroos were able to travel from Mt. Ararat to Australia after the flood of Noah. Science refers to the movement of the earth’s landmass as “Continental Drift Theory.”

Science assumes that this drifting apart of the continents occurred over the course of millions of years. They base this upon observations of the speed at which the continents are moving today. This theory includes a big assumption, however. The assumption is that the continents always moved at the slow rate that is observed today. The Bible differs from the theories of man in that it says that the earth was divided quite suddenly. We are told that the separation of the continents occurred during the days of Peleg.

As I mentioned, those who seek to dispute the accuracy of the Scriptures, may not like the answer provided. Yet, the Bible does provide answers. Christians should not be daunted when they are faced with a seemingly impossible question relating to Biblical teaching. We have the mind of Christ, and Christ has never been stumped by the questions of critics. (See Matthew 22:23-33)

Here now are the other nine questions presented on this video. If you choose to submit an answer, please consider whether the question accurately reflects what the Bible teaches, or if the question is itself a misrepresentation of Bible truth. Also consider why the speaker is asking these particular questions so you can identify why he believes a Christian cannot answer the question honestly and accurately. I also ask that you submit your answers via e-mail, rather than through the comment field on this blog. They will be much easier for me to handle that way.

Question #2: If the ark was covered in pitch, or tar, to make it watertight, it also made it airtight. How did the animals survive more than one or two days, living in complete darkness without any fresh air? Remember, the rain lasted forty days and forty nights. Noah couldn’t open the window in the top.

Question #3: Since Adam and Eve didn’t know right from wrong before eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why did God then punish them for something they didn’t understand they were doing?

Question #4: Why would God place a forbidden tree in the garden so close to His innocent creation, and allow Satan to tempt them into eating from it, all the while looking on without doing a thing to prevent it?

Question #5: When the women went to Jesus’ empty tomb, was the stone already rolled away, or did an angel roll it away after the women got there?

Question #6: On the first day of the week, when Jesus rose from the dead, how many women went to the tomb, and which ones?

Question #7: If you believe the creation account in Genesis is mere allegory, then why don’t you throw out Paul’s epistles, because he believed that the creation account was a historical fact?

Question #8: How many donkeys did Jesus ride on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Was it one donkey, like Mark, Luke and John say, or was it two donkeys like Matthew said?

Question #9: Matthew and Luke both provide genealogies for Jesus, going all the way back to Adam. Using both of those lists, who was Joseph’s father?

Question #10: Was Jesus crucified on the first day of Passover like the gospel of John says, or the next day, like the other three gospels say?

Note: I will be continuing with the series Push Back as I hope to bring it to completion soon. 

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Friday, August 23, 2013

Push Back - Part Eleven

Joseph Herrin (08-23-2013)
















The Gender Book - Common Misconceptions
(Click on any image to view larger)

I Corinthians 14:33
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

In this post I want to focus on another aspect of homosexuality that is a departure from the divine nature. Yahweh is a God of order. He is not the author of confusion. The entire creation must conform to the divine order, lest it descend into chaos.

The Scripture verse above is often cited, but it is beneficial to consider the context of the apostle Paul’s words. Paul was remonstrating with the believers in Corinth due to the chaotic nature of their meetings. Things were out of order. One of the ways in which this disorder manifested was that the church was abusing the gift of tongues. Many individuals were speaking in tongues at the same time, and there was no interpretation. The din of non-intelligible language was producing a chaotic environment that was benefitting no one. Paul delivered to the church specific instructions to restore order, and benefit, to the church meetings. A few verses later he states.

I Corinthians 14:40
Let all things be done decently and in order.

When the creation conforms to Yahweh’s divine order, there is peace, health, and fruitfulness. When the creation departs from the divine order there is discord, sickness, and barrenness. Many examples could be cited of the negative consequences of mankind deviating from Yahweh’s established order. Not coincidentally, many of the most poignant examples are recent, for as Satan’s influence upon this earth increases, the toxic effects of his evil schemes become more widespread. The introduction of foreign DNA into crop seed, commonly referred to as GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), is one example of mankind altering the natural arrangement of God with tragic effects.

Monsanto is one of the largest corporations involved in this effort. They have created “terminator” seeds that will not reproduce, making farmers dependent upon purchasing new seed for every crop. They have introduced pesticides into the plant’s DNA to kill insects. They have modified corn and soybean DNA to be resistant to the pesticide known as RoundUp. Monsanto, in collusion with the U.S. government, has suppressed private research into the health effects of these GMO crops, but the research that has emerged reveals that by altering the genetic structure of seeds, the plants are less nutritious, and in many instances introduce sickness, including cancers, to those who consume them. Ranchers have found that livestock that has been fed on GMO corn have developed digestion problems. Cattle have been unable to put on weight when fed GMO grains. They have increased rates of infertility, experience far more stillbirths, etc..

Adding fluoride, a toxin and carcinogen produced as industrial waste, to human drinking water is another example of man trying to “improve” on Yahweh’s divine design of the creation while producing just the opposite effect. Much has been written about the deleterious effect of vaccines. Injecting humans with viral material, heavy metals, and other toxins, as well as using aborted fetal cells to produce the vaccines, has introduced an array of health problems that far outweigh any claimed benefit that has been derived from the vaccines. Because the world media, and national governments, are controlled by a global corporatocracy, the news about the negative impact of tampering with God’s creation order is suppressed, while false claims of great benefit are fed to the populace. The situation is no different when it comes to the promotion of homosexuality.

The image at the top of this post is taken from a publication titled The Gender Book. The publication is available online as a PDF file to be read, printed, and shared with others, and will soon be available as a paperback book. It is intended to be used as a primer to educate people on the subject of human gender.

The author begins his book with the statement:

One of the first things to do was to unpack a lot of inherited beliefs about gender and examine them for myself.

The writer, a man who identifies with the female gender, lists some of these “inherited beliefs,” while sharing his views on them. They include the following:

Gender is obvious.
Nope! The only way to be sure you know how a person identifies is to ask them.

Gender is the same as sex.
No Way! Maybe it matches for you, but not everyone feels that way. The short answer is that sex lives between your legs, while gender lives in between your ears.

Gender is static.
Nope! Gender can change over the course of your life.

There are only two genders.
This misconception is so common, it has its own name - gender binary. Actually, there are at least as many genders as there are cultures, and lots of more helpful ways to think of them than merely masculine and feminine.

The bottom of the page includes the following thought summary.

So if we throw out those assumptions that don’t work, what’s left? It seems clear to me that gender isn’t biology, it isn’t your sexuality, it isn’t always obvious, it isn’t how you were raised or what surgeries you can afford, it isn’t static, and it isn’t how others see you. Gender is simply how you see yourself.

These words describe well the philosophy of Satan regarding the sexes. You cannot tell what gender a person is by looking at them. You cannot even tell what a person’s gender is if you know their sex, and which reproductive organs they have. A person’s gender is not established at birth. It can change throughout their life. Satan would have us to believe that gender is as transitive as the wayward thoughts of man.

People of God, this is foolishness. It is disorder. It is chaos. Such statements stand in stark opposition to the declaration of the Creator.

Genesis 1:27
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

There are NOT unlimited genders. There are only two genders. They are male and female; masculine and feminine; man and woman. In this same book the author shares the following.
















Transgender Umbrella

In The Gender Book, the term transgender is defined as “any individual whose identity crosses over or challenges their society’s traditional gender roles or expressions.” Satan would declare deviancy to be normal. Yahweh has not created any men in the bodies of women, nor women in the bodies of men. Nor is the sex of an individual indeterminate until they reach maturity and “choose” which gender that wish to identify with. Yahweh declares:

Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you...”

The prophet Isaiah stated:

Isaiah 49:1
Yahweh called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.

Yahweh created males with male bodies, and females with female bodies. Gender and sex are one and the same. Many have sought to sow confusion into the subject of gender identity by mentioning that there are some people who are born with indistinct gender. The sex organs of a small number of individuals are not properly formed at birth. The number of people born with this condition is less than .005 percent.

Because of the presence of sin in the world, there are individuals who come from the womb with deformities. Some have physical deformities, and some are mentally handicapped. We clearly recognize such individuals as exceptional. They are not the NORM. A person may be born without arms, but this does not mean that Yahweh’s norm for mankind is to not have arms. To argue that it is normal for men and women to be gender confused because a small number of individuals are born with deformities to their reproductive organs is akin to saying that there is no such thing as normal eyesight because some people are born with visual impairment, or there is not such thing as normal hearing because some individuals are born deaf. We recognize blindness, and deafness, or impairments to sight and hearing, as being abnormal, and corrective measures are taken to restore the normal function if possible. There is no difference in how humanity should treat those born with abnormalities to their reproductive organs.

Yahweh created mankind as male and female. He gave instructions to mankind to guard these gender distinctions. Yahweh commanded His people to not allow confusion to enter into the distinctiveness of the sexes. Yahweh intends for men to behave and appear as men. He intends for women to behave and appear as women.

Deuteronomy 22:5
A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

The Gender Book contains the following pages.
















Crossdressers

As a crossdresser, I have a true gender gift, the ability to live and relate comfortably in both the masculine and feminine worlds. That is how I chose my femme name, which means “gift from God.”
Jane

The best word to describe that which is presented here is “confusion.” God does not “gift” any individual to relate to the world as masculine and feminine. He has created some to relate to the wold as men, and some to relate to the world as women. In this sinful world there are men and women who deviate from Yahweh’s design for humanity. Christ came to restore all mankind to Yahweh’s divine order.

I Corinthians 6:10-11
Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals..., shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Yahshua Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

Last week I was sent a link to an article about a newsman who announced that his gender identity was that of a woman. He began to dress in women’s clothes, wear a woman’s wig, and began hormone therapy. Three months later he claimed to have experienced a bizarre bout of amnesia where he reverted back to his male identity and could no longer even remember living as a woman.

I’m a guy again! ABC newsman who switched genders wants to switch back
By TARA PALMERI
Posted: August 6, 2013

He thought he was a woman trapped in a man’s body — but it turns out he’s “just another boring straight guy.”

ABC News editor Don Ennis strolled into the newsroom in May wearing a little black dress and an auburn wig and announced he was transgender and splitting from his wife. He wanted to be called Dawn.

But now he says he suffered from a two-day bout of amnesia that has made him realize he wants to live his life again as Don.













Don/Dawn/Don Ennis

“I accused my wife of playing some kind of cruel joke, dressing me up in a wig and bra and making fake ID’s with the name ‘Dawn’ on it. Seriously,” Ennis wrote in a memo he posted to the newsroom bulletin board Friday, explaining his shock after he woke up from what he called a “transient global amnesia” last month...

“It became obvious this was not the case once I took off the bra — and discovered two reasons I was wearing one,” he said, referring to his hormone-induced breasts.

“I thought it was 1999... and I was sure... that I was a man,” Ennis said in the e-mail titled “Not Reportable, Very Confirmed.”

“Fortunately, my memories of the last 14 years have since returned. But what did not return was my identity as Dawn,” said Ennis, who had been wearing lipstick, skirts and heels.

“I am writing to let you know I’m changing my name . . . to Don Ennis. That will be my name again, now and forever. And it appears I’m not transgender after all.

“I have retained the much different mind-set I had in 1999: I am now totally, completely, unabashedly male in my mind, despite my physical attributes,” he said.

“I’m asking all of you who accepted me as a transgender to now understand: I was misdiagnosed.

“I am already using the men’s room and dressing accordingly,” he noted.

“It’s so odd to be experiencing this from the other side; as recently as last Friday, I felt I was indeed a woman, in my mind, body and soul...

“Even though I will not wear the wig or the makeup or the skirts again, I promise to remain a strong straight ally, a supporter of diversity and an advocate for equal rights and other LGBT issues including same-sex marriage.”

Ennis had previously told friends that he suspected his sex mix-up happened because his mother gave him female hormones as a child that made him look and sound young to prolong a bit-part acting career, but he ended up developing breasts and started thinking he was a woman.

He explained he had gone to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md., for testing last month to understand why his mind and body changed from male to female. He said he learned it was a hormone imbalance that could be fixed.

A week after he was discharged, his wife rushed him back to the hospital because he thought he was having a seizure and was experiencing a “drastic loss of memory.”

Don added that he now feels “fantastic” as a man again.

And he said he hopes that with the hormone treatment and surgery, things will only get better.

Despite his short stint as a woman he told colleagues in the letter that he promises to remain “a strong straight ally and a supporter of diversity and an advocate for equal rights and other LGBT issues including same sex marriage.”

He plans to change the gender and name on his driver’s license, work ID and e-mail.

He called his three-month odyssey into the world of women “a tremendous gift...”
[Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/guy_again_eKq3Jw6LjgsjpBdmZklrtM]

Does not the word “confusion” trumpet forth as one reads the article above? What is described is bizarre, aberrant, and, if I am not mistaken, Don Ennis’ account is also very disingenuous. I find the account of being stricken with transient global amnesia very convenient. After all, he spent the previous three months sharing the women’s bathroom with his female co-workers. I suspect some of them might have husbands who would not be too thrilled to hear that Don was “mistaken” about being a woman.

Stories such as this reveal the moral confusion that results when mankind departs from an identification of the natural order of God’s creation. Yesterday it was reported that U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, recently sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for exposing government secrets, has declared that he is transgender. He wants to serve his time in prison as a woman and has asked to be called Chelsea Manning.

It was reported that Manning experienced gender identity confusion prior to committing his crimes. The media has been publishing a photo of Bradley Manning in a woman’s wig, and wearing women’s clothing.

This announcement has far reaching implications for both the military and civilian prison systems. Manning was assigned to prison at Fort Leavenworth. This is a male only facility. If the government acknowledges the gender he identifies with, he will have to be transferred to the Army’s women’s prison in San Diego. He would likely share a cell, bathroom and shower facilities with women.
















Bradley/Chelsea Manning

It is not hard to imagine some alternative motives for his seeking this reassignment. Manning has suffered much abuse at the hands of his military prison guards already, including being forced to stand naked in front of prison staff, and to be kept in a cell with no clothing, or bedding, on the pretense that he might try to injure himself. As he is facing the next 35 years in prison, he may well believe he would be better off in a facility that houses women. How many more male prisoners might take the same tack for similar reasons, or even to have contact with female prisoners?

One fact that is revealed in the bizarre story of news editor Don Ellis is that therapists have no way to tell whether a person is truly a transsexual. The only thing they have to go by is the individual’s testimony. If a man says they see themselves as female, or a female states that she sees herself as male, the therapist must take the person’s word on the matter. Indeed, laws are now being passed that would bar a counselor or therapist from trying to dissuade an individual from such a view.

The entire prison system could soon be filled with added confusion, and increased moral debauchery, as men are assigned to women’s prisons and vice versa. California recently passed a law requiring that public school students be permitted to use whatever gender’s facilities they identify with. This means boys may go into the girl’s restrooms, dressing rooms, and showers, and girls into the boy’s. It takes little imagination to perceive that this will soon become the law for all citizens of the state of California, including those in prison. It is, after all, being trumpeted as a human right.

As tragic as it is to see society falling into such debauchery, and to realize that children are going to be subjected to increased sexual confusion and trauma, it is also disheartening to observe so many Christians who are being swept along on this tide of deceit. Many have bought into the lie that Christians are to not judge, but are to love without criticism, and to embrace even the most deviant behaviors as acceptable. For those who are confused about the subject of judging, I recommend the writing titled The Issue of Judging.

One of the foundational errors committed by the author of The Gender Book, is that gender is determined by you. He states that gender is “how you see yourself.” This is a humanistic viewpoint, where the judgment and thoughts of man supercede all others. A correct view of gender is that it is who God declares you to be. Yahweh does not place male souls in female bodies, or vice versa. Yahweh is not the author of confusion. If you were born with a female body, your gender is female. If you were born with a male body, your gender is male.

Romans 3:4
Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar...

Yahweh declared, “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness.” Yahweh does not change. He is not male one day, and female the next. When Yahweh took on human form to demonstrate to the world His image and likeness, He appeared in the form of a man. Yahshua is called the SON of God. He was born in a male body, and He lived His life as a man. There was never any deviation from this identity.

Hebrews 13:8-9
Yahshua Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.

The world has fallen under the influence of the great deceiver. When men say they are women, and  women say they are men, they are deceived, rebellious, or both. It is a deceit of the enemy that leads humanity to believe that they can choose their own gender. There is pride evidenced in such words and actions, for men and women are attempting to re-create themselves according to their own thoughts and desires. They are rejecting the identity assigned to them by their Creator, and assigning themselves a new identity.

When Yahweh created each individual He had a specific plan for them. Our lives know peace when we are in harmony with Yahweh’s design for our life. We are most healthy and fruitful when we conform to His design for our lives. To deviate from that design is to resign oneself to confusion. The last thing we read about the men of Sodom before Yahweh destroyed the city with fire, is that they were struck with blindness and confusion.

Genesis 19:9-11
But [the men of Sodom] said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came in to live here temporarily, and now he presumes to be our judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they rushed at and pressed violently against Lot and came close to breaking down the door.” But the men [the angels] reached out and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door after him. And they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness [which dazed them with confusion], from the youths to the old men, so that they wearied themselves groping to find the door.

Surely Yahweh does all things by design. In striking the men of Sodom with blindness He was demonstrating that their lust had blinded them. In causing them to be struck with confusion, He was revealing the disorder in their lives that had lowered them to the state of senseless beasts. Homosexuality was then, and is today, a departure from the character and nature of God.


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Joseph Herrin
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