What (if Anything) is Sexually Immoral?

In the final two chapters of the Bible we read a description of the exotic New Heaven, New Earth, and it's capital, New Jerusalem. These will all be just small tokens of God's affection for His people. In the middle of the 837 word description (NIV), there's an interesting comment about people who won't be invited:

Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

It's not an aberration, it's a recurring theme:

Revelation 21:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 9:21 They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts

If we are to end up citizens (rather than visitors or outcasts) of the wonderful place described at the very end of the Bible, then like any citizen of any locality, we must honor the ruler. One way we do that is by avoiding the things that are forbidden by law. Our culture struggles with all of these, and when our culture struggles, we have to be intentional to rise above the crowd. Remember the book of Revelation is a vision from Jesus to the apostle John, as recorded in the very first verse:

Revelation 1:1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things which must happen soon, which He sent and made known by His angel to His servant, John

So let's be intentional about that final description in Revelation 22:15, and make sure we understand God's expectations:

• dogs
• unbelievers, cowardly believers, perverters of the faith
• Numbers 32:15, Deuteronomy 11:16-17, DT 23:18 ESV, Matthew 7:6, Luke 12:46, Philippians 3:2
• sorcerers
• witchcraft, magic arts, divination, necromancy, etc.
• Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26, 19:31, 20:6, 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:10-11, 18:14
• sexually immoral
• (see below)
• murderers
• ending the life of another human being for our own convenience (self defense and military defense do not fit this definition)
• Exodus 20:13, 22:2, Deuteronomy 5:17
• idolaters
• believing in, worshipping, or giving divine credit to, any god (or anything) besides the one true God
• Exodus 20:3-6, Deuteronomy 5:7-10, 6:14-15, Isaiah 42:8
• loves and practices falsehood
• calling evil good and good evil, a.k.a. lying and encouraging others to do the same
• Exodus 20:15-17, Psalm 119:163, Proverbs 17:15, Isaiah 5:20, Romans 1:32

Since it seems to keep us out of heaven, and is reason to be thrown into hell, sexual immorality is an important topic. And doubly so when we take in context our current culture says sexual freedom is a basic human right to be defended even stronger than life and liberty. So what -is- sexual immorality? We know what sexual activity is but do we know how God has defined sexual immorality?

While mentioned 3 times in Revelation, above, sexual immorality isn't defined in these passages. So how are we to avoid it to avoid being left outside? Remember, when we are stuck before a judge, we don't interpret the law for the judge, the judge interprets for us. Let's work backward and review when sexual immorality is referred to, to find how God defined it. Because He wouldn't have absolutely condemned it without explaining Himself.

Revelation 2:20 I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

Revelation 2:14 I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Hebrews 12:16a lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

1 Timothy 1:9-11 that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine, according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Ephesians 5:3-5 Sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

Galatians 5:19-21 The deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

2 Corinthians 12:21 when I come my God would humble me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they committed.

1 Corinthians 10:8 Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. (Referring to Numbers 25:8-9.)

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 6:13 “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.

Romans 13:13 Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.

Romans 1:28-32 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

Acts 15:29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.” (also in Acts 15:20 and Acts 21:25)

Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.

So in the whole new Testament, despite it being mentioned over two dozen times, we saw very little definition of sexual immorality. We saw in some cases critical mention of adultery, homosexuality, incest, lust, and prostitution, along with it, but it wasn't quite defined. And it's not clear in these contexts if those examples were separate from or specific examples of, which the authors chose to single out. The answer for the quest for the definition must be further back towards the beginning of the book. Which is fine, this just means the definition didn't change when Jesus walked among us for a few decades.

By the way, if you don't care what the Bible says, that would be one thing. But if you claim the Bible is vague on, or even affirming of, sexual immorality, then that's naive at best, deceptive and wicked at worst.

There was no new theology between Joshua and Malachi. (Joshua was the first book after the Pentateuch, and Malachi was the last book before the Gospels.) The last book of the Pentateuch (the five books written by Moses) was Moses's greatest sermon, titled Deuteronomy, which means "repetition of the law." It was a repetition because it had already been explained in Exodus and Leviticus. The corrupt leaders of Jesus's day tried to criticize Him for violating those laws Moses had given. But they were corruptly mixing in their own traditions with God's laws, wrongly equating their own word with God's, and Jesus called them out on that. Notice Jesus never said the law no longer mattered, He said He fulfilled it better than they understood (Matthew 5:17). Before we get into the law, I want to point out a related administrative theme the quasi-apostle Paul brought up:

Romans 7:7 (NIV) What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Romans 3:20 (NIV) No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 5:20-6:2 (NIV) The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

The law isn't salvific, Jesus is. Yes Jesus died for our sins, and He washes them all away, but He was pretty clear He predicated that favor on our repentance. And what are we to repent from but the immorality defined in the moral law of Moses?

Matthew 4:17 From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Matthew 11:20 Then he (Jesus) began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. (And don't forget Revelation 9:20-21​ above)

Since there's no definition from Joshua to Revelation, we must look back further, in the law. And sure enough, there were numerous definitions. So many definitions we'd think God was trying to make a point and be clear about it, as if He only wanted to have to say it once for all time. Here are the verses in the law that defined sexual immorality, divided into obvious categories just for digestibility:

• Adultery: Exodus 20:14, Deuteronomy 5:18
• Bestiality: Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 18:23, Leviticus 20:15-16, Deuteronomy 27:21
• Crossdressing: Deuteronomy 22:5
• Homosexuality: Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13
• Incest: Leviticus 18:6-18, 20:11-12, 20:14, 20:17, 20:19-21, Deuteronomy 22:30, 27:20, 27:22-23
• Prostitution: Leviticus 19:29, 21:9, Deuteronomy 23:17-18
• Sex before marriage: Exodus 22:16-17, Deuteronomy 22:21, 28-29
• Sex during menstration: Leviticus 18:19, 20:18
• Other: Deuteronomy 23:1, 25:11-12

And here's that same list again, sorted by occurrence.

• Exodus 20:14, 22:16-17, 22:19
• Leviticus 18:6-19, 18:22-23, 19:29, 20:11-21, 21:9
• Deuteronomy 5:18, 22:5, 22:21, 22:30, 23:1, 23:17-18, 24:1-4, 25:11-12, 27:20-23

What God calls immoral is immoral (also wrong and evil), regardless of whether it's legal or protected. It doesn't matter how long ago He said it nor who He said it to. And whether people genuinely love each other was never described as relevant to sexual propriety. That consideration was maliciously fed to us by people who wanted to alienate (separate) us from God, no matter how normal that perversion has become in society. The word of God stands on its own (it's sufficient). Either you care what the Bible says or you don't, I'm just connecting the dots so we can know what it says on these topics, and hoping you are clear the Bible is clear on these topics. I assure you I haven't excluded any verses that contradict or negate the ones I included. This blog post is dedicated to the direct verses. There are yet more (less direct) verses and perhaps more importantly, an exploration into why God even cares about what we do in bed, then check my more exhaustive article: Biblical Gender Identity, here, summarized in a blog post, here, or my blog post on morality in general, here.

(Note: all scripture quotes were from the World English Bible (WEB) except where indicated otherwise.)

Vote Strategically

While Trump may not be the model Christian, he is clearly doing a far better job than his competition at protecting those who are. Anti-Christian members of our society are convincing Christians to vote against themselves by distracting us with Trump's personality.

It's important we make as strategic a choice as possible when we vote later this month. We mustn't treat this as a personality contest. This year, as four years ago, neither candidate is a gem. Don't pretend either one is. It's more strategic to vote on platforms than just on personalities. FRC made an excellent party platform summary at https://prayvotestand.org/platforms (and the full platforms are direct linked below). Giving weight to the party platforms in our voting decision is important because:

• the party informs & influences the politician (president or otherwise) far more than the individual politician informs & influences the platform, and
• politicians have proven to vote/act aligned with their party platform on average more than 80% of the time (https://www.vox.com/2016/7/12/12060358/political-science-of-platforms) over the last 25 years.

One platform is clearly superior over the other, therefore one candidate is the clear choice, depending on your worldview. You can be Christian and liberal just as much as you can be Christian and conservative. However, a Christian Leftist is kidding themselves because the Left's agenda is antithetical to the Biblical worldview. Here's a 6-minute video summarizing some differences between liberal and Left, without even taking religion into account: https://www.prageru.com/video/left-or-liberal/, and here's an overly simplistic illustration:

The leaders of both (all) political parties are human, and therefore flawed. Don't spend your time pointing out those flaws as if it's news. And don't pretend that one candidate is all honest and full of integrity while the other isn't, no one's buying that. However, it's strategically important to note the Democratic party has experienced what business people call a "hostile takeover" (an involuntary internal change of leadership) and those same people want to do the same to the entire government. The Democratic party used to be the liberal party, but is now led & controlled by Leftists. To vote for a Democratic candidate now (whether president, governor, or legislator) is to endorse Leftist ideals and invite them to become dominant in society. Liberals and conservatives have common goals, just different ways of achieving them. But Leftists have different goals entirely. Since Leftist ideas are at odds with and threatened by Christian ideas, a vote for a candidate in a Leftist-controlled party is a vote against Christian values, regardless of how the individual candidates talk, behave, or promise.

In the Old Testament, Moses relayed from God at least two types of laws:

1. moral (Exodus 20:13-14, Deuteronomy 12:31)
2. ceremonial (Exodus 30:19, Leviticus 2:1)

All were not equal (1 Samuel 15:22), the former (a) was the foundation for the later (b). When Jesus came, He was more strict about the moral law (Matthew 5:27-28, 19:7-9) and completely laxed the ceremony (Mark 2:23-28, Matthew 27:50-51). This was because the moral law was absolute, but the ceremonial law was no longer needed after Jesus (Acts 15:23-29, 1 Corinthians 10:25‭-‬27, Hebrews 10:8-9).

In the USA today, we have at least three types of laws:

1. moral (honesty, marriage, murder, privacy, property, sexuality)
2. civil (defense, education, justice, rights)
3. fiscal (budgets, debt, healthcare, infrastructure, social security, welfare)

All are not equal, the former (a) is the foundation for the later (b and c). Bickering about the later while neglecting the former is a receipe for disaster, and would be a horrible strategy for voting.

The Left says the following about morality:

1. Abortion should be legalized, have zero-restrictions, and be tax-payer funded.
1. To a Christian, the word "abortion" isn't in the Bible, but it's equivalent, "child sacrifice," is, and that was repeatedly condemned (Jeremiah 32:35). Human life begins at fertilization, not before and not after, and legalized murder is not acceptable. There are plenty of alternatives.
2. LGBTetc should be normalized and protected by law.
1. To a Christian, sexual immorality is clearly defined in the Bible, and discouraged from Genesis through Revelation (Ephesians 5:3). National accountability is a real concept and also described in the Bible (Proverbs 14:34). It's not ok to live in a country that voluntarily normalizes what God defines as sin. The USA was founded as a Christian nation so Christians should put in the effort to preserve that, not simply let it evaporate. (The Supreme Court of the US declared in a unanimous decision "this is a Christian nation" in 1892. They weren't legislating from the bench, they were stating the obvious.)
3. Anyone who identifies as female may compete in female sports and use female designated locker rooms and bathrooms.
1. To most of the rest of us, the sports issue is unfair and the locker room situation is unsafe for people with no Y chromosome. To a Christian with a strong Biblical worldview, God only made two sexes (Genesis 1:27) and our gender should match the sex declared by the genes in every cell in our body. Anything else is confusion that can and should be corrected, not encouraged nor protected.
4. Marriage is whatever we make of it.
1. To a Christian, God defined marriage (Matthew 19:4-6), the government did not, so the government has no jurisdiction to redefine it. (This was so obvious that the Supreme Court of Texas recognized it in writing in their decision in Grigsby v. Reib in 1913 and a bipartisan congress, including Joe Biden, voted in a law called the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 with 86% yea.)
5. Popular opinion determines right and wrong. Though the opinion of the political elite dictates what is politically correct.
1. To a Chrisitian, God gave standards thousands of years ago which still apply to us today. God was our Creator and He determines right and wrong (John 16:8). Our laws should supplement that, not contradict (Romans 13:1, Acts 5:29). Political correctness is just a cover for people who can't win a logical argument by being scientifically correct.
6. Systemic racism is a huge problem in our nation.
1. Every non-Leftist I know is sympathetic to people who've felt discriminated against, but beg the question: if the racism is systemic or structural then show us the law/​policy that needs fixed? If there is none, then it's not technically systemic nor structural. Don't forget, we elected an African American to the office of president, twice. To a Christian, the concept of racism is technically misguided anyway because we're all descended from Adam and Eve and so all one race (Genesis 3:20, 10:32). The government-run atheist-lead Human Genome Project also came to the same conclusion in 2003. Discrimination and prejudice are issues that exist everywhere, and have always existed, and the citizens of the USA need to improve our selfishness no more than every other nation, because all nations are full of humans. The best solution to fixing "race" issues is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not defunding nor transforming the police, and certainly not "freedom from religion." Replacing Christianity (such as removing the 10 Commandments) with evolution (which inherently teaches racist ideas) in society is necessarily counterproductive towards the goal of ending racism, and which political party is pushing for it?

The Left says the following about civility:

7. America was never great.
1. The Left's stance on this is based on their anti-Christian worldview. The founding of America was clearly done on Christian principles, so they feel they must discredit and abandon it, and move on to something new (that they create). Good Christians acknowledge the problems of the past (and the present) but appreciate the Godly heritage this country has and recognize God as the source of our blessings (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). We were a great nation and while in many ways we still are, the Left is destroying it (for reasons and in ways itemized on this page). That's why Trump popularized the slogan "Make America Great Again," specifically as an anti-Leftist and pro-original intent message, and so naturally the Left hates it. This is also the reason for the "1619 Project," whose goal is not simply innocent education but to slanderously discredit the USA and worse, make our children resent it so they'll willingly vote to destroy it sooner or later (Psalms 11:3).
8. The First Amendment to the USA Constitution promises freedom *from* religion.
1. In reality, it promised freedom from the government declaring an official denomination to be the official religion of the country (as had been the case in England) then it promised freedom *of* religion. Making the nation atheist is not protecting us from religion, it's forcing a specific set of beliefs on us (including evolution and naturalism). By looking at their writing, many of our Founding Fathers were clearly devout, religious people and expected us to be too. The Left is attempting to bully Christianity out of schools, the media, law, and all of society. The removal of the 10 Commandments was an example of religious persecution because simply having those monuments, posters, etc, was a recognition of history, not a forcing of people in what they had to believe. God warned His people not to forget Him after He had richly blessed them, and that warning still applies today (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).
9. Freedom of conscience (such as to not pay for an employee's abortion or not make a custom-designed cake or custom flower bouquet for a gay wedding) is just a cover by conservatives (Christians) for bigotry.
1. To a Christian, accepting God or not is a personal choice because God gives us freedom of choice, beginning back in Genesis 3. Christians simply don't want to be compelled to do or support people or activities we honestly believe are discouraged by God in the Bible. This is called "freedom of conscience," was just as much an issue in the 1700s, was granted fully by the Founding Fathers, but now Leftists are attempting to eliminate in favor of ideological uniformity. (Funny, atheists have told Christians for years how immoral it was for the church to force conformity on everyone in the middle ages, and yet how quickly they're willing to do it themselves now.)
10. The State is the source of all rights.
1. To a Christian, God gave us rights and the government is a steward of those (Leviticus 25:10, Galatians 5:1). If the government wants to afford its people more rights, that's their prerogative, as long as the state-invented rights don't contradict God-defined morality. The Founding Fathers recognized this in the Declaration of Independence, and many other places.
11. Judges should push any agenda that Congress can't.
1. To everyone else (Christian or otherwise) the separation of powers should be honored. Judges should interpret the laws as they were written by the people who wrote them and apply them to current cases. Or if a law is invalid they can and should say so. But judges aren't supposed to make policy or change it, that's the legislature's job. This isn't my opinion, it's their job description as explained in our Constitution.
12. Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity in our lifetime.
1. To a Christian, God already promised in Genesis 9:11 that He'd never destroy the earth in a worldwide flood again. It stands to reason He wouldn't allow it to be flooded by us, either (global warming) for risk that such a flood would give even the appearance of breaking His promise, which would be a first for Him. Climate change is real and not insignificant, but it's not as catastrophic as Leftists claim. Worse, the Left uses climate change and "green energy" as shams on a global scale. Leaders who shout about carbon emissions and ask for billions of tax-payer dollars to implement corrective solutions, yet fly on private jets and own private vacation homes on the beach, are certainly among the hypocrites.
13. Education is the State's responsibility, and the State allows (permits) parents to raise their children.
1. To a Christian, kids and their education are the responsibility of the parents (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 11:18-19). Many parents choose to outsource the education part to the government, but even then it's still the parents' choice. Further, parents should truly be allowed to choose any school they want for their kids.

The Left says the following about economics (fiscal policy):

14. Nothing, other than whatever the public wants to hear. Their goal is to take over, and once they do their economy strategy nor promises won't matter. So they just listen for what people want and say that, with no intention to follow through. Because by definition they consider themselves the political elite, and they know what's best for us, and once they're in control, they'll tell us what to think about economics, and everything else. They already do this with the media. (Notice how no one simply reports facts anymore? The media used to do that. There was even a name for it, it was called "journalistic integrity." Now they tell us what to think and only if we're lucky do they give us some facts. Sadly, this new form of reporting isn't limited to Leftists, but has spilled into most other news sources, too. But it's no coincidence the trend started when Leftists were coming into power.)
1. To a Christian, how we allocate our tax dollars between social programs, and which social programs we have, should be far less important than whether we honor God or not on moral issues. Similarly, whether we abandon our foundation of Christian principles for socialist principles is far more important than our economic priorities. Because if we get the economy going but let our nation rot otherwise, the economy won't last anyway. But if we get the moral and civil issues right, we have the best chance of coming to a long term win-win scenario on the economy.

Other social issues (like nationalism vs globalism and our COVID-19 response) I may come back and comment on later. Since the Left's stance on all the above is opposite to a Biblical worldview, and based on the atheist/​humanist worldview, and looking at atheist precedence in the last 100 years around the globe, it's inevitable that once they have the power they'll make dissent illegal. They've already proven their intention to do this with the Equality Act last January, which theoretically was a fair idea, but the authors rejected recommendations to word it in such a way that would prevent it from obviously being used as a club against faith-based organizations (link). As I was publishing this blog, another perfect example came to my attention at https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/30/virginia-forces-christian-ministries-to-adopt-government-ideology-or-pay-100k-n985842. If Trump was going to make disagreeing with him illegal, then he had plenty of time to try it, but he didn't.

When Joe Biden claimed "I am the Democratic party" in the first debate, either he didn't know what he was talking about, or he didn't care. Since their party is led by Leftists, Joe and his VP will be obligated to be on the wrong side of every issue above. And while many have pointed out that Donald Trump is no saint, the reason so many Christians support him anyway is because he unapologetically stands against the Left on all the above issues. As does his VP, Mike Pence. Because of this, the Left-controlled media hates him. Since they prefer the "hostile takeover," which is easier done in secret, they can't say why they really hate him, because then you might catch on and realize you disagree with them, so instead they just relentlessly slander him, often ad hominem, or his tweets. Anti-Christian members of our society are convincing Christians to vote against themselves by distracting us with Trump's personality. The fact that he gives them a ton of ammo doesn't help. But in other words, while Trump may not be the model Christian, he is clearly doing a far better job at protecting those who are. So he's going to get my vote, as he did in 2016, as will all the other Republicans I can vote for, until the Democratic party either takes back the leadership of their own party from the Leftists, or is wholly replaced. But don't just take my word for it, read their platforms (or the 2-page summary FRC made, linked above) and decide for yourself. And please vote with more strategy in mind than whether you like the personality of the candidate.

Full platforms:

• https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/
• https://gop.com/platform/

Once Christians can stop feeling threatened by Leftist agendas for a hostile takeover of the whole government, then we can get back to talking about the economic policy of our nation, including more fun subjects like taxes, healthcare, social security, military budgets, national debt, welfare, medicare, disaster relief, infrastructure, foreign aid, humanitarian efforts, etc.

As a side note, remember that Donald Trump is not a career politician. Back in 2016, I said the reason Trump won the primaries was specifically because he was the non-politician. Then he won November, and again I said the reason was the American people wanted to send a message to Washington DC that we're sick of their career politician baloney. Both Democrats and Republicans have a tendency to do things that annoy us, not just because they're Democrat or Republican, but because they're career politicians. So it's not really logical for us to be surprised or dismayed when Trump doesn't act like a statesman. Perhaps in 2024, the American public can do a better job in the primaries to advance a statesman (or stateswoman) who will also protect Judeo-Christian/​Biblical values. I for one think the Republicans will have a hard time finding a better candidate than Candace Owens, if she decides to make a run.

If you're concerned about Trump's ability to get anything done because of his personality, fear not, that's just Leftist media propaganda. FRC made a summary of his executive accomplishments at https://prayvotestand.org/actions. Have you noticed we've not started any wars during his time, and he negotiated peace between Israel and two of her neighbors? (Something the last 3 presidents have tried but failed.) Of course he's done some things you don't like. The only president(s) who didn't, you just don't know enough about.

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Rules for Toddlers

There are a large number of rules civilized parents set for their children that never lax, rather they get stricter as we get older. These rules become more strict as we get older because the reason for the rules was never about us. The reasons transcend us, individually. And the reasons still exist no matter what our age is. Really, the older we get, the more we're supposed to understand the reason, agree with the rules, and obey them.

God spoke to us in family terms almost countless times in the Bible. This is in part because He thinks of us as His children, and He wants a relationship much more than a religion.

Here's a real list of rules I am amazed I still have to remind my special needs 10-year-old son of, who in many ways still has the emotional maturity of a 2 or 3-year-old. These are just some of the rules I've reminded him of in the last month:

• Always use your "inside voice" while inside.
• When you sneeze while eating at the dinner table, be sure to cover your mouth.
• Don't stick your fingers in my drink to find out how cold it is.
• Don't take open cups that are full of juice and throw them across the table (nor room).
• Don't pick food out of the garbage can and taste it.
• Don't turn your dinner plate upside down (especially when it's full).
• Don't scrape your metal silverware across your ceramic plate just to listen to the sound.
• Don't pound ceramic plates together to hear the sound.
• Don't yell in mommy's face (nor anyone else's).
• Don't kick or even pretend to kick mommy, nor anyone else.
• Don't pick your nose while talking to someone.
• Don't stick your hands in your underwear.
• Don't wipe your face with the dirty underwear you just took off.
• Don't go potty anywhere in the house but into the toilet.
• Don't open a closed bathroom door before knocking and getting approval.
• Don't stick your hands in the toilet water then immediately lick them.
• Don't lick the liquid hand soap nor chew up the bar soap.
• Don't pull girls hair.
• Don't try to break something (everything) just to experiment and find out if it's breakable.
• Don't make messes you have no intention of helping to clean up.
• Don't break (including smash against the table, floor, or wall) electronics.
• Don't lick the tires of my car.
• Don't treat my car as if it's your toy.
• Don't treat random motorcycles or bicycles we walk past in a parking lot as your toy.
• Don't do what I just told you not to while looking me in the eye just to find out how I'll react.
• Grunting or arbitrarily whining doesn't count as communicating. Make an effort to express and articulate yourself appropriately.
• Whining is whining in every culture on earth, no one anywhere will mistake your whining as respect.

When God gave us boundaries of morality 3000 years ago, those boundaries didn't lax just because centuries passed.  In some cases, they got more strict when Jesus came.  Parents shouldn't be looked down upon nor punished for protecting the safety and longevity of their children, neither should God.

What is Moral (or Good)?

There is a lot of talk in the news these days about popular opinion, especially using popular opinion to justify whatever naughty things are being done or to justify criticism of conservative opinions.  Some bold people are even beginning to self-declare what's moral or not and basing that opinion on what's popular.  That's insane.  Popular opinion is perfectly valid as popular opinion but should never be confused with morals.  Morals are unaffected by popular opinion and popular opinion should always honor morals as their foundation.  The two aren't supposed to be interchanged, nor should they be in conflict.  So how should we define morals?

• When God declares right and wrong, it's called morals.
• When industries or other groups of volunteers agree on a set of right and wrong, it's called ethics.
• When rulers or legislatures do it, it's called law.
• When people in authority do it, it's called political correctness.
• When most of society agrees, it's called popular opinion.

An important detail is morals are the foundation for the rest, not the other way around. Politicians, journalists, TV news anchors, and the rest of us shouldn't be making moral declarations without basing our claims on the written word of God.  When people simply throw out accusations of immorality they're really just pushing propaganda, and most likely just objecting that someone has a different opinion.  Differences of opinion aren't immoral, unless you're differing with your Creator.

Note, people who reject the history of the Bible are very likely to reject the morality of it, too.  That's an understandable correlation.  For now, let's assume we care what the Bible says, because proving its historicity is a different matter.

The 10

The 10 Commandments are perhaps the most famous part of the Old Testament.  In part, because they're the infamous "thou shalt nots" which God gave the Israelites, and which Christians try to encourage the rest of the world as minimum standards of morality.  They were given by God to Moses in Exodus 20, and Moses reminded the people of them in Deuteronomy 5.  In case you don't have them memorized, here's my personal summarization:

1. Do not believe in any other gods besides the one true God.
2. Do not make any idols.
3. Do not use the name of God without love, nor misrepresent Him. 
4. Remember and keep holy the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your parents.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not get sexually involved with anyone but the one person you are married to.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie when testifying.
10. Do not lust for nor misuse anything that is not yours.

About 2000 years ago, when Jesus walked the earth, He was asked which was the most important commandment.  The person asking the question was not simply referring to the 10 Commandments, he was referring to their entire law, which included what we now know in the Torah plus all their made-up add-ons.  The interaction was recorded in parallel passages of Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34.  Jesus's answer was:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

He was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.  But another perspective on His response is He paraphrased the first 4 of the 10 Commandments with His first reply, then the last 6 with His second.

The 10 Commandments don't come with a prescription for punishment, at least not right there in the very next verses.  They're just the "thou shalt nots" that are so famous.  The implication is when God says don't do it, there's not supposed to be a need for an explicit punishment, you're just supposed to take God seriously.  However, even most Christians today, and certainly most atheists, have forgotten or were never taught that there actually were punishments prescribed for most of the Ten.  We just have to do the smallest amount of connecting the dots.

Rather than specifically look for each of the 10 Commandments, one by one, we can look for something else.  We can look for when God made a moral declaration and pronounced that violation was a capital offense (punishable by death).  Most of the following can be found with a simple keyword search (on BibleGateway.com or BibleHub.com or Bible.com or whatever tool you prefer) for "put to death" or "purge the evil" when using the NIV translation.  Since recurring themes are present, I've made a pass at categorizing them:

Disrespecting God (the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd commandments)

• Exodus 22:20 - apostasy
• Leviticus 24:16 - blasphemy
• Numbers 25:5 - false gods
• Deuteronomy 13:1-5 - false gods
• Deuteronomy 13:6-11 - false gods
• Deuteronomy 13:12-18 - false gods
• Deuteronomy 17:2-7 - false gods
• Deuteronomy 18:20 - misrepresentation

Disrespecting the Sabbath (the 4th commandment)

• Exodus 31:14-15
• Exodus 35:2
  

Disrespecting your parents (the 5th commandment)

• Exodus 21:15
• Exodus 21:17
• Leviticus 20:9
• Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Disrespecting human life (murder, the 6th commandment)

• Genesis 9:5-6
• Exodus 21:12-14
• Exodus 21:22-23 - the preborn
• Exodus 21:29
• Leviticus 20:1-5 - infanticide
• Leviticus 24:17
• Leviticus 24:21
• Numbers 35:16-18
• Numbers 35:21
• Numbers 35:31
• Deuteronomy 19:11-13
  

Disrespecting human sexuality (sexual immorality, the 7th commandment)

• Exodus 22:19 - bestiality
• Leviticus 20:10 - adultery
• Leviticus 20:11 - incest: mother
• Leviticus 20:12 - incest: daughter-in-law
• Leviticus 20:13 - homosexuality
• Leviticus 20:14 - incest: mother-in-law
• Leviticus 20:15 - bestiality
• Leviticus 20:16 - bestiality
• Deuteronomy 22:21 - fornication/promiscuity
• Deuteronomy 22:22 - adultery
• Deuteronomy 22:23-24 - adultery
• Deuteronomy 22:25 - rape

Disrespecting human dignity (human trafficking, relates to the 8th and 10th Commandments)

• Exodus 21:16
• Exodus 22:22-24
• Deuteronomy 24:7

Others (only mentioned once, still applicable today)

• Exodus 22:18 - sorceress
• Leviticus 20:27 - mediums
• Leviticus 27:29 NLT - people God says should die, should die
• Deuteronomy 17:12 - disrespecting God's ambassadors

These weren't the only moral decrees God made (for examples, do a text search for "detestable", "dishonor", or "wicked") but since these were punishable by the most extreme punishment, they were arguably the most important, or highest priority. They could be called the minimum system requirements to be moral. Logically speaking, as with breaking any of the 10 Commandments, from a Biblical perspective, when we commit any of these capital crimes, regardless of whether we are caught and executed or not, or if we even just encourage/ enable others to commit them, then we earn ourselves the label "immoral."

If we dislike or disagree with God on any of these topics, that doesn't change the fact that God is God and the rest of us are not. It's been said that God was the only one around when the votes were cast, and there's never going to be a recount (Isaiah 43:10). Believers don't call the Bible true or inerrant because they happen to like or agree with 100% of what it says the first time they read it. The Bible is true independent of our feelings, and is confirmed by fulfilled prophecy and all observable (objective) reality.

If we aren't crazy about capital punishment then it's easy to say now, almost 3,500 years later, "what the hell?" when we read all these cases. I don't need to defend the opinion of our omnipotent Creator, instead, let's look at the reaction of the people He "imposed" these deadly rules on. Did they feel God was being harsh, shocking, cruel, or the modern buzzword: oppressive?

Near the end of Moses's most famous sermon, after being told/ reminded of all the above, the people responded by claiming God's commands: (all following quotes are from the WEB translation)

• The things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. -Deuteronomy 29:29b

King David lived under the law, hundreds of years later, just as much as the people to whom Moses spoke to personally. Here are a couple of David's comments/attitudes:

• Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes. -Psalm 19:7-8
• Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. -Psalm 107:1
• I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free. -Psalm 119:32

Of course, I'm not advocating we have an Old Testament revival and erect gallows and start lining people up for execution. These laws identified above established crimes for the nation of Israel (besides Genesis 9:6, which came much earlier) and in a literal sense do not transfer from their theocracy to my nation's democracy. But what does transfer is the timeless nature of the sentiment upon which the laws originated. When God established the Israelites as a nation, He set them up with a theocracy, and one of the first things He did (as any human monarch might do) was inform the people of His opinion on some moral behavior. These opinions established the boundaries of freedom people would have, just as every government on earth still does today. Because all civilizations are defined by what they won't tolerate. God's opinion should always trump any man's opinion because of the nature of being God.

Nothing new

The temptation to replace God-defined right and wrong with popular opinion is about as old as humanity itself. Adam, Eve, and the serpent thought they could replace God's reality with a reality they made up, as recorded in Genesis 3:1-6. It didn't work out well for them, and it won't work out well for us, either, if we reject God's explicit command(s). Did you notice in the original command, in Genesis 2:16-17, the restriction came after the declaration of freedom? The first thing God said was "you may freely eat of every tree of the garden." It was just that one tree next to the Tree of Life that they were restricted from (Genesis 2:9). And that made it a target. The point is, besides God is God, God is good, so when He defines morality for us, we should care, take Him seriously, believe Him, and obey. When we believe someone then we act like they're right.

Remember when Jesus did exactly the same thing? When He walked among us, one of the ways Jesus slammed the leaders of the day was to point out that they had disregarded something that God had declared a capital crime. Read it yourself in Matthew 15:1-9. Notice the religious leaders were claiming something was wrong and Jesus responded that for the sake of their popular opinion on right and wrong they were ignoring God's opinion on right and wrong. Jesus didn't call for everyone who violated to be executed in a catch-up clean-up act, but He did use an example from the law which prescribed capital punishment to make a point about remembering and honoring what God cares about. I'm doing the same thing now. Don't miss the religious leaders were whining about a ceremonial hand washing and Jesus replied with a moral capital crime. Further, Jesus dismissed their ceremonial concern and attacked their moral deficiency.

In Jesus's most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, He started off with what we now call the beatitudes. Almost the next thing He said was He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Then He spends the rest of what we now consider chapter 5 raising the bar on moral laws. For now, I'll just point out Matthew 5:21-22, where He didn't just remind us we're not to murder, but He also forbade us even hating people. Not only did Jesus leave murder a capital offense (as opposed to loosening the expectation & penalty) now thanks to Him we need to fear the fires of hell too! This was actually the first time the Bible explicitly mentioned hell by name. The second time was in Jesus's next breath, when He talked about adultery. Here again He raised the bar, made it harder to comply with the law, and raised the stakes by increasing the penalty for violation by introducing hell (Matthew 5:27-29). If Jesus was some peace-loving dope-smoking social justice warrior who advocated "make love not war," then if we heard Him say this we'd probably have responded "what the hell!?" (And we'd probably have called Him demon-possessed.) But really, do you think just maybe God thinks we should take Him seriously and use His definition of morality rather than arbitrarily making up our own (Matthew 6:33)?

So What?

Even though the literal Israelite laws no longer apply today, the opinion of our Creator remains. Do we care? Paul warned us in Galatians 6:7:

• Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Don't think for a second that because of Jesus's sacrifice we are off the hook. Paul warned us away from this foolish wishful thinking in Romans 6:1-2:

• What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?

As did the author of Hebrews 10:26-27:

• For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

Certainly God was exasperated with His people in the Old Testament.  Just one example was Jeremiah 8:6:

• I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

And if their perspective wasn't enough, then remember Jesus's warning in Matthew 4:17:

• From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

And Jesus's warning in Revelation 2:16:

• Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Repenting requires that we stop making immoral choices and encourage others to stop too. What is immoral? At least the actions God felt were capital offenses and the prohibitions in the 10 Commandments (Romans 7:7b). (Though some good runners up are things He hates, including but not limited to Proverbs 6:16-19, Isaiah 61:8, Zechariah 8:17, and Revelation 2:6.) Why does God care so much that He declared anything to be a capital crime in the first place? Because God is holy and not a fan of evil, but more to the point He cares about us and wants us to live long lives in fellowship with Him. But don't just take it from me, He gave His reasoning in Deuteronomy 19:19b-21a:

• You shall remove the evil from among you. Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you.

Later, in Ezekiel 18:23, He elaborated:

• “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?”

Once we've earned the label "immoral," what is a holy God to do with us, other than get rid of us? The good news (the gospel) is that God came to earth to save us from our predicament. This concept was summarized by Peter in Acts 4:10-12:

• May it be known to you all... that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!

The only trick is we must take God at His word and accept this wonderful gift, then live more holy (moral) and obedient lives as evidence of our choice (Matthew 7:21, 1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Good & Bad

Let's be clear on the parallel here between moral and immoral to good and evil. Because God said to Isaiah "woe to those who call evil good, and good evil" in Isaiah 5:20. God taught a lot when He was incarnate, including: "out of the heart come evil thoughts - murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" (Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21-22). Does that list of "evils" sound familiar? I hope so:

• Murder: 6th commandment
• Adultery: 7th commandment
• Sexual immorality: 7th commandment plus all the other sexual choices God declared "wicked", "detestable", or "dishonorable" in Leviticus 18-20
• Theft: 8th commandment
• False testimony: 9th commandment
• Slander: expansion on the 9th commandment, possibly similar to how He raised the bar on murder and adultery in Matthew 5:21-32

Of course there are a ton of other evil and good claims in the Bible, both before and after Jesus's resurrection. And there was Malachi 2:17, where he lamented

• You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and He delights in them.’

Instead of wearying God, let's call evil "evil" and good "good," using God's definition, encourage others to too, and prioritize voting for representatives who do.

Further, as important of a start as it is, it's not good enough to simply acknowledge good and evil, we should punish God-defined evil and reward good: AM 5:15, ROM 12:9 (and certainly not do the opposite PR 17:15, ISA 5:20). May it be said of us, we "believed the Lord, and He credited it to [us] as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

The only way to sleep in bed?

Any patent can relate to this. Mom and dad are in bed and junior is asleep in his or her bed. Next thing we know our kid is climbing in with us and gets right in the middle of the bed, between mom and dad. Ok, we think, as long as you're polite and just go to sleep, whatever, you can stay. But next thing we know, junior is laying sideways between you. One parent gets a skull bumping into them and the other is getting kicked by a pair of restless feet. A few moments later and junior rotates again and now he is head down at the bottom of the bed, feet kicking both parents in the head or torso.

This is when a parent, especially the dad, is going to be inspired to say "wait a minute, there's only one way to sleep in bed with mommy and daddy, and that's head up, feet down, still, and quiet."

If we were to write that down, someone could take our comment out of context and rip into us. "There's only one way!? You're such an antagonist, or fascist. You micromanager, why are you so narrow-minded?" The fun part is in this specific example of parent-child bed-sharing, the comment made by the hypothetical parent was perfectly right in context, and just appeared mean out of context.

The limitation imposed by the dad wasn't something the dad even wanted to give. When the dad was woken up from an otherwise good and well-deserved sleep by a little child who climbed over (on top of) him to lay between him and his wife, the first thing to come to mind wasn't "there's only one way," nor "how can I limit this person." It's cute when a kid comes in bed, and especially if they had a bad dream and just want to snuggle, most parents most of the time would be fine with that. It is after the child has rotated and bumped (with skull, shoulders, elbows, hands, and knees) and kicked countless times every couple minutes does the dad resign to giving a command he doesn't think any thinking person should need to hear.

An outside observer who saw nothing and heard only "there's only one way to lay in bed" could easily ask "considering we can choose between sleeping on our back, our side, and our stomach, are you saying most of those are wrong? The trick is those are higher levels of thinking that the dad was well aware of but not what the child needed to hear. Also, ironically, almost all (if not all) of us, even those who might object to the father saying there's only one way, would agree with the father that the child laying in those obstructive ways is unacceptable. When the child wants to be with the father, then the father has the right to make the command there's only one right way to sleep with me. Because what's easier to say (a) "there's only one right way to sleep with me, and that's head up," or (b) "don't lay sideways, don't bump me nor mommy with your head, don't hit us, don't kick us, neither in the side nor in our head." Option B is more technically accurate, but sounds more negative and picky. Don't don't don't. Option A is actually constructive, advising the child what they should do to bring mutual happiness.

The parents look forward to the day when the one way to sleep together is accepted by all, and then at that point, they may need to advance to discussing if it matters (contextually) whether they lay on their side, back, or stomach.

In the same way, God our Father has declared there's only one way to be with Him. Only after we accept this can we be accurate that one size doesn't fit all and there are many ways to please Him. Jesus's disciples were told this to their faces in Mark 9:38-41 (and Luke 9:49-50). But all the nonbelievers need to take more seriously John 14:6, Luke 9:35, Acts 4:11-12, and 1 Timothy 2:5 before they try to claim Mark or Luke 9.

He said it, he meant it, and he was right

In the 1978 original Superman movie, there was a scene where poor, accident-prone Lois Lane, happens to be in a helicopter that has an improper takeoff. At the dramatic pinnacle, she ends up dangling over the edge of a skyscraper by nothing other than her handhold on her seat belt. Clark Kent (Superman's alter ego) happens to be walking by underneath, he notices the emergency situation, and leaps into action. Here's the clip on YouTube (note, Lois does a lot of screaming, and the music is loud)

https://youtu.be/394jYH82s2o

When Superman swoops up and catches Lois, he says something huge. Did you catch it? It wasn't a huge theological sermon. It wasn't at face value, or out of context, a very interesting statement. And in a million other circumstances, his comment could even be laughed at. But when and where he said it, it was incredibly profound, especially for the person he said it to. He said, "easy miss, I've got you." The key is he volunteered to position himself to say it, he said it, he meant it, and he was right. Anyone else could have said two of the three, but not been helpful.

• If someone said and meant it, but wasn't right, she'd be dead.
• If someone said it and was right, but didn't mean it, she'd probably be dead.
• If someone could have said it but didn't, would have meant it if they had said it, and really had the power to be right, she'd be dead.

Immediately after he said that to Lois, in disbelief she gives her famous reply, "You've got me! Who's got you!?" She neither understood nor believed the power he had to save her. But none-the-less, the proof was before her. His actions confirmed the truth of his words. A moment later the helicopter falls down from above, right on top of them, and Superman nonchalantly catches it. He keeps flying upward, peacefully calm, in dramatic contrast to the falling down Lois experienced moments before. As he lifts both her and the helicopter to safety, Superman looks at Lois with a whimsical expression of "no worries, I've got this, we're cool." After briefly meeting his gaze, Lois doesn't know what to do but look down in dumbstruck wonder at where she was sure she was going to have met her death only a moment ago.

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. (Some would say it often is.) Jesus made a few comments a couple of millennia ago that still resonate today, and are significantly more profound than those in the movie clip above. The movie clip has a fun soundtrack and camera angles, but Jesus's words (and deeds) were far more important. Here are some quotes from the Bible:

• John 10:30 ​WEB: “I and the Father are one.”
• John 14:6b ​WEB: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
• Mark 10:33-34 ​WEB: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, spit on Him, scourge Him, and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again.”

Jesus volunteered to position Himself to say these things to us. He left heaven, which cannot be underestimated. Read a brief account of what He temporarily gave up in Revelation 4:2-11. Most of us wouldn't leave that for a second, let alone for multiple decades. And we wouldn't trade that setting for 5-star luxury, but Jesus traded it to live as a pauper. Long before Jerry Siegel dreamed up Superman and Joe Shuster drew him for the world in 1938, Jesus came to be the Savior of mankind. He volunteered to speak to us, He said some things, He meant them, and He was right.

• Matthew 28:5-6 ​WEB: The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just like He said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.”

Jesus said many other things that cause many of us to look away, dumbstruck. His actions, especially His rising from the dead, proved the truth of His words. He said it, He meant it, and He was right. I believe Him, I hope you do too.

My first shot in 25 years

I had a chance to use the shooting range today. It's my first time using live ammo since my dad took me when I was in high school, about 25 years ago. Not bad results, if I say so myself. Might be related to all those video games, not that I've played them in 15 years either, though.

Each hit is circled in red in the photo above, but the first hit is pointed at, too. Four to the chest, one to the head, and 6 to the shoulder. Eleven shots, seven yards, zero misses.

Since I'm moving to Kentucky next month and they allow anyone of age and in good standing to carry a firearm (link), I thought it good to try my hand again.

Leaving a Fortune 100 corporation for a Christian apologetic ministry

God is good. All the time. No matter what happens to me or my family. But it sure is cool when He chooses to bless me. Which happens all the time, but sometimes are more dramatic than others. Recently I had one of those times. Here's the story. (It's clearly not the short version, but it's not the long version either.)

Background

I worked at a Fortune 100 corporation for 19.5 years. I was hired by them right out of college. (My testimony about that experience, and how God was clearly involved, was documented on my website, here.) In the early years of our marriage, my wife and I heard about Ken Ham and his desire to build a $100 million museum dedicated to encouraging people the Bible is full of real history, especially Genesis 1-11. When construction was completed in 2007, we went as soon as we could. We rented an RV and made it part of a wonderful family vacation.

Creation Museum gardens

The way I describe to everyone what the museum is like is to compare it to the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie, Jurassic Park. In that movie, there was a scene when they first arrived on the island. There was a small caravan of Jeeps driving and they suddenly stop. The main characters abruptly stop talking and stare, mouths open. The camera shifts and pans to reveal a humongous dinosaur, eating from the trees.

A scene from Jurassic Park

The John Williams music starts, and the camera pans again across an entire field full of dinosaurs. The emotional set up is just awesome, brilliant even. And the visuals, which are still acceptable today (almost 30 years later) were beyond excellent for their time. That same level of awe and excellence is what the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky inspires. Only in this case, the awe it inspires is in the Bible, or more specifically in how God has been at work in human and universal history.

That guy, Ken Ham, founded an organization named Answers in Genesis before he built the museum. They are responsible for the museum, which was an instant success. It was so popular, that within the first couple years after it opened they were already thinking about how to take their mission to the next level. Their answer was to build a life-sized replica of Noah's Ark. To do this they would need a lot more land. So they bought some about 45 minutes south of the museum. After raising more funds, they built another $100 million museum, which happens to be the largest wooden structure in the world. This museum is the centerpiece of a larger theme park that is intended to [eventually] deliver a similar experience as Disney World, only with a lot more purpose than simply entertaining.

My family and I were able to visit the Ark the fall after it opened, in 2016. While making the hotel reservations, I asked the receptionist how business was doing since the Ark opened. She said for a month and a half after the grand opening, there was not a room available in 30 miles. There are over 50 hotels in that area.

Ark Encounter opening season (top 2) Creation Museum main entrance (bottom)

Then this last summer (2019) my wife and I took our kids on our 8th visit to the museum and our 2nd visit to the Ark. While there, I found myself thinking "I could see myself moving here to work with these people." But I was thinking in like 10 or 20 years.

One of the top reasons I've always appreciated the Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter, and Answers in Genesis as a whole, is they aren't just a bunch of religious zealots who spout "believe what we believe because we believe it!" The organization is run by a bunch of level headed people who know how to engage PhDs and use science to confirm the Bible. They are very explicit that they start with the Bible because it is truly the recorded word of the living God, and then they discover how science confirms it. They don't start with man's ideas of science (which are always changing) and then fit the Bible on top of that. They start with the Bible and show that all observable reality fits, whether archaeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, logic, math, physics, etc. And they do it in a way that a child can understand.

One of the exhibits inside the Ark

Change of plans

The day before Thanksgiving, I got an unexpected email. My company leadership was planning ahead. Our customers, through no fault of ours, were going to have a hard year. Another hard year. This meant our company was going to have a hard year. And the fastest way to deal with such difficulty is to lower the salary overhead. But this is a great company, and people weren't fired. As a precaution they offered a program. Anyone who got the invitation to leave would be given a generous incentive package if they permanently left. I got the invitation. I had no desire to leave, and was not compelled to. But I did realize this was a very unique opportunity. I thought to myself, "there's only one place in the world for which I would give up this sweet deal of a job I have here." Of course, I was thinking of Answers in Genesis, builders of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter. But I wasn't going to take company time to look into it, and filed the email away. After Thanksgiving was done (Sunday evening) I mentioned the invitation to my wife. I didn't tell her what I was thinking about it, I just mentioned it to get her honest response. The only thing she said was "Answers in Genesis?" so we prayed about it (together and out loud).

This wasn't the first time we'd prayed something like this. On numerous occasions in the last decade we've asked God if He wanted to use us in another part of the country by transferring us inside the same company. A good six to twelve months of this same prayer had preceded an offer a little over a decade ago to transfer from one of our factories (where my career had begun) to the corporate office. Since then on numerous occasions we've prayed a similar prayer, and God's response was always "no, you are right where I want you." So, we once again prayed "God, if you want us to go [to Kentucky], then make it easy. If you don't want us to go, then make it not easy." Then I went to the AiG website, browsed their open positions, and applied for the one that looked the most aligned to my experience and skill, which was a project manager position in one of their IT departments.

Exactly 9.9 years earlier, I had my only quasi-professional experience with AiG. I went on a mission trip with them to the Vancouver Olympics. (It was my wife's idea that she would stay home and watch the 3 kids by herself while I go off and do this cool thing with a bunch of cool people.)

Vancouver Olympics mission trip, Jan 2010

The point is, I met a guy there. Not just any guy, but he happened to work in the same town, in the same building, and for that same Fortune 100 corporation as me! We'd never met each other before then, but God used this mission trip to connect us. He runs a local creation science apologetics ministry and has invited to town guest speakers from AiG numerous times in the last decade. I have attended them with one of my kids a few times.

So after applying online, I immediately told this same friend. I told him I was willing to leave the company, had just applied at AiG, and asked if he had any contacts there then I'd appreciate him putting in a good word for me. I knew he must know someone there, because he's invited guest speakers over. Little did I know, he knew their president. He sent a brief, positive recommendation email, and the president forwarded it on with a simple comment to make sure my application was noticed.

By the third or fourth phone call with the hiring manager for that project manager position, he said to me "you're not really a project manager, are you?" Then he asked "have you ever heard of a Business Analyst?" It's been 19 years since I needed a resume. So I rebooted mine that same night after my wife and I prayed about the voluntary separation invitation. In my haste, I'd listed the detail that I earned a Master's degree, but had left out my area of study. I informed him "yes, that's what my Master's degree emphasis was." He said "good, we've been needing that kind of skill for a long time," and he was interested in creating a new position on his team for me to fill.

What?? We all know (hopefully) that God is given credit as being able to work miracles, and otherwise just have an amazing way of timing things. But I don't think we all appreciate how that's not just an academic or theologic ethereal concept. It's real. God isn't in the business of paint by numbers. (If we do this then He's not obligated to do that.) He's much more relational. He cares about each of us individually and wants to be accepted as part of our lives. And even when we acknowledge that God is good all the time, we all hear "no" and "later" a lot, so it's sure fun when He says "yes." Especially on something big.

So the next step was to tell the kids. Before I accepted a career change, I wanted the kids to feel as if they had at least a little say. We had a family meeting and brought the kids up to speed on what was happening and what looked like was about to happen. In short, they were on board. The next day I had to tell my boss I was leaving. I scheduled an informal talk in the café (not in use at the time) and told him there. He took it well, as I suspect he (and all managers) was coached to. In all the stress and hustle of what was going on, I had forgotten that a decade prior, when we both lived in the previous town, we served on the same tech team at the same church (it was a big team at a big church and we never really saw each other). Small world. He of course was sad to see me go, but excited for such a leap of faith I was proposing. The term "bitter sweat" came up, and would be used countless times in the next couple days, weeks, and months.

But there were a lot of details to iron out. Was I for real, applying out of the blue, offering to give up a six-figure salary in a multinational corporation with 60,000 employees with factories in 10 countries to work for a ministry with 600 employees with brick and mortar in only 1 state? Were they for real wanting my specific skills and experiences? I flew out on New Year's day to talk with the hiring manager. I wish I'd gotten a better photo than this:

Interviewing on site

We spent the whole day together and we ended it with dinner with his boss. All went great, we both concluded that we were both for real, and God was clearly at work in both of our lives. That weekend he submitted the paperwork to HR to create the new position for me.

Wrapping up one chapter

I'm not the only business analyst in the world. It's such a common thing that I was able to find a Master's program in it. But yet, it's still not that common. Further, it's actually more rare for an organization to prioritize having a business analyst than it is to find a business analyst. But finding the right person who's the right fit for the organization can be deceptively tricky. While God chose to "bless our socks off" with the upcoming transition, don't think everything in our lives is fairytale worthy. This blessing only came after a lot of brokenness, and that brokenness emphasizes God's involvement in this whole transition.

In 2013, my wife and our oldest daughter flew with me to China to adopt a little boy.

The lobby of the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou, China 

He turned out to have more challenges than anyone knew. He is non-verbal and didn't cope well with how he spent the first 3 years of his life. (He was raised in an orphanage.)  By early 2020, he has been with us for almost 7 years, and is about 9 and a half years old. But in many ways (certainly not all, and not all the time) he still has the maturity of a 3-year-old. In case you're wondering, it's more difficult than it sounds to raise a human who has the self-discipline of a 3-year-old yet the physical and intellectual skill (resourcefulness) of a 9-year-old. Yes, my wife is a saint.

After he'd been with us for two years (and he was 5) we tried sending him to preschool. While we'd sent all three of our girls to preschool, since my wife homeschooled all four of the kids then, our primary motivation for sending the boy to preschool was to give him reinforcement from other adults how he should behave. Unfortunately, that intention backfired. Perhaps I'll write a blog article going into the detail some time, but it's not the point now. I'll save you the time reading if you trust me that we were very frustrated by not just one school, but three. Each of these three schools had their positives. I'm not a mean brute. In their own way, they were fine. But their arrogance of skill for my special needs son was completely ridiculous, their ability to help was wholly inadequate, and their results were often disaster that my wife and I were stuck doing the damage control on. The insight was we were working with perfectly good people with adequate skill and intelligence to deliver on what we needed, but they had a critical flaw that was too embarrassing to admit. That flaw was they were broke. Organizations that are broke have a difficult time handling people who don't fit the one size fits all paradigm. It's especially offensive to call organizations with multiple million-dollar budgets in the richest nation on earth, "broke." But that was more the problem than the individual teachers and administrators who worked with my son. Their financial situation dictated how much resources they could spend on him, and when that wasn't enough their choice was to admit inadequacy or blame him for being too difficult. Sadly, they always chose the latter, and this conscious choice was the source of our annoyance as much as anything else.

Besides school, my son didn't fit in well at church, either. To make a long story short and avoid criticizing people who have more good than bad, the Sunday before Thanksgiving of 2019 was the first Sunday in 9 years that I'd chosen to try another church. And that same week (3 days later) I got the invitation email to take a voluntary separation. Is that God's timing or what?

The other point is, life is not all peaches and roses, even when wonderful blessings from God are poured out. God often breaks things before He blesses them, and it's in this brokenness that it's most important that we remember God is good all the time, no matter what happens to us. My family's lives were in significant turmoil, so when we prayed that Sunday night after I told my wife about the voluntary separation invitation, it was not just some academic prayer of "God, if you want us to go, then make it easy, and if you don't want us to go, then make it not easy." We were very serious. If God wanted us to stay in this deeply frustrating town longer, then we would. But if it was within His will to let us go try somewhere different, we'd love that.

Great timing

Not all our reasons for leaving were frustrations. There were at least a couple that were just plain great.  For one, all 3 of my girls have been taking Tae Kwon Do for over two years. They've been working hard to earn their black belts. They passed the final test and successfully earned these honors during the window in which I was able to accept the voluntary separation. It took them 27 months to earn their black belts. I had no idea I was going to get the invitation, and the invitation had a limited window of only 3 weeks. By completing this milestone training here (all in one town) makes a very clean break for them.  Praise God for His good timing.

Similarly, my oldest daughter is planning to go to college this fall. There are 3 colleges in the community in which we live. We looked at all 3, hoping one of them would suit her. We also looked at a couple farther away. In November, she decided she liked the one farthest away. We were a little sad she didn't pick one more conveniently closer to home. Then all this happened and we decided we're moving to Kentucky, 6.5 hours away. The university she had chosen (before I even got the voluntary separation invitation) is almost halfway between our old home and our new home. Whoa!

If our son's school situation wasn't clearly headed south (for the third time in three tries), or our daughter had chosen to attend any of the colleges in town, or our church was able to meet my family where we are, then any of these may have caused us to just pass on the invitation. But God has His way of pointing us in new directions we otherwise might think are crazy.

Goodwill

As I've made clear, I wasn't planning to leave my company, nor my many friends whom I'd made over 19.5 years, nor the legacy I'd been building up over that time. I'm the kind of guy that my leadership and my colleagues told me countless times they wished they could clone me. I was the only one who knew how to do certain things. Not a safe scenario to allow in a global corporation. I'd asked my bosses every year for the last 10 years (I've had 4 over that time) to have a contingent or a student who could be my understudy. But the answer was always a flat no, we can't afford that. The party line was "this isn't quantum physics. If you leave we'll hire someone and limp along for a few months, but we'll manage." Unfortunately, the terms of the voluntary separation I accepted specifically denied my department the ability to backfill me. This wasn't my problem, but none-the-less, I worked 80 hours that week between New Year's and my last day of work. (The last day of work was dictated by the terms of the voluntary separation, and not my choice.) I've put in a lot of unpaid overtime over the last few years, but haven't worked an 80 hour week in over a decade (when I was helping my factory upgrade ERPs in 2006). But I did a few weeks ago, because I didn't want to leave my friends stranded without me. I got zero overtime pay for those extra 40 hours I put in (and I knew that before I did it.) This translated to five 12 hour days, plus 10 hours on Saturday and 10 more hours on Sunday. Even in those 80 hours I still didn't get everything done, but my friends, and my legacy, were left in better shape than if I had just up and left. There are plenty of smart, talented people I worked with, and between those left after the volsep, they'll cover just fine. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to get out of their way (as much as they appreciated and relied on me) so leadership can see the other talent in our department. All large organizations have their issues, but as corporations go, the one I left is a great one. I wish them success in their professional mission and in their private endeavors.

A final photo as I left my office on my last day of work

Then there's the salary. My wife and I had committed to giving a full tithe before I'd started my job at this corporation in the spring of 2000. Early on, she was working too, and we tithed both our gross incomes the full 10%. Then when the first kid came, she stopped working, we were down to one income, and we still tithed the full amount, trusting God would make it work. A pastor at church said he and his wife challenged themselves to give another 1% every year. So over the next 5 years, we upped our tithe 1% per year until it got to 15%. It's been over a decade like that now. Within a week of it hitting the bank, I had already given a full 15% of my severance package away to various explicit Christian ministries and missionaries whom we already know and trust, and we will continue to tithe at least 10% with the new job at AiG, even though I will be bringing home less than half as much as I did when I worked for the corporation. Because 90% (or less) with God's blessing is better than 100% without it and, like 15 years ago, we still trust God will make it work. Because God is good, all the time, no matter what happens to me and my family.

Maybe I'll write another post about God's involvement in our housing and other aspects of the transition, later. There's plenty more good stuff to share...