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The Christian Life — You’re Either Climbing or Slipping

Sometimes we fail to understand how powerful compromise can be in our lives. No one falls away from God overnight. It’s something that happens over time a slow, methodical process.  The moment you stop going forward as a Christian is the moment you will begin to go backward. If you put your Christian experience in neutral, then you will go downhill, because this is an uphill climb.  As one person put it, “The Christian life is a lot like a greased pole. You are either climbing or slipping.”

Applying Yourself Spiritually

In fact, the Bible tells us that in the last days some will fall away from the faith (see 1 Timothy 4:1). The question is, do you want to be one of those people?

You don’t have to be. It begins with applying yourself spiritually and avoiding taking unnecessary chances.

The evangelist Billy Sunday said, “One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake!”

The Bible says, “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else” (James 1:13 NLT).

Along these same lines, the writer of Romans pointed out, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Romans 6:16 NLT).

For sin to flourish in our lives, we must cooperate. And far too often we don’t take responsibility for our actions. We are living in a time when no one accepts responsibility for their actions anymore. It is absolutely shocking to see the crimes people are getting away with and what is happening in our courts.  In our crazy, upside-down system, no one is responsible for anything they do. We are all victims. We are all dysfunctional. However, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, then you need to recognize that you must take responsibility for your actions.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam offered what appeared to be the first recorded excuse in the history of humanity. After he fell into sin, he effectively said to God, “It isn’t my fault. I’m not responsible. It’s the woman you gave me.”

Next was Eve, who offered the second recorded excuse in history: “The serpent deceived me. … That’s why I ate it” (Genesis 3:13 NLT).

Protecting Your Mind

When Satan wanted to lead Adam and Eve into sin, he started by attacking Eve’s mind. Paul warned, “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NLT).

In our minds we reason, contemplate, dream and fantasize. The Bible says, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments” (2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT).

We are living in a time when we’re barraged with images. We can access hundreds of television channels with worthless things to watch. Or, we can go off into cyberspace and explore all kinds of things. People are filling their minds with this content, and some of it is evil and perverse. And sooner or later, what we consume will work its way into our lives.  Just as what we eat affects the way we feel and act, what we feed our minds affects the way we behave. Thoughts translate into actions.  Certainly, we are living in a day when immorality seems to be at all-time high. Lust and passion continue to devastate countless lives every day. Scores of fatherless children are growing up without morals and absolutes as people treat sex casually and don’t stop to think about the consequences.  When I was a teenager back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was a time of great revolution and change. We were pushing away all the boundaries and discovering things for ourselves. And what a Pandora’s box that turned out to be.  The Bible tells the story of Samson, who had all the potential to be someone great for God and lead his nation out of the state of backsliding they had fallen into. Humanly speaking, he had superman qualities. There was no one physically stronger than he was. Mentally, he was sharp, clever and alert.  Though Samson was strong in some ways, he was very weak in others, because he never learned to control himself.

Flee From Sin

Make no mistake about it: Sin is powerful, and it’s intoxicating. We think we can handle it, but we can’t. The Bible tells us, “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts” (2 Timothy 2:22 NLT).

Flee from sin. Don’t toy with it, because sooner or later, it will pull you in and trap you. That is what happened to Samson.  Of course, we all will sin. We all are going to fail and have our lapses. Maybe you’re thinking, “But my conscience is hard. It’s calloused.”

The good news is that Jesus Christ can resensitize your conscience. He can bring you back again. He can forgive you. Only God can do that for you, but you must turn from your sin.  The best prevention against falling into sin is a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.  When Jesus Christ is who He ought to be in our lives, we won’t be looking for other things to take His place. We won’t be looking for sin to fill the void in our lives, because we’ll be satisfied in our relationship with Him.  However, if you are a fence sitter, if you are a compromiser, if you are trying to live in both worlds, then it is only a matter of time until you go down.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12829811/Survivors-Nova-Festival-massacre-saw-woman-mutilated-Hamas-terrorist-shot-head-raping-harrowing-accounts-sexual-violence-October-7-attacks-released.html

Full horror of Hamas festival massacre is revealed - Survivors describe gang rape and mutilations, with the terrorists deriving sick pleasure from targeting men and women's genitals: 'They had a thing for sexual organs, breast amputation'

By Eirian Jane Prosser and Chris Jewers

Published: 01:41, 6 December 2023 | Updated: 10:58, 6 December 2023

Survivors of the Hamas festival massacre have recounted incidents of gang rape, torture, mutilations and the targeting of both men and women's genitals in shocking witness testimony that further reveals the horror of the October 7 attack on Israel.  One witness told Israeli police that they saw a woman mutilated by Hamas gunmen before a terrorist shot her in the head during a gang rape.  Others described hearing the screams of women as they were attacked, as well as seeing the gunmen amputate breasts and toss them to the side of the road.  Several people involved in the collecting and identifying of the bodies found in the aftermath have also recounted harrowing evidence of torture and murder to officials, describing how festivalgoers' genitals were shot, and how elsewhere they found victims murdered, tied to beds, and their genitals mutilated with knives.  While few victims of the atrocities are thought to have survived the attack, a selection of these recorded eyewitness accounts have been released by Israeli police, and seen by several news organisations.  Meanwhile, some of the few that did survive the attack are said to have been left suicidal, struggling to come to terms with what they saw.  With the release of the testimonies, Israel is calling on the international community to recognise Hamas's October 7 attack as a crime against humanity, with one senior official investigating sexual violence saying the terrorists came across the border from Gaza with a 'clear order' to use 'rape as genocide.'  One woman at the horrific scene said: 'There was one body of a woman that had a blood stain on her genitals, at first I thought she might have had a mishap out of fear. When we picked her up we knew for sure that it was blood.'

Another told officers in a recorded clip: 'Mainly there were a lot of gunshot wounds, also targeted shooting in the male genital area and we saw that a lot. They had a thing with sexual organs, both for women and men.  The women we received, they were civilians, we mainly saw either breast amputation or shooting just to the breast, simply shooting from one side of the breast to the other.  They were conscious when they got to us. For the men it was their genitalia, shooting genitals, they had a thing with that, or amputation.'

In one of the horrific statements recorded on video, a witness known only as Witness S described seeing a female victim being passed from one attacker to another as they raped her, while she 'bled from her back'.  The terror group went on to 'cut her breasts' before 'throwing it onto the road' and 'playing with it', the witness recalled.

She continues to say the victim was passed to another man in uniform.  'He penetrated her, and shot her in the head before he finished,' she said, according to the BBC who saw the video testimony. 'He didn't even pick up his pants; he shoots and ejaculates.'

The woman in the video described watching the militants as she pretended to be dead. 'I couldn't understand what I saw,' she said.

Another man who was at the festival as the bloody incursion unfolded, told the BBC he could hear the 'noises and screams of people being murdered, raped, decapitated'.

When asked by the broadcaster how he could be sure that the screams he heard indicated a sexual assault, he said he believed when listening at the time that the shouts could only have been as a result of rape.  In a statement the same man made through a support organisation, he described the attack carried out by the Hamas terror group as 'inhuman'.  'Some women were raped before they were dead, some raped while injured, and some were already dead when the terrorists raped their lifeless bodies,' his statement says. 'I desperately wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do.' 

Another witness, Ron Freger, fled the music festival when Hamas attacked and said he heard women screaming for help.  'I was lying in a pit and I hard a girl yelling 'they're raping me, they're raping me', he told Associated Press.

Several minutes later, he heard gunshots close by and she fell silent, he said.  'The feeling in that moment is one of complete powerlessness. I'm lying in this hole and I have no ability to do anything,' the 23-year-old explained.  I have no weapon, I have nothing, I'm surrounded by other people who are hiding with me and we're completely powerless.' 

Israel's Women's Empowerment Minister May Golan told the BBC that very few victims of rape or sexual assault had survived the attacks. Those that did are undergoing psychiatric treatment.  'But very, very few (survived). The majority were brutally murdered,' she said. 'They aren't able to talk not with me, and not to anyone from the government [or] from the media.'

Such accounts given to media organisations, along with the first assessments by an Israeli rights group, show that sexual assault was part of an atrocities-filled rampage by Hamas and other Gaza militants who killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages that day.  Two months after the Hamas attacks on the music festival, farming communities and army posts across southern Israel and close to Gaza, police are still struggling to put together the pieces.   In the immediate aftermath of the attack, priority was given to identifying bodies and not preserving evidence, making the investigation more challenging.  Now Israeli police say they are combing through 60,000 videos seized from the body cameras of Hamas gunmen. Footage from social media and security cameras will also be looked at in a bid to bring the perpetrators to justice. It has been hard to find rape survivors, however, as many were killed by their attackers.  But police say they now have 'multiple' eye-witness accounts of sexual assault.  They have not said exactly how many, and are yet to interview any of the surviving victims of the attacks.  In videos released by Israel that were recorded by Hamas gunmen on October 7, one woman who was handcuffed and taken hostages by the terrorists can be seen handcuffed with a large patch of blood staining the seat of her trousers.  Other women carried away by Hamas appear naked or semi-clothed.  Multiple photographs taken by those who arrived in the aftermath show the bodies of women, naked from the waist down, the BBC reports. Some have ripped underwear, legs splayed, with signs of trauma to their genitals and legs.  Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy, a legal expert at the Davis Institute of International Relations at Hebrew University, told the British broadcaster that it looked as if Hamas had learned how to 'weaponise women's bodies from ISIS'.  Minister May Golan said she had spoken to at least three girls who were hospitalised, and in a 'very hard psychiatric situation because of the rapes they watched.'

Israel's police chief Yaacov Shabtai echoed her comments, saying many survivors of the attacks were finding it difficult to come to terms with what they had seen.  Some are understood to be suicidal. One person working with the teams supporting the survivors told the BBC some had already killed themselves.  A serving soldier, who only used her first name Avigayil, spoke of how it was difficult to define how many victims were sexually assaulted during the attacks.  The soldier told the BBC: 'I've dealt with more than a few burned bodies and I have no idea what they went through beforehand.  'And bodies that are missing the bottom half I also don't know if they were raped. But women that were clearly raped? There are enough. More than enough.'

In another testimony, a combat medic told the Associated Press that he came across half a dozen bodies of women and men with possible signs of sexual assault when he reached one of the attacked communities.  One girl had been shot in the head and was lying on the floor, her legs open and pants pulled down, with what looked like semen on her lower back, said the medic who spoke on condition of anonymity because his unit was classified.  Other bodies had bleeding around the groin with limbs at distorted angles, he said.  One of the people tasked with collecting bodies from the attack sites while working with the Zaka religious volunteer organisations told the BBC that they saw signs of torture and mutilation which, he said, included a pregnant woman whose womb had been ripped open before she was killed.  The Zaka group and other volunteer organisations that handled bodies at the scene and once they arrived at the Shura army base for identification have provided much of the evidence. The BBC said it had been unable to verify the Zaka volunteer's account, and pointed out that Israeli media reports have questioned some of the testimony of volunteers who worked in the aftermath of the attack.  Another, Nachman Dyksztejna, provided written testimony detailing how he saw the bodies of two women in kibbutz Be'eri with their hands and legs tied to the bed.  'One was sexually terrorised with a knife stuck in her vagina and all her internal organs removed,' his statement says, according to the BBC.

A civil commission headed by Dr Elkayam-Levy, which has been tasked with collecting evidence and testimony of sexual crimes, is calling on the international community to recognise the October 7 attacks as being systematic abuse, constituting Crimes Against Humanity.  We see definite patterns,' she told the BBC in an interview. 'So it wasn't incidental, it wasn't random. They came with a clear order. It was […] rape as genocide.'   The has also IDF claimed that Hamas terrorists shot female Israeli soldiers 'in the crotch, intimate parts and breasts' as part of a 'systematic genital mutilation'.

Army reservist Shari Mendes said many bodies of female victims from October 7, both civilian and soldiers, arrived 'in bloody shredded rags or just in underwear'.

The soldier who had been working at Shura Army Base in central Israel where bodies were being identified was speaking at a UN event in New York on Monday titled 'Hear Our Voices: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the October 7 Hamas terror attack'.

She said: 'Our team commander saw several female soldiers who were shot in the crotch, intimate parts, vagina, or shot in the breast.  This seemed to be a systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims.  These women arrived with their eyes opened, their mouths in grimaces, their fists clenched,' she added.

'The soldiers that we dealt with had expressions of agony on their faces still.  I remember one young woman whose arm was broken in so many places it was difficult for us to lay her arm in the burial shroud, her leg too.  In her case the entire left side of her body was shredded, torn apart, most likely by a grenade.'

Hours after the video footage of the most recent testimonies were released, US President Joe Biden spoke of how women had been repeatedly raped and mutilated at the music festival.  Speaking in Boston last night he said: 'Reports of women raped repeatedly raped and their bodies being mutilated while still alive, of women's corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appalling.'

While investigators are still trying to determine the scope of the sexual assaults, Israel's government has accused the international community particularly the United Nations of ignoring the pain of Israeli victims.  While investigators are still trying to determine the scope of the sexual assaults, Israel's government has accused the international community particularly the United Nations of ignoring the pain of Israeli victims.

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Inviting God Into Our Pain
March 2, 2023
by Lysa TerKeurst

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8a (ESV)

In a recent season of my life, I felt like the heartbreak I was experiencing was going to break me.  The pain hit me with such sudden and sharp force that it felt like it cut through skin and bone. And it left me wondering if I’d ever be able to function like a normal person again.  Through that season, and even now, God has been tenderly reminding me that pain itself is not the enemy. Pain is the indicator that brokenness exists.  Pain is the reminder that the real enemy is trying to take us out and bring us down by keeping us stuck in broken places. If we can grasp God’s perspective, pain can be the gift that motivates us to fight with tenacity and fierce determination, knowing there’s healing on the other side.  And in the in-between?

In that desperate place where we aren’t quite on the other side of it all and our heart still feels quite raw?

Even still, pain is an invitation for God to move in and replace our faltering strength with His power.  Now, I’m not writing this to throw out spiritual platitudes that sound good; I write it from the depth of a heart that knows it’s the only way. We must invite God into our pain to help us survive the desperate in-between.  The only other choice is to run from the pain by using some method of numbing. But numbing the pain with food, achievements, drugs, alcohol or scrolling on social media never goes to the source of the real issue to make us healthier. It only silences our screaming need for help.  We think we’re freeing ourselves from the pain when, in reality, what numbs us imprisons us. If we avoid the hurt, the hurt creates a void in us. It slowly kills the potential for our hearts to fully feel, fully connect, fully love again. It even steals the best in our relationship with God.  Pain is the sensation that indicates a transformation is needed. There’s a weakness where new strength needs to enter. And we must choose to pursue long-term strength rather than temporary relief.  So how do we get this new strength?

When the deepest parts of us scream for some relief, how do we stop ourselves from chasing what will numb us?

How do we stop the piercing pain of this minute, this hour?

We invite God’s closeness.  For me, during this painful season of my life, this meant praying constantly. No matter how vast our pit of despair, prayer is big enough to fill us with the realization of His presence like nothing else does.  Our key verse today (James 4:8a) reminds us that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. When we invite Him to come close, He always accepts our invitation.  And on the days when my heart feels hurt and my words feel quite flat, I let Scripture guide my prayers recording His Word in my journal and then adding my own personal thoughts.  No matter where you are today knee-deep in heartbreak, taking steps of healing or in the desperate in-between today is a great day to invite God to come closer.  One of my personal favorite Bible passages to turn to is Psalm 91. I would love to share a verse and a prayer with you as an example for how you can prayerfully invite God into your own pain:

Verse: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1, NIV).

Prayer: Lord, draw me close. Your Word promises when I draw close to You, You are there. I want my “drawing close” to be a permanent dwelling place. I am not alone because You are with me. I am not weak because Your strength is infused in me. I am not empty because I’m drinking daily from Your fullness. You are my dwelling place. And in You, I have shelter from every stormy circumstance and harsh reality. I’m not pretending the hard things don’t exist, but I am rejoicing in the fact that Your covering protects me and prevents those hard things from affecting me like they used to. You, the Most High, have the final say over me. You know me and love me intimately. And today I declare I will trust You in the midst of my pain. You are my everyday dwelling place, my saving grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Friend, even if you only have a few moments to draw near to God through prayer today, I promise you’ll end up feeling a lot less desperate and a lot more whole. If we let Him enter into the darkness of our hurt today, He will open wide the door to a much brighter tomorrow.

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God Will Hold You
February 28, 2023
by Tracie Braylock

“For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah‬ 41‬:13‬ (NIV)‬‬

She came into the hospital for a major operation that involved multiple surgeons and skill sets. When I entered her room, she was alone, yet she seemed so calm and at ease.  As the operating-room nurse who would care for her during her surgery, I grabbed her hand, and she smiled up at me from the stretcher. Maybe it was a strong desire for relief that made her appear undisturbed about what was to come, or maybe she was this serene every day, but I found myself in awe of her bravery.  This woman was from another country, and we could not speak each other’s languages. What she was facing was very serious, and she was surrounded by people she couldn't even communicate with.  Later, as I watched her complicated operation unfold, I knew that even if we had spoken the same language, there were no words I could have offered her. All I could do was hold her hand and pray.  My friend, you might be struggling right now with what appears to be a monumental obstacle. It might seem like no matter how many people you’ve encountered, no one can even offer up words to guide you through. You may feel like you alone are face to face with your pain.  But I want to remind you of what Isaiah 41:13 says: “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

In the midst of your struggle and suffering, remember God is with you. He is holding your hand and reminding you not to fear. He will indeed help you.  You are not alone in this life or your situation. And even when it seems like there’s no one around who you can communicate with, no one who understands what you’re going through, God is with you. He cares, and He understands.  No diagnosis, divorce, disappointment or defeat is too big for Him to handle, so “let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, NIV).

We can surrender our burdens, our stress and our worry to God today.  And after we’ve made it through these life-altering situations, looking on with awe at all we’ve survived, we can be sure to give God the glory for all He’s held us through.

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How Can I Really Live a Life That Pleases God?
February 23, 2023
by Lysa TerKeurst

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence ..." 2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

When my kids were growing up, we spent a week each summer at a camp tucked in the Adirondack Mountains. It was an amazing getaway.  Nature erupts with untarnished beauty in those mountains and begs to be explored. So one year, when my exercise-loving friends, with whom we vacationed, suggested we join them for a moderate hike, we agreed.  It didn't take long for me to discover that their definition of the word “moderate” and mine didn't come from the same dictionary. I pictured a path with a gentle, winding, upward slope. What we actually hiked involved a full-on upward scaling of rocks and roots.  I pushed. I pulled. I strained. I huffed and puffed. And I might have even spent a few minutes pouting.  Going up against the pull of gravity was hard. Really, really hard. But coming down was a completely different experience. We navigated the same rocks and roots without feeling nearly as stressed. I actually even enjoyed the journey as I noticed more of the beautiful surroundings.  Though we took the exact same path both directions, going with the flow of gravity made the journey so much better. And about halfway down the trail, it occurred to me how similar this hike was to the Christian walk. We can either walk in the flow of God's power or out of it.  Scripture leaves no doubt that our God is a God of great power. This fact is made clear throughout the New Testament in passages like Luke 1:35, where we read that God's power overshadowed the young virgin Mary and allowed her to carry Jesus. Mark 14:62 proclaims that the resurrected Jesus now sits “at the right hand of Power” (ESV). And Romans 1:20 declares that creation itself makes God's power undeniable.  How incredible it is, then, to read in 2 Peter 1:3 that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence …”

God’s divine power is available to us. To you and me. Right now, through the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus that we find everything we need to live a godly life.  Of course, I realize godliness in the midst of a world overflowing with sin, pain and corruption may feel like a daunting and impossible feat. That's why I'm so thankful Peter lets us know that godliness in the midst of great darkness is possible. Because of Jesus, we can escape “the corruption that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4, ESV).

Jesus is our source of life and godliness.  We don't have to fight an uphill battle on our own to live good and pure lives. We don't have to exhaust ourselves as we try to muster up as much goodness as we possibly can. The Christian life has never been about what we can do in our own power. It's about fully stepping into the grace-filled flow of His power. This, friends, is what it really looks like to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  Do you feel exhausted from trying to be good enough?

Does living a life that is pleasing to God feel impossibly hard?

Well, I have good news for you today. Jesus never once says, “Perform for Me to save yourself.”

Instead, He tenderly whispers, “Draw near to Me.” (James 4:8)

He wants us to learn from Him. He wants us to discover who He is and all that we have in Him. He wants us to cling to the precious promises He has given us and receive from Him all we need to live for Him today.

I still believe he was guilty.

A guy was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night and in the middle of a storm. The night was rolling on and no car went by. The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.  Suddenly he saw a car coming toward him and stop.  Without thinking about it, the guy got into the back seat, closed the door and then realized there was nobody behind the wheel! The car starts slowly; the guy looks at the road and sees a curve coming his way. Scared, he starts to pray begging for his life.  He hasn't come out of shock, when just before he hits the curve, a hand appears through the window and moves the wheel. The guy, paralyzed in terror, watched how the hand appears every time right before a curve.  Gathering his strength, the guy jumps out of the car and runs to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he goes to a restaurant and starts telling everybody about the horrible experience he went through.  A silence enveloped everybody when they realize the guy was serious.  About half an hour later, two guys walked in the same restaurant. They looked around for a table when one said to the other, "Look John, that's the dummy who got in the car when we were pushing it."