Blog Archives - IRONSTRIKES

What is success?

7/31/2015

Don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven (Luke 10:20).

What’s your definition of success? People have said, “It’s being happy,” “Reaching my goals,” “Seeing people receive salvation.” One friend said, “Success is God’s prosperity in all areas of my life: spiritual, physical, financial, and relational.”

If we define success as achievement, how do we measure it? Perhaps by comparison? For instance, which looks more successful—a church of 30 members or a church of 2,000? A family with three children, an SUV, and a nice home in the suburbs or a single mom pushing her newborn in a donated stroller? When defined as achievement and measured by comparison, success seems straightforward: The more happiness felt, goals reached, souls saved, and prosperity achieved, the greater the success in our lives.

But when 72 excited disciples returned from a mission, Jesus taught them true success: “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” they said joyfully (Luke 10:17). Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!” (Luke 10:18). “Don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

What a radical redefinition of success. Results will come and go. What matters most is that heaven knows your name.

Fruitful lives matter to Jesus (John 15:1-4). Results matter, but they don’t matter the most. Achievement doesn’t define your success and comparison doesn’t measure its quantity. For Jesus, success is relational—it’s having your name written in heaven’s book in God’s handwriting (Revelation 3:5). And that’s a gift to be received from Him, not an achievement to be made (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Success is found in Christ alone.

This post was written by Sheridan Voysey or Our Daily Bread

Victoria's Secret model regrets her modeling

7/30/2015

Kylie Bisutti hit the big time at the tender age of 19 when she beat out 10,000 bikini beauties to win the 2009 Victoria’s Secret Model Search. So why was Bisutti nowhere to be seen during last year’s Victoria’s Secret runway extravaganza?

“Victoria's Secret was my absolutely biggest goal in life, and it was all I ever wanted career-wise. I actually loved it while I was there, it was so much fun and I had a blast. But the more I was modeling lingerie, and lingerie isn't clothing, I just started becoming more uncomfortable with it because of my faith,” Bisutti told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I'm Christian, and reading the Bible more, I was becoming more convicted about it.”

The California native, now 21, said that in the wake of baring her body as an Angel, she was also hosting parties, posing for men’s magazines, and craving more and more attention.

But she was not feeling good about herself.

“My body should only be for my husband and it's just a sacred thing," said Bisutti, who had gotten married just before winning the 2009 modeling competition. "I didn't really want to be that kind of role model for younger girls because I had a lot of younger Christian girls that were looking up to me and then thinking that it was okay for them to walk around and show their bodies in lingerie to guys.

“It was pretty crazy because I finally achieved my biggest dream, the dream that I always wanted, but when I finally got it, it wasn't all that I thought it would be. Especially being married I just wanted to keep my marriage sacred because divorce rates now in America are pretty high, and I just want to do everything I can to keep my marriage special.”

However, Bisutti hasn't left the entertainment industry entirely, just the posing in underwear part. She appears with Jennifer Lopez in a new Kohl’s commercial, and she'll be working on a new show set to air on the CW channel in September. Bisutti says she's glad she made her career shift, before it was too late.

“It is a very hard industry to be in without falling into things you don't want to do," she said. "I've fallen into many things that I wouldn't have wanted to do, it's a very tempting industry.”

“My goal is just to be a better role model for the youth, I just want them to see me as somebody that they can look up to and somebody that's going to be dressing appropriately and I'm not going to get into things that I wouldn't want them to be getting into,” she added. “I want to go over the top because I don't think enough people go over the top about how serious all this is. I just want people to see something different about me because I have that faith and I think it's so important for everyone to have.”

For the original post go to: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/02/kylie-bisutti-left-lingerie-modeling-because-it-didnt-mesh-with-her-christian/#ixzz2U1fXrbSy

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Ex-porn star tells what really goes on (part two)

7/29/2015

As I said in my previous post, Chatsworth, California produces 85% of the world’s adult content. All of the top female talent agencies are located in or within the Chatsworth local radius. Female performers are flown to Chatsworth to work in the adult industry. All of the world’s top male talents live or travel to Chatsworth for work. Every major and minor adult DVD Company is located in the local Chatsworth radius.

The California pornography industry is a destructive, drug infested, abusive and sexually diseased industry which causes severe negative secondary effects on female and male adult industry workers as well as the general public.

Another secondary negative effect of the adult industry includes exposure to drugs and drug addiction. Porn actress Erin Moore admits, “the drugs we binged on were Ecstasy, Cocaine, Marijuana, Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and alcohol.” Tanya Burleson, formerly known as Jersey Jaxin, says, “Guys are punching you in the face. You get ripped. Your insides can come out of you. It’s never ending. You’re viewed as an object—not as a human with a spirit. People do drugs because they can’t deal with the way they’re being treated.”

One male porn star says on his blog on January 28, 2008:

“Drugs are a major, major problem in my business. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you. I can’t tell you the number of girls who have disappeared and dropped out of the business because of their drug problems. It is unbelievably sad to think about, and seeing some of them fall into a downward spiral hurts me more than others. But I think we all can agree that a huge majority of drug users will never change unless they get professional help. I have seen all manner of drugs on set, at parties, in cars, everywhere. If I had to guess, I would put marijuana use at 90 percent of ALL people involved in the industry (performers, directors, crew, agents, drivers, owners, office workers, etc.). I have been on a set where a girl has passed out during a sex scene with me (she was abusing oxycontin). Just recently a girl overdosed on GHB (a party drug that is a clear odorless drug that doesn’t mix well with alcohol) on set. I have seen a girl win a prestigious AVN Award, not show up to accept the award, and then fall into the throes of drug use that caused her to lose at least 50 pounds and drop off the face of the earth. Why is drug use so prevalent in our business? Well, let’s figure that out. First of all, remember that the business is populated largely with girls aged 18-21. And the majority of those girls are uneducated (many haven’t graduated high school). Add to that the fact that many come into the business because they have no money and are working at menial jobs like fast food places. So you have young girls who are uneducated with very little money entering the business.

Once they are in the business, they are now making ten thousand dollars a month and working maybe 5 hours a day 10-15 days a month. There are predators out there that can smell these girls and prey on them like sharks. Young, uneducated girls with lots of money, lots of free time, and very little supervision. This is a really bad equation (unless you are a drug dealer of course).”

In addition to prevalent drug use, degradation and abuse is rampant in the pornography industry. In one study 100% of the strippers reported some kind of physical or verbal abuse on their jobs. Verbal abuse by customers is extremely common with 91% reporting incidents. They were routinely called degrading names. Besides the verbal abuse, all endured some type of physical abuse on the job. Despite the fact that it is illegal to touch a stripper, strippers reported that customers grabbed them by the arm (88%), grabbed their breast (73%), or their buttock (91%). Customers at strip clubs often assault the women. Customers pulled their hair (27%), pinched them (58%), slapped them (24%), or bit them (36%). They are often attacked in the strip club in front of bodyguards and other audience members.

Former pornographic performer Alex Devine shares her violent experience and writes:

“Donkey Punch was the most brutal, depressing, scary scene that I have ever done. I have tried to block it out of my memory due to the severe abuse I received during the filming. The guy, Steve French, has a natural hatred towards women in the sense that he has always been known to be more brutal than EVER needed. I agreed to do the scene thinking it was less beating, except the ‘punch’ in the head. If you noticed, Steve had worn his solid gold ring the entire time, and continued to punch me with it. I actually stopped the scene while it was being filmed because I was in too much pain.”

There is a very heavy emphasis on rougher, more sadistic sex, with slapping, spitting, violent hair-pulling and scenes of extremely abusive hardcore sex acts. In one film, the man forces the woman’s head into a toilet during the final scene, a technique that seems to help him achieve climax.

In California, every employer is required to ensure that employees have a safe working environment. In 1973, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to assure safe and healthful working conditions for all California working men and women by authorizing the enforcement of effective standards, assisting and encouraging employers to maintain safe and healthful working conditions, and by providing research, information, education, training, and enforcement in the field of occupational safety and health.

Employers in the California pornography industry are required to provide a safe and healthful workplace for employees, even pay the costs of a health and safety program, and yet this is not the standard in the adult industry. The accurate standard at present in the California pornography industry is that employers are completely ignoring the laws of the State of California to protect adult industry workers and are causing severe secondary negative effects on workers by subjecting them to physical and emotional abuse, major degradation and violence, illegal drugs, sexually transmitted diseases and entrapment into prostitution. This is the standard of the California pornography industry; any adult industry employer or worker who tells you differently is blatantly lying and does not value human life, but is rather destroying human life for the gluttonous love of money.

For the original post, go to: http://www.covenanteyes.com/2008/10/28/ex-porn-star-tells-the-truth-about-the-porn-industry/

Ex-porn star tells what really goes on (part one)

7/28/2015

The following is a post by Shelley Lubben. Shelley, a former porn actress, is the founder and president of The Pink Cross Foundation. Through the Pink Cross, Shelley is a missionary to the sex industry, reaching out to adult industry workers offering emotional, financial and transitional support for those who want out of porn. She also helps those struggling with pornography and victims of pornography. Her heart is to share the truth about porn and expose the darkness of it.

Chatsworth, California produces 85% of the world’s adult content. All of the top female talent agencies are located in or within the Chatsworth local radius. Female performers are flown or fly to Chatsworth to work in the adult industry. All of the world’s top male talents live or travel to Chatsworth California for work. Every major and minor adult DVD Company is in the local Chatsworth radius.

The California pornography industry is a destructive, drug infested, abusive and sexually diseased industry which causes severe negative secondary effects on female and male adult industry workers as well as the general public. I am confident of the above because not only was I a stripper, pornographic performer and escort in the California pornography industry from 1986 to 1994, but I have also counseled with or spoken to over 300 female and male workers in the pornography industry as well as those struggling with pornography addiction.

I have been working with adult industry workers since 2002, when I began volunteering as a teacher and counselor at local rescue missions and prisons in the State of California. I have worked at Madera Rescue Mission, Bakersfield Rescue Mission, Central California Women’s Facility Prison, and Valley State Prison for Women and have traveled throughout the United States as a speaker and counselor on the negative effects of pornography at various churches, recovery programs and secular organizations. My team and I currently work with hundreds of people struggling with pornography addiction in the Pink Cross Foundation Help Forums.

In my daily work of assisting women and men recovering from the pornography industry as well as those struggling with pornography addiction and gathering research over a period of several years, I have learned significant facts to prove that indeed the California pornography industry is causing severe secondary negative effects on adult industry workers as well as the general public, which is involuntarily exposed to pornography, especially children, whose average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is eleven years old.

It is estimated that there are 4.2 million porn Web sites—12% of the total amount of sites—allowing access to 72 million worldwide visitors monthly.
One-quarter of the total daily search engine requests, or 68 million, are for pornographic material, where 40 million Americans are regular visitors.
According to comScore Media Metrix, 71.9 million people visited adult sites in August 2005, reaching 42.7 percent of the Internet audience.
The United States adult film industry produces 4,000–11,000 films a year and earns an estimated $9–$13 billion in gross revenues annually.
An estimated 200 production companies employ 1,200–1,500 performers. Performers typically earn $400–$1,000 per shoot and are not compensated based on distribution or sales.
Lobbyist Bill Lyon told 60 Minutes that the porn industry employs 12,000 people in California and pays the state $36 million in taxes per year. When 60 Minutes first spoke to Lyon, he was running the free speech coalition, a trade organization that represents 900 companies in the porn business.

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Adult film performers engage in prolonged and repeated sexual acts with multiple sexual partners over short periods of time, creating ideal conditions for transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). All the more concerning, high-risk sex acts are on the rise. At the same time, condom use is reportedly low in heterosexual adult films—approximately 17% for adult performers. In 2004, only two of the 200 adult film companies required the use of condoms. Performers report that they are required to work without condoms to maintain employment.

These practices lead to high transmission rates of STDs and occasionally HIV among performers. After four performers contracted HIV in 1998, Sharon Mitchell, a former adult film performer, founded Adult Industry Medical, a clinic to counsel and screen performers monthly for HIV.

The current practice of periodic HIV and STD testing may detect some disease early, but often fails to prevent transmission. The most recent HIV outbreak occurred when three performers who had been compliant with monthly screening contracted HIV in April of 2004. At that time, a male performer who had tested HIV negative only three days earlier infected three of 14 female performers.

In statements I have received from females and males working in the pornography industry and those who previously worked in the industry, at least 80% admit to catching an STD while working in the California pornography industry. I personally caught the non-curable disease Genital Herpes in 1994 and was not given any information or help from porn producers or the adult industry. Recently, Jan Meza, a former porn actress who left the pornography industry in October 2007, publicly shared of late that she discovered she has Herpes. She is totally devastated in that she caught a non-curable disease. Belladonna, a well known pornographic performer states: “99% of the porn industry has Herpes.” One male pornographic performer, Rocco, 600 films and 3,000 women later says: “Every professional in the porn-world has herpes, male or female.” Tanya Burleson, formerly known as Jersey Jaxin, caught Chlamydia her first year working. She exclaimed, while speaking with me, “I don’t believe I worked with one person who didn’t at one time have an STD.” Tanya made over 200 movies in her three year career. She also says, “Performers have to pay for their own testing, their medicine and lose at least eight days of work every time they catch a sexually transmitted disease.”

Sexually transmitted diseases are highly prevalent in the pornography industry. Among 825 porn performers screened in 2000–2001, 7.7% of females and 5.5% of males had Chlamydia and 2% overall had gonorrhea. Dr. Sharon Mitchell confirms the STD prevalence in an interview with Court TV, in which she states: “66% of porn performers have Herpes, 12-28% have sexually transmitted diseases and 7% have HIV.”

.Escort ServicesPornographic performers and adult industry workers also engage in prostitution through escort agencies such as Body Miracle, Dreamgirls, and Porno Star Escorts, where they not only risk sexually transmitted disease but also HIV and hepatitis C infection.

Pornographic performers usually prefer escorting because the pay is much higher and sex acts are not as degrading or physically demanding. They receive approximately $100 an hour for working in pornographic films or $1500 an hour for escorting. Adult industry workers who are also pornographic performers get paid higher than other adult escorts due to their celebrity status and can book 2-3 hour appointments and make approximately $3000 a day. Agents also lie to women in the adult industry and lure them into prostitution. Porn Star Erin Moore says, “some agents lie to the girls and tell them they are shooting a scene when instead they set up prostitution acts for them.”

While I was a pornographic performer in 1993-94 I was flown to different parts of the United States by porn companies where consumers of pornography sometimes paid me thousands of dollars to spend a weekend with them where we engaged in unprotected sex. During one appointment with a man and his wife, we engaged in unprotected sex and I passed the disease to both of them. Pornographic performers and adult industry workers definitely spread sexually transmitted diseases to the general public.

(We will continue with part two of Ms. Lubben's post tomorrow)

The character of God & what it means for us

7/27/2015

Holy holy holy is the Lord. The Old Testament tells us this, particularly in Leviticus and Isaiah. The New Testament tells us this, particularly in 1 Peter and in Revelation.

As God is holy, He calls us to be holy too.

Lately I have been thinking a great deal about this and what exactly it means. Of all the attributes of God, His holiness is the only one that gets repeated like it does. Maybe that's to signify to us that all the attributes of God, which are revealed to us in scripture and through the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, are to be seen in light of His holiness.

The holiness of God first sets Him apart from everything else. Who else is there, or what else is there, that is like God? The angels certainly are not, as they are created. Creation is not, though creation is an extension of who God is. And of ourselves we are not, though we are made in His image but also part of creation. In this, I believe God must be understood that He is distinct, separate, above all other things and beings. Our ideas of Him, our thoughts of Him, don't even begin to come close to Who He is. The only way we can hope to know Him is through His own Self-revelation.

And yet we do know God through how He has revealed Himself. We see in creation that God created through the spoken Word. The Gospel of John informs us that the Word made flesh (logos in Greek, "spoken word" as opposed to "written word") is Jesus. So Jesus was not only present at the creation, but was the catalyst for creation when we read to beginning of John's gospel.

We also see the Holy Spirit hovering above the waters and bringing order. It is the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, that would give adam, humanity created in the image of God, the breath of life, making adam a living being. At the time of creation God reveals Himself in relationship. He also reveals that He has a relationship with what He has created, and a special, set apart, holy relationship with humanity.

The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all work as one in mutual, unadulterated love for each other. It is a completely equal unity partnership that they created. When humanity was made in God's image, both man and woman were called to be partners with God, to have dominion over creation, and to be God's representative to the rest of creation and to each other. This is a relationship that was exclusively established between God and humanity. You might say it was a holy, set apart, relationship. And yet it was clear, we as bearers of God's image, were created to relate to each other and the rest of creation.

One of the thoughts that goes along with this I've had lately is related to the kind of world God created. Sometimes we wonder how it is that God came to create this world. Why create a world which He knew would be corrupted by sin, and that would give rise to all manner of evil? Why not create a world where His creation, even the creation that bears His image, would be perfectly obedient to Him, and never even have the chance to fall into sin?

I don't believe scripture ever directly answers this question, though it's a question that can be heard in various forms from various people. But looking at the various attributes of God, and knowing how He has revealed Himself to be throughout scripture and in Jesus, I believe an answer can be ascertained.

There are many who say that God is sovereign and has complete freedom to do whatever He sees fit. To them that's what complete sovereignty means. In this same vein they'll say that God creates people to glorify Him through election which, to them, equals salvation. For the rest of humanity He is glorified in their destruction, whether by decree or by simply not electing them (I'm not entirely sure what the difference is because the result is the same).

Whether God CAN act this way, and create and rule over a world this way, is I believe the wrong question to ask. If God can speak everything into existence I don't believe His power is really in question. But the right question to ask is WOULD He create such a world where parts of His creation, even those that bear His image, are destroyed for His glory?

When we turn to scripture and read in Malachi 3:6, God says of Himself "I do not change." It's interesting to me that He doesn't say of Himself "I cannot change", but "I do not change." This is a choice made by God to keep in line with His nature, His character.

God declared His creation to be "good. when He created all there is. Jesus told the rich young ruler that nobody is good except God. What God created and said was good was an extension of His own character. I believe God created a world that was, in some regard, a reflection of Himself, and therefore did not create a world where the possibility of creating some to only be destroyed for His glory existed.

When we see that God exists in relationship with Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He created us to be in relationship with Him, as well as relationship with each other, we see, I believe, the truest essence of holiness. It is a set apart relationship with mutual love and trust is the foundation. It doesn't allow room for anything to undermine or eat away at that foundation.

Jesus Himself, in the Lord's Model Prayer, prayed "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The reality of heaven is holiness and the center of that is God. In order to show what holiness should look like "on earth as it is in heaven" we must be in relationship with God and let that shape our relationship with each other.

This post was written by Pastor Ryan Cole. You can find his blog post here: http://pastorchristophercole.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-character-of-god-and-what-it-means.html

Sunday Meditation

7/26/2015

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

There are many ways to become an orphan. Some children become orphans when their parents die. Others become functional orphans when their parents divorce. Other people become orphans as a result of their parent's emotional unavailability. Anyone who has been neglected, abandoned, or abused by people who were important in their life will appreciate what it is like to be an orphan. It is a painful and lonely experience. Orphans doubt their ability to sustain intimate relationships and find it difficult to trust others. Experiences of
abandonment leave us full of loneliness, fear and self-loathing.

Jesus understood the acute pain that orphans experience. In this text he responds to that deep pain with a promise of relationship. "I will not leave you as orphans," Jesus says, "I will not abandon you. You will not be without family because I will come to you."

In Jesus we see most clearly that God is attentive and available to us when we feel abandoned or neglected. God respects our needs and responds to our desires for relationship. God calls us out of the brokenness and dysfunction of our very personal orphanage into the community and fellowship of God's family. We are no longer orphans. We are God's children.

Lord, I know about being an orphan.
I know about abandonment.
Thank you for understanding my fear of separation.
Thank you for understanding my need for your presence.
Come.
Be present today with me.
I want to spend time with you.

Amen.

Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan
National Association for Christian Recovery

Overcoming mood swings

7/25/2015

Are we condemned to be passive victims of our moods? Must we simply say: "I feel great today" or "I feel awful today," and require others to live with our moods?

Although it is very hard to control our moods, we can gradually overcome them by living a well-disciplined spiritual life. This can prevent us from acting out of our moods. We might not "feel" like getting up in the morning because we "feel" that life is not worth living, that nobody loves us, and that our work is boring. But if we get up anyhow, to spend some time reading the Gospels, praying the Psalms, and thanking God for a new day, our moods may lose their power over us.

For further reflection...

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." - Psalm 119: 105 (NIV)

This post was written by Henri Nouwen. You can find his blog at: www.henrinouwen.org

Resentment

7/24/2015

The doctrines of holiness apply to the principle of RESENTMENT, as well as to other parts of the mind. It is impossible for a holy person not to be displeased, and sometimes greatly displeased, at acts of iniquity. The injunction of the Apostle, "be ye angry and sin not," seems to imply, that there may be cases, in which a person may be displeased and may be angry without necessarily incurring sin. It is said of the blessed Savior himself, that he looked upon the Pharisees "with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." But here again the evil hand of nature, (not nature as it was, but nature as it has become,) has been at work. Selfishness, which is but another name for the life of nature, infuses into the displeasure of the unsanctified man, even when there is a foundation for it within proper limits, a degree of severity and unforgivingness, which is inconsistent with holiness, and is fatal to true inward peace.

How often, and how sadly this has been the case; how often and how deeply individuals and churches have been injured from this cause, no one is ignorant. Families and nations, as well as individuals, have experienced the dreadful effects of the displeased and angry feelings, when they are not overruled and kept in check by true piety. The history of the world, from its earliest periods, is a solemn and monitory lesson on this subject. "He, that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." There seems to be need of greater effort and of more faith and prayer, to regulate entirely this department of the Affections, (usually denominated the Malevolent Affections,) than is required in the regulation of the other. But the grace of God is sufficient even here.

— edited from The Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 2, Chapter 9 by Thomas Cogswell Upham. You can find more from Upham on Craig L Adams blog, The Hidden Life: http://thomascupham.blogspot.com

Godly Swearing

7/23/2015

Jesus said, "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."

The Pharisees didn’t place a lot of emphasis on saying what they mean. Instead they had developed what one commentator called “evasive swearing”. They divided oaths into two categories. Those they had to keep and those they didn’t necessarily have to keep. The way they divided these oaths depended on whether or not God’s name was involved. If the name of God was used in the oath, then it had to be kept no matter what. However if you managed to give an oath without using God’s name, well then you didn’t necessarily have to keep that oath.

The result of evasive swearing was that if someone swore by God’s name then he would keep that oath without fail. But if they swore by anything else he felt perfectly okay with breaking the oath if he wanted to. As you can imagine this led to people’s word being basically meaningless unless they had sworn in God’s name that they would do something. The way they figured this was that if they had sworn by God’s name then they had made God a partner in their oath and so they were bound to keep it. If they didn’t keep it not only had they broken their word but they had also insulted God. On the other hand if they didn’t use God’s name they didn’t break their word when they changed their minds and God really didn’t care since His name hadn’t been invoked in the oath.

This is the attitude that Jesus is taking to task in this passage. He tells them that they are only pretending to be people of integrity. They want to give the appearance of being truthful and honest people without all the hassle of having to actually be truthful and honest people. One great truth they failed to recognize is that our lives cannot be divided into the secular and the sacred. There is just our life and there is no part of our life that God is not a part of. There is not one standard of truthfulness at church, one with our friends and another at work. There is just one standard and its God’s standard. God’s standard is honesty.

It’s easy for us to look down on the religious leaders for their use of evasive swearing, but if we were to be honest we have our own methods of evasive swearing. Instead of swearing by the temple, we say things like…

“I’ll think about it.”

“Well, maybe.”

“I might do that.”

“We’ll see.”

“Let me check to see if I can.”

Or if we really want to sound pious we will say, “I’ll pray about that.”

Of course there are plenty of times when these are genuine answers and that is fine. In fact, the Bible tells us it’s wise not to be rash in giving our word. But there are just as many times when these are safe, non-committal answers that allow us time to think of good reasons why we can’t do whatever it is that has prompted this answer. It’s our own form of evasive swearing and our form of evasive swearing now is just as wrong as their form of evasive swearing was then.

In Psalm 101 David said, “I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.” What impact do you think it has on our kids when they see us use our own form of evasive swearing? What does it say to them when they see us give non-committal answers so that we can get out of something, or outright lie and then tell them, “Now, don’t you lie to me”? Or even worse, what does it say to them when we have them lie for us by saying something like, “Answer the phone and if it’s for me tell them I’m not here”? Integrity is not integrity unless it’s lived out at home. If we are going to be men and women of integrity we must be honest in our speech. We would all say that we value honesty, but do our actions and attitudes reflect this value?

God wants us to be honest in our speech. God wants us to keep our word. To be a man of integrity we must say what we mean and mean what we say.

This post was written by Rev Ross. For the original post, go to: http://stacyjross.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/say-what-you-mean-and-mean-what-you-say/

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Is P.O.D justified in using the "F" Word?

7/22/2015

Musicians rarely use the “F” word if they want to receive radio play. The group Insane Clown Posse, when they wrote the song, “F--- the World” knew that it would never achieve popular status, using the “F” word 93 times in that song alone. Of course, the members of ICP don’t claim to be Christians.

The first popular Christian musician who used the “F” word was Bono from U2 with his statement on national TV that the stage at the Golden Globe Awards was “f---ing brilliant.”  His statement raised a firestorm of controversy. Because his statement was on live American TV, the FCC was involved and ruled that Bono did not violate FCC standards. They concluded that the wording “f---ing” was used as an adjective not a verb, making it in the same classification as “bloody” which is commonly used on British TV.

Next, there is Brian “Head” Welch who left Korn and started his own band because of his conversion to Christianity and now has returned to Korn. His song, Flush, has a very controversial video attached to it. The video has lesbian behavior, scantily clad women and drug use in it. The song makes no mention of Christ, just a dark, nihilistic portrayal of a sinful lifestyle. The last line, “come on, get up, let’s change” is a reference to the life changing behavior that can occur when one opens his/her life up to the saving power of Christ.

I read Head’s autobiography and am impressed with his undying allegiance to our Savior and his commitment to reach an audience that would not normally listen to Christian music.  He’s dying to bring his Korn fans to Christ.

Arguably, that’s where P.O.D. is coming from on their album, Murdered Love.  P.O.D. has a large Christian fan base but has always had a wider appeal to the secular world since the albums Southtown and Satellite. There have been rumors that P.O.D. has given up their Christian beliefs. Many believe that P.O.D. will alienate their Christian audience. There have been statements that a Christian should never use the “F” word.  The Christian world, from my observation, has not been terribly charitable to P.O.D.

Nevertheless, P.O.D. keeps cranking out terrific music. This album, Murdered Love, is no exception. The title track, of Jesus’ crucifixion, is an absolute masterpiece and representative of P.O.D.’s finest. However, my favorite track, “I Am” is just mind-blowing. This is the song that has gotten P.O.D. into some hot water. This is the track that uses the “F” word. My heart breaks when I hear this song and it has nothing to do with the fact that P.O.D. uses the “F” word. This song is meaningful to me because it is clear that P.O.D. understands the hurting sinfulness of our world.

Some people are saying that P.O.D. is just trying to reach a wider audience.  However, I believe that he is trying to shock his Christian audience out of their white, sanitized Christian bubble.  This song is written from the perspective of a person who has been horribly used, abused, and beaten down. Here is a lyrical sample:

I am the murderer, the pervert, sick to the core,
I am the unclean dope fiend, I am the whore
I am the forgotten child, ravaged and raped and sex trafficked
Since I'm a little strange Daddy called me a faggot

Are you the One that's come to set me free?
Cuz if you knew who I am would You really want to die for me?
They say you are the cursed man, the One who hangs from this tree
But I know if this is the One and Only Son of God, so tell me who the F--- is He?

Don’t let the “F” word distract you. This is the way that the used and abused of the world feel. “I’m not worthy of anybody loving. Plus, I live in hell and this God that you talk about doesn’t help me. So, F--- this God!”

Their anger is unmistakable.

These are the people that we see every day, but walking around in our little Christian bubbles we refuse to interact with them. They are the broken, dejected, dirty, the dregs of society. They are the drunken, drugged, prostituted, sexually confused, homeless people that we tend to avoid. How dare I get my hands dirty by interacting with them?!

Our sanitized, white, perfect Christian world needs to be awakened.  The world is going to hell around us. They are mad at the way we ignore them and they blame God because of our insensitivity and our hangups on the "proper" way that Christians are to talk and act.

With the song "I Am", I believe that P.O.D. is saying that God will hold us responsible for how we portray His impeccable character to a hurting world.

I am so glad for bands like P.O.D. who rock our world (in more ways than one) and help us to see that there is a dying world out there and we need to be making a difference. People need to see that God cares, God loves and they are worthy of someone dying to save them.

Jesus died to save the world.

Are you dying to share Jesus with this dying world?