#565 (6/30) SUNDAY SPECIAL - "Affirming Biblical Marriage–by Word and Deed"

REMINDER: Check out this week's "Truth That Transforms" broadcast (Cen. FL - Sun., 5 pm, ch. 55.1; Mon., 7 pm, ch. 52.2, and at www.truthinaction.org) which this week discusses the role Christians are to play in bringing “Spiritual Sight” to society. Don’t miss it!

URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:

American Pastor Saeed Held Prisoner in Iran - June 5th Update - "Saeed's Wife Uses UN Speech to 'Plant Gospel'," by George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter, June 05, 2013, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Saeeds-Wife-Uses-UN-Speech-to-Plant-Gospel/?cpid=EU_CBNNEWSPM_2013_156"Prayers from Prison: American Pastor Held in Iran Releases Letter," May 22, 2013; http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=1458"...Abedini has been held at the brutal prison for 238 days, enduring long stints in solitary confinement, and, according to his supporters, beatings and torture at the hands of his jailers and fellow inmates. For months, he has been suffering from serious injuries, including internal bleeding from beatings with no proper medical attention, according to his family and attorneys."(Sources: Fox News, Assemblies of God website) Please PRAY:1) For the imprisoned Pastor Abedini, and for those Iranians who tend to his needs in prison to treat him more humanely. 2) For his family in Boise, Idaho. and their efforts to involve the U.S. State Department in securing Pastor Abedini’s release. And 3) For the impact of his witness upon believers and non-believers, in America and across the world. And if you have not yet, join the over 600,000 worldwide who have signed the petition asking for his release at www.SaveSaeed.org

UPDATE: June 21 - "Pastor Saeed in Good Spirits as Threats Increase," CBNNews.com;  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Pastor-Saeed-in-Good-Spirits-as-Threats-Increase/The family of imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini visited him in Iran's Evin Prison this week. They say he was in good spirits...According to the American Center for Law and Justice, the 33-year-old pastor told his family his health appears to have improved. The ACLJ also said that since Iran's presidential election last week, Abedini reported Iranian prison guards have threatened to move him to a more remote prison. Such a move would make it nearly impossible for his family to visit him.

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"Affirming Biblical Marriage–by Word and Deed";  June 27, 2013, by Karen Gushta  http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/2013/06/affirming-biblical-marriage-by-word-and-deed/?src=landing20130628&utm_source=Truth+In+Action+News+List&utm_campaign=f0376ae2d1-6_28_13_Marriage_TheBiggerPicture&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ad6d79e912-f0376ae2d1-291886101

The Supreme Court’s recent decisions in regard to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 did nothing to protect traditional marriage. Nor, however, did the Court find some kind of manufactured “right” to same-sex marriage in the Constitution, as they did in 1973 when they discovered a right to have an abortion somewhere in the “penumbra” of the constitution. For that we can be thankful.

Alan Sears, President of Alliance Defending Freedom, stated in his response to the court’s decision on DOMA, that this decision “will not end the national debate over marriage.” Sears thinks that this national debate is a helpful thing. “In fact,” says Sears, “the legal battles over the definition of marriage have provided the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the American people to the goodness and value of marriage.” Speaking with optimism, Sears affirmed his vision that “Once the people examine all dimensions of the debate, and why marriage is important, we’re confident America will return to a strong and healthy marriage culture, recognizing that marriage is the institution upon which a healthy and thriving society is built.” Maintaining such a vision of hope for the success of our efforts to return America to “a strong and healthy marriage culture” is vital if we are to ultimately be successful in re-establishing biblical marriage as the foundation for America’s culture and society. 

As William Carey, who is known as “the father of modern missions” reputedly said, “No great enterprise can ever be carried out without hope of success.” Carey himself persevered in his efforts to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to India under conditions that most would have considered hopeless. While he was a missionary in India, several of his children and co-workers died, his wife had a nervous breakdown from which she never recovered, and much of his translation work in Sanskrit was destroyed in a fire. Yet Carey was not deterred, and eventually his mission in Serampore, West Bengal printed and distributed the Bible in whole or part in 44 languages and dialects.

Carey and his fellow-missionaries, Joshua and Hannah Marshman, and William Ward, not only sought to make Christ known, but they also dedicated themselves to the service of ailing and distressed people in and around Serampore, spreading education, social reforms, and social reconstruction. They established more than a 100 schools for the lower economic class in the region, a school for girls, and a college to train indigenous ministers for the growing church. Their mission also set up its own press, which printed 212,000 Bibles and books and published a daily English newspaper.

All of this is simply to give evidence that any great kingdom effort needs to be sustained by hope of success. That hope is best fueled by a firm conviction in the rightness of one’s cause, as the efforts of another William, William Wilberforce, who ended the slave trade in Great Britain, illustrate.

Those who are now dancing in celebration over the Supreme Court’s decisions may think that our nation is now set on a course toward the inevitable legalization of same-sex marriage across the country. That assumption rests on foundations of sand. As much as they may try to suppress the research that shows the benefits of marriage to faithful monogamous couples consisting of a man and a woman; as much as they may try to discredit the research that shows the superior benefits to children who are raised in a family with both an involved father and mother; as much as they may attempt to cover up the pathologies associated with homosexual sexual practices; as much as they may endeavor to paint a rosy picture of the life of same-sex couples, they cannot change reality. 

And the reality is that only by living out God’s design for marriage and family can we find the wholeness, health, and deep and profound joy that marriage has the potential to bestow. As John Stonestreet pointed out in a Breakpoint commentary (Breakpoint.org, 5/10/2013), our human sexuality is at the core of how we understand human nature and the ordering of human society. It gets to the core of how we relate to one another and of how we build culture and civilization. We should therefore, as followers of Christ, do everything we can to honor God’s beautiful design and purpose for marriage and to be intentional in protecting our own marriages.

God did not give us His commands to put us in misery, suffering, or despair and His design for marriage is especially intended to bring men and women the greatest joys of human companionship and intimacy of which we are capable. And that’s for one very special reason. Marriage, from the beginning, was intended to be the ultimate example of Christ’s union with His bride, the Church, as the Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5. But as the church has been lax in proclaiming this truth, it has been is marred and lost to the wider culture.

Nevertheless, like William Carey, we can still have great hope for success, and like William Wilberforce, we should be fueled by the firm conviction of the rightness of our cause as we continue to faithfully demonstrate, teach, and proclaim God’s design for marriage. For our part, Truth In Action Ministries is committed to helping people understand the biblical truth about marriage and every other area of life. It is our belief that if the followers of Christ understand biblical truth and come to see God's purpose for their lives, they will want to live out that truth in the context of the purpose God has given them. As we carry out our mission to come alongside people and help them understand these things, we trust that God will be gracious and bless America, and His truth and righteousness will prevail in our culture.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

About Karen Gushta

Dr. Karen Gushta is a writer and researcher at Truth in Action Ministries and has recently written How Can America Survive?--The Coming Economic Earthquake. She is also author of The War on Children, and co-author of Ten Truths About Socialism. As a career educator, Dr. Gushta has taught at levels from kindergarten to graduate teacher education in both public and Christian schools in America and overseas. She has a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education and Masters Degrees in Elementary Education and in Christianity and Culture.