Of all the social institutions designed by God, I suppose none is under greater attack than the family. This shouldn’t surprise us, for destroying relationships is the ultimate scheme of Satan and it is here we find the most intimate. Indeed, it seems that the entirety of the world, the flesh, and the enemy are today aligned against the biblical family. And the family is the heart of a culture. If you pierce the family, you pierce its society.

To understand the depth and immensity of this attack, we must go back to the ‘beginning,’ as Jesus put it in Matthew 19:3-5: “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”?’” Jesus was responding to an insincere question that was intended to trap Him, but it was a question about marriage, so He took them back to the creation of male and female to answer it. And, it is in that creation narrative that God reveals His purpose for creating them this way. Adam was to “be joined to his wife” becoming “one flesh.” Malachi reiterates this purpose: “But did He not make them [husband and wife] one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring…” (Malachi 2:15)

What is drawn from these passages is radical in our culture today, maybe even fighting words, for it not only angers the culture around us, but angers even some Christians. The reason God made “male and female” was for the purpose of bringing them together into a divine unity, a ‘oneness’ that brings our thoughts to the unity within the Triune God. And it was this unity of the male and female that would bring forth godly fruit. We certainly are not animals, but we see the same purpose of God for them as well: after creating the animals male and female, He charged them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. This is the same language given to Adam and Eve after they were created. And it is here that we find the fundamental purpose for God creating us male and female, rather than some androgynous being. Any understanding of human sexuality outside of this context leads to serious error. In contrast, today we believe that one’s sexuality stands on its own and becomes, in large part, the essence of my identity. This is the same message heard in Helen Reddy’s famous song “I am strong! I am invincible! I am woman!” Reddy’s view is one that has become ubiquitous throughout our culture today. It has severed human sexuality completely from the context and the design of the family. The prevailing view is that the individual and their sexuality is a private, personal, and fundamental aspect of their identity and it has nothing to do with marriage or family.

The biblical worldview has no place for this notion. Nowhere does the Scripture lead us to think that your human sexuality is the essence of your identity. And when we disconnect human sexuality from its divine context, we then begin to think we can redefine not only marriage and family, but also human sexuality. Ergo, Miley Cyrus can declare that she is ‘pansexual,’ believing she can be male or female or anything in between, anytime she chooses. Men and women, now even little boys and girls, can declare themselves something other than their biological sexuality. We can make up our own personal pronouns and, in the most egregious of examples, get our dads and moms put in jail if they don’t address us as such. Why? Because we selfishly declare our sexuality to be “the essence of who I am!” This sexual disconnect also degrades sex and causes it to descend into nothing more than a commercial product or a casual hook-up and nothing more. I can bend it, mold it, use it, and exploit it… all for my own pleasure and purposes.

Anything, therefore, that attacks human sexuality, is ultimately an attack upon the family.

When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels declared “Abolish the family!” their worldview reflected the heart of Satan’s strategy to destroy relationships because that attacks the very heart of the nature of God. This includes the destruction of every other social institution because they also carry the relational design of God. But the family is the headwaters for them all. It is the biblical family that produces children with a biblical work ethic. It produces the hard workers and ethical employees and business owners that make ethical products. It is the biblical family that produces a righteous citizenry and statesmen who lead with integrity. It is the biblical family that produces a moral society and all that it stands for. So, destroy the biblical family, and you destroy its culture.

Don’t be fooled. This attack is ubiquitous. It is like an evil smoke that silently slips under our doors, penetrating everything, everywhere. Yet, the clear blessing of God’s design remains. Nearly all of what we would call ‘positive’ social indicators are related to a strong family life, from emotional wellness to psychological wellness to social health. Intact families provide the primary discriminator to keep someone out of poverty. Gang members rarely come from intact families, yet it is estimated that 80% of all crime is gang-related. What would our society look like if we were a culture of intact families living in the blessing of little poverty and little crime? I grew up in such a place. It was extremely abnormal to find a broken or dysfunctional family. No one locked their doors. No one was afraid to walk the roads or streets at night. And yet, as though we have some sort of suicidal wish, all of the major players in our culture today are working to destroy the family, from the media to the State to the subtle worldview messages that permeate our marketing world, like the Progressive Insurance ads that seek to drive a wedge between children and parents.

I am reminded of the warning God gave to Israel when they were brought into a land flowing with milk and honey. Assembled before two mountains, they were given the choice of either blessings or curses, depending upon whether or not they would choose to follow God.

It certainly seems as if we are pressed today with the same choice, for nothing but curses await us along the road we are travelling.

How do we live in a culture like this, dear Remnant? Stand strong and do not lose hope. Stay true to God’s Word. Be the virtuous female or the noble male. Concentrate on building and nurturing your family with a fierce determination, for the attacks of the enemy here are ever-present and relentless.

This article is used with permission from Dr. Del Tackett and, at time of this printing, is accessible at www.deltackett.com . Dr. Del Tackett presents biblical worldview teaching in an engaging and convicting manner. He has produced a number of widely viewed series such as The Truth Project and The Engagement Project. More information on his current work and writings can be obtained from www.TruthEncounterMinistries.org .

One would have to be living under a rock to be unaware of recent (and historical) conflicts arising from what is commonly termed ‘racism’. You may be surprised to hear that the secular (biological and social) sciences have recently discovered something that Scripture already teaches us on this vital subject matter.

Scripture definitively teaches that all human beings were created in the image of God and share a common ancestor. That is, there is one human race. In Acts 17:26 Paul declared to the inquiring crowd in Athens, Greece that “He [God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Paul could say this because he knew from the book of Genesis that Scripture teaches that all humanity has a common ancestry —Adam and Eve! Genesis 3:20 says, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” 

Furthermore, after the world wide flood, as recorded in Genesis chapters 6-9, Scripture remarks that the “whole earth was populated” from the three sons of Noah (Genesis 9:19). Given this teaching, believers over the years have written extensively on this subject. For example, see “How Many Races Did God Create?”1 from Answers in Genesis, a Biblically-based apologetics group.

Even secular sources now inadvertently confirm what the Bible has taught for centuries on this matter. Consider the following quote from a recent report from the Harvard Medical School:

“The popular classifications of race are based chiefly on skin color, with other relevant features including height, eyes, and hair. Though these physical differences may appear, on a superficial level, to be very dramatic, they are determined by only a minute portion of the genome: we as a species have been estimated to share 99.9% of our DNA with each other. The few differences that do exist reflect differences in environments and external factors, not core biology...Despite the scientific consensus that humanity is more alike than unlike, the long history of racism is a somber reminder that throughout human history, a mere 0.1% of variation has been sufficient justification for committing all manner of discriminations and atrocities.”2 Back in 2000, an article from the New York Times (“Do Races Differ? Not Really, Genes Show”) clearly stated the position that “Race is a social concept, not a scientific one.”3

So, although cultural practices, beliefs, and languages differ across the globe this does not substantiate the notion of multiple, physical races. Despite external differences, Christians are instructed to have compassion and mercy when encountering varying people groups and nations. During this time of grace in the church age, Scripture teaches that “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) Extending mercy does not imply that we compromise the word of God but rather that we walk humbly, with understanding, and with truth spoken in love.

We must point out now that there is a problem within the human race that the biological and social sciences can neither discern nor solve. It is a problem that exists within all people groups and is irrespective of culture, income, and education. It is the fact that the human race has a sin condition and needs to be reconciled to its Creator! Romans chapter 3 clearly describes the spiritual needs of all humankind. Consider Romans 3:9- 11,23: “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.’… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Paul, in Ephesians 2:14-16, describes the creation of “one new man” since the Lord has now offered reconciliation to both Jew and Gentile. “For He [Jesus] Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”

Colossians 3:9-11 also describes the “new man” into which each believer in Christ is transformed. “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him [Jesus] who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

Just as we read that the human genome evidences very strong similarities across nationalities we also see that the spiritual needs across so-called ‘races’ are strikingly similar. The ultimate need is for everyone to be reconciled to their Creator, Jesus Christ! No one is better (or worse) than another. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When we experience “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)” we will then truly be able to experience peace with our fellow man.

References (accessed online October 2, 2020):

1. https://answersingenesis.org/tower-of-babel/how-many- races-did-god-create/

2. http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics- reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/

3. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/22/science/do-races differ-not-really-genes-show.html

Have you ever heard either one of the following sayings?

“A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

“You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.”

Over the years there has been the pervasive belief that various forms of (civil or religious) legislation can create a sort of utopia; a society possessing a strong economy, healthy morality, and most of all---peace from crime and the threat of war.

History has clearly demonstrated that lasting peace cannot be legislated or enforced by humanity. Numerous governments across the globe, over millennia, have proven this. Dictatorships, monarchies, democracies and various mixtures of these three approaches, have all failed. Kingdoms have come and gone. Presidents have come and gone. Dictators have come and gone. Majority and minority governments within Canada have come and gone. To some extent or another, all rulers have promised peace and improved conditions to their supporters. But where are we at today? According to reputable historians, the 20^th century was the bloodiest century to date. This, despite education, technological advances, access to clean water, etc. being at their highest growth rates in known history.

So what is the underlying issue?

The Bible, God’s written word to men and women, clearly demonstrates that humanity has a “heart condition”. This is a condition that heart surgery at your local hospital cannot fix! This heart condition is spiritual in nature and the Bible clearly teaches that all men and women suffer from the same ailment.

Consider this excerpt from God’s word: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

What is the solution then to our heart problem? Consider this teaching, also from the book of Jeremiah:

“Blessed is the man (or woman) who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is in the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

The solution? We are to trust in the Lord! Trusting the Lord includes obeying Him and submitting to His ways, which ultimately always turn out for our best. We cannot say that we trust the Lord if we refuse to heed His instruction. The Lord’s ways are primarily found by spending time with Him---by reading His word and by fellowshipping with other people who want to honour Him. This is the only way our “heart” can be changed. As we spend time in the Bible our mind is transformed and, subsequently, our attitudes and thought processes are changed to be more aligned with the Lord’s heart.

Consider this portion from the Bible:

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

If we have placed our faith solely in Jesus alone, we can enjoy the hope given by the following scripture:

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)

This renewed and restored earth will occur when Jesus Christ returns to this earth at some point in the future. Although the year remains unknown, we can be assured that when Jesus returns, death will be defeated and righteousness will reign in an unprecedented way! This is the expectation of every believer.

If you wish to have this personal hope, please contact our office and someone would be happy to speak further with you about this crucial matter. We also have free Bibles and other free Bible-based books and DVDs. Our office phone number is 204-586-4103. We can also be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Let’s Cultivate Simplicity and Solitude (A.W.TOZER, 1960)

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity.

Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down by destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength before going out to face the world again. “The thoughtful soul to solitude retires,” said the poet of other and quieter times; but where is the solitude to which we can retire today?

Science, which has provided men with certain material comforts, has robbed them of their souls by surrounding them with a world hostile to their existence. “Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still” is a wise and healing counsel, but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and the television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all. What was intended to be a blessing has become a positive curse.

No spot is now safe from the world’s intrusion. One way the civilized world destroys men is by preventing them from thinking their own thoughts. Our “vastly improved methods of communication” of which the shortsighted boast so loudly now enable a few men in strategic centers to feed into millions of minds alien thought-stuff, ready-made and predigested. A little effortless assimilation of these borrowed ideas and the average man has done all the thinking he will or can do. This subtle brainwashing goes on day after day and year after year to the eternal injury of the populace a populace, incidentally, which is willing to pay big money to have the job done, the reason being, I suppose, that it relieves them of the arduous and often frightening task of reaching independent decisions for which they must take responsibility. There was a time, not too long ago, when a man’s home was his castle, a sure retreat to which he might return for quietness and solitude. There “the rains of heaven may blow in, but the king himself cannot enter without permission,” said the proud British, and made good on their boast. That was home indeed. It was of such a sacred place the poet sang:
"0, when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome; And when I am stretched beneath the pines, Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, At the sophist schools, and the learned clan; For what are they all, in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet?"

While it is scarcely within the scope of the present piece, I cannot refrain from remarking that the most ominous sign of the coming destruction of our country is the passing of the American home. Americans live no longer in homes, but in theaters. The members of many families hardly know each other, and the face of some popular TV star is to many wives as familiar as that of their husbands. Let no one smile. Rather should we weep at the portent. It will do no good to wrap ourselves in the Stars and Stripes for protection. No nation can long endure whose people have sold themselves for bread and circuses. Our fathers sleep soundly, and the harsh bedlam of commercialized noise that engulfs us like something from Dante’s Inferno cannot disturb their slumber. They left us a goodly heritage. To preserve that heritage we must have a national character as strong as theirs. And this can be developed only in the Christian home.

The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. What the world will do about it is their problem. Apparently the masses want it the way it is and the majority of Christians are so completely conformed to this present age that they, too, want things the way they are. They may be annoyed a bit by the clamor and by the goldfish bowl existence they live, but apparently they are not annoyed enough to do anything about it.

However, there are a few of God’s children who have had enough. They want to relearn the ways of solitude and simplicity and gain the infinite riches of the interior life. They want to discover the blessedness of what Dr. Max Reich called “spiritual aloneness.” To such I offer a brief paragraph of counsel:

Retire from the world each day to some private spot, even if it be only the bedroom (for a while I retreated to the furnace room for want of a better place). Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God’s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward Voice till you learn to recognize it. Stop trying to compete with others. Give yourself to God and then be what and who you are without regard to what others think. Reduce your interests to a few. Don’t try to know what will be of no service to you. Avoid the digest type of mind-short bits of unrelated facts, cute stories and bright sayings. Learn to pray inwardly every moment. After a while you can do this even while you work. Practice candor, childlike honesty, humility. Pray for a single eye. Read less, but read more of what is important to your inner life. Never let your mind remain scattered for very long. Call home your roving thoughts. Gaze on Christ with the eyes of your soul. Practice spiritual concentration. All the above is contingent upon a right relation to God through Christ and daily meditation on the Scriptures. Lacking these, nothing will help us; granted these, the discipline recommended will go far to neutralize the evil effects of externalism and to make us acquainted with God and our own souls.