Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

I had intended on giving a day-by-day account of the International Baptist Network’s Global Connection Conference as it unfolded, but I’ve been so busy I’ve been unable to blog for the last several days. I want to offer some additional comments on the conference in this entry however.

Wednesday night, Dr. Billy Kim addressed the conference. We had a good crowd that night as it was the peak for the attendees of the conference and we had many Northsiders there (in spite of the fact it was Spring Break week for us). The Northside Celebration Choir and Orchestra absolutely brought the house down with their renditions of “End of the Beginning“, “He’s Alive” and “Only the Blood“. Dr. Kim is the retired pastor of one of the largest Baptist churches in Korea. A graduate of Bob Jones University in the 1950’s, his testimony was a tremendous challenge. He had a five point sermon on how the church in Korea has flourished and managed to get through “Prayer” and “Preaching” when he decided he’d preached too long and told us he’d come back to deliver the final 3 points at another time. I couldn’t believe how quickly 45 minutes had passed and really wished he had finished the sermon. His example of how their church gets up daily at 4:45 to pray together at the church was convicting and powerful. With over 13,000 members, he made sure we understood that it was a church built on prayer. The Lord has done some wonderful things in Korea in this generation and most of the world’s largest congregations are located there. Korea is one of the largest sending nations of missionaries as well. (Which makes me wonder why we are still sending Americans there, but that’s another topic.)

Thursday morning, Dr. Edison Quieroz from Sao Paulo, Brazil (where I am heading this Friday) gave a tremendous message on how we approach international missions. It had to raise the hackles of some who are locked into the outdated and traditional ways we send missionaries from US agencies these days, but it was a breath of fresh air to hear how we can get personally involved in new ways for reaching the world for Christ.

Thursday morning and later that afternoon we had our choice of workshops again, but the noon hour was reserved for a special luncheon with Dr. Jerry Falwell. Dr. Falwell had a “bug”, but joked that he had been invited to speak by Dr. John Rawlings and you just don’t stand Dr. Rawlings up when he asks you to do something.

Dr. Falwell spoke for about 45 minutes after a wonderful lunch provided to a full house by our Northside Food Services ministry. The first half of his speech dealt with the Fundamentals of the Faith. He gave us a brief history and then reiterated in no uncertain terms the commitment we must have to these non-negotiables. If anyone got wind of the controversy a month or so ago about the supremacy of Christ for salvation, you had to be encouraged (or rebuked) by his impassioned declarations of “Christ Alone” for salvation. The second half of his presentation addressed the issues that divide us and it was a great reminder that one of the reasons fundamentalism is not as influential as it should or could be in Christiandom is our proclivity for getting side-tracked onto issues of personal preference, cultural tendencies and generational obstacles. I was able to spend a few minutes personally with Dr. Falwell and I could tell that he was not feeling well at all, but you’d never have known it as he spoke to us.

Thursday night was our final service and we were ministered to by the great choir from Grace Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC where Ed Sears is the pastor. Over 100 voices and instrumentalists joined some of the Northside orchestra and the music was just terrific. Then, Dr. Johnny Hunt from the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georga delivered a fiery challenge to us that was as straight-forward and direct a call to evangelism through the church as you will ever hear. It was powerful and many came to the altar to pray and recommit to personal evangelism at the end of the service. For those who still like to sit back and criticize the Southern Baptists at every level, I would dare you to listen to his sermon with your eyes closed and recall when and where you had ever heard a more passionate and Biblical sermon on evangelism. The preaching of good Southern Baptist pastors would put what I’ve heard at many “Independent Baptist only conferences” to shame both in style and (more importantly) substance.

So what is the end of the IBN and the Global Connection Conference? Well, I think we all have a better understanding of how the IBN is going to help us connect for world evangelism in coming years. I would guess that 80% of the attendees were Independent Baptists who are weary (as in SICK OF) the spirit that has warped our meetings and movement in the last 20 years. They want to work with brothers in Christ toward reaching the world with the Gospel. We were introduced to scores of ways to get involved and any sized church from huge to small can be a part of it.

The IBN is worldwide. They had publications from 8 other nations on display at the conference. The Rawlings Foundation is setting up offices and purchasing properties around the globe to help the network get established. This is not an “American” show — it’s truly international with some of the pastors of the largest Baptist churches in the world getting involved. We American pastors have an unique opportunity to meet and learn from and partner with some great works and outreaches in the coming years. I’m encouraged and I’m committed to being part of what is going to be unfolding through the IBN in the future.

The next international conference is scheduled for Brussels, Belgium next year and Hong Kong the year after that. But there is also talk of another American meeting next year as well. I’ll keep my readers posted on that development as I learn about it. If you’d like to order CD’s or DVD’s of the IBN Conference, call 704.596.4856.

As always for more information on the IBN, go to www.ibaptist.net.

Later this week, I’m going to be addressing Lowell Davey’s (of the Bible Broadcasting Network aka BBN) decision to drop Dr. David Jeremiah’s “Turning Point” broadcasts over the issue of the use of Praise and Worship music at Dr. Jeremiah’s church. You’ll want to watch for this article.

The International Baptist Network’s First Annual Global Connections Conference is off to a great start. Last night, several hundred pastors from all across the United States and some from several foreign countries gather at Northside Baptist Church for the opening plenary session. The featured speaker was Dr. Larry Reesor of Global Focus. Larry is a member of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA and a graduate of Tennessee Temple University. Global Focus is transforming the way churches approach evangelism, outreach and missions. His message was an appetizer for the theme of the conference which emphasizes “Starting Local and Going Global.” Wings of Morning provided us with outstanding music.

Gene Mims shared the purpose of the International Baptist Network – explaining that it is not a denomination, a “movement”, an organization or a replacement for any of the various fellowships already in place. It is simply a network of Baptist churches, people, pastors, fellowships, missions agencies and para-church organizations who are serious about reaching this generation of unbelievers during this generation.

Nearly 100 exhibitors fill our Gymnasium representing some of the biggest and best Baptist organizations involved in evangelism.

This morning, Victor Kulbich, of the Ukraine, gave us a glimpse of the tremendous revival streaking across Eastern Europe. Victor’s group has seen over 1,700 churches established since the fall of communism.

As I type this, hundreds of delegates are sitting in 16 breakout sessions that involve every type of ministry outreach imaginable from Discipleship, to personal evangelism, to missions trips strategies, to leadership development, to sports evangelism and more. Among the presenters are Dennis Nunn, Ron Bishop (SCORE), Tom Atema (Equip), Danny Lovett (TTU), Larry Reesor (Global Outreach), Gene Mims (IBN) and many more.

Among the pastors and leaders I’ve personally seen at the conference include: Keith Gilming, Dino Pedrone, Randy Ray, Gary Coleman, Leland Kennedy, Harold Rawlings, Herb Rawlings, David Melton, Doug Ripley, Charles Pettit, Kevin Kennedy, David Bouler, Bill Monroe, Paul Monroe, Lee Eiss, Jerry Prevo, Max Helton, Jack Turney, Keith Bassham and many, many more.

This is shaping up to be a historic conference. You can listen and watch tonights service at our internet streaming site on www.northsidebaptistchurch.net. Featuring this evening will be the Northside Baptist Church Celebration Choir and Orchestra and Dr. Billy Kim of Seoul, South Korea.

If you live in the Charlotte, NC area, feel free to join us!

I think of myself as being sentimental, without being a sentimentalist. If that sounds a bit like double-talk, perhaps it is. I dont want to be one of those sappy, teary-eyed parents who commemorate every single milestone in a kids life as if it were some gigantic cosmic moment worthy of a request to make time stand still. At the same time, there are certain moments that I think are worthy of reflection, celebration and commemoration. What those exact moments might be are perfectly open to debate.

I had a cathartic experience seventeen years ago in Washington, D.C. I was there taking a summer symposium as I was completing work on my doctorate with Nova University. Part of my doctoral studies demanded of me a grueling week-long session of seminars and lectures from educators coming from institutions that ran the gamut from Harvard to Cornell to USC and more.

My wife, a retired history teacher who loves, (I mean LOVES) Washington, DC, accompanied me with our at-the-time 15-month-old, and then only child. If I was busy, she was a whirlwind. Generally she was up before I was - heading off to a museum, tour or site-seeing expedition and would often come in at night after I had been released for the day. This was pre-cell phone days, so I had no way of keeping up with her, but she was having a blast.

One afternoon, the administrators of the program had mercy on us and gave us the rest of the day off. Julie and I decided to take a cruise up the Potomac River to Mount Vernon to see George Washingtons estate. It was a beautiful day for a long, leisurely cruise and the boat wasnt particularly crowded. Sitting in the air-conditioning, a young teen-aged boy came by our table and took a particular interest in Nathan, who was just an engaging toddler. There werent any other teens on board and so the boy soon started talking up a streak with us.

During the course of the conversation, I discovered that the boy had just turned thirteen. He was Jewish. He was on a trip with his dad who was a big-time lawyer from Los Angeles. This trip was a gift (turns out a bar mitzvah gift) from his dad upon turning thirteen. He could chose to go anywhere in the country he wanted to go with his dad.

Oddly, we actually bumped into this kid and his dad twice more during our trip to Washingtonsomething that had almost insurmountable odds of occurring. Each time, he would come over and update us on his trip and his dad would come over as well and wed engage in some small talk. I could tell they were having an awesome time.

I vowed that I would do the same with Nathan and any other kids we were to have.

It didnt take long for the years to roll by and Nathan turned thirteen. I presented him with a gift certificate explaining the trip and giving him options and suggestions. At first, he seemed a little non-plussed and I felt disappointed. But as he began debating where hed like to go, what all we would do, things we could see, he became more excited and so did I. He finally chose California.

So I cashed in my frequent flyer miles and polished up my credit card and off we took. It started off with a bang when we landed in San Diego and got upgraded to a red Camaro convertible for free! We tore off our shirts and went cruising like a couple of rubes which we were. (Actually, it worked out quite well for me, I was able to take Nate on the trip of a lifetime and have my own mid-life crisis adventure at the same time.) We traveled the state from Tijuana to San Diego to LA to Yosemite to San Francisco in eight days. It was a blast. We laughed. We fought. We hiked. We goofed off. We talked. We debated. We just had a great father and son time.

Im still paying off the credit card bill, I do believe. Since then, Julie has taken Megan (daughter number 1, kid number 2 of 4) and coincidentally their trip was to Washington, DC. Im already looking forward to the next two trips in our future.

But as I look back upon it, I must say that this rite of passage trip we enjoyed may well be one of the most important times we ever had together. The benefits have paid off for years and years as weve relived and re-discussed those care-free days together.

Ive seen other rites of passage ideas since then. I know of one guy who made a scrapbook of letters and counsel for his son. Another guy I read about, had different friends of his meet his son for a long hike during which they took turns passing on advice to him as they walked together. Yet another idea was a tribute dinner where everyone offered toasts of counsel to the guest of honor. I still like the idea I got from that little kid on the boat and his dad the best. The boy is now in his thirties and I have no idea whatever became of him. But a brief interaction with this boy and his dad nearly two decades ago sure did a lot to enrich my relationship with my own children.

Having a rite of passage event or two for any child may be something worthy of consideration. Its a great time to talk about values, principles, goals and future plans. Its also a great time to talk about nothing, just hang out, make a few memories, pose for a handful of pictures all of which may bond your relationship for some future moments of stress or trial.

Now Nathan leaves for college in a few months and another rite of passage will occur. One which will separate us and change us and which, quite frankly, Im really dreading. I guess it also challenges me to make the most of those teachable moments we still have and to not let the days slip away before it is too late.

For the sake of the Republican Party, theyd better start taking some swimming lessons or they are going to really be in big trouble in November. With each poll that is released, the news gets bleaker for the beleaguered Grand Ol Party as they sink further into the abyss. They are venturing into political water that is well over their heads and they may well travel beyond the point of any hope of return in the next 4-5 months unless someone wakes up.

A couple of months ago, my good friend, Bob Byers over at Watchmans Words offered his optimistic view of Republican chances this fall in his article, Elephants Rising. I, being the eternal pessimist, countered with Donkeys Rising. I keep hoping that Bob is right and I am wrong, but if anything, Im more convinced Im right today than ever before.

Let me offer some NEW reasons why I think the Republicans are going to be swept out of power in November if they dont get with it.

Reason #1 Their PR department is on hiatus. Why in the world arent the Republicans talking about our economy? Good grief, folks.the unemployment rate is now at 4.7%. That means that 95.3% of the population is working. When you consider that those numbers take into consideration the number of people who are transitioning from one job to another, those who just arent looking for a job all that hard and those who quite frankly no one WANTS to hire those numbers are phenomenal. In fact, unemployment is so low that it threatens to bring back inflation as employers raise compensation to attract employees, thus setting off upward inflation pressure. The Republicans should be standing on the top of the Capitol with bullhorns and shouting Look at our economy! Instead, we hear crickets chirping.

Reason # 2 Immigration reform. So today, the bill is dead. Even if it has passed, it wasnt going to address the hard issues. In the process, the Republicans are alienating the Hispanic voting block that was leaning Republican and the Conservatives who watch the growing demonstrations of restless illegal immigrants marching in our streets and out of our schools with a smirk of I told you soif not alarm. The fact that the Republican leadership has been able to work out a solution to our porous borders AND deal with the problem of illegal immigrant who are already here just keeps everyone in all that much more turmoil and that isnt good for the party in power.

Reason # 3 The Slime Factor. Libby, Delay, Frist, etc.., etcthe Democrats are doing a masterful job of making the Republicans look like unethical sleezeballs. Add to that the Enron and Abramoff trials and scandals and people are quickly forgetting forty years of Democratic junk. But in the interest of fairness, the arrogance of power does seem to have hit the Republicans by making some turn into crooks and others turn into idiots.

Reason # 4 A What-Me-Worry Presidential Face. Its about time that someone in the White House admit that theyve got a problem in the polls and PR. President Bush has never looked more detached and/or smug. I dont read the polls he likes to say. Really, Mr. President? Then might I suggest to you that it might be a good idea to do so because the rest of the country sure does and it looks like you dont give a rip. The President is good at coming across warm and personable when he wants to. He needs to invest some of his Personality Capital on the Republican Party — and not by flying into an airport somewhere for a boring speech given to bored party loyalists. Get on the TV, give some interviews to key and fair media people, bring people to the White House by the planeload a week for talk show types, a week for religious leaders, a week for minority leaders, a week for business leaders.wineem, dineem and winem over. Theyll fan back across the country chatting like junior high girls about whatever positive news you give them.

Reason # 5 What happened to the Red Meat Conservative Issues? Tax Cuts, Conservative Judges, Abortion Restrictions, etc Pick a fight over a few of these issues. Even if you lose the fight, you might win the war. Nothing stirs up activists like a good fist fight.

Reason # 6 Wheres the Drama? Bush would be well-served to do something to catch everyones attention and to remind us that hes in charge. Fly to Baghdad and meet with the leading officials in Iraq and tell them to get their government formed. Go to Israel and stand alongside of Olmert and dare Hamas to do something stupid. Rattle your saber at little at Iraq. Fire some big names at the White House and bring in some fresh faces who arent just exhausted by serving for the last six years. Do something with a flourish and some bravado to remind us that you have a vision and passion. Or just continue to let the Democrats and the media remind us of your short-comings.

Reason # 7 Wheres the Reason for voting Republican? Develop a two-year agenda. If we keep the Republicans in both sides of Congress (which I doubt we will), what can we expect. Dont think that keeping Democratic legislation at bay is enough to re-elect Republican majorities. The President can do that with a veto stamp. (By the way, Mr. President.you might want to find that sometime and USE it.) Give us a list of things Republicans will provide. Permanent Tax Cuts. Conservative Judges. Fiscal responsibility. National security. A plan for withdrawal from Iraq. Right now the only reason were hearing to vote Republican is because the Republican lack of a plan is better than the Democratic lack of a plan.

Reason # 8 The Grassroots DO matter and the Republicans seem to have forgotten that. The faithful constituencies of the Republicans are in a lethargic coma. About the only ones we ever hear from is the Flag-wavers/support-our-troops folks. The Religious Right is apathetic at best. The business community is riding a bucking economy which is stealing their focus. Local Republican parties are listless and disengaged as well. During times like this, its the out-of-power activists that are most active and you can be sure that they are salivating at their prospects right now. The national leadership needs to reconnect to the grassroots troops and quickly.

Im not a political strategist and even I can see the coming tide. I dont know that it will be the tsunami of 1994 which shifted Congress with a roar, but it doesnt HAVE to be a tsunami this time. Republicans dont hold that big of an advantage and they havent been in power for forty years like the Democrats had. A shift of fewer than 5% of the Congressional seats and 10% of the Senate seats will dramatically change the political landscape in Washington.

Does anyone think we could get another John Roberts or Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court with a Democratic majority in the Senate? Do you want to pay more in taxes in coming years? Does nationalized health care and reduced social security benefits for those who actually prepared for retirement sound good to you? These are the things that are stake in the next two election cycles. It would be nice if someone who represents a conservative philosophy would wake up and show some leadership before we are all looking at Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader and Hillary Clinton as Madam President. Come to think of it, maybe that should become the theme of the Republican Party in the coming months.

I’ve always been of the opinion that there is a special place in hell reserved for pedophiles. Of course, when I think of pedophiles, I have for years had a mental picture of such a creep as a late-middle-aged man with pastey skin, a few strands of disheveled hair, bleary eyes and a beer gut who hangs out in the shadows of adult bookstores. That is NOT the face of today’s pedophiles as the news reveals.

Consider what we’ve seen in the few weeks alone:

Justin Berry, a fresh-faced young college freshman testified to Congress as to how he become a pubescent child porn star, nearly destroying his life, having been tutored by sophisticated business men — one of whom was one of the developers of the Pentium IV processor.

(For a chilling account of his story, view his testimony HERE. A thirty-second commercial plays before the testimony.)

A New Castle Delaware teacher is arrested for having sexual relations with a young teen student of hers nearly thirty times in one week…on at least one occasion being observed by a friend of the boy’s.

A female Florida teacher received no jail time for repeated sexual liasons with a male student who was only 14 at the time.

A Deputy Press Secretary for the Homeland Security Department was arrested for trying to seduce a teenage girl online and sending her pornographic videos over the internet.

Three North Carolina men were recently arrested for performing S and M castrations in their basement/dungeon on men they had contacted via internet websites.

A man was arraigned recently in Charlotte, North Carolina (my hometown) for walking into the girls bathroom of a large private Christian School (not ours). He was arrested for trespassing and trying to film the students privately.

A report on internet sex crimes was published noting that many of the sexual predators targeting children are people who would be deemed by society as “respectable” (ie…pediatricians, teachers, coaches, businessmen) and who are living double lives.

I could expand this list much longer but you get my point.

So, is this just a case wherein we have a rash of perverts being exposed but there is no correlative rise in predatory activities against children or is this the first rising tide in a coming tsunami of pedophilic crime?

I would suggest that it is the latter, rather than the former.

Pornography of every kind is more common on the internet than about any other type of website out there and hundreds of new ones are added each day. There are more pornography outlets in this country today than there are McDonald’s restaurants. The computer and high-speed internet has given every pedophile and would-be pervert the three most important components to feed his addiction: it’s Accessible, Affordable and Anonymous.

Recent articles have exposed myspace.com to be a cesspool of pornographic images, sex talk and free-wheeling information exchanges dominated by kids and teens who are being trolled by perverts and pedophiles for potential contacts. Kids instant message each other via computer and cell phone billions of times per day while most parents don’t have a clue as to what they are saying and to whom they are communicating. The federal government has shown little will and even less success in tracking down those who prey on children and I have a serious question as to whether or not there are enough resources out there to make the risk of getting caught sufficient to slow down the traffic. Technology is such that there are many ways to hide one’s identity on the internet anyway.

So, what’s a parent to do? What will the long-term social ramifications of this epidemic be? What is the root of all of this?

A few thoughts….

First, we all have to do what we can. Parents MUST be more proactive. I’m not an advocate (generally) of pulling the internet connection out of the wall and hauling the computer out in the yard and using it for target practice. BUT…parents need to understand the potential for harm unfettered internet access has. I own several guns. It’s my right to do so and I’m not about to give up that right. However, my kids don’t know where I keep them. They are out of reach and carefully monitored and controlled. When it is time to teach my kids how to shoot, then I school them in a very controlled and monitored environment. Computer porn is as lethal to the soul and mind and even body as about any threat available. Inasmuch as I control my guns, I need to control the computer and access to the internet in my own home.

Secondly, we do need governmental help. For all the bally-hoo’ed threat to the First Amendment that pornographers seek to raise at every suggestion that we do something to diminish access to pornography, only the ignorant fool would argue that protection of pornography was part of what our Founding Fathers had in mind when penning the Bill of Rights. Corraling pornographers into a particular section of the internet — perhaps one with a specific domain assignment like .porn or .xxx — and which could be blocked much in the same way that porn can be scrambled on cable TV services would be a good start.

Several months ago, I also suggested a tax on pornographic materials which would be used to fund enforcement, addiction programs and recovery programs for the victims of abuse tied to porn. I still think this is a great idea. We tax alcohol. We tax tobacco. We tax lottery winnings. Let’s add a new category to the so called “sin taxes”. (By the way, my article on this topic posted on “Common Voice” was picked up by several major media outlets and distributed worldwide. It was like kicking a hornet’s nest and the vitriole and hatred heaped on me by pro-porn perves was both intense and gratifying. One of them even took the time to set up a website entitled: F*** Dan Burrell which many people have discovered upon doing a websearch for my name on google or yahoo.)

Thirdly, we need to do a better job of educating the public to the addictive nature and destructive consequences of pornography. Some research indicates that for some men, pornography causes a chemical craving that is tantamount to being addicted to crack cocaine. Men who peruse porn websites rarely think of those they view as being real people, but they are…they are someone’s little girl, teenage son, mother, sister, daughter. They are real people and they are being exploited and destroyed. And don’t give me some insipid little argument that they “want” or “enjoy” their career citing an interview given by some crusading porn star. For every one such “example”, anyone can find a thousand who will tell you quite the opposite.

Not only is porn addictive, but it is progressive. It takes more in quantity and graphicness to feed the lust. Ted Bundy, shortly before his death, told James Dobson of the progressive nature of porn in his life that led him from girlie magazines down a path that lead to rape, brutality and eventually murder — all in pursuit of meeting the growing demands of his destructive lust.

The fact that porn and exposure to sexual messages and images is progressive should cause all of us pause and concern. What we are seeing is the first wave of a generation of people with unhealthy, dangerous and out-of-control sexual appetites and fettishes. Since pornography became available on the web, the rise has been dramatic. Add to it the sexualization of the advertising media, the lowering of the bar of conduct due to the sexual revolution of the 1960’s and 70’s, the rise of dysfunctional homes wherein fathers were separated from their sons and unable to protect their daughters due to absentee dads, divorce and single mom’s, the dumbing down of American attitudes regarding infidelity (thanks largely to Bill Clinton), the mainstreaming of homosexuality, multiple partners, anonymous sex and myriad other perverse practices and other factors and we are now seeing a generation come of age that are willing to “experiment”, indulge, pursue and succumb to things that ignore the Biblical, historical, civilized and sacred role of a sexual relationship to be enjoyed exclusively between a man and a woman who are married to each other for a lifetime.

Finally, we all need an big dose of honesty and accountability. If you are hitting porn sites on the internet of any kind — stop it. Get help. Find a partner for accountability. Join a support group. Talk to your pastor. Don’t try to justify it. It will destroy your life.

I fear and even predict, that what we are seeing is going to become a giant destructive wave of dangerous consequence. We will see kids who have been molested and damaged replaying the crimes against them on a future generation as adults. We will see an escalation on the breakdown of healthy family relationships. We will see a dramatic rise in the exploitation of children by people who were once trusted which will rob kids of their innocence and destroy what should be sacred bonds between such people as doctors and patients, teachers and students, pastors and congregants and even parents and children. We will see a horrific industry which will feed the burgeoning demands of those who crave more and more perversity to satisfy their sexual appetites. Women and children will not be safe. Rapes and kidnapping may increase. Things that were once considered unthinkable will become common place and even acceptable. We may wake up someday and see modern depictions of the Biblical story of Lot who offered his virgin daughters to appease enraged homosexuals prior to God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and then to see Lot go ahead and escape to the mountains where he committed incest with his own children. Could we go so low? Without a doubt. If you don’t believe me, go read Romans Chapter One in the Bible.

Ultimately, as with all things, the solution and the cause are related to our spiritual condition. No government can stop the will of rebellious man. No wall is high enough, no law is strong enough, no punishment severe enough to thwart the heart and actions of desperately wicked individuals and that would include all of us.

It’s only through God’s grace and forgiveness, our repentance and turning to Truth, our accountability and our surrender to God’s plan will we ever have hope — personally or corporately. Some will dismiss those thoughts as moralizing and preaching…but they do so in a blind commitment to having their own way. Scripture tells us that there is a way which “seems right” to men, but the ends of it are death.

Let’s hope that we wake up before it’s too late.