Reflections from a Concerned Christian is a collection of essays from a minister that expresses various issues relevant to today’s church. It provides insightful information pertaining to living the Christian life.
It has an easy to read introduction for beginners to Christianity as well as helpful news for the seasoned believer. The essays were taken from the author’s personal experiences of over thirty years involved in ministry. The subjects covered in the book include Holiness, Marriage, Jealousy, and God’s divine purpose.
Marriage Crises
In Today’s Church
The marriage crises in our churches should be of great concern to all that love the Lord. In time past divorce was something rarely occurred in the church, and was considered a thing that the “unsaved” commonly practiced. Today, divorce rates in the world and the church virtually parallel one another, in that the percentage is about 50% of marriages end in divorces.
Satan is working overtime in his attempt to divide and conquer the family unit that God instituted. The breakdown of morality, discipline and responsibility in today’s society has contributed greatly to the demise of marriage. Sad to say, many in the church have fallen under the world’s influence in their attitude of wanting to get out of a relationship they no longer care for. Too often as saints of God, we forget that God has provided methods of mending our differences with virtues such as repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
We must remember that our relationship to God is reflected in how we treat one another, especially in marriage. Jesus said, “love thy neighbor as thyself,” this statement corresponds to Paul, when he states, “that a man who loveth his wife loveth himself.” This makes clear that the first neighbor we come in contact with, is our mate. Marriage is a subject that is taught very little in the church today, and it seems to be considered taboo to discuss, because of its personal and sensitive nature. Whether it is personal or not, marriage plays an integral part of our Christian walk, and should not be pushed in a corner unaddressed in dealing with the problems that may occur. It is said that if a couple is saved and has God in their lives, they should have a good marriage. Though this is true in principle, in reality it tends to be for many tedious and even unhappy. The simplistic statement of a couple being saved equals good marriage, overlooks the complexity that marriage brings. Such as the couple’s family background, their spirituality, social and economic status, as well as their relationship to others must be considered in determining the success of failure of a marriage. Indeed in generations past there were few divorces, because it was shunned and condemned, yet on the other side of the coin though many stayed together in their marriages it was lived unhappily or resigned to mediocrity.
God intended for us to live happily, fulfilled, and joyfully in marriage. Ecclesiastes 9:9 states, “Live joyfully with thy wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he has given thee under the sun.” When we strive to love God as the bible says, his love will flow through us in our relationship to him and to our spouse so that we become the models that characterize his love for the Church.
The Harvest of Souls Crossover is a story that is exciting, vigorous, and full of suspense about the fight of good and evil in two realms, the light and dark world. The Howdy Family is determined to defeat the world of darkness, led by the seemingly
