Redeeming Girls From Our Beauty Obsessed Culture – Former Model Turned Christian Reaches Out

From Christian Post.Com

After Nicole Weider had been modeling in Hollywood for a number of years, she got to meet Gisele Bündchen at a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot.

She recalls telling her how pretty her hair was, only to have Bündchen tell her that it was just extensions put in for the shoot. As the shoot progressed some of the photographers called Weider over to look at the pictures on the screen.

She was shocked to see that as the pictures would come up they would Photoshop and retouch them in real time – making the models’ noses thinner, or touching up parts of their body on the screen.

Weider said it was after seeing the way they doctored the pictures that she realized “the whole industry was so fake and superficial,” and that she wanted more for her life.

Soon after, Weider became a Christian and set out navigating how to be a believer in Hollywood, and also how to be a role model for young girls in an industry with very few. She stopped doing lingerie ads, because she said she “felt like a piece of meat” when she was doing them.

Now, Weider, who has been modeling and acting since the age of 5, only takes jobs that she feels line up with her Christian values and works on her new website called Project Inspired.

The primary focus of Project Inspired is to give teen girls another option. It’s a way for Weider to tell them that they don’t need to abuse their bodies, dress more provocatively, and behave immorally just because that’s what society promotes. Part of the idea behind the website is to help give young girls a direction in looking for positive role models in society.

Weider said one of the biggest problems young girls face today is the “pressure to be sexual and sexy.” She said in today’s society many young girls feel the pressure to look like the women on magazine covers or like pop stars.

Topics on the site include a tab called Culture Shock, where Weider talks about the lies told in the media through advertising and marketing. She addresses different messages that stars promote, like Lady Gaga or the struggles Disney star Demi Lovato has gone through.

Real Beauty is another section on the site, and its main focus is to “celebrate a woman’s natural beauty, and encourage a healthy lifestyle.” It includes a space where girls can send in pictures of themselves without makeup to enforce ideas of natural and inner beauty.

There are also sections for dating and relationship advice as well. Weider said the site gives insight into issues girls face every day.

She wants her site to “be a full service website that talks about everything.” It features girl talk message boards where users can post questions and Weider will answer their individual questions and offer advice and encouragement.

“There are so many ‘secrets’ out there that promise to put your life on the best path. I tried them all, but only one worked: Putting my faith in God,” she says on her website.

Model Nicole Weider Reaches Out to Young GirlsThrough her platform and desire to give young girls a positive message that inner beauty is just as important as outer beauty, Weider started the Anti-Cosmo campaign. She said she had girls writing her letters talking about how Cosmopolitan Magazine negatively affected them.

Cosmo is the number one selling women’s magazine in the United States, and Weider said it negatively targets young girls. Her Anti-Cosmo campaign has gathered over 10,000 signatures, and they are continuing to garner support. The campaign is petitioning Chairman of the FTC John Leibowitz, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Media Buyers to have Cosmo sold in a nontransparent wrapper.

In the petition letter, she states, “This publication has steadily declined into a full-on pornographic ‘how to’ guide for insecure women and vulnerable young girls. Almost every issue features inappropriate ‘tips’ to try new sex moves.”

For Weider, the magazine is another example of giving young girls the wrong message – that “your value is based on your sex skills.”

She said the entertainment industry is a hard business to be a Christian in. It chews up and destroys many young women. There is pressure to sell more albums by being sexy or dressing provocatively. “In the entertainment industry you see so few Christians,” she said.

She hopes that her website will be one small step toward giving girls a different message. For her, the entertainment industry only places value on outer beauty, but Weider and her website are seeking to promote a counter-cultural message – that real beauty comes from within.

- Prophecy News Watch

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IN LIKE manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives; In the same way you married men should live considerately with [your wives], with an [c]intelligent recognition [of the marriage relation], honoring the woman as [physically] the weaker, but [realizing that you] are joint heirs of the grace (God’s unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off. [Otherwise YOU CANNOT PRAY EFFECTIVELY.]

1 Peter 3:1-22

¹IN LIKE manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives,

²When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your ^[a] reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him--to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband].

³Let not yours be the [merely] external adorning with [elaborate] ^[b] interweaving and knotting of the hair, the wearing of jewelry, or changes of clothes;

⁴But let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God.

⁵For it was thus that the pious women of old who hoped in God were [accustomed] to beautify themselves and were submissive to their husbands [adapting themselves to them as themselves secondary and dependent upon them].

⁶It was thus that Sarah obeyed Abraham [following his guidance and acknowledging his headship over her by] calling him lord (master, leader, authority). And you are now her true daughters if you do right and let nothing terrify you [not giving way to hysterical fears or letting anxieties unnerve you].

⁷In the same way you married men should live considerately with [your wives], with an ^[c]intelligent recognition [of the marriage relation], honoring the woman as [physically] the weaker, but [realizing that you] are joint heirs of the grace (God’s unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off. [Otherwise you cannot pray effectively.]

⁸Finally, all [of you] should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one household], compassionate and courteous (tenderhearted and humble).

⁹Never return evil for evil or insult for insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For know that to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a blessing [from God--that you may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection].

¹⁰For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good--whether apparent or not] keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery, deceit).

¹¹Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil [to oppose them, to frustrate, and defeat them].

¹³Now who is there to hurt you if you are ^[d]zealous followers of that which is good?

¹⁴But even in case you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, [you are] blessed (happy, to be envied). Do not dread or be afraid of their threats, nor be disturbed [by their opposition].

¹⁵But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully.

¹⁶[And see to it that] your conscience is entirely clear (^[e]unimpaired), so that, when you are falsely accused as evildoers, those who threaten you abusively and revile your right behavior in Christ may come to be ashamed [of slandering your good lives].

¹⁷For [it is] better to suffer [unjustly] for doing right, if that should be God’s will, than to suffer [justly] for doing wrong.

¹⁸For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once ^[f]for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,

¹⁹In which He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

²⁰[The souls of those] who long before in the days of Noah had been disobedient, when God’s patience waited during the building of the ark in which a few [people], actually eight in number, were saved through water.

²¹And baptism, which is a figure [of their deliverance], does now also save you [from inward questionings and fears], not by the removing of outward body filth [bathing], but by [providing you with] the answer of a good and clear conscience (inward cleanness and peace) before God [because you are demonstrating what you believe to be yours] through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

²²[And He] has now entered into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with [all] angels and authorities and powers made subservient to Him. – Amplified Bible

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I DICTATED a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?; For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?; For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment; For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life's] increase.

Job 31:1-40

¹I DICTATED a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?

²For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps?

⁵If I have walked with falsehood or vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit–

⁶Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!

⁷If my step has turned out of [God's] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt,

⁸Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field or my offspring be rooted out.

⁹If my heart has been deceived and I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],

¹⁰Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment.

¹²For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life's] increase.

¹³If I have despised and rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended or brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him?

¹⁵Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld from the poor and needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless–

¹⁸No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow's] guide from my mother’s womb–

¹⁹If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering,

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate,

²²Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] and could do nothing.

²⁴If I have made gold my trust and hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence,

²⁵If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much,

²⁶If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness,

²⁷And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them],

²⁸This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges’ action and punishment, for I would have denied and been false to the God Who is above.

²⁹If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him–

³⁰No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die–

³¹[Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?–

³²The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man–

³³If like Adam or like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom

³⁴Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door–

³⁵Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book!

³⁶Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem.

³⁷I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince–

³⁸For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],

³⁹If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last,

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended. – -  Amplified Bible

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Did I marry the right person?

This is a very good article. Those who are still single may learn something from here….
Those who are already married may take it as a guideline to improve your marriage….

DID I MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON?

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said, “How do I know if I married the right person?”
I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, “It depends. Is that your husband?” In all seriousness, she answered “How do you know?”

Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it’s weighing on your mind.
Here’s the answer.
EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse. You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies.
Falling in love with your spouse wasn’t hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn’t have to DO anything. That’s why it’s called “falling” in love… Because it’s happening TO YOU.

People in love sometimes say, “I was swept of my feet.” Think about the imagery of that __expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something came along and happened TO YOU.

Falling in love is easy. It’s a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria of love fades. It’s the natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse’s idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts.

The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship, but if you think about your marriage, you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking, “Did I marry the right person?” And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when marriages breakdown. People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside their marriage for fulfillment.
Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most obvious. But sometimes people turn to work,a
hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances.
But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage. It lies within it. I’m not saying that you couldn’t fall in love with someone else. You could.

And TEMPORARILY you’d feel better. But you’d be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this):

THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT’S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.
SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It’ll NEVER just happen to you. You can’t “find” LASTING love. You have to “make” it day  in and day out. That’s why we have the __expression “the labor of love.” Because it takes time, effort, and energy . And most importantly, it takes WISDOM . You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work.

Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse) to succeed with your marriage.
Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger, certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger. It’s a direct cause and effect. If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable. ..you can “make” love.

Love in marriage is indeed a “decision”.. . Not just a feeling .

Remember this always

“God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.”

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Yes, God made Hormones

From KHouse.Org

YES, GOD MADE HORMONES

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” – Genesis 1:27-28

In the beginning, God made creatures, male and female, to reproduce after their kind. After God made man, he said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  Then Adam knew his wife Eve, and they began producing children – both sons and daughters, according to Genesis 3:1. [Correction Genesis 3:1 incorrect; Genesis 5:4 correct, Adam and Eve's other children]

God invented sex. It was His idea.  It was not the original sin.  It was not the cause (or the result) of the Curse.

“It’s all a trick,” one young lady said to us recently. “We have hormones, and we have desires, and it makes us want to hook up with guys. But, it’s all a trick to get us trapped, because otherwise we’d never bother with them.”

Could be.

Women have the same trouble with children. Women know that children smush peanut butter sandwiches into the couch cushions and rub bananas on the windows. They know that children scream and cry and broadcast their parents’ darkest secrets at top volume in the grocery store: “Mommy! Why are you wearing Daddy’s panties today! Why are you wearing Daddy’s panties!” “Shhh! Because I need to do laundry!”  Women know that children wreck your car and date people who are unseemly and cause endless worry and frustration. And yet, when they see an infant swaddled in its stroller at the park, women still grab their mate’s arm and say, “Oh honey. I want a baby.” (Honestly, some men do it too.)

Hormones do the strangest things to us.

Men are not immune from the problem. Men could be free to work hard, make money, and spend it all on Superbowl tickets and golf and hunting trips to Alaska. They could have time to read good books or watch violent movies without anybody hounding them about it, and they would never have to eat a salad if they didn’t want to. Yet, hormones cause men to seek out the gentler sex, with their honey-do lists and redirection of the men’s hard-earned funds, with their diet and relationship requirements.

Hormones are Good:
Yet, in all His goodness and love and wisdom, God invented hormones. He invented hormones on purpose. The pairing up of the first human couple was the finale of His “very good” (Gen 1:31) creation.

The Bible treats marriage not merely as a convenient social structure that makes it easier to have sex and pay the rent. God sees marriage as an honorable institution (Hebrews 13:4 ), one in which a man and woman become one (Matthew 19:6). God set it up as a partnership,  in which both marriage partners aid and support and complement each other. Even more than that, marriage represents the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church (Eph 5:21-33).

Sex In Today’s World:
Nowadays, however, our cultural view of sex and marriage has been massively skewed.   At one end, sex is viewed as “dirty”  or unholy, which it isn’t.  At the other end, people behave like animals, seeing sexual activity as merely one of a number of physical needs (like food) that should be satisfied on a regular basis, regardless of what restaurant or person happens to be nearby.

Handling Hormones Well:
For those who are happily married, sexual desire generally has a ready outlet.  In fact, it’s sought after.  Married couples want to foster more of it.  God designed sex to be pleasurable and fun for both mates.

For single, God fearing folks, though, sexual desire can be quite a problem.  The hormones don’t know that their single, God-fearing host is not united in holy matrimony. They do what they want regardless.

God made the hormones.  He started it in the first place. He didn’t do it to trap us or force us to eat salads.  He did it to make us able to mature and grow and to bond with our mates.  Yet, even when we are not in a marriage relationship, those same hormones can still offer the impetus for growing and maturity – both physically and spiritually.

The single adult who is in the difficult position of having to remain abstinent gets to learn the very things that will help him or her be a good spouse later on.   The abstinent adult learns to be patient and self-controlled.  The abstinent adult learns to truly put his or herself in God’s hands and wait for His timing.  During our times of abstinence we get to learn to make God our best friend in life and our source of joy and fulfillment, without as much temptation to put all our dependence suffocatingly on another human being.

For those of you who have spouses, go celebrate the hormones God gave you. Woo your spouses and enjoy them.  For those of you still waiting, trust that this is a good time for you, a time to learn how to make God your first and always love and companion.  It’s a time to focus on becoming the person that your future spouse will want to not just marry, but stay married to for fifty years.

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” – Song of Songs 2:4

Related Links:

• What is God’s Love Really? – Koinonia House
• The Way Of Agape Articles – Koinonia House

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Young Man, Is This For You? January 15, 1888 by C. H. SPURGEON

Young Man, Is This For You? Part 2

January 15, 1888
by
C. H. SPURGEON

[1834-1892]

II. Now let me cheer you while I introduce the second head of my discourse, which is this—FOR SUCH GRIEF THERE IS ONLY ONE HELPER—BUT THERE IS A HELPER.

This young man is taken out to be buried. But our Lord Jesus Christ met the funeral procession. Carefully note the “coincidences,” as skeptics call them but as we call them—“Providences”—of Scripture. This is a fine subject for another time. Take this one case. How came it that the young man died just then? How came it that this exact hour was selected for his burial? Perhaps because it was evening. But even that might not fix the precise moment. Why did the Savior that day arrange to travel five-and-twenty miles, so as to arrive at Nain in the evening? How came it to pass that He happened just then to be coming from a quarter which naturally led Him to enter at that particular gate from which the dead would be carried?

See, He ascends the hill to the little city at the same moment when the head of the procession is coming out of the gate! He meets the dead man before the place of sepulture is reached. A little later and he would have been buried. A little earlier and he would have been at home lying in the darkened room and no one might have called the Lord’s attention to him. The Lord knows how to arrange all things—His forecasts are true to the tick of the clock. I hope some great purpose is to be fulfilled this morning. I do not know why you, my Friend, came in here on a day when I am discoursing on this particular subject. You did not think to come, perhaps, but here you are. And Jesus has come here, too. He has come here on purpose to meet you and quicken you to newness of life. There is no chance about it—eternal decrees have arranged it all and we shall soon see that it is so. You spiritually dead are being met by Him in whom is life eternal.

The blessed Savior saw all at a glance. Out of that procession He singled out the chief mourner and read her inmost heart. He was always tender to mothers. He fixed His eye on that widow. For He knew that she was such, without being informed of the fact. The dead man is her only son—He perceives all the details and nothing is hid from His infinite mind. O young man, Jesus knows all about you. Jesus, who is invisibly present this morning, fixes His eyes on you at this moment. He has seen the tears of those who have wept for you. He sees that some of them despair of you, and are in their great grief acting like mourners at your funeral.

Jesus saw it all and, what was more, entered into it all. Oh, how we ought to love our Lord that He takes such notice of our griefs and especially our spiritual griefs about the souls of others! You, dear Teacher, want your class saved—Jesus sympathizes with you. You, dear Friend, have been very earnest to win souls, Know that in all this you are workers together with God. Jesus knows all about our travail of soul and He is at one with us therein. Our travail is only His own travail rehearsed in us, according to our humble measure. When Jesus enters into our work it cannot fail. Enter, O Lord, into my work at this hour, I pray You, and bless this feeble word to my hearers! I know that hundreds of Believers are saying, “Amen.” How this cheers me!

Our Lord proved how He entered into the sorrowful state of things by first saying to the widow, “Weep not.” At this moment He says to you who are praying and agonizing for souls, “Do not despair! Sorrow not as those who are without hope! I mean to bless you. You shall yet rejoice over life given to the dead.” Let us take heart and dismiss all unbelieving fear. Our Lord then went to the bier and just laid His finger upon it and they that carried it stood still of their own accord. Our Lord has a way of making bearers stand still without a word. Perhaps, today, yonder young man is being carried further into sin by the four bearers of his natural passions, his infidelity, his bad company, and his love of strong drink. It may be that pleasure and pride, willfulness and wickedness are bearing the four corners of the bier. But our Lord can, by His mysterious power, make the bearers stand still. Evil influences have become powerless, the man knows not how.

When they stood quite still, there was a hush. The disciples stood around the Lord, the mourners surrounded the widow and the two crowds faced each other. There was a little space and Jesus and the dead man were in the center. The widow pushed away her veil and gazing through her tears wondered what was going on. The Jews who came out of the city halted as the bearers had done. Hush! Hush! What will HE do? In that deep silence the Lord heard the unspoken prayers of that widow woman. I doubt not that her soul began to whisper, half in hope and half in fear—“Oh, that He would raise my son!”

At any rate, Jesus heard the flutter of the wings of desire if not of faith. Surely her eyes were speaking as she gazed on Jesus, who had so suddenly appeared. Here let us be as quiet as the scene before us. Let us be hushed for a minute and pray God to raise dead souls at this time. [Here followed a pause, much silent prayer and many tears.]

III. That hush was not long, for speedily the Great Quickener entered upon His gracious work. This is our third point— JESUS IS ABLE TO WORK THE MIRACLE OF LIFE-GIVING.

Jesus Christ has life in Himself and He quickens whom He will (John 5:21). Such life is there in Him that “he that lives and believes in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Our blessed Lord immediately went up to the bier. What lay before Him? It was a corpse. He could derive no aid from that lifeless form. The spectators were sure that he was dead, for they were carrying him out to bury him. No deception was possible, for his own mother believed him dead and you may be sure that if there had been a spark of life in him she would not have given him up to the jaws of the grave. There was then no hope—no hope from the dead man, no hope from anyone in the crowd either of bearers or of disciples. They were all powerless alike.

Even so, you, O Sinner, cannot save yourself—neither can any of us—or can any of us save you. There is no help for you, dead Sinner, beneath yon skies. No help in yourself or in those who love you most. But, lo, the Lord has laid help on One that is mighty. If Jesus wants the least help, you cannot render it, for you are dead in sins. There you lie, dead on the bier and nothing but the sovereign power of Divine omnipotence can put heavenly life into you. Your help must come from above.

While the bier stood still, Jesus spoke to the dead young man, spoke to him personally—“Young man, I say unto you, Arise.” O Master, personally speak to some young man this morning. Or, if You will, speak to the old, or speak to a woman. But speak the Word home to them. We mind not where the Lord’s voice may fall. Oh that it would now call those around me, for I feel that there are dead ones all over the building! I stand with biers all about me and dead ones on them. Lord Jesus, are You not here? What is wanted is Your personal call. Speak, Lord, we beseech You!

“Young man,” said He, “Arise.” And He spoke as if the man had been alive. This is the Gospel way. He did not wait till He saw signs of life before He bade him rise. But to the dead man He said, “Arise.” This is the model of Gospel preaching—in the name of the Lord Jesus, His commissioned servants speak to the dead as if they were alive. Some of my Brethren laugh at this and say that it is inconsistent and foolish. But all through the New Testament it is even so. There we read, “Arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light.” I do not attempt to justify it. It is more than enough for me that so I read the Word of God. We are to bid men believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, even though we know that they are dead in sin and that faith is the work of the Spirit of God.

Our faith enables us, in God’s name, to command dead men to live and they do live. We bid unbelieving man believe in Jesus and power goes with the Word and God’s elect do believe. It is by this Word of faith which we preach that the voice of Jesus sounds out to men. The young man who could not rise, for he was dead, nevertheless did rise when Jesus bade him. Even so, when the Lord speaks by His servants the Gospel command, “Believe and live,” it is obeyed and men live.

But the Savior, you observe, spoke with His own authority—“Young man, I say unto you, Arise.” Neither Elijah nor Elisha could thus have spoken. But He who spoke thus was very God of very God. Though veiled in human flesh and clothed in lowliness, He was that same God who said, “Let there be light” and there was light. If any of us are able by faith to say, “Young man, Arise,” we can only say it in His name—we have no authority but what we derive from Him. Young man, the voice of Jesus can do what your mother cannot. How often has her sweet voice wooed you to come to Jesus but wooed in vain? Oh, that the Lord Jesus would inwardly speak to you! Oh, that He would say, “Young man, Arise.”

I trust that while I am speaking, the Lord is silently speaking in your hearts by His Holy Spirit. I feel sure that it is even so. If so, within you a gentle movement of the Spirit is inclining you to repent and yield your heart to Jesus. This shall be a blessed day to the spiritually dead young man, if now he accepts his Savior, and yields himself up to be renewed by Divine Grace! No, my poor Brother, they shall not bury you! I know you have been very bad and they may well despair of you. But while Jesus lives we cannot give you up.

The miracle was worked straightway—for this young man, to the astonishment of all about him, sat up. His was a desperate case but death was conquered, for he sat up. He had been called back from the innermost dungeon of death, even from  the grave’s mouth. But he sat up when Jesus called him. It did not take a month, nor a week, nor an hour—no, not even five minutes. Jesus said, “Young man, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak.” In an instant the Lord can save a sinner. Before the words I speak can have more than entered your ear, the Divine flash which gives you eternal life can have penetrated your breast and you shall be a new creature in Jesus Christ, beginning to live in newness of life from this hour—no more to feel spiritually dead—or to return to your old corruption.

New life, new feeling, new love, new hopes, new company shall be yours, because you have passed from death unto life. Pray God that it may be so, for He will hear us.

IV. Our time has gone and although we have a wide subject we may not linger. I must close by noticing that THIS WILL PRODUCE VERY GREAT RESULTS. To give life to the dead is no little matter.

The great result was manifest, first, in the young man. Would you like to see him as he was? Might I venture to draw back the sheet from his face? See there what death has done? He was a fine young man. To his mother’s eye he was the mirror of manhood! What a pallor is on that face! How sunken are the eyes! You are feeling sad. I see you cannot bear the sight. Come, look into this grave where corruption has gone further in its work. Cover him up! We cannot bear to look at the decaying body! But when Jesus Christ has said, “Arise,” what a change takes place!

Now you may look at him. His blue eyes have the light of Heaven in them. His lips are coral red with life. His brow is fair and full of thought. Look at his healthy complexion, in which the rose and the lily sweetly contend for mastery! What a fresh look there is about him, as of the dew of the morning! He has been dead but he lives, and no trace of death is on him. While you are looking at him he begins to speak. What music for his mother’s ear! What did he say? Why, that I cannot tell you. Speak yourself as a newly-quickened one and then I shall hear what you say.

I know what I said. I think the first word I said when I was quickened was, “Hallelujah.” Afterwards, I went home to my mother and told her that the Lord had met with me. No words are given here. It does not quite matter what those words are, for any words proved him to be alive. If you know the Lord, I believe you will speak of heavenly things. I do not believe that our Lord Jesus has a dumb child in His house—they all speak to Him and most of them speak of Him. The new birth reveals itself in confession of Christ and praise of Christ. I warrant you that his mother, when she heard him speak, did not criticize what he said. She did not say, “That sentence is ungrammatical.”

She was too glad to hear him speak at all, that she did not examine all the expressions which he used. Newly-saved souls often talk in a way which after years and experience will not justify. You often hear it said of a revival meeting that there was a good deal of excitement and certain young converts talked absurdly. That is very likely—but if genuine grace was in their souls and they bore witness to the Lord Jesus, I, for one, would not criticize them very severely. Be glad if you can see any proof that they are born again and mark well their future lives. To the young man himself a new life had begun—life from among the dead.

A new life also had begun in reference to his mother. What a great result for her was the raising of her dead son! Henceforth he would be doubly dear. Jesus helped him down from the bier and delivered him to his mother. We have not the words He used. But we are sure that He made the presentation most gracefully, giving back the son to the mother as one presents a choice gift. With a majestic delight which always goes with His condescending benevolence, He looked on that happy woman and His glance was brighter to her than the light of the morning, as He said to her, “Receive your son.”

The thrill of her heart was such as she would never forget. Observe carefully that our Lord, when He puts the new life into young men, does not want to take them away with Him from the home where their first duty lies. Here and there one is called away to be an Apostle or a missionary—but usually He wants them to go home to their friends and bless their parents and make their families happy and holy. He does not present the young man to the priest but He delivers him to his mother. Do not say, “I am converted and therefore I cannot go to business any more, or try to support my mother by my trade.” That would prove that you were not converted at all.

You may go for a missionary in a year or two’s time if you are fitted for it. But you must not make a dash at a matter for which you are not prepared. For the present, go home to your mother and make your home happy and charm your father’s heart and be a blessing to your brothers and sisters and let them rejoice because, “he was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”

What was the next result? Well, all the neighbors feared and glorified God. If yonder young man who last night was at the music-hall and a few nights ago came home very nearly drunk. If that young man is born again, all around him will wonder at it. If that young man who has got himself out of a situation by gambling, or some other wrong-doing, is saved, we shall all feel that God is very near us. If that young man who has begun to associate with evil women and to fall into other evils, is brought to be pure-minded and gracious, it will strike awe into those round about him. He has led many others astray and if the Lord now leads him back it will make a great hubbub and men will enquire as to the reason of the change and will see that there is a power in religion alter all.

Conversions are miracles which never cease. These prodigies of power in the moral world are quite as remarkable as prodigies in the material world. We want conversion, so practical, so real, so Divine—that those who doubt will not be able to doubt—because they see in them the hand of God.

Finally, note that it not only surprised the neighbors and impressed them but the rumor of it went everywhere. Who can  tell? If a convert is made this morning, the result of that conversion may be felt for thousands of years, if the world stands so long. Yes, it shall be felt when a thousand, thousand years have passed away, even throughout eternity. Tremblingly have I dropped a smooth stone into the lake this morning. It has fallen from a feeble hand and from an earnest heart. Your tears have shown that the waters are stirred. I perceive the first circlet upon the surface.

Other and wider circles will follow as the sermon is spoken of and read. When you go home and tell what God has done for your soul, there will be a wider ring. And if it should happen that the Lord should open the mouth of one of this morning’s converts to preach His Word, then no one can tell how wide the circle will become. Ring upon ring will the Word spread itself, until the shoreless ocean of eternity shall feel the influence of this morning’s Word. No, I am not dreaming. According to our faith so shall it be. Grace this day bestowed by the Lord upon one single soul may affect the whole mass of humanity.

God grant His blessing, even life forevermore. Pray much for a Blessing, my dear Friends, I beseech you, for Jesus Christ’s sake. And pray much for me. Amen.

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Young Man, Is This For You? Part 1 – January 15th, 1888 by C.H. Spurgeon

Young Man, Is This For You?

January 15, 1888
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
“And it came to pass the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him and much people. Now when He came near to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man I say unto you, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God has visited His people. And this rumor of Him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about.” Luke 7:11-17.

Behold, dear Brethren, the overflowing, ever-flowing power of our Lord Jesus Christ! He had worked a great work upon the centurion’s servant, and now, only a day after, he raises the dead. “It came to pass the day after, that He went into a city called Nain.” Day unto day utters speech concerning His deeds of goodness. Did He save your friend yesterday? His fullness is the same. If you seek Him, His love and grace will flow to you today. He blesses this day and He blesses the day after. Never is our Divine Lord compelled to pause until He has recruited His resources. Virtue goes out of Him forever. These thousands of years have not diminished the greatness of His power to bless.

Behold, also, the readiness and naturalness of the outgoings of His life-giving power. Our Savior was journeying and He works miracles while on the road—“He went into a city called Nain.” It was incidentally, (some would say accidentally), that He met the funeral procession. But at once He restored to life this dead young man. Our blessed Lord was not standing still, as one professionally called in—He does not seem to have come to Nain at anyone’s request for the display of His love. But He was passing through the gate into the city for some reason which is not recorded.

See, my Brethren, how the Lord Jesus is always ready to save! He healed the woman who touched him in the throng when He was on the road to quite another person’s house. The mere spilling and droppings of the Lord’s cup of grace are marvelous. Here He gives life to the dead when He is en route. He scatters His mercy by the roadside and anywhere and everywhere His paths drop fatness. No time, no place can find Jesus unwilling or unable. When Baal is on a journey, or sleeps, his deluded worshippers cannot hope for his help. But when Jesus journeys or sleeps, a word will find Him ready to conquer death, or quell the tempest.

It was a remarkable incident, this meeting of the two processions at the gates of Nain. If someone with a fine imagination could picture it, what an opportunity he would have for developing his poetical genius! I venture on no such effort. Yonder a procession descends from the city. Our spiritual eyes see death upon the pale horse coming forth from the city gate with great exultation. He has taken another captive. Upon that bier behold the spoils of the dread conqueror! Mourners, by their tears, confess the victory of death. Like a general riding in triumph to the Roman capitol, death bears his spoils to the tomb. What shall hinder him?

Suddenly the procession is arrested by another—a company of disciples and much people are coming up the hill. We need not look at the company but we may fix our eyes upon One who stands in the center, a Man in whom lowliness was always evident and yet majesty was never wanting. It is the living Lord, even He who only has immortality and in Him death has now met his destroyer. The battle is short and decisive—no blows are struck—for death has already done his utmost. With a linger the chariot of death is arrested—with a word the spoil is taken from the mighty and the lawful captive is delivered.

Death flies defeated from the gates of the city, while Tabor and Hermon, which both looked down upon the scene, rejoice in the name of the Lord. This was a rehearsal upon a small scale of that which shall happen by-and-by, when those who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live—then shall the last enemy be destroyed. Only let death come into contact with Him who is our life and it is compelled to relax its hold. Whatever may be the spoil which it has captured, soon shall our Lord come in His glory and then before the gates of the New Jerusalem we shall see the miracle at the gates of Nain multiplied a myriad times.

Thus, you see, our subject would naturally conduct us to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which is one of the foundation stones of our most holy faith. That grand Truth of God I have often declared to you and will do so again and again. But at this time I have selected my text for a very practical purpose. It concerns the souls of some for whom I am greatly anxious. The narrative before us records a fact, a literal fact—but the record may be used for spiritual instruction. All our Lord’s miracles were intended to be parables—they were intended to instruct as well as to impress—they are sermons to the eyes, just as His spoken discourses were sermons to the ears. We see here how Jesus can deal with spiritual death. And how He can impart spiritual life at His pleasure. Oh, that we may see this done this morning in the midst of this great assembly!

I. I shall ask you first, dear Friends, to reflect that THE SPIRITUALLY DEAD CAUSE GREAT GRIEF TO THEIR GRACIOUS FRIENDS.

If an ungodly man is favored to have Christian relatives, he causes them much anxiety. As a natural fact, this dead young man, who was being carried out to his burial, caused his mother’s heart to burst with grief. She showed by her tears that her heart was overflowing with sorrow. The Savior said to her, “Weep not,” because He saw how deeply she was troubled. Many of my dear young friends may be deeply thankful that they have friends who are grieving over them. It is a sad thing that your conduct should grieve them—but it is a hopeful circumstance for you that you have those around you who do thus grieve.

If all approved of your evil ways, you would, no doubt, continue in them and go speedily to destruction. But it is a blessing that arresting voices do at least a little hinder you. Besides, it may yet be that our Lord will listen to the silent oratory of your mother’s tears and that this morning He may bless you for her sake. See how the Evangelist puts it—“When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not.” And then He said to the young man, “Arise.”

Many young persons who are in some respects amiable and hopeful, nevertheless, being spiritually dead, are causing great sorrow to those who love them most. It would perhaps be honest to say that they do not intend to inflict all this sorrow. Indeed, they think it quite unnecessary. Yet they are a daily burden to those whom they love. Their conduct is such that when it is thought over in the silence of their mother’s chamber, she cannot help but weep. Her son went with her to the House of God when he was a boy, but now he finds his pleasure in a very different quarter.

Being beyond all control now, the young man does not choose to go with his mother. She would not wish to deprive him of his liberty, but she laments that he exercises that liberty so unwisely. She mourns that he has not the inclination to hear the Word of the Lord and become a servant of his mother’s God. She had hoped that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and unite with the people of God. But he takes quite the opposite course. She has seen a good deal about him lately which has deepened her anxiety—he is forming companionships and other connections which are sadly harmful to him. He has a distaste for the quietude of home and he has been exhibiting to his mother a spirit which wounds her.

It may be that what he has said and done is not meant to be unkind. But it is very grievous to the heart which watches over him so tenderly. She sees a growing indifference to everything that is good and an unconcealed intention to see the vicious side of life. She knows a little and fears more as to his present state and she dreads that he will go from one sin to another till he ruins himself for this life and the next. O Friends, it is to a gracious heart a very great grief to have an unconverted child. And yet more so if that child is a mother’s boy, her only boy, and she a desolate woman, from whom her husband has been snatched away.

To see spiritual death rampant in one so dear is a sore sorrow which causes many a mother to mourn in secret and pour out her soul before God. Many a Hannah has become a woman of a sorrowful spirit through her own child. How sad that he who should have made her the most glad among women has filled her life with bitterness! Many a mother has had to grieve over her son as almost to cry, “Would God he had never been born!” It is so in thousands of cases. If it is so in your case, dear Friend, take home my words to yourself and reflect upon them.

The cause of grief lies here—we mourn that they should be in such a case. In the story before us the mother wept because her son was dead. And we sorrow because our young friends are spiritually dead. There is a life infinitely higher than the life which quickens our material bodies. And oh, that all of you knew it! You who are unrenewed do not know anything about this true life. Oh, how we wish you did! It seems to us a dreadful thing that you should be dead to God, dead to Christ, dead to the Holy Spirit. It is sad, indeed, that you should be dead to those Divine Truths which are the delight and strength of our souls—dead to those holy motives which keep us back from evil and spur us on to virtue.

Dead to those sacred joys which often bring us very near the gates of Heaven. We cannot look at a dead man and feel joy in him, whoever he may be—a corpse, however delicately dressed, is a sad sight. We cannot look upon you, you poor dead souls, without crying out, “O God, shall it always be so? Shall not these dry bones live? Will You not quicken them?” The Apostle speaks of one who lived in pleasure and he said of her, “She is dead while she lives.” Numbers of persons are dead in reference to all that is true and noble and most Divine. And yet in other respects they are full of life and activity. Oh, to think that they should be dead to God and yet so full of happiness and energy! Marvel not that we grieve about them.

We also mourn because we lose the help and comfort which they ought to bring us. This widowed mother no doubt mourned her boy not only because he was dead but because in him she had lost her earthly stay. She must have regarded him as the staff of her age and the comfort of her loneliness. “She was a widow”—I question if anybody but a widow understands the full sorrow of that word. We may put ourselves by sympathy into the position of one who has lost her other self, the partner of her life. But the most tender sympathy cannot fully realize the actual cleavage of bereavement and the desolation of love’s loss. “She was a widow”—the sentence sounds like a knell.

Still, if the sun of her life was gone, there was a star shining. She had a boy, a dear boy, who promised her great comfort. He would, no doubt, supply her necessities and cheer her loneliness and in him her husband would live again and his name would remain among the living in Israel. She could lean on him as she went to the synagogue. She would have him to come home from his work at evening and keep the little home together and cheer her hearth. Alas, that star is swallowed up in the darkness. He is dead and today he is carried to the cemetery.

It is the same spiritually with us in reference to our unconverted friends. With regard to you that are dead in sin we feel that we miss the aid and comfort which we ought to receive from you in our service of the living God. We want fresh laborers in all sorts of places—in our Sunday school work, our mission among the masses and in all manner of service for the Lord we love! Ours is a gigantic burden and we long for our sons to put their shoulders to it. We looked forward to seeing you grow up in the fear of God and stand side by side with us in the great warfare against evil and in holy labor for the Lord Jesus.

But you cannot help us, for you are yourselves on the wrong side. Alas, alas, you hinder us by causing the world to say, “See how those young men are acting!” We have to spend thought and prayer and effort over you which might usefully have gone forth for others. Our care for yonder great dark world which lies all around us is very pressing but you do not share it with us—men are perishing from lack of knowledge and you do not help us in endeavoring to enlighten them.

A further grief is that we can have no fellowship with them. The mother at Nain could have no communion with her dear son now that he was dead, for the dead know not anything. He can never speak to her, nor she to him, for he is on the bier, “a dead man carried out.” O my Friends, certain of you have dear ones whom you love and they love you. But they cannot hold any spiritual communion with you, nor you with them. You never bow the knee together in private prayer, nor mingle heart with heart in the appeal of faith to God as to the cares which prowl around your home. O young man, when your mother’s heart leaps for joy because of the love of Christ shed abroad in her soul, you cannot understand her joy. Her feelings are a mystery to you.

If you are a dutiful son, you do not say anything disrespectful about her religion. But yet you cannot sympathize in its sorrows or its joys. Between your mother and you there is upon the best things a gulf as wide as if you were actually dead on the bier and she stood weeping over your corpse. I remember, in the hour of overwhelming anguish when I feared that my beloved wife was about to be taken from me, how I was comforted by the loving prayers of my two dear sons—we had communion not only in our grief but in our confidence in the living God. We knelt together and poured out our hearts unto God and we were comforted.

How I blessed God that I had in my children such sweet support! But suppose they had been ungodly young men? I should have looked in vain for holy fellowship and for aid at the Throne of Grace. Alas, in many a household the mother cannot have communion with her own son or daughter on that point which is most vital and enduring because they are spiritually dead—while she has been quickened into newness of life by the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, spiritual death soon produces manifest causes for sorrow. In the narrative before us the time had come when her son’s body must be buried. She could not wish to have that dead form longer in the home with her. It is a token to us of the terrible power of death that it conquers love with regard to the body. Abraham loved his Sarah. But after a while he had to say to the sons of Heth, “Give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” It happens in some mournful cases that character becomes so bad that no comfort in life can be enjoyed while the erring one is within the home circle.

We have known parents who have felt that they could not have their son at home so drunken, so debauched had he become. Not always wisely, yet sometimes almost of necessity, the plan has been tried of sending the incorrigible youth to a distant colony in the hope that when removed from pernicious influences he might do better. How seldom so deplorable an experiment succeeds! I have known mothers who could not think of their sons without feeling pangs far more bitter than those they endured at their birth. Woe, woe to him who causes such heartbreak! What an awful thing it is when love’s best hopes gradually die down into despair and loving desires at last put on mourning and turn from prayers of hope to tears of regret!

Words of admonition call forth such passion and blasphemy that prudence almost silences them. Then have we before us the dead young man carried out to his grave. A sorrowful voice sobs out, “He is given unto idols, let him alone.” Am I addressing one whose life is now preying upon the tender heart of her that brought him forth? Do I speak to one whose outward conduct has at last become so avowedly wicked that he is a daily death to those who gave him life? O young man, can you bear to think of this? Are you turned to stone? I cannot yet believe that you contemplate your parents’ heartbreak without bitter feelings. God forbid that you should!

We also mourn because of the future of men dead in sin. This mother, whose son had already gone so far in death that he must be buried out of sight, had the further knowledge that something worse would befall him in the sepulcher to which he was being carried. It was impossible for her to think calmly of the corruption which surely follows at the heels of death. When we think of what will become of you who refuse the Lord Christ we are appalled. “After death the judgment.” We could more readily go into details as to a putrid corpse than we could survey the state of a soul lost forever. We dare not linger at the mouth of Hell. But we are forced to remind you that there is a place, “where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.”

There is a place where those must abide who are driven from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. It is an unendurable thought that you should be, “cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.” I do not wonder that those who are not honest with you are afraid to tell you so and that you try yourself to doubt it. But with the Bible in your hand and a conscience in your bosom you cannot but fear the worst if you remain apart from Jesus and the life He freely gives. If you continue as you are and persevere in your sin and unbelief to the end of life, there is no help for you but that you must be condemned in the Day of Judgment.

The most solemn declarations of the Word of God assure you that, “he that believes not shall be damned.” It is heartbreaking work to think that this should be the case with any of you. You prattled at your mother’s knee and kissed her cheek with rapturous love—why, then, will you be divided from her forever? Your father hoped that you would take his place in the Church of God—how is it that you do not even care to follow him to Heaven? Remember, the day comes when, “one shall be taken, and the other left.” Do you renounce all hope of being with your wife, your sister, your mother at the right hand of God? You cannot wish them to go down to Hell with you—have you no desire to go to Heaven with them?

“Come, you blessed,” will be the voice of Jesus to those who imitated their gracious Savior. And “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” must be the sentence upon all who refuse to be made like the Lord. Why will you take your part and lot with accursed ones? I do not know whether you find it easy to hear me this morning. I find it very hard to speak to you because my lips are not able to express my heart’s feelings. Oh that I had the forceful utterance of an Isaiah, or the passionate lamentations of a Jeremiah with which to arouse your affections and your fears! Still, the Holy Spirit can use even me, and I beseech Him so to do. But I have said enough on this point. I am sure you see that the spiritually dead cause great grief to those of their family who are spiritually alive.

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He that is plagued with a bad wife is as miserable as if he were upon the dunghill; A good wife, a virtuous woman

Proverbs 12:4
4 A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

Note, 1. He that is blessed with a good wife is as happy as if he were upon the throne, for she is no less than a crown to him. A virtuous woman, that is pious and prudent, ingenious and industrious, that is active for the good of her family and looks well to the ways of her household, that makes conscience of her duty in every relation, a woman of spirit, that can bear crosses without disturbance, such a one owns her husband for her head, and therefore she is a crown to him, not only a credit and honour to him, as a crown is an ornament, but supports and keeps up his authority in his family, as a crown is an ensign of power. She is submissive and faithful to him and by her example teaches his children and servants to be so too.

2. He that is plagued with a bad wife is as miserable as if he were upon the dunghill; for she is no better than rottenness in his bones, an incurable disease, besides that she makes him ashamed. She that is silly and slothful, wasteful and wanton, passionate and ill-tongued, ruins both the credit and comfort of her husband. If he go abroad, his head is hung down, for his wife’s faults turn to his reproach. If he retire into himself, his heart is sunk; he is continually uneasy; it is an affliction that preys much upon the spirits.
- Matthew Henry Commentary

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Abortions hurt Women

From KHouse.Org

ABORTIONS HURT WOMEN

Since the abortion rights movement started gaining ground nearly 40 years ago, abortion has been postured as an issue of women’s rights and as a way of advancing the freedoms of women. However, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, millions of women began having to deal with the painful psychological, physical and spiritual realities of the issue.

Michael New writes at LifeNews.com, “In the past year alone, studies analyzing the mental-health effects of abortion have appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including The Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Journal of Pregnancy, and The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. These studies find evidence that women who have had abortions are at greater risk for health problems ranging from PTSD to depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse.”

New wrote in response to Brenda Major’s article in The Washington Post on Sunday, which declared that women who have abortions are not more likely to have mental health problems than those who give birth.  Major does not argue that women who have abortions don’t have problems afterward.  She just finds ways to explain those problems away. While some women certainly experience post-abortion regret, Major writes, plenty of women feel relief afterward.  She argues that correlation does not impute causality, and that many women who grieve after an abortion may just as likely have dealt with postpartum depression had they given birth.  She cites the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute to back her view that the link between abortion and poor mental health is a ”lie.”

Whatever Brenda Major may think, plenty of women can stand up and say that having an abortion did them far more harm than they ever thought it would. Women who have abortions can suffer in many ways:

Physically:
-Each year, over 140,000 women face immediate physical problems related to their abortions, including infection, uterine perforation, hemorrhaging, and cervical damage.
-Abortion has been linked to breast cancer, increasing its risk by 30%.  The risks for ovarian or cervical cancers also rise for women who have abortions.
-Years after the abortion, women can find that they have been put at risk for complications in later pregnancies, including premature birth, placenta previa, and ectopic pregnancy.  The complications that can accompany a legal abortion also can cause infertility, and some women who later want to have a baby cannot conceive or cannot carry their baby to full term.

Psychologically/Emotionally:
-Women who go through with an abortion often find that they suffer from depression and guilt, which can manifest in many ways. Some women experience nightmares, insomnia, eating disorders, and an increase in alcohol or drug abuse.
-Many post-abortive women deal with suicidal thoughts, and the suicide rate for women who have had abortions is at least 6 times higher than for women who have not had abortions.

Socially:
Because women have the “choice” of abortion, many feel forced to take that route.  Parents, families, friends - purposefully or not – can make a pregnant woman feel that abortion is her only true choice.  Those women who go through with an abortion because they feel social pressure to do so are often the most devastated by the decision they made.   For other women, the shame they feel is so great that they can never admit to families or friends that they had an abortion, and most don’t know where to go for help and healing.

Spiritually:
The shame of having had an abortion causes many women to feel they have committed the unpardonable sin.  Unable to forgive themselves, many feel God could never forgive them and feel rejected by Him. These women either avoid God and church altogether, or else try to pretend like the abortion never took place.  Others strive to justify their action, yet feel that all those around them are judging them.  Those women who can seek and receive God’s forgiveness, however, can make true headway toward spiritual healing.

While abortion has been promoted as a means of freeing women, it in fact can and has brought women great bondage and suffering.  Women who are unexpectedly and unwillingly pregnant need to know that they have many options available to them. They need to know that loved ones will be there to support them through the difficult times.   Those who have already had abortions need to know that they are not alone, and that they can find healing and forgiveness.  God is able to redeem every situation and bring His love into even the most tragic darkness.

Let us reach out to the scared and suffering women out there, whoever they may be and whatever they may have done. Jesus died and rose again to save these precious ones.

For more information, see the links below:

Related Links:

• Washington Post Wrong: Abortion Hurts Women’s Mental Health – Life News
• Late-Term Elective Abortion and Susceptibility to Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms – Journal Of Pregnancy
• Feminist Speaks Out Against Abortion – The Harvard Crimson
• The Big Lie About Abortion And Mental Health – The Washington Post
• National Help Lines –
• Voices of Women Who Mourn – Women Deserve Better
• Post Abortion Syndrome – Abortion Facts
• Does Abortion Hurt Women? – The Center For Bioethical Reform
• Online Literature – Abortion Facts
• Complications You Can Have With Your Abortion – Abortion Facts

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Friends – do not forsake a friend and underwriting another person’s debt [stand security].

Friends – do not forsake a friend and underwriting another person’s debt [stand security].

Proverbs 6 (Amplified Bible)

Proverbs 6:1-3

¹MY SON, if you have become security for your neighbor, if you have given your pledge for a stranger or another,

²You are snared with the words of your lips, you are caught by the speech of your mouth.

³Do this now [at once and earnestly], my son, and deliver yourself when you have put yourself into the ^[a]power of your neighbor; go, bestir and humble yourself, and beg your neighbor [to pay his debt and thereby release you].

Footnotes:

1. Proverbs 6:3 The Bible consistently teaches that one is not to forsake a friend, and this passage is not to be otherwise construed.

But it is one thing to lend a friend money, and quite another thing to promise to pay his debts for him if he fails to do so himself. It might cost one, under the rigid customary laws governing debt, his money, his land, his bed, and his clothing–and if these were not sufficient, he and his wife and children could be sold as slaves, not to be released until the next Year of Jubilee–fifty years after the previous one. God’s Word is very plain on the subject of not underwriting another person’s debts (see Prov. 11:15; Prov. 17:18; Prov. 22:26). – Amplified Bible Page 713

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