Dr. King's Legacy

Alveda King spent the show [Glenn Beck – The Blaze] walking through the first three steps (of six) of Nonviolent Social Change, a “sequential process of nonviolent conflict-resolution and social change based on Dr. King’s teachings”. From The King Center:

1.Information Gathering – The way you determine the facts, the options for change, and the timing of pressure for raising the issue is a collective process.

2.Education – The process for developing articulate leaders, who are knowledgeable about the issues. It is directed toward the community through all forms of media about the real issues and human consequences of an unjust situation.

3.Personal Commitment – Means looking at your internal and external involvement in the nonviolent campaign and preparing yourself for long-term as well as short-term action.

4.Negotiation – Is the art of bringing together your views and those of your opponent to arrive at a just conclusion or clarify the unresolved issues, at which point, the conflict is formalized.

5.Direct Action – Occurs when negotiations have broken down or failed to produce a just response to the contested issues and conditions.

6. Reconciliation – Is the mandatory closing step of a campaign, when the opponents and proponents celebrate the victory and provide joint leadership to implement change.

http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/06/25/glenn-and-dr-alveda-king-reveal-the-six-steps-to-fight-for-civil-rights/ Accessed 26, June 2012

Why Is It Hard To Cry HELP?

Repost from "The Pastors Blog of Chuck Swindoll

There it was. One of those posters. Some are funny. Some are clever. Others, beautiful. A few, thought-provoking. This one? Convicting.

It said something like this:

A prayer to be said when the world has gotten you down,
And you feel rotten,
And you’re too doggone tired,
And you’re in a big hurry,
And you’re mad at everybody . . .

“Help.”

I remember one week it seemed I saw the poster everywhere. God really wanted me to get the message. He nudged me when I first read it in a friend’s office. He slapped me hard in Newport Beach when I ran into it again. While moving faster than a speeding bullet in Portland, I came face-to-face with it again. It was silent as light but twice as bright . . . smashing me down and pinning me to the mat for the full count. How did I interpret God’s message through that poster?

“My son, slow down. Cool it. Admit your needs.”

Such good counsel. But tough to carry out. Why? Why in the world is it such a struggle for us pastors to cry out for assistance?

• In my entire life, I’ve never seen a football game played without substitutions.
• Even the finest surgeons receive help in delicate and extensive operations.
• Highway patrolmen travel in pairs.
• I was taught all the way through my days in the Marines to dig a hole before combat big enough for two people in battle . . . never for just one.

Asking for help is smart. It’s also the answer to fatigue . . . and the “I’m indispensable” image. You want to know what’s at the heart of much of our boundless ministerial drive? We can get pious and call it “passion.” But it’s something else.

Pride.

Plain old, stubborn unwillingness to admit need. You see, the greatest battle in the pastorate today is not inefficiency; it’s super-efficiency . . . that is, it’s being too proud to ask for help.

The result? Painful though it is to describe, you know it’s true: impatience. We become easily irritated. Often angry. Longer hours. Less and less time off. Little laughter. No vacation. Zero time with family. Inflexibility. Longer and longer gaps between meaningful (personal) times in God’s Word. Precious few (if any) moments in personal prayer and prolonged meditation.

Say, my friend, it’s time to declare it. You are not the Messiah of the 21st-twenty-first century! No way can you keep going at this pace and stay effective year after year.

Analyze yourself any way you please, and you are H-U-M-A-N . . . nothing more.

So?

So, slow down!

So, give yourself a break!

So, stop trying to cover all the bases!

So, relax!

—Chuck

Don't Call It Love

Continuing our theme from time to time challenging Men and Women at New Harvest to purity, I had this article sent to me and I thought it was worth the reprint.

33 Reasons to Abstain from Porn

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Guest Author

by Jason George

Knowing that porn is wrong is not the struggle for me. Staying motivated to abstain from it…now there’s the real struggle!

To give myself a fresh shot of motivation, every single morning I remind myself of 33 reasons why I must abstain from porn. I call it “My Personal Purity Motivation.” It usually takes me about 5 minutes to read through it or to listen to it on my iPod. (Yes, I have myself recorded, reading these 33 reasons. I listen to them in my office or riding down the road or when I’m working out.)

I learned the importance of daily reviewing my reasons/motives from the author and counselor Joe Dallas.

Over the years, I’ve learned the hard way that I need this daily shot of motivation to live pure for God. The daily review always has a powerful impact upon the rest of my day. I encourage other Christian men who have a background with pornography to develop their own list of reasons/motives. Feel free to use any of mine that you want to. I don’t consider it plagiarism. If my bullet fits your gun, shoot it!

Type your reasons/motives up on your computer. Then print them out, and put a copy in your planner or Bible (some place you’re going to see them everyday). If you want to, record yourself reading through them—and keep that recording on your iPod like I do—and then listen to it daily. It really does help.

So here they are…

33 reasons why I need to abstain from porn

1. For the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

2. I’m commanded by God to live self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

3. Holiness is God’s will for my life.

4. Jesus said loving Him comes down to obeying Him.

5. It hinders my fellowship with God and everything flows out of that.

6. My body is not my own. God purchased me with the shed blood of His Son.

7. It’s worshipping the creature rather than the Creator (idolatry).

8. It’s cheating on God (spiritual adultery).

9. Only Jesus Christ can truly satisfy my heart’s thirst.

10.          God is always watching me.

11.          Angels and demons are often watching me.

12.          It prevents me from having an effective prayer life.

13.          It diminishes the spiritual power I need to impact this world for Christ.

14.          It interferes with my ability to make wise decisions.

15.          It hinders my fellowship with my brothers in Christ.

16.          It brings God’s discipline.

17.          It causes anxiety, paranoia, fear, irritability, anger, and depression.

18.          It causes God’s blessings upon my life, family, and ministry to be withheld.

19.          My children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren need me to be holy.

20.          It leads to more sin and worse sin.

21.          It diminishes my focus and motivation to work hard and achieve my goals.

22.          It creates impulse control problems in other areas of my life.

23.          It causes me to be angry, harsh, and disrespectful towards my wife and children.

24.          I made a vow to my wife before God to forsake all others.

25.          It puts spiritual and emotional distance between me and my wife.

26.          It diminishes my attraction/arousal for my wife.

27.          It deeply hurts my wife by making her feel like she’s not good enough for me.

28.          It diminishes my wife’s trust and respect for me.

29.          It causes my eyes to wander when I’m around real women.

30.          Every female is someone’s daughter.

31.          Every female is someone whom Christ loved enough to suffer and die for.

32.          The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out. – Proverbs 10:9

33.          God does not withhold good from those who live with integrity. – Psalms 84:11

Jason George is the Founder and President of Narrowtrail Ministries, and travels nationally proclaiming the truth of God’s Word in churches, schools, camps, retreats, conferences, and missions. He also serves on the pastoral staff at First Baptist Nixa.

Jason uses Covenant Eyes accountability software on all of his computers and on his iPhone.