THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume III
July 2008
Number 9
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
Child Abuse Of
The Worst Kind!
The most repulsive and disturbing act
that a human can commit is that of abusing a child. The news is filled with
sexual deviants [pedophile is much too kind a word] who prey upon the most
innocent of society. Young lives end in murder or worse. Those who live through
the ordeal have their youth taken from them and are doomed to live with a
multitude of psychological abnormalities for the rest of their lives.
It is a good thing that the punishment of
these perverts is not left to me. It would be extremely hard for me to remember
that vengeance belongs to God and Him alone.
As bad as the above mentioned abuse,
there is another child abuse of the worst
kind.
Ten years ago, I came across something
that parents need to know, especially those who have teenage and pre-teenage
children. An Associated Press release of July 29, 1997 entitled, “Heavy Metal
makes killer mice, teen finds,” caught my eye. It seems a
David Merrell, the
As per the experiment, for ten hours each
day the hard rock group and the classical music group were exposed to their
respective music. The control group did not receive any exposure to music. He
then would take each group three times a week and time them as they negotiated
the maze.
It was taken into account that because
the mice would become more familiar with the maze, their time would naturally
become shorter. The control group reduced their time by five minutes. The
classical music group reduced their time in the maze by a remarkable eight and
one half minutes. The heavy metal group lost some twenty minutes because they
would not sniff the air to find the trails of the other mice. An unexpected
side effect occurred, the heavy metal mice began to fight and kill one another.
The experiment had to be called off, due to lack of subjects for the heavy
metal group.
Those who argue that Heavy Metal, Hard
Rock, Rap, and such like, does not affect the young impressionable minds of
teens and pre-teens, are either un-informed or driven by their desire to make
money. The latter, I fear, is the most prevalent. It is a known fact that
teenagers and pre-teenagers control a large portion of the wealth of our
society.
What is the solution? First, we must recognize
that even good kids, when constantly exposed to mind numbing filth, will be
influenced to become evil. “Do not be
deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33.
Secondly, we must, as parents, take over the training of our children and not
leave it up to the TV or some brain dead Disc Jockey (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians
6:4).
Children will howl and scream that every
generation has a right to its own music. Stand your ground parents. Remember,
faithful children of God [this includes teenagers and pre-teenagers who are
Christians] are not to follow the multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2). To love
your child is to protect him/her from this mind numbing, soul destroying
plague.
The Editor’s
Page
It is hard to go against the majority. I
mean, who wants to be called names like ‘homophobe’, ‘racist’, ‘intolerant’,
and heaven forbid, ‘conservative’. Therefore, Christians are intimidated to the
point their mouths are silenced on many of the moral issues that plague society
today.
Christians know they are to “be subject to the governing authorities”
(Romans
13:1-6). However, activism for the purpose of overthrowing a seated
government is not within the purview of the
Now that I have your attention, I would
like to address the need for Christians to become dedicated soldiers in the
Lord’s army. The particular point I will explore is the ‘why’ our influence is
so limited in society.
Observation reveals that too many members
of the
This is not a new condition with God’s
people. Ezekiel addressed the same problem with the people of his day. “And they come to you as people come, and
they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not
do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on
their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a
beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say,
but they will not do it” (Ezekiel 33:31-32).
As with all things, there are
consequences to be had for every action.
Why have we lost the ability to be the
salt of the earth? It is because we have become comfortable and have decided
not to do anything that will bring unfavorable events into our lives. After
all, can’t we just all get along?
Nice sentiment. The problem is that it
will not work. Those of us who have convictions that motivate us to stand upon
principle are going to find ourselves in conflict with evil. A recent event
will illustrate what happens when you oppose moral deviancy. An article was submitted
to a local newspaper for publication. A portion of the article referred to
homosexuality as a sin.
Brethren, we may think this is an
isolated event. Please don’t be lulled into apathy by the Evil One. Our freedom
to proclaim publicly God’s truth about sin is swiftly being taken away. Why do
we think God is going to treat us differently than
“All that is necessary for
the triumph of evil
is
that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke.
THE LAST WORD
Ezekiel rebuked
The showbread was called holy bread (1 Samuel
21:4), because it was set apart [sanctified] for use in the
Tabernacle. It was not to be used as bread in a common meal. It was not lawful
for anyone to eat the showbread except the priests (Matthew 12:3-4). The
showbread was one of those holy things that was not to
be used in a common way.
When Nebuchadnezzar captured
I have shown that in the Old Testament
God took a dim view upon using holy, sanctified things for common use. The
question is, ‘Does the same apply today?’ The answer is yes.
Every Christian is to purge himself from
the defilement's of the world that he might be a sanctified, holy vessel for
the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21). This
includes all that we are and the things we do.
The psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
which we sing in our assemblies are set apart, sanctified, for special use (Ephesians
5:19; Colossians 3:16). They are set apart for the purpose of
teaching and admonishing the Christian. They stir the Christian to a higher
service and closer relationship with God and one another. To sing these psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs with the accompaniment of instrumental music is to
profane a holy thing. Does it make a difference outside of the assembly? It is
profaning a holy thing that is the point, not the place where it occurs.
Christians need to learn the lesson of
holy things by developing the ability to make a distinction between the holy
and the common.
####################
WHAT MUST
I DO
Hear: Rom 10:17
Believe: Heb 11:6
Repent: Lk 13:5; Ac
17:30
Confess: Matt 10:32; Ac
8:36
Be Baptized: Ac 2:38;
22:16
TO BE
SAVED?
###################
FAMILY
MATTERS
AUDIO SERMONS & RADIO PROGRAM:
If you would
like to hear a sermon you can access our Audio Sermons page. Also on this page
is a place to access our radio program [WALKING BY FAITH]. Place your cursor
over the title, WALKING BY FAITH radio program and click. This will take you to
a page where you can download a program. The program is a weekly so there will
be a new program uploaded each week. We also keep the sermons updated as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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WALKING BY FAITH
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The Pound Proclaimer is published monthly by the Pound
All articles by the editor unless
otherwise stated
Editor: Glen Young
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