Our Life and Times : Biblical Reasoning for a Modern Age
BLOGGER · THEOLOGIAN · APOLOGIST
Norman Harold Patterson Jr.
June 2nd: A Meditation on Loss, Divorce, Restoration, and Forgiveness
June 2nd used to be my favorite day of the year. Since getting divorced, this day brings feelings of sadness and regret. You see, it was on this day that I was first married back in 1984 and remained married for over thirty-one and a half years.
Don't get me wrong, I am happily married to Kelly. She is a beautiful, kind, loving, and supportive wife. She stood by me through the darkest days of my life, and I will forever be grateful to God for restoring me and giving me such a wonderful wife. She is God's blessing to me now, and I thank Him for her.
However, it isn't right to ignore the reality of a marriage that lasted over thirty-one years. It was a union that blessed me with four beautiful children and two lovely grandsons, a marriage that saw me through more than twenty-eight years of ministry, a marriage that was blessed. Because I was happy, the pain of its demise almost destroyed me. Those who know the harsh reality of the pain of loss, be it divorce, death, or whatever, know what I am talking about and will not judge me for the foolish things I did to escape this pain. "He who is without sin…"
Everything fell apart during what I see now as The Perfect Storm. And, just like the movie, three colossal forces collided with devastating effects. The first was our children were growing and leaving home. We dedicated our lives to them. They were all homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. As each of them grew and left home, it left a hole in me the size of the Grand Canyon.
The next storm developed when we brought my Aunt down from Vermont and ultimately moved her into the renovated garage attached to our home. While the rest of my family wanted to put her in a nursing home, we decided to take her in. My Aunt begged me to help her, and so we did. I am proud of how my family stepped up and sacrificed so that my Aunt could enjoy the remaining years of her life surrounded by loved ones.
The last storm came as an accusation that we stole from my Aunt. The Probate Court is a corrupt system run by incompetent elected officials who can destroy lives indiscriminately. I could write a book, and perhaps someday I will, about the ordeal we went through. It would have been better to be accused of a crime than be dragged through the Probate system. At least in criminal court, you benefit from being presumed innocent, having an appointed impartial judge, and having a trial by a jury of your peers. Of course, we weren’t accused of a crime because none was committed. Instead, we were dragged through the ridiculous and corrupt buffoonery of a Probate court, a kangaroo court that made a decision against us based on conjecture, prejudice, and hearsay. Worst of all, the judge ignored my Aunt's wishes and denied her rights. My Aunt stood by our side during that terrible time and was deeply grieved by the false accusations of misguided relatives.
I didn't do so well during the Storm. I made foolish decisions to medicate the pain. I take responsibility for my actions and repent for the bad choices I made. He sought me out and found me as He talks about in Luke 15 in the parable of the 100th sheep.
For those of you who know and love me, I want you to know I am doing well and know that my life is right with Him. He is restoring to me the years the locusts have eaten. I have asked and received forgiveness from those I hurt. In His infinite kindness and steadfast love, my ex-wife and I have forgiven one another and remain friends to this day. She even continues to work for me at the YellowJacket Expert and does an excellent job for which I pay her well.
So, instead of grieving this day, I will celebrate the past blessing God gave me and the new ones He is bestowing upon me now. I choose to give thanks for the thirty-one and a half successful years and leave the rest in His loving hands. To God be the Glory.
We find the Dominion Mandate for Bible-believing Christians in Genesis 1:26-28:
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
For Christians, this means that God has given us the responsibility to take dominion over the entire world. We have God's approval and authority to "fill the earth and subdue it." Add to this Christ's call in Matthew 28:19+20 to:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
And 2 Corinthians 10:3-6:
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
While God called Christians to be separate from the world in holiness, He doesn't give us the option to isolate ourselves from the world physically. As Jesus said:
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. John 17:14-15
Because of false piety and a lack of understanding of these and other Dominion affirming Biblical texts, Christians far too often vacate the world, leaving an "influence vacuum." As the old saying goes, "nature abhors a vacuum." Because of this, instead of taking Dominion over the arts, sciences, court systems, political offices, universities, and so on, Christians withdraw into isolated communities only to leave the world unoccupied.
As a result, anti-Christ people and philosophies have readily taken over virtually every facet of life. The greatest antithesis to Biblical Christianity has understood and intentionally implemented the Dominion Mandate for their own sinister ends.
The most dangerous of all are those espousing Cultural Marxism. Briefly, Cultural Marxism is an expansion of Classical Marxism, which focuses primarily on the economic philosophy of Karl Marx. Cultural Marxism is much more all-encompassing than Classical Marxism.
Ultimately, Cultural Marxism is about liberating humanity from the moral constraints of Biblical Christianity. The Bible prohibits same-sex intimacy, adultery in all forms, polygamy, bigamy, bestiality, pedophilia, and so on. God created man and woman in His image and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply; the Dominion Mandate!
The method Cultural Marxism employs to propagate its insidious agenda is through applying the Biblical Mandate. The plan has been and continues to be for those who oppose Biblical Christianity to infiltrate and dominate every known sphere of influence. As Voddie Bachem pointed out, their strategy is to take over the "robes" of society; professors, pastors, and judges, for example.
R.J. Rushdoony and the Christian Reconstructionists proposed the same tactic, taking over the "robes" of society. However, instead of a great "Amen" from the rest of the Church, Christian Reconstructionism has been vilified as patriarchal, extreme, and misguided.
In the meantime, Cultural Marxism is dominating the universities, media, churches, courts, arts, etc. They are putting Christians and Christianity to shame by their ardent intentionality to dominate the world for Self.
As the degeneration of our culture continues, so will the hostility toward Biblical Christianity. And just as Marxism tried to destroy Biblical Christianity through the reign of terror in anti-Christ regimes like the Soviet Union and Communist China, modern Marxists will not rest until Biblical Christianity is destroyed.
The good news, however, is the promise of Jesus Christ. He said that the "gates of hell" will not prevail against the Church. (Matthew 16:18) The image Christ was giving was not a Church that was cowering in the corner, battening down the hatches until the storm of hell subsided. Just the opposite. Hell is under attack, and its filthy gates are no match for the power and glory of the Risen Christ and His Bride.
Christians can no longer cower in corners. It is time for us to take up the battle cry and assault Cultural Marxism and any other "high place" (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) that dares to raise itself against the knowledge of God. Our weapons are not of the flesh (Ephesians 6), but they are weapons nonetheless and are worthless if left unused.
It is time for Christians to take back our country, our world for Christ. We must do it according to the means and methods of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, which means we must take Dominion and occupy all walks of life for the glory of the crown rights of Jesus Christ.
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