RED WINE October 2016 by RED WINE Magazine

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Sharing my love Over the years, through extensive research I have learned that both good and evil spirits affect our bodies and our animals as well. It may be hard for you to understand but if you can grasp the concept that you are a spirit living inside of a body that may help. God is a spirit and so is the Holy Spirit. But angels are also spirits. So the point is that there are evil and good spirits at large in the world. That’s why there are so many evil, horrific things

that happen because evil spirits are injecting thoughts and ideas into people’s minds that people act upon. And on the reverse, there are good spirits that help us to live a successful life and keep us out of harm’s way. The Bible tells us we each have a guardian angel (Hebrews 1:14). So I want to turn up the information so that you can learn what you are dealing with on a daily basis. After all we are our brother’s keeper.

Success, Dr. Diana Hardy

CONTENTS

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OCTOBER 2016

6 SINsitive 8 Make Your Own Vote Count 12 A Choice To Be Made 15 What Do You Need To Know About Addiction 20 The Day Before Hell 25 I Hope You Get The Right Judge 30 Clean Sex 34 The Bystander Effect

RED WINE

4 Living Thoughtfully

EXECUTIVE OFFICE RED WINE MAGAZINE INCORPORATED 17503 LA CANTERA PARKWAY, SUITE 104-193 SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78257

EDITOR -IN CHIEF DR. DIANA HARDY

WRITERS DR. DIANA HARDY ERICA JOHNSON

GRAPHIC DESIGN KAREN HUE GUSTAVO

WESITE DESIGN GAGAN MASOUN

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I VING

Thoughtfully Erica Johnson

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So many people’s argument against Christianity is that Christians blindly follow God or more accurately, people blindly follow other people professing to know God. But our relationship with God is designed to be very personal, not cookie-cutter.

And as a Christian we should be

prayer

talking to God through and reading His Word for ourselves. Anyone who has really read the Bible will see that God’s guidelines for living take thought and cause you to examine your heart. There is no template really. Yes, the Bible says specific things that we should not do but the difference between religion and relationship is that religion has you follow dos and don’ts to avoid troubles. Relationship motivates you to do what is right because you love God. The Pharisees went to Jesus and asked Him if it was right to pay taxes to Rome (Matthew 22:17). You have to understand that this was a loaded question. If He said “NO” He’d make Himself an enemy of

the Roman government. But if He said “YES” the oppressed people that were following Him would have become disillusioned and walked away from Him. “Jesus recognized their evil plan, so he asked, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me a coin used to pay taxes.” They brought him a coin. He said to them, “Whose face and name is this?” They replied, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Very well, give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”” (Matthew 22:18-21). You may think that He implied that since the emperor’s face was on the coin they should give it to the emperor but that is actually not what He said at all. If you believe in and follow Almighty God Jehovah, you know that everything belongs to Him, even the emperor himself. You see, it is a heart thing. God commands us to tithe but if you in your heart feel you have to give your tithe to pay a bill then you have made a decision about who that money belongs to. As real Christians we do not blindly follow God or anybody else. But instead we daily have to examine our hearts and live according to our relationship with God. If He is everything to us, then how we live will reflect that. If He is just a moral marker or an emergency fixer, that too will be reflected in how we live. The Christian life is a thoughtful life. It should not be mundane and automatic but rather exciting and powerful with an ever-present sense of peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

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Mark 2 tells the story of the paralyzed man whose friends brought him before Jesus to be healed. Jesus said to the man his sins were forgiven. Jesus questions which was easier, to tell a man his sins are forgiven or to tell him to take up his mat and walk. The man was healed and walked. But what Jesus wants us to understand is that we should be more concerned about the sin in our lives than anything else.

SIN SINsitive

We often get so focused on the issues like debt or sickness or fear and we pray earnestly for God to provide a solution but we often donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop to examine the sin that got us in the situation in the first place which sets us up to be back in the situation again. We can quickly inventory the problems we face in life but we cannot always see the sin in our lives.

Erica Johnson

sitive

SINsitive God will heal you. He will provide your needs. That is who He is but we have a part in this and it is not just saying thanks. Our part is to look at the sin that keeps us in trouble. Why are you struggling financially? Why has sickness come against your body? Why are your children acting out? There is no randomness in the world and no such thing as bad luck. There are spiritual reasons behind what we experience in the natural.

7 RED WINE OCTOBER 2016 Unforgiveness can keep you in a cycle of problems because it is very important to God that we forgive others so that we can receive forgiveness from Him (Matthew 6:14). Generational curses may be at play where certain negative situations plague your family, like poverty or cancer (Numbers 14:18). And fornication can wreak havoc in your life because not only is it a sin against God but it is also a sin against your own body (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 18). Sin opens the door to demonic oppression which manifests as all kinds of drama in your life and that of your children and family. Sin also keeps us distant from God. It hinders us from reaching real depth in our relationship with the Lord. So we must take the time to look at how we live and what we are thinking and doing. I want to explain that no one is perfect but God. You will sin in this life. God is not looking for you to be perfect. He is looking for you to be His child. Any parent knows your kids will break rules and make mistakes but when that child comes to you and tells the truth and sincerely apologizes and seeks to understand what they did and how they should respond the next time they are in this situation, it shows they love you and respect you as a parent. Well God is looking for the same thing. So we must be sensitive to the sin in our lives (SINsitive) so we can talk to God about it and repent sincerely and seek to make the right choice in the future. And because Jesus broke the power of sin over our lives, we can move forward and make the right choice the next time (Romans 6:6-11). Because He broke the power of sin in our lives we will have the strength to get through any consequences we created

and we have the power to get rid of any demonic oppression. “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.” (Romans 6:6-7). “So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11).

Savior,

With Jesus as your

you will sin but it will not have the power over you it once had.

And as you walk with God, you will see less sin in your life and more blessings! So the next time you get out of that tough situation, remember the words of Jesus to the Pharisees and consider how important it is that your sins are forgiven. It does make a difference!

SINsitive

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Make

YOUR

V Erica Johnson

Own

OTE Count

The world and the United States have been changed forever due to this election and the tragic events that have transpired in 2016. Change is in the air and it is spiritual as much as it is natural. The rise of polarizing political figures often signals a significant shift in societal norms. One of the most polarizing political figures ever was Jesus Christ.

Yes, Jesus was a political figure. In Biblical times, there was no separation of church and state so if you came talking about a new way of living and worshipping, the government listened.

hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an estimated 300 to 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the start of the New Testament. When Jesus comes on the scene, the Jews are under forced Roman rule which includes the presence of Roman soldiers as part of their everyday life. The political climate dictated how they could worship God despite the fact that they received their instructions from Moses hundreds of years before. The Jews struggled to see Jesus as their Messiah because in their minds all they knew was military takeovers. They wanted a Jewish super soldier to walk into the city and free them. But instead, Jesus came in meekness and humility. So while they struggled to identify Him as their Savior, He still caught the attention of the Roman government and the Way was spreading throughout the land. He preached about being delivered from oppression which was a political statement. People either loved Him or hated Him and wanted Him dead. But His rise in society denoted a shift that we still experience today. Christianity was born and societies throughout the world changed forever. I mean the entire world went from mostly polytheistic to predominantly monotheistic after the rise of Christianity. We are at such a crossroads again today. As darkness descends over this world, each person will have to vote for who they will follow. I am not talking about a president. I mean you will have to decide who rules your life and afterlife. Will you choose to follow your flesh? Or will you give your life over to the greatest leader of all times: Jesus Christ. We will all have to make that choice. No one gets out of this vote.

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The

Bible

clearly tells us that we must choose the blessing or the curse (Deuteronomy 30:19) I am human and of course I experience moments of worry or even anxiety. But through Christ I have this certainty that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have before. I am confident I will get through whatever is happening and the world wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t end for me in that moment. I did not have that peace when I was younger. I thought everything was going to be the death of me! But I voted Christ. His economic plan took me out of poverty. His defense plan keeps me safe and equipped to fight if I have to and His love keeps me grounded and rooted (Ephesians 3:17). I cannot advise you on who to vote for in the presidential race but I can tell you before you put any time and energy into that decision, make the decision that will save your life and vote for Jesus to be your Savior, to be the Head of your life. Best decision you will ever make, I promise.

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You are either walking toward God or away from Him

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We all are guilty of making a crucial mistake. Some of us suffer broken hearts and unfortunately some lose their lives but we make the mistake of never finding out what love really is before we declare we have it for someone. And we can only understand love when we look at the One who made it: God. The Bible defines love for us yet we often go seeking for something else.

CHOICE to be

made Erica Johnson

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One of the lead stories on Yahoo today was the death of a rapper’s family member due to domestic violence. Her mother said the only mistake her daughter made was loving the wrong man. This is important to talk about because I am sure many who have lost a loved one to domestic violence feel the same way. Especially since most people believe you can’t help who you love. But is that really true or is that something we tell ourselves because we don’t want to think that we could choose to love the wrong person?

“LOVE

is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

When we consider all the actions above, we have to concede that love is a choice. There are times when you have to choose to be patient and kind despite what your emotions dictate. God gave man free will so that we could choose to love Him and serve Him so it follows that whomever else we love, we have a choice. We also have a choice to love the way the Bible tells us. I challenge you to fly your “Choice” flag today. Don’t succumb to societal pressures to get married and have kids by a certain age. Don’t give in to this idea that you should be accumulating sexual conquests because you are young or single. Stand out from the crowd and declare that you want love the way God prescribed it and that you will wait on God to give it to you.

So many people are going with the crowd and they are suffering because of it allowing the wrong people in their lives. Decisions are based on lust and fleeting emotions that have long-term effects on our souls, bodies and children. And all to impress who: some friends or worse, strangers? Is it to feel like part of the crowd? Don’t go with the crowd, go with God. Make the decision to guard your heart and spend your time building yourself in God (Proverbs 4:23). He will know when and how to send your mate; someone who will be there for the long haul because a three-fold cord (you, them, & God) is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12)!

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What You Need to Know About

C ION T

ADDI

Addiction is a very polarizing topic because the experience is very different for each person affected by it. Family and friends feel anger, betrayal and a great sense of loss because addiction steals the person they love right out from under them and replaces that person with what they feel is a monster.

For the person struggling with addiction, they often feel like a monster themselves. Their body, soul and spirit seem to be taken over by something they cannot see or control. And then there is the impact on society as a whole; the neighborhoods that suffer and the law enforcement officers who have to see the seedy side of addiction.

Erica Johnson

16 RED WINE OCTOBER 2016 But for one moment I ask you to remove any emotions and preconceived notions about addiction and look with an open mind to gain a better understanding of this epidemic. I call it an epidemic because while prescription drug and heroin abuse and addiction have skyrocketed in the last few years, there’s so much more we need to be aware of such as internet addiction, pornography even cell phones. We have become a society of addicts to one thing or another from food to Facebook. And just because it isn’t illegal substances doesn’t mean it isn’t causing real damage. Families who have faced addiction are typically riddled with anger and bitterness even years after the addiction may have stopped or even after the person addicted has passed away. The hurt and pain and loss experienced breeds unforgiveness but we must ask God for the strength to forgive no matter what has happened. Forgiveness is not for the person who hurt you, forgiveness is for you so that you can be healed and whole and learn to trust God.

He said in His Word that if we forgive those who trespassed against us, He would forgive us our trespasses (Matthew 6:14).

One step towards forgiveness is gaining compassion. If we can somehow understand where the other person is coming from perhaps we can set aside our emotions and move towards forgiveness.

In Mark 5, Jesus encounters a man who is clearly tormented. “As Jesus stepped out of the boat, a man came out of the tombs and met him. The man was controlled by an evil spirit and lived among the tombs. No one could restrain him any longer, not even with a chain. He had often been chained hand and foot. However, he snapped the chains off his hands and broke the chains from his feet. No one could control him. Night and day he was among the tombs and on the mountainsides screaming and cutting himself with stones.” (Mark 5: 2-5). After Jesus casts the evil spirit out the Bible says, “They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. The man was sitting there dressed and in his right mind. . . .” (Mark 5:15).

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But you all can be

healed

by giving your life and the addiction over to God. Jesus came right up on that man and cast that spirit out and that man was free. Because when Jesus sets you free, you are free (John 8:36). Ask Him to forgive you and help you to forgive. If you are still struggling with the addiction itself, ask God to set you free and heal everyone the addiction has hurt. And to break any generational influences of addiction in your family.

That man sounds a lot like many who struggle with addiction. Nothing can restrain them, they have to go in search of what they are addicted to and it forces them to walk away from their children and their homes and live in bad places. They are driven by evil spirits away from their homes and families. This is not a life that someone would knowingly choose. And those spirits inflict pain, hurt, rejection and unforgiveness onto those the person leaves behind. So if your parent or family member abandoned you because of addiction please understand that they hurt and they suffered just like you.

Please let go of the idea that people choose addiction over their families. This is not about a weak will, this is about demonic oppression and it takes Jesus to set you free. The Bible tells us that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered (Joel 2:32). Please call on God to forgive and heal and restore. If your child is out there chasing an addiction then stand in the gap for them with God and pray for them since they don’t have the presence of mind to do it for themselves. I don’t want to see another family destroyed because of addiction or another life end too soon. But the power of life and death is on your tongue (Proverbs 18:21)! You can save a life, save a family by seeking God’s intervention. Yes, you are that powerful through Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4)!

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He died so you

wouldn't have to.

The day

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before

he ll

Remember, one day is not worth losing your life whether here on earth or by going to hell. Instead celebrate Jesus Christ in your life.

October 31st

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omanticizing the evil dead has become quite common. In fact it is the norm in many families, schools and sadly some religious institutions. However, there was a time it wasn’t and there is a story in the Bible of a man who was possessed with some of these evil spirits that people dress up as on halloween. For this man, this demoniac, it wasn’t funny or a joke. He lost his relationship with human kind. He was living in a cave, naked cutting himself because somehow he ended up getting demon-possessed with a legion of demons. Jesus when He cast out the demons asked, “What is your name?” and they replied, “Legion, for we are many.”

kids. If he can’t steal then he wants to destroy. He wants to do it to you because he knows God is in love with you. He wants to destroy anything that could be good in your life. And he has destroyed a lot of mothers’ children through drug addiction, prison and pre-mature death. If you have ever been a mother whose child got caught up in something bad that just perpetuated throughout his life, you know this is no laughing matter.

If you are contemplating celebrating halloween this year by dressing up or decorating or going to parties think twice. Forget about trick or treating. Demons are no laughing matter. Demons belong This story is in Luke 8:26-39. If it wasn’t for Jesus to the kingdom of darkness, to satan, your this man would have never been free. He was archenemy. Why would you want to placate or bound with chains and shackles that he would celebrate him? break due to the strength of the demons. The city nearby knew he was being tormented and He You may think you are just having a good time was living in that cave yet no one in that city, no dressing up. Listen one day in hell wouldn’t be government officials, doctors, no one could set fun for you would it? Well this one day celebrates him free from this demonic possession. It took hell and if you are not careful you will go there Jesus to come over to the city of Gadarene to set with them. him free. Those same demons exist today, they were not destroyed. And they are depicted on halloween and other days. They get glory because people are running around being dressed as death, witches, goblins and all types of monsters. Things that are evil and carnal and want to destroy the life of human beings because they are our enemies. I know a lot of you don’t believe it but they really are. Jesus said satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). If he can’t kill you, he wants to steal your hopes, dreams, marriage, and

You cannot serve two masters; God tells us that in the Bible, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. . . .” (Matthew 6:24).

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but you need to know the danger and severity of celebrating halloween.

If you are a Christian, you have no business celebrating that day. If you have made

Jesus your Lord and Savior, you have no business siding with His enemy for one minute let alone one day.

The origins of halloween are paganistic. Some say it has a Christian origin but that is lie, Jesus has nothing to do with the king of darkness. Jesus called him the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). He said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.â&#x20AC;? (John 14:30). In other words, there were no evil spirits in Jesus and there should be none in you. But if you align yourself with these demons even for one day by wearing costumes or decorating your property for halloween, you are telling them to come on in and get inside of you. And when they do and you start to see things go awry with you and your children then you will ask why this is Is one day worth all the pain these demons can happening. And human beings point fingers at cause you? When you dress up as one of them, each other when you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find the answer. you tell them that you like them and you enjoy dressing up like them and they take it as a welcome There are people living under the bridge right mat to come into your life. The problem is when now or strung out on drugs because a demonic the real demon comes into your life, he is going spirit got a hold of them. You may say they were to rip you a new one. Sorry for being so blunt

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hanging with the wrong person or made the wrong choice. Yes they did because there was a demon influencing them to do it. Demons have very strong influence. Serving them could cause you to end up in hell.

Instead celebrate Jesus Christ in your life.

And on that day just be praying that God would If you are familiar with the story of the poor save the souls that are participating in halloween. beggar Lazarus and the rich man, that story tells of a man who was rich on earth and wore nice Be blessed! clothes and his money had become his god (Luke Dr. Diana 16:19-31). That happens to a lot of people with money. They forget about serving God and being charitable and instead do whatever they need to to ensure their money is first in their life. I am not saying it is bad to be rich, God wants us to be prosperous but you are supposed to have the money, not the money having you. This rich man died and went to hell. And when Lazarus the beggar died, the angels came and took him to heaven which was called paradise at that time. So when the rich man looked over and saw the poor man in the bosom of Abraham in comfort, he asked if someone could warn his brothers so they could change their lives and not die and go to hell like him. But Abraham said that they have the prophets to tell them. In other words they have the Word of God and if they were not going to listen to that they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t going to listen to anyone else. The rich man wanted Lazarus to take some water and cool him off because he was in agony in hell. And Abraham said he canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t because there is a great chasm between hell and paradise. Why? Because the two have nothing to do with each other. Remember, one day is not worth losing your life whether here on earth or by going to hell.

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I HOPE YOU GET THE

Right

JUDGE "But God in His infinite wisdom told us do not judge lest we be judged. "

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Life

is a contest for most people. That is one of the easiest things for people to do:

udge jthings and people.

But not just that, also judging their lives and everything about it. To the point where when we drive down the street and see people, based on how they look you hear people passing judgment very easily. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no wonder why shows like The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance and other shows where you have contestants and judges is so popular. Those celebrity judges get paid a lot of money to serve on those panels. But for us the same it not true. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get paid money but we do get paid and it is not always something we want. That brings me to my point. No matter who you are, you will always have someone who is judging you. But God in His infinite wisdom told us do not judge lest we be judged. I am

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not talking about contests now, I am talking about judging a person, their lifestyle, who they are, their family. And then using what often is conjecture and spreading it around to others in talking about that individual. Right at the start of Matthew 7 God in the form of Jesus Christ said, “Do not judge.” That’s so simple to understand. It says, “’Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?’” (Matthew 7:1-3). So He tells us for judging we will get paid too. You’re just not going to get the celebrity dollars but you are going to get payment from God. He set a system in place based on spiritual principles and that system operates likes the four seasons. Right now we are in autumn and then next is winter, then spring and summer. They are cyclical. You don’t have to pray to God for the seasons to come. It is the same with judging. If you judge, you will be judged with the judgement you make. When you formulate a judgement that same judgement will return to you because that is what you did. It is based on sowing and reaping, another spiritual principle. Many of you in the world call it karma, what goes around comes around, but there is no such thing as karma. There is such a thing as sowing and reaping which was instituted by God. Karma was made up by man trying to steal God’s thunder. So get rid of karma and let’s talk the truth. If you judge, you will be judged with the same judgement you made. So whatever level you put

others on you will be on that level too. So let God judge, He is the just Judge. Now I understand the desire to judge things because we are a lot like our Father God who made us. So there are things we want to do and were made to do. We cannot judge ourselves but we can judge the things we do in our own personal lives. We can clean up our lives. We all need to become organized and cleaner. That is pertinent for us in our own lives. Don’t look outside to anyone else’s life, don’t talk about them and don’t pre-judge them. You are not qualified to judge them because you don’t know their past and you can’t look into their future.

So let’s not

judge

people, let’s love people.

Let’s ask

God

for His love and operate in that. Dr. Diana

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If you think this rock is beautiful image what Jesus is. (The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and the One who rescues me; My God, my rock and strength in whom I trust and take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high towerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;my stronghold. Psalm 18:2)

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sex clean

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CLEAN SEX is the next topic of interest in the array of “clean” activities like clean eating and clean living. Clean sex is not about being physically clean before you engage in sexual activities; it is about being clean from a spiritual context and specifically what God calls clean sex. I know that may be interesting to a lot of people that God uses the word clean in His vocabulary. In fact clean was established in His Word when He told the Israelites about which types of food were clean which they could eat and those that were unclean which they could not eat (Leviticus 11). There are people who still follow those prescribed methods like the Orthodox Jews and others throughout the world.

What is clean sex?

God talks about the marriage bed being holy and undefiled (Hebrews 13:4). So when God looks at sex between two married people, meaning two people married by Him, He deems it clean sex. Are you familiar with the scripture that tells us what God has joined together let no man put asunder (Matthew 19:6)? Those words are said at marriage ceremonies but everyone that gets

married was not put together by God. He did not put them together; it wasn’t part of His plan. So the marriage bed is holy and undefiled between two people that God has joined together. They participate in sexual activities within a romantic, loving, marital relationship. That is clean sex. Clean in God’s eyes.

We are talking about the

sexual activities

that two people participate in that are legal to God from His perspective. Clean sex is very important because if we have unclean sex all kinds of things can and will happen to us. Let me explain further. Humans are triune beings with a body, soul and spirit. We are intimate with our physical bodies and we understand having a soul where our will and emotions are housed and where our decision making is rooted. But the spirit is who we really are; it is just encased in a body. We are not a body with a spirit. So being that the spirit is the real us, if our body was shed there would be nothing to stop us from walking through a wall because we are a spirit. That is why our spirit returns to God when we die.

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Now just as you can understand that, there are other spirits at play in our world. There are evil spirits to which the evil in the world can be attributed to and there are good spirits along with angelic beings from God and from the enemy (Devil). So those spirits do interfere in human activities.

God sends angels to help us. In fact, everyone has a

guardian angel.

Then there are evil spirits, spirit being the operative word, that come and interfere by oppressing us and interjecting thoughts into our minds, evil desires and emotions. And some really get involved in that while others of us call on God for assistance. Who does God send? Angels, they are spirits as well. So if you participate in clean sex, you don’t have to worry about oppression by evil spirits. Not that they won’t try to give you thoughts and desires outside of the holy parameters set forth earlier. But you will not be bound by them whereas people who don’t belong to Him and haven’t given over their lives and their marriages to Him will have evil, oppressive spirits coming at them from every direction. That is why clean sex is vital to your marital bliss, happiness and emotional wellbeing. Because people who engage in unclean sex are affected by evil spirits who

have them doing all manner of things in their marriage which can lead to divorce, hate, anger, fornication, and adultery. I am sure I don’t have to spell out what unclean sex is, we are all familiar with that. But clean sex is something that should be embraced by every believer. And if you are not a believer, it is time for you to turn over your thoughts to God. Invite Him into your life and ask Him to show you the truth. If you are married, turn your marriage over to God.

If you want to get married,

ask God to lead you to the person He has

in mind for you to marry. God would not have you pick whoever you want to marry because nine times out of ten you will pick wrong. That is why the divorce rate is so high.

We cannot see into someone’s future whether they are really good or a cheater or even a pedophile or rapist. We don’t see that because people hide things well but God sees all. Dr. Diana

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The BYSTANDEReffect 34 RED WINE OCTOBER 2016

Erica Johnson

The bystander effect is a theory in social psychology that says the more people who witness something the less likely it is for a person to offer help. It postulates that when people are aware others are watching they assume someone else will assist.

will stop and video tape horrible things with their phones and according to this theory, they assume someone else is calling the police or someone else will jump in and assist the person in need.

There are larger social issues that face society that have fallen prey to this theory. Millions go We see many examples of this phenomenon in homeless and hungry every night in this country modern day society due to technology. People alone. But for most of us, aside from a donation here or there, we feel this is something that the government is handling and big, organized charities are helping them.

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ne factor that may generate this effect So your words have power and your prayer is diffusion of responsibility; the coupled with faith is effective. idea that when others are watching, bystanders assume someone else will take responsibility in the situation. I bring up this idea of the bystander effect because I believe it’s what happens in the church every day. People believe that the clergy are praying and the intercessory team is praying so they just have to focus on their personal prayers because the heavy lifting is being done by someone else.

Don’t be a bystander but instead open your mouth in prayer to God and impact real

change in your life and in this world by praying that

Well, we certainly hope the intercessory team and the clergy are praying but that doesn’t absolve us of our responsibility. There is so much going on in the United States and the world that no Christian can be slacking on prayer. We are facing a crucial presidential election, mass shootings and terror attacks on the daily almost. We must all take up our spiritual weapons and pray.

Jesus said, “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,

believe that you have received it, and it

will be yours.” (Mark 11:24). Also remember that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (Proverbs 18:21).

God’s will be fulfilled.

I remember once I saw this snippet of a talk show where CeCe Winans and Perri Reed were discussing Whitney Houston before her death. They were alluding to rumors in the news about her addiction and Perri Reed stopped and said, to paraphrase, “Let’s stop talking about her and pray!” And they not only prayed but did warfare for Whitney Houston’s soul. Today with all of our devices, it is easy to share information but as Christians we should treat information differently than the world. We need to discern first what is truth and what is fiction. And then we need to seek God’s heart on the situation and finally we need to pray because prayer is how we effect change. And we can all agree this world need some divine change!

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