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What about physical abuse? What does the Bible say about it? The Bible says in Malachi 2:16 (AMP), “For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I hate divorce and marital separation and him who covers his garment [his wife] with violence. Therefore keep a watch upon your spirit [that it may be controlled by My Spirit], that you deal not treacherously and faithlessly [with your marriage mate].” In the same Scripture in which God says He hates divorce, He says He hates a man who covers his wife with violence. The two sentences are connected by the conjunction, “and.” God hates divorce and a man who abuses his wife. Many well-meaning Christians tell women who are being abused to stay in the situation. They tell them to pray, to be meek and mild so their husbands won’t be so mad. They cite the Scripture that says that the believing wife can change her husband by being meek (I Peter 3:1, 4). Abuse is not about the person being abused. It is about gaining control and power. For the first five years of my life, I grew up in a physically abusive home. My father used to beat up my mother. As I tried to sleep, I heard the raised voices, screaming demeaning, derogatory statements. I even remember witnessing one of these incidents at age three.

What should we place our faith in? In our church denominations? Our elders? The popular television ministries?

Today prominent ministries, prominent preachers and denominations are being swayed by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), such as the inclusion doctrine that teaches two ways to enter Heaven: one, by accepting Jesus Christ and two, by being good.

We cannot be good enough to enter Heaven on our own. That is why Jesus died and rose from the dead. According to the Word of the Living God, only by grace are we saved. It is a gift, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

With prominent Christians being swayed by the wind of doctrine, what should we place our faith in that will keep us from following in their footsteps?

We must put our faith, our trust, in God and His Word. God and His Word are the only things that will guide us in times of trouble, in the face of confusion and indecisiveness on the part of our leaders.

God’s Word is the most sure Word (II Peter 1:19). Every word of the Bible is inspired by our God (II Timothy 3:16). It is our instruction manual on who we are, what we can have and what we can do in Christ. It tells us how to be saved and go to Heaven (Romans 10:9-10). This is the Book on which we need to base our entire lives, our every decision.

When preachers speak, we must compare their messages with the Word of God. Do they line up? Are the messages the whole truth or half of the truth? Or are they truth mixed with conjecture and opinion?

Are you wishing for your circumstances to change? Have you been praying and believing, but do not see any change whatsoever, and are wondering what gives?

You may be wondering how when some people pray, everything they ask for seems to turn around for them. So, then how come it’s not working for you? I asked myself that question one day. God’s answer was simple: “Turn to Me.” That got me thinking, and I meditated on what exactly it was that He wanted me to do.

I set aside more time than usual to meditate on the Word, praise Him, and express gratitude for all the things He had already pulled me through. I soon realized that I needed to turn away from my circumstances. What I had been doing was praying fervently, all the while looking to see if the condition was changing before my very eyes. My whole focus had been on the gift; not the Giver.

I discovered that God wants you to put your full attention on Him. In fact, despite the turmoil that may be around you, he wants you to praise and thank Him. Your decision to completely turn your back on the circumstances and put your focus completely on Him then becomes the turning point where God can make His presence known to you.

He is the God of turning points. He left the glory of heaven so that you can have eternal life with Him. He took on a human body in order to identify with you, and glorified it through His resurrection. Jesus regularly turned away from the crowds into a quiet place to commune with the Father. The first thing He required of you when you accepted Him as your Savior was to repent, or make a complete u-turn from your former lifestyle. You alone had to make that decision. When you are in a crisis, likewise it is good to turn fully to Him and reaffirm that He is Lord of your life.

Is there a way to lose our salvation?

No. However I don’t believe it is enough to give an answer without showing Biblically why I believe this.

How did we become Born-again? We believed with our hearts and confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and that He was raised from the dead (Romans 10:9-10). It was as simple as that!

Now what happened after we became Born-again Believers?

Maybe nothing physically changed for us. In our spirits, though, we became new creatures. Old things passed away and all things became new (II Corinthians 5:17).

This means when we accepted Christ, we died spiritually with Him and rose again with Him (Galatians 2:20). When we did, we became new creations. In the spirit realm, our past no longer existed. Hallelujah!

Once we are Born-again, the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross puts us in right-standing with Almighty God. We are His children, and the Bible says that we are sealed until the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

The Bible says that when one of the Good Shepherd’s sheep is lost, He goes after it (Matthew 18:12-14). In order to be one of Jesus’ sheep, we must be Born-again.

This story isn’t talking about God chasing the unsaved sheep but rather those of us Believers that have lost our way. God pursue after those of us who have made a commitment to God and accepted Jesus but have turned our backs on Him.

In another parable, Jesus tells the story of a father who had two sons, and one son asked for his inheritance, which he blew on women and wild living. Then the son finally came home, after coming to his senses, and his father welcomed him with open arms (Luke 15:11-32).

This is a picture of our Father God. Even when we have turned our back on Him, He will welcome us back. He has been waiting for us to return.

But let’s talk about the details of being saved.

Why must we be saved? Simple. Sin entered this world, by the disobedience of Adam and Eve. They ate of the tree God told them not to (Genesis 3:6). God’s price for sin was death (Romans 6:23).

At first, He accepted the deaths of animals as a substitute for the cleansing of our sins, but animal sacrifices had to be repeated periodically.

Then God sent His Son–His blameless, sinless Son–to be the sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16). When Jesus died, He took all our sins–past, present and future–on Himself. He took the price for sin once and for all.

He paid our debt completely and totally. He paid more than enough to cover our sins. With the excess, He paid for our sicknesses, our diseases, our poverty and all the curses that came upon us because of our sin (Galatians 3:13).

What do we have to do to receive the salvation that Jesus paid for us to have? All we have to do is believe it and confess it with our mouths. That’s it!

If you like to play arcade games you might think that video games are a guy thing. Well, you would be wrong about that. There is a whole new crop of games out there called Casual Games (or casual gaming) that women love. In fact, these games were designed for girls. Despite the clichés that might come to mind, the games are not all about shopping, make-up and other female stereotypes. Men enjoy Casual Games as well but the numbers of women getting hooked is truly staggering.

Most of these online games are Flash and can be played in your web browser. They include a wide range of card games like Mahjongg, puzzle games, word games and hidden objects. The games themselves are not hard to learn but to really get good you will have to dedicate some serious time. Each level gets more challenging and the further you get, the more you will want to master the game.

What makes these games so appealing to women is that they require a good deal of thought without stumping you. Sometimes the game action gets fast but this is no shoot-em-up or action packed sports romp. If you find a title you like it is easy to get started and once that happens you could be playing for hours. Like a good soap opera, Flash games never seem to end. What’s more, if you get bored, which is unlikely, you can always find a related game that puts a new twist on what you loved about the last one.

There is nothing inherently girly about these online games. The subject matter is universal- searching for treasure, uncovering clues, matching like items and earning points at new card games. The casual game phenomenon is little more than an update of the age old card addiction of Solitaire. If you have time to kill and want to engage your mind a little bit without getting into a book, TV show or movie, casual gaming is the perfect option. Because of that men have also jumped on the Flash game bandwagon. I myself have a minor addiction to Jewel Quest.

What attracts men is the same thing that attracts women to the Casual game space. The games themselves are fun, easy enough to learn and hard enough to keep things interesting. Most Flash games are available for free with a trial that you can play right in your web browser. Others offer a free download. What they all have in common is that the free game is only a limited version of the larger, for sale game. If you opt to purchase one of these games it comes as a download so you can play on your computer even if you do not have an internet connect, like on an airplane or at a café. The prices are very reasonable when you think about how many hours of entertainment you get out of a single game. We are talking about weeks or even months of diversion for about $20. That is about what you would pay to see a movie with popcorn and a drink.

The best place to find game downloads is on sites like www.JenKatGames.com. You will be able to choose from a wide range of titles in every possible genre. All allow for a free download before you buy so you can make sure that you find the right game before spending a dime.

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