44yr Old Gives Birth to 18th Child...

No, I'm not speaking of the yahoo who is being called a man!! I am however speaking of an awesome story I read the other day. Click here to view not only the article, but some of the wild replies that people are giving.
For me the most interesting part of the story is the reaction to the story itself. The following are some of the responses.

"I'd really be interested in knowing what the parent's level of education is, because one of my biggest concerns about our current society is that the less-educated are breeding and multiplying out of control."

-How did our society turn into one that says the smaller the household the more intelligent the parents?

"Oooh Let's just keep having more babies to destroy what's left of our Earth."

-Does it concern anyone else here that some people actually value the earth over human life? Besides, it's not having children that's destroying the earth. It's not teaching those children how to take care of the planet that's contributing to the earths demise. Therefore we aren't being good stewards of what God has given us.


"My God, what a bunch of idiots on this board!! There is nothing worthwhile on this earth than life and these people have given life as God commanded."

-The above was added just to show how people can try and give glory to God, but still blaspheme His name all in the same statement.


I'm 45 and have one child, age 5. He wears me out. My mother used say that God gave Man a brain, so that he could figure out how to stop having so many kids. After all, if God wanted Man to have many children, they would come in litters, rather than one at a time.

-What Bible verse is that? And have any of you seen Jon & Kate Plus 8? Talk about a litter!

Anyways, not all the comments left on the message board where negative, but by far the majority of them where.
I'm sure you're wondering what is the point of all this. Well, it's pretty simple if you think about it. Our society has a bad attitude toward children. And yes, I'm including the church as well. The next time a new couple that has 5 or 6 children visits your church or when you see that family in the store think about your reaction to the situation. One of the comments left asked the question of "don't they know what causes that?" Would that be your response? That family isn't being ridiculed because they aren't providing for their children. They are being mocked for the very fact of having children.
Society says we shouldn't have children because it will interfere or disrupt our happy lifestyles. We can't go on some great vacation or I can't buy the car of my dreams because of the price of a child. We are a society of self indulging heathens who only believe in the "I- factor." I want this or I think I need that.
As for the future of the Christian church in America...
The church only baptizes about 14% of our own members children. Even with baptizing 14% of our kids stats still show that 85% of all children raised in church will leave the faith after they graduate from high school. Stats also show that 92% of your average SBC church going family have not held a single family devotional within a given year.

So, here is my question to you. What is the life-span of the church if our families continue to stop having children and then never read the Bible with the one's we do have?

"The church in America is dying, one family at a time."

-Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr.

In Christ Alone,
Mr. V.

Church Shooting Has North Texas Ties...

KXII news out of Sherman Texas is reporting that one of the deceased from yesterdays shooting in Knoxville Tennessee had strong ties to North Texas.

The following is from the KXII web-site. The article can be read in its entirety by clicking on the above link.

KXII has confirmed a former Texoma teacher, 61-year-old Linda Kraeger, is one of
two people who died Sunday in a church shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee. Kraeger taught English at Grayson County College, and taught at Gainesville High School before she and her husband, Duane, moved to Tennessee just 18 months ago. Another Texas couple, Joe and Mary Ann Barnhart also moved with the Kraeger's. Joe Barnhart and his brother, Jack, are among the wounded.

Be in prayer for the survivors of this tragedy. Pray for the Lord to send His faithful into their lives and present them with the true good news of Jesus Christ.

In Christ Alone,
Mr. V.

The Secret Life...Episodes 3 & 4

Yesterday I was finally able to get caught up on this series. This will probably be the last time I write about the show unless I see an interesting topic in an episode. I must say that I'm still very much interested in how the show will play out. The writers have done a nice job so far growing the characters and introducing us to new ones. Our two Christians have started their different paths and so far Grace, even though she has lied to her parents is for the most part holding serve. Jack though reminds me of the modern day church and is being pulled to and fro.
Amy's secret is known by just about everyone except her new boyfriend and parents. Thus far it hasn't been to difficult keeping the secret from her parents seeing how they are more concerned with their own problems. By the way things are going though, it won't be long before she has to tell them about her being pregnant. As a matter of fact, Amy did tell her dad that she has had sex. He goes into a yelling rant until Amy's mom comes in wanting to talk with him alone. He then forgets that it was ever mentioned and the two daughters leave their parents to be alone in the kitchen. The show is giving us reason to believe Amy's dad is having an affair on his wife, but it hasn't come out and said so yet. We just might find out tomorrow night because Amy's mom asked him that very question as the show ended last week.
I've enjoyed the show for a couple of reasons. One being that it shows us how Hollywood and some of our society views teens and Christianity. The other being how it brings topics to light that I can use/talk about during the Sunday school hour. The more I'm around young people, the more I've learned that they do and will talk about most anything. The key is most of the time, you the adult will have to bring up the topics.
There's nothing wrong with learning from your children, especially when it has been a long time since you were that age. Just keep teaching, praying, staying one day ahead of them, and God will take care of the rest.

In Christ Alone,
Mr. V.

The Secret Life...Episode 2

Episode 2 aired Tuesday night and in my opinion didn't keep with the enthusiasm that the first one provided. While I'm still hooked on watching the show, I don't think this episode did much for growing and forming the character's. I would say that is probably to be expected since the first episode did such a great job of selling viewers on watching the program. I would say episode 2 would remind you of your average day of high school.

There where a few key points that come out of this week's show. The first one being that Amy's secret is starting to get passed around school. Her best of friends where over heard talking about Amy's situation by the friends of her new boyfriend.

Amy has decided to take the ignore it and it will go away approach to her pregnancy. We'll see how long that works out for her.

The writer's really over used the lines, "I'm a christian, your a christian, we are all Christians" in this episode. Real life people just don't talk like that. The writer's need to move from talking about being a christian to showing the viewers how one lives it out on daily basis. Or show us how a false one will live their life. The last interesting moment came from the band hall. Ricky and Amy are talking about happened the previous Friday night at the dance between Grace and Jack. Amy makes the statement of, "Grace's mom is my dad's ex-wife." The reason why that's so interesting is because on last week's show Grace informed Jack that her mom waited for her dad until he was done with medical school. We either have a blooper by the writer's or a new twist in the show. Personally, I'm rooting for the twist.



In Christ Alone,

Mr. V.

The Secret Life Of The American Teenager...Episode 1

After recording the show on the greatness of the DVR I was finally able to make some time to watch the first episode of ABC Family's latest series. My overall statement on the show at this point is, I'm hooked. While the show does over do the Christian character in some areas, I can understand why. The show is making it clear that being a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I do hope that the non-believers watching this show understand that and don't take it as Christians are odd or strange people.
Actress Shailene Woodley plays the role of "Amy" the young girl who becomes pregnant at summer camp by "Ricky" who is the drummer in the school band and is well known as being the schools biggest "player" of teenage girls. Ricky, played by Daren Kagasoff turns out to have been molested by his father as a child. Ricky's father then abandons him into the system of Social Services. According to Ricky's psychologist it's because of the molestation that Ricky turns to casual sex with any girl possible.
There are a couple of innuendos that might not of been caught by some in this first episode. One taking place during Ricky's session with his psychologist. His psychologist says, "The sovereign hand of Social Services reached down and plucked you out of that horrible situation and placed you in the arms of a family that loves you and has the greatest hopes and dreams for you."
For us believers, we know that God plucked us out of our hell bound situation and placed us under the saving blood of Christ.
The two Christian students I've seen in the show thus far are the cheerleader "Grace" played by Megan Park and "Jack" played by Greg Finley who is Grace's boyfriend and the star of the football team. Grace has promised God, her parents, and herself abstinence until marriage. While Jack has promised himself to Grace and is what the writer's of the show might call an immature or young believer. Jack has difficulty with the realization that Grace is serious about not having sex until she is married. It's from Grace and Jack's conversation we see Satan's temptation come into play. The temptation comes to Jack in the form of a young girl named "Adrian," played by Francia Raisa. Adrian is the girlfriend of Ricky, the school drummer and more notably the father of Amy's unborn child. Adrian over hears Jack and Grace talking about not having sex. She sees how weak Jack is and is more then willing to help him out in this matter. She seals her offer by taking a bite out of an apple; that being our second innuendo. Jack falls or jumps at her offer and also eats of the fruit. His repentance at first seems to be sincere, but the more you listen to him the more it seems fairly shallow. I guess we'll see as the episodes role on. Episode 1 ends with Grace's autistic older brother catching Adrian and Jack kissing outside of the gym.
I'm very interested in seeing the outcome the writers will give our two so-called Christians by the end of this series. How will Grace react to this situation? How will Jack handle the sin that he has committed against God, himself, and Grace?
My DVR is locked and loaded for Tuesday night at 7pm cst on ABC Family.

In Christ Alone,
Mr. V.