Category: Dr. Denison’s Forum

Our Battle

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Dr. Denison’s Forum, Scripture4 Comments

I hear a lot these days about the “culture wars” and I want to explore that idea today. According to Wikipedia (not a source I generally use, but it does have a better than adequate definition):

A culture war is a form of cultural conflict (metaphorical “war“) between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (moral beliefs, humane virtues, and religious practices) upon mainstream society. Wikipedia

So, the social groups that are in conflict, in my opinion, are those who believe in Biblical moral values and those who do not. This is not a war that we can win with armchair politics and by always insisting that we are the ones on the right side. The right side, of course, is God’s side, but we win over others by being loving and kind, not by being vocally obnoxious.

Remember who our fight is against, and it’s not against other people or even what they believe. It is against Satan who has influenced them to remove God from their lives and be free of His restrictions. We end up pushing people away because what we usually expound on are the restrictions that they absolutely, positively must adhere to if they want to be a Christian. Pause and think about that. Did God meet you where you are or did He want you all cleaned up and totally presentable before He saved you?

We try to impose a standard on others that God did not impose on us. We want to see change first, but that comes gradually as one accepts the truth of salvation being a free gift. If change came immediately, we would all be perfect right after salvation and we know that’s not true! So, why do we expect others to change their social beliefs before they can become a Christian? Why do we strive to change the outward when God wants the heart and will work on the rest once He has it?

Dr. Denison had a great article in his forum today about the cancellation of Colbert’s show. Basically, he is spot on about the fact that we are each drawn to the media that supports the beliefs we already have. If I watch news shows (rarely), I tune to Newsmax or Jesse Watters on Fox. My husband prefers to watch BBC and CNN, both liberal channels because he wants to hear “what the other side is saying.” Dr. Denison has a point about the great divide between us all and I want everyone to think about who is causing that great divide. Hint: It’s NOT God!

Denison Forum-Colbert-July 22, 2025

I hope that I have given you food for thought and perhaps a desire to approach those who think differently than you in a whole new way. We are all sinners…some of us have been saved by grace while others still need to come to the Lord. But we are all sinners who should not be battling against each other but against the true enemy of our souls whose main purpose is destruction, not life.

Unapologetically Pro-life

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum4 Comments

I am part of a family that swings both ways on the pro-life issue. Our daughter is pro-life as I am. Our oldest son is kind of, sort of pro-life, but with a multitude of exceptions that make him actually pro-choice. And our youngest son is unequivocally pro-choice, believing that the mother has the choice to terminate the pregnancy whenever she feels like it. Personally, I see no difference in abortion from sacrificing children to the pagan god Molech. No matter how you want to paint it to make it more acceptable, it’s still murder, in my opinion.

That being said, Dr. Denison had a good article about the topic today, so I am sharing it with you. I had no idea that the basics of reproduction were no longer being taught in schools, especially biology classes. I am thankful for those who are standing up for this small inroad into the large and wealth-producing abortion industry. Here is the link to the article, and if you scroll down in the article, there are additional links to pursue if you are interested.

Denison Forum, July 17, 2025

How about you? I don’t understand how Christians who read their Bibles can be pro-choice, but there are many who profess that is their exact stance. Here is a second lengthy article about what the Bible says about abortion. This one made me really think about why I believe the way I do.

What the Bible Says About Abortion

I hate to say it, but I think I agree with former President Bill Clinton in that if abortion is absolutely necessary, it should be rare. In my opinion, abortion is a death and should be a reason to grieve, not to celebrate as some of its advocates do.

Excerpt from the second article:

Would abortion be a moral choice when a family is very, very poor—when they have fourteen children and another on the way?

That child was John Wesley.

What about a father who is ill and a mother with tuberculosis? Their first child is blind, the second is deceased, the third is deaf, and the fourth has tuberculosis. Now she is pregnant again.

Her son would be called Beethoven.

A white man rapes a thirteen-year-old black girl, and she becomes pregnant.

Her child is Ethel Waters.

A teenage girl is pregnant, but her fiancée is not the father of the baby.

Her baby is Jesus.

Also from this article is a quotation from Mother Teresa:  “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

My Final Thoughts

While I condemn abortion as murder, I do not say that those who have had an abortion are condemned without hope. Just like the rest of us, they can be sinners saved by grace. When we are discussing abortion, we need to be aware that there is a lot of pain involved in the lives of individuals who had walked down that road. Knowing that, we need to speak with love and show the same grace and mercy that our Father extends to us.

What Does Justice Look Like?

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum, Scripture4 Comments

I don’t want to spend time on politics, but I do want to encourage those of us who are dismayed, perhaps even outraged, by the vagaries of our current justice system. I think Denison’s article says it best, so I am sharing it here with you.

Former president Donald Trump declared guilty

Denison’s Forum

I also want to share with you the Scriptures that God gave me to calm my weary soul.

Don’t assume that you know what justice looks like in this case. Let God be the final Judge.

The U.S. has been ripe for reaping God’s wrath for a while now. The immorality of our nation is apparent and the turning away from God is obvious to those with our eyes open. I am not a prophet, but the prophets in the Old Testament got it right when they prophesied against Israel and the coming exile and destruction of their nation. Perhaps this is a warning bell tolling for the U.S. Maybe not…but it surely appears ominous to me. Presidential elections carry consequences as we have seen. Pray before you go to the polls. Make sure you let your voice be heard at the ballot box…don’t be silenced by the vocal majority! There may be three Supreme Court justices up for nomination in the next election cycle. What kind of justice system do you want? A kangaroo court persecuting political opponents or real justice that is equal for all?

Using the justice system against your political opponents is not something that should happen anywhere in the world, but it has been happening for ages in communist and socialist nations that don’t allow opposition. This conviction is opening a door that may not ever be able to be closed, and I am watching for God’s hand in bringing the justice to our nation, not to President Trump, but to an entire nation that is determined to go its own way, without regard to God’s law and His hand that has been on our nation since its founding. Read Denison’s article again…and pray!

Finding Joy in the Hard Times

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum, Quotation and Citations, Scripture1 Comment

I haven’t written a lot about what has been going on in my life recently because I didn’t want to share how hard things suddenly became for me. We went to our son’s house on Thanksgiving and I ended up staying for two additional weeks to do childcare, similar to what I did last year. The difference this year is twofold: one, I had not prepared to stay, so I did not have a lot of my warm things with me; and two, the infant is now a very active toddler and my seven decades have difficulty keeping up with him. I have been home this week as my son and his family celebrate at Disney. I am so blessed to be home for almost two weeks, spending time with my beloved kitty and my even more loved spouse, taking care of errands and just settling comfortably into my chair with a warm blanket tucked around me. Next week I return to Maryland and my duties there. Yes, the work is harder for me than I want it to be, but God is allowing me to be a witness for a season, so I am trying to approach the situation with joy. My husband will be with me for Christmas and then he will come back to Virginia for the month of January while I remain behind.

One of the offshoots of my stay there has been higher blood pressure, a condition that my nephrologist wants me to get under control because of the effect on my single kidney. So one of the first things I did when I returned home was schedule an appointment to see my cardiologist. I saw the physician’s assistant instead and received a prescription for a new medicine to add to my Beta blocker. Unfortunately, I reacted badly to the medicine with some rough side effects, so now I am awaiting word from the doctor’s office about what, if anything, I should do next. Meanwhile, I am praying and hoping that the high blood pressure will pass and I will level out again. As my husband said, I am anxious about my numbers as I take the reading each day, so it is not a surprise when they are higher. I am trying to control my thoughts and thus my hypertension, but I’m not too good at it.

I read in Dr. Denison’s Forum today about joy and was happy to discover a quotation from Henry Nouwen. I hope that it speaks to you as it spoke to me. I encourage you to follow the link to Dr. Denison’s post and to sign up for his Forum. He gives a refreshingly Biblical insight into current events! Dr. Denison’s Forum

Henri Nouwen observed: “Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: ‘In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.’

“The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death.

Joy is not based on circumstances, but on the unwavering truth of God’s Word. And that is a fact that I can live with!

Have a blessed day and may you find joy and peace in your life, no matter the circumstances.

Choices

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum, Quotation and Citations, Scripture, Song4 Comments

The inspiration for today’s post came from Dr. Denison’s Forum on October 13, 2022. You can read the entire article here: Dr. Denison’s Forum, 10-13-22

This is kind of a different way of saying “What would Jesus do?” But this quotation made me ponder deeply. None of us knows when we will take our last breath, so it’s worth noting that our choices might be different if we had an inkling that our end is imminent. Food for thought, for sure!

We definitely learn from our choices, both good and bad. I think of life as a test with a steep learning curve. It is up to us to use what we have learned to grow spiritually so that we don’t continue to make the same mistakes over and over. It is not a coincidence that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years; they made bad choices and didn’t learn from them. God was patient in continuing to lead them, in my opinion. It’s a good thing that He is also patient with me because sometimes I get stubbornly stuck in trying to force Him to accept my way instead of accepting that His way is best.

From http://www.dailyverse.net

Yes, we make choices daily and those choices have consequences, but I go back to the first question that I asked. “Would you change what you are about to do if you knew it would be the last thing you would do?” Think about it as you listen to the song below. If you read the “Forum” article, you know that this is the last song that a twenty-three year old sang before he died in an accident. May we ever be mindful that tomorrow is not a promise, but a gift.

“You Are My Hiding Place”-Selah

Abiding in Him

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum, Scripture9 Comments

This morning, I read my devotional as usual. I’m currently reading the book of Jeremiah and there is a reason he is called the “weeping prophet.” He went around telling everyone to repent and people ignored him, to their detriment. I see so many parallels with what he wrote and with what is happening in nations throughout the world that it saddens me to see such rampant and flagrant sin. Sins that were once shamefully hidden are now “out there” for all to see, flung into the face of God. There is a price to pay and we are just now beginning to pay it.

I also read my daily dose of Dr. Denison and was not at all amused to read that a high school in FL crowned a transgender as homecoming queen. As I said, sin is no longer hidden, but it is flaunted and outrageously proclaimed as right.

Dr. Denison’s Forum October 11, 2021

So, what are we as Christians to do? We are told to shine our lights to a dark world. But we are also told to “abide.”

Image from Pinterest.com

I’m sure since we have all studied science, we know that the moon has no light except what is reflected from the sun. Thus, we have no light unless we are reflecting the Son. We have to be part of the branch of Jesus in order to produce fruit. Frankly, just to be able to stand and say that sin is sin in today’s world requires a close contact with the Lord, an abiding, if you will.

The definition of abide will not surprise anyone, but it is worth pointing out. From http://www.dictionary.com:

verb (used without object), a·bode or a·bid·ed, a·bid·ing.to remain; continue; stay: Abide with me.to have one’s abode; dwell; reside: to abide in a small Scottish village.

We stay in the Lord Jesus. We don’t walk away and join in the darkness, but we stay in His light and reflect it to others. Some may be repelled by the light because they prefer the darkness. But our hope is always that some will be attracted to the light and come to the knowledge that can offer the assurance of an eternal future with Him. We dwell with Jesus. We are not just occasional visitors eating at the table of plenty that He has provided us. We live there! Every day, every minute of every hour. That’s our home, where we should feel the most comfortable. Going out into the world does not mean leaving Jesus behind. He dwells in us, just as we dwell in Him. So, when we are doing our daily activities and interacting with others, we have that light to reflect to others because it is in us.

I fall far short of what I should be as a Christian, but all of the sin in the world is not pulling me away from Jesus. Rather, I am tucking myself in closer to Him, desiring not just His grace and mercy but also His protection from the evil of the world. I desire that protection for all those with whom I come in contact, too. They will not know He is there for them unless I tell them, or unless you tell them. The consequence of sin is death and eternal separation from God. I agree that it is often difficult to share our faith with unbelievers who mock or who walk away as fast as they can. However, if one life is changed, it is worth it.

My prayer for each of you today is to be that light that the world needs and to abide in the Lord so that you can reflect His glory, grace, goodness and mercy. Be the person God created you to be, His beloved child. God bless you, my friends.