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Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words he solemn testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"

Acts 2:40 And [Peter] solemnly and earnestly witnessed (testified) and admonished (exhorted) with much more continuous speaking and warned (reproved, advised, encouraged) them, saying, Be saved from this crooked (perverse, wicked, unjust) generation.

The Russian Orthodox Church destroyed a chapel after local churchmen declared it defiled because it hosted a "marriage" ceremony for two men.

The Rev. Vladimir Enert was defrocked for conducting the service for Denis Gogolyev and Mikhail Morozev at the Chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, 280 miles east of Moscow, the London Telegraph reported.

The Telegraph said a spokesman for the Orthodox Church indicated the chapel had to be demolished because it was desecrated.

The ceremony sparked outrage across the nation, even among people not associated with the church.

Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Viktor Malukhin stated: "Nothing of this kind has happened during the 1,000-year history of the Russian Church.

"According to Christian teachings," he said, "marriage is a free union of a man and a woman blessed by God, while homosexuality is a sign of human nature obscured by sin."

Why is the family under attack like never before?

Because Western Civilization - and entire notion of self-government that
emerged from it - is the real target.

Destroying Western Civilization requires the elimination of the family
structure, where parents are accountable to God and children accountable to parents. This is happening today in innumerable ways:

What's the definition of a family? Quite simple. It is two or more people living together related by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Recently Wal-Mart announced that they were expanding their non-
discrimination policies to include non-discrimination against homosexuals. This move represents another major victory for the anti-God crowd as they seek to destroy the biblical definitions of marriage and family.

God works through families. When He created humanity, He created us as man and woman and he joined the man and woman together in marriage. He commanded the man to work and created the woman to be a helpmate. He blessed them with children and the children provided an ongoing legacy, continuing the work of the parents in stewarding God's creation.

The family is the fundamental building block that God has used for all of
society. Children are taught God's ways primarily through the family and God blesses righteous men and women through their children - through families. Cities, towns, nations, businesses and our entire economy are built through families.

Satan is not confused. He recognizes the strength God has placed in families and he is on the war path. Satan has unleashed his anti-God forces in an all out attack on the God-ordained family institutions of marriage and parenthood. These attacks are most obvious in the form of the "gay rights" agenda of claiming these God-ordained institutions for same-sex partners - the very relationships that God clearly condemns in His Word.

Over the past few weeks, these anti-God forces have been gaining steam. First, came the Supreme Court's ruling, striking down Texas' anti-sodomy law. In other words, this ruling is a huge step towards man redefining marriage and families in a way counter to God's definition, and a major blow against the foundation of our society and economy.

More recently business, in the form of Wal-Mart, has also joined the family bashing. This employer of over a million Americans, mostly in small-towns, has gone out of their way to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians. As homosexual activists loudly proclaim, Wal-Mart has become the 9th of the 10 largest companies to have such a policy. The lone holdout is Exxon Mobil.

"2 out of 3 Americans reject 'gay' marriage," by Jon E. Dougherty, showing that America's courts are far out of step with its citizens on same-sex marriage.

"The tragedy of love American-style is sex without strings, relationships
without rings,"

From the Beginning God's desire and the direction of His relationship has been with the family:

1. Adam & Eve in Genesis 2
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
God communicated with Adam and Eve walking in the Garden in the cool of the day.

2. In Genesis 6 God warned Noah to save his family.

Genesis 7
1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

God himself is the prime mover of the family.

3. The generational family began with Abraham: In Genesis 12 God told Abraham that in him "shall all families of the earth be blessed."

And in succession
The family dynasties of Isaac and Jacob followed.
The family dynasties of Saul, David and Solomon followed. But note in the genealogy of Matthew 1 Saul is omitted but David's father Jesse is named followed by David and Solomon.
The First Family of Scripture is Joseph and Mary.
The Architect and Chief Destroyer of the Family from the beginning has been Satan. His attempt to destroy the family began in the garden in tempting Eve.

Remember however that God had told Adam not to eat of the tree and it was his responsibility to instruct Eve. Somewhere he failed. As keepers of our home we cannot fail in the task of instruction not only of our wives but of our children as well.

If you study the history of Israel in the Bible you will find four stages of spiritual corruption that cannot be missed.
Independence
Indulgence
Indifference
Irreverence

If that gives you a sick feeling about what is happening to America, it ought to. We are living in the most irreverent time in the history of this country. Think about these things:

We can hand out condoms and clean needles on the streets - paid for by our tax dollars, but we can't hand out Bibles (or any other religious material) because that is an establishment of religion.

We allow profanity as an exercise of free speech, but we deny prayer and nativity scenes on public property because it is a religious intrusion.

The government indoctrinates our children with the propaganda of evolution without God, but refuses to allow the clear and present evidence of a creation by God.

Abortionists are the heroes protected by the government, pro-lifers are the villains arrested by the government. We used to teach our children that God's forgiveness comes through the blood of Jesus Christ, now we cover our own sin up with blood of our unborn children.

Christian families have almost been completely destroyed by the apathetic attitude of today's parents. You know, there is no such thing as an illegitimate child. There are only illegitimate fathers and ineffective mothers who refuse to put in the hard work and sacrifice necessary that will ensure their children a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Proverb says. If you don't live by it, your children will die by it.

Chuck Swindoll says, "A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living."

Chuck Colson puts it in these strong words: "Ordained by God as the basic unit of human organization, the family is. . . the first school of human instruction. Parents take small, self-centered monsters, who spend much of their time screaming defiantly and hurling peas on the carpet, and teach them to share, to wait their turn, to respect others' property. These lessons translate into respect for others, self-restraint, obedience to law - in short, into the virtues of individual character
that are vital to a society's survival."

The home was meant to be a redemptive force in our lives. The first redemptive element of the family is that: The family is where we learn about healing. When we have been wounded by the world, the home should be a place of retreat. When we have been beat up by the world, the home should be a place where we are built up. Adults and children alike need someone who will believe in them when no one else does. They don't need to be called names at home after they have been called names outside the home. They don't need to be yelled at after being yelled at in school or work. When we have been wounded by the world, home is where our wounds are mended and our hurts are healed. We need to learn how to restore each other and restore our relationships.

According to a study of more than 500 family counselors, the following are the top traits of successful families:

--Focus on the Family Bulletin, December, 1988.

From a national survey of strong families conducted by the Human
Development and Family Department at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, a profile of a strong family is:

--Human Development and Family Department at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln.

In this country we have gone after the gods of hedonism, materialism,
intellectualism, humanism, and secularism. The result? The building block for the family is fractured, it is falling, and it is failing.

There is only one solution. We must strengthen our families with the Word of God. And it's the responsibility of the parents - NOT the community or the state.

How can you re-enforce your families today?