The Bible is a collection of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament or Old Covenant, and 27 in the New Testament or New Covenant. 

All the books of the Bible, written over a timeline of around 1600 years, give a consistent picture of who God is, who we are, what God wants, and what we can expect depending on our choices in this life.  The Bible reveals the story of how God has dealt with mankind, His chosen nation of Israel and His New Covenant people, the Church.  The Bible speaks with the same authority and relevance today regarding who He is and what He is doing in our times.  It speaks to us regarding what will happen in the future and how God will change everything.

The Bible is not just a book of rules and ancient history.  It contains thousands of wonderful promises which are constantly applicable to all who believe in Him.  The challenge that mankind faces today is to know, understand and experience the wonderful things that God promises to do for those who believe.  God's promises in the Bible guarantee us more than enough for all our needs in every area.  The only condition is to trust and obey God, and expect Him to do what He says He will do.  If we don't we are the losers.

The issue of the Church and Homosexuality has been the most controversial issue of the last several decades.  The ordination of homosexual pastors and churches performing homosexual marriages has brought the issue of homosexuality to the forefront.  It has also  caused much debate in and out of the church in recent years.  It is an issue on which the church must take a stand - a Biblical stand.

The problem we face today:
- Several states are considering the sanction of homosexual marriages.
- Gay couples are granted the privileges of married partners when it comes to insurance 
  coverage.
- There are laws prohibiting the “discrimination” of homosexuals.
- The military has a “Don’t ask … don’t tell” policy.
- Christians are being labeled as “homophobics”, and criticized when they exercise their free speech rights in opposition to homosexuality, as being uncaring, unloving, judgmental, and hateful.
- Gay-Rights parades are being promoted on city streets.
- There is a “Gay Day” at Disney World.
- It is politically incorrect to be against homosexuality, and doing so can jeopardize a political career.
- The Boy Scouts of America were criticized, and lost funding, because they refused to accept an openly gay Scoutmaster.
- Television programs are rampant with gay issues - new programs regularly emerge with openly gay characters, gay makeovers, etc. They are being portrayed as NORMAL.
- The American Psychological Association has threatened to revoke the license of any psychologist or psychiatrist who counsels a homosexual to change his lifestyle.
- Sex change therapies on children are being offered. Click here to read for youself.

Injustice causes poverty -

- Proverbs 13:23 “The field of the poor yields abundant food, but without justice, it is swept away.”

Sometimes the immoral actions of others cause poverty.  There are those who have lost their businesses, or their homes, or their savings because of the actions of others. 

One thinks of slot machines here in Maine as a prime example of a significant cause of poverty.  We are all aware of those in our society who prey on the weak, the kind and the trusting.  Some people are led to poverty through phone solicitations, unscrupulous salesmen, and e-mail scams.  Others are led to poverty because of the lawsuits of people trying to get rich at the expense of others.  There are many other examples, but, injustice does cause some poverty.

Matthew 5:27-30

When doing a web search on your computer, it is all too common to be shocked and embarrassed at what comes you see.  Accidental hits are symptomatic of a greater problem in our society brought on by the curse of pornography.  We are experiencing pornography in our society in epidemic proportions.  What is sad is that it is not just people outside of the church but many in the church that have been caught up in this plague.

Towards the end of the last presidential debate there was finally a question on something that has the potential to be far more devastating to people’s lives than a terrorist attack or even a war.  The moderator asked “Homosexuality; is it a choice?”

One of the candidates answered with a very strong religious statement. It wasn’t George Bush because he answered, “I don’t know”.  It was Senator John Kerry who said; "We’re all God’s children, and I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she’s being who she was.  She’s being who she was born as.  I think if you talk to anybody, it’s not a choice."  This is important because most people would not want to deny homosexuals any civil right, including marriage, if they are created by God to be homosexual.

It is biblical to abstain from using alcohol and drugs.  Alcohol and drug abuse have reached a frightening level.  Recent statistics indicate 105,000 Americans die each year in alcohol related deaths.  It is also estimated that 18 million Americans are either alcohol dependent or suffer from alcohol abuse.  The cost of alcohol and drug abuse to families, business, and society in general is measured in terms of billions of dollars and millions of lives every year.

Listen to this quote from Good News for the Chemically Dependent and Those Who Love Them: "Alcohol is a drug.  It is the most abused, most deadly, and most underestimated of all the chemicals used in our society.  To feel the weight of this last statement consider this: Imagine that a 747 airliner full of passengers crashed every week and everyone aboard died.  That is how many people die weekly in alcohol-related traffic accidents.  Sixty percent of all violent crimes are alcohol-related.  If alcohol were discovered in a laboratory today, it would be classified as a controlled substance, which means that it would only be available via a doctor’s prescription."

There is a lot of talk in our day about the need for ethics, but not very much is being done about it.  The problem is that we are approaching the whole idea backwards.  Our modern world has kicked the Bible aside as being irrelevant and out of date.  They have set aside the only foundation for moral behavior, but yet they want ethics.  We even have something today called “situational ethics” – but if one’s conduct is determined by the given situation then it is not an ethical code.  Ethics cannot exist apart from a standard of right and wrong. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that there is a standard for conduct; the word of God.

If you have ever watched the news reports of a Gay Pride march in downtown Portland, you can't help but notice the tone of some of the posters and banners they carry.  They will say things like "It's not about religion," and "Hate is not a family value," and others carry similar slogans.  The marchers say things like "All this hate is so un-Christian."
 
Did you ever wonder about the history of the Gay Pride marches?  The first Gay Pride march took place in 1970.  It was a two-pronged march held simultaneously; one in Los Angeles and one in New York.  Back then the tone was completely different.  The signs would say things like; "2-4-6-8, gay is just as good as straight"; or "Not all of us walk poodles"; still another would read, "Better blatant than latent."(1)