Family is “Alive and Well”!

by Leave a Comment

Despite the great many attacks that have impacted families over the past century, we are delighted to report that FAMILY is “ALIVE AND WELL”!

Attacking marriage is a passion for many people who promote the idea that wedlock is dead. One of the ways they support their deception is through the misuse of statistics. (remember the saying: “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics!”) Yet the evidence is that most marriages, almost 70% of them, persist until the death of the spouse. That’s a far cry from the impression we are given that more than half of all marriages are doomed to failure.

The New York Times ran an article earlier this month, by two assistant professors from the University of Pennsylvania. Entitled “Divorced from Reality”, the article puts the record straight on the viability of marriage in the USA.

“The story of ever-increasing divorce is a powerful narrative. It is also wrong. In fact, the divorce rate has been falling continuously over the past quarter-century, and is now at its lowest level since 1970. While marriage rates are also declining, those marriages that do occur are increasingly more stable. For instance, marriages that began in the 1990s were more likely to celebrate a 10th anniversary than those that started in the 1980s, which, in turn, were also more likely to last than marriages that began in the 1970s.”

When the numbers are analysed it seems that the most unstable marriages are those of the young people who were most impacted by the Sexual Liberation cultural revolution of the 1960’s. Marriages established in the 1970’s were undermined by the pervasive “me-ism” of the era, where the idea of free sex had been vigorously promoted and old institutions, such as God, family and marriage, were undermined with vigour. However, as we move away from that tidal wave of counter-culturalism, we are seeing the resilience of marriage re-emerge.

The old agenda of removing marriage to make way for unrestrained sexual activity is still being pushed. And in order to do so the promoters have resorted to smoke and mirrors, rather than reality.

And not only is marriage proving its enduring viability, but, along with it is God’s institution of family. Here at Family Horizons we are thrilled to provide resources to the thousands of families which are rejecting the lies and choosing to value what God values.

So, next time someone suggests to you that marriage is a failing institution, be sure to point out to them that they have been fooled by social engineers who want them to believe that lie.

Both Marriage and Family are explored in much greater depth in two key books which we recommend to you. FAMILY HORIZONS – Creating Families of Destiny and MARRIAGE HORIZONS – Creating Marriages That Work. 

Where are the Men?

by Leave a Comment

It’s tough being a MAN in our feminized culture. That’s for sure. But what I find more a threat to manhood is not the rise of women, but the DECLINE OF MEN! It seems that men are running for cover, handing the world over to others who want to take it. I wonder if our problem is not what women are doing but that men are abandoning manhood. My own experience was that of “abdicating” from my manhood. It wasn’t until I realized what I was doing that I could even begin my own journey into godly manhood.

I have recently completed, MANHOOD HORIZONS – Calling Men To Change History, and it is currently in the editing process. That book brings together 20 years of my own thoughts and experiences in the journey to Manhood. Using the “Horizons” formula, exploring the Natural Horizons, then Spiritual Horizons and Faith Horizons, I aim to particularly distil the essential qualities of Manhood, as a divine calling from which no man can escape.

Using the analogy of the Theatre, I point out that God is the one who has cast each of us into our roles. We are each asked to embrace our part, not by our own choosing but as assigned to us by God, Himself. God is the one who created the very earth on which we play out our lives.

Shakespeare used the analogy of a stage to describe man’s existence. His melancholy character, Jaques, from ‘As You Like It’, presents a soliloquy on the course of a man’s life. The speech begins by describing life as a performance on a stage.

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts”

While those who are melancholy might lament man’s futile parade across the boards, those with wisdom look beyond the footlights to discover the very one who created the whole theatre. Mankind’s challenge is not to look busy and appear important, while on the stage, but to find out what the stage is there for and what part has been assigned them to play.

Men, as in the males of the human species, have been assigned a decidedly different role to play than that given to women. Men cannot trade in their part or exchange it with someone else. The stage was not built by men, nor set up for men’s purposes. Our world was created by God and everything in it was created for “His pleasure”.

Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created.”

Where are the men? What costume are they wearing now? Which of the props are they hiding behind? Do they have stage-fright? Why have they abandoned their God-given roles? Do they not realise the wonder and significance of living for God’s pleasure? Do they not realise the power of fulfilling their destiny as “Men”?

Manhood is such an important issue that I have long taught on the subject and am pleased to have recently completed MANHOOD HORIZONS – Calling Men to Change History.