About Jesus' Mother

Mike Winger Facebook post, 8/19/24

 Is it possible that many people think Mary had to stay a virgin because they, somewhere in the logic, feel that something is immoral about sex between a husband and wife?

I've heard it said that Joseph wouldn't defile the Ark of the Covenant (by which they mean Mary) through intercourse. Yet the idea that such an act is a defilement goes against Scripture which says "the marriage bed is undefiled." (Heb 13:4) 

And the idea that a husband and wife can vow chastity between themselves is far more problematic than many realize, violating Scripture and the nature of the marriage commitment. 

"The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband." 1 Cor 7:3

Read that passage in context and you'll see that Paul is saying "do not deprive one another" (1 Cor 7:5) in relation to sexual relations. Voluntary chastity is a single person's role and is inappropriate and unbiblical in marriage. 

Attempts to explain away the presence of Jesus' brothers and sisters in Scripture (spoken in the same context as his mother) or that Joseph NEVER was intimate with Mary instead of not being intimate with her "UNTIL" after Jesus' birth also fail.

"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus."

Matt 1:24-25

Everything I've said here has a response from those who believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary. You can go deep into the rabbit hole on this if you choose. But I've done it already and find those responses not only unconvincing but obvious attempts to subvert the meaning of Scripture to support a doctrine of man which has contributed to the idolization of Mary.

My Mind Was Changed Long Ago

Adapt Church to Culture?

Well, but mustn’t the churches adapt Christianity to suit the ideas of our time? No, they must not. Our ideas are killing us spiritually. When your child swallows poison, you don’t sit around thinking of ways to adapt his constitution to a poisonous diet. You give him an emetic.

Joy Davidman (aka Mrs. C.S. Lewis, cited by Megan Basham, Shepherds For Sale, pg.XI

Think About It!

About That Photo At the Top of this Blog

Over the past few months I’ve had several readers email me questioning about the photo at the top of my blog. It was taken by my wife on 6/28/09 at the Iowa Firefighter Memorial in Coralville, IA. The kilt I’m wearing in the photo is of Leith tartan--my wife’s “clan” (her great-grandparents came from the Orkney Islands) which I felt had great colors for the service--reds and blues! 

Every year, on the second Sunday in June, there is a memorial service held here for the entire state of Iowa. I was first asked to play for the ceremony in 2000, leading the color/honor guard up to the front to post the colors and then lead them back, and this became an anual event for me. In 2006 they asked me to play Amazing Grace, replacing the keyboard player for this part of the service. To retrieve the colors at the end I would again lead the guard up and back. It’s quite a long service honoring all firefighters who passed during the previous year. Those who served at least 10 years get their names on the one set of walls, while those who die in the line of duty have a special wall. 

In 2010 the Iowa Firefighters Association voted to award me the title of Honorary Firefighter— a really great honor! This was the year we had our first cancellation—about 20 minutes into the service severe storms arrived and, by checking weather, it was plain the storms would last for a very long time. But that’s when the IFA president came to me and said, “This isn’t how we wanted to do this” as he presented me with the trophy award—they had wanted to do it up front during the service! 

In 2014 a student piper friend from a town an hour west, and who is a firefighter in that town, asked if he could play with me, so he came over and we played Amazing Grace together—he didn’t know the other tunes I used. The next year he joined me again and knew the tunes.

In 2016 there was a new man in charge of the color/honor guard and we for the first time had a “long blue line” of the guard marching almost a block along the side of the memorial park. He had pipers he knew from two different towns (2hrs NE and 2 hrs SW) come to join me. I then became the pipe major for the whole group and play solo on Amazing Grace. This was when my wife also joined with her snare drum. Sometimes we’ve had about 15 pipers and 6-7 drummers and other times, as this year, we had five pipers (including me) and one drummer—Jill!

In 2020 the service was cancelled because of the COVID scare. In 2023 I was asked to play a memorial tune for the candlelight service the night prior to the memorial service so I’m doing that solo from now on (they’ve had that service almost from the beginning but didn’t think about asking me until last year!)

So that’s the story behind the cover photo.  The photo associated with this post was taken by local media on 6/13/21 as I’m leading the color/honor guard to our starting point.

Examining a Gothard Book, Part 7

This post is part five of examining Chapter 3: To Inspire Mighty Men! of Bill Gothard’s book, 7 Basic Needs of a Wife. 

With the last post I ended with number 16 of Gothard’s 21 “secrets for successful child rearing.”

Seventeenth secret: Passion for Discipleship. (pg.36): The passion of a mighty man of valor must be to win people to Christ and to train them in the forty-nine commands of Christ. “He that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30), …

Does Gothard ever use a passage in context? He couldn’t use this if it wasn’t in KJV. Let’s look at the FULL verse in a modern translation.

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.” (NIV)

The point is saving lives, which “souls” in the KJV means. It has nothing to do with winning people to Christ. I’m afraid to ask what his 49 commands are and how twists Scripture to find them.

…and “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

In actuality this passage is discussing Israel’s pending destruction. It could be used as an analogy, though.

If a son or daughter is not actively reaching out to people and making disciples, he or she will see no reason to be different from the world.

Not everyone has the gift or the ability to “actively” make disciples on a continuing basis. MOST people try making disciples while in the workplace or out in the world, not on a full-time basis.

In order to find potential disciples, we must find ways to meet them. One excellent way is to bring the poor into your house for a special meal to honor them.

So only the poor are worth inviting into your home for a special meal? Is it really safe nowadays, especially, to be inviting strangers into your house? Just think about it.

Eighteenth secret: Personal Vows (pg.36). Just one important note: Vows must bd carefully made and must be based on Scripture. A vow is affirming a command of Scripture before our human intellect has an opportunity to rationalize it away. Examples would be a vow not to drink liquor or not to be intimate before marriage.

Nineteenth secret: “Passage” to Adulthood (pg.36). Adulthood begins for a boy after his twelfth year and for a girl other twelfth birthday. A special celebration should be conducted to honor this special time. Thereafter, a son or a daughter must be respected and treated like a young adult. 

Here Gothard is taking a page from the Jews: bat/bar mitzvah by 13 for boys and 12 for girls. Christians don’t have such rules. In reality, it’s best to say 15-16 would be called young adults but for most cities/states under 16 is consider juvenile while 16 and up can be tried as adults.

Twentieth secret: Biblical Belief System (pg.37). Here is where Gothard mentions bat/bar mitzvah as when the young people memorize the first five books of Moses. Then he says, As believers we have been give a new law system consisting of Christ’s forty-nine commands. We must not only learn these by heart and live them out, but we must teach them to others. These commands must be the belief system of our heart.

Now, I’m sure he probably lists the so-called 49 commands of Christ but I haven’t come across it and I’d really like to know where he gets them!!!

Twenty-first secret: Courtship Commitment (pg.37). The problem with so-called courtship, and we tried it, is that no two families seem to have the same idea. Some, like Gothard, can be very legalistic and start as young as 15 years old.  Gothard says a young man is prepared for marriage before letting the girl know of his intentions. I have to disagree. I’ll use myself as an example. I began dating my wife while I was still in the Army (I was 22 and she 18) and after I became a civilian six months later I let her know of my intent to marry her—we weren’t officially engaged for another 10 months. However, After getting out of the Army I had to find work and a place to live and have some money saved up. According to Gothard I should have waited until essentially our engagement before letting her know of my intentions!  My son and his wife began courting with intent to marriage while he was apprenticing in a trade and was living at home! So he wasn’t prepared yet they were engaged during this time; they didn’t marry until he had a job and an apartment. Gothard demanding his methods is nonsensical.

And thus ends Chapter 3 of this book.

An Agglomeration

Excellent commentary by Marsha West regarding “beloved Christian VIPs” who can lead you down “the primrose path” to a life of sin.

Do you care about doctrine?

Jory Micah is bad news.

Is God Immoral for Killing the Canaanites?

Pride: Celebrating Sin.

The Dangers of False Bible Attribution

Is Satan more afraid of Mary than God?!?

Isn’t The Biblical Account “Good” Enough? Another example of where “The Chosen” deviates from Scripture.

Oh, the blasphemy and twisting of Scripture in The Chosen.  And what about the set celebrating “Pride” month?

David Platt—a teacher to avoid.

Michael Brown’s False Standard for False Prophets.  Many are included among these false prophets.

False teacher/false healer Daniel Adams.

Why Todd White is the Most Dangerous Kind of False Teacher

Presbyterian Church USA is NOT a Christian denomination—it supports and promotes every sexual perversion.

Bethel Church service: Demonic, heretical and fraudulent. What was it that Paul said about men with long hair?  Then there is this abject heresy of Jesus asking for forgiveness from a “pastor”!!!

Necromancy in the Church: Promise Keepers and Steve Berger. God does not send the dead to speak to us.

Some problems for those who are of the KJV Only cult.

Rise, My Soul, to Watch and Pray

Rise, my soul, to watch and pray; 

from thy sleep awaken!

Be not by the evil day 

unawares o'ertaken;

For the foe, well we know,

oft his harvest reapeth

while the Christian sleepeth.

Watch against the devil's snares, 

lest asleep he find thee;

for indeed no pains he spares 

to deceive and blind thee.

Satan's prey oft are they

who secure are sleeping 

and no watch are keeping.

Watch! Let not the wicked world 

with its pow’r defeat thee.

Watch lest with her pomp unfurled

she betray and cheat thee.

Watch and see, lest there be

faithless friends to charm thee, 

who but seek to harm thee.

Watch against thyself, my soul, 

lest with grace thou trifle;

let not self thy thoughts control

nor God's mercy stifle.

Pride and sin lurk within,

all thy hopes to scatter; 

heed not when they flatter.

But while watching, also pray

to the Lord unceasing.

He will free thee, by they stay,

strength and faith increasing.

Oh Lord, bless in distress

And let nothing swerve me 

from the will to serve thee.

Johann Burchard Freystein

Bad Theology In the Church

In today’s contemporary professing church, a diluted image of God has been crafted in the minds of men—one that’s all mercy, patience, and tolerance, stripped of His righteous wrath, justice, and even His holy hatred for sin. This cancerous “love wins” ideology portrays a God who is endlessly permissive, neglecting the severity of His judgments and the reality of His ultimate authority.

The Dissenter, God’s Judgment: He Sends a Strong Delusion so People Will Believe Lies?

Examining a Gothard Book, Part 6

This post is part four of examining Chapter 3: To Inspire Mighty Men! of Bill Gothard’s book, 7 Basic Needs of a Wife. 

With the last post I ended with number 7 of Gothard’s 21 “secrets for successful child rearing.” 

Eighth secret: Boundaries for Exploration. (pg.32). Children who have no boundaries become emotionally insecure and mentally unstable.
I wonder what studies Gothard has made to come to such a conclusion. This is where “blanket training” come in: A playpen or a “play rug” is an example of a boundary. I’ve known one family using this method and have read a lot of testimonies from parents and grown children. A playpen isn’t something a baby is usually able to climb out of, but when they are put on a rug or a blanket it is normal for them to want to crawl around. Child abuse comes in when “training” the baby/toddler to say within that boundary—their hands or feet are smacked whenever extended past the boundary.

Ninth secret: Feeding by Wise Schedules. (pg.32) A strong controversy has developed over the manner in which a new-born should be fed. Should the child be fed “on-demand” or on a schedule? Those who argue for on-demand feeding need to realize the by so doing they are training their child to get what he or she wants by simply crying out. … The goal of scheduled feeding is to bring the child’s will into conformity to the parents’ authority. … Feeding on demand will produce a demanding child.

Now remember, this man has never been married, nor has he had children! We had two children, both nursed by mom unless mom was unable and then we used a bottle with mother’s milk. My wife fed on demand—i.e. when the child was hungry! No—it did not producing demanding children. All those we know who fed on demand did not produce demanding children. It does NOT train a child to “get what he or she wants by simply crying out.” The foolishness and ignorance of such teaching is damaging to those who listen to it.

AH, but let’s look at what Gothard uses to demonstrate how his teaching is correct:

God meets our needs as a Father who loves His children. However, HE does not always give us what we want when we demand it [um, I don’t know any Christian who “demands” from God]. David expressed his experience of learning to wait on God by saying, “O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry” (Psalm 88:1-2).
Talk about twisting Scripture to support a belief!!!! This passage has nothing to do with feeding a baby!

Tenth secret: Birth-Order Tendencies. (Pg.33).  Gothard uses Cain and Able, and “the prodigal son” as examples of the “tendency of the firstborn to reject the second born son”  as proof of a standard/general enmity between first-born and second-born sons, and therefore, Mothers who want to train up mighty sons and daughters must understand and respond to birth-order tendencies. Maybe I’m ignorant, but I’ve never met families with this sort of trouble, so to make it as a general claim is erroneous.

Eleventh secret: One-Accord Power (pg.33) A family that has and maintains one-accord unity will have sons and daughters who are mighty in Spirit. What if a family does as he says and yet not all their children are “might in Spirit”? The periodic observance of the Lord’s Table and Communion in the home is an essential aspect of maintaining a one-accord power…. Well, I’ve never known any family who regularly, if at all, practice this observance in their home. I guess most families are at risk!

Twelfth secret: The Fear of God (pg.33-34). Other than some rambling, I can’t disagree.

Thirteenth secret: “Day Tight” Schedules. (pg.34). God designed the day to begin in the evening. As we meditate on Scripture when going to sleep and also asks God for wisdom for the projects of the day, our “reins also instruct me in the night seasons” (Psalm 16:7).

I can’t disagree with keeping schedules for activities, but one must also be flexible enough to make adjustments, but to abuse a passage of scripture to make a point is inexcusable.

Fourteenth secret: Verbal Blessings (pg.34). Gothard begins with his usual habit of an anecdote, supposedly of a real incident. Then he writes, A verbal blessing of the father [not also the mother?] has great power in setting the goals and desires of his sons and daughters. A blessing involves asking God out loud to impart a son or daughter with the qualities that he or she needs to become successful. 

Can anyone show me from scripture this recipe for blessings? Can not BOTH parents bless their children? Can not the parents, in their own prayers, ask God to bless their children. That’s part of the problem with Gothard’s ideology—it’s so formulated for everything.

Fifteenth secret: Justice vs. Fairness (pg.35). God is a God of compensation. If He withholds a benefit from one person, He will compensate with other benefits which, in the long run, turn out to be more valuable.. This compensation is illustrated in the Body of Christ, where one member is given greater attractiveness and another who is less attractive is given greater importance. Another example is with those who are born in a poor family and yet are made rich in faith, and through faith they are able to acquire what is needed. (See James 2:5.).

Please show me from Scripture where this nonsense found—and James 2:5 has nothing to do with Gothard’s claims!!! Gothard just makes stuff up!!!

Sixteenth secret: Melodious and Triumphant Music (pg.35). Unclean music is produced by taking the corrupt music of the world, which promotes rebellion, immorality, and drug abuse, and combining it with Christian words. This music is the doorway through which unclean spirits are entering the hearts and souls of Christian teenagers and drawing them into the addictions of pornography, eating disorders , immorality, anger, lust, etc. Music and light are related, and Satan appears as an angel of light to deceive. (See Matthew 24:24).

First, who determines what music is “corrupt”? Just because it is secular? We sang a hymn which is to the tune of Auld Lang Syne—is that corrupt? The hymn, Hail the Glorious, Golden City is to the tune of the Austrian Hymn, used by the Nazis! I fully agree that there are some secular song which are trash, and some music sounds like it’s of the devil and not good for praising God with, but who makes that decision? Where is the evidence that such “unclean” music gives a “doorway” to unclean spirits so they can enter the “hearts and souls” of Christian youth—where does the Bible say unclean spirits can enter the “hearts and souls” of Christians? And just what has Matthew 24:24 have to do with music—It’s about false prophets!!! And where does it say, in Scripture or anywhere else, that light and music are related?!?  Bill Gothard just makes up stuff as he goes!

God forced the unclean spirit in Saul to flee as David played melodious music on his harp. (See 1 Samuel 16:23).

The Bible doesn’t say God forced the spirit to leave Saul, it just says the spirit left as David played. 

Stay tuned for the remaining “secrets” in future posts.