Today is Valentine’s Day, a day in which people attempt to show their love or appreciation for spouses, children, good friends, or even pets. Whether one believes in celebrating this 14th day of February or not, the believer’s mind is often drawn to a few portions of Scripture: John 3:16, as pictured above; I Corinthians 13, affectionately known as “the love chapter;” and God the Father’s reminder that “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 Jn. 4:19).
Dear Reader, where would we be without the love of God? Many, too often, take it for granted; without HIS love we are unable to truly love others properly. Some, unconsciously, put loved ones ahead of God. Without a doubt, we are commanded to love them, but, whether we are talking about a parent’s love for their children, husbands and wives who are still deeply in love, or best friends who cannot imagine life without the other, we must take great care in not idolizing such relationships. We must still love the Lord our God above everyone else.
Regarding such relationships, John Wesley put it plainly: “But they are neither commanded nor permitted to love one another idolatrously. Yet how common is this! How frequently is a husband, a wife, a child, put in the place of God! How many that are accounted good Christians, fix their affections on each other. Now, if this is not flat idolatry, I cannot tell what is.
Wesley continues, “Universal experience both our own, and that of all our friends and acquaintance, clearly proves, that as God made our hearts for himself, so they cannot rest till they rest in him. Till we acquaint ourselves with him, we cannot be at peace.”
C.S. Lewis summarizes the above with this pithy statement: “When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” If we ever hope to fulfill the second great command of Christ – to love our neighbor, then we must first fulfill the first great command – to love God with all that we are.
We at American Decency do what we do – speak truth into the situations which surround us – because we love God and because we love our neighbor as ourselves. We can only do this because God has first loved us and shared truth with us. In His great mercy and love He uses fallible men and women to promote His infallible, indescribable love. (More on that after the Decency Minute scripts.)
As you read or listen to this week’s Decency Minutes, remember that our love for others stems from our love for God. That love must supersede our disgust, disappointment, or concerns regarding the people and events that press in upon us, threatening our security, family, or flying in the face of God and Truth.
Wheaton College recently posted on Facebook congratulations and prayers to one of their alumni, Russell Vought, for his confirmation to serve in the Trump administration. The Christian college has done the same for other notable alumni. However, hours later Wheaton not only deleted the post, after receiving angry comments from leftist alumni, but also apologized for their offer of prayers and congratulations to a Christian brother.
In Wheaton’s apology, they stated that they’re focused on Christ and His Kingdom. Yet as Christians, not only are we commanded to pray for our government leaders, we’re supposed to bring Christian influence into every spere of life – including the government, which is exactly what Russell Vought will do.
Wheaton, as many progressive Christian institutions in America, are reminiscent of the church of Laodicea, which Jesus condemned: “because you are lukewarm … I will spit you out of my mouth.”
In the mid-‘90s, Howard Stern declared himself the “king of all media.” He built his brand on sexual exploitation of women.
Today, the uncontested “king of media” is podcaster Joe Rogan. On one of his recent episodes, Rogan and his guest, Brett Weinstein discussed how pornography is harmful to viewers and they celebrated an increasing aversion to it among young men.
Another podcaster who often appears in top ten lists, Theo Vaughn, recently featured Laila Mickelwait who’s successfully targeted the most popular porn website for exploitation and sex trafficking, causing them to pull down over 90% of their videos.
These are some of most popular voices today, particularly among young men.
The culture is finally figuring out what Christians have found in the Bible for millennia, “the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, but… her feet go down to death…” Proverbs 5
May they come to see that God’s Word is True.
Deep Seek Warrants Deep Concern
The Chinese Communist Party has long sought the destruction of the United States as part of its plan to dominate the world. To accomplish this goal, they’ve used “unrestricted warfare” – which are unconventional means of attack – in order to not kinetically fight a more powerful America.
Their latest attack has been on the U.S. artificial intelligence industry, introducing a large AI language model called “DeepSeek.” It’s powerful, user-friendly, and “free,” outperforming American AI models like ChatGPT.
It’s not only an economic attack, but also potentially poses a risk to national security. As Frank Gaffney warns: “As we struggle to contend with half the country being literally hooked on a Chinese information warfare and intelligence-collecting app called TikTok, the danger posed by DeepSeek and other inbound Chinese AI systems can hardly be overstated.”
To share your concerns with President Trump regarding “DeepSeek” call 202-456-1111.
Below is a great hymn of the faith that should encourage us and bring us to praise. There is a movie entitled Indescribable that shares the story behind this song. It can be watched by clicking the link.
The Love of God by Frederick M. Lehman
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
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