I have read Facebook statuses and tweets about the situation on an almost daily basis since the situation has been made public. It’s the tone of those messages that has me upset.

for the most part, more people are upset with Kobe Bryant for not having a prenup than are upset that he cheated (allegedly) on his wife. I see more jokes about how much money/property he has to give her than concern for this now broken family.

It seems like people have such a low opinion of marriage that if one goes for more than 5 years it’s a miracle.

In my opinion, they probably should have never gotten married. Part of the reason so many people get divorced is that we pressure immature people into marriage. Some of the same people who gave that “gentle” push for marriage are the first advocates for divorce.

If stable marriages will ever become the norm in our scoiety again, we all have to play our part in helping marriages from before their beginning until……….

(I won’t help him by gaining any more fame by mentioning his name.)

Matthew 24:36 quotes Jesus as saying:

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

If God the Father is the only one who will know when Jesus will return, this gentleman is 100% incorrect. But that isn’t the point of my post.

In the midst of all of the jokes about this prediction, one point is being missed.

Jesus will return for his church.

We should be teaching the world at large the accurate depiction of the events that will lead up to his return. If we had been doing that all of these years, no one (including Christians) would be listening to this man.

The Great Commission still needs to be fulfilled.

I know that he was one of the people behind the 9/11 bombings.

He was behind thousands of people dying.

My family was affected too. A cousin (on the Backous side) worked on the side of the Pentagon where the plane hit. He went out to smoke minutes before the plane hit.
.
He had to be stopped. That’s the American in me.

But I do not rejoice in anyone’s life being taken. That’s the Christian in me.

I am thankful that none of the Americans involved were killed while fulfilling their mission.

My prayer is that those who shared the same philosophy as Bin Laden will see that there is a price to pay. It will not be the paradise they have been taught about.

Killing Bin Laden or any terrorist leader will NOT stop terrorism. A change of heart is the only way.

How many of the people in the US who are dancing in the streets are bold enough to witness to someone who they know is violently opposed to the Gospel?

We’ll need the whole armor of God to accomplish that mission.

Both the Renewed Disciples and Iyso are Christian artists from the Philly region that use Hip Hop as their method of ministry.

Check out their videos and their music.

Renewed Disciples at Fight for Families
Renewed Disciples Live

Iyso Live

Please support these young artists as musicians and in ministry. Please follow me on Twitter @shermanbackous.

Making sure everything runs well and is set up correctly has become more important than our primary goal….souls.

To some of you, it may be cliche when I talk about souls. Outside of honoring God for sending us Jesus, the souls of mankind are supposed to be our primary concern.

In the early church, people viewed the Sunday worship experience as a time to sgare and a time to strengthen one another.  It was not a time to just listen to a sermon, hear a good song, shout/dance and go home.  Since the world has become more egocentric, the church has fallen into line and copied the same pattern of thought and operation.

Our church participated in the Quarterly Service of the family of churches we fellowship with.  There were things that ran smoothly and things that did not run smoothly (technology….).

The highlight of the night was not the singing of the choir or the sermons that were preached.  It wasn’t even the prophetic words that our Bishop spoke.

One person gave their life to the Lord.  That was the only thing that mattered.

Follow me on Twitter (@shermanbackous) or send me an email at sherman@shermanbackous.com.

Do you know that there are different methods to study the Bible? Some are very random and some are very systematic.

The are alot of people that confuse themselves in the study of God’s Word because they don’t know how to dig deepinr into the Bible.  Learning to interpret the Bible in context so it can be applied correctly is something you learn over time.

The Book How to Study Your Bible: The Lasting Rewards of the Inductive Method is a tool that I was introduced to while taking a Ministers In Training course some years ago.

The book gives you a structured way to break down biblical text in a special outlined format.  The outline format used in this book can be used to develop a binder (or book) of study material or notes for a sermon.

I highly recommend both new Christians and mature Christians to check out the book.  If you get the book, you won’t regret it.

All that I know is that I am praying for him.

Due to his recent incident following his interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, people are calling into question his sanity and/or his motivation for the tirade.

He knew the Rihanna questions were going to be asked. Even if he and his people did not agree to the questions, he’s going to be asked about Rihanna for years to come. He has to learn to deal with it immediately. The memory of the pictures of her after the incident are burned into the minds of many. Some people across America didn’t have any idea of who he was before then.

If this was a publicity stunt as some have started to say, there is some press that is bad press.  His album came out the same day as the incident happened. People are talking about his album at the same time when they mention the incident.

The mainstream media is calling him a rapper when he clearly isn’t.  They show the picture of him with no shirt on with all of the tattoos instead of the hundreds of other photos they have of him. He can either allow those to be the images people always have of him or get things turned around.

I am praying that he or someone around him realizes what he is doing to his future.  He was just starting to be allowed into the mainstream again.

To the church folk who are surprised I can talk this much about Chris Brown you need to realize this.  Chris Brown is just an example of the thousands of young men we let slip through the cracks all of the time. We have to start reaching out to them before they begin making bad decisions.  Our deep conversations can’t only be after they get into trouble.

Follow me on Twitter: Sherman’s Twitter
Send me an email: Sherman’s Email

I have to ask a question that a large percentage of my friends and family don’t want to ask.  It’s about a person that we are so very proud of, but no one wants to question anything about him.

Barack Obama.  Yes, the President of the United States.

Does he deserve to be the President of the United States for another term?

That’s the question that we need to ask.

Before you answer that question emotionally, really think about your answer. The African-American community doesn’t want to think about validating his success versus the platform he campaigned on.

Name 3 programs/initiatives that he has successfully put into place during his term in office.

For the church leaders that welcomed him into their pulpits, ask yourself if he really stuck to the family values and beliefs he told us were so very important in his life.

**Side Note** I do not believe that any political candidate should be allowed into the pulpit of any church. We should be careful of the preachers we allow into our pulpits, let alone political candidates/politicians.**

We should not blindly support Barack Obama or any political candidate just because of his skin color or the party they represent. Take what their platform is, place it side by side with what they have done in office and then make an informed decision.

The Presidential campaign season is not that far away. Just make sure to make your decision based on more than just your heart.

By the way, I am an Independent who still supports Barack Obama.