Boldness in God

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  How is everyone doing?  I pray that this blog finds everyone in good health and spirits.  Recently, our family has been attacked.  Someone has reported us to DHS and reported that we have neglected our children.  In the report they said that we had no electricity, Micah got a heat rash over the summer, and that he was under weight.  Now if the report ended there, I would have not looked at the report as an attack, but as a concerned person who is ignorant.  Ignorant because non of there things is a sign of child abuse.  But I am a strong believer in protecting children and I do think that anyone who is concerned about a child being abused should report it.  Even if your suspicions are based on ignorance.  But this person didn't stop there.  They also reported that our floor is caving in and that we had no running water.  Now they lied on the report which tells me that they are not concerned for the welfare of the children.  They are attacking our family.  The other things that interested me is that even with the two added lies in the report, it still didn't justify an investigation.  Nothing in that report was illegal or indicates child abuse.  Therefore, DHS should have thrown out the report.  Now a good neighbor who is concerned for our children would have gone up to us and seen if there was anything they could do to help.  A good neighbor finds ways to help out the needy instead of reporting them to the government.  Child Protection Services (in Oklahoma, DHS) is to used primarily to stop deliberate child abuse and to help families that can't be helped by individuals (drug addictions, ect).  If a child is loosing weight then the problem may be that the family needs help with food.  Don't call the government, find out if the family needs food and help.   For those who don't know my family, let me start out by explaining the truthful part of this report.  We are non-electric by choice.  My wife grew up around the Amish and has seen the simple life they live.  She loved it and compared to the hectic life of society, it does make sense.  Because of their lifestyle, the children are more active and play more with one another, family spends more time together, the days are more productive, and more importantly, more time is spent with God.  We did look into the law and a house with children doesn't have to have electricity.  I already knew this because Oklahoma does have Amish and there are also people who live in areas that have no electric service at all.  Some will say that the Amish get away with having electric cause of their religious belief.  The truth is, if you are doing something that is harmful to a child, you can't use religion to justify it.  Just ask many people who have been part of cults and used religion to justify having sex with a minor.  Therefor, even the government knows that having no electricity isn't a safety hazard to children.  The other thing in the report was that Micah had a heat rash.  Yes he did.  The person who wrote this report apparently never played outside in the summer.  My sisters and I have had heat rash growing up.  I still get a heat rash in the summer.  The last time I checked, heat rash happens to children even if they are very well taken care of.  This is especially true if the children play outside in the summer.  Yes, you do have to take care of a heat rash and there are things you do to help get rid of it.  But heat rash isn't a sign of child abuse.  Micah loosing weight.  Wow! If this is a sign of child abuse then I better turn my mother in.  Lots of people on my father's side of the family had better be turned in.  My sisters and I have been under weight throughout out childhood.  I had trouble getting into the Navy because I was underweight.  My little sister is real tiny.  Micah is tiny.  Micah has another thing that contributes to his small build though.  He is Autistic and there are things that will cause him not to eat.  But we do have him checked out and he is very healthy.  But being underweight isn't child abuse.  The floor caving in and no running water are both false.  But even if these were true, they are not a sign of child abuse.  If the person who reported us was truly concerned for the children they would not have put these two things in the report.   My wife and I are very open about our lifestyle.  Everything we do is in the name of God and we always give Him the glory.  We talk to other about our lifestyle and we explain why we do it.  Our reason?  Because we know that our faith doesn't stop at the house door or the church door.  Our whole life is God's and we can not hide that.  Now we do not tell everyone to live exactly like we do.  We don't tell people to pull the plug on electricity, to buy used things, or to cook from scratch.  What we do promote is for people to live within their mean, to follow the Holy Spirit, and most of all ... Don't hide your faith.  Of course, this stirs up Satan, who does want Christians to be silenced.   After DHS came to the house, we made it public and some people told us that we have brought this on ourselves by being open about our lifestyle.  But did we bring this on our self?  Should we hide our lifestyle because we are living contrary to the world and living according to the way the Holy Spirit tells us?  Can anyone show me were it says this in the Bible?  I see in many passages in the Bible where it says that EVERYTHING you do is to be done in the name of God.  So if the Holy Spirit tells you to drive in a horse and buggy, then not only should you do it, but it should be done in the name of God.  If the Holy Spirit tells you that you should have a certain job then not only should you have it, but you must do it in the name of God.  So if your whole lifestyle is circled around God then your whole lifestyle should be done in the name of God.  God also tells us that we should include God in everything we do.  Nothing we do should be without God.  It is when we do things of our own power that we get ourselves into trouble.  You should never exclude God from anything and you should give God the glory in everything.  This means that you should be public about everything you do.  Will this stir Satan?  Will Satan use the world to attack you?  Yes, but what does God say about this?  Are we to be afraid?  Did God give us fear?  Did God give us the Holy Spirit and does the Holy Spirit give us boldness.  Is God stronger then Satan?  Is God on your side?  If God is for you, then who can be against you?  These are things that every Christian should look up in the Bible and then believe it.  If you fear Satan more then God then you are saying that Satan is more powerful then God.   Many Christians complain about God being taken out of the schools, about schools teaching against the Bible (Human evolution, Big Bang Theory, sex), about government making laws that go against the Bible, and society going away from God's Word.  You know what though, lots of this is Christians fault.  Satan has done a very good job at silencing Christians.  This isn't a new technique for Satan.  He has used it many times throughout history but it does seem to be working very well now.  You know that scary part?  It is going to be worse.  There will come a day when all Christians are going to be attacked.  Satan will take huge steps to silence Christians.  How will you act?   I rejoice in this attack.  I know it was attack because the person who reported us lied.  If the person was concerned they would not have felt it necessary to lie on the report and they would have first seen if there was anything they could do to personally help.  Everyone who personally knows my family knows that our children are very healthy and taken care of.  They know that we take our responsibility as parents serious because the responsibility comes from God.  We are complemented by many for how are children are turning out.  Another reason I know it was an attack is because DHS investigated even though there was no grounds for an investigation.  I know some will say that DHS has to investigate every case.  I disagree.  What if I reported that the Smith family's children are over weight, hardly ever play outside, both parents work 11 hours a day and the kids are watched more by a baby sitter then by the parents.  Would DHS investigate?  If this is so then that means every family would be investigated.  I rejoice in this attack because I know that our family is following God and now Satan is mad.  Some people think that if bad things happen then that means you are going against God's Word.  This isn't always true.  Yes, we can cause problems for going against God's word and most are doing this.  Being in debt, not working as you would for God, cheating on your spouse, having sex before marriage, and much more will cause problems.  But Jesus, the disciples, and Paul didn't go against the Word of God. Truth is, if you bold in the Holy Spirit, you will be attacked and bad things will happen.  The other reason I rejoice in this attack is because God has allowed it to happen.  God has the power to stop the attack but He knows that we will trust Him and do His Will.  It is written that God will not allow anything to come up on us that we can't handle with Him.  The key words there is "with Him."  We do have to make sure we have God with us and include Him in this trial.  We have to have faith that God will stand for us and see us through.  We also have to know that whatever happens, God will use it for good.   Well, I will end this for now.  I will blog more about this later.  Take care and God Bless.   Love, The Oklahoma Tomcat http://www.facebook.com/oktomcat