Created by God

 

"The rest of the populace is more wicked than even the heathen themselves. For most married people do not desire offspring. Indeed, they turn away from it and consider it better to live without children, because they are poor and do not have the means with which to support a household. But this is especially true of those who are devoted to idleness and laziness and shun the sweat and the toil of marriage. But the purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. This, of course, is a huge burden full of great cares and toils. But you have been created by God to be a husband or a wife and that you may learn to bear these troubles. Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessing of God, the Creator and Author of marriage." 

~ Martin Luther

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How Many Babies Should You Have?

 

There IS an alternative to scheming & plotting how many babies to have & when to have them. It can be summed up in 3 little words: trust & obey. If God is willing to plan my family for me (& we Christians all do believe that God loves us & has a wonderful plan for our lives), then why should I muddle up his plan with my ideas? Only God knows the future. Only he knows how much money we will have next year or when I will reach menopause, or when his Kingdom will desperately need the unique talents of my yet-to-be-conceived son or daughter. Why not leave the driving to him? 

~Mary Pride

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Abortion Debate Solved

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:

'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.'

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.'

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!'

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.
He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!

Love says, 'I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.' Abortion says, 'I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself.'

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When There is Life

 

No one ever breaks into "the house of life" and is innocent or unpunished. The moment conception takes place, that moment there is life; and whether the crime be committed in six hours, six weeks or six months, the sin is in all case of equal enormity. Murder is in the intent, not in the act alone. When you intend to rid yourself of the little life if possible, you have committed murder as surely as if the murdered child lay dead in your arms. 

~Emma F. Angell Drake, MD

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Children are an Heritage of the LORD

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (Psalms 127:3) Heritage: "Inheritance; an estate that passes from an ancestor to an heir by descent or course of law; that which is inherited." ~Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language

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{painting: Ernesta by Cecilia Beaux 1894} 

Woman's Role

What kind of example have we been? What kind of examples will we be? Will we teach our daughters about woman's role, about the dignity of bearing children, about God's sovereignty over our bodies? Or will we assert the "right to control my body," that cornerstone of self-worshiping feminism? Will we humble ourselves, admitting that we have sinned? Will we pray and seek God's face? Will we turn from our wicked ways and embrace our role as willing, even joyous, mothers of children?

~Mary Pride

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Fewer American Women are Having Babies

The National Center for Health Statistics has announced that the U.S. fertility rate declined in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, reaching a record low of 59.1 births for every 1,000 women able to bear children.  Only 59.1 births per 1,000 women?  That is incredibly low!

The total fertility rate in 2018 was 1.73, which is below replacement levels for the general population.

How were things in past years?  Has it changed that much?  The median age for childbearing in the 1970s was 21 for women and 23 for men, but in 2018 the median age was all the way up to 28 for women and 30 for men.

Why should this matter to Christians and why am I posting about it?  Christians should be the most fruitful bunch on the earth, because we should realize that each life is given by God, and we have no right to take those lives away nor prevent them in the first place.  We see many times in God's Word that it is the Lord Who opens and closes the womb.  For more information on this, please see our other posts on birth control.

Why should Christians long for more children from the Lord?  Because we want to raise them up for God's glory and service for Him.  Our light is sadly being diminished because many Christians are taking it into their hands to limit their family size.  We find this nowhere in the Bible.

This is also another reason that Christian young men and women should desire to marry early, rather than pursuing education and careers before marriage.  Young women should be trained by their mothers to be wives, mothers, and homemakers, while young men should be kept away from time-wasters like TV shows and video games, and instead be taught a strong work-ethic and desire to look for a godly young woman to complete him and raise a family with for God's kingdom.

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"Family Planning" is Not What You Think

In the 1910's and 1920's, the entire social order–religion, law, politics, medicine, and the media–was arrayed against the idea and practice of birth control. This opposition began in 1873 when an overwhelmingly Protestant Congress passed, and a Protestant president signed into law, a bill that became known as the Comstock Law, named after its main proponent, Anthony Comstock. The U.S. Congress classified obscene writing, along with drugs, and devices and articles that prevented conception or caused abortion, under the same net of criminality and forbade their importation or mailing.

This was all birth control, not just the ones Christians now see as abortifacient.  We need to return to giving the Lord sovereignty over our wombs, dear women.  I have other articles on this subject--just look in the Categories under the heading Birth Control.

"The dreadful truth is that most of the excuses that women give for having their children killed through abortion are the exact same reasons we give for not having children." ~Randall Terr

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The Church's Responsibility in the World

THE "CHURCHES" of AMERICA are responsible for the lgbbbtqpp. They failed to teach that there is no gospel without the family. They failed to teach that as males and females we have a duty and a responsibility to be married, MALE AND FEMALE, and that the primary purpose of our marriage is the procreative conjugal estate. Romance is the biggest fallacy ever put on the public. It has created a false doctrine and identity and false expectations within marriage. The fallacy of romance has caused marriages to nothing short of a fornication, because the idea of children being a blessing and a reward and true riches from God himself is secondary to getting married and just having sex. And not viewing this as a duty and responsibility to be bearing children as often as God would reward you.

~Mrs. Mosser 

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Children, God's Gifts

Family planning is the mother of abortion. A generation had to be indoctrinated in the ideal of planning children around personal convenience before abortion could become popular. We Christians raise an outcry against abortion today, and rightly so. But THE REASON WE HAVE TO FIGHT THOSE BATTLES TODAY IS BECAUSE WE LOST THEM 30 YEARS AGO. Once couples began to look upon children as creatures of their own making, who they could plan into their lives as they chose or not, all reverence for human life was lost. Children as God's gifts whom we humbly receive are one thing; children as articles of our own manufacturing are another. You can do anything you like with what you yourself have made.

~Mary Pride in The Way Home

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, I only endorse products that are in alignment with Blessed Homemaking's ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 Reasons to Not Plan Your Family Size

1. 
    The Lord, in His holy Scriptures, calls children blessings.
2.  He calls them a reward.  Why would we not want a reward from the Lord?  Would we refuse any other reward from Him?  A bigger house?  A newer car?
3.  There are no Scriptures supporting the use of birth control.
4.  The only mention of any sort of birth control (deliberately preventing a child from being conceived), follows with the Lord killing the man who committed the act.
5.  We see many Scriptures that describe how the Lord opens and closes the womb.  He is in control.
6.  If we claim to believe in the sovereignty of God, how can we deny His sovereignty in the life He creates in the womb?
7.  When we have children, we have little disciples around us all day in the home, whom we can teach in the ways of the Lord.
8.  What better way to spread the Gospel than by sending forth shining lights from our own homes?
9.  When we have the attitude of not wanting another baby because "circumstances aren't right", "finances are tight", or "it's just too hard", we are having the same attitude of people who kill their children in the womb.
10.  Up until the early 20th century, the Protestant church was completely opposed to couples using birth control and considered it sin.  Why has this changed?  I suspect a couple of reasons.  Firstly, the church, at large, has become more like the world and has adapted its values in many areas.  Also, I believe birth control became more readily accepted so women could go out to work outside the home--something else that is not Scriptural.  With couples being able to "choose" when and how many babies to have, it freed up women to go out into the workforce, therefore weakening the family with mothers away from home.

Let us pray that the Lord's church will return to His ways of family life and strengthen our families so we can bring Him glory through our home life.

Recommended resources:

The Way Home
The Bible and Birth Control
Children are a Blessing
The Bible and Birth Control audio recording

This article was published in issue #132 of The Christian Home Magazine.

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, I only endorse products that are in alignment with Blessed Homemaking's ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sacred Motherhood

"In the Old Testament, we see women do desperate things for a child (sharing husbands, stealing children)...undignified things which only a desperate person would do. While this method was neither right nor God-honoring, the instinct was natural and God-given: motherhood is an innate, instinctive, sacred gift from God. It wasn't just a matter of ranking or work, either. Children were seen as gifts----today's standard of treasures/ gold. Fathers with many children were rightly considered wealthy and the barren woman was shamed. Today, society (including the professing church) encourages women of all ages to close their wombs and to seek after the treasures of "education," "careers," and self-empowerment and satisfaction of any kind. They are told that they can have it and balance it all. They are discouraged from allowing motherhood to get in the way of their pursuits, whatever they may be---money, even ministry. Child-bearing age is limited to a tiny, unnatural window and it is a wonder why marriages are lacking...middle-aged women are duped into the lie that pseudo-masculinity surpasses being a female, and consequently sterilize themselves. With the exception of some circles, we don't see a wide age-range of expecting mothers anymore, swapping homemaking tips because home truly is their domain. Instead, we see dissatisfaction. Dear women, there is nothing more precious than a bouncing baby, beautifully formed, created to depend upon you. They are blessings, whatever your age, whatever your circumstance. And loving them, teaching them, raising them for the glory of God is incomparable. Our eyes are blinded...we say we are poor or irresponsible when we endeavor to receive all of God's blessings, but rich when their value is undermined for material pursuits. Dear Christian woman, may the Holy Spirit soften our hearts and give the courage to see with His eyes..."

~Whitney Ann Dotson

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, I only endorse products that are in alignment with Blessed Homemaking's ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preparing Our Children

The lies of Satan have a way of creeping in even through our carefully guarded doors.  There are those we love (family), who have accepted lies of the world that I reject.  Some of the lies are that children are a burden and should be limited in their coming.  Another is that our daughters can grow up and "be whatever they want to be".  I am raising our daughters with the goal to be homemakers (Titus 2:3-5), (1 Timothy 5:14).  They know that there is no better job, no higher calling.  They know that God has said that they should do this.

How do we prepare them for the rude, thoughtless comments?  How do we respond to those who plant the seeds of feminism in their minds?  For a long time, these kinds of comments from others would really anger me.  I was angry that people would disregard what the word of God clearly states is the purpose and calling of womanhood; Christian believers following after the ways of this world.  It still does upset me to a point.  I want all the humanistic ideals to be far, far from our daughters.  I want them to only be touched by the word of God and have this implanted in their minds.  I want them to Know Truth, Seek Truth, and Breathe Truth.  As far as I am able, I will protect them and guard them while their minds are forming, vulnerable little sponges set to soak up whatever is around them.  We do not live in a perfect, God-fearing world.  Those half-truths (lies) will come, and I and my daughters must be prepared with the Full Armor of God.

So we keep a good relationship.  They come to me and tell me what somebody said that was not right (against the Word of God).  They know it is not right because we have talked about it (Deuteronomy 6:7).  So when someone contradicts God's Word, I remind the children that they always need to compare what someone is saying with what God says in His Word.  It is what God says that matters.  Even if everybody else is doing or saying the same thing, it is what God says that matters, and that is what we need to follow.  Then I find for them the Scripture to show them what God says about a subject.  They are happy to hear the Truth, and we pray for that person, that their heart would be softened to the truth of God's Word.

I am sad for our little girls, our little girls who pick up on that others think it is "bad" when God blesses us with another child.  I am sad that others treat them like wanting to be a mommy is "not good enough".  But I am glad that they are learning that they must stand strong on the truth of God's Word.  They have also taken it upon themselves to memorize Scriptures to encourage themselves (like Psalm 127:3).

How about you, dear readers?  How do you handle people who make thoughtless remarks, and try to sway your children against the values you are trying to instill in them?

Thanks for stopping by.

Thus Saith The Lord~John Calvin on Birth Control

Some of my younger readers may want to skip this post, as it contains sensitive content. 

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" (KJV, Ps. 127:3-5).

---

JOHN CALVIN on BIRTH CONTROL

These comments by John Calvin were edited out of Calvin's Commentaries by later editors, and are translated here into English from the original Latin.

John Calvin in his Commentary on Genesis 38:8-10 states:

"Besides, he [Onan] not only defrauded his brother of the right due him, but also preferred his se men to putrify the ground, rather than beget a son in his brother's name.

Verse 10: The Jews quite immodestly gabble concerning this thing. It will suffice for me briefly to have touched upon this as much as modesty in speaking permits. The voluntary spilling of se men outside of intercourse between man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that se men may fall to the ground is doubly monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before he is born -- the hoped for offspring.

This impiety is especially condemned, now by the Spirit through Moses' mouth, that Onan, as it were, by a violent abortion, no less cruelly than filthily cast upon the ground the offspring of his brother, torn from the maternal womb. Besides, in this way he tried, as far as he was able, to wipe out a part of the human race.

If any woman ejects a foetus from her womb by drugs, it is reckoned a crime incapable of expiation and deservedly Onan incurred upon himself the same kind of punishment, infecting the earth with his se men, in order that Tamar might not conceive a future human being as an inhabitant of the earth."

- Excerpted from The Bible and Birth Control by Charles Provan (pp. 67-68), these comments by John Calvin where edited out of Calvin's Commentaries by later editors, and are translated here into English from the original Latin. In addition to many arguments against the ungodly practice of birth control, this book also contains about 35 pages of historic testimony on this point by Martin Luther, A.W. Pink, the Synod of Dordt, the Westminster Annotations, Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, Cotton Mather, Trapp, Usher, Gill, Candlish and many more.

Another no cost MP3 on this topic:

       

Birth Control: The Biblical and Historic Protestant Position by Greg Price

http://www.sermonaudio.com/go/30066

The Effects of Telling the Truth

 Many times, when we share a truth with someone, people will not listen.  Their hearts may be hardened against hearing a word from the Lord, or they may be preoccupied with other things in their lives.   They may not care for the things of God, and be totally against Him.  I have found to be true in my own life, that many times, we will actually be hated.  We may lose friends, and even family members because we choose to follow the way we believe God is leading us.  Even if it is completely backed up by God's very own Word.

John 15:20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

~//~

Today I had a lovely visit from a friend.  This friend is about my age and has 5 dear children, while I have six.  She just gave birth to their newest addition a couple of months ago.  This new baby is very special.  You see, he almost was not born, almost not even conceived.  

A couple in this day and age always begins to wonder about what they should "do" about those little babies that keep coming if something is not "done" about them.  Before we had our sixth child, I had come upon an audio presentation of a book.  I listened intently and had my heart changed.

Some weeks passed by and the subject of "birth control" came up with this dear friend when we were talking.  I mentioned the audio we had listened to and sent her the link.  I had also been posting a lot of quotes on Facebook from a book I was reading, a book that has changed many lives of many families.  A book that is also hated by many.  My friend found the quotes interesting and convicting and ordered a book for herself.

My friend's and her husband's hearts were changed too. Soon they were expecting their fifth burden blessing.

My dear friend shared what she had learned with her sister.  She and her husband are now expecting another baby.  This same friend ordered several books for many people she knows.  She gave one book to the pastor's wife at her church.  After reading the book, the pastor's wife realized she had been deceived for many years.  The pastor's wife called a meeting for the women in the church.  She told them what she now knew.  Many of the women wept for the children they had rejected, for the children they had never known.  They wept because they had not chosen to stay home and train up their children but had followed after a career to "be somebody".

These women were open to the truth.  These women's hearts were not cold towards the Lord and His Truth.

~//~

Yes, sometimes when we share the truth, people will not agree with us, or they may even hate us.  But sometimes, people will listen.  Sometimes they will take that truth and run with it.  Spread it like wild fire.  And the world will have blessings they never would have had, because we shared the truth.

I was so happy to hear this today.   I wept for joy!

Matthew 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The audio I mentioned is of the book The Bible and Birth Control
by Charles Provan.  You may listen to it for free here.  There are five parts to the audio.  Of course you may also order the book.  The book I mentioned my friend giving to many others is The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality
by Mary Pride.

If you never share the truth, you will never know what blessings it may bring.

This Site Needs Your Help

Here's something else you can pass on to family & friends to make a difference:

An Above Rubies reader writes: The following link is to a new

independent film which needs our support to expose the corruption

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Thanks for stopping by.

Birth Control Pill Documentary

A Christian worker, his family and a nurse friend investigate throughout North America to uncover the truth about the birth control pill. The debate has been raging for a decade and yet so few people know about it. How could this be? How does the pill really work? Can everyday oral contraceptives really cause abortions? Why are so many people uninformed?
Discover how this could be a deadly silence.
Find out what has shocked doctors and nurses.
Be informed! Inform others!


The Birth Control Pill Documentary from T Herbert on Vimeo.


Thanks for stopping by.

Great Price on Pregnancy & Ovulation Tests

Anticipation of Pregnancy

Giclee Print

Buy at AllPosters.com


Good morning! For all you ladies out there of child-bearing age, don't you cringe at the expense of pregnancy tests? I mean, last time I checked, $14 dollars for two tests? That's a lot! I know I've seen this link before, but forgot about it! There is a nice site that offers very inexpensive pregnancy tests and free shipping as well! They are just $.50-$.85
& they have ovulation tests too! The site is called "Another Blessing" (how appropriate!) & you can find it here~ http://www.anotherblessing.com/
 
Thanks for stopping by.

Contradeception: The Public Nature of Marital Privacies

Buy at AllPosters.com

One of the subjects of great interest in my life is the subject of leaving God in control of the natural process He created: conception. I have heard & disclosed just about every argument against contraception that I could think of, but apparently there's one more! Kelly at Generation Cedar just posted an amazing article on the subject that I wanted to share with you.

The article begins:

“Our four ex utero kids are generally well-behaved, or so we’re told. But occasionally they do something spectacularly disobedient, and even more incredibly, they fail to make any serious effort to conceal it. This infuriates their father. If they’re going to do something that dumb, he growls, they should at least be clever enough to keep us from discovering them at their sin...

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