The Light is Getting Closer

Respect for life is starting to gain some ground.  I admit that I have been one of those people that assumes that most politicians are too weak to make a stand for anything that might seem controversial, and most of them do pretty much the same stuff once they’re in office.  Of course, I would have admitted that there are exceptions.  One is developing right now.  An article in the Washington Times came out on Monday that said that 72 members of Congress have written a letter to the Government Accountability office requesting that Planned Parenthood be investigated. 

Planned Parenthood performed over 300,000 abortions last year and received over half a billion dollars in federal funding.  That in and of itself is dangerous and is the primary reason for the investigation.  The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1977, made federal funding of abortion illegal.  Since then, it is been amended so that it has three exceptions: when the life of the mother is in danger, when the pregnancy results from rape, and when the pregnancy results from incest.  The Guttmacher Institute, an organization like Planned Parenthood that pushes “reproductive rights” and is an abortion provider, reported in 2005 that less than 2% of women get abortions because of rape or incest.  They didn’t even have health concerns in the report as a reason for abortion.   

Technically speaking, Planned Parenthood receiving federal funding is not a problem legally, so long as that money does not go to funding abortions.   The question becomes, what are the chances that of the half billion dollars, not a penny is going to abortions when Planned Parenthood performed over 300,000 of them?  Texas Representative Pete Olsen said that a previous GAO report was done, but new information has surfaced.  “[it was] before we learned what many feared to be true — that Planned Parenthood has failed to properly follow correct billing practices to prevent federal tax dollars from funding abortion services, as demanded by law.” 

This is big.  Just last week, Planned Parenthood said some of their clinics in Indiana would be facing failure if a law passed that required giving an ultrasound before giving an abortion-inducing pill (read about it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/indiana-senate-approves-requiring-ultrasound-before-abortion-pills-given-tougher-clinic-rules/2013/02/26/fae39b44-806e-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html).  Now, in addition, they could face punishment for the misuse of federal funds. 

Perhaps the most encouraging part of this is how many Congress members joined in.  72.  It’s pretty hard to ignore a request made by 72 lawmakers.  In a time when respect for unborn life was reaching an all-time low, we are seeing an encouraging fact: the battle isn’t over yet.  According to gallup.com, in 1996 only 33% of Americans were pro-life.  In 2011, 45% of Americans were reported to be pro-life.  In addition, when you take away the pro-life and pro-choice labels, only 39% of Americans in 2011 saw abortion as morally acceptable. 

I fear many Christians have accepted it as a fact that the battle is over and abortion is accepted by everyone in our society.  That’s not true.  Not yet.  As a matter of fact, things are looking better now than they were fifteen years ago.  We’re gaining some ground, so let’s take advantage of that and keep pushing forward.  Keep praying, keep talking, and keep taking the issue head-on.  With God’s help, we have nowhere to go but forward.

Whips, Wild Animals, and Green Thugs

I was reading in Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis today, when I read something that got me thinking: “Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses.  Think once again of a piano.  It has not got two kinds of notes on it, the ‘right ones’ and the ‘wrong ones.’  Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another.  The Moral Law is not any one instinct or set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts.” 

This connects well with something I once heard from someone much wiser than I: all sin is a perversion of something created by God for good.  Sexual sin is a perversion of sex, which created for the marriage relationship, which He calls “good.”  Sins of the tongue such as lying, slander, and filthy speech are perversions of speech, which God gave us so we could worship Him and build each other up.  Satan is not very creative.  That fact relates just as much to emotion and impulse as it does to speech and sex, which brings me to the point of this article: anger.

Anger is an interesting thing.  When you become angry, your body temperature rises, you clench your fists, and find it necessary to breathe heavier than  normal.  Anger can lead you to believe you have suddenly become The Hulk, or to become convinced that your sweet little sister is actually Satan incarnate.  Now, reread the last sentence.  Anger sounds like a pretty bad thing, right?  However, like all emotions, anger was given to us for a reason.

Jesus is very patient.  Most of us would become furious realizing that one of our closest friends had betrayed us or being crucified for a crime that we didn’t commit.  Not Jesus.  He did, however, become angry.  Twice in His life here on Earth, in John 2 and in Matthew 21, he drives vendors out of the temple, overturning tables, driving out the animals, and even making an impromptu whip for a little extra “encouragement.”  I’ve done some things out of anger, but I’ve never made a whip on the spot.  So why then?  Why did Jesus become angry then but not the other times?  The answer is very humbling.  Let’s compare this event to the betrayal of Judas.  Why was Jesus angry about the misuse of the temple, but not about the betrayal of Judas?  The answer is in who the focus is on.  Jesus was angry about the misuse of the temple because it showed blatant disregard for God.  The betrayal of Judas was against Jesus, not God.  In other words, He became angry over disregard for God, not when His rights were violated.

We often have the wrong focus when it comes to anger.  We think “I have a right to be angry because my rights have been violated, so I am going to take every step legally permissible in order to right the wrong.”  Anger is not inherently wrong.  It should be used when we see people blatantly disregarding our Father.  Otherwise, we have become self-focused and selfish.  Let’s take a step back and see who it is we really care about pleasing: God or us?

Sleeping Soundly in a Den of Demons

Of all the men in the Bible, save Jesus himself, I have often aspired to be like David.  Unlike other men, even in his own generation, David sought God with all of his heart, and displayed a level dedication unmatched by many others. I want to be like that.  As a result, I’ve been reading the Psalms a lot lately, and something in Psalm 3 really made an impression on me.

In Psalm 3, David is being pursued by Absalom’s forces.  His rebellious son forced him out of Jerusalem and he, the rightful King, was on the run.  Many of his people abandoned him.  That’s a trying time for any man, no matter how strong.  As a result, at the beginning of the psalm, he feels desperate and helpless.  Yet he comes to an impressive and encouraging resolution: “lay down and slept; I woke again, for Yahweh sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” (verses 5-6). 

How could he do that?  How could he go from desperation and despair to laying down and sleeping?  I have lost sleep over many things.  Some of them were important, some of them were not.  None of them, however, have been anywhere close to what David was feeling.  I have never had to fear for my life.  I have certainly never experienced such a heart-wrenching betrayal from a close family member.  So how could David be so relieved that he could go to sleep, and not care that his enemies had him surrounded? 

The answer is logically simple but emotionally profound.  David trusted God.  He prayed to God and He knew that God was reliable.  He knew he didn’t have anything to worry about, and you know what?  He was right.  Absalom met his end and David’s kingdom was restored to him. 

I worry about a lot of stuff.  Some of it is important, some of it is not as important.  There are times that I feel surrounded and desperate like David.  In times like that, there’s only one place to turn: to God.  Unfortunately, we often don’t turn to God first.  We turn to friends, to mentors, to self-help books, and even therapists before we turn to God.  Even if we do eventually turn to God, it is usually as an afterthought.  If anyone should be an afterthought, other people should be the afterthought, not God. 

David ends with this thought in verse 8: “Salvation belongs to Yahweh; your blessing be on your people!”  Salvation belongs to Yahweh in many senses.  Certainly in the salvation of our souls, but let’s not forget the power of our God.  This is our Father’s world, and let us not restrict His power in our minds.  Remember the power that He has and let that allow us to go to Him for salvation from our troubles.  Let that allow us to pray to Him with specific and powerful requests.  It worked for David.  We serve the same God as David.  Let’s start praying like we do.

"It is because Christians have ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective." - C.S. Lewis

There is a Man Shooting at Me, but He Has a License to Carry

The future is starting to look bright for our unborn children.  In my home state of Indiana, a bill is being proposed that requires an ultrasound before and after administering a drug known as RU-486, according to an article by lifesitenews.com.  RU-486 is a contraceptive, or an abortion-inducing drug.  As state senator Travis Holdman said, “We're just trying to control and regulate abortion-inducing drugs, which heretofore have not been regulated by the state of Indiana. I don't believe we're asking for anything that's unreasonable. We're talking about the life of the mother and the child.” 

The Planned Parenthood facility in Lafayette, IN said that it may be forced to close down if the bill is passed.  Wait a second.  They will be forced to close if they have to give an ultrasound before giving an abortion inducing drug?  Does something seem wrong with this picture?  Here’s the thing: they are right.  They probably will have to close.  According to the executive director of an Iowa pregnancy resource center, 90% of women who see their baby choose to give birth.  That’s pretty significant.  Ultrasounds are the death of what Planned Parenthood stands for: the death of unborn children.

Ultrasounds are key in the battle for our children’s lives.  Pregnant teens are told that what is inside of them is nothing more than a mass of tissue; sure, it could become a baby, but it won’t if you don’t let it.  When these young, impressionable mothers see the reality on the screen: the baby’s fingers, head, and face moving, the reality becomes irrefutable.  No amount of justification, lies, or scientific jargon can refute the simple truth: it is a baby.

So what about the other 10%?  If it is so overwhelmingly obvious that it is a baby, why do the other 10% go through with it?  I can’t answer that question for them, but I can show what I believe may be the reason.  You would think that upon the realization that this is a baby, a helpless human being, that we are killing, that we would immediately stop.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.  Mary Elizabeth Williams, a writer who has written for the New York Times, The Nation, and other publications, wrote an article in which she said, “When we try to act like a pregnancy doesn’t involve human life, we wind up drawing stupid semantic lines in the sand.”  Sounds pretty good right?  Except it didn’t end there.  She went on to say “Here’s the complicated reality in which we live: All life is not equal...a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose body it resides. She’s the boss. Her life and what is right for her circumstances and her health should automatically trump the rights of the non-autonomous entity inside of her. Always.” 

This statement left me in shock.  It made me realized a horrifying truth: while people are realizing that a fetus is indeed a human baby, some are not allowing that to change their stance on abortion.  Instead, some are saying that women have the right to kill their children (just as long they are inside of them and not outside of them). 

Here’s the good news: the legislation that Indiana is putting forth is an indicator that not everyone is going along with this trend.  Keep praying and keep talking about it, and with God’s help, we can make this generation the one that owns up to the horror that abortion truly is.

Celestial Communication

It has always amazed me how much we as human beings can take things for granted.  I remember being at my great-grandfather’s funeral nine years ago and saying that I didn’t realize how much I loved him until he was gone.  Unfortunately, I usually have to learn this lesson the hard way.  It isn’t until something’s been taken away from me that I often realize how much I underutilized it and underappreciated it.  Thankfully, I have come to one of those realizations ahead of time tonight.

At services tonight, we did something a little bit different.  We had a prayer service.  Each person praying was assigned a different topic.  The topics included praise and thanksgiving, the sick, struggles of all kinds, young Christians, the elderly, and edification.  The end result for me was very emotional.  As we as a congregation were praying to God and giving Him praise and thanking Him for all that He has done, it was nearly overwhelming.  The more I think about God’s involvement and the evidences of His presence in my life, the more I realize that I haven’t really responded with the kind of dedication as should be natural.  I’ve asked God for a lot of things in my life.  He’s given me some of those things.  I haven’t truly been grateful all of the time.  I may not have scorned His blessings, but I also haven’t recognized that I’m nobody in comparison to God.  Anything and everything that I do in the kingdom that has any positive result I only have because God has empowered me to be able to do it.  God doesn’t need me. I do need God; and for some reason, I haven’t been talking to Him that much.

Prayer has got to be one of the most underutilized privileges in the history of mankind.  Prayers have brought down kingdoms, ended droughts, saved the lives of millions, granted wisdom, given children to the barren, rescued many from temptation, and rescued many in times of peril.  Yet for some reason, I still find myself having to push myself to pray many days.  Why?  Maybe because it is humbling. 

Prayer forces me to realize that I’m nobody.  It forces me to realize that everything that I’ve ever done that has done anybody a shred of good is insignificant in comparison to what God has done for me and for the entire human race.  But guess what?  That’s good for me.  Mankind was not made to focus on themselves and what they can get for themselves.  They were made to serve God and aspire to be as much like Him and emulate His character as much as we possibly can.  The encouraging thing is that with God as our Father and our encourager, we could get a lot closer if we would just let God work with us.

The result from the prayer service tonight is very emotionally based. That might mean that it won’t stick, but I hope that isn’t true.  I’m using this to motivate me to be more dedicated to God and building a closer relationship with Him this week than I was last week; to be more dedicated tomorrow than I have been today.  I hope you will make the same your goal.

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next." - C.S. Lewis

A Spitting Image

Like many kids, I was given my father’s first name for my middle name.  As I have grown older and gained more and more respect for my father, I have become more and more proud to carry his name.  As a matter of fact, the last time I was at Starbucks I put my order in under my middle name, which caused my recitation instructor, who happened to be there, a small bit of confusion. 

Truth be told, I carry the name of more than one father.  I also carry the name “Christian,” identifying me as part of God’s family.  Unfortunately, I haven’t always been as proud as I should be to carry God’s name.  There have been times that I have been embarrassed to admit that I cannot do something in good conscience because of being God’s son.  There have been times that I could have told people about being God’s son, about how proud I am and how awesome my dad is.  Unfortunately, I have not always taken advantage of those opportunities. 

In Romans 1, Paul said “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  For a long time, I looked at this as applying just to evangelism in the sense of sitting someone down and teaching them a book of the Bible.  Lately, though, I have realized that it goes much further than that.  I can study the Bible with a couple of people and get everything else completely wrong.  I want to put aside the “religious terminology” for a moment.  This is what it is all about: due to God’s amazing plan and His awe-inspiring love, I don’t have to pay for my sins.  I have forgiveness, and my relationship with God has been restored.  That small bit of information right there is enough to say that I have an amazing father.  As a natural reaction, I ought to want to tell everyone about Him.

Allow me to backtrack for a moment.  Part of the reason I like having my Dad’s name is that I like being identified with him.  Another reason is that I like to think that I’m like him in some ways.  Occasionally, when talking about some serious stuff, I hear the way that I say things and it reminds me of the way that my dad says things, and I find that pretty cool.  Now here’s the bigger question: do I do things like God?  Do I act in a godly way?  Do I have a zeal for righteousness?  Do I have a selfless concern for others?  That is a challenging thought that helps me to humbly realize that no matter how much I try to justify myself and become complacent in my current position, the fact is that I still have a long way to go.  And that’s okay, because my Father is a very empowering person. 

Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

"It is because Christians have largely cased to think of  the other world that they have become so faithful in this." - C.S. Lewis

When the Lions Become Vegetarians

Christian blogger Tom Gilson said in a post last week that he often hears people say that in future years, Christians will be ashamed about how the church opposed same-sex marriage.  That statement caught my eye, not because it is speaking out in favor of homosexuality, but because it shows that there are God-believing people who believe that homosexuality cannot be condemned, and can even be favorable, in the sight of God. 

Unfortunately, this doesn’t even begin to describe the gravity of the problem.  There was a billboard that was circulating for a while that said “Jesus affirmed a gay couple.” The minister that was originally going to pray at President Obama’s second inauguration, Louie Giglio, backed out due to some criticism he received for “anti-gay” comments he had made in some sermons about 15 years ago.  Perhaps the most upsetting part of this was the president’s inaugural committee’s statement: “[We] were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection.”  There was a time when it would go without saying that a minister of God’s word would be against homosexuality.  That is no longer the case.  As a matter of fact, last year the Presbyterian Church decided to allow openly gay men and lesbian women to be ministers.    In 2009, the Episcopalian Church appointed its second gay minister.  The same year, the Lutheran Church voted to allow gay clergy, so long as they are “monogamous.” 

Clearly, this is an issue.  To those who may be reading this and aren’t familiarized with homosexuality as it pertains to scripture, allow me to clear it up for you. 

Romans 1:26-28: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” 

1 Corinthians 6:9: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality.” 

1 Timothy 1:9-10: “understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

Also, the billboard that I mentioned earlier had a scripture reference: Matthew 8:5-13.  In Matthew 8:5-13, Jesus healed a centurion.  It has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality.

Are you a little confused?  You should be.  After all, why would all of those people who claim to follow God be openly endorsing something that is blatantly contrary to His word?  The answer is simple.  They aren’t truly loyal to God.  There is unfortunately a heart disease that is quite prevalent, and it really is not a new disease, although the symptoms have changed somewhat.  I like to call it peculiaphobia.  It presents itself in God-believing people who know that God exists and that they should be pleasing Him, but they don’t want to be those weird religious radicals who condemn everybody.  So they find creative ways to justify joining the sinful progression of the culture.  Christians have always been called to make difficult choices; to stand out when it’s difficult.  It’s time to make a choice: will we follow the sinful culture’s sexual liberation movement?  Or will we stand with our Lord and Savior?  I’ve made my choice, it’s time for you to make yours.