Number 1 DESTROYER of Families Everywhere (and in the church)

When you think of a sin that destroys families, what comes to mind?

Pornography? 

Drunkenness?

Bitterness?

Rebellion?

Adultery?

Greed?

Abortion?

Yes, all these sins are grievous evils that will bring destruction to families and lives.

And they (as well as many other sins) are rampant in the world, and tragically, in so MANY churches today as well.  We are to be SALT and LIGHT in this decaying and dark generation, but we have largely gone dim, diluted, and dirty with those very sins ourselves.  

But what is the Number ONE Sin, the Enemy of Families Everywhere?

This sin is the underlying foundation for all the other sins. 

Idolatry of Self.
One word for this in the Scriptures is INIQUITY.  
Going "one's own way."  
Putting myself before anyone else.
Selfishness.  

Yes, I am saying that the Number ONE destroyer of families is that which looks out for "Number ONE".

This is the root.  The rest is the fruit.  Adding sin to sin.

Child sacrifice, Pornography, Pride, Revolting feminism, (A)pathetic manhood, Rebellion, Homosexuality, Covetousness, Bitterness, Laziness, Bullying, Drunkenness, Gluttony, Greed, Adultery, and so forth are rooted in worship of the false god of Self.  What Self wants goes.

When Selfishness reigns in the heart, 

• Husbands turn from loving, leading, laboring, and laying down their lives for their wives and children.  It turns them to arrogance, unfaithfulness, slothfulness, preoccupation with vanity, indifference, diverse lusts, abuse, malice, neglect, and loathing toward their duties before the Lord.
• Wives turn from loving and honoring their husbands and being wise keepers of the household.  It turns them to bitterness, covetousness, gossiping, vanity, pleasure-seeking, haughtiness, scorn, and rebellion against God-given design and roles
• Parents turn from loving, valuing, nurturing, disciplining, and training their children.  It turns them to either devalue or idolize their offspring, to view babies as burdens, to cut off further (or any) children, to unwisely pander to the children they do have, to not correct or reprove them, to neglect, abuse, or provoke them to wrath, to irresponsibly turn over their instruction to the ungodly, and their heart to the world's viewpoint, cares, and pleasures, modeling for them bad examples, or inconsistency, teaching them to be complacent or unbalanced about wickedness.   
• Children turn from loving, honoring, and obeying their parents, and submitting to the Lord their Creator.  It turns them to disobedience, to self gratification, gluttony, laziness, insolence, rebellion against righteous authority, participation in whatever feels right, and shortsighted pursuit of the crowd of their peers.

Idolatry of Self destroys individuals, families, churches, communities, and nations.

Throughout "the volume of the Book" we see this selfishness described and warned of .

We see how the first human family fell because they chose to do what THEY wanted to do (Genesis 3).  They chose to trust the serpent's words over God's word, eat the fruit that was pleasing to THEIR eyes, and seek to be wise so THEY could decide good from evil.  Mankind chose Self to be "as gods".  They doubted God's character and rebelled against God's command, and brought destruction upon the whole human family. 

We see iniquity bring destruction and God's judgment in many households in the Bible, including Eli's family: I Samuel 3:13 "For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."

Notice that iniquity, "my own way rather than God's way" was found both in Eli's boys (Hopni and Phinehas) and in Eli himself.

We see it warned of in II Timothy 3:1-4
3:1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."
3:2 "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,"
3:3 "Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,"
3:4 "Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;"
Notice how all those sins are sandwiched in what mankind loves: Self and what Self wants.

Today, we indeed see selfishness promoted and glorified in our culture.  It is accepted, expected, and applauded.  From songs entitled "I Did It My Way" to fast food slogans "Have It Your Way", the message is everywhere.  We are told to "Look out for Number ONE" by which they mean yourSelf.  Psalm 49:18 "Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself."  There is a lot of focus on self help, self image, self confidence, self pity, self improvement, etc.  Much of this is based on the worldly thinking that Self is supposed to be king.  The problem is that when we exalt our selves, our thoughts, our agendas, and our desires over God and His law, we commit sin.

Matthew 24:12 "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

This is true whether applied to a person or a society.  When iniquity (selfishness) abounds in the heart, when we are devoted to our own way, then the care, concern, and compassion for others will necessarily grow feeble and cold. 

We see it today working out on an individual level.  Someone selfishly engages in fornication, then when a child is conceived, they go and murder that child, adding sin to sin. Fornication leading to Murder, and at its foundation - Selfishness.  Abortion is a human sacrifice to the god of Self, the modern form of Molech.  

Over 3,000 girls and boys in the womb will be slain today, due to the selfishness of their parents.  And it happens EVERY DAY.

Many of those who selfishly kill their child (whether chemically or surgically), are professing to be Christians.

There are also multitudes of people going to Bible believing churches who would never have an abortion themselves, and proudly call themselves "prolife", but who are not taking time... 

• to actually "sigh and cry" over this abomination, vexed in spirit, weeping in prayer over the murder of millions of innocent babies made in the image of God, "under color of law" (Psalm 94:20-21; Psalm 119:126,136;158; Ezekiel 9:4; II Peter 2:8).  
• to stand at the Gates of Death to rescue the weak and warn the wicked, preaching, praying, pleading, providing, and provoking others to love and good works (Proverbs 1:20; 8:1-4; 24:11-12; 31:8-9; James 1:27; Hebrews 10:24).
• to engage with their culture in the public square, on the street, at the coffee shop, on social media, face to face, exposing the evil and bringing the Gospel into conflict with child sacrifice with words and literature (Proverbs 28:4; Ezekiel 22:2; Ephesians 5:11; Titus 1:8-9).
• to actively seek the total and immediate abolition of "legal" child sacrifice, to work to bring justice, mercy, and equity for the fatherless (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 24:17; Psalm 82:3; Jeremiah 22:3; Isaiah 1:16-17; Micah 6:8; Malachi 2:6; Matthew 5:7; Luke 11:42; Romans 12:9-18,21; I Corinthians 15:34).                                                          

These are only the Biblical responses of a Christian in the face of a society that practices, protects, and promotes child sacrifice.  This is not radical Christianity, but normal Christianity.  

However, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of believers in our nation know what is happening and yet go about their business as usual.  We are all occupied with our own agendas, career plans, entertainment, recreation, extracurricular activities, pursuits, and passions.  We want to stay in our comfort zone and not do the inconvenient thing.

What is at the root of the Callousness, the Complacency, the Cowardice, the Compromise, and the Complicity found in Christians who do not rise to open their mouths for the fatherless?

Selfishness.

It is quite easy to talk a lot about love, but easy also to forget that true agape love is not selfish.  Charity (agape) "...seeketh not her own..." and "...rejoiceth not in iniquity..." (I Corinthians 13:5,6).

We are to seek to know and respond as Christ would about the cause of "the least of these":
Job 29:16 "I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out."

Proverbs 29:7 "The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it."

Verily, we need to see the horror of this idolatry, confess and forsake it, go to the Saviour for forgiveness and cleansing, and love the LORD our God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbours as ourseleves.  

May we henceforth live not unto ourselves, but for Him to Whom we belong.
II Corinthians 5:15 "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

The following is something I say to my children and pray for my family every day, that we will- "Say 'NO' to Self, and 'YES' to Jesus every time." (William Borden)

Pilgrim's Progress

Faithful: Well, if you will, we will fall to it now; and since you left it with me to state the question, let it be this: How doth the saving grace of God discover itself, when it is in the heart of man?

Talkative: I perceive, then, that our talk must be about the power of things; well, 'tis a very good question, and I shall be willing to answer you.  And take my answer in brief, thus: First, Where the grace of God is in the heart, it causes there a great outcry against sin.  Secondly--

Faithful: Nay, hold; let us consider of one at once: I think you should rather say, it shows itself by inclining the soul to abhor its sin.

Talkative: Why, what difference is there between crying out against, and abhorring of, sin?

Faithful: Oh, a great deal!  A man may cry out against sin of policy; but he cannot abhor it, but by virtue of a godly antipathy against it.  I have heard many cry out against sin in the pulpit; who yet can abide it well enough in the heart, and house, and conversation.  Joseph's mistress cried out with a loud voice, as if she had been very holy; but she would willingly notwithstanding that, have committed lewdness with him [Genesis 39:15].  Some cry out against sin, even as the mother cries out against her child in the lap; when calls it "slut" and "naughty girl", and then falls to hugging and kissing it.

Talkative: You lie at the catch, I perceive.

Faithful: No, not I; I am only for setting things right.

Titus 2:11-14 
2:11 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,"
2:12 "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;"
2:13 "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"
2:14 "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

II Timothy 2:19 "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

"Down, Self!  Christ is my King!"

Christians as Customers

I am stirred to share a memory from three years ago of something that happened outside the now shut down and demolished murder mill in Kansas City, KS.  

As I stood that morning at the abortion mill, pleading for the lives of my preborn neighbors, I was both verbally and physically threatened.  This is not infrequent in itself, but there was something that made this specific incident stand out.

The aggressor was a large man, bringing his granddaughter to the gates of death to have his great grandchild killed.  As I tried to plead with the young woman, he lumbered over and screamed at me, saying he would call the police on me.  I welcomed the idea, but he didn't follow through on his threat.

He cursed and used gross vulgar language in every sentence.  I answered from Psalm 10—a passage which describes the wicked who shed the blood of the innocent: "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity" (Psalm 10:7).  God gave me Scripture after Scripture to wield—although intensely stirred I was able to remain calm throughout the interactiion.  He continued using expletives and ended up knocking into me with his stomach.  I considered calling the police myself, since this could qualify as assault, but instead persisted in earnestly delivering truth from the Sword of the Spirit.  

I told him he needed to have "repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21), and he brazenly retorted, "Don't you tell me I need to repent—

I'm an ordained minister!"  

"Whoever you are," I replied, "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh and your lips betray your heart!" He was using vile language because he knew he was doing wrong.  And I told him so.  I declared that he was breaking God's command to "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of [his] mouth..." (Ephesians 4:29).  I warned him not to take the name of the Lord in vain, nor murder his little great grand baby.  

He could not defend his actions, but resorted to vain threats of beating me, running me over with his car, and other things I will not repeat.  Finally he got back in his car, and drove off, still ranting, leaving his granddaughter inside alone to face the murderer of her child.  

Remembering this incident again, I leave him in the Lord's hands, knowing that the word of God that pierced him that morning will continue to work.  May he be humbled before God and repent.

I have no way of knowing, other than his own declaration, whether or not he was an ordained minister, but I must say that I and many others across this nation have seen 
people going into abortion mills: 

—with Jesus fish, Christian bumper stickers, Bible verses, & Prolife license plates on their cars,  
—with Christian T-shirts, cross necklaces, and other accessories on their person,
—with Christian words in their mouths, quoting Bible, claiming salvation, and telling us that they are faithful members of churches, even deacons and pastors.  

And they have rebuked us for preaching the Gospel and pleading for the lives of our neighbors—in many cases their own children.  I weep even now to think of it.

Not to mention the professing Christians we have seen who work at these bloody businesses, give business to Planned Parenthood by using them for other services, and provide transportation, so their friends can get to the abortuary and murder their children, thusbecoming the getaway driver for a homicide in the worst degree.  All of this making them Particeps Criminis "participants in the crime".


I cannot tell how you how broken hearted I am to have repeatedly been told by "brothers and sisters" who are about have their babies poisoned, burned, or ripped to pieces that "I'll be in church tomorrow!"

Ezekiel 23:39 "For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house."

The grievous fact is that more professing Christians will go the child sacrifice centers of our country as customers than as ambassadors for Christ.
This is OUR holocaust.  Let us repent.

Abortion must be abolished.

Plain Thoughts from Romans 1:23, Basic as 1-2-3

Just some plain thoughts about the following verse (plain thoughts come easily to a Kansan).

Romans 1:23 "And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."

Thought #1  We were made to glorify our Creator.

Isaiah 43:7 "Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him."

Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."


Thought #2 He will not share His glory with another.

Isaiah 42:8 "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."


Thought #3 When a man glorifies any other that the Lord of Glory, it always ends up with shame on sinful humanity.

Psalm 4:2 "O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah."

Hosea 4:7 "As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame."

Philippians 3:19 "Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)"

As Christians, what should our prayer be for those who arrogantly rebel against God and His glorious Gospel and who seek instead after vanity and their own way (iniquity)?

Psalm 83:16 "Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD."

Let Us Be NOT Ashamed

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

[Here is a place, where the Gospel goes forth regularly into the open air; is heard from mouths, is read in print, and even chalked on the sidewalk.  It is also where Christians have been screamed at, reviled, threatened with death, and assaulted.]

There is a hymn, which says,
"Am I a soldier of the Cross?
A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause 
Or blush to speak His name?"

A few questions to ponder...
-Are you a Christian?
-Washed in the blood of the Lamb Who died to redeem your soul?
-Are you ashamed of His name and the Gospel?
-Are you ready to stand for His name?
-Even in a generation that despises His name?
-Even when others are silent?
-Even when it means you will be mocked, snubbed, or hated?
-Even when a man with a gun is aiming for your head?

I know the weakness of my flesh, but IN CHRIST (the position of the true Christian) there is strength.  The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  He gave all for us.  
-Should we shrink from giving all for Him?  
-Doesn't He have us anyway?  
-Are we not strangers and pilgrims, here only as ambassadors for our King (Hebrews 11:13; I Peter 2:9-11; II Corinthians 5:18-20; Galatians 1:10)?  
-Our affections on this above (Colossians 3:1-2)?
-Our focus on pleasing He Who hath chosen us to be His soldiers (II Timothy 2:4)? 

The second verse of that hymn goes on to say,
"Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease?
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?"

Let us have the mindset of Yosef Tson (the Pastor in Romania who stood up boldly for the kingdom of God in face of KGB threatenings), that dying for Christ, would not be terrifying to us (Acts 4:29). 

-Should we not see it as our reasonable service to live as unto Him, completely yielded (Romans 12:1)?
-Are we not already crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)?
-Is not our life hid with Christ (Colossians 3:3)?
-Are we not live for Jesus, Who died for us (II Corinthians 5:15)?

Let us glory in the Lord and rejoice that we may be counted worthy to suffer for His sake, whether it be slight or severe.

Philippians 1:27-29 "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;"
28 "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God."
29 "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;"

In this generation, we find it wholly appropriate to mourn and be in anguish over sin, and the hardness of the enemies of Christ, and at the same time, to rejoice and be exceeding glad to have the honour to make Christ known and share in the stigma of the cross.  In this day, I, as a believer in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, am to live the seeming contradiction, that is only possible IN CHRIST-- that of weeping and leaping for joy: 

II Corinthians 6:10 "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

Weepers and Leapers.  Who will be that?  Christians.

Let us pray for our brothers and sisters, both those near, and those round the world, who are suffering for the testimony of Christ Jesus, pray for comfort of the Spirit, grace, protection, patience, power, joy, and the preaching of the word of God to a watching world, working even in the hearts of the persecutors, redounding to the glory of God!

Let us also prepare ourselves, "pray-pare", yield all to our Lord, and ask Him to help us for what may lie ahead for us, to make us READY to preach, pray, live, and die at a moment's notice.  Remember, 

"THOSE WHO ARE YIELDED TO GOD ARE THOSE WHO WILL BE WIELDED BY GOD" to the praise of His glory!

The hymn concludes with,
"Sure I must fight if I would reign
Increase my courage, Lord
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain
Supported by Thy word."

There is still time to win a battle before the sun goes down.

AMBA - ABORTION MUST BE ABOLISHED.

Defund? Or Defend?

In the past year there has been an outcry to DEFUND Planned Parenthood.

Prolife leaders are demanding it!

Prolife citizens are demanding it!

Prolife politicians are demanding it!

Some are calling for Planned Parenthood to be defunded because they were selling body parts of babies they had slaughtered.

Other more right-minded people are calling for Planned Parenthood to be defunded because they are killing the babies, period.

Some brothers and sisters in Christ have asked for my thoughts about whether we should go for the DEFUND button, and as Paul said before Agrippa, my response is, "I think myself happy...because I shall answer for myself this day..." (Acts 26:2).

The ProLife Movement has made much of the tactic, over and over raising the banner of this endeavor of taking government funding of the organization that commits about a third of the reported abortions in our country.   This has been sought in various states and federally as well.

Before his presidency, Donald Trump sent a letter to Prolife leaders, making an attempt to get them to back his candidacy.  In it, one of the things he promised to do is to "defund Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and allocate the funding elsewhere."

This strategy is attractive.  It sounds really good.  We really don't want to give money to fund the murder of the innocent.  

BUT wait a minute!

This is treating abortion like an undesirable form of healthcare, rather than MURDER.  It is like saying we are not going to fund this group because they insist on using faulty pregnancy tests, which are not reliable.  We will not give them funds until they buy quality products.  

Abortion is NOT faulty healthcare!  

It is Homicide in the worst degree!  

People, image-bearers of our God, are being murdered by the thousands every day!  

These are the MOST innocent and MOST vulnerable people in all our society!

And they are being murdered in the place where they should be the MOST safe!

CONSIDER:

If it became “lawful” in the States, for bearded people to be seized and hacked in pieces, I would be horrified if... 

-those in civil authority 

-fellow American citizens 

-good American Christians made their rallying cry: 

“Not with my money!”  

“Don’t make us pay for it!”  

“No Federal funding!”

"DEFUND the slaughter of the unshaven!"

I would want them to demand that the murder of bearded people be ABOLISHED!  That justice be done!

The answer is not to defund Planned Parenthood.

The answer is to defend the innocent, and deliver them from the hands of the oppressor.

Jeremiah 22:1-3

1 “Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,”

2 “And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:”

3 “Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.”

The government has the responsibility before God and man to punish the guilty, and protect the innocent. Planned Parenthood has murdered more than ISIS, the KKK, and the death camp of Auschwitz combined.  Their murderous activity must be made to cease.

We should NOT be saying, "Naughty Planned Parenthood, we are withholding allowance till you behave better."

We should be saying "Murder is evil.  We must repent of our apathy, cry mightily unto God, and return our laws to reflect justice, mercy, and equity for all.  We will not be silent until child sacrifice, the murdering of over 3,000 Americans EVERY DAY is removed from being protected "under color of law"!  That is, we will protect the lives of all the innocent!

The total and immediate abolition of abortion.

[As a side note, Trump’s motion in the letter made it sound as if Planned Parenthood is the only killer of babies.  According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 27.5% of all abortions in the United States are committed by Planned Parenthood.  There are many other abortion providers who would not be affected.]  

Moreover, the fact is that if government funding ceased for Planned Parenthood, there are enough liberals and pagans (business moguls, Hollywood celebrities, etc.) in America with millions to donate and keep it afloat with private funds, so that the murder could continue with even more impunity.

Those celebrities and billionaires will be happy to give and be thought of as champions for women's health.  What needs to be done is for abortion to NO LONGER have protection under "color" of law, and rather to protect humans (no matter their age) under the law FROM MURDER.  Prosecute Planned Parenthood and others who will practice or procure preborn premeditated killing with HOMICIDE, just as we would for anyone else's murder.

Treat Abortion like what it is.

Be not content with DEFUNDing Planned Parenthood.  

DEFEND the Innocent!!!

Demand the Abolition of Human Abortion!

Abortion must be ABOLISHED, not Privatized. 

There is still time to win a battle before the sun goes down.

The Towers Fell and We Feel It Not.

September 11th...9/11...The World Trade Center...The Twin Towers...

                                            

This day forever is imprinted on those who were old enough to remember the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center crashing, which, along with other attacks that day, killed almost 3,000 people. 

Each year, on this day, millions of Americans pause to recall, shudder, and talk about the events that took place that morning back in 2001, have told family, friends, or even strangers about where they were or what they were doing when they first heard of the attacks.

I was in Iowa with my family, en route to Kansas City from Minnesota, to take part in a church missionary fair.  We were at a gas station when a man came over and knocked on the window, saying, "The second tower just fell!"  We had no idea what he was talking about.  After hearing a bit more from him we ran over into a nearby Walmart and watched the horrific news in their TV department.  

The nation wept brokenly over the tragedy.  There were great cries and mourning.  People gathered together in grief.  And understandably so, at the immense loss of life on that one day!  

Much has been said, reported, claimed, and blogged about 9/11.  But I would like to put out an observation that I have not heard ANY ONE else mention, whether in person, on TV, radio, or the internet.

I must confess that as a young man, before that 11th day of September, I had never even heard of the Twin Towers.  But just weeks after, I found a little souvenir book that had a picture of those buildings as well as a lot of other photographs in the cover, simply entitled 1973.  Curious I bought it and read it.  It was chock full of little possibly unknown facts of things that were accomplished, came into fashion, or got invented in that specific year.  

The Twin Towers were completed on April 4th of that year.  

It was also the same year that all airlines became required to begin screening passengers and their carry-on baggage as a measure of security at airports.  

Interesting.

There were many other items mentioned, including fashion trends, economic hiccups, and popular toys. 

But the ONE THING that struck me the most? On January 22nd, 1973, our nation's Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, making it "legal" to murder people in the womb.  OUR Supreme Court declared that it was their opinion that to have an abortion was a constitutional "right".  

The U.S. Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to say that any type of murder "is now okay".  

God is the Author of Life (the Author of Marriage too), and ONLY He has the authority to dictate when life should be taken away.  And He has made it CLEAR,  

"Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place." (Jeremiah 22:3).  

We are NOT to do violence toward the weak and the vulnerable, neither are we to shed the blood of the innocent.  And yet in abortion the most vulnerable of people are suffering violence and their innocent blood is shed.

Our founding fathers stood squarely on this truth when penning our nation's founding documents.  Abortion is contrary to God's Law which is higher than man's law.  The Supreme courts "ruling" that day was (and still is) a violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.  Thus it is a perversion of just law, God's and man's (which is based in God's), and is truly unlawful.  

As the psalmist said, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" (Psalm 94:20).  

In 1973, not only were twin towers constructed changing the landscape of New York City, but twin towers were toppled for the sake of convenience.  Those were the towering pillars of Justice and Equity.  The barbarous abomination of child sacrifice to the god of SELF became a "right" to be protected, promoted, and pursued.  Mischief was indeed framed by a law.  That was the day THE TOWERS FELL.

Abortion is not a right.  Abortion is a WRONG.  And the verse above says "DO NO WRONG".

Yet our country has functioned for OVER 40 YEARS as if it is now permissible to commit murder if your victim is a certain age, size, and in an accepted location.  Since 1973 our nation has slaughtered over 60 million babies where they should have been the most safe.  That is 2 every minute, over a million each year.  

Which means that from the year that the World Trade Center Towers were finished, we have been butchering, poisoning, and burning to death over 3,000 baby girls and boys every day.  That is the equivalent of a 9/11 attack DAILY for 28 years up to the attack on the Trade Center!  AND that number of murders has continued unto this day.  

Where are the tears?  The mourning?  The gatherings to grieve?  

A nation weeping brokenly over the innocent lives radically snuffed out?

Where are the memorial services?  Where is the outcry?  

Where are the demands for justice and equity?

Where are the heroes to warn the wicked and rescue the weak?

Tragically we are unmoved.  As a nation, and even the church of Jesus Christ at large, we are often too busy with work, with play, with entertainment, with education, with religious activity, to mourn over the murders in our midst.  Why are we so callously blind, so willingly ignorant, of this National tragedy? 

We have become selfish, and don't want to be inconvenienced.  For much of the country, and most grievously, much of the body of Christ, we are content to do little or nothing in the cause of the voiceless, those appointed to destruction, the poor and the needy (Proverbs 31:8-9).  

We are NOT demanding for the total and immediate abolition of this evil. As we stand boldly to remember and rehearse the horrific injustice that was enacted on fellow Americans ON September 11th, 2001, but feel it radical to stand boldly and decry the horrific injustice on fellow Americans being enacted every single day through the murder of preborn babies. And yet we are quick to say, "God bless America?" 

 "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter" (Isaiah 59:14).  THE TOWERS FELL long before 9/11 and we FEEL IT NOT.

Hear the rebuke that God had the prophet Micah deliver to the nation of Judah: 
3:9 "Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity."
3:10 "They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity."
3:11 "The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us."

Shall we simply say that the LORD will just ignore what we have allowed?  

That God will simply continue to "bless America"?

That He will not bring judgment, nor withdraw His hand of protection?

As Ezra declared, thus far He has "punished us less than our iniquities deserve" (Ezra 9:13).

We must REPENT!

We MUST repent!

WE must repent!

Abortion must be abolished.

Do The Math

I don't know how often I have heard it said in various ways by fellow believers:

"Unfortunately, at this time the church does not have the people, the power, nor the funds, to make an impact on the evil of abortion in this country." 

"We cannot really do anything but vote, give to pro-life groups and crisis pregnancy centers, pray, and hope for the best.  There is nothing else we can do that will make a difference."

I for one, want to counter this sentiment with truth.  Let's take into consideration a very practical use of numbers.  

There has been a campaign across this nation for Christians to gather and pray at their state capitols.  Franklin Graham has spearheaded it, and thousands of churches, families, and individuals have turned out to hear exhortation and pray together in public squares.  Pastors and Christian leaders have encouraged these gatherings, and they have been well attended.

In Nashville, Tennessee, it was reported that about 9,000 gathered to pray in that state's capitol city on May 3rd of this year.  Let me repeat that.  That is NINE THOUSAND believers who intentionally took time out of their busy lives that specific day!  They organized, and went and stood in a multitude to pray.

Incidentally, just one mile from where those 9,000 gathered to pray about the sins and needs of this country, stands a building where the murder of innocent and helpless babies is committed.  That is an altar of human sacrifice to the god of Self.  Babies are butchered there six days a week.  Just eight miles away from that prayer gathering in another direction  is another murder mill, where four abortionists murder babies on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  

And yet on most days there is NO ONE standing regularly, or even occasionally, to bring the Gospel into conflict with those who are committing the gross sin of homicide (in the worst degree, on the most vulnerable victim)!  NO ONE standing to declare God's truth and mercy to those who are shedding innocent blood.  

There is a problem with this.

Especially since there are over 600,000 people living in the city of Nashville, and nearly 1,000 churches in the Nashville area!  

Those few Christians who do make it a point to go to those specific Tennessee abortion mills are abolitionists who drive 45 minutes to several hours to stand for Christ and those made in His image. 

Again, there is a problem with that.  

I well remember the morning in Pensacola in 2006, out in front of a baby butcher shop, when a police officer looked at me and my friend, and said "This must not be a real issue for the church, since you two are the only ones here."  In the middle of a conservative Christian "stronghold", surrounded by hundreds of churches, and only two Christians were standing as emissaries for Christ at the Gates of Death.  What message is the church sending the world by our silence and absence from the field? 

The watchword of the Decision America Tour campaign has been "Pray.  Vote.  Engage."

I would like to put some focus on the word "Engage."  What effect would it have if we did?

Since 9,000 individuals were able to schedule several hours out of their very busy lives to gather and pray (and I am sure that abortion was possibly one of the prayer targets), let's just take that number and play with it for a while.  Consider the impact if 9,000 Christians chose to love their neighbors by showing up when they were scheduled to be killed.

Taking one mill into consideration: If just 24 of the 9,000 went to that abortuary on one day, and then a different 24 went the next day, and then another 24 went the next day, and on, and on...you would have 24 Christians at the mill EVERY SINGLE DAY of the YEAR without ANY ONE INDIVIDUAL having been there twice. 

Imagine, 24 Christians, exercising various roles at the Gates of Death—

• Preaching the Gospel. 
• Pleading for the lives of little image-bearers. 
• Praying fervently on site for God to work in hearts.
• Providing help, information, and resources at the entry.
• Provoking with signs, etc.

What if they chose to take on both mills?  If each person in the multitude of 9,000 committed to stand, representing Christ and pleading the cause of the poor and needy (as Scripture commands) outside the Gates of Death one day a month, that would mean that each of those two abortion mills would have 145 Christians outside it EVERY DAY with each person only giving one day a month to plead for the lives of the innocent and provide truth to all who enter (and that is if every month had 31 days; 5 months have fewer).

This by itself would have a HUGE impact on the business that sheds innocent blood.  This would clearly showcase the Gospel to the lost deliver numerous babies from slaughter, and shut down both mills!

For sake of clarity, I must state that I am not at all against Christians gathering in small or huge numbers, privately or publicly to earnestly and fervently pray for revival and a turn in this nation.  I am merely using that example to show what can happen when national Christian leaders and local area pastors encourage the church to "show up!"  They show up!

Why is there not a greater cry for action?  A greater plea to engage?  

Why is the plight of the unborn and the Christian biblical response not campaigned for every Sunday from behind the pulpits of our churches?

The reality of this post is that thousands are gathering for an event to pray about the sins and needs of this country, and yet one mile away from that crowded site, almost no one is gathering to regularly or even occasionally "engage" those who are committing this crime against God, their own children, and their own conscience.  Oh, that after everyone bowed in prayer at that Nashville rally to beseech the Almighty God, those 9,000 had then been directed to march down to Planned Parenthood and actively love their neighbors who were being murdered that very day—some to preach, some to pray, some to plead, some to provide help, and all to provoke as God's word commands, calling to repentance, and seeking the abolition of abortion.

Francis Schaeffer said that every abortion mill should have a sign out front that says, "Open by permission of the church." Please let that quote hit hard!

I saw a billboard in Arkansas that said, 
"When 1% of the church shows up to stand at the abortion mill, Abortion will cease in Arkansas."  That would be true in any state of the union.  Darkness cannot stand the presence of Light.  

God has commanded us to "love our neighbour as ourselves", "visit the fatherless in their affliction", to "open our mouths" and "plead the cause of the poor and needy", to do "justice and equity".

But even though God has made Himself clear, and has given us all we need to make a huge impact simply by assembling as His ambassadors at the Gates of Death (not to mention all the other ways to effect abolition of this evil), it is not enough, nor honest, neither is it "Christian" for us to say, "All we can do is pray."

Prayer is never meant to be a substitute for obedience.  Imagine if Isaiah said in prayer, "Here am I; send someone else!" (Isaiah 6).

I would that the thousands upon thousands of believers in every city would learn about, get involved, and then engage for their pre-born neighbors being slaughtered!  I would that they would take God's command to "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the case of all such are as appointed to destruction" (Proverbs 31:8) at His word.  I fear that it is far easier to go to an event then it is to do the inconvenient thing.  

"Some want to live within sound of church and chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."  C.T. Studd

[Note: the 9,000 number used as an example in this post is simply taken from the number of attendees at that one city event.  If we took instead the real number of Christians and Bible believing assemblies in Nashville, or another major city (like the Kansas City region), the number of Christians activated could easily be larger, and have even more impact.]

[Note also: Going to the abortion mills is ONLY ONE way that Christians can engage justly on behalf of our preborn neighbors.  There are many areas in which we are to seek to be active in doing justly, as God requires.  Seeding the culture with literature, declaring truth and destroying misinformation, exposing the holocaust to the public in various forums, social media interaction, starting the conversation, exhorting the brethren, utilizing your car as a vehicle of agitation, putting the symbol and message of abolition out to be seen on clothing, products, etc.  Right at the top must also be prodding our elected leaders to abolish the murder of abortion instead of simply regulating it!]  Imagine if 9,000 Christians in the Greater City Area chose to do all those things as well!

The church MUST take right ground, and engage.

Abortion must be abolished.