Day 18 of 40 Days for Life - At War for Life

Today a young woman gets out of her parked car and walks toward the shopping plaza. I hope she’s going to the salon to get her hair done. But no, she walks past the hair salon without stopping. Maybe she has come to shop at the dollar store next door. No, she walks past that store as well, and heads...to the Planned Parenthood “Health” Center adjacent to the dollar store. 

In front of the clinic she stops, pauses momentarily, then enters behind the reflective glass door....to an appointment to kill her child? I’ll probably never know for sure. I do know that over 50% of women who have abortions feel they have no choice and over 70% are never told about alternatives.

If an abortion is imminent for this woman and her child, I have no other recourse than to pray. Appropriately, the next Scripture I planned to meditate on to guide my prayer after she drove up was Ephesians 6:10-13.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (NIV)

So I enter the struggle and pray for her.

Then there are the young men - waiting outside the glass walls of the abortion clinic. They were there Wednesday and again today. Standing - seated - waiting...for what? As I prayed today for a young man sitting on the bench near the clinic door, his back to the facility where perhaps his son or daughter is meeting a violent death at the hands of an abortionist, tears begin to well up in my eyes. Does he know what he is doing? Or perhaps he does but has no say in the fate of his child. 

I become restless - pacing back and forth. I’m not sure why. Perhaps a sense of helplessness. It hurts to think of his loss. This is personal. My only grandson was born out of wedlock. So are 83% of all aborted children. My grandson was unplanned as are most aborted babies...but by the grace of God not unwanted. 

Earlier on my watch this was the text, 

“ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:44 NIV)

The devil is the enemy. We are at war with him. The one who has come “to steal and kill and  destroy” (John 10:10) has also successfully deceived many moms and dads, many doctors and nurses, many counselors and many owners of abortion facilities. 

It is a real war with real victims - preborn human beings (over 3,300 per day), their post abortive mothers and fathers, their grandmothers and grandfathers and other family members who will never meet them.

We must stand in the gap for the helpless, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27 NIV)

The victims of abortion are the most destitute of all orphans - not just abandoned by parents but murdered. Many of their mothers are the widows - pressured, manipulated, even coerced into killing their own young by those closest to them.

“...though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 10:3-5  NIV)

(I am participating in a 40 Days For Life prayer and fasting vigil at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Pembroke Pines Florida. You can be involved in the 40 Days For Life effort at an abortion clinic by going to http://www.40daysforlife.com/ for further information.)

The Deception - Murder Link

“‘I think it is interesting you are crying for me, but I see no reason for that. All I am doing is having an abortion. It does not seem like a big deal to me. I have aborted before and everything went fine, so I have no reason to think this time will be any different. Abortion is a very simple procedure, it is over in a very few minutes, and only takes about 10 - 12 hours to be back to normal, with a great feeling of relief. I do not think there is any reason to for you to be concerned for me. From past experiences I am sure I will be fine, it is nice to know that someone cares for me.’
~ Kayla, as she is about to kill her 5th baby”

Those words were posted on March 3, 2012 by Facebook friend, Pro-life advocate Patte Smith who does sidewalk counseling.

My comment to her post:

Deception goes hand in hand with murder. Jesus said as much, "He was a murder from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and father of lies." (John 8:44) 

This woman, probably unknowingly, has given herself to the clutches of Satan. This abortion epidemic is endemically a spiritual war. 

The unborn are the victims of a war between heaven and hell and the church is largely sitting on the sidelines, lacking spiritual discernment and or the will to intervene in the spiritual warfare necessary to break the powers of darkness. 

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form, and you have bee given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority...Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross." (Colossians 2:8,15)

Prayer and the End of Abortion

Thanks to the leadership of Respect Life of the Archdiocese of Miami, 40 Days for Life has finally come to Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the abortion capital of the Southeast United States. Thousands more will be praying at 249 additional sites across America and in four other countries.

Why fast and pray for forty days in front of an abortion clinic? 

Abortion is first and foremost a spiritual issue. According to Jesus, Satan is a murderer, a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44). He "...comes to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10 ESV). Based on these statements, I believe Satan is the architect of abortion. Murder and deception are endemic to the abortion industry, making abortion a Satanic enterprise.

Our first strategy, therefore, in bringing an end to abortion, is prayer.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-13 ESV)

Jesus Christ has triumphed over Satan and the demonic forces behind abortion, "...having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." (Colossians 2:25 NIV) 

The Church is the only institution spiritually equipped to engage the Satanic forces behind abortion. Therefore, the Church should lead the effort to end abortion.

Abortion is a gospel issue. The gospel can change the heart of an abortion minded mother to make a life affirming decision. The gospel can change the heart of those who participate and are invested in the abortion industry and those in government protecting the state sanctioned killing. The gospel alone provides the hope of forgiveness, healing and restoration for the post-abortive. 

Here is our mandate, 

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  

(2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV)

Is prayer changing the abortion industry?

Shawn Carney, 40 Days for Life Campaign Director, recently reported some of the results of the last seven prayer campaigns:

*15,000+ church congregations have participated in 40 Days for Life campaigns

    

* Reports document 5,045 lives that have been spared from abortion -- and those are just the ones we know about

* 61 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry

* 21 abortion facilities have completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns outside their doors

* Women and men have been spared from the effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets

  

* Many people with past abortion experiences have begun post-abortion healing and recovery

The responsibility to end abortion lies with the Church. Jesus promised, “...the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

According to ChristianNewsWire.com (02-08-12), 

“With 251 locations, this will be the largest springtime 40 Days for Life campaign in history. 40 Days for Life consists of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion, 40 days of constant, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers and Planned Parenthood offices and 40 days of pro-life community outreach.”

If you live in Southeast Florida, you may sign up to pray for an hour (or more) a week - for six weeks in front of Planned Parenthood's abortion clinic in Pembroke Pines or Choice For Women in Miami. If not find an abortion facility in your area. See the list of participating communities and sign up online at: www.40daysforlife.com/location.

The Truth Protects the Unborn

(This is the response to a Facebook posting advocating that “government get OUT of peoples personal lives” and let “...people and families make there own decisions based on there beliefs about this [abortion] issue.)

If we allow truth, and therefore jurisprudence, to be defined subjectively by “...people and families [who] make there own decisions based on there beliefs about this issue,” we will live in anarchy and moral chaos. For example one group could advocate their right to have sex with your underage children and according to your premise, they should have the right to do so.

Society and its laws must appeal to a moral standard that transcends their own human inclinations. Hence western civilization, flawed as it has been, has been built on both natural law (e.g. it is counter intuitive for a mother to kill its young) and transcendent law, in the West historically Judeo-Christian values. 

That is the philosophical underpinning of the U. S. Constitution.

The founding fathers understood this and therefore charged government with the responsibility, of among other things, protecting human life, noting that these “self-evident” “rights” had their source in “their Creator,” not government, politicians, or any other human institution. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (emphasis mine)

Justice Harry Blackmun who wrote the prevailing argument in Roe v. Wade, acknowledged that his case would fail if the personhood of the unborn could be established. Here is what he wrote, "If this suggestion of personhood [of the unborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment." 

Subsequent to the writing of Roe v. Wade in 1973, with the discovery of DNA, it has been scientifically established that the unborn are human from the moment of conception. That debate is over. 

For example, Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, M.D. of Harvard University Medical School, agrees, "…It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception." I could site  endless numbers of scientists who have drawn the same conclusion from the medical/scientific evidence. 

Therefore pro-life apologist, Scott Klusendorf, is correct when he says that, "…elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being. ..killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong."

The advocates for a woman’s right to kill her unborn child know they have lost the argument that life in the womb is merely a "tissue mass" or a "product of conception." 

From both a legal and moral perspective, therefore, the central issue in the abortion debate is not "women's rights" or a “woman’s right to choose,” but the "human rights, the "civil rights" of the unborn. You cannot extend to a woman the right to kill her unborn child, as the U. S. Court has done, without at the same time denying her child the “unalienable” right to live, guaranteed by the U. S. constitution.

The question we should ask is, in light of the irrefutable evidence 

that life begins at conception, why has the Supreme Court not reversed its ruling that denied the personhood of the unborn?

Why do politicians continue to support state sanctioned killing of unborn children?

Perhaps John Piper has exposed the reason. He writes, 

"…when people benefit from wrongdoing or wrong-thinking,

they will turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the mounting evidence for what is right and what is true.The mind selectively sees what will justify the desires of the heart. In the end that is what must be changed."

That is why the abortion issue is ultimately a gospel issue. Jesus Christ alone, can change the human heart to embrace the truth revealed both in nature (science) and the His revelation of truth to man, the Bible. 

Listen to the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday message, given January 29, 2012 at Pines Baptist Church entitled. "The Gospel, Abortion & the Church," from which much of this response came. Listen online or download from their media site The Sanctity of Life - January 29 at http://www.pinesbapt...hurch.org/media

Power Through Weakness - It Might Be a Tough Sell

I read it this morning. "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness," says the Lord, via the Apostle Paul. It's a tough lesson to learn. Evidently took Paul a while, "Three times I begged the Lord to take it away,” the “...thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”  (2 Corinthians 12:8.9 NLT)

But it evidently paid off. The Lord turned his perspective around, "So now I boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." In fact what he said next sounds counter-intuitive to most of us,

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecution, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.” (verse 10)

But the weakness paid off, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” It’s the gospel all over again. Death precedes life. That is the road Christ followed - it’s the only way he could atone for our sin. 

Evidently it’s the only way to follow Him. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV).

There’s the secret to life and ministry. His grace and power. Giving Him the right to live through us, “...so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

But we keep getting in the way. The battle with the world. It grabs hold of us - through the lusts of our own flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of who we are and what we have - if we play with it. Or the proving ground of character - getting along with people - those God has placed in our lives - our wife and children, our friends, those we minister to and with, and those who live around us.

It’s when our weaknesses take center stage - they stare us in the face, even embarrass us - that Paul says, don’t walk away from them. Turn them into an opportunity to humble yourself before the Lord and others. That is the posture from which you can be rescued, for God’s “...power works best in weakness.” Your weakness becomes your best friend.

Can you imagine consistently living in that truth? What would ministry look like? Success would no longer be measured by size, numbers, personality and prominence. No need to modify the gospel to enhance its appeal, enlarge the audience or mitigate its offense. No need for gimmicks, glamor, sound and stage shows in place of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. He would suffice. 

And we would “...take pleasure in [our] weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecution, and troubles that [we] suffer for Christ.”

It might be a tough sell.

54,559,615 Abortions and the Valley of Slaughter

The National Right to Life Committee has reported that there have been 54,559,615 abortions since the U. S. Supreme Court sanctioned abortion 39 years ago (Roe v. Wade & Doe v. Bolton). That's an average of 3,832 unborn babies killed every day, for 39 years. 

Listen to God's response to Judah, through the prophet Jeremiah, after years of child sacrifice to the pagan (demon) god Molech (Psalm 106:37). 

"...they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children. They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it has never even crossed my mind to command such a thing! So beware, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals. I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there. I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone. Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters. they will be driven to utter despair.” (Jeremiah 19:4,5,7-9 NLT) 

What makes us think that God views human life as any less inviolate today? What makes us think that thousands of years later, America will escape divine retribution? 

The notion that there is a consequence for the shedding of innocent blood is found throughout the Scriptures - Old and New Testament. (See Genesis 9:5,6 and Revelation 6:10) It is the inevitable retribution of a Holy and just God. He takes the pre-meditated killing of those created in His image very seriously - He always has and always will.

God sternly warned Israel, years in advance, not to engage in the pagan sacrifice of their children to the demon god Molech. But there was also a warning to those who turned a blind eye to the killing. 

“I myself will turn against them and their families and will cut them off from the community.” (See Leviticus 20:5 NLT)

Our ambivalence and disregard for the relentless killing of human life through abortion, evidenced by our apathy and silence, is not going unnoticed any more than the killing itself. Rev. Flip Benham, of Operation Save America has said,

"It [abortion] is THE major issue. It is why God is draining America's wealth, it is why 19 guys with box cutters can bring this nation to its knees, it is why there are many judgments on this land. We are sacrificing His children."

In Ezekiel chapter five, the prophet warns Israel of the impending judgment. But his warning extended beyond Israel, even to us in 21st century America. 

“So I will turn you [Jerusalem] into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by. You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the Lord.”  (Ezekiel 5:14,15 NLT) 

We have been warned. As George Mason, one of the Founding Fathers of our nation, stated,

“As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punished national sins, by national calamities.”

Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas of Elijah Ministries and Operation Save America, has written,

“To those who have ears to hear, it is time to bear the reproach and follow Jesus outside the mainstream camp of American Christianity (Hebrews 13:3). We must unashamedly connect the dots to God’s truth, warnings, and judgments with the corresponding reality facing our nation. These natural disasters, pestilence, plagues, wars and civil strife are not the results of coincidence or a string of bad luck. America has sowed to the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind.”

As the Church, we should be willing to shoulder the responsibility of ending abortion. First is the need for repentance. Repentance for abortion in the church and repentance for our silence and ambivalence in the face of the holocaust taking place around us. Peter issued the challenge, 

“For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household.”

(1 Peter:4:17 NLT)

Will God extend mercy to a nation guilty of the innocent bloodshed of over 54 million unborn? King Manasseh of Judah sacrificed his own son to Molech as he led his nation in the killing. (2 Kings 21:6) He paid a price. The Assyrians put a ring through his nose, bound him in chains as they led him away to Babylon. Later, in deep distress, he sought the Lord and in His mercy, the Lord returned him to Jerusalem and his kingdom. 

(2 Chronicles 33:6-13)   

God will hear our prayer if we repent and seek him. King Asa led the people of Judah in a great spiritual revival, destroying pagan idolatry and seeking God. After God delivered King Asa and Judah from a million man army, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Azariah,

“Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! the Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them. But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him out, they found him.” 

(2 Chronicles 15:2-4 NLT)

Secondly, it’s a matter of obedience to the Great Commission. Abortion has always been first and foremost a gospel issue. The gospel elevates each unborn child to the their rightful place as the image bearing creation of God. After all Jesus Christ entered our world through the womb of Mary and died that even the unborn might have eternal life. Why the reluctance of the American pulpit to speak the truth about abortion wrapped in the gospel? After all, it is 

"Godly sorrow that brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." 

(2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV)

The Gospel is the only power that can regenerate the human heart, transforming it to make life affirming decisions in the face of unplanned or even unwanted pregnancy. It is the only power that can change the heart of those who participate and are invested in the abortion industry - and those in government protecting their practice. And it provides the only hope of forgiveness, healing and restoration for the post-abortive.

"...the time is now,” says Flip Benham, “for the Church to rise up and wait not for political parties, or the president, or Congress, or the Supreme Court to take care of the issue. It is our responsibility. The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ. Abortion will come to an end, when the Church of Jesus Christ makes up her mind it will end - and not one second sooner." 

Silence Or Hope From the Pulpit

Tomorrow, January 22, 2012, is the 39th anniversary of the infamous U. S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, that essentially legalized the killing of unborn human beings anytime during the nine months of pregnancy and for virtually any reason.

 55 + million unborn children have lost their lives in the intervening years as America has not had the moral courage or political will to end this state sanctioned barbarism. Has the church remained largely silent for fear of man and/or quest for acceptance by the world?

Some churches will remember this tragedy by observing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday tomorrow. A time for public mourning for the lives lost and an opportunity to remind the Church of God’s great love affair with the human race. 

Then there are the 55 + million parents of the 55 + million children lost through abortion - the silent multitude, most of whom are scarred emotionally, spiritually and even physically, by the often repressed trauma of having killed their own offspring. 

They are in the church in great numbers. 43% of women having abortions identify themselves as Protestant, 27% as Roman Catholic (AGI “In Brief” July 2008) Getting a little more specific, it’s not a pretty picture in the largely “pro-life” evangelical church either. It is reported that one out of six women who have had an abortion are evangelical Christians; 5.6 million women in evangelical churches have aborted unwanted children; and 250,000 evangelical women choose abortion each year. (Heartlink - Focus on the Family)

No national sin can rival abortion in its negative impact on society. It is the greatest moral evil of our day - literally eating away at the moral and spiritual fabric of our nation. The blood letting has invited and empowered demonic forces in their quest to steal, kill and destroy human life and reap havoc in human behavior. 

The vast majority of the post-abortive have never experienced the forgiveness, healing and restoration available through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But what is even more sobering is that the gospel message linked to abortion, will not be heard tomorrow in most churches.

One mother who aborted three of her children and subsequently found forgiveness and healing through the gospel, wrote these challenging words,

 “The consequences to women who have had abortions (and men as well) cut deep into the soul… The post-abortive women sitting in church on a Sunday morning need to hear about forgiveness for ALL SIN through Jesus Christ,….abortion is not the unforgivable sin so many think it is...women need to know there is healing and hope in Christ - that they may also forgive themselves.”   

I believe Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America was right when he said,

“Abortion will come to an end, when the Church of Jesus Christ makes up her mind it will come to an end – not second sooner. The responsibility for ending abortion in America rests squarely upon the shoulders of the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Ultimately, the gospel is the solution to America’s abortion crisis. Innocent blood has polluted the land and profaned the name of the Lord. But there is a greater blood shed on Mount Calvary that can transform the heart of a mother and father to choose life for their child and that can cleanse the guilty, forgive, heal and restore those involved in abortion. 

What America needs to hear is God’s truth about abortion wrapped in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To that end we can be silent or give hope from the pulpit tomorrow.