Is the Point Getting Harder to Get?

Life is all about getting the point. The point is that God made you to honor him and make his glory more known in your life, in the life of your family, and in the lives of others around you. The Point is that God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on the Cross for your rebellion. The Point is that you can have a restored relationship with God through Jesus!

Sometimes I have thought that the point was getting harder to make because of our culture. People don't want to hear the truth of the gospel. I refocused on studying 2 Timothy today. It says that the time will come when people will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. I think that time has come and even gone perhaps. People don't even need the teachers anymore - they can go and find what their itching ears want to hear on the internet for themselves.

But today I guess I am rethinking all this. Maybe the problem now is not that the Point is getting harder to make, but that the Point is getting harder to get. Proverbs says "therefore get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding (KJV)." The problem is that people don't want to get the Point. They have believed the lies so much that they think that the Point is pointless, and, therefore, pointless to get.

Why is the Point losing such ground in the culture? Why are kids growing up in Church but missing the Point? Why are Church attendance numbers growing but Christ follower numbers are declining? Why is the Media winning the culture war?

Maybe it's because the Point is getting harder to get. It's not because it's not available - it is certainly available. It's getting harder to get because we have not learned the ability to get it. Surely I am not the only one who has noticed the glazed look in people's eyes as we try to teach them basic truths of God's Word.

The point is getting harder to get because very few people are like Timothy. Paul said to Timothy: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." - 2 Tim 3:14-15

How it grieves me that people who grow up in the church and Christian families are not wise for Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus because they have not known the Scriptures from infancy.

I guess I am asking more questions here than giving answers. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: ¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Is it a stretch to say that this passage means that the Point is getting harder to get? I think we have more than arrived at this terrible prophetic picture.

Whatever you are doing, it is not more important than teaching your children to love God and to get His Wisdom. Talking to myself here.

The Circle Maker

The Circle Maker book is an insanely popular book that is still a bestseller, even though it is a few years old. Based on a story from the Jewish Talmud, the book recalls the tale of a guy who drew a circle around himself and demanded that God make it rain. When that didn't go so well, he did it again and then a third time.

When I first heard about it, I thought it was just silly. While the book's author claims that this is not "name it and claim it" teaching, I fail to see the difference. There is a reason this story was in the Talmud and not in the canon of Scripture. It's because the story is about the man and his prayer, not about God and His power/glory.

It is merely a lame story highlighting the demanding prayer of a guy who has figured out the right technique to boss around the Divine Butler.  

Having learned more about the book, I realize now that it is not just absurd; it is antithetical to Biblical teaching on prayer.

Besides the story of the book coming from an extra-Biblical source, the teaching of this book is very anti-Biblical. The book implies that drawing a circle demonstrates faith in God's will for a "miracle" to happen. In other words, the "technique" of prayer (drawing a circle) is the thing that will get God's attention.

Says Batterson in the book:  “Sometimes physical contact creates a spiritual conduit. Proximity creates intimacy. Proximity proclaims authority. Drawing a prayer circle is one way of marking territory — God’s territory.”

These are not the writings of a serious student of the Bible. These are the writings of someone making stuff up about prayer and then attaching the name of God to it. To attribute thoughts and ideas to God that God has not revealed in His word is to break the third commandment in the worst way.

I remember a professor from Bible college who said that three words should end most theological debates: "book, chapter, and verse." But apparently that is not the case anymore. Too many Christians don't know or care what THE Book says. They simply want a new idea.

Perhaps the reason this book is so popular is that people are clamoring in many ways to connect with God. We all find our relationship with God dry and dusty at times, and this "touchy feely" approach has much appeal. It also is appealing to think that if I DO something that is pious and seems righteous looking, that God will surely answer.

Scripture has a much better, much simpler plan of prayer: it's about talking to God in FAITH; putting your trust in Him. Trusting that he knows better than we do. Biblical prayer is more about TRUST than about DEMANDS.

The Biblical plan of prayer is coming to God HUMBLY and without pretense (Matthew 6:5-15). Those who believe in this kind of prayer frequently talk about having a "bold" or "audacious" faith. A metric of quantity does not measure faith. Faith is measured by its direction.

If your faith is in Jesus Christ, you have great faith (Matthew 15:21-28 is a good example of this. Click below for a sermon on this passage). If your faith is in yourself or your prayer circle, your faith will be very small.

I know what many people will say in response to this already: it will be somewhere along the lines of "but isn't it a good thing to encourage people to pray more/pray harder?"

No, I don't think it is if it is going to take us away from the true teaching from Christ and the Apostles on prayer. Some links that I think are helpful:

http://www.challies.com/christian-living/dont-pray-in-circles

http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/the-circle-maker 

Fighting for the Faith - Part 1 on The Circle Maker

And this very interesting post. I don't know much about this author, so take it as it is:

http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2013/06/showing-in-pictures-how-circle-maker.html

Sola Scriptura. 

Pregnancy is Not a Disease

A viewer of The Baby War: Defenders and Defectors has asked for clarification about exactly where the Affordable Care Act defines pregnancy as a disease.To quote from the film:

The mandated contraceptive coverage was listed among 8 essential health benefits, as recommended by the National Institute of health. By including contraceptives with preventive care against diseases like cancer, pregnancy was equated with preventable diseases. 

And: 

Well he's (Obama) using contraception as an opportunity to be able to treat pregnancy like a disease. Pregnancy now is listed with diseases like cancer and diabetes, muscular dystrophy and pregnancy are treated today like diseases in Obamacare, it's called a disease.

Here's the short answer: 

It is not literally called a "disease," but the ACA lists contraception as one of the "preventive services" for women, being functionally equivalent to cancer, diabetes, and other "preventable" illnesses.  So contraception is functionally called a "disease" in the ACA.

Ok, so here's the long answer.

At its core, the Affordable Care Act requires that certain "Essential Health Benefits" (EHB's) are provided with all approved health insurance plans under Obamacare. From the Obamacarefact.com website:

In general Essential Health Benefits are the types of care you need to prevent and treat sickness and do not include elective and "non-essential treatments..."  

This website goes on to list the 10 Essential Health Benefits. Our film says eight. The list was updated since our film was released.

Not all the EHB's are defined as having "low" or "no" copays. They all simply have to be a part of approved Obamacare health plans. However, so-called "preventive services" are required to be "No Cost Sharing."

From the same Obamacarefact.com website:

Essential Health Benefits include annual wellness visits and many types of preventive services including immunizations and screenings at no out of pocket costs. The Affordable Care Act has a major focus on wellness and prevention to help increase early detection and catch sickness before it starts increasing wellness and decreasing the need for costly treatments.

Preventive services, wellness services, and chronic disease treatment are listed as number nine in the list of Obamacare's 10 Essential Health Benefits. (This list is on the same page linked above.)

Well, this all sounds fantastic. Who isn't for keeping people well and preventing "preventable" illnesses?  

From the "Preventive Care" Page at the Obamacarefact.com website:

Why Cover Preventive Services?

Waiting to treat illness until a person is sick, instead of focusing on prevention, has had a direct effect on the rising health care costs in the U.S. and has caused many Americans to put off seeing a doctor until it's too late due to cost. Preventive care helps you stay healthy. A doctor isn’t someone to see only when you’re sick. Doctors also provide services that help keep you healthy.

Notice how many times in that short paragraph that the words "Sick" or "Stay healthy" (Also "keep healthy" and "until it's too late") are used. The idea is clear. What are "preventive services?" Services that PREVENT you from getting SICK.

This is the dictionary definition of "preventive:"

pre·ven·tive - noun \-ˈvent-iv\ Definition of PREVENTIVE: something (as a drug) used to prevent disease

So, looking at the distinct definition of "preventive" care as preventing illness, what are these 22 free, no cost share services for women?

Back to the Obamacarefacts.com Preventive care page:

1. Anemia screening on a routine basis for pregnant women
2. Breast Cancer Genetic Test Counseling (BRCA) for women at higher risk for breast cancer
3. Breast Cancer Mammography screenings every 1 to 2 years for women over 40
4. Breast Cancer Chemoprevention counseling for women at higher risk
5. Breastfeeding comprehensive support and counseling from trained providers, and access to breast feeding supplies, for pregnant and nursing women
6. Cervical Cancer screening for sexually active women
7. Chlamydia Infection screening for younger women and other women at higher risk
8. Contraception: Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling, as prescribed by a health care provider for women with reproductive capacity (not including abortifacient drugs). This does not apply to health plans sponsored by certain exempt “religious employers.”
9. Domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling for all women
10. Folic Acid supplements for women who may become pregnant
11. Gestational diabetes screening for women 24 to 28 weeks pregnant and those at high risk of developing gestational diabetes
12. Gonorrhea screening for all women at higher risk
13. Hepatitis B screening for pregnant women at their first prenatal visit
14. HIV screening and counseling for sexually active women
15. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA Test every 3 years for women with normal cytology results who are 30 or older
16. Osteoporosis screening for women over age 60 depending on risk factors
17. Rh Incompatibility screening for all pregnant women and follow-up testing for women at higher risk
18. Sexually Transmitted Infections counseling for sexually active women
19. Syphilis screening for all pregnant women or other women at increased risk
20. Tobacco Use screening and interventions for all women, and expanded counseling for pregnant tobacco users
21. Urinary tract or other infection screening for pregnant women
22. Well-woman visits to get recommended services for women under 65

So, of this list of 22 "preventive services," all have prevention of illness or potential illness in mind, except for number eight, which is "Contraception." The question is, "Which one of these things is not like the others?"

I suppose an argument could be made that number five, about Breastfeeding support, is not strictly about "preventing" illness. However, it is widely known that breastfeeding is healthful in a "preventive" way for both Mother and Baby.

That leaves number eight, "Contraception."

In other words, what is "pregnancy" according to the Affordable Care Act? It is a "preventable" illness or disease. There are many serious women's health issues in this list such as cancer, diabetes, and various infections.

Now someone might say, "well, technically the ACA doesn't call pregnancy a 'disease;' your film is misrepresenting the facts."

No, we totally stand behind what the film says because the ACA does much worse than to call pregnancy a "disease." It functionally equates a pregnancy with a disease.

In other words, this law calls a potential life a potential death. It is to call that which is good evil.

God created government to restrain evil and to reward those who good. (Romans 13:1-7) 

When the government itself mixes up good and evil, the result isn't half good, half evil, the result is MORE and MORE evil. Even recently we have seen in many ways the government "rewarding" the evil of homosexuality, by giving its "blessing" to homosexual marriage.

Why? Because even for the heterosexual couple, children are no longer needed or wanted as an Essential Marriage Benefit. Contraception has rendered children an irrelevant issue of marriage. And if the contraception should fail, well, then there's always the "Plan B" drug or a surgical abortion.

That potential life (a HUMAN CHILD; a HUMAN BABY) is a potential death to the woman and her desires.

This thinking was spoken loud and clear by President Obama himself.  

He said that a BABY (that is a HUMAN BEING) is a "punishment;" functionally equivalent with "an STD."

So many people don't understand the Abortion issue (along with its ugly children: sterilization and contraception, gay marriage, family disintegration, etc.) At issue is not human freedom. It is not about choice. It is about a CHILD.

At issue is the sanctity of life itself. Life is sacred because the Creator God is holy. The Creator God defined marriage as between a man and woman, for the purposes of procreation, chastity, and sexual intimacy. So the POTENTIAL child that comes from each union is sacred as well.

The idea of The Baby War as our title came from the constant war of ideas about babies. God's idea of babies is that every marriage has potential life coming from that union. The world's idea of babies is that every woman has a potential death of her opportunities coming from every sexual union. If that potential death (yes, meaning a HUMAN CHILD) can be prevented from ever happening, then it makes sense to them to equate that child with cancer and diabetes and other infections. 

The worldview of humanism filters everything through the lens of pragmatism. The worldview of Christianity is supposed to filter everything through the lens of Scripture. Those Christians who do will be labeled fools and idiots for their backward ways. Those who put on the world's "pragmatism" glasses will be rewarded with praise for being so forward thinking.

I know what most people who are reading this are thinking. They are thinking, "yeah, but..."

Take off the pragmatism glasses. Put on the Scripture glasses. It will make a huge difference in how you see the purpose of marriage and BABIES. 

Maranatha Anathema

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abortion-and-the-will-to-power-so-what-if-abortion-ends-a-life-asks-salon-w

Wow.

Here is the article itself:

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/so_what_if_abortion_ends_life/

Maybe I haven't been paying attention enough, but is this the most shocking thing the abortion camp has ever come up with or is it just me? In her words:

 Here’s the complicated reality in which we live: All life is not equal. That’s a difficult thing for liberals like me to talk about, lest we wind up looking like death-panel-loving, kill-your-grandma-and-your-precious-baby storm troopers. Yet 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.

Yeah, I think she has missed the whole point of those who argue that abortion is wrong. We don't argue that "all life is equal." We argue from Scripture, from common sense, and from the most basic understanding of what humanity is about that "all life is SACRED" and no person has the right to kill an innocent, defenseless person. 

Is that the best moral defense for the killing of babies they can conjure? That some lives don't have the rights of other lives? This lady has had some well-known friends, like Hitler and Stalin, just to name a few. 

To say (she uses the word "fetus" while recognizing in the article that it is, in fact, a human child) that "a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose body it resides" is a breathtakingly evil statement. 

She truly believes she is God.

Another gem:

If by some random fluke I learned today I was pregnant, you bet your ass I’d have an abortion. I’d have the World’s Greatest Abortion.

Uh, ok. So the end of the argument is I am going to have an abortion just because I want to, and my life is not going to be turned upside down by some nasty horrible thing happening to me, like having a baby. My wife and I have had nine of those little blessings, and I am so glad that they have ruined my life. They have made me less selfish and made me work harder. They have left me breathless with their boundless energy. I have seen the fingerprints of God on each one of them. 

Since I am weak and sinful I have to pray, God, give me the grace and strength to love and endure my blessings. 

I wonder what this lady's mother thought about having her? As Ronald Reagan said, those who are for abortion are already born. What an ungrateful, arrogant, and miserable person she must be. 

Surely Titus 3:3 describes this poor woman:

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.   

The Lifesitenews.com writer makes an outstanding statement on this:

At the very core of its black heart, it is the scream of the nihilist, who seeks power and ownership over anyone weaker, for no other reason than the pure exercise of the will: because we want it. Abortion for woman has become the final manifestation of the old “will to power”. And at its core is nothingness, a black hole endlessly gaping and swallowing everything in its orbit. It seeks, finally, no good that anyone, even the abortionist movement itself, can identify, let alone defend rationally.

Well said. I am too outraged by this to say anything else.

 

Lord, forgive us for our sins as a nation. We have led people like this lady to believe she sits in your seat. We have convinced her that the life that you bring is to be despised, rejected, and thrown into the garbage. Maranatha Anathema Lord, would you come quickly to judge us? Bring your curses upon those who hate you, Lord. Bring your gracious mercy on those who trust in your grace through Jesus Christ.

 

 

Going "Dark Side" - President Obama on "Completing the Journey"

While the media elites drooled all over themselves at the second Inauguration of President Obama, the presidential speechwriters were beaming over their glorious creation - the inaugural speech itself.

It was intended to be somewhat of a story - a journey - begun early in our history and continued by our founders, but now the journey must meet and conquer new challenges in changing times. 

One particular paragraph stood out to me:

It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. 

Let's see, that kind of rings a bell, "Our journey is not complete..." where have I heard that before? Hmm, Barney? Nope. Veggie Tales? Don't think so. Or maybe it was Han Solo? No, but that's getting closer. Oh, that's right, it was in a Star Wars film. Not Han Solo, but old wrinkly-face Emperor Palpatine, AKA Darth Sidious. When Luke is wanting to pick up his lightsaber and slice up the Emperor, Mr. Dark Side himself smiles with glee and says:

Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.

Ok, is it too much of a stretch to think that maybe the speechwriters had Return of the Jedi playing in the background while they were staying up late writing the speech?

Well, the dark side and the uh, light side (other side? they never really call it anything) of the "force" is a terrible, terrible illustration of the good of God's law and the evil of rejection of God's law. I've heard that in sermon illustrations, and it just wants to make a devoted student of the Bible want to chew his arm off. 

However, I just can't help but think that with this Presidential speech, the U.S. has officially gone "dark side." 

One of the three uses of God's law is that nations are to use it to have a standard by which to judge what evil is, and to use its force in government to restrain the evil within all of us.

Romans 13:1-5  Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

But instead of holding up God's law as the glorious, absolute standard of morality, President Obama went "dark side" in this speech, and especially in this paragraph. There are two overt denials of God's law in here (maybe three if you think about the second sentence a little bit). 

The first:

Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.

Now the President didn't use the word "Marriage," but I think it is pretty obvious what he is saying here. Let's back up to the first, second, and third paragraphs after his introduction:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional — what makes us American — is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

"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."

Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

The President of the United States is stating clearly here that our journey is not complete in our quest to treat all people as equal Creations of God with certain rights, like "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" until gay people have secured the right to be married. And by extension, that the law of the land must be changed to protect that right.

So, that means marriage, as defined by God as between one man and one woman (Genesis 1 &2) at least 6000ish years before any colonial rebel started firing musket balls at red-coats, is to be pitched out into the garbage and a new definition determined. By us. Because we are so smart. Because we can. Because we have "progressed" to a new understanding of human interaction led by "science" and "education." 

So God's law, His definition of marriage, His word, His created order, is tossed out like the space junk trash ejected from an Imperial Cruiser.

The second:  

Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. 

Yeah, there's one, teeny, tiny location that he didn't mention. It happens to be the place where more children are murdered every single day than perhaps all the children ever killed by guns in Detroit, Appalachia, or Newtown. It is the womb of an American woman. Oh, but I forgot. President Obama doesn't want his daughters to be punished with a child. So the simplicity of the sixth commandment is also discarded like so much trash. 

The only possible way that God's law can be honored and every child would know that they are cared for, cherished, and always safe from harm is that they, first of all, have to be allowed to be born. Children must be under the protection of the law, or surely our nation is made up of the worst of terrifying barbarians.

To quote the Declaration of Independence, claiming God himself is the creator of rights, and then to turn around and say that obviously we know better than God what rights people should have is the ultimate in futile and darkened, alienated from God thinking:

Ephesians 4:17-24  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!-- 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

I would say that if the journey to the dark side is not complete in the United States, President Obama took us a large leap forward with this speech.

Unhappy Birthday, Roe V. Wade

Today is the 40th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. This unhappy birthday means that over 55,000,0000 lives have been terminated in the US alone since the ruling.

Although the US population is evenly split on their opinions about abortion, there must still be a concentrated effort to end abortion. The problem now is that abortion is just part of the landscape now, and we have accepted it as a continual reality.

The gruesome irony of this has been seen so horribly recently, at the Sandy Hook Elementary school. Americans were shocked by this, that someone would murder 20 innocent children and six adults. The incident has highlighted the national divide over moral issues, as liberals raced to seize the crisis to forward their agenda of gun control and conservatives raced to forward their claims of Second Amendment freedoms.

One newscast I heard said that most of the Sandy Hook school victims still had their baby teeth. But what about the thousands of children murdered that day whose baby teeth hadn't chewed anything yet? I wonder how many Americans paused to consider that while those 20 children were slaughtered mercilessly that day, over 3000 children were slaughtered mercilessly that same day, and every day since, through the horror of abortion.

So it comes down to this: abortion will never end in this country until people are so outraged by it that they are willing to sacrifice something (maybe a lot) to make it end. And that will only come by offering the world a moral proclamation based on something that is much higher than public opinion.

The prevailing culture is demonstrating daily that morality relies on the largest voting block. Take for example the inauguration. Instead of having Louie Giglio pray the prayer at the event, Giglio was disinvited because of comments he had made many years ago about homosexuality being a sin.

Said Addie Whisenant of the Presidential Inaugural Committee:

 “We were not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection, and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this inaugural. Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part because of his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world. As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.”

Uh, translated, that means that the official state religion of the United States is now summed up in just a few words "talk about sin (especially homosexual sin) is completely forbidden in public discourse. If you have talked about it ever, you are voted off the island."

What this means is that the proclamation of God's law, unlike Presidential Inaugurations of the past, will never be the same. God's law is a no-no. Talk about anything you like but God and His absolute moral standards.

So the world has said, "not interested, not going to listen." Unfortunately, that is where the church is as well. That is why the church is not outraged, and that is why abortion will never end in this country on our current theological and ecclesiastic track.

Two Forces of Prophetic Voice that are Needed

The prophetic voice must state two equal forces to the church and in the world - the force of law, and the force of the gospel. It is interesting to me, that the church has for the most part on the topic of abortion, (and many others) abandoned both. It's also important to hold out the idea that God rules in two kingdoms - the kingdom of social and governmental institutions, and the kingdom of the church. 

This is not about the separation of church and state, this is about the proper roles and distinction between them. God rules in both kingdoms, but his rule is different in each kingdom. Luther called this the "left hand" rule of God and the "right hand" rule of God. God's "left hand" rule over men in social and government established authorities means that God's moral law should be held up by the government as the standard to enforce so that the evil estate of men could be restrained. 

Left Hand Kingdom - Social and Governmental Authority

So, in the abortion issue, God's moral law (which is the foundation of natural law, which used to be the legal standard in the U.S.) states unequivocally that the taking of an innocent life is forbidden, and the penalty for murder is death.

Exodus 20:13 ¹³ “You shall not murder.

Numbers 35:30-31 ³⁰ “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ³¹ Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.

The current cultural winds on abortion state that "abortion is not murder, because it's just a fetus, it's not a human being." (Interestingly the word "fetus" is from the Latin word that means offspring or bearing children.) To say that an baby in the womb of her mother is not a human being is not an argument based on reason, science, or logic. It's just wishful and stupid thinking.

Furthermore, the Bible demands that that "thing" growing in a woman's womb after conception is a human child. In reference to pregnant women, the term "with child" occurs twenty-six times in the Bible. There are no other Biblical descriptions of pregnancy. Always, the mother is "with child." Psalm 139 is clear about this. Psalm 51 speaks on it.

In Luke 1:36 & 41, we are told that Elizabeth conceived a "son" and that the "baby" leaped in her womb. This word translated baby is the Greek word Brephos. This is the exact same word that God uses to describe Christ in the manger after He is born (Luke 2:12, 16). Luke also uses this word to describe the children who came to see Jesus in Luke 18:15. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to use the same exact word for a pre-born baby and a post-born baby. They are both living human beings! Every one knows this except those who want to defend abortions.

So that's the Law, and in the left hand kingdom that God rules through his moral law, natural law, and even reason, this Law needs to be proclaimed and defended, because God most certainly is the ruler of that kingdom. If a judge were to find evidence convicting someone guilty of murder, would the judge be considered just if he let the murderer free without harsh penalty? That's the Law. That's the left hand kingdom. That's the prophetic voice that must be raised and defended. 

Unfortunately (and I am talking to myself here), we have been afraid to talk about God's rule and natural law and the moral law, because, well, it's not polite to discuss. It's taboo to say that anything anyone is doing is "wrong," because our culture has decided that "wrongness" is determined by popularity, not by God's revealed Word. People want to have abortions because they want to have sexual license without any responsibility.  That's why God ordained marriage, so that men and women could have the law of obligation and responsibility connected to the marriage act.

Right Hand Kingdom - The Church

But God's rule also reigns in the "right hand" kingdom of the church, whose central message is that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that sinners could be forgiven of their sins and declared righteous through faith alone in the atoning work of Christ. So in the abortion issue, God's Word states unequivocally that those who have murdered children by having abortions should put their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  

Because of God's "great mercy," they will be "made alive in Christ" even though they were "dead in trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that murderers of any kind can be forgiven. While this gospel is the central, historic message of Christianity, it is shocking how many churches are not teaching consistently and faithfully the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, a large majority of churches are teaching a psychobabble gospel of self-help moralism.

If you combine the church teaching self-help moralism with American political correctness, what you have left is a church that will never even make a dent in abortion or any other issue. Neither will the church call anyone to faith in Jesus Christ.

However, if the church is careful to keep the left hand and right hand kingdoms distinct, proclaiming both God's law and His gospel loudly, clearly, and with commitment, we could through the proclamation of the terrifying Law and the precious Gospel from the words of Scripture, make abortion be seen as the horrific crime that it is.