Abortion from the mouths of babes

“My friend Kiesha says she’s voting for John McCain because Obama kills babies.”

My wife and I glanced at one another with knowing looks. This was yet another friend whom our 8-year-old daughter had informed us was firmly esconced in the political campaign camp of Senator John McCain. One of her other friends said Obama kills dogs.

“Does he really do those things?” she wanted to know.

Certainly no politically astute eight-year-old in the country would vote for any candidate who kills babies and dogs. And it was apparent that my daughter’s friends fancied themselves knowledgeable in the realm of presidential politics. I answered her question with a couple of my own.

Where did your friends get their information? Did they hear that from Barack Obama?

My daughter’s friends taught me a valuable lesson. The cocophony of political noise in this election season has reached such a crescendo that even well-meaning parents are using negative political tactics to influence their own children. The question is, why?

The answer is obvious: the argument over abortion.

Why is abortion the biggest issue?

There are a myriad of issues over which the church could take a stand in this election, but abortion has risen to the top. The abortion issue was the preeminent focus when Sens. McCain and Obama took the stage at Saddleback Church with Pastor Rick Warren earlier this year. It was the motivating factor for Dr. James Dobson in his 8-page letter my wife and I received recently. And it is the primary argument being made by Christian conservatives who strongly support Sarah Palin as the No. 2 in McCain’s presidential campaign (Phyllis Schlafly argues Palin’s No. 1).

The rationale presented by many Christians for such a strong focus on the abortion issue is this: The next president will likely have the opportunity to appoint a replacement on the Supreme Court — possibly two replacements. And with the 5-4 Court ruling in 1989 that upheld the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision (7-2), which hangs in the balance, the war in Iraq pales in comparison to the current battle raging over the abortion issue.

So, let’s take a look at the real issue behind the debate over abortion and see where you stand when the whole truth is revealed.

I see dead babies

Since 1973, there have been more than 40 million abortions in the United States. On average, every year another 1 million abortions are added to that number. That’s an awful lot of terminated souls … children sentenced to death by their own mothers’ decisions.

There is no debate over the fact that most Christian conservatives perceive the only presidential candidate in this election who will advance their agenda to overturn Roe v Wade is John McCain. Though McCain has had innumerable issues with the GOP right-wing for many years, the addition of Sarah Palin to his campaign has elevated support for him and produced a genuine excitement that was missing prior to Palin joining McCain’s campaign. The reason? She is a very strong pro-life voice and professes an unapologetic love of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

With all of that being said, there should be no question that I thoroughly understand what’s at stake in this election. No one should accuse me of failing to comprehend the pro-life position and the political stance of millions of conservative Christians. Since I am also a Christian conservative, I have a strong opinion about the saving of lives that dovetails with the fundamental position of the pro-life movement and conservative Christian activists.

Misguided Christians

But I also have a very strong opinion that Christians are misguided on this issue. And in order to make the argument that John McCain and Sarah Palin are the potential saviors who will right an egregious wrong in this country and potentially save the lives of millions, one has to either ignore completely, or at least compromise, the whole truth. Additionally, in order to proffer a potential president such as Palin and support a man like McCain as Commander in Chief, one has to first demonstrate a willingness to ignore the basic tenets of Christian faith.

Now, those statements may sound a bit harsh. They may be even be offensive to some. But they aren’t meant to be. Those are definitive statements that encapsulate the arguments I intend to lay out below. The current debate between pro-life and pro-choice are debates between an angel of light and an angel of darkness — both of which are embodied in Satan, who easily transforms from one to the other continuously. In order to support one or the other, one must either ignore or at least compromise on truth. In so doing, God has been removed from the equation. And once God is removed all that is left is evil, regardless of how beautiful it may appear.

For generations, many Christians have been duped into supporting Satan, either by giving into temptation (which we all do at times) or by fervently — albeit unwittingly — pushing his agenda while strongly believing we are doing the right thing. It is the latter premise that describes the pro-life movement today. And it is a premise that describes many of our Christian leaders as well.

Of course, one could argue immediately that my accusations are a result of inaccurate information or perhaps even a personal bias or vendetta. If you feel compelled to make such an argument, defending your position even before hearing mine, perhaps you are not ready to subject your position to scrutiny. But keep in mind that the truth requires no defense and isn’t afraid of being scrutinized. Once revealed, it is like a lamp that sheds light upon the surrounding darkness that attempts to hide it. The truth will create dissension and divide unified bodies, including the church family.

Importance of Truth

Jesus said in Matthew 10:

34″Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35For I have come to turn
‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

The passage is re-stated in Luke 12. Jesus said:

49″I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Price of peace

Peace is worthless if it is bought through the compromise of truth. What good are all the smiles on Christian faces if we ignore the truth behind the pain and suffering around us and in our own families? It is dangerous if one must ignore truth in order to obtain a relative peace.

Therefore, let us examine the truth of the pro-life position to determine if it indeed can be reconciled with our faith in Jesus Christ. If it can, then we have cemented our position and grown stronger in knowing the whole truth. If we cannot reconcile our faith in Christ with our political positions, then we have a choice to make on which master we will serve.

The over-arching idea of being “pro-life” is that we are for saving the lives of the unborn through political support. Unfortunately, a belief in that argument is naive. The pro-life movement is a political construct that seeks to buttress support for political candidates based upon the notion that the placement of pro-life candidates in key government positions will eventually result in an over-turning of Roe v Wade. We end up with reversing a court case as a result of political machinations.

Truth about Pro-Life agenda

So, the focus of the pro-life movement is on over-turning a court case ruling. Let’s not forget that as we delve into the role of Christians in America, especially when it comes to playing a role with regard to issues of life and death. Disclaimer: This statement is not made to downplay the role of many well-meaning pro-life Christians who volunteer and work doing innumerable things to offer assistance and compassion to those who find themselves in terrible dilemmas. Such work is laudable and honorable. But my focus is on the political movement that calls itself “pro-life,” not the non-political work that addresses much-needed problems in the aftermath of unwanted pregnancies.

History reveals truth

It is history that is being played out in today’s presidential election. It is history in which God has played a part — from the beginning to this very day. And it is history to which the Bible bears witness, which provides us an understanding of the struggles that evil has wrought throughout the world. So, let’s take a look at a bit of American history from a Christian perspective.

The first legal Constitution in this country was created in 1780 in the state of Massachusetts (written by John Adams the year prior to being approved). It would eventually become the document that served as the template for the U.S. Constitution, written in 1787 (effective in 1789).

Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1780

Article I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

Article III. As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality: Therefore, to promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.

Any every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.

The above articles taken from the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution are clearly pro-liberty, pro-freedom and pro-equal rights. One would naturally assume all of these wonderful Christians were pro-life as well. But the reality is that despite the pro-Christian constitution, which included several references to Christians (even Protestant) and required all elected officials to be Christians, the law in its application failed reflect its own proclamations or even the beliefs of those who claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ. In Boston alone, 10% of the population was black slaves, none of whom could read the legal document that governed them — not that any ability to read would have catapulted them from their wretched circumstances. The pro-life Christians at that time were primarily concerned with ensuring the quality of their own lives. The suffering of others were minor issues. More than 1700 years after the crucifixion of Christ, followers of Jesus were professing His Word in Massachusetts while simultaneously ignoring it.

At an anti-slavery meeting in Framingham, Massachusetts on July 4, 1854, Henry David Thoreau created a stir with his observation. Here is a brief portion of it:

“I LATELY ATTENDED a meeting of the citizens of Concord, expecting, as one among many, to speak on the subject of slavery in Massachusetts; but I was surprised and disappointed to find that what had called my townsmen together was the destiny of Nebraska, and not of Massachusetts, and that what I had to say would be entirely out of order. I had thought that the house was on fire, and not the prairie; but though several of the citizens of Massachusetts are now in prison for attempting to rescue a slave from her own clutches, not one of the speakers at that meeting expressed regret for it, not one even referred to it. It was only the disposition of some wild lands a thousand miles off which appeared to concern them. The inhabitants of Concord are not prepared to stand by one of their own bridges, but talk only of taking up a position on the highlands beyond the Yellowstone River. There is not one slave in Nebraska; there are perhaps a million slaves in Massachusetts.”

Again we see where Christian folks held up a banner of good intentions and proceeded to ignore the true purpose of their meeting. But that was 164 years ago. Is that happening today?

Christian American relationships

Let’s look at how we, as Christians, view pro-life in modern times, beginning with the relationship between men and women. After all, before one can presume to enter into a debate over terminating a pregnancy, one must first discuss the circumstances that produced the pregnancy.

So, let’s look at relationships in America today.

When we speak of life, we’re truly speaking of the bonding that must occur in order for life to be produced. God placed restrictions on such relations. He called it marriage. If any Christian seeks to enjoy the pleasure and fruits of sexual bonding, he or she must first marry. There really isn’t any way to reconcile this requirement by God with any of the pseudo-relations accepted today by many Christians. Can you imagine explaining to God that you thought it was OK by Him to engage in intimacy with your girlfriend or boyfriend?

But let’s stick with marriage for the moment. The state has its own definitions of marriage, which have evolved over time. Prior to the 1967 Supreme Court ruling in Loving vs. Virginia,  where the Court struck down Virginia’s “Racial Integrity Act,” which prohibited marriage between blacks and whites, most all of the nation agreed with Virginia. And if I may point out the obvious, most all of the U.S. was comprised of Christians, especially the state and federal legislatures filled with elected Christian leaders. Still, it took the Supreme Court to tell Christians what they were doing was wrong and violated constitutional laws they themselves put into place. Here again, we see good Christian people with good intentions acting with ignorance or at least compromise of God’s Word.

Though some make the argument that those times are not these times, and in those times things were different, it seems disingenuous to make such an argument when God’s word has withstood many more centuries than this nation has existed — and it’s message has not changed.

Misguided faith in the State

The problem we run into even before we get to the issue of Roe v Wade and abortion, is that God’s people had already turned to the state for direction. Christians had devised particular man-made laws that enabled them to ignore God-made laws.

When it comes to marriage, there is no biblical provision for asking the state (any government) for permission to marry. This is a wrong direction that Christians devised that does not reconcile with Christian faith. We shall soon see how placing faith in the power of the state can damage one’s faith in the power of God.

Once the state took over marriage, it began to outlaw what was once known as common law marriage. Today, most Christian youth do not know what common law marriage is. That’s because it doesn’t legally exist in most places, isn’t taught and seldom mentioned.

Common law marriage?

But the truth is that while Christians are battling politically to officially define what marriage is according to each state law, they are simultaneously ignoring the fact that God did not provide for the state to give permission, offer recognition nor define what He created. Even the state recognizes that fact. That’s why state governments outlawed common law marriages (except for 10 states).

God’s marital arrangement

God gave all of us the choice to enter into marital relationships and enjoy both the pleasures and fruits of sexual bonding. The marriage relationship is blessed by God and referred to by Christ as a mystery. It is a life-long covenant made between three, not two, with Jesus as the Counselor and Guide.

The marital relationship is compared to Jesus’ relationship with the church. As the church serves Christ, so shall the wife serve her husband. And as Christ forgives and sacrifices for the church, even to death, so shall the husband love his wife and give his life for her. That sounds like a pretty solid commitment on both parts — and a foundation suitable for raising children. The state plays no part in such an arrangement.

So why does the church waste so much time trying to be the arbiter and legislator of what defines marriage for society? If American society is made up primarily of Christians then it seems apropo that Christians would simply live according to our faith and let others live according to theirs. If we believe in the power of our faith that attracts others to it through living it out, then why are we seeking to fight a battle that is God’s to fight? Why are we devising our own methods of winning over souls to Christ while ignoring the commandments given to us on how we should live?

If we believe God works through us, then why don’t we simply live according to His Word and love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Instead, we seek to change our neighbor to suit ourselves. Meanwhile, God seeks to change us.

Abortion battle: Road paved with good intentions

So what does the Christian war over a legal definition of marriage have to do with anything? It is yet another demonstration of how Christians have walked so far from God’s Word that we wave the banner of good intentions while ignoring, or at least compromising, God’s Word. The state has no power over marriage, except that which we give it. God gave us to the power to marry one another by personal decree. When two people come together and make a solemn commitment before God and announce it publicly, they have met the criteria for God … and what was once known as common law marriage. Common law refers to what is common among people and accepted as lawful.

The state outlawed such practices. That set the state against God.

Today, many Christians are so involved in political battles to influence state and federal laws, they have forgotten that none of that matters to God. The state could begin the process of marrying animals and people if it desires. The state isn’t beholden to God. And God’s people need not be concerned that the state would destroy what God has created. Can you imagine that Christians would fear the power of the state is greater than the power of God?

Today, it is Christians who frown upon two people who have publicly declared their love and life-long commitment to one another. That public declaration was heard by God. No piece of paper prescribed by the state will confirm nor deny what God recognizes. There is a far more important issue at stake for Christians.

Sexual relationships

When God afforded us marriage, which does not exist in heaven, He simultaneously forbade us from abusing such relationships — and prohibited sexual engagements outside of marriage.

So, if sex is a wonderful pleasure we enjoy, and God offered us this gift within the boundaries of a life-long committed relationship called marriage, then where did the idea of boyfriends and girlfriends originate?

And why do Christians subscribe to such nonsense?

I argue that within the notion of boyfriends and girlfriends exists the deception that seeks to replace the marital covenant with a counterfeit temporary relationship that steals the gift of intimacy reserved for marriage and abuses it for immediate self gratification.

The use of the terms “boyfriend” and girlfriend” are essential for making the relationship sound official and acceptable to Christians in American society.

It has worked. Millions of American pre-teens and teenagers grow up with the idea that boyfriend/girlfriend relationships have some sort of legitimacy to them. Even adults use those terms to indicate they are involved in an intimate relationship with someone to whom they are not married.

Over the past century, with the advent of “dating” supplanting old-fashioned methods involving families in the courting processes, young girls and boys have been given license, by an accepting Christian society, to engage in intimate relations outside the boundaries of marriage. This newfound freedom has wrought terrible consequences — and though our entire country is under a major assault by evil forces using this tool to undermine relationships, fragment families and divorce us from our faith, no demographic in American society has been impacted more severely than African Americans.

Horrific history

While pro-lifers seek to overturn a court decision, they overlook the movement by feminists made in the mold of Margaret Sanger (author of the Negro Project and named one of the 100 American heroes of the 20th Century by Time Magazine).

Sanger sought to address the rampant reproduction problems she saw in the working class through: education, eugenics, abortion and contraception:

“As an advocate of birth control I wish … to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation…. On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”

“All of our problems are the result of overbreeding among the working class, and if morality is to mean anything at all to us, we must regard all the changes which tend toward the uplift and survival of the human race as moral.”

“Birth control is the first important step woman must take toward the goal of her freedom. It is the first step she must take to be man’s equal. It is the first step they must both take toward human emancipation.”

“Has knowledge of birth control, so carefully guarded and so secretly practiced by the women of the wealthy class – and so tenaciously withheld from the working women – brought them misery? Rather, has it not promoted greater happiness, greater freedom, greater prosperity and more harmony among them? The women who have this knowledge are the women who have been free to develop, free to enjoy in its best sense, and free to advance the interests of the community.”

“Eugenics is … the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.”

“The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics.”

“The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.”

“The mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.”

“[We propose to] hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. And we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

“It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them.”

For sources click here

Prior to Sanger’s impassioned pleas to somehow, through a process of eugenics, establish a suitable method for procreation in American society, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter establishing his own support for somehow preventing the breeding of lower classes. He wrote in 1913:

“I agree with you, if you mean as I suppose you do, that society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their own kind.”

In 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the military to offer pilots bonuses of $4,000 for each child they had above three children, thus offering a monetary incentive to breed. This was officially known as the Pioneer Fund. The Wall Street Journal wrote a lengthy report on the Pioneer Fund on Aug. 17, 1999.

The folks who agree with Sanger (American hero) and the Roosevelt family (presidential leaders) have a long and sordid history of addressing reproduction from the point of view of supremacy, whether such supremacy pertains to race, education or wealth. These folks think they are better than others and desire to somehow manipulate the lives of others by implementing educational, medical, political and legal strategies.

Doomed to repeat history

The pro-life movement, rightfully offended by such ideals, has employed the exact same tactics to combat what they see as infanticide.

Sanger addressed such notions:

“But during all the long years this matter has been discussed, advocated, refuted, the people themselves—poor people especially—were blindly, desperately practicing family limitation, just as they are practicing it today. To them birth control does not mean what it does to us. To them it has meant the most barbaric methods. It has meant the killing of babies—infanticide,—abortions,—in one crude way or another.” (My Fight for Birth Control, 1931, page 133)

Sanger sought to counter the argument against abortion as elementary, uneducated and crude. She simply elevated the terms and thus mitigated the emotional impact.

It is a strategy that has taken hold of the pro-life movement and created an army of “YES” people who fail to ask legitimate and probing questions. This army simply argues from a foundation of emotion over saving the life of a child.

They feel so strongly about it, some will go to extremes, such as blowing up abortion clinics. Others will find less intrusive ways of showing support, such as contributing money to the cause, volunteering with political campaigns and taking advantage of various other options.

Right ideal, misguided efforts

But the reality is that the pro-lifers are misguided, even as they accuse the pro-choicers of being misguided. Neither side have embraced God’s Word on this issue. And both sides are doomed to failure. Meanwhile, the problem Margaret Sanger spoke of in the 20s is far worse today. Her efforts, regardless of how esteemed media like Time may regard them, were worthless.

While pro-choicers argue that Roe v Wade was a victory, the reality is that it did nothing to stem the tide of what Sanger saw was a growing problem. And while pro-lifers see over-turning Roe v Wade as a victory, that will do nothing to stem the tide of what has become the quintessential problem in the United States.

What is that real problem?

Our failure to recognize the sanctity of marriage has resulted in an acceptance of counterfeit temporary intimate relationships. The falling away from that which God has blessed, and raising our children to accept wrongheaded ideals — in a culture where we are immersed in messages condoning sexual behavior outside of marriage — has led to a devaluing of life itself.

The result?

The pro-life movement fails to focus on the problem, which is the fact that Christians are engaging in relationships that God prohibits. Christians are raising children to accept terms that elevate the crude messages of a society that hates God. Those terms (boyfriend and girlfriend) help mitigate the natural impulse to reject such callous and casual encounters and relations between youth and adults.

Today, it is Christians who are the pre-dominant victims of the abortion crisis. And it is Christians who continue to scream about over-turning a court ruling of a law made by man while failing to see that they are ignoring the violations of a law made by God. Such violations produce rotten fruit (undesired consequences) pro-lifers seek to diminish through a man-made legal process.

It matters not what laws man makes when one is adhering to laws God provides us. Man is concerned primarily with unscrupulous ulterior motives. The efforts made to engage in political battles over a Godly issue are worthless and can’t produce a result that will substantially reduce or eliminate the problem.

Step 1: recognizing the abortion problem

The problem isn’t 40 million abortions. Those are merely symptoms of the problem.

The problem is that we have become such a callous and stubborn people that we have no outrage and compassion to act when millions who profess belief in Christ are engaging in lives and lifestyles that are contrary to their own faith. If we were to see how we are living as a body of believers, we would be embarrassed to say the least. We most certainly should be ashamed — but we should also direct all of our energies toward elevating this problem to the forefront of every church discussion. We need God’s forgiveness, guidance and discipline in our own midst before we can begin to think about impacting society at large.

We should also be proactive in noting that there are millions of Christian girls, boys, men and women living with the lie that engaging in behavior that God condemns is OK if you put an acceptable label on it. The boyfriend/girlfriend relationship could only be accepted by an entire society comprised mostly of Christians if Christians were the ones who accepted and promoted it … teaching it to our children as well.

Labels: A rose by any other name

Although gays and lesbians have pushed the term “partner” as an appropriate and acceptable term, it falls short of broad acceptance because it hasn’t been adopted by Christians. Yet, the equally meaningless terms, boyfriend and girlfriend make Christians feel comfortable.

Sarah Palin: Misguided priorities

The pro-life movement has lost its understanding of the problem and therefore become ineffective. Christians must address the issue of relationships and sex. We must not accept the lie by pro-lifers that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is acceptable as a leader. This is a woman whom the pro-lifers did not know, yet immediately adopted because of two reasons: Palin pushes pro-life political jargon and professes belief in Jesus.

The same woman who pro-lifers set upon a pedestal because she gave birth to a baby earlier this year, is the same woman whose water broke while giving a speech in Texas — and she endangered the child by embarking on a 10-hour flight back to Alaska, rather than getting to a nearby hospital. That child has Down Syndrome. If she knew that ahead of giving birth, it only makes her decision to finish her speech and jump on a plane all the worse. That’s not a woman fit to lead a nation.

Palin is also lauded for her daughter’s decision to give birth. Palin’s daughter is 17. By all accounts, she has been involved sexually with a boy at her school for the past two years. That would make her 15 years old engaging in a public relationship that is regarded as sexual outside of the boundaries God has set. Palin’s faith and knowledge of God’s boundaries should have raised numerous alarms. Her position as mother should have clued her in to the danger that surrounded her daughter. However Palin may have handled the situation, the result is a 17-year-old ready to give birth out of wedlock. A mother who understands leadership would recognize that she is desperately needed by her special needs child and wayward lost daughter who is facing enormous difficulties ahead.

Palin and Pro-Life: similar problems

Palin’s problems are similar to the problems of the pro-life movement. She is so blinded by her agenda that she is willing to ignore, or at least compromise, her duty to her family and to God.

The very notion of “Country First” is patently offensive. Yet, this is the mantra of the campaign banner under which this mother of four needy children is traversing the country, smiling and waving. Certainly, God could care less about her devotion to the a mythical boundary placed upon land masses he created.

But, don’t blame God …

God did not establish the government of this land we call America. He had no part in its enslavement of peoples for hundreds of years. God wasn’t a part of the genocide that targeted numerous indigenous peoples who lived here before the Founders of this nation determined it was free land for the taking, if you killed the folks living on it.

Christians know that by our fruits you will know us. Conversely, evil fruit comes from an evil tree or vine.

God didn’t authorize the oppression of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, native Americans and a host of other folks on this continent. God didn’t support the decision to establish homes on Mexican land (illegal immigration) and then go to war to take control of it (Texas). And God wasn’t part of the effort to establish a public education industry (indoctrination) that deliberately ensures targeted demographics receive a sub-par education. And God didn’t order the U.S. to invade and overthrow numerous governments and kill people around the globe over the past 60 years.

Shhhh … don’t mention lives outside the womb

Many pro-lifers don’t want to talk about children and families being killed elsewhere. Those are lesser issues for far too many supporters of the pro-life political movement.

The pro-lifers deflect attention away from their hypocrisy by yelling loud and long. They often use graphic signs to show what happens when Christians girls and women defy God and sentence their own kids to death. The pro-lifers blame the capitalists and humanists who seek to sell the baby body parts for research and influence women to engage in whatever sexual lifestyles they choose.

But isn’t all life worth such attention? Shouldn’t the pro-lifers also demonstrate a concern for all life that stands in the position of imminent death? Do pro-lifers care much about the fact that millions have been killed outside of our nation by the orders of numerous U.S. Commanders in Chief over the same time period pro-lifers have been waging a political war to influence the Supreme Court? Is the moniker “pro-life” merely a term being abused by those whose concern is solely for the purpose of overturning a court ruling?

What wars and rumors of wars?

Will the overturning of Roe v Wade stop the killing our Christian troops are doing right now? Will the potential overturning of a Supreme Court decision reduce or eliminate the massive amount of injuries and death the U.S. is creating in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan?

The pro-lifers do not concern themselves with such minor issues. The lies that were told to convince Christians to send their kids to kill and be killed are of little consequence to Christians who can only see through “pro-life” political glasses.

The brazen announcement by John McCain and Sarah Palin that they would both maintain our troops in Iraq indefinitely meant nothing to pro-lifers who seemingly care less about human life that is outside of an American woman’s womb.

Bless your enemies

How does any Christian reconcile support of two such political characters who are so obviously out of touch with God? While pro-life Christians point an accusing finger at their political enemies, they fail to equally scrutinize the individuals whom they willingly support. How does any Christian fail to see the outright deception that emanates from these two who ask me to put “Country First” while sacrificing my family — as Palin has done — upon an altar of political allegiance? And how does any politically astute Christian voter ignore the fact that McCain has been in Congress for more than a decade … and an integral part of a number of problems in that institution, not the least of which is a demonstrable failure to hold accountable those leaders who abuse their authority, deceive the American people and cause death and destruction. This man, who is one of 100 unique leaders with powerful voices in the Senate, has remained silent for many years on the biggest issue for which he is known … war. Even after the Senate Intelligence Committee reported the president’s administration misled this nation into war — and in the aftermath of numerous books that shed light on evil machinations in the White House and Pentagon that sought to deliberately deceive the American people — John McCain sat silent while U.S. service members died. He sat silent while U.S. troops killed innocent men, women and children. And when he finally opened his mouth, he proclaimed the U.S. military would remain in Iraq if he were president.

That announcement alone ought to be enough for pro-lifers to withdraw support for a man who is clearly not pro-life … nor pro-truth.

How does a Christian, with knowledge this country is being led by liars to commit murder, reconcile their support and political alignment with lying leaders when Jesus charged the leaders of the Jews in His day with being liars and told them their father was Satan, the father of all lies?

How do Christians not take to the streets by the millions when they discover they have been deceived by liars into sacrificing their children and the children of peoples in foreign nations based upon lies and deception? Where is the outrage? Would we be outraged if it were decreed that all teenagers, at age 18, must join the military in order that our leaders will have enough bodies to fight multiple wars simultaneously?

Outrage? Why should there be outrage?

The church wasn’t outraged throughout the history of this nation and its generational horrors inflicted upon huge populations. The church wasn’t outraged when a German leader offered to deport an entire Jewish population to the nations that would take them … and nobody did. The church choked itself into silence during an extermination of millions of peoples in Europe and Russia under Hitler and Stalin. It ignored Mussolini, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, The Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein and a whole host of brutal dictators. The church even remained quiet during the silent screams of a half-million Rwandans in 1994.

Certainly, the church has forgotten the fact that the U.S., fresh off of a Civil War, began a systemic legal oppression of the very peoples who gained freedom from slavery. Their children suffered through far worse than anything the so-called Great Depression could inflict. And in the immediate aftermath of WWII, the same nation that calls itself the “greatest on earth” began a ruthless expansion of military power that resulted in the killing of innocent peoples all over the world. That expansion of power and killing of innocents continues to this day unabated. Where are the pro-lifers protesting the killing of innocent lives by the U.S. military sent to do the bidding of a lying president? Where is the outrage from the church?

Such outrage did come from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and he was condemned for it … by Christians!

Jesus said that we should bless our enemies and those who persecute us. We should be peacemakers. Yet, Christians are supporting war mongers and a guy who says he refuses to talk to our enemies (McCain). But, we know today, whomever our government says is our enemy isn’t necessarily so. Thus, talking to foreign leaders may have revealed the lies we so readily accepted from our own untrustworthy leaders.

If the Christian church were as interested in truth as we say we are, wouldn’t we have known years ago that our government was lying in order to garner support for a war that was illicit, illegal and immoral? I knew. But who will listen to me?

Truth in plain sight

Such faith in government leaders and liars is not the faith of Christians. It is the faith of fallen people.

Today, pro-life followers cannot see past Sarah Palin’s willingness to sacrifice her family’s needs upon an altar of political ambition. Indeed, we see many pro-lifers sacrificing their own families under the command of liars in order to advance their own agendas. And we also see Christian leaders aligned with political parties and leaders rather than holding them accountable to God’s Word. When Christian leaders fail to reveal truth, what happens to the communities of Christians who trust their judgment and abilities to remain informed of the truth of current events? The government works constantly to deceive the media. Don’t Christians know that without a concerted effort to ensure government leaders are telling the truth that they will become victims of their blind faith in a politician who proclaims he is a Christian?

This election has revealed some very ugly faces. And while some Christians claim they are voting for the lesser of two evils, such statements are more evidence of the ignorance that pervades the Christian populace today in America. Compromise has become the lord of all and excuses substitute for a hunger and thirst for truth.

I am outraged

I am outraged. Not at what this country has become. It has always been evil. Little has changed with all the modern conveniences technology has produced. Our hearts are still hard. And our minds still focused on ourselves. I am outraged because I see Christians seeking to change society by doing un-Christian-like things. I see Christians refusing to discuss relevant issues, closing doors to truth and plugging their ears and stomping their feet as they repeat over and over whatever mantra has been given in order to push forward the agenda and support the annointed agenda leader.

I am outraged because 40 million babies are terminated because Christians can’t see that millions of our children are believing the lie that it’s OK to engage in intimate relationships apart from the one God has blessed.

I’m outraged because pro-lifers will pontificate about concerns over life while simultaneously ignoring the lives of children that will be taken tomorrow under orders of a Commander in Chief they have the immediate ability to remove. Such a removal signals they care deeply about the kids and their parents who may not see tomorrow. Removing lying leaders also shows concern about those troops sent to kill innocent families … who may themselves become victims of battles decided by corrupt evil leaders who could care less how many lives will be lost to achieve their goals.

We have made this election all about the potential to overturn a court ruling while lives are being snuffed out daily.

The pro-lifers are powerless to do anything about girls and women who willingly decide to kill their own. That battle is waged within the heart. And by the time that girl or woman gets to the point of deciding death for her child, she already decided death for herself when she rejected God and accepted Satan’s fantasy of sexual fulfillment with a man who is not her husband. That theft of the gift God reserved for marriage turned her entire life into a lie — a meaningless hope that perhaps she could be fulfilled by her partner who told her the lie. Christians have a compassionate place beside her, helping her through such a tumultuous time and gently nudging her toward Jesus, who is Savior of all who accept Him. That’s a legitimate role for Christians — one that demonstrates our love for our neighbor. Seeking to change the laws of this nation through two houses of Congress, an executive branch and high Court — most all of which are led by by professing Christians — is an exercise in futility when the individuals impacted daily by bad decisions are missing those compassionate Christian voices in their lives.

Words to remember

My mother used to say, “If you’ll lie, you’ll steal. If you’ll steal, you’ll kill.”

Millions of babies are suffering death at the hands of couples who willingly stole a gift God reserved for life-long marital unions. Millions of boyfriends and girlfriends are suffering unwanted pregnancies, diseases and heartache from breakups … all as a result of relationships that have no blessings from God. They willingly stole the gift of sexual bonding. They abused it for their own gratification. They accepted the lies that came with it and then told those lies to others. And, as my mother used to say, if you lie, you will steal, and if you steal, you will kill. Some eventually find themselves ordering the deaths of their own children.

These are Christians! And there is no outrage outside of the desire to overturn a court ruling?

The pro-lifers have found themselves in the same boat as the girls and women whose lives they want to change (through a blind pursuit of changing a court ruling). Pro-lifers have told lies about their purpose to save lives. They have stolen the support of those who would not have given it had they known the truth. And they have continually ignored the killing of innocent peoples, though the pro-life movement has a voice large enough to be heard … if the killings of innocent families in other lands produced even a modicum of outrage.

Sexual consequences: Learn from Black America

Today, more than two-thirds of all unwanted pregnancies in the U.S. are in Black and Hispanic communities. Black girls and women alone account for 42% of a million annual abortions. If you think that’s because of Roe v Wade and the mere availability of the abortion process, then you read all of this for naught.

There is a crisis in relationships in this country. More than 90% of black women profess to be Christians, yet the numbers of black girls and women engaging in sexual relationships outside of marriage is so high it has become the norm. Such is the case for whites and Hispanics as well.

But the consequences in black America have been devastating.

• Blacks are five times more likely to seek an abortion than whites. The same holds true even when adjusting for education and income.
• Blacks have the lowest marital rate in the country.
• Blacks have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
• Blacks have the highest percentage of out-of-wedlock births, which translates into the highest percentage of single mothers, which loosely translates into the highest percentage of troubled youth, alcoholism, drug addiction and incarceration.
• Blacks have the highest rate of violence against one another. Violence and STDs top the chart on health problems, ahead of heart disease and diabetes.
• Blacks represent 12% of the U.S. population, but twice that percentage are represented in the Army.

What I am describing is a crisis impacting lives. If this is news to you, it is because your church, my church and every Christian church in the country has used its newsletters, radio stations television programs and national influence to promote agendas that completely ignore, or at least compromise, the attention to real issues impacting real Christians.

I offered you insight into Black America because this is where the consequences are most severe. This is where we can easily see the lessons of abandoning God’s method of establishing and maintaining relationships. This is where we ought to begin to learn how to address these very serious issues that impact the nation as a whole.

A problem only God can fix

This problem is far bigger than overturning a court ruling. We have a sin problem.

The sin problem is so large that it has already ballooned beyond our ability to address it. Some of us try to isolate ourselves and hide our children from it. But it gets to them anyway. They all know the terms boyfriend and girlfriend. And most Christians don’t know this is how the insidious plot for their innocent minds and hearts begins.

My daughter goes to a Christian school. Yet, it is there she is told by her friends that a Senator kills babies and dogs. It is in a Christian school where she learns the lie that one nation is greater than another. It is Christians who promote the fallacy that God so loved America that He gave His only Son …

It is within the midst of Christians that my eight-year-old daughter learns of “boyfriends and girlfriends.” It is inside the body of believers where the problem exists, not on the Supreme Court.

Insidious evil

Margaret Sanger’s strategy: Change the terms and mitigate the impact to their natural impulses to reject the thing that God condemns.

If it isn’t called abortion or infanticide or something bad, women will embrace it. If you call it health education, reproductive health and other inocuous terms that don’t sound so bad, even Christians will be fooled.

People don’t really need to get married, do they? If they have feelings for one another, they can enter into consentual sexual relationships. It’s nobody’s business but their own, right? But just in case society gets too nosy and frowns a bit, we can call it something. If Christians accept the terms, then they can accept the relationship. And if other Christians can model it, then it spreads like a wildfire, scorching our senses and killing our ability to even detect the presence of debilitating evil.

Christian pro-life, pro-family

Christians ought to be concerned with all life, both here and abroad. Families are crucial components of God’s plan. Families are the core of the church body. And they are necessary to protect children from assault, guard the hearts of men and women from temptations, and spread the Gospel through our lives.

Christians should not be a part of supporting evil agendas, ignoring the killing of innocent peoples, trusting our lives and safety to liars who abuse our trust and send our children to kill and be killed. That is not the way of Christians. It is not the way of Christ. And it can be clearly seen in this election season.

Christians have lost their way behind the banner of pro-life. The hypocrisy we leave behind us as we stride down the road of wrong, looking for it to turn right, is obvious to everyone except us.

It is time that we began to trust God at His Word. And as Christians, let’s put God first, rather than country. And let’s regard all life as a priority, not just the lives of unborn children in the wombs of American women.

Posted on November 2nd, 2008 by MikeGreen
Filed under: Election 2008, thebook

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