“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.””
(Romans 12:19 ESV)
I remember it like it was yesterday: a dark snowy day darkened when the officer seated in his car, scouring the sidewalk for someone to make an example of, took action. Without a word, he got out his car, approached David H., a friend of mine, and arrested him. And what crime afforded David a ride downtown and a series of legal battles that has spanned the last several years? Well, the answer differs depending on who you ask.
The official report of the incident has been summarized in a recent new article, stating that David, “a former semi-pro basketball player” (doubtlessly a necessary detail to slant the story), pushed a clinic escort, leaving a pair of bruises on her arm. Yet, the story makes clear that the only reason that David could do such a terrible thing is because of his relentless determination to “confront a woman before she entered [the abortion clinic].” All the clinic escort was guilty of was showing compassion to the client by standing in his line of fire. If it were not for the escort, the story intimates, that violence could very well have belonged to the woman walking in for the abortion. In the end, the abortion clinic escort is a hero of sorts, or so we are told. But is that how the story really goes?
I have known David for a number of years, and the thought of him getting violent flies in the face of everything I’ve ever known about him. I’ll never forget the kind of things he would say to women walking in the abortion clinic, describing the depth of his concern and care for them. Words like, “We care about you,” or, “We are here for you,” resounded from David week after week. Relentless? Indeed. But his resilience was to display the love of Christ in restraining evil, and making the gospel known to those in need. What was clear that morning was that the police officer came to the clinic for one reason, and one reason alone: to make an example of a pro-life protester, showing that any degree of public disturbance would not be tolerated. I watched him as he sat in his car, eagerly looking for the first one to slip. Unfortunately, that was David.
I can tell you as one standing right there, these charges always have been, and still are, bogus. But, in our system of “justice,” that is increasingly hostile to obedience to the law of Christ, the ground for righteous living is slowly shrinking beneath our feet. Speaking out for the weak and helpless in our society is a criminal offense. Standing on biblical principles is damnable. Freedom of religion is fine as long as your freedom does not make a moral judgment on another. We are told to “coexist” with all. But that is not how biblical Christianity began, and certainly not how the gospel has spread. There are volumes in libraries that recount the persecution of those entrusted with the gospel, many of whom gave their lives to further its reaches. In the eyes of the world, these fools gave their lives for an even more foolish cause. But God would care to disagree with their assessment.
The Bible makes clear that there will be trials for Christians in this life (John 16:33; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12), but these troubles are not the final word. Rather, God has said that there is day a judgment, where all the wrongs in this life will be made right; all injustice will be met with recompense. Though David is required to pay the wicked to bring an end to this trial, there is a day coming where God himself will be the one to pay everyone according to their works. And for the unrepentant who stand against his redeemed people, that day will be a day of wrath, and ultimately, of the true justice of God.
Russell Moore has recently responded to an article in Time magazine on the success of the pro-life movement. He offers a much needed word of caution to those who would prematurely celebrate a victory in the pro-life camp.
Though in one sense the pro-life cause has gained a significant amount of ground, Moore warns that the complicated situation in America does not allow for such a cut-and-dry conclusion. Though we have the assurance of ultimate victory in Christ, we need to be realistic about where we really are now.
You can read the whole thing here.
Writing at LiveAction.org, Kristen Walker pens a piece that I believe is worth mentioning here. In this post, she lists three myths about pro-lifers:
3. We don’t care about children once they’re born.
2. We don’t care about women.
1. We’re fighting for a lost cause.
From my own personal experience on the sidewalk, these are most certainly the arguments I hear from the abortion clinic escorts. They are, of course, baseless claims and completely untrue. Please take time to read the entire post here.
The fight we are fighting most oftentimes does feel like an uphill battle but it’s one we must not give up on. Ms Walker ends her article with this statement:
We win an essential and priceless battle every time a woman chooses life, and no matter how long it takes to win the legal war, we will not stop fighting.
“God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! 2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! 3 But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! 4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! 5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” -Psalm 68:1-5
From the archives of the The Human Life Review is an article President Reagan wrote in 1983.
An excerpt:
The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is a good time for us to pause and reflect. Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators — not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. But the consequences of this judicial decision are now obvious: since 1973, more than 15 million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortions. That is over ten times the number of Americans lost in all our nation’s wars.
Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court’s result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right. Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion “is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be.” Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a “right” so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.
More:
What, then, is the real issue? I have often said that when we talk about abortion, we are talking about two lives — the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child. Why else do we call a pregnant woman a mother? I have also said that anyone who doesn’t feel sure whether we are talking about a second human life should clearly give life the benefit of the doubt. If you don’t know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it. I think this consideration itself should be enough for all of us to insist on protecting the unborn.
The case against abortion does not rest here, however, for medical practice confirms at every step the correctness of these moral sensibilities. Modern medicine treats the unborn child as a patient. Medical pioneers have made great breakthroughs in treating the unborn — for genetic problems, vitamin deficiencies, irregular heart rhythms, and other medical conditions. Who can forget George Will’s moving account of the little boy who underwent brain surgery six times during the nine weeks before he was born? Who is the patient if not that tiny unborn human being who can feel pain when he or she is approached by doctors who come to kill rather than to cure?
The real question today is not when human life begins, but, What is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother’s body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law — the same right we have.
Conclusion:
Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.
I would highly encourage you to read the entire article.
HT: Trevin Wax
Randy Alcorn’s book, Why Pro-Life?, is available for free online. From the publisher:
Abortion is a hot topic, ranking number one among issues people feel strongly about. Abortion is America’s most frequently performed surgery on women, with approximately 1.37 million reported abortions in the U.S. each year. Everyone is affected by abortion, including Christians. (Those calling themselves Protestant or Catholic account for two-thirds of U.S. abortions; those calling themselves “born again” account for 18%.)
Finally, a book has been written that presents the facts about abortion with grace and compassion, helping readers to root their beliefs in reality, not bumper-sticker slogans. Why Pro-Life? by Randy Alcorn is written mainly for fence-straddlers and professing pro-lifers, but also with pro-choicers in mind. Why Pro-Life? addresses the questions central to the abortion debate in a concise, straightforward, and non-abrasive manner.
Although many people will bring to the book their assumptions and impressions about abortion, they will not be grounded in science and logic. Many are “pro-life” because their religious leaders say they should be; many are “pro-choice” because it is the position that saturates popular media, and it sounds so positive and tolerant. In Why Pro-Life?, Randy Alcorn encourages all readers to reevaluate their positions and base their beliefs on factual evidence.
You can download it here.
Today I read my new favorite post on the Pro-Life movement. This is a must-read for anyone interested or invested in the abortion debate. If you are pro-life, read this article and be reminded that we stand for a beautiful, God-honoring truth; and if you are pro-choice, read this blog post and understand to a fuller extent why Christians are so adamant about defending life and defeating abortion.
The article is short and sweet, so I’ll just repost its content here:
LIFE International understands that the horror of abortion is a global tragedy. Their mission is to multiply life-giving ministries wherever abortion is provided around the world. To see a little more of the heart that drives their mission, Kurt Dillinger responds to a few questions I recently asked him.
What biblical truth is the primary foundation for your ministry’s approach to the global mission field created by abortion?
Jesus says in John 10:10 that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Our enemy is attacking God by destroying his image-bearers, the pre-born, along with the potential they have to be worshipers of him.
The hope for a woman and man facing an unplanned pregnancy is to know the Life-giver and to make wise, life-giving choices for their child. God’s plan for mother, father, and child is that they would have life to the full! Our response to this must be to follow our Savior in his mission: offering the hope of the gospel to a world in desperate need of his abundant life.
How does following Jesus and receiving his forgiveness direct the vision and activity of LIFE International?
The greatest and most profound pro-life initiative ever to take place in the history of mankind was when God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16-17). That is the pro-life movement we’ve joined and the one we’ve invited others to join with us. At the cross we see that people are of inestimable value and worth to God. His message of unconditional love and forgiveness is what the world needs to hear.
How is the sanctity of human life viewed in the majority world?
Cultural attitudes and worldviews that devalue human life have infected the global culture in general and the Christian culture as well. For example, in places around the world, we have seen married pastors carry on with multiple mistresses. Church leaders send their wives and daughters to have abortions. Some Christian husbands even abuse their wives to enforce submission. Christian women may have dozens of abortions during their childbearing years. Each of these examples demonstrates how every nation has a flawed theology of life.
Kurt Dillinger is the founder and president of LIFE International. Kurt and his wife, Gail, have been married for 32 years, and have three children, Abby, Maggi, and Calvin.
And here is the original link if you’d like more information or similar articles: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-cross-the-greatest-pro-life-initiative-ever-taken?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DGBlog+%28DG+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
The pro-life movement almost always feels like an uphill battle. While both sides of the debate normally regard themselves as the underdog, it is far easier for our end to get discouraged when we see the hundreds of women come in every week for new abortions. Every life saved is a miracle and a reason for tremendous joy, but every life lost weighs on us with an unspeakable burden. Will it ever end?…
Well, if you’re like me and you feel this way about our evangelical pro-life efforts, it’s time to refocus for a bit. First, I recommend you read and meditate on Bible passages about trusting the Lord through overwhelming trials, such as 2 Chronicles 20, the whole book of Job, or Psalm 73. Then you should read an incredibly encouraging new blog post from Trevin Wax. He has a great article on his blog today entitled, “Top 10 Reasons I am Optimistically Pro-Life.” In short, here are his reasons:
10. Recent Polls
9. Abortion’s Treatment on Television and in Movies
8. The Revulsion to Sex-Selection Abortion
7. The Exposing of Planned Parenthood’s Corruption
6. Planned Parenthood’s Recent Talking Points
5. Abortion as a “Tragic Choice”
4. Young People
3. Ultrasound Techonolgy and Pregnancy Support Centers
2. The Third Wave
1. God Hears
Definitely read the article to get more details and links to additional info. And be encouraged friends, this could be the tipping point in our culture we’ve been praying for!
Today the pro-life community mourns the passing of Dr. Benard Nathanson as he lost his battle with cancer. Dr. Nathanson was a former abortionist who became pro-life through the technology of the ultrasound. He fought boldly for the protection of the unborn and is probably most widely known for his film The Silent Scream. Before his conversion, however, he was a founding member of NARAL. Jill Stanek writes today:
As one of the founding members of NARAL, Dr. Nathanson later described the lies he and his fellow abortion proponents devised to push the legalization of abortion. These included fabricating polls saying Americans supported abortion as well as illegal abortion statistics. “The actual figure [of illegal abortions] was approaching 100,000, but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1,000,000,” Nathanson later said.
Perhaps Dr. Nathanson’s greatest contribution to the pro-life movement was his production of the documentary, The Silent Scream. This remarkably powerful film showed a baby gaping his or her mouth in a silent scream of agony while being aborted.
You can read the rest of her post here.
Steven Ertelt at LifeNews.com has also written about Nathanson today.
Nathanson wasn’t always pro-life and he started out as an abortion practitioner based in New York City who presided over more than 75,000 abortions.
But the doctor hoped he saved many more lives than that after witnessing an ultrasound and becoming pro-life. He then dedicated his life to ending abortions and his video, the Silent Scream, is considered a classic because it was the first to use the technology of ultrasound to make the unambiguous case that unborn children are human beings who deserve legal protection starting at their earliest days.
Quoting Nathanson himself, he continues:
“Once we had ultrasound in place, we could study the fetus and see it was a member of our community. If you don’t do that, you’re just a creature of political ideology. In 1970, there were approximately 1,100 articles on the functioning of the fetus. By 1990, there were 22,000. The data piled up swiftly and opened a window into the womb,” Nathanson continued.
Please read the rest of his article here.
Dr. Nathanson wrote about his journey from pro-abortion to pro-life in his autobiography called The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind.
The pro-life community is grateful to this doctor who admitted he was wrong and fought for the rest of his life to save the smallest members of our community who are fully persons, and fully persons from conception.
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)
