Pre-born Lives Matter

On January 23^rd New York became the most dangerous state for pre-born human beings to live.  NY lawmakers made it legal to kill children up to the moment they are born and breathing on their own.  The law also excused medical personnel from stepping in to save the life of a survivor of an abortion attempt.  

With this action, NY officially became the most barbaric of states in the US.  Killing pre-born children is savage. Taking human life in this way is evil.  But the door for accepting this kind of evil was thrown open on January 22, 1973 with the US Supreme Court Roe  vs Wade decision.  A slippery slope was begun by not clearly defining a pre-born child as human life, and tragically, the slope continues its decline.  

I became aware of the gravity of the problem sometime around 1980, and joined the battle to defend the value of human life.  In the 1980’s my wife and I spent countless hours on the sidewalks of abortion facilities talking to young ladies about their options in pregnancy.  We were instrumental in saving a number of babies lives, and saving their mothers the horrors of abortion.  We led groups that offered practical assistance to moms and dads of children that were rescued from the knives of abortionists.  We were founding members of a Board of Directors to bring a Bethany Christian Services adoption provider to our town.  Later we turned our attention to the prevention side of the pro-life efforts by founding an organization to promote the message of chastity for youth in our region.  With 3 natural born children of our own, in 1996 we adopted a 3-year-old girl from China.  Currently in our counseling ministry we help post-abortion men and women deal with the losses associated with making their bad choices.   We are pro-life, not just in theory, but in action, because truth demands action.  

           Why is truth important?  History tells us why.  About a century ago, a casual view of truth led to the careless destruction of approximately 11 million peoples’ lives (see Andy Andrews book “How Do You Kill 11 Million People”).  The Nazis were pathological liars and no one had the will to hold them accountable until it was much too late.  A pattern of lying, deception, and propaganda accompanies dictatorships throughout human history.  Our world has suffered diar consequences of foolishness and  falsehood.  Since the original sin of mankind, we are extremely prone to falsehood and vulnerable to its destructive results.  

A society is only as morally good as the people who make up the society.  A person’s thinking determines their actions.  If a person is not thinking true thoughts, their actions will yield results that are not based in truth.  For example, the truth is that a newly conceived child is a unique human being as expressed by God’s creation.  If people place value in that truth, thoughts and actions will treat the pre-born child the same as any two year old child they know. They may wonder what the child will do when they grow up, which set of parents do they look like the most, or observing what kind of personality they have.  Good-willed thoughts of the child’s future will lead to actions that support the child and help them grow into the person they are meant to be.  On the other hand, if a pre-born child is not thought of in ths same way as a two year old, their value will be diminished.  If they are thought of as unwanted, inconvenent, unsupportable, not yet human, etc., then actions taken by adults around them will be unsupportive and may not lead to the well being of the child (and the child’s family).   

The idea of “slippery slope” magnifies this truth with even greater implications.  A famous quote by Mahatma Gandi states, “The true measure in any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”  When we tolerate the ill-treatment of pre-born children who have no voice of their own, we set ourselves up for the ill-treatment of anyone deemed unfit for some random reason.  Again, the Nazis showed this by killing persons with disabilities, Jewish people, and then anyone who disagreed with their regime.  By taking away the God-given value in what it means to be human, it becomes easier to take away God-given value in what it means to be married, be male, be female, be a person with a certain color skin, ethnic background, or cultural views.  The social ills facing our society all trace back to dispising the sanctity of human life.  

So what exactly is the truth?  The Truth is God’s reality, not mankind’s perceptions of reality.  The truth is absolute, and not defined by trends, popularity, or media propaganda.  God is the Author and Creator of life.  Human life is God’s idea.  Our respect for God is mirrored by our respect for the sacredness of life.  When we dishonor God and disregard his ways, we are at risk for the worst kinds of falsehoods and deception known to mankind.  The Book of Proberbs in the Bible (written by the most intelligent and succcessful person of his time) starts out by acknowledging that wisdom begins with a respect (“fear” as he calls it) of God.  Many of the verses in Proverbs speak of the folly of mankind trying to ignore or devalue the Creator.  God knows each person better than they know themselves.  God knows everything about the world in greater depth than the combined knowlege of all humans put together.  God’s power, authority, and majesty are limitless.  Every human life from the moment of conception is a unique stamp of God’s creative ability.  Every individual’s worth and value is equal and determined by God.  Every human life is valuable because God made it so.   

           How should we then live?  Seek God for truth.  God came into the world as a man, Jesus Christ, to demonstrate the heart of Father God, and save us from the largest slippery slope of all.  Our sin condition seeks to devalue the dignity God placed in each of us from the moment of conception.  We need Jesus to redeem us from our lost condition.  The greatest deception of all is that we don’t need God to do this for us.  We are deceived to think we can define our humanity on our own, and decide for ourselves what is best, what is good or bad, or right from wrong.  

Pre-born lives matter, All lives matter.  All of life matters. Your life matters.  How you live your life matters.  It matters how we think and act.  Living for God reveals truth.  It matters how we make decisions, choices, and form opinions, with their corresponding actions, results, and consequences.   Disrespecting God reveals falsehood  (not always immediately, but eventually for certain).  God wants to heal us in the midst of the struggles we face in this life.  All mental health problems (not directly attributed to brain malfunction) are somehow related to poor self concept (see previous articles).  Perceiving ourselves as  unworthy and lacking value keeps us fulfilling our God-given purpose for our existence.  Poor image of self leads to poor image of others, causing poor relationships, which cause a breakdown of society.  When we fail to take action to defend  the truth of the value of human life, our world literally falls apart.    

May I encourage you to take a stand for truth.  Start with what you have the most control over, that is your own transformation and sanctification journey.  Receive God’s healing for guilt or shame.   Look at some of my previous articles for help with this.  Your personal life matters, and directly affects your views of God.  In addition to guirding up your inner being, be aware of the evil influences from without.  The major news media sources have a record of being extremely biased  against God-honoring people and principles.  Do not allow your mind to be tainted  by their false narratives.  It’s not always what they say, but what they don’t say that misleads the most.  Editors often fail to report significant events because they are more concerned about selling their product (via popular opinion), that revealing truth. On the bright side, CBNNews.com is a great source for truth reporting.  Of course your time building your relationship with God is crucial.  Truth is found not merely in the words of the Bible, but getting to better know the Person of God behind the words.  Another thing you can do is make your market place purchases count. Do research on vendors, and only support those who refrain from joining the trends that dishonor God.  Find a church, get pugged in, and support leadership of like-minded people supporting all of the above.  

One last thing.  If you have been a participant in abortion in any way, it is not an unforgivable sin.  Our Father God has his arms open wide for you regardless of how you feel, or what you’ve done.  You’re not alone.  There is someone who understands.  God is there and he understands, but there are people who can help you also.  Please contact me if you need help.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian martyred by the Nazis a few days before his concentration camp was liberated by US soldiers.  This article is inspired by his quote, “Not to speak, is to speak. Not to act, is to act.”  We must speak.  We must act, because truth demands action.  Our pro-life/ God-respecting actions over the years have been motivated by Scripture.  One most pointed Proverb says, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.  If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”  does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?” (Proverbs 24:11-12).  What will your next action be to uphold the value of life?   

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Birthday Robbery

             A Presidential election is upon us once again.  Political issues come and go, but some issues go far beyond the realm of politics, into existential realities of life itself.  

            One such issue is the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion.  The procedure is carried out on late-term unborn children who are in most cases able to survive outside the womb.  After the combined decision of a mother not wanting the child and a medical professional who executes the procedure, the baby is killed in the birth canal.  After labor is induced and the baby's head has already appeared in the world, an abortion practitioner uses an instrument to crush the skull.  Then the remaining body of the baby is removed from  its mothers body.   To add to the cruelty, groups like Planned Parenthood (PP) have been caught selling the slaughtered baby's body parts.  PP uses these funds for aborting more babies,  propaganda campaigns disguised as "sex education," and further degrading of women.  This kind of treatment of human beings is barbaric.  It is birthday robbery for thousands of children in the US each year. 

            The debate last week between the two top candidates for President addressed this topic.   Can you believe the activities described above are proudly endorsed by one of the candidates?   The democratic party candidate (with the initials HRC) claims to have a history of advocacy for children.  But her party platform states in writing, and HRC strongly verbalizes her support for partial-birth abortion and PP.  Advocating for children by wishing them dead  is a double standard.   Framing PP as a health-care provider and ignoring their activities of extortion and cover-up is fraud.  This is also called deception.

Franklin Graham has called HRC out on this by saying, "You can't say you've spent your life standing up for children, when you support killing them in the womb." 
            Robbing children of their birthday is only one type of thievery HRC actively participates in.  The corruption of her thirty year political history is too great to list here.  Like never before in the history of Presidential election campaigns, HRC has been in collusion with  national press to influence public opinion in her favor.  The mainstream media has one-sidedly promoted HRC in her defense of PP and partial-birth abortion (and many other issues).  That is a specific type of deception.  It is called propaganda. 

            This powerful lobby doesn't have the final say.  The voters have the final say.  Your vote is your voice on this matter.  If you are  a person who cares about justice for all, I hope your voice will be heard.  Please do not turn your back on the voiceless children, but make sure your vote is counted to support life whenever you have an opportunity to vote.   A Proverb says,

"Rescue those being led away to death;
    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
    Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?"

Proverbs 24:11-12

            To NOT vote is a vote.  Not voting is a vote for death.  If you are one of those people who says they don't like any of the candidates, then vote WITH the one who has the strongest stand for life (if you feel you cannot vote FOR them).  Voting AGAINST the greatest evil, is better than not voting at all.  Besides, the names on the ballot aren't as important as the party platforms they represent (see my previous blog May God Be Made Great in America, Again).   When a candidate (and platform) confuses a barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion with "reproductive health," that must be called evil.  The ancient Israeli prophet spoke these words, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness ...  Therefore ...  their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel."  (Isaiah 5:20,24).  Simply put, rejecting God's created design for human life and natural order, creates chaos and irreversible disorder.  

            If you care about America, there are some additional things you can do about this.  First, you can pray.  Humble yourself and seek the face of God Almighty and turn from whatever ways are displeasing to Him.  He responses with healing and forgiveness when hearts are surrendered to Him (see 2 Chronicles 7:14).   Another thing you can do is turn off your TV and refuse to subject your mind to the propaganda campaign.  Abstaining especially from what they call "news," will clear your mind to receive truth in better places (particularly the Bible).  Then, encourage your friends and family to resist the temptation for propaganda as well, and vote for candidates who truly have a record of supporting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

            Oh yes, and one more thing.  That same candidate that equated infanticide with advocacy for children also called everyone who disagreed "deplorable" and "irredeemable."  So, am I deplorable if I choose to think about how to avoid doing evil for good and good for evil?  I think not.  I think you are not either.  As Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing."   If fighting evil is called deplorable, I'd rather be labeled as such than to do nothing.   

            Irredeemable?   If there would be such a thing as an "irredeemable person," who would decide how to define it?    No person should be declared irredeemable.  Even people who align themselves with a gruesome practice like partial-birth abortion are redeemable.  If one person is declared unworthy of redemption, then the entire human race is equally irredeemable because we are all made of the same stuff.   Thus, when HRC condemned people as irredeemable in her speech, she declared herself, and her own supporters as irredeemable. 

            Do the Democratic party leaders believe in a kind of government that needs to control people in order to  "purify" the population from people they deem as deplorable and irredeemable?  Yes, we heard it directly from the mouth of their candidate running for President and their platform is full of such language.  This is called fascism (belief in a purified superior race).  We need only to look back in history as far as Nazi Germany to see what kind of horrific robbery this imposes on peoples lives.  By the way, PP's founder Margaret Sanger had strong ties to the Nazi leaders and comes from the same philosophy. 

            Politicians may use words to spin people's thinking in a particular direction, but the final authority lies with a higher power.  There is always hope in the Redemption of God's amazing grace.  God's mercy and justice are perfect.  God's actions do not have to satisfy political correctness because they exemplify absolute correctness.  God's vote is the final vote. 

            The One who came into the world to redeem the world (see John 3:16-17) has the final say on this.  True redemption is spiritual.  It is a supernatural event and process.  The primary goal of evil is to steal our redemption.  Jesus himself said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).  The true nature of the battle against evil is in the spiritual realm.  Jesus came and won  that battle.  The spiritual world has a mirror image in the physical world.  Jesus uses imagery of a thief  seeking to rob a person of life in contrast to the fullness of life he offers as a free gift to all who believe in him.  The thief is the enemy of our soul.  The thief  tries to make people believe they are irredeemable.  The thief tries to rob people of re-birth into an eternal life with God. 

            "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him ..." (John 3:16) is not irredeemably condemned to hell, but will have eternal life.  Surrendering your heart to him washes away guilt and shame.  Even the shame caused by birthday robbery has been taken care of  by the death of Jesus on the cross.   Christ's death resurrection gives each person the chance to be redeemed.  My hope is that you will receive that redeeming power today.   You may disagree, but you are never irredeemable.  by Ed & Stephanie Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry