Truly Pro-Life

A column in the Kokomo Perspective on October 21, 2020 says, “When pushed, a politician’s ‘pro-life’ perspective is only a pro-birth statement.” 

If we are to believe this, then are we also to believe that someone who is not pro-life is simply anti-birth? They support the idea that an unborn child is human, they just aren’t in favor of that child being born? What would that even mean?

Clearly, this is not just about birth; it’s also about personhood.

A pro-life person is one who believes that a human is a human regardless of their age.

National Right to Life’s mission is “to protect and defend the most fundamental right of humankind, the right to life of every innocent human being from the beginning of life to natural death.”

A person’s life is an arrow with a beginning and no end. It begins with conception and continues into the afterlife.

Abortion takes a life that God gave to that person and extinguishes it—before her first birthday cake, her first job, her first car, and her first child.

Just last year, Joe Biden was refused communion because of his support of abortion. The Catholic priest who made that decision stated: “Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”

By contrast, Donald Trump was the first U.S. President to attend March for Life—an annual event where thousands of Americans gather together to remember those whose lives have been claimed by abortion and advocate for the abortion vulnerable.

This is how Mr. Trump describes his position: “I’m pro-life, but I changed my view a number of years ago. One of the primary reasons I changed [was] a friend of mine’s wife was pregnant, and he didn’t really want the baby. He was crying as he was telling me the story. He ends up having the baby and the baby is the apple of his eye. It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him. And you know here’s a baby that wasn’t going to be let into life. And I heard this, and some other stories, and I am pro-life.”

One of Donald Trump’s second-term goals is to “protect unborn life through every means available.” When you help an unborn child, you help her, the generations that come before her, and the generations that come after her. It’s like dropping a pebble into a pool: the ripples go on forever.

The Wait

“We live in a culture addicted to instant gratification: the quick hookup, the miracle cure, and the overnight sensation. THE WAIT is the remedy for that addiction. In THE WAIT, DeVon and Meagan share the life-changing message that waiting— rather than rushing—can be the key for finding the person you’re meant to be with. Filled with candid his-and-hers accounts of the most important moments of their relationship, along with practical advice on how waiting for everything—from sex to getting engaged—can transform your entire life by giving you greater patience, joy, peace, healing, faith and love.”

The Wait

For more information, see TheWaitBook.org.

Beware of Good Liars

Would a good God send people to Hell?

“4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to Hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.”

Peter, 1 Peter 2:4-10

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

“Always a controversial topic, faithful Christians want to know if they should celebrate Halloween. In this video, Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, explains Halloween from a Christian perspective so that you’re equipped to answer this question for yourself and anyone else that would benefit from it.”

For more information, see equip.org.

Six Ways Hatmaker, Hollis and Doyle are Promoting Another Gospel

“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” — Romans 1:25, NIV 1984

“At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, there’s really only two religions: you’re either going to worship the Creator or some aspect of the creation.”

Frank Turek, CrossExamined, August 27, 2020, YouTube

Pastor Thinks Abortion is Consistent with Christianity?!

“Don’t follow a man of God or a woman of God more than you follow God, because that man or that woman can go astray…”

Tovares Grey, August 28, 2020, YouTube

Mr. Grey is commenting on the article “Megachurch Pastor: Abortion ‘Is Consistent with’ Christianity and ‘I Will Fight’ to Keep it Legal.”

Candace Owens’ Personal Announcement

ANNOUNCEMENT:

I remember the first time I learned about abortion in school. “It’s a clump of cells until after 3 months” said my obtuse gym teacher turned health instructor.

Fast forward to more than a decade later to my 10 week scan, and I will never forget the feelings I experienced.

I was amazed that our baby already had arms and legs, hands and feet and was dancing around inside me. I was overcome by an inexorable sense of love followed by the powerful realization that I would do anything and everything to protect my unborn child.

But I was mostly astonished that all those years ago in high school, I was lied to. I was brainwashed into believing that it was my body, and therefore, simply, my choice.

Today it’s become fashionable for narcissistic celebrities, to perpetuate such brainwash amongst their fans. Like Miley Cyrus, posing half-naked with her tongue out over a cake that reads “abortion”. Like Jameela Jamil, tweeting to scores of vulnerable young girls about how “proud” she is of an earlier abortion from her teen years. Years ago, I would have thought these women were heroic feminists. Today I know that they are anything but.

And so as I move into this next chapter of my life I want to say this: To all of the young girls who have vocally supported abortion— you are allowed to change your mind. To all the young women who made uninformed decisions to go through with abortions: you are not “murderers” and you are not automatically disqualified from being pro-life. You too can have a change of heart. Education followed by transformation is one of life’s greatest offerings.

These past 5 1/2 months have been a whirlwind. A viral video with over 200 million views, comedians threatening to physically assault me, adult men degrading me because they disagree with my viewpoints on George Floyd, while others have accused me of not “showing up”, not being invited, or not caring enough to jump into the perpetual protest scene.

It is such a relief to finally share the truth.

Life is a miracle. Life is sacred. And when women carry life, we get to become the keepers of some of the Universe’s greatest secrets: beginnings.

Candace Owens, August 28, 2020, YouTube

25-Year-Old Shares Testimony of Heaven and Hell

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

Acts 2:17, NIV 1984

“Pastor Kyle Searcy continues the FAHOW [Fresh Anointing House of Worship] ‘Shine: Living A Life That Matters In Eternity’ sermon series with a powerful interview with 25-year-old Josh Miles and his father Willie Miles. On January 3rd [2020] Josh was rushed to the hospital after his temperature spiked to 106 degrees. His father says during the car ride to the hospital Josh lost consciousness, but Josh says he left his body and encountered hell and then heaven. When he finally reached the hospital and awoke doctors informed him he experienced a heart attack, stroke, and seizures.”

YouTube video description, dated March 1, 2020

Fellowship and Life

“And He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it …” — Jesus, Luke 19:19

“This cup is the new covenant in My blood …” — Jesus, Luke 19:20

I was on the schedule at my church this past Sunday to present the “communion meditation,” a short homily preceding our weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

That schedule—published late last fall for our Traditional services in 2020—was obviated (i.e., “blown to smithereens”) by the COVID-19 shutdown. We still partake in the Lord’s Supper in our online service (at home) but with no Traditional service homily.

Months ago, pre-shut-down, I hit on an idea for the homily and made notes. When my phone calendar chime reminded me last week to prepare the communion meditation, I dug out the notes and figured, column! Here is my communion thought:

“The broken body and the spilled blood of Christ.” That’s the phrase we hear so often as we encounter the Lord’s Supper, our commemoration of Jesus at the last supper in the upper room. Jesus there instructed His disciples, going forward, to eat the bread and drink the cup “in remembrance” of Him. In the ensuing hours, Jesus—the perfect and innocent lamb—would be arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified. Jesus’s broken and bloody body hung on the cursed cross sacrificed to defeat death, forgive humanity’s sins, and complete His mission of salvation in perfect obedience to God. 

That’s a story we all know, but frankly I don’t always like the way it is told. Jesus died a violent but purposeful death and His resurrection proved His truth. But scripture tells us that Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, would have no “broken” bones (Exodus 12:46, Psalm 34:20, John 19:36). And though Jesus bled, crucifixion is not a “blood” sacrifice—death comes from multiple trauma and agonizing asphyxiation on a “cursed tree.”

Listen closely to the words of Luke 19:19: “He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it.” Jesus was breaking the bread of sustained fellowship with His disciples and instructing all believers for all time to remember and replicate the holy communion the disciples had with Jesus and each other. Fellowship, not brokenness, is the point.

And hear Luke 19:20: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood …” Blood is the locus of life, we are taught in the Old Testament, and this new cup of Christ indicates not only His bloody death but the blood—the new life of faith—in the New Covenant.

Let us always encounter the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper with joy and fellowship, in both our communion with Christ and in loving each other. Why would we celebrate a guilty remembrance of a brutal death, or a shaming reminder of our sins, failures, and fallenness? When did Jesus say to believers, “Remember your guilt!”?

No! In communion with the gracious, risen Christ we are to joyfully and properly share in His eternal gifts of hope and peace. “Go and sin no more!” Jesus said. In this supper we commemorate the glory and love of God, the perfect truth and obedience of Jesus, and the abiding comfort and peace of the Holy Spirit. The bread and the cup remind us that we are Christians commissioned to shine Jesus’s light on mankind and that Jesus commanded us, as faithful servants, to love God and to love each other.

In a world where Satan’s darkness is close, we are citizens of a Heavenly light in communion with the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and each other. Let’s remember that.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is fixed and gathered, not broken and spilled. For more of Walters’ columns, see commonchristianity.blogspot.com. For his books, see www.lulu.com/spotlight/CommonChristianity.