Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Yawning... But Unprotected

A 4D ultrasound scan shows a foetus yawning in the womb during a study by Durham and Lancaster Universities and released in Durham, northern England
4D scans show fetuses yawn in the womb

Notes: 

  • In the United States, on average one out of five of these babies will die before seeing light.  

  • The rate of abortions is highest among blacks (which would bring joy to Planned Parenthood's founder), and inside Democrat controlled states (NY, CA) and population centers (NYC, LA).  These minorities (along with the help of other Democrat Party supporters) continually help re-elect government leaders who promote the legalization and business of the murder of their ownSuch is the depravity of the human heart.

  • The majority of abortions are performed by curettage.  Please read the post below about this vile procedure.

  • I believe most people (including Republicans) are more worried about the economy... because our nation's god is materialism... and Dagon is falling on his face.

    *See also: CDC Abortion Surveillance - United States, 2009

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Details of Death

What exactly takes place during every abortion?

Three main methods are used to end the life of an unborn child.  First, for early pregnancies, there is the dilation and curettage technique (D&C).  The cervix is first dialated, and a tube is inserted into the mother's uterus.  This tube is attached to a suction apparatus that tears the little baby apart and deposits him or her into a jar. 

A curette (a surgical instrument shaped like a scoop to remove tissue from a bodily cavity) is then used to scrape the wall of the uterus to remove any part's of the baby's body that might still be present.  Often the suction tube is not used at all, and the curette is simply used to cut the baby's body to pieces and scrape out the placenta.

After about the third month of pregnancy, this techniques becomes too dangerous for the mother, so a saline abortion is employed.  This might be called salt poisoning.  A solution of concentrated salt is injected into the amniotic fluid in the sac around the growing baby.  The salt is absorbed by the baby who is poisoned to death after about an hour.  The outer layer of his or her skin is burned off by the salt; and about a day later, the mother goes into labor and delivers a discolored and shriveled-up baby. 

A few such babies have been delivered alive, although they rarely survive long.

Prostaglandins can also be used after the third month of pregnancy.  Prostaglandin chemicals are injected into the uterus, causing the mother to go into premature labor and deliver a dead baby.  However, prostaglandin babies have been born alive, much to the embarrassment of some pro-abortion camps.

The third method, which is used for more developed pregnancies, is the hysterotomy.  This is like a Caesarean operation, except that in the hysterotomy, the object is not to save the child but to kill him or her.  In this case, the baby has to be either killed outright or allowed to die...


[Written by Peter Barnes, taken from the Free Grace Broadcaster - Issue 220 - Summer 2012]

Friday, June 1, 2012

Female Infanticide in the Shadows


Female infanticide is the intentional killing of baby girls due to the preference for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of females.

An abortion is the intentional killing of a baby due to the preference of the mother (who is often misinformed, misguided, confused, stressed, hopeless, or abandoned).

Planned Parenthood is the organization that operates these murder-mills. Our taxpayer money helps fund them, thanks to the Democratic Party.

The Democrats, on May 31, 2012, defeated legislation that would have banned abortions based on the gender of the fetus. Our President opposed the bill also.

If you are a Democrat, do you have blood on your hands?







But the big question: On what grounds is ANY abortion justified?


"Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;

you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech."
(Isaiah 32:9)
Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:15)
Get involved.  Do something.  Stay informed.  Vote.  Pray.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Is God a "Respecter of Persons" If We Are Chosen?




Controversy is sometimes necessary. 
"The only way to avoid all controversy would be to consider nothing we believe important enough to defend and no truth too costly to compromise" (R. Albert Mohler, Jr. - Tabletalk, May 2012).
I have had several opportunities to engage friends and family members in conversations regarding the doctrine of election, which is by it's nature, controversial.  (These doctrines are opposed to the natural mind, which is at enmity with God.) 

Sadly, I am afraid I have not always adorned the doctrines of grace (which includes the doctrine of election) with the love and humility that I should have... especially when I was in my "cage stage" - "that period of time during which a new convert to Reformed theology should be locked up in a cage for his own good and the good of others around him" (Keith A. Mathison).

But more than once, those who argue against God's sovereign grace in salvation suggest that the doctrine makes God a "respecter of persons."  The Bible says in many places that God is NOT a "respecter of  persons," so this issue must be addressed.

This is one of the best explanations I have heard:


Why Arminian Conditional Election Makes God a Respecter of Persons
By John Hendryx


I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ, but some of you are clearly robbing God of His glory by believing that you had some part in your being born again.  If this is your belief (and it used to be mine), then I appeal to you to read this article... search God's Word... pray... and know the truth.

Grace and Peace!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Our Dying & Christ's Returning

2. OUR DYING

"His body he leaves on this earth, but his soul goes to heaven.

This departure represents the culmination of earthly Christian life.  Picture it this way: when a man first comes to Christ he has one foot in heaven, one foot left on eath.  But then, for the rest of his life, he slowly shifts his spiritual weight.  With the passing of time he grows in love for God, even as he grows nearer to the day when he will enter the presence of God.  Finally, in death, he lifts his back foot from earth entirely and steps fully into the world above.  At last he is both of heaven...and in it too.

This truth transforms the prospect of death for all who are in Christ.

The experience of those in heaven now is what theologians have traditionally referred to as 'the intermediate state.'


3. CHRIST'S RETURNING

I. Christ will give believers imperishable, glorious, powerful bodies.
II. Christ will judge the world.
III. Christ will renew the world.
Now the last one was a new thought for me.  The author points us to Ps. 2:8, Matt. 5:5, Isa. 65:17, and Rev. 5:10 as proof that this world will not be destoyed and eliminated, but dramatically renewed. 

"Just as my resurrection body will be my body raised, so will the new world be this world glorified.  Lo and behold, the promised 'new earth' will turn out to be this earth made new."

What do we say when a friend gives us a tour of his impressively remodelled home?  'I love what you've done with the place.'  How much more will we say that -- or at least think that, for the beauty of the sight may leave us speechless -- when we first behold on that great daywhat this world was always meant to be.

We will live and serve fruitfully on solid ground.  Life without fear, labor without frustration... The ground will no longer groan but rejoice, and we will rejoice with it."

I don't know about you, but that EXCITES me, friend! 


Now I don't think I'll write anymore about this book.  I've written enough, I suppose.  But I would highly recommend you pick up a copy and test it with Scripture.  It has changed my outlook in many ways, and the truths within give me greater hope and fill me with greater joy. 

This earth will be ours, dear brother or sister in Christ!  It will ours to reign with Him.  It will be ours renewed.  We will rejoice... God's people... and the earth!  And Jesus' prayer will be answered in full:



"Thy kingdom come. thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in heaven."

The Father always answers the Son's prayers, because the Son always prays according to the Father's will.

Think about it.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Heaven - Chapter 2



In Chapter 2, titled "Show Me the Way Home," the author digs into the meat and potatoes of God's work. Here are some highlights:
"If we pose the question (and yes,my children have posed it; perhaps you know children who have posed it too), How will Jesus get us to heaven? -- the answer goes something like this: he will get us there by (1) our effectual calling, (2) our dying, and (3) his returning.
...[That] is a biblical answer. And because it is biblical, the more you reflect upon it, the more you realize just how exciting it really is! Think of it: he will get us there -- better yet, at the end of the age he will get heaven here -- and even death itself will serve his purpose along the way.

1. OUR EFFECTUAL CALLING
Put simply, the Spirit changes sinners' hearts so that they trust in Christ for salvation... The one who has been changed this way -- changed so deeply so as to believe truly -- has thereby become an already heavenly man, while he remains here on earth.
a. The Christian possesses a heavenly disposition. ...Of course, this does not mean the believer no longer sins. He does so regularly, and sometimes grievously... that deep-seated orientation exists beneath layers of sinful patterns and desires. This is precisely why he finds the Christian life to be a battle every day. Love for God is now his defining orientation -- his internal moral compass points heavenward -- but the vestiges of sin remain.
b. The Christian is animated by heavenly desires. ...His earthly pursuits will be governed by heavenly desires. Look him in the eye and ask him, "What do you really want? (and emphasize 'really' to make the point). His answer will not be: 'wife and children and picket fence'. His answer (to make use of the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.1) 'to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, and to live in a world where everyone around me does too.' This is the Christian Dream. ...Christian, do you want to glorify and enjoy God? Do you want to live in a world where everyone else does too? Guess what: the saints and angels in heaven feel the same way, and right now they are gazing upon the One who lived and died and lives again to make it happen. It will happen. 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied' (Matt. 5:6). After all, your Father in heaven and the Son at his right hand desire it fat more earnestly than you do. Infinitely more. It will happen.
c. The Christian possesses a heavenly justification. ...Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone' (WSC Q.33)... How is justification a heavenly blessing? In three ways.
First, to be justified is to possess the same right to heaven that belongs to those who are already there...
Second, justification is heavenly in that it anticipates the day when the believer will go to heaven through death...
Third, justification is heavenly in that it anticipates the day when the new world -- Christ's heavenly world -- will be ushered in.

2. OUR DYING (coming in my next post)


Thank you for reading.

Heaven



I just finished a book titled Setting Our Sights on Heaven -- Why It's Hard and Why It's Worth It , by Paul D. Wolfe. It was one of those reads that changes the prism by which I view the works of God, the world, my life, and my journey. I hope to share a few posts on its content:
"The Son of God came into the world. Why did he come? ...Here is one: his mission was to go to heaven and lead his people there too."
Speaking of the fact that Jesus 'sat down' at God's right hand, he writes:
"...that language should not be interpreted to mean that Jesus has nothing left at all to do, simply because he is done with dying and rising. Remember, the ultimate goal was a new world -- that is, a glorious new physical world fashioned out of the old -- inhabited by all those whom the Father chose 'before the ages began' (2 Tim. 1:9), clothed in their resurrection bodies, living and serving free from sin, rejoicing in all the just and gracious works of God.
...Consider the present state of affairs -- look at the world, read the newspapers, look at your own life -- and you will see just how much of a discrepancy remains between present reality and that ultimate goal. According to Paul, it's as if the ground we walk on is 'groaning' under the weight of that discrepancy (Rom. 8:19-22), and we are groaning with it (v. 23).
...Thus we can say, as the nineteenth century Dutch theologian Herman Bavnick put it, 'In his state of exaltation there still remains much for Christ to do.'
...What work remains for him to do? First, there is his work throughout this age: drawing all his Father's chosen ones to faith in himself, building them up in holiness while they live, and welcoming them into his presence when they die.
...Second, there is his work at the end of the age: returning in glory, raising the dead, judging all men, and renewing the world.
...When the dust settles on the last day, the Son's mission will have been accomplished. Heaven will have been brought to earth. The place where God is most clearly revealed and most intimately known will no longer be some mysterious realm removed from earthly experience. It will be the whole world. Thus we sing: 'This is my Father's world; The battle is not done; Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and heav'n be one.'
...You see, Jesus' mission was 'to go to heaven and lead his people there too' (as I put it before), not by removing us from the earth into a condition of unending disembodiedness, but by bringing about the breathtaking glorification of the original created order, his people included, body and soul, and the earth included too.
...Christ will lead us, ultimately not by leading us away, but by leading us into: having gone first into the future by his own resurrection, he will lead us into the glory for which this world was originally designed. That was his mission from the beginning, and he will not fail his Father.
...Do you see how good the good news really is? In Christ we are not put back under probation and told, 'Try again and don't blow it this time.' Instead he ushers us into the full inheritance that passing the probation would have gained. By his own obedience -- obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8) -- Christ has gained it for us."
Glory be to God! More later, Lord willing. In the meantime, please pick up this book... or I'll let you borrow mine.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Why are Truths and Absolutes Important?

“The Jacobin [1] could tell you not only the system he would rebel against, but (what was more important) the system he would not rebel against, the system he would trust.

But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist [2]. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it.

Thus he writes one book complaining that the imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book (about the sex problem) in which he insults it himself.

He curses the Sultan because Christian girls lose their virginity, and then curses Mrs. Grundy [3] because they keep it.

As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is a waste of time.

A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself.

A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates [4] for treating it as a lie.

He calls a flag a bauble [5], and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble.

The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that the savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts.

In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men.

Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.”

_______________
GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908


[1] Jacobin - A member of an extremist or radical political group; especially: a member of such a group advocating egalitarian democracy and engaging in terrorist activities during the French Revolution of 1789. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[2] Revolutionist - One who brings about a major of fundamental change. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[3] Mrs. Grundy - One marked by prudish conventionality in personal conduct. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[4] Profligates - People given to wildly extravagant and usually grossly self-indulgent expenditure. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[5] Bauble - a trinket; or a fool's scepter; or something of trifling appeal. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Here and Gone

About three years back I decided to try to start visiting with some of the folks at Claiborne-Hughes Health Center, a local nursing home. I befriended four on my first visit - two ladies and two gentlemen.

On my second visit a few weeks later, one of the gentlemen had died. He loved the Lord, there was little doubt. I felt a little uncomfortable visiting the ladies repeatedly, so I decided to only visit the remaining gentleman on my return visits. His name was Billy Frizzell.

Does the last name ring a bell? It should. He was a brother to Lefty Frizzell, the famous honky-tonk singer of the 20th century. Billy had some memorabilia around his room, and he shared stories with me about his brother's fame, and experiences that he himself had enjoyed with several country music stars. Billy had actually recorded a song or two, which he played for me on his CD player. He was working on song writing, also.

It was pretty clear that Billy was lonely. Billy had been in the nursing home for months and months. He had several health problems. I don't think he received many visits from his family, and his lone son had been estranged from him years before, following his parent's divorce.

I shared the Gospel with him on that first visit. He shook his head yes a lot, but didn't say much. He just smiled and listened. On my second visit I recall asking him if he had any questions about the Bible and things eternal. He said, "I guess not." He just smiled, sometimes a little nervously, and was a man of few words.

On my following visits, I would bring him Pepsi's and honeybuns, which he said he loved... but the nurses had to keep them and monitor his diet because of his health.

Sadly, I stopped visiting regularly because of... well... life. Other things seemed to take priority.

A couple of weeks ago, I went back for a visit. I guess it had been well over a year since I'd been by. Billy was gone. The receptionist said that he had gone downhill fast. He was gone.

I hope someone was with him. I hope his son had returned and I hope they had reconciled, as Billy wished. I hope he was right with God. I hope the Spirit had changed his heart... that deep within maybe he had heard, received, and believed the gospel. I hope the Lord had saved him. Whatever the case, his eternity is now fixed.

I miss him now.

“What is the secret to great living? Entire separation to Christ and devotion to Him. Thus speaks every man and woman whose life has made more than a passing flicker in the spiritual realm. It is the life that has no time for trifling that counts.”
~Amy Carmichael


Life is so fleeting. It is God, our Maker, that gives us, "life and breath and everything" (Acts 17:25), and it is His to take away. I hope today we will all live in light of eternity. Why do we get caught up so much in the trifling "things of this world," the here and now? One day... a day appointed for each of us... we too will be here and gone.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

329,445




Here is an article from CNS News:

Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report: Got $487.4M in Tax Money, Did 329,445 Abortions

The blood bath continues, and yet I fear that the nation has grown numb. It is hard to find an article about the subject in the press these days, and it's even harder to hear a sermon or a preacher mention the slaughter of the innocents. What, really, have I done?

What would you do today if you heard that an airplane went down carrying 100 preschoolers, and all were killed? Well, it was as if over 3000 of those planes crashed last year... that would mean over nine airplanes full of preschoolers per day. And yet our voices of protest, of outrage, of mourning, for the most part, are silent.

I went to a Tennessee Right-To-Life meeeting last month. It was a gathering for both Maury and Williamson counties. There were seven people in attendance. Seven.

May we all beseech the Lord in prayer, on behalf of those who have no voice.

"To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets." (Daniel 9:8-10, ESV)