Ban Abortion, Protect Unborn Human Life! Now on Change.org

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Months ago, I started a petition on ThePetitionSite. It's called "Ban All Abortion! Protect All Unborn Human Life!" It's a call to the U.S. President and the U.S. President to work toward an outright ban on all abortions, nationwide. Yesterday, I began this petition also on CHange org. Besides call for the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, this petition calls for measures that would make parenting and adoption more attractive. It also calls for legislating, nationwide, temporary (2 year) foster care as an option for those Facing unplanned pregnancies. AS followers of Jesus, we are to do all within our power to rescue those who being "led to slaughter." The word abortion isn't once mentioned in the Bible, but God makes it clear that He sees us as human from the minute we're conceived. At one time, each and every one of us was a pre-born baby. If we had been aborted, we wouldn't be here. Life is hard and this world is full of trouble, but all people have a right to live. That includes us before we are born. So please look over this petition and its provisions to make abortion alternatives more attractive. As followers of Jesus, we need to speak up for those who have no voice!

Thank you,
Lisa DeSherlia

Take Minutes 2 Be a Voice 4 Moms & Babies!

Defund Planned Parenthood!

No more government funds for Planned Parenthood!

Congress must defund Planned Parenthood immediately!

Stop Planned Parenthood!

Shut down Planned Parenthood!

These calls to neutralize and even destroy this organization are indeed well meant. I don't want any of my money to go to this organization, either. I know that federal funds do not, or are not supposed to, go to Planned Parenthood. Yet the idea of government funds going to an organization that oversees over 330,000 abortions (every abortion represents a baby) does not sit well if you believe that life begins at conception.

Yet we cannot forget one thing.

Planned Parenthood, while the largest provider of abortions, is not the only abortion provider. Not by a long shot. Private doctors and private abortion clinics also do abortions. More needs to be done to end abortion, than boycotting abortion providers and trying to defeat and destroy them. As women and their significant others (parents, boyfriends, husbands, doctors), turn to abortion often because of a lack of options, how about eliminating the very MOTIVE that causes women to often go out of town to procure abortions? Desperation, ignorance, fear?

Yes, we in the prolife community are all too aware of pregnancy resource centers that provide women with free, confidential, safe, and caring services. Many women and their families do not know of these centers. If they do, what they have heard about these centers likely comes from disgruntled former pregnancy resource clients, or from a biased media. A certain news anchor refers to these centers as "phony clinics" and they have gotten much bad press as being deceptive, misleading, and failing to deliver the confidential, qualified services they promise to clients. However, there is much more evidence in favor of these centers and the lifesaving work they do in assisting women which saves many babies who would have been abortion. But girls and women have often been lied to, and so are unaware of their options.

With more funds going to life-affirming medical and services (which pregnancy resource centers often refer their clients to), these women would have even more options.

I'm talking about funds to go to the estimated 13,000 community clinics that serve women and families.

I'm talking about subsidies for single parents and low-income families.

I'm talking about increasing Medicaid reimbursements to OB/GYNS, to give them more of an incentive to serve poor low-income girls and women.

If even one of these measures was implemented, especially the first, it would be a big step in the right direction. There are almost 300 signatures on this petition, but many more are needed. If you have already added your name and even shared this, I thank you for your support. If you have not yet signed and are a follower of Jesus, know that we are called to speak out for those who are vulnerable. Who is more vulnerable than an unborn baby? Most of their moms, in crisis, are also vulnerable because of the very circumstances that culminate in their crisis pregnancies.

Let me call everyone of us, who follow Jesus and who identify as prolife, to a simple but meaningful act. I'm calling supporters of this petition to visit the webpage (it takes a few seconds to load the "share" button) to share this petition, one more, with your own social networks. If you have not yet signed this petition, I encourage you to add your name to it.

CLICK HERE TO SHARE THIS PETITION OR SIGN IT!

An Open Letter To Cecile Richards

Dear Cecile Richards: I speak as a person who believes that all life is sacred. This includes the poor, those with disabilities, women, men, those without homes, those who are unborn, those with mental illnesses, even criminals and abortion workers.

Even the lives of abortionists and directors of abortion facilities.

I know that you probably believe that you are doing women a service. Many people in this culture believe that abortion is health care, a reproductive right and a choice that should be available to women. So you are not unique in that regard; you are reflecting the worldview of many in this culture. Yes, it is legal and doctors are required to inform their patients in crisis pregnancies and high-risk pregnancies of abortion as a viable, legal option. Why, if our doctors, whom so many hold in such high esteem in our culture, so often recommend it to patients with high-risk or crisis pregnancies, it must not be bad.

I saw parts of the Planned Parenthood hearings when you were being grilled before Congress. I watched as you defended your organization, and declared that the videos exposing Planned Parenthood were doctored. People closest to me agree with you about those videos. I will not defend the videos as I have not had a chance to view them in-depth and in their entirety. I know that Live Action, run by Lila Rose, have made undercover videos of your organization. I have not been inside a Planned Parenthood facility, but I have loved ones who have used their services. Thanks to the grace of God, I have not faced the abortion issue personally. I had a high-risk pregnancy with my daughter, but I was blessed with religious faith and a good support system. I know that many of the girls and women who use your organization or other abortion providers do not have options or are not aware that they have options.

I know that many in the prolife movement condemn you and others in the abortion industry, as evil incarnate, and judge you. They forget that all of us are sinners who have fallen far short of God's holy standards. Myself, I have enough to do in keeping up with and overcoming my own sins and imperfections to ever worry about yours or anyone else's. But you are in a position of leadership and many women and Planned Parenthood employees and volunteers look to you. What if what you are passing on to them is, in fact, a lie? I mean, could it be that the notion that abortion is healthcare, a reproductive right and a choice, is a lie? If that is true, then it is a serious thing that you are guilty of.

Have you ever asked yourself what the abortions done on women (over 300,000 yearly under the watch of Planned Parenthood alone) actually do? I wonder if, in your more honest moments, you wonder if indeed that these abortions kill the babies of these moms who seek abortion services because they have been fed the lie that abortion is the way to deal with a probem pregnancy, whether due to social, economic, medical or eugenic reasons. Surely you, like so many others in favor of abortion or who don't like it but who think it should be available to others, know deep down that the fetus is in fact a baby, one who is just not born. If that is so, it must be dehumanizing, dreary, tiring, and traumatic to take lives as you justify it as a service.

This is not written to try to convert you or anyone else to the prolife movement, as a post like this is highly unlikely to do that. First, you need to be converted to the Person of Jesus Christ, Who came to this earth because of God's love for you and me, to die for our sins. You are invited to repent (change your mind about sin and the direction of your life) and then trust Jesus to take away your sins. Then He will change your worldview, your attitudes and behavior. You will find yourself working to save lives, not destroy them! If God can do it for former abortionists or abortion workers like Dr. Bernard Nathansonson and Abby Johnson, He can do it for you!

Meanwhile, when you decide that working in the abortion industry and taking lives is no longer for you and you are tired of it and want to get out, there is a resource.

Visit this website and find that there is help for you also.

Prolife Feminism Yesterday and Today

This books, a large collection of essays, has been compiled by Mary Krane Derr, Rachel MacNair, and Linda Naranjo-Huebl. It is the revised and much-expanded earlier version of this same book with the same title. This in-depth book begins with an Introduction to the entire book and gives a the historical overview of feminism and the three Editors' credits to some people who made the book possible. Then the Editors open with an Introduction to Part one, which consistes of essays by past feminists, from Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) to Dorothy Day (1897-1980). Then the Editors continue with Part Two, with an Introduction that helps the reader transition, in historical context, to modern prolife feminism. Part Two begins with essays by Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer (1917-1977) to Linda Naranjo-Huebl. The Editors end Part Two with a Bibliography, many pages of Endnotes with sources used in research, and an Index.

This book is the greatly revised and updated version of an earlier version of this book. It is a big book, and it took awhile to get through it. I found the earlier essays by ealier feminists challenging to follow, as their styles of writing and language tend to be more from earlier times and more arcane. Many of them seem to have been taken from larger writings and my concern is that prochoice people can argue that these writings were taken out of context. In fact, I have read a review or two where current feminists scoff at the idea of "prolife feminism," clearly declaring that these writings have been taken out of context. Clearly, though, these feminists denounced abortion as not serving women and as using them for profit, as well as killing their children. The writers of this book come from diverse religions, walks of life, ethnicities, and some are LGBT. I liked the variety and styles of essays, including question and answer formats for some of them. These writers adopt a "consistently prolife ethic," where they assert that they are prolife not only about the unborn, but about all people at all ages and stages of development. Reading this book dispels the notion that to be prolife, you have to be a Christan or any "religion," support and vote only for Republicans, and be for other "conservative" issues like unregulated gun rights, the death penalty, military involvment, and oppose means-tested government assistance programs (like Food Stamps and Medicaid). One big beef of mine with so many who identify as prolife but who oppose so many government assistance for low-income pregnant women, poor single moms, early childhood education and other services that many vulnerable citizens rely on just to survive. It seems hypocritical to denounce abortion as evil and as murder, while being unwilling to make changes in society that would make carrying untimely and crisis pregnancies more appealing. It seems that all the writers of this book's essays would agree.

I recommend this book for all those who identify as prolife. It can show them that you do not have to fit the conservative and right-wing profile in order to respect all life and protect it from conception on. I recommend this book for all who call themselves prochoice, as a woman-centered book like this may be more acceptable to those who identify as prochoice or feminist (or both) than most prolife literature. Most average prolife literature is more baby-centered and the well-being of the woman seems to be secondary to what comes off as the primary subject of concern: the baby. This is not a Christian book, though some of the authors of the essays in the book identify as both Christian as well as prolife feminists. Books like this can change the tone of the abortion debate so I can recommend it to those on either side of the debate.

Dear Christian Friend Who Has Participated in Abortion

I write this to fellow Christians who have turned to abortion because of pressure from important others.

I write this to fellow Christians who have turned to abortion because no one in their Christian community has shown support.

I write this to Christians who chose abortion believing that "God would forgive anyway."

I write this to Christians who sit in church fellowships secretly regretting abortions they have had or enabled.

I write this to all pastors who have provided little leadership on abortion.

I write this to Christians who may even support abortion in the name of political correctness.

I know that this is not a topic that we like to talk about. However, over seventy percent of all Americans identify as followers of Jesus while an estimated 4000 abortions take place daily. So this implies that many in our local church fellowships have participated in abortion in some way, whether aiding, abetting, or even compelling others to choose abortions, or choosing abortion in your own life. I know that many pastors, youth ministers and other local church fellowship leaders are silent on this social epidemic and offer little or no leadership on it. They may address it on Sanctity of Life Sunday, if they do that. Many of them may fear speaking of it for fear of upsetting you or bringing back bad memories or re-opening old wounds. As is true with any failure, poor choice or sin, time does not heal nor does denial make anything disappear. The issue just festers and will erupt later, often in forms that are not pretty. This may be why so many suicides and crimes occur, because people "snap." Actually, I think most "snaps" are just cases of hurts that have built up and have been stored up over time.

No, I have not personally experienced abortion myself. I know others who have and while they do not speak of that, I wonder what they think in quiet moments or when the topic of abortion comes up in conversation. Please know that abortion is not the unpardonable sin and, like any sin, you can be freely forgiven if you confess your sin, turn from it and turn to God. I invite you to do that today. Whether you feel sorry, guilty, afraid, or even defiant or bitter, you can share your feelings with God and find help. Whatever your role in abortion may have been, whether talking others into abortion, driving them to a facility that does abortions, having your own abortion, or even doing abortions, God can and will forgive you if you repent, turn from sin and turn to Jesus in faith. I have included a link to a website where you may be able to find help.

God is the God of second chances. Let Him give you that. Will you?

Visit Here to Find Out More

To My Friends Who Support or Oppose Planned Parenthood

To All Our Friends & Defenders of Planned Parenthood:

This letter is not another rant about how your pitting the right of women to have abortions against the rights of the right of unborn children to live. This is not another online scolding about your defense of an organization that is doing what "the other side" is against, performing abortions. I don't think our rants about how you are not agreeing with us and are showing your lack of humanity, are doing much good. I believe that our side needs to see that while we truly believe that you are misguided on some matters, does not mean that we cannot listen to you and what you are saying about what is going on in our society that makes Planned Parenthood a safety net, especially for needy women. We who call ourselves "conservative Christians" need to practice the love that Jesus tells us that we are to show, and that means to meet you on your own ground and, while we may not agree with you, honestly see things from your point of view. For you have valid points.

I live in a household of people who support Planned Parenthood, and I an regularly exposed to television programming that supports their worldview. I know that many people who call themselves "progressive" or "liberal" Christians also support Planned Parenthood. You may be among them. So I know all the arguments and much of it makes sense. I have heard it said, over and over again, that Planned Parenthood provides numerous services for women, including cancer screenings, birth control devices, birth control education, and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) testing. These are very good things. Women need cancer screening and we are to be prolife about women's lives, and cancer screenings save lives. Birth control education is very useful and can prevent unwanted pregnancies before they happen, thus preventing abortion from even being an issue for women and the important people in their lives. This is good. Birth control devices? I'm not comfortable with them being handed out to just anyone, especially to teenagers. Science tells us that they do not provide adequate STD protection. But STD testing saves lives and is a safety net. We who call ourselves prolife should commend that. One of your arguments is that abortion services make up only about five percent of what Planned Parenthood does. However, those of us "on the other side" feel strongly about this five percent, as you do.

I know that many of you who call yourself prochoice may believe that you have little or nothing in common with those of us who call ourselves prolife. But consider:

1). We support the idea that unwanted pregnancies should be prevented.

2). We generally support adoption for unwanted babies.

3). We all know abortions are a painful choice and should be avoided as much as possible.

4). We generally truly want to help abortion-minded women and men in crisis.

5). We generally believe that the Bible backs up our views on this matter.

6). We have Bible proof texts that we believe back up our positions.

7). We feel strongly about Planned Parenthood and abortion.

8). We are very vocal about our position on our view on this matter.

9). We are willing to be attacked for our positions.

10). We detest injustice in society.

11). We care deeply about people and human rights.

We have a lot in common. We just have different answers to address the marginalization of women and children. I have never been inside a Planned Parenthood Clinic, though I have protested outside them. Defenders of Planned Parenthood whom I know have not, to my knowledge, ever been inside a Planned Parenthood Clinic either. So I cannot prove or disprove the their actual proportion of abortions. I know about the photos that have come out about Planned Parenthood, in underground efforts to expose what goes on inside its doors. my only view of one of the videos was when someone else had on a politics channel and the anchor, who is prochoice, played the video. The footage seemed fuzzy and did not say much. I do understand that three other videos were released, which I did not see. I do not know if we need videos to confirm that the very fact that Planned Parenthood exists, to rescue desperate women and men who want to get rid of what they believe is causing their plights, means that things are wrong with us as a society. Instead of holding abortion as an option to women in crisis, why not spend time, energy, and even money, to create conditions that will abortion-minded women and men will be less desperate and less tempted to turn to abortion? If we who call ourselves prolife would listen to those who call themselves prochoice when they try to say, "Many in crisis pregnancies have no choice but to get abortions, so they should have the choice," we would do better than we are. Also, Planned Parenthood is defended because it serves low-income women in many ways other than abortion, as stated above. Just declaring the humanity of the unborn and the evil of abortion is not enough. We who support Planned Parenthood and those who oppose it, need to listen to each other, find common ground, and do what we can so people in crisis pregnancies will make life-affirming choices. And prochoice people need to listen to us and extend their care for women into equal care for the unborn. As one source has said, both sides need to love mother and baby.

Those of you who call yourselves Christians and followers of Jesus Who values all life, how can you support an act that takes human life and an organization that endorses it?

Visit This Website To See How You Can Provide Women With Life-Affirming Choices

What Would Jesus Say to the American Christian Church?

I think He would regard all our denominations and how they have split us until we regard ourselves as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Pentecostals, Baptists, or any other sect, and say: "You are all disciples, followers of Me, and brothers and sisters in Jesus."

I think He would regard all our church buildings, all our decorations, all our programs and our events and say, "This is not the Church. The Church is not any of these things nor is it a place or an event. You are the Church, all of you who carry My Name."

I think He would regard all our surplus resources, including all our Bibles in numerous translations and in different genres, our many Christian books that are often self-help and all our Christian colleges, Christian radio and Christian TV and say, "These are good to a point, but many of My people all over the world do not have nearly what you do and they are rich toward Me! What you need, more than anything, is a living relationship with me."

I think He would regard our fast-paced living and the way we meet once (maybe twice a week) in worship contexts and share only superficially when together, and say, "I have commanded you to love one another. How can you do that if you are too busy to take the time to get to know each other?"

I think He would regard our practice of setting up congregations that draw different people groups of Christians (Black, Caucasian, affluent, poor, different ethnic groups) and say, "This should never be! I see all of you as one Body of Christ. You have split Me up so the world will never be convinced that You are mine."

I think that He would regard all the scandals that so often break out publicly among Christian leaders and that happen as often in fellowships everywhere though lesser-known, and say: "I commanded You to watch and pray so that you would not enter into temptation. Because you refuse accountability and ignore my instruction to confess your sins to each other and pray for one another for healing, sin overcomes you and My Name is dragged in the mud."

I think He would regard our ingrained habit of looking to our Pastors and other Pastoral staff to do our ministry and divide them into clergy and laity and would say, "This is backward. You are all brothers and sisters in Me and no one is professional or unprofessional in my Kingdom. You are all ministers and you all have a job to do."

I think He would regard our appalling divorce rate in the Christian community that is as high as in the general community and would say, "I designed marriage not only for procreation and companionship but also to represent the forever relationship between My beloved Church, Whom I love passionately, and Me. Divorce does great violence to My design for marriage."

I think He would regard the 4000 abortions a day and our silence about this social ill and even our participation in it (getting abortions or enabling others to get them) and say, "This is very wrong! I create every person from conception on with purposes and gifts and these are My children who are being killed! And it breaks My heart to see what abortion does to all those left behind--the moms, dads, grandparents and all the waste of life."

I think He would regard our ignorance of or refusal to address so many social ills that also affect Christian (abortion, same-sex attraction, mental illness, sexual abuse, domestic violence, poverty and more) and would say, "I commanded You to bear each other's burdens and so fulfill My Law. It is by loving each other that people will identify you as Mine. Step it up!"

I think He would regard our tendency to politicize Him and the Bible and subtly (and not so subtly) totally ignore one party and refuse to see that both parties have both strengths and weaknesses, and would say, "My Kingdom is not of this world and I am not a Republican or a Democrat or any political title. The government cannot save you."

I think He would regard all His people all over the world so willing to give up all for him and even their physical lives and then regards our lukewarmness and blindness about so much of His teachings, and would say, "All who want to live a godly life for Me will be persecuted. Stand up to your more subtle enemies of materialistic and consumeristic temptations, and embrace the cross and be forever exalted."

I think He would regard the mass exodus (at least 70 percent) of young people from our fellowships (in all denominations) and the sad phenomenon of so many "losing their faith" in college, and say, "This breaks My heart. The Body of Christ is not supposed to be age-segregated and divided into age-segregated worship services, small groups and Bible study groups. Young people are being turned off by the way you do church and I do not blame them."

I think He would regard how we have thoroughly caved into our culture so that an estimated 60 percent of professed Christians approve of homosexuality as an "alternative lifestyle" and see this sinful lifestyle that God clearly denounces in even the New Testament, and says, "When I told the women who was being condemned for her adultery I did tell her that I did not condemn her. I did not tell her to do whatever made her happy even if it means sinning. I told her to stop sinning. Acceptance of sin and love for it is sin."

I think He would regard the horrible practice of so many televangelists and Christian leaders of saying "the right things" while they get rich off their followers and live their cushy and wealthy lives, and say, "These wolves in sheep's clothing do not speak for me and I do not know them. I told you to watch out for false prophets and do not listen to them but follow me and study My Word and sound Biblical teachers."

I think he would regard our refusal to proclaim the full Gospel, not only of God's grace and love and forgiveness but also of sin and holiness and judgment and hell, and say: "If you are bent on not offending or upsetting people with the truth, even when the truth hurts, you are offending Me."

I think He would regard those among us who, though far from perfect, are earnestly seeking to daily hang onto Him as Savior and Lord and endure in faith, and say, "Continue to stand firm in your faith and don't let anyone hinder you, even if everyone around you goes into the opposite direction."

We Can Share Jesus' Love with Girls & Women in Asia!

Here in the West and especially in the US, many are advocating for women's rights. We are calling for pay equity, equal pay for equal work. To protect more girls and women, many want the word "rape" to be expanded as a legal definition for sexual misconduct. Many of us want tougher laws to protect women against violence. The most controversial right that women want is the "right to choose" not only in contraception but also to terminate their pregnancies. Most of these rights we want are good and right. We have come a long way in women's rights but more needs to be done.

We who follow Jesus, for the most part, agree with most of the rights women and their allies are calling for. Women should be paid as much as men for equal work, be protected against any form of sexual abuse, be able to get justice in civil or criminal court, and be safe from all violence. As Christians, we cannot in a good conscience take God seriously and join the culture in calling for the preservation of the "right to choose" to "terminate a pregnancy" when we realize what and who we are calling to be aborted. But the post is not about abortion.

Yes, some things remain unfinished in the women's rights arena even in the US. Also, as this calls for support for girls and women who are sold into sex slavery, human trafficking in the US does need more awareness and support. However, girls and women (by far the most frequent human trafficking victims) fare far worse in many countries outside the West. While we (who are women in the West) are lacking in some rights we want and encounter sexism, women outside the West often have no rights. Many of them, when they are raped, are disowned by their families. They may even be sent to prison! Talk about "blaming the victim"! When they experience abuse in their marriages, many women outside the West cannot get any protection or justice from the courts. Testify in court? They often are not allowed to do that. Two-thirds of the world's illiterate people are girls and women. Human trafficking, terrible as it is for victims in the West, is far worse for girls and women throughout the world. As horrific and tragic as all this is, many of these girls and women have never heard about Jesus' love in a way they can understand. This is true in many countries all over Asia, for example.

Gospel for Asia exists to empower native Asian missionaries to bring the Gospel message to unreached people groups. They sponsor many projects that meet the material and practical needs of Asia's unreached peoples. They pledge that 100 present of money that is designated to go to mission projects or native missionaries in Asia, will all go directly that that project or that missionary. For those of you who prefer to pay by check or money order, Gospel for Asia has a physical address. My first campaign at Gospel for Asia's website is meant to get awareness and funds for hurting girls and women who desperately need not only to be rescued from sex slavery, but also need to hear (often for the first time) about Jesus Who dies for them, loves them and yearns to know them.

Please check out my campaign here. If you cannot give financial support, please share this post widely!

Thank you,

Lisa DeSherlia

Are We Involved in a Culture War?

I hear it constantly, especially in the media. I'm sure you do, too.

We hear about how we in the West are involved in "a culture war." If you are in the US, especially, you know that our current President is often seen as unfriendly, even hostile, to the Christian community. Some are even speculating that he is "the Anti-Christ" and that his signature health care initiative is heralding the "Mark of the Beast" and the ushering in of The New World Order and "a one world government." Really?

Many Christians seem to be focused on two moral issues as defining evidence as proof that we are involved in what they deem as culture war against our decadent, pagan world. These two issues are abortion and homosexuality. To speak of them more positively, the focus lies on the sanctity of all human life and on marriage as being between a man and a woman. Yes, I get it. Yes, I agree with those of you, brothers and sisters in Jesus; the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, have spoken clearly on both of these. Abortion is never mentioned in Scripture, but it is clear that God sees us as people from the time we are conceived. This is clear in the Old Testament Psalm 139 and in the Gospel story of Jesus' mother Mary and cousin Elizabeth, when they met and Jesus' cousin "leapt for joy in the womb" at meeting his divine Cousin-Savior in utero. It was clear when Elizabeth called her pregnant cousin Mary "the mother of my Lord." God clearly speaks against homosexuality both in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus, in answering a question by the Pharisees, affirmed that "From the beginning, God made marriage between male and female." The homosexual lifestyle is not commended, but is condemned in the Bible. Yes, both "abortion rights" and "GBLT rights" are widely accepted in out culture and any Christian who denounces them, even in love, is considered "hateful" and "judgmental." So where does this leave those of us who really believe we are in a culture war?

We need to bear in mind that we live in a culture where most people have worldviews and value systems far different from ours. I guess that is where the term "culture war" comes from. But should we focus on fighting some culture war? It is true that we are commanded to not love the world system and its ways because love for culture is incompatible with loving God. Yet in "fighting the culture wars," many Christians seem to believe that filling Washington with politicians of "the right party" will "reclaim our country and take it in the right direction." While we Christians are to be in the world but not of it and to be a part of all parts of culture, is looking to Washington the answer to "reclaiming America for Christ?" The Great Commission that Jesus gives us calls us to go to, teach and disciple individuals. I know that it is easy to believe that legislation and the election of "the right political leaders" does help, to a point. We can sign petitions and create them, write to politicians and even lobby them, and elect those we want to power. These help but only in a limited way. They do not change hearts. Only prayer and the power of God working in individual lives in answer to prayer, can do that. Has it occurred to us that many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world cannot even afford to think in terms of "fighting a culture war"? In the absence of freedom, they focus on dependence on God and each other, prayer, and giving their all to Him no matter what the price to themselves. They know that the battle belongs to God, not to us!

I do not want to give the wrong idea to those Christians who call themselves "progressive Christians." I'm talking to those who value tolerance and diversity very much and who may think Christians may be able to be both Christian and homosexual, or who may even condone "abortion rights" in the name of women's equal rights. If I'm to be true to God and the Scriptures, then I must say that you cannot condone the homosexual lifestyle or abortion and call yourself a Christ-follower. I can understand why you would accept these two sins as "alternate values" but God has a higher standard for our behavior than we do. No, we are not to obsess on fighting some culture war but neither are we to let it the world so shape our worldview that we are more like culture than like Christ. No, we are to wholeheartedly follow Christ Who has overcome the world.

Praise God, if we know and follow Christ, we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us!

Should We Christians Ever Judge?

What is the best-known and most-loved verse in the whole Bible? What is the verse that many, even most, people outside the Christian community can quote with ease? That should be easy to answer, brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the one-sentence admonition that Jesus uttered when He commanded us: "Judge not, lest you be judged." I doubt that anyone is unaware of that command from the lips of Christ. Yet do we really know what Jesus meant when He forbade us from judging others? Our understanding of what something means, as a rule, guides our conduct and attitudes. That holds true in how we understand what Jesus meant by forbidding us from judging others.

Why Need We Christians Be Concerned About This?

In the developed world, we Christians live in a culture that values tolerance and political correctness. We have "progressed" to a point where certain actions clearly condemned in Scripture as sinful, harmful or unnatural, are now increasingly viewed and even embraced, as acceptable. Homosexuals are now a protected minority group, at least in the US. It is considered "hate speech" and politically incorrect to dare suggest that the Bible condemns homosexuality as sinful. Abortion has been legal in the US since 1973 and today, it is often called a "woman's right to choose" or "her right to privacy" or "her right to control her own body." Premarital sex, especially on the part of single and engaged adults, is now accepted and to even hint that the Bible warns against these practices as wrong, is to risk being called old-fashioned, out of touch with reality, and politically incorrect. Yet we do not have a politically correct Bible nor do we serve a politically correct God. Nope.

What Does Judging Mean In Context of Our Culture?

In most of the developed world, our culture now dictates how we Christians should relate. You can tell this easily as you interact with any media outlet, talk with others, even confront laws that keep getting passed that make Scripturally unacceptable actions acceptable, notably abortion and homosexual rights, called "marriage equality. Abortion is not once mentioned in either the Old or the New Testament. In both Testaments, though, God affirms the sanctity of human life, from the second of conception on. He declares that His purposes for us are established even before conception. In the Old and New Testament, the Bible condemns homosexual lifestyles as sin. God makes it clear that He designed marriage to be between a husband and wife, and Jesus said that in the New Testament. In both Old and New Testaments, God tells us that He prohibits any use of sexual intercourse outside of marriage. We can't duck the reality that God's precepts and ways run counter to our culture in many ways.

So Where Does Judging Fit In This Picture?

Scripture makes it clear that if we truly serve Christ, we who follow Him will call wrong what He calls wrong. He tells us to speak out against what He calls sin, wherever we see it but to always do it in love for the other person. Guess what? Yes, Jesus warned us not to judge others, but never did He say that we are to hold back from judging their actions when we see sin. Our relativistic culture will never understand God's ways and precepts, though His precepts all back up sound physical and emotional health principles. The wrong use of sex causes sexually transmitted diseases, untimely pregnancies, and has ruined countless lives. Those who adopt homosexual lifestyles set themselves up for stigma, despite growing cultural acceptance. They violate the laws of nature concerning sexuality, and become vulnerable to the hatred and crime due to societal "homophobia." Abortion not only kills unborn children, but frequently causes much emotional and even physical harm to their moms. It robs fathers, grandparents and society of people who could have been blessings to them. When Jesus told us to not judge, He does not mean that we are to stay silent about what He calls wrong. He certainly does NOT call us to approve of it!

Where Does This Leave Me?

In short, in various parts of Scripture, and by Christ Himself, we are told to "judge righteously." We are never asked to "check our minds at the door" when we follow Christ. Brothers and sisters, we are told to exercise discernment when it comes to if we are being exposed to correct teaching. We are TOLD to check what any Pastor or Bible teacher teaches us with the Bible. When we see people do things that God calls wrong, we are to speak the truth to them in love. Guess what? We are to judge outward wrong behavior in ourselves and others, and to evaluate the teachings of any Pastor or Bible teacher. We are NOT to judge anyone's intentions, motives, or their spiritual conditions. This is the judging that Scripture forbids. Let's know the difference between acceptable and unacceptable judging.

Thoughts?