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I set before you life and death,
blessings and curses.
Now choose life . . .
Now choose life . . .
Planned UnParenthood in Iowa
To learn what Planned Parenthood is doing in Iowa, please listen to the short video clip by Rev. Ken Klaus of Lutheran House Ministries' Men's Network. He explains that Planned Parenthood, using our tax dollars, is prescribing the abortion pill to girls and women without them seeing a doctor. Visit: www.lhmmen.com/baloneyvideo.asp?id=15064&mode=low
Christianity and the
Sanctity of Human Life
Human life was cheap and expendable during the Greco-Roman era. There was little remorse in taking the life of a preborn child. However, first-century Christians valued human life in the womb. Long before the birth of Christ, faithful Jews (contrary to the pagan societies around them) held to the sanctity of human life, including life in the womb. Flavius Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, said that the Biblical Law (the Pentateuch) "forbids women from either to cause an abortion or to make away with the fetus." He further stated that a woman who aborts her child "destroys a soul and diminishes the [human] race."
Writing to the Christians in Galatia about A.D. 55, St. Paul issued a catalogue of sins (Galatians 5:20). One of the sins mentioned is pharmakeia, the making and administering of potions. Administering medicinal potions was a common way of inducing abortions among the Greco-Romans. In Revelation 21:8, the Apostle John condemns "sexual immorality." These two words are immediately followed by the plural word pharmakois, evidently because sexual immorality often resulted in unwanted pregnancies being aborted.
An early Christian document, the Didache, says that abortion is forbidden and uses the words ou pharmakeuseis (you shall not use potions). These words are followed by "ou phoneuseis teknon en phthora" (ou shall not kill a child by abortion).
Martin Luther asserted that "those who pay no attention to pregnant women and do not spare the tender fetus are murderers and parricides." John Calvin said, "The unborn child . . . though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being . . . and should not be robbed of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy."
Christians historically brought respect and dignity to life in the womb. But, that's not all. They also shared the forgiveness and mercy of Jesus Christ with men and women who were sorry and repentant of an abortion choice. Christians offered hope to the hopeless.
In the United States, 3,287 preborn babies are killed through abortion every day. Tax dollars of American citizens are used to pay for these abortions. Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the world, receives federal funding and the blessing of many clergy and churches who have abandoned God's Word and a history of pro-life advocacy.
Tragically, legalized abortion has led to legalized euthanasia. God calls Christians everywhere to value human life -- from embryo to great-grandpa -- because He created and redeemed us all.
To learn more, read How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, an LCMS professor of sociology and author. www.amazon.com
PLEASE PRAY that God's people trust and use His Word to protect the lives He has "miraculously and wondrously" made (Psalm 139:13-16) and to welcome children, parents and grandparents. Pray that Christians influence society to bring about health care reform pleasing to God. Pray in Jesus' name.
God Works Through our Vocations to Affect Society
The word "vocation" is the Latinate term for "calling." Perhaps the best summation of the concept is in 1 Corinthians 7:17: "Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him." The great theologian of vocation was Martin Luther who believed that vocation, like justification, is ultimately God's work. God gives us our daily bread through the vocations of the farmer, the miller, and the baker. God creates new human beings through the vocations of fathers and mothers. God protects us through lawful magistrates. Vocation is about how God works through human beings.
Today, the word vocation has become no more than a synonym for "job." The theological term includes the work we do, but it includes much more than that. God calls us to many different tasks and relationships. The unemployed still have vocations from God. Every Christian has multiple vocations.
Luther sorted them out into four "estates," or spheres of life that God has established: the church, the household, the state, and what he called "the common order of Christian love." Pastors speak rightly of being "called" into the ministry, whereupon God works through them to teach His Word, preside at His sacraments, and give spiritual care to His people. Laypeople too are called to do tasks in the local congregation, singing in the choir, serving on committees, serving meals, and in other ways blessing their fellow members.
Being in a family is also a calling. God established marriage, and being a husband or a wife is a vocation. Being a father or mother is also a vocation. So is being a son or a daughter . . . a brother or sister, nephew or uncle, grandmother or grandfather. (Take note of how many vocations one person can hold within a family.) For Luther the estate of the "household" includes both the family and the activities by which it supports itself.
We also have vocations in the state. We were each born into a particular time, place, and society. The cultural context in which we find ourselves is thus part of the life that God has assigned us. We thus have responsibilities to our government and to our culture as a whole. Americans have the unusual calling of being both subjects and rulers at the same time, since our democratic republic places the governing authorities themselves under the authority of the people who elect them. Christians have the vocation of citizenship, which means that politics, civic involvement, and cultural engagement are all realms of Christian service.
Journalists like to refer to themselves as the "fourth estate," but Luther's fourth estate is the "common order of Christian love." This is the realm where people of different vocations interact informally. In Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite were on the way to serve in their vocations, but they ignored the man bleeding by the side of the road. In the ordinary course of everyday life and in our relationships with our friends and neighbors, God also calls us to service.
The Reformers insisted that the Christian life requires not withdrawal from the world but rather engagement in the world. The Christian faith is to be lived out not primarily in "church work" but in vocation.
In practice, this means moving spiritual disciplines out from the confines of the monastery (or church building) into secular life. According to the doctrine of vocation, the church is the place where Christians meet every week to find forgiveness of Christ, feed on God's Word, and grow in their faith. Whereupon they are sent out into their vocations -- to their spouses, children, jobs, and culture -- for that faith to bear fruit. (Excerpted from "Arenas of Service" by Gene Edward Veith, August 28, 2010 issue of WORLD. Gene Veith is the provost of Patrick Henry College, culture editor of WORLD magazine, LC-MS member, and friend of LFL.)
PLEASE PRAY for courage to use God's Word for life in all vocations to His glory and the service of others... in Jesus' name.
The Purpose of our Vocation
Faith bears fruit in love (Galatians 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:5). The purpose of every vocation is to love and serve our neighbor.
God doesn't need our good works, Luther said, but our neighbor does. Our relationship with Him is based completely on His work for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. But just as God is hidden in vocation, Christ is hidden in our neighbors. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers" -- feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and imprisoned -- "you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40). We love and serve God in our vocations by loving and serving the actual human beings He places into our lives.
Every vocation has its particular neighbors . . . In a marriage, husbands are to love and serve their wives, and wives are to love and serve their husbands. Parents love and serve their children, who, in turn, love and serve their parents.
Certain vocations exercise authority. But authority itself is not just a matter of exercising power over others . . . "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45).
Of course, we often sin in and against vocation. Instead of serving, we want to be served. Instead of loving our neighbor, we often use our neighbor for our own selfish purposes.
Vocations clarifies moral issues. Mothers are called to love and serve their children, not abort them or abuse them. Doctors are called to heal their patients, not kill them. Leaders are called to love and serve those under their authority, not exploit and tyrannize them.
Some actions are sinful when done outside of vocation but good works when done within vocation. We have no calling from God that would authorize having sex with someone to whom we are not married. But within the vocation of marriage, sex is not only authorized, it becomes the mean by which God creates a one-flesh union, engenders new life, and builds a family.
Vocation has to do with the priesthood of all believers. A priest is someone who performs a sacrifice. We no longer need sacrifices for our sins, since Christ, our great High Priest, offered Himself as our sacrifice once and for all (hebrews 9:26). But, in light of that sacrifice, God calls us "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).
Loving and serving involves an act of self-denial for the sake of someone else. That is, it involves sacrifice . . . Vocation focuses on self-sacrifice.
The father, coming home from work dead tired, has presented his body as a living sacrifice for his family. So has the mother who drives her kids to soccer practice when she has many others things she would rather do. So has the worker who has put in long hours to do the best job possible for the company's customers.
Christ, who is in vocation and in the neighbor, takes up all of these sacrifices, small or great, into His sacrifice. And He loves and serves His creation by means of our love and service in our vocations. (Excerpted from "Arenas of Service" by Gene Edward Veith in the August 28, 2010 issue of WORLD. Gene Veith is a popular author, speaker at conferences, and pro-life member of the LC-MS. We recommend his book, God At Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, Crossway Books.)
The Centurians
An organization called the Society of Centurions is a group of people whose hearts and minds have been changed by truth. Members of this group are former providers of abortion who have abandoned their practice and now embrace the sanctity of human life. Their number includes physicians, nurses, paramedics, technicians, receptionists, and security personnel.
Why the name "Centurion"? The organization explains in their brochure, "The Centurion who stood at the foot of the cross of Christ suddenly became horrified at the crucifixion he was ordered to carry out. When Christ died, this Centurion dropped his sword and fell to his knees exclaiming, 'Surely, this was an innocent man!'"
The former abortion providers go on to explain, "Those of us who have participated in the killing of unborn children are the Centurions of today. We have dropped our swords against the unborn child. Now we must recognize the depth of our guilt and deal with the ramifications . . . To revitalize our humanity we need to forgive and be forgiven, to reconcile and be healed."
To learn more, please visit: www.centurions@plam.org
Please pray for all doctors, nurses, directors and helpers in abortion clinics across the country. Pray that the Spirit of Truth pierce through the wall of denial. Pray that we all turn our backs on death as a solution to the problems of life. Pray in Jesus' name.
Why Does Planned
Parenthood Favor Abortion?
Planned Parenthood (PP) began as the dream of Margaret Sanger, a zealous advocate of eugenics and abortion. From 1920-22, Sanger launched the American Birth Control League (ABCL), the forerunner of PP. This organization was founded to maintain a so-called "fit" nation or, in Sanger's words, to "create a race of thoroughbreds." After the Nazi horrors, the ABCL changed its name to Planned Parenthood.
Today, PP pressures governments to limit births, advocate homosexuality (as a form of birth control), and mentor sexually-uninhibited youth. A predominant number of PP's "health centers" are set up in low income, black, and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Do you agree or disagree with PP's worldview? Does it honor God? Are you aware of PP activities, curricula, and programs in your school?
PLEASE PRAY for courageous options that counter Planned Parenthood such as the AGAPE CPC, The Lighthouse CPC, and other caring pregnancy centers and outreaches across Iowa.
Who Is My Neighbor?
A man once asked Jesus, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" This man, who spend his days studying the Law, was testing Jesus. Jesus answered, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" The man responded, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live" (Luke 10:25-29). But, then the man asked another question. "Who is my neighbor?" Was the man implying that some people might not be his neighbor? Do we think that some people might not be our neighbors?
The Greek root of the word neighbor means "nearby, close." It means "whoever happens to be nearby or close at hand" (The Lutheran Study Bible, commentary on Luke 10:29). But, do we too often fail to see a stranger as our neighbor because we are prejudiced? Threatened? Inconvenienced? Selfish? Lacking compassion?
To help the man recognize his neighbor, Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite passed by a fallen, injured man. Only the Samaritan risked his own life and showed mercy to his fallen "neighbor." It is one thing to speak of doing the right thing. It is another to actually do the right thing. As Christians, we are challenged to put right thinking into right practice.
Who is our neighbor? Is it someone in prison? Is it someone of a different culture or color? Is it a pregnant teen? Is it an unborn child? Is it someone with AIDS? Is it someone who enters our life at an inconvenient time? Is it someone whose worldview differs from our own? What difference would be made in our communities and nation if we saw everyone as our neighbor? If we served everyone as our neighbor?
Jesus told the man to be like the Good Samaritan, but this reminded the man of how far he was from being what God wanted him to be. The same is true for us. For this reason, Who became the Good Samaritan and literally laid down His life for us?
PLEASE PRAY for the Spirit to make us more like Jesus as we grow in faith, see all people as our neighbor, and serve unselfishly.
How Do Christians Best Help Society?
God created a perfect world. Adam and Eve's sin changed everything and, to this day, each child is born sinful into a sin-tainted world. This creates problems for us all... for all of our earthly lives.
However, those who reject God and the idea of sin prefer, instead, to believe in the inherent goodness of human beings. Those who reject the God of Holy Scripture have neglected character development because they regard evil as coming not from human nature, but from forces outside the individual. Thus, non-Christians often believe that, for example, "poverty causes crime."
Yes, writes Dennis Prager. Starving people may steal bread for their families, but it is irrational dogma as well as wrong theology to insist that poverty causes crime. More importantly, when society blames evil on forces outside the individual rather than on the individuals who perpetrate evil, society is prevented from shaping young and old into good citizens.
The important questions that any society, including America, should ask are not: how do we make young people environmentally aware? Or, how do we teach them to resist racism sexism, or homophobia? Or, how do we fight AIDS and cancer? The most important question a society can ask, writes Dennis Prager, is: How do we raise young people to be good adults?
Christians make a powerful and positive difference in society when they teach character traits -- truth telling, humility, financial integrity, good work ethics, honor of parents and other authorities. Prager notes that teaching self-control is perhaps the greatest character trait we can mentor. Before learning to fight society, says Prager, people need to learn how to fight their own [sinful] nature.
Christians -- those who believe in the need for a Savior from sin -- are less than popular today. There is a concentrated effort to silence Christians. Nevertheless, the Truth of God's Word lived out in our everyday lives will do more to help society than anything man can think of. Christian parents who teach their children what God says and then work with them to live it out are parents who affect society in a positive way.
Prager observes: "There is no federal budget, no Senate or House bill, no social policy, no health care fix that can do as much good as a society that is filled with decent people." (The Washington Times, 12-21-09). Building decent people begins in the home where God's Word is authority over all.
How does character building, as described by Prager, help build a culture of life? Using Prager's reasoning, how does a pro-life Christian influence society and offer hope?
PLEASE PRAY for all parents and children in our nation that they might be strong in the character of the Lord and, thereby, affect society . . . In Jesus' name.
If Genesis Is a Myth, So Is Jesus
If God through His Son Jesus Christ (see John 1:3) did not create "heaven and earth" in six days, then the rest of Scripture is based upon a myth and has lost its credibility. If God did not create human life in His own image on the sixth day, then there is no ultimate source that gives intrinsic value and dignity to you or any other human being. If everything came into existence through evolution, then "death" is the operative word. The theory of evolution requires millions and millions of years of death to bring about life as we know it. However, if everything came into existence through God's creative Word, then "life" is the operative word. God created everything to support and enhance human life.
Dr. David Menton, professor of biology, writes, "Christians should be particularly careful how they treat Divine Creation because it's foundational to the whole Bible and Christianity" (The Lutheran Witness, vol. 117, no. 7, 1998).
The Bible focuses first and foremost on Jesus. "Then [Jesus] began with Moses' Teachings and the prophets to explain to them what was said about Him throughout the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). Jesus was there in the beginning chapters of Genesis: "In the beginning the Word [Jesus] already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The need for Jesus and the rest of the Bible is revealed in the beginning chapters of Genesis: "So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Genesis 3:6b). The Bible reveals, "Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
Dr. Menton writes, "There is an integral relationship between Creation and our salvation. The first three or so pages of the Bible reveal both man's accountability to God through his creation and man's subsequent fall into sin and death through his disobedience. All the remaining pages . . . deal directly or indirectly with God's solution to man's sin-problem documented in the first three pages." (Excerpts from God's Word for Life commentary by Dr. James I. Lamb)
What are we teaching our children about Genesis? About Jesus the Creator who came to live with His creation as both Man and Savior? What is the impact of such teaching upon society?
PLEASE PRAY that the Truth of God's creation and redemption of all human life be taught... in Jesus' name.
Christian Charity or State Welfare?
Which is better for individuals, families and society: Christian charity or state welfare? You decide. Think, first, of what state welfare has or has not accomplished. What does it require? To what does it lead?
Now consider the history of the Church and its impact on the culture. It is Christians, not the state, who created a diaconia that cared for widows (Acts 6:1-7); established common treasuries to aid the needy (1 Corinthians 16:2); formed collegia, soladitats, or factionis (voluntary associations) to aid the unfortunate; provided for orphans; established nosocomia (institutions that served the sick); constructed xenodchia (buildings that housed strangers, travelers and the sick); operated ptochia (institutions for the poor); and introduced gerontocomia (institutions for the aged).
To learn more, read How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt. Then, thank God for His Church... in Jesus' name.
Do All of Iowa's Resources
for Teens Please God?
Are you wondering what Planned Parenthood is telling Iowa sons, daughters, and grandchildren? Visit their teen web site at www.teenwire.org and see for yourself. Learn PP's perspective on homosexuality, unmarried sex, abstinence, marriage and children. Then, visit God's Word -- the Bible -- to learn what the Creator of Life has to say. Two worldviews are in conflict!
Life Issues... and You!
