I Couldn't Help But Notice

I bought a new prayer journal this past January. It's my "black book." This past year, I have written down my petitions and checked off the evident answers to prayer. I noticed this morning that I have five adults whose names were entered with the petition "salvation" who have accepted Christ this year. I have baptized four of them and will soon baptize the fifth.

Sometimes, we fail to see God's answers to our prayers because we fail to write them down and keep track. Let me encourage you to keep a prayer journal and see, over time, how powerfully God works through prayer.

Senators, It's Your Turn

Pro-life democratic members of the House of Representatives made sure that the health care bill they sent to the senate eliminates federal funding of abortions. Now it's time for the pro-life democratic senators to follow suit. A senator like Casey from Pennsylvania or Nelson from Nebraska...one is all it would take to ensure that federal funding be removed prior to acceptance. Even Harry Reid claims to be pro-life, though his voting record is pretty much 50-50 on the sanctity of life. (National Right to Life gives him a 50% rating.) Now is the time to ask these men to stand up for what they already claim to believe...that every preborn child's life is worthy of protection and we should NOT force taxpayers to financially support abortion.

Thank You Pro-Life Democrats

While we do not know what the Senate will do to the health care bill passed by the House this past weekend, we do know that it appears that any bill coming out of Congress will, in fact, be abortion neutral. This is so, thanks to sixty-four pro-life democrats who stood up to the extreme left wing of their own party and to Speaker Pelosi and said, "John Q. Taxpayer will not be forced to pay for abortions." Consider that number for a moment. We rarely get to see any kind of up or down vote on the issue of abortion, so when we do, it is very significant. That number represents one fourth of all democrats in the House of Representatives!

Personally, I'm not a democrat, but I long to see a majority of democrats be pro-life. With this vote, I'm starting to think we're halfway there! Let's pray that the day will come when both parties contain respect for the sanctity of life as part of their platform.

The Power of a Picture

The direcor of a Planned Parenthood facility resigned after actually watching an abrtion for the first time. She even joined a pro-life group in praying for the facility.

Abby Johnson said that she first became disillusioned with the process when she received pressure from the organization to increase profits by performing more abortions.

"Every meeting that we had was, 'We don't have enough money, we don't have enough money — we've got to keep these abortions coming,'" Johnson told FoxNews.com. "It's a very lucrative business and that's why they want to increase numbers."

Actually seeing an abortion on the ultrasound sealed the deal. She called it an immediate "conversion."

Planned Parenthood's response? They are suing Johnson to keep her quiet about their practices!

Those who work in Crisis Pregnancy ministries attest that the best information to give an abortion-minded mother is a picture of the life God has created inside of her. Once they see their chid's heartbeat, they will not need a textbook to interpret it for them. Nor will they believe the abortionist who calls it "potential life" or a "blob of tissue." The pictures do not lie. Those who fight legislation requiring such information be shown to women prior to an abortion do not have the mother's best interests at heart.

Where Does It End?

A report out today states that in the UK, a premature baby was left to die after doctors refused to resuscitate a child born at 21 weeks. UK guidelines state that only after 22 weeks does a child's life warrant the expensive measures required to save him/her.

I have said for some time that if life is not sacred from beginning to end, then the question must then follow, "When does a human life become worthy of protection?" The groundwork has been laid in England that a life is worthy only if it will not pose too much of a burden upon the rest of society.

Eventually, this reasoning will be taken to its logical conclusion. If a child born at 21 weeks should not receive medical care because the costs (along with the possibility of disability) will be great, then what about the four year old child with cerebral palsy? Why should government spend money that could go to entitlements on someone who will never be able to "give back?" Next, we must ask, just how disabled do you have to be before we decide that you are not doing your part and should be eliminated at worst, or denied medical treatments at best?

What Do We Do?

Comedian Larry David is getting heat for a recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which he urinated on a picture of Jesus. What do we do when the Savior we love is maligned in such a way?

1) Pray for Larry David and remember that we are commanded to love our enemies.

2) Communicate clearly that such behavior legitimizes harassment, prejudice and persecution against Christians.

3) Rethink your subscription to HBO, if you are silly enough to have one. Not because we should "punish" the lost world for being, well...lost. Do it because you don't need that garbage in your home.

4) Remember that the best response is to simply keep loving Jesus. The world will notice that Christians, unlike Muslims, do not issue death threats or riot in the streets when Jesus is treated in such a derogatory way. I pray that believers will not use this episode to embarrass the cause of Christ by retaliating with cheap insults or a complete lack of grace.

Not All of Us

Benny Hinn was recently interviewed by ABC's Nightline. During the interview, it was acknowledged that his ministry receives over $100 million per year in gifts. He has a mansion on the Pacific Ocean and he admitted to a salary of over a half million per year. Oh yeah, and he has a private plane. When asked to defend his lifestyle, here is what he said:

"I mean look, every man of God that I know today has a nice house...And they drive cars, and they have BlackBerrys or iPhones or whatever. It's what we need today to simply exist. ... Absolutely I need a private plane."

How far we have gone from "Silver and gold have I none!" (Acts 3:6) While the Bible, and the apostle Paul in particular, clearly defends the ministry workman receiving wages, it is also true that a pastor must be "free from the love of money" (1 Timothy 3:3). I think it's safe to say that Benny Hinn fails to meet this requirement.

I haven't heard Hinn preach in some time, but back when I had cable and would see him on tv, I always listened to hear a clear gospel presentation. I never heard one. Hinn is an example of the kind of false teachers we are warned to avoid. Titus speaks of them when he says, "They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain." (emphasis mine)