After the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to Ireland’s Constitution, we updated the song When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.
As people pray, we seek true healing
Throughout the state of California in coming weeks, Christians will gather to pray for the future of our nation. Lord willing, we hope to go to as many of these events as possible, encouraging those who gather to ask God to “heal our land” by not only seeking God’s face but also “turning from our wicked ways” (2 Chronicles 7:14), especially the innocent blood polluting our land. We seek to cooperate in every way possible with the organizers of these prayer events, yet our appreciation of their efforts leads us to emphasize the necessity of taking a firm stand for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Struggling to recover from a series of recent well-publicized abortion injuries, Bakersfield’s FPA abortion business has seen a variety of abortionists in recent months, with abortion days frequently changing to match each abortionist’s schedule.
For the past several weeks, longtime abortionist Gorli Harish has been ravaging Bakersfield children and their mothers on Wednesdays and Saturdays. His horrendous track record causes us to have grave concerns: he has been sued for malpractice over a dozen times and has been disciplined by the medical board several times, even brazenly lying about his training.
Although Christmas celebrations focus on the manger, the miracle of the Incarnation did not happen in Bethlehem. The “Word became flesh” not at the time of the virgin birth, but when Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, as heralded by the angel Gabriel.
The value of human life in the womb is key to the way this account is told in the Bible. The Greek word which refers to a preborn baby in Luke 1:41 is the exact same word used for newborn Jesus in Luke 2:12, as he lay in the manger. There is no difference (except that one was seen, and the other was unseen).
Gates of Hell
BIBLICAL HISTORY AND MODERN REALITY
When Jesus spoke of Hell, He is usually quoted as having used the word “Gehenna,” which referred to the notorious place where children were sacrificed, with the innocent blood shed in this place desecrating this land for generations to come.
“When wicked people choose to burn their children in the fires of Gehenna, God promises to avenge the innocent blood of these children by burning their murderers in those same fires. So the relevance of the Gates of Hell to our Abortion Holocaust should now be quite obvious.”
A scriptural understanding of “grace” leads us to higher standards (surpassing our limitations and exceeding even our abilities), but often it seems that the practical impact of teaching “grace” is to lower the standards for our behavior. What have we been missing?
When Jesus showered grace upon the adulterous woman, rescuing her from being stoned, he nevertheless refused to ignore her sin, commanding her to “go and sin no more.”
But “sin no more” is not a statement of condemnation – it is one of the most powerful statements of grace and hope in the Bible. We don’t need to continue to eat pig slop, because our Father is waiting to eagerly welcome us home. If we refuse to mention “guilt” or “sin,” we may think we are showing grace, but we are actually stealing grace, leaving people to wallow in the mud with the pigs.