Abortion Scriptures

Did you ever wonder if the Scripture spoke clearly about the topic of abortion? Of course there are numerous Christian groups who take a pro-life stance, but when does life really begin? Is it okay to kill a baby in the womb? What does God have to say about abortion? Whether you want to know if abortion is right from the Word of God, or you need scripture to defend your stance, today’s blog is just that. Read these words of truth and let God’s Holy Spirit teach you where to stand on the topic of abortion.

I encourage you to open your Bibles to put these scriptures into context, or use a Bible search website such as BibleGateway.com, or BlueLetterBible.org.

Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Galatians 1:15 – “…God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb…”

Psalm 139:13 – “For you created me in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Job 10:8-12 – “Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, cloth me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.”

Isaiah 44:2 – “This is what the LORD says- he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you…”

Job 31:15 – “Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?”

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Psalm 127:3 – “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.”

Ezekiel 16:20-21 – “And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.”

Job 12:10 – “In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Jeremiah 7:5-7 – “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.”

Deuteronomy 27:25 – “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person…”

Exodus 20:13 – “You shall not murder.”

Jeremiah 20:17 – “He did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave…”

Amos 1:13 – “This is what the LORD says: ‘For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not relent. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead to extend his borders.’”

Exodus 21:22-25 – “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Source: The list for these scriptures came from the 180 Course Study Guide by Ray Comfort. All Scriptures are in the New International Version, 1984.

Front Page News

I haven't been blogging lately because I have been so busy with our move from York, PA to Dover/New Philadelphia, Ohio. Since we just moved in on Wednesday Evening it will probably take me a little longer before blogs start coming up.

In the mean time let me give a link to our introduction-into-the-community article in the New Philadelphia Times-Reporter Newspaper. Jessica and I were right on the front page of Friday's paper! I don't think I have met anyone in the community yet aside from a speaker from Sugarcreek who came to the Dover Men's Breakfast who didn't recognize me from the paper. The Salvation Army is blessed here with a community that supports our mission. Praise the Lord!

Here's the Link: Couple take command of local Salvation Army

I'm not stationed on King Street anymore, so I may have to change the name of the blog. Stay tuned, and God Bless!

The Value of Religion

“Religion” is a word that I’ve never really hated, but I never really liked either. As I have grown in my spiritual life following Jesus Christ I have found so many things wrong with so much of the practice of “religion” that I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it.

Religion to me has always been about strictly following certain rules and rituals in order to live a lifestyle that can be called “Christian”. Religious people to me have been those people in church history who have gone overboard in living the lifestyle of Christianity or religion that they could get persuaded to be involved with the tragic occurrences that have given followers of Jesus Christ a bad name. I have associated religion with Popes, Crusaders, Pharisees, and hypocrites of all generations. I have viewed modern religious lifestyle as out of touch with the modern world. Amish communities, Mormon and Jehovah’s Witnesses evangelists, Nuns and Monks of all religions wearing strange clothing and separating themselves from the global community all made me think of strict religious lifestyles.

When people point out the harm that religion has caused, I have often answered negatively against religion as well and pointed out that Jesus wants followers who follow Him and have relationship with Him, not with a church or a religion. My belief has been that in a perfect world we would get rid of denominations and religion, open our Bibles, and follow Jesus Christ.

You can understand why I would be surprised then that lately the Holy Spirit is showing me that there is huge value in true religion.

There was already some religion in me, but God wants more. I tithe religiously, I read the Bible and pray religiously, and I fulfill my duties as a Salvation Army officer. These have been my necessary religious duties, after that I want to let God lead as He wills. The problem is that I don’t always listen. If I could listen better maybe what I call religion now - that is following rules and rituals to live a Christian lifestyle - would merely be answering God as He leads, but God wants more than what I have given to Him. He wants me to listen more so He is calling me to more religion! He wants me to be in His Word earlier in the day! He wants me to put on the Full Armor of God every day! He wants me to be ready for the day. He wants to enable me to listen more, so He is calling me to add more religion and as a result to expect more freedom. Astonishing.

So, it turns out that not all religion is bad. In fact, some religion is very valuable, the kind that leads us to right action. It can lead us closer to the heart of God, if we make sure it is from God.

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Make sure you watch 180 Movie if you haven't yet! Watch it here on my blog, or go to 180movie.com, and visit heartchangers.com after watching the movie!

Must See Movie

I Promised a Monday Link, and this one is a must see movie! Even Better, I don't need to give a link because Living Waters has made this available to stream right off my blog (or any other website, go to heartchanger.com).

180 Movie is about the Holocaust, Abortion, and Jesus Christ. It is a must see for every Salvationist, every Christian, every person period, given that they are old enough to understand the concept of genocide.

180 Movie has some graphic images of the holocaust, so beware for young children, but this is a movie every person needs to watch. Our God is a God of life, and we will be a people of life.

Late Night Link

Today we had a busy day at the Corps, and we just got finished dropping off kids in York from our regional Youth Rally hosted by our York Corps. Not much time to blog, but I figured I'd share this late night link with anyone interested.

Today Jessica and I taped an interview on the "Faith is Alive" radio show for the York College radio station WYVC all about the York Salvation Army's youth programming.

Follow the link to the "Faith is Alive" website and scroll to the bottom and you'll find the September 23rd taping called "Salvation Army Youth Work" and you can listen to the program in its entirety.

http://wvyc.ycp.edu/yccc/

Check back Monday for another much more interesting link, and Tuesday for my normal blog.

God Bless!

The Hopeless Lepers

Have you ever encountered a dilemma in which there seemed no hope of a way out? Or have you known someone who has been through a tragedy that sends them into a deep depression that seems too overwhelming to combat? Sometimes situations seem impossible to overcome. Life threatening disease, abuse and neglect, war and death, and many other things can sometimes cause people even to question God. How do we react as Christians? What do we do when hope seems impossible to find?

As imitators of Christ, we can be grateful to God that Jesus set the example of how to react in impossible situations. Jesus shone like a bright light in the darkness. Where there were impossibilities and hopelessness with men, Jesus brought hope and endless possibilities.

Luke 17:11-19 tells of an encounter Jesus had with ten Lepers. These Lepers lived hopeless lives. They were not allowed to live in community with the rest of Israel’s population because they had a contagious skin disease that led to death. Leviticus 13:45-46 tells how the lepers must wear torn clothes, have unkempt hair, shout to others that they are unclean, and live alone outside of the community. They lived alone, waiting to die. Their lives may have been considered hopeless and tragic. Then came Jesus.

Jesus was passing by 10 leprous men while he continued on His mission. He had been called by God to journey to Jerusalem and pay the ultimate price of death on a cross for the sins of the world. He would taste death and overcome it for the sake of every person who ever lived. Luke 17:11 tells us as he was passing by the borders of Samaria and Galilee, He was on His final journey. Yet Jesus was also living out Psalm 84:5-7. He was going from strength to strength on His way to Zion. Along the way it was like Jesus made dry places into flourishing springs, He brought hope to the hopeless.

When the 10 lepers ran into Jesus, they did it on the outskirts of town, shouting from a distance. Jesus did not have to sit and consider the situation. He told them to go to the priest and they’d be healed, and on their way before they got there, they were healed! For Jesus, the impossible simply did not exist.

How much credit do we give God? Do we believe he can do the impossible in the lives of those we interact with? Do we believe He can heal bodies, bring peace to nations, and change people’s hearts? Most importantly, do we trust Him to bring hope as we speak His word and pray? Luke 18:27 says: Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God.’

Thank you Lord that no matter how dark this world can be, the hope of the eternal life You bring will get us through the darkest night.

Picture: Public Domain

Models of Thessalonica

I have never really thought of myself as a model. I wouldn’t know how to walk down a runway, or which way to turn. I’d probably be staring down at the runway floor the whole time that I was supposed to be modeling, so that I wouldn’t fall into the audience. Worst of all my fashion sense is terrible, just ask my wife. No, I wouldn’t be a good model at all when it comes to fashion. Scripture tells me however, that despite my awkwardness on a runway, I am called to be a model. Not a fashion model, but a model Christian.

Christians are called to live holy lives, pleasing to God. We are called to be so much more than what we are without Christ, that as a result others will see our examples and give glory unto God. The apostle Paul recognized a superb model of Christianity in the Thessalonian Church which he highlighted in his first letter to them.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 provides a model of how the salvation of believers leads to a change in their actions. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That is a verse that’s definitely worth storing up in your heart. We work for God because of our faith, we labor for God – going the extra mile – because of the love Christ provides. We endure for the sake of the gospel because of the hope that abounds within us through the saving grace of Christ Jesus! If I am able to honestly say this about myself, then yes, I’d be a model of Christian living worthy to be called a servant of Christ.

So because of their faithfulness to God, the Church of the Thessalonians was able to become a model for Christian living, but what is really beautiful about this passage is that it doesn’t only give us an example of how salvation can change our actions, but it also informs us of how this message can change us and our congregations. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 says: our gospel came to you not only with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. The key here is the work of the Holy Spirit. As we daily submit to Him and commune with Him, we are able to delve deeper in our relationships with Jesus. Our lives are changed through our salvation in Jesus Christ and our refining by the Holy Spirit. This is because it is the Spirit that gives us power (Acts 1:8), deep conviction (John 16:8) and even the word of God through His inspiration of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16).

What 1 Thessalonians chapter one is teaching me about being a model Christian is that I need to build my relationship further with God’s Holy Spirit, and throw open the gates of my heart to Him. With Him, I can find conviction and determination to work in faith, labor in love, and endure in hope for the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, others will see my faithfulness, and give glory unto God.

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Source:

Photo: By Photographs by Simon Deiner; Copyright owned by Abigail Keats [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons