Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Salvation Message

Just a thought...
Today, as I was writing my earlier post, I wanted to put something, you know a link of some kind, at the end so that should someone read the post that isn't a Christian, and wants to become one, they could go there and read a simple Salvation message.
So, I thought, surely I could go to a church website and find something like that, right?

Apparently, that would be a no. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

I went to multiple holiness church websites; yes, they pretty well all had a "What We Believe" page, but not one had a simple message on "How To Get Saved". So, curious, I started looking around... churches, well-known radio preachers, gospel singers...only a very few had something like that.

To be honest, I was somewhat ashamed. For those of us in some type of ministry, this is what we are supposed to be all about!

So, if you look on the left sidebar, under the 'Links' heading, you will find a link titled simply, How To Be Saved. It's not all original content; I found a page that I mostly agreed with somewhere and altered it a bit.

However, it's there. Feel free to take it, copy it, use it on your own website, church website, etc.

Let's put the Gospel message out there where someone who needs it can find it!

On Cause & Effect

This week is 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the US. Everywhere you look, there are pictures like this one:



Don't get me wrong, I agree 100%. So far, though, I've kept my mouth shut...it wouldn't do me much good to share all kinds of stuff like that on my Facebook wall - as far as I know, most, if not all of my FB friends feel the same way as I about abortion. But then I read THIS article....and to be quite honest, it made me mad. 
A bill allowing late term abortions as part of a "plan to advance "women's equality." " ????? 
Do what?
Can someone please explain to me how that makes a woman more 'equal'?
"the bill includes language to establish a "fundamental right" of women to determine the course of pregnancy, "which includes the right to carry a pregnancy to term or to terminate a pregnancy"......"women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care." ...."

""Protect a woman's freedom of choice. Enact a Reproductive Health Act, because it is her body, it is her choice." "


Ok, I'll go along with that. He's right. It IS her body...and she does have a choice.
(Some of you are probably about ready to write me off here, but hear me out - I'm not done!)


As a matter of fact, I am Pro-Choice.

Every woman has a choice. Lots of choices, actually.

But that list of choices does NOT include the right to kill another human being!!!

I realize I'm mostly preaching to the choir here, but let me give a little lesson on something called 
"Cause & Effect"


The law of "Cause & Effect" says basically this: 

 "an action or event will produce a certain response to the action in the form of another event"

or,

"Causality [Cause & Effect] is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first."

Got that?


Ok, so every action I take will have a re-action...if I feel that the re-action [the consequence of the action] is worth the risk, i.e. I'm willing to accept and/or live with those consequences, I go ahead and perform the action. 
That is the power to choose.

Most women of child-bearing age know what causes pregnancy. (I said MOST. I am aware that there are some who possibly might not, and that there are some women whose bodies are capable of bearing a child, while they do not possess the mental capacity to make an informed decision. This is not what we are referring to here).  For the most part, we [women] are taught at a fairly young age that physical intimacy with a member of the opposite sex can (and most likely will, unless proper precautions are taken) cause pregnancy.
So, somewhere along the way a young (or otherwise) woman meets up with a young man. They fall in love. (or not).  He gives her the old "If you really loved me, you'd sleep with me" line (which, incidentally, is NOT true...). She realizes (as noted above) that one of the possible side effects of that physical intimacy is, in fact, pregnancy. However, she CHOOSES to go ahead - to her the benefits outweigh the risks.
This behavior continues for sometime. They may or may not choose to use contraceptives, but no contraceptive is fool-proof - or 100% effective - and one day she discovers that she has, indeed, become pregnant.

At this point, our current liberal society wishes to step in and start hollering,
"She didn't CHOOSE to become pregnant! It's her body! She should have the right to choose whether she wants to have that baby!"
 Sorry, folks. As a matter of fact, she DID have that right. She had the right to choose her actions, and she chose, knowing that her actions could lead to pregnancy. 

What she does NOT have is the right to take the life of another person because she made bad choices. 
What she DOES HAVE is the choice whether or not to keep the child and raise it herself, or give him or her up for adoption - so that someone who DOES want a baby, and IS responsible enough to take care of a child can raise her child for her.


Unfortunately, in our society today, it seems that parents have failed to teach their children one of the basic rules of life - that there are RULES, and failure to comply with them with bring about unwanted consequences; and, if you deliberately choose to break the rules, you deal with those consequences! So now, we have a country full of people, that, instead of facing their problems, admitting that they did wrong, and taking the consequences for their actions, they want someone else to deal with it so they can get on with their lives.
I have news for you, people:

Life just doesn't work that way!

The Bible says it this way:  "...be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23

Eventually, though it may not be on earth, you WILL face the consequences for your actions. Someday, we will all pay for our sins unless they've been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. We cannot hope to run forever and get by.

How did I get from abortion to sin? 
Because they are one and the same. 
We know that murder is wrong. The Bible tells us very plainly that "THOU SHALT NOT KILL". The laws of our land tell us that if you kill another human being, it is a crime, and criminals are punished.

Yet, it's legal (by the laws of the land) to kill a human being while he/she is still in the womb, just because they had the misfortune of being your 'unwanted' child? 

Since when is it right for another person to suffer for the bad choices that I have made?

 If I choose to go bungee jumping and I am injured, do I have to right to punish you because you didn't stop me - even though I knew the possible dangers before I made my  choice? 

The answer is a resounding NO.
The same concept applies here.

Like I said, I am pro-choice. 
However, my power (and yours) to CHOOSE ends when affects the life of another person - Especially when that person is helpless to defend themselves.

If you are reading this and you are thinking of having an abortion, PLEASE, I beg of you, DON'T DO IT!!! You have other options. There are people that will help you.  Contact your local Crisis Pregnancy Center, or if you don't know how to do that, get in touch with me, and I will do everything within my power to help you. You don't have to take your baby's life! It may seem hopeless, too much, you don't feel you can handle it, but YOU CAN DO THIS! Choose LIFE!

If, by some chance, you are reading this and you already had an abortion, you may be dealing with guilt and depression. Shockingly, statistics say that 1 out of every 2.5 women under the age of 45 have had an abortion at some time in their lives - You're not alone!  You can't go back and undo what is done; your baby is gone forever. But there are people who will help you! Here, and here, and here.

Best of all, you can be forgiven! It won't bring your baby back, but it will sure help with the pain and guilt you are feeling! The Bible tells us, in 1 John 1:9,  "If we confess our sins, he [Jesus] is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins...".  That means YOU! No matter what you have done, it CAN be forgiven! All you have to do is ask! If you would like to know more about being having your sins forgiven, visit the How To Be Saved Link on the sidebar, or click here.