Pro-Choicers Ignore 2nd Grade Science Lesson

Abortion and Artemis: The Damning Desire of Lust for Wealth

FoxNews reports that a Planned Parenthood worker in Texas quit after seeing an ultrasound of a baby being aborted.  Here’s a snippet:

Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus “crumple” as it was vacuumed out of a patient’s uterus in September.

The most intriguing part of this article was when Johnson described the driving force behind the clinic’s 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’…It’s a very lucrative business and that’s why they want to increase numbers.”

Immediately, Acts 19:21-41 came to my mind.  Paul had been preaching the gospel in Ephesus, and he was preaching against the goddess Artemis, the Greek deity of hunting and fertility, who later became associated with wealth and prosperity.

Some Ephesians were angry at Paul, who “persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not god” (v. 26).  What was the driving force of their anger at Paul and zeal for this goddess?  Verses 24-25 tell us the answer:

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.  These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.”

Just like the Ephesian silversmiths, the Planned Parenthood workers acquired their wealth from a god (i.e. abortion) they made with their own hands.  In a word, they were greedy. Greed and abortion, like Artemis, are idols.  And when the idol of greed is threatened, the result is either repentance  toward Jesus or rage, chaos, hatred, and only more idolatry and greed.

The lust for wealth is a damning desire.  Truly “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9).

The Snuggie: Mother-Son Bonding or Halloween Alien Costume?

What would you do if you saw this…anywhere?

I would report the mother for child abuse.  And punch the inventor.

Abortion…a Blessing?

In a World Magazine blog from last Friday, Marcia Segelstein comments about Episcopal church Reverend Katherine Ragsdale’s remarks on abortion from a speech a few years back.  Ragsdale said:

When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one, because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe affordable abortion, there is not a tragedy in sight; only blessing.

The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing. These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

According to Ragsdale, Jesus’ poor, helpless, husband-less, jobless, teenage mother should have had an abortion.

I can understand a non-Christian saying, “I don’t give a rip what God thinks.”  Well and good for you, my friend.  But this is coming from a self-proclaimed “Christian”!  In order for us to know what God thinks, we need to actually read the Bible.  Here’s a sampling:

• For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13).
• The king of Egypt said…”When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”  But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live (Ex. 1:15, 16-17).
• “For he [i.e. John the Baptizer] will be great before the Lord.  And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Lk. 1:15).
• And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb…she exclaimed with a loud cry…”For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (Lk. 1:41, 42, 44).

So what do you think?  Is abortion a blessing? (Non-Christians feel free to weigh in, too.  Everyone, please be gentle.)

Powlison on Marital Intimacy

CCEF has provided video interviews with biblical counselor David Powlison on questions about marital intimacy:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

The Unborn and the Unborn-Again

John Piper has some intriguing thoughts on the battle for life for the unborn and the unborn-again.

Bad Dads and Brunch

Two weeks ago, Carly and I were at Panera Bread for a brunch-time with the Lord.  We sat across the aisle from a dad with his young son.  This kid was pretty energetic, talkative, and pretty cute.  I’m guessing he was no older than seven.  At first glance, I thought, Cool, a dad on a brunch hang-out with his son.

Then I actually paid attention.

At first, I’ll admit.  Their whole interaction distracted me from reading the book of James.  But as the dad and his son interacted, my heart couldn’t help but break.  I don’t know if there was significant amounts of eye contact.  Dad acted as if his son was a burden.  Dad could have cared less about the crazy stories his son told him — the kind only a seven year old can tell.

The boy seemed like a fun little conversationalist.  Dad seemed no more engaging than a freshly painted wall.  The boy asked Dad to take him to the bathroom.  Dad sharply replied, “Can’t you go yourself?”  “Show me where it is,” the son asked.  Dad got up.  “Over there,” he pointed.

This guy didn’t have a ring on his finger.  Maybe he just didn’t wear one?  No.  Multiple times I heard him say to his son, “Your mom,” and the boy once said to his dad, “When will I come over your house?”  He’s just a guy who divorced a woman out of convenience or got her pregnant and left.

This young boy needs a good dad.  He needs a dad who loves Jesus, reads his Bible, romances mom, works hard, and looks his son in the eye and speaks as if he is talking to the most important person in the world when it’s brunch at Panera.

Sometimes I wonder what’s worse: a bad dad who ignores his son at Panera or just flat out leaves him before he’s even born.  My heart says that there might be less pain in the latter.  I’m a little tardy for a Father’s Day post, but to my dad, Tim Pruch, thanks for being a good one — a God-glorifying one.  Thanks for taking us out, paying attention to us, and loving (and still loving us) like we mean the world to you.

South Africa, Sex, and HIV

Here in South Africa, the Universities of Joburg and Pretoria are in their last week of exams, so we are taking advantage of the free time by spending the whole week at Beam Africa Development Center training the teens on abstinence and HIV/AIDS prevention.

I’ve never taught a sex education class before, and this is about ten times harder because the kids aren’t native American English speakers and few have parents to discipline them well.  We have to be very deliberate in our choice of words.  We have to be lovingly stern as we call them to behave properly.  And, of course, since they are still teenagers, it’s inevitable that we get a few laughs whenever we use the phrase “sexual fluids.”  Despite the hardships of communication, it’s such a joy to minister truth and love to these kids.  They are least of these, the overlooked, the downtrodden.  By God’s grace, we are trying to help.

Our hope is to instill values that will help these kids make good choices — indeed, the best choice — in order to avoid this continental killer.  People get HIV/AIDS mostly from sexual activity.  Many children are born with it, yes, but most Africans who are contracting the disease now aren’t getting it from drug needles or helping their friend who was cut on the arm. They are getting it from recreational, illicit sex.

Here’s some stats on HIV/AIDS for South Africa:

• Almost 71% of deaths between ages 15 and 49 in South Africa are because of HIV/AIDS.
• In South Africa, over 18% of people ages 15 and 49 are infected with HIV/AIDS.
• In the province I live in, Gauteng, over 30% of people are infected with HIV/AIDS.
• In 2007, it was reported that nearly 5,700,000 South Africans had HIV/AIDS.  That is more more than any other country in the world.  Nearly one in six people in the world with HIV/AIDS are South African.
• Five of the top six countries with the highest percentage of adults infected with HIV/AIDS border South Africa (1. Swaziland, 2. Botswana, 3. Lesotho, 4. South Africa, 5. Namibia, 6. Zimbabwe).

The most effective way to avoid HIV/AIDS, or any other sexually transmitted disease, is abstinence until marriage.  Everyone knows this.  It’s the only fool-proof way.  No one can question that.  But it isn’t widely taught — not even here.

It’s been concerning to me to hear our kids answer, when we ask how to prevent HIV, “Condoms.”  Earlier today, during our class, I said, “Condoms can, and do, break.”  One of the older boys looked at me and said, “Use two condoms.”  The truth is, I said, even two can break.

This whole battle isn’t about finding better sexual protection.  That will only give people more excuses to live out their fleshly pleasures and have multiple partners.  It’s not just simply telling people to wait until marriage.  That will only create sexually repressed people who take out their anger and impatience in other areas of life.

The battle is a fight for true worship.  We must point people to worshiping something that will give them a greater pleasure, a deeper delight, a more fulfilling satisfaction than sex.   The highest pleasure, delight, and satisfaction is God himself.  Pray that these kids, South Africans, and potential and actual HIV/AIDS victims all over the world would worship the Creator, not creation.  When we worship Jesus as supreme, our lives, priorities, practices, and decisions tend to fall into place.

You Know, I’m Not That Much Different Than a Three Year-Old

The water on my kitchen faucet gets hot.  I mean, scalding hot.  You’d think after living here for four and a half months, I’d figure out that if the handle is too far to the left, it will give my hand a second-degree burn.

Yet, I keep the handle over too far.  I contemplate.  I can hear the loving voice of my younger mother saying, “Honey, don’t touch.”  I reach into the sink, and put my hands under the water.  The pain increases.  I think about it, and all I can get out, as I pull my hands away quickly, is a faint whisper of, “Hot, hot.”

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Happy 25th Mother’s Day, Mom.  I love you!

I know you are in Minnesota and probably won’t see this until Monday.  But just as I did for Dad last year, I’m going to give you 25 reasons I’m thankful for you.

1. You love Jesus.
2. You respect, love, and cherish Dad with all your heart.
3. You showed us how to read the Bible and pray.
4. You showed me what a godly woman looks like so I knew what kind of woman to marry.
5. You love the woman I am going to marry.
6. You (and Dad) support me more than anyone in ministry both financially and prayerfully.
7. Your personality is strong and independent, but you are one of the most loving and compassionate people know.
8. You have a really awesome sense of humor and laugh at all of my lame attempts at humor.
9. You work very hard in the home, and when we were young, the house was never disorganized or chaotic (and it’s still not).
10. You are an amazing cook.
11. You genuinely care for and love my friends even if it’s the first time you meet them.
12. You were incredibly patient with me during a rough stretch from ages 18-20, but you never pushed me away and prayed for me everyday.
13. You read (and edit) everything I write and always have positive feedback.
14. You have an super-super spiritual gift of faith that I tend to borrow from time-to-time.
15. You came to all of my baseball games when I was younger and though you were never discouraging, you were always honest.
16. You home schooled me for one year because felt isolated and unloved at the school I was attending.  I never learned more in one year of school before or since.
17. You’d cry with me when I cried, even if we had an argument and I was wrong (and knew it).
18. You (sarcastically) offered me a lot of money to not go to South Africa, but told me I needed to go and hugged and kissed me goodbye.
19. You never cease to get excited when I call home while I’m here in SA.
20. You aren’t ashamed to shop and Wal-Mart and Dollar General and know how to practically make and keep a budget.
21. You make DVD scrapbooks for your children, and some friends, for free.
22. You invest into the spiritual, emotional, and familial lives women at MOPS (and stay up to date with them on Facebook).
23. You are on Facebook.
24. You always know exactly what is wrong when I have a problem with my computer and always have remedy.
25. You will be the first person to offer to be a member when I am blessed to pastor a church, even if it’s not in the same state.