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Life Lines for January 2, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
On December 9, 2010, a group of pro-life Senators led the way to block the Department of Defense Authorization bill which included language allowing military hospitals and personnel to be used for elective abortions paid for by Americans’ tax dollars. The 57-40 vote in the U.S. Senate fell 3 votes short of the 60 votes the bill’s proponents needed to move it forward.
The vote was a major setback for the abortion industry’s agenda in Washington, D.C. as its proponents fight to expand abortion without limitations and at any price.
The fight to stop the Burris Amendment to the Defense Authorization bill has been a long one, but after the vote on Dec. 9, 2010, experts believe that the issue is now dead, at least for the time being.
So yes, pro-lifers chalked up a victory for life, but we must remain ever vigilant to the forces of evil that have an agenda of death for the unborn.
Philippians 2:13. “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
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Life Lines for January 9, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Will we have “death panels” or not? You decide.
During his much-debated healthcare plan, President Barack Obama promised his healthcare program would not "pull the plug on grandma" and Congress dropped plans for death panels and "end of life" counseling that would encourage aged patients to forgo further medical treatment. Those against Obama's plan, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, called such efforts "death panels" that would encourage euthanasia.
However, the New York Times reported on December 3rd, the Obama administration has seemingly ignored the will of Congress by issuing a new Medicare regulation detailing, "voluntary advance care planning" that is to be included during patients' annual checkups. The regulation aimed at the aged "may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment."
The new provision went into effect Jan. 1, 2011 and allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death. Critics say it is another attempt to limit healthcare options for the elderly as they face serious illness.
Incoming House Speaker John Boehner said during the healthcare debate that, “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.” So my question to Mr. Boehner, what are you going to do about it?
The measure, known as Section 1233 of the bill, was passed by the House in November 2009. It was not included in the final legislation, however. It allowed Medicare to pay for consultations about advance care planning every five years. In contrast, the new rule allows annual discussions as part of the wellness visit. Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, issued the rule and Berwick is a longtime advocate for rationing medical procedures for the elderly.
Before being tapped by Obama to his Medicare post, Berwick had long applauded Britain's National Health Service, which uses a system of analysis to determine if the aged are worthy of additional expenditure for medical care and advanced treatments.
Berwick has argued that rationing will have to eventually be implemented in the U.S, stating, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care. The decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”
Our seniors appear to have a target on the back for precious resources under the Obama healthcare plan. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Obama plan cuts nearly $500 million in Medicare benefits to seniors as the federal government adds 30 million uninsured Americans to private and public health care systems.
The cost of caring for the elderly has not been lost on Berwick.
“The chronically ill and those towards the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here… there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place,” he said.
Sarah Palin was criticized and scoffed at for suggesting that our seniors would be victims of a “death panel.” It seems that Mrs. Palin was right on her mark with her prediction.
Proverbs 24:11. Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “bet we knew nothing of this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?
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Life Lines for January 16, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Pro-lifers can say Happy New Year as we being 2011 with another small, but meaningful pro-life victory. It seems that both Kohl’s and Mrs. Fields businesses have chosen to STOP sending funds to Planned Parenthood according to a report from Life Decisions International. LDI is a pro-life group that devotes time and energy to monitoring corporations and whether they support Planned Parenthood. Kohl’s and Mrs. Fields had both been boycott targets by LDI because of their donations to PP.
Some other companies that have recently decided to no longer financially support to PP include Enterprise car rentals, Forbes Magazine, ING Financial Services and Toys “R” Us.
Earlier, the following companies that have been dropped from the “boycott list” include Cisco Systems, Red Lion Hotels, Rolex Watch Company, Kenneth Cole and Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare.
What is even more encouraging is that a total of 274 corporations have agreed to stop giving money to PP, the abortion giant, since the list was first distributed.
And, more corporations have been removed from the Planned Parenthood boycott list in the past six months than in any six-month period in the history of tracking corporate donations to the abortion business.
On the other hand, new companies that have recently been added to the boycott list include; Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Season 52, and Joe’s Crab Shack.
Other disappointing additions to the list include; Hilton Worldwide that manages hotels ranging from Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns/Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Hotels, Homewood Suites and Staples office supply stores were also added.
So, if you’re pro-life, take the time to contact the corporate headquarters of a few of these companies and make it known you will refuse to do business with them unless and until they cease funding abortions.
You can go to the Life Decisions International website to order your own boycott list. They do ask for a donation to help cover expenses and there are strict guidelines for using the information contained in the report, but it is well worth the effort to obtain a copy for your own use.
Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
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Life Lines for January 23, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today is Life Sunday … a day set aside not for celebration, but as a sober reminder of the deaths of nearly 53 million babies, little boys and girls, in the womb since 1973. Roe v. Wade and the companion decision of Doe v. Bolton allowed virtually unlimited abortion, at any point during pregnancy, for any reason or no reason.
Events will be taking place nationwide today including the Recommitment to Life Rally at the Illinois State Capitol Rotunda beginning at 2 p.m. (enter by North door, Monroe Street.) The featured speaker will be Jane Brennan: "One Woman's Journey Out of the Darkness". Reception follows at the Howlett Building, former Hall of Flags (south of State Capitol.) Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend this event as pro-life believers boldly proclaim their support for the sanctity of human life.
Also, in today’s edition of the Jacksonville Journal Courier, you will find an ad in support of Life Sunday and made possible by the pro-life believers listed on the page.
Many of us get caught up in the day-to-day routines of our life and often give little thought to the evil of abortion taking place in our nation on a daily basis. However, there are some simple things we can do to help those who work for the pro-life movement. Praying for an end to the senseless killing that is taking place in our great country is the most important thing anyone can do. Share you time, talent, and treasure as your own circumstances allow and let our nation’s leaders know that we want abortion in this nation to end. Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro-Parabola stated, “The undeniable fact is that those who defend the destruction of innocent human life in the form of abortion and euthanasia cannot confront the moral issues, nor can they confront the history that proves beyond a doubt the similarity between their reasoning and that of the most heinous murderers of history.”
James 1:22 & 27 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.... Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
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Life Lines for January 30, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
On Wednesday, January 19, 2011, an evil monster was charged not only with murder in the death of a woman from a botched abortion, but the charges also included seven cases of unconscionable infanticide.
Kermit Gosnell, an abortion practitioner, caused the death of a woman from a failed abortion, but he also induced the premature birth of the infants for the sole purpose of taking their lives. The method that this mad man used to kill the seven babies (in the sixth, seventh and eighth months of pregnancy) in the charges filed were particularly gruesome. The monster, Gosnell, forced the live births of these babies only to kill them by stabbing into the back of their necks with scissors and severing the spinal cord.
Investigators found bags and bottles of aborted fetuses scattered about the building. Gosnell saved the killing of the biggest babies for Sundays when the center was closed. After these babies were killed, he supposedly took the files home and destroyed them.
You may recall that during the Bush administration, Congress approved a federal law requiring medical facilities to provide appropriate medical care and treatment for unborn children who are born alive after a failed abortion or purposefully birthed as was the case at Gosnell’s abortion center. President George W. Bush signed the law after pro-life nurse Jill Stanek uncovered cases of babies left to die at her Chicago-area hospital and brought them to national attention.
A similar law was enacted in the state of Illinois and then Senator Barack Obama voted against this life saving, humane law.
When police raided Gosnell’s home and took him into custody, they discovered $240,000 in cash. Gee, I wonder if the IRS will be hot on the trail of all of that cash for possible tax evasion?
President of Operation Rescue, Troy Newman, stated “We are thrilled at the diligence done by authorities in Pennsylvania who have worked to protect the public from this serial killer and bring Gosnell and his cohorts to justice. As shocking as this case is, it is in no way an anomaly. Shoddy and illegal practices characterize the abortion industry in America. There are more Gosnell’s out there victimizing and murdering under the cover of secrecy.”
Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing of this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done? Proverbs 24:11.
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Life Lines for February 6, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today is a special day because it is the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. Reagan, born Feb. 6, 1911, in Tampico, IL, was in my opinion, the greatest modern day president in our nation’s history.
During his presidency, Reagan penned a little known and under appreciated book on abortion. The following is an excerpt from that book.
"Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation" as published first in The Human Life Review written by Reagan in 1983.
The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is a good time for us to pause and reflect. Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators — not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. But the consequences of this judicial decision are now obvious: since 1973, more than 15 million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortions. That is over ten times the number of Americans lost in all our nation's wars.
Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.
Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a "right" so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.
As an act of "raw judicial power" (to use Justice White's biting phrase), the decision by the seven-man majority in Roe v. Wade has so far been made to stick. But the Court's decision has by no means settled the debate. Instead, Roe v. Wade has become a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation.
Abortion concerns not just the unborn child, it concerns every one of us. The English poet, John Donne, wrote: ". . . any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life.
Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
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Life Lines for February 13, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
U.S. Congressman Mike Pence made the following remarks at the 38th Annual March for Life that took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., January 24, 2011.
"We gather to mark the 38th anniversary of the worst Supreme Court decision since Dred Scott. And we gather today in the shadow of a new pro-life majority on Capitol Hill. And we will keep gathering until Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history where it belongs.
"These are trying times in the life of this nation.
"Our economy is struggling and our national government is awash in a sea of debt.
"Amidst these struggles, some would have us focus our energies on jobs and spending.
"We must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged. Those who would have us ignore the battle being fought over life have forgotten the lessons of history. As in the days of a house divided, America's darkest moments have come when economic arguments trumped moral principles.
"A nation that will not stand for life will not stand for long.
"You know there can be no lasting prosperity without a moral foundation in law.
"And as to focusing on spending, I agree.
"Let's start by denying all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad.
"The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X.
"The time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America.
"Thank you for braving the cold one more time and saying to the heart of our national government, 'We will fight on for life. We will fight on for the unborn and the brokenhearted.'
"And we will fight on because we know, as Jefferson said, 'God who gave us life gave us liberty...and God is just and his justice cannot sleep forever.'
"And we know this: We will win this fight because the deepest desire of every mother and father is to protect their child, at any cost, even with the own lives and that truth cannot be erased.
The American people will make this right. We will restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law. Because every American knows in their heart, this is the greatest nation on earth because we acknowledge the God-given right to liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the unalienable right to life."
“For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
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Life Lines for February 20, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
The month of February has been recognized as Black History Month for several decades now. Blacks have been an important part of our nation’s history since first arriving on Virginia’s shores as an enslaved race in 1619.
Lucy Terry, a slave, became the earliest known Black poet when she wrote about the last American Indian attack on her village in 1746.
Prominent Black leaders from Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, have made enormous contributions to our nation’s founding and growth.
Their course has never been an easy one in our nation and they have struggled for equality. It is sad to note that their struggle is far from over.
Are you aware that the leading cause of death among Blacks is abortion? That’s absolutely right. According to the CDC abortion kills more Blacks each year than heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide and chronic lower respiratory diseases COMBINED!
Margaret Sanger, founder of present day Planned Parenthood, would be satisfied to say the least with that news since she was a progressive who promoted eugenics. 𠇎ugenic sterilization is an urgent need … We must prevent multiplication of this bad stock.” Margaret Sanger, April 1933, Birth Control Review.
In 1939, Sanger organized her "Negro Project" and wrote: "The poorer areas, particularly in the South ... are producing alarmingly more than their share of future generations."
Well, Sanger's plan has worked extraordinarily well over time – today numerous black religious leaders defend the "right" of women to kill their unborn children. It's ironic to me that black leaders complain about racism, yet they promote one of the most racist practices in this country – abortion. Our own president, Barack Obama, a Black man himself, supports abortion, and expects the U.S. taxpayer to pay for them.
Since 1973, when abortion became legal, there have been more than 14 million Black babies killed.
It is time for America, but especially the Black community, to come out of its state of denial and realize that true prejudice is the attack on the Black unborn baby, started by Margaret Sanger and carried out by the liberal elite in this country. The solution to this problem is a strong belief in the Creator, strong families and self-respect.
God is the author and creator of all life, and that includes all peoples.
Psalm: 139:13-16; "Truly you have formed my most being: you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works."
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Life Lines for February 27, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House and current House Leader, just doesn’t give up when it comes to making gaffes, or as I like to call them, stupid statements.
She recently blurted out that the Republican plans to defund Planned Parenthood will “put women and children last.” Huh? Abortion breaks one heart and stops another so how could trying to stop the rising tide of abortions performed at Planned Parenthood facilities “put women and children last?”
Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider, and while the national number of abortions (until recently) has been steadily in decline over the past decades, the percentage of these abortions being performed by Planned Parenthood has been steeply on the rise. Between 1990 and 2007, that percentage rose by 236%.
In addition, Planned Parenthood provides far more abortion than any other “service” to pregnant mothers. In 2007 PPFA performed 28 abortions for every one mother receiving prenatal care and 62 abortions for every one adoption referral. They also fought hard against laws that would inform women about abortion’s risks, fetal development, and alternatives to abortion. In fact, they have fought any and all legal limits on abortion, including those the overwhelming majority of Americans approve of.
Planned Parenthood has been exposed in areas of illegal record keeping, illegal underage abortions, covering up incest, aiding pimps in their prostitute business, and on and on.
They are expanding their abortion facilities nationwide in an effort to perform even more abortions, thus enriching their coffers.
So, yeah, Planned Parenthood is concerned with putting children first … first in line to be killed so they can profit even more.
It is unconscionable that our nation uses taxpayer money to help fund the killing of babies in the womb.
What are you doing to help put a stop to it?
Nahum 3:1. “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!”
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Life Lines for March 6, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Planned Parenthood has once again been caught on tape after a flood of videos exposed illegal activities taking place at another of their clinics including exhibiting a†willingness to support sex trafficking of minors, secret abortions for minors, and giving “pimp” discounts.
Planned Parenthood located in Perth Amboy, NJ was the sight of the latest exposure of the evil that takes place in abortion facilities.
Live Action sent two people into the clinic posing as a pimp and one of his prostitutes. When the “pimp” asked advice about handling the problem of his underage pregnant prostitute, the clinic manager was more than willing to provide advice.
The clinic manager advised that underage girls could lie about their age to lessen the chance of triggering an investigation once they sought health services.
"For the most part, we want as little information as possible," the employee said, according to the video.
The video also depicts the employee suggesting that prostitutes could get cheaper contraception by claiming they were students.
"Yeah, just kind of play along that they're students — we want to make it look as legit as possible," the woman identified as the clinic manager says. …
Yes, Planned Parenthood can claim to care about the welfare of women, but truth is, they care about killing the unborn for profit. President Obama responded to the latest Planned Parenthood video exposure by suggesting that it was manufactured and that in the past Planned Parenthood has done good work. (PP donated to the Obama presidential campaign … could be the good work he is referring to.)
The attorney general for New Jersey is investigating Live Action’s charges.
Live Action’s nationwide sting hit 12 clinics in Virginia, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Arizona between Jan. 11-15.
Lila Rose, the president of Live Action, said the tapes demonstrate that Planned Parenthood victimizes young girls and knowingly tolerates the sexual abuse of minors to keep its abortion business going.
To view the video, go to liveaction.org.
John 3:20. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
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Life Lines for March 13, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
On Tuesday, March 1, Dr. Jim Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life presented a program at Salem Lutheran Church titled, “The Gauntlet: Pick It Up? Throw It Down? Run It? He used the biblical story of David and Goliath to illustrate how we can win the battle for life, even in the midst of overwhelming odds. Why? Because we have God on our side!
Goliath who was armed for even the fiercest warriors, yet David approached the battle with faith and confidence in the Word of God, knowing he would be the victor.
Dr. Lamb challenged everyone there to “pick up, throw down and run the gauntlet in the battle for life.
An opportunity to learn more about how you can become involved is coming up on Saturday, March 26, 2011 at the statewide Illinois Lutherans for Life conference to be held at Saint John’s Lutheran Church, 508 Bloom St., Red Bud, IL. The conference will begin with registration at 8 a.m. and conclude by 3 p.m.
Conference speakers include Jean Heise, co-founder of The Haven Network, a pioneer in the perinatal hospice movement, Angela Michael, co-founder of Small Victories, a Christian based ministry to rescue babies and women from abortion, and Dr. Alvin Schmidt, author and professor emeritus, Illinois College. Cost if $25.00 per adult and includes continental breakfast, lunch and all conference activities. Walk-ins are welcome or you can register in advance by sending a check payable to Illinois Lutherans for Life, Jeanne Strubbe, 1266 Perbix Road, Chapin, IL 62628. Questions, call 217-243-8562
Spend a Saturday getting to know the work of Lutherans for Life and what God has in mind for you in this life saving mission.
Take heed of what our attitude should be towards our fellow human beings. Proverbs 24:11-12
"Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don't stand back and let them die. Don't try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn't know about it."
And just when you think you’ve heard it all, MSNBC host Cenk Uygur suggested that if unborn children could talk, they would oppose any effort to protect themselves from abortion, according to a post at Newsbusters. My only response to such an insane statement would be to ask Mr. Uygur if someone wanted to slaughter him, would he oppose the act?
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Life Lines for March 20, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Though there is evidence of a few rogue doctors and midwives performing abortions in the U.S. as far back as the 1850s, the first concerted effort to overturn state laws prohibiting abortion began in 1957, when a group of prominent lawyers, law professors and judges, as members of the American Law Institute (ALI) first proposed a "model penal code" on abortion, calling for abortion to be legal in cases where there was "substantial risk that continuance of the pregnancy would gravely impair the physical or mental health of the woman, or that the child resulting from pregnancy would be born with grave physical or mental defect, or in cases of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest." Before states began adopting the ALI model in the late 1960s, statutes generally prohibited abortion or limited it to situations of "severe physical disease or impairment," and states interpreted these laws rather strictly. Mississippi added an exception for rape in 1966, but the first state to specifically follow the ALI model was Colorado in April of 1967. Several other states followed suit, with North Carolina and California passing ALI style statutes in 1967 and Georgia and Maryland doing so in 1968.
By 1973, thirteen states had passed laws based on or similar to the ALI model, and in many other states and Washington, D.C., court decisions had rendered previous statutes invalid or ineffective. Several states went beyond the ALI model, allowing abortion for any reason as long as it was performed prior to fetal viability. Abortion was virtually legal on demand in Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington state prior to 1973. In other states with ALI style statutes, such as California, the maternal "mental health" exception was interpreted so broadly that abortion rates actually exceeded those of states with more liberal laws.
As efforts to liberalize abortion laws began to emerge all over the country, individuals concerned about the sanctity of life began to meet and organize. The first state group, the Virginia Society for Human Life, formed in 1967, soon followed by the formation of state groups in Minnesota, Colorado, and Illinois. While abortion continued to be debated at the state level, representatives from state groups across the country met several times from 1968-1973 to exchange useful ideas regarding lobbying and fundraising.
When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy in all fifty states in its January 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions, the culture of death was loosed on an unprepared and uninformed nation.
Sadly, a great many citizens remain uninvolved and uninformed while we live in a nation that has now legally killed 52 million babies in the womb.
Planned Parenthood’s 2009 annual report revealed it had performed 332,278 abortions that year. However, Planned Parenthood also reached another more atrocious milestone … 5,320,095 surgical and medical abortions have been performed from 1970 through the end of 2009. The income from abortions performed accounts for 40% of its annual clinic income.
Abortion is big money, allowing those who profit from the mass killing to justify it under the guise of “choice.” Liberal politicians do not want to offend those who run the killing businesses because of the money that pours into their re-election campaigns from pro-abort donors.
I plead with you to become involved For Life! Don’t let the deaths of 52 million babies continue.
James 4:17. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Acts 5:29. Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
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Life Lines for March 27, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
There have been many studies over the years on the effects of mental harm to women who have had abortions. A recent study published in the January 27, 2011 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that women who undergo an abortion don’t seem to face an increased risk of mental health problems after having the procedure.
But, what was the criterion for the study? Who and how many women were in the study? What were the ages of the women when they had the abortion? These are pertinent questions when addressing the study.
During a study on women having abortions in Denmark from 1995 through 2007, the women were followed individually from nine months before the procedure to 12 months after. Fifteen of 1000 women had first time psychiatric visits, dealing with sadness or regret, not necessarily defining a mental disorder.
Truth is, the vast majority of women do not suffer any measurable mental stress over their decision to abort their unborn child until many years later. Most women are past childbearing age before experiencing signs of mental distress over their decision from years before.
Therefore, taking a study on face value, conducted over a period of less than two years after the abortion, is flawed to say the least.
The forces of evil are constantly lurking about, willing to hide the truth from us, so we must always be on guard.
Psalm 101:7. No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.
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Life Lines for April 3, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Spiritual apathy can be defined as “the absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or pleasure; “and as “a lack of curiosity in or problem for points that others locate moving or thrilling.”
There is a tendency to forget God when we have an abundance of material goods of this world. This is as old as time itself.
And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage (Deut. 6:10-12).
The United States has become a nation of apathy and as so many other nations before that have rose to power only to tumble, our path is obvious … we are a nation in decline. We have gone through the steps and made the same mistakes as the other great nations that came before us.
- 1. Forefathers came here seeking religious freedom.
- 2. Spiritual faith brought great courage.
- 3. Courage brought liberty.
- 4. Liberty brought abundance.
- 5. Abundance changed to selfishness.
- 6. Selfishness brought apostasy.
- 7. Apostasy changed to apathy.
- 8. Apathy brings about dependence upon the government or other.
- 9. Dependence takes us back into bondage.
Our great nation is withering on the vine because the dignity and sanctity of the Christian home has been undermined by evil.
Divorce, living together outside of marriage, homosexuality, and abortion have all but destroyed an intact family.
Our nation has legally killed over 52 million unborn babies since 1973 through medical and/or surgical abortion. Has anyone missed these slaughtered babies? Have you missed any of these slaughtered babies? If you had over 52 million dollars disappear from your bank account over the last 38 years, would you miss it?
The reason abortion is so acceptable to many today in this country is because those in the room can't see the child fighting off the intruder, they can't hear the child scream in pain as he or she is having their skull crushed! No the child just comes out on the other end of the suction tube as liquid. Animals have more rights in this nation than children do!
Personal responsibility is decaying and a big reason is higher and higher taxes are being demanded from those who will work to support those who will not. Lack of individual responsibility results in the decline of self worth, paving the way for apathy in that person.
Though there are many more reasons for the decline of a nation, I’ll close with this last one … the decay of religion. It seems most ministers have lost the power to guide their flock. Scripture is glossed over in many cases out of fear of offending someone, instead of calling sin, sin. Rare is the sermon on homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, euthanasia, or abortion. Life issues need to be dealt with in the pulpit first, and then the home.
So, even though our nation is at a tipping point with the future looking dim, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian can look forward to life with hope. God will not leave of forsake the believer because we “were bought with a price.”
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Life Lines for April 10, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Lent is a “For Life” season because it is a season of repentance and reflecting on our baptism and what it means in our life.
Our nation needs to repent for the sin of abortion and individually we should repent for our apathy and lack of involvement in the struggle to overcome the stain abortion has placed on our nation’s soul.
We need to ask for forgiveness for not acting when we should have fought against the sin of abortion.
We can repent as we reflect on our baptism, rejecting Satan and all of his works, ways, and lies. We know Satan is the “father of lies” and he daily deceives women to kill their unborn child on the altar of choice.
We must replace the lie and sin of abortion by embracing the sanctity of life and giving love and support to those who suffer from the guilt of abortion.
We, as believers in Christ, are the chosen people of God. He chose us. His choice is Life!
Our choice can never be more important than life itself and we offend God when we place our choice above His will.
We can rejoice and celebrate this season of baptism and repentance as it calls us to a deeper commitment For Life!
1 Peter 2:24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
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Life Lines for April 17, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and a time when we look back to those who welcomed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with loud “Hosannas” and cheers of rejoicing. Jesus was their long awaited King who would restore the land to its rightful people and the Kingdom that they had always assumed God would establish was coming to pass. Jesus was the Messiah that had long been anticipated.
But, something happens and the crowds, who had cheered so loudly at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, turned and cheered as loudly “crucify him.” This Jesus was not the Messiah that they had expected and this was not the Kingdom they had expected. So, they turned on Him in order to protect what little they had, to guard things they loved and that they thought were dedicated to God, but for which they crucified the Son of God.
Are we there with them in our day-to-day lives? Today and this coming Holy Week we’re called to examine our relationship with God and to think about what it is we’re hoping for, why it is we claim to follow this man from Nazareth.
We look to Jesus and His message of Life, casting off our selfishness and prejudices in order to truly welcome the promised Kingdom that is coming closer to us as each day passes.
The service today invites us to remember that, at least as much as any of the actions of those actually present in Jerusalem at that time, our sin, our need for redemption, placed Jesus on the cross. If Jesus returned in today’s world in the same manner he entered the world over 2000 years ago, we would react in the same way. That’s evident to me in the way we treat the unborn, the disabled, the elderly and those who we perceive as “not being like us.”
If we are looking for hope in today’s bleak retelling of the Passion and death of Christ, it is that when we recognize our complicity in evil, we do not have to stay there. We are not finally condemned. Just because we may find ourselves resisting the saving will of God, that does not mean it is not saving … and that is good news to hang onto as we mark the way of the cross this Holy Week.
James 1:22-27 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 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.
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Life Lines for April 24, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Easter Sunday … a day that we celebrate and rejoice in the victory of life! Jesus Christ destroyed the power of death by taking the sins of the world upon himself, died and rose to life so we might have life eternal.
We are “For Life” and recognize the victory of Jesus’ death as the foundation for the work to proclaim the sanctity of human life … all human life, including the tiny unborn human.
I want to share a prayer “For Life” from Priests for Life.
Easter Prayer for Life
Lord Jesus, In rising from the dead,
You have conquered the entire kingdom of death.
Make me a voice for life,
Especially for children threatened by abortion.
Fill me with Easter joy,
For you live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Never doubt the victory of life, and always find in the resurrection your strength to continue defending this greatest of all gifts!
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14
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Life Lines for May 1, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Caught in the act … again!
On March 30, 2011, it was revealed that Planned Parenthood has lied, and got caught, once again.
A Live Action actor called 30 Planned Parenthood clinics in 27 different states, inquiring about mammograms at Planned Parenthood. Every Planned Parenthood, without exception, tells her she will have to go elsewhere for a mammogram, and many clinics admit that no Planned Parenthood clinics provide this breast cancer screening procedure. “We don’t provide those services whatsoever,” admits a staffer at Planned Parenthood of Arizona. Planned Parenthood’s Comprehensive Health Center clinic in Overland Park, KS explains to the caller, “We actually don’t have a, um, mammogram machine, at our clinics.”
Well, gee, I wonder why Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and others opposing the de-funding of federal tax dollars to Planned Parenthood insist that if funding is cut off for this organization, women will die.
Could be because the CEO of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, perpetuated the lie on a national TV recently, namely, The Joy Behar Show. Ms. Richards made the following statement regarding the Pence Amendment to end Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer subsidies. “If this bill ever becomes law, millions of women in this country are gonna lose their healthcare access–not to abortion services–to basic family planning, you know, mammograms.”
So, Live Action proved that PP does NOT provide mammography services to its clients, thus blowing a wide hole in the theory being put forth by liberal leaders who want to continue to pump millions of dollars of taxpayer money into this business. Yes, it is a business … a business who preys on women in crisis for the purpose of killing their unborn child for PROFIT! Taxpayers should be outraged that some of our nation’s leaders, including our president, want the funding to continue.
Genesis 4:9-10: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
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Life Lines for May 8, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day … a day set aside to honor the woman who gave us life.
A friend of mine sent the following message to me recently and I thought I would share it with you on this special day.
A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:
'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.
So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'
She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this. The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'
She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request. Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of two babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms. The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!
'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'
The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!
"Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.
Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself..."
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13
They build the world with love and care
One infant at a time.
Their work does more than courts and kings
To rid the world of crime.
The interest on the gifts they bring
This world could never pay.
And so, we pause to honor them each year on Mother’s Day.
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Life Lines for May 15, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
How long is too long to wait for a law to be enacted within the state of Illinois? Is fifteen or sixteen years long enough or too long?
The Illinois law allowing parents to know when their minor daughter is considering an abortion has been on hold since 1995 and the delay in implementing it continues much to the chagrin of the pro-life attorneys at the Thomas More Society.
The Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act has held up numerous times against attacks by the ACLU and other opponents, and we believe there is no legal reason to prevent implementation of this long-overdue and much needed law in Illinois.
Thomas Brejcha, the Thomas More Society president, has been leading the fight to save the law — which has been proven in other states to reduce the number of abortions done on minor teens.
Parents in Illinois have waited since 1995 for a law to go into effect and a vote from the Illinois’ Medical Disciplinary Board made it appear that would happen. After the legislature approved the law, it was held up in court waiting for the Illinois Supreme Court to issue the rules guiding the law’s implementation.
The very latest on the status of this much needed law is that the Thomas Moore Society filed a Motion in the Illinois appellate Court on April 12, 2011 to add ten more Ill State's Attorney's to their "friend of the court" brief. They urged the court to reject the ACLU's latest attack on the constitutionality of the law alleging that the law violates the privacy, due process and equal protection guarantees in the IL constitution. The Thomas Moore Society filed the original brief in 2010 with 11 State's Attorney's supporting it. The law has been "stayed" by agreement of the ACLU and the Attorney General until the final ruling on the ACLU's appeal. Oral arguments took place on April 14, 2011. So we are waiting for the Court's final ruling. Today, the law still sits in legal limbo while teenage girls face an unwanted pregnancy and its consequences without the support of parents in far too many cases.
“Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Psalm 127:3.
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Life Lines for May 22, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
The 2012 U.S. presidential election may seem light years away at this point, but we can rest assured that it is coming.
I was thinking about the election the other day and came to the conclusion that it will be a life-changing election, no matter who wins. You are probably wondering why I would think that, but I firmly believe it is true.
There are so many issues that will be addressed in the upcoming election -- chiefly the economy, job creation, foreign and domestic policies. However, I think that wedge issues, such as abortion and gay rights, will also be brought to the forefront of the election. They had been relatively dormant on the national scene for quite some time. But that ended when the Obama administration resurrected the gay-rights debate by announcing that it would no longer support the Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids the recognition of same-sex marriage and defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The law is being challenged in court, but President Obama and the Justice Department have concluded that it's unconstitutional.
This action upset conservative Republicans who believe Obama should be supporting traditional marriage and his decision not to defend a duly-enacted law is another example of how his administration puts the president's views above those of the country, or at least a significant portion of the electorate.
The media seem fixated on the notion that there is no real clear-cut leader in the pool of Republican candidates, but I totally disagree with that notion. There are many leaders in the Republican party who can launch an effective campaign opposing Obama on social issues alone. Even though they are not of paramount importance to most voters in an era of economic trouble and high unemployment, social issues are still crucial to many voting Americans.
America is at a tipping point. Will we return to traditional, God-pleasing values as a nation, or follow the path of social and economic ruin?
Each American citizen of voting age has a duty to educate themselves on the issues and the candidate and then cast a vote on their own personal values.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. I Peter 2:16
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Life Lines for May 29, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
We observe the Memorial Day holiday this weekend. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. It’s also a holiday to honor the memory our loved ones who have gone before us.
The veterans who died in the battles for our freedom should be remembered not only on Memorial Day, but every day. They are honored for the worth of their life and of their death. One wonders if many of them would have considered this so called "right to choose," with its over 50,000,000 victims, the type of freedom for which they gave their lives.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton in 1973, over 50 MILLION babies have been surgically and medically aborted – many more have been killed chemically. This staggering death toll is the direct result of these two court decisions.
On this Memorial Day weekend, may we all stop and think about what the day really means, and teach our younger generation the meaning of the holiday. It is not the opening of the summer season, but a time to reflect upon the sacrifices made by the brave men and women in our armed forces for the sake of our liberty.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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Life Lines for June 5, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Ronald Wilson Reagan died seven years ago today throwing much of our nation into sorrow. Mr. Reagan served as the 40th president of the United States and was known as the “Great Communicator.”
President Reagan wrote an essay titled “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation” in 1983, the 10th anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. The essay was published in the spring 1983 edition of The Human Life Review and then later published into a small book.
The following is an excerpt from that profound essay.
Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right. Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a "right" so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.
As an act of "raw judicial power" (to use Justice White's biting phrase), the decision by the seven-man majority in Roe v. Wade has so far been made to stick. But the Court's decision has by no means settled the debate. Instead, Roe v. Wade has become a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation.
President Reagan struck at the heart of the moral dilemma with the following statement taken from his essay. We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life—the unborn—without diminishing the value of all human life.
The real question today is not when human life begins, but, what is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother's body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law—the same right we have.
President Reagan wrote these words 28 years ago, but they still ring true today. I urge everyone to go online and find this amazing life-affirming essay and read the entire work.
Sadly, our nation’s leaders are split on upholding the sanctity of human life. Most conservative leaders hold true to the words of Reagan, while others aggressively support the right to kill a child in the womb through all nine months of pregnancy. This is a battle that will not end soon, but those who uphold the value of life for all humans, born and unborn, are making progress. We must remain vigilant and never let our nation’s leaders forget that the majority of Americans are opposed to abortion.
"I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:10
Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Psalm 127:3.
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Life Lines for June 12, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, delivered an address to the Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health awards ceremony earlier in May of this year.
During her address to this crop of abortionists, Ms. Richards paid homage to one of her heroes, late term abortion practitioner, George Tiller, who was shot and killed May 31, 2009.
Richards stated, “George was a remarkable man, a remarkable doctor. We have a credo at Planned Parenthood developed by the great Lynne Randall — which is that we each must strive to be “more like George.” More determined. Braver. Kinder. Of course, you are all like George.”
Well, the kinder George was the leading killer of late term babies … through all nine months of pregnancy and was commonly known as ‘Tiller the Killer.’
Let’s take a look at what George Tiller did in just a few years.
Between 04 &08 Tiller performed 1928 late term abortions.
- 99% had no birth defects
- 99% posed no risk of death to the mother
- 99% involved no medical emergency
According to the LA Times, Tiller made $6000 for each late term (22+weeks old) abortion
1928 x $6000 = $11,568,000 for 5 yrs (04--08) and that does not include the money from the 1000s of his early term abortions.
The murder of Dr. George Tiller by a deranged individual was not the answer to dealing with Tiller’s practice of killing babies in the womb. He should have been stopped through a change in abortion laws, not taking the law into your own hands.
However, in my mind, he had a lot to answer for the day he came face to face with God.
I personally find it incomprehensible that Ms. Richards could hold up a person such as Tiller as an example of a “kind” individual.
Ms. Richards of Planned Parenthood is determined that they will not lose federal funds and President Obama stated that he would shut down the U.S. government before he would deny funding for Planned Parenthood.
The battle for life continues and we should all support and pray for the legislators in Indiana who have taken on the federal government on this very same matter. Other states have rolled over complied with the wishes of the federal government in funding PP. I hope Indiana is able to stand strong against the threats from the Obama administration. Despite what some in Washington may think, states do have rights. Funding of PP will ultimately come down to the interpretation of the courts in how the states can monitor funds from Medicaid. If the courts find in favor of the state of Indiana, it will be a major victory in the battle to protect the unborn citizens of this nation.
"Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..." Galatians 6:9-10
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Life Lines for June 19, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today is set aside to honor our fathers. There are many different stories about the origin of father’s day and although it was observed in various parts of the country it wasn’t until 1924 that it became an official annual event when President Calvin Coolidge signed a resolution to "establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations."
Since that time, the third Sunday in June has been set aside to honor fathers throughout the United States.
The feminist movement has tried, and succeeded in many regards, to minimize the importance of husbands and fathers in the role of everyday life in America. And a great number of men have stood by silently and let this happen.
Fatherhood is the weak link in the decline of marriage and traditional families. And, fathers also play a role in the increase of abortions in our country by not accepting responsibility for their own actions. So many otherwise decent men need to stop taking refuge in the noxious excuse "Well, it's her decision." It is, in countless cases, not because women want to make the decision alone but because men "honored" their "right to choose."
Another dimension too often overlooked is that men do matter and ought to care a whole lot more than many do. The children whose lives are snuffed out in the womb have fathers. Countless numbers of those fathers directly contributed to the death of their children either by coercing the mothers or (in some ways worse) by default in failing to support women in their hour of desperation and despair. We wouldn't have had over 51 million abortions if the typical male response were to plead and shout for the life of his unborn child. In other words, support and protect the mother and the child.
B ut, there is hope on the horizon because our society at large appears to be awakening to the importance of fathers. We are beginning to remember there is a steep price to be paid when fathers are disengaged from the daily lives of their children. And, we have the Word of truth from God that He will bless fathers who love their family.
I was blessed with a father and mother who loved each other and were married for over 50 years and are now in heaven. I think of my Dad often and remember with joy the wonderful childhood he provided for me on the farm with my horses. I remember that my Dad once told my husband, Rich, that the greatest gift a man can give his family is to love his wife, the mother of his children. If those wise words were put into practice, a lot of families would be so much better off.
God has placed an awesome responsibility on the shoulders of our earthly fathers and I hope that we all take time to thank our fathers for the sacrifices they have made on our behalf in providing for our needs.
Deuteronomy 6: 5-7. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
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Life Lines for June 26, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
A recent report released by the Chicago Tribune reveals that the number of abortions performed in the state of Illinois has been grossly underreported. The numbers that were reported included six women who died from botched abortions and 4,000 women who were injured.
Surprisingly, there is a state law in effect since 1975 that requires abortion mills to report abortion stats and all complications to the Illinois Department of Public Health. However, the system is dysfunctional resulting in several thousand abortions that go unreported each year.
The Guttmacher Institute, a research facility that obtains abortion numbers directly from abortion mills, found some 7,000 plus more abortions than were reported to the Department of Public Health. Failure to accurately report abortion stats is considered a criminal act, yet the Department of Public Health has failed to seek charges against abortion mills for violating state law.
Sadly, it is the position of the Department of Public Health that it is the responsibility of abortionists, not the state, to make sure the law is followed.
Furthermore, Illinois has no procedure in place other than the abortion stats reporting to monitor whether the abortion mills and/or abortionists have high rates of death or injuries to women seeking abortions.
In addition, the state of Illinois currently monitors stats from 26 abortion mills, yet the Guttmacher Institute lists 37 different abortion mills doing business in the state.
I plan to write to Attorney General Lisa Madigan and ask for an explanation of why this is the case in regards to abortion mills. I will also ask for a reason why the law is not being enforced. If you are as outraged at this information as I am, I urge you to do the same.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan
500 South Second Street
Springfield, IL 62706
Romans 13:1-2: Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished.
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Life Lines for July 3, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Tomorrow we will celebrate our nation’s 235th birthday and will hopefully reflect on the words of the Declaration of Independence. This document is powerful and unchanging and its words should never be taken lightly.
I often think of the brilliance of the men who wrote such a document, the men and women who have died defending this document, and how we should never take these words for granted.
The following words from the Declaration of Independence are especially beautiful.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —“
When this country was founded, there was already a blot on its soul because some people were enslaved and would continue to be for nearly another 100 years. Sadly it took that long for noble men and women to stand up for the rights of the enslaved people and to live up to the words of “all men are created equal.”
The celebration of our nation’s independence is an opportune time to reflect on the blessings of God, the meaning of freedom, and the task to expand the blessings of freedom to our unborn brothers and sisters who are still enslaved by our nation’s abortion policies.
In this nation we kill over three thousand babies in the womb every day. How can this be allowed to happen in the greatest nation on earth? Is it because too many people have forgotten that the very first “right” endowed by our Creator, is the right to life?
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
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Life Lines for July 10, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Well, it seems since “global warming” has been disproven Al Gore has embarked on a new crusade … population control.
About two weeks ago, former Vice President Al Gore spoke at New York City’s “Games For Change” Festival. He addressed his same old mantra: climate control and the environment, but this time added a new twist: adding that the stabilization of the earth’s population will help curb pollution.
Gore remarked: “One of the things we could do about it is to change the technologies, to put out less of this pollution, to stabilize the population, and one of the principle ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and women. You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the spacing of the children… You have to educate girls and empower women. And that’s the most powerful leveraging factor, and when that happens, then the population begins to stabilize and societies begin to make better choices and more balanced choices.”
Trouble is, there is no over-population problem, worldwide or in our country. There are certainly parts of the world that are overcrowded, but the planet as a whole does not have that problem.
He calls educating girls and women on “fertility management” will empower them. However, it’s a shameful use of words to say that pushing abortions will somehow empower girls and women. 50% of all children conceived are girls, so we empower girls by slaughtering them in the womb? It’s my personal opinion that this is just the latest in a long line of rantings by a has-been politician who never got over losing the presidential election.
Romans 16:18. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
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Life Lines for July 17, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Early on Saturday morning, July 9, 2011, a dear neighbor took his own life. This young man was a kind, helpful and thoughtful neighbor and friend with a loving family and a beautiful son. My heart breaks at the thought that this young man was so distraught that he would end his life, thus changing the lives of those who love him forever. This was my first real experience in dealing closely with someone who took his own life and it made me stop and think long and hard about it.
Life is a fragile gift from God to be cherished and suicide is a serious sin against God. However, the act of suicide in itself is not what determines whether someone goes to heaven. John 3:16 shows the way to heaven. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Furthermore, Romans 8:38-39 assures us that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Was this young man wrong to take his own life? Absolutely he was. But, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. This young man was overwhelmed with personal problems and truly not thinking clearly and in a moment of despair, made a terrible decision. Now, having said that, and since this young man expressed his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior, I know that God has forgiven even the sin of suicide. 2 Corithians 12:9 tells us that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
These are truly beautiful words to the believer’s ears … My grace is sufficient for you.
God’s Word teaches us that we are to confess our sins and repent. In the case of suicide, the person will more than likely not have opportunity to confess and repent of that sin. But, that does not mean that the sin of suicide cannot be forgiven. For Jesus bore all the sins of all people on the cross!
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Life Lines for July 24, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
It is beyond my realm of reasonable thinking to try to understand how and for what reason a person claiming to be a man of God can twist the words of the bible. But, that’s what Rev. Matthew Westfox of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice did in an article earlier this spring.
The following is part of Westfox’s article.
“A pro-life stance cannot concern itself only with the life of the woman. In the parable of the sower, Jesus reminds us that seed alone does not bring about new life — that all aspects of the conditions into which the seed are cast must be suitable to sustain life. If there is not enough light or too many weeds or other circumstances that make the ground unfit, the seed will not grow. The story reminds us that respecting and honoring life means doing all we can to create the conditions that will allow life to flourish — while at the same time respecting and accepting that some conditions are not suitable to sustaining life. We do no service by trying to force life into places where the ground is not right.
Similarly, living out a pro-life theology means ensuring that those who want to create new life or parent a child never feel they cannot because the ground they stand upon is not suitable. It also means that no one should ever be coerced into bringing new life into a situation they do not believe is ready to sustain it. A truly pro-life theology means working for health care, employment, and other factors so that no one ever feels he or she cannot be a parent because the conditions aren’t suitable and that we never force life into a situation that lacks one of the most fundamental ingredients of healthy ground — parents who are ready to love and welcome the child.”
Wow! And this man calls himself Reverend. In the parable of the sower, it seems that Westfox thinks that only in the most perfect of circumstances can we allow new life into the world. Gosh, if that were the case, how many of us would have been born if our parents waited until the time and circumstances were perfect?
We should never take Jesus’ words lightly, but it’s entirely wrong to use them to twist and defend something that’s indefensible. To twist the words of Jesus in order to conform them into an unconscionable philosophy is inexcusable.
Romans 16:17. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
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Life Lines for July 31, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
We all know or have someone within our family structure that is handicapped in some way. I have a very dear cousin who has Down’s syndrome and he leads a happy, fulfilled life with his loving parents.
However, there are a great number of people who advocate aborting a baby who has tested to be handicapped. They claim that it is better for the child and the family if that child were not allowed to be born.
But, better for whom? The child in the womb is fully human and in the process of developing. So to promote aborting a handicapped unborn child is no different morally than promoting the execution of handicapped people who are already born. But the thought of doing that is reprehensible. Adults with handicaps are human, just as the baby in the womb is human.
It is amazingly arrogant of mere humans to say that certain other humans are better off not existing. Those who make such outrageous judgments concerning the handicapped appear to assume that handicapped persons cannot live meaningful, happy and fulfilled lives. Those assumptions are dead wrong. My cousin with Down’s Syndrome is a perfect example of a truly loving and happy person.
But I want to tell you about another person in my life who was born slightly deformed … my Aunt Jenny and she is celebrating her birthday today in heaven. My Aunt Jenny was born with her right arm missing from the elbow down. She was one of ten children (seven brothers and two sisters) and grew up during the depression.
She learned to tie her shoes using one hand at the age of four because her older brothers made her learn. She worked hard growing up, met and married the love of her life after WWII and raised two sons. She sewed, cooked, drove a car, cleaned houses for families, and taught all of her many nieces and nephews how to swim and dive, and most of all, she inspired all of us with her resolve to face challenges and to never say “I can’t.”
The life of someone disabled is not an easy life, for them or for the parents, especially if a child is severely disabled. But we must remember that God values all human life … including the unborn, the born, the disabled and the elderly.
It seems to me that the practice of aborting babies who have tested as disabled in one way or another is really operating on the premise of how it will affect the mother after the birth. If there is no genuine health threat to the mother in completing the pregnancy, the concern is for life after the birth of the baby.To take it one step further, if the concern is for the parents after the birth of a disabled baby, then why would it not be accepted to commit infanticide of disabled babies after their birth?
With this, as with all things in life, we put our trust in God, not man, to give us strength to face difficulties.
Romans 5:3-5. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
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Life Lines for August 7, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Why, God?
Written by Dr. James Lamb
The question came up in a Bible study I led on the value of human life. "Why does God allow abortion to continue?" I had heard it before. I had asked it before. There is no answer. We do not know. We are not in a position to counsel God. (Romans 11:34)
What do we know?
We know God gives and sustains life. We know He is not the author of evil and that sin and death came from Satan’s lies and mankind’s disobedience. We know He sent His Son to redeem life from sin and evil. We know He wants all to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. We know He commands us not to murder, and that He abhors injustice especially when it involves the weak and vulnerable.
We also know that God works through means. He works through His Word and Sacraments to call people dead in sin and make them alive in Christ. He makes those not His people to be His people, and He works through His people to spread His Word and accomplish His will on earth.
Why does abortion continue? I wonder if there is some insight in this verse, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Now I know this verse can be, and has been, misused. It is not saying, "If the people of this country would just shape up then maybe God would stop some of the horrible things that go on." The verse isn’t about the people of this country. It’s about people called by His name. This verse is not about shaping up but about "shaping down." It’s about God’s people humbling themselves before Him, seeking His "face," His merciful presence. It’s a good Lenten verse for it speaks of confession and absolution.
Is there a need for such confession and absolution by God’s people when it comes to the sanctity of human life? Yes. There are those "called by His name" who openly promote the slaughter of abortion. There are those "called by His name" who see abortion’s evil, but fail to call it so. There are those "called by His name" who have been entrusted with the most powerful and positive message for life on the planet and fail to apply it to these issues of life and death.
Think what might happen if we, who are "called by His name," would boldly and lovingly proclaim His truth about life, if we would call sins against life "sins," if we would let sinners against life hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ spoken directly to their broken hearts, if we would point people who are suffering to our God who suffered and is still at work in suffering. I believe God would be at work in His people. I believe God would be at work through His people. And maybe, when it comes to the sanctity of human life, there would be healing in our land.
So I would suggest the question on our lips not be, "Why does God allow abortions?" but "Why do we?"
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Life Lines for August 14, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Governor Pat Quinn signed a pro-life law on August 4, 2011, essentially requiring more people to report cases of suspected child abuse. Governor Quinn is considered pro-abortion so this event should be looked upon as a significant pro-life victory.
HB2093 was signed into law by Governor Quinn and is now Public Act 97-0254.This Act extends the list of persons required to report child abuse or neglect to include any physician, physician's assistant, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, medical technician, certified nursing assistant, social worker, or licensed professional counselor of any office, clinic or physical location that provides abortions, abortion referrals or contraceptives.
This act was in response to the video exposure of Virginia Planned Parenthood's failure to report abused minors who had been subjected to sexual trafficking and exploitation. Now in Illinois, Planned Parenthood will be a mandated reporter of all such information.
I urge everyone to take a few minutes to write or call Governor Quinn and thank him for this life affirming law. He can be reached at Office of the Governor, 207 State House, Springfield, IL 62706 or
phone: 217-782-0244.
Proverbs 3:27 “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.”
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Life Lines for August 21, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Note: My comments are not intended to endorse anyone running for political office, but to warn people to watch for false claims by opposing forces.
The general election is still 15 months away, but that doesn’t stop the pro-abortion gang from hurling insults and spouting “choice” rhetoric at anyone they perceive will take away their power to kill the unborn.
NARAL president Nancy Keenan had the following to say on Gov. Rick Perry’s treatment of abortion. “My staff and I have been working to answer” the question of what abortion activists know about Perry, who has received high marks from the two top pro-life organizations in the state.
“How a candidate voted on choice or what actions he or she took as governor tell us a lot about what he or she would do if elected president. Gov. Perry’s choice-related actions as governor of Texas are dominated by anti-choice positions” said Keenan.
Keenan complains about a bill Perry signed that would allow women to receive information about abortion’s risks and alternatives 24 hours before getting an abortion. Although Gallup polling data shows such laws enjoy the support of pro-life and “pro-choice” Americans, Keenan ripped into Perry with a misleading statement about it.
“Many of the laws he signed inject political interference into women’s private decision-making. Gov. Perry signed into law a measure that would require women to receive a state-mandated lecture that includes medically inaccurate information before they can access abortion care. He then signed additional legislation amending the law to force some women to make two trips to the provider before receiving abortion care,” she said.
Keenan also (falsely) blasted Perry for signing a bill that allows, not requires, women to see an ultrasound of their unborn child that abortion practitioners normally don’t allow them to see: “Just this year, Gov. Perry signed into law a bill requiring that a woman seeking abortion care undergo an ultrasound–even if she does not want one, and even if her doctor does not recommend it.”
Seems to me that the NARAL president has problems with Perry helping women, both before and after an abortion.
Keenan condemns Perry for taking “strong stances in support of anti-choice “crisis pregnancy centers,” by supporting “choose life” license plates, which allocate funding for CPCs.” CPC’s are funded through donations and fundraisers, taking no money from taxpayers, and yet that doesn’t seem to please Keenan.
Keenan concluded her rant by saying, ȁLet’s not forget that the president has tremendous influence over reproductive-health policy in the United States. It’s never too early to take a look at the record of someone who wants to live in the White House.”
As Christians, our duty to is to Christ and His truth so it is my prayer that God will raise up a candidate who believes in the sanctity of life for the 2012 election.
II Samuel 23:3-4. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises.
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Life Lines for August 28, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Most people saw the picture of members of the New Black Panther party during the 2008 general election … men dressed in paramilitary uniforms, carrying a nightstick, yelling racial epithets and blocking the entrance to a polling place. This same instance of voter intimidation was dismissed by the DOJ under the Obama administration.
Now fast forward to January 8, 2011 and a 79 year old gentleman named Richard Retta outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. This gentleman is being prosecuted by the DOJ for walking alongside women making their way to the doors of the clinic. As he walks alongside these women, Retta offers hope that they can carry their babies to term.
Retta estimates that he and other volunteers have helped more than 1,300 women change their minds about abortion. But that kind of success seems to be too much for this administration. It is so committed to the agenda of abortion groups that it threatened to shut down the entire government during the budget debate earlier this year to preserve more than $300 million in federal funds for Planned Parenthood. It also has threatened to cut off Medicaid funds to states like Indiana that ban state grants to the organization.
The DOJ claims that Retta’s sidewalk counseling violates the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, enacted by Congress in 1994. In a July 2011 complaint, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division says that Retta violated federal law because he “walks very closely beside patients” as they enter the clinic. It also claims that Retta follows them when they leave.
But FACE permits Retta to walk beside patients, coming or going, on a public sidewalk. And the First Amendment protects his right to speak to them. In fact, the FACE Act (18 U.S.C. § 248) forbids only physical obstruction, intimidation, or the use or threat of force. The FACE Act protects the activity that Retta engaged in: The statute specifically states that it does not “prohibit any expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration).”
DOJ is demanding that Retta pay a $10,000 civil penalty for violating FACE and $15,000 in fines to his alleged victims. It also wants Retta — and everyone “acting in concert” with him — to be prohibited from standing within 20 feet of the Planned Parenthood gate.
Retta prints a 22-page training manual that teaches volunteers how to conduct their ministry including number two on the list “DO NOT BLOCK THE WOMAN’S PATH. Retta also instructs volunteers to avoid intimidation.
Retta was shocked to learn that DOJ had brought charges against him as we all should be. Jesus never promised that following Him would be easy, but we know what is expected of us.
John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first…If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.”
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Life Lines for September 4, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Planned Parenthood is, in my opinion, a racist, population control group whose founder, Margaret Sanger, frequently wrote about her desire to rid the world of "dysgenic races." These included just about everyone who wasn't of Anglo-Saxon descent.
Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions in the United States in 2009, according to a fact sheet the group published in March of 2011.
That is about nearly as many as the 319,294 people who live in the city of St. Louis, MO according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010.
The 332,278 abortions Planned Parenthood performed over the 365 days of 2009 equals an average of 910 lives terminated per day–or about 38 per hour, or one every 95 seconds.
90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s $363.2 million funding came directly from the federal government, or from Medicaid, which is a federal-state program.
That is why the funding of Planned Parenthood has become such a hot topic in this nation. More than 40 members of Congress banded together on August 8, 2011, to file papers with a federal appeals court defending a state law that revokes taxpayer funding from the nation’s biggest abortion business.
The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal group, urged a federal appeals court, on behalf of 41 members of Congress and more than 25,000 Americans who signed petitions in support of the law, to reverse a lower court decision and uphold an Indiana law that prohibits federal funds from going to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.
Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a health care measure containing language that would revoke taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Several Planned Parenthood sites have closed, not only in Texas, but also in other states, due to the de-funding measures that have been implemented.
Furthermore, in the news the week of August 22, it was revealed that fewer doctors are willing to perform abortions and that is great news for the unborn.
So even though we, as pro-life Christians, can get discouraged by the continuation of abortion in this country, we can be encouraged that, with the help of God, we are making progress in the fight for life.
“For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
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Life Lines for September 11, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack on our nation. 2976 people died that day, including the 19 terrorists who carried out their deadly plan.
On September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m. (EST) the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03 a.m. a second plane slammed into the south tower of the WTC. By 10:28 a.m., both towers had fallen and a total of four planes had crashed. Our nation was numb beyond belief. How could this happen in America?
The answer to that may be linked to the worldwide vanishing value of human life. Fundamental Muslims clearly do not value human life or the attack of 9/11 would not have happened. They chose their own perceived gain of virgins in heaven worth losing their own life and the lives of so many Americans. China has a one-child policy enforced by abortions. And even here in America, we legally kill nearly 3,000 babies in the womb each day. But the devaluing of human life doesn’t just end with abortion.
The government-controlled healthcare plan dreamt up by Barack Obama and the Democrats is one that rations care, particularly for the elderly, whose lives are devalued by an instrument referred to by Obama advisors as the 'Value of a Statistical Life Year,' which basically concludes that the older we get the less valuable we are to society, and thus, the more expendable we become in a government-run healthcare system.
So in reality what this means to the Obama administration has a dollar-value is placed on human life. And the elderly are simply not worth doing very much for in healthcare, due to the cost-benefit analysis of such a dastardly program.
So the government will deny healthcare for some of the elderly population under Obamacare, and yet that same plan funds killing the unborn. Human life is devalued from womb to tomb here in America.
So, yes, 9/11 happened because terrorists wanted to kill Americans … some who were even of the same Muslim faith as the attackers. The value of the human life to be sacrificed was worth the promised end result of paradise, according to their religion. We have the same scenario with abortion in this country. The baby to be killed is worth the money to be made in the eyes of the abortionist. It’s up to those who believe in the sanctity of human life … all human life, to never give up the fight!
Proverbs 24:11-12
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
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Life Lines for September 18, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Are you a “for life” Christian just sitting on the sidelines as the slaughter of the unborn continues on a daily basis in our nation? Well, here’s your chance to do something constructive in the fight for life.
The Third Annual Life Banquet will be held on Thursday, October 20th at Hamilton’s Banquet Hall
110 N. East Street, Jacksonville, IL, beginning at 7 p.m.
The keynote speaker for the evening is Shawn Carney. Carney began in the pro-life movement in college as a volunteer and after college was asked to be the Executive Director of the organization he volunteered for, the Coalition for Life. In 2004, Carney helped to lead the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in College Station, Texas. This breakthrough initiative, made up of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion, round-the-clock peaceful vigil outside a local abortion center, and grassroots door-to-door outreach, dropped local abortion numbers by 28%.
Beginning in 2007, Shawn helped to expand 40 Days for Life to 337 cities in all 50 American states, six Canadian Provinces, England, Ireland, Australia, and Denmark. His efforts have mobilized more than 400,000 pro-life volunteers over the last three years.
40 Days for Life has confirmed reports of 3,599 mothers choosing life and 43 abortion center workers who have had conversions and left their jobs, including former Planned Parenthood director, Abby Johnson.
Take a stand “For Life” and call today for reservations or more information 217-245-9340.
James 1:22 & 27
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.... Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
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Life Lines for September 25, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Written by Mark Crutcher
President of Life Dynamics
Harry Blackmun once stated that the death penalty cheapens the country's respect for human life. You may remember him as the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion-on-demand and launching the American holocaust.
In a pathetic attempt to rationalize this decision, Blackmun contended that, while the unborn may indeed be human, they are not persons and are therefore not entitled to have their lives protected by the law. He did this despite the fact there is not one word in the English language for a human being who is not a person.
In fairness, it must be pointed out that Blackmun did not invent this "human-but-not-persons" concept; he simply ripped it off the 1857 Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision authorizing slavery. In that case, it was decided that blacks had roughly the same rights as mules since they are "human-but-not-citizens."
In any event, Blackmun's personal crime against humanity has, so far, snuffed-out the lives of more than 50 million helpless children. But for the time being, I want you to set aside that breathtaking thought and consider a specific comparison between abortion and capital punishment.
In a death penalty case, the legal requirement is that a state cannot execute someone if a jury determines that there is any reasonable doubt of their guilt. In addition to that, the defendant is assumed innocent and doesn't have to create this reasonable doubt. The burden of proof lies solely with the state.
But Blackmun's argument was that we should take an opposite approach when it comes to executing the unborn. And ever since then, the pro-choice lobby has relied on this "no-one-knows-when-life-begins" lie as a rationalization for their baby-killing enterprise.
The point is, if we were to apply the same logic to capital punishment that America's death merchants apply to abortion, our position would be that when a man is charged with a crime, the state has no obligation to prove that he is guilty, it is his responsibility to prove he is innocent. So at the end of a trial, a judge could say to the defendant, "Since the court has been unable to determine whether you did or did not commit the crime, we're just going to go ahead and execute you."
As outrageous as this sounds, it is exactly what the pro-choice lobby is saying every time they defend abortion by claiming that there is some question about whether the unborn is or is not a living human being.
Of course, the fact is that modern science settled that question when it gave us the first sonogram images of life in the womb. At that moment, the humanity of the unborn could no longer be called a theory; it had become an observable fact. The only problem is, gaining that knowledge didn't change our behavior. And so every 24 hours, this Christian nation of ours casually tosses another 3000 or so corpses onto the pile.
In 1770, John Adams wrote that, "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." Apparently, what Blackmun understood and Adams didn't, is that facts may indeed be stubborn things, but they are also things that can be ignored.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14
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Life Lines for October 2, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Recently the Guttmacher Institute reported the publication of an analysis of the rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States from 2001 to 2006. The report unwittingly makes the case for defunding Planned Parenthood.
Guttmacher reports that overall “the unintended pregnancy rate has remained essentially flat” during that period but that it “has increased dramatically among poor women.” Their results revealed “The United States did not make progress toward its goal of reducing unintended pregnancy between 2001 and 2006.”
The Guttmacher Institute’s new analysis of unintended pregnancy should serve as a national wake-up call” spewed Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
According to Richards, “The take-home message is clear: We need to do more to prevent unintended pregnancy, and access to affordable birth control is one significant way to do that.” She goes on to laud the recent decision of the Obama administration to mandate contraceptive coverage without co-pays. (That’s because money grows on trees for those who live in the fantasyland know as Washington D.C.)
Richards’ reaction echoed that of Guttmacher Institute President and CEO Sharon Camp, who stated that “we must ensure that all women, and particularly those who are most vulnerable, have access to the education and range of reproductive health services and counseling they need in order to plan the pregnancies they want and prevent the ones they don’t.”
The subtext of Camp’s and Richards’ remarks is clear enough: by “access to affordable birth control” and “access to reproductive health services,” they mean “access to Planned Parenthood,” with its huge $363 million taxpayer subsidy intact.
Meanwhile, the Guttmacher researchers say they’ll be looking into what might account for the failure to bring down the unintended pregnancy rate.
But whatever conclusions they may eventually come up with, one thing is clear: increasing government funding of Planned Parenthood had zero effect on unintended pregnancy. Over the period covered in this study, Planned Parenthood’s funding from government grants and contracts increased from $240.9 million to $305.3 million. At the same time, unintended pregnancies rose from 48% to 49% of all pregnancies.
What’s more, the unintended pregnancy rate went up dramatically among poor women—the very group that Planned Parenthood purports to help the most. Measured in the number of poor women per 1,000 of childbearing age, the rate went up from 120 unintended pregnancies in 2001 to 132 in 2006. That’s right: the more money Planned Parenthood got from the government—supposedly to help poor women—the more poor women got pregnant.
Another interesting finding in the new Guttmacher study is that the percentage of unintended pregnancies that ended in abortion decreased from 47% in 2001 to 43% in 2006. During the same period, Planned Parenthood abortions increased by 36%—from 213,026 abortions in their 2001-2002 annual report to 289,750 in their 2006-2007 annual report—even as the overall abortion rate was trending downwards.
It appears that the only things Planned Parenthood really excels at are seizing a greater and greater share of the abortion business, while securing a larger and larger government subsidy. As this new Guttmacher analysis unwittingly demonstrates, the time to defund this evil organization is long overdue. I ask that we each hold our national leaders up in prayer that they will move to stop taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and abortion.
"I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:10
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Life Lines for October 9, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Even after all these years, abortion enthusiasts continue to drone on that women have the right to control their bodies and that the unborn child is part of the mother’s body. The problem is, for that to be true we have to accept that when a woman is pregnant she has 4 arms, 4 legs, 2 heads, 2 hearts, 2 brains, and so on. And if she is carrying twins, she has 6 arms, 6 legs, 3 heads, 3 hearts, 3 brains and … well you get the picture. We’re also supposed to believe that if her unborn child is male for a few months of her life this woman has a penis.
Obviously, only a card-carrying imbecile could suggest such things. In reality, the unborn child has its own genetic code, blood type, fingerprints, brain, nervous system and internal organs. As a matter of fact, if it were possible for an unborn child to commit a crime, it has everything necessary to identify it in a court of law. Further, there is no possibility that this biological evidence would identify anyone other than the unborn child from whom it was taken. In short, there is no rational way to get around the fact that the unborn child is a separate individual from the mother.
To illustrate just how idiotic this “part-of-the-woman’s-body” argument is, I ask you to imagine a photograph of conjoined (Siamese) twins and decide whether you consider it to be a picture of one person or two? However, before you answer, remember that conjoined twins are much closer to being one person than is a mother and her unborn child. Conjoined twins are always the same sex, always have the same DNA, are always the same blood type, always share at least one external body structure and often share several internal organs. And as long as they are joined, if one dies they both die.
But none of that is true about a mom and her unborn baby. They are the same sex only about half the time, often don’t have the same blood type, never have the same DNA and they do not share any external body parts or internal organs. Moreover, it is not at all uncommon for one to survive when the other one dies.
The point is, while it would be absurd to claim that conjoined twins are not two distinct individuals, even that argument is more grounded in scientific reality than is the claim that a mother and her unborn child are not two distinct individuals.
I want to refresh your memory of an event that took place in the summer of 1999. A physician in Nashville, Tennessee, had just completed operating on a 21-week-old unborn child who had been temporarily removed from his mother’s uterus and placed on her abdomen. After returning the little boy to the womb, the surgeon was about to close the incision when the child suddenly punched his arm out and wrapped his hand around the doctor’s finger.
This new field of medicine also raises an interesting dilemma regarding the rhetoric of the abortion debate. The abortion lobby continues to deride our use of the words, “child” or “baby” to describe the unborn, saying that a fetus is neither. If that is true, then how should we describe the patient being operated on during this kind of surgery? It is obviously not the mother and it can’t be a fetus because it is not in the womb. So what is it? And if we are going to say that it is a baby while lying on its mother’s abdomen, on what biological basis does it lose that designation when placed back in her womb?
To put it another way, if the unborn are not living human beings and if they not separate human beings from their mothers, who was it that grabbed that doctor’s finger back in 1999?
“Who among us does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:9-10.
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Life Lines for October 16, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Written by Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand smoke
Ethical stem cell research continues to advance. The University of Wisconsin, Madison–where human ESCs were first derived–has found the IPSCs and ESCs are virtually identical. From the U of W story:
A study recently released shows embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are almost identical. Since human IPS cells were first produced from mouse cells in 2006 and from human cells in 2007, it has been thought they were equivalent to embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because they are derived from human embryos. But new research, directed by Josh Coon, a UW-Madison associate professor of chemistry and biomolecular chemistry, shows the proteins in the two types of cells are almost identical...Coon, whose lab did the research in collaboration with Thompson's lab, said there is less than a 1 percent difference in the proteins between one cell type and the other.
As I have stated in the past, I think President Bush's funding policy had at least an indirect influence on the development of ethical "alternatives" to ESCR. Moreover, the continuing advances in IPSC research seem to show that we can have our ethics and pluritpotent stem cells too.
My view as a layman who pays close attention to this field, is that IPSCs will be best used in drug testing and cell line experimentation on diseased tissues that were tailor made from specific patients–what we were once told would require human cloning to achieve. I also think adult stem cells will provide most of the clinical benefits for this field. I could be wrong. But unless they find a cure for the tumor threat, IPSCs will be constrained in medical uses just as embryonic stem cells have proven to be.
Yes, there are potential ethical problems with IPSC–not because of what they are, but how they could be used. For example, they could be used in a form of cloning. They could also be used to make viable gametes, that could be used in an inappropriate matter. For example, if a skin cell could be reprogrammed into a human egg, the "egg dearth" problem for human cloning would be solved (one egg is needed for each cloning try) permitting the Brave New Worlders to get to work. But the way to handle that is to regulate the field so these ethically derived cells are not used unethically. For example, now would be a splendid time to outlaw all human cloning research, while most of the horses are still in the barn.
Jeremiah 1:4-5:Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
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Life Lines for October 23, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
The national election coming up in November 2012 is going to be a tipping point for America as a nation. We have the opportunity to make great strides in abolishing abortion in this great nation or continue killing babies in the womb on a daily basis. It is our civic duty to thoroughly research the candidates and vote according to our own moral compass. We must evaluate the candidates and the evaluation should start with where they stand on violence against human beings, because if public servants cannot tell the difference between serving the public and killing the public, they don’t deserve to be elected to lead our nation.
And it’s not only the position of the candidates that matters. It’s also the position of the political party to which the candidate belongs. Elections bring not only candidates, but parties into power. How can the position of those parties on key issues not matter as we evaluate whom we will support?
As the election rhetoric heats up in the coming months let us remember that God holds all believers responsible for the stances of those they choose to elect.
Proverbs 29:2. When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.
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Life Lines for October 30, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Today we Lutherans will celebrate Reformation Sunday … the birthday of the Lutheran Church.
494 years ago today on October 31, 1517, a young man named Martin Luther posted a list of 95 theses and also requested a meeting with church leaders to debate the crux of the 95 theses.
Martin Luther surely had no clue what his actions would accomplish or the change it would bring upon the church. By posting those 95 theses, a domino effect took place and lead to the events that today we refer to as the Protestant Reformation.
By comparison, attorney Sarah Weddington, the initial attorney in the famous Roe v. Wade case, could have no idea that her actions would eventually result in the legal killing of over 50 million babies in the womb. Weddington was recently quoted saying, “We did it, not because we knew we could win, but because we had to try. It turned out we did win, and I do think that changed the world for women in a very basic way.” Yes, Ms. Weddington certainly did change the world for women and Martin Luther changed the world through religion. Both actions were a reformation, but one paved the way for salvation through faith while the second one paved the way to slaughter the unborn.
More and more Americans, a majority in fact, believe that abortion is simply not right and I believe we are poised for another Reformation … this time it is a Reformation for Life and it is up to Christians to not only lead the way, but the take part in the fight to save the unborn, elderly and disabled.
How can any Christian not take action against the senseless killing of babies in the womb? No matter what the circumstances of conception, no matter how far along in the pregnancy, abortion always ends the life of an individual human being.
James 1:22 & 27
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves....†Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
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Life Lines for November 6, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Are you TRULY for life? Do you TRULY believe that life, human life, begins at conception? Think about your answer to these questions. If you believe that you are For Life, and if the unborn are fully human, then the aborting of the handicapped unborn is unacceptable in any situation. Otherwise, it would be the same, morally, to kill the handicapped who are already born.
Who do we think we are to presume that we know better than God? If a baby is physically deformed, has Down Syndrome, spina bifida, or any number of medical conditions, that is no reason for anyone to say that this child should not be carried to term and allowed to be born. It is amazingly presumptuous for mere human beings to say that certain other human beings are better off not existing. Those who make such judgments concerning the handicapped seem to assume that handicapped persons cannot live meaningful and even happy lives.
However, this assumption is false. This is not to deny that there are tragedies in life and that having a handicapped child is often a difficult burden to undertake. But I think it is important to realize since the unborn entity is fully human, homicide cannot be justified simply because it relieves one of a terrible burden.
A dear family recently lost their little baby daughter who was only 4 months old. This beautiful child was born with multiple medical problems and her loving parents and family and medical caregivers did all they could for this baby girl. Some might ask, why did they fight so hard to save this child when her prognosis was bleak?
The answer is a four letter word … LOVE. They loved this little girl and they were FOR LIFE. This baby was a tiny person, who deserved all the rights of personhood that the rest of us enjoy. In the end, she went home to be with her Heavenly Father, but during her time her on earth she was surrounded by her loving family. She brought joy to her family during her short earthly life.
Caring for the suffering, the sick, the elderly and the handicapped is the right and loving thing to do. They are worthy of our love.
Furthermore, a handicapped child can give both society and the family into which it has been born an opportunity to exercise true compassion, love, charity, and kindness. It is an assault upon our common humanity to deny our capacity to attain virtue in the presence of suffering. Continue to pray for peace and comfort for the family of Elizabeth.
2 Corinthians 1:3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
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Life Lines for November 13, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
It appears that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the current chair of the national Democratic Party has further confirmed how out of touch she is with Americans. She recently went on a rant about the fact, proven by science by the way, that human life begins at conception. She called such a statement “an extreme and radical step.” She was set off by the upcoming election in Mississippi where voters will approve or reject the premise that life beings at conception with the personhood amendment.
She further stated, “Now, the effort by the far right [is] to pass these so-called personhood amendments–divisive, dangerous, and destructive laws which would cripple a woman’s right to choose, limit access to birth control, and put the lives of women with difficult pregnancies at risk.”
Promoting abortion is nothing new for Wasserman-Schulz and, in September, she criticized the news that a House committee will conduct an investigation of the Planned Parenthood abortion business, calling it a partisan attack.
I am a strong supporter of congressional oversight, however, the scope and nature of this investigation is unprecedented, invasive, and the big-brother equivalent of a modern day denial-of-service attack,” said Wasserman Schultz. She went on to say, Republicans, having failed to strip funds for Planned Parenthood’s essential health-care services through the legislative process, now appear to want to bury Planned Parenthood.” (Side note: several states have stripped Planned Parenthood of funds in their own states.)
Well, she did finally get something right. Pro-life believers do want to see the demise of Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood is under investigation for a multitude of reasons … massive Medicaid billing fraud, covering up statutory rape, and allowing unlicensed healthcare workers to perform abortions are just a few.
Wasserman Schultz was named by pro-abortion President Barack Obama to take over as the head of the Democratic Party nationally and prepare for his re-election campaign next year. At the time of her appointment to the position, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards praised Wasserman Schultz as a “heroine” for her extensive abortion advocacy. The appointment made it clear Obama would not run from his lengthy pro-abortion record.
Another president once made the following statement: “The real question today is not when human life begins, but, what is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother’s body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law- the same right we have.” ~Ronald Reagan.
Shame on us for staying silent while babies are slaughtered in the womb, all in the name of choice and for profit of money.
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? Proverbs 24:11
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Life Lines for November 20, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Prayer of Thanksgiving
God of all blessings,
source of all life,
giver of all grace:
We thank you for the gift of life:
for the breath
that sustains life,
for the food of this earth
that nurtures life,
for the love of family and friends
without which there would be no life.
We thank you for the mystery of creation:
for the beauty
that the eye can see,
for the joy
that the ear may hear,
for the unknown
that we cannot behold filling the universe with wonder,
for the expanse of space
that draws us beyond the definitions of our selves.
We thank you for setting us in communities:
for families
who nurture our becoming,
for friends
who love us by choice,
for companions at work,
who share our burdens and daily tasks,
for strangers
who welcome us into their midst,
for people from other lands
who call us to grow in understanding,
for children
who lighten our moments with delight,
for the unborn,
who offer us hope for the future.
We thank you for this day:
for life
and one more day to love,
for opportunity
and one more day to work for justice and peace,
for neighbors
and one more person to love
and by whom be loved,
for your grace
and one more experience of your presence,
for your promise:
to be with us,
to be our God,
and to give salvation.
For these, and all blessings,
we give you thanks, eternal, loving God,
through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Source: Adapted from "Prayers of Our Hearts" © 1991 Vienna Cobb Anderson.
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Life Lines for November 27, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Lots of folks who support abortion love to justify it by saying that they aren’t sure when human life begins. To me, that’s just an excuse, and a poor one at that. Science has proven that life, human life, begins at conception. There is no blackout period between sperm and egg uniting, and then the emergence of ‘life’ at some distant point. The early (human) embryo is alive and fully human, though it has not yet executed all human functions and is still developing.
Harry Blackmum, the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the majority opinion in Roe vs. Wade, said at the time “we don’t know when life begins.” Well, yes we do know when life begins and to make a statement like that is simply an intellectual lie. Life begins at the very moment sperm and egg unites and that life ends with an abortion. Furthermore, many people refuse to acknowledge the fact that the developing human is not part of the mother’s body, but a very unique and separate person who is growing inside the mother’s body. They refer to the growing baby as a “potential life” and that’s just plain silly. The baby growing inside the mother is a life with potential.
We are fast approaching another anniversary for the devastating decisions of Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton. January 22, 2012 will mark 39 years of killing the unborn. 53 MILLION unborn babies have been slaughtered since that fateful decision. Are you going to continue to sit in silence while killing the unborn remains the law of the land in our nation?
Proverbs 24:11-12
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
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Life Lines for December 4, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Someone recently asked me for a list of companies that support Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the United States. The list I found is as follows: Outward Bound West, American Automobile Association (AAA), Kaiser Permanente, Fraternal Order of Elks, Dr. Phil Foundation, Lions Clubs, American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, Boys & Girls Clubs, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Camp Fire, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Kiwanis Clubs, March of Dimes, Red Cross, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Rotary Clubs, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, The Salvation Army, YWCA, America Gives Back (formerly [American] Idol Gives Back), YMCA, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), American Diabetes Association, Whole Foods Market, JPMorgan Chase (including Chase Bank, & Bank One), Bank of America, Lost Arrow (Patagonia), Wells Fargo, Chevron (including Caltex, Texaco, Xpress Lube), eBay (including PayPal), Midas (auto care), Nike, Marriott (including Courtyard, Fairfield, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, etc.), Johnson & Johnson, Staples (office/school supplies), and Darden Restaurants (Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Seasons 52).
There are currently several Planned Parenthood affiliates under investigation for failure to report child abuse/rape, whether the organization improperly spends public money on abortions, procedures performed lacking the “medical reason and basis” for the late-term abortions as required by law, and Medicaid billing fraud are just a sampling of the areas of investigation.
You must decide what you want to do with this information, but if you are offended by the fact that companies you may do business with support an abortion business, please write to them and let them know. The pen is still a mighty tool and we must speak out in defense of life.
Proverbs 17:15. Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent … the LORD detests them both.
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Life Lines for December 11, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
I am not promoting Pope Benedict, but I was impressed by words he spoke on Nov. 28, 2011 at Vatican City. He ushered in the season of Advent with a worldwide pro-life vigil.
He spoke of the need to respect human life and the need to guard against “selfishness” by adults and the “darkening of consciences” in today’s life.
He urged the global society to prepare for Christmas by saying prayers for the unborn.
Pope Benedict began by saying that God became a child to experience the life of man in order “to save it completely, fully.”
He went on to say, “The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.”
Because “God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction,” the Pope noted that belief in “Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope.”
Humankind, therefore, “has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests,” he said.
“With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism,” he said. “This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being.”
“So was Jesus in Mary's womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb.”
Pope Benedict went on to say that even after birth, children around the world face abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence or exploitation.
“I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life,” he said.
The words of Pope Benedict touched me, even though I am a Lutheran. Those who are pro-life transcend different religions, but we are all united in the premise that all human life is worthy of protection, from the womb to the elderly. I pray that the New Year that is fast approaching will bring about change in our nation in the hearts of its citizens to realize that killing the unborn is simply wrong.
“Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Psalm 127:3.
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Life Lines for December 18, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
Is Abortion the Answer?
How much thought do you give to abortion? Just occasionally? I think most people want to avoid thinking about the reality of killing a baby in the womb.
The abortion procedure is a violent death for the baby. Dismembering without even giving anesthesia first is torture that would be considered animal abuse if it happened to a cat, dog or other animal. But, in our nation, it’s legal for an unborn baby.
What thoughts are going through the abortionist mind as he performs this hideous act? Do they become numb to the procedure because of the money to be made? In my opinion, they are no better than the people who gassed Jews during the holocaust of Hitler.
One truth that cannot be denied about abortion is since we are already born, it is not a threat to our own life.
People are pro-abortion because it’s a convenient means to an end. Let’s make the problem “go away” and our friends and family will never have to know. There are others who are pro-abortion because they see it as a way to eliminate people under the guise of population control. That’s an arrogant attitude because over population will not destroy this planet. God will destroy this planet, not man.
Instead of the tragedy of abortion, we should all advocate adoption. There are many loving couples that ache for a baby and cannot have one of their own.
If there were no more abortions allowed in our nation, those children born would be loved by their mothers and if circumstances do not allow this, family, friends or strangers would adopt the baby. I am certain of the preceding sentence and I know that abortion is never the answer to life’s problems.
God sent His son to conquer death so that all who believe might have LIFE! Killing a defenseless child in the womb is sin and no amount of rhetoric from the pro-abortion crowd will change that fact.
If you want to learn more of the devastating act of abortion has had on our nation, please mark your calendars for January 22, 2012. Illinois Valley Lutherans for Life will be sponsoring a 55-minute film titled “Blood Money.” The film will be shown in the fellowship hall beginning at 4 p.m. Education is the key to fighting against abortion so I hope to see every Salem member at this event.
Proverbs 24:11-12
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
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Life Lines for December 25, 2011
Written by Jeanne Strubbe
Life Ministry Coordinator
Salem Lutheran Church, Jacksonville
The birth of Jesus changed the course of human history forever, along with the life of his mother, Mary. Mary had very good reasons for wanting to rid herself of this pregnancy. She was an unmarried, very young woman, betrothed to a man who loved her, and a virgin. Yet, Mary gave birth to her firstborn in a lowly stable and He brought salvation to all mankind who believe. Mary chose life for her child!
Nearly 39 years ago, a devastating decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court and has resulted in the death of nearly 55 MILLION babies in the womb since that day. How can this be happening in the greatest and most generous nation in the history of the world?
The topic of abortion is one of the most controversial of our times. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together.†
Someone who is pro-life is against abortion. Pro-lifers believe that from the moment of conception, the embryo is alive and this life imposes a moral obligation to preserve it. It has a brain and a heart and therefore it also has a right to life. They believe that although abortion is regarded as a women’s right, it should be banned with no exceptions because it’s considered murder.
Religion plays a big role on being pro-life. Abortion is against the Bible and most religious people don’t believe in it either. Mother Teresa once stated, “it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so you may live as you wish.” Abortion is the unnatural end of pregnancy.
That child has the right to life that is equal to the mother’s right. One cannot kill another human being just because they wished it wasn’t around. And that hits the nail right on the head when it comes to abortion. Supporters of abortion love to flaunt the fact that abortion must remain legal because of the cases of rape or incest. But, the facts state that the case for abortions under the circumstances of rape or incest account to less than 2% of all abortions performed in the U.S.
So, I pose the question, what about the other 98% of abortions resulting in the death of an unborn human? Also, what about abortion to save the life of the mother? The fact is that it has always been legal to abort a child to save the life of the mother, so the argument that we must have legal abortion to save the life of the mother is unnecessary. When the life of the mother is truly threatened by her pregnancy, if both lives cannot simultaneously be saved, then saving the mother’s life must be the primary aim.†
If through careful treatment of the mother’s illness the pre-born patient inadvertently dies or is injured, this is tragic and, if unintentional, is not unethical and is consistent with the pro-life ethic.†
Another ploy that those who support abortion have “tacked” on to saving the life of the mother is the term “health” of the mother which can abused in a multitude of ways. For instance, the mother may be “depressed” because of her pregnancy and therefore this legally warrants an abortion.
Women choose abortion for many reasons, but the most common reasons reported are relational problems with the father of the child, worry about responsibility, fear of financial liability, concern about lifestyle changes, birth control, and fear of others discovering sexual activity. But, nowhere in the preceding reasons will the pregnancy harm the life of the mother.
Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S. performs an alarming rate of abortions compared to adoption referrals. If they are truly sincere about wanting to help families, why aren’t their adoption referrals much higher? Many infertile couples in the U.S. wait years and years for the chance to adopt a baby, while Planned Parenthood kills some 300,000 plus babies in the womb each year, with the help of funding from the U.S. taxpayer.
How long will this continue in our nation? I believe it will be up to the citizens of this great nation to demand an end to the senseless killing of our unborn. British statesman Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil in America is for good men to do nothing." How long will the “good men and women” of American stand by, silently, while our unborn are slaughtered?
“Who among us does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:9-10.
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