I have been greatly encouraged to see how wide-spread the 180 Movie has become so quickly! At the time of writing this blog, the online version of the film on YouTube had just over 1.5 million views! Incredible!
I am thankful for all those who have viewed the film in its entirety. Even those who have rejected the messages contained within it. Abortion is an epidemic in this country. It is an epidemic in this world. For some reason we turn a blind eye to the intentional genocide of the human race through the practice of abortion.
Of course it is likely that most ignore it because they just don't want to think about the horrors of it. It's the same reason we turn away from the television commercials about starving and homeless children. We just don't want to admit to the reality of the horror we allow to go on in our own backyard known as abortion. Maybe we figure if it is out of sight it is out of mind.
It is no secret how I feel about it. There have been several posts prior to this one about this issue.
You may feel that you can't do anything on your own to chance things. But that's not entirely true. God often works through those the world considers nobodies to accomplish His purpose. That fact is evidenced by the 1.5 million views and the thousands more than have viewed it as a result of having been handed a DVD copy or shown the movie at a church.
Abortion is murder. Let me say that again clearly. Abortion is murder. It is a vile practice and it is a sad indictment against any community who places such a low value on the sanctity of human life.
Please, my Christian brethren, I'm calling on you to give a voice to the thousands of humans murdered every day in this country in the name of "choice". Speak out about abortion. The 180 Movie is a fantastic resource. Compelling, honest, and easy to spread to others. Ray and his team don't seek to force anyone to change their mind about abortion, but they do set out to accomplish two things. 1.) Educate people on the reality of abortion by factual evidence and a sobering comparison 2.) to spread the eternal life giving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both purposes are overwhelmingly accomplished in this film.
Please, spread the word... please view this important documentary. And do it now!
Last night I showed the 180 Movie to our church. I will be posting some video responses below of people who volunteered to share their reaction after viewing. There were times when jaws were wide open watching the film, there were tears as the pictures of the Holocaust were shown. Nearly all of them admitted that they had never correlated the two events together.
Our prayer is that this will serve to help our church be more vocal about the Gospel primarily so that those who are in favor of abortion will come to know Christ (if they are in fact not born again) and see abortion as the vile sin that it is.
What strikes me about the two atrocities, that being the Holocaust of the Jews and Abortion, is that it was people who were already born who were being murdered in Germany. So they had a voice, you could see pictures of them emaciated and starving. With abortion, the children can't make a sound, no one cares to watch the sonogram in 3D that shows their face grimace with pain as the process begins.
I once wrote that abortion is nothing more than modern day Molech worship. How true... how true... the only difference is that we don't worship the false god of Molech when we murder a child, we are worshiping the god of self.
Next week we will be showing this video to our students and praying for their reaction. Many of them who will view it are unconverted. My pastoral prayer is that God use this video next week to finally break their hearts over their sin and draw them unto Himself. At the same time, I pray that as the future voters of this country this would help them to discern between a good political candidate and a bad one.
Sometimes the liberal left accuses evangelicals of being "single issue voters" because we discount a candidate who is pro-choice. That is a bit of a straw man argument because most of us certainly consider more than simply their abortion stance, however, life and the protection of it is more important to me than tax structure or foreign and domestic policy for sure. How can you expect ANY candidate to make wise decisions that affect the protection of the American people when they have already showed a lack of concern for the sanctity of human life to begin with? If they see an unborn child as disposable, imagine how they view other life... just a thought...
Now, having said all that, I want to be clear. If you are reading this and you have had an abortion. I am not condemning you. There is forgiveness available to you from God even for that sin. If you are feeling guilt over having had an abortion, I know that you likely feel like you can't be forgiven for something so awful. But you can. God will forgive you. If you will ask Him to forgive you He will. Here's the thing though, you (and everyone else in this world) need forgiveness for more than just the singular sin of abortion. Oh no, we need forgiveness from God for ALL our sin.
I do not want to isolate the sin of abortion as if it is unforgivable and everything else is forgivable. That's not true. There is forgiveness for you not just for abortion, but for the lies you've told, the things you've stolen, the hate in your heart towards others, the lust in your heart that you've acted on... He is a good and kind God and even now He bids you come to Christ that you might be saved!
Without forgiveness of sins you will spend eternity in Hell, not because you failed to trust in Christ, but because you died in your sins and therefore are accountable to pay for your own sin. God so loved this world that He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to live a perfect life free from sin even though He was tempted, then He died on a cruel Roman cross where He endured the physical pain and scorn of the cross and death but He also took the full wrath of God for the sins of all those who would repent and trust in His Name.
So that you do not have to spend eternity in Hell. So that you CAN have eternal life! Christ paid the fine! Turn from your sin (repent) and trust in Jesus Christ today and God will forgive you and grant you eternal life!
Leviticus 18:21 " 21'You shall not give any of your offspring (Q)to offer them to Molech, nor shall you (R)profane the name of your God; I am the LORD." (NASB)
So I am still working on the blog of the John 3:17-18 blog. But I've been incredibly busy lately and traveling and regret that I've not had the time to write as much as I would like to be.
My family and I have found a church that we are just loving. The people are awesome and the Pastor brings the Word of God each week unashamedly.
Today he preached about America. He talked about how great a nation it was but how history has shown that God raises up nations for His purposes.
Whatever those purposes may be. He mentioned that Rome was one of the greatest nations on the earth 1200 years ago and while it is still a beautiful place, it isn't quite the dominant power it once was. His point was that America should be called to repentance over her idol worship that is stealing away the worship of the One true God. It was an amazing sermon that really made me proud to be an American and at the same time fearful for the future of this great country.
One of his texts used today was out of Leviticus. Basically the entire chapter 18. As he read through the things that Israel was NOT to do I couldn't help but be struck by verse 21. It seemed to stand out to me because out of all the things which God commanded them not to do this verse identified a very specific practice/ false god that the children of Israel were to avoid.
It has been a while since I took a class on the pagan gods of the Bible so I went out to brush up on my history. Basically, Molech was a false deity to whom people sacrificed their children as a form of "worship". He was constructed of metal (picture above) and the base of the statue was left hollow. Inside the base a large fire was built. It would make the entire statue into an entire furnace. Then the children were placed in the arms of the statue which were open and resting in his lap. There they would burn to death while their parents and other people in the community danced and shouted around the idol.
My first reaction was probably the same as many of you. First I thought, those uncivilized monsters! How could they do this!
Then, as I thought on it the rest of today I began to wonder... are we really any different? Are we any better? The answer is a resounding no. True we may not build an altar to Molech in America and lay our children on it to die... but we are no better.
We have replaced the statue with a "dignified" medical building that we refer to as an abortion clinic. We no longer use fire to heat up the furnace at the base, but use fire and chemicals to sterilize the tools that will be used to bring death to the child in the womb. We don't lay our children on the lap of the idol, no do we have a "high priest of Molech" do it. We pay a "doctor"... a so called professional... to do it for us. The shouting and dancing and screaming done at the base of the idol, most likely to cover the sounds of the shrieking child, have been replaced with cries of "a woman's right to choose" and "tissue not human". Clearing our conscience and playing God as if we had any right to decide what life is brought into this world.
It was a gut check for me. Before we are quick to look at anyone else or any other group and declare ourselves more righteous than they, we ought to carefully look at ourselves in the God's mirror... the Law. Paul said in
Romans 3:19-20 (New American Standard Bible)
19Now we know that whatever the A)">(A)Law says, it speaks to B)">(B)those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and C)">(C)all the world may become accountable to God;
20because D)">(D)by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for E)">(E)through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
So the Law stops us from justifying ourselves before God. In fact, the Bible says that we would not even KNOW sin BUT by the Law (Romans 7:7). Makes complete rational sense to me.
Satan is the great deceiver. Crafty and good at what he does. And getting better at deceiving as the end nears. Doesn't it stand to reason then that he would eventually replace one false god (Molech) for a false deity that we would less recognize? Namely... ourselves...
We, not only in the realm of abortion, have transgressed the Law of God. Offended the God who has given us the blessing of life. In doing so we all stand before Him guilty. Without Christ we have no hope of a verdict of not-guilty.
As a nation America, I believe, is in danger of becoming a nation such as is referred to in Romans 1. We are day by day creating idols. More and more blatantly we make them... even to the extent that there are televisions shows with the word "IDOL" in them. Justify them how you want, an idol is an idol... how much more plainly can we thumb our nose at God?
Believers, I am calling you to stand in the streets and call this nations people to repentance lest America, more so than already, is handed over to the wicked desires of her people. Warn the people of their impending court date before God and their desperate need for the forgiveness of the Savior Jesus Christ!
This is not an Anti-American blog post. Please don't misconstrue it. I consider myself blessed to have been born in America and want to see this country return to following God as it was founded so many years ago!
God, won't you please bless America by calling her back to You before she strays any further?
