On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. [Zech 12:3 NIV]
Do you care about Israel? Are you friend or foe?
What about God’s commandment to bless and not curse Israel?
Recently I came across four fascinating pieces I feel compelled to share.
Sandi Shoshani is doing some amazing work in changing lives and saving lives throughout Israel. As Director of Be’ad Chaim (which means Pro Life in Hebrew) – a pregnancy resource center network in Israel, she has a perspective on abortion and it’s impact on world politics you seriously need to consider.
Anyone who honestly says abortion can’t hurt population demographics and the balance of the nations should think twice.
In 2008 – Israel had 140,000 live births and somewhere between 40,000 – 50,000 abortions. Since their inception, Israel has collectively aborted 2 million when their population is only 7 million total today. Had they not aborted their children, Israel would not have a problem facing the challenges of a growing Palestinian population. Abortion matters in the life and death struggles of nations.
Considering that point, take a look at what Michael B. Oren at Commentary Magazine offers regarding the very existence of the modern Jewish state of Israel (or it’s potential demise) with Seven Existential Threats.
And realizing that Israel is not alone in this struggle, Mark Steyn has an excellent article at Commentary Magazine where things are going with radical Islam, how demographics figure into the weakening of Europe and the growing rise of Islam.
Lastly – take a look at this:
Abortion has consequences that reach beyond the personal, impacting the nations.
When calling out the Pope for his trespasses – will Israel admit their own auto-genocide trespass?
I’ll share what I wrote in an email to some friends upon seeing the initial Planned Parenthood promo letter and then reflecting upon it:
Like the Miss USA pageant, which lacked ratings and national exposure, but sure found a lot of free press with a controversy, I’m getting the feeling both Judy Blume and PPA needed a quick pick-me up in the publicity dept. and felt controversy would deliver it.
Upon reflection it seems that way.
“Forever” appears to be a publicity piece written as a story to be sold to promote “family planning clinics” and the pill right after the Roe opinion came out. My guess is, if the pro-life community makes a big deal over PPA’s fundraiser, we’ll be inadvertently promoting Blume’s trash to a new audience who will want to know why the books are so bad. Clever marketing tactic. (or do I overrate the pro-life influence?)
I’ve been noticing this parasitic pattern ever since I heard a Canadian band called Mes Aieux sing a song called “Degeneration” It was a big hit in Canada, and a lot of pro-life people purchased the song and album. The band waited and waited until the song played out and started going down in the charts until they corrected the pro-life advocacy of the song. Turns out the band was distinctly pro-abortion. They got the money, and despite the crystal clear implications of the lyrics, denied it had a pro-life message. They gained at the expense of the generous Canadian pro-lifers.
The key point – the devil will lie to gain the power of this world – money. I’d like to learn how to spot parasitic promos and avoid giving them any traction whatsoever.
We need to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves.
It now appears Cecile Richards is simply stirring the cauldron and hoping to inflame enough people to generate tons of donations.
UPDATE
It seems the Miss USA Pageant judges hold a complete disdain for anyone who holds a view contrary to their idea of what marriage should be, because those who have that view should keep it to themselves. Read Alicia Jacobs, a judge, in her own words.
More questions – why is a former Playboy model, Shanna Moakler running the Miss California USA Pageant, along with an openly gay man – Keith Lewis? Are nudes only bad if you’re losing money and need an additional controversial publicity stunt to boost ratings for the Miss USA Pageant? Is diversity only good if you’re part of those who consider themselves diverse?
My other question is: Did Moakler and/or Lewis suggest Prejean be photographed with the newly installed implants? And if so, who leaked the pictures? According to Alicia Jacobs, the Miss USA Pageant should be above reproach, but apparently they don’t think stints as Playboy pinups turned Directors is all that big of a deal. Why should conservative America be shocked? We have no problem admitting we are sinners, unlike others whose pride keeps roaring back as hubris.
If you can’t remember the name of who actually won the pageant, it’s because Perez Hilton made Carrie Prejean (Miss California) the star of the show, and the object of his wrath:
Let’s ask some questions:
1. Why were contestants picking judges and not questions from the container? This allows questions to be tailored to the contestant by the judge, which is precisely what happened. Any judge Prejean picked might have questioned her to the same result. While it appears impartial, this episode seems to have been constructed for 2 purposes: publicity of the pageant and publicity of the gay marriage cause. Why? That’s the next question.
2. Why is a homosexual blogger prone to outrageous militant exploitation sitting on a panel judging female beauty contestants? His aesthetic would be discriminatory against women given his sexual orientation and attitude. That makes his placement purely politically motivated. His venomous hate-filled words show a distinct misogynistic disdain. Was it about her opinion? Or is it her sex?
3. Why was candidate Obama, who provided precisely the same marriage answer as Prejean, not attacked? It’s not her opinion, but as a target of gay pride (mock offense), homosexuals are exploiting this to build hatred against those who defend traditional marriage.
3. Why is this still an issue, particularly with Keith Olberman on MSNBC? Publicity for gay marriage seems to be the primary motivator at this point, because Prejean lost the contest, and the alleged offense doesn’t match the backlash she received.
Technically, Carrie Prejean didn’t answer Hilton’s question, which called for a yes or no answer, and she failed to explain why like this:
“Legalizing same-sex marriage is inherently unfair to traditional married couples and in the long run is potentially harmful to the USA. Traditional marriage encourages procreation, and is best for children who are vital to our nation. Without children to replace the couple in a marriage (2.1 kids actually), a nation’s population diminishes, killing the nation.
Roughly 50% of us were conceived accidently and same-sex couples cannot accidently become pregnant. Given this self-selected sterility and the cost for IVF, it’s unlikely same-sex couples will pay to reproduce. So traditional married couples carry the greater economic and social burden of reproducing the posterity of the nation, while their marriage is deemed legally equal to sterile marriages. That’s direct discrimination against traditional marriage families.
That’s why I believe same-sex marriage is not in the long term interests of any state or the United States.
Frankly, Carrie Prejean should sue the Miss USA pageant to obtain the financing for her defense of marriage foundation. She has a great case for discrimination against her due to her sexual orientation, as well as solid grounds for public defamation of her character. She should include Perez Hilton in the lawsuit and sit him down and deposition him directly about his motives and obtain substantial damages.
In the meantime she’s gathering more potential litigants for libel and defamation.
And if I agree with her opinion, then I guess I’m hated too.
A same-sex marriage culture is not self-sustaining and must rely upon heterosexual culture to continue. If businesses that cannot sustain themselves aren’t desirable, why would same-sex culture be desirable for a nation?
djhuggs: enormous pro-life rally on the capitol really bumming me out
LisFace: Oh great the pro life march is making it impossible for me to get home.
extrapickles: Just left longworth (house office building) only to run into a HUGEpro-life protest at supreme court.. Its like 70% white kids under 25
johnnynva: is navigating through the mass of Pro Life people in DC…not the best day for siteseeing
Z_Everson: Union Station DC teeming with pro-life high school students; based on their signs, some would be better off back in biology class
RaptorH: Scary – the park across from my office now swarming with pro-lifemarchers getting on their buses to go home.
Timothyjemal: Watching a massive pro-life demonstration on Capitol Hill.
It also looks like there needs to be a lot more education, particularly when it comes to FOCA:
nicolebaker: I actually support FOCA – easier access to birth control would result in fewer abortions. That should appease both pro-life and pro-choice
Over the past few days I’ve read several articles on activity in Yellowstone – what’s called a “swarm” of earthquakes. There has been considerable interest from both professionals and web-based amateurs – (I respect high quality, dedicated amateurs). The interest is growing.
If the volcano did blow, it would catastrophically alter the entire world. I didn’t immediately understand what that meant:
A visit to Google Maps focused on Yellowstone and a zoom in (and then out) to understand the caldera gave me a wide-eye opening perspective on the enormity of the potential being discussed, in a way static imagery could not convey. Using the measurement tool, I drew a 100 mile radius from the top of the lake, and it hinted that certain geological formations may have been from prior eruptions. The scale is mind-boggling, and Google’s satellite map view now conveys a degree of reality that intensifies the meaning.
One could quote Scripture, describe God’s judgment, declare apocalyptic visions etc, but the reality is, any serious eruption would wipe out the agricultural productivity of the American breadbasket. Huge herds of cattle and farm animals would be wiped out, and air travel would be radically altered for years. Atmospheric conditions would change considerably. Death, starvation and all such outcomes came into sharp focus. The political repercussions of how the end times scenarios would take place seem more possible now.
Often we read words, not comprehending the physical reality they represent, unless we can imagine/picture the result and what that would mean. Christ’s death on the cross is easy to trivialize unless you imagine what it’s like to lie there with hammer blows driving nails through your wrists.
Matthew 24 took on a whole new meaning this morning.
First off – the commercial is not a brief offhand joke or cute play upon the idea – it’s a mini-movie, an advertising campaign with a specific objective: selling JC Penney product.
This is business, with cash and reputation behind it – not funny to JC Penney if their sales plummeted.
It trades excessively on the stereotypical viewpoint most men are clueless in expressing romantic gestures: men should just know and understand what their woman desires – what gift, should they decide to give one, will avoid banishment to the doghouse.
(In my experience – most women don’t even know what they want until after they receive the gift. So aren’t women equally senseless about expressing romantic gestures towards men? No way – men are simple – sex or sports.)
The commercial and site depicts women as materialistic, overbearing, domineering, demanding respect, love and affection, and to keep peace and gain “freedom” men need to use trivial trinkets: shiny stones and cold metal. LOL
In the commercial, he’s giving her an anniversary gift but notice – our society has moved the focus from the couple and marriage to all events being exclusively about her. This is about her and her control, as much as weddings and births are female focused and under her control. What about the marriage? Both the marriage and men are an afterthought. Pick up a Cosmo magazine lately? What about the Sex & The City franchise? – one of it’s creators, a gay man, said it’s about objectifying men as non-thinking, non-emoting sex objects. Women have a continual conversation about men, without actually conversing deeply and seriously with men. Little wonder we have a hookup culture.
Notice – this scorned anniversary wife is not alone in her distress – it places other women as a tribunal that judges men. You remember the scene – right?
So flip the genders – particularly with that scene. What’s the picture?
Three men on one side, and a single woman on the other, and the specific focus is on her incompetent performance.
Suffice it to say, it’s not nice.
While some think the commercial is creative, it depicts something closer to reality when men put women in the “doghouse”: prison.
(They put themselves into prison – just as it shows.)
Some see humor, but I see the effects from decades of disrespect of men.
When a man puts a woman in the doghouse, he avoids her – he passive-aggressively shuts her out. Men look at other women, view porn on the Internet, get adulterous, spend inordinate amounts of time watching sports, doing just about anything but actually sitting down and talking with the one they “love”. Women discuss their doghouse man with their friends, then go on to imagine other men are more clueful, and given enough time or opportunity become adulterous too. The entire soap show industry is built on that premise.
Men remain silent until anger and annoyance builds and boils. Most women don’t realize that the one thing men need most – respect, has been under constant attack for almost 40 years.
With Roe – men have been legally castrated during the first nine months of their children’s lives, with no decision making power, or role, other than sperm donation. What a huge disrespect to all men.
When a woman picks on a man, he’s in a no-win situation. Society has condoned this attack and this commercial is one more proof. In researching a book I was writing I came across this. It cuts a lot deeper than most women realize – so much so, most men refuse to even discuss it. It comes out in subtle boiling anger points, and violent lash outs. There’s an undercurrent of male anger out there far greater than many women realize.
Wrapping a commercial up in prison garb when it’s supposed to be about expressing devotion to someone we love isn’t funny – at all. Not funny for the women that suffer at the hands of men who are insecure, or for the men who believe they’ll find respect when they wield enough force to demand it, then end up in prison themselves.
In short – for men, this commercial says marriage is a prison.
Lastly, exploiting the negative aspects of relationships for commercial gains is pure poison.
As I walked, I crossed another of Washington’s secret frontiers. There had been a few white people blowing car horns and shouting, as the result became clear. But among the Mexicans, Salvadorans and the other Third World nationalities, there was something like ecstasy.
They grasped the real significance of this moment. They knew it meant that America had finally switched sides in a global cultural war. Forget the Cold War, or even the Iraq War. The United States, having for the most part a deeply conservative people, had until now just about stood out against many of the mistakes which have ruined so much of the rest of the world.
Suspicious of welfare addiction, feeble justice and high taxes, totally committed to preserving its own national sovereignty, unabashedly Christian in a world part secular and part Muslim, suspicious of the Great Global Warming panic, it was unique.
These strengths had been fading for some time, mainly due to poorly controlled mass immigration and to the march of political correctness. They had also been weakened by the failure of America’s conservative party – the Republicans – to fight on the cultural and moral fronts.
They preferred to posture on the world stage. Scared of confronting Left-wing teachers and sexual revolutionaries at home, they could order soldiers to be brave on their behalf in far-off deserts. And now the US, like Britain before it, has begun the long slow descent into the Third World. How sad. Where now is our last best hope on Earth? (CA- my emphasis)
Our last best hope is not a country, but a person.
He’s here – you just can’t see him if you don’t open your eyes and your heart.
The word “holocaust” has clearly come to signify the genocide against the Jews and their supporters at the hands of Nazi Germany in WWII. The word is Hebraic, with a meaning related to making a sacrifice through fire. So I’m reluctant to use the word to imply genocide against the pre-born. This respects everyone.
I do consider abortion a kind of genocide because a specific group, the pre-born, are described as being subhuman or non-human, for the purposes of destroying them. Because the mother (and often the father) are complicit in the child’s destruction, it “orphans” the child and strikes with a particular viciousness at the idea of family, and the ideal that God calls us to in this regard. Clearly it’s Satanic mockery of God’s plan of salvation towards us as His children, becoming part of His family.
I’m not unsympathetic to the plight of the unborn, but we need to clearly define what is state-imposed destruction, and what is state sanctioned, but then personally chosen on an individual basis. We need to use those differences to explain why people need to change from the heart and not simply because the state has imposed laws.
What is fundamentally different between these two calamities is the decision point of those given the power (the mothers alone) and the consequences they bear. The Jews as a people were being destroyed by a state – Nazi Germany. But Germany, as a state, was only halted through violence, so those who lived by the sword also died by the sword – Nazi Germany fell. The German people suffered as a side effect of their political and moral ignorance.
In the case of abortion genocide, the mother, for all practical purposes, decides – and yes pressure and coercion have their influence – however, the mother also has risk and suffers the consequences for having made that decision. In effect, the mother puts herself into a kind of “concentration camp”. That’s a vastly different situation – incredibly wrong, horrible consequences, but not the same situation as the Germans who imposed their political sovereignty. We don’t do either case a favor by framing them as similar when they really aren’t the same when it comes to the decisionmaker’s consequences.
Sidewalk counselors, and those who regret abortion and speak out about it – such as Annie Banno over at After Abortion understand the persecution, and perhaps have come to a place of healing, but they really can’t be compared in the same way to Irena Sendler, for reasons I gave previously.
One of my favorite Scripture passages is what our Lord read in the synagogue from Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor [NIV Lk 4:18-19]
The captivity of sin which leads to the despair of abortion, and the death of the child is something from which freedom needs to be proclaimed and embraced. The truth needs to be revealed – massively, and completely, but we can’t be false in how this comes about.
If the contentious issue on this matter is one of value judgement, then that is where the focus should be: why it is a value judgement to begin with? Which brings us solidly back to the pointed question – “what are the unborn? – are they human like us?”
This is far more fertile ground for discussing our condition, than drawing parallels that paint others who are blind to the truth as demons.
Jill Stanek posted a story about a true Polish hero, Irena Sendler who was instrumental in saving nearly 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. A truly amazing story and a beautiful woman.
At the end of her post, Jill made a comparison between this woman and activists within the pro-life movement:
Such a beautiful woman and story. Someday many in the pro-life movement, like sidewalk counselors outside abortion mills, will be similarly honored.
The comments section soon blazed.
I’m hoping here to add a perspective that adds some light, and a lot less heat.
In 1991 I walked the ground of the Warsaw Ghetto area for six weeks. Among the dilapidated remaining buildings, complete with bullet holes and other signs of combat, I saw continued anti-semitism, particularly against the synagogue where I was conducting computer training.
One summer, when I was 12, I saw enough of the concentration camps through B&W footage at a local college to know I didn’t want to visit those camps when co-workers invited me to join them in 1991. Those who had visited the camps woke from horrible nightmares for weeks after.
Jill’s post is a fallacious equivocation – a comparison between these two situations – the nightmare of the Warsaw Ghetto/Holocaust, and the genocide of the unborn.
They aren’t the same. And we shouldn’t paint them as such.
One could draw many comparisons, but the differences are primarily in the overwhelming despair and state imposition of the Holocaust and the distributive nature of the decisions made by millions of women for the genocide of the unborn. Each genocide has an incidious nature, but Jill’s efforts, the amazing numbers of PRCs, the efforts of so many pro-life proponents in a land where people still have freedom to choose (with caveats), speaks to the light that shines brilliantly, whereas Europe was immensely dark at that time.
What makes Irena so special was her duty to save lives, at the continual extreme and imminent danger of losing her own.
While sidewalk counselors may be exposed to extreme hatred and potential violence, our rule of law still protects their rights as citizens, when all hope of such protection was missing in Poland at that time.
We should recognize Irena Sendler for her extreme dedication and sacrifice, but let us pray that things do not deteriorate to the point where such personal heroism is again necessary in the face of a state imposed genocidal solution.
It’s from the Bible. Abraham’s nephew Lot was pulled from Sodom right before it was destroyed by fire. The prophets referred to those saved from destruction as being like one who is “snatched from the flames”.
If you’ve been thrufire - saved from destruction, then the Holy Spirit frees you to tell that story to glorify God.
There’s many people alive today because someone convinced a mother to save her child from the destruction of abortion. I want to tell the world their life stories. Want to help?
