UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES
The Newsletter of Contend for the Faith, Inc

1 Chronicles 12:32

JANUARY 2004

LOOKING BEHIND

Without a doubt, 2003 was an interesting year.

As a nation we witnessed another space shuttle tragedy, we watched and prayed for our troops as they were sent to war with Iraq, and we saw the United States Supreme Court further rewrite the "Constitution by somehow discovering a right to sodomy in our founding document.

We saw a Congress vote to ban the horrific procedure called partial-birth abortion (which even one liberal senator called “inches from infanticide”), and we saw the president sign it into law, only to be immediately challenged in court by those who continuously attempt to defend the killing of children as a matter of “choice.”

We observed attacks on the Ten Commandments, the Boy Scouts, the Pledge of Allegiance, and almost every group and public official who spoke out for a positive inclusion of biblical morality within our society.

Perhaps most damaging of all, we watched the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issue a ruling that declared limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Massachusetts Constitution, opening the door to “gay marriage” in that state.

LOOKING AHEAD

Christians have their work cut out for them in 2004.

I believe this year will be pivotal in determining the direction of our country. With elections deciding who will occupy the White House, the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate, it is perhaps more crucial than ever before that believers work and pray for the result that God will provide men and women of good character and wisdom to lead this nation.

Essential issues are at stake: Will marriage continue to be defined as one man and one woman? Will students be allowed to mention God in a positive way in the classroom? Can Congress finally ban the most obvious form child-killing committed by abortionists? What are the proper roles of church and state?

The institution that should play the greatest role in the outcome of these issues is the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.

Christians are called to be salt and light to our society. We are the ones who have the answers to the profound questions that are being debated in our culture. Paul calls the Church “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). We who have been given the truth of how to live in a way both pleasing to God and benefiting to man have an obligation to share that truth with a lost and hurting world.

In this New Year, we should do all we can to “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) in order that our neighbors may gain eternal life in the next world and abundant life in this one (John 10:10).

SPEAKING SCHEDULE 2004

January 14

Is Jesus Really the Only Way? Part One , Middle School Youth Group, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 6:45 pm

http://www.north.hgbc.org

January 21

Is Jesus Really the Only Way? Part Two , Middle School Youth Group, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 6:45 pm

http://www.north.hgbc.org

January 28

Is Jesus Really the Only Way? Part One , High School Youth Group, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 6:45 pm

http://www.north.hgbc.org

February 1

Roman Catholicism , Part One Harold Hansen Sunday School Class, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 8:30 am

http://www.north.hgbc.org

February 4

Is Jesus Really the Only Way? Part Two , High School Youth Group, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 6:45 pm

http://www.north.hgbc.org

February 8

Roman Catholicism , Part Two Harold Hansen Sunday School Class, Hickory Grove Baptist Church North 8:30 am

http://www.north.hgbc.org

NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO PLAY GOD

Each January an anniversary to depravity is observed in our country. It is celebrated by many who hate God and love death (Proverbs 8:36). It is mourned by those who love God and recognize the sanctity of life (Psalm 139:13-18).

The anniversary I’m talking about, of course, is Roe v. Wade, the infamous Supreme Court decision declaring a “right” to abortion, resulting in the deaths of well over 43 million children.

As a reminder of the fact that God has prerogatives over life and death (Deut. 32:39) I have reprinted the story of Dr. Frederic Loomis, an obstetrician, who wrote an account of delivering a baby girl several years ago.

He called his story “The Tiny Foot”.

"Several years ago a fragile young woman came to my office, expecting her first baby. One month before she was due, the baby was in a breech position. The death rate of breech babies is high because of the difficulty in delivering the after-coming head and the imperative need of delivering it quickly after the body is born.

During the delivery, I waited as patiently as I could for the natural forces of expulsion to thoroughly dilate the firm maternal structures. At last the time had come, and I gently drew down one little foot. I grasped the other, but it would not come down beside the first one. To my consternation, I saw that the other little foot would never be beside the first one. The entire thigh from the hip to the knee was missing.

I knew what a dreadful effect this would have upon the unstable nervous system of the mother. The family would almost certainly impoverish itself in taking the child to every famous orthopedist in the world. I saw this little girl sitting sadly by herself, while the other girls danced and ran and played.

I could slow my hand; I could delay those few short moments. No one in this world would ever know. The mother, after the first shock of grief, would be glad she had lost a child so sadly handicapped.

The little pink foot on the good side bobbed out from its protecting towel and pressed firmly against my slowly moving hand, the hand into whose keeping the safety of the mother and the baby had been entrusted.

I couldn't do it. I delivered the baby with her pitiful little leg. Every foreboding came true. The mother was in the hospital for several months — she looked like a wraith of her former self. As the years went on, I blamed myself bitterly for not having had the strength to yield to my temptation.

Our hospital stages an elaborate Christmas party each year for the staff. This past year, three lovely young musicians on the stage played softly in unison with the organ. I was especially fascinated by the young harpist. She played extraordinarily well, as if she loved it. Her slender fingers flicked across the strings, and her face was upturned as if the world that moment were a wonderful and holy place.

When the short program was over, there came running down the aisle a woman I did not know. "Oh, you saw her," she cried. "You must have recognized your baby. That was my daughter who played the harp — the little girl who was born with only one good leg 17 years ago. We tried everything else first, but now she has a whole artificial leg on that side. Best of all, through all those years, she learned to use her hands so wonderfully. She is going to be one of the world's greatest harpists. She is my whole life and now she is so happy … And here she is!" The sweet young girl had quietly approached us, her eyes glowing.

Impulsively I took the child in my arms. Across her warm young shoulder I saw the creeping clock of the delivery room 17 years before. I lived again those awful moments when her life was in my hand. As the last strains of "Silent Night" faded, I found the comfort I had waited for so long."

(Condensed from the book, Christmas in My Heart, by Joe Wheeler, Review & Herald Publishing Co., 1993)

Doctors have tremendous responsibility on their shoulders. Life or death for patients is literally in their hands. They must wield their responsibility with wisdom and humility.

But one thing doctors must never do is to think that they should make decisions in place of God. Fear of the Lord is crucial. No one has the right to play God.

Dr. Loomis was blessed to see and embrace the result of his decision to do what was right.

How much talent, beauty, intelligence, and creativity has been lost to our society through the selfish “choice” to slay of millions of girls and boys?