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It was another busy, full week. Planned Parenthood continues to be discussed – as it should be – but I especially appreciate one perspective that was featured on Word Slingers this week, of which I will discuss.
Though half of the topics involve the largest abortion provider, this week’s DHD covers other relevant reviews. One in particular I’m happy to share! Let’s get to it!
Lankford Leads Legislative Limitation Leanings Against Planned Parenthood
Senator James Lankford continues to be at the forefront in the efforts to remove federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Earlier this month, he was the first to speak on the U.S. Senate floor about the revelation through video evidence that the largest abortion company also is in the business of selling body parts.
This week, Lankford and other senators introduced a bill to redirect taxpayer funding from supporting Planned Parenthood and to other entities that provide women’s health care services.
“I feel it’s incredibly important that we raise the issue, and that we address this immediately, and that we continue to provide funding for women’s health, but we don’t continue to provide funding for an organization that makes part of their money off the death of that child, and then part of the money off the sale of the parts of that child to different research facilities,” Lankford said.
This bill should receive a vote in the Senate next week. I hope this becomes a major strike that begins the end to Planned Parenthood, while continue offering support for women’s health that genuinely has life in mind.
I remember having a conversation with a friend a few years ago. The friend was apprehensive to say she was “pro-life” because she felt many who hold the pro-life perspective present themselves in a cruel, insensitive fashion toward women who are dealing with unexpected pregnancies.
I don’t completely favor this line of thinking because I believe those who say they care about women and show their pseudo-care by killing babies in the mothers’ wombs are even more cruel. At the Hope Pregnancy Center, where I volunteer, there are special sessions offered for women who deal with anguish and guilty pain after having an abortion. This class is called “Forgiven and Set Free,” and the leaders of this class are the ones who demonstrate genuine compassion.
As important as it is to bring down Planned Parenthood, we should consider as equally important the support of women facing an unwanted pregnancy. I could not speak on this any better than what Brent Prentice shared in his blog “We can do even more than defund Planned Parenthood.”
“…I have deep empathy for hurting women who feel trapped, hopeless and scared,” Prentice wrote, “seeing no other option than to surrender their body and baby to a procedure that hurts and destroys life. I want to do more than condemn! I want people to change their minds! I want to help! I want to give hope!”
Bringing down the informer
The courts have ordered the Center for Medical Progress to no longer release any more videos relating to Planned Parenthood’s body part business. Many PP supporters are coming out against CMP instead of confessing that what the videos reveal is accurate and abhorrent.
I blogged about this situation in Planned Parenthood, Donald Sterling and Double Standards. Apparently it’s okay to accept undisclosed recordings if it involves racist remarks but not if the recordings reveal the practice of selling organs of aborted babies.
Also, it seems there’s no harm to secretly record a presidential candidate and use such for framing purposes. Yet no bartering of body parts were referenced in Mitt Romney’s 47 percent comment, which was taken out of context to bring him down.
Movies of 2015
My movie watching has declined in the last few years. I used to be an avid fan of the big screen, but I’m not as impressed with what has been released lately.
Two movies I have seen this summer are Inside Out and Ant-Man. Both were entertaining, but Ant-Man has some bad language.
Two reviews you may want to read include T.J. Cavin’s piece on Mr. Holmes, a movie I intend to see, and then check out Phil Boatwright’s story “Movies: The best of 2015… so far.”
Boatwright also gives Inside Out a favorable nod, as well as Max, which I won’t discredit, but I don’t do dog movies.
Don’t speak, just pray
I received some heavy news this week. It crushed me. It’s the kind of news that affects a lot of people, many of whom I do not know.
I’m not going to address it. Instead, let me offer something to those who may be hurting over such burdens. Share your pain with God. Allow Him to search your heart. Confess your emotions to the One who controls the universe and loves you with a love beyond comparison.
Search the Psalms, and find the prayers of David, such as the one in Psalm 55 (NLT):
“Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help! Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles… Fear and trembling overwhelm me. I can’t stop shaking. Oh, how I wish I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest! I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness. How quickly I would escape – far away from this wild storm of hatred… But I will call on God, and the Lord will rescue me. Morning, noon and night I plead aloud in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice… Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
There are many other Psalms to read and meditate and even use as a direct script for what to pray. Know that nothing can be said that can offer more comfort than the words offered to God.
Momma making music
I end this week with sharing a photo of my mother. She is in a new stage of life, but one she is handling well. Her memory is fading, but she enjoys being “ornery” – her description, not mine – and many enjoy her spunky personality.
Mom will be 81 in Sept., and this week, she revealed one of her talents to those who have been helping her recover from her recent fall. I told her therapists Mom is an excellent pianist. She played the piano in church for years, starting as a teenager who would play while my grandfather led the hymn singing.
I share this picture for you to enjoy, hopefully as much as those who enjoyed hearing her play.
Planned Parenthood continues to be a popular topic among conservative Christian bloggers and those who respect the sanctity of life. This needs to remain a hot topic because the mounting evidence proving that Planned Parenthood is harvesting organs of aborted babies is as important of a talking point as the Confederate Flag controversy and the Iran treaty and should be more important than the Taylor Swift-Nicki Minaj Twitter war.
However, the mainstream media coverage of the Planned Parenthood revelation continues to be miniscule, so it is up to faithful communicators, such as Russell Moore (www.russellmoore.com), to keep this troublesome issue at the forefront.
This week’s Doyle’s Half Dozen begins with three topics that relate to why Planned Parenthood’s suppling of dead baby organs is such a big deal.
Abortions are no longer rare
Remember the slogan during President Clinton’s campaign and throughout his administration that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare”? Well, one thing I can assure you, abortion is anything but rare today. Perhaps that may encourage those who support this practice, but consider that more than 300,000 abortions were performed by Planned Parenthood in 2013.
It has been reported that more than 620,000 Americans died in the U.S. Civil War, the largest count by far compared to other American wars. That means the number of babies aborted by Planned Parenthood in 2013 is almost half of the number of soldiers who died during the entire Civil War. That’s only counting abortions in ONE YEAR! Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, so imagine what the total number of abortions is in the last 42 years.
If that doesn’t disturb you, think about this. A friend brought to my attention this week that more than a third of the pregnancies in New York City are aborted, which includes 63 percent of African-Americans in NYC. More Black babies in NYC are being terminated than are born.
Add this information to what has been recently revealed about Planned Parenthood’s bartering on body parts, and this should prove that we are living in a culture of death. Our society is numb to the repercussions of so-called “reproductive rights,” which to me is a misnomer. America is becoming unproductive on being reproductive.
Medical Research – treating people as commodities
Here’s what somebody recently posted on a friend’s Facebook comment:
“You should be happy that they’re using aborted fetal parts for research, because that kind of research has the possibility of saving thousands if not millions of lives in the future. They could just throw it away, how would that make you feel? At least they’re serving a purpose.”
This is a common response among those who support abortion and defend Planned Parenthood. I would love for these people to watch the movie Soylent Green which came out in the early 70s and starred Charlton Heston. It’s a futuristic flick that I believe takes place around 2020.
SPOILER ALERT: There’s a food shortage, overpopulation and other descriptions of dystopia, and Heston plays a detective who discovers what the main ingredient is in a processed food being offered to the masses called Soylent Green. It is made up of euthanized human bodies. According to the American Film Institute, one of the top 100 most popular movie lines is “Soylent Green is people!” which is what Heston yells near the end of the movie.
“At least they’re serving a purpose,” someone told my friend. How numbing and insensitive is this? Killing babies in order to save other babies. It’s too ridiculous to believe people think like this. I want to be like Heston and yell “Fetal tissue is people!”
“You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
Speaking of “fetus,” do you know how this word is derived? It is Latin for “offspring.” Abortion advocates seem to feel better when describing an unborn child as a fetus, but actually using a word that means “descendant or progeny” still reflects a human life not an inanimate object.
“He was an ‘embryo.’ He was a ‘fetus.’ He was a nursing infant. He was a child. He is an adult. An attack on vulnerable humanity is an attack on the image of God. And that image is not abstract. The image of God has a name and a blood type. The image of God is Christ Jesus himself (Col. 1:15). Every human image-bearer is patterned after the Alpha and Omega image of the invisible God.”
Think about this the next time you hear somebody use the word “fetus.”
Onward available Aug. 1
I am slowly going through my early edition of Russell Moore’s new book Onward, which is available for purchase on Aug. 1. I strongly encourage everyone to read this book. It’s a conglomeration of Moore’s best presentations regarding Christians “engaging the culture without losing the Gospel.” The Baptist Messenger recently interviewed Dr. Moore about his book, which you can listen to here (notice we are giving away a select numbers of books).
Here’s a piece I read today from the book’s chapter titled “Culture”:
“Increasingly, I am convinced that the next generation of Christian witness will be less like the Bible Belt kids I faced at the start of my ministry, with their rehearsed professions of faith and hidden rebellions. The next generation will confront us more with that second sort of lostness, those for whom the Christian witness – right down to the basics – seems foreign and irrelevant and antiquated and freakish. Jesus didn’t hide the oddity of the culture of the kingdom, and neither should we.”
Saluting Shane
My final two topics involve two great Christian servants who deserve to be commended for their demonstration of faith in Jesus Christ. Shane Hall is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City. When I heard Shane became pastor, about two years ago, of this well-known body of believers, I was excited for both him and FSBC because he was recognized as an up-and-coming dynamic young preacher, and this church would be energized from his leadership.
Last October, Shane was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Though he has experienced miraculous moments of healing, which prevented the cancer from spreading, he is scheduled next month to have his stomach removed in order to get rid of the remaining cancer.
Shane continues to preach and to demonstrate his faith. This week, he was the camp pastor at CrossTimbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp. A couple of weeks ago, he had the privilege of delivering the prayer in the U.S. Congress.
It is apparent that prayer is a major factor in keeping Shane going and serving. Though it may be evident his body is weak, he retains his energetic spirit and encouraging smile.
God, please continue to do great and powerful things in Shane’s life, and may You receive the glory through it all.
The Passing of a Prayer Warrior
I conclude this week’s DHD with a tribute to Jeannie Elliff, whose husband Tom recently retired as president of the Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board but also was a longtime pastor at Del City, First Southern.
Upon her passing earlier this week, Baptist Press featured an excellent story about Jeannie and her experiences serving as a missionary. You can read it here.
The most significant thing I take from this piece is her faithful commitment to prayer. Her process of praying in her closet reminded me of Miss Clara in the upcoming movie War Room. I wrote a review about the faith-based film that appears in theaters Aug. 28.
Though I did not know her well, I have had great admiration for her husband and his leadership and influence throughout the SBC. Although it is cliché, the phrase “Behind every great man is a great woman” is too hard to deflect in this case.
I do have friends who speak of her admirably, and she had such an influence on many currently on the mission field.
May God bless Tom and their family and provide comfort during this time of grief.
It’s been a full week after my time away from the office. Here’s six timely topics I offer for your reading interest.
Falls Creek Fanatic
I love going to Falls Creek. I really do. It’s an amazing place known for summer youth camp, and actually it is identified as the world’s largest youth encampment, as more than 5,000 junior high and high school students attend each week in June and July.
I had the privilege of going Wednesday night to cover a new feature at the camp, which I’ll get to in another topic below. Sitting in the Tabernacle that night, I witnessed this rather large auditorium fill up, jam packed with young people and sponsors.
I’ve been to many significant sporting events, concerts and even the Mall in Washington D.C. on the 4th of July, where the venues attract mass humanity, but the chills I get from experiencing a packed out Falls Creek Tabernacle, in the middle of the Arbuckle Mountains in Southern Oklahoma exceeds all other. The only thing that would compare would be a Billy Graham Crusade, because in both settings, I have witnessed hundreds of lives changed which surpasses watching amazing athletic or musical or technological performances.
If you would like a glimpse of what happens in the evenings at Falls Creek, watch a livestream production of one of the evening services. Oh and by the way, last summer a mother of a student who was attending camp watched a livestream of a Falls Creek service and made a profession of faith after such an experience.
Two Falls Creek Services, Hundreds Answer God’s Call to Serve
From the totals provided by the Falls Creek staff, this week so far, there have been more than 300 students making a profession of faith. This summer, so far, almost 1,400 students have accepted Christ, and that doesn’t include tonight’s service or next week’s final session of camp.
One thing that caught my eye, for the last two Thursday nights, more than 200 students answered God’s call to serve in ministry and missions. It is always a praise when any student makes a life-changing decision, including recommitment and reassurance and of course accepting Christ’s gift of salvation through faith. To hear this many students (106 on July 2 and 109 on July 9) publicly making life commitments to serve God in a ministry or missions capacity, this is a wonderful experience that caused me to investigate.
So I interviewed Andy Harrison, Falls Creek program director, for a story that will appear in next week’s Baptist Messenger. I loved his response when I asked him about what could be the reason for 200-plus students publicly committing to ministry service: “God is about to do something, and He’s preparing people to do it because He is calling a lot of people into ministry right now.” Harrison said this is happening at youth camps in other states, so it is exciting to hear so many committing to ministry service.
New Apologetics Forum at Falls Creek having an impact
A new feature at Falls Creek this year is a weekly forum that covers apologetics, allowing students to hear speakers explain elements of the Christian faith that are harder to understand and share how to offer a “defense for the hope” that is inside Christians (I Pet. 3:15). I went to Falls Creek Wednesday night to observe one of these forums. With almost 500 students in attendance, the well-attended forum featured Pastor Josh Wagoner of Berry Road Baptist Church in Norman, Okla., who did a masterful job explaining why the Bible can be trusted and is the inspired Word of God and why evil exists despite God being a powerful God.
He also fielded many questions from students relating to evolution, the relationship between free will and election, God’s relationship with man and other biblical and spiritual issues. The forum was scheduled to be an hour long, but students were allowed to stay around after the meeting to ask Josh questions. He went another hour before the students had to go back to their cabins.
I was impressed with the level of questions these young people were asking. These were the type of questions I didn’t wrestle with until I was in college. With many students seeking answers to questions of faith and also many answering the call to service, it is encouraging to see God working among young people.
I offered my take on the video that was released, revealing Deborah Nucatola, senior medical services director for Planned Parenthood, giving graphic details of how her practice harvests organs from aborted babes. You can read it here.
Yesterday, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, attempted to offer an apology for Nucatola’s remarks in the video, though she did not mention Nucatola by name. She said the video did not reflect the organization’s dedication to compassionate care.
I’m not sure how you can crush baby parts to collect their organs with compassionate care. I also don’t believe her that she said Planned Parenthood does not sell the organs for profit, especially when her medical services director specifically said the price of organs could range $30 to $100 a piece.
And then, as I predicted in my blog, Richards followed the typical protocol by attacking the group responsible for recording Nucatola’s gruesome remarks. She said they “have never been concerned with protecting the health and safety of women.” This is a horrible lie, and only those who have been numbed by such heinous fallacies is buying it.
Lankford Speaks Passionate Truth From the Senate Floor
There is nobody I respect in public office more than Sen. James Lankford. I applaud his speech he gave yesterday afternoon from the U.S. Senate, as it was bold and powerful. He also is planning to propose an immediate termination of federal funding to Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $500 million in taxpayer money every year.
He stated in his opinion piece: “Although Americans are divided on the issue of abortion, it is common-sense that we shouldn’t force a person that is passionately opposed to the killing of the unborn to assist in paying for the procedure.”
If you haven’t heard his passionate speech on Planned Parenthood, watch it here:
6. Duggars show graciousness in cancelation of show
It has been reported the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting” has been cancelled after nine seasons. I have said before, I believe this is the best decision after the news spread two months ago involving the show’s featured family of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.
More than a year ago, a secretly-recorded conversation went viral of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling expressing offensively-wrong racist remarks. Following a massive social media outcry, this incident was all that was needed to cause the NBA to remove Sterling from his ownership position of more than 30 years and to sentence him “banned for life” from the association.
This week, another undisclosed recording has been shared throughout the social media world of Planned Parenthood senior medical services director Deborah Nucatola speaking matter-of-factly about different fetal organs, including heart, lung, liver, being sold for $30 to $100 a piece after such body parts were obtained from partial birth abortions of unborn children.
Like with Sterling, a public outcry was heard on social media. Unlike the NBA, when confronted with this issue, Planned Parenthood defended Nucatola and justified themselves, sadly, with many rushing to their side.
So in one case, we have Sterling speaking some truly horrible words that nearly everyone today recognizes as wrong, and he is dismissed for good. Nucatola, meanwhile, described actual involvement in “harvesting” and selling of human “fetal tissue” (body parts of unborn children), which according to the Center for Medical Progress, the group who produced the video, “is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, according to Title 42 of the U.S. Code” – but no immediate action was taken.
Many, including Planned Parenthood, instead are focusing their wrath on the group that recorded the conversation and say they are the ones to be condemned. So what we have here is a double standard developing in which much of the same society that jumped on Sterling for his words during the undisclosed recording, and rightly so, now seems partly hesitant to hold Planned Parenthood accountable.
The days and weeks ahead will be very telling, as to what will happen to Planned Parenthood. Will there be any repercussions? Will the organization lose its federal funding or get a pass?
Will Planned Parenthood supporters distract from the real issue at hand with more “war on women” rhetoric? Will they instead focus their wrath on those who recorded Nucatola’s lunch chat which revealed, in between bites of her meal, she admits her practice involves crushing baby parts above and below valuable organs?
I certainly pray that is not the case because what is at stake is the future, not of women’s health – that is a misnomer. What is at stake is the self-preservation of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider that receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year to perform their dubious services.
Planned Parenthood has been exposed. For any good they have claimed to do, it is now more apparent than ever that this so-called healthcare provider is guilty of cashing in on their abortion carnage.
It’s time to stop looking away or making excuses for Planned Parenthood. It’s time to face the facts.
Whether or not you consider yourself pro-life, it is time to admit what is really going on through these barbaric practices performed by Planned Parenthood. It’s time to turn away from the culture of death and look toward a day in which all life – born and unborn – is respected and protected.
I have spent the week in this lovely commonwealth where I spent 12 years of my life, which consisted of my college years and the beginning of my adulthood. Some topics of this week’s DHD will feature a few of my experiences this week. Let’s get to it.
The New Liberty Look
I am a 1992 graduate of Liberty University, or as many in the mainstream media like to emphasize, “Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.” Whenever I hear that slanted description, I always like to point out that you never hear the prominent school in Charlottesville, Va. described as “Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia.”
Liberty is a definitive conservative Christian university, and though there have been quite a few changes of rules and standards, the school has kept its philosophy solid toward Biblical guidance. In an ever-changing society, this encourages me.
Another clear change is the look of the campus. My oh my! This place has grown big time. New educational buildings, athletic facilities and residential halls make this place mostly unrecognizable for me. A couple of things that made me sure I was at the right place included the white prayer chapel, located near the main entrance, and the Sen. Carter Glass “Mansion,” which is the only original building on the property and the home of the former U.S. Senator who served in the Senate during the 20s-40s.
Certain locations of my memories have changed, but in a time that does not appear to value Christian higher education, I can still hold on to my memories while my alma mater remains strong in training “young champions for Christ.”
Friends Are Friends Forever
Something else I have enjoyed this week is reconnecting with many friends from my college years and my “after-college” years. A group of LU grads remained in Lynchburg after graduation, and we were members of the same church. Some of us even lived in the same apartment complex.
This trip allowed me to “catch up” with a few of those friends, and it made me appreciate how God was instrumental through my friendships and my church family. The Bible speaks on the importance of Godly people in one’s life (Prov. 11:14). I definitely appreciate the Lord’s guidance during my younger years through the mentors and the encouragers I had at that time.
“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are” – C.S. Lewis
Recent Observations of Parenting
Along with visiting friends, I was able to meet their children. This also has been enjoyable, witnessing the physical traits and personality similarities in the offspring of my friends.
I can also give a good report that my friends have turned out to be successful parents. I remember hearing John Stockton, former NBA All-Star for the Utah Jazz, say in an interview recently that “your children are the ‘final exam’ of your life.” I can say that many of my friends are passing or have passed with successful grades.
Mini-review of ‘Inside Out’
I did get to see the Disney Pixar movie “Inside Out” this week. If you’d like a full review, I recommend Brian Hobbs’ take on the show. Three things I took from the movie: 1) Emotions, even sadness, can be helpful and purposeful, but where I disagree with the movie is our emotions should not be the controlling factor of our lives; 2) Children benefit from having both a mom and a dad. I wish current society had greater value and made a stronger emphasis on this; 3) Though I know Hollywood would not emphasize this, it would have been awesome if there could have been a spiritual element to the story. How could the indwelling of the Holy Spirit affect Riley’s life instead of her emotions controlling her?
Two Takeaways from 20 Quotes
There’s a great blog on The Gospel Coalition titled “20 Quotes from Rosario Butterfield’s Book.” I’ve mention Butterfield recently. This woman’s testimony is powerful. I wish more and more people could hear her speak. She steps on toes but in a gracious way.
My two takeaways from the 20 Quotes are:
“The image of me and everyone I love suffering in hell crashed over me like shark-infested waves of a raging sea. Suffering in hell not because we were gay, but because we were proud. We wanted to be autonomous… I counted the costs and I did not like the math.”
“Jesus met sinners at the table, but he did not join them in their choice sins. He sat with them, but he did not sin with them. And we ought not expect Jesus to sin with us today.”
Carter Claims Jesus Would Approve SSM
A report came out this week that former president Jimmy Carter believes Jesus would approve same-sex marriage. You can read about it here.
This is too easy to rebut, so I will just say that this comes as no surprise. More and more people of influence will be speaking in support for same-sex marriage. I never considered President Carter somebody of whom I would receive spiritual guidance. He has done many remarkable, charitable things since his days in the White House, but considering he recanted his affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, his speaking in support of the recent marriage ruling would be par for the course.
That’s all for this week! I’ll be back in my home land next week, well rested after a great vacation experience!
Senator James Lankford continues to be at the forefront in the efforts to remove federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Earlier this month, he was the first to speak on the U.S. Senate floor about the revelation through video evidence that the largest abortion company also is in the business of selling body parts.
