Abortion

Facebook has been bombarding us with anti-abortion posts. I think its high time that people take a stand against abortion. Its high time people stand up for what they believe in regardless. Taking a stand and standing with what you say is always better than sitting on the fence.

I was thinking about what I would do if someone close to me were to decide to have an abortion. I know that I wouldn’t like it, but I also know that I wouldn’t be able to judge her. Firstly if I only found out about it after it was done I wouldn’t have been part of the process and thus had no insight into the situation. I wouldn’t know how much fear she possibly went through. Secondly I am not allowed to judge. James 4;12 says, “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to judge to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” Romans 2:1, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” It’s like the woman who was caught in adultery in John 8:1-11. Jesus told her accusers that the one who is without sin, should cast the first stone. Everyone dropped their stones and left. Not one of us is perfect and we do not have the right to judge anyone else. So is abortion wrong? Yes, most decidedly so. Abortion is murder and murder is always wrong. But, as I’ve illustrated, so is judging and as far as I can discern there isn’t a difference between sins. A sin is a sin is a sin. We should hate the sin, but we need to love the sinner. Jude 1:22-23, “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

How should we treat a woman or a girl who has had an abortion? Just like any other person. We should love her so much. We should love her so much that she can overcome the fear that drove her to have the abortion. 1 john 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts our fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” That is so absolutely frightening. I  can just imagine the grotesque faces of the demons who inflict the kind of fear that drives a person to ending the life of their own baby. I want to weep when I think about it. We, who are believers, are failing those who are living in fear. Fear of the consequences. Fear of what people will say. Fear that she won’t be able to take care of a new life. Fear of what her husband or boyfriend’s reaction will be. Fear that she won’t be able to complete her studies and that she will be a disappointment to her family. Those are the kind of things that are being whispered to her. The verse says hear involves torment. The Oxford Dictionary gives the meaning of torment as, “Severe physical or mental suffering.” Fear is very real and fear is from the devil. Hebrews 2:14- 15 says that Jesus will destroy the devil and release those who through fear of death were subject to bondage throughout their lives. 2 Timothy 1;7, “ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  The ESV version says, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control.” I would think that a sound mind would practice self control.

If we show love to this poor girl who has been through all that trauma we are doing the will of God. That is the only way she is ever going to have a chance to get away from the torment of the enemy. If we were to push her away and judge her as a sinner and mark her as a bad person she is not going to have a hope and a future. Who is she going to turn to if she can’t turn to believers when the tormentors don’t stop tormenting her. And they won’t stop. The devil is a liar.  John 8:44, (paraphrased) “…the devil was a liar from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.“  So, as I see it, the devil or rather one of his demons sets about tormenting someone who is vulnerable. Then, once they are good and scared, he tells them that the only way out of the situation is the abortion, then everything will be okay because it will be over, there will be no consequences and nobody will even know. She goes ahead with the procedure but she doesn’t realize that the torment won’t stop. She will have feelings of guilt and failure. Until she is set free by the love of Jesus she will not be whole.

Our duty is to show her that love and to guide her into perfect freedom.

Fear or Fiction

Yesterday I received a broadcast mesage warning me against HIV infected blood that has been injected into bananas.  The people who supposedly injected this infected blood into the bananas are out to kill millions of people. The report goes says that “if your fruit has a red weird colour in it” you must know that it has been infected by HIV blood. Its concludes by making the statement “That is satanism.” I totally agree that it is satanism. Wait! Hear me out, don’t stop reading, I’m going to make a point. 

How many of these messages have you received?  How many prayer requests have you received on behalf of missionaries who are about to be beheaded by extremist Buddhists in India? Seriously?  I’ve always thought that Buddhists were peaceful people. And what about the messages about the poor little girl/boy who has cancer and will receive 1 dollar for every time the message is shared?  I normally go to the internet and rsearch these messages and 99% of hem are recorded as being hoaxes. What is the purpose of these messages? I would say mainly to spread fear.  When I think that I could be eating infected fruit I’m going to be fearful of buying fruit that could harm me or my family.  Maybe I shouldn’t buy fruit from street vendors or maybe I should stop eating fruit altogether.  What if they also do it to other fruit and not just bananas?  What if I’ve already inadvertently eaten fruit which is contaminated? People have all these fearful ideas racing through their heads, and fear paralyzes. Now they can’t do their work properly and their reltionships are eventually affected because of the fear. 

Just consider this; Fear is very seldom the spine chilling, nail biting thing that you see in horror movies. Everyday “innocent” fear is way more subtle than that. Fear is that little niggling thought or seed that has been planted in the back of your mind that keeps eating away at you. Let me bare my soul and tell you a story that will illustrate what I mean.

In 1970 I was in second grade at school. In those days in South Africa it was called Sub B. I was a very good reader. My mom had made sure of that and she spent long hours making sure we knew how to read. Its a wonderful legacy as I still love reading. I was in Mrs le Roux’s class. We had a dual medium school and I was in the English class. There were 4 grades in our class – Sub A to Standard 2 – with about 20 children in the whole class. I think there were 7 children in our grade.  We were standing around Mrs le Roux’s table with our reading books and taking turns to read a piece. I was probably bored because I used to red through the whole reading book on the day I received it. Suddenly she shouted, “Alex, look in your book! Stop looking at your big, fat, tummy!”  From that day I concentrated on pulling in my tummy so that nobody would know that I had a “big, fat, tummy”. For the next 40 years the words that she said on that day eat away at my self esteem and eroded my confidence. I had long forgotten the incident but the consequences were still there. I often felt that I wasn’t good enough but I couldn’t understand why I felt that way. 

One morning at about 3 o’clock, I woke up and went to my sitting room.  I sat on the sofa and wrapped in a blanket cried out to God and asked Him what the matter was. Why did I feel this way? There was no logical reason. I was educated and capable yet I was feeling like I lacked something. The Holy Spirit gently guided me back to that classroom where I had been standing 40 years before and replayed everything that had happened. At once I understood that I had accepted the words that had been spoken. I had accepted that I had a big, fat, tummy – even though it had been a lie. As I sat on that sofa with tears streaming down my face, Jesus assured me that I was worthy because He had made me. I felt warm and loved and good enough. It was something I will never forget and it was real and so very personal. I have forgiven Mrs le Roux, she was just doing the best she could in that sitution. Nobody is perfect.

This weed is dying after being treated with a mixture of vinegar and salt. Thats what should happen to the fearful ideas before they can take root in our minds.

Do you see how a small grain of fear, even if it isn’t meant seriously or maliciously can damage someone? That is why I say that these messages are satanism. The devil wants you to be fearful and have all kinds of hang-ups that are going to keep you from being a whole person. 2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Let us use our sound minds to spread love, and let us use the power God has given us to touch thos around us in a positive way and not use words that will hurt.

This apple seed has become a little apple tree – good seeds like good thoughts should be allowed to thrive