Members of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, local pastors, pro-life advocates and dozens of local citizens gathered in front of the old Dillman Eye Clinic on North Logan Avenue in Danville, Illinois at noon Monday, March 27th to protest the planned opening of an abortion facility.

State Representative Chris Miller (R-Oakland) opened the press conference and was joined by State Representatives Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur). Rep. Miller is also the chairman of the Illinois Freedom Caucus.

In his opening remarks, Rep. Miller lamented the fact that this newly planned clinic is just yet another example of the expansion of the abortion industry, calling Illinois, “the baby killing capitol of the Midwest.” Miller went on to criticize Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker who issued a proclamation on March 10th to be “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day.”

Speaking about the tyrannical “Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act” (SB 1909) and the wonderful “Ultra-Sound Opportunity Act” (HB 1148), Miller added:

State Rep. Niemerg was the second speaker, and he began his statements by insisting that “the people of Danville don’t want this abortion clinic in their community.” He continued by reporting how his office is getting a flood of calls from local residents who are upset with this development.

Rep. Niemerg grieved the fact that abortion “is the most protected industry in Illinois,” saying:

Speaking to the moral and spiritual warfare side of abortion, Pastor Paul Rebert of First Baptist Church of Danville:

Pastor Rebert closed his remarks in prayer.

Other speakers included Mary Kate Zander of Illinois Right to Life and Mark Lee Dickson, of Right to Life of Eastern Texas.

Background

The work before us continues here in deep blue Illinois. Our ongoing mission is to educate family members, friends and neighbors about the evils of abortion. We’ll need to continue working to change hearts and minds regarding the science of when life begins, and, most important, the fact that we are all created in the image and likeness of our Creator.  As such, every human has an intrinsic and inestimable dignity and worth. (Genesis 1:27)

Our culture is drifting far and fast away from God. We no longer seek for or value the things of God. We see proof of that in a birth rate which is disastrously low and STI rates which are disastrously high. The disregard for life is also evidenced in the gang violence in our cities and by the skyrocketing suicide and overdose rates plaguing communities throughout the nation. Abortion is merely a quick fix that enables us to get back to these hedonistic pursuits.

In response to the explosive growth of the abortion industry in Illinois, followers of Jesus Christ must be diligent in praying for the courage, strength, and wisdom to engage the culture forthrightly on the abortion issue. According to an article posted by WCIA.com:

President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois Jennifer Welch sent a statement to WCIA 3 saying: ‘[We] support expanding equitable access to abortion care to all those who need it in our safe haven state.’ She also said reproductive healthcare is a human right and we need as many providers as possible.

Expanding the number of abortion facilities in Illinois to accommodate the dismemberment and destruction of innocent pre-born human beings does not constitute the gain of women’s “reproductive healthcare.” Abortion robs the pre-born of bodily autonomy, body integrity, and the most fundament human right: the right to life.

We agree with Pastor Paul Rebert: “Lord have mercy!”

What would happen if church members from around Illinois came to Springfield and sat praying in the House gallery each time it met during the spring 2020 session? What could God do in Illinois? That’s what Illinois State Rep. Dave Severin (R-Marion) wants to find out.

Severin is inviting Christians in Illinois to visit the Pray for Springfield Facebook page to schedule a date on the Illinois House calendar to come pray in the gallery. The idea came to him when he was driving home last June following the end of the spring legislative session. The Reproductive Health Act had just been passed, giving Illinois the most progressive abortion laws in the nation.

During the lengthy committee meetings and debates prior to the Act’s passage, Severin had seen groups of women wearing red capes and white hats depicting handmaidens from the online series “The Handmaiden’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name, sitting silent in the audience and gallery. Severin wondered, “Where are the Christians? Where is the Church?” That’s when his idea to start the Pray for Springfield Facebook page originated.

Severin describes the page as non-partisan. “It’s non-denominational,” he said. “I’m not pushing anything other than for people to come and pray for our state.”

Multiple church groups, mainly from the southern part of the state, have already signed up to sit quietly praying in the gallery for a few hours while the Illinois House is in session.

Discussing his reasons for starting the movement, Severin said, “I want to encourage Christians across the state to pray that God would turn legislators’ hearts and give them wisdom to promote things that are good and right, and that He would give people reason to come to Illinois and stay in the state.”

The kickoff

Pray for Springfield kicked off with a rally on January 28, the opening day of the spring legislative session in the Capitol rotunda. Severin was joined by some of his fellow lawmakers, Christian prayer groups such as Concerned Women for America, and church groups.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) addressed the crowd, sharing from 2 Chronicles 20 and speaking about King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah facing vast armies: “King Jehoshaphat called the assembly to the temple and they began to call out to the Lord. The Lord said, ‘Do be afraid because the battle is yours.’ There were men appointed to sing praise to the Lord. The Lord blessed his people who stood in assembly and cried out to God.”

To the concerned Illinoisans gathered for prayer, Halbrook said, “Don’t give up, be afraid, or discouraged. The Lord will prevail in this matter. That is the great lesson here for all of us.”

He also thanked them for coming and said, “We, all of us, covet your prayers. We need them.”

Another of the Illinois House members speaking was State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), who began by expressing his thankfulness: “I cannot think of a more privileged opportunity, a more privileged time to live in our history…to be here and serve God in this capacity as a state representative in Illinois government than now after the dark ages that we’ve been in. We’re going to see God do some great things this year, I believe that.”

In contrast to what some Christian leaders have been publicly stating, Bailey urged Christians to become more politically active. He told those gathered, “Go back to your churches, go back to your family, go back to your dinner tables, whenever people say, I don’t want to get political. Say, guess what? That’s why we are in this mess! The church has got to step up and get involved, get informed, get engaged, get out, and get busy!”

“Proverbs 28:2 tells us when there is moral rot in the nation a government topples easily,” shared Bailey, “but where there’s wise and knowledgeable leaders it brings stability. So, we need your prayers for this entire house, this entire building, this entire city, this entire state, this entire country…”

Severin, the man who started it all, was the last of the government officials to speak.

“You know how you call the fire department when the house is on fire? You know who the fire department is?” Severin asked, pointing to the assembled crowd. “It’s you, you are the fire department!”

“You know who is going to turn this state around?” he shouted. “It’s not Republicans. It’s not Democrats. It’s you guys, it’s your faith and your trust in the Lord!

“This state needs hope. I own a business and when I call vendors in other states, they say there’s no hope for Illinois. There is hope for Illinois. That hope is in Jesus!”

The rally concluded with prayer for the state of Illinois and its representatives, with calls for God to give them wisdom and for them to seek His leadership.

To learn more, go to facebook.com/prayforspringfield and consider finding a date to sign up to bring a group from your church to pray in the Illinois House gallery.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, Illinois has the disconcerting distinction of being the top state for out-migration. That is, Illinoisans are leaving the state in record numbers. This is not a new trend. For 6 years in a row, Illinois has had a net population loss.

Is there a connection between the exit from Illinois and our high taxes, political corruption, pension debt, radical abortion expansion, “LGBT” indoctrination and many other foolish policies? We believe there is, and the 2017 taxpayer funding of abortion bill signed by Bruce Rauner is a component in the overall disgust people have with Illinois politics and its moral drift.

Last year, state lawmakers passed abortion expansion legislation (SB 25), and Governor JB Pritzker signed it into law. With this expansion, they opened the door to ending what little protection there is for young girls, a protection we fought long and hard for: Parental Notification of Abortion. This Illinois law requires abortion mills in Illinois to notify a parent or adult family member if a minor female (17 or younger) seeks an abortion, unless a judge gives a waiver. The family member does not have to give permission for the abortion, they simply must be notified 48 hours in advance of this dangerous medical or surgical procedure.

Please understand that the law does not require consent from the parents (or guardians) of these girls whose mental, physical, and spiritual well-being they deeply care about. Parents need only be notified. Now abortion cheerleaders want to repeal even that.

Repealing Parental Notice is a high priority for some left-wing groups. The Chicago Sun-Times published an op/ed in favor of repeal last year. The ACLU, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and even Equality Illinois are working to repeal this protection. Well-known political activist Terry Cosgrove, president of Personal PAC, told Illinois Playbook that the repeal is “the most important bill coming up.”

Personal PAC believes that “every woman has the absolute right to make her own decisions about her body, without government, spousal, parental or religious interference and without regard to her financial circumstances.” Personal PAC cares not at all about the bodies of humans in the womb.

Repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion law does nothing to protect the vulnerable young girls who fall prey to older men but will instead protect their abusers. This cannot be allowed to happen.

State Representative Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) also believes that during this upcoming session, which begins on January 28th, lawmakers will push to repeal Parental Notification, while John Ryan, a pro-life advocate from the Illinois Federation for Right to Life suggests that pro-aborts may just amend the law instead of repealing it:

There have been suggestions that the pro-abortion legislators might not repeal parental notice but, rather, amend it to include a way around the parents that would completely gut the law.  One example of a bypass that has been proposed in Illinois and elsewhere would have the notice go to a clergy person.  However, if the abortion clinic had a pro-abortion minister who was a de facto chaplain for the clinic all that would be necessary would be that that minister keep a minimal record of each minor who advised him that they were going to have an abortion and provide some kind of statement or form to the minor or directly to the clinic.  If a legislator tries to suggest to you that any clergy bypass provision would stipulate that the clergy person would be known to the family or have existing organizational ties to either the young woman or to her family, ask them just how they would draft that language to effectively exclude clergy people who were not previously known to the family . . . . and the same for the young woman.

Abortion involves not merely serious health risks but the voluntary destruction of the life of another human being. Minor girls (and would-be mothers) need and deserve the input of those who love them most. Repealing Parental Notification isn’t about minors’ health and parental rights but about extremists’ obsession with an absolute, unfettered, and warped view of sexual freedom–at any age.

Whether the law is amended to notify clergy instead of parents or repealed entirely, these changes in legislation will harm young girls in the state. We must do what we can to preserve what little protection we currently have for minor girls and their parents or guardians.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to contact your state lawmakers. Let them know that gutting or repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion Act is unacceptable. Ask them to oppose any and all efforts to repeal or amend the law and instead uphold parental rights.

Please also make a couple of calls to reinforce your emails. The Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000. Additionally, if you are able, please make an appointment to see your state representative and state senator in their district offices. Visiting them is the most effective approach.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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An Illinois lawmaker’s bill to publicly display the motto “In God We Trust” in public schools is the latest challenge to the secularism that is the status quo in many public schools across the country.  Though displaying the motto would not be mandatory, State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) says his legislation (HB 341) would encourage a return to Christian principles: “As a God-fearing Christian, I believe that the lack of such is the problem in our country today.”

This bill has three co-sponsors in the Illinois House thus far: State Representatives Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport), Chris Miller (R-Robinson) and Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville).

Illinois is the latest state with legislation that would permit the posting of “In God We Trust” in public schools.  Lawmakers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee have recently voted to require or allow the motto to be posted in public schools.  Sheriff’s deputies in Jefferson County, Illinois, have joined the movement by voluntarily placing “In God We Trust” decals on their squad cars.  Similar bills have already been introduced this year in Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York and South Carolina.

Atheists like Hemant Mehta of friendlyatheist.pathos.com are outraged by attempts to refer to a Higher Power:

“We certainly don’t need religion to teach common decency and morality when it’s the Christians currently running the government who provide us with a steady stream of corrupt acts and cruel policies.”

Evidently not a very “friendly atheist.”  Critics also say the motto can be alienating to students who are not religious, and allege that it is a violation of the separation of church and state.

But that cornerstone of American secularism – the vaunted “separation of church and state” – never appears in the United States Constitution, but rather first appears in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association dated January 1, 1802.  Jefferson’s chief concern appears to be avoiding the establishment of any denomination as the “state church.”

Garrett Epps, writing in The Atlantic, and arguing against public expressions of faith, claims that the concept of the “separation of church and state” originated not with Jefferson, but with the American theologian Roger Williams, founder of the first Baptist congregation in the British New World.  According to Epps, Williams coined the phrase in 1644 to “signify the protection that the church needed in order to prevent misuse and corruption by political leaders.”

Epps is seemingly unaware that he has undermined his own argument.  The “separation of church and state” is meant to protect the churches from government intrusion – not the populace from exposure to religious teachings.

Those who oppose the influence of Christianity in society are fond of (mis)quoting Thomas Jefferson, one of several deists among the Founding Fathers.  But deism is not atheism, and while Jefferson did not believe in supernatural revelation, he affirmed his belief in one God as well as in divine providence, the divine moral law, and in personal judgment including rewards and punishments after death.

The opponents of Christianity would also do well to study the life of George Washington, the first president of the United States.  George Washington was a devoted Anglican his entire life.  As General of the Army of the Potomac, Washington openly endorsed religious practice – this, mind you, while as a public servant.  He encouraged his soldiers to attend to their religious duties, including “to implore the blessing of Heaven” upon the nascent American Army.  Washington’s archived papers contain hundreds of biblical quotations, figures of speech, idioms, proverbs, and allusions related to his Christian faith.

George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787 during the time when the writing of two key founding documents in American history were written: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  The Constitution explicates how the new United States was intended to function.  The Declaration of Independence lays out the rationale for the new nation, and in so doing mentions God four times and states that our rights come from our Creator.

It seems inconceivable that important aspects of American history are deliberately withheld from public school students – especially when the vast majority hold to a belief in God and subscribe to Christian beliefs.  A Pew Research Center survey found that “an overwhelming majority of the youngest adults continue to believe in God or a higher power: Eight-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 say they believe in at least some kind of spiritual force.”

It is the height of duplicity to deny the posting of what was unanimously declared by the 84^th Congress to be the official national motto of the United States, and which appears on the currency in the purses and wallets of students.  The “In God We Trust” movement is a welcome reaffirmation of the Divine guidance upon which our great country was built.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to support and co-sponsor HB 341.  Simply acknowledging God does nothing to establish a church or a religion, but subtly points to the fact that we are dependent daily on God’s goodness, mercy and grace.

Christian Life in Exile
On February 22^nd, IFI is hosting a special forum with Dr. Erwin Lutzer as he teaches from his latest book, “The Church in Babylon,” answering the question, “How do we live faithfully in a culture that perceives our light as darkness?” This event is free and open to the public, and will be held at Jubilee Church in Medinah, Illinois.

Click HERE for more info…