Isaiah the prophet warns in chapter 5, verse 20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

America was settled and founded by people of faith who revered God and his Word. They fled here to escape religious persecution and the tyranny of King George.

From the time of the first permanent colony, Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, the next settlement of the pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, America has been blessed and prospered, a haven for the persecuted, a hope for the industrious and downtrodden.

Indeed, Psalm 33:12 could, for the most part, apply to the United States of America:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

America’s history records periods of affluence, growth, and, at times, growing wickedness stopped by revival. As the Weeping Prophet’s warning to and diagnosis of the Hebrews applied universally, including Americans:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

But the remedy (2 Chronicles 7:14) always, always was available for healing and restoration:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

On Friday, July 14, the Chicago Tribune published an article by Angie Leventis Lourgos titled, “‘My last resort’ — thousands come to Illinois to have abortions.” Never have I read a more stunning example of Isaiah 5:20. The stories told in the article, coupled with the story told in the accompanying video, are wholly, viscerally repugnant.

In the video a woman, Cyndi Portteus, a wife and mother of one, pregnant with their second child, recounts their heartbreak when they learn that their 22 week baby in the womb has a potentially fatal heart condition — hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The doctors and counsellors gave Cindy and her husband three options: a series of three surgeries to mitigate the malformed infant heart and give baby Portteus a chance to live; carry to term, have the baby, administer only palliative care (pain care) at home and allow him to die; or “terminate the pregnancy.”

Think on that. Now think some more and suppose that the infant in question, rather than being a second trimester baby in the womb, were a three year old child with a possibly fatal heart condition. What would people say of any doctor or genetic counsellor who offered up that third option? Such a practitioner would be deemed a Nazi-esque monster.

And what do you suppose is the point of the video, where one mother records for all of history how she and her husband would prefer to “terminate” a baby rather than give the tiny boy care? The video is an indictment on any and all states that would dare pass bans on abortions past twenty weeks. So much for the “safe but RARE” ruse.

Think of this. Dr. C. Everett Koop quashed the lie that abortion is sometimes necessary to save the life of the mother:

Protection of the life of the mother as an excuse for an abortion is a smoke screen. In my 36 years in pediatric surgery I have never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother’s life. . .

If, toward the end of the pregnancy complications arise that threaten the mother’s health, he will take the child by inducing labor or performing a Caesarean section. His intention is still to save the life of both the mother and the baby. The baby will be premature and perhaps immature depending on the length of gestation. Because it has suddenly been taken out of the protective womb, it may encounter threats to its survival. The baby is never willfully destroyed because the mother’s life is in danger.

~ C. Everett Koop, M.D., as told to Dick Bohrer, in Moody Monthly, May, 1980.

And now 3D and 4D ultrasounds and medical heroes like Koop have revealed the humanhood of life in the womb and advancements in fetal development science reveal that the tiny humans in the womb can feel pain as early as eight weeks.

Therefore, abortion kills a human. Abortion is not necessary to save the life of the mother. The baby feels pain. All of those facts make a pretty solid case against abortion.

Yet, in this article Angie Leventis Lourgos writes as though the expectant mothers were the victims, hard pressed by states that have limited parameters allowing abortion.

Another story told within the article concerns a young woman from Missouri who is twelve weeks pregnant — right on the cusp of the second trimester. The narrative vilifies the expectant mother’s family:

Her conservative Christian family was against abortion. When her parents learned they had conceived a fetus with a severe and typically fatal birth defect, they chose to deliver rather than terminate.

And this young woman’s reasons for wanting an abortion?

“I’ve seen what unplanned pregnancies do to people,” said the woman, who requested anonymity to keep her recent abortion a secret from those closest to her. “I don’t want to be put through that. I don’t want to be forced into a marriage. I don’t want to raise a child alone.”

Oh. I see. Rather than marry or raise a child alone (as if those are the only two options), it’s preferable to kill the baby who is a separate human being with separate DNA and who is blameless in the condition of pregnancy.

When should the excuses for abortion stop? Perhaps a married couple don’t want to buy a larger home with more bathrooms and bedrooms? Perhaps another child would stretch the family budget and sacrifices might be required?

The impetus of the article is to show each of the pregnant women as desperate, seeing the state of Illinois as their beacon of hope. Lourgos notes:

Illinois health data show that each year around 3,000 women come from out of state to have an abortion in Illinois, which has some of the least restrictive laws in the Midwest.

. . .

While the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade has guaranteed the right to an abortion since 1973, lawmakers and courts across the country continue to tussle over the boundaries of that reproductive freedom. That has created pockets of access in places like Illinois amid what has been termed the U.S. abortion desert of the South and Midwest.

Whenever you hear terms such as “the boundaries of that reproductive freedom” be on guard: such language is radical feminist talk for abortion. Every woman has “reproductive” freedom. But according to geneticists, biologists, and yes, God, that image on the ultrasound is not tissue, but a tiny human on its way to becoming a larger human. The fetus is not part of the woman’s body, but living and developing in the womb, what should be a safe haven for the innocent baby.

Also included in the article is a video featuring “Leah Greenblum, founder and executive director of Midwest Access Coalition, a Chicago nonprofit that provides lodging, transportation and other support for women traveling to have an abortion.” Ms. Greenblum proudly speaks as though she’s a modern day Harriet Tubman, leading besieged women to the promised land of Illinois to realize freedom.

Sorry Leah. You have been deceived and are deceiving others. You also are culpable in the murder of these unborn.

Moses wrote God’s firm admonition concerning life in Deuteronomy:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

President Ronald Reagan called America a shining city on a hill, alluding to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

That was the Founders intent. Unfortunately, America has lost her sheen as a war rages on between a culture of life and a culture of death. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

And never has there been more spiritual wickedness and darkness than in the Land of Lincoln, a safe haven for abortionists and abortion-seekers, and a killing zone for the unborn.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois! 

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

What makes a country great? Why have civilizations come and gone? Why do some people groups last against all odds?

Modern America and France both were born through revolutions. One revolution was ignited by the firm belief that “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

The other revolution was kindled and supported by the motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!” I.E. “Freedom, equality, brotherhood.” Though that sounds inspirational, the cry was purposefully sterilized of any mention of a Creator, of God.

America’s Founders, contrary to the assertion of modern, elitist academia, firmly believed in the God of the Bible. Prayer was indispensable to America’s founding.

The French revolution, in stark contrast to the America, was fueled by a robust secular humanism. French culture grew out of that unchecked “liberté” — humanity as the arbiter of right and wrong, with utility rather than moral convictions, steering that nation’s society.

America grew in strength and prosperity for some 200 years, adhering, for the most part, to her godly heritage. France, it can be argued, degenerated from within, just another of Europe’s godless countries.

Thirty-five years ago Dr. Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop wrote a comprehensive treatise on life, Whatever Happened to the Human Race. Schaeffer and Koop spoke of the “slippery slope” of devaluing life. And the devaluation of life grew in direct proportion to the rejection of God and His principles from the private and public lives of U.S. citizens and government.

Dr. Schaeffer’s words:

The fully developed view of the sanctity of human life in the West did not come from nowhere. It came directly from the Judeo-Christian consensus, which was the framework in the West for centuries. Based on biblical teachings, people used to view human life as unique, something to be protected and loved because it was made in the image of God.

Today, the United States of America is reaping the whirlwind of rejecting the Founder’s wisdom, which was based on biblical wisdom. The secular humanism which predicated France’s revolution has inundated our nation’s gatekeepers: academia, entertainment, and media.

And now, America is at a crossroads. The wrongly decided Roe v. Wade paved the way for the murder of 60 million innocent lives since 1973.

But the tide is turning as pro-life people of faith awaken and declare the truths that once made our nation great. A culture can be judged not by their GNP, scientific discoveries, manufacturing capabilities or technological brilliance. Rather, the true test of a society is how they treat the most vulnerable, the least of these.

God’s word instructs us (as it did the Founders):

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live

And as written in 2 Chronicles:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

David wrote in Psalm 139:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

The path to restore our nation, the United States of America, is clear: we must humble ourselves, confess and turn from our sin (which includes abortion), and we must choose life!

Every Christian bears responsibility to not only know these inspired verses, to not only live these inspired verses, but to speak out these inspired verses. The Christian life was never meant to be a secret society of “good works doers.” We are called to, like Caleb, be bold and courageous, to stand for God and His Word.

We have such an opportunity now in a simple yet striking billboard campaign:

Illinois Family Institute is partnering with pro-life advocates to challenge millions of our neighbors about abortion. We are putting up pro-life billboards with the simple and bold statement “Abortion Takes Human Life“, but we need your financial partnership to make this a success.

Moses penned concerning the responsibility of people of the Book to teach and make known God’s Word and precepts:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Every one of you can partner with IFI and write truth “on your gates.” Translated to 2017, these billboards are the modern day version of the city gates of biblical times.

America can be great again if we humble ourselves and uphold God’s principles, which includes choosing life. Americans of faith can stop the breakneck speed down the slippery slope, but we must be willing to speak out.

Join Illinois Family Institute and choose life, declare that life is special.

Click HERE to sign a petition to defund Planned Parenthood.

For the past two decades, America’s slide down the slippery slope of atheist-flavored secular humanism has accelerated at breakneck speed.

Once upon a time Dr. Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop were scorned and ridiculed when they suggested such a “slippery slope” existed in terms of the devaluing of human life. In retrospect, Schaeffer and Koop were radically prescient in their predictions.

Almost daily we are assailed with ever more cases of individual Americans strong-armed to violate their sincerely-held religious beliefs. In fact, the only belief system afforded respect by the Progressives (Socialists) is the secular, utilitarian and humanistic worldview.

Since the days of Dewey and Wilson, Progressives have schemed and plotted and maneuvered, relentless in pursuit of the goal: a secular utopia administrated by so-called “enlightened elitists.”

Add to the mix, the eugenicist depravity of Margaret Sanger, founder of  “the American Birth Control League, which would eventually become Planned Parenthood,” and the final concoction is a godless set of mores where humans are just another entity in the animal kingdom.

I wrote of Sanger in the 2014 article, Margaret Sanger’s Dream Come True: Eugenics by Abortion:

And like the modern day organization, cloaking its true agenda in palatable verbiage such as “family planning” and “choice,” Margaret’s goal was far more evil than the respectable facade she presented.

Sanger waged a crusade for legal and safe contraceptives, and for legal and safe abortions. The Left and Planned Parenthood would have you believe she was a paragon, an angel of mercy for women in desperate need.

. . .

The real Margaret Sanger espoused sinister motives for advancing birth control and abortion: she fully endorsed eugenics for the betterment of race and society.

Sanger was a Darwinist who embraced a utilitarian view of human life, and proposed to rid our nation of the criminal element and “inferior races” through abortion and breeding programs.

Think of this: Roe v. Wade pitted the right of privacy of the woman against the right to LIFE of her unborn child, and the Burger court ruled in favor of privacy.

I noted in my 2014 post, Roe v. Wade: The Shameful History of an Egregious SCOTUS Decision:

Justice Byron White wrote a stern dissent:

I find nothing in the language or history of the Constitution to support the Court’s judgment.

The Court simply fashions and announces a new constitutional right for pregnant women and, with scarcely any reason or authority for its action, invests that right with sufficient substance to override most existing state abortion statutes.

The upshot is that the people and the legislatures of the 50 States are constitutionally disentitled to weigh the relative importance of the continued existence and development of the fetus, on the one hand, against a spectrum of possible impacts on the woman, on the other hand.

Now, 43 years and 57 million slaughtered babies later, our nation suffers under the corporate burden of guilt and the predictable loss of public virtue.

And somehow this wrongly decided “right to privacy” ruling, this right to terminate the life of the unborn for all or any reason, with no support whatsoever in our U.S. Constitution, supersedes all other rights and worldviews. So much so that taxpayers, in spite of their biblical objections and abhorrence of this infanticide, are forced to pay for abortions and abortifacients.

But even worse, those who object and refuse to take part in abortions, abortion referrals, or abortifacient prescribing, are punished.

A recent case in Rockford, Illinois, Mendoza v. Martell, is illustrative of the tyranny of the pro-abortion movement and its leaders.

Sandra Mendoza, a Rockford nurse and devout, pro-life Catholic, informed Public Health Administrator “Dr. Sandra Martell, of her conscientious objection to participating in any way in abortions, or the distribution of abortifacients.” Nurse Mendoza quickly discovered that the right to abortion trumps her First Amendment-guaranteed religious liberty:

Dr. Martell gave Ms. Mendoza two weeks to either quit or accept a demotion to a temporary job as a food inspector. Mendoza refused the demotion and was forced to resign in July 2015.

The suit seeks damages under the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act which prohibits public officials from discriminating against a person in any manner because of their conscientious refusal to participate in any way in the provision of abortions.

Once again, the U.S. Constitution is being circumvented to bolster this hell-bent “right to privacy.”

The compelling argument in favor of Sandra Mendoza:

Mendoza’s attorney, Noel Sterett, a partner at Mauck & Baker, LLC, in Chicago, says, “Ms. Mendoza has spent her life serving children and protecting life. People disagree on whether abortions end human lives, but I’d hope we can all agree that pro-life doctors and nurses should not be forced out of employment on account of their faith or commitment to protecting life.”

Nurse Mendoza is to be commended for her pro-life conviction, even in the face of job loss. But the fact is, no American should ever have to face the loss of their livelihood because of their biblical convictions. The First Amendment allows for freedom of religion (NOT worship, as the Left would try to assert), an inalienable right which cannot be absconded by government.

However, Illinoisans are now seeing an effort to strengthen the tyranny of the abortion lobby via Senate Bill 1564:

…lawmakers in the General Assembly passed SB 1564 in an effort to expand abortion services in Illinois. This legislation would force medical professionals and many pregnancy care workers to violate their conscience by forcing them to refer patients for medical procedures they find morally objectionable such as abortion, sterilization and certain end-of-life care.

People of faith in Illinois, people of biblical worldviews, must not relent; they must vote and vote in record numbers to send this bill directly to the paper shredder.

The Left has brought us to this slippery slope of dehumanizing people in the womb, people at the end of life, and people in-between birth and natural death. The journey toward this broad road to destruction was approached stealthily, circuitously.

The time has come for conservatives, for Believers, to stop the descent down the slippery slope predicted by Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop.

The Bible is clear: we are told to choose life. The U.S. Constitution is clear: the First Amendment, codifies our God-given religious liberty and freedom of speech.  The Illinois State Constitution is clear: Article 3 forever guarantees the free exercise of religion and religious opinions.

Now it’s time to stand on that truth, one bill, one case, at a time, and never relent in OUR pursuit of what IS intrinsically, morally right.

Take ACTION: Click HERE and ask Governor Rauner to uphold conscience rights for Illinois medical personnel.  Urge him to veto this ominous proposal. No American should be forced by the government to violate his or her deeply held convictions.

Please also call Governor Rauner’s office at:

(217) 782-0244 — Springfield
(312) 814-2121 — Chicago

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