A Call to Prayer – A Great Example From Hezekiah

As a pastor, I feel like every sermon could be turned into two calls to action – make sure you are reading your Bibles and keep praying. These acts of faith in no way help us earn or deserve our salvation, which is all of God’s free grace. However, it is easy to be slack in these two aspects of the Christian life.

Our basic duty in prayer is that we keep on praying and never quit. Pray without ceasing or constantly pray (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus commanded to His disciples before His greatest moment of testing, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation…” (Matthew 26:41) In Scripture, however, we do see special moments of prayer. One of my favorite accounts of prayer is one that is recorded in three different Old Testament books. It is the account of Hezekiah in prayer in the face of an existential crisis that God’s people were facing as a powerful army of Assyria was licking its chops to destroy Jerusalem. (See 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 36-37).

In the 2 Kings account, the leader of the Assyrian forces relayed a message to Hezekiah after the forces of Assyria were directed to fight against another opponent. Hezekiah was sent a threatening, blasphemous letter to not find comfort in the diversion of the Assyrian forces. Assyria would return, and what could the forces of Judah do in defending against that great power?

This is where the account focuses on how Hezekiah handled such a tremendous test. Hezekiah took the threatening letter with him and went up to the temple. There he spread the letter before the Lord. His prayer is a beautiful testimony of how we also must pray boldly in the face of great opposition.

“O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.” (2 Kings 19:15b-19, NKJV)

Hezekiah’s prayer is a great example of confessing God’s absolute sovereignty, the folly of idols, the threat of the enemy, and the great goal – that all kingdoms may know that there is only one true God.

We might not be facing the same existential threat as Hezekiah and Judah were facing, but truly we are entering into dangerous times.

The LORD has brought powerful storms that have resulted in great destruction and loss of many lives.

A Christian school experienced the horror of a planned attack leading to the loss of 3 precious children and 3 faithful staff members.

Criminal attacks on churches have been on the rise and continue to increase in 2023. According a recently released report by the Family Research Council, there have been 69 attacks on churches from January to March, nearly three times the number carried out against houses of worship during the same period in 2022.

We are witnessing history in our own nation with thirty-four felony charges brought against President Trump by Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg. Now I don’t subscribe at all to the idea that President Trump is like Jesus, but as U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) commented, this is the clearest example of Democrats weaponizing government against their opponents.

Attacks have continued against pregnancy centers across the US, and in Illinois our own government is threating to fine pregnancy centers in the name of “consumer protection.”

Are we surprised when we see God’s judgment on our nation economically and politically when we have forsaken His law and gospel?

Christian, unfurl these “letters” before our great God as you get on your knees in prayer. Above all, we seek not our own good or peace, but the advancement of God’s purposes. How God uses all things for His glory is something we will wait until heaven to fully appreciate, but that should not keep us from praying for it now.

Abortion Cheerleaders in Springfield Determined to Shut Down Pregnancy Care Centers (UPDATED)

Last month we alerted you to tyrannical bills designed to shut down the operations of “limited services pregnancy centers.” State Senator Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) is looking to advance her bill SB 1909, which is titled the “Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act.” ~~This overbearing proposal will probably be called in the Illinois Senate Executive Committee hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29.~~

**UPDATE: SB 1909 passed in committee on March 29th. It was then voted on in the Illinois Senate on Friday, March 31st. It passed in a partisan roll call vote, 31 to 19. It now moves on to the Illinois House of Representatives.

Make no mistake, this bill takes direct aim at shutting down all pregnancy centers. No other way to say it. SB 1909 allows the Illinois Attorney General (AG) to investigate all centers it believes are providing any wrong information or omitting any correct information in any form (advertising, speaking to a client, offering services, denying services, answering questions, etc.).

And guess who gets to define what qualifies as “wrong information”? That is correct, the far-left Illinois Attorney General.

The Illinois Attorney General has free reign to investigate any center it believes may be doing something “wrong,” or even about to do something “wrong,” based on any information that comes their way. If it is determined there is a violation of this Act, Pregnancy Care Centers can be fined up to $50,000 per incident and clients may take centers to court for other civil penalties with the AG’s blessing and detailed documentation against the centers.

We are living in scary times, my friends. Please, make your voice heard by taking action below:

Take ACTION: Click HERE to fill out a witness slip in opposition to SB 1909. (Not available yet.)

-Fill out your name, address, email and phone number. Leave everything else blank or put self.
-Highlight “Opponent” and “Record of Appearance Only.”
-Check Terms of Agreement and click Create Slip.

More ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative and state senator asking them to leave crisis pregnancy centers alone by voting against SB 1909. Tell them that pregnancy care centers do not engage in “deceptive practices” but rather vital life-giving work. The people at these centers minister to needy, vulnerable women and children and are supported by people of faith across the state who want to be a blessing.

Pregnancy Resource Centers Must Be Ready for a Post-Roe America
(National Review)

The Critical Pro-Life Work of Pregnancy Resource Centers
(ERLC)

Illinois State Lawmakers Move to Shut Down Pregnancy Care Centers

On February 9, the Illinois General Assembly introduced two bills—one in the House, one in the Senate—both entitled the “Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act.” The contents of HB 2463, introduced by State Representative Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard) and SB 1909, introduced by State Senator Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) are identical, and both bills seek to radically curtail the operations of “limited services pregnancy centers.”

Perhaps the most striking feature of these bills is their specious use of language. “Limited services pregnancy center” is the language applied to crisis pregnancy centers, clinics that offer life-saving services to pregnant mothers, usually free of charge. These services include ultrasounds, counseling, baby clothes and diapers, and have been a staple of Christian pro-life work for decades Just how are the centers limited? Of course they won’t deliver babies—but neither will Planned Parenthood. In reality, their services are “limited” only in the sense that they won’t provide abortions.

The sponsors of these bills are attempting to punish pregnancy centers, a vital part of the pro-life cause, for their unwillingness to commit murder. Calling them “limited services pregnancy centers” is pure mockery, designed to create the impression that the value they offer to their clients is negligible, or at best insufficient.

Of course, this kind of doublespeak should be no surprise—these are the same people who call murder “reproductive health” and miraculously discovered a “right to privacy” in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And how could we forget about Planned Parenthood, which exists only because of unplanned parenthood.

The bills also refer to the services of crisis pregnancy centers as “deceptive.” This deception is defined principally as “advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering pregnancy-related services” that do not include abortions. Should we talk about how abortion mills deceive women by telling them that abortion is a morally licit—and even commendable—act?

But let’s get to the bill itself. How the bill defines violations of the statute is perhaps the most shocking part. It is shocking not for its harshness or explicit sanctions against crisis pregnancy centers, but because of its vague and cunningly crafted language. The bill grants the Attorney General the right to penalize a crisis pregnancy center if it “appears” that it has “engaged in, is engaging in, or was about to engage in [a deceptive] method, act, or practice.”

Once again, what is “deceptive?” It is defined only by the crisis pregnancy center’s unwillingness to preform abortions. The penalties for “deceptive practices” include fines up to $50,000 dollars—a fatal blow to most crisis pregnancy centers—and that money is to be put to use in going after more pregnancy centers for these supposed violations. .

It is hard to overstate this. These bills stand to be incredibly damaging to the pro-life movement in Illinois and would likely result in the closure of many crisis pregnancy centers. And of course, if these bills pass, it won’t stop at the crisis pregnancy centers—the next bill will prevent churches and pastors from preaching against murder or counseling their parishioners not to seek abortions. Satan is hard at work to curtail Christians and life. We must be prayerfully hard at work to defend Christ and life. Thanks be to God, we know Christ has already won the victory. But He is counting on us to be His hands and feet in defending His Word here on earth.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative and state senator asking them to leave crisis pregnancy centers alone by voting against HB 2463 and SB 1909. Tell them that pregnancy care centers do not engage in “deceptive practices” but rather vital life-giving work. The people at these centers minister to needy, vulnerable women and children and are supported by people of faith across the state who want to be a blessing.

More ACTION: Click HERE to fill out a witness slip in opposition to HB 2463. The Health Care Availability & Accessibility Committee has a 4 PM hearing set for Tuesday, March 7th.