Pastor Douglas Wilson, one of IFI’s September Banquet speakers, has written an enormously helpful defense of the secret recording of the Planned Parenthood abortionist’s description of carefully crushing preborn baby bodies so as not to damage the merchandise, also known as hearts, lungs, livers, and limbs—er, “tissue.”

Please read this extended excerpt, and then order your tickets for the banquet so you can learn more from Pastor Wilson about how to be a Christian in the public square:

So let me tell you right at the beginning what I think of the ethics of video sting operations (like the #PPSellsBabyParts story from last week). After telling you what I think about it, I want to lay out a biblical case for it.

The story caught Planned Parenthood by surprise, along with a bunch of people in the moderate middle whose reaction was “wait…what?” That being the case, Planned Parenthood’s first responses have been pretty lame, and have actually made things worse for them. Apologizing for the “tone” of the comments, as the head of Planned Parenthood did, is like Dylann Roof apologizing for jaywalking on the way to the church in Charleston.

I hope they don’t have time to collect themselves, and I hear there may be more videos ready to drop that might keep them on their heels. And if they are kept busy, and if the current climate is sustained for any length of time at all, every Christian should be pressing for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. The ways you press for it, in order of importance, would be 1. prayers, 2. hashtag activism, and 3. letting your congressman know that you don’t want Planned Parenthood to get one more thin dime. In short, keep this issue before the throne of Heaven, keep it before the online public, and keep it before the bursar.

But if they do get a minute to collect themselves, one of the push-back techniques they will almost certainly try is to challenge the ethics of secret sting video, and, if they have their wits about them, they will press for laws forbidding such operations. To which we should say, you know, laws have to be interpreted…

Nevertheless that particular challenge might still resonate with a lot of Christians. Such Christians are delighted by the damage done to PP, but are unsure about going in there like a secret agent wired for picture and sound, pretending to be someone you are not. Moreover, you are doing this surveillance operation entirely on your own, representing no one in authority at all.

In the meantime, it must be admitted that some Christians apply the Golden Rule in ways that are quite demented. They think that to approve the making of such videos means that we are saying that the bad guys have the right to get all wired up in similar ways in order to infiltrate evangelical bakeries in order to nose out our discriminatory cupcakes. But “how would you feel if someone did that to you?” is not manufactured out of ethical two by fours. “How would you feel if you were a guard at Auschwitz and somebody came and took away all your prisoners? Hmmm?”

So what do I think of this operation? I think it is the best thing to happen to the pro-life cause since Roe introduced this bloody debacle into our national life….I believe that the next president should award the person who organized this operation with the Medal of Freedom. And prior to that, I believe pro-life activists should make a point of talking about this in superlatives. We should apply every accolade we can find.

So what about the deception involved then? I am glad you asked.

The Christian world has a long and checkered history when it comes to our debates about the ethics of deception. There are hardliners who want to say “no deception” ever. There are others who would regard lying to hide Jews from Nazis as a sin, but as a lesser sin than turning them over would be. So they lie in order to keep a clean conscience, and then confess the lie afterwards as a sin, in order to restore a clean conscience. Then there are others, like myself, who believe that Scripture fully allows (indeed requires) deception under certain conditions, while flatly forbidding it in others. If we want to tell the two situations apart, then we have to do some Bible study.

The view that Christians may never deceive in any situation whatever is exegetically and theologically indefensible, and rapidly devolves into silliness. Can a tank commander paint his tank to look like a bush when it is in fact not a bush? Is it all right, in a game of pick-up basketball, to fake left and drive right? When Jericho Homeland Security asked Rahab which way the spies went, no one thinks she should have said, “Thank you for this opportunity to come clean. They are up on the roof hiding under the flax.” And Rahab the harlot, brought up in a pietistic home, was justified by her scruples.

So back to the video sting. In my view, this situation is comparable to a combination of two different kinds of lawful biblical deception. The first has to do with the response of the Hebrew midwives to Pharaoh’s requirement of infanticide. In defense of innocent human life, they lied through their teeth, and God rewarded them by giving them families of their own.

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty” (Ex. 1:17-20).

This is similar to our situation, but is not quite identical. In both cases, babies are being saved but there are some points of difference also. There the Hebrew midwives were acting (on behalf of their people) in self-defense, while in this situation the pro-lifers are acting on behalf of children who have been rejected by their own people. It is as though the Hebrew midwives had figured out a way of lying that would save Egyptian babies. So appealing to the Hebrew midwives is helpful for at least part of this. If there is a difference, this video sting operation was even nobler. But at the very least we see that deception when the stakes are high—e.g., the lives of babies—is not necessarily wrong. In my mind, this is a sufficient defense of obtaining videos about Planned Parenthood this way, but fortunately, there is more.

Another scriptural category that I find helpful here is the category of deceiving someone in order to be able to confront them with the truth. The point is not to deceive, and then to sneak off to enjoy the fruit of the deception. The point is to deceive, and then to unveil the deception in such a dramatic way as to unmask unrighteousness that is being confronted. The point of such deception is to subsequently tell everyone what you had done. The point is to reveal, not to hide. The hiding is merely a preamble to a great unveiling of the truth — in this case, the truth that Planned Parenthood has far surpassed Mengele in cold-blooded, reptilian ghoulishness.

This method is what the prophet Nathan did when he confronted David about Bathsheba. He told him a made-up story about a poor man with one lamb, and a rich guy with flocks and to spare. When the story got to the rich guy confiscating the poor man’s lamb to use it for his hospitality dinner, David’s anger was kindled. So when he passed judgment on the man, Nathan then unveiled the fact that his words had been a prophetic sting operation. You are the man. That is the same kind of thing that has happened here.

One final objection. How can this be a confrontation of Planned Parenthood that reveals to them what they are doing? The video reveals that they know—in bone-chilling ways—exactly what they are doing. But here is the real value of the videos. This was not a sting just on Planned Parenthood. This was a sting operation being run on the American conscience. The revealing was done to America. America was being shown what America is doing. This is not mere tissue removal. Cysts don’t have livers, legs, hearts, and lungs. The nation was lied to, and the sellers of baby parts got away with it, because the nation wanted to be lied to. Treating babies as mere tissue was a sexual convenience for a lot of people, and a cold cash opportunity for others.

This video says to a shocked American public, as Nathan once said to David, “you are the man.” May God use it to bring us to the response of David. “We have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam. 12-13). As we truly have.

Event Details:

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stonegate Banquet & Conference Center
2401 W. Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois  60169

Click HERE for a banquet flyer.

Secure your tickets now – click here or call (708) 781-9328.

Program advertisements & banquet sponsorships available. 

Illinois Family Institute’s

FAITH, FAMILY & FREEDOM BANQUET
SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

For the first time ever, IFI will be hosting two esteemed speakers, both of whom are prolific authors.

Anthony Esolen is a professor of English at Providence College in Rhode Island, senior editor at Touchstone Magazine and a contributor to both LifeSiteNews and Crisis Magazine.

Douglas Wilson is the senior minister at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho; faculty member of New Saint Andrews College; one of the editors of the homeschooling Omnibus series; and apologist extraordinaire whose debates with famed atheist Christopher Hitchens were documented in the film Collision.

There are no better speakers than Professor Esolen and Pastor Wilson to help shed light on the path forward for Christians in the aftermath of the arrogant and foolish Supreme Court same-sex faux-marriage decision. They demonstrate the kind of courage, wisdom, vision, and boldness desperately needed in such a time as this.

How should Christians think about and respond to the many challenges that face us as parents raising children, neighbors extending hospitality, citizens engaged in self-government, and employers and employees in a culture increasingly hostile to truth? What is morally permissible for Christian citizens and what is impermissible? What are our obligations to God and society?

Professor Esolen and Pastor Wilson will offer answers to these vexing questions, and they will answer questions clearly. No ambiguous, strategic equivocating.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of things we may hear from Professor Esolen and Pastor Wilson.

Professor Esolen:

Kennedy has gotten everything wrong, as ambitious sentimentalists are wont to do. Man is worthy of our reverence as man. But his thoughts are worthy of our reverence only insofar as they are true. His deeds are worthy of our reverence only insofar as they are virtuous; and virtue is grounded in truth. I must revere the thief as man; I must not revere him as a thief, because he would be a better man, and more the man he was made to be, were he not a thief. I must revere the sodomite as man, not as sodomite, because he would be a better man if he could integrate his desires and his deeds with the reality of his body. The truth of the sexes, male and female, is stamped upon their bodies, so clearly that even children understand it. To treat a man with reverence is to honor that manhood, what is given to him in the structure of his mind and body; it is not something he has chosen. To treat a man as if he were a woman is to do violence to that manhood and that body. Need we spell this out?

Here finally I hear a soft and simpering voice, the last gasp of the lie. “But what harm will it do to pretend that the two men are married, even if, strictly speaking, they aren’t? Can’t we simply shrug and go about our business?” No, we can’t. Justice Kennedy is a kindly sentimentalist, but kindliness divorced from truth is no real virtue….Ignoring reality, ignoring the law of our being, ignoring the peculiar goodness of the sexes, is always foolish, even when it is not downright evil. You may pretend that such truths do not exist, just as you may pretend that you can suspend the law of gravity as you step off the edge of a cliff. Nature, and Nature’s God, are not required to oblige your fantasy.

And Christians of all people should remember the one whom Jesus called the father of lies.

Pastor Wilson:

In the aftermath of the Obergefell decision by the Supreme Court, a lot of Christian parents are reeling. They know they must do something, but what can they do? The decision was so high-handed, so arbitrary, so insolently rendered, that it would be easy to assume that there is nothing we can do about it down here at street level.

But this is false. There are many steps we can take, and some of the first ones are steps we must take. Here is one that millions of parents could take in just a small number of weeks—they could pull their kids out of the government school system.

The necessity of doing this has been growing increasingly obvious every year, and now the need for it is open, manifest, and pretty much on fire. What can Christian parents do? If their kids are already receiving a Christian education, they can be encouraged and stand fast — and they can use the opportunity to openly appeal to Christian friends who still have their kids in the government school system. And if they themselves still have kids where their kids ought not to be… well, this is the perfect opportunity to bolt. If anybody asks why, a reasonable answer would be anything in the neighborhood of “fire on the mountain, run, boys, run!”

…If your children remain in the government schools, there is now no legal way for them to be taught any normal view of human sexuality. And, depend upon it, they will be taught the other kinds.

We at IFI look forward to seeing you on September 18! Bring your older children, parents, friends, neighbors, and church leaders. This will be a very special night.

Order your tickets now!

Event Details:

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stonegate Banquet & Conference Center
2401 W. Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois  60169

Click HERE for a banquet flyer.

Secure your tickets now – click here or call (708) 781-9328.

Program advertisements & banquet sponsorships are available. 

Faith. Family. Freedom.

At the beginning of the year, we unexpectedly learned that we would need to move the IFI office. So, while focusing on the mischief taking place in the legislative session in Springfield, planning two great events for the spring, and scheduling speaking engagements across the state, we found ourselves in the midst of an office search.

The good news is that the Illinois Family Institute has grown over the past few years, so we had outgrown the space we had enjoyed for the past 4 ½ years.

That said, this move has generated new, unbudgeted expenses, including moving costs, new equipment, technology set-up, some additional office furniture, and other new monthly overhead expenses.  In short, our small budget is taking a hit.

Would you prayerfully consider helping us fund our operations, which include these unexpected expenses?

You know what we do here at IFI, and you know how hard we work to advance truth in the public square—despite the many naysayers on the Left. As our organization grows, our influence grows, and we are seeing the positive results from that influence. Continued growth requires adequate office space from which to do what we do best: advocate for faith, family, and freedom.

How can you help?

We are asking you to partner with us in our work by helping us with the daily costs of running Illinois’ only full-time pro-family organization—including the necessity of having an efficient work space. We are deeply thankful for any size contribution.

If you can pledge a monthly amount—no matter the size—it would be a huge blessing to us. Sustaining partners are an invaluable part of our team.

We can ill-afford to lose ground to anti-family Leftist organizations whose operating budgets are 10 to 20 times ours. IFI’s new office space will meet our operating needs, which will in turn help ensure that the IFI staff and volunteers are able to engage fully in the various battles. Would you prayerfully consider joining us to meet this need?

Illinois Family Institute is the only full-time organization in Illinois standing strong for Judeo-Christian values that you hold dear.

If these values truly are important to you—if these values reflect what you believe—then the Illinois Family Institute is here for you.

We strive to be a reliable resource for information on the issues that affect your family and your church. We advocate for you and your church on issues related to marriage, family, life, and liberty in Springfield and in the larger public square.

But we can only do this effectively when God’s people choose to partner with us.

Would you prayerfully consider a contribution to IFI today? A donation of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more would significantly help us to help you and your family by standing strong for our shared values.

You are what make this work possible. Your support is vital to our work. Your support helps ensure that biblical truth gets expressed in the mainstream press, in the halls of the rotunda, and in Congress.

As long as our shared foundational values continue to be assaulted, we will continue to need to stand together, united in belief and action.

Perhaps today you are able to help with a one-time investment. Maybe you are in a position to make a regular automatic monthly investment. Maybe your church would consider including IFI in its budget or would consider an annual gift.

Please, consider supporting our office needs and our work at this time, and thank you for partnering with us as we stand together for God’s truth in Illinois!

DONATE ONLINE or call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328.

Together for our families and our freedom,

David E. Smith
Executive Director

P.S. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on marriage by the end of this month. Please continue to pray for truth to prevail. Pray that the justices understand God’s design for marriage and will decide on the side of truth and righteousness.

A troubling and unbiblical notion has infected the church in America. Christians falsely believe that the Bible teaches that Christians should always and in every context speak “nicely,” and by “nicely” they mean in ways that listeners don’t find objectionable. Too many Christians falsely believe that they are prohibited from being angry; or from using sarcasm, satire, or other strong language; or that they are prohibited from saying anything that offends people. By adopting this unbiblical notion, Christians are voluntarily relinquishing one of our most powerful persuasive tools: rhetoric. We have relinquished the very tool that enables us to expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness that so poison the American cultural landscape, robbing children of their innocence, modesty, and rights.

Thankfully, we have Pastor Douglas Wilson to offer the church a much-needed corrective. Through his bold, incisive, piquant, and often hilarious truth-telling, he not only exposes the folly and wickedness of the sexual revolution, but also teaches us how we may and should do likewise.

Along with Professor Anthony Esolen, Pastor Wilson will be speaking at our upcoming very special annual fall banquet on September 18th in Hoffman Estates.  (Click HERE for a banquet flyer.)

Here is a saucy sample of the delightful and brilliant rhetorical meals served up by Pastor Wilson for you to savor:

Deny Him Seventy Times Seven 
Written by Pastor Douglas Wilson

I was recently asked how the radical ethic taught by Jesus — if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two — relates to baking a wedding cake for a same sex mirage ceremony….

The first thing to deal with is the very glib equation of floral arrangements, wedding cake baking, and photography with carrying a Roman soldier’s bag two miles instead of one. Back in the day, everyone who saw that civilian carrying the bag would know that the civilian had been pressed into service, and further, there is no sin involved in carrying a bag. The law allowed the Roman soldier to make someone carry his pack for a mile, no more. When the follower of Christ went the second mile, this was a means of assuming the center, taking control of the situation.

When Jesus healed the ear of Malchus, He was doing precisely this sort of thing. This armed entourage came out to arrest Him, and Jesus quietly assumed command of it. What Jesus was teaching His disciples was a way — everything else being equal — of assuming the center. When Jesus stood before Pilate, bound and beaten, He was in control of the situation, and Pilate was not. Pilate was the one who got scared.

But nobody thinks that this teaching of Christ means that there is never a point of simple resistance. For example, Jesus simply refused to answer Herod at all. Herod wanted Jesus to do a trick. Why didn’t Jesus apply His own teaching here and do two tricks?

Before counting how many, one or two, we need to reflect for a moment on the nature of the thing being demanded.

If someone demands that you deny Christ, your duty is not to deny the Lord twice. By this reasoning, Peter would have been an exceptional disciple the night of Christ’s betrayal. He denied Him three times! No one believes that if Roman law required a pinch of incense be offered to the genius of the emperor then your religious duty before God would be to offer two pinches, or better yet, a fistful. And who thinks that when the sackbut sounded in ancient Babylon, the duty of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was to starting bobbing up and down like crazy, falling down before the great image more than anyone else there.

Who would pay any attention to a meme that showed a young Quaker walking into boot camp? “And if they conscript you for four years, sign up for an extra four-year hitch.”

As I have already written, this issue is entirely and completely over a demand for approval. The homo-jihad is not demanding that we agree to function in the same economy together with them. We are more than willing to do that. Rather, they are demanding — not suggesting — that identification of their perversion with sin be made against the law. This includes everyone, everywhere, and it includes pulpits. So when when they say “that would never happen,” it should be pointed out that Christians are starting to get smart. We don’t believe anything you say anymore.

So they are demanding that on such occasions where our participation in this same economy becomes tantamount to approval of the sin, and consequently a violation of our conscience, that we be required to violate our conscience. Their lusts trump our conscience.

They have already decided what the public conscience must be like, and they are prepared to enforce it. So take this sentence for a prime example:

“When the society at large has determined that ______________ is a violation of the community standard, then a private citizen may not violate that standard by __________________.”

Now do you agree with that sentiment? Notice — before you agree — that I conveniently put in blank spots so that you couldn’t get your partisan frenzy on prematurely. You don’t know what phrases I am going to put in there. If you agree with it in order to justify the current homo-frenzy, the current two-minute homo-hate, then what shall you do when I then say, “No, actually I was talking about ‘race-mixing’ and ‘opening up his private restaurants to whites and blacks together’”?

When we preach the gospel, if we are to preach it the way it was preached by the apostles, our message will be “repent and believe.” But these are verbs that require a direct object in order to make any sense at all. Repent of what? Believe in what? The message of the Christian faith is incoherent unless it is repent of your sins, which includes homosexual sins, and believe in Jesus, who summons you to a life of discipleship, which includes sexual discipleship. You cannot outlaw a message of “repent and believe” without outlawing biblical Christianity, which our tolerance cops are well on the way toward doing.

This is why the professions that glorify an event — that make it look good and seem like a real celebration — are in the forefront of this battle. We are talking about glory, and since same sex unions are lame, they need everyone to applaud enthusiastically. This is the only way to compensate for being so lame. Just one dissenter wrecks the effect, and so the kind of effect they want is the kind you can see in the stands at North Korean missile parades. I have never seen any protesters at those. Such unanimity!

….Secularism is incoherent, like a plane made up of spherical cubes. What has our tolerant state done? Well, they have outlawed discrimination. They are intolerant of intolerance, which means in effect the only intolerance they will tolerate is their own, and this on the condition that nobody ever admits out loud what they are actually doing. They have outlawed discrimination, period. The only problem is that law is instantiated discrimination. Law is essentially discriminatory, and is that which defines which group is in and which group is out. The only question is which group will be in and which out. There is no possibility of having a law against discrimination that does not itself discriminate.

The old Jim Crow laws discriminated against blacks, but at least everybody recognized what they were doing. If confronted about it, they would acknowledge that this was in fact the point. Our new laws are a toxic mixture of this same despotic impulse along with high levels of epistemic confusion. They must discriminate, but refuse to ever admit that this is what they are doing. But because laws are discriminatory, this is why the foundation of our nation’s laws must be the laws of God. And by “God” I mean the Father of the Lord Jesus.

…

And so we have gotten to the point where the few remaining sincere liberals have to be deeply humiliated by the behavior of their homo-homies. They have become what they have always professed to detest, and this is a cause of some consternation to the sincere liberals I mentioned a moment ago, all eight of them. But I bet a clever graphic design guy could make an exclamation point for those COEXIST bumper stickers out of some lynched evangelical florist. That should fix everything. And if the clever graphic design guy didn’t want to design something like that . . . well, let’s just make him, shall we?

Please order your tickets now for this rare opportunity to hear from Pastor Douglas Wilson about what needs to be said in the public square and how we may say it. Bring your family, friends, church leaders, and neighbors to hear both Pastor Wilson, who is coming from Moscow, Idaho, and Professor Esolen, who will be coming to us from Providence, Rhode Island.

Event Details:

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stonegate Banquet & Conference Center
2401 W. Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois  60169

Click HERE for a banquet flyer.

Secure your tickets now – click here or call (708) 781-9328.

Program advertisements & banquet sponsorships are available. 

Professor Anthony Esolen is one of America’s cultural treasures. He writes about moral decline in America with insight, boldness, and eloquence—no timid, hesitant, evasive speech from Professor Esolen. Many people—though not nearly enough—know Professor Esolen through his writing for LifeSiteNews, and Touchstone and Crisis Magazines.

IFI has the distinct honor and privilege of hosting Professor Esolen along with Pastor Douglas Wilson at our upcoming very special banquet, which takes place in just 4 1/2 short months on September 18, 2015.

Those like me who read everything they can by Professor Esolen will welcome this opportunity hear him in person, and those who are unfamiliar with his work must come to be introduced to this remarkable cultural warrior.

To whet your appetite for bold, impassioned truth-telling, here is a recent piece Professor Esolen wrote on the pernicious lies with which leftist sexual revolutionaries have poisoned America:

Fools or Liars?

The latest apologists for the Sexual Revolution – that great swamp of sewage backup, human misery, family breakdown, squalid entertainment, and lawyers – have been saying that the most radical anthropological breach ever known to man, the detachment of marriage from childbirth and the plain facts of nature, will have no effect (none at all, not to worry) on marriage and childbirth and family and community life.

To which I reply, “Haven’t you said that before?” About what exactly have the sexual revolutionaries been right? Which of their non-predictions has been confirmed?

They told us that liberalization of the divorce laws – the no-fault divorce that libertarians so heedlessly pushed – would have no effect, none at all, not to worry, upon the frequency of divorce. The new laws would only make divorce less painful to the couple, and consequently less painful to the children. For there are such things as “good” divorces.

By a miracle of sympathy and maturity beyond their years, children would be happy to find their parents happy. In fact, they could never be happy otherwise. No one troubled to ask how their parents could possibly be happy in the teeth of their children’s sorrow. Well, the revolutionaries were wrong about that. Or they were lying; one or the other.

They told us that “everybody was doing it,” with “it” growing gradually more immoral and unnatural, basing their assertions upon research conducted by that pedophile and fraud, Alfred Kinsey. Therefore, they said, to smile upon fornication was not to change anything, except to relieve everybody from reproach, and allow them to do open and honestly what they had been doing dishonestly and in secret.

In one generation the relations between the sexes were utterly transformed, so that girls (and boys too) who wanted to practice the ordinary virtue of prudence, and even the more difficult virtue of chastity, were “immiserated,” left out, lonely. In the old days, a boy’s heart might leap if the girl gave him a kiss. Now he can hardly feign a bit of affection unless she brings him to climax. Well, the revolutionaries were wrong about that too. Or they were lying.

They told us that pornography was an innocent pastime for a minority of people interested in it. It had nothing to do with violence. It would not coarsen the culture. You would be able to keep children away from it. No effect, none at all, not to worry. Need I comment on this one? They were wrong, or they were lying.

They told us that the Pill would result in fewer children being conceived out of wedlock, and that liberalizing the abortion laws would have no effect, none at all, not to worry, upon the number of women seeking them. Pope Paul in Humanae vitae predicted otherwise. Now forty percent of children in America are born out of wedlock, most of them to grow up without a stable home. And by the testimony of the Supreme Court itself, abortion has become so intimate a part of a woman’s life, as the failsafe against the misfortune of making a child when you do the child-making thing, that it cannot possibly be scaled back now. Again, the revolutionaries were wrong, or they were lying.

I should say they were lying again, because the evidence they brought before the courts had always been a mass of fabrications.

They told us that little children introduced to sex by sweet and gentle older people would suffer no great harm by it, unless parents overreacted. They had for a while to forget that they ever said it, but now that the Catholic Church has cleaned house, they are forgetting that they forgot it, and are starting to sing the same old tune: no harm, none at all, not to worry. They were and are wrong, or they were and are lying.

They told us that the ERA, which was never ratified but which has been litigated into law anyway, would not result in such absurdities as women being sent into combat, the end of single-sex public colleges, unisex bathrooms, and the normalization of homosexuality. No effect, none at all, not to worry. They were wrong about that, or they were lying.

What have they gotten right? Have the relations between men and women ever been more suspicious, more fraught with anger and shame? according to their own testimony, our colleges are swarming jungles of assault and rape. That was not so before the revolutionaries did their work.

They said that abortion would not lead to euthanasia. Now they are glad that it has led to euthanasia, and they say that euthanasia, doctor-assisted snuffing, will not lead to killing elderly people without their consent. Actually, it has led to killing elderly people without their consent. Elderly people are subjected to slow and purportedly painless suffocation every day, in every hospital in the country. No effect, none at all, not to worry.

We were told that extending the notion (not the reality, which is impossible, but the pretense) of marriage to same-sex couples will have no effect, none at all, on anything else in the land. It will have no effect on what children are taught in school. It will have no effect on the number of young people experimenting in the unnatural. It will have no effect on religious liberty. It will have no effect on freedom of speech.

It could not possibly have any effect on such things, because, we were told, the behavior in question was perfectly natural, engaged in by perfectly healthy people. It was not an unnatural moral and psychological disorder, impossible to render natural, which could only be shored up by coercion. No effect, none at all, not to worry. And by the way, agree or be destroyed.

When have they ever been right in their predictions? Why should we trust them now?

The IFI Banquet is a rare opportunity to hear Professor Esolen, who is coming from Providence, Rhode Island and Pastor Wilson, who is coming from Moscow, Idaho. Please come and bring your family, friends, church leaders, and neighbors to hear these two brave, brilliant, inspiring men of God who through their uncompromising commitment to transcendent, eternal, unchanging truths will inspire us all to do more and better.

Click HERE for a banquet flyer.

Event Details:

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stonegate Banquet & Conference Center
2401 W. Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, Illinois  60169

Earlier this week, I wrote an article promoting this weekend’s IFI Worldview Conference with Dr. Del Tackett and the Truth Project.  At that time, I underscored the importance of intentionally pursuing a biblical worldview. A recent article written by Dr. Frank Newport of Gallup gives us a striking example of how quickly and effectively biblical truth is being undermined in our culture and why worldview is vital.

According to Dr. Newport, over the past 13 years, attitudes about the morality of homosexual relationships have shifted enormously from forty percent acceptance to almost sixty percent acceptance. In the same article, Dr. Newport points out that church attendance is a good predictor of how people view the moral acceptability of homosexual relationships. According to these surveys, sixty-five percent of those attending church once a week thought homosexual relationships were wrong. On the other end of the spectrum, eighty-one percent of those who never went to church thought that homosexual relationships were acceptable.

We can clearly see how the preaching and teaching of God’s Word informs the worldview of those who have at least weekly exposure.

That is why The Truth Project and this weekend’s event with Dr. Del Tackett is so important. Dr. Tackett will teach you and your family the importance of pursuing a biblical worldview. If you are concerned about the downward spiral of our culture and want to take seriously the challenge to be salt and light, join us for an exciting two days of training and equipping.

Invite your pastor, relatives, and neighbors! Students get in free with an ID!  (Click HERE for a flyer.)

What:  IFI Worldview Conference with Dr. Tackett
 
When:  Fri. 7-9 PM & Sat. 10 AM to 3:30 PM
 
Where:  Medinah Baptist Church, 900 Foster Ave, Medinah, IL 60157 (map)
 
How much:  $20 per person/$50 per family

Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
~Psalm 86:11

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SAVE the DATE:  May 7th: IFI will be hosting our “Islam in America: A Christian Perspective” forum with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, more info HERE.

IFI is doing something different for our annual banquet next September 18, 2015.

In the spirit of ecumenism, we have invited two distinguished scholars/culture warriors to speak: one Catholic and one Protestant. We will have the honor and privilege of hearing from both Professor Anthony Esolen and pastor and theologian Douglas Wilson.

I struggle to find a way to express my excitement about this event while retaining a modicum of adult decorum.  I have a short list of public figures that I’m dying to hear speak: Anthony Esolen and Doug Wilson are on it. So, if you hear screaming in the distance, it’s just my excitement bursting forth.

Regular IFI readers should be familiar with both Professor Esolen and Pastor Wilson because we have re-published their work, and I have on more than one occasion quoted both leaders.

Anthony Esolen is a professor of English at Providence College in Rhode Island. He is also a senior editor for Touchstone Magazine: A Journal of Mere Christianity and a contributor to First Things, Crisis, and Public Discourse. His books include Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization. He also has a new book coming out in May: Ten Ways to Destroy the Humanity of Your Child.

Professor Esolen is also a featured speaker with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and blogs for a website with which many IFI readers are familiar: LifeSiteNews

Here are some of his articles that IFI has re-published:

“The Moral Structure of Pedophilia”

“Anthony Esolen on Bullying Prevention in Public Schools”

“Identity Thievery”

“Flee from Public School Pornogogues”

Doug Wilson is a Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, and pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho.

Three years ago, Mr. Wilson spoke at Indiana University on the topic of sexuality, during which he displayed both courage and grace in the face of unrelenting hostility, all of which is captured in riveting videos that can be seen here.

Mr. Wilson is featured in a must-see documentary titled Collision, which follows Mr. Wilson as he debates famous atheist Christopher Hitchens. Click here to watch a trailer of the documentary.

Mr. Wilson is a prolific author whose works include Rules for Reformers, Five Cities that Ruled the World,Excused Absence: Should Christian Kids Leave Public School?, and Future Men: Raising Boys to Fight Giants. He is one of the editors of the popular homeschooling Omnibus series.

Click here to find many articles by Doug Wilson published on the Desiring God website, and click here to watch an extended conversation between John Piper and Doug Wilson.

Reserve Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 for this very special event, and invite your friends and church leaders.  Those who aren’t yet familiar with the work of these two remarkable men are in for a treat!

The Truth Project

First Annual IFI Worldview Conference
featuring Dr. Del Tackett
April 10-11, 2015

CLICK HERE for Details

“What is truth?”

The chilling words of the man who sentenced Jesus Christ to die still echo today.  In a culture that denies the existence of truth, many in our churches ask the same question.  Too many Christians live as if truth doesn’t exist, and the consequences have been cataclysmic.

Many simply don’t know the answer to the question.

What’s even more troubling is a 2003 study by the Barna Research Group which revealed a stunning statistic – only nine percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview.

Truth and the Bible are synonymous.

That is why IFI is hosting our first Worldview Conference with Dr. Del Tackett, architect of The Truth Project, Friday and Saturday, April 10-11 at  Medinah Baptist Church in the northwest suburbs.  (Click HERE for a flyer.)

Dr. Tackett’s presentation will be motivational, educational, and encouraging!  While our nation is in the throes of cultural upheaval, our government is on a downward trajectory, and religious liberty is in jeopardy — all the consequences of the rejection of absolute truth — we must not lose hope.

Dr. Tackett is best known as the author, architect, and teacher for Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview – and renew a belief in absolute truth – to the Body of Christ.  Thousands of Illinoisans have participated in the Truth Project small group studies.

With the question, “Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?”, Dr. Tackett has challenged the thoughts of millions of church-going Americans.  If you’ve been part of a Truth Project small group, you know just how dynamic and inspiring Dr. Tackett is.  If not, you are in for a treat!  There is no question that Dr. Tackett will challenge you in how you think, how you act, and how you understand God’s truths.

Tickets for this special two day event are $20 each or $50 per family, and you can register by clicking here.

As someone who has both experienced and taught The Truth Project, I can’t tell you how enthusiastic I am to be able to bring Dr. Tackett back to Illinois.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Illinois Family Institute is in the midst of a very busy time of year.  We are working hard in Springfield trying to stop anti-family legislation while at the same time promoting legislative proposals that will uphold religious freedom, life and decency.  To see what bills are on our radar screen, please click HERE.

We are putting a full-court press on the proposed ban on reparative therapy HB 217 and SB 111.  We have provided experts to speak to lawmakers, challenging the idea of “born that way” sexual orientation and biological determinism, including two licensed therapists and a former lesbian.  (Read more about these pending bills HERE.)

We now believe that we have a very good chance of killing this restrictive legislation, and we will continue to work to educate lawmakers to the fact that same-sex attraction is not biologically determined and that usurping parental choices in therapy for their children is well outside their purview.

Your support of Illinois Family Institute makes this work possible!

We are able to challenge the radical agendas being pushed by Leftists and organizations like the ACLU, Equality Illinois, Freedom From Religion Foundation and Marijuana Policy Project – but only with your help.  We need the resources to fully engage, and financial support of our work in February has been unusually low.

IFI is your voice, leading the battle against these attacks on the family, educating the public, and bringing the fight to those who attack the values upon which our society was founded.  More often than not, we are the ones speaking up, when those politicians who wish to lead us won’t.

We fill a niche in Illinois, fighting for truths others fear even to speak of. But we cannot do it alone!

Please help us stand strong during this time by making a generous gift to IFI right now.

Other Options

• Become a Sustaining Partner with automatic monthly deductions from your checking account or credit card. Click HERE to access our Monthly Giving form.
• Set up a customized giving plan or bequest. We would be delighted to talk personally with you. Just call us at (708) 781-9328.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Call (708) 781-9328 to discuss any of these options. I would be happy to hear from you.

Thank you for your partnership with us.

Gratefully,

David E. Smith
Executive Director

Though the snow be heavy and the nights be dark, it is never too early to make plans for the next season. The Illinois Family Institute is pleased to announce two fascinating events coming to the Western Suburbs.

We are excited to have internationally renowned speakers to bring a Biblical perspective to the issues of the day. Both events will be held at the beautiful Medinah Baptist Church in Medinah, Illinois. Mark your calender and register today!

First Annual IFI Worldview Conference with Dr. Del Tackett

Join us on April 10-11, 2015, for the first annual IFI Worldview Conference featuring Dr. Del Tackett in person. Dr. Tackett is former president of the Focus on the Family Institute and a former Senior Vice President of Focus on the Family. He is also the creator of Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project—a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.

In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a Biblical worldview.

Because of this, today’s believers live very similarly to non-believers. A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy and we begin to wonder what life’s ultimate purpose really is. We are, in short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation.

Dr. Tackett will challenge us to regain a Biblical worldview on the issues that face our culture. Flier HERE.

April 10-11, 2015

Friday 7 PM – 9 PM | Saturday 10 AM – 3:30 PM

Medinah Baptist Church

900 Foster Avenue, Medinah, IL 60157

$20 per person/$50 per family | Early Bird Registration by April 9th

$35 per person/$75 per family | At the Door

Free admission with a student ID

Islam in America: A Christian Response with Dr. Erwin Lutzer

Islam is on the rise around the world, whether it be terrorist activity in the Middle East or the increasing number of followers here in United States. Though these trends open up many opportunities to share the gospel, Christians also have reason for concern.

We have now reached a tipping point–the spread of Islam is rapidly altering the way we live. These changes are cause for alarm, for they endanger our freedoms of speech and religion.

Join us as we hear from Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church and the best selling of author of numerous books including The Cross in the Shadow of the Crescent: An Informed Response to Islam’s War with Christianity, speak on one of the most pressing issues facing the church and the nation today.

Presented by the Illinois Family Institute, you will not want to miss this one night only event  in the western suburbs of Chicago.

“Remember that the real threat to the United States is not so much terrorism, but Islamism, which intends to challenge our constitutional liberties and take advantage of political correctness to silence discussion and debate about Islam and to undermine our national security…” ~Dr. Erwin Lutzer

For flyer, CLICK HERE.

 Thursday, May 7, 2015, 7 – 9 PM

Medinah Baptist Church

900 Foster Avenue, Medinah, IL 60157

$10 per person/$25 per family

Free admission with a student ID

Today in Springfield, Bruce Rauner took the oath of office to become the 42nd Governor of Illinois.  This coming Wednesday, state lawmakers will be sworn in for the 99th session of the Illinois General Assembly.  Last week in Washington D.C., federal lawmakers in the U.S. House and U.S. Senators were sworn in to begin a new session of the U.S. Congress — the 114th Congress to be precise.

We want to encourage you to please set aside some time this week to specifically pray for our state and national political leaders. It would be good and wise if Christians throughout the state commit to praying regularly for these men and women.

Don’t ever think we are too far gone. What’s impossible with man is possible with God!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask
or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 
to him be glory in the church and
in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
for ever and ever!
~Ephesians 3:20

…if My people, who 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.
~2 Chronicles 7:14

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
~James 5:16 

Prayer is powerful and effective. Will you join us in praying for our state and nation?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Pray for the new officials, their families, and their staffs as they take office. Pray the transitions to the new officials go smoothly.

• Pray that those men and women recognize that Jesus is the Son of God and that they need Him as their Savior.

• Pray the Lord’s goodness is made manifest in their lives and that the Holy Spirit guides and convicts them of truth this year.

• Pray that lawmakers and the executive officers and their staffs would seek God’s wisdom and seek Godly counsel for the many decisions they will make.

• Pray that these men and women would make decisions free from selfish motivations.

• Pray that the National Prayer Caucus would increase its members.

• Pray that the Illinois Prayer Caucus would attract many lawmakers and increase its members.

• Pray that God would stop bills that are morally abhorrent to Him.

• Pray the bills that will be introduced in the new legislative session will protect life, marriage and family, and religious freedom. Pray bills that would be harmful to foundational values do not pass. Ask God to give all the committee members wisdom as they discuss and vote on bills.

• Pray that God would remove any obstacles to pro-family bills.

Please also pray for IFI Team:

• Please be in prayer for the IFI Team as we work at the Illinois Capitol this year. Ask the Lord to lead and bless our legislative agenda.

• Pray that the IFI Team is able to catch any hostile amendments or bills that could negatively impact life, marriage and family, and religious freedom.

• Pray over our events plans for 2015. Our goal is to host a number of events this year to engage our community in honest discussions on foundational values and to educate the Body of Christ.  We also hope to introduce new people to IFI through these events.

• Please pray for the IFI Team as we look for new office space.  We have outgrown our current location and we are need for a good place to call home.

I am very happy to report that The Illinois Family Institute exceeded our end-of-year matching challenge! THANK YOU to all who contributed by phone, snail mail or online!

Honestly, we cannot thank you enough for your support! You’ve heard it before, but it’s true — your support is the only thing that keeps the IFI Team in the public square fighting for Judeo-Christian values and principles.

IFI has been your voice for traditional family values for more than 23 years. We have never been afraid to stand up and speak out in the public square for the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country is based, no matter how “politically incorrect.”  THANK YOU for standing with us!
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With your support and prayers, together we will continue our efforts to defend marriage, family, life and liberty in the Land of Lincoln.  We are ready for the challenges and opportunities in 2015.

Thank you, God bless you and Happy New Year!

As the last hours of 2014 tick away, I want to encourage you not to look forward to just this upcoming year but to the many more that will follow. Then ask yourself what kind of legacy you want to leave for the next generation.

As a young person who has recently exited the teen years, I can attest that my generation is utterly confused about the most basic truths about family, marriage, sexuality, health, and culture. This confusion is created at least in part by our government leaders.

What kids are being taught in the classroom; what they think about human life, sexuality, and marriage; and what they see as intolerant or hateful are influenced by the decisions government leaders make. When the leaders of our state and nation use their positions to promote immorality, young people suffer the consequences.

Yet these officials are representing us, and thus we are responsible for their actions. We have a duty to the next generation for the decisions made today.

The Illinois Family Institute is here not only to alert you to what is going on in the Capitol and around the state but also to speak biblical truth to policy makers, culture makers and even religious leaders. IFI perseveres in encouraging these representatives to stand for truth and to oppose the expansion of the Left’s power and influence.

There is no better time than now to give. We have almost met our $40,000 matching grant, but we still have a way to go to meet our goal by midnight tonight.

Please consider supporting IFI so that we can have a brighter future to pass onto the next generation.

To make a credit card donation over the phone, call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328. You can also send a gift to this address:

Illinois Family Institute
P.O. Box 88848
Carol Stream, IL  60188

Thank you in advance, and….  

Happy New Year to you and your family!

We’re almost there! Many of you have given sacrificially,  and your donation has been doubled through the generosity of those who are matching your donation(s) up to $40,000. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to know that you are standing with us! Thank you!

I am happy to report that we have now raised 82 percent of our goal. With less than 24 hours remaining to realize the full potential of the matching challenge, we need to raise a little more than $7,000 by midnight.  This is going to be close, but I know we can put it over the top today!

Can you help us reach our goal?  No gift is too small!

If you haven’t made your tax-deductible, end-of-year donation to the only full-time pro-family group in Illinois, there’s still time!

We depend heavily on year-end donations. Once the General Assembly returns to Springfield in just a couple of weeks, many lawmakers will be working tenaciously to fulfill their promises to liberal special interest groups. Your financial support in 2015 is critical to our continued efforts to stop bad legislation and promote life- and truth-affirming legislation.

With your financial help and prayers, we will continue to speak up boldly in defense of marriage, family, life and liberty in the Land of Lincoln.

As we seek the good Lord’s guidance and direction in our work to bring a Christian perspective to public policy, we ask that you stand alongside us prayerfully and financially. Illinois families are worth it. Your family’s, children’s and grandchildren’s futures are worth it.

To make a credit card donation over the phone, call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328. You can also send a gift to this address:

Illinois Family Institute
P.O. Box 88848
Carol Stream, IL  60188

Thank you in advance, and….  

Happy New Year to you and your family!

As you finalize your charitable giving before the tax year deadline on December 31, please consider making a gift to the work and ministry of Illinois Family Institute.

Whether its in the media, churches, the halls of government, and the classroom, IFI will continue to speak out boldly in the midst of a state dominated by out-of-touch politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, far-left media pundits, and agenda-driven educators who are deeply hostile to the truths about faith and families.

Your tax-deductible gift makes the work of the IFI possible. Your response to these appeals is critical.   Your donation makes us stronger for the work God has for us in 2015.

Please take a moment to watch this 2 minute video by Monte Larrick:

Thank you in advance for your support! We look forward to partnering with you in 2015 to stand courageously and winsomely for the values we share.

May God bless you and your family in 2015!

Sincerely,

David E. Smith
Executive Director

P.S.  Help us reach our goal of raising a total of $80,000 by the end of the month – Donate today!  To make a credit card donation over the phone, call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328.  You can also send a gift to:

Illinois Family Institute
P.O. Box 88848
Carol Stream, IL  60188