If you are like me, there are three primary thoughts running through your mind following this election: “What happened to the red wave?”  “How can so many people be so fooled by the party of death?” and “What is God doing?”

The last question is the most important and the most difficult to answer.  I will address it in a bit.

First, I would like to look at a couple of things I observed in the days prior to the election and during the presentation of the results following.  Am I the only one who noticed that in spite of the  rumblings across the political spectrum and media that there would be a “Red Wave” of epic proportions on election day, the talking heads on the Leftist media appeared unperturbed and simply repeated the mantra that the election would be very secure, and that “election deniers” were dangerous to democracy.  (This in spite of the fact that Stacy Abrams and Hillary Clinton remain big-time election deniers).

What did these people know that gave them such peace in the face of what appeared to be imminent disaster for their cause? I don’t expect that it was the peace of God! Yes, what did they know that the rest of us didn’t know? Hmmm.  Just asking!

There are other possibilities, of course:

Did voters hear too much about a “Red Wave” and decide at the last minute that they didn’t want a two-house majority for Republicans having witnessed the sorry consequences of the Democrats holding such a majority for two years?

Did Republicans and conservatives err in their messaging over the last few weeks assuming that everyone connected Democrat policies to the disasters they caused? For example, did they assume that people understand that government spending is the major cause of inflation, and thus think all they needed to say was “Inflation bad” to convince people to reject Democrats?

Are there still so many people who do not grasp that killing is a really bad response to an unwanted pregnancy? Are millions of Americans so superficial as to listen only to the rhetoric of the Left and not dig deeper into what words mean? “Choice” is a pleasant-sounding word but we’re not choosing whether to put cheddar or mozzarella cheese on a sandwich. We are choosing to end a human life! Is human life now that cheap to millions? Did the pro-death crowd really come out in record numbers due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision?

Are the political “machines,” which are in place across America, especially in major cities, so powerful that they are, from a human perspective, unbeatable? Are people either so indebted to them, or so intimidated by them that they do whatever they are told to do?

Have so many wise and weary people left states like Illinois, California, and New York that there are no longer enough right-thinking people to defeat the Leftists? This certainly contributes to the bad election results. Reports suggest that millions of others wish to leave these states but cannot as family and jobs make a move difficult or costly.

One or more of these things may have affected the election results, but there is a more important perspective which we must consider.

Most people throughout history have lived under the tyranny of dictators and thugs, men who ruled for their own benefit, acting as gods, (many actually claimed to be deity), caring nothing for the people they ruled. One must ask, “did the people not mind the oppression? Were they passive to the brutality of the ruling class? Did they have no ambition to be free?” Anyone paying attention should notice the similarity to our major cities where violence and death are so common as to be ignored, yet in our case, the ones most oppressed and abused routinely reelect their abusers. Is there such a thing as “Battered Citizen Syndrome?”

This darkness and bondage are not America’s intended destiny! From the Founders to the present, nearly a million men have sacrificed their lives that we might live free. They understood that tyrants always lurk in the wings, seeking an opportunity to take the reins of power to themselves.

So, what about God? Are these results His intention? Where is He in all of this?

America is not Israel and thus we do not have the same earthly promises Israel has. We do know that there is perpetual enmity between God and Satan, and Satan is called the “god of this world.” We also see in Scriptures a time when God will give mankind precisely what they have been striving after for 6000 years or so: God’s withdrawal from active participation in man’s affairs. This “Time” is called the “Great Tribulation,” in the Bible, and what a time it will be! The Spirit of God will withdraw His restraining influence to allow people to live as they want. It is certainly the spirit of this present age, and the direction America has been heading in recent years. Remember that this Nation, and particularly, the Democrat Party, kicked God out of America’s political and cultural affairs decades ago, and such actions have consequences. God is gracious, but we have no guarantees as to His response in the face of such brazen hatred and wickedness ultimately other than judgment.

Not surprisingly, America is now going the way people want it to go and reaping the consequences. So many want to live however they wish to live without God and without truth. Pleasure has become the Nation’s god, but so few understand the human cost of this paganism. One would think that the tragic death toll from drugs alone over the last several years would discourage such idolatry; but so far, few seem to notice or care. We have gone from Mayberry to a war zone over the last sixty years, and it is not by accident!

For any young person reading this, I hope that it is now crystal clear that Utopia is not arriving any time soon, so, I encourage you to ask what God is doing, and what He seeks from you? He is the very embodiment of all that is good, and His delight is to share His own goodness with us. If we reject Him, the result is eternal separation from Him, of our own doing. Therefore, His method is first grace, then warning, then discipline, and finally judgment. His desire is that we love and enjoy Him, but He will not force Himself upon us, for love cannot be coercive. In the end, if we do not come to Him, He will allow us our own way. I believe we are in the discipline/judgment stages.

Therefore, now what, If we would see as God wants us to see and think as God wants us to think?

First, we are to trust Him and yield to His sovereignty over every area of our lives, including America’s culture and politics. Trusting Him is not merely putting up with trials or patience in the face of opposition; it is gratitude for His working even when things seem to be dismal or contrary. Romans 8:28 reminds us that for those who love God, He is active on our behalf making everything in our lives work together for our eternal benefit. Lessons learned in suffering bring eternal rewards.

Second, this world, as we know it, is quite brief. Earthly kingdoms and nations all have an end. God intends that we be thinking eternally, looking beyond the events and troubles here. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:17 that “our light afflictions” here are “but for a moment,” meaning that we are not to be distracted by them. Our tendency is to despair when things go badly, but we must remember that the best is yet to come (His Kingdom), and it will last forever!

Third, God has many promises for us, but the greatest may be that those who love Him will be like Him! This promise applies, of course,  only to those who satisfy His criteria.  And what are those criteria?  Peter tells his readers to “pursue. . .holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Therefore, nothing could be more important for us than to search for and secure holiness!

Being with Him and being like Him are interdependent, for John tells us in I John 3:2 that “when we see Him, we shall be like Him…” To receive this promise one must repudiate sin, that is repent of it, stop practicing it, and turn from it to accept by faith His gift of forgiveness. America is in this condition of chaos, conflict, and confusion because we, as a nation, have turned against God. (Who would have believed that America, created upon Christian principles and blessed above all nations by God, would turn against the best, most gracious, and loving Creator, Jesus Christ?)

This act of turning from sin to trust in Christ is called the “new birth,” and brings with it eternal life with God Himself. This is the fulfillment of God’s plan for mankind and goes far beyond all that we imagine or experience here. The terrible things we endure while on earth will be forgotten, and the best things we enjoy will be eclipsed by the wonder of all God will provide for us.

Therefore, by God’s grace let us trust the infinitely good God, do what we can to oppose the wickedness of our world, help raise the downcast eyes of the discouraged to see Jesus Christ more fully, and live in a way that the light of Christ shining through us exposes the evils of sin, yet lights up the pathway to the Savior!

And who knows what good He may still have in store for America if we turn in faith to Him?

In this day and age, adoption seems to have fallen off the proverbial table. In a conversation with a struggling young expectant mother, abortion is far more likely to be suggested as an option than adoption. In fact, during arguments for the Dobbs case in June of 2022, those arguing for Roe V. Wade touted abortion as the loving option and adoption as cruel. But is this the case?

Life Versus Death

Pro-choicers claim that adoption is unloving because a mother forms a bond with her baby, then adoption takes the child away and often the mother never sees him or her again. They even called it an ‘unnatural act’, which is rather unsettling given that they are advocating abortion as a better alternative. If it’s unnatural to give up a child for adoption, it’s infinitely more unnatural to kill the child so they don’t have to deal with the consequences.

These arguments for abortion are so focused on one side and one side only; that of the mother. But the mother isn’t the only person in this decision. She wouldn’t be a prospective mother if it weren’t for the baby she was carrying. No matter how hard one tries to redefine the terms, abortion kills a baby. The goal is to end the life inside of the mother, often rather brutally. Live Action has a page that shows the ways abortions are done, and it’s heart wrenching. Depending on how old the baby is, the child is either ripped apart limb by limb, poisoned into having a heart attack, or something else. Abortion begins with two people in the equation and ends with one. Or, sometimes none. Abortions can be very, very dangerous for the women undergoing them.

Adoption, on the other hand, begins with two people and the threads of their lives continue on, often blessing the others they come into contact with. This couple (usually) has waited years to adopt a child due to a baby shortage. They are ecstatic when a child is placed with them so they love and care for him or her.  As an added blessing, a mother who places her child with this coulple to give him or her a better life can remain in contact through what is called an open adoption, allowing her to be a part of her son’s or daughter’s life. According to a post by the Family Research Council, “[adopted] children, their biological mothers, and their adoptive families all benefit from and feel their lives are enriched by the experience.” Women who get an abortion, however, often suffer serious emotional trauma and mental health problems for a long time afterwards. It is in no way loving or better for a woman to get an abortion rather than opt for adoption.

A Picture of Grace 

The Bible actually talks about adoption, relating it to what Christ has done for us. Romans 8:14-17 says “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Ephesians 1:5 says, “…he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” and in Galatians 4:5-7 we read “…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Adoption is a symbol of our salvation, just as marriage is a symbol of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). It’s a picture of what happens when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). It’s a picture of how we’ve gone from death to life, becoming part of the family of God, paid for by Christ’s death on the cross. As believers, knowing this makes sense as to why abortion advocates sweep adoption under the table – it’s a picture of salvation. Just as those made in the image of God are attacked, and the symbol of Christ and the church is attacked, adoption will be swept under the table in favor of abortion – “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood… (Ephesians 6:12),” and Satan seeks to destroy all that is good.

November is national adoption month. As Christians, I believe it’s important that we help in some way – be it actually adopting, encouraging a mother to pursue adoption instead of abortion, or gathering around a family who adopts/fosters and helping them. Adoption is a picture of grace, and it’s time we get it back on the table.

Written by John Rustin

In a sickening example of just how far the liberal media is willing to go to normalize abortion, National Public Radio (NPR) aired a report recently (Nov. 3, 20220) that includes an audio clip of a woman undergoing a surgical abortion.

“You’re gonna hear this machine turn on now, okay, it makes a loud noise,” a female voice says—presumably the doctor—as a vacuum pump is activated. The next 20 seconds is heart-wrenching and nauseating, as a woman moans and groans while her unborn child is literally sucked out of her womb. The NPR reporter admits that the abortion procedure typically takes several minutes, but the short clip, as difficult as it is to hear, followed by an encouraging “You did it!” from the attending clinic staffer, makes the procedure seem quite routine and ordinary.

Moreover, the NPR story has an unmistakable “political” angle. The eleven-minute audio report is entitled, “What it’s like inside a Michigan abortion clinic, days before the midterm elections.” This comes less than a week before Michigan voters decide on a ballot measure that, if passed, would enshrine a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom” (i.e., abortion) in the state constitution.

According to NPR reporter Kate Wells, “In the Northland [Family Planning] waiting room, there are these inspirational quotes on the walls, like, ‘Good women get abortions.’ Another one says, ‘A lot of beautiful, wise women have been here before and are here today.’” Later, she describes the procedure room, “The lights are dimmed. There’s soothing music. It actually feels a lot like a childbirth.” “Whether it’s a birth or an abortion, it is often women guiding other women,” Wells says in an inspiring tone.

She interviews several women at the abortion clinic, most of whom already have young children and laud abortion as the solution to being pregnant. One woman, who has two daughters and is pregnant with twins from an abusive man says, “I’m so fertile, that it’s like literally I just have to stop having sex in order not to be pregnant.” Another married mother of three says she wants to go back to work and “just kind of have something for myself other than just being a mother all day every day,” so she is seeking an abortion.

The report also belittles pro-life pregnancy care centers, and paints them as deceptive, coercive, and unprofessional.

Of course, we have come to expect a certain level of bias in the media, especially from outlets like NPR, but the heartlessness of this report takes it to an entirely different level. NPR’s blatant attempt to normalize abortion and to influence the election in Michigan and across our nation is obvious and unmistakable.

I pray the callousness of this report will prick the heart and conscience of our nation as the evil of abortion is exposed.

After all, the lone voice not heard in NPR’s eleven-minute audio report is that of the child whose life was simply vacuumed away.

This article was originally shared as content from NC Family Action.

There are dozens of great pro-life films and documentaries that have been produced over the past several decades, but there is a new one out that we want to make sure is on your “must watch” list. It is called “The Matter of Life,” and it is a powerful and informative documentary about abortion in the United States. In fact, we think it is so important that we are hosting free showings of this film in various locations throughout the state, with the hope that it will initiate other church and private showings. This will include a time for Q & A after the film ends.

The Matter of Life is a wakeup call and a call-to-action. While we praise God for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, here in Illinois the pro-life advocacy MUST intensify to meet the abortion industry’s expansion and plans to make the Land of Lincoln an abortion destination point.

This documentary, with the help of experts, personal accounts, and plentiful visual aids, this documentary explores the political, spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of abortion. Watch the trailer, and plan to join us at one of the locations listed below:

“This powerful documentary is edifying and enlightening to understand the Truth of abortion.
Whether you are pro-life or not, please take time to watch this film,
which is recommended for ages 14 years and up.”
~Ricki Giersch, 40 Days for Life Leader in Aurora

It is one thing to do evil and recognize it as evil. It is another thing to do evil and call it good.

As the prophet Isaiah declared more than 2,500 years ago, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

This has happened many times over the centuries, and it is happening again in our day.

Going back two decades, consider Dr. George Tiller, infamous for his late-term abortion practice but hailed as a hero by the pro-abortion movement. In their eyes, he was performing a compassionate service for hurting families, relieving them of the pain of bringing an unwanted child into the world.

There are articles about Tiller with titles like, “A Gentle, Compassionate Man: Remembering Dr. George Tiller,” and, “The Compassion of Dr. Tiller.” The latter article states that, “George Tiller is frequently described as ‘controversial.’ But in the tight-knit world of abortion providers and among the women under his care, he was often called a saint.”

This puts quite a spin on the word saint!

The fact that Tiller was inexcusably murdered in 2009 by a “pro-life” extremist cannot detract from his evil deeds, which included offering his clients package deals for the late-term abortion plus finger printing, baptism, and burial or cremation.

Yes, Tiller had baptismal ceremonies performed for the babies whose lives he just ended. (This was not only widely known, but I also saw pictures of these baptisms and burials.)

Tragically, as reported on Live Action, “A former staff member of a late-term abortion facility [meaning, Dr. Tiller’s] has admitted there was nothing wrong with over 98 percent of the babies aborted at her facility.”

In the words of a passionate pro-life leader, “Although he specialized in killing handicapped children, most of his tiny victims were late term, fully-formed, healthy, and viable outside the womb. He performed an average of roughly seven post-viable abortions per week and has admitted on tape to aborting babies a day before the mother’s due date.”

This is the man hailed by some as a saint.

Talk about misguided compassion.

Talk about calling evil good.

A pro-life colleague in Charlotte, North Carolina told me about an abortion doctor in the city who tithed on her earnings to her church.

In her mind, she was doing God’s work.

The flip side of this is that pro-life leaders who are doing God’s work by standing for the life of the unborn are branded as dangerous lawbreakers.

What else are we to make of the FBI’s recent arrests of pro-life workers? As reported by The Federalist on October 6, “The FBI raided the home of yet another pro-life activist on Wednesday, as the federal agency ramps up its attacks on political opponents of the Biden regime. With guns drawn, agents swarmed and entered Chester (Chet) Gallagher’s Tennessee home for his role in a peaceful pro-life event that took place over a year ago outside a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee abortion facility.”

Talk about turning our justice system upside down.

Talk about calling right wrong and wrong right.

The same thing is now happening with medical leaders who speak out against the transitioning of children (in other words, against the chemical castration and/or genital mutilation of minors). They are being threatened with prosecution by the office of the Attorney General for allegedly spreading misinformation that could lead to violence.

As explained in a letter to A. G. Merrick Garland written by Tennessee A. G. Jonathan Sermetti, and signed by 12 other Attorneys General,

“We, the undersigned State Attorneys General, write to express our deep concern with the recent letter you received from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association asking you to investigate and prosecute people who question the medical establishment’s current treatment of children struggling with gender dysphoria. You cannot and should not undertake such investigations or prosecutions.”

So, those raising grave concerns about the terribly misguided practice of transitioning children, which has rightly been branded medical malpractice and a massive human rights violation, could be prosecuted as criminals. As for those advocating such practices and performing them, they are the heroes who should be celebrated. Is this not what Isaiah described?

In this same spirit, California governor Gavin Newsom has become the darling of the left as he becomes more and more radical by the day.

As Mayor San Francisco, he rose to national fame by illegally issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

More recently, he sparked a storm of controversy by quoting the words of Jesus (that we should love our neighbor as ourselves) on billboards posted in pro-life states, inviting pregnant women to come to his state for their abortions.

(See here for my response, where I picture a baby asking Gov. Newsom, “Am I not your neighbor?”) 

As if this was not enough, Newsom also signed a bill that would make California a sanctuary state for minors seeking sex-change surgery and treatments, even against their parents’ will. As reported on the Daily Wire,

“The bill also bans police from arresting or extraditing someone based on another state’s restrictions for providing gender health services to a child. The law also prohibits California officials from enforcing another state’s order that a child be removed from parents who allow the child to receive gender health services.”

Yet even this is not enough for some.

There are now lawmakers who want to have parents criminally prosecuted if they fail to affirm the perceived gender identity of their child (see here and here for examples).

So, the caring parents, who want what is best for their child and recognize that medical intervention is not the best course of action for their confused and hurting minor, are the evil ones, to be prosecuted and even jailed by the government.

Shall I quote Isaiah again?

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

Jessica Valenti, author of the book Sex Object: A Memoir and founder of the now-shuttered blog Feministing, is a dishonest woman with the unseemly life mission of keeping abortion safe, legal, and commonplace. She describes herself on TikTok as a “feminist author” and “a much bigger deal on Twitter,” who writes “about abortion every day.” Valenti, an avid proponent of women killing their own children—who are the greatest source of joy in life—aptly calls herself “Auntie Killjoy.”

Killjoy recently created a brouhaha with a TikTok video and subsequent tweet in which she tries to diminish the seriousness of destroying incipient human lives by showing photos of two humans killed in abortions in early stages of development. She hopes that showing these photos of humans killed when they don’t yet look like humans will eliminate the guilt that women understandably feel after having their offspring killed.

Here’s Killjoy’s devious TikTok video:

Here’s what has people so fired up – they can’t believe that the images they’ve been shown about pregnancy and abortion aren’t real pic.twitter.com/jRr7qLrFvZ

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 19, 2022

Killjoy says,

I wanted to show you this image … um, of what a six-week pregnancy looks like. … I wanted to show you this [snicker], because this is what has more rights than you.

She then shows a petri dish with placental tissue and purportedly a six-week-old fetus. What she doesn’t say is that at this stage the fetus is about the size of a pomegranate seed and, therefore, difficult to see or recognize in a petri dish full of placental tissue. Sharing that information would have undermined her goal of making prenatal humans seem, well, not human.

Here’s an alternative photo she could have shared, this one of a 6-7-week-old fetus:

When Killjoy claims that “this” has more rights than you, what exactly does she mean? What rights do pro-life advocates think prenatal humans possess that their mothers don’t? The only right that conservatives believe innocent prenatal humans possess is the right not to be exterminated. Last time I checked women possess that right as well.

Killjoy believes prenatal humans do not possess that right. She believes that the degree of development, health, dependency status, financial security and educational goals of their mothers, and criminality of their fathers determine whether prenatal humans should be allowed to live or not. If a human has a fatal defect, kill her. If a human will be born into poverty, kill him. If a human was conceived in rape, definitely kill her.

Killjoy continued about the second dead human:

And this is a nine-week pregnancy. There’s no fetus. It’s just tissue, and a gestational sac, and oftentimes not even an embryo at this point. I’m showing you this because the vast majority of abortions—85% of abortions—occur before ten weeks, and this is it. This is what they’re going to let us die for. This is what they’re saying has a constitutional right to personhood while we don’t.  [Chuckling] They’re going to let us get sick and die. [Still chuckling] They’re going to let us get raped and be forced to carry pregnancies. They’re going to ruin raped children’s lives for this [points to the petri dish of placental tissue and apparently nothing else]

Wow. So much deceit, so little time.

If, as Killjoy stated, there is “no fetus,” how is the photo relevant? If, however, there is a nine-week-old fetus—as Killjoy also stated—floating around in the petri dish, then science tells us he or she has webbed fingers and toes developing on his or her paddle-like hands and feet, “tiny teeth buds,” and a four-chambered beating heart. I think some scientists unfamiliar to Killjoy have seen those human body parts.

To be more accurate than Killjoy, the video doesn’t show either a six-week or nine-week pregnancy. I doubt a “pregnancy” of any duration could ever be seen in a petri dish.

The photos show the products of an abortion, which–to be accurate–are a placenta, an amniotic sac, and a human fetal corpse.

The CDC reports that in 2019, “Surgical abortion accounted for 52.2% of abortions at 7–9 weeks’ gestation.” In 2020, the number of abortions increased over 2019, so if the rate remained the same in 2020, then about 485,544 humans with (according to the Mayo Clinic) human heads, lips, noses, eyelids, arms and fingers, legs and toes, spines, and beating hearts are exterminated annually.

Killjoy needs to present some evidence for her bizarre claim that women of childbearing age are being denied the “constitutional right to personhood.”

Killjoy also needs to explain exactly how pro-life advocates are going to “let” women die. Not killing preborn humans does not entail letting women die. And ending pregnancies due to medical emergencies that threaten women’s lives does not require intentionally killing preborn humans.

I don’t know any political leader or pro-life advocate who “lets women get raped.” Perhaps Killjoy could share some names.

By her use of the awkward euphemism “forced pregnancy,” Killjoy means opposition to women taking the lives of other less powerful humans.

Many believe that if the right to control one’s reproduction comes into direct conflict with another human’s right merely to exist, the right to exist is a right of a higher moral order. In fact, it’s the right on which all other rights depend.

Rape of a minor child is horrific, but the extermination of a human resulting from such a crime is another crime. Something leftists like Killjoy don’t consider is that killing a human conceived in rape may compound the suffering of a minor girl. Moreover, the end of alleviating the suffering of minor rape victims does not justify the means of killing another human.

Killjoy’s photos point to her childish ethical reasoning, suggesting she believes incipient human lives deserve protection only when they look like humans. But Killjoy believes no such thing. She believes,

[A]bortion should be legal without any restrictions – no parental consent laws, no mandated ultrasounds, no waiting periods, no bans on late term abortions and no bans on federal funding for abortion.

Killjoy concluded by lying again:

So, when someone tries to argue with you about abortion, or when you hear a politician talk about the sanctity of life and life starting at conception …, this [pointing to petri dish photos] is what they’re saying is more important than you.

Nope, no advocate for the right of preborn humans not to be exterminated says those still-developing humans are more important than their mothers. Rather, pro-life advocates say that preborn humans possess intrinsic value and deserve not to be killed because they’re imperfect, or not fully developed, or unwanted by their biological mothers.

Due to the reversal of Roe V. Wade, Planned Parenthood has been forced to close many clinics in states whose lawmakers and governors are upholding the sanctity of life. But sadly, the culture of death has so pervaded our society that many women in more pro-life states have been traveling to pro-abortion states (like Illinois) to kill their babies.

According to an article by the Christian Post, one clinic in Illinois has seen a 30 percent increase in abortion patients and a 340 percent increase in women arriving from outside Illinois.

As a response to their inundated abortion mills (and the reversal of Roe V. Wade), Planned Parenthood is debuting a 37-foot RV that will prowl the borders of Illinois near more pro-life states to offer quicker and easier access to abortion.

Planned Parenthood’s RV will facilitate chemical abortions (using the abortion pill) on babies up to eleven weeks gestation. Planned Parenthood is hoping for the RV to eventually be equipped to commit surgical abortions, as well.

In John 10:10 Jesus says (speaking of the gospel of salvation), “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Abortion is predicated on the gospel of self; living for your own pleasures, and your own desires. This gospel of self, while promising fulfillment, ultimately leads to a culture of death (and not salvation), because the main goal is to fulfill your own desires and needs before anyone else’s. It steals, kills, and destroys, whereas the true gospel gives life.

Abortion is child sacrifice on the alter of I. The devil is a roaring lion, seeking to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Planned Parenthood’s abortion RV makes it easier to devour the lives of those made in the image of God and is part of the devil’s response to Roe V. Wade’s overturn.

Planned Parenthood’s RV doesn’t just devour the lives of the unborn. Pro-life advocates have pointed out that it’s dangerous for the mother, as well. Since the vehicle only administers chemical abortions (so far), they will give women the first pill, and send her home to take the second pill alone. According to an article by the Washington Post, the second pill “causes intense uterine contractions intended to force the mother’s uterus to expel the body of her aborted child.”

This pill is dangerous, painful, and traumatizing for the women who take it, and it can result in the death of both the mother and the child. The Planned Parenthood RV will start a woman on the pill, then send her home to deal with the rest of it by herself.

A culture of death is what you get when you turn away from the gospel of life as America has. A nation that forgets God also forgets the morals that He created, because hearts that do not know the Lord strive against Him. So what can we do? Well, a culture of death can only be changed by the gospel of Christ. John 1:5 says,

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Now, more than ever, the church is needed in culture. To stand up, speak out, and remain firmly planted on the gospel of Christ by reaching out to our  communities with the hope that comes from Him. Working to serve mothers in your area or partnering with pregnancy centers to assist them in providing resources is another great way to help.  Above all, remaining steadfastly in prayer, for “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).

Now that the Dobbs decision has shifted the abortion debate to the state-by-state battle, both the pro-life and pro-choice movements have galvanized for this new arena. Pro-life states moved quickly to pass state-level abortion bans (at least thirteen states have done so already), while pro-abortion forces have endeavored to solidify or even expand abortion access in their states.

However, one pro-choice politician is not content to merely ensure that babies can be legally dismembered in his state. California Governor Gavin Newsom has openly invited residents of pro-life states to travel to California to have the dirty deed done—and used Scripture to prove he’s right.

California had already been preparing for the downfall of Roe several months before it finally fell. But now, in the post-Roe world, Newsom and his colleagues have been working tirelessly to ensure that their state is a “sanctuary” for abortion—fighting with money, legislation, and inter-state collaboration.

• Not only did the state dedicate $200 million toward increasing abortion access, but also prohibited insurance companies from charging co-pays, essentially making abortions free.

• Having already passed a dozen bills to increase abortion access, the state is now gunning for an amendment to the California constitution that would cement unlimited abortion access into the state constitution itself.

• The state has also joined with its Pacific neighbors Oregon and Washington in a “Multi-State Commitment to Reproductive Freedom,” proclaiming their joint resolve to “defend access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion and contraceptives.”

However, securing his state as a safe space for slaughter was apparently just Newsom’s first step. Last month, he used $100,000 from his re-election campaign fund to set up billboards in seven pro-life states—Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, and South Dakota. These billboards chastised the stance of these “anti-freedom” states, with statements like “Texas doesn’t own your body. You do.” They also reassured residents that “California is ready to help,” inviting them to visit the state’s new abortion access website abortion.ca.gov, which provides information on how to find and pay for an abortion in California as well as warnings about the “fake clinics” known as crisis pregnancy centers.

It’s eyebrow-raising enough, why Newsom’s re-election campaign—for the California governorship—is erecting signs in South Carolina. But what’s especially stunning is the message he chose to put on the Mississippi version of his propaganda. “Need an abortion? California is ready to help. Learn more at abortion.ca.gov,” announces the advertisement, in big white and yellow all-caps. This is plastered above a message in smaller italics: “‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.’ -Mark 12:31.” Apparently, Newsom thinks that by proliferating abortion, he’s obeying the commandments of God.

No doubt aimed at the conservative Bible-belt culture in Mississippi, Governor Newsom’s reference to Scripture has garnered a visceral reaction from the Christian community.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, expressed her shock at Newsom’s appropriation of Scripture toward such evil ends: “This makes me sick . . . Simply no words for how twisted this is.”

California Pastor John MacArthur (Grace Community Church) issued an open letter to the governor, criticizing his “reprehensible act of gross blasphemy, quoting the very words of Jesus from Mark 12:31 as if you could somehow twist His meaning and arrogate His name in favor of butchering unborn infants.” As MacArthur characterized it, “You used the name and the words of Christ to promote the credo of Molech (Leviticus 20:1–5). It would be hard to imagine a greater sacrilege.”

Fellow California pastor Don Adam (Mid-Cities Baptist Church) concurred, expressing his fear for Governor Newsom—”that he would take the Holy Scripture completely out of context and use it to make people feel good that they can be a ‘neighbor’ to women who want an abortion.” As Adam sees it, “It’s dangerous for him, but also for women who are in crisis mode. When they see the Bible quoted, they may think that this is OK.”

And California Family Council president Jonathan Keller put his thoughts this way: “The idea that you would actually use the words of Jesus as a justification and enticement that abortion is a way of loving your neighbor . . . honestly, it’s something that I don’t think you could be more blasphemous if you were trying.”

The Left usually hates the Word of God, because the Word of God usually refutes their agenda and exposes their motives. This is why the Left has been on a century-long campaign to remove the Bible and biblical teaching from both the public square and private life. However, when the Left can find a way to twist the Word of God to support their agenda, they somehow become fine with playing the Bible-card. It seems that “separation of church and state” magically just doesn’t apply—that is, if the state is butchering the Word of God to justify butchering those made in His image.  

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently rented billboards in several pro-life states and slathered them with pro-abortion messages inviting pregnant women to get their abortions in California. One billboard in particular, however, stood out, because Newsom ended his pro-abortion message with the words of Jesus in Mark 12:31: “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Christians were outraged, and rightly so. It’s wrong to promote baby murder, and it’s doubly wrong to twist the words of Christ to promote it. Pastor John MacArthur wrote a letter (which you can find HERE) to Newsom, in which he not only boldly and clearly told the governor that this misuse of Scripture was blasphemy, he pleaded with the governor to consider the eternality of his soul.

The Bible has a lot to say about leaders, good and evil, and the power of God’s Word. Isaiah 10:1-2 says, “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”

Note the inference that what makes the decrees iniquitous and writings oppressive is the effects that they have – they turn the needy aside from justice, they rob the poor of their right, and on top of that, they prey on widows and the fatherless.

The abortion lobby does just those things. Their message is aimed at poor, young, husbandless women. Many are fatherless, and for those with fathers, the abortion industry passes laws (like the Parental Notice of Abortion Act), so that parents will never hear of it. Not to mention the boatload of stories where Planned Parenthood has aided and abetted traffickers. Unfortunately, all you have to do is go to a website called Live Action and search ‘traffickers’ to know this.

Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Twisting Scripture to call abortion loving is the very fulfillment of this verse. The Bible tells us that God created men and women in His own image (Genesis 1:27), treats the unborn as human and precious (Psalm 139:13-16, Exodus 1:22-25, Luke 1:40-44, etc.), and takes the murder of an image-bearer very seriously (Genesis 9:6). Life is sacred because we are made in the image of God. That’s why the devil is always seeking to destroy it. So much of what’s going on in our culture right now is the result of the age-old spiritual battle. We are not fighting against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), and this fight for the unborn is really just one more battle in a war that’s lasted since Genesis 3.

A final thought  

Ironically, the mere use of Scripture on the billboard proclaims a reality abortion advocates don’t want to face. The verse they used says ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’. But Newsom and his campaign intentionally left off the whole Scripture quote:  “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” God, the Creator of morality, determines what love is. It’s not something for us to decide based off of what’s culturally cool or our own whims and ideas.

Loving God is why we love our neighbor, and He shows us how in His Word when Christ laid His life down for us. Love involves giving life. Not taking it.

In Isaiah 55:11, the Lord says, “So shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” God’s Word is powerful, even when it’s misused. And we know how this battle ends. Fortunately, God wins.

Uh oh, somebody at the Today Show didn’t get the message from the Ministry of Truth. Last week, a panel of four Today Show talking heads called the human creature with human organs, a human head, human limbs, human features, and human expressions growing inside of a woman a “baby.” #HumanHeadsWillRoll Stacey Abrams is not going to be happy about that.

Science-denier, election-denier, presidential-wannabe, softcore porn writer, and conspiracy-theorist nonpareil Stacey Abrams thinks Americans are not only deplorable but gullible. Last week she startled the nation with this pronouncement:

There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks. It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body.

In her peculiar conspiracy theory, who designed the “manufactured sound to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body”? What is her evidence for this nefarious plot? As an aside, does Abrams need to be on some meds?

One wonders if Abrams conferred with Calculated Carnage—also known as Planned Parenthood (PP)—on her bolus of truthiness. Until recently Planned Parenthood’s website said this about human fetal development at gestational weeks 5-6:

A very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop

That was then. This is now:

A part of the embryo starts to show cardiac activity. It sounds like a heartbeat on an ultrasound, but it’s not a fully-formed heart — it’s the earliest stage of the heart developing.

PP sophists desperately hope Americans are as scientifically ignorant as Abrams pretends to be. PP hopes that Americans don’t know what part of the human embryo produces “cardiac” activity and that Americans believe upon full developmental maturity a body part turns into something wholly different.

Unfortunately for the PP sophists, Americans do know, for example, that when babies are born prematurely, their still-developing body parts that produce respiratory activity are lungs. Many Americans understand that a developing human heart is as a much a human heart as a developing human is, in objective reality, a human. If still-developing human hearts were not human hearts, then body-snatchers and research institutions wouldn’t be paying PP top dollars for them.

Abrams isn’t alone in coming up with strained rhetorical contrivances to avoid humanizing tiny humans. This past February, New York Times staff writer Roni Caryn Rabin described the sound mothers hear on an ultrasound at six weeks as being produced by “a primitive tube of cardiac cells that emit electric pulses and pump blood.”

In her elaborate attempt to convince people that an organized, complex, self-directed mass of “cardiac cells that emit electric pulses and pump blood” is nothing whatsoever like a beating human heart, Rabin elaborates:

The electric activity begins at around six weeks in a tube of cells that will become a heart, after multiple gyrations.

It will bend and loop and twist itself into an S shape. Thick cushions of embryonic tissue will grow toward one another to create walls, and a ridge on the floor of the ventricle will rise to meet them to partition the heart. If all goes well, four chambers and valves will form by the ninth or 10th week of pregnancy, and the heart will continue developing throughout gestation. But a heartbeat’s familiar “lub-dub, lub-dub” sound is created by the closing of the heart’s valves, which do not exist in the six-week-old cardiac tube.

Is that the medical term for the complex development of the human heart: “gyrations”? I thought gyrations were what Elvis’s wayward pelvis did.

At least as noteworthy as Rabin’s emphatic assertion that THERE IS NO FOUR-CHAMBERED HEART INSIDE ANY SIX-WEEK-OLD HUMAN, is her admission that “if” all goes well, those pesky chambers and valves will be present by the ninth or tenth week of pregnancy.

Since Abrams supports the legalized slaughter of tiny humans throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy for any or no reason, the age at which a human heart has four chambers and beats means nothing to her.

As of Jan. 24, 2022, Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, Director of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University writing on the well-known website Baby Center said this:

a baby’s heartbeat can be detected by transvaginal ultrasound as early as 3 to 4 weeks after conception, or 5 to 6 weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period.

YIKES! “Baby”? “Heartbeat”? What was Dr. Berghella saying? And why did Baby Center even have a man writing about pregnancy. Sheesh.

By July 20, 2022, writer Karen Miles—not a doctor—had changed the section to imply a more palatable, less humanish development:

You may be able to see the beating of cells in the heart tube for the first time when you’re about 6 weeks pregnant. … At 5 to 6 weeks of pregnancy, there’s a flickering of cells within the embryo’s torso. This flickering is the developing heart tube. At this point, the heart isn’t the four-chambered organ we’re familiar with.

Can’t say the word “beating.” Wouldn’t be prudent. “Beating” might suggest to women that there’s a human with a life-sustaining heart inside her. Instead, Miles used the word “flickering,” which means “to move unsteadily or irregularly.”

Prying itself from the conspiracy to control women, in June 2021, ABC News said that Texas’ heartbeat law “bans abortion once the rhythmic contracting of fetal cardiac tissue — aka the ‘fetal heartbeat’ — can be detected.” “Fetal heartbeat” was in scare quotes. “Rhythmic contracting of fetal cardiac tissue” was not.

The terrifying conspiracy to “convince the world that men have the right to take control of women’s bodies” is ubiquitous, hiding in plain sight for all the tin-foil hat-accoutered paranoiacs to see. WebMD says that at week 6 “your baby’s tiny heart has started to beat.”

Healthline states that “A fetal heartbeat may first be detected by a vaginal ultrasound as early as 5 1/2 to 6 weeks.”

Medline Plus states that at gestational weeks 6-7 a “Baby’s heart continues to grow and now beats at a regular rhythm. This can be seen by vaginal ultrasound.”

The American Pregnancy Association says that “Generally, from [gestational age] 6 ½ -7 weeks [fetal age: 5 weeks] is the time when a heartbeat can be detected.”

Maybe one day mad pink-hatters will stomp their jackbooted feet and shriek, “It’s not a baby!” until they stomp a hole in the ground and disappear into the dark Upside Down where non-sense and feelings rule, and evil is relished as good. In that day, women will let their babies’ hearts keep beating.

Roe v. Wade had long been a prize jewel in the crown of leftist accomplishments. And Democrats fought hard against appointing the new justices who recently overthrew it. Now that it’s gone, the liberals are destroying every obstacle they can to get it back. Next target: the U.S. Senate filibuster.

The U.S. Senate is currently split between 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 2 independents who caucus with their Democratic colleagues. Because of this 50-50 split, Vice President Kamala Harris has often stepped in to cast the tie-breaking vote on gridlocked bills, essentially giving the Democratic party a majority by one vote. While this bodes well on paper for the Democratic party, U.S. Senate dynamics often prohibit such a razor-thin majority from effectively passing bills—thanks to the filibuster.

Dating back to the ancient Roman senate, the filibuster is a tactic used by minority legislators to stall (and hopefully permanently block) a bill before it can be passed by the majority. Historically, a filibusterer would take the floor and speak for hours at a time—a 1908 U.S. Senate filibuster lasted eighteen hours—and since the U.S. Senate could not conduct business while a senator was talking, the bill would be stalled. (Since 1970, however, filibusters have not been required to be actual speeches; often, a minority senator will simply threaten to filibuster, which suffices to stall the bill under the current U.S. Senate dynamics.)

In the U.S. Senate, a 60-vote supermajority is required to end debate on a certain issue, which, practically speaking, means that a minority can use the filibuster to block a bill until 60 senators can be convinced to vote for it. And unfortunately for the Democratic party, they do not hold 60 seats in the Senate.

Democrats have found ways to work around the filibuster obstacle, such as compromising with Republicans or passing bills under the “budget reconciliation process” which allows certain bills to be passed with the 51 votes they currently have. But the long and short of it is, if Republicans won’t compromise, and the Democrat-sponsored bill can’t fit under budget reconciliation terms, then it’s very hard for Democrats to pass their initiatives. And, with such a momentous issue as abortion on the line, the party does not intend to let it stay that way.

The party has already tried once this year to get rid of the filibuster. In January, U.S. Senate Republicans stopped a Democrat “voting rights bill” for the fifth time in six months, and, failing yet again to reach the 60-vote count, U.S. Senate Democrats responded by attempting to change filibuster rules to allow the bill to pass by a 51-vote majority. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they couldn’t even unify their own party behind the motion. Democrats Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) opposed removing the sixty-vote margin, with Manchin arguing that

“Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn’t meant to be easy. I cannot support such a perilous course for this nation . . . putting politics and party aside is what we’re supposed to do.”

Thus, with two Democrats joining the Republicans, the filibuster was preserved on a vote of 52-48. As it is now, an abortion law also looks unlikely before the November election.

However, despite being unable to pass important bills without Republican support, and now even unable to unify their own party to remove the filibuster roadblock, Democrats aren’t giving up. Their next goal—announced in advance—is to gain at least two more seats in the U.S. Senate. They can’t convert Manchin and Sinema, so they’ll simply fill two more seats with senators who will toe the party line. In her remarks to the Democratic National Committee a few weeks ago, Vice President Harris spelled out the game plan:

“Democrats, with just two more seats in the Senate, we can codify Roe v Wade. We can put the protections of Roe into law. (Applause) . . . I cannot wait to cast the deciding vote to break the filibuster on voting rights and reproductive rights.  I cannot wait.  (Applause.)  Fifty-nine days.  Fifty-nine days.“

If Democrats can flip two U.S. Senate seats in this election, then they will have the votes to overcome Manchin and Sinema’s immovable moderate stance, and with a new 50-50 vote on removing the filibuster, Harris will step in with the tiebreaker. That’s the new game plan: no annoying pro-filibuster majority, no filibuster. No filibuster, no Republican bill-blocking. No Republican bill-blocking, and Roe v. Wade is back again. This time, as a federal law passed by Congress and signed by the president.

This so-called “Women’s Health Protection Act” is the Democrats’ attempt to codify Roe‘s national abortion protections, which were removed when Roe was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling. As LifeNews summarizes, this bill would:

• “Eliminate all state and federal parental consent laws in relation to abortion”

• “Eliminate all state informed consent laws, including those that allow women to view an ultrasound prior to abortion”

• “Prevent states from passing laws to protect babies at 20 weeks, thereby joining countries like North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands in not protecting unborn children later in development”

• “Force doctors and nurses opposed to abortion to lose their jobs, and Catholic hospitals could lose public funds unless they perform abortions”

• “Eliminate decades-long limitations on direct taxpayer funding of abortion – including the popular Hyde Amendment, which has saved more than 2 million lives since enacted“

And since the act has already been passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is two U.S. Senate seats away from being signed by a very willing president. This upcoming election matters.

This midterm campaign, multiple Democrat candidates have appeared who are specifically advertising themselves as a Democrat votes against the filibuster. Further, a recent NPR poll reported that about two-thirds of Democrat respondees said they were more motivated to vote in the upcoming election, once the draft of Dobbs was leaked to the public. The alarming flipside is that only 40 percent of Republicans said the same thing. The battle is not over; now is not the time for Republican voters or legislators to sit on their behinds and bask in the laziness of apparent victory. The battle is moving from the courts to the Congress, and Democrats are, too.

If pro-life Republicans don’t get their act together, they could very well find themselves on the mat after all. Lives depend on it.

Written by Penny Pullen

We cannot remain silent in our disappointment over the move by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) to propose a federal ban on post-15-week abortions.

This proposal – introduced at a time when it has literally zero chance of passing – serves only to put pro-life candidates on the spot during an abortion-heated campaign season. Our candidates are being poorly served already by professional consultants brought in by the GOP leadership and campaign chiefs; dropping an unpassable proposal into the spotlight serves them even worse, pinning them to the wall.

Many states are already adopting stricter limits and even bans on abortion; a weaker federal proposal undercuts their pioneering efforts and state enforcement. And the response by DC sponsors that their bill will treat differently the lives of children in states with stricter policies calls into sharp question the constitutionality of such a proposal.

For so many inexcusable reasons, the proposal becomes a press-release bill, not a serious bid for serious reform. And it is inexcusably divisive within the pro-life community, just weeks before what will likely be a watershed election.

We suggest that if our federal lawmakers want to bring their pro-life convictions into a useful campaign for reform – even at this late date in the legislative process – they focus instead on such reforms as demanding that the Hyde Amendment be re-adopted as a no-compromise requirement for their votes on any spending measures.

And in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s having sent the right to life of unborn children to the states for their widely varying lawmaking, we urge that our federal lawmakers revive now the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act to protect the adolescents in states neighboring abortion havens. The disparate treatment of abortion law by the various states makes this long-languishing proposal now a matter of added urgency.

Another area our federal lawmakers should be addressing is the blocking of Biden Regime regulatory and bureaucratic schemes to push abortion through offering abortions at the VA – a federal issue – and the atrocious pressure coming from such bureaucracies as the Dept. of Health & Human Services, which is shredding conscience protections for medical personnel and finding contorted workarounds to put taxpayers on the hook for the killing of unborn children.

Let the states deal with abortion bans for now. There’s so much going on at the federal level – yes, on abortion – that you could be dealing with. Please, stay in your lane. If you do not rise up now on the Biden Regime’s undermining of the Dobbs ruling and of the right to life, which is in our nation’s founding charter, when will you? Leave the states to do their job. Please.

This article was originally published by Life Advocacy Project and is reprinted here with permission.

This info provided by Rockford Family Initiative regarding what you can do to stop an abortion facility from opening:

ACTION ITEM: Contact Alderman Frank Beach and encourage him to STOP the Maray Drive abortion mill from opening!

We have been working with Alderman Frank Beach (whose district includes the proposed clinic on Maray Drive) to explore all options to prevent the Maray Drive abortion mill from opening. Now we need your help – PLEASE call him today and encourage him to do everything in his power to stop the clinic from opening.

Alderman Beach’s contact information:

Phone: 815-399-3737
Email: AldermanFrankBeach@gmail.com

At a recent public meeting, the Rockford City Administrator (Todd Cagnoni) said that the Rockford city council could explicitly exclude abortion clinics from the zoning that includes the Maray Drive location. Any of the city alderman could propose the zoning change.

Alderman Frank Beach is the alderman of the district that includes Maray Drive. I need you to to call him ASAP and encourage him to make this proposal at the city council! If we don’t stop the abortion clinic from opening NOW, thousands of little innocent babies could be killed in Rockford.

Please contact Alderman Beach today, RIGHT NOW.

Alderman Beach’s contact information:

Phone: 815-399-3737
Email: AldermanFrankBeach@gmail.com

Here is a very simple script you could use for your conversation with Alderman Beach:

‘Alderman Beach – thank you for all you have done to oppose abortion in Rockford.  Please make a proposal at the city council to prohibit abortion clinics from opening in locations zoned as C-2, including the proposed location at 4236 Maray Drive. Doing this could save the lives of thousands of innocent children in Rockford! Thank you and God bless!’

Sometimes the smallest gesture can make a huge difference in a person’s life. A welcoming smile, a phone call, or an encouraging note received at an opportune moment has the power to turn despair into hope. This fall, just one hour of prayer could make a life-changing, life-saving difference in not one but two lives.

If you’ve ever participated in a 40 Days for Life peaceful prayer campaign, you know what I mean. As men and women gather to pray outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic or other abortion mill, the truth of James 5:16 is manifested: the earnest prayers of the righteous followers of God are powerful and effective. And, while prayer is of the utmost importance, the value of the physical presence of prayer warriors cannot be overstated.

Over and over again, we’ve heard women recount how their hearts softened and their minds were changed as they witnessed 40 Days for Life participants praying for them and for their unborn babies. Many women have admitted that, though they had decided to have their babies aborted, they had also decided that if one person acknowledged them, smiled at them, or spoke kindly to them, they wouldn’t go through with it.

Will you allow God to use you?

Your peaceful, prayerful presence communicates the message that every life is fearfully and wonderfully made and bears the image of his or her Creator, the Holy God of the Universe. Women facing a crisis pregnancy need to know that the lives they are carrying are precious to our gracious and merciful Lord — and to us. God loves and cares for each mother and her baby. These mothers also need to see that the people of God love and care for them in the midst of their pregnancies and beyond.

This year’s 40 Days for Life campaign begins on Wednesday, September 28 and runs through Sunday, November 6. In order to cover the approximately 960-hour duration of the campaign, many prayer warriors are needed. Families, Bible study small groups, Sunday school classes, choir members, college students, co-workers, and others have traditionally come together for an hour of prayer every week at a nearby Planned Parenthood center. What a blessing it would be if you and your praying family and friends would join with thousands of pro-life supporters this fall as we earnestly pray that unborn life would be valued and preserved, and abortion would be abolished!

Take ACTION: Please visit 40daysforlife.com for more information and to sign up for a location and prayer time. One hour a week over 6 weeks could change a life–just one hour a week spent being a silent witness in loving, prayerful support of two lives. This relatively small commitment could be the most important hour you’ll spend in prayer this year.

Our friend Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church, recorded a short video exhortation for IFI readers to encourage Christians to use the power of God in prayer against abortion and for the sanctity of life. Listen to his wisdom and advice:

Join us in partnering with 40 Days For Life and, we hope that with God’s people petitioning heaven, we will see the beginning of the end of abortion in America!

Click on a city near you to sign up to be a part of 40 Days For Life. 

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Granite City

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Waukegan

Labor Day is approaching, and summer will soon give way to autumn. Many of us look forward to the change of seasons, watching the leaves change color, breathing in the crisp morning air, and picking apples with our kids or grandkids.

We surmise too that many, like the IFI staff, look forward to a strong pendulum swing in the election on November 8th. Political pundits admit that their predictions of the overall outcome are imprecise this far out. We know that over the next two months attitudes and interest levels could change. For those reasons, there is no doubt that Christians should be praying fervently for God’s mercy on our state and nation now and through the election, especially for God-fearing, pro-life candidates to prevail.

The national sin of abortion is front-and-center once again. While we praise God for the Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down the federal so-called “right to abortion,” we see the enemies of life working diligently to open new abortuaries in blue states as close as possible to red states with significant restrictions and/or abortion bans in order to “serve” the surge of patients already traveling across state borders to terminate the lives of unborn babies.

For example, CHOICES, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is opening a clinic in the college town of Carbondale. On the Wisconsin-Illinois Border, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is teaming up with Planned Parenthood of Illinois for an abortion mill in Waukegan. And according to a July 11th article by MyStateLine.com, a death clinic is in the works for Rockford.

These three facilities are in addition to the recently established clinics in Fairview Heights, Flossmoor, and Skokie, which have opened up over the past 5-6 years.

Nationally, we see a similar trend. Red River Women’s Clinic, which was North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic, is planning to relocate across the river to Minnesota. Planned Parenthood is working to open a new clinic in Ontario, Oregon, to serve the women expected to leave neighboring Idaho in search of abortions. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Mississippi clinic at the center of the Dobbs case overturning Roe v. Wade, is moving to Las Cruces, New Mexico just 20 minutes from the Texas border.

Our prayers must include an acknowledgement of the wickedness of innocent blood being shed in our state/nation and an earnest appeal for God’s forgiveness and mercy. We need to pray for women in crisis pregnancies and for sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors who stand vigil in front of these facilities. May their faithful witness turn hearts away from death to the Author of abundant life! (John 10:10)

We must recognize that prayer is where we start. We must lend our voice and actions to the pro-life goal of turning Illinois into a state that values human life at all stages of development. We must pray that God would soften the hearts of our friends, neighbors and family members while we work to lovingly persuade those same people with the truth of what abortion is and does. We all must engage in educating, equipping and exhorting the culture around us. We must shine the light of truth to those who hear only the lies of Big Abortion, Inc. and their allies in the media.

God is infuriated with the shedding of innocent blood (Psalm 106:38; Proverbs 6:16-17) and the apathy of so many Christians who remain on the sidelines in the face of evil (Ezekiel 12:2; James 1:22-25). Make no mistake, He sees what is going on in Illinois. But God gives us insight into why it appears He may have overlooked this grave evil.

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~2 Peter 3:9

God wants us to repent, and He is sovereign. He wants to work through us to change everything–even the hearts of those who work inside these clinics. Let’s not forget that God specializes in hard cases. (Jeremiah 32:37; Luke 1:37; Ephesians 3:20; Luke 18:27)

We are to pray for one another too (Ephesians 6:18; James 5:16), because we tend to grow weary and discouraged. Therefore, we should be praying for the strength and resolve of those who are on the frontlines of this battle as we also pray that God would remove all fear and timidity from Christians who have not yet engaged in the battle for truth, righteousness, and the sanctity of human life.

Here are some additional prayers to lift up before our holy God through the name of Jesus over the next several weeks:

Thank God

• Praise the Son of the Living God, our Creator and our Guide. Praise Him for His great faithfulness, day in and day out. Praise Him for encouraging us to approach Him in prayer and for being our Helper. Thank Him for being Jehovah Jireh, the One who provides for all our needs. We serve and worship the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Jesus, the Name above all names.

• Praise and thank our holy and righteous God for the religious and civil freedoms that we still enjoy today in the United States. Pray that future generations uphold these freedoms and defend them. (Luke12:42-48)

• Thank God for His countless blessings in our lives, families, communities, and nation. Thank Him for the trials and challenges that draw us closer to Him. Thank God for the patience, strength, and faith to wait out the storm. (Psalm 92:1-2)

• PRAY for revival. (Psalm 85:6; John 8:32; James 5:16)

Please Pray:

• That God will open the eyes of policymakers and candidates running for office to the sanctity of life. Pray that they will become defenders of innocent human life and not enablers of sexual immorality and death.

• That in the 2022 election season, pro-life candidates will have the time, energy, and funding needed to saturate their districts with their campaign messages and materials.

• That God will work in the hearts and minds of our state lawmakers and governor and that He will draw them to Him and His truth. (Proverbs 21:1-8)

• That efforts to indoctrinate children in government schools will fail and that local school boards will reject the left-wing agenda for their students in kindergarten through 12th grade that include false and destructive critical race theory, sex-education, and LGBTQ advocacy.

• That God will stir up Christian parents, grandparents, and church leaders about exiting public schools and to instead consider what they can do to pass on the Christian faith through discipleship and biblical character training.

Pray for the Sanctity of Life:

• Lift up all pregnancy resource centers and those diligently reaching out to vulnerable mothers who feel as if abortion is their only option. Please pray for God’s hand of protection on those who work at these ministries and that any planned attacks would be thwarted.

• Pray for a cultural awakening about abortion. Scripture teaches us that the image of God dwells equally in all people [Gen. 9:6], yet far too many in our culture believe that killing pre-born human beings is a legitimate choice. Many so-called “progressives” advocate for this under the banner of “reproductive rights” for women. Yet these narratives deny God’s truth about the sanctity of life and when it begins.

• Please pray for God’s forgiveness for our culture’s wickedness and complicity in the destruction of human life. Though God commands, “You Shall Not Murder,” we have instead legalized it and subsidized it with our tax dollars and have failed to treat all human life as sacred to the Lord. We deserve God’s judgment, but please cry out to God for his MERCY on our state and nation. Thankfully, God’s mercies are new every day. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

• Pray for a softening of hearts and minds. May God give us opportunities to minister to those who are hurting and may our conversations be filled with His grace and love.

• Pray that the church steps up to teach and defend God’s truth regarding the sanctity of life. We are already seeing an increase in abortion traffic into our state as people come to abortion facilities in Illinois. The opportunities to be salt and light at prayer vigils, as sidewalk counselors, as friends and neighbors, are increasing. Pray that we recognize these opportunities and ask God to work through us to help would-be mothers and fathers avoid the sin of abortion.

Pray for Families:

• PARENTS: Pray that God will give us wisdom and the strength to raise godly children. Help us see the challenges we face as opportunities to train our children toward right thinking and right actions. May God help us to focus on teaching our children the Christian faith, to love the Word of God and to seek to obey His instructions. Help us to disciple our children.

• GRANDPARENTS: Pray that God would use grandparents to fearlessly proclaim the Word of God regarding sin and God’s love. Pray for their role in the training of their grandchildren and wisdom on how to instill a biblical worldview.

• FAMILIES AS SALT AND LIGHT: Pray that God would help your family to be faithful in family worship, in fostering sweet unity and cooperation, and in using your family to spread the truth and light of the Gospel.

Pray, Pray, and Pray Some More

• FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY:  Pray that God will work in the hearts of key federal officials, including President Joe Biden, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

• For the next several weeks, please pray for the political leaders listed below. Of course, this includes praying for Governor J.B. Pritzker and Juliana Stratton and those who serve in their administration.
  • U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
  • U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois)
  • U.S. Senator Patty Murry (D-Washington)
  • U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York)
  • U.S. Representative Drew Ferguson (R-Georgia)
  • U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-Illinois)
  • U.S. Representative Mike Bost (R-Illinois)
  • State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Highland)
  • State Senator Brian Stewart (R-Freeport)
  • State Representative Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa)
  • State Representative Keith Wheeler (R-North Aurora)
  • YOUR local County Board Members

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
~Isaiah 59:1