President Obama Adresses Planned Parenthood

I try to stay quiet on political issues on this blog, but there are just a few things that I cannot stay quiet about. Besides, it’s not hard for any regular follower to read between the lines on where I stand on many issues.

Last week President Obama took the initiative to be the first sitting president to address the controversial industry, Planned Parenthood.

He opened up commending Planned Parenthood’s historic standing as the first health clinic nearly one hundred years ago in Brooklyn, New York. (I suppose it would have been an ill-fitted reminder that Planned Parenthood was founded by a Nazi sympathizer who wanted to do away with the “black” and “yellow” peril. So I won’t hold that against him.)

He stated that Planned Parenthood has one core principle, and that is that women should be allowed to make their own decision about health.

He’s partially right, there. Women should have just as much right as men to make their own decisions about health.

Every person, man or woman, should have a right to check-ups and medical exams and, if needed, proper medical treatment. And every person does have a right, as well as accessibility – even outside of Planned Parenthood.

I understand that these things cost money, and oft-times lots of it. That’s why my wife and I save, and don’t spend frivolously, so that we have the money to go to the doctor if need be. You should check out her newest blog post about great ways to build a savings. But, unfortunately, many people believe we not only have the right to healthcare, but rather, free healthcare.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud the cancer screenings, the counselors (hesitantly), and that insurance can no longer deny coverage because of preexisting conditions through Planned Parenthood. These are good things, and I do recognize that our healthcare system, even before Obamacare, has been seriously flawed.

Planned Parenthood provides these great services, but what is at the core of their industry?

President Obama, in his speech, never once used the word “abortion.” Instead, he replaced it with “contraceptives” at least seven times, and at the very least made two other very clear pro-abortion references (to which one of them received an overwhelming applause out of the blue) in the twelve minutes he spoke.

I dare him and Planned Parenthood supporters to use the word abortion in their talk of “birth control” and “contraceptives.” I’m not even asking that they call it murder.

I’m just asking them to call it what it is. Abortion.

Termination. Of life.

Of rights.

Termination of the right to life.

According to the president, one out of five women turn to Planned Parenthood for healthcare. For many of them, it is their primary healthcare. He pleaded for “more young women … more college students to come through [Planned Parenthood's] doors.”

So why, then, if Planned Parenthood provides free healthcare, would the president pass a law that people shall remain on their parent’s healthcare until they’re 26?

Someone should look into that.

Planned Parenthood and like institutions not only offer the services of the termination of babies, they provide life-long guilt and regret.

They rob the world of would-be greats. (Did you know Steve Jobs was almost aborted?)

They rob prospective parents of a child. (I believe the answer to saving lives is more people making their voices heard through adoption.)

This is the institution our president swore will never go away, and he will stand beside as president of the United States in every way he can. One news analyst commented that President Obama supports Planned Parenthood more than any other institution in the country.

After a few vicious jabs at the Conservative party and their efforts to stop abortion (so much for doing away with party lines, huh?), President Obama said of the current president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, “It’s the only organization she’s been at where her opponents literally get up every day trying to figure out how to keep her from doing her work.”

Count me in as one of them.

Cut the defense budget. Americans will have enough after another attack.

Keep spending our money on frivolous things. Though it will be painful, America can pay it off.

But the buck stops here at abortion. On this I cannot stay silent.

Can you?

If not, then the question I raise to you is,

What do we do?

Lincoln’s Birthday and the Chase for His Killer

In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and in the interest of my home state, California’s largest manhunt currently taking place, I could think of no other book to recommend than this today.

For the average reader, a good book comes across their lap every so often and a great book lands there every other blue moon. For a more-than-average reader like myself, the likelihood of a great book opening itself up is much higher.

MANHUNT: THE TWELVE DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER by James L. Swanson is one such book that I would like to share with you all. You may be asking why I’m recommending a book about a piece of history everyone already knows about front and back. Well for starters, it doesn’t take many pages to learn that you didn’t know the whole story. And secondly, if you’re one of those people, like myself, who wishes you could hop in a time machine and witness climatic moments in history, this book is your portal.

I read the assassination account to Sarabeth and we were both near tears, which is saying how vivid the retelling actually is. I felt like I could reach out and touch the back of President Lincoln’s head as Booth snuck into the vestibule to pull the infamous trigger firing off the shot the nation still hears today.

Furthermore, Manhunt turns into a rapid cat-and-mouse chase as Union soldiers ride through the thickets and country roads, passing Booth by merely yards not once but twice. Booth, with a broken leg, must employ his greatest acting talents to convince people that no, he is indeed not the assassin-at-large, but just a desperate Confederate soldier trying to hold his army together and continue the fight, so will you please take me in for the night?

It makes me wonder if Christopher Jordan Dorner is going through anything similar as I write this.

I would compare this book to CATCH ME IF YOU CAN by Frank W. Abagnale. They’re separated by a hundred years, the crimes committed in each tale are vastly different, but if you’ve seen the brilliant movie version of Catch Me, you know the kind of butterfly-feeling I’m talking about when the hunted is being ruthlessly pursued by the hunter, demanding justice to fall on his prey, yet you’re torn because something sinister inside of you is rooting for the bad guy, not so he can get away, but so that the story can continue.

It was a sad parting when I read the final pages of MANHUNT, but I am thankful that its sequel is sitting on my shelf, about the chase for Jefferson Davis. History buffs and thrill seekers alike would be doing themselves a gross misdeed by overlooking this work of art.

The book contains graphic imagery of stabbings and surgical procedures on victims of bloody crimes. Those with squeamish stomaches might want to be ready to skip a few pages.

What are your favorite history books that put you right in the action?

Sandy Hook Massacre

Forty sets of parents are waking up childless for the second time this morning, or one child short. Siblings are waking up without their brother or sister under their roof, some only for the second time in their lives. Many dogs and cats are still sleeping on empty beds, many grandparents lost faith in this next generation. Uncles lost nieces and nephews. Aunts lost best friends. Friends keep waking up from tearless nights.

The sudden realization of that forever-lost sort of feeling crashed into more than 27 homes again this morning. And it will continue to happen long after the rest of us move on.

Friday, death reigned. But it reigned the day before and the day before that, and it still reigns today. At least in an earthly sense.

But soon, Satan will be de-throned and cast into the fiery pit for all eternity. In the end, sin and death and tears and sorrow will be destroyed forever. And God will comfort His children, young and old. And rest assured that God is comforting many children as you read this.

This is probably why The Hobbit was such a perfect movie to watch at a time like this because it’s a great comfort to see good triumph over evil time and time again.

Our hearts are breaking, and will be broken for a long time. We are also more scared than we ever have been. Our country has entered into a new phase of perversity. Over the last fifteen years we’ve seen our homeland sink deeper and deeper into depravity, starting with the Columbine shootings, the first massive school shooting we had ever heard of.

We’ve gone from high school shootings to college shootings to airplane takeovers to movie theater shootings – and we thought that was the lowest people can sink. Until Friday.

But remember that kids have been killed since the time of Pharaoh. All over the world kids are deliberately killed on a daily basis. Babies have been shamelessly murdered in the womb in our own country longer than we care to remember. There is nothing new under the sun. And people, by and large, are no less evil than Adam Lanza.

That is not to diminish the terror of Friday’s events. An age-old monstrosity, that has been committed since the time of Moses, simply stepped into the spotlight on the most prominent stage in the world, and gained a worldwide audience.

This will continue to happen all over the world, though we will not hear about every instance. There will be many prescriptions to curbing these heinous acts, laws put into place, and security will tighten around every school campus at least for the remainder of the school year.

But let us be clear, as good as some of those things are, it all comes down to the depravity of the human heart. And the only remedy to that is the redemption and love of  a Father who hates this sort of sin more than even we possibly could.

Remember that when we fall into fantasizing about personally punishing the Adam Lanzas and James Holmeses of the world, we are falling prey to the same depravity that they started out with when their crimes were first conceived. Thus our hearts are just as wicked as theirs in God’s eyes.

We must respond to this in love. Pity the murderers who are burning in Hell; resist the temptation to laugh and rejoice over their eternal torment. It does no good to pray for their souls now, because what’s done is done. But know that they are not in Hell because of this, any more than a man who committed one sin early in his life is in Hell.

Adam Lanza is not only paying for his sins from Friday. He’s not even paying for the many curses he uttered under his breath or the white lies he’s told. He’s in Hell for the same reason the other inhabitants are – refusing to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

Not only would he have experienced salvation, but twenty sets of parents would not have woken up childless again this morning. This is part of what we mean as Christians when we say that Jesus saves, and that He has an alternative plan for our world and for humankind.

Detach yourself form the company of Adam Lanza and Timothy Mcveigh, and join with the One who firmly stands against these monsters. You may be concerned for the lives of children and innocent people, which is commendable, but if you are not concerned about their souls, then you care only for what cannot be saved.

Do not be concerned for your own life as you go to the movies or to school or Christmas shopping at the mall, but be concerned about where you will go after your life has ended. We were reminded all too brutally that life is but a vapor, but our souls live on forever. Now is the opportunity to decide where. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and your prayers for the victims, for your friends and family, for your life, will be heard.

Grace, peace, and love be to all the Sandy Hook victims and their families. May they be drawn to Jesus through this unspeakable tragedy. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many lives may be saved” (Genesis 50:20).

Come, Lord Jesus. But only once all your children are gathered. Amen.

Please read this blog post by Dr. Albert Mohler concerning Friday’s tragedy.

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The End is – Still – Near

There’s a lot of talk flooding the Web about the End of the World being just days away. My friend and Bible Study leader, Adam has the best response to this:

“So the Mayan calendar stopped. The calendar sitting on my desk ends too at the end of December and we’ll keep on going just like normal.”

Needless to say, though no one will voice it, people are worried, deep down inside. I guess we’re always worrying about the inevitable, aren’t we? With Hollywood reminding us that it’s not a matter of “If” but “When,” and the Bible itself prophesying about hail the size of basketballs falling from the sky and worldwide earthquakes and widespread wars.

The Israel/Iran crisis doesn’t seem to sooth our fears either, what with Israel being tied to so many prophesies concerning the apocalypse, U.S. spies being crucified in Yemen, not to mention North Korea and its missiles and snow in Southern California (my origin).

National affairs don’t seem to be much of an encouragement either. With the oncoming fiscal cliff drop off, investors are withholding their money, the working class is scrounging around for every penny to save up so they can get through the tsunami of taxes headed their way, riots breaking out over Union labor… the list is endless right there alone.

As unsettling as all this is, this is not new. “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). In fact, things have been worse in the past, before and after Christ, and even in America (I keep hearing about the detestable Jimmy Carter days).

Let’s not forget the horrors of the Holocaust and the Gulag, Nero’s persecution of the Christians, the Colosseum’s glory days, the earthquake of 1906, Egypt’s plagues, Noah’s flood, the Y2K panic, e coli, mad cow disease…

So all this worry over the end of the world happening in just eight days is just silly. The Bible is clear that the angels in Heaven, nor Jesus Himself knows the hour at which the world will stop turning (Matthew 24:36). Only God the Father knows. And He knows where you’ll be – if you’ll even be here at all – and precisely how it will happen, and just how long it will take.

There’s all this talk about being premillennialist, postmillennialst, or amillennialist, Left Behind-ist, zombie apocalypse vs. vampire apocalypse, global warming, or an EMP explosion.

I’ll tell you what. I thought that by last March (of 2012) the stock market would crash and there would be anarchy in the streets. Obviously, I was wrong about that. So there is no need to worry about the end of the world any more than a newborn baby has to worry what college he’s going to get into. He may live long enough to have to figure that out, he may not. And once he’s there, it will be over before he knows it.

The only thing that matters is, are you ready? Because when the end comes (and it won’t be in eight days …it could be in four, or three thousand twenty-four), that will not be the time to choose sides. C.S. Lewis famously says, “There’s no point in choosing to join the winning side after the war is over!”

After all, you don’t undergo surgery for the doctor’s sake. No, you undergo surgery in order to have an improved quality of life afterward. If you are a child of God, the end of the world, or just simply death even, is a necessary procedure to bring about your redemption begun by Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Put your trust, hope, fear (yes, a healthy fear), and confidence in that. And anything else that comes your way will just be a fleeting memory or a non-issue, because you know, as any Christian does, that “The End” according to Hollywood’s or the Mayan’s definition is not the end at all, but the beginning of Life the way it was meant to be lived.

Purchase my suspense/fantasy novel here.

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Christian Thoughts on the Election

The elections are now over and Americans have decided to stay the course the president charted for us four years ago.

I believe readers, on both sides of the political and religious landscapes will find the following posts enlightening. My sentiments are exactly in line with what’s being said in both of them.

Christians, Let’s Honor the President by Dr. Russell Moore

The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our once and future President?

Click here to read the rest: Moore to the Point

Aftermath: Lessons From the 2012 Election by Dr. Albert Mohler

The 2012 U.S. election is over, and more than 100 million Americans participated in the great exercise of democracy — fulfilling the franchise of the vote. Even with some votes not yet counted and some issues as yet clarified, a general picture of the election is clearly in view, and the impact of this election will be both massive and enduring.

Several lessons emerge in the immediate aftermath of the election and Christians should consider them carefully.

Click here to read the rest: AlbertMohler.com

After reading one or both of those posts, please feel free to comment bellow with questions or sentiments or your overall feeling about last night’s results.

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Consider Democracy

During World War II, one of the innumerable government agencies, the Writer’s War Board, couldn’t come up with a working definition of the word democracy. Here’s what E.B. White wrote in the the New Yorker:

Surely the Board knows what democracy is. It is the line that forms on the right. It is the don’t in don’t shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad. It’s the mustard on the hot dog and cream in the rationed coffee. 

By today’s end, a majority of Americans will rejoice in whomever Lady Liberty dubs the crowning office of President and Commander and Chief. Election Day ought to be a time for us to stop and remember how truly fortunate we are as a country to have the freedom to express our opinions, our thoughts, our thanks, and even our anger, in the privacy of a voting booth.

Your voice might not be heard by the White House, but your opinion has been cast. You may feel like you’re just one in a billion – and you are. But when you cast your vote today, think of the soldier laying dying on the battlefield for the exact reason you stand in that booth. He might also have thought that he was just one in a million, but still, his blood helped pay the price for our freedom.

So cast your vote in honor of that soldier, that widow, that fatherless child. You may be one in a billion, but if every person acted neglectfully from that notion, then there would be no one to vote, and the death of that soldier – that one-in-a-million soldier – would be in vain.

Check this blog out before you vote.

Win goodies along with a free copy of my book and enter The Man in the Box contest here.

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The National Day of Prayer

From The American Patriot’s Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb:

The first Thursday in May is the National Day of Prayer, a day that encourages Americans to pray for the United States, its people, and its leaders.

The tradition of a National Day of Prayer dates to 1775, when the Second Continental Congress set aside a day for Americans to pray to “be ever under the care and protection of a kind Providence” as they began the struggle for independence. In the following decades, Congress and the president set aside various days for prayer. In 1863, for example, Lincoln proclaimed “a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer” to help the country get through “the awful calamity of civil war” and for “the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.”

In 1952 Congress and President Truman established a National Day of Prayer as a yearly event. Truman called for a day “on which all of us, in our churches, in our homes, and in our hearts, may beseech God to grant us wisdom to know the course which we should follow, and strength and patience to pursue that course steadfastly.”

In 1988, President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer, urging Americans to ask God for “His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on ourselves, our Nation, our friends in the defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always.”

Check out the book here.

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