September 13, 2017

Abortion

“I Don’t Want to be Aborted, I Want to Be Born” German girl with Down syndrome tells Chancellor Merkel by Dave Andrusko

New Study Highlights Why At-Home Abortions Are Dangerous To Women by Margot Cleveland – “Nearly 20 percent of women undergoing a chemical abortion ignored the label instructions, their doctor’s directive, and their own commitment to return for a follow-up appointment.”

Creation

Video: Water Bugs React To Man Shouting On Lake

Devotional

Bunk
(Source: Christian Medical & Dental Associations Weekly Devotions, 9/12/17)

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (Luke 17:5, NIV 2011).

When I was younger and headed to the international mission field, Satan attacked me in an unsettling way. I can still feel the anxiety as I thought of death. What if my faith is wrong? What if there is no life after death and my faith is just a psychological defense mechanism? I would peer into the dark corners of my room at night, think of infinity without my being there and shiver in the cold darkness. And then, God stepped into my life in emphatic ways and the corners of the room lost their darkness.

On rare occasions, even though I have devoted my life and love to Jesus, I realize the possibility that my Christian faith may not be true—that this whole Christian religion thing may be a defense mechanism I’ve grasped to protect me from the intolerable idea of death and eternal emptiness.

And then I search the evidence—evidence from the facts in my life.

I look back over years of God’s interventions in my life and the lives of those I love and remember what He has done in the lives of those He loves.

I look at events I have witnessed with no reasonable explanation other than Christ in action.

I look at the transformation of people I know, and people the world knows well, with no reasonable explanation other than Christ in action.

I look at the unexplainable growth of the early church, after they had watched their Hero die.

When I look at these facts of life, the evidence points far more reasonably toward the truth of Christ than a fabrication of faith.

And then, I think of my relationship with the risen Lord. How do you invent the power and peace of His presence—the times face-down on the floor where I needed Him and He came, or the moments of worship where I felt His touch as I rose to meet Him, or the cleansing of my sin?

Atheists claim that reason points us away from God.

Bunk.

I haven’t truly doubted God for more than 30 years, but doubt still slides its toe under my door every now and then. When it does, I shiver a bit, sit back momentarily uncertain, and scan my life for the truth—and only Christ makes sense. My faith is revived by the evidence I see, and I am not afraid.

Of course, the truth of life remains whether my faith is weak or strong. Praise God that I am not saved by my fluctuating faith but by the blood of the unwavering Christ.

Dear God,

Strengthen my faith by watching you as you work in this world.

Amen

Family Living

Dangerous Lies Teenage Boys Believe

Father-Daughter Commercial Has The Internet In Tears

“A little girl — about three — was expecting a baby brother. He indeed arrived on a Saturday night. The next morning, the little girl burst into church announcing, ‘He’s out!'” (Source)

Movies – Television – Video

Ben Stiller’s Inconvenient Truths by Kyle Smith

Orphan Care

Audio: Obeying God’s Call to Rescue Orphans – “Dr. Charles Mully shares his incredible testimony of growing up as an orphan in Kenya and later becoming a wealthy businessman who felt called by God to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned children living on the streets.”

Political

The Dogma of Sens. Feinstein and Franken – No Place for Faith in Public Life by Eric Metaxas & Roberto Rivera 

Sexual Purity

Only in the Lord – Dating Unbelievers Deadens Faith by John Stonestreet

Casting New Light on Sexual Exploitation of Men and Boys by Emile Doak – “What is the role of our pornography-obsessed culture?”

Worldview and Culture

Brookfield, Wisconsin, religious radio broadcast to end on September 24 unless help is found by Karen Pilarski

Why You Should Stop Trying To Change People’s Minds by David Marcus – “Today on our televisions, radios, and social media the take-all approach dominates. There is very little room for synthesis, a moment that requires intellectual clarity.”

American Minute with Bill Federer: Francis Scott Key & John Randolph fought to free slaves; the Randolph Settlement for freed slaves in Ohio