As much as I dislike preaching about politics, there are times when it just cannot be avoided and in fact, there are times when the Good Lord seems to be beaconing me to preach over what are viewed at least as being political topics. The topic which I addressed in the sermon this last Sunday was abortion. To be entirely honest, I don't think abortion is either a political nor a religious topic, it's a moral topic. There is just no justification (no matter how hard some try to rationalize and legitimize abortion) to kill an entirely innocent child. Abortion is entirely evil and I apologize if that offends you but it is the truth... to be honest, I didn't address the issues around abortion in the sermon nor will I here, it is absolutely a foregone conclusion that abortion is wrong, evil, and indefensible.
In the sermon, I talk about an elderly Catholic Priest who came into the Gallery in Omaha several years ago, he was a very interesting soul and in many ways, to me he served (and serves) as a harbinger of our fate as a Nation... we are fast approaching the point of no return and we must repent and beg our Lord's forgiveness for deserting the most vulnerable and innocent among us. There is simply no way to take seriously anyone professing to be a 'social justice warrior' who at the same time supports and advocates abortion. If these are your positions I apologize if you are offended but honestly you need to be offended... and you need to repent!
I come to the issue of abortion as one who once was pro-choice. That position of willful ignorance was smashed before my very eyes when my wife Gail and I lost our second child Wyatt. He was born alive, kicking and trying to scream at 22 weeks term. The hospital refused to attempt to save him and rather rushed him out of the room and would not allow me to even hold him as he died. Those moments and the grief that Gail and I have borne ever since that day are sheer agony to our souls.
Once they brought our son back to us, DEAD, I could see a perfect little human being... an absolutely beautiful little boy... who hauntingly looked exactly like our first son Creath. They would have been like two little twins separated by just two years. His birthday is coming up in just three weeks... the worst day of the year for me...
Be a blessing to someone today...
In Christ,
Roy
Luke 13:1-9 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Repent or Perish
13 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8 He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Ezekiel 33:7-20 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
God’s Justice and Mercy
10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” 11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? 12 And you, mortal, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness when they sin. 13 Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. 14 Again, though I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right— 15 if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity—they shall surely live, they shall not die. 16 None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live.
17 Yet your people say, “The way of the Lord is not just,” when it is their own way that is not just. 18 When the righteous turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity, they shall die for it. 19 And when the wicked turn from their wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not just.” O house of Israel, I will judge all of you according to your ways!
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