Jan 14 2013

Religious Intolerance in America

We have arrived here no matter how tolerant we claim to be as a nation.

The first amendment to the US Constitution states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

In light of pastor Louie Giglio’s force-out from giving the benediction at Obama’s second inauguration because he holds (or held) to orthodox biblical teaching like millions of Americans do, I ask, what happened to our intrinsic constitutional right to hold differing religious beliefs and opinions?

Why is Giglio who holds (or held 15 years ago) the belief that homosexuality is sin being forced from the public square?

This has nothing to do with separation of Church and State.  They are separate entities and we do not dispute that, therefore that argument goes out the window.  This has to do with the fact that many Christians view alternative life styles as sin based on Scripture.

The very people who preach tolerance to conservative Christians are the ones guilty of intolerance now.

Obama needs to stand up to his left-wing supporters and outline the fact that the Constitution’s vision is one of pluralism.  They ask us to “coexist” on bumper stickers, and now we ask the same.

But I am afraid this situation developed because of truth.  A commentator called me mr. Truth probably because I hold tight to Biblical truth.  Truth does one of two things: it either convicts the sinner toward repentance or it hardens him/her.  In the case of gay activists it is obviously the latter.

They have gone as far as twisting Scripture to declassify homosexual relationships as sin.  I believe that deep down, nature is revealing to them the sinful aspect of such relations, and they are trying to gain the approval of Christians who hold to historical and correct interpretation of the Bible, as if such approval would make things right.

As born-again Christians led by the Holy Spirit are become a shrinking minority in the US, it is imperative that our constitutional rights are preserved and we are not forced out of the public square.  But it probably is too late for that.  Endorsing biblical views on sin and depravity got us labeled as bigots, even though we do not try to force our views on anyone.  It is a matter of personal faith, and we evangelize to those who are willing to listen.

So I ask again, who are the intolerant ones if not the ‘activists of tolerance’ who led to a forced withdrawal by Giglio?

Jan 13 2013

Worship the Great I AM

Glory to the Lord Most High
King of Power and Light
Angels sing as Heaven bows
Earth resounds their song

Worthy worthy, Jesus is worthy
Praise to the Son of Man
Glory and Honor crown You forever
Worship the Great I Am
Alleluia, Alleluia

Glory to the Prince of Life
Sacred Son of God
Risen to glory, vowed His returning
Christ shall come again

Glory to the promised One
Holy Spirit of God
Pour out upon us power from heaven
Fill us with Your love

___________________________________________________

Very nice lyrics. Nice melody. Beautiful instrumentation.  One question… Why do they turn the lights off and fill the stage with orange light during worship?

Jan 12 2013

Less Americans Believe Alternative Life Styles are a Sin

In just 14 months there was 7 point drop in the percent of Americans who believe that homosexuality is a sin from 44% to 37%.

LifeWay Research conducted these studies, and their president commented that the country is rapidly shifting position on this issue, partly due to president Obama’s “evolving” view on gay marriage.

“There is little doubt that the President’s evolution on homosexuality probably impacted the evolution of cultural values.  This is a real and substantive shift, surprisingly large for a one-year time frame – though this was hardly a normal year on this issue’

These findings are revealed in the wake of pastor Louie Giglio’s withdrawal from the presidential inauguration prayer.  The White House has already announced that Giglio will be replaced by a pro-gay pastor as a means to not alienate anyone.

Christians believers who hold to the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible will now be a rapidly shrinking minority in the US.

I am writing this to warn the body of Christ of our status in modern society.  Even though the Constitution gives us the right to believe the Bible as it is written, without taking Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, and many other pages out, we will be labeled as bigots, anti-social retros, and obstacles to progress.

Will this lead to religious persecution?  I believe yes.  Especially if Congress working with this Administration takes up “hate-speech” legislation which will prevent preaching from church pulpits from the above mentioned Bible passages.

At this point I do not envision pastors being put in jail for preaching against homosexuality.  But there is a real possibility of other legal methods being used to curtail religious freedom and free speech if such legislation is used.  Canada has already experimented with “hate-speech” legislation, and pastors there have confessed they are being pressured to not expose anti-sin views from the pulpit.

The world is changing.  Views are evolving.  A constant and confusing flux of public opinion is inundating us everyday.

Despite this we must remain anchored in the Word of God.  Anchored in Truth.

Jan 11 2013

Louie Giglio Withdraws from the Inauguration and… the Gay Debate

In another half-meant attempt to extend an “olive branch” to evangelicals, Obama asked Passion City Church pastor Louie Giglio to give the prayer at his 2nd inauguration as a reward for Giglio’s social work to end modern slavery.

After initially accepting with enthusiasm, the pastor released this somewhat apologetic and confusing statement:

“Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration.  Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.”

He was referring to a sermon from what he wants to make it seem like a long, long time ago, when he used to preach against the sin of homosexuality.

He now wants to withdraw from the spotlight.  A reasonable conclusion is that he does not wish to defend or debate the biblical truth he once proclaimed in the public square.

On one of the hottest issues threatening to split churches and spread false teaching, Giglio, one of the most recognizable faces of the American Christianity, wishes to remain silent.

Historic Christianity demonstrates that men of God have not been silent on issues of sin.  Jesus Himself did not withdraw from the debate on sexual immorality in Matthew 19.  Paul did not shy away from labeling homosexual relations as unnatural and idolatrous in Romans 1.  Peter was bold in addressing immorality and false teaching in 2 Peter 2.

Even Rick Warren did not withdraw himself from the debate, he actually craves it making the rounds an all the popular talk shows exposing a lukewarm position on the nature of homosexual relations.

Why is Louie Giglio backing down?  Why won’t he deliver a firm inaugural Christian prayer to God in the name of Jesus (not in the name of Islamic prophet Isa like Rick Warren did in his inaugural prayer) and let the storm rage around him?

I love the Casting Crowns song lyrics which highlight the storm around us:

And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am

This was the opportunity of a life time for Giglio to stand up for God and for biblical truth in front of an audience of hundreds of millions, and he blew it!  It would have been an eternal testimony… I am so disappointed…

image credit

Jan 10 2013

Face to Face With the Reality of Abortion

 

I had passed many times by this door.

My naive mind always wondered why a door in the middle section of a hospital ward would have a “NOT AN EXIT” sign on it.

“It should be obvious this is not an exit… it is right in the middle of a large a building… “ I thought.

It was next to one of the elevators of a large level-1 trauma county hospital and very close to the obstetrics ward.  Dozens of happy new mothers would pass by this door every week on the way home with a beautiful newborn baby in their arms.

It was the summer of 2000, and I was a 24-year-old newbie medical student on the surgical clerkship when the issue of abortion finally became as real as it gets.  It was time to rotate through the anesthesiology service as part of the surgical experience, and I was spending some time with a 2nd year anesthesia resident.  We were on our way to prepare the obstetrics operating rooms for scheduled C-sections that day.

“Hey, I’ll show you a neat short cut to the operating room…” he says.

He headed straight for the mysterious door with the puzzling sign on it, and we entered.

To my amazement it felt like I stepped into another world.  I just went from a noisy environment of sick patients, infections, trauma, alcoholism and other plagues associated with county hospitals, into a large pre-operative waiting room filled with a dozen young and healthy looking women dressed in hospital gowns.

The room was filled with a silence as thick as death itself.

“They are waiting to get their abortions done” he whispered to me as we hurried on our way.

My heart sank as I saw the nervous, worried and guilty looks on their faces.

A horrific big picture fell into place for me that morning.  A picture that is replicated thousands of times across America in slaughter houses called “family planning clinics.”

A few months later I returned to the “county” for my 2 month OB-Gyn clerkship, and during orientation the coordinator of the slaughter-house showed up.  To this day I remember her first and last name, her face, and the air of feminist liberation in her voice.

“We are excited you will spend a week with us in the abortion clinic where you will participate in these procedures which stand for freedom of choice for women” she said.

“God, how am I going to make it through a week of this…? God, help me exercise the faith You put in me… I don’t care if I fail this clerkship, but I know You will not let me participate in shedding innocent blood”

I raised my hand and I said:

“My faith in God precludes me from participating in abortion. I hope this will not interfere with my OB-Gyn clinicals…”

There were 5 med students on that rotation, and to my surprise a female student echoed my sentiment.  If I remember correctly she was a Catholic.

Imagine the shock on the abortion coordinator’s face when light (the mention of faith in God) penetrated the darkness in her heart.  She was hardened to the point where she could not understand why we did not accept the “greatest” achievement that has ever occurred in the feminist movement, the holy grail of their agenda- a woman’s right to terminate her baby.

“Why are you even here? Why are you wasting your talents and your education? Why can’t you have an open mind and accept what we deem right as a society?”

Thank God for another reasonable clerkship director who honored our request.  Not all Christians are quite so fortunate.  There are reports in the media of nurses who lost their job because they refused to participate in termination of pregnancy.  They underwent legal recourse and lost that too.

By the grace of God I spend one week there without participating in the murder of the unborn.  I spoke to many teen girls who were about to undergo abortion.  I even tried secretly, yet unsuccessfully, to show them other options.

Ultimately, God taught me a lesson as He turned an anxiety provoking situation into a blessing.  In the end I earned an “honors” grade in Ob-Gyn.

It was a lesson that God wanted to teach me.  To put my trust in Him, and He would deliver me against evil.

Psalm 84:12 “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in you.”

Jan 9 2013

TIME Magazine Misses the Mark… Again

Image of a doctor's surgical bed with stirrups

Well, TIME magazine has a predisposition to exaggerate, and add shock value to their covers.  It started in 1966 when they claimed in big bold letters on their cover: “GOD IS DEAD.”  That title was laughable.  This one is NOT.

“GOD IS DEAD” was laughable because we know that God is exactly where Isaiah saw him “high and lifted up,” and where John saw him in Revelation chapters 4 and 5 receiving the worship of angels, elders and heavenly creatures.

This title however, is built on the 55 million babies who were slaughtered in their mothers wombs since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion.  55 million murders of tiny persons was not enough for the abortion platform to declare victory.

TIME has declared itself as an abortion platform by lamenting the so-called “losing ever since” war. Wow…

The article is only available to subscribers but here are the top complaints of the pro-choice activists:

  • abortion has been regulated at the state level and abortion has become too restrictive
  • 4 states have only one abortion clinic in operation
  • there was a significant drop in abortion doctors in the last 20 years
  • only 41% of the American public identify themselves as pro-choice
  • in-fighting among feminists (young vs. old)
  • defending the status-quo is always harder than fighting to change it
  • ultrasound technology makes the babies look… human

These abortion activists must be living in a parallel universe!

Here are the numbers again: 55 million aborted, that is 1,375,000 million abortions per year! Almost 40% of the US female population has had at least one abortion!

If this was a physical war, the casualties are all one-sided.  This is not a losing war for the abortionists, its is a hands down epic slaughter of tiny innocent lives…

There is one point in the article which is true.  As a physician in a metropolitan area, I know hundreds of other physicians, and there are thousands of physicians in my city.  Among all doctors, there are only two who provide abortions.  One is in his 80’s and another is probably in his 70’s.  The new generation of physicians are grossed out by abortion and they do not want to do it.  We view it as a creepy field to specialize in, and therefore we now have a dramatic reduction in those willing to provide abortions.

For those who are bewildered as to why Christians are so vehemently pro-life, we go to Luke chapter 1 where we read the following about a certain baby who later became the greatest prophet prior to Jesus, John the Baptist:

“he [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”

“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit… …For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy”

An unborn baby exhibits the qualities of a PERSON.  He is filled with the Holy Spirit.  He is able to experience the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), joy.  He leaped for joy!  How can any Christian ignore such strong language?

Many Christians will only read about abortion.  They will never encounter abortion other than being aware of the statistics.

On the other hand, as a young medical student I came face to face with harsh reality of abortion…

It was an early morning in an old county hospital in July, 2000…

to be continued… (here)

Jan 8 2013

Supreme Court to Rule on Gay Marriage

And for Christians, the Supreme Court decisions on this issue will not be surprising, whatever the outcome is.  The social battle on moral issues like the sanctity of marriage has been lost as predicted multiple times in the Bible when it talks about the depravity of the end times.

State and national legislatures, governors, the White House, and possibly the Supreme Court have succumbed to Hollywood and media pressure on issues advanced by the gay agenda.  Also for the first time ever, the American public now supports the idea of same-sex marriage by a majority.

Two of the cases that the Court is planning to review in March include Hollingsworth v. Perry, which will examine whether gay and lesbian Americans have a fundamental right to marriage, and Windsor v. United States will examine the federal law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

The first case is a result of Prop 8 in California, and the Court will analyze whether denying a licence for marriage to a gay couple is unconstitutional.  The second is more important fundamentally and morally only because a group of 9 people will decide or re-decide something that us as Christians believe God has already ordained: the definition of marriage being between a man and a woman.

Who would have thought at any point in history up until about 10 years ago that we will have to potentially re-define marriage? The concept was so absurd that such thing was never brought up in the age of the Church including the Enlightenment, Reformation, and Great Awakenings, until society decided to have a sexual revolution in the recent past.

The Church tried to speak out against the inclusionary definition of marriage, but its voice was not loud enough, and even if its voice would have been loud enough, the biblical message is so antithetical to modern society that it would have just hardened so much more the ones pushing the same-sex agenda.

We live in an age where truth is relative.  Morality is relative.  People want and need to define their own morals.  The Word of God however claims absolute truth status, and this does not go well with moral relativism.

The redefinition of marriage, although morally devastating for society, will not affect our faith or our walk with God.  What society does apart from God should not affect us unless it results in persecution against our biblical views.

Let’s not forget the teaching of Peter and Paul who warn us about moral decay in the last days…

2 Peter 3: 3 “…you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.”

2 Tim 3: 1“There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

This is why I believe that from a moral standpoint I think things will go from bad to worse.  I believe Christians will be hated for their views which are grounded in the Bible, even though we do not wish to force them upon anyone.

Society will continue its course of choice.  The Church however, the true body of Christ, will stay on its own eternal predestined course to glorification.

Jan 7 2013

The 113th US Congress and Religion

According to the Pew Research Center, the current (113th) Congress includes the first Buddhist to serve in the Senate, the first Hindu to serve in either chamber and the first member of Congress to describe her religion as “none,” continuing a gradual increase in religious diversity that mirrors trends in the country as a whole. While Congress remains majority Protestant, the institution is far less so today than it was 50 years ago, when nearly three-quarters of members belonged to Protestant denominations.

Catholics have seen the biggest gains, adding seven seats, for a total of 163 and raising their share to just over 30%. Protestants and Jews experienced the biggest declines in numerical terms.

There is a large disperity between the percentage of U.S. adults and the percentage of members of Congress who do not identify with any particular religion. About one-in-five U.S. adults describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – a group sometimes collectively called the “nones.” This is a rapidly growing group.

This country was never a “Christian” theocracy, but it was founded by Christians on biblical principles. We are now a far cry from our origins. I believe this trend is set, and we will see a continuing secularization of our society and our institutions to the point of religious persecution against Christians.

Please see the table below for details on the religious breakdown in the current US Congress. Among neo-Protestants there are a 73 Baptists and… one Pentecostal… (one for oneness?)

Jan 6 2013

Give Me Jesus – Live

Performed live by Fernando Ortega

In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
Give me Jesus

When I come to die
Give me Jesus

Jan 5 2013

The Father Loves the Son

We know that God has revealed Himself as the  Triune God, three co-eternal Persons who love and defer to each other.  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each fully God and there is one God, a mystery too wonderful to understand.

But why has God revealed Himself to us in Scriptures (via the ministry of Jesus) as Father and Son? Why this relationship?

Why are the first and the second Persons of the Trinity (no hierarchy implied) represented in such terms? Why not the brother-brother relationship, or another form of close human relationship that we can grasp?

This revelation is presented as such in order for believers to begin to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son.  

Even as we meditate on this we will never be able to fully grasp the eternal mystery and the gravity of what God did to redeem us.

A small step in understanding this infinitely costly redemption begins with examining the love between the Father and the Son.

The Father loves the Son so much that He has deferred to the Son sovereign lordship over the entire visible universe, as well as the heavenly unseen domain:

“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” (John 3:35).

“…seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet…” (Ephesians 1:20-22)

We love our children and give them the very best we are able to give them.  But this pales in comparison with the fact that the Father gave ALL THINGS to the Son, so much He loves the Son.

The Father loves the Son because Jesus is a perfect reflection of God’s glory:

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” (Hebrews 1:3).

The Son is God in substance, nature, character and every other parameter that can be humanly expressed.

The Father loves the Son because the Son delights in His Father.  Jesus lived a perfect sinless life in supreme obedience to the Father who testifies for the seen and unseen domains to hear:

“And behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”  (Matthew 3:17)

As we begin to see evidence of the GREAT love between Father and Son another element is introduced by Jesus Himself, that is His love for us:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you… These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9,11)

Wow… Could this be possible?

After listing the amazing Scripture above can we say that the Son really loves us the way the Father loves Him?

The grandeur of the precious sacrifice of Christ now begins to take shape.

Can you even begin to image the wrath of the Father being poured on His beloved Son instead of us? Can you imagine a similar scenario between you and your own child?  Can you even begin to imagine what the Father felt (if can use this word) as His beloved was tortured and murdered?

Knowing how much we love our children we now begin to understand why God is revealing Himself as Father and Son in addition to the Holy Spirit.

He does this to help us understand the magnitude of the sacrifice of Christ and eternal impact on believers… to understand how costly His sacrifice was… to understand how much He loves us… to make us turn to Him and love Him… to make Him the center of our universe.