During our last visit, your evident consternation over the "Laissez Faire" attitude of the Church at large who have retreated into "Religious Safe Zones" prompted me to once again examine our cause in the light of scripture.

We're called to action and our concern is not how the church will view us, but rather our responsibility to God in the light of scripture. We know there is no "easy fix" and we know we must "count the cost" as the battle is long and tedious! We may not "bury" abortion in our lifetime, but by God's grace - we'll give it no rest. The burden is great and the road is long but the end will be successful.

When Morris Manning (the lawyer representing the Scott and Cabbage town Women's Clinics) interrogated me about when the abortions would be stopped, I said, "When Jesus returns!" All pens were furiously writing. In the end, they will be reminded that we were here and history will tell it's own story then!

We are acutely aware of the mounting pressure against the Pro-Life Movement by the civil authorities. Also apparent is the muzzling effect this pressure has had on the Canadian church. A reflection on Biblical history and the trials and tribulations of the prophets and apostles during their ministry helps us to better understand the anomaly of the church's dereliction of duty toward the hundred thousand pre-born children who die by abortion each year in our country. Such a review gives no indication that God's prerogative was generally established in compliance with the given civil authorities throughout history.

Consider who the adversaries of the Old Testament period were: Pharaoh vs. Moses, Ahab vs. Elijah, Jekoiakim vs. Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar vs. Daniel. In Jesus' time, those who opposed John the Baptist, Paul and Peter (to name only a few stalwarts) were the rulers and the rods of Israel. The prophets and apostles were viewed as political dissenters because they openly contested and opposed the judgements and edicts of their time that were not in accordance with God's laws.

These noted Biblical figures came into conflict with their civil authorities, even to the point of death threats and actual executions.

In the beginning, these men of God did not always express resolute faith under the burden of their misery. Moses requested to die when the people revolted and complained against God. But even after the wilderness congregation discussed stoning him, he was still willing to act as an intercessor for their very lives when God's wrath was kindled against them later. Even Elijah--under persecution from Ahab's wife Jezebel--begged God to take his life and John the Baptist in prison--asked Jesus to confirm that he was in fact, the Messiah.

But in the end, these Biblical heros incurred the wrath of the powerful, not by going outside the mandate of their ministry but by adhering to their Divine authorization to redress the system.

When it really counted, these men waxed bold and stood strong in faith against the civil authorities of the day. Because of their faith, The Bible records that they "conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouth's of lion's, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies."

What's most amazing of all is that they accomplished these feats without support from the people of God! Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal opposed Elijah! When the Apostle Paul was brought to trial the first time, the early Christian Church completely deserted him! Jeremiah was a laughing stock among his own people and they even went so far as to try to kill him!

The civil authorities accused Jeremiah of treason and Paul of sedition -- simply because they dared to speak out against wicked practices sanctioned by the authorities of the time.

But how did God's mighty men respond to these threats and accusations? Did Moses try to placate Pharaoh by bidding the Hebrews to assimilate to the Egyptian moral culture? Did Elijah decide not to offend Queen Jezebel by not criticizing Baal worship? And what of King Nebuchadnezzars's command to pay reverence to the statue built in his image? Did Daniel and his three young friend's wink at God while falling down before the idol? Or did he comply with the King's edict to refrain from prayer by closing the drapes and praying in secret behind locked doors? And what was the Apostle Peter's reply when officially ordered to desist from preaching publicly on the market place? Did he appease the rulers by promising to preach only in private assemblies? Did he relocate his ministry to another town or 500 feet from town or outside the City limit?

No! Chastised and beaten, he resumed his public ministry and declares to the authorities, "We ought to obey God rather than man." Undoubtedly, even believers criticized Peter for not submitting to the ordinance of Kings and Governors as scripture instructs. But how did these same believers explain the fact that God contravened the authorities--flinging open the prison doors and releasing him?

Quite obviously, God deems to work with a small remnant and on His own authority as the word testifies. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts." In the same spirit, God limited Gideon's army to a token force because he didn't want Israel to claim that it was their own strength that had saved them.

Likewise in the fight to secure justice for the unborn children, the lord has not seen fit to use the massive Evangelical Assemblies to stand in the gap for His precious little ones, but rather has chosen those who are loyal to His Word and obedient to His call to defend life. For us to do any less would be a mutinous affront to Almighty God when so many lives hang in the balance. By answering His call, we join with the great cloud of witnesses spoken of in Hebrews. They laid down all to run the race!

We are also warned that ignoring the shedding of innocent human blood will incur the wrath of God on us and on our nation. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord proclaimed the land full of bloody crimes and the people as having forsaken His law. He said for this reason they would seek peace but find none. Furthermore, the Lord warns us that if we are in conformity with a culture that violates His law, we are guilty of the abominable acts themselves.

Even more significant to the church today should be the Lord's admonition to Jeremiah that if those in spiritual authority had stood in his council and proclaimed His words to the people, they would have been turned from their evil ways and deeds. So we must ask ourselves to what extent the baby holocaust in out midst is a product of the Church's complacency in the face of evil.

Equally repugnant to this consciencing of a holocaust is the culpable contempt shown to the pro-life community by believers who patronize the secular media's destructive propaganda against those who dare to act for the most innocent and defenceless. They rebuff us for being too controversial. They malign us for being "one-issue" people. They act with duplicity, offering mere lip-service, lamentable shrugs and meaningless wringing of the hands, while patronising the establishment that allows the horrible slaughter to continue!

This false service to the thousands of preborn Canadians whose deaths are countenanced by an ambivalent Body of Christ is reminiscent of those who Jesus charged with laying flowers on the prophets' graves--while at the same time--condoning the travesties those martyred prophets decried and were persecuted for speaking out against.

The Old Testament Prophets and Priests who refused to speak God's truth to their culture were denounced by the Lord as not knowing the law, not being valiant for the truth, of stealing and perverting his word--even of conspiracy against Him. Can we ignore the crime of the century and expect less to be pronounced against us?

When the church is silent and remiss in it's duty to speak the Lord's heart and mind on the issues of our time, we shouldn't think it strange that the Lord's authority is not honoured by the secular powers who violently shed innocent blood. We may think we are being "politically correct" in keeping silent. In truth, we are partakers in a blatant rebellion against Almighty God Himself.

The morass of lawlessness and violence which surrounded the practice of child sacrifice during the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel was the Lord's retribution for rebellion. Since they despised His statutes--He gave them over to their own depravity (child sacrifice), the result of which was complete "desolation" so that they would remember that He was still the Lord. Is this 20th Century crime against humanity--the butchery of our children in the womb not a plague of death pronounced against us as well? And what of the unprecedented increase in violence, murder and lawlessness which we are now witnessing?

Israel's destruction was precluded by an apostate clergy who the Lord declared did not profit the people at all. As a matter of fact--the judgement was a result of the sins and iniquities of Israel's prophets and priests. But even after they were carried into captivity in Babylon, the Israelites refused to acknowledge and repent of their awful sins against humanity and continued to invent false reasons for their banishment. Their open hostility toward God's law typified their banishment. Their open hostility toward God's law typified their shameless revolt from the word of the Lord.

So we too are called to be witnesses against those in open revolt against the Word of God today. The Lord affirms that we will be brought before powers and magistrates, as a testimony against them, even to the point of imprisonment. Of course, a plethora of reasons can be expounded for keeping the peace and not resorting to obedience. But in order to keep the peace, do we not betray the innocent and fill our land with their blood?

It is conceivable that in the future we may be the ones slanted for destruction. Will we dare to ask for deliverance when we've not sought it for little children? Will we invent false reasons for our calamity like the children of Israel, who were banished to Babylon? God brought his judgement on them because of their abominable practice of child sacrifice.

With patience and long suffering we are called to reprove, rebuke and exhort our fellow brethren and to take up the challenge to defend the right to life. It has been well said we are a people "of life and for life".

Mocked and ridiculed, The Apostle Paul said "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak then am I strong." Pleasure in reproach? Joy in suffering? The hope that endures suffering believes something is effected in faith and waits patiently expecting a desired end. Someone once told me, "Cheer up! The worst is yet to come". The kernel of truth in this for us is that when we are reproached for the cause of Christ,we are abused but Christ is glorified!

Scripture admonishes us to "consider Jesus who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." The early Christians "joyfully accepted the confiscation of their property, because they knew that they had better and lasting possessions". Is this not the principle of our faith that the things of this temporal order will be removed and that those things which cannot be shaken will remain?

Paul said, "I have fought the good fight , I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." So we now pick up where others have laboured before, "putting off the works of darkness, clothing ourselves in the armour of light, being encouraged that the night is nearly over, the day is at hand. Christ is coming!

Love Always,