"This Pastor Says There Was One Thing He Would Never Talk About From the Pulpit, Not Anymore" - STEVEN ERTELT FEB 24, 2015 | http://www.lifenews.com/2015/02/24/this-pastor-says-there-was-one-thing-he-would-never-talk-about-from-the-pulpit-not-anymore/ [AS I SEE IT: Much like the pastor in this article, I spent my first 14 years as a Christian hardly acknowleding abortion in America. (By the way, abortion was declared Constitutional legal in Jan. 1973 and I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior in Nov. of that year.) Then, in 1987 I was at a Christian worldview retreat where one day they presented the film "The Silent Scream." By the time they showed (through a sonogram video) the abortionist scalpel entering the womb and the baby inside struggling to get away from it, I had already gotten out of my chair and was standing up at the back of the room. That image made me realize for the first time that abortion wasn't just a political or just a Catholic issue. (I had been in full-ministry 12 years by then I realized then that neither from my ministry nor from my church had I ever heard abortion brought up. It was as though people were saying "It' something Catholics might get excited about. But we're evangelical; we should only be concerned about what is really important - helping people to know Jesus." Seeing that film forever changed me. It made me realize that abortion is not a political issue as much as a moral, human rights issue. If the destruction of innocent human life does not grieve the heart of God and should call us to action, then we follow a different Jesus than who the Bible speaks of. (Seeing an actual aborted baby (not just a picture of one) 18 months later is what led me to put myself in a position to be arrested and jailed for 4 days with over 600 other people in trying to prevent abortions from happening at one killing center.) - Stan]
Some Christians wish they attended a church where the pastor or priest took a more outspoken stance against abortion. While sermons or homilies may touch on pro-life issues from time to time — or not at all — some Christians sit in their pews wondering why their church leader is reluctant to speak out against the human rights issues of our time.
David Platt, lead pastor at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, used to be one of those pastors who would never bring up the issue of abortion. But that has since changed. In fact, now he warns Christians that being silent on the abortion issue is something they can’t afford to do.
The Christian Post reports on Platt’s new book, "Counter Culture: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Homosexuality, Racism, Sex Slavery and other Social Issues," where he admitted that, for a time, he wouldn’t touch pro-life issues with a 10-foot pole.
But he says the Bible helped put everything into perspective for him.
“Before it’s ever a political issue, this is a God issue,” he says now.“What we believe about who God is and how God creates doesn’t leave room for political or moral neutrality on abortion.”
Here’s more on Platt’s change of heart on preaching about the destruction of God’s children in abortion. Although Platt has learned his lesson, he says many Christ followers have not.
“I look out at the Christian landscape and our culture today and I’m encouraged on one hand when I see Christians addressing some of these issues like poverty or sex trafficking. These are issues we need to address in our culture and our culture will applaud us for addressing [them] but I’m concerned when I see the same Christians or church leaders who are passionate about those issues are passive when it comes to issues like abortion or so called same-sex marriage, issues that will bring us into much greater contention in our culture.” “It’s like we’ve chosen which social issues we’re going to address and which one’s we’re going to ignore based on what’s most comfortable or least costly to us.”
The Alabama pastor said that Christ followers are commanded to “put feet to our faith” when there is gospel evidence that a particular issue is of particular importance to God.
He urged Christians to be proactive about the issue.“The Bible compels us to think through, OK these are the lives of babies and the lives of women,” said Platt. “So this must compel us to address very core life issues to say how can we work to help these children live and that involves coming alongside women who are struggling with, wondering how can I have this baby, and to serve them, to show them there’s options. Either to help them deliver and raise this baby or to put this baby up for adoption so that children can live, woman can thrive.”
Platt joins a number of Christian pastors who are boldly speaking out in defense of life. Pastor Matt Chandler is no stranger to speaking up for life.Last year, Chandler joined millions of Christians across America come together under the banner of the National Day of Prayer, but specifically working with pro-life groups to pray for an end to abortion.
“Scripture clearly calls us to protect and defend the innocent, and that most certainly includes the unborn. While we should come together to pray for God’s blessing on our country, we cannot expect God to bring revival when we allow an estimated 1.2 million babies to be aborted within our shores every year. Abortion is primarily a spiritual issue, and it is, bar none, the predominant challenge for the American Christian today,” observed Brian Fisher, the head of that prayer effort.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Some Christians wish they attended a church where the pastor or priest took a more outspoken stance against abortion. While sermons or homilies may touch on pro-life issues from time to time — or not at all — some Christians sit in their pews wondering why their church leader is reluctant to speak out against the human rights issues of our time.
David Platt, lead pastor at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, used to be one of those pastors who would never bring up the issue of abortion. But that has since changed. In fact, now he warns Christians that being silent on the abortion issue is something they can’t afford to do.
The Christian Post reports on Platt’s new book, "Counter Culture: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Homosexuality, Racism, Sex Slavery and other Social Issues," where he admitted that, for a time, he wouldn’t touch pro-life issues with a 10-foot pole.
But he says the Bible helped put everything into perspective for him.
“Before it’s ever a political issue, this is a God issue,” he says now.“What we believe about who God is and how God creates doesn’t leave room for political or moral neutrality on abortion.”
Here’s more on Platt’s change of heart on preaching about the destruction of God’s children in abortion. Although Platt has learned his lesson, he says many Christ followers have not.
“I look out at the Christian landscape and our culture today and I’m encouraged on one hand when I see Christians addressing some of these issues like poverty or sex trafficking. These are issues we need to address in our culture and our culture will applaud us for addressing [them] but I’m concerned when I see the same Christians or church leaders who are passionate about those issues are passive when it comes to issues like abortion or so called same-sex marriage, issues that will bring us into much greater contention in our culture.” “It’s like we’ve chosen which social issues we’re going to address and which one’s we’re going to ignore based on what’s most comfortable or least costly to us.”
The Alabama pastor said that Christ followers are commanded to “put feet to our faith” when there is gospel evidence that a particular issue is of particular importance to God.
He urged Christians to be proactive about the issue.“The Bible compels us to think through, OK these are the lives of babies and the lives of women,” said Platt. “So this must compel us to address very core life issues to say how can we work to help these children live and that involves coming alongside women who are struggling with, wondering how can I have this baby, and to serve them, to show them there’s options. Either to help them deliver and raise this baby or to put this baby up for adoption so that children can live, woman can thrive.”
Platt joins a number of Christian pastors who are boldly speaking out in defense of life. Pastor Matt Chandler is no stranger to speaking up for life.Last year, Chandler joined millions of Christians across America come together under the banner of the National Day of Prayer, but specifically working with pro-life groups to pray for an end to abortion.
“Scripture clearly calls us to protect and defend the innocent, and that most certainly includes the unborn. While we should come together to pray for God’s blessing on our country, we cannot expect God to bring revival when we allow an estimated 1.2 million babies to be aborted within our shores every year. Abortion is primarily a spiritual issue, and it is, bar none, the predominant challenge for the American Christian today,” observed Brian Fisher, the head of that prayer effort.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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