#1966 (5/31) "Don’t Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments for Abortion and Transgenderism"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get t today's article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed AFTER the posted article. They deserve  your intercession. THANK YOU.

BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION 

(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ 

: Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/  

Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:

Go to:"Tactics" - 

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983

MUSLIM MONTH OF RAMADAM - May 27 - June 25
Please be in prayer that as Muslims world-wide focus on times of prayer and fasting, God will reveal Himself to them through dreams and visions and cause tens and hundreds of millions to turn from the false teachings of Islam to faith in Jesus Christ the Messiah.

5/26 - IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN! - "Egypt's Christians Come Under Attack When Gunmen Storm Bus, Killing 26" - Leah Barkoukis: May 26, 2017; https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/05/26/egypt-attack-n2332074

Personal Update 5/24 - Check out the JOURNAL section in the column on the right side of this blog page. And THANK YOU for your continued prayers for me.

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"DON'T ARGUE THE EXCEPTIONS - BEATING BAD ARGUMENTS FOR ABORTION AND TRANSGENDERISM" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-dont-argue-exceptions/

“But what about the . . . ?” Has a rare exception every stumped you when making the case for life or anything else? Here’s how to respond with grace and truth.

“Humans have ten fingers and ten toes.” Now that shouldn’t strike anyone as a controversial statement, since almost every person ever born has had twenty digits. But what if someone argued in response that, because there are exceptions to this—people who because of injury or genetic defect lack a digit or two—we ought not describe ten fingers and ten toes as normal or descriptive of being human?

We’d rightly think that a silly argument, of course. So why do we tolerate this same kind of reasoning in modern social debates?

Take abortion. Perhaps you’ve heard someone challenge the prolife view with this exception: “Well what about rape and incest, or the life of the mother?” Or take gender. Folks ask me all the time, “But what about those born with ambiguous genitalia?” These objections stop a lot of Christians in their tracks. But they shouldn’t.

When pro-choice activists insist that we can’t outlaw abortion because some pregnancies result from rape and incest, or endanger the life of the mother, they’re ignoring the fact that in nearly all abortions none of these considerations are factors at all. Rather, healthy babies are killed simply because they’re inconvenient.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t support the intentional taking of unborn life under any circumstance. As Live Action President Lila Rose often points out, the unborn are human beings no matter what the circumstances of their conception. Rape and other sexual crimes are monstrous, but abortion doesn’t undo those wrongs, it only creates another victim.

Arguing about exceptions like these only muddies the waters. And sometimes, that’s exactly what the pro-choice side wants.

The same thing happens when someone brings up ambiguous genitalia in the transgender debate. This condition is tragic, and the subject requires great care. But it’s also extremely rare—by most estimates, in fact, occurring in just one in twenty-two thousand births. In other words, when we allow this tiny fraction of a percent to control the entire debate, we obscure the overwhelming reality.

And so, for the sake of discussion, instead of arguing about the exceptions, why not just grant them? When someone challenges you about extreme cases for abortion, try replying this way: “Okay, let’s say we keep abortion legal in these rare cases. What about the other ninety-six percent of abortions that are elective? Can we end those?” Nine times out of ten, you’ll hear crickets.

Likewise, when it comes to gender, grant that in cases of ambiguous genitalia, there really is a biological basis for doubt and that we must rethink medical practices that too quickly label someone male or female if the physical evidence isn’t clear.

By granting the exceptions, we force the other person to face the real questions, or admit they’re using rare cases as wedges for their real agenda.

But more importantly, these exceptions actually prove the principles we believe in. Here’s what I mean: If someone says, “if a baby was conceived in a crime, we have the right to kill her,” that person is appealing to the circumstances under which the baby was conceived. To then argue that abortion should be legal in all cases is to admit that circumstances don’t in fact matter. That my friend, is called a contradiction.

Same thing is true with transgenderism. To argue that biology matters in the case of ambiguous genitalia and then argue that biology doesn’t matter with clearly defined genitalia is nonsense. Our response should be: Biology matters or it doesn’t. Pick one. 

Look, rare cases are tough and complicated. But that doesn’t mean that all or even most of the other cases are. So the next time someone argues for abortion or gender fluidity from an exception, grant it and then confront them with the vast majority of cases. And if they refuse, just ask them how many fingers and toes they have.


[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Further Reading and Information - The apostle Paul urged Timothy to “be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”  Let’s heed that encouragement. Do your homework and be prepared to respond in a winsome and truthful manner to those who would “argue to the exception.”
Resources
A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World
- John Stonestreet, Brett Kunkle | David C. Cook Publishers | June 2017 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/product.asp?sku=2191_9781434711014

"Reasons given for having abortions in the United States" - Wm. Robert Johnston | Johnstonarchive.net | January 18, 2016 - http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html

"Exception Fallacy description - Changing Minds website" - http://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/exception.htm

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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan 

PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS:  1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will  only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.

World-Wide Prayer Requests:

 This is a photo of 3 of Asia's daughters holding a picture of their imprisoned mother.

4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law.  Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority.  Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service)

A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution? 
5/12 - Just hours ago, I (Jay Sekulow, ACLJ) met with President Trump at the White House to discuss the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson - a U.S. citizen - who languishes in a Turkish prison because of his Christian faith. Pastor Andrew's mom says, "For 23 years, I saw him love and serve the people of Turkey. He has been in prison 7 months, and having visited him there, I have seen the tremendous struggles he is experiencing. I wake every morning with a deep sadness."The one gift she wants this Mother’s Day weekend is the safe return of her beloved son.

2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson 

12/13- American Center For Law and Justice: On trial for their faith, two Christian pastors in Sudan face death. Christian Pastors Hassan Abduraheem and Kuwa Shamal have been brutally imprisoned for nearly a year – 359 days – in deplorable conditions. Their trial has been delayed time and time again.Their churches miss them. Their families need them. They face possible death sentences because they are Christians. At the ACLJ, we've launched a massive international legal advocacy campaign for their freedom. We're preparing critical legal letters to Sudan, raising their case with world leaders, and preparing action at the U.N. They could be sentenced to hang for their faith if the world is silent. Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death.Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Demand Sudan free Pastors Hassan and Kuwa now. Sign Our Petition: Save Christian Pastors from Death...https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-pastors-from-possible-death?

Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:

http://live.opendoorsusa.org/wwl/?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=content-banner&utm_campaign=may-2016
PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA.  Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.
*For families struck by terror— to receive the care and rest that they need to physically and emotionally heal from this horrific ordeal.

*For those who executed the attack. This act was full of evil and hate, but no one is too far from God’s saving grace. May God convict their hearts today of the evil act they did — in direct rebellion to Him and His Word. May He save them miraculously, just as God did with Paul, while he was persecuting the church.

*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and endurance. May the gospel be ever-present in their minds. 

#1965 (5/30) "Trump Is Not Pro-Russia, Despite What the Media Says"

"TRUMP IS NOT PRO-RUSSIA, DESPITE WHAT THE MEDIA SAYS" - Ted Bromund / May 24, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/24/trump-not-pro-russia-despite-media-says/

Apart from seeking to collaborate with Russia against ISIS, President Donald Trump has consistently been at odds with Russia in his foreign policy decisions. (Photo: Yuri Gripas/Reuters/Newscom)

Politically, no story is hotter than the one about President Donald Trump and the Russians.
Last week’s appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the election keeps the story alive.But abroad, Trump hasn’t helped the Russians. In fact, he’s opposed them.

Like many Americans, I completely rejected candidate Trump’s praise for Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. The fact that President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton had also sought to get on Putin’s good side didn’t make Trump any less wrong.

By and large, Trump ran as an opponent of recent U.S. military interventions, including those in Iraq and Libya. But he made an exception for U.S. action against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and he appeared to believe that the Russians were intervening in Syria to join that battle on the U.S. side. That was a serious error. Russia’s goals in Syria were to prop up Bashar Assad’s regime and to support Assad’s regional patrons, the Iranians. Putin’s airstrikes didn’t target ISIS. They targeted the rebels that we were ineffectively trying to support.

And that leads to the phony scandal about Trump’s sharing of intelligence with the Russians.
     First, all the Americans in the room have rejected the claim that any secrets were shared.
But even if they were, this isn’t a crime. The collection and sharing of intelligence is an executive branch job, and the president has the right to make his own decisions in this realm.
Yet the fact that something’s not illegal doesn’t make it a good policy decision. Intelligence sharing with allies is smart, and we do it all the time.

The Russians, though, aren’t our allies, no matter how much Trump believes we’re both opposing ISIS. Even if we’re not giving them any secrets, we’re not going to get them to play ball by giving them Oval Office meetings.

But look at what the Trump administration has done in the rest of the world. It hasn’t acted like it believes in being buddies with Russia. Not at all.
     There were concerns that Trump would try to buy Russian cooperation against ISIS by lifting the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Those sanctions have remained in place.
     What’s more, the Trump administration has done what the Obama administration wouldn’t do: launch a cruise missile strike on the Russian-supported Syrian regime.
     It also called out Russia for arming the Taliban and got Montenegro into NATO—a move the Russians opposed.
     Earlier this month, Trump signed a bill prohibiting any U.S. funds from being used to support the Russian occupation of portions of the nation of Georgia. He also offered “full support” for Georgia’s territorial integrity in a cordial meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, while Vice President Mike Pence backed Georgia’s accession to NATO, defended its sovereignty, and supported its economic reforms.

The Obama administration’s ill-fated “reset” with Russia in 2009 was an effort to back away from the Bush administration’s belated recognition, after Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, that Putin wasn’t a good guy. So Trump’s support for Georgia isn’t just about opposing Russia. It’s a rejection of Obama’s effort to sidle up to Moscow.

If the Trump administration is supposed to be colluding with the Russians, they’re doing a terrible job of it. They’ve opposed Russia in Europe, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Syria, while trying—and this is where the Oval Office meeting comes in—to get Moscow to oppose ISIS.

Trump’s effort to win over the Russians testifies to the emphasis the administration is placing on the war against the Islamists. That effort isn’t going to go anywhere: The Russians will play their own game in the Middle East.

I wish the Trump administration would recognize this. But I’d rather have an administration that tries to cooperate with the Russians on ISIS alone than one—like Obama’s—which tries to cooperate with them everywhere.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Ted R. Bromund, Ph.D., is the Margaret Thatcher senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Read his research.

#1964 (5/29) MEMORIAL DAY: "Sharing the Stories of Heroes This Memorial Day"

"SHARING THE STORIES OF HEROES THIS MEMORIAL DAY" - John Venable / May 26, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/26/sharing-stories-heroes-memorial-day/ [AS I SEE IT: It disturbs me in all the 43 years I've been a Christian, I only remember one occasion where the worship service I attended on a Memorial Day weekend acknowledged those who had served our nation in our military and esp. those who had died doing so. I do wish it was a tradition churches would observe. - Stan]

Memorial Day presents a unique challenge for Americans looking for ways to show gratitude to the fallen. (Photo: iStock Photos)

Many nations set aside days to celebrate the end of wars or major battles, and to honor those who fought in them. Memorial Day in America is different in that it doesn’t celebrate veterans—we have a different day set aside for that. This federal holiday was designed to celebrate and honor those who have died while in uniformed service to our country in times of peace or war.
While noble in nature, the day presents a unique challenge to those of us who look for ways to show our gratitude.

Every year, my church goes long in its efforts to meet that challenge. In the heart of every Memorial Day service, our pastor asks those who have served in the military to stand, and as they do, the church body thanks them with a rousing, heartfelt round of applause. The choir lifts the entire sanctuary with a battery of some of the most patriotic music you can imagine, and yet no matter how wonderful the veterans and congregation may feel at the end of each service, our collective efforts miss the mark. 

As well intended as they are, my church isn’t alone in giving gestures that fall short. Furniture stores and car dealerships use the occasion to offer special deals to serving military members. Pools open, and communities put on parades that feature local celebrities, marching bands, and veterans from the wars of our age. Clans of family and friends gather in homes and parks throughout the United States to revel in the first of two holidays that frame the summer.

But almost all our Memorial Day revelry focuses on the living. There is little talk of those who gave their all, and even less about what that phrase might mean to one who has never leaned into the thought. I guess we all need reminders.

I stumbled onto a collection of photos a few weeks ago that rekindled those thoughts in me. It was a site called the Wall of Faces. There, the names of the pictured men and women we lost in Vietnam are revealed with the move of a cursor. As the arrow touched each picture, my mind raced to calculate the time that separated their birth and casualty dates. Some were a bit older and Vietnam was at least their second war, but the majority were under 20 when they died.

That’s when the second piece of math hit me. In the 37 years beyond my 20th birthday, I met and married the woman I had been searching for my entire life. I was there to welcome our two sons into this world, and I’ve been right by their side to celebrate those birthdays for all but a fraction of their years. Somewhere along the way, I managed to climb into the dream I dreamed of as a child and, while the highs I’ve enjoyed as a man have been immeasurable, they don’t quite measure up to my all. I’ve been given time enough to be a loving partner in life for my wife, and a doting father, shepherd, and coach for my two sons.

When I think about all that I’ve been given, I begin to get a sense of what others gave up when they gave us their lives. Two men died of exposure during Gen. George Washington’s march on Trenton in the winter of 1776. Just over a year ago, 12 Marines were killed during a training mishap off the coast of Hawaii. And on Jan. 29 of this year, a Navy SEAL fell to enemy fire in Yemen. Like those we’ve lost in every other conflict, incursion, or mishap, their stories run the gamut. Some were immortalized as heroes, and others have faded into near anonymity, save for the memories they left with the living.

In the course of my years in the service, I received the contagious laughter, the loves, and aspirations of 11 different men who laid down their lives. While each willingly gave up everything for this nation of ours, our gratitude is what will carry them forward in memory.

When you wake up Monday morning, take a moment to do your own math, then lean into your family and friends with a story about one of our Memorial Day heroes. And when you hit your knees Monday night, say a prayer for those who long for the company, the loving touch of one who gave his or her all for you and me.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

John Venable, who served 25 years in the Air Force, is a senior research fellow for defense policy at The Heritage Foundation.
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MEMORIAL DAY 2017: “Freedom Is Not Bought Cheaply”- Jerry Newcombe : May 25, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/jerrynewcombe/2017/05/25/memorial-day-2017-freedom-is-not-bought-cheaply-n2331374
"The Meaning of Memorial Day, From the Civil War On" - Lee Edwards / May 26, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/26/meaning-memorial-day-civil-war/
"We Hear You: On Memorial Day, Why Americans Don’t Forget to Remember" - Ken McIntyre / May 28, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/28/we-hear-you-dont-forget-to-remember
"How a WWII Veteran Grappled With the Horrors of Combat to Resume Life Back Home"
- Kelsey Harkness  / May 26, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/26/wwii-veteran-grappled-horrors-combat-resume-life-back-home/ [Watch the video at this link.]

# 1963 (5/28) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "Where Is God?"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get t today's article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed AFTER the posted article. They deserve  your intercession. THANK YOU.

BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION 

(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ 

: Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/  

Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:

Go to:"Tactics" - 

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983


MUSLIM MONTH OF RAMADAM - May 27 - June 25
Please be in prayer that as Muslims world-wide focus on times of prayer and fasting, God will reveal Himself to them through dreams and visions and cause tens and hundreds of millions to turn from the false teachings of Islam to faith in Jesus Christ the Messiah.

5/26 - IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN! - "Egypt's Christians Come Under Attack When Gunmen Storm Bus, Killing 26" - Leah Barkoukis: May 26, 2017; https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/05/26/egypt-attack-n2332074

Personal Update 5/24 - Check out the JOURNAL section in the column on the right side of this blog page. And THANK YOU for your continued prayers for me.

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"WHERE IS GOD?" - by John Piper; http://www.crosswalkmail.com/ViewMessage.do?m=smprbbbkck&r=twlvzjbwjlbm&s=xhgjvsdbjgjdcbmplqnkndschllcgrdnvvm&q=1495436829&a=view [AS I SEE IT: Yes, this post is VERY LONG  - but also VERY GOOD. It excellently speaks God's Truth at a time - with the recent terrorist attack in Manchester, England - that many are asking this very question. Enjoy! - Stan]

This [article was written on the] weekend of the first anniversary of 9/11 that has occurred on the Lord's day, Sunday. Therefore it seemed good to us to step back and pose the question again about the meaning of the supremacy of Christ in an age of terror.

The Supremacy of God in All Things--No Exceptions
     One of the truths of the Bible that we embrace with trembling joy is the truth of God's supremacy in all things. The mission of our church is that we exist to spread a passion of the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. When we say that, we do not mean: "except in calamities," "except in war," "except when Al Qaeda blows up a building or a train," "except when cancer takes a mom or a child is born with profound disabilities." There are no "except" clauses in our mission statement.
     We did not formulate our mission in a rosy world--and then get surprised and embarrassed by the reality of suffering. We did not have our head in the sand. We formulated our mission in the real world of pain and suffering and evil and death. We have seen even among our own people, some very peaceful, but also some very terrible deaths. We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things--all things--for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ--all the time. A passion for God's supremacy--Christ's supremacy (for he is God incarnate)--in all things, all the time.

Sorrowful, Yet Always Rejoicing
    None of us who has lived a few decades--for me that means almost six--has embraced this mission without trembling. And none of us has lived this mission for long without tears. We have said it dozens of times here at Bethlehem, and we will say it till we die, that the joy we pursue and the joy we embrace in Jesus Christ is always--always in this world--interwoven with sorrow. There is no unadulterated joy in this world for people who care about others. The Bible describes Christ's servants like this: "[We are] sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." (2 Corinthians 6:10).
     "Sorrowful yet always rejoicing." How can that be? It can be because Christ is supreme over all things forever, but suffering and death remain for a while. Life is not simple. There is pleasure, and there is pain. There is sweetness, and there is bitter suffering. There is joy, and there is misery. There is life and health, and there is disease and death. And therefore emotions are not simple. For those who love others, and not just their own comforts, this complexity means that we will rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). And there is always someone we know who is weeping, and someone we know who is rejoicing. And therefore we will learn the secret of "sorrowful yet always rejoicing"--and joyful yet always sorrowing. Those amazing words that describe the Christian soul--"sorrowful yet always rejoicing"--mean that suffering remains for a while in this world, but Christ is supreme now and forever.

9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Constant Suffering in This World
     The first plane that hit the World Trade Towers, Flight 11, immediately killed 92 people on board that flight. Flight 175 that hit the second tower a few minutes later killed 65 people on board. In the Towers themselves it appears now that 2,595 people perished when the Towers fell, including those who worked there or visited there, and those who were entering to save them.
     Flight 77 carried 64 people when it hit the Pentagon within an hour after the first attack. Inside the Pentagon 125 people died in addition to these 64. Flight 93 with 45 people aboard turned around over Pennsylvania and was headed . . . where? The White House? The Congress? Todd Beamer and others wrestled control from the hijackers, it seems, and the plane crashed with no survivors near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. All 45 people died. The total fatalities in these terrorist events was about 2,986.
     We thought that would be the calamity for this message to focus on. But God had other plans. Who can pose the question of God's sovereignty and Christ's supremacy today and leave Hurricane Katrina out of account. What happened in the last week in New Orleans and surrounding areas is different than almost anything this country has ever seen. The September 8, 1900 Galveston Hurricane may have killed more--up to 12,000, we don't know--but it did not displace hundreds of thousands and leave a major city virtually empty and paralyzed with several surrounding smaller towns even more devastated. Who can speak of the supremacy of Christ in an age of terror without considering the terror of 140-mile-an-hour winds and broken levees and floodwaters covering 80% of a great city and who knows how many people dead in their attics?
     And lest we think naively in response to these calamities, as though the cost of lives was something unusual, let's remind ourselves of the obvious and the almost overwhelming fact that over 50,000,000 people die every year in this world. Over 6,000 ever hour. Over 100 every minute. And most of them do not die in ripe old age by sleeping peacefully away into eternity. Most die young. Most die after long struggles with pain. And millions die because of the evil of man against man.
     Sudden calamities shock us only to make more plain what is happening every hour of every day of your entire life. Thousands perish in pain and misery every day. Probably seven or eight thousand people will have died during this worship service. Some of them are screaming out in pain just now as I am speaking and as you sit there in relative comfort. If there is to be any Christian joy in this world, along with love, it will be sorrowful joy, broken-hearted joy. What person in this room, who has lived long enough, does not know that the sweetest joys, the deepest joys, are marked with tears, not laughter?

Evil and Pain as a Pointer to the Need and Evidence for God
     So even in our own experience--in our own souls--believers or unbelievers, there is a kind of witness that the world of evil and pain and misery and death is not a meaningless place. It is not a place without a good and purposeful God. Some people--not all--have found in the greatest evil--the time of greatest sorrow--the greatest need for God and the greatest evidence of God.
     It happens like this. A great evil happens--say the holocaust with 6,000,000 murders. Or the Stalinist Soviet gulag with many more than that sent to their deaths. In the midst of these horrors, the human soul, that had been blithely pursuing its worldly pleasures with scarcely a thought about God and with no serious belief in any absolutes like evil and good, or right and wrong--happily living in the dream-world of relativism--suddenly is confronted with an evil so horrible and so great as to make the soul scream out with ultimate moral indignation: No! This is wrong! This is evil!
     And for the first time in their life they hear themselves speaking with absolute conviction. They have a conviction of absolute reality. They know now beyond the shadow of a doubt that such a thing as evil exists. They admit that all their life up till then was a game. And now they are confronted with the stark question: If there is such a thing as absolute evil--if there is a moral reality that is above and different from the mere physical processes of evolutionary energy plus time plus matter--then where does it come from, and what is it based on?
     And many people discover in this moment of greatest evil that there is only one satisfactory answer: There is a God above the universe who sets the standards of good and evil and writes them on the human heart. They are not purposeless chemical reactions in our brains. They have reality outside of us, above us, in God. Paradoxically, therefore, the times of greatest human evil have often proved for many to be times when God is most needed and most self-evidently real. Without him evil and good are simply different electro-chemical impulses in the brain of mammal primates called homo sapiens. We know--you know--that is not true.

Why Does Such a World Exist?
     So we ask: Why, Lord? Why is the world you made like this? If you are God--if you are the Christ the Son of the living God--why is this world so full of terror and trouble?
     Here is what I believe the Bible teaches in answer to this question. I will give two answers that are not the reason such a world exists, and then four answers that are the reasons such world exists. I deal with each very briefly and point you to the Scriptures where you can search God's word for yourself.

1. The reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is not because God is not in total control.
     The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that God governs everything in the universe from the smallest bird to the largest storm. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father" (Matthew 10:29). "Even winds and sea obey him" (Matthew 8:27). "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1). "Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?" (Lamentations 3:37). "Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?" (Amos 3:6). "He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him" (Mark 1:27). "I am God, and there is none like me . . . saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'" (Isaiah 46:9-10).
     There is no person or being in the universe that can thwart the sovereign will of God. Satan is his most powerful enemy and does much evil in the world, but he must first get God's permission, and none of his actions is outside God's governance. He never breaks free from his leash (Luke 22:31; Job 2:6-7; 42:11).

2. The reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is not because God is evil or unjust.
     "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). "Good and upright is the Lord" (Psalm 25:8) The angels cry before God day and night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" (Isaiah 6:3). And when he does things that seem evil to us, the Bible teaches us to speak to man like this: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). God is not evil, even when he wills that evil come to pass. There are good and holy and just purposes in all he does. For those who love him he "works all things together for good" (Romans 8:28). Now and forever.

Now the four positive reasons why this world exists.

     1.The reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is because God planned the history of redemption and then permitted sin to enter the world through our first parents, Adam and Eve.
    In 2 Timothy 1:9 the apostle Paul said, "[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began." In other words, before there was any world or any sin in the world, God planned saving grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That means that God knew Adam would sin. He was already planning how he would save us.
     Therefore Adam's sin was part of God's plan so that God could reveal his mercy and grace and justice and wrath and patience and wisdom in ways that could have never been revealed, if there were no sin and no Savior and no history of salvation. God's aim for this fallen world is that he be known more fully, because knowing God most fully is what it means for us to be most fully loved. If you turn to Christ, you will discover in God more wonders in this fallen world than could be imagined in any other world.

2.The reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is because God subjected the natural world to futility. That is, God put the natural world under a curse so that the physical horrors we see around us in diseases and calamities would become a vivid picture of how horrible sin is. In other words, natural evil is a signpost pointing to the horrors of moral evil.
     Before I say another word, hear this word of clarification: some of the sweetest, most humble, godly, Christ-exalting, heaven-bound people carry some of those signs. Listen to Romans 8:18-21:
"The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (19) For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (20 ) For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
    In other words, God subjected the creation to futility and bondage to decay and misery and death. He disordered the natural world because of the disorder of the moral and spiritual world--that is because of sin. In our present condition blinded by sin and dishonoring God every day, we cannot see how repugnant sin is. Hardly anyone in the world feels the horror that our sin is. Physical pain we feel! And so it becomes God's trumpet blast to tell us that something is dreadfully wrong in the world. Diseases and deformities are God's portraits of what sin is like in the spiritual realm. That is true even though some of the most godly people bear those deformities. Calamities are God's previews of what sin deserves and will one day receive in judgment a thousand times worse. They are warnings. And that is true even when they sweep away Christ-followers and Christ-rejectors.
     Oh, that we could all see and feel how repugnant, how offensive, how abominable it is to blackball our Maker, to ignore him and distrust him and demean him and give him less attention in our hearts than we do the carpet on our living room floor. We must see this, or we will not turn to Christ for salvation from sin. Therefore, God mercifully shouts to us in our sicknesses and pain and calamities: Wake up! Sin is like this! Sin leads to things like this. (See Revelation 9:20; 16:9, 11.) The natural world is shot through with horrors to wake us from the dreamworld of thinking sin is no big deal. It is a horrifically big deal.

3. The reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is so that followers of Christ can experience and display that no pleasure and no treasure compares to knowing Christ. That is, the loss of every good thing in this world is meant to reveal that Christ himself more than compensates for all losses.
     We see it in the New Testament and the Old Testament. The apostle Paul says, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8). The superior worth of Christ is magnified because in all Paul's losses, he experiences Christ as all-satisfying.
     The prophet Habakkuk said it with amazing and painful beauty:"Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, (18) yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
     Famines, pestilence, persecution--these happen so that the world might see in the followers of Jesus and discover for themselves that God made us for himself and that he is our "exceeding joy" (Psalm 43:4) and at his right hand are pleasures for every more (Psalm 16:11). The losses of life are meant to wean us off the poisonous pleasures of the world and lure us to Christ our everlasting joy.

4. Finally, the reason this terrorized and troubled world exists is to make a place for Jesus Christ the Son of God to suffer and die for our sins. The reason there is terror is so that Christ would be terrorized. The reason there is trouble is so that Christ could be troubled. The reason there is pain is so that Christ could feel pain. This is the world God prepared for the suffering and death of his Son. This is the world where God made the best display of his love in the suffering of his Son.
     Romans 5:8, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." All his suffering was the plan of God to reveal redeeming love to us. The sovereignty of God, the evil of the world, and the love of God meet at the cross of Christ. Listen to this amazing statement from Acts 4:27-28 about God's plan for the suffering of his Son--for you! "Truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." All the scheming, all the flogging, all the spitting, all the beating with rods, all the mockery, all the abandonment by his friends, all the thorns in his head, all the nails in his hands and feet, the sword in his side, weight of the sins of the world--all of it according to God's plan. For you to see God's love more graphically.

God's deepest answer to terrorism and calamity is the suffering and death of his Son. He entered into our fallen world of sin and misery and death. He bore in himself the cause of it all--sin. And he bought by his death the cure for it all--forgiveness and everlasting joy in the age to come.

On his behalf I invite--I urge--you to receive him as your Savior and Lord and the supreme Treasure of your life.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

By John Piper. (c) Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. 

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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan 

PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS:  1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will  only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.

World-Wide Prayer Requests:

 This is a photo of 3 of Asia's daughters holding a picture of their imprisoned mother.

4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law.  Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority.  Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service)

A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution? 
5/12 - Just hours ago, I (Jay Sekulow, ACLJ) met with President Trump at the White House to discuss the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson - a U.S. citizen - who languishes in a Turkish prison because of his Christian faith. Pastor Andrew's mom says, "For 23 years, I saw him love and serve the people of Turkey. He has been in prison 7 months, and having visited him there, I have seen the tremendous struggles he is experiencing. I wake every morning with a deep sadness."The one gift she wants this Mother’s Day weekend is the safe return of her beloved son.

2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson 

12/13- American Center For Law and Justice: On trial for their faith, two Christian pastors in Sudan face death. Christian Pastors Hassan Abduraheem and Kuwa Shamal have been brutally imprisoned for nearly a year – 359 days – in deplorable conditions. Their trial has been delayed time and time again.Their churches miss them. Their families need them. They face possible death sentences because they are Christians. At the ACLJ, we've launched a massive international legal advocacy campaign for their freedom. We're preparing critical legal letters to Sudan, raising their case with world leaders, and preparing action at the U.N. They could be sentenced to hang for their faith if the world is silent. Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death.Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Demand Sudan free Pastors Hassan and Kuwa now. Sign Our Petition: Save Christian Pastors from Death...https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-pastors-from-possible-death?

Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:

http://live.opendoorsusa.org/wwl/?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=content-banner&utm_campaign=may-2016
PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA.  Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.
*For families struck by terror— to receive the care and rest that they need to physically and emotionally heal from this horrific ordeal.

*For those who executed the attack. This act was full of evil and hate, but no one is too far from God’s saving grace. May God convict their hearts today of the evil act they did — in direct rebellion to Him and His Word. May He save them miraculously, just as God did with Paul, while he was persecuting the church.

*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and endurance. May the gospel be ever-present in their minds. 

# 1962 (5/27) PRO-LIFE SAT: "Undercover Video Exposes Deep Contradiction at the Heart of Planned Parenthood"

"UNDERCOVER VIDEO EXPOSES DEEP CONTRADICTION AT THE HEART OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD" - Jay Hobbs / May 22, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/22/undercover-video-exposes-deep-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-planned-parenthood/

Planned Parenthood is actively lobbying to force pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortion, while refusing to advertise alternatives to abortion in its own practices. (Photo: Andrew Kelly /Reuters/Newscom)

Just hours after Hollywood filmmaker Joss Whedon launched a foul piece of propaganda celebrating Planned Parenthood, an undercover video surfaced that reveals a much darker reality about the nation’s leading abortion business.

Though buoyed by well over $500 million in taxpayer dollars each year, Planned Parenthood offers little else in medical services beyond abortion—despite its rhetoric that would suggest otherwise. This was made especially clear in Live Action’s video, released on Wednesday.

When Live Action called Planned Parenthood clinics asking for other services ranging from prenatal care to adoption to parenting resources, staff at seven of the clinics said to “just go online” or “just Google” those services. In two especially chilling moments in the video, Planned Parenthood staffers tell women who are looking for an ultrasound that they don’t actually provide ultrasounds—not unless the plan is to take the baby’s life through abortion, that is.
“We don’t do any ultrasounds for prenatal care,” a staff member at a Council Bluffs, Iowa, Planned Parenthood tells a caller. “We do them when we’re doing abortions, but not for any other reason.”

The news that Planned Parenthood is, at its core, an abortion business isn’t exactly earth-shattering. A graphic at the end of Live Action’s video shows that the corporation “performs” nearly 35 percent of all abortions in the U.S. compared with less than 2 percent of breast exams, less than 1 percent of pap smears, and less than two percent of cancer screenings.

In fact, another video Live Action released back in January caught 92 Planned Parenthood locations admitting the fact that they do not offer prenatal care, which is in direct contradiction to spurious, repeated claims by company CEO Cecile Richards. To Planned Parenthood’s credit, staff at one of those 92 locations that doesn’t offer prenatal care did have the presence of mind to refer a client to a local pro-life pregnancy center. A blind squirrel can occasionally find a nut, after all.

Tipping the Scales for Abortion -  But Wednesday’s video exposes more than initially meets the eye.
     Yes, Planned Parenthood does abortions on a highly disproportionate number of its patients, and yes, you’d have a better chance of finding a three-legged ballerina than a Planned Parenthood that provides prenatal care.
     But beyond that, the video shows that even while Planned Parenthood staffers send women to the internet to look for alternatives to its “services,” the abortion chain’s lobbyists are working overtime to undermine those alternatives—even if it means trampling the free speech of pro-life pregnancy centers.
     In California and Hawaii, for instance, pro-abortion super-majorities have passed legislation that would force Christian nonprofit pregnancy centers—including those operated in and by local churches—to advertise taxpayer-funded abortions at the very outposts set up to offer an alternative to the deadly practice. The California law is likely headed to the Supreme Court, while Hawaii’s legislation sits on the governor’s desk awaiting his signature.
    In Illinois, the situation is even grimmer, as the state is attempting to force pro-life medical professionals not only to advertise abortions, but to actually cultivate a list of known abortion providers within a local proximity and be ready to hand the list over to a client.

Where Will Pregnant Women Hear About Alternatives?
    This, of course, violates every tenet of free speech and free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment, and pro-life attorneys have argued as much in court, gaining a preliminary victory in Illinois while the state and federal courts sort out the case.
     On a practical level, pro-life lawmakers and lawyers have regularly argued that the disclaimers and referrals are unnecessary because abortion business listings are so easy to find on the internet or through the Yellow Pages—which would seem to meet the on-the-ground standard of care offered by Planned Parenthood.
     Questioned whether a pro-life doctor or nurse could simply direct a client to look in the Yellow Pages rather than cultivate and distribute a list of abortion businesses, Lorie Chaiten of the American Civil Liberties Union told one Illinois House committee that idea was anathema back on May 13, 2015. “So, I would like to think that a health care professional wouldn’t just hand the Yellow Pages,” Chaiten said. “This is about the patients really just not knowing where to turn.”

If the witch hunt against alternatives to abortion really was about making sure women knew where to turn, wouldn’t we expect Planned Parenthood’s brass to come unglued in reaction to revelations that its own staff sends women to the dreaded internet—or worse yet, the Yellow Pages—for information?

Of course, that’s not what this is about at all, and we can thank Live Action for yet another arrow of truth we can add to the quiver.

Jay Hobbs is director of communications and marketing for Heartbeat International, the world’s largest network of pro-life pregnancy help centers, and editor of PregnancyHelpNews.com.