God save our nation.

Columbus, OH – May 27, 2010 – On May 26, 2010 the Ohio Senate’s Health, Human Services and Aging Committee chaired by Sen. Steve Buehrer (R-Delta) passed Sub SB 243 – a ban on Human Animal Hybrids.  The Ohio Christian Alliance, lead by the strong leadership of Chris Long, brought together pro-life leaders from around the state to oppose the abhorrent practice of human-animal hybrids.  Dr. David Prentice was also on hand at the Ohio Statehouse to present expert testimony.

Read an excerpt from Mark Harrington’s testimony below:

You [this committee] have heard testimony from a couple of Ohio research institutions about how this ban would hurt Ohio in its ability to attract some of the brightest minds in the scientific community.

Human-animal hybrid research is unethical and there is no need to use animal embryos or eggs in this manner to advance science and research.  We can proceed with medical advances and respect human life at the same time.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Unfortunately today, most of the debates over medical ethics center on the “how” instead of the “why.”

The right or wrong of a particular practice or the means by which we conduct our research is often passed by in pursuit of the ends.

Let me be clear – We all want to see treatments for sickness.  We all want to see cures for disease.  But the question is at what price?

I am becoming more and more convinced when it comes to emerging bio technologies like human-animal hybrids that many of these researchers do not believe in ANY limits on research as long as it has the possibility to produce an economic end that suits their agenda.

The bottom line is human-animal hybrids are immoral.  And an immoral means can never be justified to bring about a moral end.  In other words “we cannot do evil to bring about a good.”

CBR is urging our Ohio membership to call their State Senators and ask for them to support S.B.243 with a vote on the Senate Floor.  Currently the states of Louisiana and Arizona have a ban on human-animal hybrids.

Action Item – If you live in Ohio call your State Senator and tell them to vote for the S.B.243 Ban on Human – Animal research! Go to: http://www.ohiosenate.gov/directory.html

Mark Harrington is the Executive Director of CBR Midwest, and President of the Pro-Life Institute.

King Herod and mere puppet for Caesar considered himself to be a god and did not silence the people when they worshiped him. The Bible tells us, in chapter twelve of Acts, when he accepted the praise of man and failed to give glory to God, he was struck down and immediately eaten by worms and died.

In America, the land of the free and home of the brave, we have become overrun by bureaucrats. Many of them believe themselves to be gods. In fact, they hold the power of God over a man’s life and business. Even many bureaucrats who profess to be Christian, have no fear of God but continue to build empires and despise their brothers’ freedoms.

Last April, speaking in Turkey, President Obama declared to his audience and the whole world that America, whose foundation is firmly rooted in the laws of the Bible, is no longer Christian. There are many Christians who agree with him, claiming we live in a post-Christian age. My friend, this is a myth. For never in the history of the United States of America has the population been truly Christian. What determines whether we are a Christian nation are our founding documents. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (as written) has not changed. By that measure, we are still firmly Christian.

What Obama actually told the world was, “We do not consider ourselves Christian.” Here is the leader of our nation, presumably speaking for the American people and affirming we are no longer Christian. Granted, by polling, it appears those who claim to be Christian is down to somewhere in the high sixty to low seventy percentile. Even though the majority of our nation are not true Christian, yet still the majority claims to be. So, how is it he can say this and get away with it? Even more, declaring we are the largest Muslim nation in the world, thus changing our national religion in the space of one speech?

On 07 May, President Obama refused to acknowledge the National Day of Prayer – an honor to God. But a few weeks later, he reserved an entire month for the celebration of Gay and Lesbian Pride – a dishonor to God. Within days of this event, Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared on MSNBC Obama was above the people, above the world – he was a god. Actually worse. He said, “he’s sort of God.” Not just a god, or a man-god as were the early kings. Now he is on equal footing with God, Himself.

The early kings believed they were above the law and above the church. From the time of Christ, there was never a secular document to refute this until 15 June 1215 when the nobles of England confronted King John and forces him to acknowledge the law and God-given rights. This document, the Magna Charta, underwent much misinterpretation and abuse by kings that followed, much as our Constitution does today. But the document was never forgotten and it was used at many times to raise up the law and/or the people to curb tyranny, be it ever so temporary.

It was the Calvinists that firmly delineated the separation of the king’s law and the supremacy of God’s law. This is the heritage that followed most the early settlers, save the Puritans who clung to the state church. This is our heritage: the rightly dividing of the Word of Truth to understand that God reigns above all and that His church does not submit to any government, including any 501(C)(3). We are losing that heritage because our ministers will not stand up to the king. They long for the praise of men and they have thrown off doctrine and replaced it with tolerance and therapy.

Now we have a president, who is king, who is god.

My late friend, Otto Scott, wrote a book entitled “The Great Christian Revolution” (1994). He recounts a similar time to today in England. It was during the reign of King James, in the early sixteen hundreds.

“The King,” James said, “is above the law.” He asserted that kings were not only God’s “lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself are called gods.”

James relied on the Church of England to protect these claims, which reflected the politics of Spain, France and the Vatican. He did not understand that in England the common law competed against ecclesiastical law, and had done so for centuries. [Ed note: King James was raised in Scotland and was King James VI of Scotland before becoming King James I of England.]

Sir Edward Coke, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, did not believe that the courts of the Church should have greater power than the Common Courts of England. Therefore, when an appeal from a High Commission [Ed note: Church Court] ruling came before him, he decided that Parliament could review the High Commission’s behavior.

Although cowardly and depraved, James I was not stupid. As a child of the Scots revolution, he knew what could happen to a monarch whose agents were overruled. In early 1609, Coke’s habit of issuing “prohibitions” against High Commission rulings, fines and imprisonments led to a confrontation between the king, his bishops and the Chief Justice.

Coke cited the Magna Carta which, he said, gave the Courts of Common Law the right to provide justice “from highest to the lowest.”

James replied angrily that if he chose, he could dispense justice himself, because he “had reason and could judge.” Coke said the king could reason, but didn’t know the law. He also added the king was “under God and the law.”

At that James flew into a rage. The issue he thought buried forever, drilled into him by Buchanan, [Ed note: Buchanan was James' tutor] that had led his mother to death, had risen inside England and the citadels of his power.

Coke apologized; the bishops soothed the monarch, the meeting ended but nothing changed. The Court of Common Pleas continued to clip the High Commission; underground presses continued Puritan arguments and even irreligious men began to chafe at the presumption of a body legally charged with controlling their faith – and their minds.

This struggle has often been described in purely political terms. Yet the argument that the king is under the law was presented to the people of James’ time by the Calvinist Buchanan and his associates. It was a religious argument that marked the difference between Calvinists and Arminianism and Lutheranism, among others.

The struggle to determine who will rule over man – God or man, iis the same struggle that has been going on from the beginning. Lord Acton said “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This is even played out in the American experiment. There is always a reason for a new law and every new law means a legion of new bureaucrats. With legions of bureaucrats, our new president is not only attempting to rule our nation but even the whole world. He presumes by his oratory confidence and declarations that what he says will be so. He will tell us what we believe.

The media trumpets his decrees. The politicians cower before him. “Hail, Obama!”

Only one man will stand. The Christian who is committed to tolerance or therapy, or government solutions to mans’ problems will not stand against a tyrant. Only the man who stands on the word of God and fearlessly proclaims “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men.” [Dan 4:25]

History repeats itself and it is repeating itself today. Where will you stand?

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips — who is our master?”

“Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.”

And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.

O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men. [Psa 12:1-8 NIV]

When we look at our nation and the world today, it is easy to become discouraged. President Obama was elected to office on a whirlwind of praise from the media. After his first one-hundred days he can still do no wrong, regardless the appointments of those who favor to impose abortion and homosexuality upon our culture. He campaigned on the mantras of “Change” and “Hope” and what the people understood was that previous administrations had kept close strings on the public piggy bank and now he was going to open that piggy bank and disperse it back to the people it belonged to. What he did was stuff an empty vessel full of IOUs that even our grandchildren will be paying.

Our times mirror David’s observations: Everyone lies to his neighbor and refuses to acknowledge the truth. We have reclassified sin as a civil right, murder as a privacy issue and now we deceive ourselves that we can spend our way into prosperity. And the people believe we have found our messiah – the praises will never end and his blunders will be ignored. We hail the mantras of “Change” and “Hope” – our words and positive thoughts will make it so and we ignore the truth. On the pretense of relieving the poor, we will impoverish the masses and future generations.

Our leaders, bureaucrats and lawyers have worked hard to remove Jesus Christ from every inch of our culture. And the wicked have become emboldened to impose their perversions upon our children. But God tells us His word will stand. Even when it looks like evil is winning, we are not to become disheartened because God is still in control – and He is watching over us.

This week I was reading an article about the secularization of the Epsicopal Church USA. William Murchison, a longtime member, has written about this in his book, “Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity.” But he is not discouraged. He said, “I happen to think this is a wonderful time for evangelism. I’m too old, at 67, to be a pessimist; I’m more of an optimist. And I believe that God’s in charge — and he will take us through the trials of today, and he will bring his people where he wants them to be.”

God is still in control. No matter what is going on in your life – no matter what you see going on around you, God will bring you where He wants you to be. Amen.

“In the past, whenever I was worried about my husband because of his challenges against tyranny, he would often console me by saying…that if one day he would be persecuted because of his ideals and sense of justice, the people in the world who believe in justice would stand by him and support him. I know that he would still harbor this light and hope in his heart while enduring various torments in prison!”

– Geng He’s open letter to the U.S. Congress asking for Congress to intervene on behalf of her husband Gao Zhisheng. Read full letter.

On Sunday, November 2nd, 2008, just two days before the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, I wrote,

“Tuesday, November 4th, will be a day of deliverance, either into captivity and lamentation, or into the recognition that our ordered liberties come from God; into the twilight before nightfall, or into the glorious light of day after the threat has passed; into an awakening and revival, or the awareness of great loss and evil to come.”

Can God’s people be counted on to stand up for truth?

A few nights ago Miss California chose to honor God, and take a stand for traditional marriage before a TV audience of millions. The truth – and her relationship with Christ – was more important to her than a temporal, earthly crown. It may have cost her a beauty contest, but in the minds and hearts of millions of Americans, she is ‘Miss USA’, no matter how the judges ruled.

A few days before, another woman – not as young or attractive – ignored the snickers, sneers and jeers of Britain’s pop culture, and courageously demonstrated it was worth pursuing her dream no matter what anyone else thought of her!

If America is to recover from the elevation of Godless secularism over the last 70 years, and the debilitating agenda of the current administration and out of control congress, Christians must do as Carrie Prejean and Susan Boyle did. If we do not, we will find ourselves consigned to an economic, moral, spiritual and political wilderness that one would never wish upon anyone, let alone their children.

That is the challenge to America’s Christians. Will we stand, or will we fold? Will we open our mouths, and speak truth, or will we continue to be intimidated by misguided policy makers, the self aggrandizing, the deceived, the intolerant, and the morally challenged? None of these are insurmountable giants to be left to guide public policy for their own pleasures and agendas, especially when America’s Christians stand shoulder to shoulder in the voting booth and town councils!

The eyes of faith. . . or the lens of fear

Bob Gass, in the April 21st “The Word for You Today” writes, “When you get right down to it, there’s very little difference in people, but the little difference amounts to a big difference, and the little difference is attitude; it determines whether you see life through the eyes of faith or the lens of fear.” When those around Joshua and Caleb “saw only giants and wanted to turn back”, Caleb said,

“If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us.” – Numbers 14:8

When God’s people seek His Face, turn from their wicked ways, and live courageously, confidently, and boldly to honor and glorify Him, He honors and blesses them. . . and heals their land! Cf. II Chronicles 7:14
Does our God ‘Delight in us’?

When we

* Shrink back from honoring Him openly, publicly, and courageously?
* VOTE for candidates for public office who openly defy God’s laws?
* Ignore our citizenship reponsibility to VOTE?
* Look the other way when we see evil being condoned?
* Choose to wait for the rapture instead of occupying until He comes?
* Refuse to speak truth in public meetings, forums, and legislatures?
* Remain silent when we should speak up and take action?
* Refuse to support and work for candidates who hold our values?
* Remove pastors from their pulpits who wish to speak openly and clearly into the culture?

Does He “Delight in us” when we do these things?
“There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend, not their homes alone, but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments, and their very civilization are founded.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt [ed - ironic, isn't it?]

That time has come, and it is imperative that we prepare NOW for the 2010 elections.

“The first quarter of 2009 is shaping up to be one of the most dismal financial performances since the early 1980s. If trends continue, things could get even worse. Unemployment is soaring , the stock market is sinking, and every economic indicator points to continued bad news.

Yet, even in the midst of some of the worst times I can remember, I haven’t seen one leading public figure in government or industry stand up and say that our country needs God’s help. Not one.

Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise us. for decades, our courts, politicians and educators have done everything they could to remove God from the public square. Our nation has ceased to acknowledge and worship God. We have arrogantly exalted ourselves, and we’ve come to believe we can fix every national ailment without God’s assistance.

Our current plight reminds me of the Prophet Jeremiah’s warning to Israel, a nation that was still enjoying relative prosperity but was on the brink of God’s judgement through the invasion of Babylonian forces.

Jeremiah issued the Lord’s stern rebuke: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13).

Their chief offense was that, in their comfort and ease, they had forgotten the God who had delivered them through the centuries, and instead relied on their own self-righteousness. They had forsaken the Source of all blessing and constructed a self-reliant society that was doomed to fail eventually.

That has a familiar ring, doesn’t it?

America was once a nation that honored and trusted God, albeit imperfectly. Many of today’s prestigious institutions of higher learning were founded by Christians, and precepts from Scripture were foundational for instruction. Presidents and national leaders embraced Christianity’s influence on civil matters, and God’s moral laws were encoded into our judicial system.

That godly heritage has been abandoned and rejected, and I believe we are paying the price today. Greed isn’t good. The lack of personal integrity has massive consequences. We’ve built a culture of our own making that is on the verge of destruction.

The answer is straightforward: “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding” (Jeremiah 3:22). The biblical scenario for personal and national restoration is always the same – confession of sin, repentance and renewed obedience to the Lord and His ways.

This is a time of testing for our country. Will we acknowledge our sin and turn back to God? Will we call on God for help in our hour of distress, or will we continue to further distance ourselves from His aid?

God always leaves room for repentance. He is patient and long-suffering. But there comes a time when He finally allows us to reap what we’ve sown. That will be a bitter harvest, one that I pray we will not experience.

Now is the time for believers to call on the Lord, confess our sin and be cleansed. Now is the time for the church to be salt and light in a dark season. If we do, perhaps God will move in mercy and grace to heal our land.

“For I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt (Jeremiah 3:12-13).”