Exhortations on Holy Living-Then & Now...

I enjoy reading quotes from revivalists and theologians of past years. More often than not, their advice is very timely and applicable to our world today. I presented a Bible Study recently from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. Sometimes the Bible does some "hard preachin'" Here are some parts of that presentation with some additional quotes of others from past years. First, let us look at the Scripture text:

¹² And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies.* ²¹ Test all things; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil. NKJV

^*20 Don’t brush off Spirit-inspired messages,CEB

Rejoice Always: This can be a difficult one when going through trials and temptation. John Wesley stated that in the book of Job,"There are many things hard to be understood." Others have noted that Job's "patience" only lasted two chapters out of a forty-two chapter book!

Pray without ceasing: "The evangelization of the world depends first of all upon a revival of prayer."- Charles G. Finney, in Revival letters

Quench not the Spirit: "Catch on fire and others will come to watch you burn." -John Wesley

Despise not prophesyings (Preaching) The original Greek word here was analogia, meaning "according to the proportion of faith" This actually meant preaching, and not predicting the future. However, the early "evangelists" were spiritually in tune with God. Most preaching in the 1700's and later was expository in nature, much different than many of today's user "friendly" and topical sermons.

"Sermonettes make Christianettes."- Jack van Impe

"What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace." -John Wesley

Abstain from all appearance of evil: In today's "Grey" world, this rings more true now than ever! There are several quotes herewith a humorous one by the late George Carlin.

"Vice does not lose its character becoming fashionable."- John Wesley

"Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself."

Susanna Wesley, Mother of John and Charles

"The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse:
You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment." George Carlin

Morning Trinitarian Prayer

John Stott's Morning Trinitarian prayer.

Good morning heavenly Father,
good morning Lord Jesus,
good morning Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence
and please you more and more.

Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God,
have mercy upon me. Amen.

God Never Changes

Five Things We Can Depend On!”

Text: Luke 12:22-33

By Keith Kiper

Why do bad things happen to good people? That question has been asked many times. A newly-wed couple are killed by a drunk driver as they leave the church for their honeymoon. Just this past week, evangelist Rev. David Wilkerson was killed in a head-on crash with an 18 wheeler. Wilkerson is best known as the founder of Teen Challenge ministries and as the author of “The Cross and the Switchblade.” Recently we have witnessed the devastation of the tsunami in Japan and the record setting tornadoes in the south. The death toll continues to climb into the 300’s. Contrast this with all the news coverage and the world’s fascination with the Royal Wedding which took place in London this week. Perhaps the world was ready for some good news for a change. Proverbs 11:10 tells us, ”When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers, when it goes badly for bad people, the town celebrates.”

Many will blame God when tragedy comes into their lives. The pundits and talking heads on the nightly news are always looking for a cause or an explanation.

Things like climate change must be to blame. Others would point to what the Bible tells us about the last days. Perhaps both these statements are true. After all, the Bible tells us in Romans that the whole earth groans in travail because of man’s sin.

We may never have the answers to all these questions in this short life here on earth. But as Job and others in the past well knew, they could trust God whatever the outcome. That’s what I would like to focus on today. We can find five things that set us apart as Christians. Like God the father, these don’t change and will provide us with comfort regardless of what’s happening in our life.

During a British conference on the World’s religions, experts from around the world were discussing the Christian faith. They wanted to know if there was one particular belief that belonged only to the Christian faith. One by one they began to eliminate the possibilities. Incarnation they said? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of someone returning from the dead. They debated for some time until the great Christian author C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about? He asked.

The other experts in the room told him they were discussing what made Christianity different from all the other religions. In his usual forthright manner C.S. Lewis responded, Oh that is easy. It’s grace.”

Grace alone can save us. This is one of the major teaching of the Protestant Church. Grace sets us apart as Christians from the other religions. That is why we celebrated Resurrection Sunday this past week. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection means that only by the unmerited favor of God that Christ went to the cross and paid for our sins. That’s what grace is all about! Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. Man is depraved by nature and alienated from God his Creator. It is through God’s grace alone through the Holy Spirit that we can be drawn to God through Christ. The only mediator between God and man is Jesus. We can go directly to God in pray. Grace spells out “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Jesus paid the price at Calvary for our sin. It has been paid for. We cannot pay or bargain for our Salvation through any human being. We can just simply confess and accept this free gift. Grace means that the cruelest, most vile and evil person can find favor with his Creator. All are equal at the foot of the Cross.

The Human mind can no more grasp that concept than it can understand the Holy Trinity. We can know its true. How? True because of the experience in our heart and the changed lives and testimony of others. It doesn’t matter what is happening in the world or in our personal life. When we trust in Jesus, He will always be there. In this life and the next.

The Bible tells us in the last days that false prophets will arise. Liberal pastors will tell us that certain ways of living are acceptable to God. As Christians we realize that Scripture alone speaks authoritatively and it speaks to all believers. The Bible speaks to the individual. As Protestant Christians we believe that we do not need an interpreter or so-called modern day prophet. The Bible speaks to us independently of church leaders and organizations. I realize that different denominations may have differing ideas as to what certain passages mean. Sometimes this is because of what we call proof-texting nor taking a single verse out of context to suit what a certain group wants to believe. But I do believe that as Christians, especially Protestant ones, that we will agree on the central teachings of the Bible. Someone once asked the late Dr. Bill Bright what he thought about some of the things in the Bible that we sometimes wish had a better explanation. He replied, “Well, The plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things. If it isn’t a plain thing, then it probably isn’t a main thing.”

Ignoring the main things can have disastrous consequences. When we don’t accept the Bible as literal and whole it affects our respect for human life and how we view others. When we don’t accept the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, then it becomes easy to accept certain evolutionary ideas.

When society ignores the truth in God’s Word they will set their own standards. No society in the history of the world has survived long after making that disastrous choice.

One of the most fascinating, yet sad chapters in American history is the story of Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Pygmy who was put on display in an American Zoo along side a Chimpanzee in the early 1900’s. Darwins theory had so gripped the minds of some scientists that they believed Ota Benga was some form of inferior race. Pygmies were hunted down and killed as portrayed in the movie “Quigley Down Under.“ The word “race’ itself is a result of evolutionary ideas. Even more horrifying examples of this type of thinking can be seen in the concentration camps of WW2. This is what happens when society picks and chooses from the truth found in God’s Word and distort what it really says.

In his letter to the Colossians, we see that Paul is helping a newly established church know that its foundation is the inerrancy of Scripture. He tells them that Scripture living richly within them will keep them united in the faith and strong and focused on the task. Paul writes in Colossians 3:16:

“The word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Listen to the keys words as Paul proclaims in Romans 1:16,”I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

We are all equal at the foot of the cross. Jesus sees all of us through the same eyes. Whatever we are going through, we still have God’s promises and His plan for our lives. We have it in His unchanging Word.

Another Biblical concept we can always keep with us is our faith. Our faith that only God can be completely trusted. The Bible teaches us that only total righteousness is acceptable to God. This righteousness is found in Christ only, not in man. Man is justified by faith alone in the finished work of Christ.

That very familiar verse in Hebrews 11:1 tells us, ”Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” Verse six goes on to tell us that, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

At first glance, these statements made by Paul would seem to contradict each other. The Bible tells us that faith must begin in the heart. Yet, God above is the one who puts that measure of faith there in the first place. This kind of faith, or trust in God, springs from the Christian’s innermost being. This kind of faith allowed early Christians and Reformers to endure torture and persecution. They were sawn in half and burned at the stake. Some died a slow, painful death, so that everyone could have the very Bible we read from today.

Our words seem inadequate to describe this kind of faith. The Bible describes many individuals whom God worked through to do great things.

Why? Not because they were somehow superhuman. They accomplished great things because they took that leap of faith and took God at His Word.

Christ alone is our way to heaven! All other teachings of Christianity hinge on this statement. Salvation is accomplished by Christ alone. Jesus plainly told us that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. We have direct access to Him through prayer. Angels, saints, sacraments, priests, churches, and teachers may direct us to Jesus. But Christ alone was the perfect Saviour, and we have direct access to our heavenly Father only through him.

The angels cried Glory to God in the Highest! God told Moses at Mt Sinai,”I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Duet. 20:1,2)

Religion should be God-centered, not man-centered. Anything else is just a good set of rules to live by. Christianity is the bridge between God and man. It doesn’t matter what the other religions tell us, or what we believe personally.

Dag Hammarskjold said,

“God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a Wonder, the Source of which is beyond all reason.”

We should glorify God in everything that we do. In Old Testament times, the Hebrews would take their portable tabernacles with them as they traveled. In the New Testament Paul tells us we are the tabernacle in which Christ through the Holy Spirit dwells.

Several years ago there was a popular chorus named “Sanctuary.” You may have heard it or even sang it. I may have read the words to this here before. I believe these words speak to our heart and are worth repeating. Whatever is going on around us, we can have peace in our heart. As we close today, think about the words as I read them to you. (I am not a singer by any means)

Sanctuary

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for You

It is you, Lord
Who came to save
The heart and soul
Of every man
It is you Lord
who knows my weakness
Who gives me strength,
With thine own hand.

Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and Holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving I'll be a living
Sanctuary for you

Lead Me on Lord
From temptation
Purify me
From within
Fill my heart with
You holy spirit
Take away all my sin

Lord prepare me to a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for You

Let us pray: We thank you and praise you today for sending us Your Son. We thank you for your Holy Word you have given us to guide us in truth. We pray that in your light, we might see light. You promised us that no matter what is going on around us, You are there with us when we trust in You. Cleanse us each day that we might be the sanctuary and the light that would draw others to you.

And the people said,” Amen.”

Christian View of Labor Unions...

A Christian View of Labor Unions

July 1978 • Volume: 28 • Issue: 7 • Print This Post • 1 comment

By Dr. Gary North

Dr. North is editor of Biblical Economics Today, from which this article is reprinted by permission. Biblical Economics Today is available free on request: P.O. Box 8567, Durham, N.C. 27707.

Why should we speak of a Christian view of labor unions? The best rea­son is that almost all Christians have some opinion on the place of work in the life of a Christian. Max Weber, the German social scientist, wrote an important book at the turn of the century, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he argued that the idea of the calling—one’s vocation—was a cen­tral feature in the attitudes of Prot­estant laymen who helped lay the foundations of modern production methods and organization. If the idea of work is central to the Chris­tian tradition, and this tradition led to the creation of modern capitalism, then we ought to pay attention to a related topic, the labor union. Labor unions are not the major part of the total American labor force, contrary to popular opinion. They are important in the large in­dustries such as autos, steel, and television, but only about 25 per cent of the American labor force belongs to any union, and many of these are weak, rather insignificant organizations. As I hope to demon­strate, it is almost impossible for trade unionism ever to control over half of a nation’s labor force in a democratic country, and where unions control more than this, labor mobility will be reduced markedly.

Do unions raise wages? Unques­tionably they do. Do monopolies in business raise prices? Unquestion­ably they do. Labor unions raise wages in exactly the same way that a business monopoly raises prices: by artificially restricting the supply of a particular resource. Over the long run, with rare exceptions, no monopolist can keep prices raised in this fashion apart from direct gov­ernment interference into the mar­ket. If the government keeps out competitors, then it is possible for monopolists to keep prices above what they would have been in a free market for years or even decades. In the case of diamonds, the DeBeers oligopoly has kept diamond prices up throughout the twentieth cen­tury, but it takes the collusion of the South African government to main­tain this monopoly (or at least it took such collusion originally).

Monopoly Pricing

The economics of monopoly pric­ing is the foundation of all modern trade unionism. This is either not understood by the supporters of trade unions, or else it is rejected as irrelevant. You will search your days in vain trying to find a support­er of trade unions who is also a supporter of business monopolies, yet the economics of each is identi­cal. The labor union achieves higher than market wages for its members by excluding non-members from ac­cess to the competition for the avail­able jobs. In other words, those who are excluded must seek employment in occupations that they regard as second-best. They bear the primary burden in the marketplace; they are the ones who pay the heaviest price for the higher than market wages enjoyed by those inside the union.

How can unions exclude outsiders from the bidding process? There are many ways, all used effectively by unions over the decades. First, there is raw power. They beat up their competitors. They throw paint bombs (paper bags filled with paint) at the homes of their competitors. They threaten the children of their competitors. Their children exclude the children of the competitors from social activities at school, meaning public (government) school. They shout "scab" from their picket lines. (Strange, isn’t it, that those who defend labor unions seldom shout "scab" at Ford salesmen who are challenging the so-called monopoly of General Motors?)

Second, and most effective, trade unionists have been able to convince legislators to enact legislation that excludes non-union workers whenever 50 per cent plus one worker vote to choose a particular labor union as the sole bargaining agent in a plant or industry or pro­fession. The skilled trades were the first to get state governments to pass such legislation, and im­mediately blacks in the South dis­appeared from the skilled trades. Then professional associations got such legislation passed, most notably lawyers, physicians, and den­tists. Then, in 1935, the Wagner Act was passed at the national level. It established the National Labor Re­lations Board (NLRB), a consis­tently pro-union bureaucratic Fed­eral agency. As far as the favored unions are concerned, 75 per cent of all workers are potential "scabs," and the NLRB keeps them in their second-choice jobs.

There is a third, less evident, means of insuring labor union monopoly pricing. This is the minimum wage legislation. This legislation is always supported by trade union officials, whose mem­bers are always earning wages higher than the proposed min­imum wage. This legislation sees to it that regions that have less developed unions, such as the South—in fact, primarily the South—cannot attract industry so easily from the more heavily unionized Northeast. The minimum wage was the primary means of war­fare by unions against non-union workers after World War II until very recently. It still may be the primary weapon. The primary loser is, of course, the urban teenage male black, who cannot get into the Northern union, or migrate to the South, or offer services to employers that are worth the minimum wage.

Employers pay higher wages than the market would have dictated when their labor force is unionized.

Of course, employers outside union domination pay lower wages, since they are not compelled by competi­tive market forces to bid away labor from unionized firms. Since 75 per cent or more of all workers are not in a union, they cannot gain legal ac­cess to the labor markets where 25 per cent of the workers are employed. They have to work else­where. Thus, non-unionized em­ployers are granted a subsidy from government: lower priced workers.

When was the last time you heard a supporter of labor unions argue that the reason why unions are wonderful is because they grant a subsidy to the employers who employ 75 per cent of the American labor force? Yet this is precisely the economic effect of compulsory government-enforced trade union­ism.

The Law of Market Competition

"Buyers compete against other buyers. Sellers compete against other sellers." Not that difficult a concept, right? Apparently it is the most difficult concept in economics, if we are to judge by the arguments people use in favor of increased gov­ernment intervention into the free market.

Buyers of labor services compete against other buyers and potential buyers of similar (substitutable) labor services. This means that em­ployers are in constant competition against other employers in the labor markets. They are forced to bid up the price of labor until the point that they can no longer afford to hire any more laborers, or, in the case of the most successful bidder, until all the competition has dropped out of the field. This is the explanation for the curious phenomenon that labor unions subsidize non-unionized in­dustries that are buying labor ser­vices from those excluded by law from competing for jobs in unionized industries. The buyers of labor in unionized industries have been compelled by law to depart from the "labor auction" in which 75 per cent of American workers are offering their services to the highest bidder.

On the other hand, sellers com­pete against sellers. This means that those who are harmed by trade unionism are those excluded from union membership. They are denied the right to compete for jobs in cer­tain segments of the economy. They have been denied their right to bid, just as the employers in the unionized markets have been de­nied their right to bid.

The biblical view of man is work-oriented. It affirms that man was placed on the earth to subdue it to the glory of God (Gen. 1:28; 9:1-7). It is not each man’s right to work. It is his duty to work. What is his lawful right is his right to compete for the job he wants, his right to compete for the labor services he wishes to pur­chase. No one has a right to my job, including me. Anyone should have the right to compete for my job, including me. And I have the right to compete for his.

Strikes

The striker argues that he has the right not to work, but his employer does not have the right to hire some­one to replace him. Modern compul­sory trade unionism is based on the wholly immoral premise that the worker owns his job (can exclude others from the position) even though he refuses to work for his employer. To add insult to immoral­ity, most trade unionists also want government food stamps, un­employment benefits (tax-free), and other forms of taxpayer-financed benefits while they are striking. The consumer is supposed to finance his own funeral, and the coercion of law then becomes total.

Obviously, nobody inside the union could reap monopoly wages if everyone were in the union who wanted to compete for the available jobs. The union would then become superfluous. It is only because of the artificial barriers set up against other workers that the union mem­bers reap their monopoly gains. This is the reason why, economically speaking, the trade union move­ment in its present, coercive form will never be more than a minority movement. The union needs the majority of workers outside the union movement, since the union member­ship has to have victims among the working class in order to reap its monopoly returns.

Once a man’s contract has ex­pired, he should have the right to walk off the job if he wants to. He should not have the right to keep his employer from hiring a replace­ment. Similarly, any employer should have the right to fire a worker, once the contract has ex­pired. But he should not have the right to exclude that worker from competing in other labor markets. Trade unions deny both these prem­ises.

Voluntary unionism is lawful, so long as the civil government does not do more than enforce the con­tracts agreed to by employers and laborers. A union can help to spread information of better wages or bet­ter jobs, thereby helping its mem­bers to keep alert to the true value of the services they are offering for sale. Unions can be self-help societies. But when compulsory, under coercive civil law, they are immoral. They must be recognized as such by orthodox Christians.

For further reading, see Prof. Sylvester Petro’s many books, including Labor Policy of the Free Society, Power Un­limited: The Corruption of Union Leadership, The Kohler Strike, and The Kingsport Strike. Also of interest: W. H. Hutt, The Strike-Threat Sys­tem.

***

Let the Market Decide

If you believe that the state should not intervene in dealings between employers and employees, then that means not only no Wagner Acts, but no right-to-work laws and no administrative review of wage settle­ments as well. Yet we seem to be headed for ever more intervention by the state in dealings between employers and employees, in the in­ternal affairs of unions, and in the wage-price relationships in industry. Having created our Frankenstein, we are now going to break him to our will.

In the process the state is almost certain to undertake to dictate de­cisions about matters that should be left to the market place, and to create authoritarian patterns of action that will be degrading and de­bilitating to employers and employees alike.

I Know You Are...But What Am I?...

A Commentary

"A group of nine Hawaii senators held hands, bowed their heads and sought God's blessing Wednesday, signaling that they'll still pray despite a vote last week to abandon official invocations.
Fears of court challenges compelled the state Senate to end prayers, making it the first legislative body in the nation to do so."

We hear much about so called tolerance on a daily basis from the pop- psychiatrists to the talking heads on the nightly news. After reading the above story about the Hawaii senators, I had to pause and say a few things. As most Christians realize, society at large is "tolerant" of almost everyone except the true Christ confessing Born Again Christian. When someone is allowed on one of the so called news programs, the liberal-progressives try to shout them down sounding like Pee Wee Hermon and his, "I know you are, but what am I routine!"

I am reminded some of the facets Wesleyan Quadrilateral when considering the Christian history and background of our great nation. The Bible clearly outlines the consequences of nations and kingdoms that ignored God and continued in their pagan practices. History also paints a clear picture of nations who rejected God. Sadly our nation persists in continuing down this path that leads to nowhere at warp speed. Abortion on demand, same sex "marriage", spending like drunken sailors. I am thankful this group of senators had the backbone to stand up for what they believe. I hope and pray the rest of us will join them.

Christmas Reflections...

As I sit here writing they are predicting our first snowfall of the season here in Southern Indiana. As a lover of snow this puts me in a better mood even though my joints crack and pop! I can remember a couple of times over the years when it snowed on Christmas. I can remember living in Fort Lauderdale when it seemed harder to get in the mood when it was 80 degrees outside, although that would feel really good right about now. With all the "Holiday" hype on television we hardly hear mention of the real Reason for the Season. They don't mention that some 2000 years ago God became man in the form of His Son so that we could have eternal life and someday meet Him face to face.
With all the advertizing and such, there is still something magical about this time of year. The most hardened cynic must notice there must be something better than chasing after material things. As I pause and reflect, my prayer is that we don't forgot what Christmas is really about, be thankful for what we have in this nation where all seem wealthy compared to the way people live in some countries of the world. And that most of all that everyone would receive the greatest Gift of all, eternal life through Jesus, God's Son.

Merry Christmas to all; Keith/Circuit Rider

America Wants Pro-Life Majority!

Majority of Americans Want Pro-Life Republicans Running House, Senate

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 22, 2010

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A majority of Americans say in a new poll released today that they want pro-life Republicans running the House and Senate instead of the current pro-abortion Democrats who control the majority and work with pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

With Democrats pushing for the government-run health care reform bill that allows abortion funding and overturning other limits on abortion funds in other situations, Americans apparently have had enough.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of likely voters say that if their vote next month determined which political party wins control of the Senate, they'd like that party to be the Republicans. Another 42 percent disagree and want pro-abortion Democrats to remain in charge.

With pro-life elected officials in the top leadership positions in the GOP in both the House and Senate, changing who controls Congress will change key abortion policy and approach.

"This marks a noticeable turnaround from just before the midterm elections in November 2006 when 47% wanted their vote to throw control of the Senate to the Democrats, while 37% preferred putting the GOP in charge," pollster Scott Rasmussen noted.

The identical numbers hold true when voters are asked which party they would like to see controlling the House of Representatives if their vote was the determining factor: 51% say the Republicans; 42% say the Democrats.

"Over 90% of GOP voters want to see their party regain control of the House and Senate, as do 12% of Democrats. Just over 80% of Democratic voters want their party to be in charge of both houses of Congress," Rasmussen noted. "Voters not affiliated with either party want to see Republicans in control of the Senate by a 50% to 35% margin and the House by a similar 52% to 36% margin."

There appears to be more intensity in this election cycle, too, Rasmussen indicates.

"Eighty-nine percent (89%) of voters now say in terms of its impact on their own lives, it is at least somewhat important which party controls Congress after next month's election. That includes 66% who say it is Very Important, 17 points higher than the finding four years ago. Only eight percent (8%) say it is not very or not at all important which party is in charge," he said in his analysis of the poll.

A Democratic-controlled Congress has had a major impact on the lives of unborn children.

In addition to passing the ObamaCare bill that authorizes abortion funding, Congressional Democrats approved establishing an Office for Global Women's Issues, headed by an ambassador-at-large who will report directly to pro-abortion Secretary of State Clinton and promote abortion as an international right.

The current Congress approved overturning the policy against taxpayer funding of abortions in the District of Columbia, which will increase what is already one of the nation's highest abortion rates.

The Democratic Congress defeated a measure to cut funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business and moved abstinence education funding from abstinence groups to Planned Parenthood.

The Senate also started the process of overturning the longstanding ban on abortions at taxpayer-funded U.S. military base hospitals both domestic and abroad.

The Senate defeated a measure to restore the Mexico City Policy to prevent taxpayer funding of groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denied pro-life advocates a vote in the House.

Buzz up!

Fetal Pain Abortion Law...A National Trend?

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 15, 2010

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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new fetal pain law is taking effect today in Nebraska that targets late-term abortions based on the pain an unborn baby will likely feel during the abortion procedure. The law could set a national trend of other states and Congress considering such measures and could lead to a Supreme Court battle.

The Nebraska law, Legislative Bill 1103, relies on significant medical research and expert testimony to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the basis that unborn children feel pain.

The legislation has been hailed by pro-life advocates across the country for its innovative approach and focusing the public's attention on unborn babies who have been medically documented as pain capable at 20 weeks gestation.

“This will take off like wildfire,” Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, predicted in comments to the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

The Nebraska bill has already inspired Sen. Mike Johanns, a Nebraska Republican to press for a similar measure on the national level -- and he used it to challenge pro-abortion president Barack Obama.

“How does anybody -- pro-life or pro-choice -- oppose this?” asked Johanns. “If the baby feels pain ... then it is an issue of human compassion.”

The expected opposition -- in the form of lawsuits from pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood or the Center for Reproductive Rights, have yet to materialize.

Mary Spaulding Balch, a pro-life attorney who is the state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says abortion advocates may not want to have a national discussion on the pain unborn children feel because it draws attention to their humanity and need for legal protection.

But Crepps, deputy director of the New York-based CRR law firm, told the newspaper to expect a legal battle.

“National Right to Life Committee can speculate as much as they want, but it is just that — speculation,” she said. "We will file a challenge to this unconstitutional law when the circumstances are appropriate. We will not, however, discuss our decision-making process publicly.”

The pro-abortion law firm worked with late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart, who operates out of the Omaha area, to challenge the state's partial-birth abortion ban in 2000. That case ultimately resulted in the first Supreme Court opinion saying such bans are unconstitutional. The high court later reversed itself and upheld a national ban Congress passed during the Bush administration.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland confirmed to the Omaha paper that it would not file a lawsuit against the new law.

But a lawsuit, Balch told LifeNews.com previously, would give the pro-life movement a chance to push back against prior Supreme Court opinion on abortion.

Balch says the law could make its way to the Supreme Court to alter national abortion law further and set a wide-ranging precedent.
"Although it will be a case of first impression, there are strong grounds to believe that five members of the current U.S. Supreme Court would give serious consideration to Nebraska’s assertion of a compelling state interest in preserving the life of an unborn child whom substantial medical evidence indicates is capable of feeling pain during an abortion," she said.

The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act could see the same group of five members of the Supreme Court who backed the partial-birth abortion ban uphold it as constitutional and allow more abortions to be prohibited.

Balch says the genius of the measure is the scientific fact that unborn children can feel pain.

"By 20 weeks after fertilization, unborn children have pain receptors throughout their body, and nerves link these to the brain," she told LifeNews.com. "These unborn children recoil from painful stimulation, which also dramatically increases their release of stress hormones. Doctors performing fetal surgery at and after 20 weeks now routinely use fetal anesthesia."

A first of its kind in the United States, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibits abortion after 20 weeks gestation except when the mother "has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or...it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child."

When looking at abortion case law, NRLC says it hopes a new analysis can be established that would ultimately lead to overturning Roe.

Balch says the pro-life group wants the Supreme Court to redraw the line away from the viability standard about when abortions can be prohibited.

“What I would like to bring to the attention of the court is, there is another line,” Balch said. “This new knowledge is something the court has not looked at before and should look at.”

Fetal pain is not a new concept and the leading national expert on the topic confirms unborn children definitely have the capacity to feel intense pain during an abortion.

Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand of the University of Arkansas Medical Center has said he and other specialists in development of unborn children have shown that babies feel pain before birth as early as 20 weeks into the pregnancy.

Anand said many medical studies conclude that unborn babies are "very likely" to be "extremely sensitive to pain during the gestation of 20 to 30 weeks."

"This is based on multiple lines of evidence," Dr. Anand said. "Not just the lack of descending inhibitory fibers, but also the number of receptors in the skin, the level of expression of various chemicals, neurotransmitters, receptors, and things like that."

Anand explained that later-term abortion procedures, such as a partial-birth abortion "would be likely to cause severe pain."

Dr. Jean Wright, an anesthesiologist specializing in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, has also confirmed the existence of fetal pain during Congressional testimony.

“[A]n unborn fetus after 20 weeks of gestation, has all the prerequisite anatomy, physiology, hormones, neurotransmitters, and electrical current to close the loop and create the conditions needed to perceive pain. In a fashion similar to explaining the electrical wiring to a new house, we would explain that the circuit is complete from skin to brain and back," she said.

And Dr. Richard T.F. Schmidt, past President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, confirms, “It can be clearly demonstrated that fetuses seek to evade certain stimuli in a manner which an infant or an adult would be interpreted as a reaction to pain.”

An April 2004 Zogby poll shows that 77% of Americans back "laws requiring that women who are 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancy be given information about fetal pain before having an abortion."

Only 16 percent disagreed with such a proposal, according to the poll, commissioned by the National Right to Life Committee.

Related web sites:
National Right to Life Committee - http://www.NRLC.org
Nebraska Right to Life - http://www.nerighttolife.org

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