Chains in other nations are held at different times of the year
For location, time, and updates in each city, see www.LifeChain.net
YUBA CITY, Calif., Oct. 1, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- In Life Chain's 25th year of prayer and public witness on U.S. and Canadian sidewalks, we must discern "the times" and heed God's warning to nations that institute and validate evil. To legalize the killing of God's future worshippers is to defile God's holiness and flaunt His eminent regard for mercy and justice. Of added defilement is church apathy that permits such evil to gain root and prevail for decades. The risk is severe, as seen in the devastation that ended slavery's legitimacy in America and ended the annihilation of Jews and other unwanted humanity in Germany. Of the Civil War, Lincoln wrote: "...the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Mercy, when withheld, seeks justice.
Let us learn from the "peculiar people" Christ chose to anchor His gospel. Their sacrificial action against infanticide impacted a pagan culture, unlike today's passive church in Christianized Western nations. Rather than deter abortion's legalization, our lukewarmness helped ready its passage and helped ready us to accommodate its cruelty by yielding in substantial measure to co-existence with it. Wrote columnist and constitutional attorney Matt Barber: "We've simply moved from the gas chambers to the abortion clinics -- from Auschwitz to Planned Parenthood ... to live under Roe v. Wade is to live in shame."
Evil cannot defeat a repentant and resolute church. Observed Afro-American pastor Clenard Childress: "There was a time when the church was very powerful.... Early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.... Small in number, they were big in commitment.... By their effort and example, they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests."
Let us value the early church enough to imitate it. Let us view preborn humanity as God's invaluable "gifts" with divine purpose -- gifts "in the image of God" that we must defend, whatever the cost. Of urgent need are pastors who will return pro-life to its biblical roots, who will equip and mobilize their laity, and who will persuade fellow clergy to prepare themselves for battle against massive child mutilation. Under today's pro-life standard, 300,000 "pro-life pastors" occupy pulpits in America, yet a horrid abortion scourge disgraces and impairs both church and nation. Lead pastors are in vital need. Let us restore the biblical meaning of pro-life and in so doing restore to the church much needed integrity and relevance. The pulpit can accomplish that. It is more powerful than any congress or parliament.
Again in 2012, National Life Chain Sunday, Lord willing, will line U.S. and Canadian sidewalks with peaceful Life defenders who will intercede for America and Canada. Pastors, please prepare your people for prayer and solemn meditation. Extol the Preborns' humanity. Cry out in their defense. And please lead your congregation or parish to your local sidewalks to "plead the case of the fatherless to win it." Today, we the church are the only hope for at-risk Preborns' because abortion law has granted mothers full pregnancy control. Let us this year, as never before, pray for broken hearts and commitment, that we might see the end of legal child killing and experience mercy for our nation, rather than justice.
