(Authored by Bray, published in AFLM which was sued out of existence by PP in the PP v. ACLA suit of 1995.)<\/p>\n
Advocates for Life Magazine<\/em>,\u00a0 July, 1996<\/span><\/p>\n When they piled up all those faggots and burned them underneath her helpless body, they didn\u2019t realize the honor they were bestowing upon Joan of Arc.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She believed what she believed, acted upon that belief, and could not abjure even on threat of death.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But we don\u2019t hang faggots upon the wall behind the church altar or around our necks.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The followers of Jesus have suffered many and various deaths down through the ages.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It is the cross which we honor as a symbol of the death of a particular person in history – the Messiah.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is His unique death which achieves Life for us who believe in Him.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But the sufferings and\/or deaths of our fellow followers of this Savior are not meaningless.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>They serve to present again the atonement to the audience in any place and time where Christians dwell.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The sufferings dramatically take the form of death or imprisonment.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Less impressive might be the deprivation of property or employment.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And, perhaps down the chain of sufferings, is simply calumny or shunning.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But in all cases, the benefit to the world is the manifestation of the death and life of Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 4:10,11; 1 Cor. 4:7).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The death and freedom paradigm regularly appears in the political arena.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The red stripes of our own national flag signify the shedding of blood by which liberty was purchased.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As the hymn says, \u201cConfirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The nation\u2019s liberty is rooted in law.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And that law has never been the law of the Aztecs or Pat Schroeder and Ted Kennedy; it has never been the law of abortion and sodomy rights; rather, it has been the Law of God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>To the extent that the colonies established and enforced the Divine standard, they also established justice and afforded the people true Liberty.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The establishment of liberty and justice often requires the bloody overcoming of evil; hence, the Civil War brought freedom through the shedding of blood.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The roots of the sin of manstealing and slavery had grown deep enough that justice could not be established apart from the use of bloody force.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>(Such was Lincoln\u2019s interpretation of the Providence<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>in the course of human events indited on the north wall of the monument and known as the Second Inaugural Address.)<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Just as the establishment of justice for us required death, so bloodshed is often necessary for its maintenance.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>To this end, the Judge of all the earth has given earthly judges the \u201cpower of the sword\u201d by which to punish the evil doer and commend the one who does good (Rom. 13:4; 1 Pet. 2:14).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (These principles are, of course, elementary to you who are well-bored with this reading so far.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Patience, please.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Don\u2019t turn on your TV).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Complications arise when the authorities betray their commission and punish the wrong guys.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Thomas Jefferson said the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the bloodshed, but who has time to plan a revolution these days?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>What with vacations to plan and saving up for the kids to go to college!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But we can resort to prayer and save the revolution for the next generation.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s one that blessed by heart recently during morning devotions: \u201cOh God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord .<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>. Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, like the miscarriages of a woman which has never seen the sun . . . The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked\u201d (Ps. 58:6-10).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n One of my old<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>favorites is that Prolife theme<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Psalm:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But the really uplifting part comes later: \u201cO that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God! . . . Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord?\u201d (139:19, 21).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To some folks these prayers of imprecation seem contrary to the New Testament – as if the love of justice and hatred of sin evaporated when Christ came.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But Jesus was no less passionate about good and evil than was Moses.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And Paul tells Christians to \u201cabhor what is evil\u201d (Rom. 12:9).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He calls down curses upon false teachers (Gal. 1:9).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He even invokes God wrath upon those who \u201cdon\u2019t love the Lord\u201d in the middle of<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>his benediction to the Church<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>in Corinth (1 Cor. 16:22).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We need balance in our lives: Love good; hate evil.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The heathen love and hate the wrong things and consequently call down curses for the most inane causes.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Take Juan Osco for example.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He is a Peruvian witch doctor who has been coming to the aid of<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>his country\u2019s soccer team by praying against the Colombian team.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This \u201cShaman of the Andes\u201d has \u201cled throngs of his medicine men in rituals that include kicking, stabbing and spitting at miniature dolls of top Colombian players Fredy Rincon, Faustino Asprilla, and Carlos Valerrama.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>No kidding.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The <\/span>Washington Times<\/span><\/i> (3 June) goes on: \u201c\u2018You\u2019re going to miss, miss miss,\u2019 the shaman chanted, as he shoved a replica of star forward Rincon into a skull\u2019s mouth at the players\u2019 training ground.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We need not waste our prayers for or against the Baltimore Orioles when we can hang abortionists in effigy.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We can dramatize our call for justice.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Consider the example of Ezekiel.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In order to warn the people and signify the judgment of God to come, he conducts several lengthy skits.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In one performance, he cuts off his hair and divides it into thirds.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He burns one batch, beats the other with his sword, and scatters the last in the wind.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>With these symbols the prophet portends the horrific destruction of Jerusalem part of which includes the starvation of some who are holed up during a siege and driven by hunger to the point of cannibalizing their own family members (Ezek. 5:10).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Y<\/span>es, the judgments of God are awesome!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>One of the most intriguing is the time the Lord smote the Philistines with hemorrhoids and rats for taking the ark into their own pagan temple.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ooh and o-o-w-ch!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He is a creative God who can design frightful judgments as well as wonderful blessings.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He delivers His people by judging their enemies.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And through His judgments he brings justice.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Behold His \u201cgoodness and severity\u201d (Rm. 11:22).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Clinton and his thug, Janet Waco Reno, have been pursuing Christians actively involved in stopping the slaughter of innocent children.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We need to pray for them – the<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Clintonistas.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But first, a little background and one of their latest victims.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jennifer Sperle is one of those freshly indicted for damaging a Virginia abortuary to the tune of $500.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>After putting out several million for the Justice Department\u2019s failed VAAPCON (a.k.a. CRAPCON) \u201cinvestigation\u201d Reno\u2019s main inquisitor, Thomas Burrows, thinks he has a couple scalps.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, and he wants to send them away to prison for many years as punishment for this serious offense (How about 50,000 cents?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Sounds a little more serious.).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jennifer Sperle lives with her husband and three children in Wichita.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Their fourth child is due in the fall.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Doctors recommend that the trial be postponed to avoid stress which might harm the child.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Mrs. Sperle is regarded by fellow sidewalk counselors to be an \u201ceffective witness.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She is reported recently to have helped dissuade a seven-months pregnant woman from Connecticut who had come to Tiller the Killer in Wichita for an abortion.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>(60 Minutes missed this one in its 2 June report on partial birth abortions in which Morey Safer [sp?] said he couldn\u2019t find any instances of abortions of healthy children in the third trimester.)<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Much of Mrs. Sperle\u2019s energy may come from the fact that she had her would-be firstborn child killed by abortion when she was just sixteen.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Yes, she is guilty.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But the Clinton-like Supreme Court shares guilt as well.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Our<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cjustices\u201d have led the way into this perfidious practice.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And now the one who suffers the persecution at the hand of the federal government displays for us that atoning work of<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Christ.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The death and life of Christ are manifested in her present persecution.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She suffers now as the righteous for the sake of others.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And now we take up our prayer list:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Oh Lord, may Clinton die from a whitewater rafting accident and Paul Jones take Hillary\u2019s place.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>May the six depraved justices who denied self-government to the citizens of Colorado and imposed sodomy upon them be roundly smitten with hemorrhoids.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>May abortionsts be severed from their penises after the manner demonstrated by Lorena Bobbit.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>May Reno\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s disease continue to ravage her already morally-deranged<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>mind.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And may Thomas Burrows, who is rumored to be a faggot (as is to be reasonably expected given his special appointment to the job of Inquisitor by Reno), contract AIDS as is meet, right and salutary for a man of his deeds.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Finally, may the Lord bless and keep His people who persevere in the life of the cross.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Authored by Bray, published in AFLM which was sued out of existence by PP in the PP v. ACLA suit of 1995.) Advocates for Life Magazine,\u00a0 July, 1996 When they piled up all those faggots and burned them underneath her helpless body, they didn\u2019t realize the honor they were bestowing upon Joan of Arc.\u00a0 She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1575,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}