“Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
James 2:17
“But do you want to know, O foolish man,
that faith without works is dead?”
James 2:20
“For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:26
Dorothy from Texas wrote me:
“I have been active in Pro-life since Wichita. I go to a Baptist Church and in five years at the mill I have seen three Baptist pastors at the mill. Each time they were there to try and talk a parishioner out of having an abortion. I asked them if they ever preached against abortion from the pulpit, protested publicly, etc. Each one told me that “it had never been a priority.” Although each one of their churches sent money to a local CPC. Somehow they think that that is being Pro-life. It is sad.”
[Dorothy’s letter prompted this article. Thank you Dorothy!]
There are a lot of churches that give money to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. That is good. What is not good is this is the totality of their pro-life work. They would consider their work done, and can move onto more important things (like the church building program and the pot blessing dinner on Sunday night). But let’s put this same thinking into another context, and see how it washes.
As Christians we are commanded to preach the gospel. Because we give money to the Billy Graham Crusade – does that mean I have witnessed and shared the gospel? Have I done all that’s required of me to fulfill the Great Commission? Have I “Gone out into all the world” because I have supported an overseas missionary? Most pastors would respond with a resounding, “NO!” Yet somehow giving $$$ to a CPC is viewed as fulfilling our Christian duty to “Rescue those being dragged to the slaughter, O don’t stand back and let them die.”Why are unborn babies different?
This is American Christianity. Just throw money at it, and God will be pleased. Somehow I think God requires more from us than just our wallets. God wants our lives. We have been bought with a price – should we not glorify God with our bodies? Of course that means work, sweat, persecution, sacrifice, being reviled, and worst of all being inconvenienced. But the upside is we will one day hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Saints, we have to shake off our apathy and complacency. We have given the nations reason to rage. The faith we speak doesn’t match what we live. If you truly believe abortion is murder – You MUST start acting like it. Throwing a few bucks to a Crisis Pregnancy center does not absolve you of your responsibility of saving those babies that are dying. I can’t fathom why other Christians can’t see that, the hypocrisy being so evident. The gospel message we hold so dear has become the object of ridicule, because WE have not lived it! We say one thing, and act another. This nation, that we hold so dear, will surely perish if we don’t start repenting NOW.
And don’t be deceived that God simply can’t do without America! Don’t be so foolish to believe that we will be “raptured out” before America’s destruction. That is arrogant and foolish at best . God does not need America – we need God. In fact, America’s destruction (WITH THE CHRISTIANS STILL IN IT) would be a great sign and warning to the rest of the world, that God will not be mocked. And we have mocked God from the greatest to the least; from the preacher to the parishioner; from the saint to the sinner – for all the reasons listed above.
We must repent – and begin to show the fruit of that repentance by our actions. Anything else, will doom this nation sooner rather than later. May we NOW begin to show the sorrow and repentance that Ninevah showed, lest we become the next Sodom & Gomorrah.
Steve Wetzel