Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Right to Life

This is particularly important as our Nation is about to pass a "Health Care Bill" that will destroy life, both un-born and Old.

From Kevin DeYoung's Blog:

Why I Made a (Small) Year-End Gift to a Crisis Pregnancy Center, and You Should Consider Doing Something Similar

This is heart-wrenching. So be prepared. You may have heard something about this story, but the firsthand account is especially moving.

From the January 2010 issue of First Things, page 70 in Joseph Bottum’s “While We’re At It.” The comments at the end are mine.

*****

It’s hard to keep up the illusion of abortion as a positive good when the ugly reality of it is always lurking just behind the abstract idea. The wall of illusion came crashing down for Abby Johnson when, after working for Planned Parenthood in Texas for eight years, she witnessed an actual abortion on ultrasound. In a television interview, she explained, “It was actually an ultrasound-guided abortion procedure. . . . Any my job was to hold the ultrasound probe on this woman’s abdomen so that the physician could actually see the uterus on the ultrasound screen. And when I looked at the screen, I saw a baby. . . . I saw a full side profile. So I saw face to feet. . . . I saw the probe going into the woman’s uterus. And at that moment, I saw the baby moving and trying to get away from the probe. . . . And I thought, “It’s fighting for its life. . . . It’s life, I mean, it’s alive.”

After some additional questions, Johnson went on to say: “And then, all of a sudden, I mean, it was just over. . . . And I just saw the, I just saw the baby just literally, just crumble, and it was over. . . . I was thinking about my daughter, who’s three, and I was thinking about the ultrasound I had of her, and I was thinking of just how perfect that ultrasound was when she was twelve weeks in the womb. And I was just thinking, “What am I thinking, ‘What am I doing?’. . . . I had one one hand on this woman’s belly, and I was thinking, ‘There was life in here, and now there’s not.’”

And that was it. Any illusion Johnson had about what abortion really is was over. She quit her job and began working with the pro-life organization that protested at her former clinic.

*****

Abortion is not just one issue among many. We are not just arguing about different means to a shared end. We are arguing about the “right,” pulled out of constitutional thin air, to end a life. Abortion is the deepest social injustice because the human is helpless and innocent. It is the gravest tragedy because the procedure Abby Johnson describes is purposefully lethal and perfectly legal.

Lord, haste the day when the collective ignominy our nation feels toward slavery and racism will be felt concerning this evil as well.

And until that day, let every Christian light a candle and curse the darkness that makes its flame necessary.

The Right to LifeSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Monday, December 14, 2009

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Protestant/Catholic Seminar Part 2: The Issue of Authority

This is the Second part in a Seven message series on Protestants & Roman Catholics:

Protestant/Catholic Seminar Part 2: The Issue of AuthoritySocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal Tragedy , Part 5

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal Tragedy , Part 5SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Protestant/Catholic Seminar Part 1: Introduction

We are taking a brief break from Pastor Morecraft's series on the Psalms to share with you a very relevant Seminar by Pastor John Otis, hosted and sponsored by Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church, on Protestants & Roman Catholics. It is a great look in to the nature and origin of these two different theological views and is a fantastic study tool for any Christian. Please take the time to listen to these messages. There are 7 messages and they will be published over the next seven days. If you wish to listen to all of the messages at once please follow this link. If you have any questions regarding this material or would like additional information please email: WestminsterChurchCC@gmail.com

Here is Pastor Otis' brief introduction and explanation of the series which is found on Sermon Audio:

"This is part 1 of a seminar titled Protestants and Catholics: What Makes Us Different? It is listed as a 6 part series, but there is a part 4A and 4B in the messages on how Rome Views salvation. So, there are actually 7 messages. I quote extensively from Catholicism's authoritative catechisms and church councils. I discuss in the entire seminar why Protestants have reacted so strongly to Catholic teaching. In this introduction we look at what brought about the Protestant Reformation and some of the attempts to reconcile both groups." -John Otis



Protestant/Catholic Seminar Part 1: IntroductionSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Monday, December 7, 2009

A Divine Remedy for a Declining Culture ~Psalm 12

A Divine Remedy for a Declining Culture ~Psalm 12SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Evangelist Vist #1 ~November 2009

Each quarter of the year a different member of Presbytery, as of October 12th, 2009, will come down to Corpus Christi to teach, visit with the families, and check on the status of this Church plant. This past November we were exceedingly blessed to have Pastor Jeff Black come down from Virginia. Upon his arrival on Friday night we held a large Texas style Bar-B-Que over that the M.'s house! To which all the Church was invited.

The Yellow Rose of Texas

These roses were the center piece of the feast

The Men at table
From Right to Left
Teaching Elder Jeff Black, Robert L.D. M., Ken B., Christopher Marks

David M. & Calvin M.

Some of the ladies got comfy on the couch together


Cromwell M.

Little Miss Phoebe R.

Digging into the BBQ

Noah and Kristen D.

Yummmm!


The Next day some of the families escorted Pastor Black up to San Antonio to visit the Alamo and the River Walk

The Six Flag that flew over Texas
France, Spain, Mexico, Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the USA

A guide at the Alamo gives a great narration on the battle of the Alamo and the events leading up to Texas' fight for freedom







Mural of the six Spanish missions, of which the Alamo was one

Part of the River walk


Cromwell enjoys a snack of goldfish within the Alamo walls...

Texas sized Goldfish


He is then shocked to see lives ones swimming around in the little stream that runs through the plaza of the Alamo

Roots on the River walk


Christopher, Jennifer, and Cromwell M.

Monument to the defenders of the Alamo


"Give me Liberty or Give me Death"

We are very thankful that Pastor Black was able to come down and look forward to having him and his family down again in the future. The messages he preached will be posted here as soon as they become available on Sermon Audio.

Blessings from Texas!
Evangelist Vist #1 ~November 2009SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal Tragedy , Part 4

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal Tragedy , Part 4SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Friday, December 4, 2009

Adoration of God's Justice ~Psalm 9

Adoration of God's Justice ~Psalm 9SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal Tragedy

This is an amazing testimony of God's amazing grace, providence, trail by fire, forgiveness, and restoration from a family who suffered a devastating loss of a family member...and still give God the glory.

I would encourage you to take the time to listen to this interview with the Chapman family done on Larry King Live, soon after their adopted daughter was killed after being accidentally run over in the family's driveway with an SUV driven by her older brother. It is an amazing story of how one family dealt with grief and how through Christ alone...they overcame and are overcoming while giving glory to God!

This is part one of the interview...you can either find the rest of the interview by following the links on YouTube or wait for the whole series to be posted there over the next few days.

The Steven Curtis Champman Family: A Story of God's Amazing Grace in Personal TragedySocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Wednesday, December 2, 2009