Faith

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Faith is more than a set of beliefs. It is an active struggle to stay true to your confession and to overthrow the evil circumstances which are contrived by man. Except for acts of genocide in other nations and the potential for the practice of euthanasia to take hold in America, abortion is the greatest social battle currently faced by those of Christian faith. Paul instructed Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith.”

All sin, especially collective sin desensitizes and degrades the moral value of the nation. As sex and violence are glorified in the media, the sanctity of life and marriage become cheapened. Nothing is shocking to the seared conscience!

Two fine lines exist in the battle to preserve the sanctity of life. One is to rebuke and resist the actions of the person committing the atrocity without judging the person. Judging the sinner and legislating moral codes are ineffective in changing the perception or the actions of the sinner.

The second fine line is adhering to the laws of God over the laws of men. People have the liberty to sin and reap the results of their actions. However, when their personal choices oppress or take the lives of other innocent persons, they must be stopped. How do we follow the words of Isaiah? “Learn to do good, Seek Justice, Rebuke the oppressor, Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

The actions of Christians are similar to those who fought for abolition and harboured fugitive slaves, even when it was illegal to do so. There was a fine line between adhering to God's law when they conflicted with the laws of the land. One might have been considered to be a fanatic.

Remember, the Christian has two goals in the fight. The first is to stop and prevent the acts of killing and oppression. The second is to influence non-Christians to become Christians. How do you fight the good fight without becoming a fanatic?

Father Frank Pavone has been fighting the good fight for twenty years. He wrote a book of short essays about abortion. He was so radical that he was even censored by the Catholic Church for one year. The book has 8 sections: The Activist; The Arguments; The Women; The Babies; The Celebrations; the Abortionists; The Government; and The Church. Frank A. Pavone, Ending Abortion, Not Just Fighting It. www.catholicbookpublishing.com/.

Pavone refers to becoming a “Warrior soul.” He states, “While this is not ‘fanaticism,’ it is total dedication, to the point of being willing to give one’s life in the cause.” (pg. 9)

Pavone explains that, “’Fanaticism’ means that, except for the one focus we have, our personality shuts down and we disconnect from reality.”

He states that the “warrior soul,” on the other hand, “…devotes all his fully functioning personality to his cause, and it is precisely because he is connected to reality that he sees that cause as all-important.”

Finally, Pavone says, “Social change doesn’t come through committees and boards. It comes through warrior souls.” He quotes I John 3:16, “The way we came to know love was that He laid down His life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Joel stated: “Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments…then I will make up to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust.” (Joel 2:12, 13 & 25)

Making up for the years that have been consumed by the locusts speaks of repentance. We cannot bring back the over 50 million babies sacrificed on the altar of personal liberty and sexual freedom, but we can prevent further killing. Michael Thomas, a character in Woodcutter’s Revival states, “I have read the Good Book several times. One principal mentioned over and over again is justice, mercy and defending the rights of the defenceless.”

He further states, “When I was down there, I can never remember a preacher even mentioning these concepts. That is what restoration is all about and making up for the years the locust have stripped. It is revealing the wrong, reviving the wronged.” (pg. 83)

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Find all of Jerry Slauter’s FaithWriter articles.

About the Author:

Jerry is a retired school teacher. He published Woodcutter’s Revival this past year. He also published Revived: Story of Publishing A Christian Novel, which is on Kindle at Amazon.com.

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