With the stroke of a pen, California governor Jerry Brown on Monday approved assisted suicide in his state. With Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Montana, 10% of the country now has the right to expect doctors to help them die.

This is not only a problem for doctors. Patients – especially the disabled – will be more vulnerable. They will feel a duty to die. This is why doctor groups and disability advocates oppose assisted suicide.

Death is insatiable. We know this as a spiritual reality, but it’s also a historical phenomenon. In Europe, the euthanasia slippery slope looks like this: It began with the legalization of assisted suicide for the terminally ill, and then involuntary euthanasia for the mentally incompetent was added. Later they allowed anyone age 12 and over who’s suffering to request “aid in dying,” and now a Dutch pediatrician wants to erase the age limit.

As we know, death is not the answer to suffering. We live by God’s grace; by His compassion, we assist those who are struggling.

This is why it’s so crucial that churches be equipped to offer support to the elderly and terminally ill. Through LIFT, Life Matters Worldwide offers a Christian response to suffering. LIFT is Living in Faith Together. Churches adopting the LIFT program help each other live out their days without fear and without succumbing to the world’s “wisdom.”

We've used the passage from Proverbs 24 to urge action on abortion. It fits here, too:

And will He not render to man according to his work?

Related reading:
Assisted suicide increases other suicides
What's really needed is access to palliative care sooner: here and here

In Romans 13:4, Paul says rulers are God's avengers carrying out His wrath on the wicked. What, then, if they instead applaud and abet evil, as our government does concerning Planned Parenthood and same-sex marriage?

It helps to look at people in authority as David did in Psalm 58 --

Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity?

No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.

Those in power believe they're doing right, are in the right. David did not question their right to rule, but he did question their actions and enumerated their wrongs. He warned and confronted.

Unless their hearts are changed by a miracle of God, wicked rulers will continue down their wayward paths. They'll kill innocent people, pervert justice, and spread false ideas.

They will also turn a deaf ear to wise advice. But God can get through to them and thwart their efforts. And He will hear our prayers, even when they're bitter and angry like David's:

Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions! 

Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? Let's ask God to make the evil intentions and actions of our rulers ineffectual -- toothless, painless, soon forgotten. And then let's make David's affirmations our statement of faith:

Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.

The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Yesterday in the U.S. Senate a bill was defeated that would have reallocated funds from Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers that do not perform abortions. Like the legion that possessed the wild man in Mark 5:1-13, PP will do whatever it takes to avoid being cast out.

Few places in Scripture describe pro-death forces as profoundly and accurately as Psalm 10. Verses 8 through 11 say:

But the truth is, God does see what is done in secret (v. 14). He does take every human death into account, despite the unbeliever’s denial (v. 13). In view of the ridicule heaped on pro-lifers when we scrutinize PP, this emerges as a vital article of faith.

This is a fundamental principle going back to Genesis 9:5-6. At that time, God promised Noah and his offspring: "For your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind." 

Three times: "I will demand an accounting." As loudly and insistently as Abel's blood cried out to God from the ground, so too does the blood of all innocents (Psalm 106:38, 2 Kings 9:26, Joel 3:21). A day of reckoning is coming.

Despite injunctions against the Center for Medical Progress, a 5th video has been released. It contains further proof against PP and disturbing footage of what remains of babies after abortion. 

Yes, God has always had His eye on what goes on inside Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics. Some prefer not to watch these disturbing videos, but if we don't see AND share them, babies will continue to be heartlessly crushed by the wicked.

Scholars point to links between Psalm 9 and 10. In 9:11-12, David alludes to Gen. 9:5-6. He also reorients our perspective toward worship of a sovereign God and comforts our distress over failed efforts to defend the unborn:

Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; 

proclaim among the nations what he has done. 

For He who avenges blood remembers; 

He does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

The 4th video from The Center for Medical Progress is available, and also quite graphic. Please, don't let that stop you from viewing and sharing it.

Planned Parenthood does not deny trafficking in baby body parts, but insists they’re within the law. It’s just another of their many services to women. 

That statement came after the first video. Here's the third in the series from The Center for Medical Progress (warning - graphic content):

What will they say now?

Don’t be fooled by their tactic of shifting blame. As you watch this and subsequent videos from CMP -- due out on a weekly basis for the next few months -- keep in mind the government regulations to which PP refers.

• Many research regulations assume there’ll be some benefit to research subjects. 

Comment: When cells and tissues are derived through in vitro fertilization or abortion, there obviously cannot be any direct or indirect benefit to the donor embryo or fetus.

• Regulators admit that “[r]esearch involving the human fetus raises special concerns,” presume that “[t]he fetus has a unique and inextricable relationship to the mother,” and acknowledge a fetus “cannot consent to be a research subject.” 

PP, though, doesn’t dare recognize any unborn child, at any stage, as a human being.

• Regulations insist that “[r]esearch activities involving the dead fetus, macerated fetal material, or cells, tissue, or organs excised from a dead fetus are governed by state laws and regulations” and recommend “research involving dead fetuses be compatible with commonly held views about respect for the dead.”

This is not happening at Planned Parenthood or research labs.

• Further: “The decision to terminate a pregnancy and procedures of abortion should be kept independent from the retrieval and use of fetal tissue” and “[t]he timing and method of abortion should not be influenced by the potential uses of fetal tissue for transplantation or medical research.” 

From the videos we see clearly that doctors at Planned Parenthood are aware of the mother’s decision to donate fetal tissue and that they are tempted to alter procedures in order to facilitate retrieval.

• The regulations do get a little crazy: “If abortion is involved, … no change in the abortion procedure that would present more than minimal risk to the fetus or its mother can be introduced for research purposes.” 

Huh? 

Take action via "Baby parts for sale, part1"

Thanks to investigative videos produced by The Center for Medical Progress, we’ve learned that what we thought had ceased a decade ago is still happening, and that the country’s largest abortion provider is deeply involved.

Whether or not this campaign results in Planned Parenthood’s demise, we must continue steering attention toward ultimate truths:

• It doesn’t matter if the sales are legal. The real outrage is abortion on demand.

• It doesn’t matter if Planned Parenthood is profiting by the sale of baby parts. They’ve been feeding at the federal trough for years. These are your tax dollars! We've participated by silent consent. (Calculate how much you've given them over 10 years.)

• Tax dollars also support the research that uses aborted baby parts ($76 million last year, according to the Washington Post). 

• PP isn’t the only source of aborted baby parts for research, just the largest and most well-known. 

• Planned Parenthood workers are people who need Christ. They are blinded by the god of this age. Hatred and vitriol won’t help the Kingdom's cause. 

What will help is bookmarking the CMP website so you can access unedited versions and transcripts for skeptical friends. And educating yourself on how baby parts are used in research.

OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE

1. Pray – This fight will not be over without a struggle. PP and other pro-abortion forces are hitting back, accusing CMP of fraud and illegal activities. 

2. Defund PP – Bills have been presented in both houses of Congress. Read "Senate Will Vote Soon on Bill to Immediately De-Fund Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz" and then contact your U.S. Representative and Senators. You may also sign an online petition here or here, but I believe personal communication that identifies you as their constituent is more powerful.

3. Personally defund PP - Boycott companies and charities that support Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue research. Learn more here and here.

Compassion isn't a natural instinct. It's an attitude with corresponding behaviors that must be learned.

Jesus' disciples shared fallen humanity's default pattern of selfishness, pride, narcissism. He knew it when He called them, but neither overlooked it nor left it be. He both modeled compassion and forced them to practice it.

When He said of the 5,000, "You give them something to eat," he meant it literally: "You take a basket and serve people. You bow low so those seated on the ground can reach inside. You pick up the leftover crumbs. You eat last." 

This must have been a posture to which they were very unaccustomed, but it was good for their spiritual muscles to be stretched. It served them well as leaders of the first church (see Acts 6:1-7).

Compassion is hard for humans because it's a god-like characteristic (Exodus 34:6-7). We welcome it when it's shown toward us because we know we're so undeserving. We stand in awe of God's grace because we know without it we would never be saved. Still, we can be so stingy with it.

Yet it is for the very purpose of showing compassion to others that we are saved! He wants us to imitate Him, but we must admit that without His help learning compassion is impossible?

Pro-life ministries are excellent vehicles for displaying God's wonderful compassion. They serve the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. Pregnancy care centers (PCCs) “suffer alongside” those caught in the web of sexual immorality, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. LIFT volunteers “suffer alongside” the dying and chronically ill. 

Meanwhile, what the world offers -- abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia -- is often made to look like compassion, but they are counterfeit solutions that lead to death.

Download the latest copy-ready Life Matters bulletin insert to share with your church family: Practicing Compassion.

Back when this ministry began, pro-life thinkers predicted the legalization of abortion would lead to other social ills, such as infanticide, “test tube” babies, cloning, and euthanasia. They were right.

This month, with the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage, author and blogger Mike Wittmer noted another significant connection:

In 1992’s “Planned Parenthood vs. Casey,” which upheld the right to abortion, [Justice] Kennedy famously wrote, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”

Last week, Kennedy began his Opinion by stating, “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity. The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex.”  

The same reasoning that gave us legalized abortion has given us homosexual “marriage.” Truly, we are on a downward slide. Can we expect God to bless America? 

Rather than despairing, Wittmer takes heart:

This is an exciting, important time to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Our lost culture needs us now more than ever. We don’t have to be spectacular to stand out. Just love our spouses, raise godly children, and generally have our act together, and we should have plenty of opportunities to help those who are living against the grain.

There are echoes of the Apostle Paul in that statement: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18) Be sure to read that verse in context; there's something for everyone in it. 

A similar passage bears highlighting in this context as well -- Amos 5, especially verses 10-15:

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth....

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. 

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

This 4th of July, may God have mercy on America.

We like to say we're "pro-life" because of all that we're for -- babies, life, helping people at the end of life. Abortion advocates, on the other hand, like to call us "anti-abortion" so everyone will think of us as the wet-blankets and killjoys of society, that we want to intrude into everyone's private lives. 

We can be glad that the Bible teaches the pro-life ethic both positively and negatively, as in Titus 3:1-2:

Remind the people . . . to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

Paul wanted Christians to know how to live in the world. Verse 1 says we’re to submit to secular rulers and, therefore, the “everyone” of verse 2 encompasses them too. It doesn’t say we’re only expected to submit to morally upright government leaders, or refrain from slandering the ones with whom we agree. Recall that the authorities of Paul’s day were anything but godly.

“Slander no one” is an echo of James 3:8-10, which urges us to tame our tongues and not be guilty of praising God out of one side of our mouths while cursing men out of the other. James uses the strongest language: “This should not be!” Such behavior is unseemly because human beings have been made in God’s likeness. If you curse a man, you curse his Maker, as it says in Proverbs 17:5.

“Be gentle toward everyone” is the positive restatement of “slander no one.” The ESV renders it, “show perfect courtesy toward all people.” If we’re to treat people decently because they bear God’s image, “everyone” includes all our neighbors, all our brothers and sisters, the political opposition, the lovely and the unlovely, the sinner as well as the saint.

In Galatians 6:10, Paul specifies that the aim of Christian ministries of mercy is to first help the family of God, but he prefaced that with the instruction: “let us do good to all people.” And the kind of help people can be given, it says in Titus 3:1, is widely varied: “Whatever is good.”

Paul goes on in Titus 3:3-8 to remind us we were once the objects of God’s mercy – as foolish and disobedient and deceived and enslaved as could be. We were spending all our time thinking about ourselves and hating other people, but then “the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.” Hallelujah! 

As peaceable and considerate and gentle as Jesus has been toward us, let us so be to all men. And, as much time as we formerly spent serving “all kinds of passions and pleasures” we can now expend on the good of others.

This devotional appears in our Mid-Year Report. Download it and please consider supporting Life Matters Worldwide during the often lean summer months. Thank you very much!

I'm always fascinated by the glimpses of missionary life in Bill and Lori Smith's weekly newsletters. They serve in Papua New Guinea -- he with national pastors through a Bible college and she through a medical clinic. Life Matters helped the clinic obtain ultrasound equipment that has saved several babies' lives.

In a recent newsletter, Lori related how they'll be taking an evangelistic mobile clinic to Sagifa this Friday. Safiga is the home village of one of Lori's patients who died recently of cancer. Lillian accepted Christ before she died, but her village remains in deep bondage to the forces of evil. 

"Sorcery is the iron band that chains her people in fear," Lori writes. When Lillian died in Bill and Lori's home, the village sent a witch "to try to decipher the person responsible for her death so they could be killed." 

While this practice is shocking to Western sensibilities, when I consider it in light of the biblical pro-life ethic, I find surprising similarities. 

Genesis 9:5-6 says -- 

for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Note that the fact man bears God's image is the reason for the death penalty and not a reason for prohibiting it. 

It's amazing to me that a seemingly primitive or "backward" culture sees human life as distinct from that of animals and important enough to avenge.

The difference, however, between the PNG tribal understanding of "the sanctity of human life" and the biblical pro-life ethic is that God's word presses societies to determine the cause of a death -- whether it is natural, accidental, or homicidal. The penalty, if any, depends upon the cause. Accidental deaths are treated differently than intentional and, of course, natural deaths caused by old age or disease are not avenged at all.

Instructive passages:

Exodus 21:28-32 - what to do if an animal kills a person

Leviticus 20:1-5 - what to do if someone offers a child in sacrifice to an idol

Numbers 35:6-34 and Deuteronomy 19 - distinctions between murder and manslaughter

Dt. 21:1-9 - what to do in the case of an unsolved murder

It's also very important to note, furthermore, that the biblical way of determining a cause of death relies on evidence -- not intuition, hearsay, or sorcery. The witch's method serves the agenda of the Enemy, leading to more deaths of innocent people in an endless cycle of revenge and superstition.

God's law requires careful investigation, public inquiry, and the testimony of more than one witness. So we see how societies can pervert God's intent and how biblical justice prevents witchhunts.

Find out what happened when Lori's mobile clinic team went to Safiga