Vince Deagler

hi out there. have you been following the news? some amazing things have occured in recent times. some of them have far reaching impact on things we as christ followers hold dear. for instance, dr. tiller, the late term abortion doctor was murdered this past sunday while he was attending the services of his church. do you realize how this is being presented in the main stream media? how this incident will be used to expand the abortion industry? how anyone who opposes abortion will be lumped in with this murderer? really, how is it possible for someone who claims to value life, turn around and murder someone in their church? it doesn’t make sense to me, i sure hope it doesn’t make sense to you, but we will have to live with the fall out. with that in mind let me share a few thoughts, because i think what we have been covering on sunday morning has a very real connection to these kind of current events. first, i think the whole abortion industry is a great example of the reality of spiritual warfare (see eph. 6:10f). how else can you explain the reality that so many “civilized” men and women think it is perfectly appropriate to extinguish a human being in its most innocent and vulnerable form. i understand back in the 70’s the technology we have today was not available and people actually compared an unborn child to tumors, growths, parasites, and labeled them a blob of cells with no connection to humanity. but today we have ultrasounds, etc. that reveal that “growth” to be very human, very early into the pregnancy. this is irrefutable. to say otherwise is dishonest. and because that is true, it is scientifically difficult to argue against the position that life and humanness starts with conception. i know legally, humanness starts with birth, but that’s a legal distinction just as blacks were once considered non-human. just because it is “legal” doesn’t make it true or right, does it? so why are so many willing to destroy these young children? why are so many willing to protect the right that allows these young children to be destroyed? my answer, because of spiritual warfare. god has blessed us with life, wants us to experience life to its full, and satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy all of god’s plans. so, how is it possible to win this war? well we must start by being strong in the lord and his mighty power. within ourselves we do not have what it takes to stand. having said that, can you see jesus killing an abortion doctor? blowing up a clinic? celebrating these things? if that were true, you would expect jesus doing that kind of thing during the incarnation, but you do not find anything close. i’m not saying jesus did not confront the problems of his day, but he did not confront them with weapons, at least not physical weapons. he realized this was a spiritual war and as such required spiritual weapons. so, he preached the gospel of the kingdom. he offered the truth in direct contrast to the lies of satan. he offered a better way to live, a way to experience fullness of life. he was not a political activist, but he did turn the world upside down with a radical message. so how can we do this today? well this sunday we are finishing up looking at the spiritual armor god has provided so we can stand in the midst of this spiritual warfare. we can follow christ’s lead by putting on our helmet of salvation and taking our sword of the spirit which is the word of god and engaging the world around us. satan is constantly seeking to undermine christianity, undercut it, render it meaningless. i’m afraid the more we who follow christ are bad actors, the more success he will have. already the single biggest reason people reject christ is the hypocrisy of those who claim to follow him. this fellow that murdered dr. tiller has validated that claim in the minds of far too many people. and to what end? will abortion now stop? of course not, another dr. tiller will rise up to take his place. the answer isn’t putting our christianity aside and acting in ways that satan advocates. the answer is you and i putting on the helmet of salvation…being fully the men and women christ has called us to be, living out what it means to be a christ follower right here, right now, reflecting christ in our life in how we think, speak, act, react, all the time, everywhere, without exception or excuse. then and only then can the sword of the spirit begin to have the influence god intends. it is with this sword (the truth of gods word) that the attacks of the enemy can be repelled and a lethal blow struck for the cause of christ. but our walk has to validate our talk. when something like this happens (i refer to the killing of dr. tiller) we who follow jesus will lumped in with this extremism, and our cause will suffer. so, let’s speak clearly on this subject without any equivocation. the behavior of this man is wrong. there is no justification for it. none. no matter how noble he thought his cause was, he did the bidding of satan when he pulled that trigger and the cause of christ has suffered. we who follow jesus will live with the results…so it is even more imperative that we live as jesus lived. from that platform our message will make more sense, and have a greater impact, just as was true of jesus. so, now that you’ve read this, what do you think? better yet, what will you do? be blessed. thanks for reading. vince