Whether pastors like it or not, the congregations look up to them. The pulpit behind which they preach, often becomes a pedestal upon which they are placed, and their flocks look up to their shepherd to be lead and fed.
Before becoming a full-time itinerant minister, I did three-and-a-half years of hard labor as a pastor, and I know that we know that we’re no one special. What’s special is the calling—each pastor is called to lead the flock of God (see 1 Peter 5:2). And an inherent part of that call is the importance of dealing with ethical issues, such as abortion.
How do you teach the people of your church to change someone’s mind on the issue of abortion? People seem so militantly entrenched in their convictions. The answer is that it’s not at all difficult. I discovered that accidentally when I visited a local college to film interviews for a video called “Hitler’s Religion.”
I began asking students on camera if they knew of Adolf Hitler. I was horrified to find many didn’t have a clue who he was. However, I was encouraged when I found one young man who knew his history. He wasn’t only cognitive of the horrors of Nazi Germany but also had a colorful personality and long, dreadful dreadlocks. As we talked, I thought what a great interview it was.
Then, for some reason, I changed the subject and asked him about the issue of abortion. When he told me it was a woman’s right to end the life of an innocent child, I told him he was no better than a Nazi. That lifted the interview to a verbal sword fight. When he admitted it was a baby in the womb, I asked him when it was OK to take the life of a baby. Suddenly his eloquent mouth stopped. He couldn’t answer that question. He almost exploded with anger and walked off, fuming. I followed him with the camera, zooming up on him for effect. When I turned the camera off, I heard a strange sound. It was the camera turning on. In the bright sunlight, I hadn’t remembered that the camera was on, and as I began the interview, I had idiotically turned it off. I was heartbroken. I felt foolish and didn’t tell a soul what I’d done.
However, I began to think about the question. For some reason, a fast-talking youth couldn’t answer it, so I went back to the college and not only asked students about the issue of abortion, but I asked them that question. To my surprise, most I asked couldn’t tell me when it was OK to terminate the life of an innocent child. This was because these were human beings with a God-given conscience and a law written on their hearts that says murder is morally wrong.
When we looked at the footage in-studio, we realized we had a powerful pro-life movie rather than a film about Hitler’s religion. And so we birthed “180,” a documentary that has since changed many minds about abortion.
I will never forget the moment I showed the video to a friend who suggested it would go further as a pro-life movie—if it didn’t contain the gospel. He said I should take it out. I remember digging my heels in and thinking there was more chance of flossing the back teeth of the lions at the LA Zoo just before feeding time than of having the gospel removed. This is because—even though he was correct—our commission as the Church isn’t to reform the world regarding social issues. God commands us to preach the gospel to every creature (see Mark 16:15) because it is evident the gospel is the only real answer to the issue of abortion.
Many years ago, I was frustrated that a spider would leave a large web across the front of our house at the dawn of each day. Day after day, I would brush it away, and it would be back the next morning. The problem was that I couldn’t find the spider. It was in hiding.
I figured I was more intelligent than a spider, and one day I took some insect repellent and a small stick and gently tapped the web while making the sound of a fly in distress. My hunch was correct. The spider came out from his hiding place, and I killed it with insect repellent. I finally dealt with the cause rather than continually fighting the symptom.
There is a terrible web of evil across the face of the earth, and no matter how often we try to sweep it away, it keeps coming back through the restraints of law and legislation. The problem is the spider is in hiding. Ask anyone if they are evil, and they adamantly deny it (as did Adam). We, therefore, must take the rod of God’s moral Law and gently tap the human heart. That will reveal the spider (you can see this happening on our YouTube channel). That’s when that evil nature can be put to death through the power of the gospel. And that’s when the heart is transformed so that selfish, sin-loving sinners become new creatures in Christ that would never harm another, let alone take the life of the unborn.
In the early 1980s, when I was an assistant pastor, someone came to me and said, “Do you know that new convert named Fran? She’s going to have an abortion today at 2 o’clock!” I was horrified. It was around noon, so I rushed into our city and ran up the stairs of the hospital she was in (all the while praying that God would give me wisdom). When I entered Fran’s room, she was sitting on her bed, having already taken her pre-operation medication. The wisdom I had left me. All I could say was, “Please, don’t do this!” She looked at me, smiled, and said, “It’s OK. I’m not going to have an abortion. I just prayed, “God, if you don’t want me to have an abortion, make Ray Comfort come and see me.”
Two years later, I was at a church picnic and saw a little child crawling in the green grass. It was Fran’s baby. As I bent down and looked into her sweet little face, I suddenly understood God had used me to save a precious human life! What had taken place that day hadn’t completely dawned on me until that moment.
When we share the gospel with unsaved people, we understand intellectually that we are telling them how to find everlasting life. But the Bible wants us to realize what is happening fully. Look at the words used in scripture:
“Let him know.” Do you know? Do you fully realize, dear pastor, what God uses you for when you share the gospel? May He open the eyes of our understanding today. And may we soon see the fruit of the power of the everlasting gospel—an end to the horror of abortion.
The post How a Pastor Can Change a Mind About Abortion appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
Before becoming a full-time itinerant minister, I did three-and-a-half years of hard labor as a pastor, and I know that we know that we’re no one special. What’s special is the calling—each pastor is called to lead the flock of God (see 1 Peter 5:2). And an inherent part of that call is the importance of dealing with ethical issues, such as abortion.
How do you teach the people of your church to change someone’s mind on the issue of abortion? People seem so militantly entrenched in their convictions. The answer is that it’s not at all difficult. I discovered that accidentally when I visited a local college to film interviews for a video called “Hitler’s Religion.”
I began asking students on camera if they knew of Adolf Hitler. I was horrified to find many didn’t have a clue who he was. However, I was encouraged when I found one young man who knew his history. He wasn’t only cognitive of the horrors of Nazi Germany but also had a colorful personality and long, dreadful dreadlocks. As we talked, I thought what a great interview it was.
Then, for some reason, I changed the subject and asked him about the issue of abortion. When he told me it was a woman’s right to end the life of an innocent child, I told him he was no better than a Nazi. That lifted the interview to a verbal sword fight. When he admitted it was a baby in the womb, I asked him when it was OK to take the life of a baby. Suddenly his eloquent mouth stopped. He couldn’t answer that question. He almost exploded with anger and walked off, fuming. I followed him with the camera, zooming up on him for effect. When I turned the camera off, I heard a strange sound. It was the camera turning on. In the bright sunlight, I hadn’t remembered that the camera was on, and as I began the interview, I had idiotically turned it off. I was heartbroken. I felt foolish and didn’t tell a soul what I’d done.
However, I began to think about the question. For some reason, a fast-talking youth couldn’t answer it, so I went back to the college and not only asked students about the issue of abortion, but I asked them that question. To my surprise, most I asked couldn’t tell me when it was OK to terminate the life of an innocent child. This was because these were human beings with a God-given conscience and a law written on their hearts that says murder is morally wrong.
When we looked at the footage in-studio, we realized we had a powerful pro-life movie rather than a film about Hitler’s religion. And so we birthed “180,” a documentary that has since changed many minds about abortion.
I will never forget the moment I showed the video to a friend who suggested it would go further as a pro-life movie—if it didn’t contain the gospel. He said I should take it out. I remember digging my heels in and thinking there was more chance of flossing the back teeth of the lions at the LA Zoo just before feeding time than of having the gospel removed. This is because—even though he was correct—our commission as the Church isn’t to reform the world regarding social issues. God commands us to preach the gospel to every creature (see Mark 16:15) because it is evident the gospel is the only real answer to the issue of abortion.
Many years ago, I was frustrated that a spider would leave a large web across the front of our house at the dawn of each day. Day after day, I would brush it away, and it would be back the next morning. The problem was that I couldn’t find the spider. It was in hiding.
I figured I was more intelligent than a spider, and one day I took some insect repellent and a small stick and gently tapped the web while making the sound of a fly in distress. My hunch was correct. The spider came out from his hiding place, and I killed it with insect repellent. I finally dealt with the cause rather than continually fighting the symptom.
There is a terrible web of evil across the face of the earth, and no matter how often we try to sweep it away, it keeps coming back through the restraints of law and legislation. The problem is the spider is in hiding. Ask anyone if they are evil, and they adamantly deny it (as did Adam). We, therefore, must take the rod of God’s moral Law and gently tap the human heart. That will reveal the spider (you can see this happening on our YouTube channel). That’s when that evil nature can be put to death through the power of the gospel. And that’s when the heart is transformed so that selfish, sin-loving sinners become new creatures in Christ that would never harm another, let alone take the life of the unborn.
In the early 1980s, when I was an assistant pastor, someone came to me and said, “Do you know that new convert named Fran? She’s going to have an abortion today at 2 o’clock!” I was horrified. It was around noon, so I rushed into our city and ran up the stairs of the hospital she was in (all the while praying that God would give me wisdom). When I entered Fran’s room, she was sitting on her bed, having already taken her pre-operation medication. The wisdom I had left me. All I could say was, “Please, don’t do this!” She looked at me, smiled, and said, “It’s OK. I’m not going to have an abortion. I just prayed, “God, if you don’t want me to have an abortion, make Ray Comfort come and see me.”
Two years later, I was at a church picnic and saw a little child crawling in the green grass. It was Fran’s baby. As I bent down and looked into her sweet little face, I suddenly understood God had used me to save a precious human life! What had taken place that day hadn’t completely dawned on me until that moment.
When we share the gospel with unsaved people, we understand intellectually that we are telling them how to find everlasting life. But the Bible wants us to realize what is happening fully. Look at the words used in scripture:
“Let him know.” Do you know? Do you fully realize, dear pastor, what God uses you for when you share the gospel? May He open the eyes of our understanding today. And may we soon see the fruit of the power of the everlasting gospel—an end to the horror of abortion.
The post How a Pastor Can Change a Mind About Abortion appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
