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Why Picket?
Picketing, the mere mention of the word reverberates hundreds of preconceived ideas in your average person's mind, presuppositions ranging from respect to disgust. Since the demise of "rescuing", picketing now takes the place of the most misunderstood and villified activity in Pro-Life circles. Of those that even attempt to do it, very few people hang in there for the long haul. But, the real issue is not how we feel about it, the real issue is, what does the Bible say?
Romans 12:21 says "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." I urge you to read before this verse and after this verse. Make sure I am not pulling Scripture out of context. I think local CPC’s and Right to Life organizations are doing a fine job obeying this verse. For what they are doing is very much overcoming evil with good. I don’t think anyone would argue that point. But what about picketing? Does this in any way turn evil into good?
How much is one human life worth? Is it worth, one hour of your time, ten hours of your time, or one hundred hours of your time? What if God told you that if you picketed one hour a week for the next twenty years he would use that time to save one life? However He would not tell you when it would happen, so you would never know. Would you do it? Would you picket one hour a week for the next twenty years?
Understand that picketing is the last line of defense for the unborn child. It is that last opportunity to reach the woman. Right To Life has missed her; every CPC, and every local church has missed her. Now if this one child was saved from murder, would you call that overcoming evil with good? If one woman was saved from making a decision that would alter her life forever? Would you do it?
The fact is that picketing saves lives! It overcomes evil with good! There is many a story of picketers being shown babies that are alive because they were picketing the abortion mill. While it might not happen often, it does happen! Imagine the joy of hearing a father or mother exclaim, "I wanted to show you that he was alive because of you, because you were out here!" Would you give up one hour a week for that?
Picketing is a very hard thing to do in this age of instant everything. You can do it for years and feel like you have done nothing. However, you don’t know what an impact it has had. You might never find out until the Great Judgment, but when did God say obey only if you know what the results of your obeying will be? Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." We cannot give up
Who is responsible for the results of anything we do in God’s name? Are you? Am I? I Corinthians 3:6-7 says, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. God is responsible, not you. God makes it grow and brings it to fruition. Our only duty is to obey, as Jesus said in John 14:15, If you love me, you will obey what I command. So that begs the question, What did Jesus command?
Do we search our Bible looking for the red-letter verses in the New Testament to see what Jesus commanded? Maybe the best solution is to let Scripture tell us what it is that Jesus commands. John tells us that Jesus is the Word become flesh. (John 1:1-15) It also says that the living Word is God! So Jesus’ words and commands are all words and commands in the Bible. So when Solomon was inspired to write, Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, But we knew nothing about this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? (Proverbs 24:11-2) This verse is Jesus commanding. Let me ask you, Do you love him?
Isaiah 45: 10-12 says, "“Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?'“This is what the LORD says— the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts".” Here we have Jesus pronouncing woe, to an entire generation. For this generation is saying to God, ”What you have made, we have the power to destroy."
This brings me to my last point. We need to look at Ezekiel 33: 1-6. Which states, "The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood."
We are the watchmen of this nation, and if we do not stand up and pronounce, that "abortion is murder", then the blood of the unborn is on our hands! When you stand out in front of the mill with a simple sign that says, "Abortion is Murder", or "You shall not murder", you are proclaiming to those who drive by that abortion is wrong because God says it is wrong! You are being a visible testimony to the truth that only God can make laws and only God is judge.
We should all be driven by the thought that some day we will meet the maker of the universe face to face. How will we respond if asked, "What were you doing when they were killing my babies?" May we all be able to answer, " I submitted my will to your Son and I obeyed as the Spirit enabled! For we will all be without excuse. It is clearly written in His word what we are to do.
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